MINISTRY

The Equip Network (Christian podcasts)

From The Mound (Jeff Jenkins)

TheFaughnFamily (Adam Faughn)

Creation Faith Facts (Rob Lester)

Weylan Words (Weylan Deaver)

Preacherpollard’s Blog (Neal Pollard)

Walking With God (J. Randal Methany)

The Christian Practice (Daniel Howell) – I especially like Tech Tip Tuesday

The Fellowship Room – brotherhood articles

BVBID Extension News – News about training preachers all around the world

MINISTRY TOOLS

Logos Bible Software Blog – especially for Logos users

Presentation Zen – Presentation tips and skills

Barna Research Update – ongoing research from the Barna Group

Pew Internet and American Life Reports – ongoing research in society trends

TECHNOLOGY

The Unofficial Apple Weblog – yes, I am a MAC guy

Macworld – did I mention I am a MAC guy

LifeHacker – This one is the most eclectic, but fun!

Digitizd

LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION

The Leadership Fund (Bob Turner)

John Maxwell on Leadership

Michael Hyatt’s Blog – CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing – this is a favorite of mine

Seth’s Blog (Seth Godin)

Six Pixels of Separation (Mitch Joel)

WRITING AND BLOGGING

The Copyblogger

ProBlogger

I am sure there are some I am leaving out, but these should get you started. Happy RSS reading!

Believe it or not I do get it. Please – do as I say, not as I do! If you want to build readership, set a schedule to post regularly AND STICK WITH IT! I am going to work on that myself and see if I can get back to posting every week.

Thanks for being patient with me.

MinistryGeek This Week

One of the distractions from my blog has been the start of the new MinistryGeek This Week podcast. This podcast is about using technology in ministry and is recorded each Wednesday morning at 8:30 a.m. MT (that is 7:30 PT and 9:30 CT) on Talkshoe. You can drop by and chat with us while we record live or just download and listen anytime. You can also subscribe to the podcast in iTunes here. If you would like to ask us a question or suggest a copy for future shows email us at ministrygeek@edge.net.

Grab a cup of tea, coffee, cocoa, water– whatever. Sit for a moment and take time to fill your spiritual cup. This is a space built just for ladies. It’s a space for you to read other ladies’ thoughts on scripture, love, life, God, our Savior and the Holy Spirit. It’s a place for you to be filled, but also to fill others’ cups. You’re invited to share your comments and thoughts, your ups, your downs, highs, lows, sorrows and triumphs. It is our most sincere hope that you will find encouragement to help you toward fuller service to God.

What a great tool to share with other Christian women! Check it out and help spread the word.

Blogs are actually very simple websites that list posted articles in a sequential list (usually by date). The reason they are so powerful is that they contain a special little bit of code (no, don’t run screaming from your screen – I am not going to talk about coding) that turns them into what is called an RSS feed. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. You can tell if the website you are looking at has an RSS feed by looking at the web address line of your browser. At the end of that line, after the URL, it will have a symbol that says RSS.

OK, so what? Well, the best part of all this is that you can set up blog readers like Google Reader to keep track of these sites for you and show you when something new is posted on them automatically! I currently subscribe to over 80 blogs. Some are ministry related, some are about photography (something I really like), some are about technology, Bible software, leadership and even a few are about blogging. Each day, and sometimes many times a day, I open Google Reader and it shows me all the blogs I am subscribed to, indicates which ones have new posts and gives me the choice of reading them then or leaving them for later.

It would take a long time for me to go and check each one of those sites one at a time to see if they had something new for me to read. As a matter of fact, it would take so long that I would never do it! That is the beauty of this, Google Reader does all of that for me. It is like having your own custom morning newspaper delivered to your screen whenever you want it.

There are a number of good blog readers out there, but I think Google Reader is the easiest to set up and use. Here is a short 3 minute video on how to get started using Google Reader.

Learn to find these sources online, then subscribe to them, and then – READ THEM. You never know what you might find. I am encouraged, uplifted and edified everyday by reading blogs. You can be too. Give Google Reader a try.

Once the articles are in your account, Instapaper’s power really kicks in. You can read these articles online later, read them on your iPhone, download them as PDF files, or even download them to your Kindle if you have one. As an iPhone user, now I can read these articles whenever I have free time. The iPhone app (free or Pro version $4.99) presents the text of the article in a very readable style even on a small screen. The Pro version offers some great features including Dark Mode for low light situations (the screen presents the text as white of black), tilt scrolling (simply tilt your iPhone and the text scrolls as you read), folders, star articles you’d recommend and it even saves your position in the document so you can pick up right where you left off later. Now, I can catch up on my reading while standing in line at the bank, while eating my lunch (without getting food all over my laptop keyboard) or any other time I have a few free minutes.

Check out the Instapaper video below and start reading those articles you want to read, when you have time to read them.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F03DMkvSDU&feature=player_embedded]

Copywriting is traditionally a form of writing for marketing, but its very purpose is often to be persuasive. Writing for ministry is often persuasive as well, trying to encourage people to study their Bibles, or get more active in the Christian walk, or even if you are just trying to persuade them to read your blog – you are often trying to convince them to do something. Check out the article – it will help you become a better writer. Your readers will be glad you did.

Another blog that I have recently discovered that offers advice in this area is On Blogging Well. This blog offers advice and tips to improve your blog, make it more functional and increase readership. Check it out.

The Power of Computing
For ministry the power of computing means that we can approach the text of the Bible with tools never before available. Bible software like Logos (my favorite), Bibleworks, PC Study Bible, ESword (free) and more allow us to examine the text of Scripture in more and more detail. We can search, analyze and study faster and more accurately. We can find the Greek words associated with our English translations, discover their meanings and locate them elsewhere in the text almost instantly. These tools can transform our Bible study and help us understand God’s word because of the power of computing. Try that with an electric typewriter.

The Power of Connecting
Listening to the radio recently on my drive to work I was reminded by the DJ of how far we have come in terms of “connection.” He commented that when his grandparents were children there was no television, no radio, no phone, no form of mass communication whatsoever! He quipped, “I realized that the only way anyone could talk to anyone else back then was when they were in the same room together.” I had never really thought about that before. There was no way to communicate to anyone who wasn’t standing right in front of you. How different that is from where we are now! Right now this blog post can be read by anyone on the planet with a simple Internet connection. I can stand in the middle of my living room with a device in my had the size of a deck of playing cards (my iPhone) and can make a phone calls to a person thousands of miles away, access information on the internet, send a text messages to a friend, and all while watching television. We really are connected to the entire world.

But how are we using it? Facebook, Twitter and other social networking tools connect us, but do we really need to know what you had for breakfast this morning? Facebook membership just surpassed the population of the United States and if it were a country it would be the 3rd largest in the world! and As Christians, we have been entrusted with the most powerful message man has ever been given – the Gospel. Yet often we only think to “post” the results of a quiz like What Color Crayon are You? or What Should Your Name Really Be? Really? Is that the best we can do?

So the question is what are we, as the Lord’s church doing about it? How are we as Christians using this “information connection” to reach people with the gospel? It is not up to the elders, or the preacher – how can I reach out? here are a few suggestions:

1. Use Facebook or Twitter to encourage people with the words of Scripture – I know a woman that has started posting a Bible verse that she is reading everyday. Her friends started noticing and commenting and the best part is, now, if she doesn’t post one, people ask her where her Bible verse is for the day! She is using the power of connection to share God’s word with others and she is having an impact.
2. Start a blog – For preachers and ministry workers this is a no-brainer. Preachers can post about information about their upcoming lessons and sermons or provide follow-up information afterward so member can dig deeper. Ministry leaders can post about the affect their ministry is having, what needs they have and what they are doing. Members can write about their spiritual walk and encourage others as we all strive to reach greater heights.
3. Read blog posts and share them with friends – Connect with others who are writing to find encouragement and strength. There are a number of good blogs out there that can lift you up and challenge your thinking. Here are a couple to get you started; Preacherpollard, Thoughts from the Mound, Weylen Words, That Fire Within.  Blog readers like Google Reader, Bloglines and others allow you to “subscribe” to these sites (don’t worry it’s free). It’s like having your own custom newspaper delivered to your computer all day long. When you find a post that you like or helps you or touches you – share it with someone! Spread the encouragement!

Tap into the power at your fingertips. We have been provided with tools here that can change lives (including your own) and can change the world. Let us always as God’s people be looking at how to use these tools for the Lord.

When I first checked it out a number of months ago I was quickly bored by the posts I read. It was mostly what people were doing at the moment (what TV show they were watching, what store they were shopping in, what they just ate for dinner and so on). It didn’t take long for me to move on to other tools and write Twitter off as relatively useless. But I have to say I am changing my mind. No, I have not gained a new interest in what people had for dinner this evening, but I have found some folks to follow that are doing much, much more with this tool.

I fancy myself a shutterbug and so I started “following” the “tweets” from some professional photographers, whose work I admire. I noticed that for the most part their tweets contained links to blog posts, articles and images they had posted on the web. In essence, they were using their tweets to drive traffic to their main websites or blogs. I started learning by their posts. I was more aware of what was going on in the field of photography and I was starting to pay attention. I found out about seminars and events through tweets before they were even posted on the web! I was able to sign up for a seminar here in Denver before it was available to the general public because the photographer posted a link in his tweet. That is when the lightbulb went off for me. You see Twitter is about connecting people with information. Oh sure, there are thousands (maybe even hundreds of thousands) of people that are going to tweet that they just brushed their teeth, but that is the background noise we must get past. We can drive people to information and if we connect them to information they want (or need) they will keep “following.”

So what does this mean for ministry?
One ministry example to look to is House to House, Heart to Heart. You may know HTH from the direct mail work they do for the church, but they are doing more than that. Their website hosts video lessons, sermon audio, articles, tracts and more. They are also using Twitter very well. Two or three times a day they “tweet” with links to content on their site. Sometimes they link to articles, other times it is a link to a sermon audio, but the point is they are driving traffic. They are “pushing” information out rather than simply posting the content and hoping people find out that it is there. Often times we build it (a building, a website, etc…) and hope people will come. But Jesus told us to GO and teach. The folks at House to House obviously understand that. They are going, and as they go they are teaching. Certainly I suggest that you check out their website, but I also suggest that you follow them on Twitter at @HousetoHouseHTH.

Imagine driving people to your podcast or sermon audio on your website. Think about letting people know that you just posted a great article to your blog on having stronger marriages. Maybe you simply tweet a verse of the day with a link back to your website for more. Tweet about a seminar you are doing with a link to your website with the details. Can you see the possibilities? Check out Twitter, but don’t tell people what you had for dinner – give them food for their souls instead. These tools can help us reach thousands, what message are we sending them?

You can follow me on Twitter at @jmhite.