Out the Door

IA UMC the next youtube??

United Methodist Churches & individuals in Iowa no longer have to look to youtube in order to put videos on line.  The IA Conference recently added a video sharing feature to its website.  This is made possible through an arrangement with ourchurchvideos.com. 

According to the Iowa Edition of the UM Reporter:

Members of the Iowa Conference are now encouraged to upload and share their ministry-related videos on this site....Channels include worship resources, missions, youth ministry, children's ministry, sermon and sermon series, and soon General Conference and Annual Conference. 

It will be interesting to see how many congregations take advantage of this service.  We haven't started uploading videos.  I probably need to find some high schooler who could do this for us.  However, because we are a Web Empowered Church, showing FLV's is built into our web design software program.

What's your opinion, if your Conference offered this service, would your congregation put videos on line?

Enslaved by technology

Sometimes I wonder if I allow technology to rule my life.  Somehow I've convinced myself that the latest gadget is going to make my life easier, more organized, better.  But I'm really starting to question that.  Last week I bought a new PDA so I could keep track of my activities.  But I'm still figuring out all the features it has and I have already spent several hours organizing that data I do have in it.  Plus I been looking on line for more "productivity" software, as if one more software package will make me a whole lot more productive. 

Then there's my sermon podcast.  While I know people have listened in, each week I have to record the audio, edit and format it, upload it, set up the links; all the while never knowing if it will impact a single person.

And of course, there's the two websites I created and manage and emails to check and cell phone calls to answer!!

I guess what really got me thinking about this, is when I couldn't brew a pot of coffee this morning until after I had taken time grind the beans.  Now any coffee connoisseur will tell you that good coffee requires using fresh ground beans, but is it really worth it?  Where's the line where technology is no longer making life better but has taken over life?

UM on ramp to the internet superhighway

I just concluded an on-line meeting with Andy James, Director of Digital Media for UM Reporter.  He was demonstrating for me the new United Methodist Portal.  I think it has great potential to increase the number of hits for any UMC's website. 

It's been a concern of mine that the time and effort and money that we devote to developing and maintaining our website is not the most effective use of these resources.  I never know who is visiting the sight or how often it really gets used.  Because of that I'm always looking for a way to increase traffic to our site.  The UM Portal appears to be means to accomplish that.  I'll be presenting this tool to my Ad. Council in a couple of weeks to get their input.

Here's a couple of links to congregations who are already using the Portal.  Check them out and let me know what you think.

Long's Chapel UMC, Lake Junaluska,  NC- http://longschapel.wnc.umportal.org/main/index.asp

Neodesha UMC, Neodesha, KS - http://neodesha.kse.umportal.org/main/index.asp

Boston Avenue UMC, Tulsa, OK- http://bostonavenue.okl.umportal.org/main/index.asp

Gathering of bloggers

Gavin Richardson with the help of a number of other people is in the process of putting together a gathering to discuss how churches can use the Internet more effectively for ministry.  He and his cohorts have gotten as far as composing a draft plan for the event.  I'm looking to it forward immensely.  I read the thoughts of many UM bloggers regularly and put in my two cents worth quite often, it will be great to meet some of these people face to face and get to discuss our shared vision for ministry.  (By some of these people, I mean the people who are at the event, not that there are some bloggers I don't want to meet.)

My sermon for this coming Sunday fits very well with this.  It's titled "Adapting to a Changing World."  As the intro to "The Internet is My Parish" says:

We live in a interconnected world. As Thomas Friedman has noticed in his book "The World Is Flat," internet usage has created a new paradigm for communication in the world. No longer can any church ask whether they will have a web site or not -- it has become an expectation along with hymnals and pews. The questions that churches must now answer are focused on how to utilize current technological trends to maximize the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ thoughout the world. Whereas the church has functioned with mass communication paradigms in mission, the rise of blogs, podcasting, and other user created media distributed through the internet means that we have to think in new ways.

PS:  Check back in on Monday to hear "Adapting to a Changing World."

As congregations we will either adapt to a rapidly changing world, or will be sink into irrelevance.  Events like "The Internet is My Parish" are important to keeping the message of Christ alive in our world.  I'll keep you posted as more details become available.

Great New Program

Last night I downloaded a copy of Audacity, a free audio editing software.  It's one of the easiest to learn programs I've ever come across.  The tutorials had me through the basics in about an hour.  It was recommended by a couple of different sites I had viewed while trying to figure out how to podcast my sermons.  The program I have been using up to this point to record doesn't allow for editing the track or combining multiple tracks.  It worked okay as long as the record button and stop button were hit at the right time.  Audacity is going to make this process much easier.  Plus it will allow me to add in some music so the beginning of the podcast is not so abrupt.

I feel like a kid in a candystore.  And the best part about it was it didn't cost me anything!