TechShepherds.com

MP3s Go Into Battle

wwwThis is a follow-up to yesterday's post "To Charge or Not to Charge."  I have actually changed my opinion on this over the last year. 

One reason why is the war in Iraq.  MP3s are a great resource for our soldiers all around the world.  They have downtime when they need to be filled with inspirational thoughts.  What better way to thank them and minister to them than to provide them with free MP3s.  No, not all of the soldiers have Internet access, but I know of several who do.  And several have MP3 players.  I have received emails saying how appreciative they are and how much look forward to listening to them.

We have great audio resources to offer.  Let's get the word out.

Don't have MP3s available for soldiers from your church?  Looking for some great MP3s for yourself so you can get filled after a long week of giving?   Check out Sarge's blog for his list of the top 5 free MP3 sites.

To Charge or Not to Charge?

Shawn Wood has a great post at ChurchBlogSpot.com about Seacoast Church offering free MP3s.   This reminded me that his is a question that has come up in several meetings in which I have been a part.  "Do we charge for mp3 versions of sermons?"  The question never has come up when talking about CDs or tapes.  The obvious thing there being the cost recovery of the media and duplicators.

So what about MP3 versions?  Some churches and ministries use services such at Christianity.com and OnePlace.com (which have recently merged under the same parent company).  Both of these offer some great features and syndication to a larger audience.  The case can be made that by paying for a service like this that the same argument would apply as does to CDs and tapes: "since we are paying for the service, we need to recover the cost."

If people can freely download mp3 files, does that not cause CD and tape sales to decline?  I have talked with a few churches about this.  Most say they see little or no decline.  A couple have claimed their CD and tapes sales have actually increased because after people listen to the mp3 they want a CD to give to a friend or family member.  They want a professional looking CD rather than one they burned themselves.  I suppose this would depend upon how nice the church makes the CD look.

Check out Shawn's post to see how offering MP3s have worked at Seacoast.

Quotable: Worship, Work, Play

We have become a generation of people who worship our work, who work at our play, and who play at our worship.

From the book Stress Fractures, p.157 by Charles Swindoll

Food Pantry and Fellowship One

Jason Powell at Granger Community Church has a great post on his blog about using the Fellowship One to help out at their food pantry.  This is great stuff.  Thanks, Jason, for documenting this for us to see!!!

Read all about it here.

The Apprentice Goes Into Ministry?

Imagine if there were an "Apprentice" for ministry.  No, I don't look for "The Donald" to star in this one, but image the potential impact. 

John Ventry at Real Focus brought up the idea in his post.

Here is my comment I left on his blog.  What are your thoughts on the topic of mentoring the next generation of leaders?

I like the concept. There are some great leaders out there who could make a great impact by mentoring more young leaders. I am not talking about finding cheap labor through using inters. Rather there is a need to true mentoring. The reason the Apprentice show is so popular in my opinion is because young leaders are craving to learn from those who know what they are doing (okay, I know some of them are just wanting their 10 minutes of fame). Great idea, John!

CD: Investments or Little Round Things?

This it totally awesome!!!  Another story of God using an obedient sister, faithful techies, and the message of a gifted teaching pastor(s). 

Check out Shawn's blog to learn how one man was ministered to and received Christ through this great combination of servants. 

Don't think that what you are doing does not really matter to the Kingdom!  Thanks, Shawn, for sharing this praise!

Do you have any great testimonies like this?

IT Ministry Growing

It seems that not only is the use of technology in ministry growing, but the number of technology staff positions is increasing as well.  "Technology" is a broad term in churches and tends to include everything from network infrastructure to multimedia.  Nonetheless, it was great to see the number of tech/media staff positions available just on ChurchStaffing.com  today.

Technology for Less

You may be able to afford that technology after all.  If you are affiliated with a denomination, you may be able to purchase hardware and software at discounted prices.  Some of the items may include:

• phone service
• copiers
• software
• hardware
• projectors
• website solutions
• etc.

Two of the denominations that I have found who offer this to their churches are:

• Southern Baptist Purchasing Alliance
• United Methodists Communications

The items offered are major brands.   When shopping, be sure to compare.

These are just two of the denominations out there.  Does yours offer this type of program?  Leave a comment or drop me an email, and I will be sure to compile and share a more complete list.

Thanks, Dave

Brian Baily has brought up a great point about giving credit where credit is due.   Who is Dave, and why should be thank him?  Read Brian's post for the answers.

Keeping It Simple

One technology item I observed at the Air Force Academy graduation that is good for all of us in tech ministry to remember is keep it simple.  If high tech is not needed for the task, don't force it.

In the previous post on the graduation you can see pictures of the Thunder Birds as they timed it perfectly to do a fly over salute at the exact time the cadets threw their hats in the air.  While radio communications were definitely used to ensure the Thunder Birds were within a certain window of opportunity, the timing came down to a red flag. 

That's right...a red flag was held by a man on the press box who could see the Thunder Birds coming.  As soon as he dropped the flag, they pronounced the cadets as officially graduated, and the cadets threw their hats in the air.  The timing was perfect...all with the drop of a low-tech red flag.