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.

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.

First-Ever Disposable Digital Video Cameras Hit Stores

Huh?  When I first read about a disposable digital video camera, I though, "Who in the world would want one of these?" 

Then it hit me.  Have you ever had a mission trip team or youth group ask for the church's nice digital camera when they were going to an environment where you were not sure the camera would last?  Maybe your church is in a situation where you cannot afford one of the nicer, more expensive ones. 

Flash Video Streaming

Here are two great links by Terry Storch about the future of video streaming.

Link: Flash Streaming Video.
Link: Flash on your Nokia cell phone.

Sermons are not just for Sunday anymore

Everywhere you turn today you see them.  iPods, Dell Jukeboxes, and MP3 players of all types.  People are listening to music and audio files.   Automobiles are now being fitted with docking stations for MP3 players.  This will allow people to take their music and audio files with them everywhere they go.

The weekly sermons that are delivered in churches each week, too often fall silent at the walls of the church.  Image these great resources being available for people to listen to throughout the week.  The following quote from the Ellison Research findings we have been looking at show that we are missing out on the great discipleship benefits of this cultural phenomenon:

Of the tested uses of technology, the one of least importance to ministers in the near future is having their sermons available on their church’s Web site – only 9% feel this will be extremely important to the work of their church over the next five years.

Not only should we see this as important in the next five years...we should see this as extremely important today.  How is your church using the web to make audio disipleship materials available?

Passion for Christ not Technology

Throughout history Christians have been using  technology to creatively present the Gospel of Christ to their culture.  This past year has seen Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ movie brings to life in a very vivid way the events of the last few days of Jesus' life prior to his crucifiction.  While there has been controversy surrounding the film, what I want to focus on here is that technology was used in a creative way. 

Obviously churches do not have the financial resources to produce a Hollywood style production such as  The Passiion movie.  However, now that it is available on DVD, we have the opportunity to purchase it at a reasonable price and use it as an outreach tool.

As technology progresses, there are tools being developed that make it possible for churches to produce videos at a reasonable cost.  One of the neatest low price tools for making videos is Visual Communicator by Serious Magic.  With different levels available to purchase, this tool brings the power of high-dollar software and features down to the level that most any church can afford.  Vedeos can be created for high-quality projection all the way web optimized.