Each year Woodland sends a team to New Mexico to minister at the Navajo Reservation. They work mainly with three organizations: Western Indian Ministries, Forest Lake Baptist Church in Black Mesa, and Rez Refuge. Ministry opportunities include: construction and renovation, distribution of clothing and health care supplies, outreach at local orphanages, and senior craft seminars.

This summer a group from Woodland, Shana (my wife), and I will be heading to the Navajo Nation July 10th – 18th. We will be working to renovate and develop a Youth Community Center for the reservation, along with the projects listed above.  I will also be helping out with their network, computers, and possibly starting a computer lab.  We ask for your prayers and financial support as we prepare for this trip.  We also are looking for computer, monitor and networking equipment donations.

Way back when at the end of January I posted “Using your phone during church?!?” on the blog.  It sparked a little conversation but of course most of the response was from other techies that are on blogs and twitter “professionally” I’d like to widen the question to a broader group of people as I’m still not sure how people take the use of technology in a church service.  So please share this on your blogs, twitter, etc. Thanks! Short URL for this post is http://bit.ly/57Dvi

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Last summer I went to the International Shelby Conference where Pat Williams, Co-founder and Senior Vice President, of the Orlando Magic was the keynote speaker.  As I was cleaning my desk and a conference bag they gave out I came across my notes from his speech.

1. Live your life by the faith phenom
2. Character counts (Honesty, Integrity)
3. Never give up
4. Go the second mile
5. Take your hurts and turn them into strengths
6. Seek out the right kind of friends
7. You are responsible (for the decisions you make)
8. Be specific in goal setting
9. Say the right kind of words
10. Think positive thoughts

He also shared a quote from John Wooden that I really liked, “If you can’t discipline yourself, someone else will have to do it for you, and the cost is much higher.”

Once again the Church tech world is going to get a little lighter.  After finishing BL3 in 4th place I’ve set my goals a little higher this time (as I always do).  Of course everything just seems to be an excuse for something else, but I’m figuring this will all be worthwhile so we got the kayaks racks back on the Trailblazer, went and bought a couple of mountain bikes to hit the trails with, and of course all of that will let us do some more geocaching so I’m exicted for a great summer.  The wife has just 16.5 days of school left and then she gets the summer off (I think I should have been a teacher) so I’ll just be trying to keep up with her. All that to say I invite each of you in the Church techie world whether staff or volunteer, IT, Web, AV, or Tech/Production Arts to join us in Biggest Loser 4.  And if you’re wondering it’s all based on % so you have an equal or better shot no matter your size. I double dog dare ya!

Our Senior Pastor at Woodland, Tim Passmore has started a video blog and I thought his first post was pretty fun, at a minimum he made an excellent choice for his first guest.

Sharing this video I got from Steve Ollis’s blog.  Some really interesting thoughts and numbers that make you think.  There’s lot of technology related statistics and absolutely zero religious reference but I think that’s where we come in.  As ministers of the gospel using technology to further the kingdom how can we use information like this to expand our thinking and help us reach people.  Share this with your other tech friends and co-workers, and share in the comments what made YOU think.  Now with that all said, “Did you know?”

so…what topics would make you go, ” Wow, I really have to go read that right now!”?

This is an amazing video from 12 Stone Church that my buddy Dean Lisenby shared on Facebook.  Since I wanted to make sure you could see this I found the YouTube version to share with you.  As the economy around the country is having difficulties don’t forget the priority of giving back to God first.

I recently twittered a thought I was having about impressions during a church service.  For those of you who may have forgotten, missed, or not cared about that I’ll share it again:

Would your church be accepting of me using my mobile device as my bible? Or would I be looked down on for texting and not paying attention?

The week before posting this while at church I was using my Blackberry Curve and my favorite bible app Youversion. No one said anything and I doubt anyone even noticed but it still started me thinking. The use of smartphones is becoming more prevalent and people are used to being able to do everything on the go.  They’ve got email, texting, social networking, calendars, to do lists, websurfing and everything else, of course there will come a time they want a bible application as well.  Now as culture changes in regards to the way we connect with others, do technology, and think of church how will the church respond?

So what are your thoughts? Would your church be okay with me using my phone openly during a service? would the pastor? Should we have a tech service where you can use your laptop, phones, etc?

After a few posts on the topic and limited connections, I’m excited as that as the National Church IT group has gotten bigger and gained more members and exposure that those that I’ve been able to meet and get connected with those a bit closer to home. As I’m sure all that have been to the in-person roundtable events whether regional or national there is nothing like sitting down and being able to talk and think together. Jason Reynolds has taken the big leap and tentatively set some dates and through out the invitation in a blog post yesterday. For day-to-day connections you can’t beat the IRC chat room and twitter. Stop by and say hi, we won’t byte.