Click the picture above for the album of pictures from the 2009 Navajo trip

Navajo Mission 2010
Black Mesa, NM & Window Rock, AZ
June 11th – 19th

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, as well as many other opportunities to serve.

This summer a group from Woodland will once again be heading out including, Shana (my wife), and I. This years project list isn’t finalized as we try to find out from the people what the greatest need is and assist in those areas. along with the projects listed above. I will once again be helping out with their wireless networking, computers repairs and upgrades, and implementing a backup system at the school. 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.

I stole this from a long slew of people who had posted it before me, so it must be good.  Before RSS I would actually have had to go to someone’s blog to have seen this, Thanks Technology!

Thanks Technology from John on Vimeo.

If you are Anyone responsible for Information Technology in a ministry setting … Business Admins, IT Directors, Network Admins, Helpdesk, staff or volunteers … regardless of church/organization size, then You will NOT want to miss this amazing opportunity to learn from your IT peers from across the country!  Check out the CITRT website for all the latest details:

http://citrt.pbworks.com/Spring-2010-National-Church-IT-Roundtable

This is a simple and easy blog post, I have 8 Wave invites and 2 Voice invites.  Leave a comment with what you want and i’ll give them out.  Enjoy!

I’ve had a couple people ask me how to get this setup and I also want to make sure I don’t forget so here goes:

• In the Connect screen:
• Nickname: you choose
  Real name: your paren’ts chose
  Default channels: #citrt
  Ident: I put same as nickname
  IRC Server: chat.freenode.net
  Port: 6667
• Hit the Connect button, you will then see a pop-up telling you it’s connecting to server.
• Then click on #chat button, once there hit on settings button(4 line button) to choose “Join Channel”
• Add citrt and enter
• Then click on the #citrt button to be entered into chat

I’m always looking for ways to better remember things that I come across online or in twitter.  Well it seems you can use a mention or DM of @myen in twitter once you have your account registered and it will automatically enter that info into Evernote.  I find this to be a quick and easy way to save stuff for later, I just hit the Retweet button (so i don’t have to type it all out) and switch it to a “d myen”

What do you use to help stay organized?

I was one of those people who was at the store at 7am on Friday, i couldn’t wait to get the Droid plus I was hoping to get back to give my wife her phone before her work day started (that didn’t happen). So far I’ve been very impressed with the Droid, it’s quick, it got a great screen, i’ve had no coverage isssues, and i’ve found an app for everything i’ve looked for so far.  The difficulty with apps so far is no one knows which ones to get, it’s a new device for most and there are still a lot of apps to choose from. So far my must have apps for the Droid in no particular order are:

• Facebook – well for Facebook
• Twidroid – yup, you guessed it for Twitter, latest version already has lists
• Bible –  from YouVersion, can’t wait till Live is integrated (hint, hint)
• Calorie Counter – great app to track what you’re eating and it’s nutrional information, use your camera to scan the barcode and the info will be added automatically
• CardioTrainer – another great health app that uses your phone’s GPS and as a pedometer to track your routes, call off pace, set goals, etc
• fIRC chat – As a Church IT guy you always have to be connected to our IRC chat to get your questions answered quickly
• Key Ring - So you don’t have to carry around all your rewards cards, gym tags, etc
• OurGroceries – syncs automatically between my phone and the wifes phone, also stores recipes so you can make sure you are picking up everything you need.
• Slacker – gotta have your radio
• wpToGo – Mobile access to my blog, hopefully i’ll use this to actually write posts more often

So what apps are you using? What have you tried that just don’t work the way it should? What apps do you wish you could find?

I didn’t plan on making this a top 10 list, but when i got done and had 10 well I had to name it that way.

It seems strange to me that in just 4 days, @sberg and I will be heading out with 14 others on a mission trip to the Navajo nation.  Not really sure why it seems strange we’ve done local missions, stateside missions, and even a couple of international mission trips, but this one already has a calling to me and us.  Not sure what it is or why it is but it seems to just make sense, this trip to go out west will be a trip into what will seem like a 3rd world country with more cultural and spiritual difference then i’ve had to deal with before.  For a techie that normally has a Blackberry in hand, a laptop on the shoulder and never far from internet and connectivity this will be a challenge for me as well.  And that’s a good thing! One of the things I struggle with is stopping and connecting and embracing the things that are most important, those relationships with God, with family, with friends. If you’ve ever talked with a person who has been on a mission trip they almost always say that it had more effect on them then it did on those that they were serving, that’s what i’m looking for, that moment, that realization, that focus. Pray for the Navajo and our group, pray that all involved will grow closer to the one true God. Thanks.

Have I told you lately how much I love the fact that Mozy sends me an affiliate check every month? It’s pretty easy to get people to sign-up for a free 2GB online backup site that works great. It’s one of the ways I’m using to help pay for my Navajo Mission trip so know that not only is it something i use and love it’s also helping support a great cause. So follow this link, http://bit.ly/mozyfree, sign-up for your free account and then once you’re registered click on the affiliate link on the bottom of the page and get ready to start getting your checks from Mozy.

As many of you know and as many of you are as well, I’m a huge fan of the CITRT community. Yes, community, we are a group (or “ungroup” as some say) that definitely come together mainly through our techie tool of the internet. In just over 2 weeks my wife (@sberg) will be heading to the Navajo Nation which is mainly in Arizona and New Mexico on a mission trip.  I was getting ready to write up another post this morning to ask for prayer and for those of you so inclined financial support (for the two of us the trip will be over $1600) when I get the incoming link notifications that my buddy Jeff Suever has posted on his blog about our trip in today’s post called CITRT Member on a Mission.  I can’t even say how much I(we) appreciate the support that Jeff and others have shown and given us and can only hope we can live out God’s love this well to the Navajo. The following comes from Jeff’s blog I just thought it HAD to be shared

If you have ever been blessed, encouraged or made to laugh by Derek, join me in supporting them in any way you can. Financially would be great, but in prayer (really, do it this time) would be more than appreciated as well. Whip out that fancy phone, put task reminders in there for

• every Wednesday beginning June 24, ending July 8
• once per day, beginning July 9, ending July 18.