Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Kindle Paperwhite Review - The White... And Dark Sides

I love my new Kindle Paperwhite. The lighted screen combined with the thin and light form factor has brought back the fun of reading on an e-ink reader. It's not all light and happy, however. In this review I'll also talk about some of the dark sides of Amazon's new Paperwhite.

The Light. Let's start with the best reason to buy this device - the new lighted screen. It truly makes a significance difference in reading.  Once you read for 30 minutes with this revolutionary new lighting system, you'll wonder how you ever managed to read the old e-ink displays. Amazon has figured out how to distribute the light evenly across the entire screen for a dramatic improvement in ease of reading.  Like others, I've found that I keep the light on in almost every reading condition - with the only possible exception of direct, bright sunlight.

The Shadows. I'd heard so many positive things about this new lighting system that my expectations were off the chart. Perhaps Amazon has slightly oversold here. When I received my new Paperwhite I was concerned because of the four small shadows along the bottom of the device between the lights themselves. I honestly thought I had received a defective device. Then I heard Len Edgerly's weekly Kindle Chronicles podcast and discovered this was normal on all the devices. For me this is no big deal. It impacts only one line of text along the bottom. If I were grading this lighting system, I'd give it a 95% - still an easy "A." The problem is that I was expecting a 100% from all the hype.  Compared to all the other non-lighted e-ink readers, the clarity of the reading experience jumps from a B to a solid A, a dramatic improvement.

Look Ma... No Buttons! I love the touchscreen. Amazon has figured out how to make the screen advance or go back a page with just the touch of my thumb or finger. There is just enough of a texturized feel, a fine grain added to the screen, that gives me a good indication of how much pressure I need to apply. It's easy to advance without accidentally changing pages. For those who want to know - I'm jumping a generation from the Kindle Keyboard to this.  I didn't buy last year's model, the Kindle Touch, so I can't compare the Touch to the Paperwhite. However, I have heard that this Kindle's capacitive touch is a more responsive than last year's IR interface. And it's miles ahead of having to push buttons on either side of the device to change pages!

How Fast Do You Read? I love the new "Time To Read" function in the bottom left hand corner of the reader. I can toggle between location numbers, time left in the entire book, or - my preference - time left in this chapter. This "Time To Read" function changes to fit your actual reading pace. This is especially helpful when I know I only have so much time and wonder if I can fit in another chapter. It's also helpful when I'm in bed at night and near the end of a chapter. "Hang in there Mark! You can keep your eyes open for 3 more minutes!" With this in mind, I do miss the old inteface of horizontal chapter marks along the bottom. There's also no easy way of advancing directly from one chapter to the next, as was the case with the Kindle Keyboard. (One can use the menu of the Paperwhite, requiring at least 3 taps.)

The Collision of Church, Politics and Facebook

I've noticed something new happening on my Facebook wall: the collision of my friends, their faith, and their politics. This is not the first national election since the advent of Facebook. This is, however, the first election since Facebook has gone mainstream. Four years ago my Facebook friends were either tech-oriented or youth-oriented. Now many of my Facebook friends couldn't tell me the first thing about their IP addresses and, like me, are getting to the age where they have to think a moment to even remember their street addresses.

Four years ago I knew that many of my congregants possessed widely different political viewpoints. But unless these same church members were part of the same small group or family, they didn't know one another's political leanings. Fast forward to 2012. Now a majority of us are connected to one another via social networks like Facebook. I maintain a special friend list just of Church Requel members and check it every day. Many of them do the same. I LOVE being connected to one another this way...

Except when it comes to politics. A wise man once said that politics and religion, like oil and water, don't mix. What I'm witnessing is probably the same thing you are seeing. Many of my friends' walls are filled with reposted snarky and one-sided photos, which are considered funny to one side while hurtful to the other side.

My Fitness Pal Helps Me Lose Weight

Yesterday morning I enjoyed a pleasant surprise when I stepped on the bathroom scale. For the first time in many years the first digit was a "1"! So far this year I've dropped 30 pounds. Much of that loss came with the aid of a calorie counting and exercise tracking app called My Fitness Pal.

My Fitness Pal boasts nutritional information on over a million foods, and I believe it. I have yet to find a food that's not already included in theIr database. The genius of this tool is that several times throughout the day I enter the foods I've eaten into the MFP diary. Using the free mobile app available for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows devices, recording the foods I've eaten is fast and easy.

There are no restricted foods or particular diets to follow. Simply being aware of the nutrition I've consumed combined with my exercise is enough to keep me on track for weight loss. Keeping a daily journal is the key for me and many others. Studies have shown that those who maintain a daily diary of their eating lose twice as much as those who don't keep a journal. I know that one of my biggest challenges has been eating junk late at night. Now, with my food journal as close as my phone, I have learned to just say no.

One of the other things that's been really helpful to me is the community aspect of MFP. I am reminded regularly by the app that those involved in like-minded community lose more weight. I have about a dozen friends who also use MFP. They have given me permission to follow their progress and I have given them the same permission to hold me accountable. The MFP app provides a page for my friend's comments. There are lots of encouraging words that flow back and forth as a result. This friendly accountability really came through for me in a big way when I quit for about a week. I received texts, emails and phone calls encouraging me to get back on track. For those who want it, MFP also offers a group feature.

One does not need to have a smart phone app to use MFP. The MFP website provides the same food and exercise database along with access to one's network of friends. However, the MFP mobile app is the secret sauce for weight loss as far as I'm concerned. My sister-in-law told me last week that she thought recording her foods all the time was a tedious chore. (Yet, she is sticking with it!) I wondered about that for a while until I remembered that she does not own a smart phone with data access. Therefore she has to turn on her computer every time she wants to make a diary entry. Yes, that would require a bit more dedication.

One of the best things about the MFP mobile app is the barcode reader. More than half of the time I don't type anything in to the app. Rather I focus my iPhone camera on the barcode on the food package and the MFP app automatically brings up all the nutrition info for me. One more click adds the food to my diary. Simple. Easy. Convenient.

Finally I love all the help and advice that is offered on the website. There is a full featured and active forum where anyone can ask a question and receive answers quickly. There is something really cool about a community of helpful people supporting one another as they experience the trials of weight loss together. I would highly recommend these posts for anyone just getting started.

If you are wanting to lose weight and get yourself into better physical shape, I can't recommend My Fitness Pal highly enough. I don't know how they keep it free. I've never experienced any solicitations or ads on the mobile app. Honestly, when you consider the alternative costs that result from poor health, this app alone is worth the cost of your phone and data plan!

Posted with Blogsy

How to Insert an HTML5 Audio Player into a Typepad Blog

All I wanted to do was include an audio player in my podcast post in my Typepad blog. Should be simple, right?  After waiting for almost a year for Typepad to improve it's own audio player. I invested a day two weeks ago figuring out how to do it myself. This article is written for those who also want to include an up-to-date audio player in their Typepad blog (or any other blog, for that matter) and don't want to move their blog away from Typepad. Why should you have to invest an entire day of your life, when you could learn from my experience?

Click to Listen!

The Problem With Typepad's Audio Player. Typepad provides an icon in its Rich Text menu to upload an audio file and to insert an audio player. But the player doesn't work in all browsers. In IOS, for instance, a dialog message regularly comes back stating, "The operation could not be completed." Even when it does work, the player is so simple that there isn't even an option to scrub forward or back.  On top of everything else using Typepad's provided audio player also inserts a lot of white space or padding at the bottom of the blog page.

It's not like Typepad isn't aware of this issue. I wrote a help ticket 11 months ago (Sept. 2011) and received back these responses:

It's actually the audio player in your post here - http://www.churchrequel.com/church_requel/2011/09/audio-sermon-why-we-remember.html - that is causing the extra padding at the end of the page. We're going to further investigate why the built in audio player is causing the problem.

In the meantime, you may want to remove the audio player from the post to restore your blog's design and instead place a link to download the file in post.

After a week had gone by, I naively thought that maybe some progress was being made and wrote to ask. Here's what I heard back.

When an issue is reported, we go through a specific, formal process in which the issue is discussed with the development engineers and a priority assigned. Once we can determine the cause of the problem, the code changes must be made in development, tested, and verified. Finally, they are assigned to a release and pushed into production.

Since this process does take some time, we are unable to give a specific date at this time when the change would be made. This will be determined during the development process, as we said.

We understand and appreciate your concerns. That we are unable to give a specific date before this issue has gone through the development process does not mean that we take it lightly. We do appreciate your taking the time to let us know how important this issue is for you though.

It's now been 48 weeks and nothing has changed. So I guess if it's to be it's up to me.

Online Hacking Impacts My Backups and Passwords

Online security is no longer someone else's problem.  With the proliferation of online services combined with often lax security measures, pastors should be aware of and prepared for the protection of his work and the privacy of his church.  In this post I'd like to share with you my own response to the recent acceleration of online security threats.

First, the news.  This past Friday, Mat Honan, a writer for Wired Magazine, was hacked hard. He tells the story as he experienced it: playing with his daughter, discovering his iPhone went dead, trying to recover his phone by plugging it into his MacBook, watching in horror as his laptop also fades to a gray screen.  He grabs his iPad only to see that it had been reset too.  He had been hacked and lost control not only of his devices, but also of all his online services like iCloud, Gmail, and Twitter.  His laptop, along with all the photos of his one-year old daughter, had been remotely wiped.  

On Monday evening, Mat wrote for Wired Gadget Lab:

In many ways, this was all my fault. My accounts were daisy-chained together. Getting into Amazon let my hackers get into my Apple ID account, which helped them get into Gmail, which gave them access to Twitter... Had I been regularly backing up the data on my MacBook, I wouldn’t have had to worry about losing more than a year’s worth of photos, covering the entire lifespan of my daughter, or documents and e-mails that I had stored in no other location. Those security lapses are my fault, and I deeply, deeply regret them.

Does this frighten you as much as it does me?  The news is still developing. The hackers allegedly contacted Apple Care pretending to be Mat.  Armed with the 4 last digits of Mat's credit card - obtained from Amazon - Apple sent out a new password to Mat's iCloud account. My purpose in writing this is not to disparage online services provided by Amazon and Apple.  Surely there will be some major security changes coming from these and other companies.

Here's the question people should be asking themselves today - and that includes pastors: What am I doing to prevent Mat's nightmare from becoming my nightmare? What horrified me so much as I was reading Mat's story was how easily his story could have been mine.  Mat's security lapses, sadly, are also my own.  Just because it has been so easy - and because of my own laziness - I have used mostly the same password and username combination in so many different online places.  "Who would ever want to hack me?" I've asked.  I'm sure Mat thought the same.  

Pastor, consider not only your own personal data that might be at risk, but also the data that could involve your parishioners.  What about your journals?  Your church's financial records?  Your own preparation for this Sunday's sermon?  What would your life look like if you were hacked hard?  How would your congregation respond to you if their private information became public?  If ever there was a time, pastor, when you need to "be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves," this is that time!

10 Reasons Why Your Church Should Use Google Plus [Guest Post]

I'm pleased to introduce a new friend to readers of Church Requel. I've invited Michael Cornett, the founder of Church Website Design, to guest post for me today. Thank you Michael - and I will take this advice personally!  

Lately, every time I mention Google Plus in my posts, there always seems to be someone who tells me why Google Plus doesn’t matter. People tell me “no one uses Google+”, “why not just use Facebook?”, “really, another social media site I have to use?”  So today we’re going to look at 10 reasons why your church should be on Google Plus.

1 ) Unlimited Post Length – While this may seem like a trivial matter, being able to post a full devotional, thought, or event can be extremely helpful. 

2 ) Edit Your Posts – Ever make your post then realize you need to re-do it because you misspelled a word or left out some punctuation? With Google Plus, simply edit your post instead of re-typing.

3 ) Hangouts On Air – In a recent post, I described how you could stream your sermon live through Hangouts On Air.

4 ) Hangouts – Although I already mentioned Hangouts on Air, the normal hangouts can be a great way for your church staff to meet from different locations, have devotionals, or even follow up ‘in person’ to share the Gospel.

5 Reasons Why New iPad Mini Important For Pastors

Yesterday I shared 5 reasons why Apple would sell their new iPad Mini for $199. This will be a big deal in the tech marketplace. But why should pastors or churches care one way or the other? Today I offer 5 reasons why this is an important development for pastors and churches.

Reason #1: The lower price means even more people will own the device. At a price point of $199 many more potential congregants will be purchasing an iPad. It's obvious that a $300 lower price will mean a much higher buy-in. Consider the Amazon Kindle. At $400 the device was for fans only. At $79 it has become the ubiquitous e-reader for everyone. I even have two elementary-age grandchildren who own one.

Reason #2: The smaller size means even more people will be toting them around. Even for fans of the 10-inch iPad, as light and thin as they are now, many people will not carry them around everywhere. At 7 inches, this device will be even more mobile. Pastors, you will be seeing lots of these in church, if you give people a reason to bring them.

Reason #3: iPads, other tablets and mobile devices will become people's primary Bible. The YouVersion Bible app has already been downloaded to more than 50 million devices. To begin to grasp the significance of this in people's lives, check out the YouVersion Now web page. You will see incredible engagement with the Scriptures with a moment by moment update. There have been more than 110 thousand verses highlighted, more than 3.3 million reading plans started, and - as of this writing - more than 26 BILLION minutes of Bible reading time. This trend will only become more significant with the iPad Mini, where the initial costs will be lower and where there are no data plan requirements.

Reason #4: The iPad Mini, as well as other mobile devices, will become people's primary communication tools. We are already seeing this as a significant trend. More and more people are using various electronic messaging services than ever before. But if your church is like mine, the congregants are divided between the haves and have-nots, when it comes to communicating electronically. There are two primary factors involved - tech comfort and cost. Some people are just not comfortable with figuring tech out. And many people cannot afford a data plan and or a computer or more expensive iPad. Apple has gone a long ways toward making the iPad so easy to use that it has become a simple appliance for the non-geek majority. And at $199 with no data plan, it will become even more affordable. This means that for pastors and churches that take advantage of this trend, you'll enjoy communication and feedback like never before! And at practically no cost for the church!

Reason #5: The entire IOS platform - as well as Android - is becoming your congregants' wallets. At a recent developer's conference, Apple introduced significant new moves that will make IOS equipped devices the payment system of choice. If people are using their mobile devices to pay for dinner and a movie, it doesn't take too much imagination to see the day when these same devices are used for the offering plate. Already a significant portion of my congregation (more than half) make their contributions through purely electronic means. Think about how few of your congregation carry cash or checks with them. But they will bring their mobile devices - the same devices they use to pay many of their other bills. This trend could also accelerate with an inexpensive iPad Mini this fall.

Yes, I admit to being an Apple fan as well as a long time enthusiast for all things tech. However, one does not need to be a geek to see the very near term future these smaller iPads could usher in to our church communities. Next week I'll talk about specific actions you and your leadership team can take to prepare for the coming new opportunities. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your feedback. What are you doing now to encourage your congregation to use their mobile devices as tools for church and spiritual growth?

Posted with Blogsy

5 Reasons Apple Will Sell iPad Mini for $199

The iPad has become an integral part of my work-flow as a pastor.  Recently I wrote about using my iPad when delivering sermons. Naturally all the recent speculation about Apple selling a smaller version of the iPad this fall has captured my attention. There is much speculation about the features of the new iPad Mini and even greater speculation about the pricing.  For five very good reasons, I believe Apple will enter the 7-inch tablet market at the $199 price point.

Reason #1 - Apple loves to surprise on the low end.  I know many readers might initially take issue with this statement, noting that Apple has always been about profitablity and higher margins.  This is true with the iPhones and MacBooks, but has not been the case with tablets.  People forget this now, having become accustomed to the $499 iPad, but when this price was initially introduced NO ONE was expecting a $500 device.  Most of the speculation was at the $1,000 price point.  Most tech prognosticators were comparing the new expected tablet to the existing net-book market.  Apple came in at half that price. 

Reason #2 - Apple has lower costs because of its purchasing power.  Even at $199, Apple can make a profit.  The gang over at This Week In Tech joked on Sunday that Apple owns the aluminum market and anyone wanting to make a new laptop would need to use magnesium.  That was a funny exaggeration, but is not far from the truth. Comparing  Apple's cost structure to anyone else's, including Amazon's, simply is not an (ahem) apples to apples comparison!

Reason #3 - Apple wants to own this market. Sure - when the 10-inch iPad was initially introduced, Steve Jobs made a big deal about never making a 7-inch version.  In fact, he said people would have to sandpaper down their fingers to use one.  Remember that Apple was never going to make a phone (or a tablet) until they did.  Apple does not want to cede this smaller tablet market to other brands.  

Reason #4 - The iPad Mini will become the gateway drug into the IOS marketplace for many new customers.  I've seen this happen myself.  My wife, Mary Kay, owned and loved her iPad before she ever bought into the iPhone.   Rather than buying a two-year old iPhone to test the IOS waters, new customers will be able to purchase a brand new, unsubsidized $199 iPad Mini.  I believe there will be significant elasticity of deman above this price point. (... meaning new people will choose not to buy if the price goes much higher.)

Reason #5 - The profits will come with more memory and with future devices.  Apple doesn't have to make money on the $199 device initially.  Surely they will still sell 2 other higher memory iPad Minis for $299 and $399 and they WILL make their profit margins on these devices.  Remember also that once Apple sets the price, they won't change it any time soon.  It's been just over 2 years since Apple initially introduced the iPad. Yet the prices are still the same.  The tech gets better but the prices don't drop. Apple knows their cost curves will drop in the future so if they can capture the lion's share of the 7-inch market now, it will be even more profitable in the future.

This blog is primarily aimed at church folks and pastors.  So why is this tech news such a big deal? Tune back in tomorrow and I'll tell you why this is something pastors should be focused on now.  In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts.  Will Apple come out with the iPad Mini this fall?  Will it be priced at $199?  Comment below with your own speculations.

5 Power Tips for Preaching From An iPad

A recent sermon on my iPad

I'm in the middle of delivering my sermon from my shiny new iPad. I'm focused on making the point and communicating God's truth from His Word to His people. Then my preaching device sings a loud "ding!" Up pops a notification badge: "Want to get away from it all? Cruises for as low as $399!" It took every ounce of self-control not to break out laughing. The funniest part was watching some of my older parishioners looking around to see which kid in the congregation was playing a game. I never told them the kid was me.

For the past 15 months I've been preaching from my first-generation iPad. It truly has been a gift from God, a tool that helps me be even more effective as a communicator. I use my iPad rather than paper notes for 3 reasons. First, it saves me time and money. Connecting the word processor from my laptop to my iPad through iCloud means no more printing and cutting. Second, it provides me the opportunity to make last minute edits right on my iPad.

Third, and this is the most important reason, it gives my parishioners permission to use their smart phones and tablets to follow the sermon, published in their YouVersion Bible apps. When they see their pastor opening his Bible on his iPad, they know it really is ok. Just yesterday Pastors.com reminded us how much Apple is changing the church. As a pastor I can choose to lead these changes rather than react to them.

Here are 5 power tips I have learned in the last 15 months for how to preach with an iPad.

1. Use the power of the iCloud. I've read that many pastors preaching from an iPad write their sermons on their computer's word processor, save their document as a PDF file, then email it to themselves, then open their email app on their iPad, and then open their sermon document with a PDF reader app like GoodReader. There is an easier way! I write my sermons using Pages on my MacBook, then drag the file over to the iCloud in Safari. When I open Pages on my iPad, voila! My sermon is waiting and ready to go.

2. Use the power of Pages. One huge advantage for pastors using Pages on the iPad is that it is a fully functioning word processor. I have the ability to make last-minute edits right on my iPad. In the photo above from my sermon on June 24th, you'll notice that the first paragraph begins with, "Dismiss the children..." I wrote this note to myself in the tech meeting an hour before our worship service began.

3. Use the power of YouVersion LIVE. I believe that the YouVersion Bible app is the greatest development for pastors since the Gutenberg printing press. The YouVersion Bible is now installed on over 50 million devices and the installation curve is growing exponentially. I want all of my parishioners to install the Bible app, and read from it throughout the week. When their wait-in-a-line moment happens and they grab their smart phones, I want them to read their Bibles rather than playing the latest version of Angry Birds. I can help smooth the way if I also use the YouVersion app on my iPad when I'm preaching. This is also why I publish every sermon I write for YouVersion LIVE.

4. Use the power of wider margins. I use 2-inch margins when I type my original sermon document. Then, when I use this same document in my iPad Pages document, I can use the two-finger zoom gesture to make the font size up to 30% larger in portrait mode (my preference) or up to 70% larger in landscape mode. This is so much better than actually typing my original sermon document in a larger font.

5. Use the power of the P-R-E-P-A-R-E checklist. After that first experience of my iPad chirping away during my sermon I have developed my own PREPARE acrostic checklist to make sure I have remembered to configure my iPad for preaching mode.

Blogsy App: I'm in love!

I have fallen in love again.

It's ok. Really. I'm not talking about another woman. I'm talking about my new Blogsy app on my first generation iPad.

I've owned my iPad for a couple of years now. As a Typepad blogger, I've been frustrated with the lack of iPad support from Typepad. There is a limited Typepad iPhone app and no Typepad iPad app. Trying to use the Typepad online blog editing tools with an iPad is worse than frustrating. It's maddening! That meant that anytime I wanted to write in my blog, I needed to pull out my laptop. No more. Now I have Blogsy on my iPad.

Blogsy is a full featured iPad application that allows me to do just about everything I want to do for blogging offline. I write, edit, insert pictures and videos on my iPad. I'm surprised by how well I can type on the built in iPad keyboard. I'm sure my typing skills probably has something to do with the fact that I've owned my iPad for awhile now. Blogsy provides 16 different font families, 7 different font sizes, and any text color or background I choose.

The genius of the Blogsy app are the built in services that support my blog writing that slide in from the right hand side of the screen. From here I can insert any photo on my local iPad, many photos that might be available online or that I have stored in online media libraries. I can also connect with my online videos in my YouTube and Vimeo accounts.

Inserting a photo takes a little bit of iPad finger coordination. One slides the photo over from the side and holds onto it with one finger, while moving the text up and down vertically with the other finger. I admit that I didn't do it right the first time. I can see this is something that just takes practice.

Inserting a link Is also a thing of genius with Blogsy. The Blogsy app contains a built in browser that also provides an automatic link to any highlighted text. This means that the Blogsy app user doesn't have to continuously switch from the Blogsy app to the Safari app, copy the link, switch back to Blogsy, and paste.

What if you are like me and sometimes want to work in HTML? Those of us who have been blogging for awhile sometimes like to peek behind the curtain. No problem in Blogsy. A three-finger swipe changes the screen from the pretty rich text interface to the actual HTML code. I especially like the black background on the HTML side.

One more thing that makes the Blogsy app so wonderful: the built in support is the best I have ever seen. Lance Barton and company have really helped lower the learning curve with how-to videos, an online guide, and lots of FAQs. The Typepad user will especially appreciate all the FAQs dedicated to interfacing with Typepad's unique features.

One thing that would have helped this newbie would have been some order to the videos. Many of the videos were code named to the particular past release of Blogsy, which was confusing.

One negative to be aware is for those who still use the 1st gen iPads. Blogsy uses a significant amount of memory resources. While writing this review USA Today and Fox News flashed a breaking story on my iPad, causing Blogsy to crash. While there is an auto-save feature, I did lose my last paragraph. I'm sure this would not be a problem with the latest generation of iPads.

Blogsy will change the way I blog. No longer will I reach for my laptop and hope that my battery will last long enough. Now I'll grab my Blogsy equipped iPad and be good to go for the whole day!

What about you? Do you use Blogsy? What are the features you love? What would you love to see coming soon to a new release near you? Leave your comments below. Let's talk!

Why Under-13 Baby Facebook Is A Stinker Idea

Facebook recently floated the idea that it is considering expanding it's social media website to children under 13 years of age. This morning USA Today asked two child experts their opinions of this decision.  Not surprisingly both the child advocate and the child psychologist thought that this wasn't such a good idea.  

USA Today didn't ask me. I admit that I'm not a child expert.  Unless you count the fact that I raised 4 children. Unless being a grandpa of six counts. For what it's worth, these are my thoughts as a grandpa and a pastor. There are 3 big reasons why Baby Facebook is a stinker.

Stinker Reason #1: Children under 13 aren't ready for the social interactions of the internet. Toddlers and preteens are still trying to figure out the social interactions of the playground.  It's hard enough to get that right.  Sure, Moms and Dads should be supervising them  - but the truth is many parents don't do this well as they should.  What is put on the Internet stays on the Internet! Consider just one childhood trauma that you suffered through as a kid.  Would you want that following you around the rest of your life? I'm grateful that I don't remember much of it.  I don't want Facebook reminding me. Also kids aren't ready to make such an adult decision as to whether they want to be internet connected or not.  I love Facebook and being connected to family and friends. My brother - just two years younger - has no desire to do the Facebook thing.  Same for my dad. At one time, my adult daughter decided to take a Facebook fast and left the social web for an entire year.  Leave the adult decisions not just to the parents of the kids, but to the kids themselves - when they become adults!

Stinker Reason #2: The parents of pre-teens aren't ready to supervise these children on the internet.  The one thing that Moms and Dads should be able to do with absolute authority - and certainty - is manage the social interactions of their children. My parents taught me and I taught my children (and I hope they are teaching their children) that one of the most important things to learn is who your friends are.  We are defined by the friends with whom we hang out.  Throwing Facebook into consideration makes this job so much more difficult.  The whole definition of "friend" changes with Facebook. As an adult who knew what real friendship meant for 5 decades before Facebook changed the idea, I can differentiate between "friend" and "Facebook friend." The 5-year-old will struggle with this subtlety.  Besides all this, which adult friends would even want to risk being "friends" with a youngster on the Internet?  Who wants to be that special uncle exchanging photos with a kid?  Moms and Dads, don't forget that your main social objective of child-raising (teaching your child the value of solid  relationships) and Facebook's social objective (connecting as many people socially to one another as possible) are miles apart.  In this regard, Facebook is NOT your friend!

Stinker Reason #3: This is a terrible idea for Facebook too.  I understand that Facebook is not on the same growth curve of new users as they used to be.  And I know that the pre-teen market is a valuable advertising market.  I get it - Facebook wants to be to today's kids what television was to my generation.  Facebook, your timing stinks! You just came out with your initial public offering, which hasn't gone so well.  Your newest investors are feeling not only like they're losing money (which is bad enough), but also that they didn't have all the same facts as the largest institutional investors.  So now you want to solve your growth problems by exploiting children? This is your solution? Holding out the shiny apple of social marketing to kids?  I'm wondering if someone is asleep at the switch over in Facebook Land!

The WHY Behind Using YouVersion LIVE Sermon Notes

Why should a pastor consider using the online YouVersion LIVE event software to provide his or her sermon notes on mobile devices?  After all, as the pastor you already have more on your plate than you can handle.  Especially if you are like me and pastor a new or small congregation, you wear a lot of hats. Why add one more?

After four months of experimentation with the YouVersion Bible app, I have found it takes me on average another 30 to 40 minutes per week to provide a detailed version of our sermon notes to our congregation on their mobile devices.  Why do I do it?  Is it worth it?

The WHY behind the LIVE Event.  The mobile market of smart phones and tablet devices has been growing by leaps and bounds over this past year.  Apple just reported their best quarter ever, selling 37 million iPhones and over 15 million iPads.  While they don't report the specific numbers, most analysts estimate that Amazon sold over 5 million Kindle Fires in their first quarter.  I have a good friend and parishioner who owns 13 Verizon stores and he tells me that the sales of all mobile devices have never been better.  In the tablet market alone, it's estimated that in this past Christmas alone, the percentage of people who own a tablet device DOUBLED to 19 percent.

The mobile device market is exploding, my pastor friend.  And if you're not tapping into this incredible phenomenon, you're missing out on this fast-growing opportunity to multiply your weekly results from the weekly work you are already doing.  And thanks to the YouVersion Bible app, this opportunity is FREE - both to you and to your congregation!

Never before in our lifetime - and maybe not since the invention of the printing press - have we seen such an explosion in the number of people who are regularly accessing their Bibles!

YouVersion does a pretty good job of sharing their own success story.  But just in case you haven't heard, here are a few incredible statistics.  The Bible App has been installed on more than 30 million devices.  One device in seven carries the Bible app on it.  To put this in numbers that might make sense to a pastor with a congregation of 100 parishioners.  I would guess that 66 of your parishioners already have either a tablet or a smart phone.  Of that number - if your congregation simply represents the averages - 10 of your attendees already have the Bible app.  That number could easily be higher since your people are more likely than the average to be interested in the Bible.  In other words, this is a trend already taking place within your church.  It's not often that pastors are presented with trends moving in their direction!  Why not take advantage of it?

YouVersion LIVE Events at Church Requel

Since September 25th, a little over 4 months ago, Church Requel has been publishing its weekly sermon notes as a LIVE event for the YouVersion Bible app.

The picture on the left is the slide we show in our pre-service announcements reminding our congregation that the sermons are available on their mobile devices.

I've written quite a bit about the YouVersion Bible app in previous articles here on the CR blog. One thing I haven't written about, though, is my evolving use of the LIVE event as an additional tool for sermon notes.

After 4 months, I am a confirmed fan of the YouVersion LIVE Event.  More than half of the attendees in my church now follow along on their cell phones, iPads, or Kindle Fires.  A new family started attending over the holidays.  The husband - thinking everyone around him was being disrespectful - told his wife, "Look at everyone who has their cell phone out during the sermon!" To which she answered, "They're following the sermon notes!  Get into the 21st century." And she promptly showed him her own smart phone with the sermon notes on it!

I'd like to write to you about my own experiences - both my own evolution in developing the sermon notes for the LIVE event as well as the unexpected and surprising results we have heard about.  I'll write these stories in subsequent articles. 

To begin this series, I thought it would help my other pastor friends to be able to see the actual LIVE events that I've created using the online software YouVersion provides for free.  For the first time in one place, here are all the CR YouVersion Live Events since we began:

• February 5th - The Spirit Helps My Weakness, 4 Glimpse Inside Our Prayer Life
• January 29th - My H.O.P.E. Is R.E.A.L., 4 Ways To Know My Hope Is Real
• January 22nd - My Body Will Be Made Perfect, What The Bible Teaches About Our Resurrected Bodies
• January 15th - Creation Groans, Living In A World Of Brokenness
• January 8th - Suffer Now, Glory Later, What The Bible Teaches About Christian Suffering
• December 31st - I Am God's Child, You is smart, You is kind, You is important
• December 24th - The Word Became Flesh, Five Gifts of Christmas
• December 18th - Immaculate Consent, Be Born In Me
• December 11th - I Will Be Resurrected, How can I KNOW I will be resurrected?
• December 4th - How To Think Like Jesus, How I Think Is Vital To How I Feel About My Christian Faith
• November 27th - I Am Not Condemned, The 4 Rs of Freedom
• November 13th - Be Strong and Courageous, 3 Ways to BE Strong and Courageous When I FEEL Weak and Fearful
• November 7th - Thanks For Everything, We Concentrate On Being Thankful For Our God Dreams
• October 31st - Thanks For Nothing, How To Remain U.P.B.E.A.T. In Down Times
• October 23rd - The Green Giant, Six Results of Turning Green With Envy
• October 16th - Dreaming Ugly, Don't Let My Dreams Turn Into Nightmares!
• October 9th - Guard Your Faith, How  To Strengthen Ourselves and Keep Away Doubt
• October 2nd - Don't Fumble The Ball, How To Handle Temptation
• September 25th - Defending The Offense, What To Do When Someone Sins Against You

An Inside Look at Tech Team Mindset

Mark Strong's notes on last night's planning sheet.

Have you ever wondered what kind of organization it takes for a Church Requel style worship service to take place?  This morning as I was digging out all the gear from my blue "church in a box," I found the planning sheet (to the right) on top of my clipboard.  The planning sheet is something I work up each week so all the tech team is literally on the same page as I am.  

What I want you to notice are all the red marks on the sheet.  Those were all made last night by Mark Strong, who ran our CG (computer graphics.)  These are notes he made for himself on top of the planning sheet I gave to him.  (You may click on the image to make it double the size.)

I am especially humbled by the note he wrote to himself in the left-hand margin about a third of the way down. "Don't let Pastor down!"

Wow!  When I see something like this I am amazed that God allows me to work with such a dedicated and serve-oriented crew.  

YouVersion Sermon Notes Up

Hey everyone!  If you want to bring your iPads, Kindle Fires, Smart Phones, even laptops to Sunday night's Church Requel worship service - you are most welcome to do so!  We even have Bible app stickers for you to attach to the back.  Tomorrow's sermon notes are now up on your Bible app.  Click on LIVE, enter "Church Requel" or "44906" in the search field, and it should come right up.  Or you could check out our notes in your browser window by clicking  http://bible.us/e/GdH.

Tonight's U.P.B.E.A.T. Outline in YouVersion app

Would you like a preview of tonight's U.P.B.E.A.T. message at Church Requel?  Open up your YouVersion Bible app on your mobile device.  Click on "LIVE" icon.  Type in zip code 44906 or Requel. Or you could also type in http://bible.us/e/DTq in any browser window. Here's what it should look like (you can scroll down within the window below):

DreamCoat Promo Video and Web Front

Hey all you Church Requel readers and parishioners! I'm working on the new sermon series from the life of Joseph today.  We're calling it "Dreamcoat!"  I'm learning all about the importance of dreams in our lives.  I can't wait to share what I've learned with you!

I've also learned a few new things about our website. (Thanks Cloversites for the great website tools!)  Today I set up the front page of our website as a photo slideshow, highlighting the title, Scripture, and date of each sermon in the series.  On top of that, we've included an overlay of basic info for new people checking out the website.  Check it out!

We also created a new video promo, which we showed to our parishioners for the first time last week.  It is also connected to the front page of the ChurchRequel.org website.  When someone clicks "Learn More!" the short 1 minute, 15 second video pops up.  I've included the video below:

 

Church Requel's Live Event Tonight: Guard Your Faith!

Would you like to follow my sermon tonight using the Bible on your phone? Here's the live event available from your YouVesion app on your mobile device.  If you don't already have the YouVersion app on your phone, just search for Bible app on whatever kind of smart phone or tablet you have. Once you've downloaded it, click on "Live" and search for "Requel" or type in the zip code, "44906."  Then you can follow along on your mobile device (iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows, etc.) tonight at Church Requel!

Review Part 9: Reading YouVersion Bible With Ears

I admit to being an audio fan.  I love listening to books and podcasts on my smart phone.  I've been collecting and listening to Audible books for years.  So when I found out that YouVersion offers audio Bibles FOR FREE on their many different Bible apps, I was thrilled.  

The audio Bible was added to the Web version of the Bible in May, 2011 and most of the other mobile apps since then.

I've been listening every morning to my Bible as I work my way through my reading plan. I'll write more on reading plans in a future post.  Let me say here, however, that the combination of #1) the Bible on my mobile device, #2) the Bible arranged for me on a daily schedule, and #3) the Bible offered in audio format is the winning trifecta for me!

Ten of the 27 English version Bibles on my devices show up as an audio Bible.  If you want to know where you find the audio Bibles, it's really simple... though somewhat hidden if you don't know where to look.  When you list out the Bibles available to you on your device, look for the little audio icon right next to the name.  If it has the little speaker with wave sounds next to it, that means an audio Bible is waiting for you.

While 10 audio versions show up on my listing of English Bibles, I am not actually able to try them all out. Specifically, the ASV, DRA, HCSB will not pop up on either iPad or Android when I was reading the Old Testament.  I wondered if there was something special that needed to be done to make these available?  I sent an email off to YouVersion asking about this and received this reply from Adam Bouse:

For ASV, DRA, and HCSB (as well as some non-English versions), we only have audio for the NT so far, either because that is all that exists or all that we have been able to collaborate and bring to our platforms. 

My favorite audio Bible, by far, is the NIV Listeners Bible.  Max McClean reads brilliantly.  Listening to him read the Bible is like listening the God's Words as He might have spoken them.  At least that's how it sounds to me.  It's pretty exciting stuff!  He varies his pitch, his speed and many other things probably too subtle for me to notice - but the end result is that the Bible comes alive like I've never heard it before.  McClean has recorded 3 versions: KJV, NIV and ESV.  Both the KJV and NIV by McClean are available to YouVersion readers.  

Both NIV and NIV84 versions appear to be playing the NIV84 Max McLean Listeners Bible. I asked Adam Bouse about that and here's what he wrote me back:

For the NIV versions, it is the same track - since the updated NIV came out, they have not created an updated audio file to go along with it. Since the number of updates were relatively limited (and therefore the number of times the audio and text wouldn't line up), both the publisher and our team felt it would be acceptable to keep the audio available for both until an update audio version becomes available.

I actually like it that I can listen to the NIV84 while reading the NIV.  There are only a few changes, but I can see them (hear them?) as I listen to one while reading with my eyes the other.  That got me to thinking: I wonder if YouVersion will ever separate out the two and allow us to read one version while playing another version?

If you haven't tried out an audio Bible on YouVersion yet, what are you waiting for?  I do have some suggestions that might help - based on my own experiences:

• Try hooking up a set of earphones to your device.  A pair of bluetooth stereo headphones are surprisingly inexpensive.   I listen every morning while I eat breakfast at a local restaurant.  I find the headset really helps me stay focused.
• Once you start playing the audio Bible, leave it alone.  Let it play.  Control freaks like me like to press buttons all the time, right?  When I first started listening the audio Bible I kept trying to advance to the next chapter.  I thought to myself that the audio was set up for a chapter at a time and it was up to me to go to the next.  Not true!  The geniuses at YV have figured out that you will want to move forward.  If you do nothing it will keep playing the next chapter after a moment or two.
• Find places and situations in your life when you could listen to the Bible while you are doing other things.  For me listening while I'm exercising, riding my bicycle or just driving down the road afford many opportunities for being in the Word of God that wouldn't otherwise be there if I had to read with my eyes.

Reading my YouVersion Bible with my ears has been a most gratifying experience.  I am so thankful that this is now available to us in such a convenient form factor.  I encourage you to making listening to your Bible a new and important part of your Christian discipleship!

Church Requel's Live Event Tonight: Don't Fumble!

Would you like to follow my sermon tonight using the Bible on your phone? Here's the live event available from your YouVesion app on your mobile device.  If you don't already have the YouVersion app on your phone, just search for Bible app on whatever kind of smart phone or tablet you have. Once you've downloaded it, click on "Live" and search for "Requel" or type in the zip code, "44906."  Then you can follow along on your mobile device (iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows, etc.) tonight at Church Requel!