Someone else asks “why do we take time to read the announcements?” and someone else wants to know “why didn’t I heard about ______?”

Some may think we are choosing favorites … and everyone thinks that “fair” is a biblical mandate! (NOT!)

How we connect to the people we want to get our message to is important to all of us, and it’s becoming harder and harder to break through all the noise and clutter in life.

Whatever you believe, we all know this; the way we communicate is changing, and it’s changing fast. This video shows how change is making it easier to reach a wider audience, but harder than ever to actually connect to it.

click here if the video does not appear above…

Within an hour or so after delivery I had just about all the apps I would need installed and talking to each other.  None of these apps cost anything and the sweetest thing is …  they add to what I was already doing with Google Apps by integrating very tightly with each other and the phone’s contacts, calendar, camera, etc.

Gmail – of course this is hooked into my Google Apps email (dean@gotwww.com).  Allows all my email (sent and received no matter where from) to be accessible everywhere … my phone, my desk, your desk, etc.  I can search “google fast” to find anything I have ever sent or received. (see 10 reasons I use google mail for more) [http://www.google.com/mobile/products/mail.html#p=blackberry]

Facebook … with a caveat.  I use Facebook to keep up with my friends and family, share photos, and we use it @MapleGrove as a communications tool with our “fans”.

I use the Facebook mobile app [http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2254487659] primarily to allow my Storm to sync with the contact information from facebook and upload photos with the ability to tag them while uploading.  Another nice feature is that when my phone rings from someone who is my friend on facebook I see their current profile photos attached to their caller ID.

I generally use the facebook mobile web page (m.facebook.com) to browse because it works better and allows more of the facebook features like “liking” someone’s status and seeing and reading “notifications”, and photos.  For some reason the app does not allow any of these things to be done from with-in the app, but the syncing doesn’t work without it.

Google sync – this app syncs my contacts with Google Apps email and Google Apps calendar with my phone’s contacts and calendar.  Add a new contact on the phone and it’s on my desk immediately.  (http://www.google.com/mobile/products/sync.html#p=blackberry).  It even alerts me of upcoming appointments with sound and vibration using BlackBerry’s native calendar.

YouVersion – my favorite bible website on my phone.  There isn’t a specific app for the storm yet, but with an easy workaround the Tour version will work for many of the features. http://blog.youversion.com/post/289/youversion-for-blackberry-storm-sorta ) I can read or search in any version and there’s a nice daily reading plan too.

Google maps – The blackberry maps are ok, but if you use Google maps on your computer you will probably like it better on your phone too.  It works well with the GPS on the storm and another interesting feature is Latitude; an option that allows you to share your current location and see the location of others selectively.  If you don’t want to do that, then don’t… but please don’t flame me about it. [http://www.google.com/mobile/products/maps.html#p=blackberry]

WeatherBug – finds my current location by GPS and automatically shows me the local information I need including live weather radar, detailed hourly forcasts and even “Always on” NWS weather alerts such as Tornado warnings even when the WeatherBug app is turned off. [http://weather.weatherbug.com/mobile/blackberrystorm.html]

YouTube – Allows me to find and play and upload YouTube videos. [http://www.google.com/mobile/products/youtube.html#p=blackberry]

Pandora - Free music (only music I love) anywhere I am …  [http://www.pandora.com/]

Let me know if you’ve found any other apps for the storm that you would like to share by commenting below.

I’m the kind of guy who needs a shot in the arm every once in a while to keep me motivated. I have a hard time with the “status quo” … I need to see things progressing, be a part of something “new”. When life around me starts to feel “normal” I get uncomfortable. I start looking for things to change.

Fresh is never fresh for long.

Sunday proved to me that things ARE changing. We got to see several of the people we have come to know as family over the last year or so make a life changing decision. A decision to publicly declare their faith. To take a risk.

I know it’s not about me, but it sure feels good to be a part of it.

Take a look;

Sunday we continue a series called “Fearless” – it’s about average people who became champions and overcame insurmountable odds. Just like these people did Sunday.

The church is growing, people are growing, I’m growing. This is why we do what we do. Stay tuned for some more big news next week.

Many churches print a photo directory once a year with color photos of each person and a nice family photo.

There’s also church directory software tools that help churches do their own photo directory and try to keep up with the changes.  They can add new people as they get them and publish new versions, periodically.  (Kind of like the phone book pile in my closet – where we just add the new one to the top of the pile until the next bon fire.)

These might work great for churches where few new people come, but this Sunday when someone new comes to your church for the first time, how do you help them meet people? Do you hand them a directory and tell them to call people?  I don’t think so.

Then there are the privacy issues.  You have names and address and phone numbers for people, but who do they want that information given to?  Shouldn’t each person decide who they want to see their information?

And who keeps all of this information up to date?  Not just the new people being added and the people that leave being removed (if you even dare do that), but what about their contact information?  This could be a full time job.

Many large churches with large budgets attempt to use a web based system that gives each person the ability to edit their own information on the church’s website.  That sounds great, if you can get them there.  The problem is, people are busy, so this is not usually a very high priority on their “to do” list.  Even these types of directories quickly become an outdated list used primarily by leaders.

Some of these “church management” systems have attempted to add social networking pieces to their software in an attempt to get more people to use them, but that’s not working either.  If people are going to use social networking, they are going to be somewhere were their friends are – and the fact is, not all their friends are ever going to be at your church.  Jesus said to “go” and make disciples in “all” the world, not just your church friends.

We’re experimenting with solutions to some of these problems AND we’ve managed to take back a piece of the internet for good … it’s called facebook.  We’ve been working with MapleGrove to help them use the most popular social networking (just a new word for fellowship) tool (a website) as a public member directory (and more) using a free feature of facebook called “pages“.

With a facebook account, each user can decide who they want to share their personal information (contacts, photos, videos, etc.) with.  In just a few months of talking about it, most of our members (that didn’t already use the system) went and created accounts.

Our members (”fans” in facebook lingo) can post stories to our page, share photos with other members, ask and answer discussion questions and invite their friends.

Our administrators can create events, send short “status” messages to members, and moderate the page when needed.

We’ve tied our church management software into facebook as well.

I’ll be writing more about how to use this tool in the near future, but if you want to get started right away you can create a page for your organization here.

People interested in finding a LifeGroup pre-registered for the short get together held immediatly after the Sunday morning service.  Everyone was seated at tables and were asked to share answers to a couple simple ‘ice breaker” questions.

A simplified version of our vision and purpose for LifeGroups was shared with everyone and then people at each table “voted” for what the best day of the week worked for each of them.  If you were not available that day you could move to another table.

After a few minutes of negotiations we had three new groups ready to meet, a host location agreed upon, and 30 new people excited to step into the small group world.

Training will be held for the hosts and facilitators later this week.

Many of these people were people who had tried to connect with another group unsuccessfully prior to this.  For what ever reason, it appears that starting new groups may be a far more productive way of getting people into the small group setting than other methods.  Once a group has started and is healthly growing, it does not seem to want to divide.  And if it’s growing it is also soon too big for new people.

What do you think?

I keep hearing people talk about kids and their video games like it’s some kind of plague.  But in my opinion, the games kids (and many adults too) are playing are much more than simple distractions.  They are much more social than you would think.

And a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project proves it.  Game playing is a social activity.  Only 11% of teens that play video games play them alone.

Video games are just a different type of game than you grew up playing.  Their forts are no longer made of cardboard boxes (Second Life) and are now connected to other players over distances you would have never taken you kids on a play date for.  And some of today’s video games have the ability to teach valuable skills; communications, graphics arts, economics, business administration, etc.

Sure, some games may be too graphic or violent, and you should make sure your kids are playing age appropriate games, but that’s no different than it was when you were a kid either.  Don’t you think a game of house ever went too far in your neighborhood?

[Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked]

We’ll have LifeGroups meeting in homes and special events through the series in support of marriages.

My wife and I got to see the movie in advance a couple weeks ago.  I have to say, it was very well done and should inspire more churches to reach higher.

So what’s the bid deal?  Is a website so important for a church?

Richard Reising, president of Artistry Marketing in Dallas, Texas, and author of the book Church Marketing 101, thinks it is. “Currently, 80 to 85 percent of people are finding their church based on websites,” he says. “Websites are replacing the yellow pages as a key mode of church advertising.”

Yet so few churches take this seriously.  What do you think?

You can order the new book here: Going All The Way: Preparing for Marriage That Goes the Distance.