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Join me in reading the entire Bible this Summer! (beginning June 1)

Last summer I was challenged to do something that impacted me greatly.  Last summer, I read through the entire Bible in chronological order.  It was an amazing experience and one that I would like to repeat this summer.  It definitely takes discipline and sacrifice but it is worth it!  I found that it caused me to crave God's Word.  So, I'm wondering if you would be interested in joining me this summer?! From June 1st to August 31st, will you join me in reading the most important book?

One of the easiest ways to do this with the technology that is at our disposal is through YouVersion.com 

Reading plan instructions:

1. Go to YouVersion.com
2. Click on “explore reading plans” (or click the banner above)
3. Scroll down to Chronological and hit the link under it “start this plan”
4. If you don’t have a YouVersion account click the “sign up now” on the right side of the page or if you do have an account sign in.
5. After creating a username and password, check your email for the confirmation email.  Once signed in to YouVersion.
6. On the top click on “reading plans”
7. The chronological plan should pop up.  Under it click plan overview.
8. Scroll down to “your start date, your end date” and click edit dates.
9. Make your start date June 1, 2011 and your end date August 31, 2011 and then hit save.
10. Now your plan is all set up!  Go back to the top and click view today’s reading to see what the reading is for each day.
11. Join the YouVersion group at: http://youversion.com/groups/gracechurchep
12. Find me and become my friend on YouVersion my username is: Jacinto22

Trust me when I tell you that you can do this and it will make a huge impact on your life.  The Bible isn't an old book, "it is living and active. Sharper than any double‑edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." - Hebrews 4:12

So, are you in?!  If so, leave a comment...

Pass this idea around and let's see how many people we can get to join us.

Update on June 1st at 5:48 p.m.: Download Bible Reading Plan in order to put the reading plan into your calendar.

Google Goggles does Sudoku

I can't get enough of this.  It's fun to watch firsthand.  I love imagining what Google's creative planning meetings are like.  Did someone get tasked with the job of allowing Google Goggles to do this?

Where would we be without text messages?

I recently became aware of the following website: When Parents Text  It is hilarious, I literally "lol" when I read through the submissions.  See for yourself.

As I was reading through these it made me reflect on how text messages has drastically changed the way I communicate.  

Student Ministry: In student ministry the best way to get the word out to students is to text them.  One of the best things we are subscribed to as a ministry is a service that allows us to send text blasts reminding students, leaders and parents of upcoming or cancelled events.  Text messaging has definitely changed trips and events.

The other thing that has changed is communication to parents in real time.  I grew up in a youth group that was notorious for returning much later than expected from trips.  It was near impossible for our leaders to communicate this change in ETA without cell phones.  Now with students wielding their own cell phones and our use of Twitter, these changes are reaching parents. Some parents don't even anticipate our arrival without a text from their son or daughter.  This definitely takes the pressure off when something does come up on our return trip.

On a few rare occasions I have had a student text their parents when they are dissatisfied with their rooming situation, or a leadership decision that has taken place on a trip.  As a result, I have had a few interesting conversations!

Another way that we have used text messages in the past has been through polling our students.  We have used polleverywhere.com as a way to survey our group in realtime.  We really like how this tool displays results immediately.

Text messages can be a great tool for ministry but it can definitely be a distraction.  We have students and parents who ignore emails and mailings only rely on text messages as the only way to get information. This causes quite a stream of last minute personal text messages leading up to events.  "what time are we leaving?" "what are we supposed to bring?" "can I still sign up?" "what's the promocode?"

Family:  I don't have any text exchanges from my own parents that I can send to whenparentstext.com but text messages have definitely changed the way I communicate with my parents, sister and wife.

Related Posts: TXT MSGS

iPhone to Sprint? (Updated with Poll)

So, for the past several months I've been reading blogs like MacRumors.com and googling "iPhone to Sprint".  I think that for sure the iPhone is coming to Verizon but I'm wondering how many people think that it will also go to other carriers like Sprint?  Personally, I could see Sprint being hush-hush about this so that current or potential customers don't wait on purchasing phones from their current inventory. I really hope this rumor isn't true but I wouldn't put it past Apple.  Thoughts?  I'm in if it happens!

 

What communicating might look like in the near future

I just ran across this video by Hans Rosling.  What he shares in this video about wealth and health in 200 countries over the last 200 years in and of itself is fascinating.  Also fascinating is how he communicates it.  Makes me wonder how long it will be until this is how we will be communicating to students.

 

Facebook blast from the past

Allow me to state the obvious, Facebook is quite the current culture phenomenon!

Recently, I have found a number of friends from my days back in elementary school.  I attended a Private Schoolfrom Kindergarten through the 8th grade.  So I have recently reconnected with some friends who I haven't talked to in over 20 years.  Wow, I'm old.  I'm grateful for social networks because I think that without them I might not have ever talked to these friends again.  Recently, I went through my facebook friends and profiled the different categories of friends that I have.  Here you go (in no particular order):

• Former ministry students (Camp Shamineau, Wooddale Church, Prairie Lakes Church, Grace Church)
• Former leaders (Camp Shamineau, Wooddale Church, Prairie Lakes Church, Grace Church)
• Current students (and their siblings)
• Future students (students in middle school who are on their way)
• Parents of former and current students
• current friends (and their spouses)
• current and former co-youthworkers (and their spouses)
• Former co-workers (and their spouses)
• current co-workers (and their spouses)
• former co-workers that I never worked with (people who used to be where I currently work - strange I know)
• High school acquaintances and friends (and their parents)
• College Friends (and their spouses)
• Seminary Friends (and their spouses)
• Family members (including my grandma)
• Former elementary/middle school friends (includes my fifth grade teacher)
• Former and current mentors
• People I admire but hardly know (there are 3 of these)
• Wife's friends (and their spouses)
• People I've met on mission trips - it's amazing how well you get to know someone on a mission trip - seriously!
• Friends of my parents
• speakers/musicians I've booked for retreats/events

I'm sure I missed a category or two.  Thanks Facebook for keeping us connected!

Wasting time online with Dailymugshot.com

I find myself wasting time online at times. The lastest thing that I have been doing is dailymugshot.com. If you have webcam (or digital camera) you can take a picture a day and let the pictures create the virtual flip book as you can see below: (you can slow it down if you are getting motion sickness)

Daily Mugshot

I've also created a daily mugshot for the newest addition to our family:

Daily Mugshot

How do you waste time online (besides reading this blog)?

I dislike fax machines

The only thing fax machines are good for.

I consider myself to be pretty tech savvy.  I enjoy using technology to get work done easier and maximize the work that I am doing.  Sometimes I like it too much.  One piece of technology that I have never liked is fax machines.  Fax machines have never been a technology that I could trust.  I understand the need for them (or I did 15 years ago).  I know that it is helpful when someone needs a document with a signature on it.  I remember the days in college when I would send a fax to my mom through my 28.8 modem to see if she would read through one of my term papers before the days of attaching files to emails.  My biggest issue is the fact that I don't trust that the fax went through until I talk to the person and hear from them that they did in fact receive every page of my fax.  Too many things can go wrong with a fax, the connection could never be established, toner could be out, paper jammed or out, wrong number etc...

This past week we had some families try to register their students for our Senior High Winter Retreat by sending us a fax.  It seemed to go through on their end but our fax machine was down and we didn't receive it.  Typically, this wouldn't be a problem except that we had sold out our retreat and this person would've had their registration in prior to our sellout.  We were able to squeeze her in but it added another chip in my mistrust of fax machines.

Raffstar.com confirmed what I already knew about myself

About a month ago I saw a post on one of my students feeds about a website called Raffstar.  Heavy with advertising, Raffstar gives out prizes randomly to those who acquire free tickets.  Plus Raffstar gives the majority of its advertising revenue to a selected well-known charity for that prize.  Raffstar claims that this is win-win-win approach to giving out prizes.  The webuser wins a prize, the advertiser wins 'hits' (possible customers) and the charity wins a donation.  You don't have to do anything to get a ticket and typically you can only get one ticket per item per hour. 

It seems pretty harmless(and it is) until you get someone who is compulsive (like me)doing this.  I found myself constantly logging on and trying to increase my chances to win a prize.  If my son woke me up in the middle of the night, I secured another ticket.  For my own sanity, I had to create a cutoff prize by which I would no longer try to win any prizes after it.  Oh and by the way, I never came close to winning anything! 

Raffstar reminded me that I need to be really careful about what I get involved in.  Being as compulsive, competitive and consumeristic as I am, I really have the ability to lose sight of the fact that I am as sucked into something as I was and neglecting other important things.