Wednesday, August 03, 2005|
I've been reading Douglas Bass's blog, Apprehension, initially because his blogroll link to my blog showed up on my Technorati list. It's been a pleasant surprise. Douglas is "assistant professor in the Graduate Programs in Software at the University of St. Thomas." I checked out the Certificate programs with some interest, and I found one that I would enjoy having, given the time. A task like that is indeed daunting, especially with my current full-time job and other life responsibilities. Plus, St. Paul is geographically distant (I didn't check on the distance learning option). Douglas covers a range of topics, including computing (like the sudoku puzzle - neat!), Christianity, higher education, and combinations of the same. But, above all, the title and theme is "Apprehension," not the negative emotion, but that kind mentioned by Paul in Philippians 3:12-13:
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
I will definitely be visiting again. You can check out Douglas's smooth-sounding voice in his podcast, "Belief Seeking Understanding." You can subscribe to his podcast here. You can subscribe to Apprehension here. |
Wednesday, June 01, 2005|
I like Neil Cox's content. I don't read enough of it, though, so I'm going to highlight some of my catching up here. Let me start off by saying that this is probably going to sound like I'm kissing up. Whatever--think what you want. In preparing for a presentation on a Drupal community website implementation for a ministry in Columbus, Ohio, I wanted to find material that would reinforce my recommendation that the participants start blogging. Blogging is great stuff, but explaining why to the uninitiated can be a challenge. After all, you don't want it to sound lame, right? To gather ammunition for my persuasion, I searched Google for the phrase "Why Blog." I found a few good hits, and I'll probably go back for more goodies. Ironically, though, I found Neil's "Why Blog" through other means. I was exploring the site, again in preparation for the presenation. I use his site as an example of a weblog that is relevant to ministry. It's obvious from the themes on his website that Neil enjoys making change happen. If nothing else, the names "Got Change?" and "Loving Change" should make that obvious. I can tell that he's making a splash in Indy, spreading hi-tech to ministries that need it very much. Next, Why Feed RSS to the Aggregators makes compelling arguments for why people should use RSS. He personifies news aggregators as the modern "secretary" (very funny, LOL): Secretaries used to run the world. We all know that, right? ... But then came the information age, economies tightened, and we lost our secretaries. ... Our organizations failed. Global competition overtook us. Enron had to take shortcuts. Gas prices went up. Our dog ran off. Maybe our wife. Life was chaos without our secretaries. Unfortunately, (and I know this is a stereotype), my aggregator doesn't take dictation or make coffee. :-)
I haven't gotten to meet Neil in person yet. I hope to someday soon. We met through this wonderful medium we call the Internet, and he introduced me to someone who has become a dear friend and colleague, Jeff Koenig. Jeff K. was working just seven miles from where I live, and I would have never met him if not for Neil. God works in very cool ways. |
Thursday, February 24, 2005|
Paul Hoy and I had an "exchange of words" today. While you might think of this phrase as meaning an argument, we instead had a literal exchange of words. We traded new words. I told him about my word, techumenical, as in an a technical ecumenical movement that brings technologists together to build God's kingdom, crossing denominational boundaries to work on shared projects. I wrote about this word in my article on Evangelistic Serendipity.
He told me about a new word that a friend of his, Ford Taylor, created: biznistry. Biznistry is a combination of business and ministry where professionals use their everyday job skills to serve others in a ministry capacity. |
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Contest for faith-based orgs. The Faith and Service Technical Education Network (FASTEN) is hosting a new contest for congregations and faith-based organizations. The “Partners in Transformation” awards program will give $5,000 to ten FBOs who bring about tangible, positive results for kids, families, or neighborhoods while working with groups outside the faith community (schools, police, HUD, Chamber of Commerce, etc.). FASTEN will publish a report highlighting the ten winning programs and distribute it to hundreds of private charitable foundations. Get your contest application here.... [World Magazine Blog] 2:23:00 PM 
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Monday, April 05, 2004|
Hey, everybody! Er, um, that is, anybody? I'm looking for some input on the Prayer Channel prayer request XML syndication format. Glenn Slaven has already taken the lead with an initial suggestion. I added two cents worth.
Please leave a comment on the format, alternatives, or other collaboration ideas. |
Monday, December 01, 2003|
Glenn Slaven has an heir. He told me so when he apologized for his slow reply on one of the most personally meaningful threads that has been generated from blogs4God.com thus far. On a whim, I deleted my blog and reposted it on the techBlogs section, with Dean's blessing. As a result, I thanked him with some Amazon referral links and got mentioned. So Dean kindly gave me a front-page mention along with the promise of an autograph of the 'other book' that I will probably take him up on, especially if I'm ever in his neck of the woods. (I mean that Dean, really, if you don't mind, I'd love to visit some time.) As close as I could tell, Dean lives somewhere near the Redland Baptist Church in Rockville, Maryland. But that's hard to tell given the ease with which a person can collaborate on a web project (like the USA-Austrailia connection mentioned in this post--read on!). Somehow, in all of that hubbub, Glenn Slaven read my archives and contacted me with some real interest about the Prayer Channel idea that was buried in a long series of back links from my recent description of relisting on b4g. I was amazed at how God can use "whims and coincidences" when we're mourning over his invisible workings. You know, like "God, where are you?" So, exactly nine months to the day from the Prayer Channel post (see the birth significance here?), Glenn contacted me with this (excerpted) statement:
I was wandering through your archives last week & came across your post 'A conversation at Dean' (http://www.xagronaut.com/categories/xagTheRedemptionProject/2003/02/16.html#a209) where you mentioned the concept of a Prayer Channel. To be incredibly honest, I hadn't yet done anything further. I still had the domain name ready, but gasp!--I hadn't put up the first bit of content. And, yes, it still is only an index page with a link to the post on my weblog. Correction: I just updated the index page to link to some sample XML files that embody my exchanges with Glenn so far. I may also use Radio's category feature to create a custom blog for the site. Update: I did use Radio's category feature, and you can visit PrayerChannel.com to get the basic content now. There's some lag while Radio upstreams the new content, so please be patient and check back periodically over the next couple of days if there is a problem. I was getting a 403 error just a bit ago. I appreciate Glenn's enthusiasm, initiative, and history. Glenn lives and works in Austrailia with Voice of the Martyrs, Austrailia, and other ministries.
He just emailed me apologizing for not replying quickly to my latest suggestion at revision. Something about "Yada, yada, yada...New baby...Yada, yada, yada." Dude, talk about "real life trumps blogging/coding/whatever!" I totally understand. Congratulations, Glenn, "Mom," and heir! |
Sunday, November 16, 2003|
When thinking about the whole "six degrees of separation" and my imagined "evangelistic data conspiracy," I have often wondered what the application space looks like between a local web geek going to a local church and the mission field, both foreign and domestic. I have come to the conclusion that there is no single application that connects everyone from cushy suburbia (please forgive any generalizations about audience here--only wear the shoe if it fits) to Africa, Asia, the 10/40 window, etc., etc. Oh, and let's not forget our own back yard with homeless ministries, helping widows and children, visiting prisoners, helping those with disabilities, etc., etc. So without being able to come up with a single application (other than your typical contact and appointment manager--yawn) that crosses all these boundaries, it does seem that some patterns exist. These patterns (not at all exhaustively listed here) can be observed, predicted, and leveraged in the march along the evangelistic journey. Here they are: Are you beginning to see a "pattern?" Here are a few "pivot points": You see the pattern? Any number of websites could be constructed to facilitate and improve communications in any of these areas. What are the obstacles? What's the solution?
So, Dean is still waiting for my audition. I'm working on that. I'm giving serious thought to the long-term lamenting about my unfulfilled intentions that have been recorded in my weblog for the last year+. Well, with God's help, I am committed to doing something about it. Even to the point of making it a priorty like never before. Ouch! |
Last update: 5/8/2006; 11:33:45 PM .
