the church geek

1.) Evernote looks like a pretty useful tool. Not quite sure what is the best way to use it, but at a minimum it can probably replace ‘Google Notebook’ whose idea I love but whose functionality has not been that great.

2.) Enjoyed this little vignette about Sunday Breakfast. Gives you a taste for why people are frustrated with church.

3.) The Internet Monk has spun off a new blog: Jesus Shaped Spirituality.

4.) One of my favorite photobloggers has stunned me again with this photo.

5.) In case you get these posts by RSS feed, my blog has undergone a bit of a makeover. It’s not quite perfect yet, but it’s coming together as I have time.

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I’ve been frustrated with my inability to keep up with my library books and their various due dates. I think in the past year or so Lori and I have paid close to $50 in late fines at the library. This fine situation is created by two facts:

1.) The books don’t have those little cards in each of their pockets anymore that were stamped with the due date. Instead, now when you check out books you get a receipt with each book listed on it and its due date. I am usually pretty good at keeping track of information but I still haven’t got a system down for keeping track of that little receipt.

2.) The computer system at the library knows when my books are due. I can go on line and check when they are due, but my library computer system has evidently not yet figured out how to send me an e-mail to notify me when they are due.

Now enters libraryelf and the problem is solved! If your library participates you can sign up for an account. Libraryelf will send you an e-mail notification whenever a due date approaches on your books. You will also get notification by e-mail when books you have on hold are available to be picked up. It’s pretty slick, and I say it’s about time!

Of course the downside is that now my library will lose me as a major source of revenue from all my overdue fines.

By the way I found this via Lifehacker. A week doesn’t go by where I don’t find something of use from the world of technology on this site.

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I like checking my stats and seeing what types of google searches end up referring folks to my site.

Evidently someone recently wanted to know “What insect does Tom watch in church during the preacher’s sermon?” and was referred to my site.

This is odd since we don’t have anybody with the name of Tom (though we do have a Thomas) who attends our congregation and all my worship attenders are always listening very attentively to my sermons (wink, wink.)

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People are constantly looking for another world. A different reality. A way of escaping the pressures of this present world. Movies, soap operas, romance novels, even sporting events, are some of the many ways we can temporarily escape the reality of life in the here and now.

Today, people are creating new ways to escape. One of those new creations is the promise of “Second Life.” I don’t mean life after death. Nor do I mean the second life of a cat that has used up its first one and has eight more left to go.

“Second Life” is a whole new world, with over a million and a half people currently living and participating in it. As we are gathered here in worship this morning, there is a whole other life, in another dimension, that is currently unfolding and evolving.

Second Life is an on-line digital 3-D world that is imagined, created, and owned by its residents. Anyone can participate in this alternative world. You could even enter into it if you wanted to. All you need is a high speed internet connection and a computer that is powerful enough.

In this on-line 3-D world, you create an alternative reality version of yourself and then go about living your new digital life. You can visit and make friends, get married, build houses, and buy virtual goods. And if you’re an entrepreneur, you can design and create things to sell in this on-line world. There are virtual shops with people designing software, clothes, buildings, or anything you can imagine selling to other Second Life members.

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Do you want to easily track blog conversations or follow the comment stream after you’ve made a comment on a blog?

I’d suggest that you try co.mments.com. It’s very easy to use, the website interface is well designed and functional, and it all seems to work so much better than these other two comment tracking services I’ve recently experimented with: commentful.com and coComment.com.

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Last night I came up with an idea for a new blog and want to float it by you…

Every once in a while I have a ministry related question about how to go about doing something specifically in my church, but I’m not alway sure where to turn for resource and implementation ideas.

When I turn to the internet much of what is out there seems to be geared more for your independent, evangelical type churches. Sometimes I find good ideas. Sometimes I’m frustrated.

In contrast, I would see this new blog as kind of a one stop shop for implementing ministry ideas within the context of mainline churches. It would be a forum to discuss those types of concerns, questions as well as a resource page pointing to other places to turn.

For instance we are currently talking about implementing a “children’s church” program to address a number of issues. I’d like to know:

• What resources have you found helpful, specifically in terms of teaching kids what happens in worship so they can more fully participate in the service as they grow older?
• Is children’s church even a good idea (it’s got to be a better idea than just providing some form of child care doesn’t it?)
• Do you keep the children in church up to the point of the sermon and then release them to go to children’s church or do they spend the whole time in their own children’s church?

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Here is one of the coolest things about Firefox:

I love all the extensions (now called add-ons) that make it such a fun and adaptable tool. One add-on is called grease monkey. This tool allows you to install (and to even create your own should you be brave enough to try) user scripts that change and modify the look of certain webpages in your browser.

If you want to “monkey” around with grease monkey and see what it can do, check out this link to a user script for Google Darkly. All the easy directions are right there. Now whenever I visit the Google homepage this is what I see in my browser:

HT: The Download Squad

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Yesterday, I went to our local Barnes and Noble. I didn’t find what I was looking for, but I did end up buying two books I’d been eyeing for the last couple of weeks: Simply Christian by NT Wright and the new Brazos Theological Commentary on Acts (the lectionary readings following Easter are in Acts.)

The total for both books came out to $55.00. But on my drive home I panicked…when I got home I got on the Internet and bought the exact same books with 3 day shipping from Amazon for $38.00. I of course plan on returning the books I bought at B&N later today, but I am a little saddened that I can’t break into them right now.

This experience has led me to reflect about my book buying habits on a couple of different fronts.

I hate the fact that our ‘local,’ though really corporate giant Christian bookstores (Family Christian & Lemstone), don’t carry the types of good theological and well grounded books that I can more easily find at B&N. Now, to be fair they do order what I want when asked but why should I have to wait for what I want especially when I have to pay full price to do so?

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One thing I’m starting to like about the web today, is the sense of community that forms. For instance, Jason Clark a fellow from the UK is running this website Free Of Charge over the season of lent for people to gather together to study and comment on Miroslav Volf’s book “Free of Charge.” I just got my copy yesterday and began reading. It’s pretty meaty but promises to be a great read for Lent.

Other folks are running similar book discussions like Scot McKnight over at Jesus Creed who has been posting lately about Eugene Peterson’s book “Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places” and NT Wright’s book “Paul: In Fresh Perspective.” Even if you don’t have time to actually read the book that is being discussed, you can keep up with the postings. It’s kind of like having on-line “cliff notes.”

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I know I’m a few days early, but I couldn’t resist posting this valentine. This and other Star Wars themed homemade valentines can be found at Something Awful.

In case you are wondering what other crazy things are out there on the web, boing boing offers up some daily fare of wonderful things people are discovering out in cyber space. Some frightening, some fascinating, but always interesting.

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Check out the world’s smallest pong game at the world’s smallest website. There are other games like pacman on the site also. You might want a magnifying glass…

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