Seth’s Blog: Mechanics vs. intent
By · CommentsThere are so many ways this also applies to the church. Take a moment and read Seth Godin’s latest post and let’s enter into a discussion.
Mechanics are important, no doubt.
More important by far is creating a desire to share. If people intend to share, they’ll find a way, the mechanics are just a convenience.
Pondering: Google Apps or Exchange
By · CommentsJason Powell, a friend of mine, wrote about a new wiki that he and a few other Church IT professionals have just begun. Below is the blog post describing what they are trying to do:
Switch from Exchange to Google Apps? Join the discussion on citrt.org
I’ve been pondering the switch from Exchange to Google Apps as GCC’s corporate email solution for over a year. While there are a couple of obvious benefits to switching to GApps, my team’s hesitation has been the overwhelming number of unknowns along with a number of features we know we’d loose. Getting answers to our unknowns has been a challenge … and in talking with other church IT peers we all have similar questions.
For non-profits, Exchange really doesn’t cost much, offers a ton of enterprise class features, and in our experience requires little day-to-day maintenance. However, we’re not married to Exchange and if there are solid and compelling reasons to switch we would seriously consider it.
To that end a couple of us got together and started a wiki page on citrt.org listing all the questions/concerns we have about Google Apps as an Exchange replacement. http://citrt.pbwiki.com/Google-Apps-Pros-Cons-Other We’ve already had 29 updates to the wiki page and it’s barely 24hrs old 
What about you? Do have Google Apps questions you’d like to have answered? A few of our church IT peers have made the switch already and we hope they’ll help answer our questions (they better!). Better yet, do you know someone at Google that can weigh in? Regardless, please join in the discussion.
We have also been thinking about making the switch from Exchange to Google Apps. If you have experience in making the switch, both good or bad, would you please share what you know and have learned. You can access the wiki here: Google Apps, Pros-Cons-Others
Our New Henderson Hills Brochure
By · CommentsTo my knowledge we have never had an “all church” brochure at Henderson Hills. It’s been one of those things that I’ve wanted us to do, but timing, money, expertise, etc have always kept us from doing one.
Well we thought that at Easter time would be a good time to have something like a brochure. So…we’ve been working furiously the last 5 weeks to create one that would capture Henderson Hills and help people new to take the next step. I’m very pleased with the results. Obviously, or I wouldn’t be sharing it with you. Check out the work below.
Krystal Harlow, one of our graphic designers, was responsible for this project. She knocked it out of the park! Great job Krystal. What are your thoughts?
I’ve said this was going to happen. I just didn’t know when it would happen. This year, for the first time, we have chosen to not advertise in the newspapers, but have spent the money advertising online and some highly read local magazines.
My Latest Project
By · CommentsSprinkler system installed. Finished filling in the trenches this am in the rain. I’m beat. Here’s a drawing of the project.
Sprinkler system installed. Finished filling the trenches this am in the rain. I’m beat. Drawing of the project.
US Mobile Use Doubles
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I’ve written about this before and this just adds more fuel to the fire. More and more people are using their mobile devices to access the internet. Here is the latest report from comScore: Mobile Internet Becoming a Daily Activity for Many.
“The number of people using their mobile device to access news and information on the Internet more than doubled from January 2008 to January 2009.”
“Social networking and blogging have emerged as very popular daily uses of the mobile Web and these activities are growing at a torrid pace.
We, Henderson Hills, has created a mobile web site so that people can access the most current information from their mobile device. You can access that site via your mobile device by going to m.hhbc.com.
Typically the church is the last to adopt new technology. I’m seeing some churches that are trying to change that rule. People are using their mobile devices to access:
- Maps
- Social Networking Sites
- News & Information
- Video
- Searches
What are the next steps, other than creating a mobile web site, for a church to consider? This is an area where I REALLY get excited…using technology for Kingdom purposes.
Turn a Web Page Into a PDF
By · CommentsThere are many times I would really like to have a printed copy of a web site (HTML coded page) or a web page. It could have been helpful when we were designing our web site, planning a sermon, researching a presentation, etc.
Well…I just ran across this post from Church Crunch suggesting the use of this new, FREE, web site tool to create a PDF file from a web page or post. Click on the image below to check it out.
Want to know what it does? Click on this link: Yes…She’s Wicked Good! to see what it does.
I’m going to use this new tool a LOT!