Why We Web

Digital Diapers? What’s Next?

Sherri Jason — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:54:18 +0000

Photo taken from Article

I seriously laughed when I read the following article (listed below). As many of you know, we have five children. I was never able to get the toddler out of diapers before the next baby came along, so I often had 2 children in diapers at the same time. I was just born too early I suppose. When my own children have children, they will be able to use TweetPee by Huggies!

My struggle with technology has been that we often replace more personal interaction with texting or posting or tweeting instead of the old-fashioned face-to-face or even phone conversations. However, I have personally found technology to also be a way to really connect with my own teens and other people as well. It provides an opportunity to be involved more fully in their lives.

I can’t, however, see how a digital diaper that sends messages about a soiled diaper can ever replace checking on a baby. Sure, I can see its uses and convenience, but still… being connected with your child’s diaper seems a bit too much. And I can just imagine the notification sounds that might come with it. ”Why is your phone tinkling?”

My youngest is now 7 so it’s been some time since I changed diapers. Perhaps some mother who is up to her eyeballs in diapers would LOVE this new invention! What do you think? I know this is kind of a silly post. But then again, perhaps technology is getting a bit silly too.

Here’s the article: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/05/14/are-getting-over-connected-dark-side-to-internet-things/

OWAE Conference Recap

Crawford Paul — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:45:38 +0000

This week I had the privilege to attend the Ontario Workers and Elders Conference (OWAEC) at Guelph Bible Conference Centre in Guelph, Ontario. On Tuesday I gave a seminar called The Internet in Ministry. You can view the Prezi here - http://prezi.com/a4aiceaf7rte/the-internet-in-ministry/. I gave the seminar twice and had about 80 people attend total. We looked at various topics relating to the internet and how to use it personal ministry.

I was glad that good discussion was had after the seminars, both in the group and individually. We discussed what a FB LIKE means, how local churches can present an accurate view of who they are on their websites, why shepherds should be engaged where the sheep are, and how we can interact with youth.

One young man shared with the group how much he appreciated it when older believers took the time and interest to communicate with him on Facebook. He encouraged those older to reach out to the younger people because of the positive impact they can have.

Two men talked to me after about how young Christians can get swayed by the false doctrine there is online and asked if there were some good websites that they could send them to. I wrote it down to look into. I gave one of them digitalsojourner.com as a good start.

I really enjoyed the conference and look forward to more like it. Maybe next year you will be able to attend.

Consider Using Technology for Your Prayer Chain

Sherri Jason — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:39:23 +0000

Prayer Chains have been around for a long time and have taken on many forms. In the past, they usually consisted of pure phone calling with the “chain” starting off with one main contact person. That person would then call a few key contacts who then had a list of a few people to call. This method is much better than having a long list of people where each person has to call the next person on the list. Inevitably there is a missing link when someone cannot be reached by phone.

In today’s plugged in society, people may want to get email instead of phone calls. Before you rush to judgment about the impersonal touch, realize that there are many people who are much more easily reached via email to their smart phones than by calling them on their home phone. Particularly for those working online or who have their cell phones on them at all times, this is actually a much more effective way of reaching them in an emergency situation.

Every church will be different in terms of the dynamics of the people in fellowship. The best prayer chain system will consider the absolute best way of getting in touch with everyone as quickly as possible. After all, the point is to pray as soon as possible right?

Here are a few thoughts that I have about prayer chains:

1. Have one key contact person. Everyone in your local church should be aware of who that main person is, and that person should be someone usually readily available to contact and get the ball rolling.

2. Keep the chain for important and imminent requests. Although all prayer requests are important, there are times when we can share items or requests via email to a few people that we know will pray. Consider the timing. Will you all be together that evening for prayer meeting? Then save the request until then unless it is an emergency. If you won’t be there, call someone to announce it there.

3. Try to keep it to items involving people known by those in fellowship, emergencies, or things that are very near and dear to your (collective) heart. Although it is important to pray for Joe’s mother’s cousin’s wife’s foot surgery, perhaps there is another more appropriate platform for sharing such requests (see below). A few phone calls or emails to friends who you know are serious about prayer can be very effective.

4. If it’s something very serious, like someone passing away, make the extra effort to make sure there is a personal touch to your delivery of the message. Try not to leave a message on voice mail or to email these types of messages. An exception may be if it was very expected and imminent and everyone was waiting to hear the news.

5. Make sure you give updates now and then. If you ask everyone to pray and the prayer is answered or there is a turn of events, notify everyone so they know how to pray more intelligently.

6. Be encouraging. It is a privilege and a command to bear one another’s burdens. The news that you are delivering may not always be pleasant, but you should be. If you feel resentful in this position, give it to someone else. This is a service for our fellow believers and an important aspect of the functioning of the body of Christ.

There are other ways to pass on requests such as texting, social media, a prayer page on your website, an email list via email marketing (see Mail Chimp for a free account). Do a little research on what will work best for your prayer chain.

As James 5:16 says, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” NLT

Note: This post was originally written by Sherri and distributed as an email newsletter for mySonlight.com in March of 2012.

So Virtual Reality Minded You’re Of No Earthly Good

Scott Thomson — Wed, 08 May 2013 19:44:23 +0000

I am going to guess that most people who read this have never even heard of the incredibly popular Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) Eve Online.

So first let me briefly describe what it is: an online video game set in a science fictional universe where tens, even hundreds of thousands of people play with and against each other simultaneously.

The game is so engaging, and so popular that many who play the game become fully engrossed by it. Make no mistake– this is not a 5 minute 25¢ game of Space Invaders! This is a game that fully consumes the lives of many who play it. Consider for a moment the following statement by Eyjólfur Guðmundsson, who is the top Economist at CCP Games (the company that owns Eve Online):

“Our mission statement is to make virtual worlds more meaningful than real life.”

WAIT?! What did he say? Eyjólfur said that the stated purpose of their company is to make virtual online worlds that are more meaningful than real life. I find this to be absolutely staggering.

Eyjólfur goes on to say…

“For me, real life has stopped being interesting”

WHAT?! Real life is no longer interesting?! Again, I find this to be absolutely staggering. How can an artificial, fictional world– that can only be experienced through pixels on a screen– become so meaningful that reality is rendered as uninteresting?

Unfortunately I can not explain this because I admittedly do not understand it myself.

What I can say, however, is that there are many who do understand. In fact there are hundreds of thousand of people who do ‘get it’. Eve Online has over 500,000 paid monthly subscribers who each spend, on average, of 18 hours a week playing. By way of comparison if you spent 18 hours a week reading the Bible you could read it twelve times a year.

Most people find it difficult to read the Bible once a year… let alone once a month. Yet half a million people are able to dedicate this amount of time to a virtual gaming world. Also consider that reading the Bible is absolutely free… EVE Online costs about $15 a month plus any in game purchases.

If Christians are sometimes chided for being “so heavenly minded they are of no earthly good” what could possibly be said about those who live out their existence in completely fictional.. sorry… virtual worlds?

Ok, my purpose is not to mock those who play EVE Online or similar MMORGPs. Let me be clear: I also enjoy playing video games. During a few minutes of downtime I like to take out my phone and play a few rounds of Fruit Ninja.

However, I would like to offer a few thoughts:

We must be ever on guard regarding the use of our own time– both online and offline. Are we truly spending our time, talents, and treasure on those things that will count for eternity? Matthew 25:14-30 ESV
As parents we must be ever vigilant in raising up and training our children. We could overreact by not allowing our children to have access to any video games. We could underreact by allowing our children unfettered access to all video games without any restrictions or guidance. As parents we must do something considerably more difficult– train our children to thrive in the real world– a world that offers endless and addicting distractions from what is truly important. Proverbs 22:6 ESV
If we have a friend who is spending inordinate amounts of time in virtual worlds we should have the courage to say something to them in love. We shouldn’t gossip about them, nor should we verbally attack them– rather we should lovingly approach our brother or sister in Christ. Ephesians 4:15 ESV, 2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

I would greatly appreciate hearing your thoughts on traps and pitfalls of virtual worlds in the comment section…

Sources:
WikiPedia
Bloomberg BusinessWeek
Graphic: By CCP Games (en:EVE Online) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Praying for America

Crawford Paul — Thu, 02 May 2013 14:15:31 +0000

I have 3 citizenships. I live in Canada and I have a Canadian passport. I was born in Scotland and therefore have European citizenship and ultimately I am a citizen of Heaven with a passport that never expires. I have traveled to numerous countries and seen how culture is so vastly different wherever you go. I have traveled to the USA dozens of times and enjoyed meeting some of the most excellent people on the planet. Americans have as big hearts as their country and they are passionate and proud of their heritage. Today as I scanned through my Twitter feed I learned that today is the National Day of Prayer in the US.

What did I do? I prayed for America. I prayed specifically that through the power of the gospel many would come to Christ. I prayed that the believers there would be strengthened and built up in Christ so they can be bold witnesses for Him. I prayed for those in government to turn to the Lord and seek His ways and govern with peace.

1 Timothy 2:1-4 “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Social media and blogs have already started discussing the day of prayer. I was saddened to read comments from professing Christians slamming Obama and Muslims It reminded me that our actions online should be no different than our actions offline. Expressing hate and verbally abusing a person or religion is NOT honoring to the Lord. I like the attitude of Greg Laurie who writes, “Despite the fact that we, as a nation, have largely forgotten God, the good news is: God has not forgotten us. He still can bless and redeem our country.” [1]

As I read more and more hate in comments by posters it made me examine my own heart. Do I hate people? Do I pray for all people and my government the way Paul exhorted me to pray, with thanksgiving? What’s the goal in praying? It should be that they be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

I am thankful for my American friends. I am thankful for their freedom to worship and serve the Lord as I can here in Canada. I pray for their country and government. The Lord is on His throne and He guides countries for His purpose. It may seem strange that the only non-American on the Why We Web team is writing this post but then again maybe not. So I stand alongside my American friends and say, “God bless the USA!”

1. http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/05/02/on-national-day-prayer-america-needs-prayer-like-never-before/#ixzz2S8jzkUpw

5 SlideShare Power Tips

Scott Thomson — Wed, 01 May 2013 18:48:35 +0000

In my post last week we explored how the website SlideShare can be used to potentially share your presentations with a considerably larger aduience than you have presently.

To help you reach the largest audience possible here are 5 SlideShare power tips:

5. Do NOT post all of your presentations. Let’s face it, not all of your PowerPoint presentations were created equal. Some are simply better than others. Only share the absolute best. With millions of users there is a considerable amount of competition on ShareShare.

The standard has been set high. You will not gain followers if you post mediocre content.

4. Only post “standalone” presentations. Most PowerPoint presentations are prepared to accompany a speech and therefore may not make sense without verbal explanation. Such presentations should not be posted– or at the very least modified before posting.

One idea is to create a ‘Slidecast’ by adding audio to your presentation. More on this from SlideShare here.

3. Use meaningful pictures. Remember your slideshow is… well… a slideshow. If someone wanted to read an article on a particular subject they would… well… read an article.

The very term ‘slideshow’ implies show! There should actually be something to look at. The right picture(s) can make all the difference.

2. No Bullet Points! Bullets are for guns not slide presentations… unless, of course, you actually WANT to kill any hope of someone surviving long enough to make it all the way through to the end.

1. Share, Share, Share. The whole point is to share your presentations with the world. Once your presentation is uploaded and live it is very easy to share it with the interwebs.

Use the share button at the bottom of the presentation to obtain the slideshow’s URL (unique web address), HTML code to embed the presentation in webpages or blog posts. The same share button also makes it easy to share your presentation on various social networks including Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Enjoy!

Link: SlideShare

The Media’s Attack on Christians

Crawford Paul — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:11:48 +0000

The recent coming out of Jason Collins as the first openly gay active male athlete in professional sports has sent shock waves around the sporting world. Collins has received much support from other athletes and fans. NBA Commissioner David Stern also was quick to pay tribute to Collins. ”Jason has been a widely respected player and teammate throughout his career and we are proud he has assumed the leadership mantle on this very important issue” [1].

Unfortunately many have used media as a way to attack the conservative Christian stand on homosexuality. Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant tweeted that he was proud of Collins, writing: “Don’t suffocate who u r because of the ignorance of others,” followed by the words “courage” and “support” [1]. TMZ went a step further in twisting the words of NBA star Antawn Jamison and changing them from “closed minded people” to “closed minded haters” [2]. No hiding that agenda. Their message is a simple one: if anyone disagrees and says anything against the gay movement they are called bigots, haters, intolerant and ignorant.

Chris Broussard, who is an NBA analyst, got raked over the coals for stating his Christians beliefs. He didn’t put down Jason Collins, say he hated him or even say he shouldn’t have come out but he simply stated what the Bible says on the issue. As Christians we are coming under even greater attack for our beliefs and the trend will continue to grow. The media wants everyone to think that conservative views are the minority and that is simply not true.

On a personal note, and as a Christian I do not hate or discriminate against anyone because of their race, skin color, religion or sexual preference. I’ve been shocked to see professing Christians post terrible, insulting comments against others and I will have no part in that. We too need to use the media to promote our views without being un-Christ like. Let’s keep our comments honoring to the Lord.

1. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/basketball/nba/story/2013/04/29/sp-nba-jason-collins-sports-illustrated-gay-rights.html

2. http://www.tmz.com/2013/04/29/antawn-jamison-jason-collins-gay-lakers-video/

I Have an iHeadache

Sherri Jason — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:51:50 +0000

Two of my sons, Caleb and Jared, have wanted “iPods” for the longest time. Jared has saved up his money and has been on the hunt for a used iPod for awhile and Caleb turns 13 next month so I said we could get him a used one for his birthday. For Jared, when he said iPod, he meant iPod. For Caleb, he just meant a really cool touch screen gadget that he can play games and music on.

Being an Android gal myself, I know next to nothing about Apple products nor have I ever needed to. My only experience has been with iTunes which I personally think is a nightmare to navigate and, in fact, I must confess that my password for my iTunes account used to be ihateitunes!! Why do I have an iTunes account them? Because well-meaning friends and family buy endless iTunes giftcards for all my children and myself. Note to friends and family: Thank you very much. Can you please sit down with my kids and help them order their stuff?

Ok so I’m exaggerating a bit. A little bit.

So Caleb ended up with an Android phone that is functioning via wi-fi and has no cellular service. It even has 3D capabilities which is pretty cool. And I just love the ease of going to Google PlayStore and just choosing the app and installing it. It’s what I’m used to.

Apparently with Jared’s iPod I did things wrong. I decided to login to iTunes from my laptop so I didn’t have to put my iTunes account on his device. I finally figured out how to get to the apps, but it was only giving me options for iPhones or iPads. I won’t even give the boring details of what else was involved, but let’s just say, I have developed an iHeadache. And there are still no apps on Jared’s iPod. And seriously, how many times does someone really need to login?

Add to this the fact that Jared spent $5 from his iTunes card to rent a movie for us to watch last week and it never worked, I’m a little disgruntled. And you all get to bear the brunt of my vent. :)

Mark 3:25 says:

If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

Who says the Bible doesn’t talk about technology???

So… what experiences have you had with Apple and Android? (Keep it nice everyone!)

3 Very Cool Faith Based Social Media T-shirts

Crawford Paul — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:56:09 +0000

I came across these t-shirts today and thought I would share them with you. They are from a clothing company called Kerusso. One thing I love about these shirts is that they are real conversation starters. They use relevant and popular brands such as Facebook to grab people’s attention and then hit them with a powerful message. They currently have a 15% off promotion on. Click one of the shirts to buy!

I Like Jesus

Faith Book

Power In The Blood

How To Resurrect Your PowerPoint Presentations

Scott Thomson — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:09:40 +0000

Yesterday Crawford Paul shared some excellent PowerPoint design tips to help you improve your PowerPoint presentations. If you missed his post I would highly encourage you to check it out.

In my preaching ministry I occasionally use PowerPoint to augment a message. However, I must confess that in the past I would question the cost/benefit ratio of preparing a PowerPoint slide show.

After all, it may take an additional 4 or 5 hours to prepare an effective slideshow. Would the time I invest really be worth it? At most I might show the presentation only once or twice– only to be long forgotten on my harddrive.

Then along came SlideShare.

What in the world is SlideShare you ask? Great question.

Simply put SlideShare is a website that allows you to publicly post and share your digital presentations. Awesome. This is exactly what I was looking for– a way to introduce my presentations to a much larger audience.

SlideShare describes itself as…

…the world’s largest community for sharing presentations. With 60 million monthly visitors and 130 million pageviews, it is amongst the most visited 200 websites in the world. Besides presentations, SlideShare also supports documents, PDFs, videos and webinars.

Since discovering SlideShare a little over a year ago I have uploaded nine presentations. Altogether the nine presentations have been viewed well over 2,000 times. Not bad.

This is the first slideshow I posted to SlideShare:

Reaching the modern world for Jesus Christ from DigitalSojourner

If you use PowerPoint or a similar presentation platform (such as OpenOffice or Apple Keynote) I highly recommend checking out SlideShare. With it you can easily breathe new life into your presentations and introduce them to a much larger audience.

Next week I will share with you some insider tips to make the most of this wonderful tool.

Have you ever used SlideShare? If so let us know about in the comments…