So I was thinking the other day...what would it look like if Mac and PC stopped focusing on their differences and found common ground? If they dated for a while, got married and had a child? What might that look like?

Obviously I assumed it would be a positive thing...

But seriously. I have one foot in both camps. I've used PC's my entire life and yet after using the MacBook Pro a few times I totally see the value in going this route for my music, pictures and AVCHD video.

Unfortunately, that's where my Mac love ends. Try to do my typical daily routine and my blood pressure rises. Replace Outlook with Entourage? Are you kidding? Carry a power cord everywhere I go? Don't think so.

Back to my illustration: If only there were a "Cindy Crawford Solution" to this problem. How cool would it be if I could purchase Mac tools like iMovie, iPhoto and PhotoBooth for my PC? Or Outlook for the Mac? What if all open source and online programs worked as well on the Mac?

I know. I know. Capitalism. Each one needs have a unique niche in order to compete for market share.

Whatever! The browser wars are almost over now that IE is becoming standards compliant. Sure they will continue striving to be number one. But hopefully in feature sets and not obscure functionality.

So couldn't this be a next step? Bill? Steve? Can't we just be friends?

Yes, Twitter is taking over the world - at least the world I live in.

When I first learned about it and saw how people were using it I simply dismissed it as one more thing to check and stay up on. In my world this would mean blogging, reading blogs, managing the Inbox, managing Facebook and now Tweeting? So I wasn't very interested at first.

Then I learned that Twitter would automatically update my Facebook status. So prior to my SXSW trip this year I signed up so I could do Facebook status updates from my MotoQ9c on the fly. This worked well, but was just the beginning. After using it for the week I quickly learned the "power of the tweet."

I'm still a newbie but here are a few of the perceived benefits:

1. Status Updates: Basically what Twitter is, but also able to update your Facebook status remotely from your cellphone.
2. @replies: Simply add "@friendsTwitterUsername" in your tweet and it will show up on that person's page - similar to replying to an email.
3. Instant, Generic Communication: Instead of having to text or email a group of people, you can simply send a tweet and anyone following your Twitter will receive the communication.
4. Share Your Crazy Captures: Couple Twitter with a simple application like TwitPic and you are able to snap a picture on your phone then easily include it in a tweet as a link. One of the fastest ways to communicate a real-time personal experience.

Call it mini-blogging, texting on steroids or just the next version of mass communication. Either way it rocks and has definitely found it's place on my list of tools.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the Great Commission and how that plays out for the Christ follower. I grew up in a traditional church where the highest expectation was church attendance and following the rules. We left "helping people" up to the super Christians we called "missionaries."

Needless to say this created a level of anxiety within me. It was hard enough just trying to be good all the time, much less the thought of becoming a missionary.

To this day I still wrestle with feelings of inadequacy since I'm not directly feeding poor people or traveling to India. I struggle with questions like, "Does my work count?" "Is what I doing fulfilling the Great Commission?"

Luckily I attend a church uniquely positioned to answer this question. You see aside from the traditional, mainstream, middle-America attendee, there are at least three unique populations that we engage both on the weekend and Outside These Walls:

• The Down & Outers (local, regional and international): Granger has developed a local strategy at the Community Center in South Bend. Regional efforts are made in low-income housing projects in Chicago. And partnerships are strong in India where church planters are being resourced multiple times per year.
• The Up & Outers: Wealthy members of our community are in a slightly different boat. They are resourced to the max which typically leads to a sense of entitlement and self importance that makes it difficult for them to see their need for a Saviour. Granger's level of excellence and seeker-sensitive focus create the perfect environment for people in this category.
• The Connected: Social networking and connectedness via the Internet is growing daily. Unfortunately the forms of media, topics and other connecting factors can be less than ideal - the Devil's playground so to speak. Which is exactly why we need to be out there too. We have the ability to bring His light into the dark and depraved places on the web. There is an entire community out there who never leave the house. Their broadband connections just might be the only gateway through which His love can reach them.

Knowing this, what are we to do?

Must I dedicate 33.3% of my time to each area or do I pick one or two of the three and focus all my energy there?

I'm going to frustrate you by saying, "I don't know."

It's easy to rationalize and say, "There are people going to India so I don't need to." But is that the right attitude? Even though I spend countless hours helping The Connected and the The Up & Outers is there more I should be doing?

I mean what if we took 1000 people to India on the next trip? What could we accomplish?

These are the sort of things that run through my head...

Recently got to spend an entire week in South Carolina. North Myrtle Beach is a great place to hang out with friends and family. We stayed in a condo with a couple other families and spent most of our time either poolside or at the beach.

There are some things that you CAN do but SHOULDN'T do because the intent is questionable.

I found yet another example in the web field the other day. I was creating a website for a local company and the owner asked how he could make the site more visible to search engines like Google, Yahoo, Answers, etc.

I began to explain what meta tags were and how he could come up with a list of words for the search engines so they would return the site in searches for those words.

He seemed to understand and then asked how it could be that every time he searched for his store, the competitor came up in the list before him.

A quick "view source" showed us that the competitor had entered my clients company name (word for word) as one of his meta tags.

My Two Choices
Given this turn of events I had the following options:

1. Tell him 'turnabout is fair play' and simply put the competitors name in our meta tag.
2. Use the opportunity to model ethical business practice for my client.

Luckily it was fairly easy to choose option 2. My client agreed that it was low business practice and he wanted nothing to do with it. I can only pray that I would have been so ethical if he had have pushed me to do the opposite.

In Summary
In this upside down world it makes sense to do anything to get one up on the competition. And while you may lose market share due to ethical decision-making I believe God will bless you. If not here and now, in the near future or at the end of it all.

Either way I'd much rather be on this side of the fence...

By the way, there is a slight chance you could be taken to court for this behavior. But this isn't the judge I'd be worried about. Even if you get away with your meta tag mayhem in this life, you will stand before The Judge someday.

We've all heard:

You can't please all the people all the time. But you can please some of the people some of the time.

I was thinking about this in terms of our websites and future changes we choose to make. And it occurred to me that the following is also true:

You can't listen to everyones opinion all the time. But you better listen to someones opinion some of the time.

The truth is: People are always willing to give you their opinions. I hear stuff like this all the time:

• I love what you guys do
• I hate what you guys do
• You really need to do this instead
• If only you had have thought about this more
• I would have done it this way

Because of this, filtering becomes a VERY important skill. You can't just write off what people say. You must sort through the opinions and find the stuff that matters - stuff that has value and can help you grow.

What to Look For (Opinions that Matter)

1. What to do more of: Look for common themes in the stuff people like. If there are a lot of positive statements about the same thing it might help you justify keeping that component or offering on the website. You may also choose to put more time and money into it in the future.
   
2. Constructive criticism/complaints: Criticism/complaints are often a waste of time. But keep a look out for the following: 1) Numerous complaints about the same thing. This might indicate that something really is broken. 2) Complaints from professionals in the field. But only when they offer solutions to the problem they have identified. Some professionals complain just because they think their way is better.
   
3. New solutions: Once and a while you'll get recommendations for newer, more effective solutions than what you are using on your website. Look into these. Often new solutions cut down on maintenance, cost less and offer the user a better experience. Just make sure you aren't betting the farm on a solution that is still in Beta testing. You may wind up with all sorts of headaches as the product matures.

The larger the scope of your ministry, the more correspondence you'll wade through. But with these filters in place you'll actually find much of it useful as you make future web strategy decisions.

The team recently added downloadable video to the product offerings on WiredChurches.com.

It seems like this would be a no-brainer with today's technology but there were definitely some glitches that kept us from doing this long ago. With files from 500MB all the way up to 2GB it isn't like you are making an MP3 available for download. And you also need an eCommerce solution that plays nice with large downloads.

But this aside we're finally able to make them available.

Due in part to an incredible team of dedicated web guru's that worked at it until it became a reality. Here's the rundown:

• Matt: Hosting and ftp solution along with some slick behind the scenes work to make file management and uploading a breeze.
• Jeanna/Lisa/Lindsay: Video acquisition, uploading, product creation, promotion, etc.

I love the fact that I get to brainstorm with these guys and then watch them knock it out of the park. We're in for a good ride in the Communications Department. The team is strong and ready for the next big challenge.

Last night our team breathed a sigh of relief as the final pages were saved, all apps connected and the last button pushed to publish the Innovate08 site and make it live.

For the first time we developed a mini-site from the ground up. Not just pages in a folder on WiredChurches.com, but a fully functional site with it's own domain name, hosting, navigational structure and registration component.

The entire process began in brainstorming sessions with the arts department. At that time we picked stop motion photography as the theme that would be used throughout the conference - from print to web to media/transitions during the conference.

Specifics
From there it was creating a dark web backdrop and UI that incorporated some of these images. Dump in all the necessary content and you have a website. I was lucky enough to work with a great team that put together the following elements:

• Stop motion photography
• Graphics for website
• Print elements (example: 2008 Brochure)
  
• Facebook Page
• Twitter Page/Feed
• Funny FAQ Videos
  
• Forms for Innovate08 Registration and sign-ups for Casual Q&As
  
• PayPal integration
• And much more that I'm forgetting...

This project was hammered out in less than a month and only happened because each person took their specific area of expertise and made it happen.

Great job guys! I love this stuff.

Task List
Go register for Innovate08 right now - I'll see you in September.

I was living in Illinois when I was 16 so that's where I learned to drive and where I took my Driver's Ed class.

Of course the majority of the "rules" I learned I've since forgotten. But one thing that stuck was the IPDE method of driving. And while this may have been specific to Illinois, I'm sure every state has at least a similar version.

So the other day I was thinking about it (for some odd reason) and quickly saw the application to web strategy:

• Identify: See the big picture. Think outside the box. Know your audience. Dream "down the road" rather than just reacting to the needs of today. Make educated guesses as to what people will be using, wanting or needing a few months down the road.
• Predict: Determine what the potential outcomes of your decisions will be. What will the financial burden look like? How might these decisions enhance the mission, vision and values of the church?
  
• Decide: Develop your plan/strategy. Call it a "timeline," "roadmap" or whatever works for you. Have short term and long term goals with objectives and action steps under each. Determine who is responsible for each action step and set target dates.
  
• Execute: Make it happen. Secure the necessary influence, financial backing and or sign off from the leadership. Put you plan into action.
• Assess: (I know this isn't part of the IPDE Method but I'll throw it in for free...). I'm not sure why it wasn't included. I mean every time you do something you SHOULD learn from it - regardless if it was a mistake or a success. Mistakes should suggest changing something about your method. Success should let you know that there is something about your method that really works. Regardless, look at your execution and assess the results. Then start the process over with this new piece of information.

Tammy and I ate at Cozymel's Mexican Grill while we were in Dallas. And while the food wasn't really worth blogging about, there was something that totally got me geeked about the restaurant.

Each table had a small touch screen propped up on a stand. During the meal it offered the specials and even movie times at the nearby mall. But it was what happened after the meal that really amazed me.

When you were finished, the server finalized the bill and made it available on the touch screen. You pushed the "pay" button and then slid your credit card through a slot on the side in order to pay for the meal. You're even asked how you would like the receipt. I chose to have ours emailed to us. And within 10 seconds it was showing up in the Inbox of my MotoQ9.

I love this stuff! Just think of the possibilities for personal banking in the church world. You could have these on the seat backs in the auditorium. You could have self serve kiosks in the atrium. Or let's get even more personal and make this software available on mobile phones. Imagine if you had a mobile app that allowed you to give your tithes and offerings when needed. Or if you could navigate to a mobile version of the church website and click a link that allowed online giving from a mobile phone.

Sound crazy? I'm betting it's not far off my friend :)

Day two had the bulk of the content and day three was the wrap up final session. Here are some specifics:

Opening Session (Curtis Simmons): Curtis did a great job walking us through both newly released functionality and what is right around the corner. It was good to hear about the architecture restructure that will allow for increased access to data through the coming API and CMS features. Ftech is wanting to be 'all things technical' for churches and yes, that includes managing and hosting their websites. With CMS a church will be able to develop templates and pull content right out of FellowshipOne and present it on the page. We're definitely heading in the right direction.

F1 Roadmap (Curtis Harris): Much of the same stuff presented in the opening session just with more detail and timelines.

LifeChurch.tv - Here, Now and the Future (Terry Storch): I love sitting in on session with this guy. Terry's heart beats for 'kingdom technology' and he shared a few of the projects currently underway at LifeChurch.tv. Internet Campus, OnePrayer and SecondLife are three of the biggies. Looking forward to hearing more from the LifeChurch.tv Team when the OnePrayer series hits.

CMS in FellowshipOne (Tim Hardy): Tim was great at walking us through the future CMS feature in F1. He not only described the idea and the way it would work, but also demonstrated by walking us through the process of editing pages and navigation. Sounds interesting for smaller churches. We currently use a CMS designed for us from the ground up. However, I look forward to the possibility of pulling in content with the RESTful API and presenting it on our pages. All sorts of applications come to mind...

Customizing Weblink with CSS (Tara Coulson): Simple and to the point, so why haven't I got in there and messed with it? It's called laziness. I just need to put it on the list and make it happen. FellowshipOne still uses an archaic css stylesheet to style their popup windows. So it will take a little work to find the right selectors, make the changes and then make sure that it hasn't completely destroyed the look of another popup using the same selector. Shouldn't be too bad though.

Evenings Activities (Friday): P.F. Chang's and a quick stop at IKEA.

Closing Address on Saturday (Randy Draper): Excellent choice. Randy has heart, humor and passion for church work. He encouraged us to NOT be the negative, angry tech person sitting behind the scenes. But to find the passion we need to laugh, love people, serve and find purpose in everything we do. Sobering and encouraging.

Saturday's Activities: Spend the next couple days with my beautiful wife (who decided to come on the trip with me). No solid plans, but I'm sure we'll find something to do in the big State of Texas.

Day one has come and gone in Dallas. Yesterday we did the following:

Presenters Meeting: Quick and to the point. Thanks for coming. This is where the computer will be. This is the clicker for your powerpoint. Now go and do a great job.

Opening Address (Jeff Hook, CEO): Jeff opened the conference with another summary on Fellowship Technologies history, place in the market and commitment to the vision of the church. He gave a short overview of what's coming in the life of FellowshipOne and offered a new (modified) version of the graph depicting the operating needs/processes of the church.

Data Integrity (Marie Armitage): Marie offered many best practices on how to maintain data integrity and elicited similar tips from attendees. Good to hear that we're on the right track.

Super Team (Granger Team): We presented on the development of our Super Team and how it has helped us with the use of F1 in our environment. The team outperforms the individual every time...

Weblink Integration (Curtis Simmons): I returned to this presentation in part because we have semi-integrated weblink on gccwired.com. Last year it was considered a waste of time to attempt such a thing. This year it was discussed as being the preferred method because of the control it allows over the user experience. Exactly why we put the time and energy into doing it in the first place :)

Evenings Activities: Cheesecake Factory and IronMan.

This week a group of us will be making the trip to Texas for the annual Dynamic Church Conference.

Six of us went last year and quickly found that your FellowshipOne (church management solution) knowledge can go from 0 to 100 in two days.

This year we've been asked to present on what we call the 'Super Team' - a select group of people that help to keep FellowshipOne running smoothly at our church. If you want to hear more about the team concept, meet us on Thursday and we'll try to fill in all the blanks.

It should be a good time. I'm looking forward to hearing more about the recently added features and what is on the roadmap for future enhancements.

See everyone there.

For those of you dedicated to all things tech at your churches or places of employment, I have the perfect event for you. WiredChurches.com is offering the Technical Arts Forum again this May 30th.

Led by my good friend Adam Callender, the forum is a round-table event with discussion topics guided by attendees. Discuss how to effectively use audio, video, lighting and auditorium technology in services or presentations. Conversations also touch on needs, components, systems and how to find and train volunteers.

If you get geeked by tech you really need to check this out.

Until recently the communications department at granger has been 100% PC (Dell desktops and laptops for the most part). But we recently purchased a MacBook Pro. It isn't for one individual (though it sits on Jeanna's desk). Instead it serves the entire department as a media workhorse.

We had budget set aside for expensive software programs (required on a PC in order to edit and encode our video). But when we looked into it further, we realized iMovie could do it all as a stock program on the MacBook Pro. This, along with the ability to do fun Mac stuff (PhotoBooth) and open files from our printer in Mac-only formats made the decision a no-brainer.

With iMovie we can quickly pull in a clip we cropped out of the service with QuickTime Pro, add fades to beginning and end, add text titles if needed and then export for our media player. We can also upload to our YouTube Channel with one click (after setting it up right the first time).

Now I have to admit, I lean toward the PC just because of its range, the solid Outlook/exchange server functionality and the fact that much of it just makes more sense. But I love the fact that for pictures, video and other design needs the MacBook Pro fills the gap incredibly.

Because of this you should probably call me a 'cross-platform guy.' I don't get that passionate about either one because they both have their problems and they both do some things well.

However, if you are an evangelist for a specific side be prepared for an argument. I just don't get that mentality and can defend both as well as the next guy...

At some point I'll fill you in on how easy it is to use iMovie to import, edit and play AVCHD files off my Sony HDR-SR11 camcorder...