The Monday Morning High Five

It’s happening. A movement defined by tagged photos and walled gardened narcissism, social media is capturing and redefining the way companies do business. Even churches across the nation are starting to embrace social media. Whether it is simply the pastor having a Twitter account, or the church having a Fan Page on Facebook, churches are starting to realize the power of the Internet. But are we doing enough? Is there a way we can push the WiFis beyond what we thought it was capable or responsible?

What if we take the church to the next level in social media? Or maybe the better question to ask is “How?”…

1. Sell it – The only way to take your church to the next level in social media is you have to sell it. Whether you’re the pastor or simply Joe Pewsitter with a Facebook account, you have the responsibility to push this idea and convince everyone to be on board despite its perceived uselessness. Use words that sound awesome (e.g. Revolutionary, fascinating, youth, power, community, embrace, etc.) and string them together in a sentence. “There’s a fascinating and revolutionary community of youth that exists in the power of social media that we have yet to embrace.” Don’t be afraid to watch a few Steve Jobs keynotes for some ideas.

Photo via Pilgrim Akimbo

2. Embrace it – You’ve got to go all in if you want to take it to the next level. One way to embrace the next level: Church Bulletin Makeover! Display your links everywhere. Forget using people’s real names. Change their names to their Twitter handles. “@PastorTom will be speaking on #Marriage Sunday Evening. Nursery is provided by @JessQuinn and @GardeningQueen65.” There’s no need for sign-up sheets when you have Facebook Events. Attending? “Yes” “No” “Maybe”. All done through the magic of social media.

3. One Word: ChurchVille – It’s time. It’s something that has been waiting on the back burner for far too long. Time to tap Zynga on the shoulder to create the church culture into a socialized game. Build and maintain your own church with your friends! Plant seeds of Gospel to the community and watch your church grow! Build additions, gymnasiums, expand your building, reap and sow blessings with your very own online church!

4. Evangelize it – It’s one thing to just do it, but what are you doing about saying it? You have to let others know that you are the Church of the Next Level of Social Media. It’s time to update your Christianese to include more social media friendly adjectives and verbs. Agree with your pastor while he’s preaching? Instead of saying “Amen”, try just yelling “Like!” with a thumbs up for added effect. Greeting a friend of yours at the door? “Good morning, at-TheHammondFamily! Welcome to hashtag-church!”

5. Beyond Facebook and Twitter – One sign of the Church at the Next Level in Social Media is utilizing every booth of the social media carnival. Forget making the ushers count attendance, have everyone check-in with their FourSquare account. Maybe even wade through the advertisements and crashes to create an account for those still stuck in MySpace. You can easily tell the relevancy of a church to its community by how many social media icons it has next to its name.

Did I miss something? What are some other ways the church can take it to the next level in social media? Can someone help with my tongue stuck to my cheek?

Typically, each work takes about two-and-a half years to create.  “‘The pencil tip is great; it’s like a pure, very homogenous material,’ he said. ‘It cuts in the same direction, not like wood, which has a grain. But when I tell people how long it takes, that’s when they don’t believe it. That’s what amazes people more, the patience. Because everything nowadays has to be fast, fast, fast”, Ghetti says. By the way, he doesn’t use a magnifying glass, and has never sold any of his work, only given them away to friends. This kind of patience is humbling to say the least.

I don’t know about you, but this sounds like a great project for next year’s VBS craft.

More photos after the break…

via | via

Not a student or teacher? No problem! You can still use any of these for free. Happy productivity!

Productivity

Google Docs – We’ve talked about Google Docs before. With Google Docs you can create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, and forms all from your internet browser. It’s great for writing and other projects you may have. Forget carrying a jump drive hoping you have the latest version, you can access your information from any computer with internet access.

Evernote - Evernote is a universal note taking utility that allows for saving any kind of note. You can capture photos, webpages, notes, etc. and access them on any computer or phone with internet access. I’ve gone back and forth on Evernote’s usefulness, but I’m starting to use it more on a regular basis.

Mint.com – Money can be a difficult thing to manage in college. Mint helps out in that area by safely and securely tracking your spending and suggesting budgets and goals to keep you from overspending. After setting it up, most of it is automatic and is a great tool for seeing how and where you are spending your money.

Media

Amazon Kindle – Most people believe that you have to have the actual device to enjoy the benefits of cheap books and computerized reading, but that’s not true. Amazon Kindle can be used and accessed across a complete median of phones, PCs, Macs, iPads and iPod Touches. Feel free to find your required readings through here for a cheaper, always with you alternative.

Pandora Radio – Personalize your radio station with your favorite tunes. Find new music, and listen to you favorites all while you type away. You can create stations and build off your favorite songs. Might I recommend the London Symphony Orchestra for ultimate productivity? Classic music is known to boost thinking and productivity. You can also take Pandora with you on the go with any Blackberry, Android, or iPhone.

Communication

Google Voice – Google Voice gives you one number to manage all of your phone numbers. It gives you online voicemails, and cheap international calls. Yesterday, Google announced their integration with Gmail, which allows you to call anyone in the U.S. or Canada for free right from you computer. Another, and possibly best, thing about Google Voice? Free text messages. Receive and send free texts to anyone from your computer or smartphone.

Skype – Speaking of phone calls, Skype is a great alternative for international calls when using Skype-to-Skype calling is free. Also, it’s great for video chats and calls. Skype also can work on your smartphone, but make sure to read up about your certain device concerning restrictions.

Trillian – Think Instant Messaging is dead? Think again! Trillian offers a great multi-account IM machine. You can access Windows Live, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, AIM, Yahoo!, eMail, Google Talk, and more, all from one hub. Also is available on Blackberry, iPhone, and most recently, Android phones.

Tweetdeck – There are a ton of Twitter hubs out there to choose from, and we’ve even talked about them before, and Tweetdeck seems to continue to come out on top as one of the best Twitter hubs in existence. You can manage both your Twitter and Facebook accounts along with MySpace, LinkedIn, Buzz, and FourSquare. Also available on the go for iPhone, iPad, and Android (currently in beta) devices.

Utilities

Dropbox – I love Dropbox. It’s so easy and great to use. You can use it to backup files, sync across multiple computers, and/or share files with others. It’s dead simple to use, and works great if you need to get a file to your smartphone on the quick, wirelessly. You receive 2GB worth of space for free, and if you’re interested in an extra 250MB of space, signup using this referral link (ps. I also get an extra 250MB of space Win/Win!).

KeePass - If you have trouble remembering password, don’t go with just one password for every thing that needs a password. I’ve heard it said that passwords are like underwear, don’t share them with others and change them often. KeePass helps to manage all those passwords by offering a way to generate your own, and storing them in a highly-encrypted database.

Photography

Picasa – Picasa by Google is photography software that lets you organize, edit, and share your photos. It also has facial recognition to tag your family in friends in pictures automatically. Also, you can easily upload your photos to Picasa Web Albums to better share your photos online as well as backup your photos in case of a catastrophe.

Gimp – Gimp is a free photo editor similar to the much more expensive, Adobe Photoshop. While I believe Photoshop is a much better photo editing solution, Gimp provides photogs on the cheap to edit and design with similar function as Photoshop.

Have a great year at school everyone! I hope these help you along the way. Does anyone have any other suggestions that they can offer to add to the AppPack?

photo by brandoncripps

The Monday Morning High Five
Continuing our list of all things 5 to hopefully bring a smile to your Monday.

*Warning: Heavy satire. Like I say, “We wouldn’t kid you if we didn’t already like you so much.”

There’s something about facial hair that is the raw epitome of manliness. It is an accessory like none other. Even if you take every effort to rid your face of any trace of facial hair, the very fact that you have to is a defining characteristic of being a man. So what happens when your pastor strays from the standard clean shaven look and ventures into the jungle of facial hair? A lot can be said about a man from his facial hair.

Let’s look at five things you can learn about your pastor from his facial hair:

The Mustache – The mustache can have many forms and resides on many a different individuals. It is possibly the trickiest of all the facial hair designs to pull off. Too small, and no one notices. Too much and everyone expects you to wear bowler hats and use the phrase, “Bully!”

What they may preach about - Chances of mentioning “America” multiple times is very high.
Who they possibly admire – Glenn Beck

The “Soul-Patch” – The Soul-Patch or “Flavor Savor” or “Cookie Duster” is that small patch of hair grown just under the lower lip. It’s like the start of a beard that never happens. The pastor with a Soul-Patch is possibly a frustrated musician or possibly a frustrated beard grower that can only develop that small area under their lip.

Quirk they may have - They may refer to their Soul-Patch in an anthropomorphic sense; giving it a name and discussing it at length with anyone who will listen.
Who they possibly admire - Howie Mandel and/or Miles Davis

The Goatee - The centrifugal cousin of the Soul-Patch, the Goatee resides in a circle of hair around the mouth. This could mean that the pastor has recently served as a youth pastor or he just really likes his mouth and wants to draw attention to it. It is possible that the pastor with the Goatee is trying to connect with the older men by showcasing his ability to grow hair on his face, while also connecting with the younger men by showcasing his ability to be hip and fresh.

What it may also say about him – As in the case of Spock, evil resides in the Goatee.
Who they possibly admire – Rick Warren

The Beard – As lion has its mane, a man has his beard. A pastor with a beard can mean different things. A thin beard would mean that he’s hip and possibly into wearing sandals on a regular basis. A think beard would mean he’s gone Grizzly Adams on you and possibly cuts his own firewood from the trees in the woods that his cabin is secluded in. A well groomed beard is the crowning achievement of man. A pastor with a well groomed beard is a man’s man of pastoring…and facial hair growing.

Other man’s men who had beards – Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, Chuck Norris, Billy Mays
Who they possibly admire - Charles Spurgeon

The Epic Beard – The Epic Beard is a beard that has gone beyond well groomed, beyond Grizzly Adams and into the realm of wizardly. If it wasn’t for the bounds of society, I believe all men would try to grow an Epic Beard just because they’d like to see how epic it can become.

What it also may say about him – He’s possibly the leader of a cult.
Who they possibly admire - Gandalf the Gray and/or Gandalf the White

When I get get busy or stressed, the first thing I shutdown is communication. Those who know me closest, know this to be true. It’s possibly the worst thing I can do. Right now, my email inbox zero philosophy has been crushed; I just call people back instead of checking their voice mail because there’s already a line of *new voice mails, it’s not worth my time to go through; and many of my reply text messages are one worded or fragmented sentences.

This week was a busy, yet awesome week. I’ve been learning a lot about things that I’m looking forward to sharing with you guys once the t’s are crossed and i’s dotted. I’m starting to see God’s plan work itself into fruition, and that’s always an exciting time.

One of the things that I know will be difficult is that I will be busier than I have been in the past. With my tendency of dropping communication, this is something I need to develop for my wife, my family, and my friends. No longer will there be the excuse of “Sorry I haven’t gotten back to you, it’s been a busy week” because it will always be like that.

photo via joshfassbind.com

Communication is not just me blathering on. When busy, the important thing is to not just communicate, but communicate effectively. So here are some quick tips I’ve been thinking on, on how to continue to communicate using phone and email when busy:

Phone

Most of my phone conversations are done via cell to cell phone. When I know I’m calling someone I’ve worked with before’s cell, and unless there’s some preparation work or instructions I can leave, I don’t leave a voice mail. They can tell from my missed call that I called them. I don’t need to force them to see my missed call, call their voice mail, enter their password, enter “1” for new messages, “First new message”, “Hey, it’s Brett. Call me back.”, press “7” to delete message, hang up, then call me. Me calling and coming up as a missed call says all of this without the run-around. I also look for people to do the same for me.

Email

You know what I love about Twitter? 140 characters. Do you know what I love about text messages? 160 characters. They will stretch (or shrink) you to communicate with a limit. Emails have no limit, and sometimes I wish this wasn’t so. One thing you can implement in yourself is to email with the limit of three to four sentences.

Instead of:

Dear Jim,

Hello. How are you today? I’m so glad you emailed me before to ask my thoughts on Post-It note decor. I always enjoy discussing Post-It’s and decor, and it’s even better when I can discuss both at the same time. I typically enjoy the yellow color, as it inspires originality and minimalism in an office setting. Of course the other colors are great to express creativity and individualism.

Thanks again for discussing Post-Its and decor with me. I hope that we may continue our conversation again soon!

Thanks,
-Brett Barner
{contact information]
{insert links} {insert graphic}

{insert inspiring quote}

Try:

Jim,

I typically enjoy the yellow color, as it inspires originality and minimalism in an office setting. Of course the other colors are great to express creativity and individualism. I hope this answers your questions, and that we have the opportunity to speak again soon!

Thanks,
-Brett

Force yourself to write what you’re trying to say effectively. Let’s face it, people are busy. Help others out by communicating effectively.

Do you have any other tips on how to communicate effectively when you’re busy?

It’s Friday, and it’s time for some Q&A! Time to get started on some weekend goodness. But before you run out and enjoy some sunshine, how about us getting to know each other a little better…

photo via ffffound

1. Are you an early bird or night owl?

2. If you were an animal, would you rather live in the ocean or on land?

3. It’s Friday the 13th. Has anything bad happened yet?

I’ll go first…