This Article is printed in the JulyAugust 2011 edition of the Adventist Messenger.

The Seventh-day Adventist church has always been on the cutting edge of technology.  When radio began in the early 1900’s, the Adventist church was there producing religious programing with H.M.S. Richards on the Voice of Prophecy. When TV began in the 1940′s, the Adventist church was there producing the first religious programing in color with William Fagal on “Faith for Today”.  Back during the Milleriate movement, Joshua Himes used technology in the form of charts and print media so effectively that people begin calling him “the Napoleon of the press”.

While attending Camp Meeting this July in the BC Conference, I had the privilege of talking with a pastor who, just like Joshua Himes, is on the cutting edge of technology.  Michael Campbell, lead pastor of the Wichita Seventh-day Adventist Church, uses many forms of technology to communicate, share and interact with the congregation on a daily basis.  He describes technology as a tool that multiplies his efforts to build community.

“I made a commitment to the church on my first Sabbath to communicate”, says Campbell, and he is aggressively following through with that commitment.  On that first Sabbath, he asked members for their name, phone number and email address. Within a month, he collected approximately 90% of the congregations emails.

With that newly created list of emails, Campbell started sending out a weekly email newsletter that He describes as “one of the easiest, simplest ways to communicate”.

Campbell says one of the challenges he faces is how to meet the needs of the younger generation.  He found that one of the best ways to do that is to engage them through another technology; texting.  He regularly sends out text messages to individuals he did not see in church telling them that he missed them and hopes everything is going well.  “It makes people feel more connected,” says Campbell.

During a sermon about Zacchaeus, the Tax Collector, he asked the congregation, “what would you do if Jesus came to your house today?”  He put his cell phone number up on the screen and asked people to respond by texting their answers.  He received about 30 responses including one from a 13 year old who said he would clean up his room and then bring Jesus in, make a root beer float and sit down to talk with Jesus about his spiritual life.  On the way out of church he gave Campbell a high five.

“It was amazing to see people sitting forward, engaged and listening intently because they had contributed something to the sermon”, says Campbell.

Another cutting edge technology that Campbell has used during his sermon is a live poll.   He displayed a question with multiple answers on the screen and had people text in their votes. “Texting provides a dynamic environment to engage the congregation with the church service,” he says.

The Wichita South Church actively uses social media.  In fact, they have a church position called, Facebook Coordinator.  Campbell says Facebook is a communication tool that his church regularly uses to send out notices of events and invites.  He says it serves as a gentle reminder of what is going on and gives people an opportunity to respond to the invitation.  Also, it gives you an idea of how many people are planning to attend the event.  “We also use Facebook to post sermon topics, ask a question or get feedback from people,” he says.

The Wichita South Church also uses the social medium called Foursquare for members to check in at church.  It acts as an online attendance tracker.  People can check in at the keyaus in the lobby or on a mobile phone.  The names of those who took the time to check in go into a draw for a price at the end of the service.

Campbell tells me they are currently working on a new design for the church website as well as an iphone app in the near future.

“God has used technology in the past, I’ve seen it. And He will continue to use it in the future,” says Campbell.

For more information about the Wichita South Seventh-day Adventist Church or to contact Pastor Campbell, visit their website at http://www.wichitaadventist.org.

This Article is printed in the MayJune 2011 edition of the Adventist Messenger.

Did you know, approximately 925 million people on planet earth will go to bed hungry tonight?  And, every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes. That’s one child every five seconds!

Wikipedia describes poverty as, “the lack of basic human needs, such as clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter, because of the inability to afford them.”

Poverty is a rising concern that prevents many people from having the basic needs for life that you and I living in Canada, everyday take for granted.

Instead of just talking about poverty, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), the worldwide agency of the Seventh-day Adventist Church for humanitarian outreach, relief and development, is hard at work to help combat its deadly effects on our society.

The story of ADRA begins shortly after the Second World War when the Church established the Seventh-day Adventist Welfare Service (SAWS).  To reflect its worldwide involvement, in 1973 its name changed to the Seventh-day Adventist World Service and then in the early 1980’s the familiar name ADRA was adopted.

Pastor James Astleford, Donor Relations Director for ADRA Canada, told me that in the early 1980’s the Adventist church realized they needed to do more then just hand out “fish to the hungry”, they needed to be teaching people how to “fish so that they could feed themselves for a life time”.  This concept led not only to a name change in 1984, but also to a philosophy change focused on helping people beyond the immediate needs of the day.

The ADRA mission is to “work with people in poverty and distress to create just and positive change through empowering partnerships and responsible action.” In 1985, a year after the reorganization of ADRA International, ADRA Canada was formed and it is currently part of the network improving lives in 120 countries.

In its day–to-day operations, ADRA Canada uses many types of technology to connect and share with people the needs of a world in poverty.

For the past 22 years, ADRA Canada has been sending out video presentations to every church in the Canadian Union.  Originally, these were sent out on VHS tapes, and currently are sent out on DVD, two to three times a year.  These video presentations are an excellent tool for educating each congregation to the life-changing stories of ADRA’s development and relief efforts.  Besides being available on DVD, the video presentations are also made available online through YouTube and the ADRA Canada website at http://www.adra.ca.    James Astleford told me that ADRA Canada is working on integrating a dedicated video platform with their current website that will allow for HD content and an overall enhanced video viewing experience.

Also, in utilizing the technology of video, It is Written Canada recently aired three programs with interviews of Pastor Ronald Kuhn, Executive Director for ADRA Canada and Pastor James Astleford.  And, to aid awareness of the work of ADRA Canada, a short video clip was regularly aired on CTV during the Japan disaster.

Alicia Sawyer, Donor Relations Assistant for ADRA Canada, said that ADRA Canada is currently connecting with people through the online technology of social media including Facebook (ADRA Canada) and Twitter (@adracanada).  “Social media are great ways to get immediate information and inspirational stories out to people”, said Alicia, who is hoping for many new connections to build a greater awareness of ADRA Canada.

ADRA Canada’s eNews (email newsletter), generates many responses from the approximately 6,000 subscribers.  James Astleford said,  “people are quick to respond to requests for immediate financial aide from the eNews stories relating to current disasters such as the Japan Earthquake”.   A growing number of ADRA Canada’s supporters are now donating online rather then through their local church. (Provided donors identify their membership, such contributions still count towards the local church goal.)

As ADRA Canada continues to stay on the cutting edge of technology, it is currently exploring some very exciting technological initiatives for the future.  I am told that text donations may soon be an option for donors and the idea of mobile apps is being explored for iPhone and android devices.

For those who want to learn first hand how ADRA Canada is transforming lives, ADRA Canada has launched a new initiative called, ADRA Connections that Pastor James Astleford describes as, “putting Canadians in direct touch with the activities of ADRA Canada”.   Elizabeth Horniachek, ADRA Connections Coordinator, told me that people are positive about the program and are very excited about getting “hands-on” with ADRA Canada.

I look forward to the day Jesus talked about in Revelation 7, “They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore;… and God will wipe every tear from their eyes”.  Please continue to do your part in the battle against poverty so that Jesus can say, “Well done good and faithful servant.  Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me”.  Help ADRA Canada save lives.

This Article is printed in the April 2011 edition of the Adventist Messenger.

Online Technology has not only transformed the way we interact, it has become a vital link to a connection we take for granted.    So much of what we do today is dependent on the internet.

In 2002, the North American Division launched an online membership management tool called eAdventist.net.  It was first made available for testing by the conferences of the North Pacific Union.  Shortly after, eAdventist demo accounts were made available to all conferences throughout the North American Division.

During this time, the British Columbia Conference was the first in Canada to come on board with this new technology.  Since 2008, all 58 conferences in North America have transitioned their membership records to eAdventist, and there are now 6000 users, including church clerks and pastors.

To find out more about this online technology, I recently spoke with Brian Ford, Assistant director for IT in the North American Division and Director for the eAdventist team of three individuals, including Rob Garvin and Sherri Ingram-Hudgins.

Brian told me that eAdventist is not only an online membership management tool that can be accessed from anywhere there is an internet connection, but is also a social network type of support system for clerks that has “bridged gaps from the division right down to the church level”.

The conference clerk can answer questions and mentor local church clerks online without having to travel to their district.  “A Phone call and an internet connection and you’re good”, Brian said.

eAdventist provides many different reports for the local church clerk and pastor to view, such as: current membership, family groups or even a birthday list.  Available to the public without accounts is a tool called, “eAdventist Search”.   It is a complete organizational directory of all the conferences, churches and schools of the North America Division and can be embedded into any website.

Esther Kuppers, the clerk for the British Columbia Conference, said, “eAdventist gives us much more accurate information to report throughout the conference.  It assists us with decision making as well.”  Esther also likes how this system is virtually paperless and that many local church clerks treat this as an important ministry.

Brian says the majority of the church clerks are very positive about eAdventist and have a willingness to learn.   One example he shared was about an 80 year old clerk who bought herself a computer for the first time in her life and hooked it up to the internet for the eAdventist system.

She said, “this sounds really good, what kind of computer can I get?”  eAdventist told her that she did not necessarily have to do this herself.  She could mentor a young assistant and have them take care of the online management.  She responded by saying, “Oh No, I want to try this”.

Brian shared an interesting story about a clerk in Savoonga Alaska, located on an island in the Bering Sea.  The clerk was very excited about eAdventist because the postal service to them was very slow and this would speed up the transfer process.  “Remote clerks were suddenly feeling connected and able to move things much faster then before.”, said Brian.

The eAdvenist database of membership information is being used by many conferences throughout North America to print their directories.  Also, every Union Conference in North America, with the exception of the Canadian Union, now mails their paper off the eAdventist membership list.  Crystal Steeves, the editor for the Canadian Union magizine told me the eAdventist list is being seriously considered for their future mailings.

You may wonder about the security and privacy of having this type of information online. To address this concern, Brian said the North American Division takes the security and privacy of the membership very seriously.  All personal information is password protected and eAdventist is using the same online security that banks use. “Security is our number one priority”, Brian said.

In fact, the membership information is more secure and private now then when it was stored in file folders and personal computer systems at someone’s home.  Since everything is backed up on the eAdventist server, “there is continuity in a way that there never was before”, said Brian, preventing hard drive crashes or the loss of file folders and information.

I asked Brian about future plans for eAdventist and he told me that they want to raise pastor awareness and are working on adding tools that pastors and churches can use.  A mobile app for pastors and the public is in the works for the near future.  “You might see it before the year is over”, he said.

This Article is printed in the March 2011 edition of the Adventist Messenger.

In the last issue (click to view Five Free Online Tools for Ministry Part 1), I began sharing five extremely useful and powerful online tools that can help you more effectively manage your work, church, ministry and life in 2011.  And, the best part about these online resources is that they are all absolutely free.  In Part One of this article, I featured two of the five tools: Google Docs and Dropbox.  Here are the remaining three: Facebook, Bible Gateway and Picnik.

Facebook:

I am confident that most of you have heard of the social networking website called Facebook (http://www.facebook.com).  What you may not know is that as of February 2011, Facebook has approximately 600 million active users, more than 6 million page views per minute (37.4 trillion per year), 2.5 billion images uploaded every month, and 46.2 years of YouTube videos watched on Facebook each day.

Personally I am not a huge fan of a few things about Facebook, one being the many hours of time people waste on it.  However, it is obvious that Facebook is very popular.   And it does provide an excellent resource for connecting with people and sharing information online.

One of Facebook’s features is the ability to create “pages” and “groups”.  In order to create a page or group, you first need to be a registered Facebook user.

The finer details of pages and groups are beyond the scope of this article, but I will say that they both provide the ability to connect, share and even collaborate on a topic or idea with other Facebook users.   Overall each allow the administrator to send mass emails and publish news/information to it’s connected members.  Groups provide a few options that pages don’t: event inbox messaging and the ability to restrict access.

By creating Facebook groups and pages, churches can do things like send out event reminders, share photos, present and answer questions about God, share related websites or video links, or respond to prayer requests, just to mention a few.

BibleGateway.com

BibleGateway.com (http://www.biblegateway.com) is currently owned by Zondervan and is a free online service for reading and researching Scripture.

Whether you want to look up a Bible passage, search a keyword or topic, Bible Gateway makes it easy and quick.  With a searchable online Bible in over 100 versions and 50 languages, there are plenty of translations to choose from and compare.  Also available online are multiple bible reading plans that send a daily email with a link to your daily Scripture reading, six English versions of the Bible in audio, Bible dictionaries and devotional content.

I use Bible Gateway to read and compare texts when preparing sermons or devotionals each week.  Another thing I enjoy about Bible Gateway is the mobile Bible Gateway version which provides a mobile-friendly web experience on my iphone.

Picnik

A question that many people ask me is, “How do I crop and resize my photos for email?” Well, the first thing I ask in response is, “What operating system are you using?” Their answer to that question has a lot to do with my response.

On Microsoft Windows you could use ImageResizer or Paint, on Mac OS X, you could use Preview or iphoto.  And of course there is the over priced and extremely complicated Adobe Photoshop.

Well, last on our list of great free online tools will solve the problem of image editing and what operating system you do or don’t have.  Picnik (http://www.picnik.com) is a free online photo editing service purchased last year by Google.  No registration or download is required to start using it.  Picnik works through your computers web browser on any operating system (Mac, Windows, and Linux).

Picnik allows you to grab your photos from many online photo storage sites like Flickr and Facebook or upload directly from your computer.   Once a photo is loaded into the online system, you can crop, resize, and rotate your photos in real-time.  Also, fix blemishes and change colour with the help of special effects and advanced controls.

Picnik is a great service to resize photos for your church website or to do some touch-ups and adjustments for the church newsletter.

There are, of course, many other online tools that are both very useful and free.  Don’t be afraid to explore them and discover how they might benefit you.  And always be prepared that new, better resources may arise overnight and change how we do things hopefully with even greater efficiency and ease.

This Article is printed in the January-February 2011 edition of the Adventist Messenger.

5 Free Online Tools For Ministry- Part 1 of 2

2010 is now another year in the past and another year closer to the second coming of Christ.  It is impossible to keep up with how fast time and technology pass by.

Did you know that the top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004.
And, did you know that we are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist, using technologies that haven’t been invented, in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet?  That is the society and culture in which we live.  There is no way to change it or stop it.

The busyness of life keeps us all moving in what seems like a fast forward pace.  A blur of events as the weeks and months tend to mesh together.  As we begin another year, I would like to share with you five extremely useful and powerful online tools that might help you to be more effective in managing your work, church, ministry and life in 2011.  And the best part about these online resources is that they are all absolutely free.

None of the tools I am about to share is in any way connected with the Adventist Church.  The only reason I mention them is because their potential usefulness provides opportunity for effective communication and ministry.  Also, please remember that these online resources are available today but may be replaced by something better or not even exist tomorrow.  That’s the reality of technology.

Google Docs:

The first useful tool is Google Docs.  This application allows you to upload, create, share and manage documents, spreadsheets, presentations and images online. The files can be accessed from any device that is connected to the internet – a computer or mobile smart phone like blackberry and iphone.

To get started using Google Docs, all you need to do is create a free online account with Google (http://www.docs.google.com).  If you currently have a gmail account for your email, then you are already setup to use this service.

With the sharing feature of Google Docs, you can make a file public for everyone to see or private and give file access to only a few people.

For example, I use Google Docs in my ministry to share a contact list with the church clerk so that we can both access and manage the information.  When one of us makes a change the other person can see it immediately.  This provides us both with the most updated lists at our fingertips.  No more emailing a document back and forth. Our finished project list is in one place at one time, cutting down on a lot of wasted time and confusion.

Google provides other useful online tools that I am currently using for church management and ministry (Google Adsense for online marketing and Google Calendar for a daily planner & sharing church events).  I’m sure we’ll have the opportunity to discuss these another time.

Dropbox:

Dropbox automatically syncs the files you chose to it’s secure online server, providing you with backup, easy file sharing options, and access to your files anywhere there is an internet connection.

To start using the dropbox service, go to the dropbox website and create a free account that gives you 2GB of online storage.  The sign-up link I provided above will give you an extra 250MB of storage.

Another thing I really like about dropbox is that, just like google docs, it supports access and management of your files online through multiple mobile devices.

I personally use dropbox to print my sermon files from the church location and to share folders of files with several of my church team leaders.  I also like that dropbox provides the ability to create shareable online photo galleries and send large size files with ease.

Stay tuned for the other three tools that I will share in the next Messenger issue.

Click here to view Part 2

This Article is printed in the October 2010 edition of the Adventist Messenger.

Tweet, Tweet, Twitter, Twitter

Throughout history, the communication of information has always been very important. An online source states, “The history of communication is mankind’s search for ways to improve upon shouting.” Subsequently, the lack of communication has often caused loss of money and lives.

“People crave news out of basic instinct.” “Knowledge of the unknown gives them security; it allows them to plan and negotiate their lives.” (Quotes from The Elements of Journalism; page 15.)

Communication Technology has come a long way since Morse sent the first telegraph in 1844 from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore, a distance of 40 miles, that said, “What has God Wrought”.

With so many communication technology inventions in our past, I want to mention just a few.  We have seen the invention of the telephone in 1876, the beginning of radio communication in 1896, the introduction of the television with moving pictures and sound in 1936, the internet which was launched and made available to everyone in 1983, satellites, cell phones, text messaging, email, and more recent, in 2006, the launch of a social media application called twitter.

According to the online encyclopedia called Wikipedia, twitter has been called the “SMS of the internet” (SMS means “text messaging”).  Since it’s creation and launch in 2006, Twitter has gained popularity with approximately 100 million users worldwide.

The communication technology of twitter “enables its users to send and read other user’s messages called tweets.” In short, twitter allows information up to 140 characters to be instantly sent then received by other users (followers), making the knowledge of current news available by the second.

I was very interested to know if and how twitter was used during the 59th General Conference Session held in June of this year.   I made a few enquires and was put in connection with Megan Brauner, Media Relations Assistant for the General Conference.

In my conversation with Megan, she told me that the General Conference Communication department used two twitter accounts during this year’s session, @AdventistNews (currently with approximately 2000 followers) and @gcsession.

Regarding the @gcsession account, Megan said, “I spent more than half of my time answering questions on Twitter. People didn’t want to know just the dry facts. They wanted to know what it was like to be there, or what I was seeing and experiencing.”

She continued to say, “ A lot of my followers came to Atlanta for only one or two days, or weren’t able to come at all, so they appreciated knowing behind-the-scenes details and getting the inside scoop.”

The use of twitter during the eleven days of the GC session provided approximately 2500 hits to the news.adventist.org website as people clicked on twitter links to the full story on the news website. “It was important to be as timely as possible.” Megan said,  “I tried to tweet elections the minute they happened, not hours or days later.”

Megan tells me that the comments from the twitter followers were very positive and appreciative of the news and information shared to them.  Several people were from isolated areas of the world and the use of twitter was for them the best way to keep informed of the latest GC news.

Megan said she enjoyed using this new communication technology because, “it’s very rewarding to feel like you’re truly part of a global community”. “It felt good to do my bit” she said, “a process many Adventists may never get to experience.”

The official twitter account of the world church is @AdventistChurch and can be found at http://twitter.com/adventistchurch.

This Article is printed in the September 2010 edition of the Adventist Messenger.

A 17 inch window to the World

An interesting thing about technology is that everyone of us is trying to adapt to it’s continual changes and learn how to utilize it’s abilities.  Whether you are in the medical field, building construction, the restaurant business, or a church organization, technology keeps moving and evolving.

I read an interesting statement from a book recently called, “The Elements of Journalism”.  In the book, the author regularly commented about the impact technology is having on journalism.  Connected directly with the communication age that we are currently living in and the interactive online technology available to us, the author said, “Today, people go from passive consumers to proactive assemblers of their own journalism and views of the world.”

As the author continued, he stated, “people have the ability to interact with the news itself as well as the professionals delivering it.”

Being able to interact with people on a global scale is the heart of online technology.
I recently had the privilege of talking with Gary McLain, the Communications Director for the Oregon Conference, about some of the exciting ways they are using technology to connect and interact with people throughout their conference and abroad.

They recently used the technology of live video streaming to broadcast the Pathfinder Fair that was held in Albany, Oregon on May 16, 2010.   “We had about 350 viewers” Gary said, “that added up to just over 9,300 minutes of viewing”.

Those viewing the event throughout the day were of all ages and from many different parts of the United States and Canada. “There were grand-parents who went online to watch their grand-children perform and many of the Pathfinder’s siblings” said Gary.

Harold Reimche, the father of Pastor Al Reimche, president for the Oregon Conference, told me that he watched his son speaking to the Pathfinders in Albany from their home in Kelowna, British Columbia.

But the most exciting story that came as a result of streaming this event involved the Daisy Mae Yoder Award.  This award is given to those Pathfinders or staff who had a tuff time thought-out the Pathfinder year but stuck with it.  Jacqueline McRae, a leader from the Bonanza Pathfinder Club, was chosen this year to receive the award.

Even though Jacqueline could not be present at the Pathfinder Fair, she watched online from her home in Bonanza Oregon, approximately 380kms away. “She could receive the reward even thou she wasn’t there”, said Gary, “and she heard what they had to say.”

Gary said he received positive feedback from those who participated in the live stream of the Pathfinder fair and, “people said it was fun to be part of the event.”

The next live video stream that the Oregon Conference is working on is called, “Reconnect Weekend”.  An event prepared for the Collegiate/young adults that will have been streamed live on July 16-17.  And Sunnyside church will have streamed their “Super Sabbath” live that same weekend.

Another idea for live video streaming that Gary talked about was the possibility to stream a church service to those multi church districts that only get their pastor once or twice a month.
I asked Gary his thoughts on how this technology can be used to “Lead People to Jesus” and he said this, “People who may never step foot into your church have this technology to watch online within the privacy of their own home.”

With the cost reduction of live video streaming now within reach of smaller churches and conferences, this technology provides a way to engage your community or abroad in your programs and events like never before.  There are even free video streaming services available like, “Ustream” or “Livestream” that are worthwhile checking out.

This Article is printed in the July-August 2010 edition of the Adventist Messenger.

Cybersecurity

Internet crimes are rapidly on the rise with an increase of about 20 percent more reported cases last year.

An online news source stated in May 2010 that, “Internet crime is evolving in ways we couldn’t have imagined just five years ago.”

It is estimated that in 2009, approximately 2.5 million Canadians and 12 million Americans were victims of identify theft.

Consumer Reports states, “Your chances of becoming a victim of cybercrime are about 1 in 4.”

The internet is like a door that swings both ways allowing information of all kinds in and out. This is the reason we use the internet.  It allows us to send and receive information that keeps us in touch with family and friends. It also allows us to form new relationships with people, to search for information on a topic, purchase an item online, and share ideas.

It is also because of this in and out flow of information that there are many dangers to be encountered around the hidden corners of cyberspace.  This is why it is becoming more and more important to make yourself aware of the risks of being online and how to keep yourself as well as those you love safe from danger.

Over the past year, I have had the privilege of teaching computers to the grade six and seven class at Okanagan Adventist Academy located in Kelowna, BC.    The internet is an important part of these student’s daily routines.   They rely on the internet to research information for school, play online games, or connect with friends through social networking sites.  I recently asked each student to type 10 internet safety tips they felt were the most important when online.

I want to share with you a brief summary of what they came up with.  These are general online security tips and safe practices that if followed should help minimize your online risks.

1.    Know who you’re dealing with

It is extremely important to know who and what you’re dealing with when online because there are many cybercriminals taking advantage of the Internet and the people who use it.

Be aware of fraudulent “phishers” in email or social networking sites where attempts are made to collect your personal information.  The e-mail may request account details for “urgent security reasons.” The message may also point to a “spoofed” website that resembles a real site.

I recently received an email that indicated it was from a friend of mine.  It stated he ran out of money while on vacation and he needed me to wire $1500 to him right away so he could get back home.  I found out later that the same email was sent to many others and of-course it was not true.

2.    Protect your identity

Use a different secure password for each online account you access that are long and complex including numbers and symbols.  Never use single words or anything personally connected to you such as your dog’s name or your birthday.

Always remember, never share your passwords with anyone and pay close attention to keeping them secure from lurking eyes at school or work.

Ryan Purita a security consultant says, “Computers have passwords, and passwords are the keys to the kingdom. With this access they (intruders) could do anything you could and if motivated, even more.”

3.   Secure your computer against attack

Just like the locks on your home provide protection from potential danger on the outside, anti-virus and anti-spyware software protect your computer from potential danger while online.  It is also important to use a firewall that helps to hide your computer from attacks.

If you have children who use the internet, you might want to consider using age-appropriate filtering and monitoring software.

4.    Be aware of what you share

You would never go to the busiest street in Toronto wearing a t-shirt that had all your personal information written on it.  So be cautious about how much personal information you provide online where the whole world can see.  When using social networking sites, use the privacy settings and think twice before posting pictures.  Once they hit the web, they can never be taken away.

5.    Education is Key

Stay informed about current online dangers.  Make it a practice to communicate with your children about internet safety.  Learn what to do if something goes wrong.

For more information about cybersecurity, visit http://www.thedoorthatsnotlocked.ca.

Did you know?

That in 1995 there were approximately 18,000 websites available online and today there are approximately 206,675,000? (statistics from netcraft.com.)

In today’s technically connected society of social networks, blogging sites, video posts, cyber chat, more and more people are relying on the information highway to connect, to find, and to share.

It reminds me of a bible text:

Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

The Internet has become a place to bond and belong.

If that’s where today’s society is at, if that’s where people are going to Ask, Seek and Knock, then we must find ways to connect and provide the information that will Lead them to Jesus.

It’s true that if your church or business is not on the internet, to most people you don’t exist.

That is why, amongst those 200 million websites online today, there is one for your Adventist church and school provided free from the North American Division?

Adventist Church and School Connect

Let me introduce you to the Adventist Church and School Connect content management system.  It is a powerful website management tool that the North American Division is providing free to every Seventh-day Adventist church and school in Bermuda, Canada, and the United States.

The North American Division has contracted AdventSource to provide customer training, support, and marketing for Adventist Church and School Connect for the approximately 3600 church and school websites.

Many people are intimidated by the word “website” because it has gained a reputation from the past as being a complicated and highly technical procedure.  Well, that is not the case anymore.

With ACC’s content management system, you don’t have to know a website programming language like html or php to add content and photos to your website.  You can edit pages as you would in a word processor similar to Microsoft Word.

Denis Prescott, a member of the Merritt Seventh-day Adventist Church, has been maintaining his church’s ACC website for four years.  I recently spoke to Denis about his experience and thoughts regarding the ACC platform and this is what he said, “The ease of adding and or editing information makes for an awesome tool”.

Adventist Church Connect Features

There are many useful features available with ACC websites such as:

• Built-in member, author, editor and administrator user levels.
• Prayer request feature allows site visitors to submit prayer requests.
• Dynamic RSS content such as daily devotionals.
• Calendar allows departments to enter and categorize their own events.
• Adventist Church News from the North American Division, Adventist News Network, and Adventist Review.

Next month, I will go into more detail regarding my opinion of the most useful ACC features and share with you some examples.

With the rapid increase of mobile Internet devices, it is important that these devices can process and display your church website content.  That is why all ACC websites are now mobile device friendly.  When a mobile device accesses an ACC website, a custom mobile template is activated with the content and sent to the mobile display.

Signing up for an Adventist Church Connect Website

To sign your church up for an ACC website, visit http://www.adventistchurchconnect.org/signup.php and for school’s visit http://www.adventistschoolconnect.org/signup.php.

Adventist Church Connect Support

Remember, you are not alone when it comes to maintaining an ACC website. AdventSource provides training and support free of charge.

There are many helpful resources available on the ACC help website such as: live online video training, archived video tutorials, information about local training events, e-mail support, and step-by-step how to guides.   The help website is located at http://help.adventistchurchconnect.com.

More Information

For more information about Adventist Church Connect visit http://adventistchurchconnect.com.

In November 2007, Amazon introduced their e-book reader called The Kindle.  It is a mobile device that uses 3G wireless technology or a Wi-Fi connection to download digital books, magazines and newspapers.

“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is; the fact is that people don’t read anymore,”

At the Macworld Expo in January 2008, Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computers Inc., had this to say toward the book industry that received a lot of attention: “It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is; the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” (cited in The New York Times)

Well, since you’re reading this article I would have to say that his statement is not entirely true.

And, if no one reads, one can only wonder why an estimated 410 million books were purchased in the US alone last year?

Well, Steve Jobs was referring to a growing trend in the print industry.  We all know it’s not that people don’t read anymore, it’s that today’s generation are going to more online sources rather than offline media such as paper books, magazines or newspapers.

iPad

It is very interesting to note that in January 2010 at the Macworld Expo, Apple Computers announced they would be selling a mobile device called the ipad.  Similar to The Kindle, it too uses 3G and Wi-Fi to download e-books.

With the billions of websites available and the increase usage of mobile smartphones like Blackberry and iphone, more people are reading and gathering digital content information quickly and on the go.

Castanet with more than 5.6 million site visits per month

Recently, a news article posted on the local news website for the city of Kelowna where I live, grabbed my attention.  It stated,  “According to numbers released by ComScore, Castanet is number 1 in B.C. in general news with more than 5.6 million site visits per month.” (cited from Castanet’s website)

Considering the increased number of online readers, your church website must have written content that is going to provide the information people are looking for in a quick and readable format.

You have probably noticed that writing and preparing content for your church website requires a different approach from writing and preparing content for print documents and publications.

To make the reading experience of your church website more enjoyable for your visitors, here are 5 points to keep in mind.

1.  Less is better

Most people find that reading from a computer screen is hard on their eyes.  Because of this, reading online takes 25% more time than reading a book or article in print.

Keeping this in mind, it is a good practice to keep your website content 50% shorter than what you would have on the printed page.

2. Text Scanners

In a study released by usability expert Jacob Nielson, 79% of online readers scan or skim text rather than read word for word.

3. Lack of Patience

Do you remember the catchy little kids song about a turtle?  It went something like this, “Have patients, have patients, don’t be in such a hurry.”

Well, most readers on the Web are in a hurry to get things done.  They want the information, and move on.
Studies show you only have about 10 seconds to grab attention with your web site content so make sure to use relevant information. Also, try putting the most important information at the top with clear and concise text.

4. Skeptics

With all the misleading and incorrect information that can be found online, many people are very skeptical of what they read.  It is extremely important to show credibility when writing content for your church website.

Use objective language and avoid marketing jargon or exaggerated claims. Don’t use Adventist Lingo on the Home Page or at all unless you explain what you are talking about. (eg. “Our Worship Services are every Sabbath.”, Three Angel’s Message, Sabbath School)

Hyperlinks to the sources of your information or to related information tend to add credibility.

5. Information Overload

With all the information available to us today through the internet and email, people don’t want to spend time and effort reading content that they may not find useful.

Write website content that provides your visitors with information in bite-size chunks, easily digestible.

Highlighted keywords, meaningful sub-headings, bulleted lists, one idea per paragraph and starting with the conclusion, are just a few ways to help them nail the information they want, quickly and easily.

Conclusion:

With all this said, I don’t think technology will ever replace the convenience and enjoyment of picking up a good old paper back book and a cup of hot chocolate.