matt mckee live

Ministry Monday: I work for a Deuteronomy Church and I like it.

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:05:00 +0000

I went to church every week from the time I was born until until I graduated high school. Sometimes that church was a Christian Church and other times that church was a Baptist Church. I went to many church functions over those years. In fact, I went to many things that I didn't understand like church potlucks. Church potlucks never seemed like a celebration to me but that is what most people in the church called them. How in the world do you celebrate with mystery meatballs, quiche, fried chicken, fruit in Jello, and Shepard's pie? As a kid it was hard to see the celebration and as an adult I think it is even harder.

When was the last time you read Deuteronomy 14:22-27? I'm guessing it has probably been a while if ever. Warning for all of my Southern Baptist friends out there this might be hard to swallow, just saying. Here it is from the New Living Translation:

22 "You must set aside a tithe of your crops—one-tenth of all the crops you harvest each year.23 Bring this tithe to the designated place of worship—the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honored—and eat it there in his presence. This applies to your tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn males of your flocks and herds. Doing this will teach you always to fear the Lord your God. 24 "Now when the Lord your God blesses you with a good harvest, the place of worship he chooses for his name to be honored might be too far for you to bring the tithe.25 If so, you may sell the tithe portion of your crops and herds, put the money in a pouch, and go to the place the Lord your God has chosen.26 When you arrive, you may use the money to buy any kind of food you want—cattle, sheep, goats, wine, or other alcoholic drink. Then feast there in the presence of the Lord your God and celebrate with your household.27 And do not neglect the Levites in your town, for they will receive no allotment of land among you.

There is nothing taken out of context by this passage. If you feel like you shouldn't drink alcohol then I don't think you should either. This celebration that we are reading about happens once a year and not every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I do find it interesting though that God in this passage is saying that you should celebrate with the tithes and offerings. You should celebrate God by throwing a party for the things He has provided. I think that's awesome.

Let me tell you what my church did this past Saturday. We threw a party. We had it at a local country club and asked people to dress up. We had food, a band, dancing, and yes we even had wine. Why would we do such a thing? It is quite simple. We wanted to celebrate what God has done through our campaign for our new church building and invite anyone who hasn't pledged yet and wanted to an opportunity to do so. We read Deuteronomy 14 and said why don't we do that?

Can I tell you that it was fun? I had a blast dancing with my wife. It was great to see people of our church have fun and celebrate their giving. It was a unique experience that I had never had before.

What would your church say if you asked, "Can I take some of the tithes and offerings and go to the local party store to throw a celebration about what God is doing at our church?" I'm glad mine said, "You know what, that's not a bad idea."

Posted via email from matt mckee's posterous

5 Impressive Real-Life Google Wave Use Cases via @mashable and comments from myself

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:29:00 +0000

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The Google Wave invite rollout extravaganza started more than a month ago. While in some respects the buzz around Google Wave has started to subside, the term is still constantly one of the top trending topics on Twitter, and new gadgets, extensions, and applications are now starting to appear on a daily basis.

Each day more and more people are opening up their email inbox to find an invite to Google WaveGoogle Wave
. With that shiny new invite comes the inevitable quest for ideas about to how to put the medium to good use.

Should you happen to be one of those people, we’ve got a number of different resources that you can use to get up to speed with Google Wave. This time around, however, we wanted to look at how people are actually using it now. From process modelling and customer service, to project collaboration, annotation, and gaming, the examples listed here highlight the power of the newborn medium, and in part, showcase what we can expect as the platform matures.

1. SAP Gravity: Modeling within Google Wave

Understanding the power of real-time collaboration and its relevance to clients, SAP Research in AustraliaAustralia
has developed a business process modeling tool called Gravity that works within Google Wave.

The sophisticated tool, which can be embedded within a Wave as a gadget, allows for team members to remotely build complex models in unison, or after catching up via playback, without having to leave Google Wave.

Gravity and Google Wave work together harmoniously to create a modeling environment that appears to be just as robust as, if not more flexible than, expensive desktop software built for the same purpose.

We think SAP is certainly on to something here, and we encourage you to watch the video demonstration of Gravity in Google Wave in action.

2. Salesforce: Google Wave for Customer Service

Salesforce, like SAP, has figured out that they can use the Google Wave platform to support client needs and tackle real-life problems. As such, Salesforce has created a Google Wave extension that clients can use to help automate, and even personalize, the customer service experience.

Watch the demonstration video to see how the Salesforce extension gives customers the ability to use Google Wave to interact with an automated support robot. Of course, customers can request assistance from a human within the Wave as well.

What makes this example stand out is the fact that not only is the Google Wave dialogue being stored as a case record within Salesforce, but, because the robot is connected to the Salesforce Service Cloud, the robot can access previously stored customer data for tailored service. Ultimately, Salesforce has found a way to potentially save clients money on customer service efforts, all the while maintaining active records, with the assistance of Google Wave.

3. Mingle: Integrated Project Collaboration

Mingle is a project management and team collaboration tool developed by ThoughtWorks Studios, who realized that they could add Mingle’s project management metadata to conversations in Google Wave.

The integration is still a work in progress, but a demonstration of the concept was highlighted at Enterprise 2.0, and the basic idea is to give Google Wave users/Mingle clients the ability to bring their Mingle task data, which takes the form of cards, into Google Wave. Existing Mingle cards can be embedded into Wave conversation threads, and new Mingle cards/tasks can be created within Google Wave.

This particular use case highlights how Google Wave can work with existing project management systems for more streamlined and cohesive communication, creating parity regardless of where the user is accessing project data.

4. Ecomm Conference: Annotating a Live Event

Just last week our CEO, Pete Cashmore, wrote about how the savvy people behind the Ecomm conference doled out Wave accounts to attendees so that they could collaborate, in real-time, to annotate presentation content. The result was arguably a much better way to consume conference content than attempting to follow hashtag tweets on TwitterTwitter
.

You can read the full account, which was documented by Charlie Osmond, on the FreshWords blog, but here’s an excerpt that we think drives home the utility of the use case.

“Here’s what happened: an audience member would create a Google Wave and others in the audience would edit the wave during the presentation. The result would be a crowd-sourced write-up of the presentation: a transcript of key points and a record of audience comments.”

We happen to think this particular use case is genius, especially for content-rich seminars and events where attendees are typically taking their own individual notes. With the shared Google Wave experience they can combine forces to create a more meaningful and accurate recounting of information shared in conference sessions.

5. Gamers: Google Wave RPGs

A very detailed Ars Technica post highlights that there’s a growing collection of Google Wave users who are using the medium to play wave-borne RPGs (role playing games). As mentioned in the post, there’s a even a Wave dedicated to serving as an index for all the Wave RPGs currently in existence, and the last time we counted it included upwards of 300 contributing members, and a combination of 30 different ideas or full-fledged games.

According to Jon Stokes, the author of the post, Google Wave is adequate for some RPGs, but it could certainly be improved to allow for a more enjoyable experience. In the excerpt below, Stokes describes the current RPGRPG
experience within Google Wave:

“The few games I’m following typically have at least three waves: one for recruiting and general discussion, another for out-of-character interactions (”table talk”), and the main wave where the actual in-character gaming takes place. Individual players are also encouraged to start waves between themselves for any conversations that the GM shouldn’t be privy to. Character sheets can be posted in a private wave between a player and the GM, and character biographies can go anywhere where the other players can get access to them.

The waves are persistent, accessible to anyone who’s added to them, and include the ability to track changes, so they ultimately work quite well as a medium for the non-tactical parts of an RPG. A newcomer can jump right in and get up-to-speed on past interactions, and a GM or industrious player can constantly maintain the official record of play by going back and fixing errors, formatting text, adding and deleting material, and reorganizing posts. Character generation seems to work quite well in Wave, since players can develop the shared character sheet at their own pace with periodic feedback from the GM.”

Image from watch4u on FlickrFlickr

via mashable.com

I've been looking for Google Wave innovations and these are pretty incredible. Google Wave has a long journey ahead of it but it's beginning is very good.

Are you using Google Wave? You can add me to any wave you want: remixkids@googlewave.com

I would love to connect and utilize this playground that will only get better.

Posted via web from matt mckee's posterous

Could this finally be the season for Web TV? // Are churches ready for this too?

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:32:00 +0000

Could this finally be the season for Web TV?

By David Lieberman, USA TODAY

NEW YORK — You have good reason to be skeptical when someone says millions of ordinary television viewers are about to start surfing the Internet on the living room's electronic hearth.

We've heard that Web-on-your-TV convergence promise for more than a decade, with ambitious efforts to make it happen including AOL TV and WebTV Networks. Each time, the optimists have been wrong.

This year might be different.

Big TV manufacturers including Sony, Samsung, LG, Panasonic and Vizio say that they're poised to revolutionize television this Christmas shopping season: They're about to launch the first major marketing push for a new generation of sets that can easily integrate Web content with traditional TV news and entertainment without the fuss of connecting the TV to a set-top box.

"When we all open up the newspapers on Jan. 1, and they talk about the hot items from the holiday selling season, Internet-connected TVs are going to be at the top of the list," says Randy Waynick, senior vice president at Sony's Consumer Group.

The campaign could be risky. Consumers may balk if TV sets become too computerlike and complicated. Manufacturers are in a race with cable companies and gadget providers including makers of DVRs, Blu-ray players and game machines who offer alternative ways to blend the Internet with TV.

But the new versions of Web TVs will soon become the norm in consumer electronics stores. In 2014, consumers in North America will buy 45 million of these sets, representing 69% of all TV sales, ABI Research says. That's up from 6 million and 14% of sales in 2009.

As they catch on, television will become "a completely new ballgame," says Matthew McRae, general manager of advanced technology products at Vizio. Software developers will flock to the new platform, making Web TVs "the next area of innovation" following computers and cellphones, he says.

Lesson learned

Manufacturers say they learned an important lesson from earlier convergence failures: Viewers want to relate to sets as televisions, not computers.

That's why the new Web TV models don't come with browsers that would give people the freedom to surf the full Internet, even though the TVs connect to the Web via an ethernet cable or home wireless network. The companies want to promote consumer acceptance of Web TV by making the technology simple to use: That means no keyboard or mouse.

It's just Step 1: Engineers are talking about changes that would make it easy to navigate the Internet. One thought is to program smartphones so they can change channels, send text messages to the set and move a cursor around the screen with the motion-sensitive technology that Nintendo uses with its Wii game system.

For now, though, people just need the TV remote control to select and launch prepackaged applications. Yahoo, the clearinghouse for most of these apps, calls them widgets.

The handful now available make it possible to call up news headlines, weather, stock prices, sports scores and more while watching conventional TV channels. Some widgets can summon information about new bids from an auction on eBay and the latest posts from social-networking services such as Facebook and Twitter.

Web TV sets also typically make it possible to watch videos from Internet-based providers including YouTube, Break.com, Blip.tv and SingingFool. (CBS makes some of its traditional TV shows including CSI andAs the World Turns available via the Internet to some Web-connected sets. But ABC, Fox and NBC which provide shows online at their own sites and Hulu do not.)

The widget offerings can vary by manufacturer. Vizio, for example, has an exclusive arrangement to provide music from Rhapsody. Sony will rent its animated movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in December, before it's out on DVD, to people who own one of its Internet-connected TVs or Blu-ray disc players.

But the range and sophistication of services are expected to grow quickly.

Manufacturers are gearing up to introduce Web-based phone and videoconferencing services such as Skype. They're also cutting deals with video-on-demand providers including Amazon, Blockbuster and Netflixto give movie fans the freedom to sidestep or supplement cable's VOD offerings.

These current and coming features enticed Andy Fowler, a retired finance officer for theGolden Corral restaurant chain, to buy an Internet-connected TV from LG.

"My kids are scattered all across the United States, and now I can see the news and weather where they are," says Fowler, 63, who lives in Silver Lake, Wash. Although he could also do that on a computer, "It's nice to have it on a big screen. It's easy to use. ... And more people are going to be programming for this, so it'll be nice to have."

Some Web TVs cost more than comparable sets that can't connect to the Internet. For example, Sony charges $1,100 for a model with a 40-inch screen, about $250 more than a similar set without Web connectivity.

That's not a consistent pattern, though.Samsung charges $2,200 for an LED-backlit model with a 40-inch screen, or $200 more than its counterpart without Web TV. But there's no price difference for an Internet-connected 40-inch set with an LCD screen, which costs $1,500.

Vizio says it will not charge extra for Web TV and offers a 42-inch model for $1,000.

The drive to dazzle consumers by continually offering more, and more technically demanding, services will force smart shoppers to look beyond picture and sound quality when they buy a set. They'll have to consider the strength of the processor, the amount of memory and the kinds of software installed.

People also may feel pressure to replace sets every few years to take advantage of new applications that require more powerful hardware.

"That's why there's some debate as to how successful this ultimately is going to be," says Nick Wilson, chief technology officer for Web video firm Break Media. "There's only so much you can do by upgrading software inside the device before you have to go through a hardware revision."

If consumers become frustrated, it could open the way for cable operators.

Cable executives say that just about anyone who has a digital cable service will soon be able to call up the same interactive services that TV manufacturers are promising.

Consumers also would not have to worry about connecting the TV to the Internet because "it all comes through the cable system," says Paul Liao, CEO ofCableLabs, the cable industry's research-and-development arm.

Cable operators have a strong incentive to move quickly to offer Internet services on television sets. If they don't, subscribers may discover they can satisfy their news and entertainment needs from the Internet on their Web-enabled TVs and save the $60 or so they pay each month to receive cable channels such as TBS, USA Network,ESPN, MTV and Fox News.

Still, most cable operators can't offer Web services overnight.

"There are many different kinds of (cable) digital set-top boxes out there," says Liao. "They all need to have software put in (to accommodate Internet connections). And the software has to be customized to that hardware."

If cable operators move too slowly, consumers may connect their TVs to the Internet through devices from Apple TV, Roku, TiVo and Microsoft's Xbox game player.

Who will win the race?

"That's the $1 million question," says ABI Research analyst Michael Inouye. "It could go either way."

Yahoo widgets

TV set manufacturers say that their recent adoption of Yahoo's widgets should help make consumers and software developers more comfortable with Web-enabled televisions.

Although Sony began to offer Web-enabled TVs in 2007, "We launched (the Yahoo widgets) about six months ago," Waynick says. "So they're really just starting to come into the marketplace."

Manufacturers hope that software firms will be motivated to develop lots of Web TV apps as they see how easy it is to adapt them to different sets, says Russ Schafer, Yahoo's senior director of marketing for connected TVs and desktops.

Yahoo's rules dictate how widgets look and work, and limit spam and content that many users might deem offensive, including gambling and sexually risqu references. Manufacturers still can tailor Yahoo's widgets to suit their styles. For example, Samsung's are blue, while LG's are red. Vizio is using the widgets for all of its controls, including screen brightness and settings. (Panasonic uses a different navigation system.) But there's a bottleneck at Yahoo as it struggles to approve each application.

"I have a database of over 1,000 (firms) just waiting for a development kit so they can come onto the platform," Schafer says. "We've been holding everything back, waiting to get a fast quality-assurance process. We're trying to speed that up."

Widgets aren't a big money maker for Yahoo just yet.

"The way we will make money in the future is by advertising once we aggregate enough of an audience," Schafer says.

Yahoo's central position, though, already gives it a lot of leverage as it cuts deals with developers.

"When we start talking about ad placement, that's when they get excited because they have an ad engine," says Jeff Allen, CEO of Rallypoint, which offers data and services for fantasy sports fans. There's also a question of whose widgets stand out on the screen where viewers pick ones to download. Yahoo "has a Google or an Apple model," Allen says. "If you want to be at the top of the list, then pay a fee."

That gate-keeping strategy may work for now. But today's business plans could quickly become obsolete if optimists finally are right about convergence, and consumers clamor for the flexibility to explore the far corners of cyberspace.

"There is a whole bunch of information or communication that I rely on from the Internet," says Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Web video company Brightcove. "And I want those to be available from a remote while sitting in front of a big screen."

To view the original story go to http://usat.me/?36790358

So whether this is the season or if next year or the next is it, I think the question is, "How do churches, curriculum companies, and ministries leverage this opportunity?"

There is opportunity here. I look forward to using it.

Posted via email from matt mckee's posterous

We can learn from Obsession

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:39:00 +0000

Here is a guy who turned down Pepsi because he is lazer focused about his mission. What would happen if your business, church, or organization had that type of focus. What would happen if you knew yourself so well that you were willing to turn down the largest account because you had a better plan? Don't lose your focus. Learn from this guy's obsession.

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Ministry Monday: Entrepreneurs 'give back' with jobs // A great friend making a difference

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:12:00 +0000

Entrepreneurs 'give back' with jobs

By David Holthaus • dholthaus@enquirer.com • November 8, 2009

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Two veterans of the household products industry have started a new company with plans to bring at least 250 jobs to one of Cincinnati's most stressed neighborhoods.

Dan Meyer and Richard Palmer, who both have links to Procter & Gamble, started Nehemiah Manufacturing with the goal of creating jobs in Over-the-Rhine, a poor neighborhood with high unemployment.
Their venture was jumpstarted when they were awarded a license from P&G to market the consumer giant's Kandoo brand. The line of hand soap, wipes and shampoo for kids posted $15 million in sales in 2008, too small for P&G, with $80 billion in annual sales, to pay much attention to. What's more, the brand was in trouble, with sales sliding dramatically in the past year and capturing only a small fraction of its market, according to Information Resources Inc., a Chicago-based market research firm.
But for a newfound company, stepping into $15 million in sales with the power of Procter & Gamble branding behind it, was a significant start. It also represents what Meyer and Palmer call their greater purpose of creating opportunities for those who haven't had many.
"There's a larger purpose for this company," Meyer said. "Create jobs, create hope and give back to the community."
The jobs will be unskilled - packaging, minor assembly of products and loading pallets for shipping. But they would help fill a need for work for the chronically unemployed, people who don't show up on the monthly unemployment rolls because they can't hold down jobs or have been out of work too long.
"There's about 100,000 unskilled, entry-level people unemployed in this market," said Dave Phillips, co-founder of Cincinnati Works, a non-profit employment training agency. "There is a significant labor force that's able to work that is chronically unemployed."
Nehemiah forecasts creating 250 to 500 jobs by 2011, with Over-the-Rhine the favored location. The partners have scouted the former Husman's potato chip plant off McMicken Street and the old Moerlein Brewery building at Elm and McMicken, said Bill Fischer of the City of Cincinnati's Department of Community Development.
-->(2 of 2)

The firm can expect significant federal and local incentives by locating in Over-the-Rhine or another federal empowerment zone, possibly up to $30,000 to $50,000 per job, Fischer said.
Since Oct. 19, Nehemiah has been marketing and shipping Kandoo products to major retailers in North America from a warehouse in Pleasant Ridge that the partners rent on a short-term lease. The site and the P&G business give them a rolling start and a base from which to expand, as they plan to seek work from Kroger, further licensing deals from P&G and agreements to manufacture private-label products for retailers.
Meyer and Palmer both have experience in consumer products. Palmer is a P&G alumnus who worked on the company's $9 billion Pampers brand and then started a consulting business.
Meyer started his career at P&G, then moved to Drackett Co., a Cincinnati-based company that was bought and then closed in the early '90s. Meyer and others from Drackett started a company called Changing Paradigms that manufactured private-label products for Kroger and others. Alpharetta, Ga.-based OneCare bought Changing Paradigms, and the company worked with P&G to manufacture extensions of P&G brands such as Pampers, Downy and Dreft. The company operates a manufacturing plant in Ludlow that at its peak employed 500 people.
Meyer left OneCare earlier this year to start Nehemiah, a company he named after the Old Testament figure who rebuilt the city of Jerusalem.

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via news.cincinnati.com

For the last 4 years I've had the privilege of having breakfast with Rich Palmer once a week almost every week. To say that we are merely friends would be a huge understatement. Not only are we intentional about eating together but we also lead a Men's Bible study together every week as well. We push each other to be better husbands, dads, friends, and even businessmen.

Needless to say, I'm really proud and excited for my friend. I can't wait to see how this company grows and impacts the community. It's refreshing to see companies who want to make a difference and give back in such a tangible way in an area of town that needs help.

So thank you Rich for being there for me but also thanks for having a vision that is much bigger than yourself. That's awesome.

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Apple Stores Will Use iPod Touches as Checkouts // When will @F1ace do this for check-in?

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:42:00 +0000

Until now, the Apple Stores have used Windows CE-based handheld computers to check out your purchases. The convenience of not having to queue at a counter to pay meant that Steve Jobs has doubtless spent the last few years squirming that his company relied on a Microsoft product. Store staff weren’t too happy either. According to Apple Insider, “the system has drawn complaints from employees about software crashes, sluggish operation and the need to frequently reboot”

Now that the iPod Touch can run applications that interface with add-on hardware, everything has changed. The new payment system uses an iPod in a hard plastic case which can scan barcodes and swipe credit cards. This is married to an application called EasyPay Touch, which will process cards, issue returns and even let you buy and activate an iPhone on the plan of your choice. If the Apple employee hits the “cash” button, a register drawer will open somewhere in the store in which to deposit the filthy lucre (participating stores only).

What about signing for your purchase? The grand irony is that the stylus-free handheld computer needs to use a stylus. And not just any stylus, but the Pogo stylus, which we called “The Most Useless iPhone Accessory. Ever” back in December 2007. Still, it’s one more weapon in the fight against Microsoft, and especially the new Microsoft stores. Apple Insider says that “The Microsoft solution is about four times larger than an iPod touch and weighs five times as much.”

We’re sure that Steve Jobs is very happy.

Exclusive look at Apple’s new iPod touch-based EasyPay checkout [Apple Insider]

See Also:

Pogo Stylus: The Most Useless iPhone Accessory. Ever

Autograph: Sign Documents with Finger and Trackpad

Pogo iPhone Stylus Bounces Back. Again

Pogo Stick Turns Mac Touchpads into Graphics Tablets

via wired.com

Can you imagine having this flexibility for check in at churches, events, or conferences? Roaming check-in would be incredible. Especially if you could scan a barcode which pulls up the family, print to a remote wireless printer, and still get the human interactivity that doesn't come with self check in. So now that Fellowship Technologies has created an iPhone app that is nice, I think it is time to tackle this little project.

Would anyone else like to be able to do this at your church, event, or conference?

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Youtube for kids // Great post by @jcisonline

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:09:00 +0000

Just did a little checking of some old bookmarks I kept. Here is one that I never got around to posting about. CNN had a piece on Designing and Internet for Kids. Thought it was a pretty cool read. You can read it here. But I wanted to highlight the site they posted.

ZuiTube provides a kid friendly and kid appropriate place for your kids to browse online. So basically a safe “Youtube for kids” even though I know that most kids can are already keen on the interface for Youtube, this is a safe place.

The site is ad free because of the parent browser platform that is called KidZui. If you are a parent and are looking for a browser that is safe for your kids, then this might be for you. Internet is a wonderful, wonderful place but full of craziness. Don’t be naive, take action and be proactive to keep your kids from alot of junk.

via jcisonline.com

JC frequently has great content on his site. You can visit his site at http://www.jcisonline.com

I feel there are some great advantages to this site. What do you think? Do you think that there should be a YouTube for kids? Do you think YouTube should just create better filters so that kids 5-10 could browse their site easier? Maybe even more important... Do you let your kids on YouTube and if no would you let them be on ZuiTube?

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All of my tweets from the #orangetour in 1 post and in order. Enjoy. #kidmin

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Just in case you don't follow me on twitter or you would like to see a nice recap of the Orange Tour that Reggie Joiner and The Rethink Group are doing, here are all of my tweets from the one day conference. The Orange tour still has a couple more stops and I would encourage you to go if you have the chance. There are also many pictures on my Posterous page that you can enjoy as well.

The Orange Tour in Cincinnati http://post.ly/Ap1j

The #orangetour has begun in Cincinnati. @reggiejoiner is breaking down walls and putting people from different denominations at ease.

Why do people still lean out their car window and motion for others to roll down their window? Who rolls down their windows? #orangetour

What causes you to change? People change when the pain with status quo becomes greater than the pain with change. #orangetour

If you want to build something that last you will have to be willing to change what you build. #orangetour nice stuff @reggiejoiner #fb

The things that you miss from not coming to the #orangetour are the stories. @reggiejoiner should look into livestreaming the stories. #fb

There is a tendency to be too slow to upgrade because change seems costly. #orangetour #fb

The best way to keep a team moving toward your mission is to frequently upgrade your systems #orangetour #fb

Every change gives you an opportunity to distinguish between what is core and what is cultural #orangetour #fb

When you don't upgrade the system, you lose your capacity to support a more relevant (connecting what's at hand) approach #orangetour #fb

Just because you take off your tie and put on jeans doesn't make your worship contemporary #orangetour

Misalignment happens... You have to work at being aligned not misaligned #orangetour #fb

There is a big difference in teaching truth and discipling a life. #orangetour #fb

5 systems/issues that need help: Strategy, Message, Family, Community, & Influence #orangetour #fb

You can tell people that they are significant but they won't feel significant until you give them something significant to do. #orangetour

Steve and I just met. He said, "once you drink the orange kool aid you're all in." I'm drinking this. #orangetour

Going back to the #orangetour. Warning: lots of good info ahead. #fb

RT @andrearc3kids: You have to kill something (a ministry) that's living so something else can thrive. #orangetour #fb

I don't care if you have to make up a job. I want every highschooler to have a place to serve. #orangetour #fb

At the end of the day, it's not about Bible content, but how it translates to a child's relationship with God #orangetour #fb

I don't care if you have to make up a job. I want every highschooler to have a place to serve. #orangetour #fb // @reggiejoiner is on fire

One of the greatest struggles of the church is trying to undo what should have been undone 10 years ago. #orangetour #fb

If your student can name the 66 books of the Bible doesn't mean that their not screwed up. It means they have a good memory. #orangetour #fb

RT @paulrc3: Some of you could try and cast vision 24/7, but your not good at it. @reggiejoiner #orangetour #fb

No parent leaving the labor/delivery room say to each other, "I can't wait to screw this up!" @reggiejoiner #orangetour #fb // help parents

The reason we package the material of the http://ReThinkGroup.org the way we do is for the unchurched not the churched #orangetour #fb

How are you doing with your own personal spiritual strategy? Is that why you're having a hard time corporately?#orangetour #fb

You might think that you have experienced the #orangetour today because of these tweets. Believe me, you need to go for yourself. #fb

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Playing in the leaves

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:34:00 +0000

The family is playing outside in the leaves in Cincinnati, OH.

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The Orange Tour in Cincinnati

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:16:00 +0000

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HUGE: Microsoft Inks Deals With Twitter and Facebook to Put Status Updates in Bing

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:02:00 +0000

Microsoft’s latest effort to gain relevance in the search wars is about to get a whole lot more interesting.

According to All Things Digital, the company is set to announce deals with both Twitter and Facebook (
) to integrate status updates into its Bing (
) search engine.

Details are expected to be announced later today at the Web 2.0 Summit, but the stage has been building for this for some time. Microsoft invested $240 million in Facebook back in 2007, and has since signed search and advertising deals with the social network.

Meanwhile, Twitter (
) has been known to be exploring search partnerships for at least the past month, though it’s long been suspected that the company would eventually eye significant revenue in this space. Although Twitter has been said to be willing to offer a full stream of tweets to search providers on a non-exclusive basis, it would appear that Microsoft has beaten Google (
) to the punch in making it happen.

In All Things Digital’s latest report, both of the leading social sites are said to be talking to Google, so Bing’s advantage may be short lived, though it will be “weeks, if not months” until we see any actual integration go live.

More to come …

via mashable.com

This is truly huge news. Everyone has been wondering since Twitter was created how it was going to make money. Ladies and gents we now have an idea. I'm just surprised that Google didn't get it first.

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5 Small Businesses Successfully Using Social Media // are there any churches?

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:01:00 +0000

Lauren Fisher is the co-founder of Simply Zesty, an online PR and social media agency based in Dublin. She blogs regularly on Simply Zesty on social media and online communications.

New research by Citibank reveals that social media has yet to penetrate the small business world, finding that 76% of the 500 organizations surveyed have not found social media useful in generating business. Maria Veltre, Executive Vice President of Citi’s Small Business Segment says, “Our survey suggests that small business owners are still feeling their way into social media, particularly when it comes to using these tools to grow their businesses.”

On the surface, that’s not very encouraging news for small businesses, however there are plenty of small businesses doing some amazing things with social media. The five companies profiled in this post show that making a splash using social media isn’t about the size of your budget and that the only limit is your creativity.

Kogi BBQ

Kogi BBQ is a mobile Korean BBQ trust that travels around Los Angeles selling Korean tacos. They’ve built up an impressive 45,000 follower base on Twitter (
) by tweeting where their truck is going to roll up next. The company also recently ran a crowdsourced t-shirt competition, with fans voting on their favorite t-shirt design.

The story behind Kogi BBQ is decidedly home-grown, showing that with a personality and a good product you can build up a loyal community. The now-famous taco truck has basically reached cult status and is an excellent ‘how-to’ for any business who wants to get involved with Twitter.

Lesson: Kogi have shown that social media is about taking the mundane and making it remarkable. On the face of it, a mobile food truck isn’t all that innovative. But a mobile food truck that tweets its way through Los Angeles? That gets people engaged and importantly, the end result is boosted real-world sales.

The Marsh Cafe

With a simple poster in their window, The Marsh Cafe in San Francisco, have seriously demonstrated that they’re ahead of the social media curve. This summer they put up a sign that promoted ‘Foursquare (
) mayor drinks for free!’ The cafe has received lots of coverage for their innovative marketing campaign, including on mainstream media outlets, such as CNN.

Cari Turley, the manager of The Marsh who runs their social media presence, explains that she is an active user of social media including Foursquare, which is how she came up with the idea for the promotion. She says, “Already, a dozen or so people have written to me about how ‘cool’ the offer is, and really, in the Mission District, cool is the best thing you can be.” As for the impact on business? Since starting the offer, The Marsh cafe has a seen a surge in demand and has hired extra staff and extended opening hours to meet it.

Denis Crowley, co-founder of Foursquare, even contacted the cafe after the promotion and worked to develop a special box application that promotes the offer.

Lesson: By being right at the forefront of new technology, The Marsh has demonstrated how something as simple as an offer for a drink can garner attention and create conversations around your brand. Because the staff at The Marsh are heavy social media users themselves, they know what works and what doesn’t work — and this is invaluable.

Duke of York’s Cinema

The Duke of York’s is an independent cinema tucked away in Brighton, England with a cult following. They’ve successfully brought this following online, through actively engaging with key social media channels. Their Twitter account has grown to over 1,200 followers and they have a regularly updated Facebook Page with over 700 fans. Jon, the manager at the cinema is responsible for their social media activity and is concentrating on Twitter as a channel that is gaining momentum for the business. He explains that it is important to “remain a living presence in people’s lives no matter where they go.”

They’ve recognized that a lot of their clientele are young professionals using new technology, so they adapted their marketing to suit that demographic. Their Twitter account contains a good mix of interaction with followers, as well as links to film teasers, exclusive announcements and special offers. Amidst all this work, Jon also finds the time to run the Splendor Cinema blog, which has also gained national recognition.

Lesson: The Duke of York’s show that they are committed to regularly engaging with their community and keeping the focus on their product. They’ve integrated different social media channels which are all consistently communicating the Duke of York’s brand. They’re using their expertise around different films to generate a conversation around the brand with content that is always fresh.

Wiggly Wigglers

Wiggly Wigglers is an excellent example of a real local company making it big online. Wiggly Wigglers is a rural store specializing in garden equipment and worm composters, which on the face of it, is not the sexiest of products. But the store has demonstrated how to make their content come alive online. In addition to an impressive social media presence, they’ve also integrated social media into their site.

Their “cinema” page hosts great video demos showcasing their latest products, and they’ve gone even further by recording a regular podcast, where each week you can settle in on the ‘wiggly sofa’ and listen to the program. The company is also using Twitter to post garden tips and updates from the farm, with a distinctive personal touch.

Heather Gorringe from Wiggly Wigglers is active across the company’s social media accounts, sharing her expertise on topics like worm composting, and posting ‘wiggly deals of the day.’ They’re sharing a vast amount of specialist information both on and off their site, which has established them as experts in the area. Their social media activity has brought credibility to their brand and this is priceless for any company.

Lesson: In the case of Wiggly Wigglers, it’s clear that it is ultimately the people that are the face of the company online. Customers engage with a faceless Wiggly Wigglers business account on Twitter, but with Heather herself and it is this which keeps people talking about them.

Howies

Howies is a UK clothing company specializing in activewear. By any standards their site is incredibly social and packed full of sticky content. Howies has succeeded in giving their brand a real personality by making sure visitors get to know the individuals within the company. The howies blog is regularly updated by staff members Tim, Ruben, Ben, Pete, and Jon, and each of the authors has a distinct personality which comes through their posts, The blog’s content includes the right mix of product updates, such as t-shirt of the month, and quirky posts, such as Pete’s decision to sell his BMX.

There’s barely a social network that Howies doesn’t have a presence on — they’re even on Last.fm, maintaining an active company playlist. And they’re sharing an impressive amount of content on these channels, having built up over 2,000 fans on Facebook (
). They’re also clearly communicating expertise in their area, by joining niche social networks such as Rumplo, where members share artistic t-shirts from around the web. There isn’t an inch of their site that isn’t communicating their quirky personality and it’s certainly working to connect people to the brand.

Lesson: By creating an incredibly social website, Howies demonstrates an understanding of the full social media landscape. It’s one thing to work hard at building an external community on social networking platforms, but the key is retaining this traffic on your own site and creating a social experience for the user that will (hopefully) lead to sales.

These examples hopefully show that it’s not about the monetary investment you make in social media, but how you use these channels to communicate and build a community. Find what it is you have that can add something of value to the conversation online. In today’s connected world, it is the story and personality of a company that will stand out and small businesses are in a great position to take advantage of that.

More business resources from Mashable:

- 5 Advanced Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Business
- Top 5 Business Blogging Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
- 4 Ways Social Media is Changing Business
- 6 Must-Follow Steps for Selling in Any Economy
- 5 Easy Social Media Wins for Your Small Business

Image courtesy of iStockphoto (
), mattjeacock, The Marsh Cafe photo via:
superamit @ Flickr / CC BY-NC 2.0

via mashable.com

Here is another great article found on Mashable.com. I know that I've been using their material a lot lately but when it's good why not use it?

Of course this is focused on how small businesses are using social media. You can apply the same values to churches. What churches are doing a great job?

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YouTube to Live Stream U2 Concert

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:30:00 +0000

YouTube is continuing its push into the live video streaming realm, despite assurances it gave last year that it wouldn’t enter the space because it was too expensive.

The Google-owned video website has streamed the Outside Lands concert and an Obama press conference in recent months, but now it’s going to stream the Rose Bowl concert of one of the world’s most popular bands: U2

The live streaming event, which begins on Sunday, October 25th at 8:30 PM PT, will be available in 16 countries. The live feed will be available on the U2 Official Channel, and feature a live Twitter (
) feed of chatter about the concert, exactly like what the company did for its full-length viewing of Taxi Driver.

The world’s largest video website, in a conference call earlier today, explained that it is seeking to experiment in live video. Clearly, YouTube (
) sees some type of potential in this emerging market, as live video players Ustream (
), Justin.tv, and Livestream have started to prove the viability of this market.

A U2 concert is one of the best events to live stream, in our opinion, given the band’s massive popularity. The question we’re still asking is: What exactly is the company’s plan with live streaming? In the meantime, we want to know: will you watch the concert? Let us know in the comments.

via mashable.com

Being a huge U2 fan I'm there. I just wonder if they are going to live stream it to the iPhone as well? I know that YouTube has said that it is to costly to do this on a regular basis but really? Come on... If there is any company that could do it then it would be YouTube.

Are you going to watch it?

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Glo : Experience the Bible Like Never Before

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:57:00 +0000

via bibleglo.com

I currently use Youversion.com as my digital Bible. This does have options and features that Youversion doesn't have. What do you think?

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WifFi Direct Coming in 2010. Watch out Bluetooth.

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:00:00 +0000

By mid-2010, you could be transferring files, making phone calls, and printing your pictures from your camera, all without wires. That’s because Wi-Fi connections about to get a big upgrade that will allow millions of devices to talk directly to one another through the popular wireless standard.

The Wi-Fi Alliance, the trade group governing Wi-Fi, has announced a new specification: Wi-Fi Direct, formerly Wi-Fi peer-to-peer. Any device certified as Wi-Fi Direct will be able to communicate with each other directly, without the need for a wireless hub. Watch out, BluetoothBluetooth
– you’ve got some big competition now.

The new standard will be available in mid-2010, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance. It should be available as a software upgrade for older products and included in newer Wi-Fi devices.

The potential impact of this new Wi-Fi standard could be far-reaching. Not only will devices be able to “speak” to each other, reducing or even eliminating the need for wireless hubs, but this could be what makes cell phone and gadget makers add Wi-Fi to their own devices. Imagine being able to send videos straight to your TV from your computer or sending instructions from your netbook to your favorite gadgets.

Get your imagination revving, because Wi-Fi Direct looks to be a huge shift in not only wireless technology, but how we will use our gadgets, computers, and phones into the future.

via mashable.com

This is huge news. Secure connections like Bluetooth but with the devices that we already have and no need for wireless hubs. Now we are talking.

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Layar: Augmented Reality App Featuring Twitter and Wikipedia Now on iPhone

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:32:00 +0000

It’s a big news day in the augmented reality department, with Urbanspoon just launching its iPhone AR feature earlier and now this. Seminal AR app Layar has been available for Google’s Android platform, and today sees its free launch for the iPhone.

You choose a filter or “layer” to overlay on top of your real-world view — Wikipedia (
) entries, bars and nightlife nearby, Twitter (
) users nearby, etc. — and point the camera at your surroundings. You’ll get a visual overlay of relevant results close to you, determined by a range filter you can adjust in your settings.

Part of what makes Layar one of the most interesting augmented reality apps to date is its breadth: it’s not just a one trick pony. New types of layers featuring different types of data are launching all the time thanks to a strong third-party developer platform. The app helps you find and filter the best by collecting featured and popular apps together in their own tabs, as well as providing a search mechanism to find new layers.

Another popular AR app, Wikitude, is taking a crowdsourced approach to gathering its data points. It will be interesting to see which approach fares better in the realm of augmented reality apps: the Apple-style third-party developer community or the Wikipedia-style wisdom of the crowds strategy.

Have you had a chance to use Layar yet, either on Android (
) or the iPhone? What layers have you found to be the most interesting or useful?

[via Gizmodo]

via mashable.com

Very nice implementation of augmented reality. I can't wait until I go to New York in November to really put apps like this to the test. It's just no the same here in Cincinnati.

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Godonomics: What would God say to Adam Smith? by Chad Hovind Senior Pastor at Horizon Community Church

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:29:00 +0000

Our Senior Pastor at Horizon, Chad Hovind, is trying something new. He has started a series at our church called Godonomics where he looks at the role of money and Christianity. During this series he is also uploading his sermon material in a sit down conversation style video to YouTube. This first topic of "What would God say to Adam Smith?" is broken down into 4 parts. Enjoy the videos and let me know what you think. Chad said he is open to any and all feedback.

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At Horizon Community Church's property: Under Construction

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:38:00 +0000

Download now or watch on posterous

IMG_0040.mov (14100 KB)

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Ministry Monday: Shift book review

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:28:00 +0000

(Full Disclosure: I was sent this book in the mail for free but not expected to review it)

Brain Haynes has written a book entitled Shift: What it takes to finally reach families today. Brian works for Kingsland Baptist Church in Katy, Texas as their Associate Pastor. I finished this book this past week and have read many reviews. My favorite reviews are here and here. You can find a full collection of reviews here.

This book review will try and answer 3 questions that I had before starting to read it.

1. So why is this book important to Children's Ministry, Student Ministry, and Family Ministry as a whole?

My answer: Simply put, it furthers the conversation. As churches and ministries try to figure out how to work together better to reach the entire family this book should be in the conversation. It will not end the conversation or in my opinion be the full strategy of the church but it does give a great glance into what is a piece of the strategy. Just like Reggie Joiner has his strategy of Orange which furthers the conversation but doesn't complete it either. There will be many more strategies that come forward over the next couple of years.

2. What is the Family Ministry Strategy of Shift?

Basically Brian breaks down a person's life from child to adult into different milestones. These milestones are well defined, maybe named weird, but he does a very good job in defining each. Once you know the milestone then the church can come along side the family to help build faith skills. I like the idea of having key times in someone's life where they are more open to God and open to furthering their relationship with God. I agree with Gina McClain though that it does seem to miss the times between the milestones.

3. Can I do what the Family Ministry strategy of Shift?

Yes I can come along side families during milestones in a person's life. Yes I can partner with other staff members to make we are thinking about these milestones. Yes I can quantify and qualify each step. The problem with this strategy is that I have been doing that for almost 5 years now and don't feel like my family ministry is where it should be. I think that there has to be another solution. More conversations will continue and more books will be written.

So there is my 2 cents on the book Shift. I would recommend that if you are in Children's Ministry, Student Ministry, or Family Ministry to give it a read. It is short and worth your while.

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FCC inquiry wants to know: Is Google Voice a phone service?

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:52:00 +0000

FCC inquiry wants to know: Is Google Voice a phone service?
http://usat.me/?36488690

To view the story, click the link or paste it into your browser.

I just want the app on my iPhone.

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Azlan on an inflatable slide. Wait to the end.

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Click here to download:

IMG_0039.mov (1742 KB)

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A Small Business (or Church) Guide to Wikis (via @mashable)

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:27:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Streamlined communication, collaboration, and information sharing are all vital aspects to building a successful small business. You need to build ideas as a team, record past successes and failures, and have your employees keeping each other informed on their current work so your company can avoid overlap.

Social technology has risen to meet this challenge over the last few years. And while there are a lot of social tools to choose from, one type stands out for this type of collaboration: the wiki. The unique communication model inherent in the wiki makes it ideal for becoming a central business tool for your entire team. The following is an overview of using wiki software for small business:

What Exactly Is a Wiki?

A wiki is web software that allows you and others to create and edit interlinked web pages. This means that you can very quickly create a page (let’s say “New Ideas”) and then add information. The key is that anyone can edit the page (or in our case, add and comment on new ideas), which makes it a very powerful collaboration tool.

What Are the Benefits to Small Businesses?

1. Sharing information: Anyone can edit a wiki, thus one person can add an idea while others refine it and add their expertise. The result ends up being one cohesive idea by the group rather than a series of scattered thoughts.

2. Tracking revision: You’ll always be able to see the history of any idea or page.

3. Archiving Information: You find that, as you build up a wiki, you are creating a repository of information. This means you can add legal documents, old memos, and anything else that might be useful to your team in the future.

4. Easy to use: Once you understand the syntax, it’s much easier to create a new wiki page than a new web page or blog post.

What Options Exist?

While there are hundreds of wiki software choices available, a few are better suited for business. Some recommended wikis include:

- MediaWiki: the software that runs WikipediaWikipedia

- PbWorks: a full collaboration and wiki site

- Twiki: has been used by major companies including Yahoo

If none of these suits your needs, a comprehensive list of wikis can be found on Wikipedia.

Additional Tips

While there is no right or wrong way to use a wiki, it’s best if you learn the ins and outs of the software, especially the syntax. Be sure to get your entire team on the same page as well – wikis stagnate if they are not embraced by the entire company. Finally, be sure to keep it organized by using indexes and tracking changes. If you want to learn more, the O’Reilly guide to wikis is a recommended read.

Image courtesy of iStockphotoiStockphoto
, joxxxxjo

via mashable.com

The church can still learn a lot from small businesses and not be a business. This article is a prime example of how the two have very similar needs in sharing information. There are many overlaps between the two and this just happens to be one of them.

Is your small business or church utilizing this tool?

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Did you know 4.0? A video of Social media stats

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:22:00 +0000

via childrensministryandculture.wordpress.com

Here is a great little video giving some stats about Social Media. The interesting thing is that it will all change in less than 2 months.

Thanks to Larry and his blog Children's Ministry and Culture for posting this one today.

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'Flocking' behavior lands on social networking sites - USATODAY.com

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:19:00 +0000

I was told last week that the Internet only works because it is for pleasure and for pain. I believe flocking falls into one or both of those categories. Take a read of this article from USAToday.com

'Flocking' behavior lands on social networking sites
http://usat.me/?36378826

To view the story, click the link or paste it into your browser.

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On the Fleur De Lis

matt@mckeelive.com (Matt McKee) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:02:00 +0000

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