I had the privilege of heading down to Frisco, TX for the Fellowship Technologies Dynamic Church Conference 08 or DC08 for short. Now I could just recap the entire thing for you…I did take notes but what kind of fun is that? Here are some of the things that stuck out the most for me.
1. I think there were more people there this year than last. And the content was dumbed down a bit (Keynotes specifically) so that it wasn’t so technical. Last year this was a pain point. Most of the people there couldn’t care less about AJAX, Platforms or Frameworks. This year I think people began to understand what F1 is trying to do…really empower the church to use technology.
2. I attended not as many technical sessions as last year because Sunset was either not implementing those features or we already had the knowledge to do so in the first place. Instead, I attended more “process” oriented and communication specific forums.
3. I had the privilege of rooming with Bill Hill, Sunset’s money man. He is truly a unique individual. Better though was that I got to really sit down and talk to Mike Matousek, the new Minister of Operations and my boss. Every single night the 3 of us were talking ministry @ Sunset and had some meaningful discussions…it was simply awesome! Good bonding experience with Mike also.
4. I got to see this guy. We happen to take a lot of the same sessions as we both share a passion for engaging church ministries in using technology.
5. I got to have dinner and hang with Terry Storch, Jeff Pelletier and his wife, and Matt. Afterwards we saw an amazing Lincoln Brewster concert. So sweet. My only regret is that I hadn’t of stayed up till 3am the night/morning before…wanted to be a little more engaging with Terry @ dinner.
6. I got to meet with Jared and Jill Still! Unfortunately again…I was up till like 3:30am the night before and I was just mush for lunch…I was so dazed it wasn’t funny. Matt got some footage of me eating sushi for the first time though…that was…interesting.
This conference helped me realize that ministries in general are missing an entire generation of people who communicate differently. Online activities, web sites and social media are here and now. In the end, in a small away I left disappointed. Not specifically about the conference, but how most churches deal with this “problem” of technology and communication. I think Terry put it best in his session on social media:
It’s no longer an opportunity to engage the community with technology, it’s a responsibility.
That really resonated with me. I often focus on the negatives rather than the positives. After getting back and thinking about my approach and really what I think He has called me to do, I’m much more happy since relying on Him rather than my own ability. There is just too much opportunity to get discouraged.
Technology changes. It changes pretty fast actually. And with this in mind, I would like to share with you something that’s been on my mind the past couple months.
Americans in general aren’t adept to change.
When things change, people worry. They don’t know what happens next. They’re scared of change…they fear it. Maybe I should change this to leaders?
can i be real here? this makes me upset…
I take a look at say this Census fiasco and am just shocked. We are supposed to be the tech center of the world and we can’t even manage a project like counting people? Yes, I’m oversimplifying but I think it has merit. Take this quote:
"The computers proved too complex for some temporary workers who tried to use them in a test last year in North Carolina."
"Now, officials say, technology problems could add as much as $2 billion to the cost of the 2010 census and jeopardize the accuracy of the nation’s most important survey."
I love the fact that it’s a "technology" problem and not a people problem. It can’t be a people problem, we understand the real problem, it has to be the technology! Right…
We not being able to adapt to change is one of the biggest hindrances to America. And for the near future its only going to get worse in my opinion. Take a look at our education system. High school drop outs are rising high, in some cases coming towards 50%! Here is another quote, but check out the articles here and here.
"Stephenson said he is especially distressed that in some U.S. communities and among certain groups, the high school dropout rate is as high as 50 percent."
Take a look at some of the top corporations in America. We see Intel, Sun, Microsoft, Google and the likes starving for talent. They can’t get enough. So what do they do? They look abroad. They look to India, China and Pakistan (many others too). But when they do this they get hit with the "don’t outsource American jobs".
What do we do? How do we change this perception? Do we need training? If so, on what? Do we need it with the technology, or how to approach problems dealing with technology? I think our approach is wrong, but I would love to hear your thoughts.
How do we solve this problem to keep Americans relevant with technology?
So I figured in this post I would talk about some of the technology that we’re using @ Sunset. Naturally, churches have limited budgets and Sunset is definitely not exempt from this. So often times we have to find "creative" ways of doing things. Some technology that I’m enjoying right now:
Windows Server 2008
I first started using this in a virtual environment when it was in beta form. When it came out as RC’s and CTP’s I took a more serious look at it and its possible impact to Sunset. Lot’s of great features in there. Something that I’m working on right now is the Hyper-V technology. Did you know that when you license WS08 Enterprise, you are allow to run 4 instances of it in VM’s? That’s amazing! This will allow me to build out Sharepoint and have a dedicated DB server. About time…
Something else that’s cool? An Enterprise license only costs about $350 through charity licensing. Whoa. In the corporate world, you would be paying slightly more. 
Cisco Wireless Stuff
Always been a fan of Cisco technology, just not a fan of their price. But when the price comes down to $0.00, I certainly don’t mind it at all! We had the following donated to us:
2 x 48-Port 3560-Series Catalyst Switches w/POE
2 x 24-Port 3560-Series Catalyst Switches w/POE
5 x Lightweight 1130 series Access Points
1 x Wireless Controller System (WCS) 2100
The switches were installed January, but the link between the admin building and the gym was giving us some trouble. You can read about that frustration here. After that was resolved though, we started working on configuration of the wireless system. I’m glad to report that we’re almost done! We will be placing the AP’s around the church starting this weekend!
Vista Deployment
With the addition of our new physical server and WS08, I’m finally able to take the next step in our rollout of Windows Vista. Say what you want about it, I have found it more helpful than a hindrance. So many management features and reporting. Couple that with System Center Essentials 2007 and I think we’re finally going to be taking a step forward in IT rather than backwards. I am utilizing the Microsoft Deployment Kit to build out my infrastructure and planning on a Lite-Touch deployment. The kit documentation was obviously geared for a larger organization, but I think I can manage.
There is some more stuff which I will write about later, this should suffice for now though.
WARNING: Geekism in post.
Well…that obviously didn’t work, so here is a normal link to the comic.
Take a look at this picture. What do you see? I’ll tell you what I see…
Pain
Frustration
Heartache
This little piece of lint hurts. It’s also not little…it’s huge. Or at least what it represents is. Let me explain.
I’ve been working on a wireless project for the greater part of 3 months now. 1 month of it has been stalled because of this little guy. I won’t go into the technical details for this blog. Let me simplify it for you.
We have fiber. Fiber is cool. Fiber uses light instead of electrical signals to transmit data. But if something is blocking the light, then fiber stops working.
Guess what the little piece of lint was doing?
Deep down, in the tiny crevice where we connect the fiber, this little blood sucker was hiding.
It was waiting…
It wasn’t until uber volunteer James noticed something strange about this small space, and I took some canned air to it. We still didn’t know what it was, so we were quite surprised when we saw something fly out of it. Both James and I looked up and gave each other a silent "OMG!" thought. It then took residence on my arm.
We plugged in the fiber, it lit up like a Christmas tree.
It’s the little things…
I simply love my job. Not only do I get to bring technology into business practice, but it also allows me to play with some pretty cool toys.
I have the privilege to imaging these machines tonight…sadly they will all be going back (UPDATE: To Sunset that is, thats who the computers are for.). 
Oh well…a boy can dream can’t he???
Jay recently announced his love and appreciation for people he has had the privilege to know and I’m honored to be on that list. I too have had the privilege to work with him and others that are just genuinely in love with both Christ and His ministry. Jay said some kind words and me being my selfish self here, I wanted to take it a step further and explain the reasoning on why I do it.
Being the logical person that I am, I take a very pragmatic approach to IT. When it comes to ministry though, most of the time it’s dealing with relationships, something I’m not really good at. I struggle with relationships big time and requires me to just think differently. It takes work and effort for me to build relationships…just ask my wife.
But when it comes to seeing people succeed or more importantly, seeing Him succeed and being glorified, I feel encouraged. And if I can help out in anyway I can, I’m totally there. But the question needs to be asked:
How can I help ministries succeed when I’m not skilled in how they accomplish their goals?
Technology is impacting our lives more than anyone (save Jesus himself I suppose) could have ever imagined. There are so many people who are not using technology though as a tool to communicate and market the word of God that it is appalling. As younger generations integrate technology more deeply, the reasoning to connect with people using it becomes more clear. But everyone needs a helping hand, and that is what I try and provide.
Helping people accomplish their goals easier and then have them acknowledge that this is the power of technology, is what brings me the best joy ever.
It happens when you look at a user and there is a twinkle in their eyes, when they "get it" and think of how else they could use this to help either them or their team. It’s that "Ahhaa!" that I’m looking for.
We are given gifts for a reason. I just feel compelled to share mine with others. Technology is important, but what is more important is that we need to accept the fact that it is here to stay, and I believe ministry depends on it.
</endRant>
Another reason I have job security: People like Nick Burns.
Really funny though…
Yes kiddies, it’s another tech post!
If you’re just getting to know me, understand that I’m all about community and technology. Technology influences our lives in ways we both acknowledge and don’t. Microsoft plays a huge role in this. There is so much stuff coming out of that one company it sometimes makes me sick thinking about all the stuff I have to learn.
After coming to the realization that I can’t learn everything in IT, I listened to my inner urge of wanting to help people learn how technology can improve lives and business. Here is where the sense of community comes in.
I thrive on blogs and the entire tech community that not only built the Internet, but pushes technology forward. Even bigger, how do we educate not only users but other professionals that use different aspects or disciplines of technology? There is plenty of stuff that I’m interested in, but would love to have a central place where I can aggregate that content and be among friends, colleagues and other professionals that are interested in Microsoft technology. For awhile that place was Channel9 but was more geared to developers and not IT guys like me.
Spawned from the same mind that created Channel8, Channel9, and Channel10 - Jeff Sandquist has done a great job in engaging and creating a sense of community in the technology industry.
Welcome Technet Edge!
The title says it all. I am referring to the new Zune software that was released earlier this week. Here is the low down.
Microsoft has always had a hard time doing the "creative" thing. This was Apple’s job and they did it well. Microsoft came from business software, and so when I saw the first release of the Zune software it pretty much looked like Windows Media Player, and had that MS touch to the design. Not so with Zune 2 software.
It’s like they contracted out the work to a separate design company, or what is 
probably the case, threw the UI design rules out the window. Microsoft’s biggest advantage was a consistent design. But for consumer software like Zune it was a big draw back…at least for me.
They started from scratch and you can tell.
Nothing is really blocky, very smooth with nice designs in the background. Not just a solid color previously. Lots of animation when switching between sections and one of the cooler visualizations when playing music. It shows you all the album art in your collection!
Matt Singley has a pretty good overview of the software. Long Zheng has a good explanation of some of the technical details of the design too. Overall, when I compare it to iTunes now Zune just smokes it. Add in wireless syncing and podcasting built-in, and you have an awesome platform.
I really do look forward though to what Apple has to come up with next. Competition is a good thing, but I do have one question to ask: How many people will switch from iPod’s to Zunes? Are you willing to give it a try? Tell me why or why not!
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