If you haven’t heard, Chatroulette is a rising star in the land of computers.
Basically it’s a video chat site, except that you have no idea who you will chat with next. Watch the documentary below for a guys experience with Chatroulette (H/T Communicate Jesus)
I found this awesome video of Ben Folds using Chatroulette at a recent concert of his, it’s below for you to watch for your enjoyment (some foul language but besides that it’s fine).
Chatroulette may be being used for some dodgey stuff, but there’s also some pretty cool stuff coming out of it. I’m not game enough to use it, but I’m happy to watch some cool YouTube videos about it.
Social media is worth putting effort into, WITB has had a lot of interaction based on social media.
Twitter, Facebook and blogs are all worthwhile (for Australia, Facebook appears to be the most effective)
The key to social media is perseverance. This is not a new lesson. WITB continued to persevere despite the fact that they still have less than 1000 Twitter followers.
If you have a great product, people will like it. The WITB DVDs are incredibly well made, if something isn’t well made then people wont want to share it.
Professional videos are great in introducing a product. A quick professional DVD (like this one) will start social media well, and videos are so easy to share these days.
Social media is effective in sharing information, and effective campaigns like this one can glorify God. I hope that Christians can learn from each other and effectively use technology to serve God.
What other lessons can we learn from the WITB social media campaign?
I have never seen a Christian social media campaign like the recent “What’s In The Bible?” campaign. (You can read about “What’s In The Bible?” here.)
For those who don’t know, social media refers to using the social aspects of the internet, where communication is two way. Social media includes Twitter, Facebook and blogs to name a few.
The “What’s In The Bible?” (WITB) campaign managed to effectively use social media, and here’s how they did it.
The Beginning
The campaign started with a blog, run by WITB. This blog was part of the website. You can view the blog here. This website and blog was the starting point of the WITB campaign, and from here they launched everything. Including a very helpful introduction video which explains the product. This video is very professional, you can view it below.
The Middle
From the beginnings of the blog came a launch of the 1000 challenge. This ws a challenge set by WITB to get 1000 sign ups to the email list, 1000 Facebook fans and 1000 Twitter followers.
This was the launch of their social networking, where they could communicate with people. Although WITB has not yet reached all of these goals (Currently have 4065 Facebook fans and 692 Twitter followers), I have been following the activity and have found the updates very helpful and informative. They have used these methods of communication very well.
More of the Middle
The next big push in the WITB social media campaign came with an effort to have many blogs review their material. This was called a blog tour (run by Tyndale House Publishers), this involved up to 100 blogs applying to review the first 2 DVDs in the series. Each successful applicant received a preview copy of the DVD, as well as 2 certificates to give away as part of the competition, each certificate for a DVD (photo). This led to many people reviewing and getting very excited by the DVDs.
Sounds good, eh?
It sounds good indeed. If only more Christian organisations/churches could learn from their use of WITB.
As of now, there are over 140,000 apps available for the iPhone.
Within all of these apps, it is often hard to find ones that are actually good. This is also true for Christian apps.
Within this post will be a list of quality Christian iPhone apps, that will be updated over time. So if you want to find some Christian iPhone apps and don’t know where to look, then come here to start.
This simple Bible Application from lifechurch.tv is a great way to read the Bible on your iPhone. It has many translations available for download and many more that require a data connection to access (NIV, ESV and CEV require data connection). Also has options to favourite verses and tweet verses. The best free Bible app available.
Mars Hill is at the front of technology once again with an App that allows you to keep up to date with sermons and blog posts. A lot of the functionality can be achieved through inbuilt iPhone apps (such as podcasting within the iTunes store), but it is helpful to have all the content together in one easy, beautiful app. (Read more about this app here)
This is a great application for memorising scripture. It uses the NIV translation. It has many strategies that will allow you easily memorise scripture, including blanking out words in verses, as well as having a page of verses that you have already memorised, so that you can remind yourself of them.
This is one of the few applications where the Bible is actually stored on your device, which means you can read it without an internet connection! The interface is very clean (reminds me of a Zune) and disappears completely when reading. Has easy options to share via Twitter or email. Easy to search by keywords or just by flicking through the books.
Please comment below if you think another app should be on this list.
There are so many times at youth group where not everyone knows each other, and it’s kind of awkward, and people aren’t really communicating with each other. So you think… “Get to know you game!” (or ice breaker)
In order to help you out, I have compiled a list of 9 youth group games that you can play to get to know everyone, also known as ice breaker games. Now these games can be used by any group, but before you use any of them, think about how they can best be used for your group, and remember to think each game through in your head before you play them at youth group. Also remember that when playing get to know you games, most kids will be feeling quite awkward, that is why the game is there, to help them out in not feeling awkward. So please explain these games really really well, and give whoever is playing them absolutely no reason to feel awkward.
So here are the 9 games that I will explain in detail in this post.
Chivalrous Dudes
2 Truths, 1 Lie
Everyone Who…
Knights, Horses, Cavaliers
Appointments
Find Someone Who…
Toilet Paper
Remember Everything
Fast Name Circle
If you’re looking for other youth group games to play, perhaps you would like to check out my Main Page of youth group games where I have written an explanation for over 35 youth group games (this number is growing all the time).
But for now, continue reading below to learn about 9 not awkward youth group games to play to get to know everyone (ice breakers). Continue reading
Here is yet another video about the state of the internet. Statistical videos about the internet seem to be everywhere these days! But hey, they’re pretty cool.
Daniel is a strange book of the Bible, and chapter 4 is pretty strange also. You can read the whole chapter here.
It’s a pretty long chapter so I’ll just summarise it for you.
King Nebuchadnezzar (Chad) has a really strange dream about a tree, and Daniel interprets it for him. The dream basically said that King Chad was a bad ruler and unless he stopped disobeying God, his kingdom would fall and he would go crazy.
Well he didn’t repent (turn to God), so God brought judgment upon him, and King Chad lived with wild animals and he ate grass.
After a period of time, this happened.
“At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.
His dominion is an eternal dominion;
his kingdom endures from generation to generation.”
Daniel 4:34
What can we learn from this…
God is awesome and powerful and sovereign, he is in control and it was only when King Chad looked to God was his life restored.
We can relate to Chad, we need to turn away from living our lives for ourselves, and we need to live our lives for God.
We can relate to Daniel, Daniel was faithful to God and we need to be faithful to God in our own lives.
“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.”
Welcome to another summary of my blog, with all the posts from the last week or so, as well as some of the sites/blogs/articles that I have been reading.
In site news… During the week I added two banners to the right side of my blog, you can click on them to view two of my longer post series. I also added a new plugin to allow you to easily view large photos.
A photo that I took during the week of an SUEU small group
If you haven’t heard, Chatroulette is a rising star in the land of computers.
