Now, let’s look at ways to use geo-location sites within your ministry in ways that benefit everyone.  If you are a parent of a teen or even a pre-teen, it’s possible they have taken a trip with their youth group, whether it’s to camp or to an amusement park or on a mission trip. When your kids are on this trip, you tend to wonder how things are going, where they are and what they are doing and generally, you will hear all about their trip when they get home.

If your kids will use foursquare or gowal.la or brightkite to check in at various locations, then you can easily track the various stops they might be making. Since not all kids are not tech savvy or may not even care enough to keep their parents up to date on their movements, maybe you, as the youth leader can commit to tweeting your location as you make various stops.

It’s not a personal update, it’s not a phone call with details of exactly what you are doing or have done, it’s simply a location update.  We are at McDonald’s. We are at World’s of Fun.

I would encourage you to work toward implementing a strategy for using geo-location in this way, especially as we are approaching summer and various ministry related trips, youth or otherwise.

What are some other ways you might use geo-location in your ministry?

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I’ve just had an email from Jason Rouse of the “NAB Show Team / Tuvel Communications”.

Who are they I hear you asking? Well you might because it’s the same question I asked myself. Anyway they are an organisation that has the NAB Show as one of its clients.

Well I still don’t know what or who the NAB Show is, but you can see the website is here.However the email goes on to say that they are running two exhibits which those of us in IT / Media / Worship on the techy side may be interested in.

In their own words:

The Technologies for Worship Pavilion offers comprehensive training for house of worship staff and technical volunteers and is the focal point for all things related to worship technology at the NAB Show. In addition, you may be interested in Destination Broadband – the newest broadband-centric exhibit at the 2010 NAB Show. It will be featuring technologies like online video platforms, streaming video, mobile video distribution, and much more.

Technologies for Worship Schedule: http://ow.ly/1fCqd
Destination Broadband: http://ow.ly/14hgA

The reason I’m reaching out to you is because I have a special registration code for you to pass along to your readers, giving them access to the show – a $150 value – for FREE. This special pass includes the exhibit floor, the Opening Keynote and State of the Industry Address, Info Sessions, Content Theater, Destination Broadband Theater and Exhibits. All you and your readers need to do is visit http://ow.ly/13TL9 to redeem or register at http://nabshow.com/register with the code A913.

Let me say this – looking through the schedule of seminars I know I’d love to be there but sadly (short of winning the lottery) I won’t be.

However, if you’re in, near or able to get to Las Vegas then I’d love to hear back from you afterwards. Just make sure you use the code above for a free entry. Oh, and the dates, it’s April 10th to 15th 2010.

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So, since July, what has changed?  What have I learned?

Changes

• Google continues to roll out additional local numbers for more communities.

• The SMS functionality has been enhanced.  Users can now send the same message to multiple recipients at one time.  Simply separate each number with a comma.

• Voicemail to text transcription has continued to improve.

New things I’ve learned or discovered

Working with Chase Livingston, another CTM contributor (aka @chaselivingston – why we don’t have a contributor profile for him is still unknown), we have discovered some cool Google Contacts / Voice integration capabilities.  Would you like to have a number with selective call acceptance – as in, only the numbers you want to get through are able to reach you?  Then Google Voice can do that for you.  Here’s the simple method to accomplish that.

• First, you will need to spend some time going through your Google Contacts and doing some contact management maintenance.  The easiest thing to do is create groups (Family, friends, CTM, co-workers, etc) and add the appropriate contacts to each group.

• Next, under Settings in your Google Voice account, select the <Groups> tab and determine how you want calls from members of each group to be routed.  This is where you can be really creative.  Each group can route to a different number with a separate voicemail greeting. It is also possible to set a group to go straight to a voicemail message.

• Then, after spending time cleaning up contacts, creating groups and defining call routing, go to <Phones> under your Google Voice Settings and uncheck every number that you have set up.  That’s right UNCHECK all of the numbers.

It’s DONE!

Now, only numbers in your Google Contacts will be routed to the appropriate number or voicemail message.  If a number isn’t in your Google Contacts, then that call is automatically routed to the default voicemail greeting for your GVoice number.

Call Widget Goodies

Call Widgets are really cool.   Under Settings, go to the <Call Widgets> tab.   Here, you will be able to create as many easily embeddable Call Widgets as you need for Websites, Blogs, Facebook pages, anywhere you can embed the code.

Each Call Widget can be customized to route to any number you have set up in Google Voice.  Even better, each widget can route to a different voice mail greeting.

I have two different widgets set up HERE and HERE with different routing characteristics and voicemail. In fact, one routes only to voicemail at this time.

So…get going!  Play around with the functionality and learn new ways you can use Google Voice for your church, ministry or personal use.

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Here at CTM, a good bit of what we post is related to the ‘How To” for a particular subject.  This could be Audio, Video, web site, podcasting, video casting, using new tools or expanding on old tools.  Sometimes, as tech ministry leaders/volunteers, I believe we can get caught up in the “How To…” and forget the “Why To…”  I know I am guilty of this. In this post, I specifically wanted to humanize the technology and provide a few small examples of “Why To…”  Please understand, these examples are not meant as bragging about what my small church is doing.  These are simply meant to remind us (me) WHY we really do what we do.

Video Streaming / Archiving

It may not be that big a deal to those of you that are involved in churches on TV, etc., but for our church it was pretty cool.

RRBC has been live streaming via Ustream for a couple of years now.  The church is  small – 200ish on a Sunday morning – if we’re lucky. The video gear is cobbled together (a Sony Handycam over firewire into a desktop PC), but it’s accomplishing what we need it to for right now.

Anyway, to the cool part.  We had a guy call the church recently.  He just wanted to talk to someone a little about the church in general. He said that he and his family have been looking for a church and they had been watching our services online for the last three weeks and had enjoyed being able to do that.   Since that call, this family has visited the church in person.

Podcasting

Podcasting has been around for some time now.  At no time has it been quicker and easier for churches to make their messages available to anyone that has web access anywhere in the world.  So too, it has never been easier to share the message with those you see regularly.

One of our former Youth shared this with me about a year ago.  Her mom, due to work, was unable to be there every Sunday.  So, she would download the sermons and burn them to a CD for her mom to have on her way to and from work.  Her mom loved being able to listen while she drove and she felt more connected.

YouVersion

YouVersion is the new kid on the block.  Like many other churches and ministries, we have created a YouVersion LIVE group that people can access during the sermon whether they are on site or watching via the web.  This has been a great new way to interact with even more people.

I saw another church leaving their LIVE event “open” during the week.  That seemed like a good idea so we decided to try it.  We now leave the event “open” from Sunday until Saturday at 11:55 PM with a link to the video replay.  The first week, I decided to check the prayer requests during the week to see if we had any. This is when the stories of those touched outside our walls began to develop.  Via the prayer request function available in YouVersion, our church has had the opportunity to:

• Pray with a young lady about her finances and new business
• Reach out to a family in severe financial need just around the corner (sadly, she told our pastor that our church was the only one she contacted via the web that responded)
• Pray with a woman about her aunt’s health
• Pray with a man whose daughter was being admitted into the hospital.  (Both are in Nigeria. He found our event on his BlackBerry in the waiting room)
• Reach out to someone with addictions

From a tech standpoint, we have hiccups each week and things don’t always go the way we want them to go.   But, I’m trying to let go of the worry about the “How to…” and focus on the “Why to…”  God has still been able to use the tech/media and the operators – with all their imperfections – to reach people in need.

And that is the “Why to…”:

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In the wake of the recent FCC ruling that set a final date for the retirement of wireless microphones in the 700 MHz band, there’s word that churches may be excluded from the new geo-location database that will provide important protection from interference with your wireless mics.

Chris Lyons with Shure, and Doug Gould of Worship MD (formerly with Shure, too!) along with many others are working hard to get the word out on what could be a huge issue for churches. It’s another part of the complex 700 MHz, digital TV transition, white spaces issue that have been causing confusion for wireless users for the past few years.

The FCC is considering a change in licensing rules, for wireless microphone, in-ear monitors, wireless com and similar equipment operating in the television broadcast band.

Until now, only a select few, like broadcasters, and movie and TV producers could actually license this equipment. All other users, including churches, schools, theaters and other users were operating without a license. The FCC has been aware of this for years, and operation of these devices is permitted with or without a license.

However, development and testing of a new generation of portable devices and fixed location services has begun. Look forward to a lot of cool new connected toys. But, they will be operating in the same TV bands that wireless mics use.

To protect wireless mic, monitor and com users, the FCC is working to develop a geo-location database that will allow licensed wireless users to register their systems. These new TV band devices will check that database to avoid licensed wireless users. It’s an important protection to avoid having someone with a cool new connected handheld device stepping all over your wireless mic transmissions in the middle of a show.

The question is whether churches will be among those who can obtain licenses, and register in the database.

“The FCC believes that not everyone needs protection from interference, and that protecting everyone would make too much spectrum off-limits to new internet-enabled ‘white space’ devices.,” said Lyons.  “They are seeking some way of classifying wireless mic users so that they can easily determine whether they should or should not be eligible for license, whether that is based on the type of facility (church, school, theater), type of activity (broadcasting, recording, live performance), number of seats, or whatever.”

And, if churches are not on that list, that could potentially leave churches wide open to intermittent and continuous interference in their systems.

So, what can you do about it?

The FCC is accepting comments on who should be allowed to get licenses until February 22nd. It is critical that they hear, loud and clear from churches about how important it is that they be allowed to register.

For guidelines on how you can submit comments on this issue, send an email message to wirelessmicrophones@shure.com. You will receive a reply message with details on what information must be included in your comments and how to file them with the FCC.

In your comments, be sure to include how many systems you use, what kind of services and productions you do, and describe the impact that losing reliable wireless would have on your services.

I’ll be sending my comments later today. I hope you will, too.

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For 700 MHZ wireless, the end is finally near!

The deadline has been set.  Finally!  The FCC has made official their order regarding wireless mic systems operating the the so-called 700 MHz band. As of June 12, it will be illegal to operate wireless mics in this spectrum. This has been a drama played out over more than 10 years. It’s nice just to have a firm date. There is more background on the “why” behind this decision this morning, over at TechnoPraxis if you’re interested.

So, if you still have systems operating between 695 and 806 MHZ, what should you do?

First, if you have not already done so, it’s time to contact your dealer to replace your now obsolete systems. You can check your system on the FCC website to see if it’s covered by the new rule.

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/wirelessmicrophones/manufacturers.html

The good news is that the major manufacturers have extended their rebate programs through the end of June, so you can get some help with the financial impact of this decision.

Beyond that, expect the remaining spectrum that we are allowed to use for wireless to get a bit more congested. The FCC has stated that wireless mic usage takes priority over these new broadband devices, but only when it comes to preventing interference. If you’re operating a wireless microphone, the THEORY is that the new devices should avoid you and pick another frequency to operate on.

There will be a registration database that will allow wireless users to stake a claim for specific frequencies in specific locations. There are also ongoing tests to create workable sensing technology. The new devices will check to see if you’re operating a wireless mic before they operate on a specific frequency. We may also see the development of wireless beacons. Think of it as a wireless lighthouse. Wireless mic users will transmit a signal that will tell these new broadband devices to stay away.

Regardless of how this all shakes out, one thing is clear. The airwaves are getting more crowded, and wireless mics are expensive. You can avoid all of these problems pretty easily, by simply using wired microphones whenever possible. If the talent isn’t moving around, and moving around a lot, think wired. As my friend tp:// is fond of saying, “the cheapest wired microphone on the cheapest cable is FAR more reliable than the most expensive wireless system available.”

That is good advice.

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—

Church/Ministry IT staff and volunteers from across the country will descend upon Saddleback Church in warm sunny Lake Forest California to partake in 2 days of invaluable peer learning, networking and inspiration March 11-12.

If you can only attend one IT conf this year, this is the one I recommend without hesitation! Regardless of your church/org size, I guarantee you’ll leave with new knowledge, new friendships and loads of inspiration.  I’ve been to every National Church IT Roundtable since 2006 and I leave each one totally amazed at what I’ve gained.  Not to mention the incredible friendships I’ve built over the past few years are invaluable on both a person and professional level.  So in other words – make every effort possible to get to this event.  If you need me to write a note to your boss to help your plight let me know

We’re still firming up final costs, but it will be under $100…and that will include lunch and snacks both days…and if we get enough sponsors hopefully even dinner both nights.

Sponsors?  Yes, we’re asking vendors to help offset the costs.  Please encourage your favorite vendors to contribute.  Even a small amount will be helpful.  Vendors can contact info@citrt.org for more info on how to help.

Spouses?  Yes, a number of us have been informed by our spouses that they TOO will be coming to California   Spouses are encouraged to join us during the evening gathering times.  Perhaps during the day they can form their own IT spouse support group and hang out together at the beach

Final details are still being nailed down, but here’s the schedule gist …
March 10 – optional pre-event informal gathering in the evening (possible dinner)
March 11 – Day 1 – 9am until late … Saddleback “behind the scenes” tour in late afternoon, group dinner, then a special worship service
March 12 – Day 2 – 9am until 5pm … then optional dinner for those flying out Sat/Sun

More details can be found at http://citrt.org … hope to see you there!  Questions? Leave a comment or email info@citrt.org

For the latest up to the minute Church IT Roundtable news follow CITRT on twitter and/or facebook

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