Kyle's Random

I’ve owned the iPhone 4 for about a week now, and just in case you’re not sick of hearing all the hype (both positive and negative), here’s my take on things:

1) Screen Resolution

The high-res screen really is amazing.  The images below are screen captures from the iPhone, so you’ll have to imagine these images being squashed down to 1/4th of the size they are on the screen here.

It’s a little bit difficult to explain why this is such a big deal except to show you the clarity of text both when you’re zoomed in close or looking at the full site (I had to crop the image down just to get it to fit on the blog here).

2) Facetime

I realize that video chat is already readily available via webcam and Skype, but by making this available on the phone and matching it up with phone calls, brings a whole new level of usability.  It’s something that even my four year old can easily understand, and it works amazingly well.  Even the audio quality over the speaker phone is crisp and clear.

3) New Design

Even though the flat back of the phone makes it feel thicker, it’s actually significantly thinner than the previous iPhones, and it fits in my pocket much more comfortably.

I do kind of wonder if the hard angles of the phone are going to wear into people’s jeans and leave marks kind of like dip or snuff cans do in people’s back pockets.

4) Battery Life

For me, the verdict is still out on the battery life.  Sometimes I think I’m getting just the same amount of life as my previous iPhone, but sometimes I think it’s much better.  Time will tell.

5) Speed

My old 3G was a turtle compared to this thing.

Overview

Apple has once again rolled new features into their new phone without compromising in usability.  From this one device I can call, email, text, check the web, run a ton of great apps, shoot video, take photos, and read books.  Batman never had it this good.

UPDATE 6/30/10:

Today, I took a look at the Places feature of the Photo App.  Amazing to see all of my photos taken on the phone located on a world map with links back to the photos.  Here’s a close up of what I’m talking about:

I have to admit that I’m a little bit excited about iPhone 4 being released this Thursday.  From everything I’ve seen, it’s going to be an amazing phone.

There’s no doubt that it has a great set of features and awesome specs, but our hearts so easily forget that it’s just a phone.  Without even trying, we can be duped into thinking that this phone will quench some longing in our souls.

If that happens to describe you, and you happened to stumble across this post, I want to let you know that a greater joy is available.

It’s hard to believe that it’s only been a year since we first launched our Internet Campus at Faith Promise Church.  Since then, we’ve seen God work in a powerful way, and we’ve heard many stories of lives being impacted as a result.  Although I haven’t included the numbers for the snow weekend where our church met only online (about 750 connections during peak times for each service), this graph does show the increase in people attending online over the past year.

This coming weekend we will have seven performances of Sacred Storm: Final Exam on our physical campus and six broadcasts online.  I pray that over this weekend we will break new ground and see record numbers of people attend online and make important spiritual next step decisions.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been packing boxes, buying a house, moving, and now unpacking boxes.  We have a great new neighborhood, and we’re thrilled to be in our new house.

My lack of consistent sleep also seems to have caught up with me, and there were several days last week when I fell asleep at about 9 pm.  We’re also in the middle of getting ready for Sacred Storm, our big pre-Easter production at Faith Promise.

Because of all of this, I haven’t had much time to blog, but I did come across an crazy-amazing video that I just have to share here.  Seriously.  It’s great.

HT: Human3rror

I know that not everyone likes the thought of reading books or magazines in a digital format.  Even if you don’t, you have to admit that this looks pretty cool.

I personally have converted to doing about 90% of my off-computer reading on my Kindle iPhone app and YouVersion Bible.

What do you think?  Will this kind of interaction win over any of you who have been sitting on the fence when it comes to digital reading?

I never thought that a video about Google searches would nearly make me cry. What a great example of engaging people’s emotions through media.

If you attend Faith Promise Church, you can hardly help but get into the spirit of personal evaluation during this time of year.  Both Josh and Pastor Chris start focusing their attention on personal growth and establishing their plans for the coming year (excellent post by Josh here).

I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon to let you know about a cool update to YouVersion (a free Bible website that is mobile enabled and supported with mobile apps) that now allows you to select from a variety of reading plans.  This is a very cool update, and if you’re a person who struggles with reading the Bible, I’d highly encourage you to take a look at their reading plans and find a good fit.  There’s nothing that will help you grow spiritually like the systematic reading and application of God’s Word.

I love being the pastor of our Internet Campus, and I love the people who gather there each week. It’s an eclectic group from all over the United States (as well as a few from other parts of the world), and I get to listen to the stories as we see people’s lives impacted by God. It’s amazing.

Some people who log on there are just checking out our church before they visit. Others are attending because they’re sick, home with a new baby, or home bound. Some attend because they are Deaf, and we offer ASL interpreted worship services. Even though it’s different from traditional methods, God is meeting people there.

Let me give you one recent example:

Last week I made a follow up phone call to a young woman who lives out of state but attends online each week and wants to start serving through our Internet Campus.* After a short conversation with her, I realized that she hadn’t committed her life to Christ, and I got to lead her to the Lord. Since then, we’ve connected a couple of times, she’s going to be visiting Faith Promise over the Christmas holidays, and I’m scheduled to baptize her during the service when we do the recording for iCampus. Amazing.

While some are suspicious and fearful of this kind of ministry, we see both the current impact and the future potential.  Because of that (and a group of people who have stepped up to the plate in service), I’m very pleased to announce that beginning this Sunday, our iCampus will now feature three service times: 10 am, 11:45 am, and 9:00 pm.

I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Please join with me in praying that God would continue to bless this online ministry – to impact lives for His Glory alone.

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*In case you don’t know, we have online greeters, prayer volunteers, administrators, and soon we’ll have our first online small group.  There’s room for more, so shoot me an email or drop a comment on here, if you’re interested.

Keri and I just got back from a fantastic night at the Whitestone Inn. It’s really an amazing place. The rooms and scenery were very nice, and the food was delicious.

With little kids, it’s hard to find the time and resources to get away like that, but we’re more committed than ever before to carve out time to spend together.

The top image below is a panoramic image that I created from our photos, so you can click the left and right buttons to pan across the view.

All of these photos were taken within an hour drive of my home.  Coming from the flat lands of Lubbock, Texas, it still blows my mind that I now live so close to this kind of view.