Kyle's Random

I just read a great article about church innovation.  It was a Q & A with Bobby Gruenewald at LifeChurch.tv.  I found two comments in particular to be very interesting, and I wanted to share them here:

Some are saying that online social networking and virtual sites… may actually be harming genuine community.  What do you think?

A lot of people are predicting what consequences online community is going to have.  But that happens with every new technology.  When the telephone was new in the early 20th century, there were bold predictions that it would negatively impact how people interact.  But very few of those predictions came true.

With technology and culture changing so rapidly, how can a church keep pace?

Some organizations take three to five years to change, so to keep pace they would have to predict what things will look like years from now and begin making adjustments now.  That’s really inefficient.  The alternative is to be an adaptive organization and nimble enough to adjust within a few months to what’s actually happening.

I never would have guessed I’d be writing this, but I’m beginning to prefer reading from my iPhone over reading a paper book.  For the past six months or so, I’ve done all my devotional Bible reading from the YouVersion Bible App, and I just finished reading my second book on the iPhone Kindle App (BTW, it was Tribes by Seth Godin – an amazing little book on leadership).

I think I like it so much because:

• I’ve always got my book with me since it’s on my phone
• the backlight is really nice – I can easily read in the dark
• I can have a new book on my phone within minutes of placing my order in the Amazon Kindle store
• It’s more eco-friendly
• I could be wrong, but it seems like there is less strain on my eyes

Makes me think that there will probably be a day soon when everybody does most of their reading on a handheld device.

I love futuristic technology, and this Microsoft video is pretty amazing.  I find it interesting that you can market a brand not just by demonstrating the products and services you offer, but by opening people’s minds to new concepts (even if they never really happen).

A few weeks ago I purchased an iPhone.  It was a tough decision to make because I had to switch from Sprint and I knew that the required data plan was going to end up costing us more, even if I cut back on our minutes.  I also had a negative influence, who was trying to convince me that a Blackberry was the way to go.

Well, fortunately, I threw caution to the wind and picked up an 8Mb iPhone, and I have to say that it’s pretty much amazing.  The user interface really is revolutionary, and the applications are pretty slick.  It’s just like when I bought my first Palm Pilot.  I’m back to my technology-loving self.

For those of you out there who are iPhone or iPod Touch users, let me know your favorite add-on apps, and I’ll share a few of mine here too.  My brother, Phil, introduced me to almost all of these, and most of them are free:

Pandora – kind of like having custom XM radio stations on your phone.  Check out the free computer application if this sounds interesting at all.  I promise, you’ll like it.

YouVersion – LifeChurch.tv’s team of awesome has put together this great free Bible application (also available for your computer desktop or Blackberry).  I like it so much, that I’m using it for my quiet time a majority of the time now.

Facebook - pretty cool to have Facebook with you all the time.  Not so useful, but pretty clever.

Hidden Expedition: Everest – Brynna and I play this one together, and she loves it.  It’s kind of like “Where’s Waldo,” but not nearly as dorky (no offense, if you happen to like red and white stripes).

Shazam - In about 15 seconds, this program can accurately identify a song that you hear on the radio or at the store.

Disclaimer: I hesitated to write this post because I really hate to stir up materialism in the hearts of anyone.  After all, it is just piece of plastic and metal with zero eternal impact… but I do think it is pretty cool (and so does my wife – she keeps trying to steal it from me).