Archive - October, 2009

Will Glo be a better Bible?

October 6, 2009 in Christian Living, Pastors

I’ve got a couple of Bible study resources installed on my computer – Accordance and Logos. But a colourful banner ad on the Bible Gateway website caught my eye, and I found my way over to the website for Glo.

The founder of Glo describes it as the Bible “re-imagined for a digital world.” As more people have access to computers with high-speed internet, not to mention smarter mobile phones, Bible study resources that make the most of these advances have got to be a good thing.

Whilst it doesn’t launch until 15 October, the website is well and truly live and sharing what we can expect:

  • NIV Bible text and study notes,
  • more than 500 virtual tours with 360-degree views,
  • 7,500 encyclopedia articles, 2,400 high-resolution photos,
  • 700 pieces of artwork, 3.5 hours of HD video,
  • nearly 150 maps,
  • visual and intuitive searches,
  • tools to track what you’re reading, take notes and read create Bible reading plans,
  • social ‘sharing’ tools – to share with others what you’re discovering in the Bible (from 2010),
  • and more!

Only available on PC, but according to the website, a Mac version is on its way for 2010, along with other media formats, including for iphone and internet browsers. It will be priced at US$59.99 (that’s about AU$69.30 at the moment), with free shipping in the US, and available at Koorong in Australia.

Below is a video overview, or you might like to find out more from the Glo website. I’ll be keen to try it out when it arrives in Australia and review it in more depth then.

Video: From homosexuality to holiness

October 6, 2009 in Videos

Whilst this testimony is amazing in many ways, the persistence in prayer of this man’s mother is a wonderful encouragement to pray without ceasing. Watch on GodTube here.

5 (useful) links #18

October 5, 2009 in Links & Tips

It was over a month ago when I last shared a list of links – I’ve got a bit carried away writing about the Jesus:All About Life campaign, sharing links about the media’s reporting on the campaign, along with resources on suffering and the existence of God. It was a busy month!

Here are five more websites, blog posts and online resources to inspire, inform and enthuse. Want to share a website you’ve come across? Add it below in the comments or contact me.

  1. Thoughts on using Facebook well for ministry groups. Great reflections from Mikey Lynch.
  2. Gospel Coalition gets a new homepage. A beautiful and functional site. They’ve taken on board the reality that your ministry site should look good!
  3. Note&Point. “A gallery devotes to making your PowerPoint and Keynote presentations look that much better”.
  4. 27 online tools for new church website designers. I haven’t used most of these tools (apart from the brilliant Wufoo (see 3 posts I’ve written about Wufoo here, here and here) but I’m always keen to try discover new tools.
  5. Media helps Muslims see Christ. “Research has shown that mass media is poor at persuading people to consider other religions, but it is effective at identifying people who are in the searching mode”. h/t @dylanmalloch.

How to use the JAAL logo in your Facebook profile

October 1, 2009 in Outreach

I’ve noticed on the Jesus: All About Life Facebook page that people have been or will be (can’t quite work out which) encouraged to use the JAAL logo as their profile pic. This is a great idea for creating awareness, but I’ve noticed that when a number of people try to do this, their profile pic ends up looking like this:

Bad JAAL status image

Half the ‘J’ and most of the second ‘s’ are cut off – not a good look! There’s an easy way around this, to use the logo, without Facebook chopping it up.

The key is to ensure that the image you upload to Facebook is a square shape – this way, when it is scaled down by Facebook, it scales down in proportion. I created a blank canvas using Macromedia Fireworks (but you could use a free program such as Aviary’s Phoenix online editing software). I set the dimensions of the canvas to 250 x 250 pixels. I then imported a JAAL logo I found online (not sure if I used the best logo – I’ve seen a few variations), and saved the document as a GIF.

If you’d like to use this as your Facebook profile pic, click on the image below, then right-click and select ‘save as…’ or ‘save image as…’ or ‘save target as…’ – depending on the operating system you use.

JAALFacebookProfile_3

Responding to the internet revolution

October 1, 2009 in Books, Christian Living, for Churches, Outreach, Pastors

I’ve come across two videos that neatly illustrate the rate at which the internet is growing, and the ways in which it is changing how we communicate, educate, create and distribute content, access information – just to name a few. Take a look at these two videos below. After you’ve seen them, ponder the following questions (and share your answers in the comments section):

1. which of the facts and figures do you find most staggering?
2. what are the implications for Christian living and ministry?

I’ve got my own thoughts (naturally!), but I’m keen to hear from you first.

Video 1: Did You Know 4.0

Video 2: Social Media Revolution

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