Five websites to inspire, inform and enthuse.

1. The Big Word Project. Buy a word, then associate that word with your website. ‘Jesus’ has been ‘bought’ and links here.
2. Webby Awards. Recently announced winners of the best websites for 2009 in 70 categories.
3. Gold, Silver, Precious Stones? Andrew Katay has launched a blog on Christian leadership that has really got me thinking…
4. Shazam. Hear a song but don’t know what it is? Shazam is a tool to identify music from the radio, tv, film, or anywhere you hear it.
5. The Forgiveness Project. Inspiring stories of people who have forgiven others.

Five websites to inspire, inform and enthuse.

1. Discerning Reader. “Local churches are finding it increasingly difficult (and tragically, increasingly unnecessary) to equip their people to discern good from bad, better from best. We would like to help.”
2. You Should Have Seen This. A list of 99 websites and videos (apparently) everyone should have seen.
3. Mars Hill Global. A new website outlining Mars Hill Church’s plan to spread the gospel from Seattle to the ends of the earth.
4. One Sentence. “True stories, told in one sentence”.
5. AfriGadget. “Solving everyday problems with African ingenuity.

Not the main course. But still very tasty.

1. Sermon Jams. “…take Biblically saturated sermons and turn them into mini clips for edification for the household of faith and tracts to unbelievers.”
2. last.fm. Type in the name of your favourite (musical) artist. Last FM will play a non-stop selection of similar artists.
3. The Big Picture. News stories in photographs. Here’s a collection of 35 Easter photos.
4. Not Always Right. “Funny and stupid customer quotes”.  Also makes for some amuzing and poignant sermon illustrations.
5. GiveWell. “…conducting research on charities and generating ideas on better ways to give.” A good resource for informed giving.

Not the main course. But still very tasty.

1. Two Futures Project. A website by Christians against nuclear weapons.
2. Newseum. 553 newspaper front pages from 51 countries.
3. Ask The President. Ask the President questions, and vote on questions others have ask, and the top-rated may be asked of the President at the next press conference.
4. Urban Dictionary. Definitions of new words and ‘urban’ slang.
5. Farawayfish. Preserve your thoughts, hopes and dreams, to share with loved ones once you’re dead.

Not the main course. But still very tasty.

1. MacHeist. Get 10 Mac applications (worth over $600) for $39. As if that weren’t enough, 25% of every sale goes to charity, and when $400k is raised for charity, three more applications are unlocked to be downloaded (included in the $39!). Get in quick – there’s 5 days left of this sale.
2. Answerbag. If you had 10 questions to ask someone to get to know them the best you could, what would you ask?
3. Getting serious about your meeting problem. Always in meetings? Seth Godin offers 9 radical suggestions for improving meeting efficiency.
4. How to read a 291-page book in two hours. The title says it all!
5. Games for Change. A toolkit for not-for-profit organisations and charities to create “social issue digital games”.

It’s an amazing world out there, online. Things are changing, growing, developing (and also dying) every day. Every now and then, I’d like to share with you some websites and online developments that don’t necessarily have a clear link to ministry, but are interesting to check out to learn how our internet is changing, and the opportunities these changes might present. Of course, there might be little to no application for ministry – I might just share links that I’ve found curious, quirky or cool! Here’s 5 to kick us off:

1. NoPhoneTrees is a great concept, giving you the numbers you need to press when calling an organising to speak to an actual person (i.e. skip through the ‘press 2 if your call is about a bill, press 3 if…”.
2. Day Counter allows you to put in any two dates, and it will tell you how many days there are between those two dates. Useful for working out how many days since you last…
3. Worldometers has some fascinating statistics on our world with counters ticking over to display what’s happening in the world right now. Want to know how many babies have been born? What about military expenditure by governments today?
4. Woot is an online store that just sells one product per day. Interesting concept – I’m sure there’s good savings for the seller and the buyer when bulk items are put up for sale.
5. Charity: Water is a charity to provide clean and safe water to people in the developing world. It’s a nice looking website (which first caught my attention), and a good cause.