Sabbatical Rest

In response to God's call on our lives, Grace and I started the MBS ministry more than twenty years ago! We love how it has allowed us to serve so many churches and ministries nationwide and beyond. In addition to working for MBS, over the last 3-1/2 years I have been involved in overseeing my church's purchase of land and the ensuing entitlement, programming, design, and phase one construction processes. I'm beat!

Our family was encouraged by our church to take a four-week sabbatical rest together. So we're disengaging until mid-late July.

I look forward to re-engaging with renewed focus and energy, and trust that God will continue to work as mightily through me as he has in me. I am his bondservant.

Blessings,

Nick

Charging Cell Phones Without Wires!

At a CCMag Conference a few years ago Steve Hewitt predicted that someday we'll be transmitting electricity through the air-- no wires. The rest of us on the panel were astonished that he'd make such a prediction-- in fact, I laughed! Today it's happening!

The Future is Here!
Last November an MIT group announced they found a way to charge our cell phones without using wires, and a couple of months ago a Pennsylvania inventor actually created a product that does exactly that!

Think about where this could go:

• Lighter cell phones with smaller batteries that never run out of power
• Lighter notebook computers with smaller batteries that never run out of power
• Electric razors, electric vehicles...

Is It Safe?
That's a question I think will be debated without end, just like they're still debating the safety of cell phones. The device uses radio technology, merely taking radio waves and turning their energy into DC energy. As the technology develops and matures, the possibilities are endless!

Just Tell Us!

You learned about a cool website, and to fully enjoy its content it requires you to register. So you fill out the form-- especially the required fields, and then click the Submit button.

Rejection! Why? Your password doesn't meet their minimum specifications!

Just Tell Us!
I don't know about you, but that really bugs me! My password is too short, or doesn't contain all of the right kinds of characters... whatever! Just tell us what's required before we submit the registration page so we won't have to do so again because we didn't know it required fourteen characters with numbers, letters, and at least one punctuation character!

Okay. I feel better...

Hmmm... I wonder if I should lengthen my default password to more than my first initial!

Macs Are On The Rise!

At this year's Spring Church IT Roundtable all in attendance made the same observation: we're seeing more Macs in our ministry offices. Some would say this is a good thing! Some would say it is not! Who's right?

Macs Are On The Rise
Why are so many in ministry offices buying Macs? Is it the commercials? Maybe. Is it because they look cool? Maybe. Is it because everything's easier on a Mac? Maybe not!

The facts are that the commercials are great, Macs look cool, and everything being easier on a Mac is only a rumor.

The Truth Will Set You Free!
When Jesus said this in John 8:38, it's amazing to consider that he already knew it would be a key theme in Conspiracy Theory and in this blog! But I digress... sorry...

Mac users contact their stores, experts, and professionals for help. Mac users contact their IT team for help too! So... everything may not be easier on a Mac. But some things are, like audio and video editing, photograph manipulation, and more.

Yeah, but...
The problem is that most ministry offices runs some software that won't run on a Mac. At least not "natively." It may run in parallel mode, or via terminal services or some other solution like it, but not in the native Mac operating system and interface.

The next issue, then, is whether or not the ministry's Mac users will begin using a separate database or accounting system, for example, because they don't like the Windows interface that's forced upon them when using the system selected for all other users. If they are willing to work with the software the rest of the ministry uses, like the database or accounting system, then I guess there's no holding them back!

Yeah, but!
The next issue, then, is how to support those on Macs if your IT staff only has PC knowledge and expertise. In that case, the Mac users may need to be on their own. What do you think?