Author: Robert

a while back i made this flash animation to begin one of our worship services. if it works for any of y’all please feel free to use it. click here to view it.

i’ve been podcasting our youth oriented worship services for 6 months (and simply making them streamable for years before that). the podcasting has been pretty cool with probably 10 to 20 people downloading the podcasts each day (and then the very rare days where it raises to 100). personally i’ve ben pretty lease with an average of 15 people per day downloading messages and music and i thought our little ole youth ministry was doing pretty well to be in the podcasting world.

tuesday, june 28th apple relased it’s new version of itunes which has the ability to subscribe to podacasts. i was interested in the whole thing and immediately downloaded the new version (though i’ll probably stick with ipodder just because it’s i’m not the hugest fan of “the man” in any industry). still i didn’t really think that itunes would have much of effect on a little bitty site like our’s. as usual i was wrong. the people subscribed to feed from the site has doubled in the past two days and the total downloads (clickthroughs & subscriptions) have doubled also.

to quote from applpe’s own press release concerning hitting one million pdocast subscriptions:

“iTunes has done what possibly no one else could have accomplished, propelled Podcasting into the mainstream,” said Will Lewis, management consultant for KCRW. “Our servers have been swamped with a stratospheric increase in traffic. In fact, downloads have increased tenfold as a result of the iTunes 4.9 launch.”

who knew apple had such power? aren’t they supposed to be the “little guys” in the computer world? i wander what micro$oft will have to say about all this.

bride in canceled wedding throws party for homeless – how cool is this? what a great thing to do with a party that would have just been wasted otherwise.

i went to the optometrist today to get my vision checked. for the past couple of months i’ve been having slight vision problems – basically having a more difficult time focusing on things in the distance. i finally became fed up with feeling my eyes focus on refocus on objects and thus i went to get my eyes examined.

well the doctor has looked at my eyes, i’ve read the eye chart backwards and forwards, and the verdict is in – i have a mild astigmatism. basically, i am becoming more nearsighted as i grow older and thus i need to get some glasses for occasional use. before my mom freaks out i need to say that it is merely a mild nearsightedness and i can still drive without glasses. the doctor said glasses would make my vision easier but i didn’t have to wear them all the time. so rest comfortable mom – i’m okay.

back in february i said that i would start placing my monthly youth ministry newsletter articles on the blog. every month i’m desperate for some idea to write about and len evans had mentioned posting these things for others to be able to get their desperation ideas form. it sounded like a good idea and i decided to start doing it. unfortunately i only did it once. so here goes my second attempt. here’s the my article i placed in this month’s youth ministry newsletter.

i love being with the church.

now i say “being with the church” rather than “going to church” because of the fact that CHRIST’s church is not made up of buildings. no, the church is made up of humans. JESUS CHRIST’s church is composed of all those who believe in and desperately try to follow the LORD. i love being with people like that.

sometimes i hear people say that they can’t stand the church because the people who make up the church are so messed up. they say that “church” people do the same stupid things that everyone else does. they say that “church” people are just as mean as everyone else in the world. the truth is that they’re right about the people who make up the church … we are some messed up people.

yet what i love about being with the people who make up CHRIST’s church is that as messed up as we still are CHRIST has already made a difference in our lives and is changing us. as i type this i can hear people right outside of my study talking and laughing. these are people that i know and love. i’ve heard how JESUS has made a difference in their lives. i know some of the story about who they used to be. they’ve been changed by a loving GOD and that’s why they are a part of CHRIST’s church. they may still be messed up (no more than i am) but JESUS is still working on them and changing them into HIS image. that’s why i love being with and hanging out with CHRIST’s church, because there is nothing more exciting than seeing people’s lives completely changed. that’s what happens when you hang out with CHRIST’s church.

that’s why i love being with the church.

you have to be pretty desperate to use it but if you are that desperate go ahead and steal away.

just in case you aren’t a part of flickr and haven’t heard form their blog i want to let you know that yahoo has started a limited beta run of their my web 2.0 social networking search engine. you can read the my web 2.0 blog to find out about it but basically it kind of like del.icio.us, only yahoo-style. if you want to be a part of the BETA test jump on it quick because it is a limited BETA.