Category Archives: Technology

Church streaming woes?

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I’m not a technology expert nor an audiovisual guru. However, I maintain several websites. Every week I publish 7 audio files with accompanying video, as well as 2-3 other videos. I’m no expert, but I know something.

As I hear people complain about church services that are streamed online, I get very frustrated. Most of the people murmuring know less than I do about how streaming works and what goes into making it work. And I know very little.
Let me educate you with some of the little I know, to see if it helps at all:

  • Most of our churches are trying to provide professional-level services with consumer-grade equipment. Mind you, consumer-grade equipment is very good these days. But don’t expect your local church to produce something that looks like the Discovery channel.
  • Most of our churches are using consumer-level Internet to deliver their product. Yeah, that same level of service that froze up the last time you tried to watch a movie online. That same service that delivers “live sports” with a 3-5 second delay. If you’ve been in any Zoom meetings, you’ve seen the limitations of most Internet services. Most churches don’t need industry-level Internet on a day-to-day basis; paying for that to use it a couple of hours per week doesn’t make sense.
  • Most of our church professionals didn’t train for this. Even those that did were probably hired to do something else at your church. And you still expect them to be doing that something else. I’ve admired the way I’ve seen ministers sharing ideas and experiences as they learn new skills; rather than criticize them, why don’t we applaud them for the progress they are making?
  • Much of church staff is dealing with kids at home. Remember when you insisted that your church hire younger ministers? Guess what. Younger ministers typically have younger families. Besides trying to tend to your needs, they may be running a school all day and dealing with stir-crazy kids at night. While answering texts and phone calls from stir-crazy church members.
  • Most of our church professionals are busy trying to survive a pandemic and trying to help others do the same. It never hurts to maintain a little perspective.

Churches and church staff all over the world are learning more and more about the technology that is available to us. Much of it is still in the developing stages. When it works, it will be wonderful to have. When it doesn’t, we need to try and utilize a bit of patience. If you can’t watch a service, open your Bible, sing a hymn, and break bread in memory of Jesus. Thank God for what you have rather than complaining about what you don’t have.

And now, let me see if I can figure out why this blog post won’t publish…

B&B Friday: Bible.is app for iPhone

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I was asked to review the Bible.is iPhone app. In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that I received the app for free. That’s not all that impressive, however, because that offer is available to everyone. Faith Comes By Hearing, the makers of Bible.is, is not charging for the program. (In October 2009, I reviewed the BibleStick, which is produced by this same group)

Faith Comes By Hearing has recorded audio Bibles in over 400 languages. In the Bible.is app, they combine these recordings with the text, allowing you to read along while listening. Not every version available has both audio and text; some have only one or the other.

Reading plan

The app also allows for bookmarking, highlighting, taking notes, etc., but in their own words: “we’re leaving the heavy lifting to Logos, OliveTree, and others who are doing an awesome job there.” There is an included Bible reading plan that looks quite nice.

For people who enjoy listening to audio Bibles, this app is a tremendous value. If you’ve priced audio Bibles, you know they can be expensive. With this app, you can get any number of them for free.

For those without an iOS device, the Faith Comes By Hearing website also allows for the downloading of many audio Bibles. And if you use an Android phone, you should have a Bible.is app soon. They also plan to add apps for Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Symbian-based phones. Plus, there is a service that will provide daily SMS text messages of a Bible-reading plan, with the option to listen to that text through your phone’s web browser.

Multiple languages

So, do I recommend this app? Yes… if you’re not like me. I’ve discovered that I don’t enjoy listening to the audio Bibles. At first I was thinking, “This one’s too dull. This other one’s too dramatic. This one has too many sound effects.” Finally I realized that I was the problem. I just don’t like ANY audio Bible, at least not any that I’ve heard.

I also dislike the fact that the app seems locked into portrait mode. I like to read in landscape. Switching between versions is not smooth, though they anticipate fixing that soon. The multilingual aspects of the app only serve those of us who are bilingual; the Bible texts are in other languages, but the program itself is only in English. (I’m told they are also working on that)

If you think you’d like to listen to the Bible, give this app a try. It’s not perfect, but it’s a great service. And you can’t beat the price!

10 Apps I’m Apt To Use

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I think I’ve mentioned that I teach one course per semester at Abilene Christian University. I’m what they call an adjunct (which comes from the Latin for “old junk”). Because ACU now provides* mobile devices (iPhones or iPod Touches) for their students, they now provide them for those of us that teach lower level courses. Being too cheap frugal to pay the data plan for the iPhone, I chose the iPod Touch. Technology geek that I am, I’m definitely hooked.

So I thought I’d share with you ten apps (programs) that I use on a regular basis. They are free, unless noted:

E-readers

This is one area where the iTouch has had a great impact on my habits. Now when I travel, I carry fewer books and magazines because I’m able to do lots of reading on the iTouch. So far, I’ve been too cheap frugal to actually purchase any e-books, but I’ve gotten a number for free. So the first apps that achieve Gotta Have status are e-readers:

  • Kindle — This app from Amazon is my favorite e-reader so far. It’s fairly quick to load, easy to use, and has a nice interface. And Amazon has a great selection of e-books to choose from.
  • B&N eReader — Barnes & Noble has another very nice app, though I’ve found it to be less convenient than the Kindle. I have hit some DRM issues at times, with the app asking me to provide a certain credit card number… one that I didn’t have with me while traveling. Books also seem to take a very long time to load the first time I open them.

Bible programs

There are a number of good Bible programs out there. I’ve tried several and have heard lots of varying opinions. These are the ones I use now:

  • PocketSword — The eSword program has been around for a long time. This iPhone OS version includes a number of public domain versions, as well as the ESV. It’s easy enough for moving quickly to passages, which is what I most use. With my aging eyes, I’m often better off trying to read off the screen than trying to read off of a page.
  • ESV — Major kudos to Crossway for making the ESV app available for free. The interface is very clean and readable. I haven’t used this program a lot, but I’ve liked what I’ve seen.

News & Reference

There are lots of specialized programs in this area. If I had the iPhone, with its data plan, I think I would use this more. As is, there are several programs I use:

  • ESPN ScoreCenter — I like to be able to keep up with sports, and this is a quick and easy way to follow certain teams or just sports scores in general.
  • The Weather Channel/WeatherBug — I haven’t decided which of these I like better. Both seem to do well enough for providing current conditions and a basic forecast. That’s about all I’m looking for in a weather app.
  • TripIt — I have fallen in love with this app, finding it extremely useful when traveling. It combines with the TripIt website to keep track of all my travel information. When I get a new itinerary, I send it by e-mail to TripIt. The site stores that itinerary, allowing me to make any necessary changes. Then this app syncs to the site. Couldn’t be much simpler. I rarely have to enter any info by hand. Now I have in one place flight times, flight numbers, hotel addresses and phone numbers, confirmation codes, rental car information… all in a free app. There is a TripIt Pro, but the free service works great for me.

Entertainment

The only apps I’ve actually purchased have been games. People who know me aren’t surprised. I got an iTunes gift certificate for Christmas and have used it to pick up a few games. These are the ones I’m playing now when I need a break:

  • Plants vs. Zombies ($2.99) — There are lots of defense-themed games out there, but it’s hard to beat this one for good graphics, great humor and interesting game play. Definitely worth the big bucks this cheapskate frugal person spent on it.
  • WordsWithFriends — This is one of the most popular apps around. It’s basically Scrabble, but the system for finding other players is superior to the original game’s app. I’ve even played in a couple of tournaments, which was a lot of fun. Being a turn-based game, players play at their convenience. Games can be played in an hour or so, or they can drag out over weeks. There is a paid version, but if you can put up with the ads, the free version works just fine. If you want to play a match, “Tim A” is my screen name.

There you go. For a grand total of $3, you can outfit your iPhone/iPod Touch just like The Kitchen’s head flunky.

Those of you who use the iPhone OS, do you have any apps to recommend?

* Don’t let “provides” full you. My son will be a freshman next year. A $340/semester “technology fee” shows up on his bill. I’m guessing some of that goes to pay for these devices… including the one I’m using.