Just discovered Slideshare

March 19, 2009, by No comments yet

Trinity Sunday

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Podcasting and Church, aka Sermoncasting

March 19, 2009, by No comments yet

I have a friend at church that has asked me repeatedly about the possibility of either a podcasting or live streaming our church sermons.  Actually, Fr. Bob’s sermons.   Anyway, I told him that from all the reading I have done on the web and folks at work, it seems possible and faily straight forward.  What do we need?  Here’s the list I have so far:

  1. Willing pastor.  Gotta get the OK before you put someone’s voice for all to hear.  Especially in churches like our where other people come to the microphone for prayers and reading the Bible lessons for that week.
  2. Sound system.  Without it, you would have to get a recorder somehow attached to the pastor’s microphone or record directly to the recorder.
  3. The aforementioned recorder.  There seem to be several on the market that can do the job.  Many come with stereo and mono capabilities, MP3 recording (going for universal here), capacity and USB connectivity.
  4. Audio editing software.  This comes with every Mac sold these days.  You can also get free software for the PC.
  5. Podcasting software.  We will be using either a WordPress install with podcast plugin or Joomla with a podcast module.  Either should work, though I have not used them before this project.
  6. Willing volunteer.  Here is where it gets tricky. You have to line up someone or a group of people who are willing to be responsible for the sermoncast.  It’s easy to put the above mentioned items into place, but someone has to do the editing and uploading.

Currently, we have a church website, but it lacks a podcast module.  I can take care of that fairly quickly.  I can also purchase an audio recorder.  While a youth minister does not have an unlimited budget, he can ask the outreach coordinator about putting it into his budget.  Especially if that is the friend asking about the sermoncast at the top of this post.

I digress.

As for a willing volunteer, I am thinking one of the youth would be best.  They are on the computer often, it gives them a real active part in our ministry and they have time most adults can only dream about.  That’s my plan.  I hope to have someone lined up soon.  After that, getting the recorder and testing should be fun.

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[Updated] And now, a break in our programming

March 18, 2009, by No comments yet

My wife and I have been foster parents for the last few years. We have had foster children that lived with us for a time and now are reunited with their birth family. However, the current set of children (one of each) were sent to us with express intent of adoption. We hope and pray this will come to pass so we can start a family with them.

This brings me to or current quandary.

Our foster son does not listen to my wife. In fact, he does not accept female authority well. It’s quite a challenge to my wife as she is quiet and calm by nature. The prospect of disciplining a child and even raising her voice or putting them in “time out” is hard for her.

My advice was simple. “No matter what you are doing, where you are at or who is present, let him know you are in charge and he has to listen. Even if it gets ugly, no other parent will be surprised or look down on you. They’ve been there themselves.”

I reminded her of Paul’s similar sentiment when faced with his actions in light of God’s plan. He did what he did not want and yet, God loved him. He was happy that God had created rules and borders for his life. Now, he could live comfortably and peacefully knowing his actions would be acceptable to God.

I reminded my wife that one day our son would look back and thank her for the hard work of teaching him right and wrong, all while loving him more than he could ask or imagine.

[Update] Well, things are still going along slowly. One day good, part of one day bad. We love them to pieces.

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