So the other day I got a brand new Nikon D3000 Camera. It’s my first DSLR camera, but I have shot some pictures with a few of my friend’s cameras. I am so excited to get in and play with some of the settings, start adding more and more of my own pics to this blog and more.

I love to take pictures and capture moments in picture format. It’s one of my favorite things. So expect to see a lot more of my own photography gracing these posts in the coming months and years!!

Any tips on DSLR cameras? Any must know treatments for photos in photoshop?

One thing that I hope that this little blog has done in 500 posts is push you to ask questions. Asking questions is my favorite part of Children’s Ministry. The questions that kids have about life, God, and everything in between always keep me on my toes. If you can give your kids a comfortable place to ask questions, then you will find spiritual growth in that place. All that to say, I want to pose a few questions today.

First if you haven’t read these posts then stop and come back later. Or really you don’t have to come back, they will talk about a lot of what I want to talk about in this post.

Kenny’s letters to kidmin curriculum publishers (I’ll post the link to the conclusion he has links to all of his posts there)

Henry Zonio’s Something Digital this Way Comes Post

Many of Matt’s posts on Digital learning I’ll post his most recent one! Please scroll through his content, it’s ridiculously loaded on this subject!

And my series on Digital Kids (I also saw that I didn’t finish the other characteristics. I’ll have to get on that )

Here are a few questions that I feel like Curriculum publishers should be asking and probably are asking:

• How can I use technology to enhance Children’s Ministry, Student Ministry, or even Corporate Worship as a whole?
• How can we make curriculum more affordable for everyone?
• How can we expand the learning environment OUTSIDE the church?
• How can you create an active, dynamic, changing learning environment?

I’m not sure that curriculum is even the answer to a lot of these questions. In this ever changing digital environment, the people that I talk to have a few things that they need in their ministry context: Worship, High End Graphics, and Something to get kids involved in the experience.

So here are a few of my thoughts:

• I have some issues with the lack of innovation and the fact that churches are hurting everywhere and I don’t know of many producers of curriculum dropping prices. I want to see some new and exciting stuff. FYI I would promote the heck out of it!
• I think that a lot of stuff out there is quality, but most of that stuff has “money makers” that cripple a ministry rather than help them. (I’m looking at you additional pricing for materials that you could duplicate in house instead of paying extra)
• Lifechurch.tv provides their resources for free on Open. I don’t expect everyone to do that, but I mean how can a small church afford to buy those crazy cool production resources for their kids if the price of that curriculum is more than 50% of their budget?
• Is video teaching the most innovative thing going on for curriculum? I had video teaching when I was a kid. It was called Sesame Street. I watched it a ton and learned that one of these things is not like the other and also how to count. But where is the interaction, the group think, the dynamic changing environment where digital learners succeed?
• What if there was a place that artists could create illustrations for common Bible Stories? Jonah, Moses, Noah, Jesus, Peter, etc. all in different styles by different artists for different contexts of churches. Same thing for worship graphics? Could that work? Would that be an alternative for churches that have the ability to write but can’t create the graphics?

But honestly, I see curriculum will be here for a long time, because for most churches, the staff doesn’t have the time to write and develop their own material for their own individual setting. But what are your thoughts on this issue? How do you feel about curriculum as it stands now?

Twitter icon for a fluid app, originally uploaded by mfilej.

I am no expert at twitter by any means, however the time that I have spent tweeting I have learned 3 people that you should make a concerted effort to avoid being. (besides hanging preposition guy)

1. Incessant Fan boy/girl:

We understand that Andy Stanley, R-dub, and Ashton, talked about something that rhymed with your name and now you need to return the favor… But seriously more than 6 times in one day is ri-dunkulous. Just send a few @ replies to a person a day. And if you have to think about limiting how many times you @ reply something then you are definitely in need of incessant fan intervention.

2. Verse Person:

I love Bible verses as much as the next guy, however, unless your username is: Verseotheday, Powerverseguy, thebible, etc. you should seriously limit the amount of verse usage on twitter. Why? Because people won’t pay attention to anything else that you say because they unfollow you or at least make sure that you didn’t make any of their lists that are for other people to see.

3. Power follower/Power non-follower:

I have been in the power follower category in the past, especially since twitter groups and lists became commonplace. But I have most definitely slowed down the rate and the kind of person that I follow. But I think the opposite is true as well. Being that guy/girl who follows like 20 people but they have thousands of followers is dumb imo. There are tools that allow you to be selective in who you would like to tweet, so why only follow 10 people, when a ton of people obviously want to connect with you. Both are no-nos.

Thermonuclear avoidance person:

Someone who is a power follower, then they suddenly become a power unfollower but they don’t tell anyone…. Avoid being this person like the plague…

That’s it for me, any other twitter person you would caution people to avoid being? (minus hanging preposition guy)

Plus you can follow me here

stitched bookshelf, originally uploaded by rubykhan.

I get that everyone is freaking out about the publishers, but what happens to the bookshelf? My kindle on a bookshelf seems pretty empty…

Is there an answer to this issue? What do you think, digital thinkers?

First of all I want to clarify, in no way is Human3rror, aka John Saddington, asking me to do this in anyway. Mainly cuz he doesn’t know me. I am not a part of his super great affiliate program for the Standard Theme. (Cuz I’m trying to win a free copy ) But I have to give him a ton of link love.

This guy puts it out there consistently for us bloggers and doesn’t get enough credit. I have learned a ton of countless things from his site and the ones that he points me to. If you are having any issues with blogging you need to rss to these two sites: ChurchCrunch and Human3rror. It will change the way you think about technology and the church, help you with your blogging craft, and it’s just a fun site!

John is coming out with a new WordPress theme for us .com er’s called the Standard Theme. It’s sweet and I will get my hands on it one way or another and I’m thinking you at least need to check it out! Click on the link and visit his sites and comment all over his page. He’ll hit you back!

Anyway my readers, send me questions over twitter and email on blogging tips and how-to’s. I just point them to John cuz he is an expert and he’s committed to his craft of expertise. It’s time to take your blog to the next level. Buy the Standard Theme and RSS Human3rror and ChurchCrunch. It’s way more than worth it!

O and if you want something a little more awesome, check out his web company MilkEngine

So I got this article from a friend on twitter named Pete Barth. You can follow him @peterbarth. How totally unbelievable is that? But to pull a totally great line out of this post if you aren’t a super geek like me is this:

There is a growing sense that the properties of the universe are best described not by the laws that govern matter but by the laws that govern information.

I’m not gonna lie. That sounds cool. I’m no quantum physicist but this sounds pretty cool.

What say you? Excited about the possibilities, or totally freaked out?

Rethink Scholarship at Langara 2010 Call for Entries from Rory O’Sullivan and Simon Bruyn on Vimeo.

iSlate UI Concept, originally uploaded by celipovideos.

So we’ve all heard crazy rumors about this very device.

iSlate
iPad
iTablet

and I’ve even got a good friend who thinks that it’s going to be something totally different.

But here’s what I think. I think Apple is designing a new way to look at a computer. They want a family device to take media consumption to a whole new place. Think of art, reading, games, television all on one device with the ability to be all-in-one but also peripheral device.

Seems to be an incredible technology upgrade to me.

But what do you think? What does Apple have up their sleeve?

Welcome to NBA JAM!, originally uploaded by mYke ciRcle.

I just gotta say, this is really awesome. I can’t wait. EA or Electronic Arts, a video game company, announced that later this year NBA Jam is making a comeback on the Wii this year. I will be in line when it comes out to add to my Wii library.

You can view the rest of the story here.

Are you looking forward to NBA Jam? What’s your favorite saying from the game?

Computer Technology Fortune, originally uploaded by deanj.

Well I’m going to give you my number one tech tool of the last year. Technology is defined as this:

the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science.

Well I guess I’ll have to give you two.

1) Pilot G2 pens. They are the greatest. I really don’t know what I would write with if I didn’t have them. Greatest pen when considering value/price. Hands down used it throughout the year and just an incredible joy to have throughout the day.

and if that didn’t count for you as a tech device then I’ll give you numero two and then my predictions for 2010.

2)Google Reader-I know it’s older, I know it’s not the iPhone, but I use it more than any other piece of technology except for my actual computer and I mean come on, that would just be a cheap answer if I said Macbook Pro.

2010 predictions:

Kindle-the ability to organize your highlights and annotations with it automatically referencing location in the book has already done wonders for my brain. The money I’ll save on books will be worth it as well. Thinking it’s gonna help me a ton!!!

Google Wave-I really think the collaboration aspect of Google Wave is going to be well worth the time to read through the threads. If you don’t know what Google Wave is then check this out and if you’d like an invite then let me know in the comment section below.

But what about you? What device/technology would you be up a creek without? What do you think the most important piece of technology will be for you in 2010?