Taking those steps

This past week has been pretty exciting, if not a bit tiring. My wife Peggy started back to school last week, so this is the first full week on that schedule. We started attending a Care Group at church and this week I've got my Iron Men's Fire Group also. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in a day! I've been looking at a few new things -- one of which is the Silverstripe CMS system, the other is jQuery, and the last is CodeIgniter. I started some thought processes with our web design/maintainer person Kerry at church. She's very excited over some different possibilities. I'm learning to setup goals, tasks, and then let people find their own way in doing them. I can see my project management skills greatly increasing because of this . . . it's just like in the movie "Facing the Giants" . . . I want everyone to build a little part of the wall.

IT Woes

Did you ever have one of those days? I think Sunday was one of mine. At the last small event we had at church we didn't video tape the kids performing the VBS songs. I was disheartened to say the least. The youth were back from a mission trip to Memphis, Tennessee and I really wanted to make sure we captured their testimonies. I asked for someone to video tape, and in the middle of the service I looked back and at least the camera was on. I then had to run down and work the Sunday school check-in area with my wife. When I got back I looked and the tape was missing. I was assured that it would be back after worship team practice. I got in later that night for another special guest speaker that I wanted to video tape also. I got in a bit late, but thankfully another team member had started taping for me. When it was done I was busy looking where the other Sunday morning tape was. Hmm -- it seemed to not be in the bag, but the other two "empty" tapes were there. (With older worship service dates on them . . . ) I looked and sure enough, the service that was previously recorded was in the video camera. Apparently it was communicated that the tapes in the bag were blank, but instead there was one labeled with the SOS (mission) trip that was picked back up and stuck in for taping on.

This points out the communication problems we have, as well as procedure problems. I wasn't aware that the services weren't being video taped any more. The video tapes should have been more clearly marked to make sure they were not mistaken for blank/non-blank. There are a lot of great opportunities to learn from here and improve our processes. I don't look at this as a failure on any one person's fault because it's just another learning opportunity given to help us grow. I pray we'll figure out the right things to be doing at the right times and that God will bless our ministry for furthering his word to others.

Life on high . . . turn it to 11 and rip off the knobs!

Have you ever had one of those days? You just get in the car and crank the radio up? You just are having a fantastic day and just get inspired? I'm having a whole bunch of days like that . . . and Peggy is certainly along for a wild ride as we go along. Last night was showing her the beauty in a new Content Management System . . and the things I'm doing at my job. I have this really cool heartbeat application at work that pings the database to see when a table was last updated . . . and then it "automagically" updates the content with some Ajax calls. It's amazing she can follow along and appreciate my excitement over things like this that I have a true burning passion about. I was showing her some other church site designs that I would like to move the Heartland site towards also. Our new version 2.0 was a great improvement, but now I'm seeing so many other things that can be better now . . . and God has opened up the doors and given me wisdom on how to do it. That's the "in awe" moment that I am having right now.

What fires you up the most? I know where my energy and passion is coming from now and what it's directed towards. It's a wonderful thing to be producing fruit.

Argh -- life with "cloud" computing?

I use a variety of systems. At work I'm forced to use a Dell box with Windows XP. I also have my Dell laptop running Fedora Core 9 (Linux). I recently took an old Snow iMac G3 to work also. At home I use my Intel based iMac. The problem with so many computers in so many places is my bookmarks and other information. I used to use Google Sync pluging for Firefox, which allowed me to sync my bookmarks across all systems. It was fantastic, but alas, Firefox 3.0 came along and they decided to no longer support Google Sync. I quickly found the perfect (or soon to be) alternative of Mozilla Weave. The only problem is EVERYONE is jumping onto the Mozilla Weave system and flooding their server farm. I've had a lot of interruptions and problems in the meantime . . . and I still have a certain level of uncomfort in letting all my data just be hanging out there in the breeze. Enter this solution:

http://remcobressers.nl/2008/07/create-your-own-mozilla-weave-server/

I was able to get it up and going on my test server at work very quickly this morning and now everything is working great. My work iMac and laptop are busy synching the differences up, but should be done shortly. I'm a big fan of technology at times, but I also want it to be transparent and "just work". Having access to simple things like bookmarks and browsing history across multiple systems is a fantastic addition to my overall workflow in a day.

Video a success

It was a nervous time for a bit on Sunday . . . waiting to see the video for the first time before an actual crowd. It was the first time the thing was played over the church sound system, so that was very thrilling. There was some thumbs up and even some new sign-ups when I got to checking later on Sunday night. I'm working on putting all postings via that area and trying to work on communication.

I was trying a new feature I discovered on Google -- the Google Alerts feature. It's kind of neat to see a new message come up when I do a blog post for Heartland Church. I had a small "uh???" thing also when I saw a youth metal band that had references to playing at our church. We have a outreach program for the youth where they can play, but it kind of disturbed me just a bit to see the band name and images. I'm thankful that God has his hands on all things going on though.

Today I got a rental to deal with my car at the repair facility. It's days like today that I realize how much I do appreciate my car's attributes . . . and that "PAID FOR" one is the biggest and best. I was most concerned about the rear end suspension on my car since it took this impact. When I showed my parents the wheel/tire yesterday I noticed the bulging sidewall and had to stop and shudder some more. God as a "co-pilot" stickers really trivialize his power . . . but I know I'm thankful in so many ways for him being there at all times in all situations.

What A Day . . .

Today I learned out quickly something can happen (http://myoldgarage.blogspot.com) and how little regard people have for others at times. I certainly dodged a bullet of uncertainty today and I'm very thankful to God for that.

I'm already thinking of some new video ideas for more ministries and promoting things within the church. I'm embracing more and more things that can further our outreach ministry within the Blue Springs, Missouri and beyond. Peggy and I talked last night on various aspects of the child check in system, as well as other ideas for videos. It's very exciting to have someone who can add a new dimension to my thoughts and be a springboard for further ideas.

CAUTION: God at work

Last night I spent the most amazing night working on a new promotional video for the Online Gathering area at Heartland Church. Peggy and I recorded about four minutes of video to make the just over a 70 second production with live shots as well as screen captures. Jim Hoopingarner, our music leader, sent me a instrumental snippet that immediately set the tempo and ideas loose in my head. Peggy got to be the "hand model" (a thinly guised reference to Joey from Friends there) and type away. I did just a little editing to extend out the sound bite that Jim sent and then used a stock "attention grabber" there at the beginning.

The most amazing part of this was how easily it went together. Some times I have that little "well, maybe I didn't need a Mac" twinge, but lat night's marathon editing session squashed any qualms that I might have. I was able to go from Audacity, to iPhoto, to capturing screen shots, and then to iMovie and never had a hiccup. The best part was when I was fiddling with the music to get the timing about right. That left a gap at the beginning of the video, so I looked in the stock sound library and found one. It was going to be way too long but I simply dragged the clip up to where it needed to fit and the Mac/software/etc... did exactly what it needed to. It simply worked. No arguments, no fiddling, no fussing and NO WINDOWS!!!!

Want to see the clip in it's final glory on the web? You can see it here: http://gallery.me.com/bradley.w.miller#100096

I can't take any responsibility for this. I recorded video and was envisioning what I wanted it to be, but my camera skills are a little lacking. I was disappointed at first in my abilities and what I was expecting, but I prayed for God to take what I had and work it into something for his glory. I can't describe how easy it was. I was able to point and click . . . it just all fell together. I know a small part of that is the Mac's ease of use, but I contribute all of it to God working through Peggy and I last night. She was watching over my shoulder and offering help and encouragement also. It was just a magical night and one very needed after so many recent events. I'm very blessed.

Another Tech Meeting

Last night was my first full technology meeting that I was able to present ideas as well as a focus for the Heartland Church tech ministry. Peggy took fantastic notes and was able to provide me with some wonderful insight into nuances of the meeting that I was missing as facilitator on this. I was able to update our tech wiki area as well as put discussion notes from the meeting on our online forum/bulletin board area called "Online Gathering". I originally took that name to further the type of experience that Heartland Church has with it's semi-frequent "Gathering" potluck/celebrations. The last one I think was for the ten year anniversary of Heartland Church if memory serves me right. I'm hoping that the "Online Gathering" area will become a vital part of communication between the various ministries at the church, as well as the members. We had several "A HA!" type moments last night with simple things like the people doing the video taping not knowing that the VBS events should be video taped, because nobody asked. I think if we had further communication and information being exchanged we would have so many more opportunities to not only serve one another but to serve others. I keep praying for God to be there in all of these things and to make sure that we remain focused on his plan for our church, and not our egos or ambitions.