Jason Powell - Church IT and Other Musings

Thank You Willow Creek

Mega props to Mike Gold and his IS/IT crew at Willow Creek for letting Granger and Northwoods have a chance to tour and Q&A him and his staff yesterday.
Huge thanks to Fady and Gina for taking us all over the campus to see rooms that most Willow staff have no clue what's inside.  Please consider Segways for future tours ... my feet were tired ;-)

I'll post more nuggets from our visit later.

Das Org Chart

Wonder what the org chart looks like at GCC regarding Communications, Web, and IT??

Click this image to jump over to Kem's post and read more ...

What's your org chart look like?

Speaking of org charts ... take a moment to fill out the Church IT Survey if you haven't already (note to self to take survey also)

Encouragement to Keep Going

I've been wrestling for the past month or 2 about my future in blogging (I had very few posts last month).  There are a number of you that I keep encouraging to blog (*cough Jason Lee cough*) while at the same time I've been pondering scaling way way ... way back.  I just wasn't feeling very inspired to continue blogging.  Was it actually bringing real value to anyone anymore?  Or was I just adding to the noise?

The funny thing is that as I've been pondering a major shift I've started getting emails from church IT people finding this blog for the first time and mentioning how it's positively impacting their ministry.  Isn't God's timing funny sometimes.  This is the one of the emails I received ...

Incredible! I have been searching for a community just like this for a while. I came across the podcast a few months ago and I must say this is truly a blessing! I am all for a NACIT. My thoughts exactly on why shouldn’t the church IT have it’s own group? On a side note thank you Jason for starting one of the most exciting communities that I have come across in a long time! Your thoughts and vision re-ignite me now on a regular basis in which I can get excited in going back to the office and serving our ministries on any level I can. Stephen Smith Sheffield Family Life Center KC MO

Wow!  Stephen your message was a HUGE encouragement to me ... thank you!  I so needed that.  No, I didn't need my ego stroked, just needed a spark of encouragement.  And then a number of other unique opportunities began falling in my lap all of which were great encouragements as well.  OK God, message received :-)

So all that to say, I'm humbled and amazed to be in the position I am.

And I want to do a shout out of encouragement to all of you as well.  To you the lone IT guy/gal, to you with so much stress and to-dos that it keeps you awake at night, to you trying to take your team to the next level ... be encouraged!  IT is often a tough thankless job filled with high stress, a never ending list of things to fix/do and new stuff to learn.  But!  What we do has a profound ripple effect that impacts all ministry areas ... and ultimately the lives of scores of people that have yet to know that they matter to God.  This is ministry!  Sometimes it's hard to see through all the bits and bytes, but we are doing Kingdom work.  What we do matters more than we (and others) probably realize. 

So my comrades in IT, as you start your work week be mindful of what's at stake and I pray a flood of encouragement knocks you off your feet. 

IT RoundTable at GCC half full or empty

As of 8/24 registrations for the IT RoundTable Sept 26th here at Granger hit the half full or half empty point depending on your bent.

If you're wanting to come I urge you to get your registration in now ... lest you miss this opportunity ... register here

Here's the list of attendees as of 8/24/07

Northwoods Community Church - Dunlap, IL (2 coming)
Park Chapel Christian Church - Greenfield, IN (2 coming)
The Chapel - Libertyville, IL
Hoosier Harvest Church - Martinsville, IN
Hill Country Bible Church - Cedar Park, TX
New Covenant Bible Church - Cedar Rapids, IA
NewPointe Community Church - Dover, OH
Lakeview Church - Indianapolis, IN
James A. - Suwanee, GA
MBS, Inc - Huntington Beach, CA
Fellowship Technologies - TX

I think Dean from ACS will be attending - Dean? ... also both ACS and Fellowship Tech will have boths set up for our Innovate Conference should you want to chat ChMS with them.  Vendors interested in helping cover meal costs and/or door prizes should shoot me an email [email protected]

For more info on how we run a roundtable go here.  Here's Tony's notes/recap of last years IT RoundTable @ Granger

2 IT Positions at Second Baptist (Houston)

David Drinnon from giganto Second Baptist asked me to spread the word on their following IT openings ...

Applications Support Specialists - Responsible for working as a liaison between the end user community and the IT staff with regards to all applications.  Primary responsibility is to work closely with staff to generate custom reports and facilitate data collection and reporting using available software applications. Other responsibilities include review, analyze and assist with the integration and implementation of applications on the network.

Download applications_support_specialist.pdf

Applications Developer - Assist in the design of new applications by collaborating with church staff, lay leaders, and other IT staff.  This position will play a vital role in the architectural design of new applications, development standards, and setting project timelines.  The Applications Developer will also research external tools that may help in such applications. Implement new functionality to extend the church management system (ChMS). Maintain and enhance existing applications to incorporate staff requests, new user interface revisions, and extend the scalability of the solutions.

Download applications_developer.pdf

If you or someone you know might be interested contact David for more info.

>> I don't know if I've officially said it on this blog, but if your church has IT openings let me know and I'll post 'em here to help get ya more exposure.

Tuscan Whole Milk on Amazon

A buddy sent me this recently ... figured it would make a good "Friday Funny"

There are almost 1000 customer reviews of this product on Amazon.com - you have to hunt for the best nuggets, but there are some clever and humorous reviews many in short story form ... like this ...

"When our eyes met, time stopped. His lips curled into the hint of smile. With a casual flip of his hand, he brushed back the long, thick curls of his dark, wavy hair. I was powerless to resist his cobalt eyes as he drew me in. Our hands intertwined, our lips touched, I was lost. His breath graced my neck, then he spoke with a voice as deep as the ocean. "Could you pick up some Tuscan Whole Milk, 128 fl oz?" "Yes," I whispered. Our souls were one. "

OR

"He always brought home milk on Friday.

After a long hard week full of days he would burst through the door, his fatigue hidden behind a smile. There was an icy jug of Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz in his right hand. With his left hand he would grip my waist - I was always cooking dinner - and press the cold frostiness of the jug against my arm as he kissed my cheek. I would jump, mostly to gratify him after a time, and smile lovingly at him. He was a good man, a wonderful husband who always brought the milk on Friday, Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz. " ... this story continues on here :-)

OR

"It was a day just like any other day: dark and hopeless. The situation I was in was equally dark and hopeless. The tip I'd received about the Verchetti Gang drug deal had been accurate in concept, if slightly off about the exact numbers of people who would try to kill me ... " it goes on here.

Some clever and creative effort went into some of these reviews ... all over a gallon of Tuscan Whole Milk ... I'll I can say is ... God Bless the Internet ;-)

Adobe Connect

Sean McAtee, UMC TechShop Manager, gave me a hands-on demo of Adobe Connect this week ... Sean is the same guy that's providing this service for the Fall Roundtable in Kansas City.

Via Clif Guy I contacted Sean a while back about the possibility of using Connect for the Church IT Podcast stuff ... and we finally got a meeting scheduled.

Wow, Adobe Connect is slick and packed with features.  It makes WebEx look like a sissy boy :-)  The other great feature is that it's pretty easy to use ... and it's all flash based ... so sweet!

We're still working out the details, but for sure we'll get access to use Connect for some of the future podcasts ... probably the ones that are focused around a particular product/technology where screen sharing would be a big plus.

I've also convinced Sean to come to MinistryCOM (UMC offices are in Nashville) and attend the Roundtable activies ... maybe even show off Connect if anyone is interested.  He seems very interested in helping as he can with the CITRT "movement".

So if you're looking for a sweet collaborative tool ... you must give Adobe Connect a test drive!  Adobe is also giving huge discounts to non-profits for Connect ... so don't fall over dead when you see the web pricing ;-)

Microsoft Support Call

It8:38pm - Ed's just gotten off the phone with Microsoft Support.  He was on hold 1hr 34mins this morning before he had to drop the call for our all staff meeting.  He then started again after lunch ... and was on hold for 3hrs 25mins until hooking up with a very friendly tech in "Toronto".  Basically we had a high profile user (aka our boss) that had a very crazy Outlook2007 issue ... after trying everything we could think of we decided to use one of our TechNet support calls ... this is only the 2nd time we've ever called MS in the 4 years I've been here.

Story ends on a good note, but only after 6hrs 28mins of phone time ... that's 8 hours if you include the hold time from this morning!.  Today must have been "call in sick day" at Microsoft :-(

Ed tagged me every so often to sit at his chair while he ran to the restroom ... why does this somehow feel like a Dilbert carttoon :-)

Another Server Flavor?

Another recent order arrived today ...

This will be an experiment to see how well Windows Active Directory ties to OSX Open Directory ... if all goes well our Macs and PC's will be able to authenticate to the OSX Server using their Active Directory credentials.  Why?  Well, for now just to access various mac shares and the XRAID where many of our media clips live ... down the road ????

Our OSX "server" hardware ...

And just to be clear - we still do not officially support Macs, but we try to help as best we can with our limited time and resources.

Calendar Stuff

My calendar for the next month and a half has a lot of dates/times blocked out involving IT related events ...

• Aug 29 - Ed, Kyle, a couple volunteers and I will be taking an IT Road Trip to Willow Creek.  We're meeting Jason Lee (Northwoods Community Church) and his crew there for a day of talking IT with the Willow staff ... then hang for their new community service before heading back.

• Sept 6th - Church IT Podcast #15 ... with anticipated guest Sharepoint gurus ... interested in Sharepoint?  You'll want to be sure and block out 2-4pm :-)

• Sept 12-15 - I get to join Kem and several teammates for my first trip to MinistryCOM. 
  
  • Sept 13 - Thursday evening there's an IT Roundtable at Brentwood Baptist  6-9 pm (you don't have to be going to MinistryCOM to attend).  Register here
  • Sept 14 - Friday there's an IT "lunch" ... again, you don't have to be attending MinistryCOM to join us for lunch.  Leave a comment if you're coming here

• Sept 20th - Church IT Podcast #16 ... no set topic yet.

• Sept 25th - My birthday ... has nothing really to do with IT stuff, but you should make note of it none-the-less ;-)

• Sept 26th - Church IT RoundTable at GCC ... registration is OPEN ... 15 slots still up for grabs ... be sure to bring me a bday gift.

• Sept 27-28 - Innovate Conference at GCC ... I'll be doing an IT Best Practices breakout during the conference ... as well as IT "tours" during afternoon breaks for anyone interested.

• Oct 2-5 - Fall 2007 Church IT RoundTable in Kansas City.

• Oct 4 - Church IT Podcast canceled since many of us will be together in Kansas City.

• and somewhere in this time frame budget stuff ramps up BIG time

This will be an exciting and exhausting stretch ... I'm very much looking forward to it and hope to meet some of you at some point in the coming weeks.