Preparing for Sunday, slow on posting.

I'm preaching tomorrow for our church's Sunday morning service and I haven't had much time to post for much of my time has been given to studying and a few other events we had over the past two days. However, tomorrow is our 1 year anniversary of the Gadget Pastor! Wow! one whole year. We've come a long way sort of and on Monday I will be doing some special things so be on the lookout! Also I will try to post a video of my message tomorrow if I can. I just purchased iLife '08 so it should be a lot easier to do so. I pray God will bless your services tomorrow!

Back from the back woods of Kentucky

Our week of camp is over and the Lord really did a work in our youth group. While we were there, we had one accept Jesus as their Savior and another teen surrendered his life to the Lord. Several other of our teens also made decisions and our group has come back on fire for the Lord. It's quite exciting as the teenagers decided themselves to site in the the first couple pews during the services. It certainly was a different Sunday yesterday with almost all the teenagers sitting up front. God truly did a work in the lives of their teenagers and I'm really thankful for that. As for posting, I'm working on some posts for today and will have them up in the next few hours. God bless!

Next week, I'm gone to camp with my youth group!

Next week, posts will be almost non-existent. I will be with the youth group at Camp Victory in Somerset, KY. The camp is located in the back hills of Kentucky and cell receiption is very weak. I will probably not have any internet available for me. This is fine because I do not mind the break from the internet, however, I was hoping to have some pictures posted for parents and family to see. So you might see some pics of us at camp next week via my iPhone. Well, see... when I do get back we will be very close to the Gadget Pastor Blog's first anniversary. I'm really excited about it and I think we will be having a contest for our readers. Be sure to check back!

Mac Download: Ez Money by Adoracom

I have been looking for a good financial program that can keep track of my checking and savings accounts. I've been using Splash Money from Splash Data, but they do not have a Mac version at this time. If they did, I would gladly use it!
So for the last few days, I've been looking for a good and hopefully free mac financial software. I found Ex Money 2.4.4 over at the Apple website. It looks to have all the features that I wanted and needed. My wife did not wanted to have something complicated or fully featured, but wanted something simple and easy to understand. Basically, no geeky programs! :( So here is the description of Ez Money for your reading pleasure and if you have a personal financial app that you use for your Mac, please do share it with us!

"About EZ Money
A simple and easy to use financial program. It helps simplify managing your money by allowing you to itemize and budget your spending. EZ Money is available for download free of charge.

- Checkbook style transactions
- Purchase itemization
- Spending management
- Monthly bills monitoring
- Reporting tools
- Support for importing & exporting data
- Privacy protection

What’s New in this Version
- You can create transaction reports
- Improved importing
- Bug fixes"

Enjoy your Independence Day!

Fireworks, Patriotism, parades, barbecue, and family can sum up your July 4th. Please keep in mind our soldiers abroad who are protecting our freedoms and giving us the chance to have those family dinners. Keep them in your prayers. Here is a good article for you to read as you go through your July 4th. It is entitled: Indivisible: No Celebration Of Liberty Can Ignore America’s Godly Heritage.

"Walter Kehowski feels a lot more like celebrating the Fourth of July, now that Thanksgiving is finally behind him.

As a math professor, Mr. Kehowski has a pretty keen instinct for things that don’t add up – including a tendency among many of his fellow citizens to divide their celebrations of freedom from any appreciation of the One Who gave us that freedom in the first place. His eye for irony has multiplied his enemies … and very nearly subtracted him from his job.

Kehowski teaches at a community college in Glendale, Arizona. Last fall, on the day before Thanksgiving, he decided, in the spirit of the holiday, to e-mail the other teachers in his district a copy of President George Washington’s brief “Thanksgiving Day Proclamation of 1789.”

Kehowski admits he used a district e-mail service designated for messages that “support education, research, scholarly communication, administration, and other (district) business.” He knew of orders not to use it for sending “unwanted solicitations or information.”

Continue Reading...

Our new printer comes today.

Last week, our toner went bad in our laser printer. I had bought a cheap toner and it only lasted half as long in our laser printer. On top of that, a new toner is roughly $70-80. On top of that, the paper tray is broken and it does always pull the paper correctly causing paper jams. On top of that, it was not compatible with our MacBook. It was time for a new printer.

I checked out several printers that would be compatible with our new MacBook and finally setted on the Brother HL-2070n laser printer. I had read several good reviews on the printer and it seemed many people were happy with it and reported that it works quite well. It also allows you to connect it to your home network and printer via WiFi which will be rather nice since we have a laptop now and not a desktop. I purchased it from Amazon for the price of $99 which included a $50 instant rebate. So $100 for a new laser printer that can print via a network, I thought was a good deal. I'm thankful that the Lord had it on sale when I needed it. So sometime today, UPS will be knocking on our door and I'll be setting up our new printer. I've got a ton of things I need to print so it will get a good test.

Regular posting starts today!

OK, so last Friday and Saturday, I didn't post and that is because I was out of town on Friday and then Saturday, my family had our first every garage sale. An exciting time to be sure! My boys chipped right in and helped with selling stuff and arranging it. We (really, I) had kept a bit too much of useless stuff, so I was determined to get rid of it. Overall it went well and my wife was quite happy to see the stuff go. So I'm back posting today and will be for this exciting next week in technology.

Enjoying my new Macbook

Well, it's a refurbished one- still I'm quite excited about it and have found it to be quite fun. I did get a DVD stuck in the drive somehow, but I was able to get it out with telephone support help from Apple. Today at school, several teaches and students spent sometime playing with Photo Booth and the many effects. They were laughing so hard at the "twisted" pictures they took. I've installed a few programs and they are iStumbler 2, NeoOffice, FireFox, and Handbrake. That's it for now, but thought I'd share my first experiences with you. Tomorrow, I'll post my opening the box pictures. Until then, I'm going to familiarize myself with my MacBook!!

Out of town for a few days.

I will be out of town for a few days and any posting will be limited. We are traveling to Indiana, PA to preach at a church. Please pray for us as we travel. I'm planning on being very limited in my internet so any email will be slow. Thanks again for supporting the Gadget Pastor blog and be sure to take the time to look over some of our previous posts.

My MacBook is coming!!!

Sometime next week my new black Macbook is coming. Well, it's not actually new, it's one of Apple's refurbished Macbooks, but it's new to me! I'm excited as I've been talking to my wife now for sometime about making the jump and she's excited as I'll stop talking about making the jump! So, I'm hoping to be using it soon and when I do, I'll let you know what I think about it and how my transition goes and if the Mac OS X can be more useful to a pastor then Windows. That should be interesting!

Internet out again!

OK, I'll admit that I was not a happy camper yesterday. Our internet was out once again as our broadband provider makes some changes with their service. This is the second time that we've experienced internet outage in a week. Our first time lasted two days, this last time only lasted one day. It was good for me to be away from the internet as I saw that I am quite hooked to it at times.

Wouldn't it be amazing if all believers were as passionate about God as they are about their internet, email, cellphone, TV, etc. What a difference that would make in our mission here on earth.

Back online today.

Well, I'm back online today. So I've got a few things to post for later and also some comments to respond to as well. I'm having little time to spend for posting as I'm in the process of candidating for my next place of service. I've been spending more time in prayer and thought as I talk to pastors, pulpit committees, etc. and see what God would have for me. This has proven to be a good challenge to my faith and trust in God. It's a test that I am struggling with. God has seemingly closed many doors for us, but we know that somehow He will provide us with just the right place of service.

What I cannot understand is God's timing. You'd think that when He lays something on your heart in a reasonable amount of time, you accomplish or fulfill that something, but instead, it takes some serious amount of time. During this time, it's a roller coaster ride. But this I know, that when I have found that place, I'll be able to look back and see the hand of God in my life and it is something that I long for. It's then I know that He had it planned all along and that He accomplished much in my life as I waited on Him.

If you are in that waiting time, hold fast to the faith and continue to trust God. His plan is in motion and it will be fulfilled in His time and keep in mind, it's all for our own benefit!

No internet = No posts

Yes, I'm without internet access at home and that is where I spend the majority of my time posting. For whatever reason, our broadband provider has outages throughout Western NY. I'm amazed at home much we depend on our internet service. We could not access pictures that were emailed to us by family. Our phone is also out since we use Sun Rocket, a VOIP service, for our home phone. All calls are now being forwarded to my cellphone for the time being. What fun! As soon as I'm able I will be back posting. Right now I'm using the school computer lab to post this and let you all know what's been going on over the weekend.

My trip last week.

Last week, as many of you know, I was away at a youth conference in Pontiac, Michigan. Our teenagers particiapted in several competitions including a Bible quiz over 1 John 1-4. Our Bible quiz team took first place! We placed well in other competitions such as basketball, volleyball, female solo, photography, and a few others. The preaching was amazing. A couple of the teenagers surrender to the Lord during the week and others made decisions as well. It was a very profitable time spiritually and competitively and we are truly grateful for what the Lord has done this past week.

Yard sales are coming!

I'm not one for a garage or a yard sale. First off, the name itself is misleading and I've never understood folks browsing someone else's junk and buying it. Still, my wife and I will be having one of those yard sales soon I am sure in the next month or two. We've set a few things aside for the event. I've even bookmarked a Lifehacker post with garage sale tips. So if you are looking at having one, be sure to check out that post and leave your tips for my wife and me.

Will be out of town Monday thru Friday

Next week, I will be traveling to Pontiac, MI for a youth conference. I will be posting sporadically while I am away. In other words, as I am able, I will post. In the meantime, if you all could remember to pray for our group as we travel and remember the teenagers especially as God can use these trips to do a marvelous work in their lives.

Contacting me.

This past weekend I posted an email address in which you can use to send me any correspondence. If you have any stories about using tech in your ministry that you would like to share or questions, we'll do our best to post them or answer them. I don't know everything about the tech world, but I do have Google as my friend. ;) So please feel free to drop me a line if you like.

Staying fit.

Since my ACL reconstruction surgery, I've added a few pounds. My normal exercising has been reduced to nothing and it's high time for me to get back in the groove. Over the last couple weeks, I've begun to start jogging again. It's been a bit painful, but with each run the pain seems to lessen.

While I jog, I will listen to a message, podcast, or music via my iPod nano. I've found this to be a very useful and fun gadget to have. Yesterday, I stopped by the Apple Store here in Buffalo and picked up the Nike+ sensor for the iPod nano. It helps a runner track their progress and see how well they are performing. I'm really excited about this gadget as I've needed something to help me track my running. This little device has worked quite well so far. I don't think I'll be posting any of my times and distances yet, as I'm well off my normal pace.

It does bring up an important point for those who work in ministry. It's somewhat of a pet peeve with me- lack of exercise. I really believe that each pastor, missionary, evangelist, etc. ought to have some form of daily exercise. Since our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we ought to take care of that temple. It helps us set forth a good example to those we minister to and it keeps us healthier for the ministry. It's not easy to start, but I think the end results will be worth it. Think about it...

Keeping it simple, while being a gadget lover.

We, gadget lovers, can find it difficult to take our gadgets with us. I've tried carrying them in a bag with their necessary accessories and even adding some in my pockets. Still it was a burden to carry them around. So what should a gadget pastor do?

1. Limit your essential must haves gadgets - I've limited my must have gadgets that would go with me to work and when I travel. This way I won't be weighed down and worried about leaving gadgets behind.

2. Learn the essential gadgets - My iPod and my cellphone can also handle my calendar appointments. I can sync my iPod with Outlook or even possibly sync my iPod with Google Calendar if I can get the software to work right. I can do this and not have to lug around my PDA, cellphone, and iPod. (I know some of you are thinking get a smartphone!) You would do well to learn to use all the features of your gadgets before buying a new gadget. You old one might do the job and help save you from a plethora of gadgets and an empty wallet.

3. Lighten the load of accessories - that's right I've begun to back off the amount of accessories in my pockets and my bag that I carry around. I've eliminated most of my extra cables and other little accessories that I seldom use. I've been surprised as I've found these extra things weren't really necessary to begin with.

4. Leave the gadget bug behind - Saying this on the Gadget Pastor blog may not make sense or be somewhat hypocritical, but keep in mind that our time in the Lord's work is precious and many times gone too fast. As pastors, missionaries, evangelists, etc. we cannot allow ourselves to be drowned in our gadgets. Learning this one or that one, finding accessories for this one or that one, figuring out why this one is acting up, etc. it turns out to be a never ending ordeal which consumes much of our time. Make some time for you gadgets, but don't let them overtake that time you've set for them. Keep it simple with your gadgets and if it works don't buy another gadget. Keep the one you've got that you already know until it breaks!

More tech, no tech...

While I'm seeing where God would have me to serve next, I've had to consider a few pros and cons to a future move. Understand I do not base where I will serve next or move on any of these things. I'm just thinking aloud on TGP.

1. Cell phone reception - Some places I have looked at have little or no cell service. While I think I could easily get by with out a cellphone, it does mean that I would most likely have to use a PDA still. Lately, I've been considering an Apple iPhone as a replacement to my current cellphone. However, if I live in an area with poor or no cell service, this would not be practical.

2. I'm also considering purchasing a laptop down the road as I'm thinking it would be much easier to have all my documents and current messages with me rather then at home. That will mean though carrying around a laptop along with any other items I might need. (Bible, books, etc.)

3. Internet service will definitely be an issue for me. I've grown to enjoy broadbad internet service and I cannot imagine going back to dail-up, but it could be a possibility. One option that I could have is internet service thru a satellite dish. However, I've never personally experienced this kind of service and so I'm not sure how well it would work in comparison to what I have now.

These are just a few things I've thought about and I'm wondering if anybody else has thoughts on these thoughts? Technology can be very useful and helpful, but some places don't need all the tech and get by without. How about you? Is technology a necessary tool in your ministry or is it a tool that sees little use? Please share your comments below.