Echo Prayer - Help you remember your prayer lists

Has someone every come up to you and ask you to pray for them at a specific time on a specific date? Maybe they were taking a test at school or an important meeting at work or some other request that was a time specific request. Now, I've told people that I would do that and I'll tell you what, I'm so afraid that I will miss praying for them at that time. Now I know you can pray for them that morning, but I think it means something to the person asking that you tell them you will pray for them at that time. So how can you do that and not be afraid you might forget it?
Enter Echo Prayer, an online prayer list website, that allows you to create a prayer list and add specific prayer requests with notes. Once you have done so, you can then have Echo Prayer email you or text message a reminder at whatever time, on whatever day. This service which is free can help you not forgot to pray for that person. Since most pastors carry cellphones have a text message come to you could be an excellent way to remember to pray for them. Check out Echo Prayer's demo as it walks you thru their service. Being that it's free and they don't spam you, this is one of those services that's worth signing up for!

Need help waking up early? Try this tips...

Here is a great article from Life Remix about how you can work at waking up early. Let's face it, many of us would rather sleep in given the chance, but being up early makes us more productive. So here are 24 tips that can help you wake up early.


"Since I've become a full-time freelancer, I've found one of the hardest things to do is to get up early. Without the threat of being fired, there just hasn't been a whole lot of motivation to get out of bed in a timely fashion.

I've quickly learned that getting up is crucial to success as an entrepreneur. And better yet: waking up early is really just a habit. You don't need any skill to do it. You just need to wake up consistently to condition your body to the routine. Here are some tips I've picked up along the way to ease the process of developing the habit of getting up early.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that you have to be motivated to get out of bed. Motivation is the only thing keeping us homo sapiens from lying in bed all day eating twinkies.

1. Create a conducive environment to wake up to. It may sound strange, but how messy my room is greatly affects how easy it is to wake up in the morning. I've found that if I have an orderly room to wake up in, I'm more inclined to bypass the snooze and start my day..."

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Landlines a thing of the past?

Most churches have their own landline, but the folks in the church have rid themselves of the landline phone for cell phones. Many of our church members have opted to do just that. My wife and I have chosen not to have a landline and solely rely on our cellphones. If we have a babysitter, we leave them my wife's phone in case of emergency, but some of the sitters say don't bother they already have their own cellphone with them. Again we are living in the age of the mobile phone. It has been a huge success and you would be hard press to find a store, mall, restaurant that doesn't have someone talking on their mobile phone. So is the landline a thing of the past? Foxnews surveyed some homes to answer that question. Here is the article about it:


"It's official: There are more homes in the U.S. with cell phones and no land lines than with land lines and no cell phones.

In a survey of 13,000 homes, Mediamark Research, a firm that has been tracking such data since the mid 1980s, found for the first time that cell-only households outnumber land line-only homes, boasting 14 percent of homes to land line-only's 12.3 percent.

The shift, study authors say, is the synthesis of two trends: the slow decline of household land line phones since 2000, and the meteoric rise of the number of households with (one or more) cell phones in that time. Of the surveyed households, 86.2 percent have at least one cell phone, compared to 84.5 percent that still have at least one land line phone.

The separation of the two groups is likely to continue and further widen as more and more households lose land lines and gain additional mobile phones. Study author Andy Arthur did point out to the New York Times though, that there is an older group, who will never give up their land lines in favor of newer technology."

Does the Internet Really Increase your Productivity?

I know we would like to think that the Internet is a productivity tool, but many times it is exactly the opposite. Lifehack.org asks that question and gives some tips are making the internet productive for you. As pastors, missionaries, evangelists, youth pastors, whatever your ministry vocation, our time is precious and flies away all too quickly. We cannot let ourselves become attached to the internet so we neglect other tasks. For instance, email how many times a day do you check email? My iPhone checks for email every 30 minutes. Do I really need to now that Tigerdirect is having another sale or that Restaurant.com is having yet another gift certificate discount? Do you really need to check your email 5-10 times a day? That is the whole point of the article and I think it could be a help to managing tech in your ministry and personal life.

"Because of the power of the web, we assume the internet must be saving us time and money. It is true that if used carefully the internet can increase our productivity. However, at the same time it can create additional burdens on our time, negating any benefits we may have got. Using the internet for an hour a day, can save us considerable time in shopping, business, and social activity. However, that doesn’t mean spending 7 hours a day, is going..."

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Use Google Calendar on your church's website

Here is a really good tip that will help you effective communicate with your church congregation about upcoming events. If you already have a church website, you can easily add a Google Calendar to your church's website with some simple html code. Here are the steps:

1. Setup your Google Calendar if you do not have one. If already ha

ve a Google Calendar, add another calendar and call it Church Events making this a public calendar. Go ahead and add some events like Sunday services, midweek service, prayer breakfasts, home Bible studies, etc. Make sure these events are label with Church Events.

2. Once you have added some events to your Church Events calendar, go ahead and click on "Manage Calendars".

3. Click on your Church Events calendar or in my case, Somewhere Baptist Church. 

4.  Towards the bottom of your Church Events details page, you will see a Calendar Address section. In this section you will see a HTML button. Click on this button. 

5.  Now once you have clicked on the HTML button, another window pops up and from here you want to choose the HTML configuration tool. From there you can customize the look of your calendar to fit your website. Take a look at this church's Google Calendar implementation. 

Conclusion:

Now you can add other events as they are scheduled and your church can quickly see what is coming down the road. All this is done free with Google Calendar. 

GooSync adds another great feature!

One of my favorite programs for my late Lifedrive was GooSync. It would allow me to sync my Google Calendar with my Lifedrive. Worked quite well and I truly love this service (especially since it is free!). If you are a Google Calendar pastor, you really ought to check out GooSync as it is a great way to use your cellphone as your calendar.

"There have been some exciting developments here at the GooSync offices, please see the following for details:

**********************************************
Contact Support On The Way: Beta Testers Required
**********************************************
The most requested feature is now well and truly on its way! GooSync contact support has been in development for some time, we are now looking for volunteers to test our beta release due later this month. Anyone interested please e-mail beta@goosync.com with your details. Only 100 testers will then be randomly selected from all those who apply.

GooSync Contacts will be fully released sometime during September and will only be available in the advanced GooSync account.

To view details of the current status of contacts support please visit http://www.goosync-forum.com/showthread.php?t=45

Full feature support and release date will be available soon.

*****************************************
NEW GooSync Forum Available NOW!
*****************************************
Many of you have been taking advantage of the GooSync Google Group for latest news, updates and support. We are pleased to announce that you can now get all this and more from our new dedicated forum. So to keep up to date with all the latest GooSync gossip and to receive any help or answers to your questions please visit www.goosync-forum.com

Do not hesitate to contact us if you require any further information or assistance.

Thank you,

Kindest Regards,

The GooSync Team."

How one pastor uses his Palm PDA.

I read this article over at Palm Addicts and this pastor shares his uses of his Palm TX. Technology can really be helpful in the ministry and this pastor has implemented it quite well.

"I've been a Palm Pastor since 1997 when I purchased a Palm Personal off the discount table at my local office supply store. Probably the best $99 I ever spent. Since then I have owned the IIIx, IIIc, Tungsten, T3, Lifedrive and now my TX. I still own all the palms. How could I possibly let them go? All still function, though the Personal had a mishap with a concrete gym floor and now sports a cracked screen, but in spite of a severe handicap the little fighter still turns on and begs to be used.
From the beginning I've used my Palm for everything. Early on I had no money for a laptop and then once I began discovering the "Power of Palm" I never saw the need of one. Everything I've ever needed to do on the road I've done with the Palm in my pocket rather than than the computer on my lap. I remember feeling so superior to those poor "lappies" struggling to take notes on a huge laptop during a seminar while I deftly lifted in my pocket (moving slowly and deliberately so that others less technologically advanced would be sure to see) and pulled out my Palm, slid the stencil out of the silo and began to take notes. The snugness of the Palm definitely led to the smugness of my attitude..."

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iGoogle Gadget: Verse-a-week Memorization

I'm a big fan of iGoogle. I've tried Google Reader, but I seem to always come back to iGoogle. One Google gadget that I have added recently is called Verse-a-week Memorization. It helps you memorize one verse for the entire week by covering up some of the words each day. The goal is by the end of the week you will know the verse by memory. For those of you who rely on iGoogle this could be a huge help for you to be more productive in memorizing Scripture

"Learn a new verse every week, words are hidden on a scheduled time so that by the end of the week, the entire verse is hidden. Verses rotate every week or you can pick your own verse."

Reading the Bible on your iPhone

One of the drawbacks to no installable iPhone programs is you have to find what you want on the web. Now, thankfully, you can find a lot of useful sites on the web. Finding a website that you can read the Bible on your iPhone is not easy. I have already emailed eBible requesting that they add a way for iPhone users to read the Bible online. Unfortunately, they have not seen many iPhone users surfing their site, so it doesn't make a good investment for them. Antoine over at Mobile Ministry Magazine has suggested this site. However, I prefer to use the King James version for reading my Bible. So I'll share with you what I have done to enable me to read the Scriptures on my iPhone.

Step 1 - From your Mac or PC computer, go to http://bibleresources.bible.com/

Step 2 - In the middle of the webpage you will see "Access Bible" and underneath that you will see "Read the Bible." Click on "Read the Bible."

Step 3 - On the next window, select your preferred version of the Bible or your country's language. I choose the King James version, but they also have Amplified Bible, Bible in Basic English, New International Version, New King James Version, New Living Translation, and Young's Literal Translation just to name a few.

Step 4 - Once you have chosen your version of the Bible and/or language, bookmark the page in Safari or Internet Explorer. I named my bookmark "Online Bible KJV".

Step 5 - Sync your iPhone to your computer. Make sure you have chosen to sync bookmarks with Safari or Internet Explorer. To enable syncing of bookmarks, make sure your iPhone is connected. If iTunes is not open, open iTunes. In the left column, click on your iPhone. In the middle of iTunes and underneath the Apple logo is the tab, "Info". Click on info and scroll down a bit. Make sure the box is checked next to "Sync my bookmarks with..."

Step 6 - On your iPhone, tap on Safari and then tap on the bookmark icon. Find your bookmark and tap on it. Your Online Bible will show up and you can double tap to zoom in on the Books along with their chapters. Once you have chosen your book and chapter, you can double tap on the text and it will fit really nice onto your iPhone's screen.

Conclusion:

It's not a perfect setup. You cannot choose a chapter and verse. So if you load Psalm 119 and you want verse 121, you will have a lot of flicking to do. Also there are some ads and what not around the books of the Bible and the chapters, however they are minimal and do not seem to affect the load times too much. It has been the best way I have found to read the version of the Bible that I want. If you have a better way, please share it below. If you have an iPhone go and visit, eBible and others such sites to help encourage them to develop a page specifically design for the iPhone. You might also want to send them an email as well.

Keep track of your goals, projects, etc. on your PDA with Traxitall

Traxitall has now become an even better goal and performance tracking program for your PDA. You can now print off your reports via your desktop computer with the Traxitall Desktop module. This program has been quite useful for me. You can easily set your goals and see how successful you've been with a progress report. You can check out my review of the software here. With a desktop module this program will be even more useful for you in managing and keeping track of your goals.
As pastors, missionaries, deacons, teachers, etc. I believe it is important to have goals and work towards them. This helps us improve ourselves and our ministries. Traxitall could easily be a help in during just that. Here are just a few features of the software:

" TraxItAll now comes in two parts: the Palm OS program and the desktop module for Windows computers (XP and 2000).

In essence, TraxItAll is a daily, electronic log sheet. It gives your Palm OS device the ability to track any statistic that you could track using a paper log sheet.

You can set goals, enter your data, and then quickly and easily create reports for any time period you desire. The reports not only give totals, but show you how you performed in relation to your goals. This makes it a great goal-setting tool.

And now, using our new desktop module for Windows, users can print out their reports! When using 3rd-party software for creating PDF files (such as the free CutePDF program), you can even email these reports to doctors, caregivers, coaches, employers, colleagues, support groups, and others."

Sunbird: Calendar Application for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X

Most people are aware of Mozilla's FireFox web browser and Thunderbird email application. Mozilla does have some other offerings and one of those I wanted to mention is Sunbird. Sunbird is a standalone desktop client somewhat similar to Microsoft Outlook. Sunbird does have some limitations as it has yet to see a 1.0 release, but if you are looking for an application that can keep your data on your PC or laptop and you need it for free, Sunbird could be the way for you to go.

I was able to sync my Google calendar by adding the ical address to Sunbird and using Sunbird's remote calendar function. I think I would have to manually reload the calendar if I want to update Sunbird. It doesn't look like there would be a auto feature for this. You can also have multiple calendars which would be a great way to keep your family events and church events separated.

You might be wondering why use Sunbird? I think it would be quite useful if you did not have a constant internet access on a computer. Maybe you use dailup at home or work or at your church. You would be able to backup your calendar information to Sunbird incase you cannot access Gcal or you lose data in Gcal. Overall, it's a nice app and I'm sure it could prove to be quite useful once it reaches version 1.0.

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.

Google offers free directory assistance

Lifehacker reports that Google is offering a toll free directory service. You just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 and you can save yourself some 411 fees on your next phone bill and even your cell phone bill perhaps. I think any church should consider using such a service as I am sure those kind of calls do add up during a month's time. They also mention another service which is 1-800-FREE-411. I was not aware of either service, but I will be making the folks at church aware of this very useful tip.

" Goolge Labs just rolled out a Google Voice Local Search, which is basically a free 411 search along the lines of previously mentioned

1-800-FREE-411.

To use the local business search tool, pick up your phone and dial 1-800-GOOG-411. Like you'd expect, an automated operator starts asking you questions and you narrow in on what you're looking for. Once you get your results, Google can connect you to the business for free or say, "text message", and it'll send you details by SMS to your phone. And since you're sure to want to know all of the advanced shortcuts, be sure to check out the GOOG-411 cheatsheet."

Tweak and Speed up your PC.

Looks like today is a day of PC maintenance posts. Foxnews has an excellent and useful article called "How to Maximize your Performance in Windows Vista." (I'm still upset that my Windows Vista experience has been sour- still waiting on drivers for my video card). The article is written by Joel Durham, Jr. from Extreme Tech, a computer builder's site.

It offers some useful tips to help you tweak and keep Vista running smooth and fast. I'll definitely check back with this article if I ever get Vista running right.

" Performance is probably the most coveted intangible when it comes to PCs, and tweaking, to the performance hungry, is considered more of a necessity than an option.

Gearheads go to great lengths to get quicker system response times, faster-running games and shorter PC boot-up and shutdown times.

One way is to overclock the heck out of the poor components (and then, for bragging rights, to log on to a message board and claim a stable CPU frequency of about 300MHz faster than what's actually possible). Another way is to tweak out the operating system itself."

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Tips for Google Calendar users.

I love Google calendar. So much so, that it has almost replaced my PDA's calendar. The reason for this is I can sync Google Calendar to my phone with goosync and even send appointments from my phone to gCal. Last week, Lifehacker posted some tips for Google Calendar users. I forgot to post about the post, so today I'll post about that post!

"The Web Worker Daily weblog has a great post diving into the finer points of making Google Calendar a more productive calendar tool.For example, the post points out this handy little Greasemonkey script that adds a small red line to your calendar displaying the current time (pictured above) so you have a frame of reference for how close an upcoming appointment is."

Source: Lifehacker

Google adds more software to their Google Pack.

I just mentioned spyware removal tools below and then I read about Google adding some spyware removal tools in their Google Pack. According to the Google Blog, the Google Pack will now included "Symantec's Norton Security Scan, which detects and removes viruses, and PC Tools' Spyware Doctor Starter Edition, a top-rated anti-spyware utility."
I checked on the Google Pack page, but didn't see these apps listed on the page. I didn't take the time to try and download the Google Pack, so maybe that are included, but not listed yet. Still, it's good to see companies like Google helping out PC users.

Tackling spyware.

Spyware can really cause your internet experience to stink, slow down, and compromise your computer. Today, I spent some time working on a church member's computer that had acquired some nasty spyware. It took a couple hours for me to final rid the plagued PC from the spyware. I thought I'd share some of the tools that I used today and others I've used to eliminate spyware on my PC and others. Keep in mind one spyware tool usually doesn't get all the spyware on your PC. It's quite helpful to have two or three programs that you run to eliminate spyware.

Spyware Blaster - A program that doesn't scan for spyware but rather it helps prevent spyware from being installed in the first place.

Spybot Search and Destroy - This one does remove spyware and also can begin a scan before Windows is fully loading helping you to eliminate some of the tougher spyware out there.

AVG Anti-Spyware - From the makers of AVG Anti-Virus Free edition, comes this excellent freebie that eliminates spyware and works just as well as their virus protection software.

PC Tools AntiVirus Free Edition 3.1 - CNET gives this spyware removal tool 4/5 stars.

Windows Defender - This is a Microsoft program, but I'm sure some folks may prefer to use a "name brand" application. If that's you, try this one.

All the applications I mentioned above are freeware. Some maybe a lite version of a paid program, but they can and will effectively remove spyware from your PC. So if you are having some issues with your PC and you think it might be spyware, try this apps out and you'll soon be back to safe happy surfing.

A portable PC on a flash drive, iPod, or harddrive with Mojopac

Today, I was searching for a way to install an operating system on my USB flash drive. I figured that it would be fun to try something like this. A while back on Lifehacker, they mention a software application called MojoPac that will allow you to use an iPod, USB 2.0 flash drive or harddrive, even a cellphone as a portable PC. You can even play games from your portable device and even use specific software like MS Office, Photoshop, etc. It appears to be a rather straight forward device and this would be a convenient piece of software to have on an iPod I would think. Not sure how much space this would take on an iPod, but it would be nice to have all my stuff available to me that I have on my home PC. Here are some more features of this product.

pick ANY Device
MojoPac can turn any USB 2.0 compliant portable storage device, including your iPod, or your USB flash or hard drives, into your Personal Computer - your MojoPac PC.

run ANY Application
You can install any of the most popular Windows applications on your MojoPac PC. You can use the same version of the applications you use daily at work (such as Microsoft Office) or at home (such as Photoshop, iTunes, IM and Games).

use ANY PC
With MojoPac, you can go to any Windows XP computer, plug in your MojoPac device, and bring up your MojoPac PC. The experience is exactly as if you are logging into your Personal Computer, complete with your desktop, shortcuts, applications and preferences.
*** Free Microsoft Vista support coming Q2 2007 for all current customers.

Privately and Securely
Your applications, browser history, and activities leave no trace on the computer you are connected to. What happens on MojoPac, stays on MojoPac.

Source: Lifehacker

Our Daily Bread on your PDA

I think finding something that is suitable and enjoyable for your own personal devotions can be difficult. From time to time I change my devotions from reading a chapter of Proverbs to reading a particular book thru to reading My Utmost for His Highest to another devotional guide.

One devotional guide I have used is Our Daily Bread from RBC Ministries. It's a short thought that will challenge you for the day and suggests some Scripture reading along side it. I've found them to be refreshing and helpful in my spiritual life. You can also have them downloaded to your PDA as well, which makes them very accessible for the pastor on the go.

By the way, today's devotion is about a favorite place of mine- Mt. Shasta, CA. I spent much of my teenager years under Mt. Shasta. I loved that area as the beauty of it I've never seen anywhere else. Definitely, visit the site and take a look at Our Daily Bread, it could help bring a change in your devotions.

From Lifehacker: Use Gmail to push e-mail to your cell phone

If you are every on the go or traveling out of town and you don't have a laptop or a smartphone, you could use your cellphone to access your email. Lifehacker posts about using your Gmail account to create a filter that will forward your emails to your cellphone. This could be the perfect help especially if you are a heavy email user. The messages arrive to your cellphone via SMS so you're kinda limited, but SMS is usually cheaper then a data service. Follow the link below to learn how you can make Gmail work for you!

Source: Lifehacker