Kansas Republican caucus

This morning I participated in the Kansas Republican presidential caucus.  This is the first time in my 22 years of living here that Kansas has had a presidential primary or caucus.  Even though John McCain already has an insurmountable lead in delegates, my fellow Republicans turned out in large numbers to vote for their preferred nominee.  My caucus site was prepared for 250 people.  It appeared to me that more than 1,000 came out. 

People began lining up outside the community center on this chilly morning more than an hour before the caucus started.

The cool thing about a caucus is that "electioneering" (openly displaying support for a candidate near or within the polling place) is not only permitted, it is actually encouraged.  In line I saw a young Huckabee supporter with a hand-made sign.

She was still holding up her sign when we got into the meeting room.

Ron Paul supporters also made themselves known.

Because the room would hold only 250, the caucus chairperson decided to allow people to cast their ballots and not stay for the meeting.  That was the right decision.  As you might imagine, there was a lot of talk about making sure the Kansas legislature approves a primary in 2012.  I'm pretty sure Republicans and Democrats will agree on that next time!

If you're curious, I voted for Huckabee although I harbor no illusions that he will be the nominee or that he would be electable this cycle if he did win the nomination.

I Like Mike

Here are some Pictures Andrew Connard took at a local Mick Huckabee Ralley. I really Like Mike, he is probably the most personable of all the candidates. The first one is in front of Huck's motorcade.

Jon has already helped

We're now in the middle of our Arena implementation.  A couple of days ago we became concerned about certain aspects of our Arena performance.  The thought occurred to me to contact Jon Edmiston to ask about his experience of Arena performance since he has a very large Arena installation.  We found the main number for CCV, called, and asked for Jon.  In a few moments his friendly voice answered - no appointment, no warning.  In fact, Jon and I have never met except through reading blogs.  And yet there he was on the phone. 

In 15 minutes he answered our concerns.  Turns out if you have a large number of tags (we do) certain infrequently accessed pages can take a long time to display.  We need to take care to prevent unnecessary tags from proliferating.

As we hung up he offered to help any time.  Thanks, Jon for being so accessible to us.  I hope we can return the favor sometime.

Seems inevitable that Asterisk is in our future

It started with success stories from Andrew Mitry and Justin Moore.  Now comes the announcement from Jon Edmiston that CCV has cut over to Asterisk.  This morning I read an article in Network World about Asterisk.  You know when Network World starts talking about it that it has emerged into the mainstream.  So now I must concede that Asterisk will be in our future.  Most likely the first opportunity to deploy it will be in our new downtown campus now in the planning stages.  Asterisk has simply become too cool to ignore.  Thanks Andrew, Justin, and Jon for paving the way.  We'll be calling on you for advice when the time comes.

Off-site meeting 2008

Yesterday was our IT Department 2nd annual off-site meeting. I decided not to call it a "retreat" because that term implies down time for spiritual nourishment. I do hope this meeting is spiritually nourishing, but that isn't its primary purpose. We leave one help desk person behind to man the fort. The rest of us go away to spend a day together reflecting on the prior year and looking forward to the coming year.

I invite each person to bring something to share. It could be anything from a strategic technology to a prayer list, from a scripture to a cool web site. Bringing something is purely optional.

I go into the day with some ideas of things I would like to discuss, but I very intentionally do not have an agenda. In that sense it's more like a roundtable than a structured business meeting.

Yesterday we began with a discussion of our vision for serving users, following the words and example of Jesus. It was an early alpha release of my talk coming up at MinistryTECH. I asked everyone in the team to share "if I were in charge for a day, I would ..." We then had a time of individual prayer to reflect on the discussion and listen for a word from God. After a break we had a chance to share what we prayed about and what we heard. I then responded to the ideas offered.

Next we did a very informal survey to evaluate ourselves and our department. Each of us rated from 1-10 how we think we are doing in the areas of efficiency, work quality, reputation, infrastructure availability, servanthood, internal teamwork, external teamwork, annual goal achievement, and leadership. This was a nice exercise. It wasn't anonymous. We openly discussed the ratings we each gave and why. This turned out to be really cool so I plan to repeat the same self evaluation at next year's meeting and compare it to this year.

We finished by having technical discussions about three important projects for 2008: Sharepoint implementation, Arena implementation, and Internet Campus.

I highly recommend all church IT teams of more than a couple of people to do this at least annually. Good stuff.

Spring RoundTable registration is open

JP has the deets.  I hope to see you in Oklahoma City on Saturday, April 5!  Come early and check out Terrell Sanders' MinistryTECH.

Church IT in Davos

Did you see the interview of Rick Warren by Robert Scoble at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland?  Now that's some church IT! 

I am a huge Rick Warren fan.  This video shows how amazingly tech-savvy he is.  Definitely worth 9 minutes to watch it.

Tim Berners-Lee and the "Giant Global Graph"

Tim Berners-Lee (the REAL inventor of the Web) recently posted on his blog about the idea of a "Giant Global Graph" - a name intentionally chosen to suggest parallels with the "World Wide Web." 

People have recently begun using the term "social graph" in reference to one's network of family, friends, and acquaintances along with the data about those individuals and relationships.  The word "graph" here is used in the mathematical sense of a set of points together with lines representing relationships among the points.  For this purpose "graph" and "network" are essentially equivalent terms.  The Internet is a graph (a set of computers and the communications circuits that interconnect them).  So is the Web (a set of documents and the links that interconnect them).

Tim points out that the Internet is an abstraction that hides all of the complexity of the physical communications links.  It's computer-centric in that any computer can talk to any other computer on the Internet without having to know the details of the communications links connecting them.

Similarly, the Web is an abstraction that hides all of the complexity of computers, folders (directories), and the documents in those folders.  It's document-centric in the sense that any document can link to any other document and users can navigate from document to document without having to know the details of the computers and folder structures that hold them.  The Web sits on top of the Internet and simplifies the process of accessing information in documents.  While the Internet links computers, the Web links documents.

Now, Tim says, along comes another layer in the abstraction hierarchy.  The Semantic Web asserts that it isn't necessarily the documents that are important but the subject matter they cover, the information they convey.  The Semantic Web is object-orientation for the WWW.  It presents information in such a way that software can reuse it, combine it, and mash it up in ways perhaps never envisioned by the original publisher of the information.  It's a programmable web that hides the complexity of which information is in which document.  It's information-centric in that users can navigate related information without concern for which document holds it.

Tim suggests that when it comes to one's social graph, what we really need is a way to create, store, publish, and reuse information about ourselves and our social network such that it no longer matters which document (or service or platform) holds which information.  Such a structure would constitute a Giant Global Graph - an abstraction that sits on top of the WWW and aggregates all of the interesting data about ourselves and our relationships into a database usable by computers.

This powerful idea shows the flaw in Chuck Russell's (my fellow Appian Way blogger) analysis of Facebook.  (Yes, we're having the argument here in the blogosphere for everyone to read!  As a political science graduate, Chuck LOVES to argue in public.  Who am I to deprive him of such joy?) The walled garden may persist for a time, but eventually it gets replaced by a system with radical interoperability.  "Small pieces, loosely joined" (as Dave Winer would say) results in a richly diverse ecosystem that over time benefits everyone involved. 

For example, AOL used to be an online service - a 1980s era computer bulletin board updated with a graphical interface.  Once the Internet and Web became popular, AOL connected to them under the hood but still presented users with a proprietary user interface and search system (remember AOL keywords?).  So the question for Chuck is, do you want to bet on Facebook (a walled garden like the AOL of old) or the entire rest of the Internet?  Short term, no question Facebook is popular as was AOL in its day.  Long term, I'm betting on the Giant Global Graph. 

None of this is to say that we shouldn't work with Facebook for right now since it's popular.  Nor am I saying that Facebook won't eventually open up and become part of a highly interoperable GGG.  I'm just saying that their current model is flawed and our investment in Facebook-specific strategies should be modulated accordingly.

By the way, Tim Bray agrees with me.

MinistryTECH and Spring CITRT

 

This year Terrell Sanders of MinistryCOM fame is starting a new conference for ministry A/V and IT called MinistryTECH.  The inaugural event will be in Oklahoma City, April 3-4.  The next day, April 5, we will have the Spring Church IT RoundTable (CITRT) at Crossings Community Church, also in Oklahoma City.  See details on Tony's blog.

I am planning to take a couple of people from my team to MinistryTECH and the RoundTable.  I will be presenting a breakout session at MinistryTECH about how church IT teams can provide excellent customer service.  Here's my breakout description:

Users or Customers?

Do you struggle with getting users to follow your policies and procedures?  Do your users make unreasonable demands?  Do you find it difficult to know how and when to say “no?”  Frustrations with the users we serve are nearly universal across church IT teams of every size and situation.  Learn how you can think of users as customers, earn high marks from your customers, and reduce tensions between IT and customers through a default answer of “yes.”  Hear how Church of the Resurrection has built a customer-focused IT organization without creating a monster of unmanageable expectations.  This session will challenge some of your most basic assumptions about how you manage your IT infrastructure and serve your customers.

I hope to see you there!

How far to Antarctica?

Tony posted a comment, asking how far south I was at Cape Point. He question was prompted by my wise crack that there was "nothing to spoil the view but Antarctica."

My head getting sunburned at Cape Point

The southernmost tip of the Cape of Good Hope is called Cape Point, which is the southwestern corner of the continent of Africa. (The southernmost point in Africa is actually Cape Agulhas, 90 miles SE of Cape Point.). As you can see, the sign says it's at 34° 21' 24" South latitude. Amazingly, that's only a little further south of the equator than Atlanta is north of the equator. (Atlanta is at 33° 46' North latitude.) It's mind boggling to imagine Atlanta as the northernmost point of North America.

According to the sign at the Cape Point lighthouse, it is 6248 km (approx. 3900 miles) to the South Pole. A bit of web research tells me it's approx. 2600 miles from Cape Point to the nearest coast of Antarctica. So no, you can't really see it from there. It's just cool when you're standing there looking south and realizing the only land mass in that direction is Antarctica. Glad to clear that up. ;-)

The beauty of Cape Town

Belatedly, but as promised, here are some pictures showing the beauty of the Cape Town landscape.

Above the University of Cape Town, looking NE

Cape Town waterfront

High School in District 6 with cloud-covered Table Mountain in background

Hout Bay, looking W - the most beautiful ocean drive I've ever seen

Cape Point, looking N into False Bay

Cape Point, looking S (nothing to spoil the view but Antarctica)

Cape Town Wrap-up

What lingers the most with me is the contrasts, perhaps even contradictions of Cape Town.  The city is beautiful with mountains and ocean views in every direction.  The weather was perfect (except for the wind).  The people were hopeful about their young democracy (less than 14 years old).  The economy seems dynamic and entrepreneurial.  Yet, unemployment is very high - we were told as high as 40% in some areas.  HIV infection rates are in the 30% range.  People are living in near 3rd-world conditions just blocks away from areas you could easily mistake for a beautiful ocean-side city in the US such as San Diego.  It's a complex story, difficult to articulate or put into easily-digestible sound bites.  Maybe I'll have more to say later upon further reflection.

I will also remember the people, particularly:

• Peter, the retired New Testament scholar from Minnesota who owns the B&B.  His eyes sparkle as he talks about South Africa, his adopted home.
• Raymond, the native Capetonian who taught us about Cape Town and South Africa with grace, charm, humility, and humor as he took us where we needed to go.
• Dan, the elderly black man who was forcibly removed from his home in District 6 during apartheid and then was among the first to return there years later.  He has a picture in his living room of Nelson Mandela handing him the keys to the new place.  Today he glows when he talks about his life.
• Charlotte, the vibrant resident of Masiphumelele who was our tour guide there.  She arranged for the marimba band that entertained us royally followed by afternoon tea at Zukie's bed and breakfast.  It was among the most memorable experiences of the trip, yet very difficult to describe in words.
• Tembo, the founder of SHADE who speaks with such passion about her life and work that you leave inspired to come along side and do anything it takes to help SHADE's vision become reality.  She is a powerful woman.  Look out world.
• Otto, the Lutheran pastor from Germany who serves the people of Philippi with grace, love, an entrepreneurial spirit, and impressive attention to detail.

Notes:

1. Consequences of load shedding as reported in an e-mail yesterday morning from our B&B host, Peter Kjeseth:

Today, the day after your departure the headline story in the Cape Times:  BLACKOUT STRANDS CABEL CAR.  Load shedding hit while the Table Mountain cable car was half way up leaving 37 people dangling in the car in a heavy wind.  When the electricity went back on, the cable car malfunctioned so it could not land properly.  Rescue teams got the 37 off to safety.  The 500, yes 500, stranded on top of Table Mountain were not so lucky.  They spent a chilly night up there.  Their rescue began only in the early morning hours. 

Several people from our group took that cable car up to the top of Table Mountain on Saturday, our free day.

2. Diarrhea isn't fun, especially on a day when you're on four flight segments over a 33 hour period.  Imodium helped, but didn't fix it.  We were assured that it's safe for Americans to drink the tap water in Cape Town.  I'm not saying I have any evidence tap water was the cause of my distress, but ...  (Was that too much information?)

3. You can't bring biltong into the US, even if it is sealed in the original package.  See US Customs FAQ here.  That's 30 rand we'll never get back.

4. I'm still picking grains of sand out of my hair, blown there by the constant wind.

4. Did anything happen here in the US while we were away?

Cape Town Day 6

This is my first chance to report on our last day in Cape Town, having been in transit for the last 33 hours.

Day 6 for us was Sunday, now a continent away.  We went to worship at JL Zwane church in Guguletu township.  Guguletu is also in Cape Flats, right next to Philippi where iThemba Labantu is located.  (Guguletu and Philippi are essentially adjacent suburbs, if it's proper to call them that). 

The entire service except for a couple of songs was in Xhosa, a cool African language that uses click consonants.  The music was all a cappella with a little bit of hand percussion.  It was classic African style: simple, repetitive chord structures with luscious but straightforward melodies and harmonies.  I'll post a bit of recorded audio when I have the opportunity. Occasionally an English word would pop out such as a number or Bible book.  Otherwise, we have no idea what the sermon was about or any of the song lyrics.

JL Zwane is a thriving place where worshippers come in their finest clothing each Sunday and enjoy passionate preaching, singable and danceable music, and rich community life.  It is an open and accepting community that deals head-on with AIDS, unlike many African churches where the subject is taboo. 

South Africa is so westernized that it's almost possible to forget you're in Africa until you worship at JL Zwane.  Cool stuff.

Notes:

1. We finally saw and photographed the penguins at Boulder's Beach.  Penguins are quirky and compelling creatures.  It was a special opportunity to see them outside captivity.  The wind was blowing so hard when we were there, it almost knocked us down.

2. We went to Cape Point (the extreme southern tip of the Cape of Good Hope which forms the western side of False Bay).  There is an argument over whether Cape Point is properly designated as the place where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean.  While there, we ate at the Two Oceans Restaurant, so at the very least it's clear where the restaurant management comes down on that question.  ;-)

3. We saw a number of baboons in the wild at Cape Point and along the road leading to it.  Through a bit of cunning and aggression, one of them was able to abscond with an ice cream cone that the human who purchased it did not wish to surrender.  Very impressive.

4. Did I mention that the almost 19-hour plane ride from Joburg to DC is a butt buster?  We left Joburg at 6:15 pm local time.  This gave us late evening sun and twilight for the first 90 minutes, or so.  After that, since we were going west, we stayed in darkness for the entire remainder of the flight, arriving in DC before sunrise.  Our night lasted 17+ hours.  Very disorienting.

5. As the official trip photographer, I took more than 1,100 still pictures.  Laura took another 150 or so.  On the butt buster flight we reviewed all the pictures and deleted those with technical problems - motion blur, subject out of focus, bad exposure, etc.  We also picked the best shot where there was redundancy.  That left 800ish usable images.  After that, I went back through and picked 131 favorites that tell the story.  Completing the multimedia projects about the trip are going to take more time than the trip itself.   Eeek!

6. Weather at CPT when we left: 79 F and sunny.  Weather at MCI upon arrival: 10 F (also sunny, if that matters!).

7. Besides a mild sunburn on my balding scalp, what did I come back with that I didn't have when I left?  Stay tuned for a future post on that.

8. We're home.  Dilemma: take a nap now or try to wait until this evening and then try to sleep through the night?  Everyone has their own theory on that.

Out of Africa

I'm writing from the floor of Dulles airport at 8:23 am Eastern, having left Cape Town at 7:00 am Eastern yesterday.  Let me say, for the record, that 19 hours on a single aircraft (Johannesburg to DC) is inhumane.

They just now called our flight.  I'm KC-bound.  Will post more later.

Penguins!

As promised ...

How to make your electrical stuff work in South Africa

The is a dual South African outlet.  (Each outlet has a switch above it, which seems to be common here.)  Before leaving, I went online and bought a cable with a "universal" 2-pin connector on one end and a South African plug on the other.

The South African plug looks like something you'd use to plug in a 40-amp, 220 V clothes dryer, but it's just their every day plug.  A power strip with 3 of these is the same length as a power strip with 7 or 8 standard US outlets and a good bit wider.  Heh.

One would assume that the Dell power supply would take the universal 2 pin connector.  I mean, that's the point of a universal power supply - you just change the power cord to the local standard and viola.  Right???

 

A standard 2-pin almost fits into those 2 pins on the right, but not quite.  What was Dell thinking?

So now I'm in trouble.  I have my laptop, but I've used up the batteries on the flight.  Without a way to plug in and recharge, all the computer stuff I brought is just dead weight.

I have another, similar problem too.  I bought an external charger for my camcorder batteries but it came with a 2-pin North America plug and no interchangeable power cord.

It's has a universal internal power supply, but a non-interchangeable plug. 

As it turns out, this is a very common problem with an equally common solution.  In my short time here I've seen many outlets with adapters such as the one below plugged in to them.  This adapter plugs into the SA 3-pin outlet and provides a SA 3-pin and two European 2-pin outlets.  (There are lots of things sold around here that have European plugs on them.)

So what I need is something like this but with a North American outlet on it (into which I must take care to plug only universal power supplies).  A small, local computer shop had just the thing.

This plugs in to the SA outlet and provides an SA outlet on the front and two multi-country outlets on the sides - a 2-pin and a 3-pin.  Although it looks a bit odd, it does accept NA plugs.  Eureka!

As a side benefit, this adapter also solves the problem of my camcorder battery charger.  Here is the SA outlet with the NA adapter, a European adapter, my Dell power supply plug, and my camcorder charger all stacked up.  It's ridiculous, but it works!

Moral of the story, instead of buying universal power cords for the country you're visiting, find out if it's easier to use an adapter.  I did have a use for the one power cord I bought, though.  It readily fits the camcorder power supply.

Why couldn't Dell have made it this easy?

Cape Town Day 5

Saturday was our one and only "down day" of the trip.  What a refreshing break!  Laura and I took the commuter train two stops south to Simon's Town, home port of the South African Navy and the famous Boulder's Beach penguin colony.  We saw the ships;  we didn't see the penguins.  Maybe tomorrow?  (I did see a penguin on Robben Island, but I wasn't in a position to take a picture of it.)

Notes:

1. Every day since we arrived we've had a couple of hours without electricity.  This is due to a planned program of "load shedding."  In other words, there isn't enough power being generated to meet the needs of everyone at once.  So at any given time, some people don't have it.  As I've said, this is a mostly 1st world metropolitan area, and then you're reminded by lack of electricity for a certain part of each day that you're not in Kansas any more.

2. Laura ordered springbok for dinner today.  It was quite tasty.

3. We're going to worship in a church in Guguletu township tomorrow.  We've been told to expect an amazing experience. 

Cape Town Day 4

On Friday we drove along the coast of False Bay from our B&B in Fish Hoek to Philippi, a very large township in the Cape Flats area.  We saw a mixture of affordable, middle class starter homes close to the beach.  Further inland there is a sea of small, concrete block houses.  Our guide, Raymond, explained that most families in the area have taken in relatives who build shacks like we saw in Masiphumelele in the tiny back yards. 

Laura posted about the Lutheran mission we visited there, iThemba Labantu, where they do everything from serve food to take care of AIDS patients.  It is a great example of practical, person-to-person ministry where everything, large and small, is done with excellence.  This ministry is very deserving of your support.

In the afternoon we had a chance to meet Keith Vermeulen, who is the director of the South African Council of Churches Parliamentary Office.

Notes:

1. Finally had an opportunity to try some local seafood.  The fish and chips is very good here, as you would expect.

2. Kansas City vs. Cape Town:

Some locals say it's always windy.  Others say the southeaster is unusual for this time of year.  My hat has been blown off my head at least 5 times.  I almost lost it twice.

I need the hat to protect my balding head from the sun.  When they say you need sunscreen here, they aren't just a kiddin'.

3. Our hosts are Peter and Solveig Kjeseth.  Both are Lutherans originally from Minnesota.  Peter is a retired seminary professor of New Testament who at one time was a colleague of Shannon Jung, the Saint Paul professor leading our trip, at Dubuque University seminary.  How did Peter and Solveig come to spend their retirement in Cape Town?  Part of the answer becomes clear in this excerpt featuring them from the book No Easy Victories: African Liberation and American Activists over a Half Century, 1950-2000.  Better hosts we could never hope for, but I wish their WiFi was better.  ;-)

4. Yes, water going down a drain rotates counter-clockwise.  Can I get some video demonstrating it?  I think I would need food coloring or something.  Hmmm ...

5. On Tuesday, our first day here, I noticed the sun near mid-day was to our north.  In all my 45 years of life, I've never seen the sun to my north.

6. I will post separately about the electrical plugs for any of you considering a trip here.  It was challenging as I expected.  Now that I've finally figured it out, it's almost time to leave.  Heh.

7. The drive along the Hout Bay coast road is the most spectacular I've seen anywhere in the world, including Maui, California, Cape Cod, and Puerto Rico.  The Cape Town area is simply beautiful.

8. Several days we have enjoyed the hospitality of Raymond, who I mentioned in a previous post.  If you ever come to Cape Town with a group, get on Raymond's calendar months in advance.  His knowledge of the city is invaluable for a group of first-time visitors.

Cape Town Days 2 and 3

I didn't post yesterday because I couldn't keep my eyes open after we got back from a long day.  Turns out when you combine motion sickness medicine with a long day, short sleep, and delayed jet lag you have an overwhelming need to sleep!  To understand why I needed motion sickness medicine, read Laura's post.  ;-)  As before, I spent time helping her select, crop, and down-rez pictures instead of working on my own posts.  So look at hers.  My own pics will have to wait.

Yesterday notes:

1. The commuter train was fun.  I met a 25ish guy on the train who asked about my HD video camera.  It became clear quickly that he knew a lot about the subject.  Turns out he works for a local TV station.  Very bright and well educated.  Asked me about the US presidential election: was I for Clinton or Obama?  Thought it was significant that our next president will be either black or a woman.  His question and comment were telling. 

2. Cape Town is WINDY.  I figured it was just a weather system moving through the first couple of days we were here.  When I commented on it to the locals, they said, "You think THIS is windy?  It's like this all the time.  You haven't experienced wind until you've been here during a storm."

3. Robben Island is a special place, but the tour itself wasn't wonderful.  Regardless, the forgiveness and healing represented there are quite profound.  Read Laura's post for details.

4. Our tour guide for the first part of the Robben Island tour told us a bit of his own story.  He has a college degree in electrical engineering but hasn't been able to find work in that field in South Africa.  When the tour was over I told him I'm an electrical engineer too.  He asked if I could get him a job.  I said, "maybe, if you are willing to come to the US."  He asked for my e-mail address.

5. Had bobotie yesterday for lunch.  The "national dish" of SA.  Comfort food, basically, with a kind of Indian curry twist.  Very tasty, although I kind of regretted my lunch choice when on the rough boat ride to Robben Island (again, see Laura's post). 

Today notes:

1. SHADE rocks!  See Laura's post for today for details.

2. Raymond, our driver and tour guide for the day, is an amazing person.  He's an independent contractor for the US Consulate here.  His job is to host visitors, mostly from the US, who come in for business with the Consulate - USAID, interns, FBI, etc.  He picks them up from the airport, drives them around, tells them about the city, points out landmarks, etc.  He told me about the turning point in his life.  As a youth he was always in trouble, got into drugs, sailed the world on cargo ships, and was a complete mess.  Then he met Jesus in a Pentecostal church and was instantly healed of his addictions and turned his life in a new and productive direction.  He's now a father and grandfather, not to mention a warm host for visitors from the US.

3. Cape Town is a beautiful city.  I'll post some pictures soon.  I promise.

4. The contrast between the upscale areas of downtown Cape Town and the townships gives one pause.  It may take me some time before I can explain what I mean by that.

Cape Town Day 1 - Masiphumelele

Instead of blogging myself this evening I helped Laura prepare a pictorial post of our trip to Masiphumelele today.  Check it out.

No time tonight for me to add much except the following quick notes:

1. Although it's a shantytown, Masiphumelele is 1st world in a number of ways.  Most/all of the homes and businesses have electricity and running water.  I saw shops selling cell phones and cell service.  One of the homes we visited had a land-line telephone, two computers, and a TV.  Some of them also had cars and makeshift garages.

2. Masiphumelele is only a 10 minute drive from the seaside town of Fish Hoek where we're staying.  Today in Fish Hoek we saw a real estate office where I took note that the price of a home up on the mountainside overlooking False Bay is upwards of $1 million.  The Cape Town area is a very strange place: 1st world and 2nd world (if there is such a thing) within 10 minutes of each other.

3. Masiphumelele has 20,000+ people living in a very small "neighborhood".  That density makes the place charmingly vibrant.  It's teeming with activity of every sort.  The people we met were happy and hopeful.

4. HIV/AIDS is an unbelievably-horrible problem in Masiphumelele.  More on that later.

Tomorrow we take the commuter train to downtown Cape Town and on to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.  Our host described it as a holy shrine to the end of apartheid and the people who brought it about.  I expect this will be one of the most profound experiences of the trip.

It's 12:30 am here.  I'm going to bed!

Online Mentoring

Over at the Life Church Blog They are talking about a new tool called Imantri which matches mentors with mentees around core competencies, skills, and goals. I woke up this morning thinking bout an idea to bring people together for spiritual guidance/mentoring that would employ web 2.0 social networking etc. Then I went to our men's bible study with Jeff Kirby and we were all talking about the need to do more daily bible reading etc. I wonder if this might be the killer app of an internet campus.

In my time in campus ministry, we focused on the Worship event and Small groups - certainly. But the real impact came in an intense focus on one to one discipleship. One of my mentors - Gregg Taylor at the University of Arkansas was fond of saying you can influence people from a distance but you can only impact them from up close. He wasn't talking about physical up closeness, i don't think, rather the intensity of a one on one relationship that guides and develops people along their spiritual journeys.

Clearly we would have to have a heavy focus on training people to be spiritual guides/mentors , but a tool like this could be developed to facilitate the matching and interaction..

Chuck

Aerial photos of South Africa

 

Downtown Johannesburg.

False Bay just seconds before landing in Cape Town.

The buzz around social networking becoming more open

In my continuing series about interoperability and openness in social networking systems and sites, I direct your attention to

Robert Scoble - Can we get a first step in social networking portability?

Dave Winer - Bebo running Facebook apps

Aaron Linne - On the Data Portability Initiative

Joe Suh - Social Network Platform Wars

Into Africa

I write this from 33,000 feet above the central Atlantic Ocean, bound for Johannesburg and then on to Cape Town, South Africa.  While there we will be meeting a number of ministry leaders, visiting AIDS clinics and orphanages, learning about South African history and apartheid, visiting Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, taking pictures of penguins, etc. 

Before we left Kansas City this afternoon, Shannon Jung, the Saint Paul professor who is leading our trip, asked each of us in the group to share our expectations for the trip.  I said I'm open to the experience - whatever comes will be just what God has in mind.  I hope to be able to post several times during the trip to keep all of you updated.  I appreciate your prayers for myself and all of those on the trip:

Lia Mcintosh
Morgan Whitaker
Andrew Smith
Carmen Williams
Sue Barham
Kyle Butler
Laura Guy
Tina Harris
Dixie & Robert Junk
Michael Dunlap
Dr. Shannon Jung

The BBQ tour continues

Does this look from the outside like a place where you're likely to get great barbecue? 

Turns out the food is fantastic.  Oklahoma Joe's in Kansas City is in a gas station/ convenience store.  (And yes, that's Travis pretending to pump gas.)  

The staff person in the restaurant we asked to take this picture cut our heads off, making our post-dinner full bellies even more prominent than they otherwise would have been!  My only regret is that Mark White missed the fun due to a sudden bout of the queasies.  Alfred would have loved it too.

Nerds learning Arena

This morning was our Arena implementation kick-off meeting where we invited all Resurrection staff to a demo by Ben Lane, our designated Arena trainer.  After lunch we began training for the IT Department to get an in-depth understanding of how it's all put together and how it works.

l to r: Leo Johns, Ian Beyer, Chuck Russell, Jeremy Grabrian, Ben Lane of Shelby, Travis Morgan, and Linda Ronsick (just the top of her head)

Campaign Websites Using Technolog to GOTV

Saw something interesting on almost all of the campaign websites today. You can login register and start making phone calls on behalf of candidates in New Hampshire - from the comfort of your own home. They give you a script, and instructions on how to record the result of the conversation.

Facebook

Weather or not the likes of Scoble are satisfied with facebooks business model or their direction. The only question I ask is, who has won the hearts and minds of users. And clearly on this front it is and will be facebook. They completely dominate the genre and, frankly I cant see how that changes in the future. I think any attempt to replicate or replace facebook is going to face an enourmous uphill battle. Users don't care about things like data portability, what they care about is the network and in this regard Facebook wins - Game over. Just like the Beta VHS debates of an age gone buy, we can argue Geek stuff all day long about what technology or platform is best... but ultimately to do ministry we must go where the people are....and the people are on Facebook.

I basically agree with Don Dodge - This is one of those things that programmers and techno-geeks are all fired up about, but that your normal every day user couldn't care less about. What matters is where are my friends....if that shifts and no doubt it will some day, then we go where the people go. Until then 50 million facebook users cant be wrong.
Chuck

Facebook cautionary tale

If you read Robert Scoble's blog you know about his problems with Facebook today.  He ran a script on Plaxo to import his Facebook friends.  Facebook's system detected the script and blocked his account on the basis that it violated the Facebook terms of service.  When he explained what happened they reinstated his account and asked him not to run such scripts in the future. 

Bottom line: Facebook locks up user data.  Not only do they not provide an API, they get really testy about outside software that reads the data.  With this attitude, I have serious doubts about whether Facebook can have a central role in our Internet Campus.

Nogales

I'm in Tucson for a family gathering to ring in the new year.  (High today in Kansas City - 22 F.  High today in Tucson - 65 F.  Yeah, we made the right decision.)

Yesterday we made the short trip down I-19 to the Mexican border to experience the culture of Nogales.  Just inside the border we were welcomed with this sign:

One of the first things I noticed - the Mexicans have different standards of esthetics and safety in their electrical wiring.

We had lunch at an upscale restaurant called LaRoca, complete with strolling musicians.

l to r: niece, Hannah; nephew, Ian; son, Rob; daughter, Beth

Before returning the USA, we took a couple of pictures of the border wall itself. This wall is the dividing line between nations, languages, cultures, currency, economies, and much more.

USA-Mexico border at Nogales taken from the Mexican side

 

Cars waiting in line to get into USA

Office Live demo

I mentioned Office Live Workspace last week.  Robert Scoble posted a video interview/demo that shows the possibilities.  I signed up on the wait list tonight.  I'm eager to check it out.

Open ID

I've posted previously about social networking and the church, focusing particularly on the issue of identity because I believe it's among the first technical issues to be addressed to make these efforts successful.  Every social networking site in the world (and many other sites) require you to create an account to use the site.  As Internet users create more and more online accounts, at some point fatigue sets in.  I believe some users have already hit their limit.  Clearly, this model isn't scalable.  In the previous post I referred to Dave Winer's idea that Twitter might become a de facto identity system.

Now I call your attention to OpenID, an open source identity system which aims to become the standard.  You can watch a brief demo of OpenID here.  (Thanks to Matt for directing me to the demo.)

I made the mistake of going to OpenID.com and creating an ID there.  When I tried to use that ID to log in to Plaxo, it errored out.  I have no idea what OpenID.com is, but don't use it to create an ID.  Next I tried MyOpenID.com.  See my ID here.  It works, but I can't say it's ready for prime time.  The Personna feature seems like a great idea, but at this point isn't simple and intuitive enough for a noob like me.

Of course, one of the selling points of OpenID is that you don't need to go to a provider like MyOpenID at all.  People with a tiny bit of HTML ability can make their own.  Also, I understand everyone on LiveJournal.com already has an OpenID automatically as part of that service.  Google's Blogger service is also now accepting OpenID authentication. 

Bottom line: this technology is very early in the maturity/adoption curve, but it has definite possibilities.  Keep an eye on it.

He preached all six services

On Monday I blogged about our Christmas Eve services and mentioned that Adam had the flu. Today, Adam posted the full story. He explained that he was up all night and only napped a couple of hours Monday morning. With help from the medical team, he was able to preach all six services, finishing up around 12:45 am Tuesday. God intervened in a big way. Total attendance at both campuses for all services was 22,000+.

My own Christmas Eve was, thankfully, quite uneventful by comparison. Did some work in the morning, bought one last gift, ran sound and graphics for Living Water's service, went out for some uvula-burning India food, went back to Living Water to set up graphics for this coming Sunday service when I'll be out of town, returned home, cleaned house a bit, wrapped some presents, and went to bed at 1:00 am, before the annual replay of the papal Christmas mass was even over. I hope your Christmas Eve was equally calm.

That's a lotta services!

Every year Resurrection has to adjust its Christmas Eve service plans as the day of the week changes.  Several years ago we started having services the night before Christmas Eve ("Christmas Eve Eve").  Our senior pastor encouraged church members to attend Eve Eve to leave more seats available at prime times on Eve.

This year, since Eve Eve landed on a Sunday night when we normally have a regular weekend service at 5:00, plans were adjusted accordingly.  We decided to add a Sunday night service and make our regular Saturday night service a Christmas Eve service too.  Plus we added a service on Eve.  So this year we have one service on Saturday night (Eve Eve Eve), two on Sunday night (Eve Eve), and six today (Eve).  Our service times today are 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, 9:00, and 11:00.  And yes, Adam Hamilton is preaching all nine services!  Of course, we also have two services at Rez West, but those are by video so Adam doesn't have any extra work for them.  ;-) 

UPDATE:  I just heard Adam has a flu bug and received IV fluids this morning.  If that's the case, he's in no condition to preach six times today.  Things are getting interesting.  I wonder if Adam has an understudy ...

As for me, things are very quiet in IT. We tend to use this time to catch up on e-mail, blogging, inventorying our desktops and laptops - lots of stuff that tends to slide toward the bottom of our priority list.  I'll be leaving soon to go be the A/V tech for Living Water at our one and only Christmas Eve service at 5:00. Life is much simpler when you're averaging 40 in worship!

To all of you who have church responsibilities tonight, be sure you don't miss Christmas yourself.  Merry Christmas!

Colossians 3:15-17 (New International Version)

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Will I see penguins?

Yes.  On our upcoming trip to South Africa I'm told we will see the famous colony of "Jackass" penguins in the Cape Town area at Boulder's Beach.  Maybe I'll take some pictures.

Office Live Workspace

We've used Google Docs to collaborate on our Internet Campus project.  The ease of creating a document and having multiple, simultaneous users editing is quite impressive.  However, maybe it's just me, but I have found it difficult to precisely control the formatting (this isn't unique to Google Docs, it's true of every HTML editor I've used including Outlook).

So now Microsoft has announced Office Live Workspace.  If it has the same ease of use as Google Docs but allows precise formatting using Word, it could be the best of both worlds.

The Golden Compass - Last Statement

Thanks to those for their comments on my previous and related post.

Well, I posted on the topic for two reasons. 1. There is much disagreement about it, and 2. I hope readers will do their own research and reach their own decision. :)

I read Kim's post that Bob referred to, and I'll say that Kim is very well written.

In my heart, I still believe that paying money to see the movie is making a donation to the cause of an atheist who targets children in attempt to sway them away from God. If you pay your money to see the movie, keep in mind this may be exactly what your doing.

I think this world would be better served, if rather than seeing this movie, people donated $10 and one and three quarter hours to a local mission. Spend quality time with someone who desperately needs it.

I also think using an inherently atheist tool to teach anyone about who God is or is not seems a dangerous method. Go battle the materialistic idolatry of the world, not an image of God that represents those things. Let G-o-d be as he always is.

Lastly, I'll say that my position on this was formed from the references I mentioned, and other additional resources. I hope you read the posts and their comments, do your own research, and feel better informed to make your own decision. ;)

Hannah Montana

Last month Blaine Barry, an intern on our Student Ministry staff, died of brain cancer.  His small group includes Chuck Russell and Traci Bazzelle of our staff.  They helped organize a group of volunteers to work at Kansas City's new downtown arena, selling merchandise at the Hannah Montana concert on Monday night, to benefit Blaine's family, which is left with a lot of medical and funeral expenses. 

After waffling a week or two, I finally stepped up and volunteered, not having any idea what sort of adventure awaited.  My kids are too old for Hannah Montana to be on my radar.  (Before Monday night the only thing I knew about her stemmed from the national news media's coverage of the the controversy surrounding ticket sales for her concerts.)  I knew nothing of the TV show, her music, or anything.  For example, did you know that Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus are the same person?  I could go on and on telling you the things I learned Monday night, but I'll spare you that!

I was assigned to selling programs and other little stuff at a cash only station.  I personally grossed approximately $2,300 for the night.  At one point I had $2,000 in cash on me, which kind of freaked me out because it's the most cash I've ever had in my possession at one time.  The retail manager of the arena said he expected to gross $400,000 on merchandise.  From the experience of our group, we'd guess he beat that number.  Add in ticket sales and concessions and you're up to something in the neighborhood of $1.4 million gross for the entire event.  Does that seem a bit out of control to you? 

The people I interacted with were well behaved, excited to be there, and seemed to be having a great time.  In a small way, I was part of the Hannah phenomenon while serving the community and benefiting Blaine's family.  Not bad for a night's work.

Good idea, Nick

After seeing my post about dinner at Rendezvous last night, Nick Nicholaou said we should go to The Commissary.  Alfred saw Nick's comment and took us there for lunch!  We thought we were coming to Memphis for a very important meeting with Shelby, but really it was for a barbeque tour.  The meeting has been almost incidental.  ;-)

l to r: Mark White, Brian, me, Travis, Alfred, Jeff Maddox of Shelby, and Steve Pruitt of Shelby

David Drinnon also commented that we should go to Corky's.  That's a good idea too, but since I've been there several times before, I'm glad we did something different this time.

I only hope I'll still fit in an airline seat for the flight home tonight!

Arena implementation planning

Brian, Travis, and I are in Memphis to meet with the Arena team to begin planning our implementation.  We are going to begin the process of detailed gap analysis tomorrow.  We're also hoping to go home with the first draft of our implementation timeline, including a target "go live" date. 

Before getting down to serious business, we started with dinner tonight at Memphis' landmark rib joint, Rendezvous.  The ribs are prepared with a dry rub.  Sauce - regular or spicy - is added at the table.  It was a great way to kick off our work on Arena.  Thanks, Alfred!

l to r: Mark White of Shelby, Travis, Brian, and Alfred Johnson of Shelby

IE7 woes

Seems I'm not the only one who has abandoned IE7 after initially being a supporter. I switched to Firefox and Google Reader over the summer when my IE7 feeds stopped updating and I couldn't figure out why. Now that I've been using Firefox for several months, I can say I've become a total convert. It's faster, more stable, and easier to use. As for Google Reader, it's fine but I can think of a lot of ways it could be better. In any case, I think it says a lot that I tried Firefox several times but always stuck with IE until a few months ago. Now that I've switched, it will be a long time before I switch back.

The Golden Compass

I'm assuming most of you have heard of movie 'The Golden Compass' by now, since it has made the morning news, at least here in Kansas City. My thanks go to Phillip Pullman for giving me something to blog about. :)

I first heard about this movie through a chain e-mail referencing snopes.com. Earlier this week my wife saw the trailer on television and said, "Ooo. We have to go see that!" I messed up and in a knee jerk reaction said, "No, we're not." Doh! Yeah ... that doesn't work with my wife. So I get the look, we "discuss," and I try to explain how the writer is a devoted atheist who purportedly targets children in attempt to "kill God" in their minds. She argued that it was just a fantasy movie, and no worse than The Devinci Code, which we did watch. It's just a movie. Hmm. I still disagree on some levels, but she has a point in whether or not we go watch the movie.

So after this morning's newscast mentioning it, I was pushed to learn why an Archbishop would support the movie, which has been touted as "anti-Catholic." Williams even goes so far as to say the book should be taught in schools! I found this online article. Wow. What a world we live in where educators are trying to throw religion out of schools, and Archbishops are trying to get atheism in them.

Now, little of this seems to be hearsay, if you believe the sources and the source's sources. So why on earth would you condone and support a movie "watered down ... so as not to offend faithful moviegoers in the United Kingdom and United States" thats center is in an anti-religious theme written by a professed atheist whos purpose in life is to convince children that God is false?!?!? All for the sake of keeping an open mind? Wha ... bu ... huh?

Ultimately, no one is going to affect whether or not people go see the movie. For the first time though, I find myself with pretty strong convictions to boycott this movie. It is just a movie, but I can't rationalize away the guilt I'd feel by supporting it.

Why it's difficult for IT to love Apple

I've posted before regarding the difficulty we've faced when needing service, tech support, or parts for our Macs. With time and experience I think we're learning to cope better, but Apple's service still isn't remotely comparable to Dell's. We pay hundreds for AppleCare, yet it doesn't include on-site service like we get bundled at no extra charge with our Dells. This is definitely a reason it's hard for us to love Apple, but I think it's not the biggest reason.

Given that Apple is such a strong company in design, engineering, and innovation, why are my main emotions toward them disappointment, irritation, and frustration?

Earlier this week Robert Scoble gave a great answer to this question: Apple over-promises and under-delivers. In reality, I think Apple probably delivers as well or nearly as well as any top-tier computer company. The problem is that it promises so much more. The arrogance is what sticks in my craw. If they were to compete humbly, recognizing their shortcomings and working hard to overcome them, they would earn my respect and I'd be likely to cut them some slack. As it is, every time we have a Mac issue, I'm freshly irritated by Apple's consistent, brazen promise that their stuff never breaks. Thank you Scoble for articulating so well this nagging sense I've had for a long time. Now I know I'm not alone in that.

Why Church Tech Matters

Flash back to last Wednesday. I'm working on my workshop proposal for MinistryTECH and I think of a related blog conversation earlier this year. Jim Walton's blog, Church Tech Matters, was at the heart of that conversation (posts, comments, and links to other blogs). So I go to Church Tech Matters to refresh myself on the conversation and I find nothing but an error message where Jim's blog ought to be. No posts, no comments, no blog at all. Oh no! So I wait and keep hitting F5 on my browser hoping to see it all return so I can finish my little project. The error messages keep changing, which tells me that Jim must be aware of the issue and working to resolve it. Then I start seeing posts from Jim about what happened and what he and Mary are doing to restore everything. I feel bad for Jim, but mainly I just want the blog to be back! (How selfish is that?)

I couldn't finish my workshop proposal for Terrell because Jim's blog was down. Is this not a weird world in which we live? Thankfully, Jim and Mary have fully restored everything now so I can get back to my proposal and Terrell won't have to wait much longer. Thanks Jim for your tireless efforts to restore it because Church Tech Matters really does matter!

Why most conferences suck and why the CITRT doesn't

Dave Winer:  "... the problem with most conferences is that except for the people putting it on, we don't have enough to do."

Dave's job for the next conference he attends:  "My job is to help get a flow of interesting pictures from the community to appear on the big screen on stage ..."

This reminded me of our blog post aggregator we had running on the big screen at the RoundTable. Any blogger there could post and it would show up on the screen within 5 minutes or so.  We're ahead of everyone on this stuff, even Dave Winer.  Cool!

Personal retreat

I took a 24-hour personal retreat at Tall Oaks on Monday.  While there I read Ephesians and Colossians as part of a study I'm doing on ecclesiology in connection with preliminary work on Resurrection's Internet Campus. 

I planned the retreat for early November because it's typically near the peak of Fall color here in the Kansas City area.  Sure enough, the trees were spectacular and God provided an equally spectacular day for me to enjoy them.  The day was completely cloudless with temperature in the high 50s.  I shot nearly 90 pictures.  Here are a few of my favorites.

 

Andrew Conard also posted about a day he took at Tall Oaks a couple of days before me.  In his post he explains the origin of these one-day personal retreats for staff.

It's Arena

This afternoon our executive management unanimously approved my recommendation to go with Shelby Arena as our new church management system. Here are some of the high-level features and benefits that attracted us to Arena as compared to Shelby V5 that we're running now:

• Web-based – access from anywhere with improved usability
  
• Greatly improved management reporting
• Improved congregant connection and re-connection process
• Improved management of confidential notes about people
• Improved management of prayer requests
• Integrated event registration
• Integrated small group management
• Integrated mapping of households
• On-line giving

At the end of the day, our decision was strongly influenced by Arena's .NET platform, the ability to get the source code and create our own extensions and modifications, and the Arena Community. Though it's still based on commercial, for-profit technology, the Arena Community represents a very promising first step toward the open ChMS marketplace I spoke about last year. Although there are many ways the Community can get off track and ultimately fail to reach its potential, the opportunity to get involved in this is just too compelling to ignore.

Alfred, it's going to be an adventure. Let's hope to have some fun along the way too, if that's not too much to ask. ;-)

ChMS selection coming to a close

This afternoon I meet with Resurrection's executive management team to present my recommendation for our next church management system (ChMS). I've already spoken with the vendors regarding my choice. As soon as it's official this afternoon, I'll post about the decision.

Until then, let me just say that ChMS suppliers truly are our partners in ministry. They care passionately about the local church and its role in the Kingdom of God. We couldn't do ministry without them. At the beginning of this I knew that I would be making one of them happy and disappointing everyone else. To their credit, all of those we didn't pick have been extraordinarily gracious.

The most surprising thing I've learned through this process is how other churches our size, churches that are thriving and making an impact in the community and world, churches that I respect with IT staffs I respect, can use very well planned and well executed selection processes and end up making different choices of ChMS. When we IT directors discuss this subject privately, it seems we all pretty much agree with each other's analysis, yet our conclusions are different. I believe that's partly because we have different selection criteria or place different priorities on the various criteria. For myself, I think this is good news for the ChMS marketplace and for the Kingdom. It's quite valuable for us to have multiple healthy competitors, each with its own strengths.

If you're in the process of selecting a ChMS, don't copy our selection. Rather, I would strongly encourage you to use a very rigorous selection process so that you can proceed confidently with your implementation. If you get the selection process right, then you will make the right decision. Simple as that. If it would help you, we're happy to share documents or any other aspects of our selection process with anyone who requests them.

PC shipments are down in Japan

According to MSNBC, PC sales are declining in Japan due to consumers preferring handheld devices and other electronics. If the trend continues and spreads beyond Japan, we will look back on this as a sea change. How well does your church website work on a smartphone/PDA?

Everyone is talking about OpenSocial

I hate being so busy that I don't have time to read everything being said about OpenSocial, much less comment on it. Check out:

Jim Walton - OpenSocial - A Facebook Killer?
Cynthia Ware - OpenSocial Challenges Facebook’s Platform
Joe Suh - More Interoperability in Social Networking
Dave Winer - Why Google launched OpenSocial

All of this relates to my prior comments about interoperability among social networking systems.

If OpenSocial is actually implemented by all of the sites that announced support, it will be a way for churches to reach people through multiple sites in a single application. That would be very significant.