Thursday Quick Tip: Schedule Tweets

One of the Coolest Twitter tools I found is Twuffer. Twuffer is a tweet scheduler were all you have to do is login using your Twitter account and begin scheduling your tweets. Its great if you want to get information out at a certain time of day but do not know if you will have time to tweet when the time comes. Or for you more annoying people if you want to schedule multiple tweets of the same thing several times in a day. Give it a try. Its free!

Production Blog: Pro Presenter Tips

I love Pro Presenter as a presentation software. We use a projector and two 52" LCD TVs in our service area so I also use the advanced module and a Matrox Triple Head To-Go. We have a fun set up that I can manipulate several different ways to give the service a little different look every week. If you are using Power Point to do you song and Message slides ( and of course if you can afford it). Here are my reasons why I choose ProPresenter over the competition.

• It just works.
• The code is clean and the interface is simple.
• It gives you lots of options.
• The production volunteers pick up on it really quick.
• Options, Options, Options

I know this i snot a real in dept review (which I will do in a few weeks) but I was playing with our old presentation software the other day and I could not beleive how much better ProPresenter was. Now its not perfect and like anything else it has its quirks but I love it. Unfortunately it is only available for Macs and I know that is a big turn off for a lot of people. If you ever get a chance to demo ProPresenter Play with it for awhile and and I think most people would agree.

Top ten Tuesday a Day Late PC Utilities

Today is my Tuesday. Yesterday I spent the first part of my evening putting holes in my wall with Bobby Downing to find a leak and the rest of the night cleaning up the mess. So I did not have a lot of time or energy to post so I will try to post twice tonight (The Production Blog Coming Later).

I spend a lot of time working on Apple computers and I love them. People assume that I work on Macs all day long which is incorrect. I work on PCs all day long. I write programs, monitor systems and fix users computers. I don't think Apples are for everyone and I am not an Apple Elitist though some of my friends may tell you otherwise. I choose to use Apple for the church and in my personal life for a lot of reasons but not because I hate windows. In fact I really like windows 7 now if they could only do something with Explorer.

Here is a list of my my top 10 Favorite free Windows utilities to keep your computer clean and running fast in mo particular order.



Malware bytes- Malwarebytes has developed a variety of tools that can identify and remove malicious software from your computer. When your computer becomes infected, Malwarebytes can provide the needed assistance to remove the infection and restore the machine back to optimum performance.



Defraggler-My Favorite free defrag Program



CCleaner- CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware!

Key Finder- Finds Product key for most programs on your system



Recuva- Recover Lost and deleted files Easy with Recuva


ScanPST- Scans your PST OUtlook files for any issues (Comes free with Outlook)



Virtual Box- Allows you to have 2 different OS running on the Same computer



Win Audit- Flash Drive tool that allows you to pull tons of information of a computer.



Sumo- Keeps all of you apps Up-to-Date



Tree Size- Lets you see the the size of your file in a more productive way



trID File Identifier- Help you find out what different file extensions are and if they are harming your computer.

Sunday Look back 7-26-09

First of all let me say that I am sorry I could not post much last week. I was busy every night last week and had no real time to write. Sorry!

Second I was not at church on Sunday. Me and Sandra both needed a rest and our anniversary was coming up so we took a weekend for our selves. We needed it I have been in the both every Sunday since we moved in tot the building and before that I was still running production every week since last October. Sandra has been running the check-in computer for Discover Kids since we moved into the new building and has not sat through one full service yet. Truthfully I don't think we would change a thing and we love what we do but it was nice to have a break from everything for a few days and just get away. I don't like to take a ton of breaks because I feel like I get behind but a break is needed every once in awhile to re charge your batteries.

Here are a few pictures form our trip. By the way if you have never eaten at the flying biscuit in Atlanta you are missing one of the best breakfast you will ever eat!

Sunday Look back 7-19-09

1. The band was great once again Brien Duke, James Archer, Greg King, Jason Mcinnis and James Green made up the Band this week.

2. Unusual Sunday in the fact that Brien Duke, Trista Ross and myself were the only staff members there. Which meant we were in charge. That's kinda scary

3. Production was okay, nothing major went wrong it just seemed to be an off week.

4. Robotic Lights add a lot to the service. We are trying to get those fixed.

5. Paul Casola our guest speaker did a great job. Thank you again.

6. I have a lot of respect for Paul and everything he has been through. I am glad that Philip and David had a chance to help him through his tough times.

7. Paul was right about the worst 2 basketball player he has ever seen.

8. I am terrible on stage. Even when doing announcements. I really respect you guys who do it every week.

9. I will be gone next weekend! This will be my first Sunday off since last October. I am really excited. I am going with my wife on a anniversary weekend trip. We have been married 8 years and somehow she still loves me.

Thursday Tip

I had a friend ask me today how to share Youtube videos on Facebook and Twitter. Youtube has made sharing its videos very simple.

When you upload a video it gives you the opportunity to share that video on Facebook, Google Reader and Twitter. Once your on the screen to upload your video you should see the links to connect to Facebook, Google reader and Twitter. Simply use the links to sign on to your accounts and your done. Every time you upload a video it will let all of your friends know, so they can watch it.




If you want to share some one else video you can do this by clicking the share link under the video screen. You will find links to several social networking sites. Click on the one you want use. Sign into your account follow the prompts and the video will be uploaded.



To embed a video on your blog, copy and paste the code next the word embed on the right of the video. Then find the HTML section of you blog and paste the code.



Hope this helps

Production Blog: Choosing Volunteers

I work for a small church (growing) (100 ppl per Sunday Service) church that has a production heavy service. Not that the service is about production but it plays it's part for sure. Each Sunday I need 3 volunteers Sound Tech, Computer Tech and Lighting Tech plus myself. It is hard for me to be picky about who I let into the booth on Sunday morning. I will say this none of the volunteers in my booth have had any experience with the equipment before (save one who is leaving me this week to move on the greener pastures). They all do a great job every week! They do a great job because they want to do a great job! They want to see the service run distraction free and I love it! When I come across someone who is eager to learn to learn how to run a piece of equipment in the booth. I love people who want to make a difference they make the best volunteers. I have said this before "I would take some one who has never touched a lighting board before and is excited to do it over a professional who has no passion. Passion is the #1 thing I look for in people when they ask me about volunteering in my booth skill is second. Skills can be taught, passion is hard to develop. The third thing I look for is creativity. Some of the guys were joking around the other day and called me a slave driver in the booth and I admit I get a little intense on Sunday mornings but I want my volunteers to be creative. I want them to pick backgrounds and lighting scenes. I love the volunteers I have and I would not trade them for anything. God has blessed me with the right people for the job.

Top Ten Tuesday a Day Late

I love to read church leaders blogs, not because I idolize them, not because I think they are anything special. They are however many things I am not. Some are more creative, some are deeper than I am and most are smarter. They're words inspire me. there thoughts provoke my creativity. Some of them God uses to humble me, to bring me back down to earth. Some of them are great teachers, others are inspired leaders and I am convinced that each of them love God with all of there hearts. Today's top term list is a list of my top 10 favorite church leaders blogs. These are not your run of the mill leaders. These guys are always looking for new and creative ways to bring people into a relationship with Christ. These are the leaders at the forefront of changing the aging stereotype that the church has. Take a moment and read through a few of these I am sure you will find some thing interesting. I tend to like to read local leaders blogs so you will find that a lot of these are from Georgia and surrounding states.

10. Tony McCollum- TonyMccollum.com Pastor Fusion Church in Suwanee, Ga

9. Mark Beeson- Markbeeson.com - Pastor Granger Community Church in Granger Indiana

8. Nelson Searcy- ChurchLeadershipInsights.com- Pastor Journey Church, New York, NY

7. Perry Noble-Perrynoble.com Pastor New Spring Church in Anderson, SC

6. Shawn Lovejoy- shawnlovejoy.com Pastor Mountain Lake Church Cumming, Ga

5. Richie Miller Rictchiemiller.org Pastor Avalon Church McDonough, GA

4. Swerve Blog Craig Groeschel (Senior Pastor), Bobby Gruenewald (Innovative Leader) and others Life Church, Oklahoma and the world.

3. Tim Stevens- Leading smart.com Executive Pastor Granger Community Church, Granger Indiana

2. Steven Furtick- StevenFurtick.com- Pastor Elavation Church Charlotte, NC

1. Carlos Whittaker Ragamuffinsoul.com I don't know his official title but he worked (still works maybe) with Buckhead Church and with Northpoint Online. Anyways his thoughts are humbling and inspiring and he has some cool photography to boot!

Sunday Look Back 7-12-09

1. Hardest Sunday I have ever had at DP



2. The band did a great job! Brien the songs were so appropriate and moving.



3. The best Sunday I can remember



4. The saddest Sunday I can remember



5. Philip hit a homerun! His message was perfect for the day



6. Who could have thought that when we planned this sermon series 4 months ago that death would fall on this week.



7. Life is short. Who are you living for?



8. Our volunteers did an amazing job clean up the back room!



9. Heard the open mic night on Friday was awesome! Check it out again in 2 weeks.

Tip of the day Thursday: Installing Greasemonkey

On Tuesday we talked about what greasemonkey is and what the best script were for it. Today for a quick tip I am going to tell you how to install it to Firefox or Flock. I will save Chrome and Safari for another post.

1. Go to the greasemonkey add-ons page

2. install the add-on

3. Re Start Firefox or Flock

4. Go to Userscripts.com

5. Find some scripts that you like for gmail, google, twitter, facebook and install them

Again it's that easy. So have fun and send me any cool greasemonkey scripts you come across.

Band vs Production Team

I have read a lot lately about how production teams and bands do not get along. I find this even harder to believe in churches. YOU ARE ALL ON THE SAME TEAM! Now I know personalities are different and some musicians have egos, but there is a way to balance all of this to make worship be the best it can be every week. Here are a few suggestions

1. Get to know your worship leader(s). Take him to lunch, set up a meeting with him and just get to know him. Don't talk about the sound issues, don't talk about the production side at all if you can avoid it.

2. Ask questions about the equipment they are using. Get to know what each musician likes his sound to be.

3. Answer any questions the band members have for you

4. Teach your worship leader how the equipment in the production booth works.

5. Stay patient

6. Have the band and the production teams pray together.

These are just a few suggestions I have for working with band members I am no expert but so far these tips have worked for me.

Top 10 Tuesday: Greasemonkey Scripts

Every Tuesday I list 10 of my favorite things in hopes that you might find something you can use too. This week I am listing my top 10 greasemonkey scripts. What are greasemonkey scripts? Here is the best definition I could find: Wikipedia- Greasemonkey is a Mozilla Firefox add-on that allows users to install scripts that make on-the-fly changes to most HTML-based web pages (also known as augmented browsing). As Greasemonkey scripts are persistent, the changes made to the web pages are executed every time the page is opened, making them effectively permanent for the user running the script. Greasemonkey can be used for adding new functions to web pages (for example, embedding price comparison in Amazon.com web pages), fixing rendering bugs, combining data from multiple webpages, and numerous other purposes. In short they make the browsing experience better. On Thursday in my Tip of the week I will show you how easy it is to install these scripts.
10. Google Thumb Nails

9. Troys Twitter Script- Makes all sorts of changes (for the better) to Twitter

8. Twitter Search Results - Puts twitter search results at the top of you google searches

7. Gmail Macros

6. Gmail message count favicon- Puts a small number of

5. Better Remeber the milk - The name says it all

4. Twitter URL expander - Makes Tiny URL full size URLs so you can

3. Auto complete always on - Some websites turn of the Username and password Auto complete function this script will leave it on all the time.

2. Google image re-linker - Sends you directly to the image not the image page

1. Gmail conversation preview- Lets you see a preview of a message in gmail

Sunday look back 7-5-09

1. We have a group of amazing volunteers. Thank you guys you have no idea what you mean to me and the rest of the staff at Discover Point.

2. This was the best 4th of July yet! We met a ton of people at the horse park!

3. Band did awesome as usual.

4. That was the best I have ever heard them do Amazing Grace (My chains are gone)

5. It was nice to See Philip on stage again.

6. God's Grace is Amazing

7. Production team had 2 of its members honored on Sunday for their service. Dave and Laurah will be leaving after this month and moving on to Arizona. I will miss them them a lot!

8. Blew the other 2 robotic light bulbs some how. I cannot wait to see all 3 robotics in action at the same time!

9. Really great weekend at Discover Point. Thank you to all who made it happen! Thank you God for letting it happen.

How to add analytics to Your blog

Analytics is a way for you to measure the success of your site (blog ). You can not only see how many people visited your site but also where they came from, what browser and operating system they are using or what sire directed them to you as well as many other things. Analytics is a great tool for you to make informed decisions about your site. A few of my friend have ask me how to add Google Analytocs to thier Blogger Blog. It is really very simple.




1. First you sign up for an account with Google and go to the Analytics page



2. Submit your domain name http://www.blogger.com/yourblogsname

3. You will receive a tracking code. A short snippett of HTML code. Copy all of it. Note do not use the Legacy tracking Urchin.



4. Go to your blogger dashboard



5. Find the blog you want to add the Analytics code to a click the settings button





6. Then go to the Layout Tab at the top




7. The click the Edit HTML tab



8. Go to the bottom of the HTML text box and find the peoce of code that says



9. Paste the code between it and your tag



10 Wait 24 hours and you will start enjoying the never ending possibilities of Google Analytics.



Please let me know if this was helpful or not.

Production Blog: When is it okay to program your service for unbelievers?

I found this blog today and thought it was very interesting. I love to read Tim Stevens work and a lot of times I agree with him and a lot of times I do not. His blog Leading Smart is one of my favorite Blogs. This blog ask the question when is it okay to program your service around unbelievers? Here is post from earlier today:

Is the Church REQUIRED to Meet on Sunday?

We have had quite the discussion going on related to a post I wrote last week about the purpose of a church service. I asked the question, "What is wrong with having a gathering every week where half the people who are in attendance don't yet understand salvation by grace?"

In response, Tom Becker said, "The meeting together is for the edification of believers. Sorry that's not what I say, it's what the Bible says. We are then to be prepared or taught to go out into the world and preach the gospel and make disciples."

Tom is likely referring to Hebrews 10:25 or Ephesians 4:15-16 where we learn of the importance of the church to gather, edify and exhort each other.

Gary Humble replied and added, "

I have to completely agree with Tom here. The church gathering or assembling of the saints as the Bible calls it is not meant to be primarily a tool for evangelism. While I have nothing against Granger or similar churches, I do think it's erroneous to treat our weekends as a time FOR the unbeliever. That idea is not supported by scripture, sorry. The Word does mention the unbeliever in the church. But nowhere does it define the church as a gathering FOR the unbeliever. In fact, scripture goes through great lengths to define it as just the opposite."

To continue this conversation, some of my thoughts...

• I agree with both Tom and Gary that we are instructed to assemble the followers of Christ.
• This time should include encouragement and exhortation.
• But, does that mean that EVERY time the church gets together, it has to be for the purpose of the edification of the believers?
• The church gathers hundreds of times every week, sometimes in large gatherings, and sometimes in much smaller groups. Sometimes it is to celebrate, other times it is to honor the passing of a loved one. Sometimes it is in a home setting, other times in a large assembly room. Sometimes it is to serve food to the hungry, other times it is to make organizational decisions.
• So are we saying that every single time the church gets together it must be for the purposes stated above? Or could we agree that the church should be gathering for exhortation and edification--but there is nothing in the Bible to prohibit that they shouldn't get together for other purposes as well?
• If that is true, than who is to say the exhortation/edification gathering MUST be on Sunday morning? Gary says it is "erroneous to treat our weekends as a time FOR the unbeliever." So when is it acceptable to have this gathering? Would it be okay to treat Monday nights as a time for the unbeliever? What about Thursdays at 2am? Why are the weekends sacred for the believer? I'm not a theologian, so I'd love someone to show me where believers are required to gather during the weekend.
• At Granger, the gatherings of the church for the primary purpose of exhortation and edification happen during the week in many places in groups from 5 to 2,000. We use the weekend to gather a crowd to hear Biblical truth and take steps toward Jesus.
• We seem to be given some instruction in I Corinthians 14 that there are times when unbelievers will be in your church service...and because of that you will need to modify what you do because of their presence. That is what we do every weekend. We say, "This isn't for me. This is for my neighbor or friend or co-worker who is not yet part of the church."

What am I missing?

Well what are your thoughts?

By if Tim is not on your blog roll add him and if you have not read his book "Pop goes the church it is a must read"