21st Century Sheep » umc

Children’s Ministry Forum

Paul — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:50:01 +0000

The Children’s Ministries Group at the General Board of Discipleship for the United Methodist Church is planning a Children’s Ministry Forum in Raleigh NC in February of 2010. The title of the forum is “Fill My Cup Lord.”

I have been invited to present and I am looking forward to being there. I will present two worksessions. The tentative topics are:

Where the Wild Things Are – Online Safety for Children

What are the real risks to children online? We will explore dangers and strategies of for teaching children and parents about online safety. Participants will learn practical strategies that can be put to use immediately.

Keeping up the Joneses (and everyone else online)

The President is on YouTube, Oprah is Skyping, and Lance Armstrong is Tweeting. Are you keeping up? What will the next “big thing” be? We will explore new resources and technologies that you can use in your personal life and in children’s ministries.

On a different topic I came across an interesting performance by Raul Midon playing his original song “All the Answers“. He is explores what it means to have immediate access to all the information on the Internet vs. having understanding. I think you will enjoy it.

Preparing for transition in the Church

Paul — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:33:24 +0000

Today we said goodbye to Scott Wilson-Parsons and his family. Scott has been our pastor for 11 years and is moving on to Seaside UMC. This is an emotional time for everyone. I know many UMC churches and preacher’s families are experiencing the same thing today. My father was a UMC pastor and we had our share of moves. I attended 10 different schools and 3 different high schools. I know it can be a tough time. There are many things a congregation can do to ease the transition but today I want to look at the electronic transition.

If the pastor is deeply involved with the church website, email, computers and network, it is important to make sure all the knowledge doesn’t leave with the pastor.

Here are some things to have in a good transition document.

1. Email – usernames, passwords, account numbers

2. Web Hosting – account numbers, usernames, passwords, procedures for updating, when the bill comes due and who it is paid to

3. Computers – usernames, passwords, file structure organization, warranties, backups (where stored)

4. Networks – switch and router addresses, switch and router configuration backups, passwords, wireless configuration and encryption

5. Misc. – Usernames and passwords for Facebook, blogs, photo hosting sites, and other online sites that are in the church’s name

Having a good record of these things helps ease the transition and avoid those late night calls to the former pastor because no one knows the password to update the church website!

I pray a blessing on all the UMC churches and families who are experiencing transitions this month.

Online with the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church Annual Conference

Paul — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 21:54:35 +0000

I have never been to the Annual Conference of our Church. It is held early in June and that is a very busy time those of us who work in the public schools.

This year the NCCUMC put much of the Annual Conference online at this site.

You can view video from the general sessions, read proposed amendments, and see how the votes went. You can even follow the NCCUMC on Twitter.

I applaud those folks who made the effort to put this online for those of us who could not attend. This is a great way to increase lay involvement in the workings of the Church.

The Church and Facebook

Paul — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:25:59 +0000

In the previous post I included a handout on Facebook and Safety. In this post I’ve included a handout that looks specifically at the Church’s use of Facebook.

I know many Churches, mine included, have jumped right into using a Facebook group, but some may have reservations. If your Church has reservations or concerns, this document may help you.

The Church and Facebook

What is Web Ministry?

Paul — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 02:48:45 +0000

Last week I found a great online course on Web Ministry.
From their description: “What Is Web Ministry? is a free, self-directed, five-part online course designed to provide foundational information and the biblical and theological basis for developing a Web ministry for the local church. This course is a pre-requisite for subsequent Web Ministry online courses. Together, the Web Ministry series of online courses will prepare you to create and maintain a dynamic Web ministry.”
This is a free, open, and ongoing course provided by United Methodist Communications. It is part of their Online Learning Center. I started the course last week and have been impressed by the quality and organization of the course. The next course in the series is Moodle Goes to Church. I need to learn more about this open source content management system. I have a Moodle site associated with this blog but it is not public yet. Maybe this course will give me the skills and motivation to develop some online Internet safety courses.