Reftagger

Reftagger is a simple utility that allows webmasters or blog writers easily and automatically to link Bible references to the entire verse or verses. The way the utility works is the site visitor will see any Bible reference appear as a link, and when they hover their mouse over the link a small box will pop up over the link with the Bible verse displayed in the desired translation. The pop up box also allows the user to visit Biblia.com to see the verse or other version, in addition to click on icons that give them a chance to share the verse on social media networks like Twitter, Facebook or Google.

Adding the Reftagger functionality is as easy as copying and pasting a script tag, or installing a plugin to WordPress, Drupal or Joomla. It takes very little technical expertise. See the screencast below for a quick run through of how to set it up.

There will be times that you will want to physically include the entire Bible verse(s) in your web page or blog post, but if you are looking for an automated way to allow site visitors to easily see any reference you happen to include, this would be well worth the effort to include it.

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Footsteps To The Cross Illuminated – Koine

Most of us have walked the 40 days of Lent many times over the years. The symbols, songs and traditions of this seasonal observance remind us of the grace and sacrifice of Jesus, our savior. The repetition is a welcome reminder, but like all repetition and traditions, we might, at times, run the risk of becoming numb to the message because it is so familiar.

One way to renew our love for Lent and it’s timeless message is through the unique presentations of the message. I was lucky enough to experience one of those “presentations” a few years ago by Koine, a Lutheran worship band formed in 2003. Their “Footsteps To The Cross Illuminated” concert is not your typical set-based performance. Rather it is a mixture of song, video, animation, and the word sewn together to bring an emotive, if not inspiring look at Jesus’ journey made on our behalf.

Koine is offering this “musical journey from the Mount of Transfiguration to Mount Calvary” this Lenten season. If you live in the southeastern Wisconsin area there are many opportunities to experience the “illumination.” If you can’t attend in person, they have their 2014 presentation available on YouTube.

So if you think a Lenten reboot might be in order, check out Koine’s Footsteps To the Cross Illuminated!

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Christian Worship Lectionary for Google Calendar

Google Calendar is a popular platform for personal, family, group, and organization use. The Christian Worship Lectionary for Google Calendar has lectionary notes for Christian Worship as well as Christian Worship Supplement. For each Sunday and Major Festival of the church year the calendar entry includes

  • Lessons and Psalm, including the Supplemental Readings
  • Prayer of the Day
  • Verse of the Day
  • Hymn of the Day
  • Church year color

Application/audience

Worship planning is a big task centered around the prescribed readings for the day. Certainly pastors benefit from having the readings and hymn of the day easily accessible. In addition, the church musicians and choral directors will appreciate the ability to make music selections which are complementary to the readings for the day. Even the altar guild will appreciate knowing he seasonal colors so paraments can correspond correctly. Google Calendar is widely used and conveniently accessible from computers as well as mobile devices, making the Christian Worship Lectionary for Google Calendar a very useful tool.

Besides personal use, Google Calendars can be embedded on websites. Having the lectionary available for members on the church website gives members the opportunity to prepare for service by studying the readings they will hear.

Related resources

In addition to the Christian Worship Lectionary for Google Calendar, WELS also provides a weekly devotional series titled Worship Helps. New devotions are released each Monday and include the lectionary readings for the upcoming weekend as well as some questions and answers regarding each reading for consideration and discussion. You may subscribe to receive Worship Helps via e-mail.

Additional church year resources:

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Free Bible Images

Teachers of all flavors recognize the importance of having just the right image to support the lesson they are preparing. And the fact that cameras are a rather recent invention in relation to the full historic timeline limits the ability to do a quick Internet search and find the perfect photo for every lesson. This is especially true when it comes to images from Bible times, and it makes FreeBibleImages.org a highly recommended ministry resource.

Application/audience

The site name is self-explanatory. It exists to share all types of images of the Bible for my favorite price … FREE!! The image sets have a variety of copyrights associated with them, from public domain to creative commons by attribution and non-commercial to copyright retained and only accessible for education purposes, so read carefully and take steps to comply. It’s well worth the effort as most are provided in two aspect ratios – 4:3 and 16:9 – and in Powerpoint, Keynote, PDF and JPG formats. Something to fit all those flavors of teachers mentioned earlier!

I prepared a quick overview video to orient you to the site offerings. I’d welcome comments on how you use Free Bible Images in your ministry setting!

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Ten Tips for Vlogging

We live in a “YouTube” generation. YouTube, or more correctly, Google, describes this “group” as “Gen C”. Their analytics group writes:

Gen C is a powerful new force in consumer culture. It’s a term we use to describe people who care deeply about creation, curation, connection, and community. It’s not an age group; it’s an attitude and mindset – and here are 8 of its defining characteristics.

  • Gen C is a state of mind
  • Gen C strives for expression
  • Gen C is a taste-maker
  • Gen C defines the social network
  • YouTube is Gen C’s habitat for entertainment
  • Gen C is constantly connected
  • Gen C connects on YouTube on all screens
  • Gen C values relevance and originality

The full article is here: https://ssl.gstatic.com/think/docs/introducing-gen-c-the-youtube-generation_research-studies.pdf.

Regardless if Google is right, we have to admit that we live in a new electronic culture and it’s citizens are engaged in different ways. The question then is how do we as Gospel-sharers connect with this generation? My sense is that it is less and less through the written word (like this blog :-)) and more and more through the mediums they prefer. At the top of that list is YouTube. And that means that we all need to get a little more comfortable with video creation. A way to start is through the increasingly popular concept of vlogging. That’s a variant of blogging, except via video. I’ll explore this in more detail in my own blog, or perhaps I’ll create a vlog! But for now, here is the wikipedia definition of vlogging:

A video blog or video log, usually shortened to vlog/ˈvlɒɡ/, is a form of blog for which the medium is video, and is a form of web television. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one take or cut into multiple parts. The vlog category is popular on YouTube. (Wikipedia article)

Application/audience

I’m convinced that vlogs, or video in general, is a tool that those in ministry need to get comfortable with. And it’s actually not as hard as you think. While traveling on business I took a few minutes in my hotel room to create a quick vlog using just my iPhone and a Shure microphone to prove to myself the fairly obstacle-free process of creating a vlog. All toll, this vlog took me about 1 hour to create and post. I used iMovie on the iPhone to put the clips together, and then, of course, YouTube to publish it. You can see the video below where I offer my version of a top ten list of vlogging tips. It’s not overly professional, but that is somewhat the characteristic of vlogs. They are meant to be fairly spontaneous, more casual, and hopefully engaging.

The top ten list includes: 1) Good audio, 2) Good lighting, 3) Distraction free background, 4) Friction-free workflow, 5) Turn distractions off, 6) Don’t over script, 7) Look “through” the lens, 8) Use lists, 9) Keep it short, 10) Log ideas. I go into more detail on each in the video.

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Interactive Faith Bible Study

WELS has been providing online Bible studies through their Interactive Faith series for a number of years nows. The brainchild of a few pastors from the South Atlantic District, this form of study has touched thousands of lives with God’s Word. Since the beginning Livestream has been used to stream the one hour presentations to the internet. Through the use of a chat feature viewers can ask questions and provide comments and answers to study question. Many of the participants joined from their homes, but the original model was designed to be presented to groups gathered together for onsite interaction. A study guide is provided.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with almost all the presenters and moderators. This truly is a labor of love for all involved…a love for the Word of God. Most presenters are unfamiliar with the format. They must learn to look into a camera rather than the eyes of students, who can provide verbal and non-verbal feedback. Despite that, the materials presented have been excellent. One of the advantages of this kind of format is that “experts” in the subject matter can be shared with a wider audience.

Application/audience

While the online chat feature can only be experienced during the live presentations, the presentations themselves are all recorded and available online. These by themselves could be used in traditional Bible study formats along with the study materials. We’ve used them for team Bible studies within the technology department at the Center for Mission and Ministry on occasion. Take advantage of the hard work that went into these. They are timeless and will surely benefit any group you can gather together to view them and participate in the built-in discussions.

A sample of the studies so far include:

  • What does this mean? The continuing importance of Luther’s Small Catechism
  • Uncovering Our Calling
  • What’s In A Name
  • The Ministry of Elisha
  • Who Am I & Why Am I Here?
  • I’d Like To Study My Bible, But…
  • The Book of Jonah: God’s Grace to Runaways

These series can be found at https://vimeo.com/channels/976946.

As of this writing, the next series is scheduled to start on Wednesday, February 1 at 6 and 8pm CST. It is called “Mysterious Marriage” by Pastor Randy Hunter.

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Jeopardy for Church and School

Teachers are always looking for positive ways to engage their students in the learning process. In addition, team game play can be a great fellowship activity for any group – all church events, teens, etc. At JeopardyLabs.com, users can create free Jeopardy games using their own question banks. The games are accessible from any device, including tablets and smartphones.

Application/audience

JeopardyLab games can be created for all types of Q&A sessions including review of catechism lessons, Sunday school materials or any school subject. It is also appropriate for a fun team game at church fellowship events. Check out these samples:

Related resources

Another option for creating Jeopardy games is with a PowerPoint or Google Slides template.

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Bible Keyboard

More and more communication is happening from our mobile devices – text, e-mail and social media posts. The YouVersion Bible app team recently added features which allow iOS users to easily incorporate God’s Word in their mobile communication via a new Bible Keyboard.

Application/audience

The Bible Keyboard takes advantage of Apple’s third-party keyboards function which is built into iOS version 8 and higher. iPhone and iPad users may activate the keyboard in Settings. With the Bible Keyboard activated, Christians can easily inject the truths of God’s Word into their mobile communications. The video embedded below walks through the activation process, and demonstrates how to use the Bible Keyboard functionality.

Related resources

In addition to the Bible Keyboard, you can also easily add verse images in the iMessage texting app which is built into iOS. The minimum requirement is iOS 10 for this functionality.

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Member Texting

One rather inexpensive (and underutilized) technology available to churches today is SMS (Short Message Service) or “texting.” It has a number of advantages over social networks, emails, digital newsletters, and other more “sophisticated” technologies.

  1. It comes directly to a device that most people won’t go anywhere without.
  2. The messages are normally short and to the point. Perfect for the short attention spans of today.
  3. It is instant, can be quickly crafted, sent and shared.
  4. It is relatively inexpensive.
  5. With the right tools the messages can be written ahead of time and then “scheduled” for delivery.
  6. One person can manage it.
  7. Most text messages GET READ!

Here is a case study done by one of my favorite websites (churchtechtoday.com) highlighting Palermo Church which found great benefit from a texting strategy. Read through their journey and see if your church might be in a similar position to take advantage of such a technology.

Application/audience

One of the texting solutions mentioned in the case study is SendTree. Their pricing seems very reasonable and within reach of most congregations. Their smallest package cost $9 a month and then 3 cents per text or voice for up to 250 contacts.

Some of the possible uses of a texting solution could be:

  1. Announcements that perhaps didn’t make the bulletin or after service sharing or just need more emphasis
  2. Quick notification of event changes or cancellations
  3. Quick devotional thoughts or prayer requests
  4. Encouragement to attend upcoming events
  5. Follow up thoughts or applications from sunday sermon or readings
  6. Create smaller groups of recipients and use texting to inform or encourage them (teens, ladies, moms, small group Bible study, Sunday School teachers, etc.)

Related resources

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Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Essay File

The Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Essay file (housed in the WLS Digital Library) makes available many of the essays and senior thesis written by seminary students and faculty over the years on hundreds of historical and theological topics. The broader “digital library” collects, preserves, and distributes digital theological materials beyond just essays. Truly a synodical and theological treasure for those doing research on many different topics. At last count there were over 4,000 documents, audio and video files there.

Using an open source software product called Duraspace the seminary has created a well organized and easy to search repository. The documents contained there are in PDF format and have all been indexed so the body of the document can be searched, in addition to the title and relevant metadata. The result is a super useful collection of works preserved for research or just interesting reading.

You can browse by “collections” (essays, senior thesis, audio files), date of publication, authors, title and subject. Search however is the star of the show. Since everything has been indexed, it is likely that whatever search term you enter will net relevant results that can then be further filtered by the categories listed above. The “essays” in the file typically are treatments of historical events, while the “senior thesis” mostly deal with theological topics, but not exclusively.

It should be noted that the archive does contain a disclaimer that the works offered there do not necessarily represent the position held by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod or Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary.

Application/audience

The essay file could be a useful resource in any number of situations:

  1. The source or a source for a Bible study subject
  2. Personal research on a particular theological topic of interest (i.e. infant baptism, the antichrist, close communion, prayer fellowship, role of men and women, the differences between WELS and LCMS, etc.)
  3. Answers on practical theological topics like communion for alzheimer patients, dealing with suicide, or ministering to those struggling with same-sex attraction.
  4. Research into many historical events or church histories.

The file is open to anybody, but probably of special interest to pastors, teachers, staff ministers or others leading bible studies. Church historians also might find useful information about their particular church.

Related resources

Briefer treatment of many of the same theological topics can be found in the WELS Topical Q&A. These shorter resources are based on questions asked from visitors to the website of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod – WELS.net.

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