PowerTech BlogBeing a techie for God's Youth

As with all things, if you want to do something well, then we must take the time to learn how! A few months ago I started to delve I to the realm of Adobe products, in particular the CS4 Production Suite. Learning new programs typically comes pretty easy for me, not so with these amazing programs.

It takes a lot of time and dedication to be able to use these programs effectively. The first time I started playing with them it was pretty overwhelming! The user interface was very complicated and nothing went like I thought it should. But the more you get into it, the easier it becomes.

So how have I been learning? I started using Lynda.com for my training needs with the very basic tutorials and have been building up from there. I started with the one or two that most interested me and have slowly been improving my skills.

This got me to thinking about being a Christian and our walk with God. The first time you start reading the Bible, it may get a little overwhelming. But with time, patience, and learning, we soon begin to be transformed into the likeness of our Creator.

So as we work in church media and technologies, we need to be humble enough to learn what we can; admit when we need help; and be willing to spend time at the Master’s feet! So what are you learning today? Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s, used to say, “When you’re green, you’re growing!” are you growing to be the best Christian you can be, or ???? Fill in the blank. Take the time to learn from others and be the bestGod designed you to be. Blessings.

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I have looked and thought about blogging for a long time now. I just realized that I haven’t blogged since before the school year started. Well, hopefully that will be changing now. I have been immeresed in so many ways with school and all things tech related to teaching computers, Latin, and coordinating events for Powerhouse. So let me catch up for the past several months.

The school year started off with a really big bang. I hit an all-time high of 70+ students taking Latin courses from Sevenstaracademy.org  This is my “stay-at-home” job that can really keep me pretty busy at times. Plus I start my 2nd year at Ashland Christian School teaching Computers.  As some of you may know, I made a committment to work on the Schools Website this year, much like I did the Powerhouse Website. So in thinking about what I wanted to do with it, I heard about putting in for a grant through a local foundation.

So I dreamed big for the grant and did some research. I wanted some graphic design software and tools that would make my job easier in the long run for the school. So I applied for a grant to cover the cost of Adobe’s CS4 Production Suite. A month later, I recieved notification that I was awarded the large part of the funding for the grant. Now several months later, here I sit completely amazed at the power and creativity that God has unleashed in my life. Needless to say, this is one of the hardest programs for me to get my thoughts around. Photoshop and AfterEffects are amazing programs. It is going to allow me to do exactly what I was hoping it would, but the learning curve requires a lot of time. So needless to say, I have been a student, a teacher, a tech-coordinator, a father, husband, and everything else in-between, all while trying to keep my walk with God alive and fresh.

So for the past several months, I have been finding so many tutorials and websites that teach some pretty cool things. One of my favorite websites has to be Brad Zimmerman’s Church Media Design TV. Brad does a weekly video pod-cast showing some of the “tips, tricks and tools for you, the media designer”.

Another website that has been a great resource for me in learning all of the in’s and out’s of these great programs has been Lynda.com. I got a free month of training as part of the Adobe Suite’s bonuses for registering my product. So I gave it a try and have falling in love with the “One-on-One” training videos that they offer. Sure it may cost $25.00 a month for the basic subscription, but it is so worth every bit of it. I have learned a ton of stuff already and will continue to do more with it.

So, that brings me up to current life experiences. The past several weeks have been spent getting ready for Snow Retreat 2010 with our Youth Group. This year we are inviting two FCA groups from some local schools and another church. Trinity Baptist Church will be joining us this year as well. Already it is shaping up to be a great weekend with Ward 9 coming once again and Jon Summers will be leading the sessions. So more about that hopefully this week.

Thanks and blessings!

John

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