Several weeks ago I received a package in the mail. I wasn’t sure if it was legitimate or not until it arrived. Back in February or so I really started in earnest t.o check out Twitter and other social networking sites. I have been a user of Facebook for a while, but not so much of some of the other ones. As a tech coordinator and computer teacher I try to keep up to speed with the rapid pace of technology. So after seeing so many others using Twitter, I gave it an honest try.
I started looking for people to follow and discovered @mashable as a fun group to follow. They posed the question, “What would you do if you won an iPad?” I tweeted back that I would use it to share with my students and anyone else I could how rapidly things change. Three weeks ago I received an iPad free, courtesy of @mashable. It wasn’t the cheapest one, but the full 64 gig iPad.
Since that time I have been thinking of ways God uses technology for His kingdom and to share with others. We must be willing to think differently to reach the youth of our culture here in the USA. So how can we do that? One way is to make sure that when we do use computers, Facebook, Twitter and other things like it, including the iPad that I am using for this post, are Christ honoring in all that we do. So often I watch what others have to post and what they say, that it is no wonder the “world” despises so many “Christians” who claim to be one, but never life their lives like they really believe in all that Christ did for us.
In my humble opinion we should not be afraid to use technology because it might be bad or used for evil, but to use it in ways that bring honor and glory to God in everything we do. Which leads me to my question for the day? Are there things on our computers or phones/iPads that would embarrass us before Christ? Would our postings or groups that we “like” or become a fan of cause another to turn away from Christ because of our actions? Just something to think about.
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.
Today, Friday Aug. 22, we brought over our new sound equipment for the youth room. After knocking out a wall in the youth room, we finally have some much needed space to set up a worship band, stage, lighting and a few other things. Pastor Greg has really been investing a portion of his budget this year to bring about some major changes in our youth program. One of the things that students really enjoy is music. Being able to hear that music without old partially blown speakers is a huge blessing!
We gathered in Pastor Greg’s room around 9:00 a.m. and spent some time moving the new speakers, sound board, amps, 100′ snake, and other things into the youth room. Then we started hooking everything up and moving around some of our equipment. The speakers, two large mid-to high ranging speakers are about 4′ high and the sub-woofers add an additional 2′. Stacked we will have almost 6′ of solid sound coming from our new system. Plus we have the amps to drive them and a new 24-channel sound board to mix it. This is a huge improvement for those of you who may have seen our old system. The old system lasted for almost 20 years, so it was time for a much needed update.
Also, we are in the process of getting a new laptop to help with our dual data projectors. This will also help us to keep the computer accessable to the youth without having to worry about sensitive documents or other files that were on the other laptop.
So which wall did we take down? Well, let’s just say that Mr. McConahy now has a much larger room. We now have a room that was once three smaller rooms. God is good! Now I pray that we can fill our new space even more so that maybe, just maybe one day we can take over the Real Life Worship Center! God alone can fill our space and I pray that students in and around our community will feel His calling and be ripped out of the hands of the Evil One.
Hello everyone! As part of some of the newest changes going on in Powerhouse, we are starting to work on a few blogs and other cool things. Since I am undertaking the Technical aspects of Powerhouse and will be doing some rather interesting things here and there, I thought I would start by creating my own Tech Blog for our Youth group.
My name is John Ross and I am both a computer teacher, an online teacher of Latin, and a few other things including a father and a husband. But for the purposes of this blog, I am going to take on the new role of a volunteer tech coordinator for the Ashland Grace Brethren Church’s Youth Group, POWERHOUSE.
Today Cara and I signed up for a special deal to transplant all three of our main websites here at Ashland GBC into one server and combine our web building skills to create and modify our existing services. I am hoping that this will make our lives a little easier in the long run as we try to streamline our entire process here.
In the process of becoming a tech geek, I have been challenged by the growing trend of some really neat tools on the web, including videos, online social networking groups and blogs, including following some really cool blogs using a Google Reader. I will include more about that later. But for now, I wanted to include the following video that I came across today from one of those blogs I have been following. It really impressed me today and I hope it will you as well.
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