Last week: Digital Natives. This week: Digital Immigrants. Cute + funny old couple:
(h/t Justin Buzzard)
Last week: Digital Natives. This week: Digital Immigrants. Cute + funny old couple:
(h/t Justin Buzzard)
“A ‘Digital Native’ is someone who has grown up in a digital and web-connected world. How do we effectively minister to ‘Digital Natives’? The Internet brings with it great dangers as well as incredible opportunities. How can we teach our young people to avoid the harmful while leveraging it for good? This seminar will not just raise the questions; it will give you an achievable strategy for developing an effective web presence for your youth ministry. This includes creating a website, using social media and protecting children online.”

The above is a blurb for a 3 hour workshop I ran today at National Youth Ministry Convention (NYMC). Did I deliver? You might need to ask someone else! But it seemed to be a useful time for people with plenty of good interaction. I really appreciate the collective wisdom that can be gleaned from that type of forum. My prayer is that youth ministries would unleash the internet for good that Jesus would be made famous and God glorified
HERE ARE MY SLIDES FROM THE WORKSHOP
Here are websites I referred to that aren’t on the slides:
Talks will be available for download from the NYMC website.
If there’s anything else I said that I’d put on line that I haven’t… let me know!
If you’ve got any questions, feel free to contact me, or if they might be helpful for other people – leave them in the comments below.
See more of my posts on technology.
See more of my posts on youth ministry.
Steve Jobs, co-founder of technology giant Apple, died today aged 56. Jobs had an extraordinary impact upon our world. The internet (well, at least twitter) was almost in meltdown following the death of this godlike figure. I’m sure tributes will continue to flow.

Here are a few responses from some Christians:
My bible reading has taken a bit of a hit lately. Is it because of our expanding family? Not really. I’ve had plenty of time, I’ve simply been lazy and ill-disciplined. It’s time for me to enforce “No Bible No Blog”. I find I’m often distracted by blogs, twitter, facebook, SBS World News app (it’s amazing!) and the like. I need to make sure that before hearing what other people think, I kick off the day hearing what God thinks.

I’ve heard of others that have operated with “No Bible No Breakfast”. You might be easily distracted like me. Maybe you need some self-control in a wired-world, or something else. Whatever it is, prioritise time with God before anything else. Not because God accepts you based on your bible reading performance, but because the Word of God is gooood, what better way to start the day!!
Jesus is still speaking, are you listening?
Here are some resources that might help you work out what to read.
Boom! Plenty of it from Joshua Harris in this sermon clip. Online now? It’s worth watching.
Pretty challenging gear for digital natives!! It’s from a Covenant Life series on Proverbs.
Here’s the full length sermon: Self-Control in a Wired World | Proverbs 25:28
The week before is also worth checking out: The Sluggard | Proverbs 24:30-34
So tell me, what helps you to be self-controlled in a wired world?
Great article on the life and death of the Apple iPod in the SMH. Some really interesting comments on the iPod as the “first cultural icon of the 21st century”. Here’s a snippet:

Apple has changed the way we think about technology and design, the way we shop, the way we consume media and the way we interact with each other. Via the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad it has opened up doors for other methods of technology to come into our lives. None of that would have happened without the iPod. “It was the first cultural icon of the 21st century,” says Dr Michael Bull, a lecturer in media and film at the University Of Sussex, south-east England, where his studies on the sociology around the MP3 player have earned him the sobriquet “Professor iPod”. “It was the first MP3 player that really worked. With the earlier ones you had to get down on your knees and pray to get a bit of music out of them. And it became symbolic of the way people like to move around in cities. It fitted the desire for a technological freedom, whereby you moved to your own soundscape. Roland Barthes argued that, in medieval society, cathedrals were the iconic form. Then by the 1950s it had become the car – the Citroen DS. I argue that 50 years later it was the iPod, this technology that let you fit your whole world in your pocket. It was representative of a key moment in the social world of the 21st century.”
Read the rest here. Some of the content reminded me of some of Stu Crawshaw’s thoughts from his Youth Ministry as Shock Absorber article.
Do you have an iPod? Do you still use it? Can you name a competitor for other 21st Century icons?
Check out this recent interview with Carlos Whittaker (from ragamuffinsoul). He discusses the power of social media and how authentic community can be created through it.
One of the things I love about Los is the way he takes opportunities to point people to Jesus. In the above video, he is able to speak about Jesus being the way, the truth and the life. That’s cool.
So. What do you think? Can Social Media Create Authentic Community?
(Watch the vid before you comment).
(h/t los)
Mid-year exams rock my Winter. We’re currently on StuVac at the moment. Next week it’s game time. So Moore College crew get your exam prep tweets on with this hashtag: #MooreExamFest. I figured the World Cup (pray for it) is on, lots of festivities, let’s make a festival of exam study!! (Probably the single most nerd thing I’ve ever typed!)
There were quite a few peeps who got in the action for #MTCexamcram09. It was good. Here are the 3 reasons from last year:
Follow the action in the widget above or by clicking here.
If you are a young punk or a leader of young punks – you need to check out this website: FERVR.NET. It has fresh content everyday: articles, reviews & videos.
They’ve recently launched a sexy new mobile version of the site and a brand spanking new e-book from Joel Moroney.
clickity click: fervr.net | mobile site | twitter | facebook
Scott Petty and Nicky Baker are my favourite Youth Pastors. They’re doing great work with Christ Church Youth in St Ives, Sydney. The current series they are teaching is from 1 Corinthians, Don’t Want to be a Corinthian Idiot. Check out the intro video below:
Check out the podcast. Subscribe in iTunes. Check out their archives. These are some of the best youth sermons that you will find online.
Interested in podcasting your own youth group sermons? 4 tips:
If you answered “yes”, you must go and check out the new 8Bit Network. I’ve been a long time fan of John Saddington and his site ChurchCrunch. ChurchCrunch has now been massively beefed up into a whole network of sites aiming to “resource the church with timely, relevant, practical, and exceptionally valuable content.” It includes ChurchCrunch, ChurchIT, ChurchCreate and ChurchDrop. See below for deets…
Go hook up with this posse now!
Steve Kryger has a big long list. Worth a read. Worth putting into practise.

Read the whole article for an explanation on each.
Best of 2009 round 1: Albums. Round 2: iPhone Apps. I’ve had an iPhone for about 4 months. It really has been a handy productivity tool, and it also makes phone calls! The following are Applications that I use most days.

Got an iPhone? What’s your #1 app??
Check out this post from May. It links to some great resources available via iTunes U. In particular there is a course on Reformation Church History – MP3′s and full manuscript.

If you happen to be studying for an exam for tomorrow they could be worth a look. To maximise your time, play them back at twice the normal speed. Two ways to do this:
Warm fuzzy for the name of the English Reformer (above) martyred in 1556.
It’s exam time. Last year I wrote a stack of posts as part of my prep. This year, I’m not sure if you’ll see any blog posts (other than this one) or not! However, yesterday I tried a little experiment on twitter. Here’s where it started: Yo #MTC Moore college peeps. Tweet what ur studying 2day & how ur encouraged by it. Use this hashtag thing: #MTCexamcram09 (from here). Check out the live feed below:
Here’s what I like about the experiment:
Go join in if you’re using twitter and/or follow the live feed above – or here on twitter
The internet can be used for great good, but also great harm. Most children know more about how to use the internet than their parents. Therefore it’s incredibly important that parents work hard at understanding the potential dangers and develop strategies to protect their children online.

Here are 10 ways for parents to protect their kids online:
These are from a workshop presented at Hunter Bible Church. Listen to the talk (MP3).
Check out purity.davemiers.com for a growing list of resources
I recently started experimenting with Posterous. I use it as a way of sharing twitter pictures and videos. It’s really quick & easy to use and it’s a tidy & attractive spot to store things. Here’s my posterous account: davemiers.posterous.com
Having now used it for a couple of weeks, I think it’s much more than just a place to store pics. While I’d probably still recommend WordPress (free or self-hosted) as a more flexible and comprehensive platform for blogging, Posterous is a really good way to do quick and simple blogging. Read more below…
Microsoft have some sweet deals on software for students. They now have their new operation system, Windows 7, available as an upgrade for only $49.95. Check out www.itsnotcheating.com.au for some action. (It’s called www.theultimatesteal.com in the US and it’s $29.99US – click on the icon in the top right corner for other countries)

I’m currently using Vista, I don’t really have a problem with it – it takes a bit of time to boot, but other than that – it does the job! Anyone updated yet? Is it worth it?
Graham Stanton wrote a great post today about some of the dangers he’s found since using twitter. He paraphrases 1 Corinthians 6:12 – ‘Twitter is permissible, and may even be beneficial; but I will not be mastered by anything’ and then outlines his strategies for not being mastered by twitter. Here are his four points:

4. Missing what’s happening because I’m telling other people what’s happening
3. Being constantly occupied with thinking I should be tweeting something profound
2. Mistaking Twitter for the Bread of Life
1. Living my life for the praise of men
Go read them in full
The picture above is from Portwiture – it grabs the most frequent words from your twitter feed and matches them with a relevant (and random) picture from flickr. (h/t church crunch)
Check out this video about social media. It’s aim is to show that “Social Media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.” Fascinating stuff.
They source Socialnomics for all the stats. My favourite quote: “Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web” – this is a good thing… I think.
(h/t communicate Jesus)