The iPad makes your research tools more accessible. Logos has a version for the iPad which gives you access to your books in the iPad form factor.  This is one step closer to the resolution of the debate between paper vs. digital commentaries.  PDF documents are common in pastoral libraries.  Many of the original sources have been converted to PDF thanks the ceaseless work of the people at Ages Digital Library and other groups such as CCEL.  I like to print out my PDFs and mark them up with a yellow highlighter and red pen.  iAnnotate for the iPad gives you the same functionality with the ability to correlate your annotations for easy reference when you’re trying to remember where you got that incredible quote or illustration from.   Another neat feature in iAnnotate is the ability to open multiple PDFs in a tabbed interface allowing for cross referencing.  The convergence of Apple iBooks, Amazon Kindle, B&N eReader, and free programs like Stanza onto one device is a great benefit for book lovers.  I’m reading Os Guiness’ The Call through Kindle and a book on the history of China through B&N.

The iPad can change the context of your working environment.  The evangelists of the Great Awakening used to study and pray on horseback.  Ministers now have the opportunity with a form factor that fits somewhere between a traditional notepad and a smart phone.  I see a lot of benefit in the prepaid 3G plans for Australian readers.  It allows you to use the Internet and email in the native form factor when you are out of the office.

Taking notes on the iPad produces mixed results. As a touch typist, I find that if I trust the flat interface it produces excellent results.  At this point I am still double guessing myself as my hammer-fingers look for some form of tacticity on the glass screen.  I might get used to it – but the Bluetooth keyboard is a great addition.

Most of the ministers that I know adopted some form of PDA (palm, pocket pc, etc) prior to the adoption of smartphones.  I don’t think that you can classify the iPad in the same category.  Give it a try and let’s get some more ministry-related feedback on its potential.  I’ll be happy to answer your specific questions as well.  By the way – don’t think that the iPad will magically cure daydreaming, tiredness or difficult textual problems.  It’s only a tool.

As a long-time blogger, I’ve often had to assess my motives at this juncture. I could say something in a less controversial way and get some people to read it. Or I could say the same thing in a more controversial way and get twice as many people to consider it. Which should I do?

Listening to National Public Radio on the way home from university the other night, a reporter said something that struck me and gave me new insight on this matter.

Here’s what he said:

“Controversy makes people think.”

Immediately I thought “Yes! Exactly! That’s a thought I’ve been needing to put into words for years.”

Of course it’s important that we understand the weaknesses of saying things in a more controversial way (and there are plenty). And it’s important that we use controversy thoughtfully and wisely.

But this is a huge part of why I still blog even after realising that controversy and blogging will always spend a lot of time together. Controversy makes people think. And that is what InFocus is about. Developing readers, thinkers, and theologians.

So keep an eye out! You never know what kind of controversy I might stir up next. [If using emoticons wasn't a major violation of the manly blogger code of practice, I'd probably put a ";" next to a ")" right about now...]

Seriously though, that’s part of why I come out with the occasional controversial post.

And for what it’s worth, if someone says something controversial and it makes you think, don’t be afraid to put your thoughts in comments. Whether or not you agree with the writer, you will both likely benefit.

Matthias Media is a local evangelical publisher with a distinct focus:

“We’re not the slightest bit interested in adding to the already monumental pile of Christian books churned out each year by the Christian publishing industry. The world needs more Christian books like it needs more websites.

However, we are passionate about publishing resources that fuel, promote and support gospel growth. So our publishing criteria for any project is threefold:

» Does it meet a gospel ministry need?

» Is the content faithful to the Bible?

» Is the quality of a high standard?”

At church, we’ve found much of their material meets those criteria, including the well-known Two Ways To Live gospel tract / training course and small group Bible studies.  I appreciate that the contents are written by locals, as it can be difficult to adapt overseas material for local use.  Matthias Media also produces The Briefing, a leading Australian evangelical publication.

The Geneva Push is a new Australian church planting network, with the aim to “raise up a new generation of church planters dedicated to evangelising churches into existence across this great nation.”  They are a non-denominational support organisation, offering information to update pastors and leaders on church planting news and issues.  They also provide assessments and coaching for potential church planters.

I’ve learned that the ministry and mindset of church planting is very different to ministry in an established church.  Church planters need the kind of support which The Geneva Push is offering.  If you are interested in planting a church, bookmark this site.

This well-produced site is very informative, collecting Australian religious news and providing viewpoints on ministry and social issues.  It’s Anglican-centric, but you don’t have to be Anglican to benefit from it!

Wellsprings

Each quarter, north Queensland pastors Wally Jaworski and Tracy Minnick  publish a helpful collection of articles for pastors, for free.  Produced with independent Baptists in mind, Wellsprings usually includes biblical, theological or pastoral topics by various writers, as well as book reviews.

Have you found a helpful ministry site?  Share it with us!

First and foremost, you are investing in a workflow or a process for studying the Bible.  I strongly encourage you to test drive the software prior to making a decision.  Are you comfortable with the search process?  Are you willing to get more training on the advanced features and syntax?  Have you asked other users about the weaknesses in the software?  How will this software specifically enhance your study of the Bible?  Choosing software with the wrong workflow is like driving a Ferrari on the M2 during peak hour… you will get there – slowly.  Now let’s talk about some of your options:

Both the ESV Study Bible website and Biblegateway.com provide a simple searching interface and basic textual and commentary helps.  E-Sword is a robust tool for studying the Bible.  You owe it to yourself to download E-Sword to see if it suits your needs (and it’s free).

Bibleworks is the tool of choice for the ninja exegete.  The software specialises in the close study of the text with excellent lexical tools.  You need to be comfortable with the original languages to use this product.  There is a significant learning curve for the advanced syntax (is there any other way to become a ninja)?

Logos is more accessible for people without experience in the original languages and for accessing the wealth of theological resources in Christendom.  You should consider the Silver Scholar package or the Platinum package.  Without the NAC, the cheaper packages don’t have enough real-use value.  The Platinum package adds the NIGTC, the PNTC, and the excellent BECNT.  If you are considering Logos, also save some shekels for the MacArthur commentaries, the pricey NICOT/NICNT set, and the theological journals.

We’ve only had these tools for the past 15-20 years of human history.  Most of our favourite authors could only dream of having access to our wealth of resources.  If you’re going to buy it – use it!

I’ve really enjoyed using my Twitter account to store all my momentary profundities.

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Here are 10 recent tweets.

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tweet 1: Mao’s Last Dancer… freedom is precious to those who have lived without it.

tweet 2: Oh yeah, Darwin’s that guy who discovered the amazing adaptability God built into His creation… now I remember.

tweet 3: Are you so busy that people at church are afraid to ask you to get involved?

tweet 4: We need rain. But let us pray that rain does not come until we have learned the lessons of the thirty soul.

tweet 5: “They shouted all the more ‘Let him be crucified!’” It is the mark of cowardice to give in to the louder shout.

tweet 6: Jesus’ life condemned me. Through unbelief, I am part of that “louder shout.”

tweet 7: Wise sayings need to be wisely applied.

tweet 8: A proverb is a universal principle. But a universal principle is not applicable universally.

tweet 9: Life is not about learning to avoid pain. It’s about learning to value pain.

tweet 10: It is not a smile that makes difficult words easier to accept. It is love.

That’s right, Charles Spurgeon blogs posthumously on a regular basis.

And that’s got me thinking about posthumous blogging in general. I’ve thought of several ups and several downs to posthumous blogging…

Downs

1. It’s not really blogging. The guy is dead so he can’t defend himself. He can’t clarify. He can’t qualify.

2. It’s gotta be edited. The guy who decides which writings to post gets to decide what the dead guy will say. In other words, the editor can write a whole article in between the lines via content, context, and timing.

3. Who wants to listen to a dead guy? Or maybe this is one of the ups…

Ups

1. Dead guys have some incredible stuff to say. For instance, I suspect Spurgeon has blessed and influenced more people since his death than he did during his life—and that’s saying something.

2. Dead guys can’t get into nearly as much trouble. Sure they can be wrong, but they can’t get involved in scandal or change directions. Dead guys have finished the race with a proven, genuine faith.

3. Dead guys are much more objective. No one can say they’re biased toward this camp or that. Of course their writings are coloured, but they’re generally coloured by things that are no longer controversial. Dead guys walk right into the most explosive of modern controversies blithe as a child—and often surprise us with profound truth.

Coming to InFocus

That’s part of why the new team is going to include a posthumous blogger. No, it won’t be Spurgeon—at least not this segment. Instead it’s a guy who was a kind of “young fundamentalist” before his time. A guy who’s death impacted the world deeply because of the life that had preceded it. A man who’s passion for the cross has spurred multiplied millions to greater fervency of love. A man who gave what he could not keep to gain what he could not lose.

In the last three years we’ve seen blogging transformed. We’ve seen the advent of micro-blogging. We’ve seen social networking come of age.

But something else has been happening that has gotten a lot less attention. Internet forums have changed dramatically.

Then and now

Five years ago forums were new and exciting. Everyone wanted to check ‘em out. The fast paced interaction was addictive. Lots of people said and did stupid things and lived to regret it.

Fast forward a few years. Forums have been maturing significantly. The hype has fallen away. Those who never got into them have little incentive to start now. Those who were burned by them are happy to forget they ever existed.

What’s left is the core. Those who found the medium genuinely helpful and who were mature enough to handle it. Of course that’s a massive broad brush of the situation. But it leads to a question…

Is there a future?

Is there a future for the forum medium? It would be easy to mistake the maturing of a medium for its death. But I don’t think that is what is happening. Indeed, there are plenty of thriving forums that stand in testimony to this point.

I want to point out three key elements of what I think is happening:

1. The broadening of the discussion table.

In our current online environment, there are any number of avenues for discussion. Blog comment threads, social networking sites and groups, micro-blogging sites, chat groups, chat, and of course the old snail mail… email.

Each of these venues offers a unique set of advantages and disadvantages and will suit different people’s habits, desires, and styles. In the same way, forums offer a unique set of advantages and disadvantages, arguably more advantageous and less disadvantageous than any other venue.

2. The theology factor.

We would have to be blind not to see that open discussion is threatening to some forms of theology. Generally, fundamentalist cults like the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons don’t tolerate opposing opinions. Atheist fundamentalism doesn’t. Islamic fundamentalism doesn’t. In much the same way, many within Christian Fundamentalism don’t either.

Those in these contexts will tend to avoid forums and other open discussion venues because of the public accountability and honest critique they accommodate.

3. The maturity factor.

Many a know-it-all cracker has been knocked for a loop by some PhD sitting behind an avatar—and with benefit to all. In fact, many people break out the proverbial popcorn when they see such a person show up because it can be quite amusing to watch the process.

The point is, the medium has developed a strong culture which knows how to handle those who aren’t mature enough to handle the medium. This tends to keep the cowards and the  know-it-alls away from the medium because it’s embarrassing to be publicly exposed as such.

Conclusion

I can’t predict the long term outlook of the online world (in other words, the next twelve months or so…!). But for now, I think forums have the potential to be very relevant. Indeed, many are.

May God continue to give us wisdom to use all of these things for his eternal purposes and glory.

Life on planet blog

• Phil Johnson has some interesting things to say about Evangelicalism over at Pyromaniacs.
• Speaking of Evangelicalism, Dave Doran offers a strong critique of an Evangelical’s characterisation of a key moment in Fundamentalist history.
• Finally, Kezia Dennison has an insightful post on the interrelating of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding at Sunergos Aletheia.

Some of the blogging team have expressed disappointment with how difficult it is to get our readers commenting. Maybe this would do the trick guys!

I put up the Alen Basic interview this morning, but I also wanted make a few comments and get the links in. Oh, and the video clip for those of you who are addicted.

GMT

The 5th anniversary of the founding of GMT is coming up in September. I’d like to see some special things put together for the occasion… do you have any ideas for things we could do? Leave a comment and I’ll take it to the leadership team.

Twitter

I’ve been wrestling with how to approach my Twitter account. I have no interest in microblogging the minutia of my life, or seeing anyone else’s life microblogged. But it seems snobby to use Twitter just as a tool for getting and giving profound thoughts.

Seems some people build readership by adding lots of friends. That strikes me as using people. Others just use it for a small circle of friends. Others don’t subscribe to anyone and use a separate account to follow friends.

Have you wrestled with this? What were your conclusions?

Life on planet blog

• I’ve just added Kezia Dennison’s new blog Sunergos Aletheia to the blog roll. Check it out.
• NeoBaptist has a great little clip on blogs for beginners.
• Go to the ant… zoom in x400… wow. HT.

Finally, good news! Think of all the money you’ll save on that surgery!

Have you ever gone back and read a post from a few months ago and thought “what was I thinking!?!” If you have, just think of what you’ll say when you read your posts twenty years from now. Sure, there will be evidence of growth over those years, but will there be tears because of how you treated someone who is now in eternity? … Don’t sow the seeds that will harvest waves of regret someday.

Life is not a game. God made us and He put us here for a purpose. Sounds obvious, but it’s so easy to forget when you live in the technology toy factory we call modern Australia.

You know what I mean.

Facebook, Twitter, Forums, Blogs…

iPhone, iPod, iMac…

X-box, Wii, PlayStation…

Email, texts, mobiles, landlines, IM…

The list could go on and on. There’s nothing wrong with these technologies, but we’ve got to remember they’re not just toys, they’re tools. With that in mind, here are a few ideas to help keep technology in its place.

1. Be deliberate. Find tools that will help you fulful your life purpose more efficiently and effectively. Eliminate those that distract from that purpose.
2. Be protective (of your time and attention). Guard your attitude toward communication tools. Just because the phone rings or an email arrives doesn’t mean God’s priorities for your life have changed. Don’t be a slave to your communication tools. With very few exceptions, you don’t owe anyone an immediate response to a communication.
3. Be efficient. There are a lot of tools which will allow you to do more in less time online. Find them and put them to use. Then use that time in more profitable ways.
4. Be selective. You don’t have to own/participate in every new technology or web fad that comes along. Ask others how it’s worked for them. Weigh your options. Participate intentionally.
5. Be Christian. Don’t check your Christianity at the door. If you’re online, be a light for Christ online. If you’re txting, be a Christian txter. Technology allows us to maintain more relationships more easily than ever before. Develop relationships with lost people and preach Christ to them.

Well, those are my thoughts. If you’ve found something else that is helpful to you, please add it in comments.

Links

• J. H. Jowett: “I have a conviction that no sermon is ready for preaching… until we can express its theme in a short, pregnant sentence as clear as a crystal.” Read the whole paragraph at Between Two Worlds.
• Jonathan Edwards on emotion in preaching. Desiring God.
• David Hosaflook has an insightful post on Alcohol on the Mission Field.

And finally, this is an interesting concept: