Grace and Truth and Technology » on the job

Wednesday Potpourri

Dave Stone — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:48:12 +0000

Here’s a grab bag of things I’ve been working on lately…

Celebrating Advent with my wife.
Finding/creating/purchasing a Mac in order to begin iPhone app development. Seth Hanson gave me a good idea for an app. Other ideas include: Bethel media access, Netflix management (PhoneFlicks search is not working well lately). Purchased a few books to help me learn: Cocoa Programming for Max OS X, Beginning iPhone 3 Development
Also, on recommendation from John Piper and Mark Driscoll, I’m reading Sailhammer’s The Meaning of the Pentateuch.
Developing a tool to train and equip small group leaders to share the Gospel more times this year than last. I’m working with Dave Dawson on this.
Cafe Resonate: Tighty Whitey 4 is coming up on Thursday, December 17. Looking for a few people within Resonate who will share their testimony that evening.
Although I’m not specifically working on this one, my wife, Hannah, is pregnant! I suppose we are working on our marriage and according to On Becoming Baby Wise, a strong husband-wife relationship is the first and most important ingredient for raising healthy children.
I just activated my Google Wave account.
Ordered Windows 7 Ultimate.
Been playing around with Twitter a bit more – follow me: davidtstone … also follow Bethel: bethelrichland

C.J. Mahaney: 1 Peter 1:1-4, the pastor’s charge

Dave Stone — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:50:15 +0000

On the charge of a pastor. If you are a pastor, you should watch this.

K. Edward Copeland

Dave Stone — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:14:16 +0000

2 Timothy 3:1-9. Tidbits:
Stop acting like what you do doesn’t matter. Why are you wrried about an election? God is on the throne and not up for election. Lies have an expiration date. Truth marches on forever.

Tim Keller: discern, expose, and destroy idols

Dave Stone — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:25:25 +0000

Learn how to take the Gospel to idols. This is a pic of people gathering around Marc Driscoll.

Off to Gospel Coalition Conference

Dave Stone — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:12:40 +0000

Left Pasco at 9:30. Arrived Seattle 10:20. Sat next to Seth. Was on same flight with some of Todd’s friends.

For the Geeks among us (or Greeks)

Dave Stone — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:17:34 +0000

John Dyer has created a free “Reader’s” version of the Hebrew and Greek texts of the Bible.

The Adventures of Dave and WordPress

Dave Stone — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 21:08:34 +0000

So, we’re getting ready to roll out an update to Bethel’s website. About two years ago, just after we rolled out our current design, I told Lorna Foelber that Bethel’s next website would run on WordPress. Sure enough, that’s what is happening. This week saw the successful installation and configuration of WordPress-MU (multi-user). Previous attempts to make it work were unsuccessful.

Bethel’s sites using WordPress currently:

Small Group Leader blog
Kid’s Express Preschool
Sports INC.
Middle School ministry
High School ministry
Unlimited Vertical (Bethel’s music ministry, and first blog on Bethel’s WordPress MU system)
BethelLaunchPad
Bethel office intranet (internally hosted)
Richland Campus (coming soon)
West Pasco Campus (coming soon)

Next step: create a WordPress theme for Bethel campuses.

Bethel Church to open campus in Pasco

Dave Stone — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:04:15 +0000

Bethel Church to open campus in Pasco. Don’t know how the TriCity Herald knew about this in February of 2007, but it’s cool coverage, nonetheless.

Goodbye MyChurchEvents; Hello Google Calendar

Dave Stone — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:20:17 +0000

We’ve used MyChurchEvents for a few years now as our (Bethel’s) online calendar solution. They offer a decent service…minimal downtime, easy enough to train volunteers on how to use. However, they have a few strikes against them:

No ability to track usage (I’ve asked multiple times)
Extremely limited access to calendar data in usable format (e.g., no APIs)
Layout is cluttered
It’s very much a web 1.0 app
It’s slow (relative to Google)
They still charge $60/year

By my count, that’s six strkes against them…that’s enough for two outs. Here’s the out I found…

I’ve been looking for an alternate online calendar solution for over a year now and just recently began testing Google Calendar. We’re planning to move it into production this Fall, but you can take a sneak peak at what it may look like now if you’re interested.

What is Shelby Doing?

Dave Stone — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:20:34 +0000

I received an email from Shelby Systems announcing a new product. Shelby Systems is now offering yet another set of programs (called Aspire) beyond its core legacy-offering and its web-based Arena.

Problem 1: the Aspire website is woefully lacking pertinent details…when clicking the “Tour” button, I’m sent to a page that says “This feature is coming soon…” Note the image below. Screen shots are great, but there’s no explanation about this fitting over an existing Shelby DB or if it is all new.
Solution 1: Hire a web design firm (like Stepframe!) They will help you present your website and email communications more clearly and effectively (and there will be no more “coming soon” pages).

Problem 2: the products (Arena and Aspire / Shelby and Aspire) appear in competition.
Solution 2: Take the plunge and lose the legacy aspects of Shelby (it was designed by programmers for programmers), and create a single web-based application.

I would love to see Shelby aspire to modernity!