Pocket Revolutionary

I’ll officially be at SXSW for the first time this year to learn everything I can for the coolest ministry ever. I know it’s at the same time as NRB this year, so any other ministry web developers out there might not be able to make it. If you’re going to be there, though, drop me an email, add a comment, or look me up on the registrant directory. Anybody who knows me personally knows I’m not the most outgoing, but I’d love to meet some other people out there with similar interests!

I’ve just really discovered ShawnBlanc‘s blog and found out that beyond being another Mac user, he is at IHOP and involved with the onething conferences, which means we probably know some of the same people without even knowing it. Anyway, I’ve been thinking more about having two separate blogs like Shawn has, one for Christianity/ministry and one for technology/freelance stuff. I do miss writing the great theological debates of my past, after all. So, in the coming weeks, as I transition our sites to MediaTemple, I am planning to either post my own blog or start a group blog with some friends. I’m still just working on names… I’ll let you all know how that goes.

It is time for a change at PocketRevolutionary.com. I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to wax about all things random and theological, but I’ve decided in the past few weeks to take a serious look at the focus for PocketRevolutionary. I’ve realized that my heart is in the subjects I end up talking about every day in my non-blog life: the web, Web 2.0, new technologies and strategies, and how these things affect ministries and the Christian marketplace.

My main goal in my non-blog life is to build systems and new strategies for ministries and a few Christian-owned businesses. As much as I may listen to Ravi Zacharias, Bill Johnson, Cindy Jacobs, etc., I realize that’s not my voice or my mission for right now. I like internetmonk.com, but I flag and read PhilCooke.com and tech blogs obsessively. Why? Because they talking about practical things that are necessary for using “new media” in ministries today. So, I’ve decided to find my own voice in blogging (the same thing I’ve told others to do before). I may like to read Bonhoeffer on the weekends, but my weekdays are spent creating wiki communities, helping my friends start successful blogs, or training the staff at Generals International on using project management software. The questions I’m asked have more to do with web technology than my theology of grace.

So, this is the day of a “re-imagining” at PocketRevolutionary. I want this site to be a friendly guide for those in the field of “2.0″ ministry today. This is my small handbook for the revolutionaries; your “pocket revolutionary.” My goal is to really make this an interactive place for discussions of the issues we run into and ways that we can push the boundaries. I’m always open for more input in the comments and at my email. I’ll keep the old posts because I know there was a few readers back then, but I’ll pull them down and archive them “off-site” for now. I’ll still post my personal thoughts and stories, but I’ll at least try to tie them to the central focus of using technology.

Future blog ideas (in no particular order): ministry blogs, Typo3, MySpace, YouTube, GTD, software picks, Apple, productivity, OmniPlan, OmniFocus, wikis, Google Maps, TextMate. I’m sure more things will come up as I pore through my own news feeds. Let me know if you have any other ideas.