I have been working on streamlining some items inside our admin areas. Mainly our follow-up systems. Although we have the systems in place it gets really time consuming typing the same things over and over. So we typed everything in word files so we can copy and paste, but it is still time consuming as you still have to find the file and open the file. So today I was remembering a product I heard Leo Laporte uses called Text Expander. I looked at it and was amazed at the impact it could have in ministry admin items.

I typed the following thing only using 2 snippets. (7 letters Total)

Hey,

It was so good to see you at Echo last night. I hope you meet some new people and had a great time. Here at Echo we are all about students, and helping them get connected to other students and God. If you have any questions about Echo please feel free to checkout out our website at www.echostudentministries.com, and/or email me. Thanks again for coming and we will be looking forward to seeing you next week.

PATRICK RINGLER
Student Pastor
First Assembly of God
www.firstagrc.com
www.echostudentministries.com
Office: 605-342-8265
Fax: 605-342-6848

Social Networking:
{+} TWITTER : www.twitter.com/patrickringler
{+} FACEBOOK : www.facebook.com/patrick.ringler

If you think this is something you would like to try check out the website HERE. and you can get 20% off just check out this website HERE. Also I would love to hear what you think…

I thought i was the only father that messed up alot. I have 3 girls and tears are common place at my house. I saw this video and the young guy reminded me of my littlest. I have added what Carlos (dad) had to say about the video.

So my 3 year old. He apparently loves the song, “Single Ladies”, by Beyonce. Little did I know how much he loves that song. I was simply making a point that he, in fact, is not a single lady. I thought he would laugh and keep singing. Man, was I wrong. Notice Sohaila, my
oldest daughter, in the center seat.

I am not really that good with photoshop yet, but I saw this video and was blown away by just this one feature in Photoshop CS4. I have this version and will be looking to try this out in the coming days. Watch the video it is worth your time, especially if you have CS4.

Thanks to AG Trust and National Youth Ministries. as they have given away a tool that is geared to aid youth pastors in reaching students. TheFiftyTwo has lots of ideas that make ministry easier. I

As you navigate TheFiftyTwo you’ll notice three other tabs besides Plan52: Leadership, Sermon/Small Groups, and Applications.

• The Leadership tab gives you a plethora of leadership tips, ideas and resources to help you grow as an individual and in your youth ministry. Some of these will also prove helpful in training your youth staff.
• The Sermon/Small Group tab contains 56 sermons, 56 coordinating small group lessons, and 56 slide presentations in PowerPoint. Every sermon, small group connect and slide presentation can be worked with in order to make it more personal and fit your youth ministry.
• The Application tab contains program and product apps to equip you with the tools necessary to win, build and send youth. Here you’ll find product descriptions and strategies that allow you as the leader to bring application to your plan. In addition, you will find an Other Resources tool bar, which will highlight several other current Apps for your use.

I believe this is great for volunteer youth workers, as time is a limited commodity in their ministry. I have a code for TheFiftyTwo that I would like to give away to a leader that would like it. I will give it away to some that comments to this post before 8pm. Check out the release video below;

Hey I am always looking for some tech news and church related info. Recently i have started reading collide magazine. It is great resource for church and media information. Here is their recent video for you to check out.

Do you read Collide? What magazines to you read for information on the topic of church and media? I would love to hear from you.

As a youth pastor sometimes it is rough to always seem to come up with some cool games for students. The cool thing is that know NBC wants to help. They started a new series called, “Minute to win” that has some pretty cool games. Most of the games you could do right in your weekly service. The game i looked at was “Bite Me” We might do this in the next could of weeks. Check out the description video below.

If you want to check out some more games click here. Let me know what you think. What games to you use, or where do you get your ideas?

Man it seems like evceryday I have more and more things that I need to read. Sometimes it is overwhelming. I read pretty slow and am always looking to learn how to read a little faster. This past week I came across a speed reader site that helps me read faster called ZapReader.

When you first come to the site you paste in the text you want to read into a box. Then push go and it starts flashing one word at a time the whole article you have pasted in. You think it does not work but it does. I like that I can change the speeds of the words so I can grow in my reading skill. If you like this please check out the video below…

About a year ago I started ending all my letters and emails with the line, “Journeying Together”.  I do believe that all of us are on a journey.  We are headed to a point, but during the travel what do we focus on the journey or the destination. I was reading a great post from Scott Hodge the pastor of a church called “The Orchard”. (You can read it here) He talks about the power is in the journey and that we need to value the Journey. 

Looking through my life I have really decided to love the journey, the good and the bad, as it is what God is using to shape and mold me.  I struggle though with focusing so much on reaching the goal I miss the joy I could have in my journey.  So today I am focusing on creating signs that will help me live and be excited in the journey and let the destination be shaped by God.

What do you think is more important, the journey or the destination?  What are some things you do or think will help you live inside the journey? Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

I am excited about the Nines Conference. Here is a breakdown of what it about:

THE NINES is a free one-day event that will take place totally on-line.  It is specifically designed for any church leaders who is interested in learning valuable things about church leadership.

Leadership Network asked some of the church’s greatest communicators:  "If you had nine minutes to talk one-on-one with thousands of church leaders, what is the one thing that you would tell them?

The format is simple:  Nine minute video leadership lessons that can help multiply your church’s impact.  You will be stretched as a leader, and motivated as a church.

We are encouraging every church staff member in America to attend THE NINES.  Watch it alone, or with your entire staff.  It’s free.

I would encourage everyone to take part in this conference.  I am looking forward to the impact nine minutes will have on me.  You can check it out HERE.  I would love to know what you think? Leave a Comment

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Sometimes those of us that are techie forget how hard it is to create a basic picture.  I was reading through some blogs and saw Jarrett Stevens was using Picnik for photo editing at his upcoming church plant (Soul City Church).  So I went over to the site and starting noising around.  It was really cool and I decided to get a membership to see how we can use it for our church.  I can say the first Picture I scrapbook of my daughter went really good and looked great.  You can check it out HERE.  Also check out the Blog post that start me out in Picnik and other things HERE

What do you use for Photo Editing? Personally? Church Wide?  I would love to know, let me know in the comments.

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