Cause to Pause

So my wife and I are on vacation. I am actually going somewhat “dark” on this one. I am bringing my laptop so we can attend church online while we are away-God and the cell phone providers willing. Where we are going there won’t be any wifi. So we are bringing two phones from different providers hoping one will have coverage. But other than that, I am probably going to turn off the twitter, blogs etc. and just enjoy the family time.

I am bringing along a new media player though. This thing is AWESOME! A recent Portfolio Magazine article quoted Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos as saying that “nothing rivals this for the delivery of media”. He went on to say that it would be his hope that the kindle would one day equal it. Amazing. When was the last time you heard someone say they hoped their product would “one day” equal their rival’s?

The particular one I have has a really innovative software architecture. It is a direct blend of proprietary and open source. Sounds mutually exclusive, I know. But the main OS was written by a little over three dozen guys, many of which did all their work completely independent of the rest of the team. Never met. Let’s just say managment was focused. It was actually a very bizarre arrangement. The output of those projects was then compiled into over five dozen different sub-programs that are all integrated with the direct focus of bringing the main content, as a whole, directly to the individual.

That part of it is completely locked down. So much so that with it comes a warning that any attempts to alter the original code will render the whole device useless. And Microsoft thought THEY knew how to write a EULA!

Then comes in the second layer. This is completely open source and is designed to allow the user to add their level of programming, or to add content from others to expand upon the original layer. Giving that original layer more depth,clarity and interactivity. Once again-withOUT upsetting the original integrity.

As one who loves technology, especially when something is called “the single most technologically advanced device of its kind”, I can’t wait to spend some time with it.

ps- Jeff Bezos was referring to the book. I am referring to The Book.

Let me start off by saying what I am about to suggest may seem somewhat far-fetched. Pie in the sky even. But then, so did that whole “put a man on the moon” thing at one point.

A couple of months ago, I was fortunate enough to meet up with Jason Reynolds. Our discussions related to the idea of disaster recovery. Jason got it in his head to do a southern fried CITRT. The planning of which has begun. You won’t want to miss it.

One of the things that has been rolling around in my head has been the definition of “Disaster Recovery”. I mean really, do we define “recovery” as “All our systems are up, the brush is cleared from the lot, buildings opened and dry.” or is it much more than that? Is it about Recover, Restore, and Resource?

Recover- help to provide basic needs-food, water, shelter.
Restore-aid families in putting lives back together.
Resource-ongoing efforts-both physical and emotional

One might ask, where does church IT come into this? Dead center. There was a time when all you needed to be a church was a pastor, an organized secretary and a car. Now everything is about the flow of information. Getting the people with needs in touch with the people who can fill them. It really and truly is about the HUMAN resources.

Which brings me back to my title. It is often quoted in churches that “We are God’s plan A for the world-and there is no plan B.” and equally “There is nothing more powerful than the local church when it works well.” What do you think? When tragedy strikes who would you rather call? A friend or a government agency?

If you are responsible for the flow of communication within your organization, if a flood comes, would you  have a plan in place? A list of people you can call? One of the great things about networking is that we have the opportunity to minister to each other. Is there someone you could call if a hurricane or tornado caused your server room to flood? By that I mean, “someone who would care about more than the revenue”.  What if all your vital communications operations were handled in such a way that if disaster struck, ministry could still continue? “The buildings gone, but I still have email!” is a lot different than “Server’s down. Everyone play solitare until it is fixed.”

I don’t know how much pure Disaster Recovery/Response will be covered in this event. By definition Roundtables are not agenda driven. See this. But there will be some top notch people there. There has already been committment from a couple of large vendors.

Watch Jason’s blog and citrt.org for details and reports after the event. Church IT isn’t about “equipping ministers to do the glory work”. It is much more vital than that.

This just posted on Foxnews.com. If you take out the pesky “terrorism” part, everything they say in the article points to exactly why twitter is such a good thing.

I wonder if this means all our tweets are now being scanned by the Pentagon? If so, there go my chances for ever running for President….