I don't normally get too into motivational speeches by famous pastors, but I wish everyone could have heard what pastor Bill Hybels just poured out from his heart this morning at the 2005 Leadership Summit. He opened the conference with a message that focused on the circumstances surrounding several Biblical leaders (Moses, Nehemiah, David). As Moses saw a beating which stirred him into action, God later confirmed his passion in saying “I am concerned about their suffering”and chose Moses for the task of rescuing His people.

Is that passion stirring in your heart for something also the concern of God? This is your Holy Discontent and, if you embrace it, it will allow God to do his work through your life.

My short summary of pastor Hybels message is completely inadequate in describing this truth, so if you ever have the chance to hear this message you will better understand and be moved.

I'll take his advice and follow the example in those Biblical illustrations. I'll feed my Holy Discontent for high priced software for the Church and rely on God to handle the rest of the story. “Come, let us rebuild...the gracious hand of my is God upon me...” (Nehemiah 2:17-18)

Contact me if you want to get involved in this project.

Check out Kem Meyer's blog for an excellent summary of each session from the summit. (Thanks Kem!)

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Open source stock photography? “No way” you say. Yeah way. How did this one ever get by me for so long? I'm always on the hunt for good and cheap (err, free) photos for various projects. Jeremy, our graphics/layout artist, has introduced me to morgueFile.

MorgueFile contains hundreds of thousands of high-quality images for free! And would you believe you can use them in commercial projects without any permission? As they put it:

“Yes, all images are really free and they can be used in your commercial projects without permission or credit from the photogrpaher. Although selling prints, selling the images directly or claiming the photo is yours is prohibited.”

Besides the other sites linked on morgueFile, have you found any others that you'd like to share?


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We've been going through the book of Nehemiah at church, and as usual, I'm able to relate his wall with a building project of my own. A few years ago I got involved as an usher at my church. One thing quickly lead to another and I was soon asked to use my experience to program a scheduling system for our ushering team...

As I got more involved, I was saddened as I discovered the sad state of software and sharing amongst the Church. I prayed, and am thoroughly convinced that God planted a vision within me. Since I have a fairly deep dislike for money, but really enjoy giving, it made a lot of sense to me: open-source church software. It's a tall order and has its complications, but I have come to discover this vision is shared by others involved with church IT across the nation.

This week I returned from my vacation and received some bad news. A software collaboration deal I was helping to shape had fallen through due to complications with legalese. Before I left for vacation it seemed we would soon have an excellent framework (written by another AZ church) from which to develop ministry-based software that could be shared freely with the world. Needless to say I was more than bummed.

Then my disappointment turned to excitement as I got word that Microsoft had announced that their CRM was skipping v2.0 and would instead move to 3.0 and incorporate many sought after changes. I just finished watching two TechEd webcasts covering the upcoming features. I'm now in the process of recasting my vision and will report back shortly.

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As of Monday June 6, our web site has become slightly more important to us. Somehow XO Communications issued an order to Quest to disconnect our phone service.

Yes, a web site is an important tool, but seeing pastors and ministry assistants without phone communications made me realize how important phones are -- you see, I'm not a big fan of them (especially cell phones) mostly because I'd much rather speak with someone in person.

This event has made me think more about providing additional communication tools for our church. Specifically I've been considering integrating something like those "interactive chat" tools you see on tech support sites. This would allow a receptionist or on-call/on-line pastor to 'talk' with someone who may be to shy to just use the phone. In this age, it does not seem too far fetched.

Have you ever used one of those interactive chat tools to talk with an online support representative?


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We launched our new look-and-feel (theme/skin) today. I don't think this one will generate as much "discussion" as our last one (Vegas/Stakes Are High) but it does still make you think about what a Christian website is supposed to look like... it reminds me what Jesus said about 'cleaning the outside of the cup'.

I suspect if you are not intentional about your site you do run some risks.

Is a church website supposed to look like something? What is its purpose? To me it is an important tool of the fisherman.

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