Tech Geek

I just got back from a great gathering of young leaders and adult mentors at the Council of Synod Lutheran Youth Organization Presidents at MountSequoyah Retreat Center outside of Fayetteville , Arkansas. It was a great weekend of sharing, fellowship, and worship as we explored the theme of Uni-Diversity, the things we have in common and the things that make us a diverse group of people, as well as how we can more fully appreciate that diversity.

During one of our exercises, we were moving around the room to show whether or not we fit into a variety of different categories. Many of the questions were around labels that we put on other people or on ourselves. Some of them were of the "Do you own" variety. One question, "Do you own a cell phone?" was answered "yes" by every participant, youth and adult. I expected the majority of participants to answer yes to that question, but I, along with other youth and adult participants, was a little surprised to see that every person there owned a cell phone.

Why do I bring that up? Well, do you own and use your cell phone in ministry? Are you using text messages to stay in communication with the youth youminister to? Are you using text messages to remind people of events and opportunities? Are you exchanging cell phone numbers so that you can always re-group if you get split up while doing something? Your group may not have 100% cell phoneusage , but it may be closer to that than you think. I also was chatting with an adult participant marveling at the ability of our young people to text message while engaged in just about any other activity. We may use them for voice, but they are very definitely text devices to our young people.

The ELCA Youth Ministry Network has a new partnership with TxtSignal, a permission based text messaging service. You invite your young people to sign up to receive your texts. You can send group messages immediately, or schedule them to go out at a specific time. Send out reminders, daily devotions, or electronic pick-me-up notes. The plan works with all of the major and almost all of the minor phone services.

There are a variety of plans to match the size and needs of your group. Plus, TxtSignal is giving members of the ELCA Youth Ministry Network 10% off of the monthly cost for the first year, plus is adding an additional 15 days to the standard 30 day free trial. Just go to the TxtSignal web site and when prompted for a promotional code, please enter ELCA. Thanks to TxtSignal for their partnership!

I have also written before about Pinger. They are currently free, and they provide not just text messages, but voice messages to your contacts. You call the magic number, it sends a text message to those you want it sent to that invites them to call a magic number. When they call, they hear the voice message you've left for them.Pinger also lets you transfer your voicemail from your cell provider to them. That means you can listen to your voicemail on your computer, helping hold down the number of minutes you use. (Although, the calls that get forwarded to yourPinger Voicemail may cost you minutes because they were forwarded. I'm not sure about that yet.)

God's blessings and peace,
Pastor Andy Arnold