[itdiscuss] Church IT Resource List

[Jason Powell]

I just posted this on my blog ... but know a number of you aren't blog
readers ;-)

 

 


Church IT Resource List
<http://www.jasonpowell.net/jason_powell_church_it/2008/10/church-it-res
ou.html> 


In thinking about next week's Church IT Roundtable
<http://jpowell.blogs.com/jason_powell_church_it/2008/10/6-days-til-fall
.html> , I started to list all the various resources us church IT folks
are using to stay informed and connected ... and wow the list kept going
and going!  This is both great and challenging :-)

It's great in that our grassroots movement is growing rapidly and
jumping on any technology that could benefit the greater good.  The
challenge is that these resources are scattered ALL over the place
making them often hard to find and easy to forget about.  So I'm making
this list mainly for myself at this point, but assume it will be helpful
for some of you as well.

AND I've recommitted myself to help lead the charge in creating an easy
to use one-stop-shop portal for all our resources.  So far google apps
and ning.com would be great possible tools to make this happen.  Let me
know if you're interested in helping.

So here's the list I've compiled so far in the order they popped into my
head ... what have I forgotten?

CITRT.org <http://citrt.org>  - We're planning to continue to make this
THE FUNNEL for all things Church IT related (see CITRT Summary and
Vision <http://itdiscuss.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/WhatIsCitrt> ).  A
place to capture everything from events to resources to prayer requests
to stuff to buy/sell.  As mentioned above, an extreme site makeover is
coming in the near future. [site hosted/maintained by Jeffrey Thompson]

Church IT Podcast - www.churchITpodcast.com  Twice a month CITRT folks
"meet" online and via phone to discuss all manner of IT topics.  The
call is recorded and then made available as a podcast.  We even have
transcriptions of each call to aid in searching for something in
particular.  [maintained by Jason Powell]

Twitter <http://search.twitter.com/search?q=citrt>  - There are a number
of Church IT peeps on Twitter. I've not yet found a good way to "group"
us together, but you can search for CITRT
<http://search.twitter.com/search?q=citrt>  to find some.  After the
roundtable next week I'm sure #citrt will be hoppin'

Facebook
<http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=2405884636
>  - We have over 200 people in our CITRT group on facebook. It's a
place to find other facebook CITRT peeps and get occasional CITRT news
updates.  [maintained by Jason Powell]

Linkedin
<http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=83630&goback=.ana_83630_122309446005
7_1.ana_83630_1223094460058_1>  - We have almost 200 people in our
Linkedin CITRT group. Recommend you join it to find other CITRT peeps.
Linkedin now has discussion threads which could be useful to gather
feedback.  [Created by Ian Beyer]

Blog Aggregator <http://citrt.org/planet/>  - We have aggregated a
number of church IT related blogs.  Here's how to add yours
<http://citrt.org/addBlog.php>  to the list.  [maintained by Jeffrey
Thompson?]

Blog Search Engine - Andrew Mitry
<http://anchorite.org/blog/2007/10/26/church-technology-search/>  made a
handy google search
<http://anchorite.org/blog/2007/10/26/church-technology-search/>  that
searches through the blogs listed in the above blog aggregator.  It's
found at the top of the CITRT.org main page or hit Andrew's link above
to use the code on your own site.

Blogroll <http://clifguy.com/2007/04/28/church-it-blogroll/>  - Clif Guy
<http://clifguy.com/2007/04/28/church-it-blogroll/>  maintains a large
blogroll of church technology related blogs

Roundtable Guidelines
<http://jpowell.blogs.com/jason_powell_church_it/2007/05/wow_theres_been
.html>  - Thinking about starting your own local roundtable meetings?
You should!  Here's the basic guidelines we work from for each
roundtable.

Discussion Topics
<http://jpowell.blogs.com/jason_powell_church_it/2007/11/it-roundtable-t
.html>  - Here's a large list of all the different topics that have been
discussed at our prior events.

IT Discuss Forum <http://itdiscuss.org>  - Ministry IT focused forum
that's been around several years.  [site hosted/maintained by Jeffrey
Thompson]

IT Discuss Email List
<http://optimus.thompsonic.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss>  -
Ministry IT focused email list that's been around several years with
fully searchable archives.  [site hosted/maintained by Jeffrey Thompson]

Church IT Survey
<http://jpowell.blogs.com/jason_powell_church_it/2007/08/church-it-surve
.html>  - Ever wonder what churches similar to you are doing IT wise?
How many computers do they support?  What's their IT staff size? Do they
support multi-site, etc?  Or what about those churches several steps
ahead of you - what's their IT makeup look like?  How should you plan
now to be at that size in the future?  What about trying to find
churches around you with experience in VoIP, Virtualization, etc?
Wouldn't it be sweet to have a resource that helped shed some light on
these questions?  That's what this is for. (note to self to get more
current data into the survey and find a better way to manage end user
updates)  [created/maintained by Jason Powell]

Church IT Survey Google Map
<http://www.communitywalk.com/usa/citrt_mashup/map/212715>  - Derek Berg
<http://www.derekjberg.com/2008/02/church-it-google-map-mash-up/>  made
a nice mashup between the above survey data and google maps.  See where
other churches that have survey data are in relationship to you.
(Derek's working on a newer mashup version)

ChMS Google Group <http://groups.google.com/group/ChMS>  - Discussion of
needs and ideas for Church Management Systems.  [maintained by Tony Dye]

Flickr Group <http://flickr.com/groups/citrt>  - We even have a group on
Flickr where you can browse Church IT related photos and pics from our
actual Roundtable events.  [created/maintained by Justin Moore]

IRC / Chat Room
<http://jpowell.blogs.com/jason_powell_church_it/2008/01/easy-way-to-joi
.html>  - If you hadn't heard ... we have a 24/7 Church IT chat room
you're invited to  join.   You'll find IT geeks hangin' out in there all
hours of the day and into the midnight hours.  It's a place to ask
questions, blow off some steam, and get to know other IT peers  [created
by Jeffrey Thompson]

Instant IRC
<http://embed.mibbit.com/?server=irc.freenode.net&channel=%23citrt&force
Prompt=true>  / Chat Room - This link takes you directly into the Church
IT chat room ... nothing but a web browser required.

Webcam Aggregator <http://www.wantmoore.com/citrt-cams.php>  - Every so
often some of us will fire up our webcams for your voyeuristic pleasure
:-)  [created/maintained by Justin Moore]

MinistryIT Yahoo Group <http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MinistryIT/>
- Another Church IT discussion group that's relatively new.
[created/maintained by Nick Nicholaou]

Texas Ministry Tech <http://texasministrytech.ning.com/>  - From the
site: Texas Ministry Tech is dedicated to creating and growing
relationships and cooperation between ministry-minded IT folks in Texas.
[created by Scott Miller]

Ministry Tech <http://ministrytech.org>  - From the site: MinistryTECH
is a new national conference dedicated to church information technology
professionals. Come join some of the leading church tech professionals
to learn how they are using technology in their ministries.

I'm sure there's more ... as you think of other church IT related
resources please leave a comment and I'll add it to the list.

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