The number of digital photos you accumulate for ministry purposes can begin to grow quite large over time, making it increasingly difficult to find the photos you desire quickly. No one filing scheme works best for everyone, but here are a few tips to follow that will make finding photos easier down the road.

For each one of us, there are those things that we know that we should do, but for one reason or another, we just don’t always get around to doing them. (For example, I know that I should floss my teeth every day. I’m aware of the benefits of flossing. But somehow, much to my dentist’s chagrin, my flossing tends to be somewhat random.) Today’s technology tip is more of a gentle reminder than a tip, as I am sure that it falls into this category of information you already know. Here’s your reminder: Backup the files on your computer! Any data that you cannot afford to lose needs to be backed up on a regular basis.

Is all of the important data on your computer currently saved elsewhere? If your hard drive crashes as you are reading this email, how much data will you lose?

So, you've drawn up your will, paid your life insurance premium regularly, made arrangements for someone to care for your children or pets, and even pre-paid for a niche in your church's columbarium. You're feeling pretty responsible and know you have left a gift to your loved ones. But have you given any thought to what happens to all of those bits and bytes you have stored on computers all over the world?

The truth is that many of us forget that our family members will need or want access to our email, online bank accounts, passwords, and social networks in the event of our death. After all, these days many of us store our address book, our financial records, and virtually everything else that can be digitized on our computers or on various websites. Gaining access to email and other accounts can be extremely difficult or impossible if one does not have the usernames and passwords. 

Bulletin or newsletter announcements often end with the phone number or email address of the person to contact for more details or to sign up. But how often do you indicate if a person may be contacted by text message, or Twitter for that matter? Some people in your congregation (youth in particular) likely prefer text messages over emails or phone calls, while others can't imagine why anyone would want to type on their phone.

The solution is to begin to develop your own database that lists both acceptable and preferred contact methods, or to add this information to your church database. Start by giving your team leaders a form with blanks for email, home and cell numbers, Facebook/MySpace/Twitter usernames, and so on. Then, provide checkboxes where they can indicate preferred contact methods and any methods that should not be used. Later, you can expand your database to include the acceptable and preferred contact methods for everyone in the congregation.

One of the projects I'm working on is a faith formation website for the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church. When it is finished, the site will contain information about the many faith formation / Christian education ministries of the conference, with content created by many leaders from around the state. So that I don't have to do all of the work myself, I chose to create the website (which you can preview here) using a Content Management System.

According to Wikipedia, a Content Management System, or CMS, is a "computer application used to manage work flow needed to collaboratively create, edit, review, index, search, publish, and archive various kinds of digital media and electronic text." Put more simply, a CMS is a website creation tool that typically resides online rather than on your hard drive.

There are plenty of gadgets that are useful for Christian educators, youth directors, and others in faith formation ministries to have. I use digital voice recorders regularly, and would not want to go anywhere without my smart phone. These days, though, one of the handiest tools to have in your technical toolkit is a Flip camcorder.

The Flip series of camcorders have been around for about two years now, and they are incredibly versatile little tools. Little is certainly a key word, as the approximately 4" x 2" x 1" size makes it easy to put in a pocket or purse. The sharp, 1.5" or 2" diagonal screen is large enough to frame up a shot, and actually the small size can help you to remember to get closer to the action in order to get a good-sized image. They hold either 60 or 120 minutes of video, and the built-in USB connector and minimal controls make using the camera as simple as can be. I recommend getting one of the Flip UltraHD models for the best picture resolution and storage size, but if you gotta have a fun color or even a custom-designed Flip, then go with the Flip MinoHD.

Just about everywhere you look online these days, someone is asking you to rate your experience. Whether it's a video you viewed online or the restaurant you had dinner at, opportunities abound to "vote" and give your rating. Those comments then are often picked up by dozens of other similar sites.

Put simply, since many people will likely learn about your congregation from search engines, first impressions are critical. This is true even if your congregation still doesn't have a website! What are people saying about your congregation? If you're not sure, it's time for you to find out...and then do a bit of work to get some positive reviews out there.

What would the world be like if every person found one cause that they were passionate about and adopted that as their ministry area? I find this an interesting question that I am especially drawn to when I am feeling pulled in many directions. Barbara Wendland’s passion for reading and writing about church-related topics and for encouraging others to ask thinking questions led her to writing a monthly newsletter, Connections.

Many congregations--especially small and mid-sized churches--go about their website design in one of two ways. Some have a tech-savvy person in the congregation with some basic web development skills create a site for them. Others call up whatever company is listed in the phone book and have them do it for them. Both approaches can work great in certain circumstances, but there are other options worth considering.

One of the methods I recommend to churches is to hire a Project Manager (PM) rather than a web designer. A good PM will be able to "speak geek" and communicate to the non-technical members of the staff. The PM's primary roles are: gathering clear information from the client (the church); interpreting the needs of the congregation to the developers (who typically include graphic designers and coders, plus other specialists depending on the circumstances); thoroughly testing the site; and training clients to update the site on their own when that is possible. Many PMs work with individuals all over the world who have very reasonable rates, which can save you 50 percent or more on the development cost.

In the first edition of this series, I named 5 of my favorite places to go for downloadable videos for youth ministry and Christian education settings. Here are six others I would suggest checking out...

SermonSpice is chock full of video clips appropriate for sermons and talks; unfortunately, it's also got plenty of clips with less-than-desirable theology, so be prepared to search a while. Most clips cost $10-20.

WingClips offers clips from Hollywood movies that can be used in any church setting, even if your church does not have a CVLI license. The free subscription just gives you a very small video; to get the bigger sizes, you'll have to pay $139 a year. Still, if you use a lot of video clips in worship or CE settings, it could be a bargain and very convenient.