Returned home from the Cultivate and Story Chicago conferences (more on those in a few days) and saw that Twitter Lists are now a reality. If you’re not familiar with Twitter, until now you just had a long list of friends. They weren’t divided into their areas of expertise or interest. But that has changed. Rather than write a long review, I thought I would just post a few reasons why these lists seem to be a good idea. If you haven’t seen them yet, click here to check out the lists that I’ve been added to or click here to see a list I am forming of those that are interested in Digital Disciples local gatherings. Would love to hear your thoughts as well!

A few thoughts on Twitter Lists:

• Let you quickly see what people think of you. You can’t hide from that, right?
• Like TweetDeck and other apps, they now let you focus within the chaos.
• Chances are you’ll find those you should be in contact with more quickly.
• I don’t see them replacing the hashtag for organized discussion
• Should be helpful in connecting those interested in your product / service together

In the tech and creative circle it’s almost required that you have a business card. Some are even going as far as creating a website / profile page online that is their “virtual business card”. You go there to see a listing of their website, blog, social media profiles, contact info, etc. Going virtual is a nice touch, but it doesn’t replace having a physical card that you hand a friend or possible client.

So what you see is what I came up with for my third round of business cards (click photo or here to see large). I simply took the same avatar I use on sites like Twitter and Facebook and added the info on the flip side. The size of the card is approximately 2″ x 2″ square, and were pretty affordable thanks to UPrinting.com (browse the web for discount coupon codes). Drawing avatars (digital version of mugshot) is something I’ve enjoyed the past year. Making them look clean in vector / scalable format takes a few hours at least. Congrats to my friend Dari, who just spent a few hours herself on a new personal avatar you can see on her Twitter page! If you’re interested in a card yourself,  but aren’t up for creating it, let me know. I’d love to help you out, and keep it affordable.

I have a pass to both Cultivate and Story Chicago (October 27-29), and my wife has decided that she should stay home. As a result, I’m also looking for a roommate who might be interested in splitting a hotel room for three nights (October 26-28), which will hopefully save you over $100 as well!

You may enter for the giveaway without the roommate deal, but combining them all would make it easier. I already have a room booked for Cultivate!

To enter for the giveaway, please leave a comment answering the simple question below. I will draw a random winner tomorrow (Tuesday, October 13th) at 12:00pm EST via a Twitter / Facebook status update.

GIVEAWAY QUESTION:
What are you most passionate about when it comes to creativity / technology?

Some of you might not be aware that God’s Mac is actually a podcast. I’ve enjoyed each of the 54 episodes since August of 2006. But lately it’s become more and more obvious that things need to change. I’m going to talk it over with my two co-hosts (Lee Love and Kary Oberbrunner), but I think they’ll dig it! I would love to know your thoughts in response to the idea below!!!

Right now our subscribers receive maybe one episode each month, and (although we do receive feedback / email) the communication has been one way. Mainly because I haven’t put much effort into the website. That’s all about to change. Instead of a monthly episode that runs at least one hour long, we’re going to go with lots of short episodes (interviewing more people – more often). I’ll bring both Lee and Kary in for unique episodes here and there, but they won’t need to be a part of every episode. And the website – we’ll be converting from Joomla over to WordPress. Allowing comments / feedback for each episode and providing actual blog material instead of episodes only.

I’ll be giving it more thought the next day or two for sure. My only intent with the adjustment is to better serve our online community, and provide new listeners with something they can look forward to frequently. Again, if you have any thoughts please share!

PRAYING that we can be more of an encouragement. PRAISING God for the past three years and experience gained!

My “career” has been full of twists and turns. But there’s no other answer to that than to admit that must be how God had it planned. I’ve gone through many changes, and am honestly still uneasy with where I am. Because I don’t think God is finished. I’ve had many people, after hearing that 90% of my self-employment work is with churches and non-profits, hint that they wish they could be doing what I do. I am blessed beyond measure, but I’m just not fulfilled.

There is a need for people like me to be behind the scenes, making other ministries work. People building websites for organizations, running cables and lights for musicians to perform, assistants taking calls because others are busy “doing the work”, etc. Iif we fail to fulfill Matthew 25:40, then what good was our own service? If we’re always supporting another person / organization that is actually serving, and we’re just helping them serve……what does God think of that? And that’s what leaves me unfulfilled. I can make lots of websites for churches and organizations which empower them to serve, but I believe God wants my service to be hands-on and serve others myself.

It’s been a pleasure to assist other ministries, but just because it’s “ministry work” doesn’t make it fulfilling I guess? What I do know is that I’m not going to stop until I can lay my head down at night knowing that I personally sought to serve the least of these. Churches and organizations might need better design or websites, but when I serve them am I serving the least of these? These are the thoughts that are running through my head and heart. God has a story to write in each of our lives, and I need to let Him turn the next page. When was the last time you saw / let him turn a page in your life?

PRAYING that my desire to reach others far outshines my desire to just “be of service”. PRAISING God for using each of our stories to encourage and nudge others towards Him