Tory Farina

3 reasons for an IPad...

Last week someone asked me this: “Give me three reasons to get an iPad. Is it worth the $600 price tag for a pastor?”

Is it worth the price? For me? Yes. For you? I don’t know. It all depends on the apps you use, so I will give you the Top 3 apps that give me a significant return on my investment. Then I’ll mention a couple of bonus ones that are pure icing. Also, it should be known that most apps work on both the iPhone and the iPad, so it is impossible for me to separate the two.

#1) Jump Desktop — This app allows Elizabeth to use her PC without triggering a migraine. For some reason when she uses her PC the screen gives her a headache. Not so with her iPhone or iPad. This app creates a link over the Internet that turns the iPad into a Remote Access Tool for the PC. Basically, she can control her PC on the iPad. It is a HUGE tool for her.

#2) Documents to Go/Dropbox — These apps work together. Documents to Go is a way to view and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents on the iPad. Dropbox is an easy way to store and sync documents and files. It sits in your hard drive and anything that gets placed in it is accessible online. Documents to Go syncs with Dropbox, which allows all of your devices (e.g. iPhone, iPad, PC/Mac, etc.) to be up to date with the latest changes. No more saving docs in three places. No more notes with handwritten ideas lost after a Sunday. No more wishing you had that scripture, illustration, or notes from that message you spoke last year that would apply to this situation. It is all right there. Click here to get dropbox.

#3) Kindle/YouVersion — This is an amazing tool for reading. You can read at night and not wake your love up. You can also sync with these tools and access them on the other devices you use often (Mac/PC, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android). I love always having what I am reading with me. It makes it more likely that I will start reading while I have down time. With Kindle, I also love the ability to recall my highlights and notes on one page through Amazon’s media site.

Honorable mentions: Evernote, Pandora, Elmo's Monster Maker, EBay, Nike+ GPS, Pro Presenter Remote, Rhapsody Music, Tweet Deck, Flipboard, USA Today, Youmail*

*I use this for my answering service instead of the stock one provided by my phone company.

The iPad/iPhone is not a full functioning computer but it was never intended to be. It saves me time, keeps me organized, and I can read it in a dark theater. I also love that I can have notes prepped on my Macbook then access them in a theater, at the pool before a baptism, or in a church for a wedding. I expect now that E has basically taken mine I will be getting the next generation next year so that she and I don’t have to fight share it.

Is it worth the price? You can do everything it does with something else. But no one device does everything it does in one device. For us, it is very much worth having. Let me know if it is worth it for you.

The WHY Behind the WHAT...

What are you trying to accomplish when you ask a person to do something? Does the other person know? The big picture can be so clear to one and a mystery to another.

The biggest leadership lesson I am learning right now has to do with the WHY behind the WHAT. I have to make sure people do not just know what I want them to do but why I want them to do it. If they know that doing what I ask will accomplish something bigger than both of us then we both win.

In the church world it is easy to lose sight of the big picture and see our role as an isolated task. Isolated tasks are no fun. They’re not motivating. But being apart of a mission, accomplishing something grand, or seeing what you do make a kingdom difference in people’s lives — that is worth getting up in the morning for.

Set Up/Tear Down at High Point is a great example. It is easy to default into a task-driven mindset. Do this because we need it done fast. Those involved in this part of High Point are preparing an unholy place to be a place where God and man can meet. People who are far from God and are without hope and in need of restoration come every Sunday because we work at transforming a movie theater into a Holy Place.

 

High Point Kids is another example. It would be easy to see it as babysitting, but that is far from what is happening. We are helping kids meet GOD! By using language and concepts that are age-appropriate, we are changing the world because we are helping change their world. They discover Christ by watching how we model Him. We have an opportunity to pray over their futures and be partners with their parents as we raise these children in the Lord. That is pretty powerful stuff!

 

Hospitality is another example. We serve coffee and donuts every Sunday. We buy the good stuff and spend a large percent of our annual budget on sugary bread and hot water with bean juice in it. Why? Because people are hungry in the morning? No... Because Tory freaks on coffee? Maybe... but that's not the main reason. We spend lots of money and have people put lots of time into this area on a Sunday because it creates an environment that fosters community. When people are in community (Find Your Place) they are more inclined to grow in their faith (Develop Your Faith). When people are developing their faith and have friends to live life with, they are more inclined to make better decisions (Live Your Potential!). Serving donuts changes lives!

 

My #1 job as the pastor of High Point Church is to show everyone in the church how they can be apart of helping people Find Their Place, Develop Their Faith, and Live Their Potential! If I do that, we will have a church that everyone in this city will want to be a part of. Jesus’ name will be made famous because a lot of people who do not love or serve Him will discover How AWESOME He is.

 

Do You know what a big role you play? If you’re from High Point, I'll be letting you know a lot this year.

Go be a part of something great!

 

Looking for a few good men/women...

Set up/Tear down crew for web promo from Courtney Feia on Vimeo.

Not yet involved in one of HPC's volunteer teams? It takes alot of hands to transform our theater into a church each week. The set up and tear down crew is the perfect avenue for both men and women to make a difference in the lives of other people just by using their hands.

iPad uses in a mobile church...

I've been thinking about this for a few weeks now off and on. Let me start off by saying I have only used the iPad for a few minutes at the Mac store. I also think that the 1st generation of iPad is probably not fully baked for everything I think that could be done. BUT... I love the concept and potential. 

After reading this article in Fast Company and this one in Wired I got to thinking about the uses a church could have with an iPAd type device. Sure you could do much of it with a net-book but the L shaped item just doesn't lend itself to the user friendliness of a hand held screen.

Here are my ideas of potential uses...

• Check in tool. For kids. Automatically prints a sticker with names on it and uploads the guests info to our Church Management Software.
• Visitor registration. This could easily allow us to log in the visitor info and instantly send an email to the person with details of upcoming events and how to get involved next.
• Hi End Music stands. I know what your thinking... Isn't a music stand and a sheet of paper less expensive than an iPad for every musician? Yes. But I hat the clutter of sheets of paper and music stands strewn about. And cost is not a factor in this little daydreaming exercise of mine.
• Interactive Notes. With multi task on the horizon i could... have my bible, notes, twitter, and run my own presentation behind me all from my hand. It would be easy to read in the strange lighting and could be a lot of fun for question and answer. 
• Electronic Giving. Everyone wants to give to the Lord but not everyone has cash or a check or a wallet for that matter. With the use of pay-pal or a credit card you could give at church as the Holy Spirit prompts you. Instead of wanting to give at hoe and forgetting to do it. 
• S.O.S. The social networking element to it would allow the various areas to communicate to our Sunday Morning Point person. If we are low on workers, in need of the speaker to land the plain, have kids who need to be rescued, or have a need to get a message from the ushers to the speaker and the kids all at once this could do that.
• Interactive Children's book. We lease our kids curriculum s how cool would it be to have the kids books and songs and notes be right their for the teacher to pick up and flip through with the kids. It makes it simple, Hi Tech and Hi Touch. you could also let the older kids go through it themselves if need be.
• Kids Game stations.  Mobile churches would be prefer to have something small to use as a gaming system to entertain and teach kids before and after service. Wii's and other gaming systems need a large screen and multiple power outlets. This just needs a protective casing and a supervised place to rest.
• Quick Forms. Everything from Registering for events, background checks and policy and procedure would be available via a cloud like google docs.

Cost and size of the device makes it affordable and user friendly. The church of the future will have something like these in its weekly operations. I look forward to seeing what innovations and pastoral care can be offered with such a device. Technology is merely a tool to touch people. It is never a substitute for interaction with people. It will not replace a teacher, usher, volunteer. On the contrary it will help make it easier for volunteers to serve guests warmly.

What other uses could you see this used for in the church?

How do you set up?

I feel like I have been in one of those twilight zone movies... Where you are taken from your current situation and given a glimpse of yourself a few years down the road. We spent the weekend with about 10 other church planting pastors at Next Level Church.� The pastor couples that were their all came from similar size and aged churches. We all hit it off like we were long lost friends. I felt like a soldier meeting another soldier who understood the battles I faced and we could look at one another nod and know we were known.

The peeps in attendance where...
Fusion Church- pastors Nathan and Lisa Camp- Orlando, FL.
Go Church- pastors Barry and Christina Rice- Orlando, FL.
Family Life Church- Pastors Dan and Stephanie Stauffer- Succasunna, NJ.
Destiny Church- Pastors Terry and Tracy Jimmerson- Las Vegas, NV.
Networks Church- Pastors Andrew and Karen Fortner- Lee's Summit, MO
The Well- Pastors Todd and Gena Lugli- Solvang, CA
DC Metro Church- Pastors David and Taryn Stine- Washington, DC.

We spent the weekend going through Next levels way. We were able to ask any question and look in every crack and crevasse. Here are my observations...

• Churches are like people... no one is perfect but all are unique and are gifted in spectacular ways.
• Next level does church really well.
• They have a very organized system.
• the way they do set up challenges me. They are all about the lazy man paradigm. how would a lazy man do it? He wouldn't lift more then he should, he would do it in as few steps as possible, he would do as few trips as possible. Sounds like a winning way for volunteers.
• I posted an album of pictures from our visit. they may not al make sense but for our team it will.
• Matt Keller is the man... He thinks about things so different that it challenges you to reprocess things. I love it. He shared a thing about how to get over the comparison virus... WOW! life changing!
• We at High Point are kicking everything we do up a whole nutha level! we are going to push hard this fall... lots, LOTS, LOTS to do! but by our 3rd anniversary in January we will be a better church!
• My biggest take away is that being with these guys gave me permission to break out of the way I and the church have been going and take things up a notch.
• We had a sweet prayer time at the end and God spoke a word through Matt over me that I feel was right on. I am living it out to the fullest.
• High Points best days are ahead of us!
• The way they do their music... WOW... Josh their creative pastor is so like Courtney... I am totally connecting them because they run in a totally similar vain.
• E and I saw a model of ministry that fits how we work in Matt and his wife Sara. She is the CFO he is the CEO... I like it... You will see E and I become more specialized and complementary to one another's gifting.

All in all this was a fenom trip. Short... tiring... but good.

I posted some pictures of their set up. Pastors... If you have pictures from your set up process you think are good... post a link in the comments and Ill check it out. If it is good Ill leave the comment up.