This year, I launched a simple 1-step Bible look-up web app, http://wordof.gd/

This neat little shortcut service allows you to go straight to any Bible text and the specific translation you want right from the browser URL line.

It also allows you to confidently create shortcut url links to any specific passage you want that you can write on the fly for email, twitter, facebook, etc.

Think: Bible links for social media.

Currently the WordOf.Gd supports over 30 different translations including a Spanish version of the Bible.   Just add any bible verse(s) after wordof.gd/_______ and if you want a specific translation, just put the translation abbreviation at the end.

Because pastors and seminary students are often trying to reference and compare any Old Testament text to the original Hebrew language.  Someone recently commented it would be nice if you could pull up both English and Hebrew texts on the same page to compare using wordof.gd. . . Just like an interlinear bible you would pull off the shelf in hardcopy.

Ok, we can do that!

(more…)

America’s favorite pastor and his church is now officially mobile.

One side effect of having this megachurch adopting the iPhone app platform for live online mobile worship is that this also basically legitimizes this medium of “doing church.”

The Saddleback Church iPhone app has links to Twitter and Facebook to keep you connected with Rick Warren’s social media web.  You can also view live streaming video of worship services at Saddleback Church.

When you’re on the go, there’s also an easy menu of recent video sermon messages which you can watch on demand.

Just like the Gospel, the Saddleback iPhone app is free.

Is the sonic speed of social media forcing you to realize that you really need to collaborate with your ministry teams better?

Google Wave is the latest iteration of social collaboration platforms that have hit the streets recently. You’ve probably heard Google Wave’s awesome features.

The big picture is that Google Wave hopes to replace email as the main form of communication between people and groups. But in the short term, until everyone adopts the real-time collaboration communication platform, it’s still useful for teams of people working together. For example, you can edit documents together with a group in real-time. No more waiting for others to edit and forward so that you can make your own edits. Everyone can see your changes live just as you type them into the computer. There’s other neat features too of course.

In fact, there’s so much you can do with Google Wave, that the team at Google Wave originally created a 1-hour+ video overview of the new social communications tool!

Re-thinking their first approach, they decided to create an ‘abridged’ 10-minute version overview video about Google Wave:

So far, the Google Buzz is working since official invites for new accounts are still selling like hotcakes on eBay. When Google Wave first came out, invites were going for as much as $70+ each. Nowadays, you can grab one for about $5-$8:

Of course that’s not the only way to get a new Google Wave account. If you know someone with a Google Wave account, you can get one of the invites that are periodically released to current account holders. I’ve got a couple of free invites to give out, so if you’re interested in trying out Google Wave with your ministry team, let me know — with your email address and I’ll send an invite to you as long as I have them available (right now, I have about 2 dozen free Google Wave invites). You may want to use the contact tab to send me a direct message vs. leaving a comment below with your email address in plain view for spammers to harvest, etc.

The only requirement I ask for in addition to getting me your email address via the CONTACT tab (on the left side of the site), that you do leave a comment letting me know the name of your church/ministry and website address. It’s always good to hear from the readers of Godvertiser.com and see the links to your own site.

Already have a Google Wave account? Send me a wave, and I’ll wave right back!

Hope everyone had a joyous celebration during Christmas this past week. Our Saviour’s birth!

Here’s a Twitter backdrop you can download for free this week that is a nod to all the names we can call our Savior.

We’ve had fun releasing free Christian Twitter graphic backgrounds in our Twitteratti Tuesday Series.

Would you like to see more in the new year?

Let me know by posting a comment below!

How to upload a custom background to your Twitter account:

1. Log in
2. In top navigation bar, click Settings (or go to http://twitter.com/account/settings)
3. Click the last settings tab, Design
4. Select a template, change your text and background colors, or upload your background image
5. Save your changes

This Christian Twitter backgrounds series was our little effort to help “fill the Twitterverse with the Bible and teaching of Christ!”

If you are handy with graphics and want to contribute a free Christian-themed backdrop for Twitter users, just use the contact form and we’ll share your work with others here and on Twitter!

Over the last couple of months I’ve been working on a little web-app to help me look up Bible references quickly.

I used to have to figure out which site had the translation I’d like to look-up; then go to that site; then input the Scripture reference; then use the drop downs to find the translations, and finally submit.

If I wanted to send the link to a friend via email, facebook, twitter, or even in live worship chat during church online, I’d have to take some additional steps – open up TinyURL.com, bit.ly or some other favorite URL shortcut services out there. Copy the long URL from the Bible site, paste it into the shortcut generator. Submit. Copy the short-cut url, and viola. FINALLY, I had something I could pass on.

This just didn’t seem efficient. I simply thought that there must be a better way.

I couldn’t find anything much better, so I decided to just create it.

So here I am introducing the “BETA” version of www.wordof.gd/_____ No more searching, waiting, submitting, copy/pasting, etc. whenever you are looking up Bible verses online.

This new web app is a 1-Step Bible Look-Up Web App. Basically, find the Scripture reference you want in the translation you want IN ONE LINE — straight from the URL.

Here’s how it works:

Just add ANY Scripture after the main url:

• http://WordOf.GD/+BibleVerseHere and you’re done.

Just TRY IT to understand how this works. Try clicking on some of these:

• http://WordOf.GD/John3:16
• http://WordOf.GD/John3:16-21
• http://WordOf.GD/John3:16ESV
• http://WordOf.GD/John3:16WEB
• http://WordOf.GD/John3:16NASB

If you want a specific Bible translation see how all you have to do is add the abbreviation after the verse? Over 30 different popular translations are supported right now and more to come.

Speaking of abbreviations, it will accomodate most common abbreviations for books of the Bible too. ie. Matt, Mk, Lk, Jn, Gen, Rev, 1cor, 2cor, etc.

One you get the Bible verse, you’ll notice in the header bar, an EMAIL LINK, TWITTER LINK, (and FACEBOOK LINK to come). In addition, a short-cut URL is automatically generated for the specific verse ranges and translations you just looked-up if you want to copy/paste for any other use.

This has been pretty useful for mobile web browsing since connections are not as zippy as on a desktop usually and you want to minimize as many steps as possible.

NOTE: This *IS* a beta version – we’re continuing to update it as we go along and there might be some glitches while we polish it up. If you come across any issue, please leave a comment here or send me a tweet (http://www.twitter.com/kkcoolj) with the details.

Let me know what you think! Please leave a comment below with your thoughts.

You’re either in or out. Excited or confused. Optimistic or a party-pooper.

People always ask me why I use Twitter. Without getting into the usual “no, it’s not about broadcasting the flavor of my toothpaste, or any other mundane details of my daily living” conversation, here’s one concrete example that hopefully helps give a better picture for the power of Twitter.

While I know that we’re not to make idols of men (or pastors of really big and successful books for that matter), but to illustrate the point, I’m sharing with you that I recently received a Tweet from none other than . . .

Yup, it was Pastor Rick Warren himself tweeting me about one of my latest web projects (more on that in other post soon, I promise!).

Twitter, and social media in general, has collapsed the 6 degrees of separation into 1.

You are now able to connect and collaborate with almost anyone else imaginable that’s relevant. It’s not that I tweeted back and forth with this person in particular. It’s the fact that just a couple of years ago, being able to connect, exchange, collaborate with someone like Rick Warren directly would take a lot of energy. Even if he tried to be as accessible as can be to people outside of his network (i.e. people he’s never met before), getting to him when I’m on the east coast, and he’s on the left coast (or somewhere else in the world) just isn’t that practical or easily done. I’ve emailed his “rick@purposedrivenlife.com” email address listed in his books and website before. I’ve been to Saddleback worship services several times before. I’ve called the PDL team when our church launched our own 40 Days campaign before. I’ve gotten what I’vee needed from his ministry organization each time, but getting a chance to interact with Rick Warren directly himself wasn’t really feasible.

Today, with social media, things have completely changed: The friction of access and connection is infinitely reduced because of social media. If you are proactive, purposeful and pleasant (don’t discount that last one!), the possibilities are plentiful.

It’s not just Rick Warren. Whether it’s Leonard Sweet or David Pogue of the NY Times, or even YOU that I’ve tweeted with . . . the fact of the matter is that 6 degrees of separation has become 1.

That’s why I use twitter. What about you?

When the web started entering into everyone’s vocabulary, churches began to feel the pressure of getting on the web. Today, the web has become part of daily living, and it is a critical touchpoint to reach people before they physically enter your church doors.

It’s just a fact of life now: more people will visit your website first before they first visit your church.

But something new and old is happening. In one sense, it feels so familiar — just like the seismic shift we saw with the mass adoption of the web itself. But now it’s about something different — every church feels like they should be figuring out what to do with. . . Facebook and Twitter.

For those still sitting on the fence, it’s sometimes helpful to hear what others are doing. Some church tech companies are starting to share case studies and tutorials for how to approach the new social media platforms. Here’s one video webinar that you may want to watch: CLICK TO WATCH.

This presentation is aimed at medium-to-large churches, but it’s a good glossary intro for any sized church on why your church should be considering reaching out to those on the social media platforms.