2009 February | A Fool of Myself

Archive for February, 2009

February 18th, 2009

Twitter is a Battlefield

Yeah, I don’t know what it means either, but I figure if love is a battlefield, Twitter can be, too. Mostly admin stuff this morning, and I spent the afternoon following up with my two web development volunteers. That’s an adjustment. I’ve done the LPC web development essentially by myself for almost five years, and handing over tasks (and thus, control) are not easy for me, but delegating gives me more time to work on things like Twitter projects and other things I love. And I’m learning that when you lead volunteers, you still have to check on what they’re doing and give them feedback. And today, I had to write a set of instructions for one of my coordinator positions. It took most of the afternoon, but it was time well spent.

Linden and I started collaborating on a Twitter guide for our beginner friends. It’s long. And we’ve barely scratched the surface. It’s either going to be a huge blog post (or series) or it might morph into an eBook, which would be cool. Hopefully, I can put in some time working on it tomorrow afternoon.

And the hubby Chris has a blog. He’s been working on it all week. He’s so cute! It’s hosted on a subdomain of SarahJoAustin.com, so until we get him a real domain name, I won’t tell you how to find it (it’s not ready anyway). But I can’t wait for you to read it!

And something else happened that was awesome, but it’s not completely finished. Let’s just say that someone who is pretty important in the online world and I have been emailing about a project. Hopefully, I’ll have more tomorrow about that!

Tags: chris, lifepoint, linden, twitter, web development
Posted in church 2.0 | 2 Comments »

February 17th, 2009

The Wonderful World of Twitter

It’s just after lunch, and staff meeting went well this morning. After stumbling over the question, “How is Twitter different from a Facebook status (and why is it better)?” my bosses jumped on the Twitter train. Thankfully, one had read last night’s post about this morning’s meeting, so he was prepared for my Twitter diatribe.

Just as most people are when we try something new, the bosses were hesitantly cautious with their new accounts, and this made me realize that as easy as Twitter is, it’s seriously overwhelming to newbies, more so, I think, than Facebook. So I’m thinking of two documents/blog posts: one named “Twitter for LifePointers” for generally helping our people get the most out of what LPC offers on Twitter and another doc for leadership that outlines best practices for tweeting in the context of the church. Many of my friends have pending Twitter 101 posts, and I’ll definitely use their two cents in putting together these documents, but here are some initial thoughts for each:

Twitter for LifePointers

Setting up an account
Finding people to follow, who not to follow (recognizing spatters? spitters? we need to coin a phrase for spam tweeters)
@replies, direct messages, re-tweets, hash marks, and tiny URLs
Setting up your phone/phone apps
Setting up extra-Twitter apps like Facebook

Best Twitter Practices at LPC

Setting up a ministry account (naming conventions, mostly). I want all LPC ministry accounts to be similar (maybe with the simple prefix lpc_ministryname) so our people can more easily recognize the legitimate LPC Twitter accounts.
Who to follow/not follow. Following some advice from another Twittering church, I’m limiting who LPC follows to our ministry partners (out of the church), our members (in the church), and our neighbors in the Ozarks. Essentially, I want who we follow to be a source for LPCers to find other people we know or think they should know. If our partners, members, and neighbors follow us, we’ll gladly reciprocate (within reason, of course. If an Ozarkian follows us and their tweets are not appropriate–and I mean, seriously not appropriate–we won’t follow them and we may block them).
What can/should be tweeted?
Managing Twitter accounts with third-party apps

I realize the Twitter for LifePointers looks like a generic how-to document, but I plan to add LPC-specific notes to it (i.e. if you’re a parent of a youth, consider following the youth account, so the youth pastor can keep you in the loop of what’s going on).

Beyond that, do you all have any ideas for these docs or for educating our people and leaders on the wonderful world of Twitter?

Tags: best practices, church, church 2.0, lifepoint, twitter
Posted in church 2.0 | No Comments »

February 16th, 2009

The Pandora’s Box of Twitter

I was a little cryptic in last night’s post about Church 2.0 and all that’s been rolling around in my head. I’m not going to give you a lot of background because that will take too long, and I want to problem solve in the here and now.

Twitter is the object of my affection, devotion, obsession right now. I use it personally and professionally. In the year or so I’ve tweeted, I’ve mostly used Twitter for posting blog updates and Facebook statuses, but in the last month or so, my use of Twitter as a networking and communicating tool has probably tripled. Maybe even quadrupled. And the more I use it, the more I see how it can be used at LifePoint.

Anthony Coppedge released his ebook The Reason Your Church Must Twitter earlier this year, and after paying the $5 to download it, I ate it up in one sitting. And then my head exploded.

In the context of the church, Twitter is excellent as a megaphone for tweeting announcements and other tidbits of information that need to get out fast. Yes, faster than email. Text message fast. In the context of LifePoint, I’m thinking multiple Twitter accounts: at least one for each key ministry, so young adults can get updates about young adult stuff and youth with youth stuff and parents with kid stuff. At LPC, that’s easily 7-10 Twitter accounts.

Twitter is also good for conversation, which is how I’ve been using it lately. If I can tell you what I need to say in 140 character or less, I’m tweeting you. Not emailing. Not texting. Not calling. I read yesterday about a church that had a “Twitter Sunday.” They encouraged the entire congregation to bring their laptops (or iPhones) and respond to the worship and sermon and service as it was happening. The tweets were displayed live on screens in the worship room. Definitely not sure if LPC is ready for that, but maybe we could start by live tweeting our services with the main ideas of the sermon and song titles and such. We could go one step further by encouraging people to ask questions about the sermon topic and feeding those to the pastor.

And speaking of the pastors (and other leadership), what a great way for them to build repoire with our people by conversing! I hear so often that people love that LifePoint is so friendly and that they’re looking for a smaller church where they can get to know everyone (including the pastor). But let’s face it, we’re at 300 people right now, and our leaders can’t have personal, one-on-one relationships with everyone. It’s just not possible, but Twitter can help.

I’m taking the worship service idea to staff meeting tomorrow. Chris is volunteering his time to live tweet during the 10:40 service since I teach the kiddos. Our lead pastor just got a BlackBerry, and I’m praying I can get him on the Twitter train.

So much to do. See how I’m overwhelmed? It’s like a Pandora’s box. I need a plan. I guess my first task is getting the pastors on board. Then the worship experience tweeting. Then getting a few of our key leaders to tweet. Then I’ll need more web development help. Ugh. That’s another post…

P.S. And in case you’re not a Twitterer (you should be), did you know you can follow a tweeter on your cellphone without a Twitter account? Text ‘follow username’ (i.e. ‘follow sarahjoaustin’) to 40404, and you’ll get their updates. Standard text messaging rates apply, of course.

Tags: anthony coppedge, blackberry, church 2.0, iphone, lifepoint, twitter
Posted in church 2.0 | 4 Comments »

February 15th, 2009

New Church 2.0 Category

Quick post tonight because I need to leave for community group in 15 minutes. I’m starting a new category on A Fool of Myself. I need a place to brainstorm, write, and muse about what I’m encountering in the school of what’s been dubbed Church 2.0 (or what church looks like in light of Web 2.0). As many of you know, in addition to my administrative responsibilities at LifePoint, I’m our web development chick, but what you may not know is that my Master’s thesis was about Church 2.0. Consider this continuation of my research. Heck, I might even post my thesis for the world to read.

Today I’m struggling/chewing on Twitter. I love Twitter. And the more I read and think and read and think, the more possibilities I see for LifePoint on Twitter. But let’s face it, I tend to be on the bleeding edge of these things, and I need to make it very palatable to LPC’s leaders before they’ll take hold of it. (Sort of like Facebook a year ago.) But leading people is really hard for me. I’m not one who moves masses of people. But if I can get the leadership on board, the masses will soon follow. (I realize that I sound like a Communist or something.)

Anyway, I just need a place to think. And I don’t know how much I’ll be writing, so I don’t want to add another blog to my plate. I have plenty to say and more resources than I can keep track of right now. Stay tuned!

Tags: church 2.0, facebook, lifepoint, twitter
Posted in church 2.0 | No Comments »

February 14th, 2009

Finally, A Valentine’s Day We Can Be Proud Of

Chris and I have a long-standing poor record on Valentine’s Day. This was our fifth V Day together, and finally we have a good one in the bag:

No one was sick
No one was grouchy
We had a good table at the restaurant for our date
Chris was my date, and not Betsy (sorry, girl)
I got a nap
There was chocolate, steak, and spinach dip
There was also sushi
My man took me to watch Titanic
We got coffee
We didn’t buy each other gifts (it’s a good thing, I swear)

We were really starting to wonder if we were cursed. I mean, even before Chris I didn’t have too many V Day’s on record. (When I was 15, my ten-year-old cat Vanilla died. It sucked.) Finally, we have one that is worth remembering! Hope yours were great, too!

Tags: coffee, food, titanic, valentines day
Posted in gigantic idiot | No Comments »

February 10th, 2009

What’s Your Song?

LifePoint is having a Valentine’s dinner this Friday night, and the gal in charge was at the church this afternoon compiling a CD of songs the guys are dedicating to their women. Christin and I got a kick listening to some of the random songs that were submitted: “You Sexy Thing,” “When A Man Loves A Woman,” and “When You Say Nothing At All” were a few that popped up. So I got to thinking about my hubby and our song. Actually, it’s more like songs. There’s “I Cannot Hide My Love,” which I walked down the aisle to. “Beautiful Day” by U2 is a favorite of ours. But then there are other random songs that hold special places in our hearts, too. Songs like “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy” and “Shorty Got Low” and Jason Mraz’s “The Remedy.” So anyway, I was thinking about those today, and I’d like to know what your songs are. I’ll put a tweet out, too.

P.S. I also have songs with my friends and family (sorry, Jenny and Linden, I don’t think we have songs):

Little bro Jacob: “Hey, Jude”
Betsy: “The Pina Colada Song”
Amy: “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Tags: couples, songs
Posted in gigantic idiot | 2 Comments »

February 9th, 2009

I Am That Girl

I am the girl with a color-coded filing system. I am the girl who had a moment this morning (OK, OK, an hour of moments) when the green Sharpie she uses to label her day-to-day files went missing.

I had a choice this morning. I could’ve chosen another color with which to label my files, but that was not acceptable to me. You see, it’s February. We are a mere 40 days into the year, and my 2009 filing system is virtually brand new. I was not going to taint my very pretty filing system with an “off” color. And so I didn’t. I scoured the building for my missing markers. I announced an all-points bulletin on Twitter and Facebook for my markers. And my patience paid off. My markers were found and returned this afternoon, and I did not have to taint my files.

I am the girl who is particular about her files and who keeps tight tabs on her Sharpies. Don’t mess with me.

Tags: filing, office, sharpies
Posted in brilliantly creative | 7 Comments »

February 2nd, 2009

Five Pounds + Back Fat

Today’s post is going to be a quickie because I need to get back to editing footnotes. Those of you who follow me on Twitter or are my friend on Facebook can also follow my frenetic editing adventure there.

Anyway, Chris and I have been following the Abs Diet since the New Year, obsessively bagging servings of nuts, veggies, fruit, and Triscuits after our weekly trip to Walmart and the grocery store. Today, I am happy to announce that I’ve lost five pounds in four weeks. Yea!

Now I’m not the type of girl who obsesses over numbers on the scale because as long as I feel good and my clothes fit, I feel like I’m in the black. Somewhere amongst triathlon training last summer and a rather sedentary fall, I started to feel not so good. My pants weren’t fitting right, my boobs were weird, and I was developing back fat. Bleh.

So in the last month, I’ve been sticking closely to a 1700-calorie/day diet with one free meal a week plus I’ve been weight lifting and running (when it’s not icy or too cold), and I’ve lost five pounds. W00t! I’ve never so closely counted the calories I take in, and I think my constant awareness of the value (both caloric and nutritional) has helped me the most in my effort to annihilate the back fat.

And Chris is counting his calories, too, and he’s helping with food prep, which also has made a huge difference. It helps when the one you live with is also on board.

And I realize this is only five pounds, but I’m not on The Biggest Loser, so I don’t need to lose a literal ton of weight. Maybe just 10% of my original body weight, which was 155 (I’m not afraid to say it) and which would get me down to about 140. And my suspicious back fat is disappearing and my boobs are getting back to normal. My pants, however, still aren’t fitting quite right, which simply means that I get to go shopping for dress pants this week because I’m going to a wedding and all of my dress pants tug and wrinkle in “areas,” which is a surefire sign they don’t fit right.

OK, back to editing.

Tags: abs diet, back fat, health, weight lose
Posted in fitness/health | 2 Comments »

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