News of the Day: Hurricane Irene

 

Hurricane Irene pounded the eastern coast of the United States after making landfall in North Carolina. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Bloomberg), the U.S. has suffered $35 billion in losses in nine separate events so far in 2011. That tied a record for disasters causing more than $1 billion damage in a single year.

My Take on Google's Decision to Cut Churches Out of Nonprofit Program

Christianity Today reported yesterday on Google's decision to no longer offer churches a discount through their nonprofit program. Their decision is well within their rights as a publicly traded, for-profit corporation. In their guidelines Google states their decision to not offer a nonprofit discount to organizations with “religious content or proselytizing on website as well as organizations that use religion or sexual orientation as factor in hiring or populations served."

Google’s progressive leanings and activist approach towards social issues are well documented. It should not be a surprise to churches that Google would make the decision to prohibit churches from benefitting from their nonprofit program.

As a church and technology leader, Google’s decision does not bother me. Churches need to realize that corporations like Google have the right to offer their products free-of-charge or at a discount to whomever they wish. Google is a clear leader in the technology field, and I am a fan of their applications. I appreciate their vision for a new cloud-based operating system that has the potential to dramatically change how we view software and computers in general. The fact that I don’t agree with their politics or agenda does not limit me in any way from enjoying the benefits of their services.

Church leaders grousing about this decision need to recognize the weakness of their argument. If Christian leaders are going to oppose the social agenda Google embraces with one hand, yet at the same time expect a free gift from Google because they are a church, there is something very wrong.

Church leaders need to begin carefully examining the compromises they are making in their effort to receive a discount.

See a 200% Increase in Response to Your Twitter Stream

A week ago I was reading a blog post by Michael Hyatt on his daily reading list. Scanning the list, I saw a new service mentioned – Buffer. This is a simple-to-use little app that allows you to create tweets on the fly as you read RSS feeds, your Twitter stream, or just about anything else that may enter through your web browser.

Old news, right? Well, Buffer adds a new twist in that it allows you to spread your tweets throughout the day without preplanning your release schedule. Moreover, as I read the some of the articles on Buffer’s blog, I saw how using Buffer could increase my Twitter clicks by 200 percent.

 

How Buffer Works

Buffer installs as an extension within Chrome. The developers also provide extensions for most other popular browsers and platforms.

When you come across something of interest and you want to add it to your Twitter stream, simply click on the Buffer extension and it opens a familiar Twitter message box.

You are given two options: Tweet now or Add to Buffer. Buffer provides the initial text and link, or you can edit the text to add your own flair. When you are finished, simply click the Add to Buffer button and a little ball bounces for a second or two before Buffer gives you a little affirmation: “Awesome! One more Tweet in your Buffer. Keep it topped up!” (Wow, I’ve never felt so good about Tweeting!)

Take a look at your Buffer, and you will see all of your Tweets lined up and ready to go.

The Killer Feature

Now, for the killer feature as far as I am concerned: the schedule.

Buffer let’s you automatically create a simple schedule, instructing the app when to send your Tweets. On Buffer’s official blog, the developers recommend Tweeting between 1-4 times per hour.

Finally, to help you measure your success and make adjustments as necessary, Buffer provides you with basic analytical statistics showing the number of retweets, clicks, and reads your Tweets are receiving.

Setting up your account is free. With the free account you can buffer a maximum of 10 tweets. Also, with a free account you are limited in your scheduling ability. In order to give the app a true test, I upgraded to the “Pro” account, which allows me to buffer up to 50 Tweets and to customize my schedule.

How does it work? We’ll find out. Currently, I have 140 followers on Twitter. I am going to use Buffer for a month and see if I can track any improvement in my clicks or in the number of followers.

 

What do I like so far?

1. Tweet, schedule, and forget it. I love it.
2. Simple interface.
3. Positive “atta-boy” affirmations after each Tweet.
4. Simple analytics to help track your Twitter efforts.

Are there any negatives? Sure, the price ($10 per month) seems high for what Buffer offers. (You can save a little by purchasing an annual plan.) Consider, for comparison, that HootSuite is only $5.99 per month, and it provides a broader selection of tools.

So, watch my Twitter feed and you should see a lot more activity courtesy of Buffer.

On Bible Reading

"It is well to remember that reading books about the Bible is a very different thing to searching the Word for oneself."

--H A Ironside (American Bible teacher, pastor, and author. Authored more than 60 volumes including highly regarded commentaries on the books of the Bible. For 18 of his 50 years of ministry, he was pastor at Moody Memorial Church in Chicago).

The Debt Crisis Debate - A Call for Courage [Opinion]

The debt ceiling crisis continues to confound the USA's politicians. News shows are in a 24-hour spin cycle as the two parties in Washington play a deadly game of chicken with each other. What is certain (to me) is that whether it is within the next week or the next year, American will face a financial reckoning because of its incredible debt load. The politicians continue to scratch at any option they can in an effort to try and find one more free lunch. Sooner or later, however, we will all realize there are no more freebies.

What is at the center of the current crisis is the inability to compromise. Both sides are going to have to agree to some unpopular budget cuts and tax increases in order to begin the slow process of correcting American's financial imbalance. Therein lies the problem: our political leaders have one eye on the problem and another eye on re-election. Could it be that the greater financial problems cannot be solved without jeopardizing their political futures? If so, this reflects a much deeper issue for the American citizen.

On the July 24 edition of Meet the Press, former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) made this point well:

... politics just reflects society. And what we are seeing today, I believe, is a new emerging governing coalition being built in this country, a new political center of gravity.... We are living at a time when society is the most complicated, interconnected, immediate we've ever seen. That also reflects on a world order that is being rebuilt. We haven't seen a world order being rebuilt since World War II. So, obviously, what's happening in Washington is going to reflect what's happening across this country and the world. The emergence of the tea party, for example, whatever that is, a philosophy about government, that was born out of frustration, disappointment, high expectations in your leaders. To Doris' point, you're supposed to come to Washington to help govern, find solutions, solve problems. We're not seeing that. This just didn't start, by the way, with this president. I saw this in the Senate emerging over the last 12 years. Both parties are to blame. We have, I think, a vacuum of some leadership, some courage. Courage has never been an abundant commodity in Washington. And the last point I'd make, look at the last three elections in this country. We're not a republic that swings wildly. Last three elections, back to back, threw parties out of power in those elections. What does that tell you? That tells you that the board of directors, the people who own the country, the citizen, the voter is going to take action.

Question: are we seeing a new world order being built, or are we still witnessing the destruction of the old world order that began at the end of World War II? I think the latter. Look at what happened between 1914 and 1945 - the center of gravity shifted in the world from Western Europe with Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy the former great powers, to the United States and the Soviet Union as the new super powers. By 1945, the sun was setting on the British Empire, Germany lie in ruins and divided, France was defeated by Germany in the war and had lost its international prestige, and Italy was defeated. A generation later, the Soviet Union is gone and the United States is under the heavy weight of trillions of dollars in debt.

What do you think? Are we witnessing the passing of an American-dominated world order or will the United States find a way to regain its financial foundation and begin rebuilding its economic strength?

Related articles

• Policy mistakes of historical magnitude (business.financialpost.com)
• Pawlenty: Obama not showing courage in debt crisis (seattletimes.nwsource.com)