Apple announced that Google Maps will be one of the 12 widgets that launch on the new Apple iPhone. Well if you want your church to appear on Google Maps on the iPhone, get your ministry listed on Google Local Business. If you have problems getting your church listing working, visit the Google Maps Help Group.

DaySpring allows you to send free Flash cards to people. You can find:

• Birthday
• Prayer
• Sympathy

There are dozens of others. This is a simple way to keep in touch between ministry events.

Ministry is hectic. Most people serving in ministry have other things in their lives going on besides church. It is hard enough to carve out time to actually be at the ministry event and find the time to prepare for it. If we are honest, our time for spiritual disciplines is what gets lost when we are busy. And who of us is not busy.

But the energy and power we need for ministry is found in exactly those disciplines. If we are really serving people, then we need to be responsible to those habits which actually affect our ministry. So here is one easy way we can gain some time for solitude, meditation and prayer:

Reduce your screen time

The US Census reported most adults and teens “will spend nearly five months (3,518 hours) next year watching television, surfing the Internet, reading daily newspapers and listening to personal music devices.”

My wife and I are totally guilty of this — our laptops are always open. Like you, our habit is to watch TV in order to relax. Now, I am not saying get rid of TV or your laptop because I am certainly not going to do that — but see if we can watch 30 minutes less screen time every day. We will lose 8 days screen time a year; and gain 30 minutes a day for solitude, meditation and prayer.

That seems like a good trade…

Ask my wife, I am the king of procrastination. So take these suggestions from someone who is in the process of unlearning the bad habits that cause procrastination. I found that putting off something until the last minute was a sure-fire way to kill my ministry.

Here are some of the causes of procrastination:

• Task is too complicated - Often we just think that it is too complicated because we do not take the time (meh) to break it down into simple next actions. When I take the time to actually think through the task at hand; it ceases to be so complicated. And if I find that it is really complicated and I can not get it done in time, then I need to tell someone as soon as possible. Remember it is what it is.
• Seeking perfection - As spiritually minded servants, we often want to do things perfect. We need to get over that — ministry is full of “good enough”. If you only do things perfectly, you will get little done and so burn out.
• Indecision - Usually making no decision is a worse experience than making the wrong decision. Pray and trust God and get moving.
• Wrong priorities - In ministry, it is easy to address the squeakiest wheel to avoid conflict. But you know what’s important, you know what God values. Do those things first.
• Boredom - This is one thing that always got me. I got bored easily with the details of ministry, like keeping attendance or counting offering or organizing the craft room. But getting the details right is one key to success in ministry. If you find yourself bored, see if you can trade with someone else on your team or maybe use a new tool to do the task.
• Focused on to many things - If you are passionate about your ministry, I know that you are being asked to take on more and more responsibilities. This dilutes your focus and can lead to procrastination simply because you just do not know what to focus on first. To prevent this, decide on what your focus is and just do that.
• Being a slob - I am a slob when it comes to the physical world (my digital life is well organized). If you are a slob, then admit it and find someone on your team who can organize stuff.
• Laziness - To prevent laziness, I just need to schedule more time for myself. Often I’m lazy not because I’m really lazy, but I choose to be lazy because I’m overworked and do no have enough time to recharge.
• Being tired - I do not need a lot of sleep, but I also stay up to late. When I’m well rested I get more done.
• Breaks - Next time you take a break at work or church, be aware of how long it takes to ‘get back at it’. If you take an honest look often our breaks are much, much longer than we think.

The trick for me is to be aware when I’m practicing the bad habits of procrastination, so I can change my point of view.

I am a huge fan of Dean Peters work on blogs4God. I am starting to get into the habit of submitting all my source links to blogs4God. The new b4G is a social bookmarking site like Digg where you decide what is important in the Christian blogosphere. At the very least, you should subscribe to the RSS feed.

The first step is to visit blogs4God and register. Then drag this bookmarklet onto your Bookmarks toolbar in FireFox.

Send to b4G

Then when you discover a great blog post, click the Send to b4G link in your toolbar and share your discovery.

NOTE: I wrote a NEW b4G bookmarklet that is better than the one you find at the bottom of your profile screen.

eBible, the most innovative Bible search engine, just added the NIV text to its Bible search engine:

Yes, one of the most read and most trusted Bible translations is now here for you reading and searching delight. We are always excited to unveil new features to you guys, but this is something that many of you have been asking for and we are happy to bring it to you. We have been working hard for a long time to bring the NIV to eBible.com and we want to thank IBS-STL Global, the new ministry formed by the March 2007 merger of International Bible Society and Send The Light, for making it available. The NIV is now the default Bible for eBible.com visitors and if you are a basic or premium user you can make it your personal default by simply clicking here.

This gives you no reason to make eBible your default Bible search tool.

My friend James at Agile Ministry writes down some valuable advice on how to recruit people to serve in ministry,

Step 1: Go to the source - Find the connectors

In every church there is at least one member that tends to connect with a large number of others within the church. These “connectors” have a doorway into a large number of people within the church, often knowing where they work, what they like to do, and what skills they possess.

Spending a little time with these connectors each week can provide leads on someone that may provide help. Before talking with your connectors, be sure to have a short list of who you need. Visit your connectors regularly, as they may have met someone new that can help you out.

Step 2: Go to your neighbors - Find the like-minded

While we all llke to look inward in our church as a first step, don’t be afraid to go to other churches in the area. Whether it is of the same or a different affiliation, there may be someone who will help out a church in your area. If you live in a rural area, make some appointments to meet others in a nearby area to obtain help or find leads on someone with the skills you need.

Step 3: Go a different way - Find an alternate path

Finally, it may be necessary to find an alternate solution your need. While this isn’t always the best option, it may require you to stretch your team by seeking creative solutions when you don’t have the necessary skills available. Remember: just because it isn’t the first solution you had in mind, you should still give 100% of your effort to His glory.

Volunteer Scheduling

Notice what is missing from this list: pulpit announcements, bulletin inserts and newsletter articles. If you are looking for a great solution to scheduling, make sure you download the PDF “Handle with Care“; a white paper with practical steps for leading your church ministry.

if you are looking for a great scheduling tool, visit Church Director which is an a volunteer scheduling and ministry tool.

Funny, but sad religious satire from the Onion. [via Jordon Cooper]

I rarely have business cards when I need them. Even in this age of digital communications, the business card is still a “must have” tool for ministry. This applies not only for so-called paid staff, but to any ministry team. I am ordering some cards and here are a few online providers that provide really cheap 4-color printing:

• Printing For Less
• 123 Print
• Overnight Prints
• Vista Print
• PS Print

If you are able to use standard shipping, then these printers are really, really cheap. I am using Vista Print for the first time and getting several business cards printed for $3.99/250. Be sure that I will let you know how that goes.

One tip before you venture into online printing, make sure that you review the specifications of the formats they will accept.

Pocket Sized Communications

If you want to be totally cool, get a Moo Card. Moo allows you to create cards (as if by magic) from a Flickr account. You can get 100 mini cards for $19.99. So how would you use Moo for business cards for your ministry?

• Create a Flickr account for your ministry
• Upload and organize photo of your ministry in action
• Use Moo to select 100 photos of your ministry
• Add your contact information
• Get your cards in the mail

Put a couple in this cool business card holder by Umbra. And you have an amazing communications tool for your ministry that fits into your pocket.

Church Relevance blog reports on David Kinnaman’s (president of The Barna Group) presentation on how young non-Christians perceive Christianity.

Non-Christians aged 16-29 years old were asked, “What is your current perception of Christianity?”

• 91% said antihomosexual
• 87% said judgmental
• 85% said hypocritical
• 78% said old-fashioned
• 75% said too involved in politics
• 72% said out of touch with reality
• 70% said insensitive to others

Not surprisingly 84% of non-Christians are friends with Christians, but 15% say the lifestyle of the Christians is not different.

This is the context where you minister. I know that deal with this point of view is difficult; but we only overcome it through relationships; one person at a time. The only reason this mindset exists is because they do not know YOU.