I've written before about the very helpful web app, Dropbox. Today this great software really saved my bacon. Here's what happened.

When I write my weekly bulletin I start with the previous week's, plug in the new article, change the date and volume number, update the announcements and "save as" the new bulletin. Usually, the first thing I do is the "save as" in a new folder and new file name so that I don't save over the older bulletin. Today I forgot the "save as" part of the process and as I worked on the new bulletin I was saving it over the older one. I didn't even realize I had done it until I started to post it online.

"Oh, no," I thought, "I've erased last week's bulletin!" Then I remembered that I save my bulletin in Dropbox. "What a relief!" All I had to do was open up the web interface of my Dropbox and click "restore." Vwala, last week's bulletin back safe and sound in its folder.

Here's how I recovered my file:



Can you believe that something so cool is free!

This is an eBook from a series of articles I published in The Bawcomville Banner.

Hope its helpful. Let me know what you think.

RSS stands for “really simple syndication.” It is the technology used to syndicate online content to a list of subscribers. Once subscribed, the readers receive automatic updates of content posted to that web site.

Depending on how the content provider has the feed set up, the subscriber will get a summary of the newly posted content or the entire article in their RSS reader. This automatic notification makes RSS a great way to rapidly review content of interest.

For people who have to read a lot of material from various sources, like preachers, RSS subscriptions can be extremely helpful and time saving.
The first thing a person needs to know about RSS Feeds is how to collect and read them.

Many email applications and web browsers have build in RSS readers. For example, in Internet Explorer you can click on the RSS button to subscribe to feeds. New content will automatically be added to your feeds folder.


Check your email or web browser for an RSS icon. Odds are you’re already all set up to start receiving RSS Subscriptions.

Another option, and the one that I use, is the Google Reader. It is very easy to set up and can be accessed anywhere you can get online. It also has good mobile clients for most modern cells phones. . I have Google set as my homepage so whenever I open my web browser the first thing I see is any new content in my Google Reader. I can quickly read through the updates and go from there.

Here are some other RSS readers you might be interested in:

Bloglines (Online): /
NetNewsWire (Mac):
SharpReader (Windows):
However you get set up to receive RSS feeds, it is a great way to consolidate your reading resources in one location for quick reading.

Almost all web sites, that post regular updates to their content, provide their readers with RSS feeds to keep up with new additions. Here are several advantages to using RSS feeds for your reading:

It greatly reduces the time you spend reading online.

It greatly increases the amount of information you can get in less time.

You get all of your content in one place rather than scattered across several web sites. “Its like having an inbox for the Internet” - Google

It helps you keep up with current events, news, interests, hobbies, and just about anything else you want to keep up with.

It can help you be a more eclectic reader - an important thing for preachers to be.

Use a mobile reader, like your cell phone, to read your RSS feeds during down time (i.e., waiting in offices, airports, etc.) to be a more productive reader.
Here are some of my favorite RSS feeds:

My web sites, of course:
Norm’s Notes:
Bible Q-n-A Blog:
Bible Q-n-A Videos:
The Productive Preacher Blog:

News Feeds:
Fox News:

Productivity:
The David Allen Company:
Stepcase Lifehack:
Zen Habits:

Writing:
Copyblogger:
Write To Done:
Lateral Action:

The whole point of using RSS feeds is to be a more productive reader. If your accumulation of feeds becomes a time sink instead of time saver, its time to cut back.

Try not to get carried away when subscribing to RSS feeds. If you notice after a while that your inbox is filling up with old unread content try cutting back on your subscriptions. If you’re skipping over certain providers then you’re probably not as interested in their content as you thought you would be. Unsubscribe from them. There’s nothing wrong with unsubscribing from older feeds as you add new ones, as long as they’re not mine.

Hope this helps. Let me know what you think.

Here's just a really short sermon seed I found while reorganizing my sermon folders. I have no clue where it came from. It found its way into my folder somehow. I wonder what else I might find as I get my folders in order?

Hope you can use it.

As you know, I'm a fan of the Getting Things Done productivity system. With the popularity of this system it is no surprise that there are literally hundreds, maybe thousands, of tools designed to work specifically with GTD. I've experimented with many of them and have really enjoyed looking for that "perfect" GTD application.

One of the problems, though, is that I use different computers with different operating systems. Sometimes I'm using a PC and sometimes, most of the time, I'm using a Mac. And what about those times I'm not at a computer at all? The best GTD tools are those that don't tie you down to one point of access to use them. That's where I think Nozbe has the rest beat, hands down.

You can use Nozbe online when you're at your computer, which means it is compatible with any operating system. When you're away from your computer you can use Nozbe on your mobile phone. If you're really "old school" you can even use Nozbe with pen and paper. It is the only GTD application I have found that is truly universal.

While I highly recommend the GTD books, if you want a quick overview of the GTD system, Nozbe has a 10-step Simply Get Things Done Video Course. It covers the core principles of the GTD system and shows you how to implement those principles using Nozbe.

Implementing Nozbe into the way you work is simplicity to the extreme. Within about 10 minutes after signing up for Nozbe I had it on my iGoogle home page, on my iPhone, connected with my Twitter account and set up to take email tasks.



This wide range of connectivity with your Nozbe makes it very easy to use as your catch-all inbox. I've written previously about the GTD principle of ubiquitous capture. That is, get it out of your head and captured into a trusted system. With Nozbe, I can capture ideas and tasks into my inbox from almost anywhere. I can send a direct message to Nozbe in Twitter and it will automatically appear in my inbox (a very fast and easy capture method). If there is an email that needs to be acted on I can just forward it to an email address, provided by my Nozbe account, to have it captured in my inbox for processing. If I'm away from my computer I can use my mobile phone to capture information into my Nozbe inbox.

***Here's a realtime example: While writing this post I received an email with something that I needed to act on. I hit "alt+T" to open Tweetie (my Twitter app), then "shift+comm+N" to start a new direct message. Typed in the necessary next action and sent it off to Nozbe. In a matter of just a few seconds I had captured a task to my inbox that I can act on when I'm done with my current task of writing this post. I also got a text message about someone who needs to be visited. Again, just a few keystrokes and a few seconds and I now have a task, "Visit ***," in my inbox. It couldn't be easier and faster to capture to Nozbe! Now back to the regularly scheduled review.***

I signed up for a free trial of Nozbe but very quickly upgraded to a full account. It didn't take long for me to see that this great web application would quickly become an integral part of my productive GTD workflow. Try it out and let me know what you think.

Here's another "Recommended Reading" post from a great blog for writers, www.WriteToDone.com.

"Three Techniques to Avoid Being a Boring Writer" reviews Sol Stein's book, "Stein on Writing." I don't have the book but after reading this I'll be ordering it today!

When we write bulletin articles and/or blog posts we want people to pay attention to what we're saying. What we're saying is important because it is, or should be, instructing in God's word. But if our presentation is boring and hard to read people will put it down. They will move on to something else and our work will be for naught.

To avoid being a boring writer, Sol Stein's advice is to accelerate the pace. Here are his three tips for accelerated pace in writing:

• Use short sentences.
• Use frequent paragraphs.
• Use jump cuts.

The article at WriteToDone gives some good examples of these techniques. Hope it helps!

Stein On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies

Here's a Sermon Seed I picked up at a Gospel Meeting recently.

Things Tied To The Blood Of Christ:

• The Body (church).
• The Lord's Supper.
• Baptism.

Preached by Bob Swain at the Central church of Christ in Bastrop, LA.

When I listen to another preacher I usually just write down their main points and any particularly attention getting quotes. The reason I don't take detailed notes is because I don't want what they said to overly affect my own development of the points. There's nothing wrong with getting sermons from other preachers but that doesn't mean letting them do your work for you. Take the points and develop them yourself. Make it your sermon (but if you do use their words at all be sure to give them credit when you do). I'm not even going to give you the thesis of the sermon! You develop the points and make application the way you need to preach it to your audience. Then it will be your sermon.

Here's a quote from a good book I'm reading right now:

One of the applications that I use a great deal is DropBox. If you're like me then you work between multiple computers. Most preachers have this challenge to deal with. There is the home computer, the building computer, the notebook. Most congregations have a Windows PC at the building but more and more preachers are switching to Mac. With DropBox you can not only keep your files synced across multiple computers but it syncs between multiple operating systems too. There's also some really nice file sharing and file recovery features. I've clipped the intro from the DropBox website for you (click them to enlarge). I highly recommend this app.