Scott Cheatham’s Weblog

A new operating system to rival Windows will launch about this time next year.  On Wednesday, Google announced its new Chrome OS will release on netbooks and will build on its increasinly large Web 2.0 market.

This is a natural expansion for Google.  For years, they have had to rely on other operating systems like Windows and Apple (not to mention Linux) to bring their products to consumers.  Google has created a series of applications that move all of our data to the web and reduce the need to store files on our hard drives.  The new Chrome OS will build on this strategy and be a lightweight (i.e. it’s NOT going to eat up a lot of hard drive space), fast moving system for the growing netbook market.

This helps budget minded computer users as well.  I haven’t used Microsoft Office for a long time now.  Google Docs takes care of 95% of all of my file needs for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and more.  I use another third party application online to manage my banking accounts and everything is online making it easy for me to manage all of my business whereever I travel.  All I need is a web connection to keep things up to date.

I’ve been wanting to buy a netbook for some time now but might just wait a few more months to see how this develops.  My only concern is that developers come up with new software designed to run like Google and that it will run with or without a connection like Google Gears allows.  There are a few times where I might need to access a file when I’m not online and much of our church software (song presentation) is running on third party applications that could be ported over to the Web 2.0 format.

In any event, competition is a good thing.  Having Google as a competitor will make its rivals better innovators.  I can’t wait to see what Google’s OS will do.  You can bet I’ll be one of the first to give it a try once it’s available.

Seth Godin writes on his blog that he is in disagreement with Malcolm Gladwell over the concept of “free” in the market place.  Here’s an interesting comment:

In an attention economy (like this one), marketers struggle for attention and if you don’t have it, you lose. Free is a relatively cheap way to get attention (both at the start and then through viral techniques).

I agree with Godin.  In the business world, free opens the doors for many other items that you may wish to purchase.  Each month, “Christian Audio” gives away a free audiobook for you to listen to.  There are no strings attached and the quality is outstanding.  Why do this?  To get you to come back and purchase other books.  I have.  Once I experienced the quality and got hooked on listening to their books, I wanted more.

A lot of online writers are offering up small pieces of work for free so that you can “try” their product. Leo Babauta at “Zen Habits” did this when he offered up a shortened ebook to promote his first published one.  It was a great idea.  It opened up vistas for new readers, created some needed viral marketing, and if had value!  It wasn’t just a cheap download that only had value if you bought the book.  It stood on its own.

As print media vanishes it will be imperative for writers to find ways to communicate with their fans and potential fans.  The concept of “free” has merit.  What do you think?

I’ve not really done much of a review of my data like I should when checking out my visitors and the most popular posts but I figured it might make a good review post given that these are the posts you’ve read the most.  Those of you on my Twitter stream, got an early preview of these posts yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon and evening..But for those who didn’t, here are the top 5 posts (by total views) that this blog has received in the last quarter.

#5 “Twitter Ego” I just posted this last week so I was surprised at the number of views it received so quickly.  I wasn’t really trying to criticize but merely make an observation as to what constitutes a good follower base for Twittering.

#4 “Circa Steno” The Levenger company has quite a following so this one didn’t surprise me.  People want to read others’ experiences with the products since most of them are purchased online.  I’m a big fan of Circa/Rollabind products and use them extensively so I like to share my thoughts on the products I buy.

#3 “Moleskine Fans on a Budget” My review of the Piccadilly notebook that pretty much clones the Moleskine.  Another no brainer in terms of views since the Moleskines have their own website and loyal following.

#2 “The Cussing Pastor” Ed Young’s video on pastors using what many term “mild” cuss words during their communication.  This has been a hot button issue that many have picked up on and in less than 11 days, this post shot to the number two spot on my views for the quarter.

And finally…the number one post in the past quarter…It was actually a bit of a surprise….

#1 “Piccadilly Sundial Agenda Review” My review at mid-June of the “Sundial Agenda” planner evidently was a hit with many.  In just over two weeks, this post received more views than any other in the past three months.  It is a pretty cool planner but I was really surprised at the total number of views this post received..and it’s still getting more.

When looking at just the just the past month, not much changed really other than my post on “Marketing Discipleship” came in at #4 for the month.  It bumped the “Circa Steno” review out but the other top four listed above remained.

So far the busiest day in my young blog’s life was in January when 204  people dropped by on a Wednesday (1-7-09) to check out the posts here.  And since I moved all of my blogging here 15 months ago, this past month has been the second highest month for total views next to January of this past year.

All of that to say “Thank You” for stopping by here.  I’m humbled that with so many choices to read these days, so many folks come by here to read and interact with the posts.  I’m grateful to have made so many new friends and look forward to many more years of fruitful blogging if God allows!  Have a great July!

Do we need “X” amount of followers before “Tweeting”? Apparently, well known worship leader Louie Giglio does.  As I’m reading blogs and tweets during a quick break today, the band “Fee” tweets this:

I have discovered that @louiegiglio won’t tweet
until he reaches 5000 followers..
he’s almost there..EVERYONE FOLLOW and RT…TODAY

Say What?

Well, looking at @louiegiglio reveals over 5300 followers, (as of this post) and Fee’s post was earlier this morning.  I guess I can stop my Twittering.  I’m barely under 200 followers.  If 5000 is what it takes, than I doubt I’ll ever get there.  This begs the question: Has the cult of personality so enveloped the church that we have viral marketing for “celebrity” worship leaders?  Maybe this is all a big joke but I truly doubt it.  Is 5000 viewers more important than a few hundred?

Something to think about…

Overwhelming isn't it?

Are you addicted to your social networks so much that it’s robbing you of valuable time with your friends or loved ones?  There’s a good medium ground for such activities.  As a pastor, I’m always monitoring my time on line (I use mee-timer) to make sure I’m making the best use of the time as scripture commands.  It’s easy to get caught up in Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and all the other networks that are cropping up.

This week, Ibrahim Husain shared some great tips on how to manage your on-line life and balance it with your real-life:

Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, Friendster, Tumblr, Xanga… the list goes on and on.  And if you are any sort of tech savy, there is good chance you are a member of multiple social networks. Even I have accounts with at least 5 of these.  While there is a lot to be gained by using these services, there is also a lot to be lost.
Read the rest of this well-written article…

How do you feel about your on-line life? I’d like to have some feedback on how you manage your social networking both for good and for increasing your productivity.  Comment by clicking the comment link at the top of this post…

Have a great day!

Pass the cheddar if you want your church to grow!

I’m all for free market capitalism but I have to ask, why are some well known pastors charging a small fortune for their “kits”? If you are in church work, you know what I mean.  There are kits on how to grow your church, kits on how to retain visitors, kits on the biblical discipleship of others, and soon I’m sure we will have kits on how to make kits!

I don’t begrudge someone for selling an idea they came up with but how am I going to benefit by spending $200-$300 (or more) on a “kit” to retain visitors?  Aren’t their some good books on this topic already available for under $20?  If these well-known pastors were truly wanting to grow the kingdom this way, wouldn’t the kits cost under $100 so that any church could afford it?  If I were offering my stuff that I wrote myself, I would likely go the Anthony Coppedge way and charge under $10 for an ebook or something of that nature.  I guess I’m just thinking out loud as I read my blogs.  One pastor whom I’ve followed for years has gradually built up his “brand” and is now selling his stuff while his name is hot.  Good for him.  I really mean that.  I just wish that we could see a more “open source” type of market for this stuff.  I mean really, it was all drawn from the bible anyway so who gets the royalties there?

I write many bible studies, discipleship studies, and follow up lessons for new converts.  I’ve looked at others’ materials for this and have written and adapted my own unique sets for each area.  I guess I could fancy these up on CD and provide full-color graphics and sell them as kits but it seems they wind up on my thumb drive and I give them away to other pastor friends while loading up some of their stuff.  This “open source” sharing is ideal for spreading ideas.  Even on this site, I have a limited copyright for my writing as long as it’s not repackaged for profit by somebody else.

Better still is the work it takes for you to research and write these types of materials yourself.  Read your bibles daily.  Pick up a guide like Jerome Smith’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible and use it thoroughly to research topics and write your own material.  That’s what I did.  This July, I will be taking a few weeks away from the pulpit to focus my writing (no vacation!) on new lessons we will be teaching on how to use our bibles and related study tools more efficiently and effectively so that our congregation’s collective biblical literacy will rise.  Along with this, my church and a few of my friends’ churches are meeting to consider the idea of a “Bible Summit” day long conference that will focus on this very issue.  Our hope is to offer the material and seminar for free or a love offering only so that we can share ideas, build relationships, and grow our churches without paying a small fortune.

What kinds of materials could we put together if we worked collectively on such ideas?  I would be willing to hear your ideas on an “open source” site to share such “kits” and help each other.  Perhaps “thinking out loud” has its benefits.  I’ll be looking forward to your response.

My Latest Tech Toy

In this final installment in my blog series on better reading, I want to focus on some tools that you can use to make your reading more enjoyable and get more reading done faster than you ever realized.

Earlier this week, we spent time talking briefly about how to organize a reading list around books you’ll enjoy, ones that will challenge you, and ones that will grow you in your areas of need.  We also talked about how we can interact with books to make them more enjoyable.  How we can take notes, ask questions, organize great thoughts, and draw up action plans to apply what we’ve read.  There’s so much great information out there but none of it will benefit you if  you do not plan to get more books into your life.  

One way to do this is by expanding your horizons in reading.  Audio books are now more available and easier to use than ever before.  I remember just a few years ago that I would never pick up an audio version of a book just because it was clumsy to carry with you anywhere and you needed a cassette player or portable CD player to listen to them.  Books were few and most people want to travel light.  Enter the world of MP3 players.  Yes, iPods are all the rage but really all the iPods are nothing more than proprietary MP3 players that cost a lot for the bling.  I wanted something inexpensive that I would carry with me anywhere so I started a few years ago with a half-gig MP3 player that I bought at a tech store.  My youngest daughter inherited that when I upgraded to a 1-gig player that I wrote about less than a year ago.  I recently moved that player into service at the church I pastor playing music prior to worship.  Just a few weeks ago, I purchased an iPod Touch lookalike made by Sylvania.  As you can see by the picture at right, it has the same features, comes with 4-gigs of built in flash memory and is expandable with a micro SD-card (I have a spare 2-gig card that I am moving  over from my old player to make is a 6-gig model).  I bought this player for $50 at a local Big Lots and couldn’t be happier with it.  It’s loaded with several of my favorite music albums but also has 8 different audio books on it as of this writing.  I can take it with me anywhere.

The point is, you can take an 8-cd audio book with you with no clunky baggage to carry and listen to it while you walk at the park, while you shop for groceries, in the car while you drive, and at night when your eyes are tired and you just want to chill with a cup of coffee or tea and relax.  My strategy is to pick up the audio version of books that I would likely not read given my limited amount of time to commit to the task.  Many business books on management, leadership, dealing with people, and finances are all good candidates for audio books for me.  In the last two years, I’ve read about 30% more books than I would have if I had not used an audio book.  Many people will like this option because they can be doing other things while listening.

Another way (which is a bit costlier) to increase your reading is to purchase an eReader book device and read eBooks.  Amazon’s Kindle and the Sony Reader are the big players here.  I’ve written about these two elsewhere on this blog but for the purposes of this article, it’s sufficient to say that either will help you in your endeavor to read more.  Both devices are slim and lightweight, easy to carry, and hold a charge for a long period of time.  I like to travel as minimalist as possible so for me, being able to put my Sony Reader in my over the shoulder man-bag with my bible, notepad, and MP3 player makes perfect sense.  I’ve not even begun to tap the memory capacity of my Sony Reader and already have over 60 books on it.  Can you imagine carrying THAT load around everywhere?  The key point here is that if you have your reader device handy and it’s easy to take with you, you’ll read more in those smaller windows of space like when you’re eating a quick lunch, waiting at the auto shop or doctor’s office, when you have a few minutes to kill waiting for a late appointment, or when you have a few minutes down time in your home between dinner and washing the dishes!  All of those little windows add up and in time, you’ll see that you can get more reading done but the idea is to have the tools at your disposal or you won’t use them and your reading will slow down.

One final thought I have is with cost.  Books are expensive.  The ebook market has helped by reducing the cost of books and also by its nature, the cost to store them in your home.  Audio books, though small on their CD’s, can even be reduced to a simple online download to further reduce clutter and storage in your home.  In the last year I’ve sold off many of my hardback books, something I thought I would NEVER do.  But the reality is that I could use the space in my office for other things and by meticulously selling these books off, I’ve reduced my storage space and given myself a budget to buy my favorites in ebook form.  I’ve already removed one bookshelf from my office and I plan to remove two more by the end of 2010.  So there is a cost benefit to buying digital books be it audio or ebook form.  Another old friend is also available and that is your local public library.  I’m blessed to have a great library consortium and most books I want to read I can check out.  Audio books are plentiful now too and usually only require me to request them in advance so they can be delivered to my library of choice.  I’ve probably checked out over 30 audio books in the last 18 months or so and I have two on hold today!  These cost you nothing other than the investment of your time to go get them and take them back.  Used bookstores also have value when you can’t find an out of print book anywhere else.  I still will pick up the odd paper book from time to time when it’s one I really want and I know it’s out of print.  Online bookstores makes finding volumes like this easier than ever before.

Hopefully, I’ve given you some thoughts to energize your reading this summer and beyond.  Have you put a list together?  Do you know what you want to read next week?  Do you want that in traditional book, ebook, or audio form?  Do you have an inexpensive audio player to make it easier to get to your books?  Spend some time this weekend answering these questions, make your list, head to the bookstore or library (or online), and get reading!  It will be the best thing you ever do for your personal growth.

How can you grow in your knowledge and skill by reading books? On Monday, I shared with you some ideas for putting together a reading list for the summer and shared briefly the idea of note taking and interacting with a book.  But HOW do we do this?  My personal hero in the reading for growth category is a man by the name of Mortimer Adler.  Adler and Charles Van Doren were the authors of the classic work “How to Read a Book” which is still available today.  In the book, the authors distill the essence of reading for growth and how one should undertake this endeavor.  I’ll not regurgitate the text here but suffice it to say the book is a gold mine of reading competence.  Why this type of learning isn’t taught in our public schools I will never know.

To be certain, you must also read books for pure enjoyment.  Not all reading has to be taxing to your brain.  A good mystery, thriller, or comedy is always needed in your reading plan.  I drop these in from time to time but the majority of my reading is focused on growing as a pastor, leader, husband, and father.  It is there I draw nearly 90% of my reading material. So what do I do to interact with a book? How do audio and electronic books change my plans?  I’ll attempt to be brief but here goes:

When I’m reading for growth, I start by surveying the book.  I gloss over the table of contents, review the chapters, briefly look over the end pages and then see what the authors closed the book with.  In general, their closing thoughts summarize their hope for what it is you draw from the reading.  This gives you a “base” to draw from as you begin to see how chapters build on one another.  This is a very simple step and one I go through with most reading before I elect to purchase a book.

After a brief (less than 20-30 minute) survey, I read the introduction and credits to see what others are going to say about this book.  If there are blank end pages in the book, I generally prepare one with my initial thoughts of what I hope to glean from this text.  As I read, I underline and make notes in the text designed to give me ideas to review.  If it is something I REALLY want to explore, I make a note of it in the end pages and review it further after I’ve finished the book and am conducting a post reading review.  Many times, a thought you note will have a related “in text” note that refers to other books that the author consulted.  If it’s worth it, I make note of these and add them to a future “review to read” list the next time I’m in a library or book store.

If I’m using digital work, like an audio book or ebook on my Sony Reader, I use a small digital recorder in place of my pencil and end pages.  I will stop and leave myself a brief voice clip in the digital recorder to review later.  The idea here is to capture thoughts however you must do it.  Else a great thought will get left behind in the pages of the book and a post reading review will have less of an impact.

Another technique I employ is the use of “glyphs” or special notation symbols that I recognize in my own little world.  These glyphs can mean anything from “A Great Idea!” to “Not worth exploring”.  On another end page, I collect these “glyph” thoughts by page number and add them to each glyph I put on the end page.  Thus “great ideas” are collected and I can review them by page number at the end of the book.  Some glyphs challenge me to develop an action plan to execute to employ an idea shared in the book.  If so, then I can make such a plan part of my productivity work at the end of my week when I’m arranging my time for the coming seven days.  With an ebook or audio book, it’s a bit harder to organize the glyphs but a makeshift system can be made with a notecard and/or voice recorder noting the pages and “types” of headings you want to use.  My Sony reader ebook has a feature that lets me “dog ear” pages in my book as I read to I can use this method to catalog any specific notes I take.

Sometimes I question the text if I disagree with a conclusion and leave myself a note to review the ideas in other works perhaps cited by the author or ones I can find on sites like Shelfari.  These questions also become a valuable part of the text when I’m done.  This method was best summarized by others as the “SQ3R” method.  I’ve adapted it to my own reading style but essentially, the nuts and bolts of what I do can be found there.

When I’m done with a book, I let it settle for a few days before I go back to review it.  Briefly, my review encompasses going over my “glyphs” pages, putting together an action plan to challenge any questions I may have asked of the book, and applying the ideas I found most helpful.  How I do this varies but in short, this is how I review a book.  There are many other tools I can employ but I think you get the idea.

This is not something you pick up quickly.  In fact, it took me years to employ this method successfully over time.  Once again, reading for growth is a discipline and you get better the more you do it.  If you feel overwhelmed with what I’ve shared here, simply take the time to review one of these ideas and incorporate it into your reading.  The next time, add another idea.  However you do it, take the time to interact with your books.  It will change the way you read forever.

On Friday, I will conclude this series with some time-saving ideas to increase the time in your day for reading.  I hope you’ve enjoyed my thoughts on t

It doesn't matter how fast you read - just READ!

What books to do you plan to read this summer  for your personal growth? Summer is a great time to pick up the hobby of reading good books.  I’ve loved reading since I was kid and these days, I plan my reading so that I always have a good book ready when I have time.  This week, I want to spend some time talking about the discipline of reading and share some ideas from my years of experience that might help you to be a more involved and informed reader.  I’m no expert but I have gleaned some great ideas from others that I have used to effectively help me pick better books, read MORE books than I thought I ever could, and also apply what I’ve read to my life and work situation.

Pastor and Author Nelson Searcy advocates reading 40-to-50 books a year in his well done audio resource “Planning A One Year Personal Growth Plan” and I agree that is a good goal to shoot for.  But HOW do you do it?  Many reading this want to increase their reading I’m sure but when it comes time to do it, they wind up spinning their wheels and reading a book or two each year and never really feel satisfied with their effort.  So for this first part of my 3-part series, let’s look at how we can organize and plan to read more.  I promise you it will be painless.

Steve Leveen, in his book “The Little Guide to Your Well Read Life” suggests a tool to organize your bookshelves for reading.  Without being too wordy, the system basically allows you to organize your shelves by books you are planning to read, those you have read, and those you will review again after reading.  You might ask “why review?” and that I will discuss later this week.  For now, let’s just look at your plan.  Digital tools like the excellent “Shelfari” social networking site allow you to set up virtual shelves on your computer if you are space hindered in your home.  I have several shelves set up on my Shelfari site for books on my “wish list” that I want to read, those I am currently reading, and those I have read and reviewed.  Shelfari is like Facebook for bibliophiles but it is very easy to use.  The key is for you to HAVE A PLAN.  Whatever you choose to use, organize a reading list for your personal growth and then stick to it.

What should I read?  It really depends on your interests and where you want to grow in the coming months.  As a pastor, I want to continually be growing in my spiritual walk so I plan my reading by including books on Theology, Philosophy, and of course my daily Bible Reading.  As a leader, I want to grow in those areas so I include many books in that genre both Christian and Secular.  There is much to be gained from great business leaders like Ram Charan, David Allen, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Senge.  The key is when you begin to review, take notes, and apply the books to your life, then you can find ways to make the text applicable to your life situation.

Once you have your areas of interest written down, then organize a list.  Ask others who read what they are reading.  Check out the reading suggestions on sites like Shelfari.  Another good idea is to find a book of reading lists that you can review to make some initial selections.  I reviewed one by Eugene Peterson and there are many others out there depending on your interests.  Once you have some suggestions, pick a few and begin your journey.  It doesn’t have to be expensive either as many libraries carry these books and these days, you can go online to larger library cooperatives in your region an reserve the books ahead of time to check out.

In the end, your reading success or failure will be a result of your prior planning.  Plan well and you will greatly enjoy the endeavor.  Plan poorly and you will still be spinning your wheels a year from now.  As I stated, summer is good time to get into the habit of reading.  You can take it slower, enjoy your time in books, and increase your intake of good reading heading into the fall.

Wednesday in Part Two, I will discuss ways you can take notes, interact with, and apply the books that you are reading.  Until then, get planning!

My blogging endeavors took a big hit this week.  First, it was tax time and I HAD to get my taxes done so I forced myself to lock in and get them done on Monday.  After several hours of doing that, I thought the rest of the week would be okay.  WRONG.  On Tuesday, my cellphone (which is also our church office phone) started acting funny and by Wednesday, it was dead.

So Wednesday my wife and I traveled to the store to upgrade my phone.  Our plan was due to be renewed anyway so why not?  We both were eligible for free upgrades so my wife gets the new generation Razr from Motorola and I go for a business look and functionality with the trusty Palm Centro. (seen at right).

I’m not big on all the internet functions on smart phones.  I wanted this because I like the Palm environment (it’s sturdy and easy to navigate) and also the keyboard at bottom allows me to text easier.  A few years back, I would have laughed when you asked me about texting but now, with all of my kids either at the teen or pre-teen stage, I’m constantly texting them.  I’ve also leveraged texting for sending me reminders of appointments, task lists, and other helpful tasks.

All was well until Wednesday evening when I realized that the phone was working but not ringing.  To make a long story short, the new phone had a faulty speaker in back so after spending considerable time with the folks at Palm and with my cellphone provider, they finally allowed me to return the thing and get another one.

Thursday night, I traveled back to the store and was told there were no more in stock!  I had to travel several miles south to a partner store to get the exchange taken care of and by then it was late again.  So today, I spent the early morning hours charging the new phone, installing software, and setting it up.  I added an invisible shield protector from Best Buy to the small touch screen to keep it from scratching and now, I’m waiting on the screen protector to dry (takes 12 hours).  By tomorrow morning, I’ll be back up and running with my new phone!

Of course, you have your job, family, and Dad duties as well so you can see why I’ve been absent since Monday morning.  I will say, I like the new phone.  I know it’s older technology given the new screens and Palm’s own ‘Pre that is about to be released but I’ve always found that using proven technology saves headaches.  The reason this phone is so good and hasn’t changed much since it’s introduction in 2007 is because it’s solid and didn’t need much work.  Everyone I’ve talked to who uses one has spoken highly of it.  For the next couple of years, it will get me by just fine!  Now I can text without having to punch numbers three and four times and hoping I get it right!  My son looked at it (he has the LG Shine) and just laughed and said “Yea, this has YOU written all over it.”  I’m glad he appreciates the business “geek” feature of this device.

Next week looks a bit lighter.  Of course, I’ll be planning for Easter but that’s always exciting.  We are hoping for new families in our church and I’ve been busy visiting those who’ve come of late since we finished our move to our new storefront last month.

Have a great week.  Normal blogging resumes on Monday (I hope!)