From Sampler to Sower

Recently my very good friend Todd Owens upgraded his cell phone. After 29 years of carrying the Palm Uno, he moved into the 21st century by upgrading to a Motorola Droid 2.  (Okay, so maybe it was a Treo, but barely….)  It wasn’t long before he was texting me to ask what apps were most helpful for youth ministry.  Which got me thinking: Blog post?  Apparently the answer is yes.  So here they are, my can’t work without apps.

Astrid: The first app I downloaded to my Droid is perhaps the best of them all.  Astrid is the To-Do list of the 23rd century.  Features I like the best? The widget puts to-do list on my home screen; the app features the ability to prioritize tasks, schedule repeating tasks, and list according to context; and it syncs with Remember the Milk, so my wife can add things to my to-do list as well; and finally, setting both goal and final deadlines reminds you lest you forget something important. (Granted RTM has since released a Droid app, but Astrid works so well, I’ve not even considered changing.

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I’ve you’ve been reading youth ministry tech blogs or listening to many youth ministry twitters, you’ve probably come across talk about the digital camcorders from Flip, including the fan favorite Flip Mino (and Flip Mino HD).  At least I have. And so this morning I set off for Indy, in part to drop by Best Buy and check out this thing they call the Mino.

We’re getting ready for a new series at Water’s Edge called My Brand New Life which we hope will not only challenge students spiritually, but also unleash their creative side. One of the aspects of the series I’m most excited about will hopefully send them out into their world with camera phones to capture pictures and video that demonstrate what they’re learning.  Of course, not every student has a camera phone.  That’s why I wanted to check out the Mino.  At less than $150 a camera, I figured wouldn’t mind loaning one out to a trusted teen each week to enable them to take part in the video challenge.

When I arrived at Best Buy I was greeted just inside the door by an end cap display featuring their Insignia digital camcorders.  They are the same concept as the Flip, just from Best Buy’s discount brand.  The upside that caught my attention – $99 per camera. And the price was the same for both the SD and HD models.  But of course the skeptic in me wondered what’s the catch?

I looked into them, compared them with the Flip Mino, and bought a couple.  Here’s why:

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