Slashdot may have the best headline: Thou Shalt Not View the Super Bowl on a 56″ Screen.

Last year, the NFL began cracking down on churches hosting Super Bowl parties. So this year, it seems to be another hot topic. Many churches heeded the warning and (continue)

Since BetaChurch has been on a new content hiatus, I offer you a list of the sites I check for fresh content at the intersection of faith and culture. Feel free to leave your own oft-visited sites in the comments. See the sites after the jump…

There was an interesting article in today’s Washington Post about churches and the use of technology, especially in worship. I thought it was a good article and well-balanced, though was certainly breaking no new ground on the issue. I liked it because St. Paul’s Collegiate Church was mentioned and small church plants from […]

I’m enthralled that more and more free web apps are coming from the big names like Google and Adobe. Adobe is poised to release a free web-version of Photoshop and an online version of Premiere has already been created, although it’s known as YouTube’s Remixer. But even cooler than those apps is Kuler. Kuler allows you to create, upload, view, vote on, search, tag, or generally be enamored by color schemes. It’s a web…

Can’t justify replacing PowerPoint with a $400 piece of software? Maybe it’s time to take the $200 plunge and get the newly released MediaShout Express, the stripped down version of the popular presentation software created specifically for churches. Download this pdf for the differences between their Express and Standard versions.

We’ve used the full version of MediaShout for years now and we’ve never looked back…

From CollideMagazine.com: Collide Magazine is dedicated to exploring the use of media in all its forms to communicate spiritual truth and enhance the worship experience. What they’re all about:
• Seeing God’s fingerprints in media
• The roles of media and the Church in culture
• Media resources that communicate Truth
• The creative use of media and technology in ministry

The magazine is currently taking subscriptions at…

Finally, a web app that shows PowerPoint Presentations in conjunction with a video. Zentation is in beta, so it’s free right now. One drawback, depending on your opinion, is that you must upload your video using Google Video. Sample presentations are on their front page. The ability to go full screen is great. I have yet…

BetaChurch is not really a how to kind of a place. On DaveMerwin.com I wrote a post for how to install Django on the Mac for development purposes. Have fun.

What you will find in this ongoing series are my observations and ideas about both rapid development frameworks and why one might use them. I will be completely subjective and if you need more information you can always contact the different projects themselves. The point of this will be a perspective that is not geeky, but might help project managers and team leaders make development platform decisions.

As a developer (yes, I know I just contradicted myself) I MUST find things that make my life easier. As a designer, I need to know what tools I have available to me. I was teaching a class the other day to a bunch of high school students about CSS and standards based design. In the class I let them know that you can no longer be a designer without knowing what the tools are and how they work. I am constantly playing and learning.

I tried to envision an online space for our Bible Study groups, a secure site where any member could post prayer requests, or pictures, or update a shared calendar, or share valuable internet resources, or upload Bible study notes or Powerpoint presentations. And then I thought, I don’t have the resources, the talent, or the time to make such a place. But then I searched…and found Nexo.

From their site: “Nexo is a free service that allows groups to collaborate online. Groups can share interactive calendars, pictures, videos, tasks, polls, comments, blogs, files and much more. Nexo is free, flexible and secure.” Read on for more information…