I have been flirting with the concept of a mobile office for a while and creating a truly mobile ministry.
It’s a great concept, and one that I did not come up with myself. Being a ministry worker to a generation that is almost permanently mobile is almost a given at this point.
With our young adults (several of whom are my first graduates from my current youth ministry), there is a need. A few of them go to local colleges, and I figure a good laptop/smartphone, Starbucks wi-fi and a willingness to meet them could take us far. Plus, I figure I could add the uber-cool tag “Digital Gospel Nomad” to my profile.
I know it is cliche, but there is definitely value in meeting people where they are. Having informal meet-ups with informal content to talk God using relevant technology to facilitate the talks might be just the elixir that a tiny ministry aimed at young adults need. And the concept of a roaming office also gives me the flexibility I need to be available to more people more frequently.
The mobile landscape is changing.
Last year, I had no youth on Twitter. This year, they tweet, so much! They may not have a solid strategy, or even know why they do it, but that doesn’t matter. I need to make sure God is presented in the same space. So, in a sense, I am hedging against the future with this experiment today.
Of course, where would I be without the tools? I’d need my trusty Android EVO for the occasional Skype video chat, note-taking and YouVersion Bible (and, hopefully, Evernote gives Android folks some fantastic Hello functionality).
But, how mobile am I while lugging around a laptop?
I am fairly sure I could get away with doing most things on my handheld, but for the heavy lifting, I might want something a bit more powerful.
Is it worth borrowing my wife’s rooted Nook Color?
Nah… back to laptop/smartphone combo.
We all have our burdens.
What does your ideal mobile office look like?
Eli says
Definitely an iPad. With options like the the cloud & dropbox it is almost perfect. Some flash would be nice.
Frank Gantz says
Sounds like a reworking of the Circuit Riders going about on horseback.
Eric Dye says
*like*
Tre Lawrence says
Ha… re: Circuit Riders.
And yes, Dropbox is a must. The iPad? Donations only. Plus, there is something to be said for the portability of 7-inch tabs.
Phil Schneider says
The rumor mill is returning to the “mini-iPad” discussion again, but I doubt it will happen. I don’t think that the Galaxy or the Kindle Fire have Apple terrified enough for them to scale the iPad down so significantly.
My mobile office is my MacBook, my iPhone, and my Kindle. I completely agree about portability issues.
Brandon Becker says
I was an un-rooted unstructured ministry guy that finds himself in Starbucks often. I loved the conversations I got to have there! For a while, the staff was calling me their chaplain… Not sure if that worked for me or against me but they would come (with free-drink offerings!) and talk on their breaks about serious things and not-so-serious things. Some just wanted to see what I would do if they used some colorful language. Regardless, I was more productive in this kind of setting for certain tasks (Social media, dreaded database management, appointments, etc). Other tasks (serious writing, , I needed some peace and quite to quell the lurking ADD…
For the record, I would LOVE to see Evernote come out with an Android Hello… Do you hear me Evernote?!?!? It’s gotta be just a matter of time right?