Mister Nifty » Miscellaneous

Super Awesome WordPress Theme Deal

Brian Fegter — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 21:30:57 +0000

There are three days left in the UpThemes massive MightyDeals bundle. You get 13 premium themes + 2 plugins for $49.00. The best part is there is lifetime support and upgrades included in this deal. There’s no reason to pass this deal up if you are planning on using WordPress for any future site. Included are an array of themes that would benefit youth groups, music artists, team collaboration, personal blogs, and much more.

Get this deal now on MightyDeals

Super Awesome WordPress Theme Deal is a post from: Mister Nifty

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Must-Have Website Icon Tweaks

Brian Fegter — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 17:51:23 +0000

Here’s a couple good hints to make your church site even more awesome. I see a lot of church sites that don’t incorporate a browser favicon (url bar and tab icon) and an iPhone/iPad home screen bookmark icon. Excellence is in the details. Place these lines of code between the tags for awesomeness.

Must-Have Website Icon Tweaks is a post from: Mister Nifty

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A Techie Life Lesson

Brian Fegter — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:34:29 +0000

Here a little techie thought for personal reflection or to use in a cool youth lesson. In programming there are a couple types of logic that are used to produce results – Sequential and Combinational Logic.

Combinational Logic

Combinational logic makes decisions based on currently available input. Results are based on a limited set of data. In terms of social networking, Twitter is a good example of this type of logic to a point. When you post a tweet, that limited data is posted on a wall. Those who follow you get a snippet of your thoughts floating down their digital river for that isolated moment of your life. That tweet alone has no context, no history, and no connection to other information in cyberspace. Subconsciously your followers make a split-second judgment of your intelligence and your worldview every time you post your brilliant or not so brilliant 140 characters.

Porting this concept to real life, sometimes we make decisions based solely on limited available data. We make judgments of others without really knowing them. We take hearsay as fact and by nature we tend to believe one side of the story. How many times have we issued a final judgment on someone based solely on one person’s account of a situation or something we hear/read on social networking. Without context, we are essentially uninformed and not qualified to make decisions or judgments.

“First Impressions Last” is an example of combinational logic. Judgment is passed without ever knowing anything deeper than the surface. People who judge books by their cover are entrenched in tunnel vision decision making. Have you ever purchased something on impulse only to be burdened with buyer’s remorse later? Buyer’s remorse usually comes when we did not collect enough data about the product we purchased. Impulse buying is driven by a limited emotional data set. A good consumer researches a product, finds the best deal, and makes a financial plan to purchase the item.

Making real-life decisions based on limited data is purely reactionary and rash.

Sequential Logic

Sequential logic makes decisions based on a history of previous inputs. Results are based on a wide array of information past and present. A good example of this is Facebook’s friend finder. Based on your friend list and history of fan pages, Facebook’s algorithm prepares a set of possible friends you haven’t connected to yet. Advertisers use a history of keywords stored in cookies on your computer to serve up relevant ads to you. Google has an option to store your web history on your Google account for the sole purpose of tailoring advertisements to your demographic. These services use a history of your text inputs to produce a relevant set of results.

When dealing with people, it’s important we don’t make haste in scrutinizing others with limited data. It would behoove us to get to know a person before we criticize them or judge their character. Too often we only hear one side of the story in conflicts. A responsible person will hear both sides of the issue before making a decision. It’s easier to make an armchair judgment than taking time to learn about a person. It’s hard work to find a person’s context. It sometimes involves painful details and emotional investment.When you learn someone’s history it fosters trust and appreciation. It also builds community and strengthens diversity.

When you make important decisions with a wide array of information, you are wise.

A Techie Life Lesson is a post from: Mister Nifty

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Do you need an upgrade?

Brian Fegter — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 04:13:06 +0000

When I was a younger we visited churches across the United States. I remember one church in particular that we attended in the mid 90′s that was still using office equipment from the late 70′s. No joke! With my interest peaked in computers, I always asked why they had not upgraded to newer equipment. The answer I got was, “Why change it if it works?” Works is a relative term to the individual.

This image reminded me of that office scenario – the green monochrome screens, the decades old stained, mildewed keyboards, and the sound of dot matrix printers spooling paper up and buzzing line by line. Don’t forget the perforated rip sound when the job was done, and the peeling off of the paper track with the little equidistant holes, not to mention the LPT and serial cable spaghetti bowl.

Imagine trying to cram this 1980′s hard drive beast into your cellphone for extra storage. It’s quite the dichotomy for sure.

What if there was a photo that depicted your current methods and mindset with the imperative of the Gospel, modern innovation, the direction of the church, and the culture around you? Would you need an upgrade?

Here are my questions for those methodologically obsolete. Why upgrade your methods and your mindset if you’re comfortable doing what you’re doing? Why teach your team new concepts if they’re hitting status quo? Why expand your mind and learn new things on a weekly basis? Why use social media for your church? Why upgrade your God-forsaken website made with Frontpage? Why stretch yourself to find more creative ways to share the Gospel?

The answer: you might just find a more efficient, effective, economical, engaging, evangelistic and exhilarating experience around the corner. Jesus was a mindset and method changer. Work smarter, not harder for the Kingdom.

(Photo via http://www.dump.com/2010/03/20/20gb-in-1980-vs-32gb-in-2010-pic/)

Do you need an upgrade? is a post from: Mister Nifty

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The Need for Multilingual Media

Brian Fegter — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 01:42:55 +0000

I was speaking with a pastor today who asked if I knew where to find multilingual media resources for churches. I did some research and came up with nothing significant. The sermon media and religious short-film industry is primarily English. Many churches today have multilingual services throughout the week including Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese and many more. With the ever expanding diversity of the US, worship/sermon media creators should expand their scope to multilingual formats. This is not only a good business move, but also casts a wider net to impact congregations who don’t speak English.

Here are a few ways I see how this can be accomplished:

Hire a language student as an translation intern at your business. Go to your local university and post the job in the student center.
For short-films, use actors who are multilingual.
Provide subtitle versions in multiple languages.
Export sermon/worship images in multiple languages. After the initial design, it’s not difficult to drop in translation text.
Create a page template translated (UI and content) for each language that displays all relevant content.

By creating a multilingual-friendly environment in their marketplace, worship media companies would be in lock-step with the trending direction of American diversity, especially within the church.

Update:

Worship House Media has a collection of Spanish videos.

The Need for Multilingual Media is a post from: Mister Nifty

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Sending Video to Multiple Screens

Brian Fegter — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:36:08 +0000

If you don’t have experience in video ministry and are planning to install multiple projectors or screens of any kind in your church read further. A common mistake among those starting out cold turkey with video equipment is to take a primary video feed and split it between two screens without amplification. When you split a cable into two cables, the signal does not remain 100% strength on each. It splits the strength of the signal and divides it between the two. The screens will display your video feed, however the picture will be dimmed to 50% of the original output.

The old school way was to install an amplifier on each line after the split. This was cost intensive and hard to maintain. Today, you can purchase one distribution amplifier that can meet most or all of your needs for $150.00 or less. The distribution amp takes an input signal, splits it and amplifies the signal to 100% on multiple outputs. There are plenty of these devices out on the market. Beware of spending too little or too much. I try to stay within the $100-$200 range for longevity and good quality.

Sample Distribution Amps by Cable Type

RCA – Video/Audio – 7 Outputs – $99.00
- If you’re on a tight budget, use coax cable with RCA adapters for long cable runs. Coax is cheap, shielded and carries a good signal for hundreds of feet.
S-VIDEO + RCA – Video/Audio – 4 Outputs – $149.00
VGA – Video Only – 2 Outputs – $154.95
HDMI – Video Only – 2 Outputs – $129.99

This is not a comprehensive list, but simply a means to get your feet wet. Make sure to do your own research for your specific system. Read customer reviews and try to speak to a local church who has a system installed.

One Last Note

Beware of video to CAT5 converters as they place two devices inline from your video room to your screen. My rule-of-thumb is to keep a solid cable from output to input if at all possible. The more gadgets you use to get your signal to your screen, the more headaches you will have when one of them goes bad. If you have any questions, please email me. I am not the video expert, but I’ve been through the school of hard knocks setting up a video ministry cold turkey.

Sending Video to Multiple Screens is a post from: Mister Nifty

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Want an iPhone app for your church?

Brian Fegter — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 07:17:29 +0000

After Mars Hill Church released their iPhone app, I’ve had a deluge of people wanting to know how to create their own iPhone app. To begin, if you’re looking for free, you probably shouldn’t be trying to create an app. There are a few ways you can go about getting your own custom application.

Pay an iPhone developer anywhere from $5,000-$10,000 to have a completely custom solution.
Create an iPhone friendly website. This also costs a bit of money to hire a web developer.
Use a service like Mobile Roadie that keeps the cost down with an app template. – $500 setup fee – $29.00/month

If I were undertaking this project, I would go with option 3. I have never used Mobile Roadie, however I’ve looked into their site extensively and it appears to service all the needs a church might have in an app. It’s originally created for bands, but it can be morphed into a pretty feature-rich digital church app. Here are some of the features that caught my eye:

Videos
Music (Sermons)
Photos
Events
Fan Wall (Member Interactivity)
Blog/News/Updates
Social Sharing

They also offer custom functionality for additional cost. Check out all the features here.

Go to Mobile Roadie

Also check out:

Right Brain Media

Truthcasting

AppChurch

And via Paul Povolni from Head Snacks:

AppMii

AppMakr

Want an iPhone app for your church? is a post from: Mister Nifty

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Flickering Pixels

Brian Fegter — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 07:58:37 +0000

I just finished reading this incredible book by Shane Hipps. I can honestly say this book was a paradigm shift for me in regards to media. We always talk about the effects of media on our lives, but do we ever stop to think how it really shapes us or our faith? From the impact of early typesetting to modern movies, Shane shows how everything is a form of media and all media has influence. He exposes the subtle subconscious influences media has on our minds…and our faith.

After reading Flickering Pixels, I made some habit changes. I would highly recommend reading this book. It will change the way you look at what’s being served on the media platter in your life. I’m glad I have this one under my belt before my wife and I have children. Check it out!

Flickering Pixels on Amazon

Flickering Pixels is a post from: Mister Nifty

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Mister Nifty gets a new look!

Brian Fegter — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:42:35 +0000

After hours of working on a redesign, I finally scrapped the project due to a lack of time. I caved and went with a super cool template from WooThemes.com. Mister Nifty now supports Gravatars in the comments section. You can have your own custom icon next to all of your comments. Go check it out and sign up.

I’m going to be adding more features to the site soon. You’ve asked for more tutorials and screencasts and you will certainly see more of both on Mister Nifty very soon. If you have any more suggestions, leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Mister Nifty gets a new look! is a post from: Mister Nifty

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BAD2008 Part 2: The reality of our US condition.

Brian Fegter — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:38:48 +0000

My last post was about poverty in the context of the US economy. I’m a firm believer that we must impact our local communities because God has entrusted us with a geographic responsibility to those around us. However, to truly impact our local communities, I also believe that one must see the condition of our world in real life. If you’ve never been on a missions trip, you need to plan one this year.

I’ve been privileged to travel all over the world including Asia, Central and South America, and a lot of the Caribbean on missions trips. Without fail, I return home with a broader worldview and a greater appreciation for what I have. When you see the hillsides of shacks lining the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, or the tent cities of thousands of citizens who lost their homes to the Olympics in Beijing, it makes you realize we don’t have it as bad as we think sometimes. When I visited El Salvador, I saw sweatshop workers who made $10.00/month for their entire family. Or, how about the kids in Haiti making dirt cookies because they have no food and their fresh water rivers are lined with garbage.

The truth that hits me the most is even our poor live as kings compared to the rest of the world. It is important that we have balance between local and foreign missions. If you are just helping your local community, and never reaching the world, you are not fulfilling your full potential. Our local communities are the training ground to go and help foreign missions in some fashion. I realize everyone cannot go, but most of us can take a trip a year. If you are in the medical profession, you can help on a medical missions to Haiti or other third-world countries. If you are a teacher, you can help stamp out illiteracy which leads to poverty in third-world countries by taking a teaching trip. If you are a young person who has never traveled outside the US, take a youth missions trip and build homes and churches. There are countless ways to get involved in missions. Find one that fits your interests and your skill set and give it all you’ve got.

Our mission as Christians is not solely humanitarian, but it has to be coupled with the Gospel. Jesus was a humanitarian, but his ultimate mission was to be a Savior to the souls of those he ministered to. Whether you’re a builder, teacher, doctor, dentist, or student, above all you are a minister of Jesus Christ. And with that, we can do our part to minister to those who were nearest to Jesus heart, the poor here, and around the world. God bless you!

BAD2008 Part 2: The reality of our US condition. is a post from: Mister Nifty