Applying Tomorrow's Technology to Today's Ministry - Christian ...

Founder & Editor-in-Chief
Steve Hewitt - steve@ccmag.com
VP of Operations
Michael Hewitt - mike@ccmag.com
Applying Tomorrow’s Technology to Today’s Ministry
Volume 19 November 2007 No. 11
Cover Story - Page 7
Roll Call Child Check-In
by Nathan Diehl
Special Feature - Page 9
Spread the Word: Five Ways to Attract & Engage Visitors
by Howard Horowitz
Special Feature - Page 34
Is It Time For a Second STEP?
by Craig Rairdin
Editorial Page 3
Jubal Magazine is Coming!
by Steve Hewitt
CCMag NewsBreif
o
Page 4
Inside the Box
o
Page 11
64-Bit Operating Systems & You
by Donald Stratton
o
Wordsearch Word Page 15
Innovative & Powerful WORDsearch 8 is Released
by Bob Dasal
o
Nick at Church Page 16
Virtual Computer?
by Nick Nicholaou
o
Tech Talk Page 19
e-Sword Update & Serious Language Tools by Dr. J.D. (Doc) Watson
o
ACS Ideas to Impact Page 22
Church Management System History 101
by ACS Technologies
o
Internet Ministry Page 24
Google (Finally) Announces Cell Phone Plan
by Walt Wilson
o
Handheld Devices Page 32
Will Apple Make a PDA?
by Jim VanDuzer
o
Ministry Communication Page 34
The Golden Compass: Don’t Boycott: Explain & Engage
by Yvon Prehn
o
Higher Power with Kevin Page 36
Christian Gaming
by Kevin A Purcell
o
Scott Howard’s HotPic Page 39
Blog Sites and More
by Scott Howard
o
Contributing Editors
Dr. J.D. “Doc” Watson, Terry Wilhite,
Yvon Prehn, Nick Nicholaou, Walt
Wilson, Jim Vanduzer Kevin A. Purcell,
Ross Gile, Donald Stratton, Ben Woelk
Copy Editor
Gene Pearson
Corporate Home Office
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© Copyright 2007 by Christian Computing®, Inc.
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or employees of Christian Computing®
Magazine, or Christian Computing, Inc.
Articles that are highlighed are provided by our partners
www.ccmag2.com/2007_03/2007_03editorial.pdf
2 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

editorial
Steve Hewitt - steve@ccmag.com
Jubal Magazine is Coming!
The Christian Music & Worship Magazine
Something new is heading your way! A new magazine
is about to be born. Jubal Magazine will
cover everything in the areas of Christian music
and worship. And the name? We are told in Gen 4:21 that,
“he was the father of all who played the harp and flute.”
The birth of Jubal Magazine is a result of a combination
of many very talented people. Bill Rayborn has been one
of the leading people behind Jubal. I have known of Bill’s
work for almost 15 years (although both of us were publishing
even longer!) Bill previously published The Church Music Report,
and in those early years of CCMag, we would run announcements
in TCMR about CCMag, and in exchange we let our readers know about
TCMR in CCMag.
Besides Bill, a few other names behind Jubal Magazine will be very
familiar to CCMag readers. Mike Hewitt, Editor-in-Chief of Christian
A/V Magazine, and editorial producer for CCMag, will be in charge of
the production of Jubal Magazine and he will also contribute articles now
and then. Terry Wilhite will serve as a contributing editor for Jubal. You
have seen Terry’s articles in CCMag for over a decade. In addition, Terry
has written for Christian A/V, Pulpit Helps, and Technology in Worship
Magazine.
Gerrit Gustafson will also be a contributing editor. Gerrit is a songwriter
and worship teacher who was part of Integrity Music’s original
Creative Team and currently conducts Worship Schools across the country.
There are many others who have aligned themselves and are contributing
content to this new exciting, new magazine, providing articles on
subjects such as church drama, church instrumentals, professional church
musicians and more.
The first issue of Jubal Magazine will be sent out next month. As a
subscriber of Christian Computing Magazine we will be sending you a
copy as well. Jubal will follow the same model as CCMag and Christian
A/V. It will be sent out in the same
format, introduced and distributed in a
HTML email, available for download
as a PDF file for those that want to
read it on screen, or print it out and
read it on paper. If Jubal is not your
“cup of tea”, then I encourage you to
pass the information on to someone
else in your church and encourage
them to visit www.jubalmagazine.com
and sign up. Just like CCMag, the
magazine is free!
Together We Serve Him,
Steve Hewitt
Editor-in-Chief
Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
3

45-nanometer! The Next Step For Computer Chips
What’s a nanometer? A nanometer is 45 billionth’s of a meter and Intel has announced that a new line
of chips have been developed that allow for transistors and wiring in these new chips to be as small as 45-
nanometers! What does this mean? Presently the smallest transistors in chips have been 65-nanometers.
This reduction in size means that a chip can hold 40% more transistors! This means that some of the chips
Intel has finished developing will be able to hold 820 million transistors, compared to 582 million in present
chips. Compare that to Intel’s first chips used in the early 1970’s which had 2,300 transistors. How small are
these transistors at 45-nanometers? It appears that 30 million of them could fit on the head of a pin! However,
besides the size, something else is important with the new 45-nanometer technology. It seems that for
some reason, the size is special when it comes to power consumption. As chips have decreased in size they
have leaked electricity, causing the need for more power, which also causes more heat. For SOME reason,
45-nanometer technology doesn’t seem to leak electricity. It is the right size for the atoms to move without
as much waste. Tom Kilroy, general manager of Intel’s Digital Enterprise Group calls it, “the reinvention of
the transistor!” Intel will be spending 8 billion dollars for new plants to create the chips and expects the new
chips should be released for our use by first quarter next year. For more information, visit
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071112/D8SS4KLG0.html
Man Faces 60 Years in Prison For Running a BotNet Stealing ID’s
A male computer security consultant from Los Angeles has been charged and has pled guilty to setting up
a BotNet, and used it to steal personal ID information for profit. The man, John Kenneth Schiefer, has infected
around 250,000 computers with software that would watch for communications with eBay and PayPal.
He would have his programs grab the communications and send it to his personal computer, where he would
then use the information to purchase items and/or steal money from accounts. He has also confessed to selling
some of the information to other criminals. Setting up Botnets to steal information from personal computers
is a fast growing crime and law enforcement agencies are just now beginning to strike back. Schiefer will be
the first man in the USA to serve time for such a crime. In addition to facing a possible sentence of 60 years
in prison, he could be fined $1.75 million. Law enforcement agencies began working on this case in 2005,
and are aware of others that are involved that may be charged. For more information, visit
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-botnet10nov10,1,3400959.story?coll=la-headlines-business
People Buy DRM Free Songs 4-to-1
Some recording companies still like to keep Digital Rights Management software on their files, preventing
people from making copies. They believe that IF their songs were released without DRM, sales would go
down because their songs would simply be copied and sent to others for free. However, according to 7 Digital
Media Ltd, a London based digital song retailer, in London, the sale of physical media music dropped by 20%
last year. With the sales of DRM Mp3s growing, some online stores might drop DRM songs from their listings
by next year. For more information, visit http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=vi
ewArticleBasic&articleId=9046318&intsrc=hm_list
Apple Computer Sales Increase
Apple Inc. had a plan when they released the iPod. The plan stated that as more people used their smaller
products (the iPod and now the iPhone) people would grow in their appreciation for the company and purchase
their computers. It appears that plan is working. Sales have continued to go up, and Apple reports that
they sold more computers than ever before last quarter. This is particularly important because they are preparing
to launch a new operating system. Normally sales in computers will drop as people wait for the new
4 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

computers and OS to hit the market. For more information, visit http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fiapple23oct23,1,2799657.story?coll=la-headlines-technology
PC Sales Hit 2-year High
PC sales everywhere are up! HP and Dell both reported record sales, with HP showing a larger increase
over Dell. HP passed Dell as the nations leading computer company, and is increasing the gap between them
with these recent sales reports. Sales of portable computers were also substantial. However, it was also noted
that the increase in sales of new computers was mainly due to the demand overseas. For more information,
visit http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071017/D8SB9UTO3.html
Should ISPs be Required to Forward Your Email?
A woman has filed a petition with the FCC to force ISPs to forward your email for six months if you
switch providers or your account is terminated. The Post Office will forward your mail. The phone company
can provide a recording on your old number informing people of your new number, or they can call forward
to your new number. Why don’t ISPs forward your email when you move to a new service? The woman who
has initiated the complaint claims that when her account with AOL was terminated, she lost substantial business
because her customers could not get in touch with her. Some members of Congress have contacted the
FCC to let them know they are watching to see how this case develops. Of course, if the FCC was to mandate
such a service, there would be substantial cost to implement. For more information, visit
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-E-Mail-Forwarding-FCC.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Online Weddings?
It seems that more and more weddings are being attended (viewed) via the Internet as a result of live Webcasts.
Since the technology exists, and since most weddings are now being video-recorded, it was a natural
step to broadcast the weddings live via the Internet for those loved ones and friends who couldn’t make the
trip. Technology allows for people to get the full spectrum of the wedding experience, including electronic invitations,
electronic registries where you can shop for presents, and an online photo album for people to visit
after the wedding. For more information, visit http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/23/business/webwed.php
Apple Releases New OS Leopard, But Problems Are Mounting
Apple released their new operating system (OS) Leopard. However, within 24 hours, problems were
reported all over the Internet. The first problem seemed to crop up for many as soon as they installed the new
system. They received the “blue screen of death”, or basically a complete lock up with nothing but a blue
screen. Apple has acknowledged that there is a problem and on their site, encouraged users to re-install the
OS a second time to see if that would help. However, uses who get past this problem are reporting additional
problems with Wireless Internet. Many are reporting that soon after they boot their computer, wireless broadband
connections begin to degrade and eventually they drop connections and are forced to re-boot. In addition,
others are complaining that the new firewall in Leopard is not secure enough and is complicated to use.
I think it sounds as if Apple has fallen into the same mistakes as Microsoft in the past, trying to push out a
new OS every 18 months instead of waiting until they are sure it is bug free. It sounds like users might want
to give this new OS a pass until an upgrade is released and some of these issues are solved. For more information
visit http://www.crn.com/software/202602568, http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/10/31/Securitygeeks-say-Leopard-needs--fixing_1.html,
and http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/10/31/Security-geeks-say-
Leopard-needs--fixing_1.html
Is a Tractor Beam Science Fiction? Actually, No!
We have all seen science fiction movies where a space ship was grabbed by a
“tractor beam” and pulled. Is the concept just science fiction? Actually no, and in fact, tractor beams are being
used in nano-science today! It has been discovered that when you get down to molecular levels, a beam of
light can be used to manipulate tiny biological structures or even individual atoms. This is possible because
light’s individual photons transfer minuscule amounts of force to particles they hit. So, “optical tweezers”
Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
5

have been used when dealing with objects on a transparent item, such as a microscope slide. However, a new
discovery by MTI students has shown that they could use infrared light to accomplish the same thing. This is
important because infrared light is not visible, which means you could use these beams of light to manipulate
items on a silicon chip, increasing our abilities to produce nanoscale devices. They actually used their new
technology to spell out MTI using bacteria cells. Nanotechnology has many applications, from the cure for
cancer and disease to everyday practical devices to cut our hair. For more information, visit
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5id7kvTMmyj_oMN3K1s3UFPAPsGRAD8SJQ6SO0
Cell Phone Jammers On The Rise
Those making and selling portable cell phone jammers (all operating outside of the USA) report that sales
of the devices have grown to several hundred a month for USA customers. The devices have the ability to
jam all cell phone signals within a radius of up to 30 feet. People, fed up with having to listen to other people
talk loudly on their cell phones, are purchasing the devices to use in public places in order to obtain some
silence. However, now that the devices are starting to grow in numbers, the FCC is assigning agents to track
them down and shut them off. First time offenders face a fine of up to $11,000. And, the FCC is obtaining
information on who has ordered these devices here in America. Why is it such a bad thing to jam cell phone
signals within a small area? Because the cell phone companies have paid tens of billions of dollars each year
for a guarantee that the frequencies they use will be clear. It is the FCC’s job to enforce what they sold. In
one reported case, the FCC traced one of the devices to a restaurant owner in Maryland. He reports that he
purchased the device because his employees were always on their cell phones and wanted to use it in the back
of the restaurant. However, it has been reported that he has received visits from the FCC and Verizon over the
last year, checking to see if he has used the device. Until he does, he has not committed any crimes by just
owning the device. For more information visit
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/04/business/jammer.php
Google Moves to Gas Pumps
Google has entered into a business partnership with a gas pump
company to create a pump that will provide customers with information
on how to find local landmarks, hotels, restaurants or hospitals.
The service will allow you to view or print the maps and driving
directions. In the future, they hope to include the ability for users to
enter an actual address and receive maps and directions. Surprisingly
at this point, Google will not sell any advertisements however; local
businesses can include coupon information. The company will initially
be offering the service in 3,500 pumps opening across the nation.
Gas stations hope that the cost for the new pumps and Internet service
will be worth it in customer appreciation. http://ap.google.com/
article/ALeqM5g5bsljxRg-6WcgJQG3T1ML2XwfGAD8SOKOP00
File Sharing Programs Additional Dangers (Other Than Copyright
Infringement), ID Theft
A man has pleaded guilty to using file sharing programs such as
Limewire to infect people’s computers with programs that he used to
steal their ID. He was able gain to access to their personal information
in tax returns, credit reports, bank statements and student financial
aid applications. He then used the information on 50 different
victims to open credit accounts and purchase over $73,000 worth of
items on the fraudulent accounts. This is just one more reason why
file sharing sites, such as this, can be dangerous. For more information,
visit http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21652542/
6 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

cover story
Roll Call
Child Check-In
- Nathan Diehl, Publications Director, New Hope Christian
Center in Waterloo, Indiana, www.nathandiehl.com
As a church with a strong focus on children and families with children,
we realized we needed a better way to keep track of our kids than handwriting
nametags each week, which we had done for some time. Our
children’s ministries had little security, no follow-up and no record of attendance.
Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
In order to fulfill our desire to follow up with children, we needed a
way to quickly and effectively track the individual attendance of each child
every weekend. We have never recorded individual attendance on a classby-class
basis, so we began to explore our options. We discussed several
different methods including paper logs, an Excel spreadsheet or manually
entering attendance into our church database solution. In the end, we
decided to implement an automated check-in station which would allow us
to track attendance easily, quickly and with minimal errors.
One consideration in our choice was centralizing our data into one
database. We knew if we tried to keep a separate database for children’s attendance,
the phone numbers and addresses would eventually become outdated.
We also worried about being able to connect a child with his or her
parents — often it is hard to identify the parents of a given child. We knew
we needed to have one central database where all data was stored, including
adult names, addresses, phone numbers, E-mail addresses, children’s names
and attendance data. This way, when an adult notified us of a change in address
or phone number, the child’s record would be automatically updated
as well.
The check-in system we chose was Roll Call from By The Book (www.
bythebook.com/ccmag.html). Roll Call, which we were already using as our
church management system, allowed us to integrate attendance records with
children already in our system and already attached to a parent.
Because of Rolls Call’s many customizable options, we have been able
to adapt the Roll Call check-in process to fit our own systems and structures,
instead of having to rework everything we are already doing to fit
with a predefined, rigid set of check-in rules. The flexibility in Roll Call is
very useful. We use a remote check-in station, on a movable card, to check
children in to our weekend program for children, which is based on an
airplane theme. Everything in the program is geared around an airplane and
travel, from using videos of airplane takeoff and landings, to a flight attendant
serving mid-flight snacks to the younger
children.
We were able to seamlessly integrate the
Child Check-in into our existing structure.
Each student gets assigned a ‘passport’, which
they get stamped each week they attend. On
the back of this passport, we have placed a
Roll Call-generated badge, which contains the
child’s name and barcode.
All children get their passport when they
enter the room. The child then walks to the
check-in station and scans their passport’s barcode
to check-in. Once the passport is scanned,
a name badge is printed out. We call this badge
their ‘boarding pass’— and all students are
required to have a boarding pass before entering
the flight.
We have found the children love being able
to scan their own passport, and generate their
own boarding passes each week. Once students
are seated, and right after an interactive countdown,
the flight attendant goes through the aisle
and collects all the passports for distribution
again next weekend.
When a visiting student arrives at the
check-in station the first time, Roll Call allows
for quick entry of the child into the Roll Call
System, while also enrolling the student in the
class. Quick Enroll allows entry of the child’s
information, such as parent(s) names, address,
7

irthday and any allergies, while also allowing you to easily omit information if it is unknown.
It is also possible on this Quick Enroll screen to add an existing child to the class, in the case the child is already entered
in Roll Call, but is not currently enrolled in the class. Quick Enroll also allows you to add a child to an existing family, such
as when a family has a new baby. A simple button allows you to easily search for parent’s name and add a given child to the
parent’s record. A nametag — or boarding pass, in our case — is automatically printed once the Quick Enroll has been completed.
Roll Call allows the user to print out attendance reports on a class-by-class basis, customized to output whatever parameters
you want to do. Some of our teachers want to know when a student misses three of the last four weeks. Others want
to know which students are new attendees who have attended three of the last six weeks. With Roll Call’s built-in reporting
engine, these and other customized reports can be easily generated. We generate specific information on each attendance
report, including name, address, phone number and birthday, and I was easily able to customize this information to print from
the attendance report.
Roll Call is highly customizable, and offers customizable options, which make Roll Call’s child check-in fit into a variety
of churches, no matter how you do things. Roll Call allows for check-in either manual (type in each child’s name as they arrive)
or automatic via an infrared barcode scanner. These barcodes can be printed on a permanent badge, as we have done by
incorporating the badge as part of the passport, or barcodes can be on a small ‘key fob’, a small keychain-tag with a barcode
on it, which can be assigned to each student. Key fobs can be custom-made with your church or ministry logo on it. This is
particularly useful for youth group check-in.
There are two sizes of nametags with can be printed automatically at check-in. With the larger size, there are many
customizable options—you choose what information should be printed on nametags and what information you do not. All
nametags include child’s name, parent name (if parents have been entered for the student) and the name of the current class.
Optional information includes an image (such as a church or class logo), badge number, barcode (for optional check-out) and
family number.
Another option we use is the ability to print multiple nametags per student. This enables us to print one nametag for the
student, while giving the duplicate nametag to the parent, which strengthens the security of our classrooms. Parents can be
required to show their duplicate
tag to pick up their student.
Technically, Roll Call is
very versatile, and works on any
PC or MAC, including a mixed
network. Supported Operating
Systems include MAC OS
9.2, OS X, and any PC with
Windows98se or later, including
Vista. Because Roll Call is a
stand-alone install, the check-in
station can be located anywhere
in your building with network
access (either wired or wireless)
to the Roll Call Server—no need
for a high-speed Internet connection
throughout the building.
In all, we have been very
happy with the choice of Roll
Call for our child check-in
needs. It has easily filled all of
our requirements, as well as
adding a lot of features we had
not considered. Because of the
customizable options available,
we were able to adapt the Checkin
process to our needs.
8 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

special feature
Spread the Word:
Five Ways
to Attract & Engage Visitors
1. Use the Internet. The Web has become the
resource for information. It is used for almost everything,
including shopping, research and entertainment.
It is even used as a tool to connect people and network.
Many churches have a basic Web site that has very little
navigation and extremely limited information. Churches
must have an Internet presence in order to gain
mindshare in an online landscape filled with numerous
organizations, companies, and friends that seek a piece
of people’s time. The more robust a site, meaning the
more information it gives, then the better the experience
for visitors. The Web is a method by which churches
can present their values and convey their mission. It is
method of communication. The better the communication,
the better the relationship.
2. Implement a Social CRM system. Every church
has some form of a database varying from sophisticated
CRM (Constituent Relationship Management) systems
to hand kept notes. Some churches may even have multiple
databases each with varying member information.
A social CRM solution, like that offered by Kintera,
enables your ministry to customize interactions with
members based on the information in your database. A
Christian Computing® Magazine
-By Howard Horowitz, Vice President, Professional Services
for Kintera, www.kinterainc.com5Ways
Churches are always trying to attract new members and spread The Word.
But attracting new visitors is only one step in a series necessary to actually
increase church membership. After visitors attend services, they must
be motivated and enthused to come back. And then they must be encouraged to
participate and become engaged with the church. In today’s world of constant interruptions
and information overload, attracting and engaging visitors isn’t always
easy. The good news is that the same tactics used to draw visitors can also be used
to keep them connected.
November 2007
social CRM system combines and stores various member
interactions in a single location to provide church
administrators with a comprehensive view of member
behavior. Social CRM enable churches to create that
personalized marketing that further engages members
into the church. To illustrate the value of social CRM,
let’s look at an example. Church XYZ has set up their
Web site to gather information from its visitors such as
age, interests and neighborhood. A visitor, Mark, wants
to attend an event with his friend Joe. Joe directs Mark
to the Web site where he indicates that he is twenty
years old, enjoys music, professional football and lives
on the north side of town. Now Church XYZ can send
Mark information that is relevant to him such as concert
announcements, invitations to Bible study in his
neighborhood, and other relevant messages about how
Christ is impacting others similar to him in both age
and interests.
3. Encourage word of mouth. One of the most
powerful forms of marketing is word of mouth advertising.
This is based on a very simple concept. People
are more likely to try a new product or watch a movie,
if it was spoken of favorably by a trusted source. This
9

same concept can be used to attract and engage visitors to your congregation. People tend to attract and spend time
with similar people. Encourage church participants to bring friends to worship and other church activities. Then
the social CRM system helps to guide that relationship based on each individual’s preferences, so that prospective
members are getting the most out of their relationship with the church.
4. Use e-communications. E-mail and e-newsletters are a cost-effective way to communicate with potential
members. When using e-mail and e-newsletters, it is important to make each communication personal. A social
CRM system is an effective tool to segment your database and deliver appropriate communications. Targeted and
personalized e-mail or e-newsletters are much easier to send than most people think. The implementation of a
social CRM system makes segmenting your contacts happen in a simple click or two. Let’s continue our example
with Church XYZ. Church XYZ offers a variety of groups and activities specific to music and football, which
are two of Mark’s interests. Church XYZ can send Mark e-mail notifications about its music program and e-
newsletters with content about the church activities that revolve around football. Mark is more likely to be open to
such communications than he would if Church XYZ sent him information highlighting baking classes and sewing
groups. The social CRM system makes it possible to segment Church XYZ’s database of potential new members
and send interest-specific e-mails based on information provided by the visitor to the church.
5. Use reporting & analytics to refine your messages. E-newsletters and e-mails are not one-way communications.
By using reporting and analytics, churches can get valuable information about a potential member’s receptiveness
to church messaging, ministries, and events. Members are communicating with churches about what they
like and what they are interested in -- churches just aren’t looking close enough. A social CRM system provides
the reporting and analytic capabilities that enable churches to learn more about potential members. Social CRM
systems provide such analytics as open rates, click-through rates, and length of time spent on a Web page. Churches
can use this information to determine popular activities and high interest content to further tailor and customize
future communications. Let’s say Mark attends a football activity hosted by Church XYZ. Mark’s attendance at
the event is an indication that he has received the church’s message and decided to attend. Church XYZ continues
to host the same event on a regular basis, but Mark does not attend a second time and overall attendance seems to
have slipped. Using the reporting and analytics tool in its social CRM system, Church XYZ runs a report on the
open rates of the football event invites.
The church discovers that Mark
has not opened his e-mails from the
church since the event. The reports
also indicate that the overall open rate
for first time attendees had decreased
20 percent. Using this information,
Church XYZ can evaluate the event
and determine what may have caused
the first-time visitors to drop off.
The ability to attract and engage
visitors is one of the greatest
challenges faced by churches in the
United States. As attendance numbers
fluctuate, churches must adapt their
efforts to fit in a world of information
overload powered by the Internet and
forced by extensive marketing. By
using technology as a tool to communicate
and engage visitors, churches
across the country can create and
build the personalized relationships
that bind people to people and people
to worship houses.
10 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

inside the box
Donald Stratton - Donald@PowerNotebooks.com
64-Bit
Operating Systems & You
Since before the release of
Microsoft Windows Vista,
there has been a growing
sense of excitement about 64-bit
operating systems and how they
are the “future of computing.”
Ever since Vista, most of what you
hear is either.
1) “Wow! 64-bit is awesome. I don’t know how I ever lived without it!” These
comments generally have no information beyond the knee-jerk fanboy reaction.
2) “64-bit isn’t compatible with any of your old software, and the only thing you
get out of it is the ability to use 4GB of RAM. If you’re not using that much
RAM, stay away!”
Is the ability to use 4GB of RAM really the only benefit of using a 64-bit
operating system? Are 64-bit operating systems really so limited otherwise?
Like most issues that cause such a polarized opinion, the truth lies somewhere in
between.
So what is 64-bit, anyway?
At its basis, 64-bit is about how the computer handles “words” or groups of
bits sent as instructions. With the 8086 (the foundation of the x86 architecture
computers have used for decades), the longest word-length available was 16 bits
of data. The way that words work, every instruction, piece of data, and memory
address had to be 16 bits. Anything larger would be shortened, and anything
shorter would crash (so smaller instructions actually had “padding” inserted to
make sure they could be handled appropriately).
Newer processors increased the speed of operation and also developed
techniques to “bridge” data between multiple words, but all x86 processors were
still limited to a 16-bit word length. Despite this fact, we have been comfortably
computing at 32-bit for a while now using “segmented” data pipelines, which allows
more than one 16-bit word to be handled simultaneously. 32-bit processors
handle double-words (two 16-bit words executed simultaneously), while 64-bit
processors handle quad-words, or four 16-bit words.
If this seems a little backwards, keep in mind that you can still run an archaic
Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
11

DOS-based program on your brand-new, 64-bit-compatible PC with very little
effort. There have been “true” 64-bit computers around since before the x86
architecture was introduced, but the programs you run on a daily basis would be
impossible to run on these powerful systems, since they are limited to a pure 64-
bit word length. X86 based processors have maintained backwards compatibility
throughout the lifespan of the architecture, and that’s why the x86 architecture
isn’t going anywhere for a while yet.
What’s the deal with memory?
Memory addressing is the most readily apparent aspect of 64-bit processing,
which is why so many people proclaim that it’s the only advantage. One of the
“words” that is kept inside the CPU is the memory address, a single, non-bridged
word that sends data wherever it needs to go. Think of the memory address like
a secretary who files and retrieves important instructions in your RAM, your
Video memory, and your hard drive cache, as needed. A 32-bit system can only
address exactly 4GB of RAM, which is shared between the RAM, the Video card
memory, and any virtual memory being used by Windows, which is why someone
running Windows XP only ever sees about 3.2GB of memory.
Theoretically, a 64-bit operating system has a memory addressing cap of 16
exabytes of RAM (17,179,869,184 gigabytes). Realistically, current systems are
still delivering the barest fraction of this total. Apple’s Mac Pro, for example, is
physically limited to 32 gigabytes of memory. This is still a significant improvement
over the 3.2GB of usable RAM offered by 32-bit operating systems, but we
are not likely to see 64-bit computing hit its memory cap for a long time.
The x86-64-bit processors now offered by AMD and Intel share nearly identical
instruction sets, and one of their biggest unseen advantages is the idea of
“relative pointers,” something that you may appreciate without ever realizing it.
12 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

“Pointers” are reference points that tell a program where to find the next word in its instruction set. Prior to relative pointers,
these had to be absolute points in the memory address. This meant that programs scattered important bits all throughout
the memory address, rather than organizing efficiently, since programmers could not trust efficient, sequential blocks to
be free. If a reference point was ever filled with something else for any reason, the program would crash with a “General
Protection Fault,” an error you may still receive from time to time in 32-bit computing.
Relative pointers allow each program to have its own virtual, or relative, space for operation, which allows the program
to load and unload much more efficiently, speeding up memory- and CPU-intensive processes drastically over 32-bit
processing.
What about backwards compatibility?
It’s true that not all of your old programs will run well, or even at all, within a pure 64-bit operating system, but x86-
64-bit processors actually have the ability to run two 32-bit instructions simultaneously, which can provide a noticeable
speed increase in 32-bit programs.
However Windows Vista 64-bit,
Windows XP x64, and Mac OS-X (both
Tiger and Leopard) are “hybrid” operating
systems, providing both 32-bit and
64-bit execution paths, which is what allows
for ANY backwards compatibility.
Without this hybridization, any program
run would have to have a specifically
64-bit instruction set. To keep 64-bit addressing
available, these hybrid operating
systems actually run 32-bit applications
inside a protected space that is run
almost like an emulator.
Windows and Mac users are currently
holding the short end of the stick
when it comes to finding 64-bit applications
to use, but professional users have
some definite bonuses. All of Adobe’s
software now offers 64-bit integration,
as do offerings from Maya, Vue Infinite,
and several other 3D design and CAD
programs. Gamers are also starting to
see the benefit of 64-bit, as games like
Crysis are designed to take advantage
of 64-bit computing, and there is 64-bit
integration built into Far Cry and Valve
Software’s Source engine games.
Linux and Unix users do not have
a hybrid operating system. Since the
*nix concept is open source, coders have
developed kernels specifically for 32-bit
or 64-bit processing. A Linux user must
dual-boot to run both 32-bit and 64-bit
applications, but, with no “protected
space” environment for 32-bit applications,
Linux users are able to see exactly
how much of an improvement can be
had with 64-bit computing. With no
backwards compatibility, the Linux has
been reliant only upon itself to supply
64-bit applications, which it has
done readily and gleefully. Users have
Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
13

eported speed boosts, security enhancements, improved compiling performance, and several other small-but-noticeable
gains.
“There’s always a but…”
Of course, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Both Intel and AMD have some significant issues with
transmitting 64-bit data back and forth between the Northbridge (Memory Controller Hub), RAM, and CPU. For Intel,
there is no integrated memory controller, so there is a slowdown as data and instructions are routed through the Northbridge
to the RAM and video card.
AMD’s HyperTransport technology has to use around 12 bits from each 32-bit word to link them together properly,
which reduces the AMD architecture to a 40-bit memory address. Realistically, this causes an exponential decrease in the
amount of RAM usable on an AMD system. Although we may never hit this cap before 128-bit computing sees popular
acceptance, an AMD system can only use a maximum of 1 Terabyte of RAM (1,024GB), as opposed to the 16 exabytes
usable for Intel. AMD’s issue may not be noticeable for several years because really, how many people use more than
32GB much less 1,024GB!
Of course, the biggest practical problem with any 64-bit operating system right now is drivers, or the lack thereof.
Most major hardware manufacturers have been lethargic in offering 64-bit drivers, to put it lightly. Without these drivers,
your brand new computer isn’t going to run well at all, and certain components may not run at all. There are “driver
wrappers” available for most hardware with just a little searching, so the benefit is still there if you are willing to work for
it, but an upgrade to 64-bit is ill-advised unless you are willing to do some research before the upgrade to make sure it will
work.
The last word on memory
One thing to keep in mind with 64-bit computing is that more really is better when it comes to memory. Because of
the protected space, relative pointers, and a few other CPU enhancements in the 64-bit processing world, instructions do
take up a little more space in your RAM, so a program that takes up 100MB of RAM in a 32-bit operating system could
take 105-110MB of RAM in a 64-bit operating system. This is not a huge difference, but ten applications that would have
only taken 100MB each (or 1GB total) in 32-bit XP or Vista could be taking up enough extra space in a 64-bit environment
that 32-bit XP or Vista could have run another program. While 4GB of RAM isn’t the only reason to take advantage
of 64-bit computing, 64-bit computing is an excellent reason to take advantage
of 4GB of RAM.
Do you need a 64-bit operating system right now? Absolutely not. If you
have the ability, though, it’s worth the upgrade, and you will start seeing more
and more benefits as the computing world begins moving into the 64-bit world
in full force.
The nutshell
The Good:
+32-bit applications can take advantage of “double execution” for a speed boost.
+Your motherboard chipset is
currently the only limit to how
much RAM you can use
+Protected Execution helps
reduce program crashes
+Improved system efficiency
+Significant performance boosts
for hardware that already uses
64-bit
The Bad:
+Steeper hardware requirements
+Not many 64-bit applications
available yet
14 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

wordsearch word
Bob Dasal - bdasal@wordsearchbible.com
Innovative & Powerful
WORDsearch 8 is Released
WORDsearch Bible software has delighted users for 20 years with its
speed and accuracy in searching the Scripture. The program has advanced
tremendously from the original release, which was just the
KJV Bible on 5 ¼” floppies. The newly released WORDsearch 8 is the greatgreat-grandson
of the original program. It will delight you with a potential library
of over 2,400 volumes, plus the resources available on the Internet. It provides
powerful tools to help you prepare sermons and/or Bible lessons, or
for use in your personal study. This article provides a brief overview
of WORDsearch 8.
Topic Explorer
WORDsearch 8 provides some powerful enhancements to the
Topical Indexes feature. In prior versions, the search term had to
appear as the first word in a topic heading, but version 8 can find it
anywhere in the heading. It also shows a list of matching
topics and presents the article in a preview window
as you browse the matches.
Integrated Web Access
Now you can treat a lot of information
found on the Internet the same way you use
electronic books on your WORDsearch program.
WORDsearch 8 combines Bible-centric
content and functions with select content from
the Web, and ties it all together.
Cross Reference Explorer
Imagine sitting in your study with
hundreds of volumes of Bible reference
books. You point your finger to a verse in
your open Bible, and dozens of books fly off
the shelves onto your desktop open to exactly the
right pages. That’s pretty much what happens with the
WORDsearch 8 Cross Reference Explorer.
Library Organization
Bigger is definitely better when it comes to Bible libraries, but
big libraries lead to new challenges keeping everything tidy, so we’ve
provided key features to help you get the most out of your electronic
library. The features include “Finds ’em Fast” and a new “Favorites
Manager,” just to name two.
Word Searching Improvements
WORDsearch, true to its name, keeps on perfecting the wordsearching
feature.
• Search Greek or Hebrew with an on-screen keyboard for Greek
or Hebrew characters.
• Re-refine your searches. Often search progresses in stages,
where you do a search then see a way to improve it by paring away
“hits” you don’t want. Now there’s a “Narrow Search” button to let
you add qualifications to refine a search without starting over.
• Bible-only tab. Since most searches are of the Bible only,
they have made it easier by placing Bibles into a separate tab on the
search dialog.
• Works with Collections so you can control which
sources are searched—from your library, your documents,
select internet websites, and the Community
Library.
Parallel Bible Window Improvements
Parallel Bible windows are great
for seeing the range of possible translations
quickly, even if you’re not a language
scholar yourself. WORDsearch was the first
to introduce parallel translations back in 1994
and they are still seeking ways to do it better
with more versions per window and searching
directly from within the parallel Bible window.
Turabian Footnotes
If you think a Turabian footnote has
something to do with horses or music, then
you’re obviously not in seminary. Turabian is
the style of footnote preferred by professors at most seminaries
and Bible colleges, and other colleges, as well. So, if you’re
writing academic papers or have a friend who is, WORDsearch 8
will save a lot of time and effort.
There are many more additions, improvements and enhancements,
but space does not allow us to cover them here. To view a
complete listing of features and for complete information on upgrading
or purchasing the program go to www.WORDsearch8.com .
WORDsearch 8 is fully compatible with Microsoft VISTA
and XP, and with books purchased for WORDsearch 7 and Bible
Explorer. For more information, visit www.wordsearchbible.com.
Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
15

nick at church
Nick Nicholaou - nick@mbsinc.com
Virtual Computer?
This sounds futuristic: virtual computers! But they’re
a reality, and have been growing in popularity since
the 1990s! In fact, many churches and ministries are
already saving money and enjoying the benefits of this technology.
But what exactly is it? And is it safe? And what
does it cost? Let’s take a closer look.
Why Virtual Computers?
Most of today’s computers have processors that are
severely underutilized. While we often max out our hard
drives and RAM, our processors usually amble along at
a small percentage of their capacity. In fact, if you are
using a Windows XP computer, try right-clicking on your
task bar (between the Start button and the clock), selecting
the Windows Task Manager, and then clicking on its Performance
tab. Opening it will cause utilization to spike,
but chances are it’ll quickly settle down in a range that’s
less than 10% of processing capacity.
Historical Perspective
Excess processor capacity was first noticed and
exploited in early mainframe computers in the 1960s.
Engineers and programmers found ways to get more out
of those computers’ processors, increasing their value and
ROI (Return On Investment) to their organization.
It wasn’t until the 1990s that we saw engineers and
programmers doing something similar for PCs. That’s
when VMware created software allowing one PC to run
multiple computers at the same time! Because these computers
are not separate hardware computers but are actually
running within another— or host— computer, they’re
virtual.
Does It Require an Advance Computer Science Degree?
It’s actually very easy to set up a virtual computer!
Once the software is installed that enables this functionality,
all you do is click on a button to create a new virtual
machine. It asks what the operating system will be, how
large of a hard drive and how much RAM it will need, and
it’s done! The virtual computer runs in a window on your
desktop and can be completely configured as though it
were a separate computer!
Three Vendors
Currently there are three software providers for this
technology: Microsoft, VMware, and Citrix. Though
Microsoft may win in the end, the market is dominated by
VMware. A recent survey published by Information Week
(October 15, 2007, page 40) showed that 77% of business
technology professionals’ computers run VMware. (Both
Microsoft and VMware offer free versions of their server
virtualization software.)
In our firm’s lab we began our testing with Microsoft’s
solution, found it problematic, and switched to
VMware. VMware is easy to use, stable, and powerful;
we haven’t looked back.
What’s The Point?
Virtual computer technology such as that offered by
VMware can save your ministry a lot of money. Consider
that most networks today are best engineered with
multiple servers to improve the network’s reliability and
stability. In fact, though most networks are engineered
16 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
17

with three or more servers, we sometimes
see ministries running multiple
services on a server that should be run
on separate servers to prevent conflicts.
But buying those separate servers is
expensive, so many compromise their
system to stay within budget.
Rather than buying separate physical
servers for each of those needs,
virtual servers allow the possibility of
buying significantly fewer computers
and configuring them as hosts with
many virtual servers running on them!
Each virtual server can be configured
independently from the others, and, if
needed, can be shut down / restarted
very quickly without affecting any of
the others.
What About Virtual Workstations?
Virtual computer technology can
help some desktop functions too! Here
are two examples:
• When your IT team wants to test a
software package that’s been requested
by your staff, they can set up a test system
on a virtual computer much faster
than they can on a standard computer.
• If some of your team members
use Macs, VMware’s Fusion can allow
them to create a virtual PC on the
Mac. Fusion allows them to run any
Windows-based programs, such as your
database or accounting system, right on
their Mac! Fusion can even be configured
to completely unify with the Mac
desktop so Windows-based programs
run in windows just like any other Mac
program! (In fact, that’s how I’m writing
this article!)
(Though there are a few ways to run
Windows-based programs, VMware’s
Fusion is my favorite.)
Virtual computers— especially as
servers— make a lot of sense. They
are easy to configure and use, and are
cost effective ways to get more out of
your hardware investment.
18 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

tech talk
Dr. J.D. (Doc) Watson - docwatson3228@quest.net
e-Sword Update &
Serious Language Tools
Back in the September 2006 issue, I reviewed the wonderful
free Bible software program e-Sword (www.esword.net),
written and given to the church by Rick
Meyers. I’d like to invest my space this month in updating you
on this product, as well as informing you of several biblical
language tools on other platforms for the serious student.
e-Sword Update
The latest version of eS is 7.8.5. (BTW, the
6,000,000th download of eS occurred in July!). This
version has a new “Gospel Harmony” feature (“Bible >
Gospel Harmony”), which is actually a reproduction of
A.T. Robertson’s classic, A Harmony of the Gospels.
Also new in this latest version is the addition of
several more Bible book abbreviations that the program
recognizes, such as: Mt, Lk, Php, Jas, etc. There is also
additional support for
Japanese and Vietnamese
modules.
The best news is
that there are several
new add-ons.
Free stuff includes
an update of Keil &
Delitzsch Commentary
on the OT, the Hebrew
New Testament
(translated by Franz
Delitzsch), the ESV
translation, the Textus
Receptus, Byzantine,
and Westcott-Hort
Greek New Testaments
(all with Strong’s
Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
numbers), William R. Shepherd’s Historical Atlas (graphics),
the CIA World Factbook (graphics), and a few others.
Of special note, however, are the many low cost
contemporary titles that are now available for eS. This is
one big reason why eS is such a wonderful value. You pay
nothing for the program and even the add-ons that do cost
something are still inexpensive. New from AMG Publishers,
for example, is A Word for the Day: Key Words from
the New Testament (www.e-sword.net/word4day.html),
19

a daily devotional based on Greek word
studies made practical for Christian living
($10.00).
And then there is eStudySource, who
has jumped on the eS bandwagon with both
feet! Check them out at www.eStudySource.
com. While they have been offering the
NKJV, NLT, and the Complete Jewish Bible
($14.99 each), as well as the Message and
the HCSB ($9.99 each) for a while, the BIG
news (and you read it here first!) the NIV is
coming very soon.
Also brand new at eStudySource is the
very popular Life Application Study Bible
Notes ($14.99), which is nice because you
don’t have to buy another Bible. An absolutely
must-have title (IMHO) is William
MacDonald’s Believer’s Bible Commentary,
the best one-volume commentary I have
ever seen (and I’ve seen them all)—and at
$20.00, it’s way cheaper than hardcopy. The
Bible Knowledge Commentary OT and NT
Set (the classics from the dudes at Dallas)
is also a great value ($34.99). And you just
can’t get the beloved J. Vernon McGee’s
five-volume Thru the Bible anywhere as
cheap as here ($39.99). The same is true
of Lloyd J. Ogilvie’s (ed.) massive The
Preacher’s Commentary, which at $79.99
is cheaper than any other software platform
(and in hardcopy, forget about it!). Other
great values are Jon Courson’s Application
Commentary (NT; $19.99), Larry Richard’s
The Bible Teacher’s Commentary ($19.99),
the old standby Vine’s Complete Expository
Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words
($14.99), and Nelson’s New Bible Manners
& Customs (only $9.99, although it does not
contain all the illustrations of the print version).
I would dare humbly add a word or two
about eS’s documentation. As mentioned in
my original review, while the On-line Help is
rudimentary, there is 105-page tutorial manual
(in .PDF), written by Barrie Gordon and
Johan Struwig of South Africa. As a former
documentation specialist, I am impressed
with this manual. It’s simply written, well
organized, and very graphic. Its last update,
however, was 6-27-03, so if these dear Christian
brothers would have time, a revision is
in order. It would also be nice if this manual
were accessible from the eS “Help” menu,
which could also serve as an alternative to
more robust Online Help.
20 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

Finally, if I may be so bold, I would
again strongly urge you to support the eS
project. As I originally mentioned, and it
is still true, less than one percent of the
people who download eS return to say
thanks and contribute financially. That continues
to burden me deeply. PLEASE go
to the support page, http://www.e-sword.
net/support.html, and encourage a selfless
Christian brother. I said it once, and I say
it again, e-Sword is what Bible software
ought to be, so let us support this effort for
God’s glory.
Serious Language Tools
As a Bible expositor, which in-turn requires
serious study of theology and the
biblical languages, I have been using the
four-volume New International Dictionary
of New Testament Theology (Colin
Brown, ed.) for many years. While I also
use Kittel’s 10-volume work, of course, I
have always liked Brown’s better. Well, thanks to Pradis 6.0 (Zondervan), I can now use the NIDNTT like never before.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Pradis (Fig. 2) is Zondervan’s software platform, which is different from most
other platforms but which I found easy to use. Its “tabbed” main window enables you to move from one resource to
another quickly, and it has many features that today’s marketplace demands. Here is just a small handful that stand out
to me: search the entire library by topic, verse, word, or phrase; view search results by topic, book-chapter-verse, in
context, or in concordance view; link books to scroll simultaneously; copy and paste verses, words, or whole chapters
into other documents; right-click on a word in the Bible text to perform such actions as search, create a bookmark or
study note, copy, and, most important to me, select a “Related Topic.” (For more about Pradis’ features and add-ons, go
directly to www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Product/Software/Pradis.htm?QueryStringSite=Zondervan.)
It is that last feature that works so well for me. Having not only the NIDNTT but also the New International Dictionary
of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, all I have to do (see Fig. 2) is right-click on a word, point at “Related
Topics” and have instant access to other resources that deal with that word.
Now, because I am moderately geeky (about a 6—okay maybe 7, 8 tops—on a scale of 1-10), speed has always
been an issue with me. Many programs in today’s bloat-ware are positively “snailish” (is that a word?). Not so here. I
was pleasantly surprised at the virtually instantaneous lookup (entering Eph 2.8, for example, in the “Goto” box in the
upper left corner). My benchmark, frankly, has for years been QuickVerse 4, Craig Rairdin’s hands-down fastest Bible
program ever. But I have to admit; a verse lookup in Pradis is just as fast. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it.
And finding an entry in other resources is only a nanosecond slower (more or else).
While Zondervan has cornered the market (well, sort of) with these powerhouses, there are still many other titles
out there for the serious student. To name only one publisher among others, for example, WORDSearch (http://www.
wordsearchbible.com), one of my favorite platforms, has several classic essentials for language study: Theological
Wordbook of the Old Testament, Trench’s Synonyms of the New Testament, and most notably, the abridged Kittel
(Theological Dictionary of the New Testament). They also have one of my favorites, Spiros Zodhiates’ Complete
Word Study Dictionary (OT & NT), as well as: Kenneth Wuest’s works; Barclay Newman’s A Concise Greek-English
Dictionary of the New Testament; Stephen Renn’s (ed.) Expository Dictionary of Bible Words; Brown-Driver-Briggs
Hebrew and English Lexicon; an analytical interlinear Greek NT; and, of course, Vine, Vincent, Robertson, Thayer,
Louw & Nida, and Syntax of the Moods and Tenses. It also has a similar right-click lookup feature as Pradis. All that in
one place!
So, serious students of God’s Word (which all we preachers must be) can truly rejoice that software makes a difficult
task easier, that of obeying God’s mandate to dig deep into Scripture so we can adequately “feed the flock of God”
(I Pet. 5:2; cf., Jn. 20:15-17; Acts 20:28; II Tim. 4:1-4). Words matter, so the words of God matter most.
Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
21

ACS ideas to impact
Hal Campbell - hal.campbell@acstechnologies.com
Church Management
System History 101
from ACS Technologies
The first time was in the late 70s to early 80s when
churches first started using computers. Several companies
started up at that time and focused their efforts on the
church market. Each company developed software for a
specific brand of computer, like DEC, IBM, Datapoint, or
Texas Instruments, and were only able to offer the solution
on that specific computer. Incidentally, very few of these
CMS companies are still around today.
Shortly after came the second surge, between 1981
and 1983, when the IBM PC and IBM PC XT were introduced.
Both ran Microsoft MS-DOS, which became the
standard for all of the IBM PC clones that were coming
into the market. Since all of these machines were built to
the same standards and used the same microprocessor and
OS, developers could produce CMS solutions that operated
on a host of computers.
As a result of this standardization in the PC industry
and the decreasing cost of purchasing a computer,
more than 250 companies began developing software
for churches. It was a crowded market, and by the
90s, the number of surviving companies was down to
fewer than 50.
Lately, there has been a significant increase in the
number of companies offering software and technology
solutions for churches. Steve Hewitt, editor-in-chief
of CCMag, has been reporting on the church
management software (CMS) market for more than 15
years and says the numbers have nearly doubled in the
past few years. It reminded me of several other times in
the 30-year history of the CMS industry that this has happened
before.
By the mid-90s, the third surge in CMS companies
started with the shift from MS-DOS to Microsoft
Windows. The impact on the church this time was a bit
different, though. Instead of purchasing their first computers,
many churches were switching to a totally new
product. MS-DOS applications were doing a great job of
getting the work done in the churches, but the presence of
the powerful Microsoft marketing engine pushed us all to
the new Windows platform. This meant churches had to
purchase new hardware, new software, convert their data
to the new system, and retrain the entire staff — a very
disruptive and expensive venture.
In each of these times of technological changes, the
new companies entering the market were focused on the
new technology and addressed only a small part of the
challenges that churches faced at the time. Thus, there
were no immediate plans for total integration, as it took
many more resources and much more time, knowledge of
the church, and commitment to the market.
The Windows interface promised to be better and
much easier to use than MS-DOS. The decision to switch
to a new solution was driven more by the new Microsoft
22 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

Windows interface and the assumption
that any solution on Windows would be
better than anything on MS-DOS. Unfortunately
for many churches, that didn’t
prove to be entirely true.
The CMS companies at this time
were either start-ups or companies treading
new water in the church market, so
their offerings were limited to the new
Windows technology. No matter what
issues the church faced at the time, many
believed that the solution was Windows.
The next obvious need was the CMS
product to make the Windows purchase
worthwhile.
If you worked with computers during
the early to mid-90s, you understand that
the Windows operating system was a bit
buggy when it first came to market. In
addition, the applications written on the
Windows platform were not as feature
rich or dependable.
The lesson we learned from this was
that the introduction of a new technology
doesn’t necessarily solve all problems. It
needs to be combined with a solution that
works well with the technology, and both
need to be stable. We all remember seeing
Bill Gates in front of a large audience
getting a demonstration of Windows and
how it was so much smarter than previous
versions. When the presenter attempted to
demonstrate a new feature of Windows,
the computer produced an error and the
famous “blue screen of death” while the
entire world was watching.
As each of these new CMS providers
enter the market now, they’d be smart to
take this history lesson to avoid the missteps
of their predecessors. It’s exciting to
work with the new technologies available
to us today, but a stable integration of the
technology and the CMS is the key.
As president and CEO for ACS
Technologies, Hal Campbell is the visionary
behind nearly 30 years of providing
software solutions successfully to more
than 22,000 churches and faith-based
organizations across the country.
Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
23

internet ministry
Walt Wilson - waltccm@aol.com
Google (Finally)
Announces Cell Phone Plan
Confirming its rumored entry into the mobile
market, Google said Monday, November 5, it
is developing a free cell phone software package.
The purpose will be to offer services and ads to
people who are not using a PC (at the moment.) That
means millions of more people will have access to additional
layers of information across the world.
Google’s software offers a competitive choice for
uses of other mobile operating systems made by Microsoft
Corp., Research In Motion Ltd., Palm Inc. and
Symbian, which is owned by Nokia Corp. and several
other major phone makers.
Google will not be making the phones, nor
does it plan to place its logo on the devices. Instead,
it will work with four major service providers
and manufacturers who have agreed to use
Google’s programs in their handsets. Consumers
will have to buy a new phone to get the Google
software because the bundle was not made for existing
handsets.
The announcement ended months of speculation
about the company’s cellular development.
However, the first phones equipped with Google’s
software are expected to be available during the
second half of 2008.
Engineers have been working on the software
for three years, dating back to a Silicon Valley
startup called Android Inc. that Google acquired in
2005. The mobile software still bears the Android
name in acknowledgment of its heritage. “This
is going to bring the Internet into cell phones in a
very cool way,” promised Andy Rubin, an Android
co-founder who is now Google’s director of mobile
platforms.
Because Google’s software will be free, it
could create new competition with rivals who
charge mobile manufacturers to install their operating
systems. There is always the hope that smart
phones will be less expensive since manufacturers
won’t have to pay for software. More than likely
however, profits will increase for the manufacturers
with little going to the consumer. Over the long
haul Google’s plan will be good for the consumer
in a number of ways.
Google’s system will be based on computer
code that can be openly distributed among programmers.
That, Google hopes, will encourage
developers to create new applications and other
24 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

software improvements that could
spawn new uses for smart phones.
“This is a shot that is going to
be heard around the world, but it’s
just the first shot in what is going
to be a very protracted battle
in the next frontier of the mobile
Web,” said Michael Gartenberg, a
Jupiter Research vice president.
Apple’s iPhone with its revolutionary
user interface is also a
groundbreaking advance in mobile
technology. Apple reports that it
has already sold 1.5 million, units
and expects big sales over the
Christmas holidays.
So far, Motorola Inc., Samsung
Electronics Co., HTC and
LG Electronics Inc. have agreed to
use Google’s software in some of
their phones. Both Motorola and
Samsung already use Microsoft’s
Windows Mobile in some of their
phones but pay for the privilege.
The list of wireless carriers
that have agreed to provide
service for the Google-powered
phone in the United States include
Sprint Nextel Corp. and
Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile in
the United States. China Mobile,
Telefonica in Spain and Telecom
Italia are among the carriers that
have signed on to provide service
outside the United States.
They are among a Google-led
group of 34 companies that have
formed the Open Handset Alliance.
On the supplier side key
players include major chipmakers
like Intel Corp., Qualcomm Inc.,
Texas Instruments Inc., Broadcom
Corp. and Nvidia Corp.
Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
25

special feature
Is It Time For a
Second STEP?
—Craig Rairdin, President, Laridian, Inc., www.laridian.com
In last month’s issue, Kevin Purcell told of his dreams of a day when the Bible
software publishers would get together and agree on a standard format for
their Bibles and reference books so that he wouldn’t have to purchase six copies
of his favorite Bible to use on the six different programs he runs on a variety
of computers and portable devices. Needless to say to some of you who have been
around for a few years, this took me back to 1995 and the development of the
Standard Template for Electronic Publishing (STEP). Thinking that a dozen years
might give me some perspective, I thought I’d comment on the process then and
now, and explain why I don’t think it will happen again.
This article is probably more technical than most
you’ll be reading in Christian Computing, but it’s good
to expand your mind a little bit every once in a while.
Some History
In 1988 I wrote the program that would become
QuickVerse. I sold it from home for a few months, and
then hooked up with Parsons Technology. They hired me
as Director of Church Software and we built a product
line around QuickVerse that included church management
software (Membership Plus), sermon illustrations
(Bible Illustrator) and a variety of other products for
Bible study and use in the church office.
In 1995 I received a call from Jim VanDuzer from
Loizeaux Brothers Publishers. Jim was a Bible software
user and also a Christian publisher. He thought the
developer of his favorite Bible software (Scott Musser
from HeavenWord) would be interested in supporting a
common reference book format if one or more of the major
Bible software developers would get on board. Jim
said his company would publish their reference titles in
that format to get it started. To cut to the chase: After lots
of phone calls and meetings, the Bible Software Industry
Standards Group was formed and work on what would
become the STEP standard began.
The goal of STEP was to have a standard binary
format for Bible reference books that would be directly
supported by all STEP-compliant Bible software. It
wouldn’t have to be translated into the native format of
your Bible program, but rather your program would read
it directly.
Parsons Technology published two or three versions
of QuickVerse that were compatible with STEP
from 1995 through 1998. In addition to HeavenWord,
WordSearch and Zondervan produced STEP-compatible
software, the latter licensing QuickVerse to use with
their content.
Just as STEP was being launched, people were beginning
to hear about the Web. Hyper-Text Markup Language
(HTML), the language of documents on the Web,
was poised to take over the world but at the time there
were few editing tools for HTML. We wanted publishers
to be able to easily create content in the STEP format, so
we based STEP on Microsoft’s Rich Text Format (RTF),
which was supported by Microsoft Word and a number
of other word processors. While this facilitated document
creation in the early months of STEP, I believe it
doomed the standard from a technical perspective even
before it was out the door because it was tied to a file
format that was at the end of its useful life.
26 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

I left Parsons Technology at the end of 1998 and the new management didn’t place the same value on a common
data format as I did. Since Parsons had been the driving force behind the standard, it floundered and eventually faded
away. Plans to remake STEP with HTML or XML as its foundation were left unfulfilled.
Lessons Learned
There were some important lessons we learned from the experience of trying to define a common data standard
for Bible software, and I think they still apply today.
Bible software companies have surprisingly limited commonality between their data formats. Every company
has their own take on what’s important to preserve about a book being published for their software. Consider the
fact that in our Bible software, we’re aware that 3 John 15 in the NRSV is the last half of 3 John 14 in the KJV, and
that the KJV has no 3 John 15. A bookmark attached to 3 John 15 in the NRSV should take you to 3 John 14 in the
KJV (in our opinion). We have competitors, however, who store a bookmark on verse 15 as a bookmark on verse 15.
If you go to the KJV and tell the program to take you to the location of that bookmark, it will either go nowhere or
complain that the verse doesn’t exist. One program even takes you to the beginning of 3 John when you try to go to
verse 15.
This knowledge of the “versification” of each Bible affects the information we store for each verse of each Bible.
In short, we treat 3 John in the KJV as an entirely different book than 3 John in the NRSV, and then implement
a table-driven algorithm for converting references between the two versions of 3 John. Bible software that doesn’t
try this hard to reconcile differences in versification between Bibles doesn’t need to differentiate between these two
versions of 3 John.
Other differences include the way that reference books are organized. One program with which we’re familiar
has a simple format for dictionaries which consists of an entry word followed by its definition. They use the same
concept for commentaries, in which the verse reference is followed by the commentary for that verse. This sounds
fine, but then how do you publish a dictionary as simple as Nave’s Topical Bible where there are multiple words that
correspond to one entry? Or a commentary like New Unger’s Bible Handbook where the articles cover more than
one verse, and they are interspersed with articles about various historical and cultural topics for which there are no
Bible references? And what do you do with front matter and back matter?
Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
27

These differences of opinion about what is important and what is not cause irreconcilable differences when
companies come together to agree on common ground. You might say “let’s go with the simplest implementation”,
which sounds like a good compromise unless you’re the company with the more complex implementation and know
that your users are going to be deprived of features. So, you suggest we go with the more complex implementation
so that no features are lost. You think that this sounds like a good idea because users of the less-sophisticated program
are going to gain features. But the developer of that application looks at your proposal and realizes he’s going
to have to spend a lot of time implementing all those new features that he’s been careful not to waste time on in the
past. This leads to the next point.
Bible software companies have limited resources. I don’t know how obvious it is from the outside, but for the
most part Bible software companies have very small development staffs and most don’t make a whole lot of money.
If implementing a standard, or even sending people to meetings to discuss the standard is going to take a lot of time
or cost a lot of money for travel and lodging, these companies are out of the picture. This was one of the big problems
we faced with STEP. Nobody was willing to make the investment in developing all the common software and
tools necessary to make STEP work. I solved that by volunteering Parsons to be the company that did the work and
spent the money. I had a fairly large staff and we were financially comfortable. I could afford to put a couple people
on STEP development without the risk of missing our other product delivery dates.
Parsons developed the common tools that everyone used to create books and to write their own software that
interacted with STEP books. We gave those tools away to all the member companies. Without a successful Parsons
Technology, there would’ve been no STEP. Nor could it continue without a strong commitment from Parsons Technology.
Therefore, when I left and the vision of the new boss didn’t match that of the old one, STEP stumbled.
Any new standard either needs a champion to pick up all the balls dropped by the other participants, or it needs
two or three successful participants who can share the load. There may not be more than one or two companies
among us who can make the kind of investment in a new standard that we did when I was at Parsons, and I don’t get
the impression that those who might be capable are interested in taking on such a project. And that leads to my last
lesson.
Bible software companies have limited vision when it comes to a common data format. Unfortunately there’s
more to this than just having the time and money. Management also needs the vision to understand why a common
format is important to the industry. In those early conversations with Jim, I came to understand the importance to
publishers and to Bible software users of a common data format. I was blessed to be in a position where I had the
resources to back that vision with action.
One of my key understandings was that having everyone share a common data format meant that the market for
our content (Bibles and reference books) would be at least doubled if not tripled. We would no longer be limited to
selling our books only to our own customers, but we’d be able to sell them to our competitor’s customers. In that setting,
the word “competitor” would no longer be relevant. (I later read a book called Co-opetition that made that point
and gave a name to what the STEP participants were doing.)
I personally don’t believe this vision exists anywhere today, at least not among those with the means to make it
happen. Sure, a company might say, “If everyone would adopt our data format, we’d be happy to participate because
it means no work for us.” I think every Bible software company shares that vision. However, that’s a Pollyanna
worldview that will get you nowhere when trying to define a standard.
Case In Point: Synchronizing User-Created Data
A number of years ago we began working on technology to allow us to synchronize user-created notes, bookmarks,
highlights, etc., between our MyBible program for Palm OS and PocketBible for Pocket PC. As we worked
through the issues we realized the design we were coming up with was completely independent of what it was synchronizing.
That is, the engine that did the synchronizing didn’t care where the data was coming from nor going to
as long as the software that interfaced to the customer data was interacting with the engine in the way it expected.
There were two immediate conclusions from this. First, it was going to be possible to sync any of our software
with any of our other software, regardless of platform. As an extension, it meant we’d even be able to sync two
databases from the same program with each other. The second and perhaps more interesting conclusion was that it
wouldn’t have to be Laridian software on the other end of the pipe. That is, we could potentially synchronize our
user-created data with similar data from other Bible software publishers.
At the time we came up with this idea there were few players in the PDA Bible software market. In fact our
software for Palm OS was out-selling all the traditional Windows desktop Bible software in Christian bookstores.
We thought the desktop Bible software companies would welcome the opportunity to be able to sync with data from
our users. This would be a benefit to the user of course, but also to the desktop Bible software companies because
28 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

it would allow them to address the
growing PDA market without investing
much of their own time. They
could bundle our software with theirs
and not have to develop it on their
own. We stood to profit from this as
well, as it would keep the big Bible
software companies from competing
with us in the PDA space.
We approached several of these
companies and were met with a positive
response in every case, but in the
end none of the opportunities worked
out. In the process we learned how
differently we all see the same problem.
For example, we store a user’s
notes in HTML and figured that was
a nice, generic, standard, easilyunderstood
format that everyone
would be able to either translate to or
from regardless of how they stored
the notes in their program. However,
we found a variety of solutions to the
creation and storage of user notes,
which were all mutually incompatible:
• One product simply launches
the user’s word processor, and then
stores the file name for the document
they create for each verse. The Bible
software has no knowledge of the
internal format of the document, so
it has no way to convert it to HTML
or convert our HTML to its format
(since it technically has no format).
• Another product has a rich collection
of user-defined “styles” that
are stored in the program. The notes
themselves contain only references
to these styles. So tagging a value
as a “Strong’s number” meant a) link
it to the Strong’s dictionary, b) color the text green, c) make the text bold, and d) use a particular font. If the styles
were converted to HTML for storage in our database, then the user would be able to change individual attributes of
the style in different notes, and the correspondence to the internally stored styles would be lost (for example, the user
could make one specific reference to a Strong’s number be in italics instead of bold). In the meantime notes created
in our program would come across to the other program with no style information at all and would look bland and
non-functional when rendered in their program.
• The features in the notes from a third program were simply too advanced to duplicate on our PDA platforms,
especially the Palm. It supported a number of languages that we simply couldn’t support on the Palm.
In the end, there really wasn’t a way to make this work. We’d like to try to figure it out, because we think it
would really be useful. We’re hoping it’s the case that we’re just not smart enough, and that someone who is smart
enough will come along with an elegant solution.
Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
29

Standards: Not Just a Problem between Vendors
Laridian is in somewhat of a unique position because we sell Bible study software for a variety of platforms. Our PocketBible
program for Pocket PC was written in-house. MyBible for Palm OS was written by an independent developer but we
have subsequently taken over coding on the program. Our iPhone program iPocketBible was written in-house but runs on
a Web server, not on the iPhone itself. Our desktop Bible software is based on our Pocket PC product but has a completely
different user interface. All of these products have the ability to create personal data like notes and bookmarks, and all of them
store them completely differently. They also have the ability to view Bibles and reference books, but each uses a different data
format (with the exception of the desktop and Pocket PC versions, which share a common data format).
The differences in data format are driven by unique properties of the platforms on which they run. The Palm OS doesn’t
really have a file system. Every file has to be a database. The databases from Palm OS can be read on a Pocket PC but they’re
not very powerful. It’s better to use a proprietary file format that gives you access to the data and indexes you need than to
try to be compatible with a less-powerful database format. iPocketBible running on our Web server could read either Palm or
Pocket PC data, but it has access to database servers that are immensely larger and faster than what we can do with a Palm
or Pocket PC database. To support multiple users accessing the program at the same time, we take advantage of that database
technology.
As far as sharing Bibles and reference books between products we’re able to solve that problem administratively
rather than technically. When you purchase a license to use one of our books, you’re entitled to view that book on any device
you have that runs our software as long as you’re the only user of the device. That is, you can’t buy one copy of the NIV and
give it to everyone in your household, but you can buy one copy and install it on your desktop and your Pocket PC as long as
you’re the sole user of both systems. We can manage this because our Web site knows everything you’ve purchased from us
and can give you access to the various versions of each book you own. It’s even more automated for iPocketBible since it is
Web-based and can easily access our customer database. It can give you access from your Web-enabled phone to the books
you’ve purchased from us even if you originally purchased them for another platform by simply looking you up in the database.
Thus, the effect is as if there is a common data format (i.e. your KJV Bible works on every device you own that runs
Laridian software) but in reality it’s different data. Unfortunately, this solution doesn’t work between vendors. The only way it
could work is if the publishers would agree to some kind of licensing change that would allow us to accept some kind of certification
from another Bible software company that this customer has purchased (and therefore paid the royalties) on a copy of
a particular Bible or reference book, and that we were permitted to give that person access to that title in our format.
Synchronizing user-created data between our products is something you’ve been hearing a lot about lately. We’re rolling
that feature out to our various platforms even now. There are issues even within our own product lines. Consider these facts:
• In MyBible for Palm OS, highlighting is character-by-character. One five-letter word can be highlighted in five different
colors.
• In PocketBible for Pocket PC, highlighting is word-by-word. Entire words must be the same color. It would be impossible
(actually, impractical) to support character-by-character highlighting without massive changes to the program.
• In iPocketBible for iPhone, highlighting is verse-by-verse. The entire verse must be one color. The user interface to support
word-by-word highlighting would be very complex since the iPhone has no text selection capability. The user interface
for character-by-character highlighting would be impossible.
Furthermore,
• MyBible stores the location of highlights as a character offset from the start of the verse.
• PocketBible for Pocket PC stores the location of highlights as a word count from the start of a paragraph.
• iPocketBible for iPhone stores the location of highlights as book, chapter, and verse.
Our solution is to support the “least capable”
device. So highlight synchronization is
always verse-by-verse. On the Pocket PC you
have to enable “verse highlight mode” to see
highlights you synchronize from the desktop
or other devices. Enhancements are being
made to MyBible to support this highlighting
mode.
As you can see, supporting a common
data format is difficult even within one company
with several related products.
30 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

What About a Common Export/Import Format?
Kevin had a good suggestion for a compromise: What if all Bible programs could export a book to a tagged text
file, like HTML or XML, and also import books in that format? That way, you could move books from one vendor’s
program to another by exporting and importing. This sounds reasonable but there are two sticking points worth considering.
First, this is really the same problem, but pushed up a level. Instead of agreeing on a common binary file format,
we’re agreeing on a common tagged text file format. To help you understand, you need to know that the books we
publish in our programs start as text files with special tags inserted to tell us things we need to know about the text.
This includes formatting, like bold and italics, but also includes information like where each verse starts (for Bibles)
or where footnote markers are to be placed. We then process those tagged files and create the binary files that you
think of as the Bibles and books that go into your Bible program.
So this suggestion would get us out of having to agree on a common binary format but we’d still have to settle
on a standard format for the tagged text files that are exported and imported. A lot of the same issues apply: Any
feature of a program that requires special information from the Bible or reference books is going to require certain
information in the tagged text file that starts the whole process. We haven’t made anything easier; we’ve just moved
the problem.
Second, there are issues of copyright. This is a touchy issue with copyright owners. This kind of thing has been
tried but never successfully. The issue is that the owner of a copyright has the right to control how his or her work is
published. When you put a feature in your program that allows users to export book from your program and import it
into another, there’s a question of whether or not you’re violating the rights that you’ve licensed from the copyright
owner.
Most of the licenses we have with publishers are very clear about what we’re allowed to do with the text of their
books. They often will say that they’re licensing the text only for use in a particular product. If we provide a feature
that exports the text for the purpose of importing it into a product for which it isn’t licensed, then we’re facilitating
the violation of our agreements with publishers.
Summary
I think it would be difficult to come up with a common data format between companies because few (if any)
have the money or resources to dedicate to the problem of resolving the differences between competing formats. Furthermore
few Bible software companies (and few of their customers) are going to be willing to compromise existing
features in the interest of having a common data format.
While we at Laridian would be willing to talk to other software developers about a common data format, we’re
not naïve about the difficulties that we would encounter along the way, having been there before. Discussions about
a common data format should not be entered into lightly, or with much optimism.
On the other hand, I’m glad Kevin brought this up. I think we need to be constantly challenged to re-think the
solutions we offer to our users. I’m sure these are questions that many of you have had, and this is a good
forum in which to address them, regardless of the conclusions we come to.
Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
31

handheld devices
Jim VanDuzer - jimv@laridian.com
Will Apple
Make a PDA?
What are the basics for calling a device a PDA
(Personal Digital Assistant)? I guess this largely
depends on the person and how they plan on using
the device…it is “personal” after all. When the “Palm
Pilot” first came out, it was a glorified electronic day planner.
Microsoft is now marketing a number of Windows Mobile
devices as mobile offices to business people giving them the
ability to handle email, documents and spreadsheets among
other things. Many cell phones are basic PDAs; they keep track of contacts and
some can handle your calendar as well. I think (in order of importance) a PDA
should include your calendar, contacts, some sort of note
taking and a clock. After that probably some email/communications
capability and some sort of “reader” for books and
Bibles. Other people may create a list with different items or
different order.
Do a search online for “apple pda” and you’ll see a lot of
rumors and even some mock press releases about an Apple
PDA. Many of you are old enough to remember that it was
Apple (not Palm) that started the PDA market in the first place
with the Apple Newton. The Message Pad was a very capable
handheld computer. I remember back in the mid 90s the looks
I would get on the plane when I was typing on my keyboard
attached to my Newton. If you remember back then laptops
were rather large and the (relatively) small Newton caught a lot
of eyes. The Newton had excellent handwriting recognition.
The embedded software included an address book (Names), a
calendar (Dates), notes, a calculator, clock and Pocket Quicken.
I had a PC modem card for my Newton that allowed me to
send and receive emails and faxes. (There was a cool scene in
a Steven Segal movie of him sending a fax from his Newton
while on a runaway train.) I recently bought a MessagePad 130
off of eBay for very little (I wanted it for nostalgic purposes).
Then come Palm and Windows CE and the many different
iterations of devices that ran one or the other platform. The
Palm pretty much blew the doors off of the PDA market. Pretty
quickly (almost) everyone had one. Those were followed by
integrated Palm and Windows Mobile (the latest name of what
was originally Windows CE) devices with phone capabilities.
“Converged devices” is what they became known as and I
was pretty dead set against them if I remember correctly. I’ve
since been won over by certain devices that handle phone and
PDA functions both equally well. But through all of this, Apple
dropped out of the market. And, just when everyone thought
they were dead, along came this thing called an iPod that made
a little bit of money for Apple.
In case you’ve been hiding in a cave (in which case you
wouldn’t be reading this article) the biggest buzz in handheld
devices right now is the iPhone. If you read my article last
month you know that I don’t have (and don’t plan at this point
on getting) an iPhone. I still really love my HTC VOX. But I
did get an iPod Touch (think iPhone without the phone and so
slightly thinner). The iPod Touch comes in either 8 or 16 GB
models. Prior to the iPod Touch I had a Microsoft Zune and
before that an iPod Photo. When I got the Zune I liked it better
than the iPod Photo because the screen was bigger. (What I
really didn’t like about it was that you had to load the Zune
full of songs before you could tell it which songs to take off so
you could put on the ones you really wanted. It was screwy.
The device itself was fine, but I hated the software.) The iPod
Touch has an even larger screen (and uses iTunes which allows
better control of your media).
The iPod Touch is first and foremost an entertainment
32 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

device. It syncs with iTunes. I can download movies and TV shows to it. I can browse YouTube (yippee! – sorry, if you didn’t get
that re-read it with heavy sarcasm implied). Like the iPod Photo I can sync pictures to the device…only on this screen I can actually
see them. I understand the iPhone has these same features as well.
But what I’m finding interesting about the iPod Touch and the various discussions about whether or not Apple will be releasing
a PDA is this: the Touch and the iPhone are already PDAs. Along with having my Touch sync with iTunes it connects to
Outlook and syncs my calendar and contacts. Because the Touch isn’t a phone I can’t connect from “anywhere” but it does have
WiFi capabilities so whenever I’m at Panera or Starbucks or my house I can get online. This allows me to access my email (all of
my email accounts have a web client). What else do I really need from my PDA? Oh yeah…a Bible. Well actually I’m glad you
asked about that. Laridian (full disclaimer…I work for Laridian, remember?) recently launched iPocketBible. If you are a Laridian
customer you now have access to all the books that you own (except for the Ancient Christian Commentary Series due to the
publisher’s restriction) on your iPod Touch or your iPhone. If you’re not currently a Laridian customer and you have an iPhone
or iPod Touch you really should check it out. iPocketBible requires a subscription for a minimal fee ($1.99/month or $20/year).
After that any books you purchase from Laridian are available on your iPocketBible account. You can add notes, set bookmarks
and highlight verses in the Bible, you can sync your commentary to your Bible and you can read your devotionals…all from
your iPhone or iPod Touch. (iPocketBible also works with Safari or FireFox from your Windows or Mac computer. There are
even rumors that it runs on the Wii!)
If you remember the early days of the Palm it was basically a device that allowed you to sync addresses, dates and notes.
Pretty quickly people started writing other programs that you could install on your Palm. The iPod Touch is missing the memo
or notes feature (the iPhone does have a notes feature), but it has the other basics. The first version of the system was missing the
ability to add calendar items (not sure whose mistake that was!). You could add contacts but not calendar items. This morning I
downloaded the upgrade to 1.1.2 and it now allows me to add items to my calendar. The other feature that is keeping the iPhone
and the iPod Touch from being a full blown PDA is the ability to install third party applications directly unto the device (this is
why Laridian went with a Safari based Bible “program”). If you’re into this kind of thing, there are several groups who have
“hacked” the iPhone and Touch so that you can install third party apps.
In addition to what I’ve already mentioned the iPod Touch has a clock (with a world clock, stop watch, timer, and alarm) and
a calculator.
Okay, so I don’t have note taking abilities on my Touch and I can’t install third party apps. But even without those I still have
a basic PDA. I have my contacts and my calendar and if I’m in a WiFi area I have my email and a Bible (and the most of the rest
of the Internet). I’ll bet you could probably
find a web site that would allow you
to create and save notes. (I can access my
Google docs to view them, but I can’t edit
them or create new ones. I would expect
this to change in the not too distant future
however.)
So is Apple going to get back in the
PDA market? Personally, I think they’d be
crazy to do a standalone PDA (but they’ve
done crazy things before). What I think
they’d be better off doing (and as far as
I know no one from Apple has asked for
my opinion, but I’ll give it anyway) is to
bump up the software “features” already
on the iPhone and iPod Touch. And they
wouldn’t need to bump them up too much
to make a fully functional PDA. Apple has
done a good job with the iPod. They’ve
done a really good job recently with their
laptop computers. Now they’ve done a
good job with the iPhone and iPod Touch.
I only expect them to keep making these
devices better. And when they do they’ll
have a really good PDA on their hands…
and hopefully in mine, too.
Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
33

ministry communication
Yvon Prehn - yvonprehn@aol.com
A Christian Communicator’s Response to
The Golden Compass:
Don’t Boycott: Explain & Engage
On the extremely rare chance that you have not
received one of the many warning emails making
the rounds of cyberspace, on Dec. 7 The Golden
Compass movie will be released. Based on the children’s
fantasy series by Phillip Pullman, the emails warn that the
movie is a “dumbed-down” version of a series of books
that is about killing God and that Christians should boycott
it. Rather than boycotting it, I think the movie provides
a challenging opportunity for Christian communicators
to explain and engage—here’s how:
Explain the book, the plot, and themes honestly
We all experience the frustration of endlessly forwarded
emails. When the email topic is a web-worn chain
letter, a warning about bad guys in parking lots, or a bandwidth
hogging download picture of puppies and angels—
we know to immediately delete. But when an email with
high-moral sounding seriousness advises boycotting a
movie based on a best-selling children’s fantasy series,
staring major stars (Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig), we
ought to take time to at least get our facts straight.
Hysterical, incorrect explanations about the books,
from people who admittedly have never read them, do little
to advance the Christian faith. A site often linked to the
emails, www.snopes.com , is hardly the epitome of literary
or religious insight. It correctly records that the author of
the book series, Phillip Pullman is an atheist, but from that
to assert that the whole plot of the books (and by implication,
the movie) is about “killing God” and that the “dumbed
down” version presented in the movie is an intentional
ploy to lure children to the evil of the books is simply silly.
Pullman is a skilled writer; the books magical; his
characters memorable. Pullman obviously has huge issues
with the church, but to be precise, his books have
nothing to do with “killing God.” As Pullman has stated
repeatedly, he does not believe God exists. In the books,
the enemy as perceived in the books is a religious authority
gone very wrong and the Pullman carefully describes
the spiritual heads of this religious authority as “not the
creator” but his regents. There is no Creator God or Jesus
in the books, the spiritual powers are transformed humans,
(a key one is Enoch, described in a rather odd angelic
history) who are weary of ruling; or as angels with barely
super-human powers who can be vanquished by human
power.
The real enemy in the books is the Magisterium, an
obvious reference to the church and his descriptions of it
are obviously one-sided. Burning witches, the Inquisition,
the repression, abuse of power and people are issues many
within the church would agree are evil—no big surprises
or shocks here. More than anything, I found myself won-
34 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

dering if Pulllman had ever met a kind
or caring Christian and chastened as I
wondered how I come across to those
with whom I disagree.
In addition, some of the web-criticisms
of themes in the book (again,
by those who admit they have not read
them) are embarrassing in their ignorance,
which does little to advance the
credibility or honesty of the Christian
faith. The confusion between daemons
and demons for example—in the book
series the daemons are the animal
manifestations of the soul of a human
and have nothing whatsoever to do
with the Christian definition of an evil
spirit. The following definition from
Wikipedia may prove useful here:
The words daemon, dæmon,
are Latinized spellings of the Greek
δαίμων (daimon),[1] used purposely
today to distinguish the daemons of
Ancient Greek religion, good or malevolent
"supernatural beings between
mortals and gods, such as inferior
divinities and ghosts of dead heroes" (see Plato's Symposium), different from the Judeo-Christian usage demon, a malignant
spirit that can seduce, afflict, or possess humans.
To confuse the two terms, without reading the books, is not moral indignation, but sloppy thinking and incorrect
criticism.
These clarifications aside, there are many other things in his books that are non-Christian in subject matter: lying
as a useful way of interaction; the shifting and confusing definitions of witches and angels, and other topics which well
worth exploration and explanations, but is boycotting the answer to dealing with them?
I don’t think so.
Intelligent, thoughtful engagement as an alternative
When the Apostle Paul (Acts 17) arrived in Athens, a city filled with pagan idols, which were obviously repulsive
to his monotheistic background, he did not organize an idol boycott. He walked around and studied them and then when
the time came for him to share his message, he could stand up and say, “I see you are a very religious people…..” and
he took what was personally repulsive to him and used it as a bridge to share the gospel message.
That is Christian communication at its finest—taking the popular media of his day (the pagan idols) and using them
as an opportunity to share the Christian message.
Jesus’ disciple Peter has similar advice for us: 1 Pet. 3:15: But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be
prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with
gentleness and respect.
When the Da Vinci Code debates were raging a few years back, I found it was a time to communicate deeply and
effectively about historical Christianity, how we got our Bible, if we can trust it now, and related topics.
To deeply consider challenging topics presented in the books and upcoming movie, to evaluate honestly them from
a biblical perspective and then to communicate clearly and kindly the truth of the Christian message in a way that helps
our people and gives them tools to share with their children and friends is a tremendous amount of work, but that is our
core task as Christian communicators.
For some specific examples of how I’m doing that that you can reproduce and for additional ideas and resources,
please go to my website: www.thelionsvoice.com.
Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
35

higher power with kevin
Kevin A. Purcell - kevin@kevinpurcell.org
Christian Gaming
I
like to play video games. There. I said it out loud.
That is the first step to healing isn’t it? The sad truth
is that I enjoy some of the games that I know are not
healthy. I chose to quit playing first person shooters (FPS
– games where you act like a soldier or a cop or a criminal
and kill and shoot things as if you were in that setting)
because of my kids. My oldest son was playing Star Wars
Battlegrounds and after playing for about an hour one
afternoon we saw some very aggressive and bordering on
violent behavior towards his little brother. So we stopped playing … all of us!
Today we focus on sports and driving simulation
games, or sims for short. But I don’t have enough time
to play games. I enjoy a game of Madden 2008 football
with the kids from time to time. Recently that got me
thinking about Christian Video games. One Christian
gaming company states on their web site that industry
analysts say that the gaming industry will top $46 billion
by 2010. Are Christian’s missing a golden opportunity
to reach people in this huge arena. The film industry
brought in $42.6 billion last year (according to The Hollywood
Reporter www.holleywoodreporter.com). If it
grows at present rate it will only be ahead of gaming by
a few billion. Should Christians be as aggressive in this
realm as they are becoming in film?
While doing some research, I found a site called
Game Praise (www.gamepraise.net) which is a portal site
for Christian gamers. Founder, Matt Linder started the
site in June 2006 because he “looked around [seeing that]
there were many other Christian sites dedicated to games
but there was no site that was exclusively dedicated to
Christian games.” As you can see HERE this is a clean
site that deals with Christian games on all platforms.
Linder share news, reviews and discussion about Christian
video games.
36 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

I asked Linder about the current Christian gaming scene. My prejudice was that Christian companies do not get gamers. Do
Christians understand the impact that games have on culture today considering that the gaming industry today is comparable to
the film industry in dollars?
He said, “I think that early attempts at Christian games were a complete disaster, but now there are Christian game companies
that really understand games and the culture that surrounds them.” He added, “Overall, I think that the Christian gaming
industry understands the role video games play in our culture, but Christian parents might not be as aware of the impact done to
their children.”
As my previous family anecdote illustrates, the violent, shoot-em-up games of today do have an effect on kids. So it is
admirable that Christian companies are offering an alternative. The problem is that many games are appealing only because they
are “Christian” games. I asked Linder if any of the games he has reviewed would be appealing regardless of being “Christian”
games. He said, “In my opinion I do not think that Christian video games have reached the quality and depth that would entice
non-believers to play a Christian game.” He went on to say there are possibilities. Rebel Planet is producing a game for 2008
called Orion. It has garnered some attention from non-believers. A second possible breakthrough game is from Atomic Design
Laboratory called Tribulation Knights. (see http://www.atomicdesignlab.com )
So what are the best Christian video games? According to Linder, if you are buying for young children then go for any of
the Veggie Tales games. For more information look at www.bigideafun.com. If you have a teenager Linder recommends “…
any of the Dance Praise games from Digital Praise.” Check them out at www.dancepraise.com. “These games are in the style
of Dance, Dance Revolution except with Christian artists.” And for young adults, he says that The Axys Adventures by Rebel
Planet Creations is a good bet. He thinks they are one of the two best Christian gaming companies. The Axys game is a “Zeldastyle
game” which combines a role playing game with an adventure game that includes biblical content. The story is about “…
Christians whose town is overrun with these evil weeds. Throughout the game there are subtle moral messages relating to the
Gospel as the player journeys along.”
I downloaded the demo from their web site at www.rebelplanetcreations.com.
It is a huge download at 199 megabytes. Once
installed you load the game and it enters into a beautiful world. Your
character, Axys, is taken through the first part of level one where you
kill weeds to collect gems. I went through three of the areas, including
the village, the beach, and the farm. If you enjoy these adventure
and role playing games, I think you will find this to be a fun game.
They are not my favorite and I thought it was a little monotonous. But my boys loved it. The graphics and game play is as good
as many of the games found in the gaming industry. Give the demo a try.
As mentioned previously, Rebel Planet is working on a game to be released in 2008 called Orion, where you will “discover
the world before the flood.” I like this idea. From their web site: “Before the Great Flood of Noah, thousands of years passed of
which we know virtually nothing. Civilizations may have risen and fallen - technologies discovered and lost. What little knowledge
that has come down to us through the early chapters of Genesis reveals a world very different than our own. Myth and legend
also point to an ancient past rich with history.” Some people might be a little uncomfortable with the idea of “adding to the
scriptures” by creating “… an imaginative fantasy world where the truth of Scripture is our foundation and theme, but only the
minds‘ imagination our limit in telling the ancient tale of redemption and faith.” I am not and I think, based on my experience
with Axys, this game could be a lot of fun, entertaining and hopefully informative. I’ve always said that if the gaming industry
would get serious about educating kids, they would do more good for children than most of the text book companies today. Let’s
hope Rebel Planet does just that with Orion.
I asked Matt Linder of Game Praise to name the all stars of the Christian gaming
industry and he mentioned Digital Praise. They just might be the Electronic Arts of
the Christian Gaming industry. They distribute a large stable of Christian games. He
said, “…every game they release teaches something about Christianity.” They produce
the Veggie Tales games as well as Dance Praise. Other games in their arsenal are
those based on the Hermie children’s books and Adventures In Odyssey radio dramas
from Focus on the Family. Linder said, “They do a really great job of incorporating
the bible into fun and interactive experiences. Besides the biblical message in their
games the quality matches those in the secular market.”
So if you were going to buy a single Christian Video game, which one should
you get? Linder suggests Dance Praise. He said it is appealing regardless of your
age. For some online video of the game as well as kids enjoying the game go to http://www.dancepraise.com/media_gallery.
php?AR=VID&VID=3.
Every time a story about violence surfaces in the news, the gaming industry becomes a target. This may or may not be
Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
37

fair. But even the Christian gaming
industry can be the source of
controversy. Recently, Left Behind:
Eternal Forces, a game based on
the popular Left Behind series of
books, was released. The company
behind the game saw a need in the
market for a high quality game that
would appeal to the same audience
that made films like The Passions
of the Christ and the Christian
Music industry so successful. The
game’s release, however, was met
with some controversy as many saw it as contradictory to the Christian message. They claimed it taught that we should kill in the
name of Christ. According to these critics, the game play included killing people who do not convert to Christianity in a “Spanish
inquisition” style of evangelism. The people at Left Behind Games did not respond to a request for comment.
I wanted to see what all the fuss was about so I downloaded the full demo available at www.
eternalforces.com. Like the other games above the Eternal Forces demo is a huge download. This one
is 316 MBs and took a long time on my very fast cable Internet connection. In the game you join the
Tribulation force and combat the Antichrist’s forces. You direct the main characters from the books,
Rayford Steele, Buck Williams, Chloe Steele, and Bruce Barnes. In the single player mission you
acquire recruiter units used to help convert as many people to Christ as possible. Then you train them to
help the Tribulation Force defeat the Antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia and the Global Community Peacekeepers.
While the critique that the game is violent is true to a limited extent, it is unfair to say the game
teaches a “convert or die” mentality. From the games own website FAQ the developer says regarding
the killing of non-believers, “Their choice is to either join the AntiChrist – which is an imposturous one
world government seeking peace for all of mankind, or they may join the Tribulation Force – which
seeks to expose the truth and defend themselves against the forces of the AntiChrist.” It is in the defense
of themselves that they might be forced to kill. But according to the same FAQ it is limited and only as a last resort. In the game
unnecessary killing result in negative consequences.
For my own opinion, the game is derivative of real time strategy games like Age of Empires. If you’ve played any of those
and enjoy them, you might enjoy this game. It has a beautiful look and slick interface. However, on my slightly older system,
the levels took forever to load. I should have tested it on my newer system, but the computer I was using will likely be like that
of many of our readers. So if your system is not significantly more powerful than the minimum requirements you might have to
wait between loads of the levels.
The Christian Gaming arena is far ahead of where it was years ago. I was impressed with the games mentioned above and
think this is a good development. But be careful because there are still some really bad games that slap the name Christian on
them and assume that gullible parents will buy them for their kids just because of the label. Be informed. One way to do that is
visit www.gamepraise.net.
There are also games that are not marketed to Christians that are acceptable to Christians. If you are looking for good games
for your kids, be informed about the video game rating system. The Entertainment Software Rating Board is the rating group
for video games. They have many ratings that range from EC – Early Childhood to AO – Adults Only. My kids own mostly E
games or E10 games which stands for Everyone or Everyone 10 and Older. You can usually be safe with these games. There
are a few T games that I let my kids play but only if I’ve seen them first. I will never let them play a T game unless I’ve played it
first. And anything over T is off limits in our house. To learn more about these ratings to the ESRB
site at http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp. You can learn not only what the ratings stand
for but also what kinds of content they look for.
As the holiday season comes remember that Christian games can be a fun form of entertainment
or education especially for your children. And be looking for next month’s article where I will
give you my annual tech buying tips. Thankfully, Christian games offer a good option for Christmas
morning. I only wish that Christians would see this as a mission field and an opportunity to reach a
segment of the population that are unlikely to set foot in a church. Wouldn’t it be great if a Christian company made a fun, high
quality, evangelistic game? You could buy a copy for yourself and inside there could be a second copy to give away as a 21st
century tract. If the Army can recruit people using a video game (see http://www.americasarmy.com) why can’t the church. We
don’t have the funds the Army does for such things! Or do we? Tithe lately?
38 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine

scott howard’s hotPics
Scott Howard - scottdhoward@gmail.com
Blog Sites and More
Thanksgiving is already here and we have so much
to be thankful for. I could go on and on with all
the people, places, and things with which God has
blessed me; but, what I remind myself from time to time
is that His blessing of Salvation by Grace is far more important
than all the luxuries in this world. I am sharing this
with you all because I am going to be focusing primarily
on this at a retreat to which we will soon be going. This
Thanksgiving I want to choose to praise God for my Salvation
through Him as much as possible because I believe that the joy from that far
exceeds any temporary happiness. Don’t get me wrong, I like to enjoy all the possessions
and experiences that He provides us and I will continue to do so. But
there is a primary reason why we are on the planet and that is to be used
by God to fulfill his purpose. God wants to be praised and worshiped and
He deserves all of it. One way to worship God is by sharing the awesome
news of Jesus Christ with unbelievers and hopefully seeing them get saved.
This is why I love to interact with unbelievers because I want them to see
what a wonderful life we can have as a follower of Jesus Christ. I really
feel like the readers and writers of Christian Computing Magazine have
an awesome opportunity to use the magazine to show people one way
that we choose to minister to others and glorify the Lord. I think that we
can minister to others because you can learn a lot of technical stuff from
this magazine to apply in your church, organization, or home and it is just
enjoyable for some of us to sit down and read. On the other hand, I think it
glorifies the Lord because we are helping the Church and should be focusing
on Him when we work. Needless to say there is a lot of good information
out there if you cipher through the not so good stuff. The fact that the
good information out there may be Christian related or it may not be is
awesome because it gives us opportunities to interact with unbelievers and
share with them who we are and what we believe. Maybe you could take
Christian Computing® Magazine
November 2007
the time to send one of these sites a thank you
for what they do for our community. I hope
that we will all take the time to thank God for
our Salvation and to share the love of God with
EVERYONE.
www.godtube.com has become an awesome
tool for people to learn and be uplifted
by other Christians in a Web 2.0 kind of way. If
you have not heard about this yet, it is basically
a Christian version of Youtube. You can watch
numerous different categories of videos, post
your own video for others to watch and get
involved in a particular group and chat. They
also include a Spanish section.
www.woot.com is a very interesting site
which includes a blog as well. The gist of the
site is that they sell a different bargain priced
electronic gadget everyday. You never know
39

how many of that gadget they may
have in stock and once the day
is up you will not get a chance at
that specific gadget ever again. It
seems like I have been following
Woot for a couple years now and
you just never know what kind
of cool gadgets you can get for a
real bargain. If you go to the blog
you can see the products that have
been sold in the past but you will
notice that they don’t post the
prices on the blog. Woot does have
a nice fan club as you will notice
if you check out their community.
And that really is about it. It is
a very simple concept but they
have been very successful at the
idea. And if you live in the Dallas
area and your looking for a job
you may want to check out their
“Work for Woot” page.
www.openoffice.org is the site
for a product that I have become
very passionate about over the
course of the last two years. This
product is an office suite that has
become a competitor of Microsoft
Office®. This product can be extremely
beneficial to many people
who want a new and updated office
suite that is free, open-source,
able to open up files that are in
Microsoft format as well as able
to save files in other formats like
Microsoft Word, Excel, Access,
and Powerpoint. Anyone can
download the latest version of the
suite from the site fairly quick if
they have a high-speed connection
and all of a sudden they have
an office productivity suite that is
Read CCMag’s Review of our LogosGiving Service!Visit
www.ccmag2.com/logos/0205coverstory.pdf
very comparable to the other latest suites that are on the market that may not fit your budget. If you are interested and would
like to get some resources from me comparing some of the features with other suites, shoot me an email and I will definitely
help you in any way that I can.
www.techcrunch.com is a fantastic blog that covers internet sites and products. Techcrunch has been around since 2005
and has been getting a lot of media attention for its large amount of traffic. I prefer Techcrunch over some of the other information
sites because of their quality of posts. Techcrunch has a job board section which is called “Cool Jobs”, they have their
own toolbar which you may want to download, and they have a company index which you can use to research a particular
company that you are interested in.
www.smashingmagazine.com is a great blog for you web designers out there. They cover everything from CSS and
graphics to fonts and browsers. The site is very easy on the eyes and has loads of information. The two guys that run this blog,
Sven Lennartz and Vitaly Friedman, have other works in this same industry that you can check out in the “About Us” page.
Oh, and it looks like they have been known to give away free swag from time to time for contests. Gotta love the free swag.
40 November 2007 Christian Computing® Magazine