It’s Valentine’s Day on WELSTech, and we’re talking about chocolate’s important place in technology along with a little discussion on the use of Facebook for church and school as part of a social media strategy. Martin pulls back the curtain on Google’s logs of his travels, and Sallie shares a ministry resource walkthrough of the Free Bible Images web site.

Facebook for ministry – Martin and Sallie answer the Why, What, Who and How questions regarding using Facebook to share the Good News of Jesus with the 1.2 billion daily users of the site. View the Facebook for Ministry infographic.

Registration is underway for the 54th LWMS Convention, happening June 22-25 in Orlando, FL

Free Bible Images

Learn more about Sallie’s pick of the week in this new addition to the Product Demo playlist titled Word Swag Tutorial – Turn your iPhone or iPad into a Marketing Machine.

Episode 485 – Martin and Sallie share the latest and greatest news from the WELSTech community. Release date: Wednesday, February 22.

This week on WELSTech, Amanda Rose, founding member of Holy Hen House, talks to us about women’s ministry and how God has blessed their humble efforts. We continue our focus on ministry resources by exploring just how easy it is to create and publish a vlog (Video Blog).

Chatter that matters – WELSTech welcomes Amanda Rose, the head “Hen” over at Holy Hen House. Listen as Amanda shares the background on their blogging effort which God has blessed and turned into so much more. The group connects with others via technology, but the focus is relationship and mentoring so face-to-face meetups and events have become an important part of their efforts.

Registration is underway for the 54th LWMS Convention, happening June 22-25 in Orlando, FL

A guide to Friday’s comet eclipse full moon triple feature

Ten Tips for Vlogging

The newest addition on the WELSTech Music YouTube playlist is Immanuel (From The Squalor of a Borrowed Stable) sung by David Wesley, a recommendation from Bread for Beggars.

Episode 484 – Tune in for the next installment in the WELSTech Social Media for Ministry series focusing on the use of Facebook. Release date: Wednesday, February 15.

This week on WELSTech we talk about the future of wearable technology in education. It’s not quite ready but it’s coming! Listen also for news from Google Voice, a new edtech evaluation tool for schools, and WELSTech’s own Alex Trebek.

Sew in a circuit board – Jason Schmidt, Technology Coordinator for Bennington ISD near Omaha, NE and one of WELSTech’s Classroom Technology Correspondents, chimes in on the topic of wearable tech which has been identified as having mainstream K-12 educational adoption in the next 4-5 years in the New Media Consortium K-12 Horizon Report 2016.

The new Google Voice launches bringing a modern look, group chat, photo sharing & more

Learn more about wearable technology in this TEDxSFU video, How wearable technology will change our lives, on the WELSTech Presentation/Teaching YouTube playlist.

Episode 483 – Amber Rose joins Martin and Sallie to share some about “Chatter That Matters” from the Holy Hen House. Release date: Wednesday, November 2.

WELSTech this week is a walk through an awesome variety of feedback from our listeners including great tips, websites, and many other ministry resources. Martin and Sallie share their own favorites as well as spend some time talking about texting for ministry.

Exploring – The monthly WELSTech community feedback episode is overflowing with new tech-in-ministry ideas to explore.

Interactive Faith Bible Study

Learn more about church copyright from the Christian Copyright Solutions webinar, Understanding the Copyright Complexities of a Galaxy Far, Far Away, the newest addition on the WELSTech Presentation/Teaching playlist on YouTube.

Episode 482 – Edtech week rolls around again next week, and we’ll be discussing wearable technology with Jason Schmidt. Release date: Wednesday, February 1.

This week on WELSTech, Martin and Sallie share both inspiration and suggestions for keeping your important photos, documents, music, presentations, sermons, and lesson plans safe for years to come. Tim Plath chats with Sallie about Area Lutheran High Schools Online, and the focus on Ministry Resources continues with a look at two wonderful archives: 1) Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary essays and 2) WELSTech photos from last year’s challenge.

Better safe than sorry – The WELSTech discussion turns once again to the important topic of backups. Martin and Sallie share their backup strategy and favorite hardware and software and cloud solutions for backing up important files.

Distance education – Tim Plath, principal of Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School, recently sat down with Sallie to give us an update on the Area Lutheran High Schools Online (ALHSO) program. Tim serves as chairman of the ALHSO Board, and he shared news of the popularity and growth of the program as well as a vision of possible future enhancements.

The newest addition on the WELSTech Presentation/Teaching YouTube playlist is Michael Jr: Know Your Why.

Episode 481 – Get ready for a flood of great tech-in-ministry ideas on the next episode of WELSTech. It’s community feedback week! Release date: Wednesday, January 25.

Your ministry likely has, or will have, video to share in 2017. Listen in on a WELSTech discussion of the whys, whats, whos, and hows of using YouTube to get your videos played, talked about, and shared. There’s also coverage of some of the “wow” of CES, a pulsing pick of the week, and an in-depth look at the Minneapolis Institute of Art Martin Luther exhibit.

All about YouTube – In this era of visual communication, the popularity of the video hosting platform YouTube has raised it to the status of the second most popular search engine. And while many may not realize YouTube has a social side to it’s personality, it can be a great place to connect and share the good news of Jesus Christ.

The newest addition on the WELSTech Presentation/Teaching YouTube playlist is Always With You featuring MLC Professor David Scharf from Your Time of Grace.

Episode 480 – Tim Plath, chairman of Area Lutheran High Schools Online, talks with Martin and Sallie about the online learning platform, plus we discuss tech backup strategy for the new year. Release date: Wednesday, January 18.

WELSTech starts the new year with a resolution — more and better ministry resources! We kick of the new year with a Bible reading plan and morning routine resources. Join us for 2017 as we find intersections between technology and ministry.

WELSTechversary – Martin and Sallie discuss the milestone 9th anniversary of the weekly WELSTech podcast and share plans for in-depth Ministry Resource posts in 2017.

Sphero, my hero – Mark Meyer, Technology Director at Immanuel Lutheran Church and School in Greenvile, WI, shares his experience introducing coding at the grade school level using Code.org and Sphero, a small robot which lets students have a ball!

New Interactive Faith webcasts start February 1 at 6 pm and 8 pm CST

Watch Immanuel is a Thankful Church!, shared by Mark Meyer and the newest addition to the WELSTech “Likes” list on Vimeo.

Episode 479 – Martin and Sallie take a deep dive into using YouTube for ministry. Release date: Wednesday, December 11.

It seems like 2016 just started, but WELSTech has arrived at our annual “best of” show to close out the year. Listen as Martin and Sallie review their favorite interviews and ministry resources from 2016. They also count down their top picks of the year. All this to cap off 9 years of tech-in-ministry goodness known as WELSTech!

Looking back – Martin and Sallie share favorite memories of WELSTech from 2016.

Favorite series

Best of ministry resources

The newest addition on the WELSTech Music YouTube playlist is O Holy Night from Koine.

Episode 478 – Help WELSTech welcome a new year of broadcast and learn how Mark Meyer is teaching coding at Immanuel in Greenville, WI. Release date: Wednesday, January 4.

On this week’s WELSTech Christmas special, Susan Willems, the new synod archivist, joins the show to talk about what an archive is, some interesting facts about the synod archive and why your congregation or organization might want to start your own. In addition, we feature WELS President Schroeder’s Christmas message.

Preserving the past for the future – Martin chats with our new synod archivist, Susan Willems, about her many responsibilities including the transfer of archives to the CMM, the job of digitizing the resources, and the planned searchable online catalog of resources. Susan also offers tips for congregations considering starting their own archives.

Watch WELS President Mark Schroeder’s Christmas Message, the newest addition on the WELSTech “Likes” list on Vimeo.

Episode 477 – Martin and Sallie look back at the best of 2016. Release date: Wednesday, December 28.

It’s “Community Feedback” day on WELSTech, and there is something for everyone. Get a behind-the-scenes tour of the new, improved Google Sites, see Trello in action, and check out video camera recommendations. Plus, there’s DOS-prompt nostalgia, podcast recommendations, and smart light bulbs to light your way. See what everybody is talking about.

Last time in 2016 – Our WELSTech listeners come through again with feedback on all types of tech in ministry goodness.

Say goodbye to the MS-DOS command prompt

Christian Leadership Conference – January 6-8 in Orlando, FL

Check out WELS Technology Projects on Trello, an example of a method of communicating project progress

Watch the December update from Academia Cristo and iGlesia Luterano Cristo, the newest addition on the WELSTech “Likes” list on Vimeo.

Episode 476 – Celebrate Christmas week with a very special WELSTech episode featuring the new synod archivist, Susan Willems. Release date: Wednesday, December 21.