WELSTech Audio

Webinars may be just the platform your ministry needs to spread a message or host an event. On this episode of WELSTech, we dig into webinar’s purpose and logistics. And we welcome Women’s Ministry to the conversation as executive committee member Rachel Halldorson takes us on a “backstage” tour of their recent webinars. Martin has a pick that will really stick with you, and there’s lots to discuss in WELS Intersections.

Webinars 101 – Martin and Sallie are joined by Rachel Halldorson from WELS Women’s Ministry Executive Committee as we discuss what it takes to host ministry-related webinars. The to-to list includes panelist, equipment, promotion, extra hands for moderation and crowd control, and more.

Women’s Ministry webinars

From WELS Intersections Facebook group

Celebrate Leap Day, WELSTech-style with Martin & Sallie, as we leap back in time in 4-year increments.

AI in education and church makes for an interesting WELSTech episode! Tune in for special guest hosts Rachel and Jason and help with crafting and refining useful AI prompts to assist with everything from report card comments to church graphics.

PREP and EDIT – Martin and Sallie are joined by edtech gurus Rachel Feld and Jason Schmidt to continue the discussion of The AI Classroom: The Ultimate Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education by Daniel Fitzpatrick, Amanda Fox, and Brad Weinstein. Chapters 6 & 7 are all about the prompts we give AI and what we do with the results.

Posts on AI for Church from Church Tech Today

Women’s Ministry webinars with Rachel Halldorson

Welcome to WELSTech in 2024! We kick off the new year with a discussion of the challenges around coordinating our many digital personas for work, home, church, and more. NPH has a new book discussion group, Martin has a new-found appreciation of Goodnotes, and we share have a great cheat sheet to get you started with online form creation.

Staying atop your digital life – From work, home, and church to volunteer responsibilities and extended family, our digital lives overflow with email, tasks, and calendar events. Martin and Sallie discuss their tech solutions for managing and shifting between the varied roles they play.

Our edtech gurus, Rachel and Jason, are back to discuss AI prompts from chapters 6 & 7 of The AI Classroom.

Just like that, 2023 draws to a close, and it’s time to wrap up the 16th year of WELSTech! Martin and Sallie reminisce about the year’s best events, ministry resources, interviews, and picks, and look forward to lots more tech-in-ministry goodness in 2024!

We kick off the new year with a look ahead at what’s coming on the tech-in-ministry horizon.

The WELSTech Christmas tradition continues as we feature an interview-only show with someone from WELS Headquarters, the Center for Mission and Ministry, to share more about their area of responsibility for WELS. Dan Nommensen, Operations Manager for WELS Congregational Services joins Martin and Sallie to reflect on his first few months on the job and share what’s on the horizon for Congregational Services. Merry Christmas!!

Developing relationships – Martin and Sallie chat with Dan Nommensen, Operations Manager for WELS Congregational Services, on the new role he is filling, the 35,000 video meetings he’s attended since July, and the beacon of light each believer can be, reflecting our love for Christ!

The spotlight shines on the best of WELSTech in 2023.

Wonderful … Creative … Verbose? This episode of WELSTech features a talent boost that’s sure to entertain while it educates! We’re sharing what we’ve learned about AI during our book discussion with our special guest edtech correspondents. There’s also a special Advent treat, picks to improve your productivity and video production, plus a couple of cool videos explaining multi-grade classrooms.

Ped-AI-gogy – Martin and Sallie, along with our well-spoken education technology correspondents Rachel Feld and Jason Schmidt, return to this season’s book discussion of The AI Classroom: The Ultimate Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education by Daniel Fitzpatrick, Amanda Fox, and Brad Weinstein. Chapters 4 & 5 are centered around pedagogy and make for an interesting, albeit boxy, look at the continuum of adoption of the current disruptive tool, Artificial Intelligence (AI), in education.

WELSTech celebrates Christmas with an interview of Dan Nommensen

WELSTech is back with a discussion of screen design for worship. Digital artist, Corissa Nelson, joins the conversation to share ideas for getting started designing for screens. AI continues to dominate tech news, and more ideas for church usage are being shared as well. Sallie is excited for home automation, and Martin is reading wisely. Finally, Barna weighs in with a study on Christian’s perceptions of AI usage in church settings.

Aspire to keep it simple – Martin and Sallie are joined by Corissa Nelson, Digital Artist. The topic is worship screens, and Corissa’s advice covers everything from fonts and backgrounds to goals and tools. Corissa is the designer behind many of the graphics in WELS Congregational Services Foundation series for worship planning. Her work can be viewed at corissanelsonart.com.

Rachel and Jason are back to talk more about our edtech book feature, The AI Classroom.

If you are looking for more time in your day, today’s WELSTech is a must-listen! The spotlight is on automating church and school tasks. We also preview the online Gospel Outreach with Media conference, and Martin has found the world’s greatest bookmarking tool.

Make it automatic – Martin and Sallie share ideas for doing away with repetitive tasks in favor of no-code computer magic which you set up once and forget. Check out the cloud services that will literally do your work for you!

WELS and WELS Congregational Services RSS feeds

Join us for a conversation with digital artist Corissa Nelson about best practices for worship projection.

It’s always a happy day when Martin and Sallie are in the same location for a WELSTech recording, and that’s the case on this episode! Join us in Sallie’s living room for a discussion of to do list, upcoming big events, chair cushions, and a bit of AI in education. You won’t want to miss this dose of WELSTech goodness!

To Do lists – Perhaps the first component of any productivity effort is the “simple” to do list. Martin and Sallie discuss their expectations of the perfect to do list tool, including the ability to set reminders, manage recurring tasks, and integrate with email and calendars, as well as a full host of potential tools from paper to digital and across all platforms.

Mark your calendar for these events happening in the summer of 2024:

One thing leads to another in church and school management. Martin and Sallie discuss automating tasks using a variety of utilities.

The future has arrived on WELSTech as we kick off a series of shows on artificial intelligence. We also discuss The Foundation series from Congregational Services, making stickers on the Cricut Xtra, using your phone as a webcam, and more. Turn it up and enjoy!

The Uprising – A new season of edtech discussion is underway with special guest host, Prof. Rachel Feld from Martin Luther College. We’re discussing the recently published book The AI Classroom: The Ultimate Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education by Daniel Fitzpatrick, Amanda Fox, and Brad Weinstein. Part one of the book is a bit of a history lesson on artificial intelligence (AI). We talk about what it is, how it works, and ways we’re already using it, plus we look at its potential for the future, and some of the not so admirable qualities of AI.

We don’t know the topic yet, but it will be great because Martin and Sallie will be in the same place!