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.

On WELSTech this week, Professor Bill Pekrul from Martin Luther College joins the show to talk about ways to promote your church and school through social media and other digital channels. Sallie shares a list of favorite digital tools, while Martin drops his cell phone…on purpose.

Promotion planning – Martin and Sallie talk with Professor Bill Pekrul, Director of Public Relations at Martin Luther College, about promoting church and school. Bill stresses the key to great promotions is adopting realistic, effective, and sustainable plans.

Netflix Adds Offline Viewing

Tune in for the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Christmas Concert live stream on Sunday, December 11 at 3 and 7 pm Central

Check out the 30-day free trial of Proclaim 2.0

Replay the Martin Luther College live streamed Christmas Concert.

Episode 475 – Martin and Sallie share listener feedback! Release date: Wednesday, December 14

This week on WELSTech, our inner-nerdiness comes out as Rachel Feld joins the edtech conversation for a look at the popular trend, Makerspaces. Martin shares info on several affordable options in the Internet of Things realm, there’s WELS music for the Christmas season available, as well as a special Pinterest board full of ideas for Advent.

Design, create, iterate – It’s education week on WELSTech! Martin and Sallie are joined by Rachel Feld, 1st and 2nd grade teacher from Bethany in Kenosha, WI, and the topic du jour is Makerspaces. The New Media Consortium Horizon Report 2016 K-12 Edition (p. 36-37) identified Makerspaces as an important development in K-12 education technology. Find out why and hear ideas about adding a makerspace to your school.

Google Home

WELS Seasonal Radio

Check out Rachel’s Advent board on Pinterest

The newest addition on the WELSTech Presentation/Teaching YouTube playlist is Get Going with Your School Maker Faire.

Episode 474 – Prof. Bill Pekrul, Director of Public Relations at Martin Luther College, joins Martin and Sallie to talk about church and school promotion. Release date: Wednesday, December 7.

The feature image used on this post is courtesy of Flickr user 5chw4r7z and is licensed for reuse and modification under Creative Commons BY-SA 2.0. We modified the image by cropping to our standard feature image size.

Welcome to Thanksgiving week on WELSTech. We are thankful that you joined us! Just like every week, Martin and Sallie share lots of reasons to be thankful for technology in ministry, including the popular 364 Days of Thanksgiving blog and book, a special WELS Missions issue of Forward in Christ magazine, and the ability to support the synod while you shop with Amazon Smile.

Counting our blessings – Martin and Sallie recently talked with Pastor Andrew Schroer from Redeemer in Edna, TX about his popular book, blog and syndicated newspaper column, 364 Days of Thanksgiving (Facebook | Twitter). Learn how the daily exercise of journaling your reasons for giving thanks can focus your attention on our triune God, the giver of all good things.

Snapchat unveils $130 connected sunglasses

WELS Missions and You – Bonus Issue of Forward in Christ magazine – Request a free copy

Purchase 364 Days of Thanksgiving from Northwestern Publishing House or Amazon

From WELS’ Moments with Missionaries album on Vimeo, learn more about our outreach efforts in Vancouver, British Columbia, the newest addition on the WELSTech “Likes” list on Vimeo.

Episode 473 – Teacher extraordinaire Rachel Feld is back to talk Makerspaces in education. Release date: Wednesday, November 30.

We’ve arrived at another community feedback week on WELSTech, and the sites and resources shared are functional, friendly, free, and favorable for furtherance of ministry. :-D Sallie’s coding Minecraft sheep to produce diamonds, Martin’s scanning historic photos with his smart phone, and WELS has a new youth ministry resource worth checking out. Listen & learn!

Tab-palooza – Sallie’s loaded up a whopping 27 tabs of WELSTech goodness for this week’s WELSTech community feedback discussion. From G Suite tricks and updates to ministry tech ideas for the upcoming Advent and Christmas season to a tool for creating virtual reality scenes, there’s something for everyone!

WhatsApp Video Calling

Forward in Christ archive

New Youth Ministry Resource Available – Order from NPH

Learn more about the Transformed program for Youth Ministry by watching Pastor Jon Enter’s 2016 Youth Rally Transformed Workshop, the newest addition on the WELSTech “Likes” list on Vimeo.

Episode 472 – We’re giving thanks WELSTech-style as we talk with Pastor Andrew Schroer, author of 364 Days of Thanksgiving. Release date: Wednesday, November 23.