i look forward to your five short links post every week btw... keep it up! thx!

great post john... i've heard of a lot of diff. tactics used to snag pin #'s and account mag strips but never this one... thanks
and on a completely diff note, great redesign on the blog!

There is no question as to the potential of what is already available to help enable making connections between individuals via technology, even in a more deeply spiritual/educational context. From the early days during the depression where sermons would be broadcast all across this country in order to try and help guide those who had the capacity to listen to even 20-25 years ago when Sunday services started filling regular time-slots on various television channels...technology has already proven itself to be useful as a way to reach out to those who might not be able to participate in the church in a 'traditional' sense.

I will say this though regarding your comments on using online video - to some, esp. those who are still new to the idea of social media/internet communities, that could be taken as a little too much too soon. It's one thing to be in verbal or even instant messaging (i.e. real-time txt based conversations) contact with someone, but adding video in the mix sometimes could result in taking the focus off of the intended message an onto the technology itself. I can give you better examples of what I mean via email if you'd like (I don't want to post anything about someone else's experience with video-conferencing), but just be aware that there will most likely be a learning curve for some groups who'd otherwise be great candidates for this time of outreach...

...i think it's a great idea.

Media Temple = Slower than molasses on their shared GS service. Their VPS service is decent although ridiculously overprices for what you get (base config is $50!!). For the inexperienced I guess it's a great company, esp. with their fast updating 1-click installer (which gets updates 2x faster than any Fantastico/Cpanel host does). As fas as using it for client work or for a site w/ medium-serious traffic? Grab a VPS from somewhere like linode.com or slicehost.com...