Youth Ministry Geek » Freebie

Free Digital Film School

Chris — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 05:17:22 +0000

Have you ever wanted to learn more about movie making even if it’s just to make your Youth Group videos better? I just saw this class over on iTunes U that might help. It’s an 18 part class to help jump start your digital movie making. It covers both iMovie and Windows Movie Maker, so no matter what platform you use, you should be covered. It doesn’t appear to be the complete class but a crash course to get you started.

The iTunes description:

Have you ever wanted to pick up a video camera and make a short video or film, but felt intimidated by your lack of knowledge? The explosion of film-making for websites and mobiles gives people and organisations the opportunity to tell their stories and show what they have to offer, at low cost. This collection of exciting videos features the Open University’s experienced team of filmmakers, who will show you some of the craft secrets that underpin good filmmaking, and how professionals stay up to date. You will learn the basics of editing, how to conduct an interview, the role of the producer and other crew members and how to archive your finished project. This material forms par

Best part is, like all iTunes U courses, it’s free. It may be a great way to introduce some students to film making so they can help you out by making some awesome youth group videos for you.

Chick here to check out the course.

Box.net: Free 50 GBs of Storage for Life

Brandon — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 04:24:08 +0000

I love “The Cloud.” Apps like Evernote, GoogleDocs, iCloud, and Flickr are great for share and freeing up space on your hard drive through free online storage. One of my favorite cloud apps is dropbox. Dropbox is a free app and online site that lets you store pics, docs, and videos and access them from any device. In addition to accessibility and its freeness I can easily share folders and files with other dropbox users or with a link from my dropbox “public” folder. If you want to check out dropbox click this link and install the app.

If you don’t think dropbox has enough storage space for you check out BOX.net. Right now iTunes has the BOX.net app (iPhone & iPad) for Free downloaded. You have today until December 2, 2011 to register or sign in to your account from the app to receive 50GB of lifetime storage on Box.net (usually $19.99).Check out both and see which you like more! Share in the comments some of your favorite cloud apps.

Sesame Street G: Glee Parody

Chris — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:22:46 +0000

I thought this Glee parody was great. They nailed the characters.

If you are super into Glee and would like to teach a series on it, CYMT.org is publishing a teaching series on it. You can download the first one, “Not Just a Loser,” HERE.

Free Resources

Want to Learn to Code?

Chris — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 04:50:17 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always wanted to really learn to code. I feel like I know just enough to know about programming that I don’t know what I’m doing. This weekend I stumbled upon Codecademy which is a free site that will teach you some basic coding / programming skills. The lessons start out really easy (can you type your name?), and then get a little more difficult as they teach you some of the fundamentals. You can also code along with your friends, and earn badges for the lessons you finish (Who doesn’t like badges?).

It might be a great thing for students that might be interested in coding but don’t know quite where to start.

Enjoy, who knows, maybe someday you’ll find yourself turning into a CodeMonkey.

Free Fonts to Kick Off the Fall

Chris — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 04:00:16 +0000

With back to school in full swing or coming very soon, you may be working on flyers or calendars for your fall season. I saw these two collections of free fonts come across my twitter feed this week, and thought i would pass them along. Enjoy!

Fresh Collection Of High Quality Free Fonts for Professional Designs

Free Angry Birds for your Desktop via Chrome App Store

Chris — Thu, 12 May 2011 14:34:17 +0000

I must admit, I’m an Angry Birds fan. On my phone I have the Original, the Holiday and the Rio version. I even have it on my android device i use for testing sites. So when I saw this article, Angry Birds hits Chrome Web Store (yes, it’s free), over on 9to5mac I had to try it out.

First you need to download and install the Chrome web browser. You really should do this anyway, it’s my browser of choice. It’s so much faster than Firefox, and I have never been a huge Safari fan. Did I mention it’s also free. Once you have Chrome installed you can access the Chrome Web App store (you need to log in with your Google account before you can purchase anything). Next jump to the Angry Birds page and install it. Now it will be available in your browser so you can waste time when ever you want. They even have bonus levels just for Chrome users.

And it you’re wondering, the game play is pretty good.

Bonus, the band Pomplamoose covered the Angry Birds theme song, Enjoy!

FREE Audio Book: The Next Story

Chris — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:45:48 +0000

Every month ChristianAudio.com gives away a free audio book. This month the book is The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion by Tim Challies. It’s about our ever connected culture and it’s effect on our spiritual lives. Here’s the description from the site:

Even the least technical among us are being pressed from all sides by advances in digital technology. We rely upon computers, cell phones, and the Internet for communication, commerce, and entertainment. Yet even though we live in this “instant message” culture, many of us feel disconnected, and we question if all this technology is really good for our souls.

In a manner that’s accessible, thoughtful, and biblical, author Tim Challies addresses questions such as:
• How has life—and faith—changed now that everyone is available all the time through mobile phones?
• How does our constant connection to these digital devices affect our families and our church communities?
• What does it mean that almost two billion humans are connected by the Internet … with hundreds of millions more coming online each year?

Providing the reader with a framework they can apply to any technology, Tim Challies explains how and why our society has become reliant on digital technology, what it means for our lives, and how it impacts the Christian faith.

I haven’t started it yet, but it sounds like it should be an interesting listen. As someone who surrounds himself with technology, I’m interested to see what Challies has to say.

And if you have never tried an audio book I high recommend it. I love listening to them in the car, at the gym, doing yardwork, or just about anywhere else. I don’t always have time to read as much as I would like, and audio books help me multitask.

Check it out, I’d love to hear what you think.

Youth Room Decorating: Junkyard Jumbotron

Chris — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 23:24:35 +0000

A friend of mine showed this to me and I thought it could make a great display in your youth room. I might want to gather up a couple old computers or laptops and create a cool art piece for your stage or room. Sounds crazy but I bet if you put the word out you could find some old machines to use. Watch the video, it’s pretty cool.

Best part, the software is free.
Check it out: Junkyard Jumbotron

Live at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference

Free new NIV download in Bible app

Chris — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 05:55:31 +0000

The folks over and YouVersion.com and Zondervan have made the new version of the NIV available as a free offline version in the Bible App. Check out their announcement:

2011 marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. To commemorate this milestone achievement, which made the Bible available in the common language of the people, throughout 2011, YouVersion will roll out events and opportunities that will help you more easily access, engage and share the Bible. The first of these events is that Bible App™ users will be able to download the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible. Made possible through a special partnership with Biblica and Zondervan, this offer will only be available for a limited time.

Beginning THIS SATURDAY, February 12, at 8:00 PM U.S. Eastern Time (GMT-5), and lasting for 400 hours, you’ll be able to download the NIV to your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Android device. When you download the NIV, that means you’ll be able to read it even when you can’t connect to your service provider or to the Internet. This special promotion will end on March 1, at 12:00 PM noon U.S. Eastern Time (GMT-5).

Read more about how to download over at their blog.

I loved seeing this, I had actually stopped using the Bible app and had started using the TNIV Bible – Tecarta app because it had two features that the Bible app lacked.

Notes feature: I liked being able to take notes directly in the app.
Offline feature: I liked being able to have access to my favorite version when i wasn’t connected.

In the last few months, YouVersion has stepped up and added the notes feature, and now they have given me the version we use most at church. Tecarta still has a few features that I like, a parallel version view and cross references, but I still find the YouVersion app so much easier to use, so I think it’s time to switch back.

If you don’t have the Bible app you can get it here:

iOS version: Bible – LifeChurch.tv
Android version: Bible – LifeChurch.tv

There are others available also, but I think those two links should cover most of you.

Remember the free NIV download is only for a limited time. Don’t miss it.

Happy Reading!

Free iPhone Apps from FreeAppADay.com

Chris — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:30:14 +0000

I must confess that I’m a sucker for a freebie, especially iPhone apps, but sometimes it’s hard to find good ones. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the quality of the ones that FreeAppADay.com has been giving out. It’s been mostly games, but I’ve snagged a couple of fun ones. If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch it’s worth checking out. Remember each app is only Free for one day, so it might be something you want to check daily, or they also allow you to sign up for emails to notify you of the freebies for the categories you are interested in.

Enjoy!

LINK: FreeAppADay.com