Video: "Are You Blogging This?"

OF COURSE! Too funny not to blog it.

Lyrics at David's site.

Bound for Wireless Philly...

Well, almost.



Lord willing, we're headed to Philly, ok... but it won't yet have launched its city-wide "Wireless Philly" system.

What a great concept though! And they have some beta-areas we'll hope to visit. And leaders to talk with?

Click the link to visit their site. And especially watch the tv video clip from the Lehrer News Hour.

Can't wait to get to CCDA Philly!

Photos from "Urban Community Tech Day"

[Click to see our Flickr photo-set from "Urban Community Tech Day" at the Unleavened Bread Cafe, Saturday, July 29, 2006. It was a great day among all our friends & neighbors, as a part of "Faith Hope & Love Week" here in Indy.

Win a Free iPod Shuffle... at the cafe

Come be with us at 9 a.m. Saturday... for "Urban Community Tech Day"... focused on serving our inner-city friends, by helping neighbors cross the digital divide. [affiliated with "Faith, Hope & Love Week"]

We'll be giving away an iPod Shuffle and other door-prizes.

[Special thanks to SimDesk Indiana, for sponsoring today's prizes & costs.]

• Smaller than a pack of gum, it's just over 0.3" thin and weighs only 0.8 oz.
• 512MB* internal flash memory stores up to 120 songs (128 Kbps AAC)
• Supports MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible, AAC, Protected AAC and WAV formats

Other door prizes to be given away:

• Free Breakfast Combo (4 prizes)
• Free Rib-Tips Dinner (1 prize)

All Participants on Saturday will get:

• Free Email
• Free Internet Access
• [Free Wi-Fi available]
• Free Continental Breakfast items
• Free 'Digital Backpack' Training
• Other Free items provided by participating organizations.

"Urban Community Tech Day" will help 'cross the digital divide'

• by helping neighbors obtain internet capabilities
  [such as Free Email, surfing and other computer skills]
• by helping neighbors connect for jobs-search, training & resumes.
• by helping churches, cafes & community-centers set up an urban tech mission in their neighborhood.

Free Registration starts at 9 a.m. Saturday, July 29th...
at the Unleavened Bread Cafe (30th St and Central Ave).

Door-prize drawing will be from among registered participants... and must be present to win. All children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult, to win.

***************************

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED !!! Can you surf? Do you have an email address yourself? Then you're qualified to help! [If possible, email us ahead to let us know you can help. But don't let that hold you back -- the main thing is that you come on Saturday morning and be ready to help others.]

Also, the 'Prayer On The Move' Trailer will be onsite that morning by the 9 a.m. Registration time. Come visit. See this specially-equipped trailer, and meet others who are regularly praying for our city.

The event is hosted at the Unleavened Bread Cafe, in conjunction with the TechMission [free] training program conducted there every Saturday morning.

Everyone is warmly welcome... and volunteers are appreciated any Saturday morning.

Judy O'Bannon features 'Community Buiders East'

Everyone at the cafe knows Dan Gushee, the cafe ministry's board-chairman. What you may NOT know, is that as a result of a Bible study at the cafe, Dan 'connected' with Mark Stout, and quickly became friends in urban ministry.

Good things come from 'connecting'. [And the cafe is just the place for it!] The following story demonstrates this principle...

Recently, former Indiana First-Lady Judy O'Bannon featured Mark & Dan on her public television show... "Communities Building Community".



[View Video]

And here's a link to 'Community Builders East'... helping rebuild inner-city homes in the Brookside Park area.

[Visit Community Builders East]

'Urban Tech Day'... Sat., July 29th

"Urban Tech Day, Saturday July 29th... is a day focused on serving our inner-city friends, by helping neighbors cross the digital divide... and the related economic ramifications.



This day of service is a part of the metro-wide 'Faith Hope & Love' initiative. Community residents are invited to come for breakfast and learn to surf the internet, get a free email account, and even start a free website of their own.

A special 'Internet Safety' presentation will be given to help community residents prepare their children and teens for this rising new problem.

Door prizes will be given away.

Urban Tech Day is sponsored by SimDesk Indiana -- 'Where Opportunities Come To Life'. The event will be hosted at the Unleavened Bread Cafe (at the corner of 30th Street and Central Ave), starting at 9:00 a.m... til noon.

Urban churches and community centers are specially invited to come learn more about the TechMission program to help their neighborhoods 'cross the digital divide'.

How do I upload a document to my blog?

One of our key people just asked... "How do I upload a document to my blog?" [example: a .pdf flyer for instance]

Two considerations...

• #1. Since the document is fairly sizeable, it needs to be uploaded (somewhere) onto the web.
• #2. Then your blog really just somehow needs to 'point' to the uploaded document, so that your readers can just click on something on your blog, to go directly to the uploaded document.

Ok, dealing with #1 -- the Uploading.

• Upload it to WHERE? This is a biggest issue, because unfortunately, Blogger doesn't currently provide server-space somewhere to house your document. Perhaps our readers here will leave a comment re their favorite place to house documents online. And in the near future, we're working on a solution, especially with 'SimDesk' (SimIndiana.com), sponsors of our upcoming 'Urban Tech Day'. But right this moment, there IS NO good answer, other than our standard response... "Ya gotta KNOW somebody" (who's got server space and are willing to help you).
  
  But then, that's a pretty good affirmation to our basic philosophy at UBbloggin -- "It's not WHAT you know, so much as it is WHO you know... and thus our focus on building great relationships... for this life... and the life to come."
  
  Ok, fortunately... you know ME. And I've got (some amount of) space on the IndyChristian.com server, and am willing to help those who collaborate well in the cause of Christ. Email me your document and I'll see what I can do.
  
  And for those of you now coming aboard BEHIND the scenes via CrossroadsConnection.com... there's an ability to attach your files to an entry there inside CC. But the neat part is that the attachment can be seen PUBLICALLY... by anyone. And that's the way I cured this person's issue. I attached it to a blog-entry inside CrossroadsConnection.com. [read on]

Now... dealing with consideration #2... what to do at your blog, to 'point' to the now-uploaded document?

• The easiest way is just write a phrase and hyperlink it to the document. Example... "Click here for detailed diagram".
• But personally, I often prefer creating a little teaser pic of some kind to add a little pizazz... and hyperlink the PIC so it'll take folks to the diagram document when anyone clicks it. Creating a little thumbnail pic of the larger document or picture... is a separate issue... for another day though. Stay tuned here at UBbloggin.com.

Blessings!

Technology Education Vehicle

[Gerald/Damita... Wanna put in a requisition for one of these?]



"The Orange County Rescue Mission is committed to providing long-term solutions to homeless and impoverished families who desire to change their lives.

[continued at Blews.Network]

LITTLE GUYS FOOTBALL!

Yes, it's that time again!
Time to outfit our young men to play some football, instead of trouble. A friend of the Cafe, Gerald Alexander, has taken on the big job of coaching some neighborhood kids on the Eastside of Indy - but he is a Big guy & we know he can handle it. He already has 2 teams, of 14-18 players, 9-11 years old.

These are kids from single family & low income homes, so they are in desperate need of uniforms & equipment. So we are sending out this plea for your help in outfitting these little guys so they can have some fun, learn some discipline, and have an alternative to the gangs & streets!

They begin practice in June, with their 1st game coming in August. They are in need of the following: Helmets, cleats, mouthpieces, pads, cups, balls, jerseys, shoes, etc.

Anything you can bless them with would be greatly appreciated. Or if you know of someone who would like to sponsor a team, please contact Gerald Alexander @ 412-8382.

Thanks in advance & be Blessed!

Bloggin' Together For The Gospel

Wish I'd have been there to see/hear this...
I can only imagine... LOL...

[continued]

[Also visit Together For The Gospel]

[Also visit Challies.com -- live-blogging it all]

One Year Bible Blog

"Your Word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path." Psalm 119:105

[continued at OneYearBibleBlog.com]

CoffeeHouse Ministries

[Thought you'd all be interested in this new site here in Indy... and is operated by a Christian friend of ours....]



"Coffee House Fellowship Ministries is a forum for men to discuss issues relating to life and faith and how these impact our daily lives. We are dedicated to building men into effective leaders, husbands, and fathers through critical thinking and mutual fellowship.
We are based in Indianapolis, Indiana, and meet bi-weekly... [continued at CoffeeHouseMinistries.org]

***********************************
[IndyChristian Ed. Note: As more & more such ministries and coffee-house Bible study groups show up on the radar screen here around Indy, we're mapping them and linking you to them at NeighborhoodCafes.com. Know of any others? Email us.]

1000 Mentors?

"A journey of a 1,000 miles begins with one step."

Our journey to help raise up a 1,000 mentors for at-risk kids in Indianapolis schools... took another step this morning. We helped Pastor James Carter start a web-site and procure the domain-name "1000 Mentors .com".

The concept emanated from last year's Transform Indiana discussion series, "Breaking Out of the Jail Cycle". Many among the ministry network are involved in various aspects of prison ministry'... during and after incarceration. And others, like Pastor Carter, concluded that God was calling them to try to help stem the problem as far 'upstream' as possible. Help impressionable youth.

One of the forum panelists, Olgen Williams from the Christamore House, told the crowd... "The number one determinant as to the likelihood of a youth ending up in jail someday... is whether he failed to finished school."

Pastor Carter resolved to do something about that, Lord willing.

So when he heard IPS Superintendent Dr. Eugene White put out a call for mentors to come alongside at-risk IPS students, he knew what he wanted to do. He wanted the (big-C) 'Church' to provide 1,000 such mentors. A tall task, to be sure.

The Transform Indiana ministry network has joined in the effort, and brought in the founder of "Kids Hope USA" to speak at a monthly TI networking meeting. And a number of the TI networkers are helping Pastor Carter get underway.

One 'step' was to help James get a web-site started.

And that's one way we can help.

How to create a hyperlink...

This morning, one of our bloggers said, "Ok, I know how to log in, write something, hit the Publish button... But how do you make those hyperlinks in your blog?"

Ok, fellow bloggers... LOL... Here's a start. Here's how you can create a hyperlink, so you can effectively 'point' folks to other great sites, articles or webpages.

After you've logged in to Blogger.com, and started creating or editing a blog-post...

1. Write something.
2. highlight something you wrote (which you'd like to see turned into a hyperlink.)
3. Click the tiny little 'hyperlink' icon (which is just above the white text-box you're writing in.)
4. When the little dialog box appears, type in the URL of the site you want your hyperlink to go to.
5. Click 'Ok' in the little dialox box.

La Voila! Here's what I decided to link to, to show you MY FAVORITE PIC on the world WIDE web !!!

[More next week. Y'all come.]

How To Get George Bush To Read Your Blog!

We need to soon build a cafe-blogging segment on...

"How To Get George Bush To Read Your Blog!".

(...or anyone else.)

Sure, he COULD accidentally get bored some day while vacationing at the ranch, and just HAPPEN to type in your blog url. [Or so could anyone else.]

But that's not likely.

So the question is... How should we quickly go about getting our blogs seen?

We'll answer that in upcoming blog-posts, probably by going and searching out best-practices that someone else has already compiled for us. Then we'll link you to THEIR best ideas.

[And btw, we know some bloggers that George respects.... so just MAYBE....]

But at the very least, we'll start compiling some tips & tricks in the meantime. Like... go try to get your blog-url added at the following blog-searching sites:

• UBbloggin.com -- Ask them (oh, I mean us) to add your url in the 'Begats' section.
• IndyChristian.com -- If you're a Christian blogger, maybe you'd qualify for the Who's Who of Indy Bloggers. Email Neil.
• IndyBloggers.com -- Aggregator associated with IndyChristian.com. If you get aggregated there, you'd automatically also be seen wherever THEIR site is aggregated. Eg... ChristianHeadlines.com's Indiana News & Blogs page.
• Email IndyChristian's listed Who's Who of Indy Bloggers... and maybe they'add add you.
• BlogIndiana.com -- a secular list of Indiana blogs.
• Ask your church to add your link. LOL -- Yeah right **rollingeyes**. Maybe not yet, but sooner or later you'll see an openness by churches to reflect the nature of the Church... as the PEOPLE... not the centralized meeting place... or the staff... or just the leaders. So hang in there in the meantime, encourage them to start thinking that way. If we're ever to totally impact our neighborhoods and culture, it'll be by WORKING TOGETHER as a networked tapestry of driven Christians. They'll add you one of these days. Trust me. Btw, though... here's a start... here are some progress IndyChurches(.com) at least doing some blogging.
• Go join a 'blog alliance'. There are a number of Christian alliances shown at IndyChristian.com. And there are many more.
• Consider your favorite activities, ministries, hobbies, etc.... Chances are, they considering a blogsite, and might soon even be aggregating blog-feeds like YOURS. Ask them to add your link to their site.
• Other ideas or search-engine links for bloggers?

Now in the meantime, take some time and consider... "If not George Bush, who WOULD I like to read my blog?" [That is... what's the purpose of my blog anyway? How could I change the world a little, or a lot, if I published my best stuff here? Or how could I change the world by networking people to other people who are working to change the world for Christ?]

SimDesk Saturday, March 18th... 12:30pm

We're welcoming a returning friend this week, as she represents SimDesk, and will be talking with several of our geekier friends (**LOL**) about helping us sponsor a Tech Awareness Day in the inner-city this year.

So y'all come, if you're interested in how we can work together to help folks cross the digital divide, in neighborhoods across the city.

Say hi to Donny...

Welcome our newest blogger...

Donny G. Jackson, Sr.

The Kings Kids....

Remember us talking about our new friend Rachel? She likes being called 'Antoinette'... especially now that she's starting a cleaning business blog.

This morning at the cafe...

[Hey, what's this? A WEDDING reception is taking place this afternoon... for our friend Beverly. Wishing you the very best!]

We'll try to blog some more a little later, but here's one link we wanted to put up today... ReformU.com is an addictions program with a couple of locations right here in Indy.

• Soul Harbors Church, 317-638-0533
• Eagledale Baptist Church

We'll try to get some more info on them and perhaps include them at WhenYouNeedSomeone.com -- the needs-based Christian site for the city. Stay tuned.

*******************
Later... Ok, we're back... blogging another key piece of Saturday morning's 'connection & internet-training'... We added a link to a new friend who just arrived in Indy... Eric's bivocational pastor... Floyd Miles, who is... get this... an eminently qualified addictions counselor among other things. Welcome, Floyd! Hope you like Indy as much as we do.

Why do we do what we do?

Why? Because we enjoy making friends at the cafe. And because some of us are kind of geeky. LOL. So we enjoy helping our friends get a little geeky too. Well, at least enough to learn some of the basic internet skills together. Learn to find stuff you want. And importantly, learn to find WHO you want to find... ie, friends that love you too and will help find stuff, etc. And the list goes on.

But even if we helped people acquire great computers skills, or find great jobs, or learned to surf for answers about how to fix their homes so they could be warm, dry and well-fed all their life... til they died... and fell off into an eternity in hell... THAT WOULDN'T BE VERY NICE OF US !

So a big part of the answer to 'Why do we do what we do?' is....

...because many of us have received the most valuable gift known to mankind, and we're willing to 'love our neighbors as ourselves'... that is... share it with you too.

Jesus has done sooooo much for us, it wouldn't be right not to share it.

If we ourselves enjoy peace with God Almighty, now and forever.... then surely we're not REALLY loving our neighbors as ourselves if we don't pass along that 'good news'... of how you too could have eternal life.

So let me ask you... [click to continue if interested]

Far-flung Friend of the cafe... Ken Bussell

Remember Ken? [see his comment] He's now out in Oregon ministry... worshipping, administrating... and blogging.

Today at the cafe...

The place was buzzin' today again... a meeting going on in the back room, and doing internet training out in the front of the cafe. Another new young lady joined our networking group this morning. [Welcome Rachel!] And James & Thomas were back with us again this morning, and the normal crowd. So the group continues growing...

And that's the essence of the theme here... the more the merrier. 'Teams' and 'networks' can help people success more often than 'Lone-Rangers'.

Example: Today Rachel asked... "How could I use the internet for job-hunting... or starting a cleaning business?" A perfect question. And something that a network can help with. Thus the need to keep networking further & further.

[continue discussion at CEO Indy.com -- a jobs blog]

Video-bloggin'

Hey the cafe's new video is now available via the web !

A special thanks goes out to Dave Streit, at Tabernacle Presbyterian Church. We praise God for you, Dave, and for all the fine folks at Tab who are actively involved at the cafe and other urban ministries throughout the city.

Each One, Teach One

By Neil Cox
"I may not be a poet, but I understand math."

I teach You.
You teach Somebody.
Somebody teaches Him.
Him teaches Her.
Her teaches Them.
Them teaches Who.
Who teaches Y'all.

"Y'all can teach Everybody."

TechMission Jobs Postings

Hey here are some Job-openings at TechMission (Boston). These are the great folks that are helping Christians run urban tech centers all over the country, and they're apparently growing like crazy. Neat guys & gals. We had several of them here in Indy, running the CyberCafe at CCDA Indy 2005 -- remember?

[continued]

**********************
[And don't forget WhenYouNeedSomeone.com -- where we're trying to help a number of folks with various different types of needs... connect to the Christian ministries that will try to help. A couple of the ministries seen there help with JOBS-related issues... such as... CEOindy.com.]

DAVID IVEY, A MAN AFTER GOD'S OWN HEART!

Just had to let you all know that there is a true Psalmist on the scene of today's music -
he is an Anointed man of God,
he sings of God, he sings to God --
his words & music are given by God,
and he, in turn, gives them right back to Our Heavenly Father
in Worship, Praise, and Thanksgiving!

Don't take my word for it - go out and buy these CD's:
Your Today & the Bottom Line, by David Ivey.

You will not regret it --
you will not be disappointed --
in fact, your life will be changed --
your heart will be mended --
you will be set free & made whole --
your relationship with Your Heavenly Father will be renewed and made stronger!!

Now, please -- go buy the music - then come back and thank me!
Love in Christ always!

Cafe bloggers... and CEO blog

This morning we had fun practicing together on CEO blog.

There's no better way to understand what a blog is... than jumping right in and start 'bloggin'.

So each person took a turn bloggin' an entry there as a fun way to practice together.

And ultimately, we want to help build this particular blogsite to help direct folks to great employment-focused resources, opportunities and to start networking with each other for jobs.

[continued at CEO blog]

And here's one of our new bloggers already putting up a site...


[Shazodan]

*********************
[And after we finished at the cafe, several of these folks proceeded on to Crossroads Bible College for a meeting of young folks who intend to be involved in a citywide renewal event called 'Really Big City'.]

Baloney Bloggin'

Here is a picture of Gerald.
Know why he's so wiiiiiide?

Cuz he's full of baloney!




Hi everyone. Forgive us for having a little extra fun today. Gerald had it coming. He suckered us all in with a long-winded yarn... ending in a 'sackful of baloney'.

Every week it's different, but we have a lot of fun here building relationships across various cultures. In fact, we say that we're not only trying to cross the 'divide divide', but we're also crossing the racial divide, and ultimately helping our friends cross God's eternal divide.

And yeah, we have fun doing it. So we used Gerald's baloney tale to also teach folks how to search for pictures out on the web, and how to easily put 'em into their websites.

Hope to see some of you on Saturday -- come join us. It's free and easy, and holds eternal rewards.

When You Need Someone... for Jobs...

One of our objectives at IndyChristian.com is to link pastors/leaders to best-in-class partnering ministries... particularly 'care ministries'... such as Jobs Partnership here in the heart of the inner-city, when Minister Doug Hairston is the Executive Director.... [continued at WhenYouNeedSomeone.com]

U.B. Formattin'... well, re-formattin'

Ok, now we're moving into troubleshooting a particular issue that occurs in Blogger if you're not a little careful... column-misalignment.

Btw, you FIREFOX users may even be oblivious to this issue, until you start wondering why your hit-counts are down.

[Note: The problem itself is not caused by FireFox, but if you're using FireFox you're probably oblivious to the fact that you have an issue at all. Btw, you COULD get the IE Tab at GetFireFox.com and install it -- then you'll be able to add any particular site to a list of site that you want to see with an MSIE type of look/feel.]

Your blog may look fine to you; but your MS Internet Explorer (MSIE) surfers think it really sucks... because here's what they're seeing....



And of course, our objective today is to help you reformat something to cure the misalignment problem so it will again look like THIS... with perfectly aligned columns... side by side...



The basic problem is a column WIDTH issue. Your two columns are battling for turf. If either column is too 'wide', then they just can't seem to live side-by-side in peace. [Guys, is there a spiritual lesson here for us in our marriages? **wink**] So the objective is to discover what has 'swelled', and how do I get it to (humbly, LOL) return to the proper width.

Ok... the problematic column could be EITHER column.

How to troubleshoot it:

When did the problem surface?

If you use MSIE all the time, and one day you post something and the problem suddenly surfaces... well then, duh.... the problem was probably caused by that particular post.

Or if you just now changed something in your navigation side-bar and you suddenly experienced this formatting issue... duh... the problem is probably in your side-bar column.

[Ah... but if you're regularly a FireFox user... then of course you don't really know WHEN the problem first occurred, so you're going to have to do some further investigating. I'll describe that process further below.]

The basic 'width' problem is probably caused by one or more of the following:

• pics that are too wide.
• a continuous string of characters that are longer than the normal column width. Eg... a bunch of asterisks ***************** or hyphens -----------------
• a continuous text-link that is too wide
  (http://indychristian.com/2005/12/personal-account-of-having-to-face.html

How to cure these? Guess it's obvious. Use the 'Archie Bunker' cure:

"Dat's elementary dere, Meathead. Don't do dat anymore!"

[Now for those of you who may be new to 'resizing' your pics... that cure may have been just a little tiny bit overly-simplistic. So I've included the pic below, giving you a hint how to resize your pic. It'll just take a little time and patience, getting used to click-dragging the corner-handle of the pic. Btw, that 'handle' only appears after you click on the image itself, first. Then when you hover over a corner, the little 'handle' will appear. Click-drag it to any size... larger or smaller.



Hope that helped.

Now... back to the issue of trouble-shooting when you don't KNOW what or when your problem was caused. Here's my process of finding out.

• Intuition -- Just look down your page... especially the sidebar first. Do you have any images that automatically jump out at you that maybe they're wider than normal? If you find that the problem was in the sidebar, you're pretty much home-free... just cure it.

Note: Again, for you folks that are new to picture resizing, that's not quite so easy in the sidebar, because now you'll have to resize it using the html-code itself. Not a huge problem... The image-tag you used to put the picture into the template-code just needs to now have some 'height' and 'width' elements added within it. For now, let's just say that's a trial & error process -- play with those dimensions til you have them the size you want. Example coding...

• Ok, now lastly... if you believe the problem is in one or more of the individual posts but you don't know which one... you may have to now just start looking at each post INDIVIDUALLY... not all together. How to do that? Remember, each post really has its own individual web-page... complete with its own permalink/URL/address. Ahhh... but how do you find out what that page-address is? Here's one example of how that's known... at least in the Blogger-template that I've chosen here at U.B.bloggin'...

Click that little link... and it'll take you to that post's individual webpage address.

Ok, so now you know what you have to do... just go down through your blog and click each post's little permalink, one-by-one... and see if the individual page looks ok. Are the column's in alignment?



If so, that's not the offending post. Go check the next one.

And keep checking the individual posts, one-by-one, until you find the offending culprit post.

Then cure the problem within the post, as we've discussed above.

And if all else fails... and you're about to get entirely frustrated with looking for the problem... or curing it... call me...

I'll pray for you. LOL

[and help you.... 317-490-1255]

***************************

Actually, for you geeks out there, here's a geek-speak version that truly goes into the details of the issue above. And it explains some technical workarounds not mentioned above. Hope it helps some of you.

Internet creates local political movements

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Frustrated by government and empowered by technology, Americans are filling needs and fighting causes through grass-roots organizations they built themselves — some sophisticated, others quaintly ad hoc. This is the era of people-driven politics.

From a homemaker-turned-kingmaker in Pittsburgh to dog owners in New York to a "gym rat" here in southwest Florida, people are using the Internet to do what politicians can't — or won't — do.

This is their story, but it's also an American story because ordinary folks are doing the extraordinary to find people with similar interests, organize them and create causes and connections.

"People are just beginning to realize how much power they have," said Chris Kofinis, a Democratic consultant who specializes in grass-roots organizing via the Internet.

"At a time when we are craving community and meaning in our lives, people are using these technologies to find others with the same..." [continued at PennLive.com]

[hat-tip, Andrew Sears, TechMission.org]

U.B. Connectin'...

Here's an emailed question from Linda, a participant in our "City Blogging" workshop at the recent CCDA Indy 2005 conference:

"Hi, Neil. The workshop at the CCDA conference was sooooo motivational. I came home and started (after catching up on work I'd missed while gone) blogging! I suppose I'll get more and more ideas as I visit others' blogs, but in my eagerness to "strike while the iron's hot" I went ahead and got started. I figured I could learn "in process". I have been having a lot of fun playing with my new blogs the past couple of weeks, but haven't been able to find the "help" topic for how to add my contact info on the sidebar. Can you direct me? Thanks for your help. I so enjoyed meeting you."

[The credit truly should go to Jeremy Del Rio & Rudy Carrasco. I'm honored to be able to work with them. Now, about your question... ]


Hmmm. How to get your contact info in the sidebar, huh? Excellent idea -- especially since a major purpose for 'city blogging' is to connect the Church of Jesus Christ, community by community.

There are a couple of roads we could take to get your contact info into your blog. Here's an easy one. I'll use our friend Jewel Graham's blog as an excellent example:



Jewel is using the standard Blogger convention of letting you click on her pic, and it'll take you to her bio/contact page... which will show her email address that she filled into her 'profile' at Blogger.com. Try it -- click here first to go to Jewel's Gems, and then click on her picture there. La Voila!

**************************

BUT....

What if you have two or three different blogs that you participate in, and you really want a different look/feel for each? That is, what if your one 'profile' doesn't really work well for all of them? Case in point, I participate in a million different blogs, so I disable my profile section of the template-code. Instead, I easily code my contact info into a blog directly... eg.. LovingChange.com, as shown below.



How? By playing in the template-code. Btw, here's a little primer I call "Mercy, U.B. Codin'." Funny part is, it's not all that tough. You don't need to know how to code... to code. LOL. All of us can do it.

Bottom line, you just need to get something like this inserted into your template-code:



LOL. Of course I'm just kidding about the 'Hey Ma' tag <> in the above code, but it is a clue as to how you can add an exclamation point (!) in front of any tag <> which will effectively disable the tag and instead treat it as just an explanation tag within the coding. Real programmers often insert such comment-tags to help mark important sections, etc.

Ok, can you guess how the mail-link tag work, and insert your own email address? Hope so. If not, check out the primer mentioned above, and if you still have questions, email me. We're anxious to empower as many Christian bloggers as we possibly can.

Btw, now that you know how to disable a tag by inserting an exclamation point (!) in the front part of the tag, I guess you know how to disable the 'profile' portion of your template-code. [Just insert an exclamation mark in the right spot.]

The only trick is... finding the right section in the code. And my favorite way to 'find' stuff among all the coding is to use the Windows 'CNTL-F' feature to 'find' any particular text within a long page of text... eg., the word 'profile' or 'contributor'. Then insert a well-placed exclamation point into one or more tags that would have otherwise displayed your profile.

Here's how I did it...



Like I said, you don't have to know how to code... to code. **smile**

Merry Blogging!

"Grassroots Growth"...

I thought I'd blog a few notes (LIVE!) from a presentation at the Unleavened Bread Cafe by a set of Butler students in an honors course called "Grassroots Growth".


Prof. Allison King, MSW

[Thanks Rachel (Bell) for the pics today!]

These students have studied in the Mapleton-Fall Creek neighborhood as a case-study for their course which was designed to focus on the 'grassroots growth' which can (and does) occur by the indigenous neighbors themselves.

This was a first-ever type of class, constructed by Ms. King with help from our friend-of-the-cafe, Dave Metzger.



Today they're presenting their findings and have invited the neighborhood, and a reception buffett was served.

Throughout their presentations, they frequently mentioned a number of neighborhood favorites such as Ms. Elease, David Metger, Jab, Cocoa, Eric, Bennie, Oscar, Gail, David Woodrupp.... as 'all these wonderful people'.

One presenting team focused on learning from the neighborhood... and then proposed a one solution they could help with -- writing a grant proposal summary to form a "Family Circle" in the neighborhood.

• They quoted from the Central Indiana Community Foundation, who apparently noted a really strong bond among the residents, but just need empowered. The foundation has in neighborhoods given grants to 'Family Circles'. The objectives are to build and strengthen relationships, knowledge, numbers, and small scale actions that have large scale impact. They facilitate neighborhood discussions, and encourage people who step up and commit to lead in a particular action.
• These students also are procuring the help of the CCC -- Center for Citizenship and Community -- an organization lead by Dr. Brabant at Butler. One way the organization can help is by proofing any grant proposals... and help them out with this upcoming request.

Comments heard throughout these presentations...

"I was surprised by the course -- I thought we wouldn't even leave Jordan Hall, but just research data, etc. So what a surprise when I learned we'd actually be GOING to the inner-city neighborhood."

Another team developed a newsletter type of summary about the Unleavened Bread Cafe, their temporary headquarters during their course of study.





They would publish and leave this summary for the cafe visitors to read and enjoy, filled with stories & poems written about their recent experiences. [We can hope to secure a copy for download here.]

Other comments heard during the presentations...

"I discovered I liked going to Tab rather than churches on campus. After church, we walked to the cafe & back... and wrote a poem about it.

"I learned more in 5 hours on a Saturday in the community, than a whole semester at school."

" 'Shoes hanging on the line', I learned, meant there was a death in the neighborhood. I was struggling with some of my own family situations, and it greatly helped me deal with my issues by understanding some of the heartaches in the neighborhood. So I wrote my story about that."

"It was great to learn first-hand from neighbors instead of simply accepting the stereotypes. "

"My team spent 'A Day with Larry'. It was amazing what could be learned from just shadowing a neighborhood resident."

Another team visited Rebuilding the Wall. "We liked it so much we voluntarily went back several times to help rebuild houses with them. The most rewarding thing was getting to know neighborhood people who would become the beneficiaries of these houses. We played some 2-on-2 basketball with some of the younger ones."

"It was fun getting outside the 'Butler bubble'... that is, getting off-campus and learning via service-learning."

"Grassroots involvement really does make things happen -- eg. Rebuilding The Wall really does make things better. Lives change."

And how about this from Andy & Ryan... politically left, and politically right.



"The course isn't particularly political, but it's helped us grow -- sometimes as a result of heated political discussions back in the dorm. It needed to happen -- without it, nothing could start for us... and now we're moving in the same direction... community impact. "

Another student presented from a pharmaceutical perspective... having visted Raphael Health Center, not only as an onlooking student, but also while assisting someone who didn't have health insurance.



She was amazed that so few had insurance, and concluded that one thing that Butler students could do is help staff a pharmacy-function like 'Healthy Horizons' at Butler. Low cost meds aimed at preventative care.

'Gentrification', although not mentioned by name, was alluded to as one team interviewed the local laundrymat owner-operator. "It takes 'mom & pop' stores out of the inner-city, and is replaced by corporations."

Several students mentioned trips to 'Tab' -- the fond name for the nearby Tabernacle Presbyterian Church. The students observed their soup kitchen, utility assistance, and youth sports programs.

"Tab helped start Raphael Health Center and lots of other things here in the community. They're a Christian family, full-service center. A supervisor there told us, 'I want people to feel like kings and queens when they walk in here.' "

"Coburn Place -- domestic violence center, and transition housing for women. It used to be an IPS school, and now is back in productive service to the community. "

"Everyone mentioned the need for 'funding'... but somehow they always manage to accomplish what needs to be done."

Students Rachel & Emily... spent "A Morning Walk with Jab". [LOL. Everyone in the neighborhood knows our friend 'Jab'.] And they talked about spending time with 'Eric'... who was doing bible-study at the cafe. "We learned a lot from him."

Emily had been to South Africa and wanted to make sure she never forgot what she experienced there -- so she welcomed this opportunity to get out into the inner-city of Indianapolis, thinking it would be comparatively tame. "Maybe I should have a been a little more cautious at times [laughter], but largely I really enjoyed my time here on the streets."

Rachel & Emily drafted a short-plan consisting of... Vision & Goals, Resources & Possible Partners, Current Situation Summary, and Steps to Goal. [I wish we could reproduce it here - it was excellent work by these young college students.]

"This cafe has been a beacon to the community."

"We never expected to be so touched by our experience here."

"We felt the cafe was a really important source of hope & comfort for the community."

"Besides the cafe, we also visited Christamore House, Bethlehem House, Tab (Tabernacle Presbyterian Church), and we helped serve food at Wheeler Mission. "

"I loved getting hugs from Ms. Elease, and learning from her spirituality."

"David [Metzger's] only complaint about the cafe is that it's only open 5 days a week." [laughter] "With David here, it feels like... well... like 'Mr. Roger's Neighborhood' [laughter]. Then when we met the cafe cook, 'Oscar' [more laughter -- everybody loves Oscar] so maybe it was also like Sesame Street!

[Brianna wrote a story about Ms. Elease -- we'll hope to get a copy.]



As a project, her team created a table... [applause] Really! They purchased a restaurant table they would leave at the cafe for posterity, and they painted it decoratively with elements about what they learned from the cafe.

• Purple... the color of spirituality
• With some quotes, like 'Be the change you wish to see in the world.' (Gandhi)
• Butterflies... as a symbol of transformation.
• In the center of it... the CROSS... because that's the center of the cafe, and Ms. Elease's spirituality and sense of love.

"The future? This course has caused us to look at life through a different set of lenses -- we are changed. Our lives will never be the same. There should be more places like the Unleavend Bread Cafe."

"We've been introduced to new issues. We've formed new opinions. We've debated back & forth. Seen problems. And hoped for solutions."

After the presentation a neighbor, 'Bennie' commented: "Ms. Elease tries to bring America together. I take my hat off to you."

Ms. Elease: "From the outset of the cafe, I never dreamed of such things as today's project from these Butler students."

Another neighbor, Gerald, who attends church in this same backroom each week: "The question asked is... Am I my brother's keeper. And the answer is... Yes you are. You now have a testimony to help somebody else."

All these student-teams reflected great processing of their experiences. Kudos! And kudos to Ms. King and David Metzger who designed such an insightful learning experience.

It did not escape my notice that perhaps the primary 'grassroots growth' was the growth occurring in these young students who would make a difference in the world tomorrow.

So I side with Bennie... My hat's off to you, Ms. Elease.

And my hat's off to you as well, Ms. King.

A day at the cafe...

The cafe was hopping, Saturday. A job-wage group was meeting in the back room. So several of us just used the front part of the cafe for "Surfing Saturday" -- a regular time each week that the neighborhood can count on opportunities to learn a few computer skills, or how to get onto the internet. [But don't tell anyone -- the biggest value for any of us is meeting new friends... often NOT like ourselves. It takes us all outside the box a bit.]

We say, "It's not WHAT you know -- it's WHO you know, that counts. That is, with technology, there's way too much to know... so it's more important to know who your friends are that can and are willing to try to help." Thus the cafe is a great place to come to get to know folks who want to get to know folks. **smile** So a good time was had by everyone.

This morning, an old/new friend -- Bryan Rohrer came with me (from Hamilton County) to help. We joined Gerald, Damita, and Mike -- none of us are real techs (well, maybe Bryan), but we can share what we know how to do, to help friends there cross the 'digital divide'. Even though we didn't have access to the computers in the back room, we had 3 wireless laptops to work with. And a number of neighborhood folks stopped in and got involved.

And it was a productive day: We had a chance to help a ministry leader post an online item about an event he's involved in. And we helped a couple of new friends from Jesus House get started learning a few computer skills, and how to find things on the internet. Things maybe you & I take for granted, but things that keep them from being able to get a decent job. These guys represent the transformed life... lives changed by Jesus Christ. Can you think of anyone you'd rather help?

And as usual, it was also a great time to catch up with some neighborhood friends of the cafe like Russell, Eric, David, Mary, Chaus, Claudia, Peggy, Oscar, Marie, and of course... Ms. Elease, "Mother of the Hood". And again this week, there were a number of Butler students who are in the neighborhood working on a case study.

Btw, come by the cafe at 3pm on Tuesday for the presentation to their class regarding what they learned during their case-study. [For instance, one of the students became an active volunteer during CCDA conference as a result of the friendships she developed at the cafe.] So it should be interesting to hear their feedback.

If I could do one thing to help every inner-city neighborhood in the country, it would be to help establish warm, welcoming & wireless, Christ-like cafe ministries everywhere... and encourage Christians to get involved there.



See you all next Saturday, or any/every Saturday at 10:00 am.... ish. LOL.

CCDA Indy 2005

Had a great time at CCDA Indy 2005. Enjoyed working with the TechMission folks from Boston. Also enjoyed seeing Mark & Kira Davis again, who run the Spirit of God Technology Center -- a Christian computing center in Gary, IN.

Justice Journey... Nov. 16th

The Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic invites you to join us for a "Journey to Justice," a CCDA event designed to explore Indianapolis' history and bring to light sources of racial injustice and how they are affecting our community today. The prayer bus will travel to three sites within Indianapolis where participants will meet community members, learn how injustice has touched their lives, and, most importantly, pray. NCLC views the "Journey to Justice" as chapter one in a continued process of bringing racial healing to our city.

[continued at Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic]

[Click for more CCDA info on the national convention coming to Indy, Nov.16-20th]

"Light Up The Night"

Halloween brings all kinds of challenges for Christians today.

...And opportunities!

[continued at 'Neighborhood By Neighborhood']

[What are YOUR special plans for Halloween time? We'd like to help direct people to your special events. Email us.]

FAMILY DAY OF PRAYER

God Bless you brothers & sisters! You are invited to attend this wonderful Family Day of Prayer - for our city, our people, our neighborhoods, our world. COME CATCH THE FIRE!

The Holy Spirit has set forth this Vision in our own local icon, Evangelist Nettie Lester, President/General Mgr of Gospel Radio station, WHTJ 1690-AM. This powerful and obedient woman of God is moving forward with this Vision, planned for Saturday, October 15, 2005, from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. @ Phillips Temple CME in partnership w/the following ministries: Grandma's Porch, All About Him, The Ladies Corner, Reverend Rosalie Burns, Evangelist Ann Rustin, Youth Rapping & Mapping to Save Youth, Inc., H.I.S. Spirit Ministries, and many more.

An organizational meeting will be held this Thursday, 10/06/05 at 6:00 p.m. at 3737 N Meridian, Suite 202 (the radio station) for anyone wishing to help further this awesome work of God.

Spirit filled, spirit driven men are truly needed in this endeavor - please follow the Lord's leading, and plan to attend this meeting. If you are unable to attend, and would like to help, please contact Evangelist Lester at 924-9485.

[flyer.pdf]

Blog columns, like people, sometimes just can't get along.

LOL.

Actually, this short article is simply a behind-the-scenes, little-known tip I've discovered, regarding why Blogger.com acts strangely at times... like today at IndyChristian.com, when the 2 columns got 'out of sorts' and just couldn't seem to get along side-by-side.

I've found that happens anytime something in one column or the other gets 'too big for its britches' -- ie, it gets 'too wide' and starts encroaching on the other column's 'space'.

Sorta like people at times, I suppose.

So the cure was, finding what was 'too wide'... usually it's an image that's too wide, but this time it was a piece of text that was too wide. Blogger doesn't know how to wrap really long pieces of text (including symbols, like **************************** or ___________________________ ). Or long hyperlink addresses.

Since I have learned this, it's easy to spot, like this morning when I noticed columns were out of sync... I simply went into the offending post and reduced the swollen string of characters the author had used as a divider between paragraphs.

Maybe that's the trick with people too -- just try to reduce our swollen heads. Our pride.

"Act justly, love mercy, and walk HUMBLY."

God bless all you bloggers out there... and the rest of you trying to emmulate Jesus.

Thanks for posting! We've only just begun.

YBIC,
Neil

God's Word

Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. Daniel 2:20-22 NIV

3rd "Jailbreak Attempt" at cafe... Aug. 9th

August 9th, noon-til-2pm...
at the Unleavened Bread Cafe (30th x Central - map).



Transform Indiana will be continuing the topic of Christians coming together to make a greater collective impact in the name of Christ, as we seek to positively impact our neighbors & communities... now & forever.

We'll be following up on our previous TI & CCDA meetings, but also especially regarding what we heard at the "Call To Action" meeting called Aug.4th, by Christian leaders Olgen Williams, Mel Jackson and many others. [Here's a link to some of the reports from that great community meeting attended by more than 400 community pastors, leaders, the mayor, U.S. congresswoman, city council, etc.]

Come be with us for the 3rd jailbreak attempt.