One of the great things about where I was staying in Berlin this summer was that it was so close to so many famous places. I was just a quick bus ride away from both the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate, two of the most recognizable symbols of Germany. And when I began to think about it, some of my best stories happened in those places. So let me share those with you. I have some photos and a video to show, too!
So Close, And Yet So Far
Our typical schedule on this trip had us working all day (either being trained to teach or actually teaching English), and in the evening our in-country team leader would take us to see something in the city. But things didn’t go exactly according to plan the first night we tried to go to the Brandenburg Gate. We arrived to find the entire area closed off and barricaded by police. We found out there was so sort of heads of state meeting going on in the Reichstag that evening. So, as you can see, I was only able to check out the gate from a distance. Note the officer impeding my progress.
Continue reading ‘Stories from the Reichstag & the Brandenburg Gate’
Last week I tweeted to John Saddington, the senior editor of the website ChurchCrunch.com, that I was using Posterous to create a podcast for the FSU Navigators campus ministry. ChurchCrunch looks at how web technology can be used effectively by churches and other ministries. It’s become one of my favorite sites on the web, having passed along a lot of valuable advice and knowledge to me. John messaged me back with a lot of enthusiasm and asked me to write a guest post for ChurchCrunch about how I was using Posterous to host the podcast so he could blog about it. That post and this one are almost identical, but I do recommend you visit John’s site. I also encourage you to check out the new FSU Navigators podcast (and subscribe to it in iTunes).
I thought I’d tell you exactly what I told John, since all this work I’ve done on the podcast relaunch has been done very quietly up until now.
I’ve been working with the Navigators at Florida State University in one form or fashion for about 7 years now. I’d only been involved for a month or two, back when I was a college freshman, when I was put in charge of maintaining the ministry website. As the social web has blossomed, I’ve led the charge directing our overall web presence.
I want to first address why we even have a podcast. The FSU Navs use Facebook and email lists to communicate and organize on a week-to-week basis, while we use our website to introduce who we are and what we believe to those not involved. So the site includes a statement of faith, profiles of our staff and ways to contact them, and a very general overview of what we’re doing that semester. I’ve always tried to include photos and video clips on the site as well, but without specific context a lot of that type of media loses its value. It’s the “I guess you had to be there” problem. But it dawned on me two years ago that a podcast could be a great way to share who we are with the public. My vision is to record each message given by our staff at our weekly large-group meeting (sometimes also a student testimony or a talk given at a state-wide Navigator conference) and share those on our site. You want to know what we’re all about? This is exactly what we’re teaching!
Continue reading ‘Relaunching the FSU Navigators Podcast’
