Howdy!

[ChurchGeek]

Howdy!

I chose the nick ChurchGeek for probably obvious reasons, but you are welcome to call me by my real name, Denver.

I don't want to make this post all about me, but to understand why I might end up asking the questions I do or why I lurk more than post at the moment, I figured I better share.

I've grown up in church - literally. I've been very blessed to have been a part of two denominations with different lower focuses in ministry but two churches that were very much set on God. I think that addresses the church part. I have no amazing conversion story, but I do have a sin-filled life that receives the grace given to me by God and I'd kinda like to share that with others.

On the geek side, I've grown up with computers since the days of playing Oregon Trail on the old green-screen Macs in grade school. I enjoyed our first PC - which my parents purchased in 1997. Since then, I went on to teach myself websites (starting with HTML code) and I expanded a bit from there. I have an English degree, but my first jobs were IT.

Long story short, I'm now a part of a church with a short and interesting history. A church in my town was rocked by scandal culminating in a Pastor who was caught talking to underage girls. My wife attended this church - under a different Pastor - during her childhood but the place had fallen apart. Almost the typical Southern Church story. This church was touched by God with a really unique and awesome (in the true sense of the word) Pastor that is clearly a Godsend. The old church has been "re-potted" with a new name. I pretty much term it a church plant with a building, because the total member count fell to the 20s at its lowest point.

I am now the "Tech Guy" as well as Youth Leader for the church. My wife handles the Children's ministry which I proudly say got off to an amazing start last week. Jesus is really working through her!

To be blunt, I haven't a clue what I am doing. I am just here - where ever exactly here is I don't know - and I know God put me in this spot. I feel like I'm supposed to end up in the ministry although I've done my best to try and run from it.

I know zilch, zip, nada about making movies, working with sound, or anything else related to media production outside of writing, designing websites, and blogs. My tools are Dreamweaver (know pretty well) and Photoshop. I have the design suite, and I know what Flash does and that Illustrator and Fireworks are pretty cool, but I have no idea how to use them or what the difference is!

I entertained the notion of starting a forum like this since I do have experience. I run a Christian forum since I started it in 2006 while in college. However, God brought me to this place one day, and I was quite excited.

So, I'm looking to learn. I need help. I want to use this media because Acts 17 has spoken very deeply to me. I don't think my hybrid coding/artsy/writer background is by mistake. I'm just swimming in unknown waters, and I really want to help my church, pastor, and ultimately Jesus where I am called. I will be reading and posting, but if anything has any tips to get started, I am all ears.

God bless!

[tdangelo]

Denver, errh, ChurchGeek;

It sounds like you have a great heart. Welcome. Don't worry about not having answers. We have all been and are still very much there. I think you will find a good community here of others like you are trying to assist their local ministry use these tools in a better way.

[Nathan J]

Welcome!

[Gracetech]

Welcome to CMN Denver!

Look forward to sharing many a thread with you.

Ease into tech media or you might find yourself overwhelmed. Learn the basic of the different disciplines and then you can work at mastering them.

crt

[[Admin] osborn4]

Welcome aboard! You've come to the right place.

There are no stupid questions. But sometimes there are silly answers.