I am taking college classes again. I suppose it wasn’t fun enough the first time, so I’m getting a second Bachelor’s degree and plan to get a Master’s after that. Thankfully, this time around I don’t have to worry about living in the dorm or what’s going to be served in the dining hall (although the food at Maranatha was, by and large, really good. And I’m not just saying that because my wife was the cook).

Am I crazy?

Why would I go back to college when I already have a full-time job (which happens to incorporate two other full-time jobs)? Well, it is not because I have nothing else to do. An opportunity has been graced to me that I don’t believe would be wise to overlook.

How is this possible?

When my great-aunt passed away in 1989, she was generous enough to set up a trust fund for myself, my brothers, and some other people with the intent of providing funds for higher education. I took advantage of this in part during my undergraduate study. I also started to use it for grad classes, but during my first semester my wife and I moved to Illinois and began the ministry that we currently have.

My grandfather, Bill Post, was the executor of the trust. He passed away two years ago, which was a sad time for me. After that, his lawyer became the executor of the trust and it was made known that funds would be there for all of the beneficiaries until my youngest brother turned 25.  Well, that’s a few years from now and my mom encouraged me to take advantage of the opportunity.

Where am I going?

So I started looking at many different options. I needed to find a full-time school that was accredited. I didn’t wish to quit working, so I needed to find something that would work with my schedule. I looked into online classes for ministry training and nothing I found met my qualifications. I looked into classes for musical training, and again, nothing met my qualifications. I looked into classes for technology and found Western Governor’s University.

WGU has a unique approach to online education. Classes are very flexible – you go at your own pace. When life gets busy, you can slow down a bit, and when life is a little slower, you can accelerate your education. They also accepted my credits from Maranatha – I am so glad I went to an accredited college. They also offer industry-recognized certifications.

What am I taking?

For the last year, I have been working on a B.S. in Information Technology – Network Administration. I have earned certifications from CIW, CompTIA and Microsoft. I have 37 units that transferred, 32 completed, currently working on 12 and have 40 to go (7 more classes).

What am I going to do with this education? Well, I have already put many things into practice here at our church and school. Since I have the same (often more) certifications that our old computer techs have, and I don’t charge, I have been able to save us hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for the school. I have implemented learned strategies to save on costs and provide for necessary technology. I have also have met needs for other local churches and individuals. I hope to expand that in the future and see what happens. One step at a time – and I have some other, larger, and more important steps coming in the near future, which I will write about next time.

My earlier post on how we migrated to using Linux raised some questions. Some wondered why other churches, schools and Christian ministries did not do this (though there are many that have). Others wondered how they could do it themselves.

If I were to visit another church, Christian school, mission field, or other ministry for the purpose of upgrading their technology and moving to open source software, here is  a basic outline of what I would do. Hopefully, you can use this as a guideline for doing this in your own organization.

Assess what you already have

Many times, people do not necessarily need to upgrade to the latest and greatest hardware. Especially in places where money is tight, reusing hardware you already have can be a great savings. A 10-year old computer running a modern operating system is possible and easy with Linux.

Along with that, I would need to know what infrastructure is there. Is there already a network in place? Are the buildings already wired? What servers, if any, are there? What is the current backup strategy? What type of printers are you working with?

Are  there any proprietary programs that your ministry depends on? If so, some thought is going to have to go into how to export and import that data into another program. In some cases, there just isn’t an open-source alternative. In an instance like that there are options such as dual-booting, virtual machines, WINE or keeping a computer as-is solely for those programs.

What are your goals?

Technology is a tool. I can use a really expensive sledgehammer to put a nail in the wall so that I can hang a picture, but because it is expensive doesn’t make it the right tool for the job.  You may not need the latest and greatest computer out there for what you plan to do. But, you need to know what it is that you plan to do.

Do you really need to be playing those graphic-intensive 3D games on your computer at church? Will you be recording services to digital audio? Will you do any video editing at all? Will you be using a projector? How many computers do you want and where do you want to put them? You need to have an idea what you want to do with the computers in your ministry not only now but 5-10 years from now. Have a vision, or you will be disappointed.

Explore your options

One wonderful thing about Free and Open Source Software is that there are numerous options. This can be a two-edged sword, though! What works for others may or may not work for you. Ask questions and do research.

One thing that is consistently at the top of my list is the support and the community that surrounds the project.  A good community is good assurance for the integrity and lifespan of any program. Linux itself would not have survived if it weren’t for the incredible community that has grown since its humble beginnings in 1991.

Speaking of support, if you haven’t already done so, it may be a good idea to enlist help from others who have done this before. As helpful as people are on the internet, or even a phone call, nothing beats having someone there in person to help when you are having trouble.

Setup a schedule

Once you have some goals in place and have settled on what your needs are, you need to schedule a time to put your plan in action. Will it be a gradual roll-out or will it be done all at once? Do you have a plan for backing up files and importing them to the new systems? I would make sure that it was done a time that would be the least disruptive. Communicate with those whom the migration affects. Don’t delete the pastor’s sermon notes just before he goes to print them!

Do it!

At this point the only thing left is to execute the plan that was developed. Download the distribution of your choice (I use Ubuntu, but there are many, many others that may fit your needs better), burn the CD, stick it in your computer, boot it up and follow the prompts. You may get stuck at some point in the process, – don’t be afraid of asking for help.

These are some rough guidelines for switching to Linux and open-source software in a ministry, or really, any other setting. I would like to flesh this out into a nice flowchart or more detailed checklist at some point in the future. What did I miss? What other areas would you focus in on? If you have suggestions or even helpful criticisms, let me know in the comments.

I have been using these Moleskine Pocket Japanese Notebooks to take sermon notes with for quite some time now. When our pastor preached through the book of Revelation on Sunday nights,  these little notebooks allowed me to take continuous notes through the series so that it flows quite nicely. I can easily look back to well over year ago and remember the sermon, the main points and the context.

These are also quite nice for sermon/lesson preparation. When spread out, I can link back to something else without breaking my train of thought. They have been exceptional for preparing a series. It looks quite artistic when it is all finished, as well. Not too shabby.

I haven’t seen this style of moleskine in any Barnes & Noble or Borders (though they seem to have every other style out there). There are two sizes – large and pocket. I prefer the pocket size for the note-taking I do. Do a search on AddAll for “moleskine japanese album”, which at the time of this post is showing Amazon as the cheapest.

Like many other people, our church and, more importantly, our Christian school, ran the Windows operating system on all computers. We have about 15 computers in classrooms in addition to our computer lab of 25 computers. They were not the greatest computers to begin with – Pentium 3, 8GB HDD, 64-128 Mb of RAM – but that soon changed. We were given a large donation of 65 Dell Optiplex GX260s one year ago. Still not up to today’s standards, but a huge improvement over what we had and adequate for our current needs.

The problem

We had a problem, however, in our licensing. A number of years ago we purchased a 100-volume license for Windows 2000. This would still be good for our new(er) machines, but Windows 2000 is terribly outdated and unsupported. It then became a matter of stewardship. Should we outlay a large sum of money for XP which would soon be replaced by Windows 7? Sure, the hardware cannot handle 7, but it would eventually be replaced and the cycle would start again. We are a small ministry, not a large corporation that can afford to keep up with the costs and offer our students a quality education at the same time.

One of our computers running Ubuntu showing a 3d desktop cube

Our solution

There had to be a responsible alternative. And there was. The answer was found in the Ubuntu Linux operating system. Now, there are many variations (distributions) of Linux, but I have been using Ubuntu since 2006 on my personal computers.

So what is Ubuntu and why was it the solution to our problem? To quote from their website, “Ubuntu is an operating system built by a worldwide team of expert developers. It contains all the applications you need: a web browser, office suite, media apps, instant messaging and much more. Ubuntu is an open-source alternative to Windows and Office.”

Ubuntu resolved our situation in the following ways:

Cost

This is the most obvious benefit – Ubuntu is free. It does not cost anything but the time to download it, burn it to a CD and install it. The installation is straightforward and simple. It took my about 20 minutes to completely format and install for one machine. I could then clone that machine and copy it to others – or since CDs are so cheap, I was able to burn and install multiple copies at once.

This is a large part of where stewardship came in. With the large cost of licensing no longer an issue, we are now able to save that money and begin investing in good hardware. We are now at a place where we can move forward instead of trying to keep our heads above water.

Freedom

We now have the ability to use our machines in whatever way is most beneficial. When I want to install a new program I type in a simple command – aptitude install name of program and it is done. The best thing about the freedom with the software is that I am not limited by licenses in the ability to do good to my neighbor.

We can also run many Windows programs directly on these computers through an application layer called WINE. We do this for our Rosetta Stone Online Language Learning program that our students use for foreign language. We run the Windows version of Firefox so that the microphone is recognized and supported. We could run MS Office 2003 which we have licenses for, but there is no need to do that since Ubuntu comes with OpenOffice.org, a compatible office suite.

Security

Linux is inherently a very secure operating system, but the open-source model on which it, and other software is built, keeps it secure. Anyone can look into the source, find a bug and fix it. With software under a constant peer-review, errors and bugs are constantly being fixed and new features implemented. Although stable, none of it ever becomes stable. As a system administrator, I love the feeling that I am working with data and systems that are rock-solid. By the way, we don’t run anti-virus software on these computers because Linux is currently (virtually) impervious to viruses.

Ease of use

Wait, isn’t Linux that for super-geeks? In fact, in many ways Linux is extremely easy to use. When students arrived on the first day of school, they were excited that the old CRT monitors were replaced with new 15″ LCD monitors. They intuitively found where applications were (especially the games) and were able to get right to work. In fact, our only problems this year have been hardware-related issues.

Accountability

Students just can’t seem to get away with much when I can constantly monitor their desktops with iTalc, fix problems with ssh, and check logs easily. I don’t play “Big Brother” with them, but they understand that we are trying to keep them accountable and helps foster an atmosphere of responsibility.

Support

I was very comfortable using Linux on the desktop, but I had many questions when implementing Linux in our lab. My questions were posted at ubuntuforums.org and quickly answered. The people were very friendly and helpful. There was even one gentleman who realized I was close in proximity and called me on the phone to walk me through some things. He offered to come over, but I had my problem solved by then. The Linux support was so good, they even helped me with problems on the Windows machines we had left! We haven’t yet had need of paid-for support, but I know it is always there as an option.

Linux is not for every person or ministry, but I encourage you to consider it. At the very least, consider implementing open-source solutions in your ministry. For most proprietary, paid-for applications there are free open-source alternatives – no matter what operating system you use. For us, the benefits were obvious: we have future-proofed our computer lab by not being locked into a vicious licensing cycle, we can use the money we saved on software and concentrate on upgrading our hardware, and we now teach our students concepts about technology instead of particular applications so that they can benefit no matter what college or career they enter after graduation.

Has Linux or other open-source software been beneficial for you or your ministry? Do you have further questions regarding our switch? Leave any comments, questions, or criticisms in the comments below!

Xiphos (formerly known as GnomeSword) is a Bible study tool written for Linux, UNIX, and Windows under the GNOME toolkit, offering a rich and featureful environment for reading, study, and research using modules from The SWORD Project and elsewhere. It is open-source software, and available free-of-charge to all

I have used Logos Bible software, e-Sword, as well as other Bible study software in the past. Logos especially is a very good program. The only problem is that on an assistant pastor’s budget, it costs a large sum of money. I have to constantly be aware that I need to be a good steward.

Xiphos, on the other hand is open-source software. Simply, that means I am allowed to go into the program code myself and modify it to behave how i wish it too and use it in the manner I wish. I am legally allowed to share the software, and even encouraged to do so! And for the my bottom line – it is free. Free as in freedom and price.

This is my go-to resource for Bible research and study. I can also easily copy verses to put on handouts and tests in classes. Let’s see how it works.

Getting Started

In the module manager (Edit > Module manager) you can add your source from the list. Since I am not living in a persecuted country, I added all of the internet (remote) sites. Then, refreshed my list and chose my Bible texts, Commentaries, Dictionaries, etc. for installation. There are many resources available, including a fair number of maps from the Xiphos repository.

Workflow

The layouot is extremely customizable and each area can be easily resized by clicking and dragging.  In the standard view of the Scripture passage you are looking at, you can scroll through the chapter you are in plus one verse before and one verse after. Sometimes this isn’t enough to get the context, but chapters are easy to change with the dropdown list above. You can also open different passages in new tabs. This makes working with multiple passages very easy and effecient. Speaking of effeciency, the search is one of the fastest I have used in a Bible study program.

There are a couple of options for keeping one’s own notes within the program itself. There is a personal commentary as well as a “studypad” which is essentially a trimmed down text editor. It took me some searching to figure out how to use the Personal commentary. You have to right-click on the Personal commentary in the Module Panel (the one with the tree-view). Then, the studypad opens and you can make your notes. After saving, your notes show up in the Commentary view.

It isn’t quite perfect . . .yet

Overall, this is a great program, but it is not without its shortcomings. A great feature to be implemented would be opening Libronix files (Logos’ proprietary format). Many preachers, myself included, have purchased Libronix files. It would be wonderful to incorporate them into Xiphos and expand its capabilities. I am sure this program imporves as the developers are busy resolving features between the Linux and Windows versions and improving other features.

Have you used Xiphos? What do you think of it? Leave your thoughts below.
Download Xiphos here