It's a Wygle Wide Web

If you've got Wygle (or Weigel, Wiegle, Wigle, etc) as a last name as I do, let me know. I'd like to connect with you and do some genealogy stuff. I've built out a page on geni.com. Don't know if that link will work, but give it a shot.

The City, an Osprey, and a Retraction

First step, a retraction;

As you see, I'm still on blogger.com. I haven't moved to WordPress. And let me tell you why.

Second step; The City,

Just a few weeks ago my church launched an online application in the vein of Facebook and MySpace. But let's not compare it to those. Those are social networks, with the emphasis on social. Social, to me, implies meaningless conversation, unintentional relationships and a false sense of intimacy with that friend you knew in High School but haven't talked to for almost 10 years. The City is focused on real, not virtual, community. So to get into The City, you need to be involved with a Community Group, Service Group, etc. Some kind of actual group that exists in real life.

Pastor Zack said it best in a post he wrote inside The City (I'll link into it, but it requires a login).

I sometimes hear people comparing The City to Facebook or MySpace, so I'd like to draw some important comparisons, especially for those of you that are brand new to The City.

First up, and I hesitate to even mention it, Facebook has a $15 billion valuation with, I would imagine, hundreds or perhaps even thousands of software guys working on it. Here at Mars Hill, we're a small team of 4 staffers with several projects going at all times, and a handful of volunteers that work faithfully alongside us.

What does this imply? Well, The City is going to be rough around the edges for quite some time as we work to improve the many aspects of this site. Already we have somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 features and other improvements planned over the next few months (we've resolved another 400, so we have been quite busy). Additionally, the feedback queue is currently filled with 182 good ideas that a handful of volunteers are going through. This site represents alot of work, only a fraction of which is going to be evident the first time you log in. That's where another key distinction comes in...

MySpace and Facebook are online communities...The City throws all of its resources towards physical communities. If you're not in any smaller physical communities and you come on here, it's going to be pretty sparse! But I've got good news, we're almost done with an improvement that will help you get plugged into a Community Group or other such community...then the depth of The City will become much more apparent.

Finally, The City is built with a mission in mind which extends beyond playing silly games with one another (zombies and pirates in Facebook anyone?). The City is offered up to the Lord as a vehicle to transform every city in which it is used by the power of the Gospel through organizing Christ-centered communities. It's alot of words but we are powerfully convicted that Technology is a sleeping juggernaut which needs to be enslaved to the Gospel.

I've been help people learn how to best use this new tool to glorify God, to draw together and talk about Jesus, and pray through the Holy Ghost for and with each other. It's a really exciting time for us in the Mars Hill Tech Dept.

Lastly; Project Osprey;

I can't tell you much about it. But suffice it to say, I am really excited. Along with @forehand, @giessen, @dustindk, @mikeyanderson, and @jbird, we are building a program to use with Twitter. I think you'll like it. Here's a sneak peck peek.

It's had me pretty excited and also consumed during my down time thinking of some fun things to include. If you sound off in the comments, I'll do my best to get you into the Alpha when we're ready to roll it out in a few weeks.

Oh, and one more thing. I'm going to be a father of three little girls now. As President Bartlet story goes;

"...fifteen years ago we took a trip to Egypt. All five of us saw the Pyramids and Luxor and then headed up into the Sinai. We had a guide, a Bedouin man, who called me 'Abu el Banat'. And whenever we'd meet another Bedouin, he'd introduce me as Abu el Banat. And the Bedouin would laugh and laugh and offer me a cup of tea. And I'd go to pay them for the tea and they wouldn't let me...

'Abu el Banat' means 'Father of daughters' They thought the tea was the least they could do."