Blogging about church IT

Recent IT Roundtable drew network pros from around the country.

Church IT professionals aren't just busy optimizing Web sites for their congregations - they're also blogging to benefit their peers.

Jason Powell, technology director at Granger Community Church (GCC) in Granger, Ind., operates a blog that deals with such topics as which VPN to implement; how to establish a data backup and disaster recovery strategy; video enablement; church IT job postings; and where to find the least expensive but most capable servers, Web-enabled applications and tool sets.

The site also shares Powell's experiences in wiring GCC to serve its congregants and staff, announces upcoming church IT conferences and notes that heavy metal band Iron Maiden is still making music.

The blog announces, promotes and recruits attendance for Powell's IT Roundtable, a once or twice annual gathering of church IT officials discussing issues and ideas, and sharing tips. The most recent roundtable, held Sept. 20, drew 32 church IT officials from around the country.

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Church IT professionals aren't just busy optimizing Web sites for their congregations - they're also blogging to benefit their peers.

Jason Powell, technology director at Granger Community Church (GCC) in Granger, Ind., operates a blog that deals with such topics as which VPN to implement; how to establish a data backup and disaster recovery strategy; video enablement; church IT job postings; and where to find the least expensive but most capable servers, Web-enabled applications and tool sets.

The site also shares Powell's experiences in wiring GCC to serve its congregants and staff, announces upcoming church IT conferences and notes that heavy metal band Iron Maiden is still making music.

The blog announces, promotes and recruits attendance for Powell's IT Roundtable, a once or twice annual gathering of church IT officials discussing issues and ideas, and sharing tips. The most recent roundtable, held Sept. 20, drew 32 church IT officials from around the country.

"The room was packed, it was hard to hear from one side of the room to the other," Powell says, adding that he had to turn away officials from at least 15 other churches to maintain the roundtable discussion format.

Powell says discussion lasted until midnight and centered around topics such as enabling guest and volunteer access to the church network, streaming video, security, mobility and the role instant messaging might play in church.

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