DanLacher.COM

I have been working with Ustream as a very low cost solution for live streaming events, specifically worship, from Messiah.  We then embedded the Ustream video and chat into our own site at full resolution instead of being compressed down to a small image.  We have been fighting the battle though of users that enter our site being assigned a Ustream guest name similar to “ustream-12345″.  This works fine for the guest that desire to come in an remain annonymous, but we also have the flip side of folks that desire to worship online and have thier name or nick name displayed in the chat.

At first I thought the solution to this would be to first go to Ustream, get logged in and then return to the live streaming page.  This did not yield any change in the results.  Futher searching through the help and forums from Ustream did not reveal anything further to the solution.  I was finally albe to connect with someone on the Ustream live help chat and obtain the solution.  So instead of keeping this nugget of knowledge to myself I am sharing it with you all.

There are one solution that will help with any guest as well as guest that are registered users on Ustream.

• For those guest that desire to change thier assigned name from “ustream-12345″ to soemthing more understandable they simply type in the chat box:
  /nick MyName
  This will change the “ustream-12345″ to “MyName-12345″
• For guest that desire to use their full Ustream username then the also have to supply their Ustream password:
  /nick UstreamUsername:UstreamPassword
  This will change their nick to their Ustream one for the chat.

Solution accomplished for those that are using a Ustream embedded chat outside of the original Ustream show page.

That is an interesting title I think.  I have been working on writing this one post for over a week now.  I have been trying to ensure that I don’t write in anger, haste or to harm.

Last week while working with a colleague who I am still trying to understand our working relationship, I was totally caught off guard by a comment that was made.  The comment was in reference to a rumor that was in the mix about something I had possible stated.  I was very quick to quelsh the rumor and ensure this person that I no way made the statements referred to in said rumor and assured the person of where I stood on their role in an specific area of service. Later that day in a working meeting I mentioned to a couple other staff members the said rumor to assure them that if they heard it to stop it in it’s tracks.  Rumors are a vile communication and can tear teams apart if not dealt with head on.  Well the fun keeps right on rolling at this point.  I was then informed in the that there are more that this first colleague whom I supposedly was spreading rumors about feels that I am arrogant. At this point I was floored.

I have never thought of myself as arrogant and to hear that someone perseves me that way was almost crushing.  I went through lots of emotions from being sad, crushed, hurt, pissed, pity…  I have spent some time away from the situation in prayer and with very close advisers and have resolved this in my heart and I am now to the place where I can write it.

I am a confident person who attempts to walk humbly.  I am not afraid to make mistakes while at the same time fear failure.  For place of responsibility, I have to make well informed but sometime on the spot decisions and I don’t fear this.  If the decision turns out to be the wrong one we correct the issue and learn from the mistake.  I am not one that will sit for hours with a committee to make a decision that I feel confident in making under my areas of responsibility.  In all of this I attempt to do it with humility.  I know there are times in which I have failed and will fail in the future.  So that is who I am.

If you are perceiving someone to be arrogant, close the loop with them personally and directly… you might be dealing with a confident person and if so ensure they are serving humbly and for the right reasons. I am still working to cycle back and close the loop with my colleague, they are an amazing person whom I know I still have some things to learn from.

God Bless,
dl

I am not one that believes in resolutions so I will state goal for this upcoming year (2009).

• Read from the Bible every day.  Unless I am unconscious there is no reason that I should not be able to attain this goal but yet it is a struggle for me at this point.  I will need prayerful support on this as well as all of the goals.  Here is the plan that I am following.
• Deepen my family and personal relationships.  In this overly connected, always on… world it is time to make relationships mean something again instead of surface level “connections”.
• Re-attain goal weight and maintain it.  Last year was such a great feeling to loose 30 lbs. and I have let a little of it come back on, so this year I desire to re-reach the goal weight and maintain it for the year.
• Get my self on the trail for at least two backpacking trips this season.  Last year I was off trail while I had the knee fixed up but I am back in the game this year.
• Finish up the basement project… come on man there is only some trim work left to do.
• Build up the technical and journeys servant teams @ Messiah.  The teams are running slim and I don’t desire to see them get burnt out, the Lord has a place for His people to serve.

There we have them, now to prayerfully work at attaining them.

I am stoked to link you to a new blog by Ed Doerner.  Ed is an amazing man of God that has spoken into my life and will hopefully speak into your life as well.  I challeneged him to start blogging a few weeks back as a tool to get his authentic voice to the world, not scripted or edited down, but from God to Ed to the world.

Today while I was out running some erands I swung into a bridal shop to pick up a brides maids dress for my wife.  She has the honor of being in the wedding party for her brothers wedding.  On walking into the bridal store a very nice clerk greeted me and asked if she could help.  Being a bit of a joker I stated that I was there to be be fitted for my dress… okay I was joking.  With a very straight face she said, okay right this way.  I was shoked to say the least.  I informed her that I was joking with her to which she replied that is it common for men to come in an be fitted for dresses.

I don’t claim to live a sheltered life, I just would not have thought it was a common place as this lady informed me that it is.

Time over time I continue to talk and share the joys of using OpenOffice as an alternative to Office.  Just today I was informed by a teacher in the Pinconning Area Schools that they have started to use OpenOffice as their tool for teaching.  This teacher was just so thankful and raving about the joys of having OpenOffice in the classroom and able to have the students using it at home.  The tool is open, free and great to use.  I have been an OOo user for a long time now, I admit there have been bugs and it continues to get better with each release.

An amazing story and I love telling the use of open source software and more.

God Bless,
dl

Tonight over dinner my three year old heard a sound coming from the laptop that sounded a bit like a buzz. Shortly following that she said “dan’s phone, would you like to call home or mobile”. I just started to laugh because I knew she was repeating exactly what she hears the bluetooth speak back if the voice dialing is being used. It was a great moment in parenting.

This week is Thanksgiving here in the United States. Our family will be preparing something along the lines of the standard dinner… but I look more forward to the leftovers. I look forward to making what I call the The Happy Pilgrim. What? That is right, I make a sandwich that we call the Happy Pilgrim, so what is it? For me it starts with two slices of good hearty wheat bread, lettuce, sliced roasted left over turkey, stuffing, gravy and cranberry relish. Oh, place that all together in a sandwich and it is like a meal in one. I was introduced to something similar from a sub sandwich shop while I was helping a friend move in Boston. Skip the meal and make me a Happy Pilgrim and I am one happy pilgrim. Try one this year and let me know what you think.

For what it’s worth.

For far to long church bodies have been setup up tool sheds and then questioning the use of these amazing tools.  The plow will do no good to a farmer if the plow does not touch soil and if the farmer does not know how to use it… or even worse if the plow is in an asphalt jungle far from any soil… was the wrong tool purchased by a home owner thinking they were a farmer?

Michael Trent has put to text some amazing and challenging questions around just that for churches.  Please take some time to read it over and understand how the body of Christ should really be doing church in reverse.

God Bless,
dl

Another anointed journey with the Lord.  This was my second WFX that I have had the honor of attending.  The first was last spring in Indianapolis where I was working for Third Place Consulting in helping to spread the vision of leveraging the real estate that the church already owns to create and utilize amazing third places to connect people, develop leaders and fund causes for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom.  This time around I attended for be filled and taught for my new roll at Messiah.  The faith family at Messiah have some amazing challenges ahead with the vision for the global church and this venue allows for a direct connection to some of the best people in technology to aid in accomplishing that vision.

Upon arriving in Houston I met up with the original Church Bartender (Michael Trent).  Michael has been and continues to be an amazing mentor and friend.  We both have a deep passion to see the church be church and stop playing.  We visited a church body doing just that.  Ecclesia has positioned itself in the world but has set the done as Jesus called us to not be of the world.  They have an amazing building that is used for but not limited to a cafe, recording studio, worship area, local art gallery, neighborhood natural foods market.  If you ever make it to Houston, you need to place them on your list to see, they are being church.  While at Ecclesia we hung out with Daniel Park and where privileged to hear his story and the amazing plans that God has for him in Prague.  The pastor at Ecclesia has help to write a new translation of the New Testament soon to be released.  I am currently reading a segment of it called: The Voice of Acts: The Dust Off Their Feet: Lessons from the First Church.  This is the book of Acts retold and amazing.

As it turns out dinner always turns out to be an amazing time of spiritual growth.  I was blessed to have dinner with some old friends and new.  The seafood at McCormick & Schmicks was wonderful and the conversation was life changing… time to win the world for Christ people, if we do not do it, who will?

I spent considerable time in class and training as well.  The audio mix class with Armando Fullwood (Design 2020), Reed Hall (Lakewood) and Walter Silverberg (The Potter’s House) was out of this world to have that knowledge and experience base pouring in and training me.  The other classes that I attended were on Third Places Now & Next, Simple Steps to Streaming Live, Church in a Digital World, Creating Engaging Environments with Video Staging, and the 60 Minutes Church Website Makeover.  The keynote from by Dave Ferguson on building up leaders, launching them and growing the church was amazing.  What is your faith families Big Idea and are you accomplishing it?  After the talk I was privileged to hang out with Dave in the green room and learn and share what Christ is doing at CCC and Messiah.

By far the most powerful and impact-full discussions I had was on learning about Global Need.  I really still do not know how to put it into words for what the Lord is doing there.  Please go to Global Need and check it out, read up and get involved.

The expo floor is always interesting and filled with everyone from builders / architects, chair supplies, stain glass window manufactures to the highest end electronics vendors in the world and everything in between.  One has to enter the expo floor with filters on or you will be overwhelmed.  The three products that I will take away from my time on the floor are; ProPresenter and Tight Rope Media Server.

Thank you to all of the presenters, teachers and contributors that gave of their time to teach.  I close with this,  what is this vision that Christ has given to your faith family and are you accomplishing that vision?  We know the great commission, so are we truly living it out?

God Bless,
dl