There were two big updates to two big apps that I use everyday released in the last 24 hours. ​

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The first is an update to Textastic, a great text editor for OSX. They have added tab support so now instead of having multiple windows open with my text floating around, I can have them in one big, unified window. Although I love this feature, I wish they would enable the hiding of tabs if there's just one file open in the window. Otherwise, a great update. ​

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The second is an update to Drafts, now version 3.0. The two most notable additions to this already-wonderful do-anything text app are the addition of Actions Backup and tabbed tasks. 

Actions Backup is exactly what it says it is - ​it adds the ability to make a manual backup of all your actions so you can restore them to any other device running Drafts. For instance, I have lots of different lists that I append to, and I don't want to have to manually add those on my iPad. Enter Actions Backup. I just back up the actions on my iPhone, then go to my iPad and Restore from Actions Backup over there. Viola, they're all there, safe and sound. 

The second is tabbed grouping of tasks. Very simple interface - when I hit the share button, I now have little Roman numbered tabs for my task groups. You can arrange how you want them in Settings. For example, all actions in Tab I ​I have all my Dropbox actions. Tab II houses all my searching actions, Tab III all my email and messaging, and Tab IV is for Evernote actions. 

Overall, a great update for these two apps. If you're not using either, you should give them a try. They're both fantastic and have changed my Youth Minister workflow for the better. ​

From YouthMinistry360:​

Early Prep Work

1. Decide where you want to go for camp, sign up, and send in any deposits.
2. Begin signing-up your students and adult leaders for the camp. There are some great software programs for youth ministry that make this process easier. Of course, there's always Excell, and old-fashioned notebooks work, too!
3. Let your students know how much camp will cost, get them to put down a deposit, and set a date for final payment. Be very specific about your policies for refunding deposits and/or fees.
4. Plan your transportation to and from camp.
5. Check on the daily schedule at your camp, what you will be responsible for teaching and leading, and what the camp leaders will do. Make plans for any free time. (I try to find the balance between enough time to have fun and too-much free time. Too much unstructured free time is rarely a good thing!)

Getting Closer

1. Get any camp promotional material and promote, promote, promote. If you or your adult leaders will be teaching any small group time, get the material to your leaders at least one month ahead of time.
2. The dreaded rooming list! This is the one I always struggle with the most. Get your rooming list to your camp leaders on time.
3. Make sure you have a medical release form on every student and adult attending camp. There are plenty of forms available on the Internet.
4. Three of four weeks before camp send out an information letter outlining what time you will leave, what time you will return, where you are going, and include a list of everything the student needs to bring to camp. Also be clear of what is not allowed at camp.

Last Minute Prep

1. Think through what you want to do about cell phones. I've found them to be a major distraction, but I also know parents do not want to send their child away without one. [I tell ours if I see their cell phone I get it until we go home, but that's just me. :) ]
2. Send in your final payment to your camp.
3. Some extra things I always take to camp: an iron, petty cash, 2 or 3 rolls of quarters, laundry detergent if facilities are available, a laundry bag, shower shoes, squirt soap, extra toothbrushes, extra pens, lanyards, kitchen size garbage bags for students dirty clothes, a medical kit with basic items for accidents, female hygiene items, Catch Phrase, notebook paper, and note cards.

"I don't know what's going to be revealed to be behind all of this mayhem. One human insect or a poisonous mass of broken sociopaths. But here's what I DO know. If it's one person or a HUNDRED people, that number is not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population on this planet. You watch the videos of the carnage and there are people running TOWARDS the destruction to help out. [...] This is a giant planet and we're lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in awhile, the wiring of a tiny sliver of the species gets snarled and they're pointed towards darkness.

But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evil doers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We'd have eaten ourselves alive long ago. So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, 'The good outnumber you, and we always will.'"

Amen, and thank you God for gifting the world with sane people who possess the virtue of cheer.

As a youth minister, I take lots of notes. I jot down emails and phone numbers. I send emails. I write articles, lessons and sermons. I make lists, and lists of lists for planning projects. 

All of that involves text. 

As I am an uber-nerd, I use plain text for pretty much everything. As I type this now, I'm using Textastic on the Mac. But I store everything in plain text, and I'll briefly tell you why. 

Because plain text is future-proof. I can take plain text and put it anywhere, and I can then format that text how I want it. For example - I wrote this original post on the Squarespace internet site, and I had no backup. This post got summarily deleted because of my stupidity (and maybe a bug in the Squarespace iPad app). If I would have originally written this article in a text editor on my Mac (and by the way, if you have a Mac, everyone has a text editor - it's called TextEdit - and Wordpad for Windows) all I would have had to do was copy and paste the text instead of rewriting the post like I am now. 

Plain text is powerful because computers have been using it since their inception. I could literally take this text right now and put it on an old 1982 green-screened NCR if I wanted to. Or I could use this text in MS Word 2024 if I want. Granted, you are limited in formatting with plain text, and that's why they invented Markdown. If you really need to prettify something, a Word Processor should be your app of choice. 

But I digress. 

The reason for this post was not to tell you about the benefits of plain text, but to tell you how plain text and a little app called Drafts has changes my entire youth minister workflow. 

Drafts is a little app that does a lot of stuff, and it's highly customizable. 

The app opens ready to write - cursor blinking and keyboard ready. There's no start or splash screen - the app seems to be designed to do one thing very effiecently, and that's capture quick text when you want to the fastest way possible and send it to exactly where you want it. 

I haven't messed around with URL actions yet, but the Dropbox actions are really where I get my work done. 

I have a list for just about everything. For example, I have a text file named Log.txt and it's just random thoughts, links I've pasted in, and other stuff that comes to my mind. I open the app, type my text, hit the Share button on the lower right just above the keyboard, and I hit 'Append to Log.'

Here's the cool part: when I append a file, it simply adds that new line of text to the existing Log.txt file. I can then pull up that file on my Mac or on my mobile device and look at the list. It's incredibly helpful to be able to append to certain lists and not have to created new text files. You can create a new file, and that's what I do if I am starting an article or something. Drafts will automatically drop it into my Drafts folder on Dropbox and put a UNIX timestamp on it. It even gives you a little green bar and checkmark along with a little sound to let you know it's finished its work. 

Drafts helps me remember things so well. Riding down the road in the car, I can pull up the app, hit the Siri button, say a note, and hit 'Append to Whatever' and it's there waiting for me on the desktop when I get back to the office. I have a text file called Today.txt for my running to-do list, Camp.txt for notes regarding our summer camp this year, and a Comics.txt list that I can append to when someone tells me a great comic to buy. 

Drafts isn't limited to Dropbox actions, though. Built right in are actions to Send To services like Messages, Evernote, Elements, Email, and lots of other system apps. And by searching the Drafts Action Directory, you can find many more URL and Dropbox actions that you can install from your Safari browser. 

Basically here's what I'm saying - you need to check out this app. They have seperate versions for the iPhone and iPad, and they are $2.99 and $3.99, respectively. [App Store Link]

Try it out, and I bet you won't be disappointed. 

Today's post is very special, because it is a "blog hop." Five blogs are all writing on the same topic, and we hope you will check each one out.

The topic today is simply podcasting. Five writers are each listing the podcasts (by category) they listen to, and linking to where you can find the information about that podcast. At the bottom of the post is the link to the other writers who are involved.

Before I begin my list, I want to point out that 99% of my listening is done with the excellent iOS app Instacast. It syncs between your devices at play positions, it keeps what shows I've listened to in sync, and has a great UI on both iPhone and iPad. ​It's not free ($4.99), but I'll pay for a great app like this. 

MY PODCAST LIST

Brotherhood Podcasts (produced by members of Churches of Christ)

Preachers In Training - Preachers in Training is part of the Light Network produced by Robert Hatfield in Pulaski, Tennessee. . Robert offers great insights to teaching and preaching, and I've even been fortunate enough to be a guest for tech topics on the show. ​

Biblical Manliness - Also on the Light Network and hosted by Chris Clevenger of Chapel Hill, Tennessee, this podcast is great for topics on what a a true man of God should be. ​

​Other Religious Podcasts

Daily Hope with Rick Warren - I like Rick and his insights into the Bible. He makes good points and has good ideas - taking the Bible at an angle that you may have never thought about. ​

The Simply Youth Ministry Show - Jason and Kurt do a wonderful job with this podcast. They're a little crazy at times, but they have some great content. ​

News and Information

I rely primarily on the TWiT (This Week In Tech) network for my tech news. I subscribe to MacBreak Weekly, This Week In Tech, iFive for the iPhone, Know How, and iPad Today. I am a tech news uber-geek, as you can see. The News from 5by5 is also an excellent daily podcast that's less than 10 minutes for you to keep up with some tech news. ​

Sports and Hobbies

The Herd - Colin Cowherd is a genius in ​the sports world, in my opinion. It's basically the only sports podcast I listen to. He talks a little too much about USC, but I can get over that. 

Star Trek Comic Book Review - ​If you didn't think I was enough of a geek earlier, you do now. One of my hobbies is enjoying Star Trek, specifically Trek comic books. It's a cheap hobby and because I like Trek so much I can afford it. It's a pretty small niche too. 

The Retro League - Again with the geekiness. ​I love retro video games, games I played when I was a kid. It's fun rediscovering them and playing them again, and these guys give great commentary on retro gaming news. 

Other

Mac Power Users - David Sparks and Katie Floyd do a fantastic job of detailing apps and services that help me as a youth minister working on my Mac every day. If you have a Mac or iPad at all, check out this podcast. ​

Back To Work - Merlin Mann is one of my favorite funny people. And I don't even get half his jokes. His show on 5by5 is one of my favorites, because they talk about everything from shaving to apps for productivity. ​

The Ihnatko Almanac - Andy Ihnatko is a tech writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, but he's also a blogger and podcaster. I love his podcast where he basically talks about anything and everything - from movies to apps to tech and comic books. ​

Now that you have seen the podcasts that I enjoy, take a few moments to "hop" over to the other writers who are doing the same thing:

Adam Faughn has his podcast list here. ​

Robert Hatfield lists his podcasts here.

Daniel Howell shows you his playlist here.

QUESTIONS: Do you like the "blog hop" idea? What other podcasts do you recommend? Share your thoughts in the comments.