What Is Worship?

This series, written by a friend on his blog (The Christian Worldview), is well worth reading.

What Is Worship Pt1
What Is Worship? Pt2
What Is Worship? Pt3
What Is Worship? Pt4

Why Do We Get Angry?

Why is anger so pervasive? I want to suggest that the answer lies in the reality that we are made in the image of God, and God experiences anger. God’s anger is based on His holiness and His love. His holiness means that He is righteous in all of His thoughts and deeds, and His love means that He cares about the well-being of His creatures. When His creatures violate what He knows to be right, God experiences anger. This motivates Him to take constructive action. I believe our experience of anger is very similar.

More Than an Emotion
Anger is more than just an emotion. It involves the emotions, the body, the mind, and the will, all of which are stimulated by some event in the individual’s life. All people have some sense of fairness or rightness. When they encounter what they consider to be wrong, they experience anger. Anger is an indication that we are moral creatures. God made us, and we reflect His concern for righteousness. Anger is a friend, not an enemy.

Simply Being Human
Your spouse does something that you consider to be unkind or unfair, and you feel angry. Why? Because you are made in God’s image and when God encounters injustice, He too feels angry. You have a concern for right and when you encounter injustice, you feel angry. The purpose is to motivate you to take constructive action. The problem is that we often take destructive action and make things worse.

Another problem is that often our anger is distorted. That is, it is not based on actual wrong doing by our spouse, but rather some petty inconvenience. She forgot to take your shirts to the laundry. He showed up 30 minutes late for your dinner reservation. You are angry, but your spouse has committed no immoral act. They have simply been human. Forgetting is human. Your anger is real and needs to be shared, but it does not call for repentance on the part of your spouse. It calls for understanding.

Thankful for Anger?
Anger is not evil; anger is not sinful; anger is not a part of our fallen nature; anger is not Satan at work in our lives. Quite the contrary. Anger is evidence that we are made in God’s image, and He experiences anger because He is holy and loving. We should thank God for our capacity to experience anger. Thank God for anger, and then learn how to process it in a godly way.

Excerpt taken from Anger: Handling a Powerful Emotion in a Healthy Way by Gary Chapman. To find out more about Gary Chapman's resources, visit www.fivelovelanguages.com.

There are five love languages. What's yours? Take the 30-second quiz.

Couples for Marriage Enrichment Australia

Couples for Marriage Enrichment Australia is an organisation which exists to enhance and enrich the marital relationship between a man and a woman. Activities include weekend marriage enrichment retreats, shorter seminars and local support groups, training of marriage enrichment leader couples and the publication of regular newsletters. Some of these events are sponsored by community groups and churches.
For more information and to see how your marriage can be enriched, see their web-site www.bettermarriages.org.au

Are You Good or Are You Great?

Author: Heather Long

Would you call your relationship good or would you call it great? A great relationship isn't the product of a storybook tale that just happens when a fairy godmother waves her magic wand. They happen because you take charge and you make it happen. To have a great relationship, you need to be great.

The things you accomplish do not define greatness, but how you accomplish them makes a huge difference. So how can you be great in your relationship? First and foremost, does your spouse know where they stand with you? Do they feel adored? Do they know they come first? Do you tell them you don't have time for them? When you're great to your partner, they feel it and more often than not - they reciprocate it.

Selfish Patterns of Desire

As a species, we are naturally selfish. Our desires are strong - it's that selfish desire to be with our partners that likely flared when you first met them or began to date them. The need to please each other often meant giving in to each other's selfish desires, but part of building a great relationship comes from putting your partner first and squashing selfishness when it comes to deciding what course of action you will take.

In great marriages, your focus is on your partnership in all things. Those connections are not ignored in parenting decisions, financial decisions or career decisions. Your focus should not be on the temporal pleasures of the moment - yes, going out to the movies with your friends may seem like a fantastic time, but what does your spouse think? Do I mean you need to subjugate every decision to your spouse? No, but it's a form of courtesy, consideration and caring to ask them if they mind.

My husband enjoys going out with his co-workers and friends. But he doesn't make major plans without consulting me and often finding a way to include me if I want to go along. He is thinking of our partnership first, before his own desire. If I really wanted to do something at the same time with him or if there were plans that we wanted to go - say to the same film as a couple - that takes precedence over these other plans.

Don't Be Self-Centered

When you are self-centered in your marriage and your choices in that marriage, you tend to be very lonely. Selfishness is one of the worst flaws you can bring into a marriage and while selfishness is a necessary part of our existence, recognizing that it can hamper our relationships is an important step. Remember, selfish doesn't have to mean you are mean or mean-spirited, it just means you think of yourself first.

First and foremost, take a look at how you make your decisions and your choices - do you just go and do something, because asking for forgiveness is easier than asking permission?

That's selfish.

Do you make plans with your friends and your co-workers, but cite the need to work or other plans when your spouse does the same so you don't have to go with them?

That's selfish.

Do you decide what bills will get paid, choosing your own personal entertainments for the excess spending rather than compromising with your spouse on their choices?

That's selfish.

We're going to talk more about this trend for building a great marriage out of a 'good' one or an 'okay' one over the next few days - but take a look at how you make your choices and your decisions. Do you think about your spouse, do you ask for their input? Do you take that input seriously? Or are your decisions selfish?

Five Ways to Improve your Marriage

Author: Tom Tyndall (www.greatmates.org)

1. Listen. Actively.
We’re not kidding here. Research from PREP, Inc. says THE Number One Killer of marriages today is NOT LISTENING. Ever heard your spouse say, “Honey, you’re just not listening”? Then you are a carrier of this killer (so are Tom and Betty by the way). Even if you just ask your spouse, “What did you just hear me say?” and your spouse mouths back nearly word-for-word, “I heard you say that you were unhappy at work today because….”, just do that much and you’re working at listening. Most often we do not have to “fix” what is wrong with our partner, just try to understand how they feel about an incident. Want more help? Check out “The Floor” at www.prepinc.com.

2. Handle conflict safely.
Most people think that fighting, or even disagreeing, leads to divorce, so they work to avoid conflict. Research says the opposite. ALL couples (including the couples you admire most) have conflicts. The biggest predictor of divorce is the AVOIDANCE of conflict. Ironically, the biggest predictor of success in marriage is how you choose to handle conflict. There is a time to handle disagreements but it’s NOT when you face a deadline, are out in public, you’ve got an event staring you in the face or when you are tired or confused. Dates, fun times, romantic times are also NOT the time to solve conflicts or even discuss them. Schedule a calm time to solve a problem when you can give it full attention. Keep conflict time separate from other activities in your marriage or eventually you will dread being around each other.

Try to separate problem discussion from the time to work on problem solutions. We’ve also found, again research based, that hurried solutions to conflicts are often poor solutions. Most of us have lost the fine art of negotiating, a skill we need for getting a job, buying a car, raising teenagers or getting along with office colleagues and your spouse. You may even have to draw up your own list of rules (avoid yelling, profanity, getting off topic) and post them on the refrigerator if that helps.

3. Compliment and encourage each other.
It’s just too easy to pick on each other’s weaknesses or faults, but harder though more rewarding to say, “Hey, that’s a very creative idea!” “Boy, you did that well.” “I appreciate your sense of humor.” We thrive on compliments, which is different from flattery (”Wow, do you look great in THAT!” Flattery is okay at the right time). Most of us remember the compliments from friends, even total strangers, but we do well to hear affirmation first from our partner.

4. Have a weekly date.
Why does the wedding ceremony end the one activity that got you to the altar? You need dates even MORE after the wedding when chores, house duties, bills, eventually children, pets, and deadlines quickly take the time away. Keep a “Great Date” list if you have to of things you have loved doing together or would like to try. Betty and Tom have expanded this to even give permission once in a great while to ask for an “emergency date” with an hour’s notice, usually when one of us is exhausted and needing a meal out at a favorite restaurant. Consider also a weekend away as a couple or go on a marriage retreat together.

5. Surprise each other with treats.
Something as simple as a favorite coffee or tea, decoration, movie rental, or a brief book to read together says, “I’m thinking of you; I value you.”

Fifteen Ways to Say "I Love You" in 3 Minutes or Less

by Nancy J. Wasson, Ph.D.

To keep romance alive and nurture the intimacy in your marriage, you'll want to know a number of ways to express your feelings to your spouse. There are certainly times when you'll want to put a significant amount of time and energy into a project that shows your love for your spouse in a major way, such as planning a surprise birthday dinner party that includes family and friends or a new deck that you spend several weekends building.

But it's also important for you to know a number of smaller gestures you can make to convey loving feelings on a frequent basis. Little expressions of love and appreciation add up over time and can help ensure that your relationship will keep its special sparkle and glow.

Here are fifteen ways to say "I love you" that you can easily implement even during a busy work week:

1. Blow your spouse a kiss as you walk through the room. Smile, and let your eyes twinkle mischievously. You might remain silent, or you could say something such as, "Catch!" or "This is for you!"

2. Surprise your spouse by kissing the back of his (or her) neck as he sits in a low-backed chair that gives you easy access to his neck, such as a dining room chair or a computer chair. (For an extra reaction, you might lick his neck one or two strokes with your tongue after you kiss it)

3. Give her (or him) a brief neck and shoulder massage.

4. Leave a sweet message on his (or her) voice mail.

5. Send a short but sweet email. (Don't send your spouse a sexually explicit email at work. Save those for his or her personal email account.)

6. Write a one sentence note that describes a specific trait or quality that you love about your spouse, such as "I love your beautiful blue eyes that remind me of the sea." Or you could write, "I love your fabulous shoulder muscles that make you look so strong and sexy." Put this note in your spouse's purse, lunch, or brief case, or on his (or her) bed pillow.

7. Give your spouse a lingering, wet kiss, accompanied by a full body hug. (Many relationship gurus advocate that couples do this at least once every day.)

8. Hug your spouse and scratch her back at the same time. If you're lucky, your spouse will also scratch your back while you're scratching hers.

9. Give your spouse a compliment. Be specific, such as "You look great in that new pullover--I love how that color looks on you!"

10. Tell your spouse once specific thing you appreciate that he (or she) does. For example, you might say, "I really appreciate how hard you work to bring in extra income," or "You're a great dad--always so patient with the kids!"

11. When you're at the grocery store, pick up something special for your spouse--a favorite candy bar, a choice piece of fruit, a small plant, one long-stemmed rose, a special cheese, a festive balloon, etc. When you get home, say "I bought something special just for you because you're so special." Or wait until later and leave the item with an 'I love you" note for her (or him) to find.

12. Look for some little act or chore you can do for your spouse to make his (or her) life easier. For example, without asking, Lee will often empty the wastebasket in my office for me when he sees that it's full. Or I might offer to make a phone call for him to save him time on a busy day. These types of gestures say "I love you and want to show you that I care."

13. The next time that you have to buy a birthday card for someone, also buy five or six cards that your spouse would like. They might be romantic cards, thinking-of-you cards, or funny cards. Once every week or two, drop one in the mail to your spouse to arrive at the office or home, or leave a card in the car on the driver's seat or some other place for him (or her) to find.

14. When you get "take-home" food containers in a restaurant, later secretly take your spouse's container out of the refrigerator and decorate it. You might draw two hearts linked together with your names on the hearts and write "I love you" on her (or his) box.

15. Look for poems or song lyrics that you can give your spouse to communicate your loving feelings. Check out http://www.romantic-lyrics.com/ to find lyrics to beautiful love songs, love quotes, and romantic poems. You'll also find a great selection of love song lyrics at http://www.theromantic.com/lovesongs/main.htm .Just print out some of your favorites (use special paper to make it more special) and keep them back, ready to pull out and give your spouse with a note that says, "This expresses just how I feel about you."



About the Author
Nancy J. Wasson, Ph.D., is co-author of Keep Your Marriage: What to Do When Your Spouse Says "I don't love you anymore!" This is available at www.KeepYourMarriage.com, where you can sign up for a free weekly marriage advice newsletter. Dr. Wasson offers telephone and email coaching to spouses who want to overcome marriage problems and create a rewarding, loving marriage.

The Da Vinci Code:Fiction masquerading as fact

A response to The Da Vinci Code

Ipod Worship Resolves Music Preference Stress

Ipod Worship Resolves Music Preference Stress

Attributes of a Healthy Church

by Dr. Larry Taylor
A denominational official recently told me that 80 percent of his denomination’s churches in New England are dying, as indicated by steadily hemorrhaging attendance, an ever-increasing mean age of the members, a perceived lack of relevancy in the secular community at large, and the accompanying financial strain that comes from decline.

On the other hand, I had lunch recently with a pastor whose church is alive, vital, growing and vibrant. What makes the difference between the two? What does a healthy church look like? What are its characteristics and attributes? Just as there are symptoms of disease and decay, there are also symptoms - indications – of health in a church, viz.:

1. A healthy church studies the Bible. The reason God created and redeemed us by His Son’s vicarious death on Calvary’s cross is that we might know Him -- indeed, knowing Him is the primary purpose of life, without which we will never feel satisfied and complete. But we can only know Him through the revelation of His Word, so we study His Book -- all of it, verse by verse -- in order that we might know Him better every day. The primary responsibility of the shepherd, the senior pastor, is to teach the Bible to God’s people. Jesus said “feed my sheep,” and in the Old Testament God said His Word was wheat for our souls. In a healthy church, you will find congregants regularly studying the Bible together because they are deeply hungry to know God.

2. A healthy church is filled with people who pray. Paul said to pray without ceasing; Jesus said people ought always to pray; Samuel thought it a sin against God to not pray; King David cried to God day and night; Martin Luther prayed from 3 to 6 a.m. every morning. Every revival and movement of God in history was under-girded with faithful prayer-warriors who cried out to God day and night. Heaven sits still until earth prays, but where God’s people will call upon Him in earnest, He will answer in power.

3. A healthy church worships in Spirit and in truth. A misunderstanding often exists between those who prefer older hymns and those who prefer more modern choruses to be sung in worship. The fact is that both can be dead and cold, and either can be alive and vibrant. We can use many different kinds of songs in worship -- hymns, choruses, ancient and modern; and we can use all sorts of musical accompaniment -- organs, pianos, keyboards, guitars, drums, bass, brass, woodwinds, to play all different musical styles - folk, rock, jazz, classical, rap, and so on. People often think that if one group prefers choruses and another hymns, we should try to blend them or have different services with different kinds of music.While that may be helpful, eliminating hymns is not the goal -- the goal is heartfelt worship. A healthy church is a church where people pour out their hearts in adoration and praise of God, regardless of what kind of musical accompaniment is used. We do not want to eliminate hymns, we want to eliminate dead worship that does not move the heart and soul, and create a worship atmosphere where people will enter in and adore God fervently, emotionally, lovingly.

4. A healthy church is filled with people who love one another. Jesus said the earmark of discipleship is our love for each other; John said if we do not love each other, we are not truly followers of Christ; the early Christians were known for their reputation of loving each other. Biblical love is not a feeling, not a warm emotion, as we often think of love. Biblical love is action, it is not what we feel, it is what we do. If we feel warm and fuzzy toward someone but never do anything to express love, we do not love them, according to the Bible.

Conversely, if we feel nothing, or even a touch of repulsion toward another, but do practical things to help that person, we love them in the biblical sense. A healthy church is filled with people who care for each other, who surround one another with comfort, who telephone each other just to encourage, who pray for each other, who stop by to wash dishes, who take a shut-in for a drive in the country, who are warm and friendly to all, who fix a single mom’s car for her, read to someone whose eyesight is failing, put up storm windows for a neighbor, paint a house for someone who cannot afford to have it done, give someone a ride to a doctor’s appointment, baby-sit a couple’s children so they can have a date to enrich their marriage, who take strangers to lunch after church on Sunday, and have coffee in the morning with a new member. A healthy church is filled with people who express God’s love in small, everyday, practical, creative ways. When you walk into a healthy church on meeting day, you can feel the love in the air.

5. A healthy church is growing in numbers, not because adding more bodies is a goal, but because a healthy church is filled with people who love God so much that they want to share that love with others, so they are consequently involved in evangelism, outreach, missions and social ministry. A healthy church is filled with people who tell other people about Jesus - not about the church - no one is attracted to an institution, but about Jesus. Everyone needs Him -- not our programs -- Him!

In a healthy church, some people are regularly out on the streets telling passersby of the Savior who loves them, others are calling on old friends and sharing the gospel with them. Others are going on short-term mission trips to take God’s love to developing countries, still others financially support missionaries, while others help out in crusades and evangelistic outreaches of all sorts. Others visit strangers in hospitals and nursing homes to tell them of Christ, while others volunteer in soup kitchens, pregnancy centers, hospices and social service agencies so that they can let needy people know of the God who loves them unconditionally. In a healthy church, everyone has a burden, a burning desire, to see others know Jesus.

A healthy church is a Bible-learning church; a healthy church is a praying church; a healthy church is a worshipping church; a healthy church is a loving church; and a healthy church is an evangelizing church. How healthy would you say your church is? What can you do to make it healthier so it will join the ranks of the vibrant and alive and avoid the fate of the dying?

© 2001 by Lawrence Russell Taylor, Ph.D.

This essay may be reproduced and distributed freely without charge under the condition that it is reproduced and distributed without any changes, in its entirety, including this notice. While we appreciate feedback, we are unable to respond personally to all comments. The views and opinions herein expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other individual, group or organization. Dr. Taylor is the senior pastor of Calvary Church, located at 60 Hastings Street in Lowell, Massachusetts. Our phone number is: 978-459-9598.

Keeping Your Marriage And Its Blanket Of Love

by Rene Graeber

There is no secret to a perfect marriage. If marriage could give you a glimpse of heaven, it could give you as much of hell. There is even a famous saying where the perfect marriage can only be found between a deaf and a blind couple, because the deaf husband cannot hear the nagging of his wife, while the blind wife cannot see the shortcomings of her husband.

Of course, there are also those couples who are lucky enough to be soul mates. Being truly and deeply in love with each other is more than what most people could ask for in a relationship. But even love is not enough to sustain a relationship. There are other factors that come into play.
Why then do people get married? Is it to have a family? Is it to have someone to grow old with? Is it for wealth and security? All of these count, but there's a bigger reason. Marriage is when you give so much of yourself and yet, you feel whole.

Something as special as marriage should be nurtured forever. So what do couples need to keep it? Trust, love, respect, compassion, and patience are all important. But even the best marriages can run into trouble. This is because couples tend to take the simplest things for granted. Would you like to know some of these things? Then read on.

Proven tips for a happy marriage:

Point 1: Be independent.
Just because you marry, it doesn't mean you must embrace everything about your partner. Sometimes, you forget about how different you two are because you've been together for so long. Don't lose your uniqueness because it's the same thing that attracted both you and your partner in the first place. Try to take on different interests and encourage your partner to do so too.

Point 2: Never be angry at the same time.
When you're angry, you hear nothing else and you don't care about anything else. If you find that both you and your partner are angry, try to have some space. Calm down. Then talk. Be sensitive to each other's ups and downs. Talk through the problem and hear each other out. Abandon the whole world rather than each other. And never go to sleep without settling the argument. Most importantly, never yell at each other unless the house is on fire.

Point 3: If you have to disagree, do it lovingly.
There will be lots of times when you and your spouse won't agree at all in some aspects. Don't make your point sound like a criticism to your partner. It doesn't matter who is wrong or right. Always bear in mind that an argument doesn't need a winner or a loser.

Point 4: Never bring up mistakes of the past.
Whenever something goes wrong, do not rub past issues in. Don't dwell over the past such that you become blind with the wonderful things ahead of your relationship.

Point 5: At least once every day, try to say one thoughtful or complimentary thing to your partner.
When a couple always spends time with each other, they often forget about courtesy. "Take the trash out. Do the laundry." Isn't there something missing in those phrases? Perhaps putting "Please" before each sentence would make it sound so much better. Never take each other for granted.

Showing constantly that you both like each other will help keep your relationship fresh. Even something as simple as complementing on your spouse's looks or buying little unexpected gifts can help. Look for the things that would make your partner feel appreciated.

How do you live by the guidelines stated earlier? Lower your pride. But don't get me wrong. Pride is a good thing. It keeps your head high in public. It's not a bad thing to have pride in someone or something. But in private, when you're with your partner, keep the pride level down; because it becomes a wall your partner would have to overcome.

About the Author
How to Easily Transform a Miserable, Lifeless Marriage Relationship into One Filled With Love, Happiness, and Excitement - Just Visit: http://www.marriage-problems-advice-help.info

You Can Be Romantic

by Christos Varsamis

Why is it that so many people believe that they don't have time or take the initiative to be romantic? Maybe most people don't believe that they are creative enough to be romantic. Everyone is creative! The definition of being creative is having the ability or power to create. The word create offers a much broader definition than most people accept when it comes to the process of being able to come up with something original or simply well thought out.

Gifts that are considered to be traditionally romantic like candy and flowers are wonderful, but sometimes you need something that goes one step further. If your spouse enjoys flowers, you don't have to settle for roses because they can sometimes become unexciting after a while! Present him or her with something completely original such as a daisy or another flower where petals can be counted. Ask him or her to play the childhood game of 'they love me, they love me not' and watch them pluck the petals as they go. However, don't allow for the possibility of him or her arriving at the 'they love me not'. Count the petals before you present the flower to your spouse and trim it so that there is an odd number of petals for the right outcome!

Arts and crafts used to be a fun break from the monotony of the school day, but believe it or not, it will come in handy when it comes to creative romantic gestures. Instead of promising that you will love him or her forever, show them. Take a piece of paper, ribbon or other material you choose and write "I love you" on both sides from end to end. Twist the paper 180 degrees and connect both ends of the paper until you have mad what looks like the figure eight. Tape or glue to ends together. You can present your love with a symbol that shows them your love for them is an endless love.

Creativity comes in many different forms! Being creative can mean creating an atmosphere. If you want to plan the ultimate romantic evening but funds are low or you simply don't want to have to leave the house, shut down the electricity and imitate a power outage (it's up to you whether or not you tell him or her!). You won't have any distractions or heat, so it is up to both of you to keep the other warm and entertain each other.

Maybe romance is on your mind, but he or she is going out of town. Did you know that people on airplanes are typically hopeless romantics? Any flight attendant would be more than happy to make sure that your spouse receives a special present after the flight has left the ground. Simply approach a crewmember after he or she boards the plane and they are usually more than happy to oblige a hopeless romantic like you! (You might want to make sure that the gift is unwrapped or keep it to a single rose due to heightened security.)

Creativity doesn't have to come in the form of gifts every single time. Gestures like getting up and dancing with your spouse when a special song comes on the radio is quite creative and incredibly romantic! Whenever the mood strikes you, allow your creative juices to flow!

About the Author
Christos Varsamis is a Marketing Consultant at http://www.settinglifegoals.com

Better Worship - 12 marks of an effective music ministry

Author: Ken Davis

My first experience in music ministry happened fairly soon after
I first picked up a guitar at 15 years of age. I knew about 20
chords and could play a few songs from a new songbook titled
Scripture in Song. Fortunately most of the songs were in
guitar-friendly keys.

There were four of us who played guitar in a small country
Baptist church. I know one song we dreaded was "Rise and Shine"

('God said to Noah there's gonna be a floody floody...'). The
chords were simple, but the strumming rhythm was a real wrist
breaker.

After church we would retire to one of our homes and listen to
the latest Larry Norman or Randy Stonehill album, and try to
work out the chords and guitar licks. As Bryan Adams sang, 'I
played it till my fingers bled...those were the best days of my
life'. The songs were simple and we'd try and embellish them
with influences from progressive rock bands like Pink Floyd and
Yes. However there's a limit to what you can do with a $20 nylon
string guitar. Sometimes this went down well. At other times
some of the elders would warn us of the dangers of getting so
caught up in the music that we forgot the main game. In their
quirky country ways, they had a point.

In the years since then I have enjoyed being part of many
different music teams. My studies meant I moved around a fair
bit, so I was part of a number of churches. Some were well
resourced and it was a struggle to get to do what I loved,
whereas others were small and welcomed whatever help they got.

When the Willow Creek team first came to Australia I witnessed
what was possible with a dynamic, creative and well-resourced
team. However, my frustration was that the models of music
ministry I was seeing presented by big, well-resourced, upper
middle class churches was simply not achievable in the majority
of churches.

This sparked my interest in training and developing churches
without these kinds of resources. The problem was to distil from
20 years of experience 'what things really mattered'. What were
the issues that could make or break a music ministry, whether in
a mega church or a church struggling to survive as demographic
change followed its course?

Since then I've had the privilege of speaking with hundreds of
music ministers and team members here in Australia and from
overseas. From those conversations, these are what I believe are
the 12 "biggies" for creating an effective music ministry.

Notice that I said effective, not "successful". Many people
equate success with big budgets and large teams. An effective

music ministry can be one talented and gifted person doing what
they do in harmony with their church and surrounding community.

So here they are:

1. Music is valued as a gracious gift from God, given for our
enjoyment, as well as being a strategic tool for strengthening
believers and reaching unbelievers.

2. The ministry team should have a biblical understanding of the
nature of worship, music, church and Christian experience.

3. Music ministry takes place in the context of a church with a
shared understanding of its purpose and mission.

4. The music team are servants with a clear understanding and a
passionate commitment to the part they play in that mission.

5. The music ministry is a team who: a. work together towards
common goals. b. love and support one another. c. deal
biblically and appropriately with conflict. d. have clear,
mutually agreed, written standards explaining what is expected
of members. e. receive regular training and teaching in
theology, practical musicianship and teamwork.

6. Music takes place in the context of prayerfully and carefully
planned services with an emphasis on cultural relevance,
excellence, biblical content, personal authenticity and
vulnerability.

7. Music team leaders are involved in the planning and
programming of services and special events.

8. The repertoire is regularly and systematically reviewed to:
a. assess its content, ease of singing and relevance. b.
evaluate and recommend new songs before they enter the
repertoire.

9. The music ministry has adequate financial support within the
church's existing resources.

10. Human resources are used effectively and supplemented by
appropriate use of technology such as CD's, DVD's MIDI or
backing tracks where required.

11. The church supports and encourages local and "lesser known"
writers by using their material where possible and helping them
to develop skills and access training opportunities.

12. The music ministry obeys the letter and the spirit of the
law regarding copyright and performance rights.

I've distilled these into a quick assessment you can use to see
where you and your church are at in terms of ministry. You can
download this assessment as a PDF document here. It will give
you 60 quick ideas to improve your music ministry.

http://www.insideoutmusic.net/products/12_marks.html

About the author:
Ken Davis is a songwriter, guitarist and music producer who
also sings badly. He has been involved in music ministry since
1977 and currently serves in the music ministry at Dapto
Anglican Church in Australia. You can get plenty of Music
Ministry resources at www.insideoutmusic.net including free sheet music, MIDI files and training materials.

Is it Time to Call an IT Expert?

Finding the right IT expert can save you lots of time, money and heartache down the track.

Establishing a Relationship with an Expert can bring Peace of Mind
When it comes to making important decisions about technology, small business owners often find themselves in a difficult position. Many lack the time to thoroughly research solutions that could benefit their operations. But they also lack the resources to dedicate staff to information technology (IT) matters.
So what often happens is the small business owner takes the advice of friends and relatives ... or does nothing.
A better alternative is to find an IT expert with experience helping small businesses address their technology needs. And that can be a challenge. Many consulting firms focus on larger enterprises where commitment to IT is often stronger — and revenue potential greater.
However that is changing as more technology providers are focusing on the small business market and developing partner networks to ensure support for the solutions they're providing to small businesses.

Signs You Need an IT Expert
There are some obvious signs that your business needs IT help:
• Downtime from increasingly frequent computer crashes is seriously affecting productivity
• Employees who think they know how to fix problems are actually creating new problems
• You've patched together several different systems and they aren't working well together
• You know your business could benefit from a technology upgrade but you have no idea where to begin

If you've decided you need to bring in professional IT help, you have a couple of choices on how to proceed. Short-term, you could locate an IT expert to fix what is broken and perhaps set up a maintenance contract to help avoid similar problems in the future. This may be an appropriate scenario if technology isn't central to your business operations.
However, you may want to take a longer term approach and develop a true "partnership" with an IT expert who specialises in small business. That way you get assistance with your immediate concerns. At the same time, the expert will get to know you and how your business operates. Together you can develop and implement — as resources permit — an IT strategy that fulfills your vision of where you want to take your business.

Finding the Right Expert
There are various qualifications to consider when you select an IT expert to partner with. But all things being equal, it may come down to your best instincts about who is the right fit for your business. You want to develop a long-term relationship with someone you can trust will do what is best for your business. You are hiring a technology expert because you don't have the time and/or the expertise to investigate solutions yourself. That means you need to convey what you want to achieve, what your budget allows — and in the end you'll have to be able to trust the recommendations your IT expert makes.

Here are other considerations as you interview IT experts:

Referrals — You may be reluctant to take technology advice from friends and relatives, but it never hurts to ask for referrals from trusted business colleagues who are satisfied with their IT experts. It's a good place to begin your search.

Location — With the internet it is possible to problem-solve technology issues from thousands of miles away. But not everyone is comfortable with that arrangement. You need to decide whether you would prefer to find a local expert who is available to come on-site.

Expertise — IT experts who specialise in working with small businesses have experience working with solutions designed for small businesses. They also understand the resource constraints that small businesses typically face. As you talk to potential experts, ask about their knowledge of operations similar to yours; some may specialise by industry. Also enquire about certifications in products you currently use or are likely to consider. If you use line-of-business applications, enquire about the expert's background working with these as well.

Support — If you are seeking a long-term arrangement, make sure the prospective experts you talk to understand that. Find out if they are able to train and support your team as they learn a new system. Are they available around the clock if you need them to be? If you're working with a small firm, is there adequate backup so your needs are met during vacations or illness?
In the end, what you are after is peace of mind. Make sure your IT expert can deliver it.

Site Planning is Crucial! By Werner Coetzee

If you are thinking about, or you are in the process of creating a new site, you will most definitely find this article interesting and maybe even inspiring. Actually the term 'interesting' is not quite what I thought as I slowly and painfully reconstructed the pages on my mother's website several times over.

I wanted to create a site that was going to be both incredibly user friendly and informative, and at the same time earn a bit of revenue from Google Adsense! Why not?

So with this great little idea, I blindly set off and started to create what was going to be a online resource of complimentary recipes on www.mom2me.com.

This brings me to my biggest and most costly mistake ever. Lack of planning!

I cannot stress the importance of this aspect enough. I would have saved myself literally weeks, if not months, by simply sitting down with a piece of paper and planning my layout carefully.

In all fairness to myself, I must say that I am not a site designer by any stretch of the imagination, but was rather finding my way around the wonderful world of web design and pain by an uncalculated process of trial and error.

In summary: Plan, plan and then plan some more.

If you still doubt why I stress the importance of planning, I will explain in practical terms what happened to me in the creation of my site. If this doesn't bring the message home, nothing will!

Scripts in the Header section of your site. As I mentioned earlier, I really wanted to make the site simple and easy to navigate. All the recipes on the site should be easy to copy, paste, mail to a friend and even bookmark.

Well, this is where my first blunder crept in. I decided to make use of some great little scripts on the site to enable users to mail recipes to friends at the touch of a button and also bookmark the page rather effortlessly.

The scripts were really simple to incorporate, but after doing about 100 recipes, I read an article explaining the dangers of adding 'full' scripts in the header section of your pages. I learnt that by adding to many scripts in this section of the page makes it difficult for the 'bots' to read the content and that it could adversely effect your Page rank and Search engine placing.

This is not a good idea as you might imagine and thus I spent several days rewriting every single page and placing the scripts into separate JavaScript files. This was not the last time I did this!

Search Facility I really wanted to make it easy for visitors to be able to search for content on my site but I decide to leave that as a phase two of my development. Mistake!

After stumbling across Google's great 'search my site" facility I decided to add it to my site. Great idea, but due to the fact that I didn't add proper Meta Keywords on every page I had a small problem to overcome.

Yep you guessed it. I had to redo every single page on the site yet again. Ouch!

The base tag functionality Deciding to make use of the base tag functionality within Dream Weaver was a great idea to simplify my designing process, but...

When finely it was time to create my sitemap I suddenly realized that I had countless (almost a hundred) broken links and although it was my own stupidity I still had to re-do almost all my links, on all my pages. Watch out for this. It is an absolute spirit crusher!

My advise, make use of the full URL in all your links on all your pages i.e. http://www.mom2me.com/promo.htm

Site Navigation I have left the best for last. Due to a complete and utter lack of proper planning, I realized that I omitted a section of the site for people to sign up for my Newsletter.

As everybody who has probably ever done a site knows, this is a crucial part of your site. Whether you are selling directly from your site or whether you plan to do mailing campaigns at a later stage with some marketing material on them, it is crucial to collect as many e-mail addresses as possible, as often as possible.

Well, this forced me to redo the very basics of my pages and ... yup redo every single page again.

Now, by now you might feel sorry for me or you might just feel that I am a complete and utter idiot. Regardless of your feelings, I think that from this very practical example it is abundantly obvious that a lack of proper planning will only lead to heart ache and countless sleepless nights. (I think I actually have even less hair!)

Plan your site carefully and live happily ever after!


About the Author
Werner Coetzee Apprentice Site Owner and Designer http://www.mom2me.com

Optimizing Adsense™ By User Behaviour

By Richard Warren

If web surfers behaved all alike, if there were strict patterns in users' behaviour, wouldn't all publishers be on a sunny beach right now, with a fancy-colored cocktail, worring not about AdSense™ optimization matters?

Web user's behaviour depends on two main groups of variables: the user-related one and the website-related one.

A) User-related Behavior Variables

Though people react very differently at various stimuli, we can identify some peculiarities specific to web surfers. The behaviour is much like yours. Have you considered watching your own actions while surfing on the web? This might help if you want to improve your site's appeal to readers, especially if you sell something or if you want your visitors to click on your ads.

Several groups of variables that influence users' behaviour can be identified:

* Components of the mental processes involved while searching and browsing on the Internet: attention, awareness, language, mental imagery etc.
* The behavior of websurfers is influenced also by their subjective approach to matters, determined by temperamental characteristics, such as mood, patience and their purpose and degree of interest.
* Also, users act differently varying with how used they are to web surfing.

Let's see how we can tweak our websites to turn these to our advantage (and turn visitors into “clickers”):

1. Mental processes

Attention - The web designer keeps the tools to direct readers' attention. A simple design, without unnecessary loading will prevent the reader from being distracted by unimportant elements. The ads placement must be done strategically, in a place impossible to overlook (recommended in the first paragraph, usually in the upper-left area). Pictures and graphics are considered attention-grabbers and will also be considered when choosing your ads' placement.

Awareness - This is a very debated topic. Opinions differ on readers' ads awareness. Some sustain that the more blended into content, the better, others say that this formatting will induce the readers the feeling of being “tricked” into clicking on ads, which they resent. I incline to say that blend-in ads work only for very well targeted ads, coming naturally as if belonging to the content. Positioning ads outside the content area would be effective mostly with advertising that builds brand awareness, based on image impressions.

Mental Imagery - Again, a pleasant, uncluttered design, a balanced look of the page contribute to a positive perception of the page from the part of the reader and to a more open state of mind. A professional layout is important. It inspires confidence, people don't want to purchase from a just any backyard business.

2. Subjectiveness

Patience - A golden rule: don't abuse your readers' patience (for they usually don't have one)! Web pages must load quickly, ads must not be placed in readers' way and should be kept to a reasonable number.

Purpose and Mood - Are more related to the topic of your site and the type of content you publish. The idea is that users' purpose and mood can be influenced by copy.

Degree of Interest - Besides relevant, good content, that answers questions, the reader's interest is influenced by involvement and interaction. Keep your reader involved, integrate your ads into an interaction environment: these will work wonders on your CTR.

3. User's Degree of Acquaintace with Web Surfing

Net savvy users have developed certain immunities, such as ad-blindness. These are less likely to click on any ads. Customizing ads for this type of readers means harder work; the result must be ads of high relevance (and remarkable ad texts!), with an aspect as close to the rest of the page as possible, as if they were a natural continuation of your ideas. Important! avoid default formats.

B) Site-related Variables

The type of the site and the topic attract visitors with different interests with different behavioral patterns.

1. Site Type — Readers vs Browsers

Whether the visitor is a “reader” or a “scanner/browser” depends also on the site type — content and topic. Generally, readers are regular visitors while “scanners” are the ones who look for information and will not spend too much time on the same site. Site topic and content are most times factors in bringing more “uniques” or more regular visitors. Though not as a rule, these apply to many sites:

Sites Attracting Unique Visitors - These are mostly commercial sites, content sites. Statistics say that unique visitors are more likely to be your clickers, for regular readers are more used to your pages' look and your ads. Contextual advertising works well with these sites. If you're headed for unique visitors, make your site “SE-friendly”. They come mostly from search engines and are said to be “pre-qualified” clickers. So, your efforts should be directed towards keywords and keyword phrases optimization. The ideal would be to go beyond the technicalities, that is finding out what are the most searched for keywords in your area of preoccupations and try to find out why these are popular, try to find a behavioral pattern. This can be achieved by statistics and analysis. Find out some niches in your area and the users' behaviour within them — that is, lists of searches and then see what is it customers want. This will solve your puzzle and give you exact hints towards what works best for your site. Keep in mind: unique visitors are mostly "browsers". Use ad placement and ad customization techniques that apply best for this type of users.

Sites with Regular Visitors - These are mostly forums, blogs and news sections (though news are somewhere in between). If you own sites with many bookmarks, that attract especially repeat visitors, then either you will be very imaginative in customizing your ads and finding new ways to interest your readers into clicking or if not the case, better use CPM based advertising. Brand bulding/reinforcement advertising works better in this case.

2. Site Theme Relates to Visitor's Mood and Purpose

Commercial Sites - Sites selling and promoting products are more suitable for CPC advertising. By their specific, this type of site will attract visitors looking for a specific product/service/business opportunity. Thus, users are more in a buying mood, are looking for a way to spend their money profitably. These are clickers.

Content Sites, Blogs, Forums - Unless you market specific products, your readers will land on your page without the express purpose of buying something. However, you can influence your reader's mood and needs thru witty, sales-directed copywriting. You just need to know some basic things that sell. One is that people are more likely to buy from persons they know, like and trust.

So, what will help you build these? Good content and structure. Especially with content sites, these are fundamental issues to focus on (unlike commercial sites that focus more on products). Good content, profesionally written and formatted for the web, containing information that is of high interest and relevance for the reader, within an easily manageable structure and good targeting on a specific theme are imperatives. On one hand these mean bulding confidence, the first step in selling. On the other hand they will attract well-targeted ads, more likely to interest your reader.

Great content will give you credit to your reader. Once you've gained trust, it's easy to direct your readers: you just give recommendations and the results will appear. (Avoid being too explicit in recommendations, though — for example, directing readers towards clicking on ads is against AdSense™ Program Policies.)

With blogs and forums, it is a different story. Not all forums and blogs are accepted for AdSense™ (or even if accepted, they must be also profitable). Only genuine, specifically-themed blogs and forums, with highly interesting content are suitable. These conditions being fulfilled, forums and blogs are perfect as a source of advertising money — they have what is very difficult for others to achieve: reader's trust, liking and involvement.

About the Author: http://www.adsensehowtos.com is a complete how to guide where you can find practical advice on boosting your CTR and Google Adsense revenue.

Source: www.isnare.com

Web Design: Photograph Copyright Issues

By Teve Torbes

When designing a web page, you need to be careful about what pictures you use. Many people simply grab them off Google - they see a picture they like, and they put it on their web site. Unfortunately, copyright law protects the person who took the picture as the owner - if you’re not careful you could end up facing a lawsuit.

Copyright law gives rights to anyone whose creativity results in some expression - in the case of photographs, that means the photographer. If you don’t have express permission to use a picture or image on your site, you ought to be careful about doing so. Someone, somewhere, probably owns it, and they may not be too happy if they find it on your site. Many webmasters find out the hard way - they use hundreds of pictures, straight from google, without dealing with the owner. They end up facing a suit, forced to defend it or pay much more money than they made running their site back to the owner.

It’s actually relatively simple to avoid this whole mess. There are entire web sites designed to sell stock photos for web design purposes - just go to IstockPhoto or one of the other sites that sells them for cheap. You’ll pay a buck or two, but you’ll be secure knowing your site will never be shut down for violating the law. That kind of peace of mind is probably going to be worth a few bucks, and it also means you can know that any money you make off your web site design will stay in your hands.

About the Author: Teve Torbes is an important article writer guy. He has web sites, including http://www.fleascontrol.com/flea-medicine.htm, and its less impressive relatives, http://www.fleascontrol.com/frontline-flea.htm and http://www.fleascontrol.com/frontline-flea-spray.htm.

Source: www.isnare.com

Basic Guitar Chords:How to Easily Master the Guitar Chords You Must Know

by Peter Bussey
One of the first challenges faced by the advancing guitar player is learning a core group of basic guitar chords. Why is it so important to learn these basic chords? Chords form the backbone of most rock and pop songs, and provide the harmonic accompaniment to the melody and instrumental solos.
Rhythm guitar based on basic chords provides many of the most memorable rock riffs... think AC/DC's "Back in Black" or The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again". What's really amazing is that by learning no more than 10 to 15 basic guitar chords, you will be equipped to play thousands of rock and pop songs!
What is a Guitar Chord?
First let's establish the definition of a chord. A chord is three or more different musical notes played together. In the case of the guitar, this means that at least three strings are strummed or plucked simultaneously to sound three or more notes. Since the guitar has six strings, the maximum numbers of notes in a guitar chord is six. All chords can be placed in one of three groups based on the musical structure of the chord: Major, Minor, or Seventh. Each of these chord groups has its own "sound" or "feel". Major chords sound stable and complete. Minor chords can evoke a more somber or pensive mood, and Seventh chords are jazzy and somewhat incomplete sounding.
There is no standard list of "basic guitar chords" that every one agrees to. However, there is general agreement that there is a list of somewhere between 8 and 18 basic guitar chords (open string) that every guitarist must know cold. These chords are used in all musical styles from rock and pop to country, jazz, and classical. No matter where you are on your guitar-playing path, you should take the time to learn and master the basic chords. Getting these right will ensure you have the basic tools and skills to learn many songs and increase your playing enjoyment.
The List of Basic Guitar Chords
So what are the basic guitar chords? Our basic stable includes the major and minor chords from four common musical keys, A,G,C, and D. They are played as "open chords", that is at least one string in the chord is not fretted (pressed down with a finger). Open chords are easier to learn and play than more advanced chords such as Barre chords, or complex chords further up the guitar neck. Our list of basic major and minor chords is:
A Major (or A), A Minor (or Am), C, D, Dm, E, Em, F, G
These chords can be best learned as chord "families" (by key) that can be combined into great-sounding chord sequences that make up lots of popular songs. Using this chord family approach is much more interesting and useful than just memorizing a bunch of chords in random order!
These chords grouped by chord family (key) are as follows:
A Family (Key of A): A, D, E D Family (Key of D): D, Em, G, A G Family (Key of G): G, Am, C, D, Em C Family (Key of C): C, Dm, Em, F, G
Tips for Learning the Basic Chords:
1. Pick a Chord Family and master it. This will give you quick success and let you play great sounding progressions right away.
2. Use a Guitar Chord Chart as a reference tool. A chord chart shows each chord as an easy to read "chord diagram" with exact finger positions. See this example of a chart of basic guitar chords.
3. Find the chords and lyrics for an easy song that is based on the chord family so you can apply your skills. Many great songs are based on only three chords!
4. Ensure each string sounds right. Take care to make sure that each string is sounding clearly, and that only the strings that should be played are played.
5. Practice, practice, practice! Every day, practice continually change from one chord to another until you can do it rapidly. Learn the chord families one at a time.
6. Master all the basic chords first. Only then move on to Barre chords and other more complex chords. First things first!
7. Expand with 7th chords. As a next step you can easily expand on your basic chord knowledge by adding 7th and minor 7th chords based on the nine basic major and minor chords.
8. Have fun using your new skills! Enjoy your musical ability by applying it to learning a small set of 5-10 songs you know really well and can confidently play at any time.
About the Author
Peter Bussey has been an avid guitar player for over 10 years. In 2004 he became Editor of The Guitar Players Toolbox, a website dedicated to helping advancing guitar players improve with practical tools, tips, and information. Visit http://www.guitar-players-toolbox.com for a variety of free, practical resources such as guitar chords, guitar chord charts, song chords, and much more.

How To Make Attractive And Effective Powerpoint Presentations

By Shahul Ameen

Microsoft PowerPoint has dramatically changed the way in which academic and business presentations are made. This article outlines few tips on making more effective and attractive PowerPoint presentations.

THE TEXT

• Keep the wording clear and simple. Use active, visual language. Cut unnecessary words – a good rule of thumb is to cut paragraphs down to sentences, sentences into phrases, and phrases into key words.

• Limit the number of words and lines per slide. Try the Rule of Five - five words per line, five lines per slide. If too much text appears on one slide, use the AutoFit feature to split it between two slides. Click within the placeholder to display the AutoFit Options button (its symbol is two horizontal lines with arrows above and below), then click on the button and choose Split Text Between Two Slides from the submenu.

• Font size for titles should be at least 36 to 40, while the text body should not be smaller than 24.

• Use only two font styles per slide - one for the title and the other for the text. Choose two fonts that visually contrast with each other. Garamond Medium Condensed and Impact are good for titles, while Garamond or Tempus Sans can be used for the text body.

• Embed the fonts in your presentation, if you are not sure whether the fonts used in the presentation are present in the computer that will be used for the presentation. To embed the fonts: (1) On the File menu, click Save As. (2) On the toolbar, click Tools, click Save Options, select the Embed TrueType Fonts check box, and then select Embed characters in use only.

• Use colors sparingly; two to three at most. You may use one color for all the titles and another for the text body. Be consistent from slide to slide. Choose a font color that contrasts well with the background.

• Capitalizing the first letter of each word is good for the title of slides and suggests a more formal situation than having just the first letter of the first word capitalized. In bullet point lines, capitalize the first word and no other words unless they normally appear capped. Upper and lower case lettering is more readable than all capital letters. Moreover, current styles indicate that using all capital letters means you are shouting. If you have text that is in the wrong case, select the text, and then click Shift+F3 until it changes to the case style that you like. Clicking Shift+F3 toggles the text case between ALL CAPS, lower case, and Initial Capital styles.

• Use bold or italic typeface for emphasis. Avoid underlining, it clutters up the presentation.

• Don't center bulleted lists or text. It is confusing to read. Left align unless you have a good reason not to.

• Run “spell check” on your show when finished.

THE BACKGROUND

• Keep the background consistent.

• Simple, light textured backgrounds work well. Complicated textures make the content hard to read.

• If you are planning to use many clips in your slides, select a white background. If the venue of your presentation is not adequately light-proof, select a dark-colored background and use any light color for text.

• Minimize the use of "bells and whistles" such as sound effects, "flying words" and multiple transitions.

• Don’t use red in any fonts or backgrounds. It is an emotionally overwhelming color that is difficult to see and read.

• Many free templates are available for download at http://www.brainybetty.com/MENUPowerPoint.htm and http://www.soniacoleman.com/templates.htm .

THE CLIPS

• Animations are best used subtly; too much flash and motion can distract and annoy viewers.

• Do not rely too heavily on those images that were originally loaded on your computer with the rest of Office. You can easily find appropriate clips on any topic through Google Images. While searching for images, do not use long search phrases as is usually done while searching the web - use specific words.

• When importing pictures, make sure that they are smaller than 2 megabytes and are in a .jpg format. Larger files can slow down your show.

• Keep graphs, charts and diagrams simple, if possible.

• Use bar graphs and pie charts instead of tables of data. The audience can then immediately pick up the relationships.

THE PRESENTATION

• If you want your presentation to directly open in the slide show view, save it as a slide show file using the following steps.

1. Open the presentation you want to save as a slide show.
2. On the File menu, click Save As.
3. In the Save as type list, click PowerPoint Show. Your slide show file will be saved with a .pps file extension.

When you double-click on this file, it will automatically start your presentation in slide show view. When you're done, PowerPoint automatically closes and you return to the desktop. If you want to edit the slide show file, you can always open it from PowerPoint by clicking Open on the File menu.

• Look at the audience, not at the slides, whenever possible.

• If using a laser pointer, don’t move it too fast. For example, if circling a number on the slide, do it slowly. Never point the laser at the audience.

• Black out the screen (use “B” on the keyboard) after the point has been made, to put the focus on you. Press the key again to continue your presentation.

• You can use the shortcut command [Ctrl]P to access the Pen tool during a slide show. Click with your mouse and drag to use the Pen tool to draw during your slide show. To erase everything you've drawn, press the E key. To turn off the Pen tool, press [Esc] once.

MISCELLANEOUS

Master Slide Set-Up

The "master slide" will allow you to make changes that are reflected on every slide in your presentation. You can change fonts, colors, backgrounds, headers, and footers at the "master slide" level.

1. First, go to the "View" menu.
2. Pull down the "Master" menu.
3. Select the "slide master" menu.
You may now make changes at this level that meet your presentation needs.

Preparing the Handout

In PowerPoint, choose File Send To Microsoft Word. In the Send To Microsoft Word dialog box, choose Outline only to create a text-only document, and click on OK. Minor modifications on this document will give you a handout that can be distributed to the audience.

Create visually appealing slides by adhering to these tips, to ensure that the audience is not distracted from the points you have to make.

About the Author: Dr. Shahul Ameen, M.D. is a Psychiatrist based in Ranchi, India. He edits http://www.psyplexus.com and http://mind.in

Source: www.isnare.com

Intro To Voice Over Internet Protocol -- Save Money With Every Phone Call

By Ron King

You've probably heard about Voice over Internet Protocol (abbreviated VoIP or VOIP). It is one of the hottest computer technologies today.

VoIP was developed to provide voice communication between computer users at different locations. Although still used in this manner, it's been developed much further -- into a full-fledged telephone network that allows us to place telephone calls through the Internet.

People who use VoIP can place calls to any telephone anywhere in the world. The calls are received on telephone sets connected to the Internet or Local Area Network (LAN). VoIP is already replacing some telephone networks with people and businesses canceling their traditional phone lines in favor of the cost savings of VoIP.

Background

Israeli computer enthusiasts were the first to make computer-to-computer voice connections back in 1995. That same year, the technology was further developed into a software package called Internet Phone Software. All you needed to speak with another computer user then was a modem, sound card, speakers, and microphone.

The software digitized and compressed audio signals before sending them over the Internet. These voice connections only occurred between computers equipped with the software. The original sound quality was very poor.

Technology progressed. By 1998 gateways had been established allowing PC-to-phone connections. Later that year phone-to-phone connections using the Internet for voice transmission were in place. Phone-to-phone connections still required a computer to initiate the call, but once the connection was established, callers could use a standard phone set.

That Was Then -- This Is Now

There are now a variety of VoIP services available, for both residential and commercial use. Some continue to rely on PC-to-PC connections, but may also offer PC-to-phone and phone-to-phone services.

There are phones that plug into a sound card or USB port of a computer. These phones may have number pads and ringers that allow you to use them just like conventional telephones. The computer can even be bypassed completely by connecting a phone directly to a broadband modem (either DSL or cable).

How Does VoIP Work?

The first step in using VoIP is converting your voice into digital data. This is done by 'sampling' your voice. The analog sound signal is divided into distinct steps that can be assigned number values. After your voice is digitized, the data can be compressed.

The compressed digital data is then split into 'packets' of about 1500 bytes that can be transferred via the Internet. In addition to voice data, the packets contain information about their origin, destination, and a time-stamp that permits a reconstruction in the exact order. When the packets arrive at their destination, the data are reassembled and converted back to analog. The receiving party then -- voila -- hears your voice.

A broadband Internet connection, however, is needed to speed up voice data transmission. Many households and businesses are already using broadband, either DSL or cable, which makes adding VoIP fairly simple.

So, if saving money is on your To Do list for this year, check out VoIP.

About the Author: Ron King is a full-time researcher, writer, and web developer. Visit http://www.voip-solutions-now.com to learn more about this subject. Copyright 2005 Ron King.

Source: www.isnare.com

What Is Adware?

By Tim Henry

Adware is one of many "malwares" or malicious software programs that are unknowingly installed on your computer when you visit online sites and download freebies. When you use share files or visit sites with free downloads of wallpaper, videos, or music, some of these sites will send along adware software with your download.

These malwares are a rapidly growing threat to all computer systems. It is estimated that in the first three months of 2005 over 80% of computer users had some type of malware software program running on their computer, without their knowledge.

Although it is much less a threat to your computer and information than spyware is, what adware will do is cause pop up banners and advertisements to appear on your computer. These advertisements are displayed on your computer no matter what program you might be using. What the people who place this type of nuisance software on you computer say is that adware advertising helps them to recover costs and allows them to offer you those freebies you want.

What you want to do to stop adware from appearing on your computer is to first run an anti-adware program. Run this program on demand regularly. Along with an anti-adware software program run your regular computer virus scan on demand also.

Check the security level on your computer. You security level setting should be at least medium to help protect you from unwanted downloads.

Do not download free files from the internet, period. When downloading any software read the end-user license agreement. Some of these agreements will state that when you download their software you are also agreeing to accept a downloaded spyware that may be placed on your computer at the same time.

Be aware of threats to your computer, and your personal information.

About the Author: This article courtesy of http://www.adware-eliminator-guide.net

Source: www.isnare.com