Learning & Sharing at MoRanch Men’s Conference 2016

God, Jesus

This weekend I was greatly blessed to again attend and participate in the 2016 MoRanch Men’s Conference. This is the largest annual gathering of Presbyterian men in the United States, and was the 65th year of the conference. Looking back on my blog posts, I confirmed that this was about my 7th or 8th time to attend the conference. My first year was 2007, when I wrote the post “Compatibility between science and faith” following the keynote presentations of Dr. Dan Foster. That post reveals I took 22 pages of handwritten notes at the conference! Yikes! I certainly haven’t done that in awhile. I also recorded a 30 minute audio podcast reflection on what I learned at the conference using the web service and app gcast.com. Unfortunately, that web 2.0 service is now offline, and I never copied/backed up that audio recording, so apparently those recorded digital thoughts are lost to history. Thankfully I don’t think that represents a great historical loss, but it’s still a bit of a bummer and a reminder to me of the importance of locally saving and preserving digital audio files recorded on third-party servers.

The wifi connectivity at MoRanch this year was better than ever, and both of the sessions I presented as well as attended were in the “Trull classrooms” below the main registration building. They are equipped with built-in ceiling mounted projectors as well as wifi connectivity, so I was able to tweet my learning at the conference as I’m now in the habit of doing at educational technology conferences. This afternoon on our 8 hour car trek home to Oklahoma City, I created a Storify archive of my tweets and retweets, which I mostly shared from my Christian twitter channel @eyesrightblog. I also shared a few tweets during the weekend from my primary @wfryer Twitter channel.

Before embedding that Storify archive, I’ll note that a big highlight of this weekend was getting to know Steve Bickley better. Steve works for the amazing Museum of the Bible. It will open in Washington DC in November 2017 just blocks away from the US Capitol and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, but has its headquarters in Oklahoma City. Steve is in our Sunday School Class, and shared several sessions at MoRanch this year about the museum.

I shared a session at MoRanch this year I titled, “Pocket Share Jesus.” The slides and an audio recording of my second session yesterday in the afternoon are available on my “Digital Witness for Jesus Christ” book project website.

I’m very thankful that I was elected again to the MoRanch Men’s Conference Council for another 3 years as well. We have a fall planning session each year at the ranch, and I look forward to continuing to participate in that and bring Shelly down with me as well.

Praise God for another great weekend of worship and fellowship at MoRanch!

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Narrated Sermon Sketchnote on Psalms 3

focus, God, prayer, struggles

This is a sketchnote and narrated Sketchnote I created today in church as Lee Schmidt preached on Psalms 3:

“Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side. Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭3:1-8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

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Children’s Musical Sketchnote

God, identity, kids, sketchnotes

Kids in our church‘s Children’s Ministry Department shared a wonderful musical during our worship service today called, “I Am a Friend of God.” I created a sketchnote during the performance highlighting some of the key ideas, and also recorded a short “live clip” of the kids singing one of the songs using Ferrite Recording Studio on my iPad. I was able to import that audio clip into iMovie for iPad this evening when I recorded the accompanying voice narration. I created the sketchnote and sketchnote replay video using ProCreate.

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Psalm 2 Narrated Sketchnote: Remember The Lord Reigns

discipleship, focus, God, sketchnotes

This is my sermon sketchnote and narrated sketchnote from today’s sermon on Psalm 2:

“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭2:1-12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

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Palm Sunday Narrated Sermon Sketchnote

Jesus, sketchnotes

This morning our sermon was on Matthew 21:1-11, when Jesus gave instructions to his disciples to make preparations for his entry into Jeruselem before Passover. Jen Howat shared the sermon and challenged us to be alert and watchful for the ways Jesus is prodding us to take action and follow him. This is a short narrated sermon sketchnote I created with Procreate and iMovie on my iPad.

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Pocket Share Jesus #MoRanch2016 Workshop Proposal

evangelism, Jesus, sketchnotes, technology

This year during the first weekend in May, I’ll make my annual pilgrimage to the Hill Country of Texas to participate in the Mo Ranch Men’s Conference. This is the largest gathering of Presbyterian men in the United States every year, and it’s become an important weekend of both fellowship and renewal for me. My dad will not be able to come with me this year, unfortunately. The years I’ve been able to attend the conference with him have been some of my favorite memories in recent times.

I am going to share a workshop this year which continues the book and media sharing project, “Digital Witness 4 Jesus Christ.” Since most of the conference attendees are older men, however, it’s vital I choose a session title and focus which is not intimidating or scary. Otherwise (as I’ve learned in past years) not many men will come to the session.

Here’s what I’ve come up with for this year, with the help of my wise wife. The title will be, “Pocket Share Jesus.” The description is:

Come learn how to share your favorite Bible verses with your children and grandchildren, using your phone or iPad. Learn how to share inspiring quotations from a Kindle book you’re reading from Amazon. Practical and hands-on steps! This session is designed specifically for grandfathers who are not tech savvy! Resources on www.dw4jc.com

This is what I shared for my conference bio:

Wes Fryer is a follower of Jesus Christ in Oklahoma City. He is active in his church men’s ministry, kids ministry, and adult Sunday school class. He is an ordained church deacon and elder. He is a member of First Presbyterian Church of Edmond, Oklahoma. Wes’ background includes service in the US Air Force and work as an elementary school teacher. He is currently the Director of Technology for Casady School in OKC.

Last night I added two more chapters to the #dw4jc project website, one for “eBook Quotations” and one for “Narrated Sketchnotes.” I’m going to also add one for Bible quotations, primarily using the YouVersion Bible app. In my Mo Ranch workshop this year, I think I’ll focus on the “Bible Quotations” and “eBook Quotations” skills, along with a little about why we should digitally share our faith.

Rather than focus on “outside sharing” with social media, however, I think I’ll focus on “inside sharing” with family and friends. This builds on some ideas I shared in a secular / educational conference setting last Friday in Tulsa. I’m looking forward to another spring weekend with other Christian men at Mo Ranch!

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Called to BE the Church

focus, identity, mission, service

This morning our pastor, Jen Howat, preached on Acts 1:1-9. Her sermon focused on how we are called to BE the church, which means doing the work of Jesus & not necessarily gathering in church buildings. This is my sermon sketchnote and narrated sketchnote of her sermon. I  integrated a couple tweets which I shared during the first part of the sermon.

 

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Sketchnoting the reality of Christ’s Resurrection

history, Jesus, questions, sketchnotes, worship

Today in our church service Carl Bosteels preached about the reality of Christ’s resurrection from death on the cross, and read Luke 24:1-12. This was the week’s lesson in our ongoing congregational study of the book, “The Story.” Since Shelly continues to serve on our pastor nominating committee, which meets on Sunday mornings during the early service, I attended both church services today and made sketchnotes during each. I exported both from the iPad app ProCreate as videos, slowed them down by a factor of two, and then narrated them in iMovie for iPad. The narrated video, embedded below, is 29 seconds long. I added both to my Flickr Sketchnotes album, which now has 38 creations in it.

 

 

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Sketchnotes & Narrated Sketchnote About John 16

Jesus, sketchnotes

I created sketchnotes today on my iPad with the ProCreate app and Adonit Jot Pro stylus in Sunday School and in worship during the sermon. I uploaded both to Flickr in my Sketchnotes album, and also shared them both on Twitter using my @eyesrightblog channel. When I got home, I exported both sketchnotes within ProCreate as videos to my iPad camera roll, imported them into iMovie, slowed them down to 1/4 time, and then added an audio narration track before uploading to YouTube. The narrated sketchnote is 2.5 minutes long. I added it to my YouTube playlist of all my narrated sermon sketchnotes to date. (I’ve created 9!)

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Pastoral Prayer for January 24, 2016

Jesus, prayer, worship

I had an opportunity last Sunday to be the lay leader assisting our pastor at both church services. This meant, among other things, I had the chance to share the pastoral prayer.  This was the prayer I wrote and read during our early traditional service and later contemporary service. I received some kind yellow cards (feedback cards) from some friends, who requested that I share it, so I am posting it here.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We come to you this day as your children living in the storms which rage on our planet and in our homes. In our atmosphere, our international politics, our national elections, and in the interactions of our daily lives at work, at home, at school, and even in church, it is so easy for us to be caught up in the chaos, the winds of change, and in foreboding rumors of catastrophe. The earth around us literally shakes, but we come to you knowing you are the rock of our salvation, and your strength never fails. Help us this day, oh God, to focus our hearts and minds upon you. We invite your Holy Spirit to descend upon us in this place, to speak to us as we praise you and give thanks for your son, Jesus Christ. Lord I pray you would anoint Carl, members of the choir and our worship team, to communicate your story this day as we open the word which you have given us in the Holy Scriptures. Give to us a fresh understanding of your son Jesus, the example he set for us on earth, and the Commandments Jesus gives us this day to be still, to listen, and to obey your commands. We ask and pray all these things the holy name of your son, Jesus Christ, Amen.

 

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