It is harder to find a web host that has FTP (file transfer protocol) functionality that allows file uploading so you can develop and build your own custom web pages. Most of these web hosts also provide some kind of a web-based template fill-in-the-blank dashboard too. That’s to say, there are many more free website services that don’t support FTP and have a web-based content editor. By the way, why would you want a free website hosting with FTP? They’re great for learning how to develop a website in a working environment that’s not your local hard drive.

Not sure how they afford it, whether having FTP or not. Probably they’re hoping for an upsell, and getting a little ad space on all the rest. You could call it freemium.

• http://www.webs.com/free-website-hosting.jsp (40mb)
• http://www.000webhost.com/ (1.5GB, no ads, in Lithuania)
• http://www.110mb.com/ (110mb)
• http://www.zymic.com/free-web-hosting/ (5GB, no ads, in UK)
• http://www.bravenet.com/webhosting/ (5mb)
• http://www.freewebsites.com/ [domaintools.com says this is for sale]

There are more listed at http://www.free-webhosts.com.

At 8:30am Pacific / 11:30am Eastern, it’s the M2LIVE webinar on How to Champion Web Ministry in Your Church. This is a discussion-driven webinar, hosted by the M2Live duo of Sean McAtee and Matt Carlisle. Just go to www.m2live.org/live and you’ll watch the live video and text into the chat room — powered by MediaSocial. (No prior registration required.) [update: watch recorded webinar]

At 2:00pm Pacific/ 5:00pm Eastern, Worship Leader magazine’s Tech Steward Tuesday webinar series continues, with “Is it safe to be on Facebook?” This 30-minute webinar will kick off with an update on Facebook privacy matters affecting 400+ million active users and then I’ll respond to your questions and comments. Free registration required.

Session Title: Tech Steward Tuesday: What is the stewardship of technology?
Session Date: Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Starting Time: 2:00pm Pacific Time | 4:00pm Central | 5:00pm Eastern

Not every church has to Twitter and use every new media technology. How do you know which ones your church should use or not?

Join this 30 minute special preview of the Pre-Conference topic–Stewarding Technology in a Service of Worship–at all three of this year’s National Worship Leader Conference. This series is designed as a talk show, where DJ Chuang, network developer at Worship Leader magazine, will be discussing different topics and answer your questions about church and technology.

This Tuesday, DJ will be addressing the question, “What is the stewardship of technology?” Join the FREE chat-only webinar to explore how your church should be stewarding technology in the service of worship.

Starts Tuesday, but space is limited! Sign up here: bit.ly/techstewardfree [or goto
direct link to registration]

Future webinar dates will be:

• June 8th
• June 22nd
• June 29th
• July 6th
• July 13th

[aside: I know this is happening right after Memorial Day weekend, but we were so eager to get this going! I hope this webinar will be a good break during your catch-up day on Tuesday.]

Charles Lee (of New Hope South Bay) lists 5 reasons for why he’s going to Unleashing Beauty.

Daniel DK Kim (of NewSong) lists 8 reasons why you should attend the world-changing event – Unleashing Beauty.

The above are commentaries from key leaders at the 3 partnering churches collaborating on this event. Yes, Unleashing Beauty is 100% free + streamed live online. While there will (always?) be conferences where the costs are shared by sponsors and registered attendees, it’s fascinating to see high-quality conferences that are free to attendees, both in-person and online.

I’ve got it on my calendar and I’ve registered. Hope to see you there! Wonder what the #hashtag on twitter will be?

Fellowship of American Chinese Evangelicals (FACE) has invited me as a special guest for an ABC/English Pastors’ Fellowship Meeting, next Wednesday, June 3rd, starting at 10:00am.

The location is: Chinese Evangelical Free Church, 1111 So Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park CA 91754

Let’s do lunch next Wednesday 6/3 in Monterey Park! Here’s wording from the FACE email invitation:

We are planning another Pastors’ Fellowship Meeting on Wednesday, June 3rd, from 10am to 1pm.

This time, we have invited DJ Chuang to share some of his findings on Asian American ministries. He has done a lot of research in this area. We hope to have time for questions and a discussion afterward. What are Asian American ministries? How should Chinese churches relate to AA ministries? What is the future of English ministries in the Chinese churches?

Lunch will be provided. Please email [cphai69@yahoo.com] to let Calvin Hai know if you are able to join us.

I’ll be sharing my observations about church ministries that are effectively reaching the next generation of English-speaking Asian Americans and Chinese Americans. There will be lots of time for discussion and interactive Q&A. [update: get a sneak preview of my powerpoint slides I'll be speaking from]

This will be an easy commute for those in the Southern California area, e.g. Los Angeles County, Orange County, even farther out to Riverside and even San Diego. Plus, the lunch will be deliciously free. Let’s connect!

[photo credit: joeandsarah]

Here’s something much more exciting: win 2 free tickets to Exponential Conference 2009: Art of Movements (aka 2009 National New Church Conference). Love the interviews they’ve posted in their podcast [rss or iTunes], with leaders like Tim Keller, Erwin McManus, Dave Ferguson, Perry Noble, and Francis Chan.

Yes, the Exponential Conference starts next week in Orlando, April 20-23. So, if you are able to attend on short notice, you can win a pair of tickets. Great for a church planter and a spouse. Great for a 2 team members who are in those early years of a church startup. (And this contest will be more objective than the previous contest.)

To enter this contest for 2 Exponential tickets, add a comment with a number between 1 and 100 (inclusive). Comments with a number must be entered before April 16th 8:00am Pacific / 11:00am Eastern. [update] We have a winner! Congratulations to Sondra Rush!

How the winner will be selected: A list of random numbers has already been generated, and permanently sealed in a digital Google Docs that Todd Rhoades will supervise for accountability. Based on the total number of comments here, the spreadsheet has a corresponding pre-generated random number in the aforementioned sealed spreadsheet. That corresponding number will be used as the winning number. The tickets will go to the person who entered the number closest to the winning number without going over. Confused? Add a comment. [Note: If 2 or more entered the same number, the older timestamp will win.]

You know what to do. Add a comment. Retweet. Forward.

A book published in 2006 opened it up — Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers. The authors, Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, posted their book’s content on a blog, and invited feedback on the draft version. Leaning into the power of the wisdom of the crowds, the book was polished in the open, and got published into a hardcover book. And the book still sold well. (How well I can’t say; I don’t have access to those numbers.)

The authors blogged milestones in their publishing process, Publisher’s Proposal 1.0 + Not Quite Fully Transparent + Publisher’s Update + We have our publisher! . And as they wrote, the book‘s (draft) content’s was posted online:

• Table of Contents (revised)
• Foreword by Tom Peters
• Introduction
• Chapter 1
• Ch 2—Why Blogging Matters
• Ch 3– Word of Mouth on Steroids
• Ch 4– Direct Access
• Ch 5– Little Companies
• Ch 6– Consultants who get it
• Ch 7—Survival of the Publicists
• Ch 8—Non-English blogs
• Ch 9—Thorns in the Roses
• Ch. 10—Doing It Wrong
• Ch 11– Doing It Right (corporate blogging tips)
• Ch 12– How to not get Dooced
• Ch 13– Blogging in a Crisis
• Ch 14– Emerging Technologies
• Ch 15– The Conversational Era

Defies conventional thinking that they could post a book’s (draft) content free online and then get that book’s content published in a book format that still sells. (Also, portions of the published Naked Conversations can be viewed and searched via Google Books Search.)

In a world where so much content is free and readily available on the Web (cf. the notion of free economy that Chris Anderson is articulating, in articles like “Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business“), what is the value in the printed book, then? In attending a conference? The value is shifting from obtaining the content towards something about the experience and format. Just my preliminary speculation.

Now, as we speak (blog), Shel Israel is working on a new book, tentatively titled Twitterville. Overview at Twitterville Notebook: My Book-Writing Process and you can follow along the book’s content being developed in the open at
Twitterville Notebook.

Your feedback would be welcomed, both there and here!

A pastor friend I know, from my old DTS days (Dallas Seminary), is doing a free seminar on sermon appreciation in 2 weeks:

How To Listen To A Sermon: A Seminar [link to facebook event page]

Mark 4:23 “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

When: Saturday, February 21, 2009, 9am to 12pm
Where: Los Angeles Chinese Alliance Church
320 Cypress Street, Alhambra, CA 91804

Many who regularly attend Sunday worship services in church hear over 2000 sermons during their lifetime.

This free three hour seminar is presented by Aaron Leung. It is for those who desire to learn more about the purposes of sermons, how they are crafted, and how to become more effective listeners of God’s Word through the ministry from the pulpit.

Topics include: The Importance of Listening.
The Goals of Listening.
Your Listening Profile.
How to Listen to a Sermon.
A Listening Improvement Plan.

Special thanks to those at LACAC for hosting this seminar. Please RSVP by emailing aaron.leung@bigfoot.com.

(Aaron Leung is a resident of Alhambra, CA, and a Doctor of Ministry candidate. This seminar is one of the requirements to fulfill the D. Min. degree.)

I’ll be interviewing Dave Gibbons tomorrow – that’s Wednesday, January 7th, at 1:00pm Pacific. Add a comment with a question I should ask him; I’ll do my best to squeeze it in. [update: the interview was recorded and can be viewed online]

To join the live webcast, go to www.innovation3gathering.com/live

Here’s the line-up:

* Jan 6 – Dino Rizzo
* Jan 7 – Dave Gibbons
* Jan 8 – Dave Ferguson
* Jan 12 – Reggie McNeal
* Jan 13 – Neil Cole
* Jan 14 – John Bishop
* Jan 15 – Pete Briscoe
* Jan 19 – (a surprise – to be announced)
* Jan 20 – Mark Driscoll
* Jan 21 – Greg Surratt
* Jan 22 – Darrin Patrick

All 11 of these church leaders will be at the Innovation3 Gathering in Dallas, January 27-28, 2009, along with nearly 100 innovative church leaders. See you online at the live webcast and in person at Innovation3!

By the way, come early on Tuesday January 27th, if you can. We’ll have a bloggers meetup / tweetup at lunch before Innovation3 kicks off. (Location to be tweeted.)

The current iteration is something called Leadership Network Advance, a free bi-weekly email newsletter with the latest in church innovations. So we’re clearly on the same page, innovation in ministry is any new change of practice that improves performance. Take a look at the current version:

Subscribe to get Leadership Network Advance conveniently delivered to your inbox; every other Tuesday is when you can expect it hot off the (digital) presses. [disclosure: I work at Leadership Network]

Innovation in ministry is any new change of practice that improves performance. It’s often developed within constraints, such as lack of money, personnel or other resources. Innovation — closely linked to creativity, ingenuity, and new ways of thinking — helps churches break through their “walls.” Innovation, when used wisely, helps you focus on and align better with your church’s God-given mission.

Join Leadership Network’s research director, Warren Bird, Ph.D., as he presents findings about innovation from a recent national study of America’s largest churches. This is the first public presentation of these discoveries, which are both stimulating and practical. You’ll gain new perspective on how to solve certain problems that your own church is facing.

The webinar, Top 10 Discoveries about Innovation: A Countdown of the Climates that Welcome Innovation, Based on a Study of the Largest U.S. Churches, is this Thursday, December 11th at 1:00pm Pacific / 3:00pm Central / 4:00pm Eastern.

REGISTER NOW at www2.gotomeeting.com/register/889742484

You know where I’ll be this Thursday; you can be there too!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’m so grateful that Charles Lee is coordinating an unconference called The Idea Camp on February 27-28, 2009 in Irvine, California. SAVE THE DATES! Here’s what The Idea Camp is about:

The Idea Camp is a free hybrid conference for idea-makers to share, network, and implement ideas. We are gathering some of the most innovative and creative leaders from around the country (this means YOU!) to share ideas, intentionally network, and move collaboratively into idea-making. Whether your passion is church leadership, non-profit work, social entrepreneurialism, technology, media, creativity, culture making, church planting, spiritual formation, compassionate justice, etc., this is the conference for YOU!

The Facebook Group for Idea Camp is facebook.com/group.php?gid=41051955597 and using a Ning.com powered social networking engine, conference information is dynamically and collaboratively updated. See the list of people who will be presenting and/or facilitating conversations at The Idea Camp; it already includes: Brad Abare, Greg Atkinson, Eric Bryant, Mike Foster, Dave Gibbons, Jeff Shinabarger, Cynthia Ware, Robert Yang of Kindlejoy.com, me, and more! More will be added between now and then, and you could be part of it too!

New to the idea of unconferences? It’s where no one pays to get in, no one gets paid, the playing field is level, and everyone has skin in the game. Read more about it cf. what is an unconference, understanding the unconference.

Call out others you’d love to see there. I’m calling out Dan Kimball, Erwin McManus, James Choung, Ed Stetzer, Dallas Willard, John Bishop, Donald Miller. Come on down!

The rules of the Flips Ahoy contest are really simple… either videotape, write or call in your story on our site and you are secured your entry into the contest. At the end of the month (from August 4th – September 1st) we will pick a winner at random.

The winner will receive a Flip Video Camcorder AND… the American Bible Society will donate $1,000 in your name to the Light of the Amazon project happening in Brazil! Without having to leave the comforts of your own home, you will have impacted the lives of thousands!

[disclosure: I participated on the launch team of ShareYourStoryNow.org back in 2006]

About a month ago, I found this FREE web service that works at the DNS service level of your wireless access point (WAP) or router. It’s called OpenDNS . You could also configure your local PC’s internet DNS configuration too, for the times you’re using a wifi hotspot elsewhere, and get your web content filtered, too.

To give credit where credit is due, I found out about it reading another discussion forum (or a blog?), I forget where exactly. There was a church providing free wifi in its lounge, and needed to find a way to have it filtered. I’ve been using OpenDNS at home for over a month now, and it works great!!

Side note for the cynical, suspicous, or curious: here’s how OpenDNS can provide this service for free.