The current poll on this blog site is intended to informally survey your familiarity with something relatively new in our media culture--the podcast. There are tons of places on the 'net where you can learn about what podcasts are (and what podcasting is all about), so go Google for a bit if you're interested. I'll give you the basics, but what I ultimately want to do is let you know about some interesting podcasts that are relevant to our ministry.

You can think of podcasting as producing radio programming for on-demand listening. A podcast is an audio file--usually in MP3 format or something similar. It's called a "podcast" because the idea is that you download this file to your computer, then load it onto your iPod (or other MP3 player) for listening at your convenience.

But the truth is that you don't have to have an iPod or MP3 player--you can listen on your computer, usually using free audio player programs. If you do have an iPod, you can configure things so that podcasts are updated on your iPod automatically, every time you connect it to your computer. Since many podcasts are produced weekly, or even daily, you can see why it would be convenient to have the updates done automatically.

Anyway--if you don't have iTunes from Apple, go get it. It's a free download (http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/), and it will give you a good starting place to look for podcasts, and a way to play them on your computer (or load them onto your iPod, if you have one).

There are several podcasts that I carry on my iPod, and I listen to them when I'm walking, or driving, or sometimes if I'm working on something that doesn't require a lot of brain focus. Here's my list of favorites:

1. The Worship Leader podcast--this is a weekly program that focuses on topics of interest to worship leaders.

2. The Blogging Church podcast--an interesting look at how the latest technology (blogs and podcasts and stuff) is being put to use in the church.

3. There are several big churches that have podcasts of sermons or other talks. My favorites include:

North Pointe Community Church
Defining Moments (Leadership stuff from Willow Creek)
Imago Dei (Donald Miller's church in Portland)
Mosaic (Erwin McManus' church in L.A.)

4. Let My People Think--Ravi Zacharias, a Christian apologist

5. Matt's Guitar Lick of the Week--a weekly guitar lesson, focused on a single guitar lick each week--sometimes with video!

6. MacCast--a twice-weekly Macintosh computer technology program

There are several Web sites that you can visit for more information about podcasts and podcasting, but be warned--there is also some weird stuff out there. But as with all technologies, there are good ways to harness their power for the kingdom of God, and that's cool.

Here are some sites with more information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting
http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/
http://www.ipodder.org/
http://www.podcastingnews.com/topics/Podcast_Directory.html
http://www.podcastalley.com/index.php
http://www.podcast.net/
http://www.podcastcentral.com/
http://www.podcastbunker.com/
http://podcasts.yahoo.com/

Enjoy! --Doug