Review: Holiness Data Ministries

Title: Holiness Data Ministries
Format: Website, DVD
Website: http://www.icehouse.net/hdm/

Hard to find classic publications in the Holiness tradition, scanned into electronic format. Also Powerpoint slides of various materials including hymns and songs.

PROS
Huge collection of hard-to-find works.
Available via 'free will' offering.

CONS
Currently available only via DVD

SUMMARY

Need to find a rare text from Samuel Logan Brengle, William Booth or Phineas Bresee? Check here first!

Dorothea and Duane Maxey have been doing this ministry as a work of love since the early 1990's, recognizing that many classic works in the holiness tradition needed to be converted into electronic format in order to be disseminated and saved from disappearance. Currently, they have over 5,000 works available on their DVD. They used to offer their scanned materials on their website, but with the collection growing so large it is available only on DVD now. The Maxeys will send a particular work via email if requested. All services are offered on a 'free will' basis.

It's hard to beat this one! 9.5 out of 10!

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Review: Tiger Census Data Mapper

Title: Tiger Census Data Mapper
Format: Website
Website: http://tiger.census.gov/cgi-bin/mapbrowse-tbl/

Interactive site allowing customized demographic mapping of communities in the USA.

PROS
Extensive mapping capability.
Allows customized overlays.
Freely available to anyone.

CONS
Demographic data is based on the 1990 Decenniel census and 1998 Tiger Line data, so it is a bit outdated, but it is still useful if combined with other sources.

SUMMARY
This site offers some very exciting tools for the churchplanter or pastor. Maps of any area can be generated and modified using custom overlays for various factors, both physical and demographic. The biggest problem is the age of the data, which can still be useful when showing trends in combination with other data sources.

Only because of the age of the data, this site ranks 4 out of 10.

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Review: Community Demographics Report site

Title: Community Demographics Report
Format: Website
Website: http://map.nazarene.org

Interactive site allowing research on demographics of communities in the continental US.

PROS
Fairly extensive reporting.
Allows download into MS Excel sheets for offline research.
Freely available to anyone.

CONS
Only covers the continental USA.
Most stats only available for communities with existing Nazarene churches.
Demographic data based on 2000 census, so it is a bit dated, but still useful.

SUMMARY
This site allows research of demographics in communities with Nazarene churches in the continental USA. The research is based on the 2000 Census, so some of it may be a bit outdated. However, the data is still useful and can show some significant trends, especially when combined with other sources, such as state census data (usually conducted every 10 years at mid-decade). The controls are a little awkward. For a churchplanter looking for data in a new area this is useless, but for a pastor looking in the area of an existing Nazarene church it can be a goldmine.

I give this one a 6 out of 10.


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Review: OpenOffice.org productivity suite

Title: "OpenOffice.org 3.1"
Author: Sun Microsystems
Format; Electronic download
Website: http://www.OpenOffice.Org


PROS
Download is free and unlimited
No license fees
Easy to use
Various languages and operating systems are available

CONS
Some (very) small learning curve for users of other suites.

SUMMARY

Originally called StarOffice and acquired by Sun Microsystems in 1999, OpenOffice is a suite of software products which includes a word processor (Writer), a spreadsheet program (Calc), a presentation program (Impress), a graphics program (Draw) and a database program (Base). It is known 'on the street' as "OpenOffice", but the official name is "OpenOffice.Org" since "OpenOffice" is held as a trademark in the Netherlands by another product.

The suite is "open source", which means that it is maintained and improved by volunteer programmers. The program is available for free download for various operating systems, including Windows and Linux. Best of all it is completely compatible with other large productivity suites, such as Microsoft Office., so you can share files with other users easily. There are no license fees, installation can be on as many machines as you want. The programs were written to be as easy to learn and use as possible, so it bears a great deal of resemblance to other mainstream packages. A user of Microsoft Office will have very little difficulty moving between the two applications.

I have no difficulty in giving this suite of programs a 9.5 out of 10. Looking for a viable way to save your church money? This is a way to save hundreds of dollars and not sacrifice anything in terms of functionality.