Shane

Anyhow, thanks for the comment on my site, and I’m looking forward to meeting you at PTS this summer too — So far, I keep meeting amazing people from PTS (Adam WC and Jessie Doerrer) who are *leaving* before I’ll get there!

Also, congratulations on the birth of your daughter. I’ve been struggling lately with just how to relate to this little girl that’s now a part of our family. It was easier with my son — I speak fluent “boy” but this is a different language altogether…do I read her Tolkien and Beowulf and Steinbeck? Can I throw her up in the air and wrestle her to the ground (when she’s a little older) like I do with my son? It will be good to have someone to compare notes with…

Yes I can see how this would be an incredibly valuable ministry tool. Three ideas that immediately come to mind:

1) I despised voicemail in youth ministry. And I had cell voicemail and church voicemail to check. This would have simplified things immensely.

2) Setting up a “hotline” number for parents or teens in urgent need of someone on the youth staff. You could give students your regular cell, and a “hotline” number in case of emergency. If they really need to speak to someone, they dial the number, and the youth leadership team receives a simultaneous phone call. Whoever picks up first gets the call.

3) Using the youth address/phone database you could setup a pretty cool call screening system that sends different calls to different places. Nice.

But, I’m curious, how are you actually implementing Grand Central?

I’d love an invite to Grand Central. I had some of these features when I used Vonage, but I had to switch to AT&T when I moved here. It’s been a huge downgrade in service.

Thanks!

Troy