Two New eBooks at Amazon Kindle!
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- Written by Rex M. Rogers
SAT-7 KIDS just launched a new website for Arab children who watch the SAT-7 KIDS satellite television channel. The new website, www.sat7kids.com, will provide ways for youthful viewers to interact with their favorite programs and characters and learn more about how God loves and cares for them.
The new SAT-7 KIDS website is especially designed for children's eyes. It features attractive colors and graphics, speaking images, and sound-backed icons. There's also a special page for parents. In addition, the website is available in both Arabic and English.
SAT-7 KIDS is also posting more and more videos to its YouTube channel, SAT7KIDS. Unlike the regional coverage of satellite television, young Arabic language viewers may access this Internet-based channel from anywhere in the world.
A recent independent media survey indicated far more older youth and adult viewers were watching SAT-7 KIDS than was earlier believed. The channel is influential in teaching biblical principles, sharing the Christian faith, teaching children about science, geography, history, and culture, and providing a safe and positive media environment.
On air beginning December 2007, SAT-7 KIDS is the only 24 hour/7 day per week Arabic language Christian television channel for children (ages 4-13) in the world. It is one of five chanels produced and operated by SAT-7, which broadcasts throughout 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as some 50 countries in Europe. SAT-7 maintians a US support office at www.sat7usa.org.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2011
This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Rex or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/RexMRogers.
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This brief video is a promo for a new SAT-7 program called "Salt of the Earth." The program will focus upon issues, events, concerns and opportunities developing in different countries as a result of the Arab Spring. In particular, the program will help believers discern how to be "salt" and "light" within cultures that do not always welcome them.
Sometimes people ask me, "What really can SAT-7 do in the Middle East?" I'd point to this program as one answer.
Seems like this is our week for videos.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2011
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Rex or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/RexMRogers.
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Luck is something that's interested me for a long time. Is luck real? Is there such a thing as "fate" that engages our lives in seemingly arbitrary ways, giving us good luck or bad luck?
If I'm on the receiving end of good luck, how'd I get so lucky? If I'm the victim of bad luck, why? If the world we live in is that fickle and perhaps capricious do we really want to bring children into it? What is good and bad luck anyway? And how does the idea of luck align with the idea of the Sovereign God?
If you're loved one is in a hospital bed facing a serious, life-threatening illness, is it comforting to hear your pastor say, "I guess you're just unlucky"?
When Christians say they got lucky I'm even more perplexed. What really do they mean?
In my book, indeed in The Good Book, Christians are never lucky.
Produced by christianenews with BoDe Productions.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2011
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Rex or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/RexMRogers.
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- Written by Rex M. Rogers
Apple, Inc. products aren’t perfect. But compared to other technology I’ve used, they’re close.
I have a MacBook and an iPhone that belong to SAT-7, the organization with which I serve. I’ve used them for more than two years and I’m a confirmed believer.
As of today, I acquired by way of a birthday/Christmas present an iPad 1. The Mac, iPhone, and iPad are cool tools, let me tell you: easy to use, reliable, incredible color clarity, sleek and attractive, cutting edge—what’s not to like? And the iCloud? Also a neat nuance making life easier.
And Apple Store employees? Efficient and effective in my experiences, whenever I’ve had questions or a problem. The company stands by its products and the staffs’ attitude is “How can I help you?”
The blue T-shirt kids out front and the techies at the Genius Bar and in the back have come through for me time and again. I have not experienced this kind of customer service with most other companies—not just technology but you name it, airlines, hotels, restaurants, car rental companies. Some have been responsive, but no one has come through as consistently as Apple.
One of the reasons for this is that the blue-t-shirt crowd actually believes in the product. They “own” them and the company. They’re pleased, even excited, and maybe proud to be part of the Apple story, part of the hip but practical, even if at times demanding, company culture.
I was a long-time user of other computer products until a board member convinced my organization to make the switch. He was right: the Apple stuff works and works well. We don’t want to go back.
I said Apple isn’t perfect. I don’t appreciate its sometimes monopolistic, big-guy influence on the industry, i.e. Apples way or no way. I don’t appreciate Apple’s goofy resistance to Adobe Flash. I don't understand who designed Apple's "Finder" file management system, which sometimes makes no intuitive sense. But hey, with the wheat comes a little chaff.
Steve Jobs is gone, but hopefully Apple will continue its innovative ways. Only time will tell.
I wish other companies would take notes, at least in terms of customer service if not product excellence. For now, I'm happy to be an Apple fan.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2011
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Rex or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/RexMRogers.
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The longer I live, the more people I meet, the more I understand that everyone has a backstory.
Of course this is an obvious truism. If people are breathing they had to have been born and lived life somewhere. But that’s not the point.
“Backstory” is a literary device or theatrical word. It refers to the history of characters, or in our instance people, that informs and maybe forms the present personality, emotional make-up, and perhaps circumstances or potential of the character or person of present interest.
Everyone has a story—who he or she is. A backstory is the story behind the story.
So what I’ve learned is that when I meet people, however they seem to me, there’s more to them. Somehow, someway the persons I am meeting are rooted in their own backstory. They didn’t awaken one day fully formed. They—he or she—didn’t become a jerk or a mean girl overnight. Nor did overnight they become a great person you want to get to know better. So while I’m no psychologist, I’ve learned from experience (at least to try) not to judge too quickly.
Of course a person’s backstory however wonderful, not so good, or horrible does not provide a free pass to act self-indulgently. I don’t mean we should overlook questionable behavior or attitudes as soon as we learn people’s backstory. No, I mean that we’re better off not to judge until we learn more about the person’s backstory because such knowledge invariably creates understanding and often with it compassion, or at least tolerance.
One of the things I learned in years of leadership is to always check the facts when I was confronted with an issue. Why? Because “there’s always more to the story.” People filter, put their best foot forward, obfuscate, and lie. People who do their best to tell the truth are still but finite persons who may have forgotten or missed some key detail in the story. Check the facts.
Same is true for people. Engage their present story and in time and as appropriate learn their backstory. Learning their backstory tells you a lot, a whole lot, about them, helps perspective, and maybe suggests how you should interact with them. Same, by the way, can be said about a people group like, say, Palestinians.
Learning the backstory is time well spent.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2011
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Rex or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/RexMRogers.