Let's move on to the next thing you need to know to use MyVineyard: How and why you edit your profile. If you haven't read about what MyVineyard is, or what your profile is, then you may want to read those blog posts first.

Here's the video version, if you prefer to be talked to instead of reading:

Rick Warren was correct in the Purpose Driven Life that the Kingdom of God is not about you. However, your profile on MyVineyard is all about you. This is where you keep track of all the information about you that you want to share with the church staff and others. From your MyProfile Overview page, click on the "Edit Profile" tab on the right to get in to edit your profile.

You're shown a number of tabs, and now you can actually change the information.

The BASIC tab lets you change the most basic things about you: your name, email address, your photo, date of birth, and phone numbers. Remember, you have the power to update your information when you get a new email address or switch mobile phone providers and get a new phone number.

The ADDRESS tab let's you update your street address information. So if you move to a new house, this is where you would go to make the change. No more having to call the church and figure out how to change it. You are in control.

The next tabs are the ones I really want to focus on in this post.

The SERVING tab let's you tell us about the things you care about. Under Spiritual Gifts, you can share with us what you believe your gifting is. Martin Luther thinks he's gifted in Administration, Discernment and Evangelism, Leadership, Preaching and Teaching. You can select multiple items here, and pick as many as you feel apply. But if you pick all of them, we probably won't believe you.

The SERVING tab also has Passions you can pick. Passions are things you are passionate about. If you are passionate about Human Trafficking or Education, you should let us know. If you are passionate about Bunko or old Journey albums, well, you might just want to keep that to yourself.

Abilities is the next section.  Abilities are things you can do well. So if you can speak another language or you are good at repairing air conditioners or you are really talented at taking photos, then you want to mark those things here. These aren't necessarily hobbies - they're things you're really good at.

But here's the real question: why would you bother updating any of this information?

Well, let me tell you. One of the best ways to get plugged into a community like Vineyard OP is to serve. And one of the best ways to serve is to be able to do the things that God gifted you with for him. We're all about helping you figure out what God made you to do and trying to help you do that.

When we have an opportunity to serve in the Vineyard OP community, the staff can search the database for people who match that opportunity. So, if we need a photographer for an event, we can search the MyVineyard database for people who have photographic abilities. Or if we need people to work in Student Ministries, we look for people with spiritual gifts of encouragement and teaching who are passionate about children. But if you don't put any information in here, then we won't necessarily know these things about you. We aren't mind readers, but we do know how to search the database.

So please take the time to fill out this SERVING tab. Oh yeah, and if you don't give us your email address or phone number, then we won't be able to get in touch with you either. So fill that out to. As far as that goes, you should fill out everything as much as possible, just because I asked you to really nicely.

Finally, you'll want to fill out the SOCIAL tab. This tab has lots more information you can enter about things you enjoy. This information can help us find out more about who might be interested in coming to our next dodge-ball tournament. If you allow other people to see your information, then you might be able to locate other people who have similar interests to you. So, don't be too shy with your information. Unless you have a really good reason, you should share as much information as possible with other people on MyVineyard.

Well, that is it for this post. I'll be back shortly with another chunk of information about privacy and communication settings.

Until then,

David Andersen (the Web Guy)