Portia Chandler

About Portia Chandler

Portia Chandler recently started pod-casting about the unending parodies of social media, has a unending appetite for online technology and social news, and has a self-proclaimed Academy Award winner for Social Media Junkies.

Posts by Portia Chandler:

May 3 2016

Secrets to Breaking Out of Jail

“At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
Lord, I repent of waiting for the preacher or the pastor to stand before me, releasing my faith for healing, for wealth, opened doors & opportunities, deliverance for my love ones, and or relief from the troubles of this world. Your best for me is found in You; and like Paul & Silas locked behind the prison doors, I will worship and honor You continually!

I will give you a LOCKED UP PRAISE, until the very foundations of the jail I am in, have to set me FREE! I trust that You will respond to the glory I give You by joining me in sweet communion. It is there in Your presence that I will find all that I need. IN JESUS HOLY NAME, AMEN.

April 30 2016

Prophet Todd Hall PRAISEBREAK at World Harvest Church

April 30 2016

The Question of the Resurrection”

April 25 2016

Who Is Like The Lord?

QUESTION: Who is like the Lord?
ANSWER: There is NOBODY like the Lord!!!

He is The Prince of Peace
The Bread of Life
Wonderful Counselor
Food to the Hungry
Water to the Thirsty
Shelter to the Homeless
Salvation to the Lost
Provision to the Poor
Father to the Fatherless
Mother to the Motherless
He’s a lawyer in a Courtroom
Grace to the Stubborn
Mercy to the Fool
Council to the Wise
Direction to the Lost
Rest to the heavy laden
Opportunity to the Seeker
Answers to the Asker
Peace to the Troubled
Love to the Forsaken
Avenger to the Persecuted
God Is Cool Air in the Heat &
Warmth to the Cold
He’s a Friend to the Friendless
He is Medicine to the Hurting &
Healing to the Sick
God is Hope to the Bitter, Betrayed, & Broken
God is Forgiveness to the Repeat Offender
He’s an Orphanage to the Abandoned
Second Chance to the Failure
Sight to the Blind
Sound to the Deaf
Foundation to the Unstable
Strength to the Fighter
Speed to Runner
Strategy to the Planner
Discipline to the Saver
Income to the Worker
Rain on the Just & Unjust
He is the Holder of my Future
Ambition to the Willing
Faithful to the Faithless
Miracle to the Believer
Seed to the Sower
Harvest to the Reaper
He is Holy & Righteous
All Powerful & All Knowing
He is a Mighty God
Everlasting Father
He is The First & The Last
Both Alpha & Omega
The Beginning & The End
He is My Redeemer & My Savior!

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Amen. #PrayerLife

QUESTION: Who is He to you?
#Comment #Tag #Share #Encourage

April 20 2016

Katch.Me Is Closing Down

Most people know, I typically become emotional about Start Ups that don’t make it. I’m not sure why I tend to take the news so personal but I do. I’ve started many businesses in my life that weren’t super successful, but I’ve never started anything where my investment cost me my dream. Many readers may not be familiar with the web application Katch so I’ll introduce you and divorce you in the same sentence. Katch.me is/was a video harvesting site for live Periscopes. Periscope only allows replays to your followers 24 hours after you have created your scope. 24 hours really isn’t enough time to maximize curation on high quality scopes. This is where Katch stepped in. Users would sign up for a Katch account, using their Twitter account and grant permissions to your Periscipe account. Once you scoped and copy of that session would be caught by Katch and tweeted out so your followers would be able to Katch the replay at a time more appealing to their personal preference. In a brief letter on Katch’s homepage they announced their final plans for closing and offered loyal supports gratitude for assisting with their massaivs growth in just under a year.
Katch.me is Closing Down

April 20 2016

Prayer for Order

Father, I know we as believers tend to act first then pray as a last resort, but this order of prayer leads to wrong turns, detours, and delays! God I ask right now that you design an alternate route back to you, so that as we move forward in faith we won’t be distracted by the shortcuts that the enemy has to offer.

Fill us up God, allow us to ride on a full tank of your mercy! Grant us traveling grace to our destiny and provide for our spirits a safe exit to rest relax and be restored. God I thank you for your roadmap- as I listen obediently to your direction. I will pray first, and act only after receiving your blessing!
Go ahead of your Servants and clear our paths of debris and demonic traffic. Give Us New #Life In You! A #PrayerLife that renders #cancer harmless a #PrayerLife that destroys lack and generational curses that hovering over our families!! Father I know you’re able, now I ask that you will. Grant each reader the desires of their heart in Jesus Name, Amen.

April 12 2016

LiveStream’s Live Event Camera, Movi now Called Mevo Delayed Until Late July 2016

In a short email released today, April 12, 2016 at around 2:20PM CST Jesse Hertzberg, CEO of Livestream told thousands of customers who preordered their Live Event Camera, Movi now called Mevo that their camera expected to be shipped this month would not be delivered for another three months in late July. They did not give a specific date just another estimate that in my opinion seems a little unreliable coming from the self proclaimed leaders in live video. Somehow the email seemed less apologetic and more a matter of fact. Customers were given the option for a no questions asked refund but when clicking the link to process a refund you were only redirected to an email address routed to their customer service department or what not.

This smells a little fishy considering, your email address should be linked to your order number and processing a refund should be just as easy as ordering the same product that wouldn’t be delivered for another 3 months, now 6 months if it’s actually delivered in late July.

[themify_button style=”large red rect” link=”http://wp.me/a6bdaj-1oO” target=”_blank” ]see full email[/themify_button]

The email tried to buffer this disappointing news, with Facebook’s announcement to open its Facebook Live Video integration to the new and improved Mevo Camera “for free” as opposed to the subscription service originally introduced through LiveStream- but in all fairness you can now use just about any wireless camera with Facebook Live so that is more exciting than camera/platform specific streaming.

With Mevo’s Facebook Live integration, Livestream is providing Facebook’s 1.6 billion users with the most compelling way to leverage the power of the social platform’s new live video service. From concerts to conferences, sports to school plays, personal vlogs to web shows, and business events large and small, the possibilities for engaging live video storytelling is endless. Streaming from Mevo to Facebook Live will be free of charge.

Mevo Camera

Included in the email was a link to a You Tube Video that was created using the new and improved Mevo Live Event Camera on the Facebook Platform. Many commenters noticed the fish eye effect in the uploaded footage that wasn’t apart of the demo footage on the original sales pages. That doesn’t bother me as much as a major company not delivering on their word and offering no real accommodations for customers who were willing to invest in a product three months before it would be delivered that are now being asked to wait another three months.

April 7 2016

Every church needs content writers

The last place you probably thought you would need to whip out your Grammar 101 skills is at your local church, but it’s true your church needs your writing skills to help with the flow of its daily activities.

How can the church use your writing skills?

* editing blog posts
* writing blog posts
* creating sermon recaps
* forming social media status
* promoting upcoming events
* writing press releases
* writing engaging church newsletters

Just to name a few. Content writing is not new, but may be one of the most under advertised ministries in the church. Does your church need a content writer? Do you have a passion for writing? If your local church doesn’t have a media team in place, think about starting one. Ask your ministry leaders if you can start by writing sermon recaps that can be used on your church’s social networks, blog, and or weekly newsletter. If you are not quite ready for sermon recaps, try proof reading or editing content before it goes out.

In our office our blog post drafts are sent out to a test group then edits are submitted before going live to the public. You might want to volunteer your editorial services to your church. If you find yourself having notebooks full of notes that only you see- ask your church if they are looking for content writers to work with the media team to assist in the day to day flow of your church’s written communication.

April 7 2016

Facebook Live Introduces New Ways to Create Share & Discover Live Video

Facebook Live Video feature now allows users the ability to go live inside of your Facebook Groups and Facebook Events. You will also be able to access interactive features including live reactions, and replaying comments. You still have the ability to invite friends to watch a live Facebook Stream with you.

If you have a church event and would like to host some promotional live chats or behind the scene clips this feature is a great way to share with an audience who has expressed interest in your events. It’s also a great way to stay in contact with your attendees after your event to sell DVD’s, CD’s and other event materials.

I’m a huge fan of speaking directly to your target market as opposed to a one size fits all fans approach. Going live within a Facebook Group allows for a more intimate conversation with specific followers.

Here’s a snippet of what Facebook Newsroom published on their website.

“Live for Groups and Events

“Going live” on Facebook feels special because you are going live with the people you care about. Today we’re rolling out the ability to go live in Facebook Groups and Facebook Events. Live in Groups allows you to broadcast to just the people in the Facebook Group – so you can go live in your family group, or share a workout plan in a fitness group.

Live in Events means you can go live from a birthday party to allow those that can’t make it to join the fun, and a performer can go live backstage to the people who’ve RSVP-ed to the event to give them a sneak peak. You can even use Events to schedule a live Q&A session. We hope this new ability to both broadcast and watch live video within Groups and Events enables people to connect more deeply with their closest friends, family and the communities of people who share their interests.

March 31 2016

Longer Video Coming to Instagram

Instagram just announced on their official blog that users will now be able to share up to 60 seconds of video content on their pages. That is a whopping 45 extra seconds to create, record, and share your favorite clips from concerts, events, and or other special moments. This change may prove huge for churches, non profits, and pastors who have struggled in the past to trim down their sermon points into ten seconds video clips that lost the original meaning of the sermon/message. Other changes Instagram introduced included an update on their IOS platform that would allow users to record multiple clips that can be merged together to create one 60 second video clip. This isn’t new technology, the feature was actually removed by Instagram but it seems they have decided to bring it back for their users! Here’s a quote directly from the Official Instagram Blog:

the last six months, the time people spent watching video increased by more than 40 percent. And longer videos mean more diverse stories from the accounts you love, whether it’s Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) hanging out with friends or beauty star Bretman Rock’s (@bretmanrock) latest makeup tutorial.

For iOS, we’re also bringing back the ability to make videos out of multiple clips from your camera roll. To learn more about multi-clip video on iOS, check out the Instagram Help Center.

Longer video on Instagram begins rolling out today and will be available for everyone in the coming months. Multi-clip video is available this week as part of Instagram for iOS version 7.19 in Apple’s App Store.

25 Reasons Why People Don't Go to Church

March 10 2016

25 Reasons People Don’t Go to Church

It seems like there’s a new church opening its doors every week where I live. It’s hard to believe that there is still a growing number of Christians who have stop going to church. When I was younger, I can’t remember missing a Sunday from church, in fact I started to believe we vacationed there. If you do a Google Search for reasons why people don’t go to church anymore, you will find hundreds of articles written by bloggers, research analysts, pastors, and church goers listing many of the same reasons I have compiled below. Although many of these reasons are nothing more than excuses in neglecting to fellowship with other believers, I’d like to offer you a personal perspective, but 1st look at

25 Reasons People Don’t Go To Church
(Emphasis Mine)

1. Church lasts to long (I wouldn’t know, I’m ADHD)
2. Fear of being judged (by who? other sinners?)
3. Church is boring (checkmate)
4. They only preach hell & damnation. (What Church Do You Attend?)
5. They only want your money. (This Sounds more like it!)
6. The church is filled with hypocrites (true, the moment you stepped in the door)
7. I’ve been hurt in the church (who hasn’t? this one lady started running with her eyes close- and charged straight into me- luckily she hit the floor first & seemed to have knocked her own self out)
8. I don’t trust the pastors (no comment)

Church is Like a Cult, (no wait... What's a Cult?)#ReasonsPeopleDontGoToChurch Church Share on X

9. Church is like a cult (what’s a cult?)
10. They don’t even preach about Jesus (deep sigh)
11. I hate church folks but love God (where they do this at?)
12. It’s organized religion (I wonder if disorganized religion is better?)
13. Church is a big show (but they don’t allow food in the sanctuary…)
14. Church has changed (so have you, you use to have all your teeth…)
15. Church has become political (….)
16. Does very little for their community (some how I just lost my thought)

They only want your money (and I’m broke?)

17. My children’s needs aren’t being met (do they need food, diapers, or clothes?)
18. I don’t feel any closer to God after going (did you talk to Him?)
19. No one knows my name (mine either, on purpose!)
20. They only care about the numbers (hey…. I watch that show! #Netflix)
21. It feels more like jail (no comment)
22. They talk down to their members (stand on a stool?)
23. It’s fake (ouch)
24. I just don’t want to go (at last!!! The Truth!!!!!)
25. Haven’t found the “right church” (back to square one, are you looking?)

As you can see many of these reasons, sound more like excuses borderline complaints that don’t really shed any light into why devout Christians are deciding to stay home on Sundays. I am not a big fan of crowds, so mega ministries/churches are great to work/consult with but utterly exhausting to attend. I believe in tithing, it’s a spiritual concept that involves a financial commitment. Pastors aren’t after my money, God is. Read Malachi 3:8 For years, after leaving my childhood church I search for a church home that felt like family where I could serve and fellowship with people I actually I had grown to love, respect, and pray for. Something changed for sure but I could not put my finger on it, until now.

In an effort for churches to become bigger and better they begin tweaking everything, and I mean everything! Salvation was replaced with Success and Faith took on Financial Stability. You no longer needed to Believe God for anything, you just needed to become something worth believing in. Everyone begin giving klout to people based on the acquisition of things, stature, and ability to influence others. Facebook shut down MySpace and Online Egos overdosed on likes, followers, and comments!

We don’t really live in “real time” anymore, which makes it virtually impossible to fellowship with anyone. We show up at places, to check in so people we don’t know will know that we were here only to leave having never really been there- which is why your pastor can preach a sermon you can’t remember just one hour after leaving the church parking lot. By the time the average church goer has arrived at church they have taken more selfies than they have uttered prayers all month! People aren’t fake, they are deceived, disillusioned at best. The New Church is void of the very presence of God. We stop lifting Jesus up, and started edifying ourselves and we get old, our acts become outdated and we have to keep hunting for bigger better acts to keep the new crowds entertained but their appetite is massive!!

I don’t think church is to long, I believe it’s to fast. I wish I could find a slower church. A church that moved at the speed of God’s leading. A church that didn’t cater to the world but focused on the Word of God as a creative resource for building up one another in faith, love, obedience, restoration through Jesus our Christ, Lord, & Savior.

to be continued….

March 5 2016

Successful Church Leaders Do This 1 Thing Right

Ministry Leaders who cultivate an environment of gratitude will always develop higher functioning ministry teams. Appreciation goes a long way when attempting to build your church membership utilizing the volunteerism strategy. I’ve never had an issue donating my time and or my services to my home church free of charge mainly because I felt appreciated, valued, and needed. When you can be thankful for the people who show up to assist you despite their efficiency in a particular area you will teach others acceptance not competition is what matters.

Ministry #Leaders should encourage members to find their fit & get involved in ministry. Share on X

Many ministry leaders encourage members to find their fit and get involved in ministry but often “pick and choose” who they will actually use for certain tasks. While there are many reasons in which I agree with the selective method process among church volunteers, there are proven negative consequences that follow when personal selection is the only method.

Thankful leaders, pastors, volunteers, church members, visitors, children, and church teams rule the world! An attitude of gratitude will purchase more for your church and its mission than any church budget could ever hope to afford. When church leaders appreciate their staff and volunteers you will find that they work harder, do greater, and constantly go beyond the call of duty because they have a sense of belonging a reason to show. Their work has purpose and is appreciated.