WELSTech Audio

Merry Christmas from WELSTech! We’re continuing our holiday tradition of sharing a special Christmas interview with our listeners. This year, we’re excited to welcome Melanie Giddings from the Lutheran Schools Office to talk about the important work underway to develop a new religion curriculum. The interview A new curriculum in development – Melanie Giddings, Curriculum Coordinator from WELS Lutheran Schools, joins Martin and Sallie to share an inside look at the work being shared by many hands on a new Pre-K to 12 religion curriculum being developed to succeed Christ Light. Christmas Coloring Book Collab There’s still time to submit your AI-generated Christmas coloring page for inclusion in a WELSTech crowd-sourced coloring book. Send your entries to welstech@wels.net, and we’ll choose a random contributor to receive some sweet WELS swag! Try this prompt: A black and white coloring page for kids of [YOUR TOPIC], thick lines, white background, no shading, no grey scale, simple vector style. Microsoft DesignerAdobe Express Coloring Page GeneratorColorBliss.artCrayola Color Camera Next time Join us in January for our look back at WELSTech 2025! Get involved welstech@wels.netGoogle GroupFacebookPinterestInstagramwelstechwiki.gapps.wels.net#WELSTechwelstechmspriggssalliedraperwelstech

‘Tis the WELSTech Christmas season! Join us for a giveaway announcement that involves the good news of Christmas, coloring books, and AI. You could win a fun WELS item while you exercise your AI skills. Christmas concerts, anniversary offerings, travel apps, managing your smart home, and free EDU GPT round out this episode. Let’s goooo! The interview and discussion Celebrating in color – Martin and Sallie are collocated, Christmas-color coordinated, and collaborating on a coloring project. Everyone is invited to participate in an AI experiment, creating Christmas-related coloring pages which we’ll compile into a sharable book. Send your entries to welstech@wels.net, and we’ll choose a random contributor to receive some sweet WELS swag! Microsoft DesignerAdobe Express Coloring Page GeneratorColorBliss.artCrayola Color Camera Ministry resource wels.net/eventsWELS 175th AnniversarySpecial Offering Picks of the week iExitHubitat Community feedback Chat GPT is free for teachers until June 2027 Learn more from Tom’s Guide Next time Melanie Giddings, Curriculum Coordinator from the Lutheran Schools office, shares details on this important work. Get involved welstech@wels.netGoogle GroupFacebookPinterestInstagramwelstechwiki.gapps.wels.net#WELSTechwelstechmspriggssalliedraperwelstech

This week on WELSTech we take a deep dive into Google’s NotebookLM. Discover how this AI tool uses only your uploaded documents to create everything from video and audio overviews, flashcards, and summary documents, plus learn about other innovative AI tools like Hume Voice AI and the Plaud audio recorder that are changing the way […]

On this episode of WELSTech, we take a closer look at one of the standout offerings from the upcoming WELS National Conference on Lutheran Leadership. We also revisit the WELS Strategic Plan, with a special focus on the Calling pillar. Plus, we’ve got our usual lineup of helpful Picks of the week and the latest […]

This episode of WELSTech opens with an overview of the recent WELS Artificial Intelligence (AI) survey. The AI theme continues throughout the show, featuring details on the new Hour of AI initiative, a powerful prompt designed to help organize scattered thoughts, a WELS-centric GPT tool, and the latest edition of the TAAFT (There’s an AI […]

Fall has arrived on WELSTech, and we’re reminiscing about childhood sweater weather. We share a church communication focused interview as well as details on all the happenings at January’s Lutheran Leadership Conference. The picks of the week include worksheet alternatives for teachers as well as a great place to keep things. It’s time to press […]

For the 760th time, welcome to WELSTech, a podcast at the intersection of technology and ministry. This episode features a discussion of the dos and don’ts of church and school surveys. Also included is a new source for liturgical art, a deep dive into “Smart” Health, and a new vocabulary word – workslop! Eek! The […]

WELSTech is back with an unexpected AI buzz word discussion that’s a hot topic in schools right now – Academic Integrity. Jason and Rachel return bringing videos, gems, and flow to the podcast. Plus, there’s a new tech-enabled look at WELS 10-year strategic plan. Your earbuds are waiting! The discussion AI using AI – Martin […]

The first episode of the 2025-26 season of WELSTech is unlocked! Martin and Sallie kick off with a Lutheran-flavored AI theme for the season and share resources to assist with school AI policies. Sallie has a random pick of the week, and Martin shared Gmail keyboard shortcuts. All this and more. Let’s go! The discussion […]

How vulnerable is your church or school to hacking? On this episode of WELSTech learn why vigilant training on threat avoidance is important in ministry settings and find links to available (and many times free) resources to assist with those efforts. Sallie shares a family friendly YouTube channel and Martin has some hardware to detect […]

The WELSTech summer tips and tricks keep coming with this week’s rundown of church marketing ideas courtesy of Grace Ungemach. Set a goal and see what changes may take place in your outreach efforts. Sallie’s got new hardware, Martin has a new Inbox, and WELS Intersections is talking about church communication guidelines. You don’t want […]

Tune in to WELSTech 755 for a discussion on church social media graphics, including examples and templates to follow. Martin shares his latest gadget pick, plus we talk about a Facebook guide on branding your digital community. The discussion Why Social Media Graphics Matter – Martin and Sallie discuss the ins and outs of social […]

Tune in to WELSTech 754 for tips and tricks related to church photography. There’s also discussion regarding finding an icon for any need and the effect of AI on mission outreach. Plus the WELSTech Google Group is in the spotlight with lots of great input on the topic of cyber security training. The discussion Click, […]

This week on WELSTech we reveal ways to write church announcements which get the word out on needed topics without being ignored by those you’re trying to reach. AI weaves itself throughout the conversation from personalized AI in picks of the week, an overview of the AI for Education site, and new rules around AI […]

Welcome to WELSTech summer series 2025! Join us as we talk about practical tips and tricks to make public and personal ministry efficient and effective. The series kickoff focus is church office communication. Martin and Sallie share AI picks of the week, and there’s a Chromebook discussion thread in the WELSTech Google group. The discussion […]

This episode of WELSTech features an interview with Pastor Nate Seiltz who recently creating 3 albums of music without singing or playing a note himself. With AI at his fingertips, he transformed his ideas for gospel outreach music into reality, and you can to! We also share survey results regarding church use of AI, a […]

The WELSTech co-hosts for all things edtech are driving this episode as we wrap up our SAMR focus with how it assists education leaders. We also introduce the AI Assessment Scale, a tool for clearly stating acceptable levels of AI use. Rachel has new headphones for “weird” ears that don’t like earbuds, and Jason shares […]

Welcoming visitors and tracking attendance are the topics of the day on WELSTech 749. We’ve got an interview on a kiosk worship check in system which is guaranteed to make you smile, plus examples of paper attendance tracking and guest welcome stations. We also kick the tires on the recently updated WELS Call Report, share […]

Welcome to Holy Week 2025, and a warm WELSTech welcome to art educator Lori Ehlke. Lori shares her path from art and Spanish teacher through Covid shutdown to YouTube fame, and how she benefitted from learning as she went and being consistent with her work. BONUS: Lori’s work isn’t confined to the K-12 classroom. We […]

WELSTech is back with a deep dive into Canva waters and the terrific capabilities it has for churches and schools. The toolset is easy and intuitive, even if you’ve never used it before. This episode may be all you need to get started! Martin shares his phone case pick and there’s some AI-generated coding for […]