Greg Atkinson

It’s 2am and Ben Jordan and I have been working on the new GregAtkinson.com. We’re not done, yet, but you can get a sneak peek at what’s coming here:

Read my blog? Like it? You can vote for it HERE. Thanks!

Have you heard of The Idea Camp? I have and I’m speaking there this coming February, along with some other great friends and facilitators. This is something that my friend, Charles Lee, is putting together and I’m really looking forward to. Here’s the info from Charles:

• The Idea Camp: a FREE hybrid conference for idea-makers to share, network, and implement ideas
  • We are gathering some of the most innovative and creative leaders from around the country to share ideas, intentionally network, and move collaboratively into idea-making. Whether your passion is church leadership, non-profit work, social entrepreneurialism, technology, media, creativity, culture making, church planting, spiritual formation, compassionate justice, etc., this is the conference for YOU.
  • You can learn more HERE and HERE.
• Dates: February 27-28, 2009
• Location: New Song Irvine
• Cost: Register Online for FREE by Creating a Profile at www.theideacamp.com
• Facilitators
  • We are gathering some of most creative and innovative leaders from around country to facilitate meaningful conversations about idea-making. SEE FACEBOOK/WEBSITE FOR CURRENT LIST
• More Info? Email charles@theideacamp.com
• Other Links:
  • Facebook Group

EXTRA:

Read my article that I posted on Monday Morning Insight yesterday HERE. It’s about how to shake things up in your daily routine/avoid ruts. I think you’ll enjoy it.

Need a FREE website for your church, ministry or personal use? Go HERE: http://www.weebly.com/

Are you orange? ORANGE IS THE COLOR OF FREEDOM. Wearing orange shows you’re a part of the movement to stop slavery. 

Also, I had a great phone conversation with Charles Lee from JustOne this week. They are working on some wonderful initiatives to raise awareness and support for some causes that the Church should take seriously. We’re meeting where they headquarter for the Church 2.0 Local Forum in Portland on Nov. 7th. I look forward to hearing more about their ministry as they share at this gathering.

Here are some facts that were printed in my church’s bulletin this past Sunday: The modern practice of human trafficking enslaves 27 million people around the world. This is more than at any other time in history. UNICEF says that most children who are trafficked are “sold” by unsuspecting parents who honestly believe that the children they have just “sold” (most for under $5) will be educated, learn a trade, and be carefully looked after by their new “caretaker” (human trafficker).

Little do the impoverished parents know that their child is likely to be sold several times, moved to other countries, and will become virtually untraceable. The United Nations office on drugs and crime has estimated that the total market value of illicit human trafficking is more than $30 billion dollars per year - a third of this profit coming directly from the sale of individuals.

This is not simply a problem on a foreign shore: there are more slaves in the United States today than ever, including the era of American slavery and the Civil War. The Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) reported that every ten minutes, a woman or child is trafficked into the United States and forced into labor. The CIA recently reported that as many as 50,000 women and children are brought into this country every year under false pretenses and then forced unwillingly into roles as abused laborers, servants, and prostitutes.

*** I blog about this because this is a huge part of Church 2.0. Church leaders in the 21st Century have to be aware of and battle against social justice issues. What can you do?

• Donate: I listed some great organizations in my last blog on slavery
• Get Educated: Check out the links HERE
• Pray: for the victims of human trafficking
• Write: Send a letter to your local and state officials asking them to approve stiffer laws against human trafficking.

I’ll leave today to go to California with Matt and Lance from Pursuant Group/Unifyer. We’ll be meeting with Brad Abare from ChurchMarketingSucks, Robert Yang from Kindle, visiting the Dream Center, Mosaic LA and other churches, as well as speaking at the ChurchTechCamp at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena on Friday.

Here’s what the Fall looks like:

• Friday, Sept. 26: Church 2.0 talk with Tony Steward and Cynthia Ware at ChurchTechCamp
• Friday, Oct. 17: Church 2.0 Local Forum - Boston
• Friday , Oct. 24: Church 2.0 Local Forum - Tulsa
• Friday, Nov. 7: Church 2.0 Local Forum - Portland

It’s been LONG overdue. I have been meaning to blog about LifeChurch.tv’s Digerati team for quite a while. I’ve blogged about LifeChurch.tv many times, but in this blog I’d like to spotlight the Digerati team and their projects. 

You might be wondering: “What in the world does “digerati” mean?” To get to the bottom of something, I go to Wikipedia. Wikipedia reads:”The digerati are the elite of the computer industry and online communities.” From what I know of my friends Terry Storch and Tony Steward (and the rest of the Digerati Team) this fits them very well. 

Maybe you don’t recognize the team, but you may recognize their work. Here is what the Digerati team has been up to and is responsible for:

• YouVersion (Web, Mobile, and iPhone)
• OPEN
• ChurchMetrics
• Internet Campus 
• LifeGroups
• LifeShare
• OnePrayer

This past week I got the new books you see to the left and below:

• 
  Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder
  by David Weinberger
• 
  The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation
  by Ram Charan
• 
  IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea
  by Sam Harrison

After spending some time with my friend, DJ Chuang, last week at Barnes & Noble, I have added a few more books to my birthday wish-list. Today is my 33rd birthday. This is what my friends and I call the “Jesus year”. It really is hard to believe that Christ gave His life at this age in life. I feel like I’ve got so much time ahead of me. Wow - really makes you think.

Below are books on my Amazon wish list. What other books should I have on my wish list?

EXTRA:
Last night’s LifeShare was awesome. I might make a special appearance with Tony Steward in CA this Wednesday night. Watch out!

That’s me with Chris and LV from Catalyst. They and Jesse (from the Catalyst blog) were at the Church 2.0 Local Forum - Atlanta. Behind us is the infamous “Vanagon” that LV has been driving around the country. It’s pimped out on the inside - don’t let the outside fool you. Jesse blogged about Church 2.0 a week ago HERE. I’m trying my best to be at Catalyst this year, like I have the last 3 years. Are you going to be there?

I had an amazing time in Atlanta. I heard of what the Church there is dealing with - good and bad. My heart was encouraged to hear of Unite and how churches are working together on various issues in the ATL area. My eyes were opened and I was stunned to hear of the child sex trafficking going on there (Atlanta is #1 in the nation). I had no idea. There are some great stories that I believe will find their way into the book (Church 2.0).

Like always, I met some new friends and some people I knew online face-to-face for the first time. It was a joy to connect with them. The host church, Perimeter, was awesome. They are doing some amazing ministry to their local community that was exciting to hear. They also have staff dedicated to just reaching out to other churches to work together - that’s cool and THAT’S a Church 2.0 Church!

PERSONAL:
Though my heart was full and I was encouraged by my time in Atlanta, I came back exhausted and desperately missing my family. I’ll blog more about them tomorrow. For now, I have decided to take the month of September off from traveling. I’m still coming to Boston in October, but have moved Portland to November - November 7th to be exact. For the next month, I’m going to rest, write and be with my family.

I had an interesting conversation with some friends this week. I found that many follow several, random people and in turn, those people then find out about them and follow them - thus they have a lot of people following them on Twitter.

That, honestly, never occurred to me. I only follow people that interest me, so it’s a relatively small group (78). I could probably have more people following me if I followed more people (makes sense), but I don’t want to get constant updates from people that I don’t particularly want to follow. Does that make sense?

So… How do YOU use Twitter? Do you follow as many as you can? Are you picky? Are you following me? You should. I will be releasing updates and exclusive Church 2.0 info on just Twitter.

BONUS:

Check out my friend, Bill Seaver’s blog on Podcasting 101 HERE.