Greg Atkinson

I’ve blogged about this before, but the time-sensitive huge discount for Q runs out Dec. 31st!!!! You have 1 week to act on this opportunity. You can register later, but it will cost over $150 more. 

I’ll be hosting a Church 2.0 Tribe this year at Q. Q was held in New York last year and I couldn’t make it - I really wanted to . This April 27-29 it will be in Austin, TX. I and many other friends will be there. I’d love for you to join us. 

Q is a unique conference for leaders that “get it” and are interested in highly relevant and missional things. Q does cost more than a lot of conferences, but if you register with my coupon code (Church20) - you can register for $525 until 12/31.

More about Q: Q is a gathering where church leaders and cultural influencers from the fields of business, politics, media, education, entertainment and the arts are exposed to the future of culture and the church’s responsibility to advance the common good in society.

Q TALKS are 18 minute presentations given annually at the Q gathering by thought leaders and practitioners on the topics of the future, the church, the culture and the gospel. Be inspired by their big ideas and find ways to discuss and process them with your closest friends and inner circle (the Church 2.0 tribe).

I hope to see some of you in the wonderful city of Austin!

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MERRY CHRISTMAS to all you!!!

Have you heard of the new “I am Second” campaign? Here’s a little info about it from their website:

I am Second is a movement where significance in life is a shared value among people of all kinds. Actors. Athletes. Musicians. Business leaders. Your next door neighbor. People just like you… I am Second is designed to help people discover their purpose in life.

We showed the video of Korn’s former lead singer, Brian Welch, two weeks ago in our worship service. It’s powerful stuff. This is something worth checking out and considering getting involved with. You may have noticed a billboard in your city. I saw one here in Dallas the other day.

Our pastor, Pete Briscoe, shot a video with them, too. It’s pretty cool. You might be familiar with or heard of my pastor, but never seen him this raw and honest. Good stuff! Check it out HERE.

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

My friend, Pace, at Fellowship Church posted this video that they did recently. I love it! Art is about expression. How are you expressing yourself as an artist? Does your church let you express yourself? Do you feel like your church stiffles or depresses creativity, freedom and expression in your situation? Express yourself!

New Creation from Pace Hartfield on Vimeo. 

EXTRA:

Speaking of expression: I’ve got a lot of thoughts and comments that I’m processing through right now. I’m pretty fired up. I’m greatly encouraged by the many of you that responded to yesterday’s blog post. I’m also greatly concerned by some people’s reaction. Bear with me. I’m trying to handle it Christ-like.

Yesterday we finished our annual Missions Festival. The past 2 Sundays have been awesome. On the video side we did video tracks to “God of This City” (the Passion version) and “Tears of the Saints” (by Leeland). 

One of the most special moments of worship I’ve ever been a part of was yesterday as we worshipped like most of the Church does (with either no or low tech). We hung a light bulb from the ceiling (which is something our team had seen in a church in the Amazon) and used a cheap portable system to amplify our voices to entire room. It was definitely not the norm and will surely be memorable. Tomorrow I’ll show more pictures from our India experience - you don’t want to miss it!

Click below to see a brief glimpse of what worship was like yesterday:

EXTRA:
Boston was amazing! Such a cool city. I had Clam Chowder 3 times in 3 days. Great people. Great conversation at the Church 2.0 Local Forum. We had people from 3 states and I’m excited for those servants in a very special part of our country. Church 2.0 Tulsa is THIS Friday! 

Times are tough and I respect Igniter Media Group for trying to help out. Below are graphics from their newsletter they sent out yesterday. I have everything that Igniter has ever done in my media library. If you don’t, this might be a good opportunity to add them to your collection. 

My friend, DJ Chuang, has put together some great information and links on internet campuses HERE and HERE. So - what are your thoughts? Have you ever attended an internet campus? Would you consider launching one?

Today I continue with the other 2 internet campuses I attended this past Sunday.

Seacoast Church:

Number 3 was Seacoast Church. I know Seacoast well. I lived in Charleston, SC for 8 years (went to Charleston Southern University) and used to attend Seacoast on Saturday nights, then lead worship on Sunday mornings at my church. My friend and classmate at CSU, Shawn Wood, is the Experiences Pastor at Seacoast. I have a great respect for their ministry as a whole. 

This month Seacoast is celebrating their 20th anniversary. They had an AMAZING video intro and message graphics that Shawn told me were created by Dallas’ own Barton Damer. Below is a still frame from Rick Warren saying a “Happy Anniversary” to Seacoast Church.

Below is pastor Greg Surratt preaching. He shared a powerful true story of a major car accident that his family had been in 20 years ago. It was very moving. I have always loved his transparency. Notice the interactive response elements at the bottom. You can nail your sins to the cross, light a candle or prayer virtually. Click “More” for more information on communion and giving a tithe.

Out of the 5 internet campuses that I worshipped with, my favorite musical worship was Seacoast hands-down. Keep in mind that I was a worship pastor for 11 years and have a degree in music, so music and worship is very close to my heart. I’ve been a supporter of worship leader Martin Chalk for years, almost 10 years to be exact. 

One thing I love about the worship experience at Seacoast is that they always end with responsive worship. The message doesn’t end the service. I love that! I think once you encounter God through His Spirit and the teaching of His Word, you should have a chance to respond. Seacoast gets that! Below is their Internet Pastor (and fellow CSU alumni) Brad Singleton.

Central Christian Church:

Central Christian was a last minute add-on. I was reading Twitter and saw Mike Foster say that he was watching CC’s internet campus. I jumped on and caught them mid-service. With that being said, I didn’t get a chance to experience any of their music. I will another time. I did, however get to catch Senior Pastor Jud Wilhite - he’s great. I attended Central Christian when I spoke at NAB in Las Vegas.

Below you’ll see something that I found very helpful and just plain cool. You can not only take notes during the message, but you can also print out those notes or email them to yourself. I like that. 

I forgot to mention yesterday that Flamingo Road emailed me message notes - that, too, was very cool. Isn’t technology just an amazing tool God has given us???!!! 

* More information on internet campuses tomorrow. Today I speak to students at Dallas Theological Seminary on Church 2.0. My question to them: “How do you define innovation?”