So yesterday I was telling one of my interns that at my home in December we listen to James Taylor’s Christmas album. My kids know his music well and it’s kind of a family tradition. I remarked how much I liked “JT’s Christmas album” and he said, “Justin Timberlake is JT”.
Hold up! Wait a minute. No disrespect to Justin Timberlake, but James Taylor is the real and original “JT”. Anyone got my back? Will the real JT please stand up?!!!
Yep - we’re in it. Hell Week… I mean: Tech Week. This is the time of year when I spend 15 hours a day at the church. I’m blogging this after getting in at 1:30am. That’s why my blogging has been light this week. We’re in it every night this week and then will do our annual Christmas production this Saturday. We’ve already sold 5100 tickets at last count, so at least we’ll have some company.
Since I’m seeing my church family more this week than my actual family, I thought I’d share a recent picture of our Worship & Arts staff. This is a picture of our paid worship staff. There are some great volunteers and interns that are a true part of our team that are missing from this picture, but if you want to see who I spend a lot of time with, here you go.
These guys know me (the good, the bad, the ugly, my struggles and crosses to bear) and still love and accept me. As my pastor, Pete Briscoe, says, “To be fully known and loved is a beautiful thing.”
Looking at the picture straight on, I’m all the way to the right. To my left is my video producer, Jonathan. All the way on the end (to the far left) is my Audio Coordinator, Tom and in front of him (on the far left floor) is my admin, Julie. That’s my team. How’s Christmas going in your neck of the woods?
Something I usually talk about at each Church 2.0 Local Forum is life-streaming. I, and probably you, do it everyday. Through Twitter, Facebook, blogging, etc. we stream our lives for the world to see. I think it’s part of leaving a legacy. I also think funerals will look different 5 to 10 years from now.
Want to see what went on at my 2 oldest kids’ (Grace and Tommy) Open House last week? Check out the TwitPics HERE.
This holiday season my wife took some great pictures of our kids to make into a Christmas card. If you get a Christmas card from us, the following are the pictures that did not make the cut:
This is a glimpse into our Thanksgiving. Seen at the table are my wife’s parents, my kids and me (with goatee - I’m already missing it). I shaved my goatee off today. My wife is MIA as she was taking the picture. How was your Thanksgiving?
Friday morning we began setting up our Christmas tree and Christmas decorations. Want to know what my favorite ornament is (that always goes front and center on our tree)?
This year we are going to do Christmas differently around the Atkinson home. We are just days away from Thanksgiving! - after which we will take down the Christmas ornaments and begin decorating our home for the holidays. We always decorate with Christmas music playing. I’ll also start playing Christmas music at church during the prelude/walk-in time. I’m glad it’s that time of year!
As a family, we are going to participate in this season of giving differently this year. Here are 3 things that I’m trying to use as teachable moments with my children:
I hope you know my heart. My intent is to share what’s going on in my life and my family - to encourage, challenge and stretch you - and hope that you and your family will look at Christmas with new eyes this year. So… what are YOU doing for Christmas?
EXTRA:
If you watched 24 last night then maybe your heart was stirred (like mine) by the issues raised. To get involved and do something about it go HERE.
EXTRA, EXTRA:
Some of you have, but a lot of you have not been following the string of comments on the “Don’t Go to Seminary” blog post. I encourage you to go back and read through all them. It’s pretty exciting to see how that struck a nerve with so many. You might even see a comment that shocks you.
Today I unplug. Thanks to my friend Tony Steward for the encouragement to have an “unplugged” day each month. See you later.
These are the main reasons that I’m taking a break from traveling and spending most of my Fall in Dallas…
My wife of almost 13 years, Chrissy (she has a blog, too):
My oldest, Grace, who I call Bee Pie:
My son, Tommy (named after my dad) - who I call Bud Bud:
My youngest, Katie, who I call Boo Boo:
I am a VERY blessed man - far beyond what I deserve.
Things are crazy in my world this week. I injured my neck working out and have been to get acupuncture and to the Chiropractor twice this week. Yesterday I finally went to the doctor for feeling lousy for 2 days. I got a nice, painful steroid shot in my hip and a prescription for a Z-pack (I love ‘em). He also asked me to take some over-the-counter drugs to help with the cough. I should be back to normal soon. Thanks for your prayers (all you Twitter and Facebook friends).
For those of you that haven’t got to spend too much time with me: my facial hair is always changing. I get bored. Lazy. Bored and lazy. I go from clean-shaven (always with the “soul patch“) to beard to full goatee to just the Crowder goatee, etc. It’s always changing. Again, mainly because I rush out in the morning, don’t shave and the next thing I know I have a beard.
I had a semi-beard at the Church 2.0 Local Forum in Santa Cruz (see pics HERE). I let it grow from there and then got tired of it. Before shaving it completely off, I had some fun and took some pics of what I call the crazy stache. It scares the kids. All kids, actually. I think people take a double-take to see if I was that guy on “America’s Most Wanted”. We took some pics, had some laughs and then I shaved it off. Maybe I’ll grow it back next year for Moustache May??? Who knows.
For more silly pics of me with the “crazy stache”, including some of me in my new Igniter Media t-shirt and my favorite hat, go to my Flickr page and check out “Pics of Greg”.
EXTRA:
This Sunday at Bent Tree we were rocking all new SermonVideos.com backgrounds. I love them! I just got Igniter Backs 04 and look forward to working them into the mix, too.
I was proud of my team. This Sunday we had a lot of first-timers. A stage manager, video engineer/shader, graphics operator and camera operator who all had their first Sunday serving. Sunday was a complex week and they handled it well. They are “official” now after going through what we did yesterday.
We had some friends and staff visiting from Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY and Brian Davis of Fellowship Dallas. It’s always good to have people from other churches visiting and worshiping with us. Check out Brian’s blog - they’ve done some cool stuff with their stage - using PVC pipe that looks like metal. Check it!
PERSONAL:
I’ll leave you with one more pic of me holding my 2 oldest kids. Katie, the youngest, was too freaked out to be in the picture. Poor girl needs counseling now.
Above is me in my backyard with a “Sparkler”. My wife, kids and I were drawing pictures while my wife took pictures with a 4 second shutter release. Daddy was the only one able to pull off the heart and I did it on my first try! Good times.
Here is me trying to do a tornado:
This is from the fireworks show we went to (showing my wife’s skills on her new camera):
NOTE:
My blog has been messed up for a while as far as uploading pics (hence the many posts with just text). I’m glad it’s working again!