The following was supposed to post on Monday morning:
Yesterday I flew out to Orange County, CA. Hopefully, I made it to Mosaic’s 8pm service in LA. Today I have a meeting with Brian Kim of NewSong Church and then will see Leeland in concert tonight. I’m in the OC speaking at Saddleback’s Worship Conference.
I’ll also be doing a Church 2.0 Local Forum this Thursday at NewSong Church in Irvine. I’ll be returning on Friday.
Yesterday I was contacted by John Falke of OpenResources.org, a new website for churches worldwide to download and use an entire library of creative materials - absolutely FREE. Materials include sermon audio, countdowns, promotional design graphics and opening videos from a wide variety of message series and churches.
In my book, Church 2.0, I have a whole chapter titled “Open Source” that is dedicated to writing about resources like this (and others I’ve mentioned on here before). I believe this open source model is a God-thing and am happy to tell others about it.
Church Video Idea:
This Sunday, as a Call to Worship, we’re using Amena Brown’s “He is Here” (HD) video from Bluefish.tv. The cool thing that I’m glad we’re doing is going with the “no music” version (they have one totally ready to go with background music and one with her speaking and no underscore).
While the video is playing and Amena is speaking (she’s amazing) - our band will be softly playing and building underneath - we’ll immediately go right into our first song when the video ends.
I’ve mentioned this before: the beautiful thing about Bluefish.tv is that their videos are $1.99! I’d encourage you to do like we have and download every video clip they have of Amena Brown.
The other day I blogged about my summer schedule. Today I wanted to tell you about my very important sponsors that are a huge support of my ministry and for that I am ever grateful.
I am extremely honored and humbled to partner with these companies and thankful for their support of my ministry. I encourage you to check them out.
PERSONAL:
For the record: Tiger Woods is THE MAN! I don’t care if you call it a man-crush - maybe it is. I just know that if he’s playing and I turn to that channel - I can’t turn it off. I don’t care if they ever show the other golfers. I actually wish they wouldn’t - just keep the camera on Tiger, even when he’s walking to his next shot. All Tiger, all the time. I don’t need to see any other golfer on the screen. Take that, Phil M.!
Yesterday I broke 1000 friends on Facebook. As you know, I wrote the Foreward for “Facebook for Pastors“. I’m a pretty big fan of Facebook and think it has tremendous potential for networking and ministry. I’m curious as to how many of you are not on Facebook and what your reasons are. If you ARE on Facebook, but we’re not friends, yet - hit me up for an “add friend” HERE.
Today the Atkinson family goes deep into the wilderness (actually it’s like 30 minutes from Dallas) - but it will be hot and dark and bug-filled, I’m sure. Nothing like camping with the family. The last time we were awakened during the night with raccoons scratching on the outside of our tent. Looking forward to fishing, reading, swimming and making Smores with the family.
This past Sunday I had a good friend of mine (Chris Kim), who is a worship leader in Washington DC, come visit and attend Bent Tree. 2 weeks ago, Cynthia Ware was in town and got to come out and visit Bent Tree. As I’ve mentioned before, I love to show guests around, give them a behind-the-scenes tour and allow them to attend and listen in to our pre-service, in-between services and post-service meetings.
My hope is that if you’re in Dallas, you’ll give me a shout and come by for a visit. The reverse is true as well. If you see on my blog that I am coming to your town, please invite me out to visit your ministry. I’d love to!
What a city! Today I (along with my intern, Jonathan) will be heading to Chicago. This will be my 5th year speaking at the Moody Bible Pastors’ Conference. I look forward to this conference every year and really enjoys the times of worship and the amazing preaching each main session. This will be Jonathan’s first trip to Chicago, so we’ll have to hit up all the tourist’s spots.
While I’m in Chicago, I’ll be hosting the 2nd Church 2.0 Local Forum. This will take place a Park Community Church in Chicago on Wednesday from noon to 3pm. If you’re in driving distance - please join us!
EXTRA:
I called the Celtics at the beginning of the season - I still got them all the way. It’s going to be like old school: Lakers vs. Celtics. Celtics will win the title. You heard it here!
I’m back in Dallas - got back late and am exhausted, but had a great time. Where do I start? So much was packed into my 3 days there. Today will be a little long, but I’ll just cover Thursday. I’ll blog about Friday and Saturday tomorrow. Here goes…
Day 1 (Thursday): Thursday I arrived at LAX around mid-morning and drove straight from the airport to the Dream Center. I have heard a ton about them, got to catch one of their services once on TV and heard Dr. Phil talk about them last week when I was home sick. After hearing how boldly Dr. Phil endorsed their ministry last week on national TV, I determined I was going to work them into my trip.
Dr. Phil talked about the difference they are making in their community - about how many homeless and hungry they feed EVERY day (hundreds). He went on to talk about how they give people a place to stay, clothes and many other opportunities (medical, physical and spiritual). As I drove up to the church, this was confirmed by the huge line of homeless people I saw stretched around the building and down the street. Each person was waiting to receive a meal and receive from the clothes and hygiene products they give out.
The Dream Center was founded by Tommy Barnett (who I have a great respect for) and his son, Matthew. You may remember Tommy Barnett’s name as the one who is ministering to and leading the restoration process of fallen pastor, Ted Haggard. Tommy also ministered to Jim Bakker.
I met Pastor Matthew Barnett’s personal assistant in the parking lot and she waited for me to park, welcomed me and guided me upstairs to Matthew’s office. He was on a flight and returning that evening for their worship service. She went on to tell me a little of her story - how God had used the Dream Center to change her life and how after graduating from their one year discipleship program she came on staff.
FYI - Everyone I met there was as friendly and hospitable as could be. We found out that one of their daily tours was just beginning so I quickly joined the tour (with a couple from Switzerland). For the next hour, the tour guide took us around their campus, told us stories, would point out different ministries going on and where people (of all ages) were living and introduce us to various staff and people that were in their discipleship program and living there.
After the tour, I went to go take a closer look at their recording studio. On the tour, our tour guide mentioned that they have recording studios where youth can come in off the street and record their music for free. What an outreach! I found my way in and stumbled upon their worship band, which work in the studio and played some of their original music for me. Their worship band, Press Play, just signed a deal with Universal and will be coming to a store near you soon.
As I was hanging out with some of the band, the lead singer of Press Play and head Creative Arts/Worship Pastor, Dave Hanley, walked in and introduced himself. I got to talk with him for a while, catch a little of his heart and vision (I believe he’s been at the Dream Center for 12 years) and hear one of his newest songs.
They invited me to come hang out at their rehearsal for that night’s service, but I had to leave and go meet a friend for college that I hadn’t seen in 11 years. Many people also invited me to their Thursday night worship service, but I had already committed to hang out with some LA friends.
I drove away thanking and praising God for what I had seen with my own eyes - such an amazing ministry. I’ll be mentioning them for sure in my “Church 2.0″ book. If you EVER get to LA, please go and visit the Dream Center. I think all Church leaders should go and spend some time there. I’m looking into going back for a week of ministry with them. To find out more about what God is doing through this amazing ministry watch the promo video below.
Day 1 continued: Thursday went on to include catching up and eating dinner with a friend from college and then meeting Tom Rice ( media producer, writer, filmmaker and Founder of eight20eight) who had invited me to an improv comedy show at the Groundling Theater in Hollywood.
What a night! I had a blast and could honestly go watch them every night. The theater is a cozy and intimate setting and you feel very close to the stage and involved as an audience member. It was kind of like “Whose Line is it Anyway?”, where they would call various actors forward and ask the audience to give them scene ideas.
Besides the amazing Groundling cast, I was wonderfully surprised by their special guests for the night: Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live), Michael McDonald (MADtv) and Gary Anthony Williams (Malcolm in the Middle).
That was a full and fun day topped off with a stop at In-N-Out Burger (you know I had to hit it once). It gets better - more details about Friday and Saturday on tomorrow’s blog.
PERSONAL:
To my friends, family and anyone interested - below is a video of yesterday (me baptizing my daughter). Grace was the first person ever to be baptized in our new baptismal pool. Yesterday was a day of mixed emotions, as we also had a baby dedication and surrounded a couple in prayer who are 7 months pregnant with their son, who is expected to die at birth or shortly after.
Yesterday at church, one of our stage managers offered me 2 free tickets to the Texas Rangers baseball game. I gladly accepted and took my 5 year old son, Tommy. This was my first Rangers game and my son’s first baseball game.
I can not the describe the feeling of when we walked into the stadium. We arrived during the first inning. Just as we walked through the chute and out into the open, Milton Bradley hit a homerun and the crowd went crazy. They started playing the song from the movie “The Natural” (I’m not lying) - just as we were walking out of the chute. It was like a Hollywood moment. I’ll never forget it as long as I live.
For the next few hours we watched the worst team in baseball (they really are) play like they were on fire. We got to see 2 more homeruns (experiencing the roar of the crowd, fireworks and the song from “The Natural” each time) and to everyone’s amazement, the Rangers won 10-0. Maybe Tommy brings good luck?
And to top it ALL off - we sat on the 4th row, right behind Nolan Ryan and the Rangers’ owner, Tom Hicks, gave Tommy a game ball. Then after the game, Tommy got to get on the actual field and run around the bases. What a day! What a day!
EXTRA:
Thank God the tickets and parking were free. What a blessing. 2 Cracker Jacks = $7.50, 2 sodas = $9.50, 1 hotdog and chips =$8.25 - the look on Tommy’s face = Priceless.
Check out the pics (forgive the quality - they’re from my cell phone):
Rangers’ star Michael Young on deck — Nolan Ryan in front of us
Tommy running to home plate —— Tommy in his Rangers’ outfit
Today’s blog is simple: I’d like for you to get your FREE copy of “Facebook for Pastors” and read it. I wrote the Foreward for this book and think it’s a good read. Check it out HERE.