Greg Atkinson

As I mentioned before, in preparation for our new worship center and moving from 2 cameras to 3, I’ve been visiting other churches to get ideas and inspiration. The last 2 Sundays I’ve visited churches via the internet. I’ve attended both LifeChurch.tv’s and Seacoast’s Internet Campuses. It’s been fascinating to watch and worship via the web. If you get a chance one Sunday and can sneak away into your office, log on and check ‘em out.

EXTRA:

I’ve got to give another shout out to my friend, Shawn Wood (Experiences Pastor at Seacoast), for linking to this video. I can’t imagine Burger King without the whopper. If you want to see what it would be like, check it out HERE.

ADDITION:

I accidentally forgot to mention this year’s Christmas product from Radiate Films in yesterday’s post. It has been added now and I encourage you to check it out below.

Yesterday was a 14 hour day, so I’ll be brief. I’ll be reviewing some new Christmas media resources in the near future. For now, I’d like to mention 2 things: One from SermonVideos.com and one from WorshipHouse Media.

My boy, Craig, and his team at SermonVideos.com have created a new Christmas Pak for ‘07. Their Christmas Paks are a favorite each year. I’d encourage you to check out the first two if you don’t have them and if you do, it’s time to purchase their new Christmas Pak 3. Go HERE and look for the newest resource on the right.

My friends at WorshipHouse Media are giving away a FREE download every weekday until Christmas! That’s right… every weekday. Also you can watch a daily podcast from Dale and Kent. Go HERE and click on the “Daily Freebie” ad to go to each day’s freebie.

EXTRA:

If you’re a fan of Paul Baloche (like I am), you may want to check out his video of the Christmas version of his song, “Offering”. You can watch it HERE.

That is the question and the topic of my weekly column on Monday Morning Insight. Go HERE to read this week’s article.

Outreach magazine has released the 2007 - “100 Fastest-Growing Churches in America” list and has even added one more church to make it the “101 Fastest-Growing U.S. Churches of 2007″.

Here are the top 35:

1. Iglesia Cristiana Segadores de Vida (Hollywood, FL) :: Ruddy Gracia
2. Community of Faith (Cypress, TX) :: Mark Shook
3. Valley Bible Fellowship (Bakersfield, CA) :: Ron Vietti
4. Community Christian Church (Naperville, IL) :: Dave Ferguson
5. The Richmond Outreach Center (Richmond, VA) :: Geronimo Aguilar
6. New Life Church (Conway, AR) :: Rick Bezet
7. Living Hope Church (Vancouver, WA) :: John Bishop
8. Elevation Church (Charlotte, NC) :: Steven Furtick
9. Thomas Road Baptist Church (Lynchburg, VA) :: Jonathan Falwell
10. Flamingo Road Church (Cooper City, FL) :: Troy Gramling
11. The Church at Brook Hills (Birmingham, AL) :: David Platt
12. Heartland Community Church (Rockford, IL) :: Mark Bankord
13. Real Life Ministries (Post Falls, ID) :: Jim Putman
14. Church of the Highlands (Birmingham, AL) :: Chris Hodges
15. Fellowship Church (Grapevine, TX) :: Ed Young Jr.
16. Westside Family Church (Lenexa, KS) :: Dan Chaverin
17. Calvary Church (Charlotte, NC) :: John Munroe
18. NewSpring Community Church (Anderson, SC) :: Perry Noble
19. Bayside Covenant Church (Granite Bay, CA) :: Ray Johnston
20. Central Christian Church (Henderson, NV) :: Jud Wilhite
21. Woodside Bible Church (Troy, MI) :: Doug Schmidt
22. Trinity Evangelical Free Church (Redlands, CA) :: Gary Inrig
23. Mars Hill Church (Seattle, WA) :: Mark Driscoll
24. Calvary Community Church (Phoenix, AZ) :: J. Mark Martin
25. Redemption World Outreach Center (Greenville, SC) :: Ron Carpenter
26. Jubilee Christian Church (Boston, MA) :: Gilbert Thompson
27. Fellowship of the Woodlands (The Woodlands, TX) :: Kerry Shook
28. EastLake Community Church (Kirkland, WA) :: Ryan Meeks
29. Voices of Faith Ministries (Stone Mountain, GA) :: Gary Hawkins
30. The Potter’s House (Dallas, TX) :: T.D. Jakes
31. LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK) :: Craig Groeschel
32. Kensington Community Church (Troy, MI) :: Steve Andrews
33. Westover Hills Assembly of God (San Antonio, TX) :: Jim Rion
34. The Oasis Church (Loganville, GA) :: Troy Shaw
35. Celebration Church (Jacksonville, FL) :: Stovall Weems

To be considered for the list, a church must have:

1. Grown by at least 500 people in weekly attendance from ‘06-’07
2. Averaged over 1000 people in weekly attendance in ‘07
3. Grown by a measurable percentage between ‘06-’07 (usually 10%+ growth)

Churches meeting these criteria were ranked by numerical growth and then by percentage growth, and the average of the two ranks determined their final ranking. Each church was responsible for self-reporting their numbers, and consequently, some churches may not be included if they chose not to participate.

To see the rankings, numerical growth, and percentage growth of all 101 churches, view the PDF of the list on Outreach magazine’s website.

BONUS:

Speaking of churches. This just in from Digital.Leadnet.org: You can now watch YouTube Videos in Google Earth. The Google Earth team announced that users can now watch YouTube videos in Google Earth IF a video is geotagged with a longitude and latitude.

Why should this matter to you? This ability now gives churches the opportunity to embed a commercial for their church at its map location within Google Earth. The feature is located under the “Featured Content” folder in the left-side panel of Google Earth. Pretty cool.

I’ve mentioned these 2 polls before. One is for the most innovative churches in America; the other is for what worship presentation software you use. If you haven’t voted yet, please go vote.

BONUS:

Looking for some simple, usable and fresh backgrounds? Check out my Fresh Backs Vol. 1 HERE and search under Wasteland Media.

We’ve all been there: from time to time, we need to convert a video piece from one format to another. I was helping our youth ministry last week convert a video they had created in Final Cut Pro to an AVI and/or MPEG1 so they could play it in PowerPoint. I told them to download the Xilisoft Video Converter, which is what I use. I also suggested they upgrade their QuickTime to QuickTime Pro.

My friend, Brian Davis (of Worship Tech Online), told me about a piece of software that he uses. Terry Storch actually told Brian and he was passing the tip on to me. It’s a software called Visual Hub and it allows you to import MPEG1 (and other formats) into Final Cut Pro for editing. I thought it was a pretty cool piece of software.

So, I ask you: What software package can you not live without? What have you found that works great for your situation?

UPDATE:

Remember my presentation software poll? It’s interesting that the 3 software companies that I stand behind/endorse and list on my “Charter Sponsors” page are the top 3 in the poll. If you haven’t voted yet, vote HERE.

Wednesday night, our top candidate for the Audio Coordinator position flew in. I was with him and in several meetings all day yesterday. He’ll be here all weekend and run Front of House on Sunday. Pray that God would give us wisdom and discernment.

EXTRA:

One of my favorite producers, SermonVideos.com, has a new and improved website. Check it out HERE!

BONUS:

If you or creative people you know are into video production, you might be interested in this…

WorshipMusic.com is hosting an “I Will Remember - Music Video” Contest

They are looking for a fresh and well done music video to go along with song track “I Will Remember”. The entry who wins gets a $500 shopping spree at WorshipMusic.com. All those creatives and filmmakers at your church can get the details and info HERE.

The contest runs during the month of Sept., so its “go time” if you’re interested.

EXTRA, EXTRA:

Collide Magazine ships today. This is THE new magazine for those involved in ministry and media. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can HERE.

I’m always on the look out for good resources. Videomaker might be of help to you and your work. Check out their FREE tip sheet HERE.

In meeting with the folks at MediaShout the other week, they mentioned that out of the list of the Top 25 Most Innovative Churches in the US, 19 of them used MediaShout. I found that interesting. I’m a regular user of EasyWorship, but also have a great respect for ProPresenter and MediaShout. I’m curious as to what you use at your church…SO, I created a Squidoo poll where you can vote. Please go HERE to place your vote or.

EXTRA:

Have you heard of Sermon Cinema? Might be worth checking out.

PERSONAL:

Yesterday was a great day. We did a funny drama, great music, our pastor was back from his sabbatical and we played an in-house video we did that was hilarious. Also, we had 4 people shadowing people on the Tech Arts team and watching what was going on behind the scenes. We just did a volunteer campaign called “iServe” and it produced some great new contacts.

Also, after our last service last night, I got to sneak over to Denton Bible and catch one of my favorite artists in concert: Shawn McDonald! I love him, his music and his testimony. Wow!

Some have emailed me asking what equipment we’re putting in our new worship center. I figured I’d just blog about it. Here’s a short list:

AUDIO: Meyers speakers and subs and the Digidesign Venue at FOH

LIGHTING: GrandMA full size

VIDEO: Ross Synergy 1 MD switcher and JVC’s GY-HD250U cameras (3)

EXTRA:

WorshipHouse Media’s HouseChat gave a shout out to Seth Godin’s blog (which I dig). You can check out what they had to say HERE.

BONUS:

Read my “Less is More” article on MinistryCOM’s website.