Greg Atkinson

This morning I fly to LA. I’ll be running some errands and hanging out with some friends today/tonight. Tomorrow we have our first official Church 2.0 Local Forum. If you’re near LA, please join us! Besides the people that RSVP on Facebook, we have some other guests joining that have responded via email. There will be Church leaders there from as far as San Diego and San Francisco!

I’ll be at the Biola Media Conference on Saturday and will return late Saturday night. Sunday is a special day at Bent Tree - we’re baptizing 101 people (including my oldest daughter)!

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.

Yesterday I announced the beginning of the Church 2.0 Local Forum. I’m excited about the first 2 of these in May (one in LA and one in Chicago). For now, I’d like to give you more info on the first one in LA. This is for all Church leaders in the Southern California area. If you’re involved in ministry and would like to meet, network and share with others in ministry - this FREE event is for you.

DETAILS: We will gather on Friday, May 2nd from 11:30am to 3:30pm in Grant Hall at Hollywood UMC. I’d appreciate you signing up so we know how much lunch to provide. To RSVP go HERE.

Sponsors that have taken care of the facility rental, free give-aways/swag and free food for all are: eight20eight, iStockphoto, RevoStock and SermonSpice. I’m extremely grateful for their support.

Here’s a special note from sponsor iStockphoto: Enter the coupon code FAITH and you will receive a 20% first purchase discount on any order over 55 credits and you can also choose 20 FREE images out of a group of 50. Go HERE to check it out.

WHAT’S SO COOL ABOUT MEETING AT HOLLYWOOD UMC?

Due to the unique beauty of the buildings and the history emmanating from their individual spaces, the church facilities are often used as a film and television location and have been featured in several major motion pictures.

FILMS SHOT AT HUMC include…
• Jarhead
• Domino
• Anger Management
• Big Mama’s House
• Beautiful
• A Civil Action
• That Thing You Do!
• Super Mario Bros.
• Sister Act
• Back to the Future
• Star 80
• Imitation of Life

TV SHOWS SHOT AT HUMC include…
• CSI
• Days of Our Lives
• General Hospital
• Murder, She Wrote
• The Golden Girls
• Jake and the Fatman
• The A-Team
• Hardcastle and McCormick
• Riptide
• Hotel
• Dr. Phil - Special
• Bette Midler - Special
• The Temptations - Special

SPECIAL FOOTNOTES FOR FILM FANS -
In Back to the Future, the church gymnasium was the location for the high school prom/dance scene where Michael J. Fox reunites his parents and takes the stage to perform a wicked guitar version of “Johnny Be Good.”

In Sister Act, virtually the entire church served as an on-location set for the story of Whoopi Goldberg posing as a nun. The scenes where the nuns ate at a long table and where Whoopi was scrubbing floors were filmed in Grant Hall. The scene where the nuns were gossiping in the kitchen over ice cream was in the Main Kitchen. The choir room in the movie was shot in the church’s actual choir room at the time.

In Tom Hanks’ That Thing You Do!, the gym stage was the setting for a college talent show where the movie’s fictitious pop-rock group, “The Wonders,” first sang their hit song “That Thing You Do!” in public. In the scene, the group’s drummer surprises them by speeding up the tempo of the song, with very positive results.

I have 2 conferences in May that I’ll be at (PLEASE let me know if you’ll be at either). One is a rare opportunity that I don’t usually get - I’ll be just attending and hanging out at the Biola Media Conference. This is a great conference that I’ve followed for years and always wanted to go to. This year I was invited to come and just attend and blog about my thoughts on it.

I look forward to seeing Phil Cooke and Craig Detweiler (both of whom I’m interviewing for my book) and getting to hear them speak. Usually I’m teaching at the same time as them and miss getting to sit in on their class. This will be a much-needed opportunity to not have the pressure of speaking and just soak up, network and learn. I can’t wait! Plus I’ll get to see several friends that I have in LA and spend some time with each of them.

***Speaking of my LA trip. I’m organizing a gathering in LA like we did in Las Vegas. This is a little different though - this will be the first of, hopefully many, Church 2.0 Local Forums. The Church 2.0 Local Forum- LA will take place from 11:30am to 3:30pm on Friday, May 2nd (location TBD). If you’re in the LA area and want to come (this is for all Church leaders) please stayed tuned to my blog and my Facebook group. ***

The 2nd conference that I’ll be at in May and teaching 5 classes for is the Moody Bible Pastors’ Conference. This will be my 5th year speaking there. I look forward to this conference each year as 1500 pastors from around the world gather to worship, fellowship and learn. I absolutely love speaking to senior pastors. This year will be cool because I’m taking my intern, Jonathan, with me.

***There will probably be a Church 2.0 Local Forum - Chicago on either Wednesday, May 21st or Friday, May 23rd. Again, stay tuned for more info. ***

If you will be at either of these conferences, please let me know and we’ll meet up! I would like to mention and thank EasyWorship for sponsoring my classes at Moody this year.

EXTRA:
Here’s more info on the Biola Media Conference…

BIOLA MEDIA CONFERENCE - MAY 3, 2008
Make plans to attend the largest gathering for Christians in the Entertainment Industry - the Biola Media Conference! Held on May 3 at CBS Studio Center in LA, this year’s conference theme explores the new
blueprints required in “Designing for the Digital Age”. Top professionals in film, television, and digital media will be addressing the challenges for Hollywood at the dawn of the online entertainment revolution as well as the innovative options in production, content, distribution and marketing that this digital age presents. New blueprints are needed as an era of social media and digital technology make entertainment and information more personal and customized than ever. Change isn’t coming. It’s here. NOW is the time to strategize a new design for the future of entertainment. Register online at www.biolamedia.com

In my “Church 2.0” class at NAB, I did a live text poll where people in the class texted in their vote and it updated in real time on the screen (via PowerPoint). Many asked how I did it. I did it using a website called Poll Everywhere.

I’d like to encourage you all, my blog readers, to participate, too. Please go HERE and select your answer to the poll. I tried posting the poll on my blog, but the text was too small to read. If you go to the link above you’ll be able to read all the options well and vote online. Tomorrow I’ll post the results.

EXTRA:
Here are some places to check out free videos (that’s right: FREE) - actually they’re all types of media resources.

• Free Countdown from SermonSpice
• Free loop or motion background from WorshipHouse
• Free iPod film from Modern Parables
• Free stock footage from RevoStock
• Free download from SermonVideos.com
• Free Mother’s Day Countdown from WorshipFilms
• Free Mother’s Day Backgrounds from Midnight Oil
• Free media resources from WORDsearch Media
• Free video from eleven72
• Free download from Floodgate Productions
• Free media resources from Organic Videos
• Free media resources from Sermonade
• Free media resources from Muddy River Media
• Free graphics from WorshipGraphics
• Free SD or HD clip from 12 Inch Design

OUR HOTEL:

Today I fly to Las Vegas to speak at NAB. I bring with me a crew of friends: my Video Intern - Jonathan, Brian Davis (Tech Director at Fellowship Dallas - who’s sharing a hotel room with me and my intern) and the volunteer leader of our Video Team - who’s going with his company. His company, Splash Media, just finished a huge project that you may have heard about - Adobe TV. I’m proud to say that our Video Team leader just headed up this project and oversaw the production of the videos you see on Adobe TV HERE.

My friend and member of our local tech director group, Kip Kendrick, arrived this past weekend and so we’ll catch up with him today, too. You know I’m a networker and love hanging out with peers, so I’m pumped about this trip. I have several tech director friends from around the country that I’m meeting up with and hanging out with.

Here’s a brief overview of my schedule for the next 3 days:

• Today - Arrive this morning in Vegas. Go to NAB and walk the exhibit floor. Check into our hotel, walk around the strip a bit and go see the Blue Man Group at night.
• Tuesday - We have a tech director lunch at 11:30am, where tech folks from around the country will meet and greet and eat! At 3pm, I lead a class on worship presentation software, where EasyWorship, MediaShout and ProPresenter will go head-to-head. Tuesday night, I bring 5 friends with me to see KA.
• Wednesday - At 9am, I teach my first “Church 2.0” class. I’ll be teaching this a few more times this year, but this will be the first time. I’m excited about this. I believe we’re going to try to video it and put it up on YouTube and GodTube for those of you that can’t make it to watch. Wednesday evening I fly back home and reunite with my family.
• Thursday - Meetings and playing catch-up at the church.

EXTRA:
Sometime this week, we plan on experiencing the following: The fountain show at the Bellagio. The Lady of the Lake show at the Wynn and the restaurant and rides atop our hotel, which you can see HERE. For more technical info on what it takes to do the Lady of the Lake show at the Wynn read THIS (scroll to the bottom).

EXTRA, EXTRA:

Yesterday’s service was great. Our pastor’s dad, Stuart Briscoe, preached and was a blessing to us all. Our pastor, Pete, and his parents have a radio show called “Telling the Truth“. You can listen to them daily online or via your local radio station. For more info go HERE.

BONUS:
I put some bigger (easier to see) pictures up of our Good Friday service. You can go back to the post to see them HERE. I’ll have a few Easter pics soon.

Sorry for disappearing. This week has flown by - let me catch you up. Wednesday, I worked a long day with the highlight being taking my Visual Arts Coordinator and my Audio Coordinator over to another local church to meet with their tech team and see what they do that’s unique.

We went to my friends, Russ and Camron Ware’s church: Irving Bible Church. Russ wasn’t there, but we had gone to meet with Camron and let him show us what he’s been up to lately. I had been hearing a buzz from many people about what they were doing with lighting and effect projectors. Camron has a side ministry now, where he helps other churches do what he did at IBC (see picture above). I highly recommend you check him out - they’re doing some very cool stuff that inspired us and gave us some great ideas.

The rest of the day was full of meetings and new building stuff. After work, I wanted to get away from it all for a much needed break. To have fun and spend time with a friend, I took my video intern to a Dallas Mavericks game. They were playing the Detroit Pistons and it was just what the doctor ordered. The Mavs spanked the Pistons and a great time was had by all - plus I got a coupon for a free taco since they won - Woo Hoo! We stopped to eat and get coffee after the game, had a good talk and didn’t get in until very late and I went straight to sleep (so there was no blog on Thursday).

Thursday was a day of a hundred projects (literally). I had teams of people working on different things all over the building. The highlight of Thursday was our weekly rehearsal where we were training people on our new monitor console and also hosting 2 tech guys from another local church: Lovers Lane UMC. They are looking at purchasing the Yamaha LS9, which we’ve been using until we get into our new building. I invited them to come out and see it in action. It was great to see my audio team interacting with them and trying to be of help to them. It was a beautiful sight.

After rehearsal, it was back to finishing projects. I got home from the church at 2am and hit the sack. That’s why this blog is coming late today. Okay - we should be all caught up now. I’m off today and plan on having fun and not thinking about church.

Tomorrow evening, I’m taking my tech team to Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, TX. They are a great church and do things very well technically. We’ll hang out with my new friend, Jason Cole - AV Director there, who will give my team a tour of the behind-the-scenes. I’m looking forward to the fellowship and just hanging out with my tech team (we’re going together in the church bus).

In closing, I just want to reiterate what I often live and preach: GET TO KNOW CHURCHES IN YOUR AREA. It’s all about the Kingdom. We have so much we can learn from each other. From us visiting Irving Bible and Lake Pointe to hosting Lovers Lane to us gathering together on Sunday morning to watch LifeChurch.tv and Seacoast via the internet - there is so much we can offer to and gain from other churches. That’s “Church 2.0” - sharing and being a resource to other churches. Learning from one another. More of that to come in my book. I’ll step down off my soapbox now.

By the way, HELLO to all of you who took me up on my offer in my last blog post to connect with me on Facebook. I’m glad we’re Facebook friends now!

EXTRA:
Don’t forget, as a reader of this blog, you have until January 31st to take 30% off at Crossroads Creative.

BONUS:
Check out this FREE new video from SermonSpice and this FREE worship countdown from WorshipHouse Media.

Some have asked if I send out a regular newsletter or email updates. I do have a newsletter, but it comes out rarely. I’d like to invite any of you to connect with me via great Web 2.0 technologies like Facebook and Twitter. I do daily updates on both and you can check them out and see what I’m up to. Come on - it’ll be fun!

Yesterday I met with a tech director at another church here in Dallas. This is something I’ve done for the last 13 years. I guess you could say I’m a “networker”. It really comes natural to me and is a passion of mine. Everywhere that I’ve lived and each church I’ve served, I’ve always got to know the local churches and staff members. From my days as a college student serving part-time at a small church and meeting with a local mega-church staff member to meeting with churches the same size as mine and on and on.

I like to meet with churches that are smaller than mine to be a resource to them. I LOVE meeting with church leaders that serve at churches around the same size as mine. And I always love the sharing and learning that I do with church leaders that serve at churches larger than mine.

I’m glad to say that I have friends from serving in the Carolinas and friends in Washington DC, where I served before moving to Dallas, and these are guys that I stay in touch with and am glad to call friends. Here in Dallas, I’m a member of a few network groups: One is a group of Dallas area worship leaders, one is a ‘yal come/large group of tech staff from all size churches and the other is a small group of tech directors from churches around the same size as my church. I can’t recommend the food, fun and fellowship highly enough.

A couple of thoughts on networking:

• Church size doesn’t matter… no matter what size your church is, you can benefit from a local network.
• Denomination doesn’t matter… this is something I had to break free from years ago. You have a lot more than you realize in common with those from other denominations.
• Vent - take the opportunity to share struggles and frustrations with your local group. You’ll find that many others have some of the same frustrations. You need to be able to talk about these with someone outside your church.
• Share with each other. My local group shares equipment with each other and tries to help one another out with ideas, resources, contacts, etc. Just yesterday, I called up a local tech director (from the group) to ask where he would go in Dallas to rent wireless mics, as we’re going to have to rent some for Christmas.
• Be proactive. 95% of the time, people that I’ve had breakfast, lunch or coffee with were people that I called up or emailed and took the initiative to introduce myself to them. Again, this comes natural to me and may be out of your comfort zone, but it will be well worth your while.
• Take advantage of Web 2.0 technologies: things like Myspace and Facebook are great ways to meet people. I’ve met several people through one of them and then met them in real life.
• When you can, try to visit other local churches (for one of their services). I see local tech directors (and their teams) at my church from time to time and the past 2 Sundays, I’ve visited two different churches. It’s good to get out and see what others are doing.
• It’s ALL about the Kingdom. You’ve got to get this point. I can’t stand to hear of churches in competition with one another. We’re in this together. The reason I write, blog, speak at conferences and consult is because I want to help other churches grow, dream, do better, lead better and reach more people for Christ. Any spirit of competition is not of God and should be seen as sin. Get rid of it, friends!
• Not everyone will get this. I wish I could say that every person I’ve called or emailed has contacted me back and we met - that’s not the case. Some people have no desire to meet with someone from another church. What a shame and what a way to miss out on a blessing and possible new friend. My two cents: keep moving on and keep searching. Someone in your city will be interested in meeting and may turn out to be a great friend and resource for your ministry.

EXTRA (Free Christmas Countdown):

Get a really cool free, winter countdown from my friends at Igniter Media Group HERE.

Okay, let’s hear it. How many of you have already purchased Apple’s new Leopard? I’m also curious as to how many of you (like some of my friends) were standing in a long line waiting Friday afternoon to get one of the first copies?

EXTRA:

Don’t forget: You’ve got just a few more days to get all of Highway Video’s DVDs for 50% off. Click HERE to stock up your media library!

BONUS:

For all of you “The Office” fans - Did you see Dwight on Second Life? It reminded me of LifeChurch.tv’s Second Life campus, which you can check out HERE. What did you think of Dwight flying around?