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!
God laid something on my mind and heart lately. I’m going to do a series of devotionals based on worship songs that are special to me (keep in mind I was a worship pastor for 11 years). Here are the songs I’m planning on doing devotionals for:
Savior King (Hillsong United)
Stronger (Hillsong United)
Mighty to Save (Hillsong United)
From the Inside Out (Hillsong United)
Came to the Rescue (Hillsong United)
Fire Fall Down (Hillsong United)
Consuming Fire (Tim Hughes)
God of Justice (Tim Hughes)
Lead Me to the Cross (Hillsong United)
Song of Hope (Robbie Seay Band)
Peace (RSB)
Shine on Us (RSB)
I might also do a couple of Christmas carols.
Here’s where the collaboration comes in: If you have any other songs that you’d like me to take a crack at, leave them in the comment section and I’ll sincerely consider them. Also, once the devotional blogs publish, I want you guys (and gals) to share your thoughts, reflections and insights on songs and lyrics that mean a lot to you. Should be fun and meaningful. I hope you’ll join in.
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.
Happy Thanksgiving. This year, as usual, I have so much to be thankful for. To celebrate with you all, I thought I’d list the tools/resources that I’m thankful for, use and recommend. Some you may be familiar with, some may be new. I hope you’ll share your favorite tools, too. Here are mine (in no particular order):
Today, friends, I’d like to tell you about FreeFoto.com. When I spoke in Boston I met a new friend, Colin Britton, who I had been chatting with online for sometime and actually helped organzize my Church 2.0 Local Forum there. Colin is the co-founder of FreeFoto.com. They are a GREAT resource for you to check out and use.
FreeFoto.com is made up of 122886 images with 157 sections organized into 3386 categories. FreeFoto.com is the largest collection of free photographs on the Internet (link back and attribution required). See FREE USE RULES. The comprehensive, yet easy to navigate site, offers images that are free for on-line use, with higher quality versions available for sale.
Also non-commercial users may download their web size images to use off-line in school projects, church services, cards, leaflets, etc. Basically if your off-line use is not commercial you can download their web size images for free. FreeFoto.com features exclusive images found nowhere else on the web with new pictures being added every week.
*** Hear me: If you’d like to find some FREE pictures to use for your church/ministry website, bulletin, newsletter, etc - you’ve found a new resource here.
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.
All this can be done through the Church 2.0 Unifyer. There is a quick one-time registration (takes seconds) and then you’re in. You can sign up for the news feeds that interest you. Join and/or create groups that interest you and begin to share the joy of the 4 C’s.
One - To encourage you to register (if you’re in the area I’m coming to) or pass the word on to a friend and peer in ministry that is in the area.
Two - To thank, praise and make you aware of the fine sponsors that not only support my ministry, but are relevant, valid and solid options for you to consider in your ministry context.
Three - I’d like to ask YOU to do something that I’ve never done before. Please blog about this Fall tour. Email your friends and peers. INVITE. INVITE. INVITE. These times together (I’ve done 6 so far) are special and powerful. I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about these 3 cities coming up this Fall. God is stirring and moving in my heart and I know He has something special in store for these gatherings coming up.
Four - Pray for wisdom, discernment, vision, protection, provision, and God’s blessing. I feel strongly that God is allowing me to meet with these Church leaders in these 3 cities, making 9 in total since May. After Portland, I will end these for ‘08. In 2009 I’ve got several great cities on my heart that I’ll share later.
Five - If your city, and particularly your church, would be interested in hosting a Church 2.0 Local Forum, email me and let me know. Many wonderful, innovative and growing churches have hosted these gatherings for ALL Church leaders. You and your church may be an answer to a prayer.
I simply want to acknowledge that this is all a God-thing and I’m humbled to just be a part of it.
It’s been LONG overdue. I have been meaning to blog about LifeChurch.tv’s Digerati team for quite a while. I’ve blogged about LifeChurch.tv many times, but in this blog I’d like to spotlight the Digerati team and their projects.
You might be wondering: “What in the world does “digerati” mean?” To get to the bottom of something, I go to Wikipedia. Wikipedia reads:”The digerati are the elite of the computer industry and online communities.” From what I know of my friends Terry Storch and Tony Steward (and the rest of the Digerati Team) this fits them very well.
Maybe you don’t recognize the team, but you may recognize their work. Here is what the Digerati team has been up to and is responsible for:
There’s a great article with Terry Storch in the Sept/Oct issue of COLLIDE Magazine. I encourage you to read it.
*** I’ll be doing occasional “SPOTLIGHTS” from time to time. If you know of a ministry/organization or individual that I should consider shining a spotlight on, just email me (greg@gregatkinson.com) and let me know.
