Greg Atkinson

I apologize for taking a break from blogging this week. I am alive. I’ve been a little under the weather and just needed a break from the creative side of me. I am working on some cool new posts/articles that I think you’ll enjoy. 

Tulsa was great. I really enjoyed our time there and the people I met. More soon.

Are you orange? ORANGE IS THE COLOR OF FREEDOM. Wearing orange shows you’re a part of the movement to stop slavery. 

Also, I had a great phone conversation with Charles Lee from JustOne this week. They are working on some wonderful initiatives to raise awareness and support for some causes that the Church should take seriously. We’re meeting where they headquarter for the Church 2.0 Local Forum in Portland on Nov. 7th. I look forward to hearing more about their ministry as they share at this gathering.

Here are some facts that were printed in my church’s bulletin this past Sunday: The modern practice of human trafficking enslaves 27 million people around the world. This is more than at any other time in history. UNICEF says that most children who are trafficked are “sold” by unsuspecting parents who honestly believe that the children they have just “sold” (most for under $5) will be educated, learn a trade, and be carefully looked after by their new “caretaker” (human trafficker).

Little do the impoverished parents know that their child is likely to be sold several times, moved to other countries, and will become virtually untraceable. The United Nations office on drugs and crime has estimated that the total market value of illicit human trafficking is more than $30 billion dollars per year – a third of this profit coming directly from the sale of individuals.

This is not simply a problem on a foreign shore: there are more slaves in the United States today than ever, including the era of American slavery and the Civil War. The Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) reported that every ten minutes, a woman or child is trafficked into the United States and forced into labor. The CIA recently reported that as many as 50,000 women and children are brought into this country every year under false pretenses and then forced unwillingly into roles as abused laborers, servants, and prostitutes.

*** I blog about this because this is a huge part of Church 2.0. Church leaders in the 21st Century have to be aware of and battle against social justice issues. What can you do?

• Donate: I listed some great organizations in my last blog on slavery
• Get Educated: Check out the links HERE
• Pray: for the victims of human trafficking
• Write: Send a letter to your local and state officials asking them to approve stiffer laws against human trafficking.

Today I leave for Tulsa. Church leaders from around the state of Oklahoma will be gathering to discuss issues such as design, innovation (I hope to stretch their view of innovation), technology, social justice, leadership, missions/outreach, communications, working together as the Church (capital “C”) and whatever else God leads us to discuss. Please pray for this gathering tomorrow. Below are the details:

• Register for Tulsa on Facebook HERE. Not on Facebook? Register HERE.
• Sponsors for Tulsa are: Fellowship Technologies,  EasyWorship,CircleBuilder, National Cine Media, Planning Center Online, Unifyer and SermonSpice.

My church (Bent Tree) is hosting this conference! All these folks you see listed above will be at our church. You need to be there, too. There is no better excuse to come to Dallas, hang with me, hear some great speakers and visit Bent Tree. 

In order to allow our people to experiece life as one of our church planters and partners in India, we created Maratha Experience. This was an inspiring, colorful, self-guided tour through the streets of Pune, India (complete with goats). Big props to Aaron Bensko and our Visual Arts team. Below are some pictures from the experience – which was created in one of the hallways of our church.

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! 

This morning I fly to Boston. This will be my first, but hopefully not last, trip to this city. Pray that my time would be fruitful there this weekend. Below are the details:

• Friday, Oct. 17: Church 2.0 Local Forum – Boston (at Grace Chapel)
• Register for Boston on Facebook HERE. Not on Facebook? Register HERE.
• Sponsors for Boston are: LifeWay Threads, National Cine Media,SermonSpice, CircleBuilder, Planning Center Online, EasyWorship,360Hubs, ReelWorship, FreeFoto.com, COLLIDE Magazine and Unifyer.

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. 

1. Communicate
2. Connect
3. Contribute
4. Collaborate