Greg Atkinson

This is a glimpse into our Thanksgiving. Seen at the table are my wife’s parents, my kids and me (with goatee – I’m already missing it). I shaved my goatee off today. My wife is MIA as she was taking the picture. How was your Thanksgiving?

Friday morning we began setting up our Christmas tree and Christmas decorations. Want to know what my favorite ornament is (that always goes front and center on our tree)? 

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 you in the wonderful city of Austin!

This year we are going to do Christmas differently around the Atkinson home. We are just days away from Thanksgiving! – after which we will take down the Christmas ornaments and begin decorating our home for the holidays. We always decorate with Christmas music playing. I’ll also start playing Christmas music at church during the prelude/walk-in time. I’m glad it’s that time of year!

As a family, we are going to participate in this season of giving differently this year. Here are 3 things that I’m trying to use as teachable moments with my children:

1. Send Christmas cards (made by our kids) to our child that we sponsor through World Vision and shop through their Christmas catalog. Maybe give some ducks… or a goat?!! Who knows?
2. Shop in the IJM Gift of Freedom Holiday Catlalog. I don’t know exactly what we’re going to give this year, but we’re going to pick one of their great options. 
3. New this year: we are going to participate in the brilliant campaign: Advent Conspiracy. Watch this video – dream with us. What could it look like if we change our shopping/giving/normal Christmas mentality and gave the gift of clean water? Do you honestly remember what you got or gave for Christmas last year? Check this video out:

I hope you know my heart. My intent is to share what’s going on in my life and my family – to encourage, challenge and stretch you – and hope that you and your family will look at Christmas with new eyes this year. So… what are YOU doing for Christmas?

EXTRA:

If you watched 24 last night then maybe your heart was stirred (like mine) by the issues raised. To get involved and do something about it go HERE.

EXTRA, EXTRA:

Some of you have, but a lot of you have not been following the string of comments on the “Don’t Go to Seminary” blog post. I encourage you to go back and read through all them. It’s pretty exciting to see how that struck a nerve with so many. You might even see a comment that shocks you.

PLEASE. Please go buy a pair of shoes. I’m committing to you to buy some. Would you join me? If so, go HERE.

EXTRA:

Today I begin to read Henri Nouwen’s In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. I’m pumped. I’ve already heard so many great quotes from this book. I think it is timely for me, personally and a book that God is going to greatly use in this season of my life. Anyone else read it?

Wait. Hold the phone. Don’t crucify me, yet. Allow me to share with you my heart and where I’m headed with that title. I’ll tell you my thoughts on seminary and continued education later on, if you stick to the end. If you don’t read this whole blog and say something mean, you’ll probably look like a jerk.

Our Worship & Arts department has 5 interns.  2 college students and 3 Dallas Theological Seminary students. 4 of them I get to spend time with and invest in. 3 of them I spend a little more one on one time with. 2 really get the most from me and 1 is someone I spend a lot of time with – my intern and friend, Jonathan Moon, who I’ve referred to before on this blog.

Jonathan graduates from college this year with a degree in Cinema and Television. Am I encouraging him to join our staff at Bent Tree? No. Why? Because that would be selfish of me and short-sighted. Yes, he could continue to crank out video projects for our church, but the truth is we can find someone else to create videos. 

Jonathan’s passion and dream is to be a producer in Hollywood. So, as his boss and mentor, what do I do? I push him out the door. We are a sending church. I’m constantly saying, “When you’re in LA…”, “When you change Hollywood…”, “When are you going to visit and stay with my friend, Cynthia Ware and spend some time with my friend, Phil Cooke?”

Enough about me, my intern and our situation. Here’s what I’ve felt and thought through for YEARS:

Why is it when we see a young man or woman that is sensitive to the Holy Spirit, has a solid prayer life, devours the Bible, clearly walking with God and “on fire” we automatically say, “You need to go ‘into the ministry’?” Our warped view of “ministry” means that they go to Bible college and/or seminary and become a preacher, minister or missionary. 

Do we need current and future preachers, ministers and missionaries? Absolutely. Hear me out. I’ve just seen too many people over the years that were “on fire”, but were called to something in “the secular world” – only to be looked down upon and shamed because they didn’t go “into the ministry”.  Shame on us.

Here’s what we need, folks: We need Christian, Spirit-led, God-fearing, prayerful young men and women to go into Hollywood, classrooms/education, hospitals, military, law and law enforcement and dare I say: politics. I grew up hearing that all politictians were crooked, evil and dirty. That may be true for some, but it doesn’t have to be true for all. Why can’t we send Spirit-filled, Godly, prayerful youth into our government? 

Do you see what I’m getting at? All of this must be sought after with prayer. I’m not saying go here or there – listen to God. What I am saying is to not assume that those leaders in your youth group are destined to “ministry” and should head to seminary. Maybe their ministry will be outside the local church. Maybe they are being raised up to change the face of government/politics, movies and Hollywood, education, the medical field and our military. Just maybe.

For the record: I guest speak and teach at colleges and seminaries. I’m pursuing my PhD. I’m all for continued education, learning and personal/professional growth. I just think we need to see “ministry” more holistically and broader than just being on a church staff.

Dream with me:

• What if Christians were shaping what we watch on TV and movie screens? I’m not talking about Christian shows or movies (don’t get me started on that). I’m talking about Christians making movies that are not offensive and have a spiritual/redemptive thread woven through them. Deep stuff like CS Lewis was a genius at. 
• What if Christian youth went to law school, became an attorney and joined IJM and started helping to literally free slaves??? 
• What if a sold-out Christian became a pediatrician, hospice nurse, surgeon? I’ll never forget going into surgery 2 years ago and my surgeon asking if he could pray for me before the surgery. I’ll never forget going into surgery 9 years ago and the anesthelogist singing hymns as he was prepping me. What a witness!
• I don’t need to tell you the stats of kids, the lack of a father figure/single parent homes, abusive homes and unhealthy situations. Think of them being able to build a healthy relationship with a Christian teacher. 
• What if we had Christian scientists and researchers that marry their brains with their morals and ethics? 
• What? What? What? Do you ever just dream? Dream of what the world could be? 

NOT – Forgive me in advance: here comes a rant. I have very few pet peeves, but those I have drive me crazy. Today I’d like to share with you 2 of them:

PET PEEVE #1: When I order a softdrink on a flight and they pour it in a cup and keep the rest of the can. What? I’m a big boy. I can drink the whole can. Stop holding back. Moving on…

PET PEEVE #2: Christian leaders and pastors that act like superstars. There are several reasons why this gets under my skin.

• First, I’m a networker. I take joy in getting to know other Christian leaders of various postions/roles, denominaitons and church sizes. I love meeting and getting to know people and that’s not going to change no matter how much I think I “make it” one day.
• Second, I’m a busy guy who serves on a mega-church staff, has a family, friends, a blog read daily by many people, writes for various websites and magazines, is writing a book, speaks at conferences across the country and still takes the time to respond to the many emails I get from people around the world each day.
• Third, I see and know other Church leaders that are even busier, speak and write more and watch as they take time to answer questions, meet local peers in ministry and help others.
• Fourth, I serve under an extremely humble Senior Pastor, Pete Briscoe. He’s seen our church go from around 200 people when he arrived, to now over 5000 under his leadership and is still one of the most genuinely humble and down to earth leaders I’ve ever been around. He has a very sensitive spirit and a true humility that makes me proud to know him.
• Fifth (I saved the best for last), I look at the example of Christ. Christ washed his disciples feet. He was a servant leader. He touched people that were not supposed to be touched and hung around with people that the religious would not. 

I recently came across another powerful movie that I’m going to go see here in Dallas. You can watch the trailer HERE. The movie is called “Trade”. I encourage you to go and see it with some friends, classmates, co-workers, people in your small group, etc.. Let it be a catalyst for discussion. I’m trying to do that here in DFW. If you’re near here and want to go with me, just give me a shout.

Here is something from the movie’s website:

The practice of slavery in the US is something most people think ended with the 13th Amendment in 1865, but in recent years it has returned in an even more virulent form. Fueled by the collapse of the Soviet Union and other eastern European countries, new technologies like the internet, and sieve-like borders, the traffic in human beings has become an epidemic of colossal dimensions. The State Department estimates that as many as 800,000 people are trafficked over international frontiers each year, largely for sexual exploitation. Eighty percent are female and over fifty percent are minors. Many people in this country push this atrocity out of their minds, believing that it only occurs in faraway countries like Thailand, Cambodia, the Ukraine and Bosnia. The truth is that the United States has become a large-scale importer of sex slaves. Free the Slaves, America’s largest anti-slavery organization estimates that at least 10,000 people a year are smuggled or duped into this country by sex traffickers.

EXTRA:

One organization that I forgot to mention the other day is World Vision. My wife and I have been supporters of World Vision for 14 years. I encourage you to look into their ministry as well.

My friend, Pace, at Fellowship Church posted this video that they did recently. I love it! Art is about expression. How are you expressing yourself as an artist? Does your church let you express yourself? Do you feel like your church stiffles or depresses creativity, freedom and expression in your situation? Express yourself!

New Creation from Pace Hartfield on Vimeo. 

EXTRA:

Speaking of expression: I’ve got a lot of thoughts and comments that I’m processing through right now. I’m pretty fired up. I’m greatly encouraged by the many of you that responded to yesterday’s blog post. I’m also greatly concerned by some people’s reaction. Bear with me. I’m trying to handle it Christ-like.

This isn’t about me – it’s about them (the 27 millions slaves around the world). God has been stirring in my heart since August and I’ve simply had enough. I’m stirred, moved, angered, disturbed, determined and trying my best to be obedient to my Maker’s call: I am an abolitionist.

This isn’t just a fad or phase – for me, I can’t return to the way I used to be. My eyes have been opened and I vow to spend the rest of my life fighting, praying, serving, rescuing, enlightening, spreading awareness, raising support – whatever small part I can do to be a part of this God-movement.

According to Wikipedia: “Because slavery still exists, with an estimated 27 million people enslaved worldwide, a new international abolitionist movement has recently emerged.” I and many others are a part of that movement.

The beautiful thing is that this movement is something that people of all faiths can agree on and join together in. I’m reaching out to my atheist, Morman, Muslim, Jewish and Universalist friends to join me in this movement. Do we each have our own beliefs, doctrines and convictions? Sure. I do not waver in my faith in Christ.

BUT I feel that we can join together in causes around the world: the poor and homelessness, the environment, AIDS, clean water, slavery and human trafficking, etc. These are issues that we all should be concerned with and join together regardless of our differing faith or religious views/backgrounds.

*** 12 things that I’m a part of and committed to work with:

• Advent Conspiracy
• Catalyst
• Fermi Project
• Food for the Hungry
• International Justice Mission
• Just One
• Not For Sale
• One
• ROOV
• PEACE
• Shema Movement
• World Vision