Greg Atkinson

Lately, there’s been a ton of controversy over Rob Bell and his new book Love Wins. I’ve read several book reviews of the book and as I stated on Twitter and Facebook, it gives me great cause for concern. Let me first say that I love Rob Bell, respect him and think he’s a great communicator. I’ll talk more about that in a future blog post. What I disagree with him is in the area of theology, our view of Hell and what seems to be a universalist view (even though I know he doesn’t like that label).

I’d like to point to two great blog posts by people much smarter than I that express what I’ve been feeling for weeks and haven’t put into words, yet. It’s only after much thought and debate that I even write this blog post because I don’t want to be labeled as a hater or critic. Again, let me state: I love and respect Rob Bell. I just hold high the teaching of sound doctrine and feel I need to speak up if someone with a large following leads people astray.

First, on Rob Bell – I’d like to suggest that you read THIS blog post and book review that was posted on ChurchLeaders.com. I thought it was very well done and expressed my concern and a warning about what he writes in his book. I’ll let you read the review yourself and come to your own conclusion.

Second, on Hell – I believe there is an actual Hell and believe the Bible supports that belief. Pastor Mark Driscoll wrote an excellent blog post on Hell and he sums up the Scripture’s teaching on Hell much better than I could. I really respect when a pastor is clear, definite and straightforward. It’s the vagueness of Bell that concerns me. Read Driscoll’s thoughts on Hell HERE and see what you think.

Third, on why I’m not a Universalist – let me share with you three Scriptures that mean the world to me and that I simply can not shake or ignore.

For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus… – 1 Timothy 2:5

Jesus is ”‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:11-12

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16

Watch the intro of this interview with Rob Bell on MSNBC and listen carefully to how the reporter explains Bell’s book. He says that all people will go to Heaven and that people can change their mind post-mortem. From the questions that the reporter asks, he is clearly puzzled by Bell’s mixed message of  ”No, I’m not a Universalist”, but “In the end God wins and everyone goes to Heaven.” This is dangerous stuff in my humble opinion. Watch and see for yourself.

This is my humble attempt at not bashing on anyone, but explaining my position and belief on this recent controversy and the issues of Rob Bell’s new book, teachings on Hell and Universalism. My only encouragement to you, my friends, is to search the Scriptures and teach sound doctrine.

“Jesus is not one of many ways to approach God, nor is He the best of several ways; He is the only way.” ~ A. W. Tozer

This video link was sent to me by a friend and reader of this blog. He knew I should see it. I watched it and wept. My heart goes out to this dear man of God. I listened to and appreciate his story, but don’t agree with his lifestyle. Take a look and listen to this man’s story.

Randy McCain’s Story from Neal Campbell on Vimeo.

I reached out to Randy and emailed him twice – asking him to start a conversation with me and invited him to be interviewed on this blog. As of now, I haven’t heard back from him. As I’ve said many times before on this blog, I love homosexuals and have a special place in my heart for them. Where the tension comes in is over whether or not gay Christians should live a life of celibacy like my friend, Justin Lee of The Gay Christian Network. There are “Side B” Christians that are homosexual, but don’t date and live a life of celibacy.

Recently, I was asked to review a new book by Zondervan and found that not only Justin feels this way, but many others. The book I was asked to review is called Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality and is part theology, part memoir. Wesley Hill writes as a gay celibate Christian – someone who believes in the Bible’s prohibition against homosexual practice, but struggles with same-sex attraction.

If you are a part of church ministry  you likely know someone who struggles with same-sex attraction. This book will help you understand their feelings of loneliness and isolation better, and also provides encouragement for them by “waiting” on the Lord.

I’m curious, IF you took the time to watch the entire video above and hear Randy’s story, what are your thoughts? Do you think his moving story of love and romance trumps what Scripture teaches? Is Scripture out of date, out of touch, wrong, misinterpreted? Do you celebrate Randy’s story and his ministry as a senior pastor of a church or do you grieve and wish he would live a life of purity and faithfulness to his tremendous calling in Christ? You know where I stand. Where do you stand?

Nothing gives you perspective, hope, guidance, direction, wisdom and encouragement like the Holy Bible – it’s a remarkable book. I remember years ago hearing Henry Blackaby say “When you read the Word, it’s as if you’re staring right in the face of God.” That always comforted and excited me to think about.

As Christians and Church leaders, we desire to have the fruits of the Spirit flow through us and out of us. Thanks to the book The Spirit of the Disciplines I read years ago, I learned that the fruit of the Spirit is something that happens naturally when we have a steady, real and vibrant relationship with Christ.

I grew up in a youth group (like many of you I’m sure) where I was taught wrongly that we were supposed to “work” at each fruit. They would say, “This week we want you to concentrate on being gentle.” (or kind or patient, etc.) This is how I was brought up.

Reading that book as an adult, my eyes were opened to the reality that we can’t beat these fruits into us – they must develop overtime in prayer and the Word. And as we become more and more like Christ, our natural reaction when tough or unexpected things happen will be to react with gentleness, kindness, patience, self-control, etc.

As a youth, I heard a statement that has proven over the last 20 to 25 years to be the truest statement I’ve ever encountered. I wrote this statement on the inside of my main Bible. The statement is: “Either this book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book.” Truer words were never spoken.

I have found time and time again that when I’m regularly in the Word, I’m far from sin and feel I’m truly walking in the Spirit (as opposed to walking in the flesh). I’ve also realized many times in hindsight that after wrestling with sin in my life for a season, I was away from my devotional time and didn’t feel like picking up my Bible.

Maybe for you, you’re in the Bible regularly, but you’re looking for ammo – meaning you’re studying for your Sunday sermon, youth talk on Wednesday night, preparing a devotional for your small group, or looking for lyrics for a song you’re writing. Often, we as leaders, are in the Word for “business”, but we stop going to the Bible just to know God more and spend time hearing from Him. The challenge to all Church leaders is to read the Bible just for the pure pleasure of seeking to know the mind and heart of Christ and be transformed by the renewing of our mind. (Romans 12)

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” – Joshua 1:8

So… how’s your time in the Word? Do you just open the Bible in sermon prep or do you regularly read it just to know God more? Is reading regularly a struggle for you?

I was very happy to receive my copy of Sun Stand Still in the mail a couple of weeks ago. I knew Steven Furtick when he was a teenager. I remember him going to North Greenville College near where I grew up. Now I get to hear stories of how God is using him and his amazing church in Charlotte, NC. I hope you’ll get a copy. Read what Pastor Steven has to say about it:

When you strip the biblical miracles of their spectacular special effects, a common plot point emerges: extraordinary moves of God begin with ordinary circumstances and acts of obedience.

It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do for a living. If God lives in you, you have the potential to witness God do the impossible. In you. Through you. And around you.

That’s easy to say. But it can be hard to believe. My upcoming book, Sun Stand Still, is all about audacious faith and the invitation to believe that you were made to experience the miraculous on a regular basis. But what I found in writing the book is that it’s easy for me to share my story of audacious faith. It’s easy for me to make applications to other church leaders about how to have audacious faith.

But it’s much harder to relate the concept of audacious faith to people who may not see their life’s work in a very audacious light.

Maybe you can relate. You might be thinking that nothing remarkable—much less supernatural—ever happens to you. Your prayers appear to be rarely and randomly answered. And no agenda item in your life seems big enough to warrant God’s undivided attention anyway. Audacity seems to be reserved exclusively for others—the special Christians.

Clearly, God does special things in a special way through special people. But where does that leave the rest of us?

For instance, how can you be an audacious school teacher?

An audacious parent?

An audacious hourly employee?

An audacious student?

An audacious wife?

What I concluded is that audacity is not simply an activity. Audacity is an approach. Audacity isn’t qualified by what you do. It’s all about how you do what you do. Sometimes audacious faith is defined by the nature of the activity. Being a missionary in a third world country requires audacious faith. Audacity kind of comes with the package.

Other times, audacious faith is activated by your approach and attitude. In other words, it’s possible to approach a simple or ordinary activity with an audacious attitude, and glorify God in a remarkable way. Audacity is every bit as attainable for you, whether you are a stay-at-home mom or an electrical engineer—if you dare to relate to God on a new level.

Here’s what I know: God is able to stir up your spirit, pour out his presence, and reveal his glory in your family, business, or community. And in Sun Stand Still I want to show you that the extraordinary presence and purpose of God will burn brightly in the life of anyone willing to be set on fire.

For more info, visit the Sun Stand Still page.

*** By the way, today I (Greg Atkinson) turn 35. Wow! I’m grown.

Yesterday, I noticed my friend, Spencer Burke, tweeting about his interview with another friend of mine, Leonard Sweet. This conversation and Sweet’s new book “Nudge” grabbed my attention as this discussion is based around something God has been up to in my life over the last year and I plan to blog about soon.

Read what Spencer says about Nudge: Leonard Sweet calls us to make an impression—a God impression—a nudge, a dent on everyone we meet. But how we do that is to listen to discern what the Spirit is already doing, and to nudge that person toward understanding that God is working in their life. And by doing so, by recognizing and naming those nudges, we are nudged as well. We discover incredible ways that God is working all around us. We observe His creativity and imagination in all our senses—hearing, tasting, seeing, touching, smelling.

The subtitle of Nudge is “Awakening each other to the God who is already there.” Every person you meet is a divine appointment, says Leonard Sweet as he talks about his new book, Nudge, with Spencer Burke, host of ThinkFWD. The overarching premise is that we don’t “take” Jesus anywhere, but that wherever we go, God is already there and our job is to find out what He’s doing and join in.

This thinking takes a different approach to evangelism. Rather than thinking of evangelism and discipleship as two distinct “tasks” of followers of Christ, Sweet suggests that they are bound together. Whereas in the past, evangelism was touted as “go and tell,” Sweet says we need to “shut up and listen.” Our role is not to come into a situation and tell our story, but rather to listen, to hear, to study what is happening in another person’s life, or in the community we are in. By doing this, we are recognizing that God is already there and we are following His lead. Sweet quotes John Wesley’s life-changing words, “Go and see the poor in their hovels, for Jesus is already there and He will be with you.”

Very likely, it was not just one person that helped nudge you in your journey to faith in God, but it was many people’s influence in your life. Many impressions that moved you to faith in God. And this is the part we can play for each other, awakening each other to God who is already at work all around us.

Spencer, then follows up with 2 great questions that I’d love for you to answer and comment on here:

• How have you identified “nudges” in your own personal spiritual journey?
• Do you tend to begin by telling your story, or by listening to others and for what God is already doing?

*** Go HERE to watch a video discussion between my two friends, Leonard Sweet and Spencer Burke.

The New York Times best-selling authors of One Month to Live are back with another 30-day plan in Love At Last Sight: Thirty Days to Grow and Deepen Your Closest Relationships.

The new book by Senior Pastor Kerry Shook and Chris Shook, co-founders of Woodlands Church in The Woodlands, Texas, helps readers focus on their key relationships—spouse, children, close friends—with the aim of deepening each. Instead of what they call “love at first sight,” the authors are encouraging a “love at last sight” mentality.

With regard to marriage, Chris Shook said: “Love at first sight is the idea that you meet that one and fall in love and that’s it. As Kerry and I found out in our 26 years of marriage and in raising four children, we found that love is really what happens in the in-between times, what you do in the tough times and in the times when you aren’t filled with butterflies and roses and music.

“We want the last time that we see each other, we want us to be more in love than ever before,” Shook added. “Since that’s our goal, it means working on that every day.”

Readers are challenged “to think of three key relationships in your life—and it could be family members, friends, co-workers—and tell them they are important to you,” Shook said. “Find people in your life that mean a lot to you and then really focus on those three relationships during the first 30 days, and we hope that after that month, this will become a lifestyle, a ‘love at last sight’ lifestyle.”

The book divides the 30 days into four weeks and the four keys behind the “love at last sight” lifestyle: being all there, acting intentionally, risking awkwardness and letting go.

As with their previous book, Love At Last Sight can be used by an individual, group or whole church. Drumming up interest among churches, Shook said: “There are actually many churches who did a campaign for One Month to Live who have already expressed a lot of interest in doing this as well, so we will be launching and meeting a lot of churches this fall with churches across the country.”

As one part of the book’s launch, the Shooks are encouraging participation in a Facebook Fast on Aug. 25.

“We do feel like it’s really important to recognize that we’re becoming too dependent on social-networking sites to conduct everyday affairs of relating to each other, to the people we love,” Shook said. “So we are encouraging a national Facebook Fast where for a day you don’t go to social-networking sites and only use your computer for necessary things that day for work or school or whatever—not texting if possible, but calling people or seeing them face to face.”

To order the book, go HERE.

The following is a blog post announcing the new book OUTSPOKEN – a book on church communications (which I’m honored to be  a part of). Read what Tim Schraeder said in his announcement on his blog:

Less than a month ago an idea was born.

I bought a domain, sent a few emails, and the rest has been a crazy journey that only God could have orchestrated.

While there are a number of great books and resources available for church communications directors, they often offer a very narrow or limited view of what can be an intricate subject. Church communications is now a wide umbrella that encompasses a broad range of disciplines including print, media, branding, design, web, social media, online communities, and much more.

The need is great but solid resources are few and far between.

Two years ago I was approached by an editor to write a book about my experience doing church communications, and I began the process of putting together a manuscript. While things seemed to be coasting, the economy began to take a slump downward and the idea was quickly shelved.

Well, about a month ago a fire was rekindled under me to make a book happen [credit to Scott Belsky’s Making Ideas Happen and Seth Godin’s Linchpin]…only this one would be different.

I felt there was need for a more holistic resource that would pull from the collected wisdom of many to create an indispensible resource for church communications leaders to help them clearly and effectively communicate the Gospel. Rather than one sole voice, I wanted to help create a conversation.

I’m thrilled to be the first to let you know the idea has become a reality and it’s happening… in partnership with the Center for Church Communication, I will be releasing OUTSPOKEN: Conversations on Church Communications.

Well, it’s not just me doing the writing… it’s me and over 50 friends including:

Kem Meyer – Granger Community Church
Dawn Nicole Baldwin – AspireOne
Greg Atkinson – gregatkinson.com
Michael Buckingham – Holy Cow! Creative
Shawn Wood – Seacoast Church
Scott Hodge – The Orchard
Ben Arment – Story, Whiteboard Sessions, Dream Year
Leonard Sweet – best-selling author, professor at Drew University
Phil Cooke – author of Branding Faith
Tony Morgan – TonyMorganLive.com
Jon Acuff – Stuff Christians Like
Will Mancini – auxano, author of Church Unique
Tony Steward – LifeChurch.tv
Charles Lee – Ideation
Cynthia Ware – Center for Church Communication
Blaine Hogan – Willow Creek Community Church
Daniel Decker – Higher Level Group
John Dyer- donteatthefruit.com
Rhett Smith – RhettSmith.com
Scott McClellan – COLLIDE Magazine
Katie Strandlund – CautiousCreative.com
Jason Widney – Park Community Church
Matt Knisely – Lawton First Assembly
Nathan Davis – Destiny Christian Center
Phil Bowdle- West Ridge Church
Jesse Phillips – CATALYST
Kent Shaffer- ChurchRelevance.com, YouVersion.com
Katie Moon – Fellowship Church
Kevin Hendricks – Center for Church Communication
Corbyn Tyson – monvee, Heartland Community Church
Curtis Simmons – Fellowship Technologies
Eric Murrell – Long Hollow Baptist Church, MediaSalt.com
Cleve Persinger – The Chapel, MediaSalt.com
Matthew Paul Turner – JesusNeedsNewPR.com

I’m just getting started!

John Saddington – North Point Ministries
Jay Argaèt – Hillsong Church
Maurilio Amorim – The A Group
Danielle Hartland - Grace Church
Jim Gray – Mission Igniter
Lori Bailey – LifeChurch.tv
Vin Thomas – VINTOM.com
Justin Wise – BeDeviant.com
Sam DuRegger – theomusings.com
Blair Farley – Mariners Church
Jeremy Scheller – The Sanctuary Covenant Church
Jan Lynn – TheViewfromHer.com
Steve Fogg – Crossway Church
Clint! Runge – Archrival
Jennifer Schuchmann – WordstoThinkAbout.com
Kerry Bural – The Resonate Group
Jeremy Sexton – National Community Church
Michael Forsberg – Jarbyco
Bobby Chandler - Sugar Creek Baptist Church
Vince Marotte – Gateway Church
Denny Weinman – Sugar Creek Baptist Church
Josh Burns – Park Community Church
Dawn Bryant – bloom
KC Walsh – Willow Creek Community Church
Rich Kirkpatrick – Sunridge Community Church
Cameron Smith – Christ’s Church of the Valley
Gerry True – Oak Hills Church
Josh Cody - Center for Church Communication

Added July 21:
Dave Blanchard – IDEO
Josh Blankenship – NewSpring Church
Bianca Juarez – InTheNameofLove.com
DJ Chuang – Worship Leader Magazine
Drew Goodmanson – MonDev/Ekklesia360
Paul Steinbrueck – OurChurch.com

…and more to be confirmed!*

OUTSPOKEN will be a collection of short essays by each contributor focusing on various areas that encompass church communications. It will offer practical ideas and insights from some of the people who are shaping and changing the way churches communicate. Some faces are familiar, some are new, but they all represent a unique mix of churches and backgrounds that will inspire and challenge you to change the way you do communications.

OUTSPOKEN will be self-published and available for purchase online as a downloadable PDF. Print copies will be available for purchase through Amazon. We’ll also be working to make it available in Kindle and iBook format.

Release date is to be determined, but we’re aiming for early winter.

Proceeds from the sale of OUTSPOKEN will go to support the Center for Church Communication, the parent organization of ChurchMarketingSucks.com and the Church Marketing Lab. CFCC exists to help the church matter and is a resource for church communicators. Churches have the greatest story ever told, but struggle to tell it well. They want to help churches tell it better.

Follow the OUTSPOKEN journey on twitter @OUTSPOKENbook or “Like” it on Facebook to stay up-to-date! Watch for more updates, the website launch and more!

For the past 2 weeks, I’ve been reading 2 books: one for Christian leaders and one for business leaders. The books are Doing Church as a Team and Organizing Genius. Both have given me great insight into teams and collaboration. What are you reading?

I’m also pleased to see what happens when churches collaborate with one another like churches do through Unite! here in Atlanta. Do you collaborate? If so, please share.

If you haven’t noticed, my blog posts have either been brief or copies of someone else’s. This month (March), I’ve committed to write at least one chapter a day for my new book on innovation. I’m putting all my effort, energy and brain cells into that. Honestly, I don’t have a lot left over.

After I write this book, I’ll be back to blogging like  normal, but in the meantime, if you know of a good blog post that you think is worth me reposting or you’d like to do a guest blog, just let me know and I’ll take it under consideration. It could work out to be a win-win for us. It will free me up to write and expose my readers to a new voice. So if you’d like to contribute something, comment here or email me at greg@gregatkinson.com.

Thanks for your continued prayers for me as I write daily. Pray that God would inspire me and give me great insight to the subject of innovation. Thanks!