Greg Atkinson

For the past year I worked behind-the-scenes on a great project – training for church planters from the comfort of your own home or office. For years, church planters have had to travel to Church Planter Roundtables around the country (paying for their flight or gas, hotel and conference registration, meals, etc.). Now you can log on to ChurchPlanter.tv and get the same training for just $79.

This is quality training that I’m proud to be associated with. I know it’s good because I got to watch the videos over and over as we were editing them. I’d encourage all pastors and especially church planters to check this out. I learned a ton from watching them.

For one special person, I’d like to give you a coupon code for a FREE registration. Just tell me how you could benefit from training on ChurchPlanter.tv in the comment section and I’ll select one of you.

I think a healthy quality for all leaders is being able to laugh at one’s self. This video has rubbed some people the wrong way, but I think it is a funny and deeper look at what we as the Church do each week. This video was created by the talented team at North Point Church – that obviously is able to laugh at themselves. Take a look at this video and see if it upsets you or if you’re able to relate and laugh? More after you watch it…

“Sunday’s Coming” Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

As one who travels the country each week visiting, secret shopping and consulting with various churches, I think I can appreciate this video more than most. This video reminds me of my secret shopper report and the things I rate and look for – it’s amazing how well they captured what I see at 95% of churches in America.

You would think that is a good thing, and I used to, until I heard Alan Hirsch speak at the Velocity Conference back in February. He rocked my world. Alan, in his keynote address, taught on how the contemporary church model that is prevalent in America can only “appeal” to 40% of Americans – NOTE: not reach 40%, but has the ability to appeal to 40%. Meaning 60% of Americans will need to be reached in some other way- some new, unconventional, innovative way.

This past Sunday, I was with my friends at Mosaic Nashville. They had heard Alan Hirsch speak years ago and were already living out this different model of church. For example, this Sunday, I worshiped “in the round” and people were given instruments and encouraged to play along. There was no band up front on the stage – they were in a circle in the middle of the worship space. They are exploring new ways of doing life, community and discipleship together as a fellowship of believers in Nashville.

Is this for everyone? No. Maybe God is calling you to appeal to the 40% with the model we see in the video. BUT – for some of you (and if you get this, it will be revolutionary), you may be called by God to go after the other 60% in new, different and unconventional ways – thought to be strange by others. More on this in my new book coming out next year!

The following is a guest blog by my friend, Shawn Wood, Experiences Pastor at Seacoast Church – Mt. Pleasant, SC

I first heard of the concept of “Creating on Demand” from @toddhenry of the Accidental Creative. The concept goes like this.  When we think of create on demand we usually think of products.  Widgets and Woozets.  Someone stands in the same place and creates the same things over and over again – on demand.  The old factory model.

But in the last few decades the rise of the creative class has created a whole new factory.  A creative factory, but instead of widgets and woozets the assembly line now creates thoughts, ideas, innovation and ultimately…art.

An art factory.  Sounds great doesn’t it?

The only problem is that is not how creativity works.  At least it is not how it works for me.
Some days I have good ideas.
Some days I have bad ideas.
Some days I have good ideas that turn into bad ideas.

But truthfully, many days I have no ideas at all.

So then I was thinking about this whole create on demand thing and it hit me.

The Church is the ultimate create on demand culture in the world.  It does not matter how many times you look at the calendar Sunday comes every 7 days – even in leap year.

So our job it would seem is to create on demand every 7 days an environment that leads to an experience that can move people, usher people into the power and the presence of God and  ultimately a work of art.  Even 200 Pomegranates to an audience of one.

So here is my question.  How do you do this?  Something fresh and moving every week.  Something worth a mom and a dad getting all the kids up and dressed, dealing with the traffic of parking and walking into our churches and giving us an hour of their lives.  Here are just a couple of things to remember and then I would love to hear your tips in the comments:

1.  Give the other artists (all the attenders) in the church the tools to help you create.
This is not a spectator sport.  We are not supposed to finish the canvas by Sunday, the rest of the artists are showing up to help.  Our job is to make sure the supplies are out, the canvas is ready and that an environment is there that leads to an experience with God.
One example of this is our response time at Seacoast.  We leave margin at the end of each service for three songs of worship and give people space to respond to what God is doing in their lives.  We provide the tools.  Some music.  Response stations (cross to pin confessions of sin, candles to light in prayer, prayer teams, communion stations, offering boxes) and allow the artists to pant their own canvas.

2. Don’t pre-chew the food for everyone.  That’s just gross.
Can you imagine having to eat all of your food pre-chewed.
We sometimes do that as artists for our church  Don’t over-plan everything.  Planning is good, but make sure you leave some room in your services for people to contribute and be a part.  Don’t over-dictate the mood so much that there is no room for a mood shift.  Don’t have a big-idea so chosen that when God decides to use the theme of the service in a different way you can’t move with him.  Planning is awesome.  It’s a essential and infact I believe that planning leads to flexibility.  Just make sure to allow that to happen.

In light of yesterday’s healthy discussion, I thought I’d follow up today with an insider’s perspective of how God is using video technology via the internet. The following is a guest blog from Brian Vasil, Internet Campus Pastor at Flamingo Road Church – Miami, FL

A little while ago, I was in a chat room with an Internet Campus Pastor friend and colleague, Brandon Donaldson.  He and the brilliant team at Lifechurch.tv were early adopters and trailblazers of the notion that real church could happen on the Internet.  As we talked about one thing or another, he referred to the two of us as “old school” Internet Campus Pastors.

I had to stop and drink that in.  Can you be “old school” at something that didn’t exist before 2005?

Maybe… and with that comes the responsibility of sharing what you’ve learned.  I’d like to do that here…

Here are three things that I’ve learned (so far) about Internet Campus Pastors and what I’ve been called to do in the past 3 years:

1)  It’s much more about the Pastoral side than the technical side…  I tell any church that is even remotely interested in starting an Internet Campus…if you are going to put your messages out there, chat about them, and allow prayer requests, you have to have a dedicated Pastor available to help shepherd the digital flock.  Sometimes my inbox resembles the online prayer scene in Bruce Almighty…but I consider it a privilege to pray and care for people around the globe.    Many churches don’t start Internet Campuses because they don’t have the right “technology” person to lead it.  The tech will take care of itself.  Find a person whose Pastoral heart beats for people he may never meet physically but loves just the same.

2)  Your motives will be questioned…  You will be criticized, ostracized, analyzed, and unfairly questioned.    People will challenge your salvation and say that your ministry is worthless.   Soldier on.  My heart beats for the lost…even if they are in prison, sick, phobic, or otherwise unable to attend a physical campus.   That’s why we’re here.  It’s all about the vision God’s given us at Flamingo Road through our Lead Pastor, Troy Gramling.    We believe God has called us to have an Internet Campus…and we would be disobedient to do otherwise.

3)  Learn from everyone… I love talking to brand new Internet Campus Pastors.    They are packed full of fresh ideas…new thoughts… and brilliant strategies… God gives them a different angle or a varied look at the internet community that we’re all working to save from hell.   No matter the size of the church or its Internet Campus,  I can always glean something new that may help us in our journey.  In turn, we are always ready to help anyone just putting their digital stakes in the ground.

I know that reflecting about Internet Campus Pastors is a little like writing a biography of a baby still in the womb.  There’s still so much to do and explore.   I can’t wait to see what God has planned for iCampuses… real churches seeking real people with real hearts in virtual space.

The other day I was commenting on how I had been listening to Tim Hughes’ song “Everything” over and over. It’s been stuck in my head and my heart ever since visiting North Point about a month ago and hearing them do it. My friend, Kye S. Chung messaged me on Twitter and told me to check out this video by Justin Pae. Check it out.

Everything from justin pae on Vimeo.

What could God accomplish through us if we were all pulling together? What kind of change could we see in the world? What if we were…

UNSTOPPABLE

That’s what we’ll be exploring as this year’s One Prayer teaching theme:

When the Church unites, it’s unstoppable.

Think about it… unstoppable grace, unstoppable compassion, unstoppable evangelism, unstoppable love, unstoppable generosity
, unstoppable truth
, unstoppable hope…

“Unstoppable” will be the common thread that runs through this year’s teaching. If you’re thinking about contributing a message this year (and you should), now is a great time to gather your creative team and see where God leads your teaching. You’ll have until early May to submit your messages. Video resources and important deadlines will be added to www.oneprayer.com soon.

And while you’re thinking of One Prayer, don’t forget to sign up your church if you haven’t already. Registration only takes a few minutes, and is your key to resources and updates: http://2010.oneprayer.com/join

During One Prayer, we get to learn about Jesus in unison with thousands of people around the globe—thanks for making that possible!

Thanks,

The One Prayer Team

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/oneprayer

Questions? Email: info@oneprayer.com

Yesterday, with the announcement of ProPresenter 4 (for Mac) – my friends at Renewed Vision threw in one other big announcement: they’re making a Windows version. I knew this, but couldn’t blog about it before. Here’s the announcement that came in their email:

For 10 years, we’ve developed ProPresenter for Mac only, and have been asked repeatedly if there was going to be a version for Windows. Our answers were always the same:

• The tools that enable us to do what we do on the Mac aren’t as robust on the Windows platform.
• We have nothing against Windows, but felt we could make a more powerful and reliable product on the Mac.
• We’d rather focus on making the best software for any platform, rather than divide our efforts by supporting two platforms.

All of these answers were valid, and as the marketshare of the Mac has increased over the last several years, the question has become a lot less frequent. At the same time, however, we’ve been troubled by some things:

• There are a lot of churches that don’t have Macs, particularly overseas
• There is a great variety of Windows-based machines on the market that are seemingly very capable.
• A new computer purchase is often difficult in today’s economy.
• Many PC users get excited about our product only to be let down when learning it’s Mac only.
• Some organizations will not purchase a Mac just to run ProPresenter.
• If we can improve the worship experience on the Mac, why not use our expertise to do the same for Windows?

Through the years, a lot has changed. Computers have become far more powerful and technologies have evolved. We’ve kept our eye on Windows technologies that would enable us to create a quality ProPresenter experience for Windows users, and we now believe we have found the right tool set, and assembled the right team of people to make ProPresenter for Windows a reality!

So, the cat’s out of the bag. We’ll be keeping you updated via our website as this story unfolds. Until then, here are answers to some questions we thought you might have:

WHAT WILL PROPRESENTER 4 WINDOWS LOOK LIKE?
We have put a great deal of thought into the user interface of ProPresenter 4 on the Mac, so why ruin a good thing? We are building the Windows version to look and function identically. If you know how to run ProPresenter 4 Mac, you will know instantly how to run ProPresenter 4 Windows.

WILL IT HAVE ALL THE FEATURES OF THE MAC VERSION?
We are working hard to make sure that every feature of the Mac version is implemented in Windows. In some cases, a feature may be less robust on the Windows platform while others may work even better. Some technical realities beyond the scope of ProPresenter may have an impact (video codecs, shared storage, etc.), but we’re going to make sure these are minimal.

WILL I BE ABLE TO USE BOTH IN MY ORGANIZATION?
From the ground up, we have worked to ensure interoperability between ProPresenter 4 Mac and ProPresenter 4 Windows. This means you will be able to move files back and forth, and they will run largely the same way on either platform.

WHAT ABOUT THE ADVANCED AND ALPHA KEYER MODULES, OR THE PROPRESENTER REMOTE FOR IPHONE?
We’re not planning our initial release of ProPresenter 4 Windows to include any modules or iPhone remote functionality. Depending on market acceptance and customer demand, however, we may consider developing them in the future. Be sure to let us know your interest in these additional features.

WHAT IS THE PRICING OF PROPRESENTER FOR WINDOWS?
ProPresenter for Windows has the same pricing structure as its Mac counterpart. Single user licenses will be platform specific and sold for $399. However, a Site License for ProPresenter 4 will work on either platform, allowing unlimited use on any platform for a single campus, making our site license an even better value add. This means for a $799 site license purchase, you can run ProPresenter 4 on either a Mac or a Windows machine. Existing ProPresenter 4 site license owners will be able to download and unlock the Windows version immediately after it becomes available.

WHY ARE WE ANNOUNCING IT NOW?
Because site licenses of ProPresenter 4 will work on both the Mac and Windows versions, we want people to know these benefits before placing their upgrade orders.

WHEN WILL PROPRESENTER 4 WINDOWS BE RELEASED?
We don’t have a specific date for release quite yet, but are working towards Summer 2010. We will certainly have a public beta test for registered ProPresenter users prior to the wide release. Stay tuned for such an announcement in the coming months.

This video from Central Christian Church moved me. Well done! You can get it HERE.

Do you have stories in your congregation that need to be told? Get after it!

I’m a friend to and huge support of Lee McDerment. I think he’s the most gifted, creative and innovative worship leader in the country. I absolutely love when he leads worship (he’s the one on piano in the video). Here’s NewSpring’s video opener for their Christmas Eve services.

Christmas Opener: Just Come Home from NewSpring Production on Vimeo.

After two years of creating quality content as eight20eight, they decided to change their name. Now known as Soul Refinery, they will continue to create quality media that they hope will ignite the heart and refine the soul.
To celebrate the change and launch of soulrefinery.com, they are giving away two free Christmas motion loops.

While you can find their content wherever quality videos are sold, they hope you’ll consider supporting us directly by visiting soulrefinery.com. There you’ll find their entire collection, including films that feature stars from hit TV shows as The Offce, Community, Reno 911, Saturday Night Life, and others.

They also now offer the entire motion loop and countdown library that they recently purchased from our friends at Eleven72 — revamped and available in HD!

Please visit their new site today and let them know if you have any questions or comments. CLICK HERE TO ADD FREE LOOPS TO YOUR CART