Greg Atkinson

My friends at MediaShout are giving away a FREE 5 minute countdown from JAMAN Productions.

Looking to build or upgrade your church’s website? Want the help of a professional? I’ve been a fan and supporter of FaithHighway’s ministry for years. Check out their plans and choices to custom build your church’s site.

*NOTE: I wasn’t paid anything to mention this. I’m just tired of seeing poor or weak church websites. Want more challenging words and thoughts on design/web marketing? Check out my friends at Church Marketing Sucks.

Please forgive me if this is not news to you. I’m sure many of you reading my blog are well aware of YouSendIt.com and probably use it regularly. I don’t want to assume that for every reader, so here goes:

When I have BIG files to send (Print resolution pictures, video clips, mp3s, etc.), I use a FREE website called YouSendIt, instead of trying to send it via email. With YouSendIt, you simply put in the recipient email address(es) and then browse and attach the big file from your computer’s hard drive. Next, just hit “Send it” and it will begin uploading and sending the big file.

The difference is, instead of the file going via email to your recipient and either bogging down their email or getting bounced because their email can’t handle it, they just receive a brief email from YouSendIt that reads “Click HERE to begin downloading your file” – and it tells who sent it to you. I use it almost daily. If you haven’t already, check it out!

Here are two ways you can use this website (that have to do with me):

1. If you have written a song that you’d like me to hear. I have a good relationship with publishers (who don’t take unsolicited songs) and can send them songs that I think have potential. A friend and I have just started a new publishing company for worship leaders.

2. If you have created any type of media (graphics and pictures, motions and loops, video clips and sermon illustrations) that you think the Church (capital “C”) can use, send them to me to preview and if I agree that they would be useful for all churches, I’ll send it to various companies that sell products like that.

I realize many of you know BluefishTV. I use that title to call attention to a new promo video that they did to promote their ministry. I live in Dallas, TX, which is where BluefishTV is based. I’ve known of their company for a while and have shown several of their videos in my workshops. Today, I thought I’d finally go over for a visit and meet the people behind the company. I was given the grand tour and got to go to lunch and spend some time with Justin, who has a great heart for ministry and a passion to see Bluefish be a resource to small churches.

Bluefish’s quote: “We are a team that is passionate about Christ and that loves to support the local church. We feel that Christian video will continue to play a larger role as volunteer teachers and church leaders look for creative ways to engage their audience.”

QUESTION: What do BluefishTV and iTunes have in common?
ANSWER: They both have downloadable videos for $1.99.

Say what??? You read right – all downloadable videos are just $1.99!

*** Of special note is their new series “Storytellers” – which I love. My favorite video is from the Noah series with guest speaker, Chris Seay, pastor of Ecclesia Church in Houston, TX. We actually used this video clip at my church about a month ago.

Cool company. Cool people. I’ll be blogging about them more in the future.

One of my favorite movies is “Antitrust“. In the movie, the hero, Ryan Phillipe, challenged the Bill Gates-type character, played by Tim Robbins, by offering software and code for free (open source), instead of giving it to the big company to sell. Now please know, I have nothing against companies, churches or independents that sell their resources on sites such as WorshipHouse Media and SermonSpice. I could argue strongly in their favor and know they have valid reasons for supporting their time, effort and money they invested into their projects via online sales. However, when I see examples of those that are challenging the system and doing something different, I think they are worth noting and discussing. I, Greg Atkinson, have a “Top 10 Most Innovative Churches” in America list that I keep in my head. Two churches that are on that list (in my head), as well as on other people’s list such as “The Church Report” and Tim Stevens and Tony Morgan’s list of Top 10 Innovative Churches in America are doing something different based on the open source model.

The first church is LifeChurch.tv, which I visited 2 weeks ago and blogged about last week. LifeChurch.tv is now offering FREE creative content for churches. Here’s a quote from their website: “At LifeChurch.tv, we are passionately motivated by the desire to see lives changed – across as many miles and in as many places as possible. In our pursuit of that goal, it is our intention to maximize the effectiveness of the resources with which God has trusted us. Therefore, this website is available to pastors and churches worldwide to provide access to and usage of an entire library of LifeChurch.tv creative materials – at absolutely no charge. Materials include outlines from a wide variety of message series, with corresponding promotional design graphics and videos, broadcast-quality opening videos and more. And every bit of it is free – all you do is browse through the site to find any resources that might be helpful to you and set-up a login to download those resources. In return, all we ask is that content is used in a non-commercial application in which the overall mission is to lead people to Christ. That’s absolutely it.” – Wow – that’s definitely worth your time to check out!!!

The second church is Seacoast, which I have watched since 12 years ago when I lived in the same city as the mother church. Here’s a quote from their website: The Seacoast All Access website is a collection of resources, links, and other materials produced by and for Seacoast Church. As a Pastor or church leader, we want to make sure you have access to all of our message materials, including streaming video, MP3 downloads and small group study notes for free. If you would like a hard copy or DVD that includes the Long Point campus worship service, we will have to charge you a little for that, but we will try and keep that cost as low as we can!

Open Source Philosophy: We have adopted an open source philosophy and decided to give away free stuff to other churches. If you are a church leader and know a church that might be interested in using our artwork, worship backgrounds, or our messages, please let them know about this site as well. This is another way that Seacoast would like to continue to make a difference around the world. We hope you can use these resources to help your ministry communicate the love of Jesus.” – Again, WOW! Check it out.

I just came across ReelWorship.com – a site created by the team behind FreeFoto.com. The site is dedicated to providing multimedia content and resources for use in the work of the Christian community. The worship backgrounds are designed to have words laid over the top of them and have all been tested during real worship services. Their video loops are also designed to have words laid over the top of them and can be downloaded as MPEG2 and MPEG4 files (that’s cool).
Here’s a quote from them: “As active members of churches ourselves we wish to share our experiences and resources with others who are interested in ministering in this area.”

MediaShout just released their “Learn To Shout” – 3.1 DVD. In my classes, I mention and endorse 4 presentation software programs (EasyWorship, LiveWorship, MediaShout and ProPresenter). I always encourage people in my workshops to take advantage of each company’s FREE trial. I don’t think there is one perfect package – they each have their advantages and are worth testing with your tech team.

I’ve mentioned in the past and will still offer that MediaShout, though a great program, has a bit more of a learning curve than the others. I’m guessing in response to that, they’ve released this new training DVD. This 2 DVD set is taught by one of the original partners who created MediaShout and will take you step by step from opening the box through the advanced features of the program. Since this training is on DVD you will be able to learn at your own pace and quickly get to the area of training you need most.

The following is a quote from their website (not my own words): “Learn To Shout” is more than 2 hours of MediaShout 3.1 training on DVD and is ideal for turning the new user into a MediaShout expert. Add Learn To Shout to your training library so when personnel in your ministry change you can rest assured the MediaShout operator will remain trained. Train your entire staff to be Shouters.

Purchase “Learn to Shout” right now for $99.00!
Add to cart and enter the promo code LTSINTRO.
This special intro price is for a limited time, so don’t wait!

Tonight I was able to attend the Promise Keepers gathering at the American Airlines Center here in Dallas. This arena, where the NBA’s Mavericks and the NHL’s Stars play was packed full of men of every size, age, color and background. Tonight’s message was on salvation and it looked like anywhere from 200 to 300 men walked down front to the altar to pray to receive Christ. It was a moving and special night of worship.

As a “Promise Keepers vet”, who has been to a few of these gatherings (including the unforgettable “Stand in the Gap” rally in Washington DC), I was thrilled to see that they made some much needed changes. The last couple of times that I had been the media was sad and the music was very dated. I was very impressed and excited to see their new PK7 worship band, that led modern worship with a nice edge. I was also impressed with how they are utilizing lighting, various screens of many different sizes and shapes and just the overall intergration of moving backgrounds and IMAG.

My final surprise of the evening came at the end when they showed the NOOMA video “Dust” (which is my favorite of the 13 NOOMA videos featuring Rob Bell). As someone very involved with media ministry and very aware of the resources that are available to the Church, I’ve often dreamed of seeing large events, conferences and seminars use these amazing videos (not just NOOMA, but videos or mini-movies in general), like so many churches around the world do. It was cool to sense the atmosphere in the room change as the video played and see how God used that video to encourage and inspire thousands of men in an arena. Major props to PK for staying relevant and open to new resources!

FYI – NOOMA’s lastest video “Rich“, which is their 13th video, is now available and shipping.

Today I want to throw out the mention of 2 newcomers on the media scene:

1. Whitestone Motion Pictures – Which is featured on and available at SermonSpice
   
   
2. WORDsearch Media