Greg Atkinson

I’ll leave today to go to California with Matt and Lance from Pursuant Group/Unifyer. We’ll be meeting with Brad Abare from ChurchMarketingSucks, Robert Yang from Kindle, visiting the Dream Center, Mosaic LA and other churches, as well as speaking at the ChurchTechCamp at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena on Friday.

Here’s what the Fall looks like:

• Friday, Sept. 26: Church 2.0 talk with Tony Steward and Cynthia Ware at ChurchTechCamp
• Friday, Oct. 17: Church 2.0 Local Forum – Boston
• Friday , Oct. 24: Church 2.0 Local Forum – Tulsa
• Friday, Nov. 7: Church 2.0 Local Forum – Portland

I just saw this on Church Marketing Sucks. Let me take a breath. Chill – drink some Green Tea. BREATHE. I can’t tell you how much this angers me, frustrates me and honestly: breaks my heart. What the heck are these people thinking?

Friends, we are called to love and serve. Do you really think you can debate someone into Heaven? I remember years ago at a Willow Creek evangelism conference hearing Bill Hybels describe some of the long-term relationships that he’s in with lost friends. Yes, he considered them true “friends”. He said some he had been praying for for 5, 7, 10 years before they even asked about church or became a Believer. Some still haven’t. Some may never become a Christian. He’s committed to loving them and befriending them regardless. To paraphrase Hybels – he’s in it for the long haul and not just something to check off a spiritual list.

Personally, I’ve been thanking God for some of my non-Christian friends lately. I’ve interacted with people in-person, on the phone, through Facebook, Twitter and via email that are agnostic, a universalist, Muslim or Jewish. Our neighbors are Muslim. I LOVE it! I had a great conversation with a new Muslim friend the other day (who reads this blog). I hope to continue the relationship and develop a friendship.

I know the arrows will come. My email is greg@gregatkinson.com.

What do YOU think of this sign? I want to hear your voice. Also feel free to comment on CMS HERE.

That’s me with Chris and LV from Catalyst. They and Jesse (from the Catalyst blog) were at the Church 2.0 Local Forum – Atlanta. Behind us is the infamous “Vanagon” that LV has been driving around the country. It’s pimped out on the inside – don’t let the outside fool you. Jesse blogged about Church 2.0 a week ago HERE. I’m trying my best to be at Catalyst this year, like I have the last 3 years. Are you going to be there?

I had an amazing time in Atlanta. I heard of what the Church there is dealing with – good and bad. My heart was encouraged to hear of Unite and how churches are working together on various issues in the ATL area. My eyes were opened and I was stunned to hear of the child sex trafficking going on there (Atlanta is #1 in the nation). I had no idea. There are some great stories that I believe will find their way into the book (Church 2.0).

Like always, I met some new friends and some people I knew online face-to-face for the first time. It was a joy to connect with them. The host church, Perimeter, was awesome. They are doing some amazing ministry to their local community that was exciting to hear. They also have staff dedicated to just reaching out to other churches to work together – that’s cool and THAT’S a Church 2.0 Church!

PERSONAL:
Though my heart was full and I was encouraged by my time in Atlanta, I came back exhausted and desperately missing my family. I’ll blog more about them tomorrow. For now, I have decided to take the month of September off from traveling. I’m still coming to Boston in October, but have moved Portland to November – November 7th to be exact. For the next month, I’m going to rest, write and be with my family.

This is from WiredChurches.com – We’re looking for original films created by church volunteers or staff to further their mission, illustrate a point, or promote or highlight an event. Professionals in the film and advertising industry will determine the top films in each category to present during the film festival at Granger on Thursday, September 18.

To get more info, go HERE.

PERSONAL:
Today I fly to Atlanta for the Church 2.0 Local Forum – ATL tomorrow. See you soon ATL!

If you’re not at ECHO, you’re going to wish you were and you need to plan for it next year. It’s always a good thing to come to Dallas! I had a great time for my first day of the ECHO Conference.

I got to catch the pre-lab class on “Design” – which rocked. It was so refreshing to watch a talented artist, Barton Damer, peel back the layers (literally in PhotoShop) and show how he created the conference logo (seen above).

I then hung out with Cynthia Ware and talked with several friends that were in town from around the country. Then Cynthia and I attended a special lunch and got to hear what’s coming down the road for WorshipHouse Media.

The rest of the day was a blur of conversations, meetings, classes, talking with my friends that are exhibitors, BBQ for dinner, more deep discussions and meeting people in person that knew me from online (Facebook, Twitter or my blog).

I was most impressed with how the ECHO team and the host church, Watermark, handled the night main session with my friend, Mark Batterson. Hats off to my local tech buddies Ryan Howell (Watermark) and Jason Cole (Lake Pointe) who were making it happen, along with Les and the rest of their team. My intern, Jonathan, even jumped in on camera. So Bent Tree, Watermark, Lake Pointe and the ECHO team came together as one – it was beautiful. We have a great local group of tech directors. I saw most of them today, including my friend, Brian Davis, from Fellowship Dallas.

The worship last night was great (led by my friend, Will Pavone, from McLean Bible in Washington DC. I moved from serving in the Washington DC area to Dallas). The visuals and lighting were notable. They truly led artistically and tastefully. I was very impressed and want to get the backgrounds that they used for the songs – they were awesome.

They had created a nice countdown, made great use of a left, center and right video screen and had a cool brief conference starter video. Good stuff. Batterson brought it and was encouraging and appreciative to technical artists. It was good to see him and his digital/tech team (Dave Clark, David Russell and Jeremy Sexton).

I ended the night chatting briefly with some local friends, including new Dallas resident: Rhett Smith, and got some brief time with my college friend, Shawn Wood, who will be speaking today. I also talked with Tim Stevens and his associate from Granger. I’ll spend some more time later today with Tim.

I picked up Tony Steward last night from the airport and am looking forward to spending some time with him these next few days. I teach today and tomorrow and am looking forward to meeting more of you.

More later, including my new resource of the month: Unifyer – which is one of the sponsors for the Church 2.0 Local Forum in Atlanta next week and is a new partner with my ministry. I can’t wait to tell you more about what they’re up to!

DAY ONE: Great. Well done ECHO team. Looking forward to the rest of the conference.

Besides my family, my job and writing a book, I’m also speaking twice this month. Once, this week at ECHO and next week at the Church 2.0 Local Forum – Atlanta.

I’m excited about both. For ECHO, I’m excited about the many friends and Church leaders from around the country that are coming and I get to hang out with, grab coffee and/or lunch with and take on a tour of Bent Tree.

There’s a great line-up of speakers at ECHO and I’m honored to be a part of this new conference. I’ll be doing 2 classes: “Which Worship Presentation Software is Best for Your Church?” and “Church 2.0″.

In the worship presentation software class, just like NAB, I’ll facilitate a discussion and demo between the Top 3 presentation software companies: EasyWorship, MediaShout and ProPresenter. This class is always fun to do and a great opportunity for you to see the best up-close and personal.

In the Church 2.0 class I give an overview of Web 2.0 technology, how you can use it for ministry and then share my heart behind “Church 2.0“, which goes way beyond technology. For the first time, I will be joined by some special guests (contributors to the book) that will be in Dallas from out of town. I’ll make a big announcement and share some new news with those in attendance!

For Atlanta next week, I’m pumped to meet Church leaders from around the ATL. I’ve been looking forward to this city for quite some time and can’t wait to see what God has in store. If you’re near Atlanta, I want to see you there.

SPECIAL THANKS:
As always, I want to thank my sponsors, which make all this possible and are partners with me in my ministry. My sponsor for ECHO is EasyWorship. Sponsors for the Church 2.0 Local Forum – Atlanta are EasyWorship, ProPresenter, Unifyer, Livekite and Phonevite.

Please hear my heart. I partner with companies that I think have something valid to offer the Church. Someone last week was surprised to learn that I turn down sponsorships. I don’t link my name and my ministry with just anyone. I really believe these companies (and the sponsors for previous conferences and Local Forums) have something unique and innovative to offer the Church as a resource and tool for ministry. Please check them out!

Today I’d like to thank my sponsors for my ministry trip to South Carolina. Each company is a great resource to the Church and a friend and supporter of my ministry. I highly recommend you check them out!

Sponsors for the Church 2.0 Local Forum – Upstate SC are:

• EasyWorship
• HymnCharts.com
• 360Hubs
• Phonevite
• Special thanks to the host church: SpringWell

Sponsors for the South Carolina Worship Conference are:

• EasyWorship
• FortyOneTwenty

Today is day 2 of our church’s Fine Arts Day Camp. We have 400 kids running around the church and multiple activities taking place all around. My oldest daughter, Grace, is participating this year, so she gets to ride to church with me.

Today is my last day in the office this week. I have a day full of meetings – tough ones and just regular, old meetings. I fly out of town this evening and arrive in South Carolina late tonight.

Tomorrow I’ll be hosting the Church 2.0 Local Forum in Greenville, SC – this is for the entire upstate of SC, my hometown, actually. Thursday through Saturday I’ll be speaking at a worship conference. Busy week ahead!

For those of you that don’t know – I like to use the term “straight rockin’ it!”. I enjoy the breeze of reading many blogs at once via my Google Reader on my iGoogle page, which I check daily.

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about some blogs that I read daily now. I have 2 more blogs added to my blogroll that I’d like to share with you:

My new friends – Eric Michael Bryant and Randy Elrod. Both are great Church leaders, bloggers and all around great guys. I encourage you to add them to your Google reader and check ‘em out!

Eric is the Navigator (Executive Pastor) at Mosaic in LA and attended the Church 2.0 Local Forum – Orange County. I got to meet him after Mosaic’s Sunday night service, which was a great experience.

Randy is a good friend of my worship pastor, Scott Dyer, and heads up the re:create conference – which I hope to one day attend. It’s rare for me to just attend a conference, but that is one on “my list”.

* SO… what are the must-read blogs that you check daily?

ECHO Church Media Conference is a month away. Are you going to be there? You can and you should – AND you can still do it at the early-bird rate. I’ll be there and so will so wonderful friends of mine. Have you seen the list of speakers? WOW!

I think this would be great for worship leaders and senior pastors, as well as my tech friends. And seriously, any excuse to come to Dallas is all good. Some people I know attending the conference are coming over to Bent Tree for a tour. If you are coming or are thinking about coming, let me know, and we’ll set up a time for you to swing by and I’ll personally show you around. I hope to see you at ECHO!

EXTRA:
In other news, the new Apple iPhone sold over 1 million units in just 3 days! Are you kidding me??? Wow! Hey, speaking of ministry, sharing, generosity, God blessing you, etc., etc. – IF you already had an iPhone and just purchased the new one AND are wondering what to do with your old one… I would be glad to use it (for ministry purposes, of course). Holla!