Greg Atkinson

1. Friday, Oct. 17: Church 2.0 Local Forum – Boston

• Register for Boston on Facebook HERE. Not on Facebook? Register HERE.
• Sponsors for Boston are: LifeWay Threads, National Cine Media, SermonSpice, CircleBuilder, Planning Center Online, EasyWorship, 360Hubs, ReelWorship, FreeFoto.com, COLLIDE Magazine and Unifyer.

• Register for Tulsa on Facebook HERE. Not on Facebook? Register HERE.
• Sponsors for Tulsa are: Fellowship Technologies,  EasyWorship, CircleBuilder, National Cine Media, Planning Center Online, Unifyer and SermonSpice.

• Register for Portland on Facebook HERE. Not on Facebook? Register HERE.
• Sponsors for Portland are: Planning Center Online, National Cine Media, SermonSpice, CircleBuilder, 360Hubs, LifeWay Threads, Unifyer and EasyWorship.

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

The Art+Music+Justice Tour is coming to Bent Tree on Saturday, Oct. 25.

ART*MUSIC*JUSTICE on tour this fall, benefiting both the International Justice Mission and Food For the Hungry.

The International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression.  Food for the Hungry works in more than 26 developing countries providing disaster and emergency relief, and implementing sustainable development programs to transform communities physically and spiritually.

Derek is pleased to be joining Sara Groves, Brandon Heath, Sandra McCracken, and Charlie Peacock on this tour, running from September 19th-October 26th, bringing not only the music of these tremendous artists but also telling stories of the great work of these organizations as they work for justice, advocate for the oppressed, and point towards the day coming when all things will be made right.  More than just music, these unique evenings will bring with them opportunities to involve yourself in the stories of our poorest neighbors.

EXTRA:
This past Sunday, we were blessed to have Tommy Walker lead us in worship. He, and his band, were a blessing to our church and our worship & arts family. God is still using him!

PERSONAL:
Last night was one of the greatest nights of my life. I attended my first ever Cowboys game with my friend, designer Ben Jordan. The Cowboys/Eagles game was a “Monday Night Football” game on ESPN and didn’t disappoint. It was a VERY intense game until the very end. Amazing!

Google just celebrated their 10 year anniversary. Many have asked – and so do I: “How has Google changed/impacted your world?”

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.

An Apple iPhone or iPod touch will become a central part of Abilene Christian University’s innovative learning experience this fall when all freshmen are provided one of these converged media devices, said Phil Schubert, ACU executive vice president.

At ACU – the first university in the nation to provide these cutting-edge media devices to its incoming class – freshmen will use an iPhone or iPod touch to receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors’ offices, and check their meal and account balances - among more than 15 other useful web applications already developed, said ACU Chief Information Officer Kevin Roberts.

ACU’s vision for technology has been captured in a forward-looking film called ‘Connected,’ found online – along with information about ACU’s other ground-breaking mobile learning
efforts – at www.acu.edu/connected. – You can read more from this article HERE.

Below is a summary from someone who was a part of the freshman orientation at ACU:

This past weekend Abilene Christian University gave away about 1,000 iPhones and iPod Touch’s. All of the devices were given away totally free. Parents had the option to opt-out of the iPhone, in case they did not want to pay the monthly bill. In that case, students still received an iPod Touch 8GB Model. The iPod Touch, when connected to ACU’s Wifi Network can do pretty much everything the iPhone can do with respect to all of the ACU specific Applications. The iPod Touch just doesn’t have the GPS Guided campus map available.

ACU is the only place in Abilene, Texas with 3G Network Coverage from AT&T. AT&T did the work just for them, and will get to the rest of the town’s 3G coverage later. This in an unprecedented leap in technology for education, and Abilene Christian is leading the way. Oklahoma Christian University will soon follow. ACU gets calls weekly from other university’s administrations inquiring about this initiative. Hopefully many schools will follow in ACU’s footsteps.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Students login to a special ACU app and their schedule is downloaded to their iPhone or iPod Touch
• GPS map shows students where they’re at on campus and how to get to their class
• Professors can take attendance by iPhones present in class
• Professors can get real-time feedback from students via surveys (“Do I need to spend more time on this or do you understand it?” – students answer “Yes” or “No thanks. I got it.”)
• Students can check their meal and account balance

PERSONAL:
Today my son, Tommy, turns 6 years old and starts his first day of school. My little boy is growing up!

The Don Moen Company Purchases MediaComplete (below is a press release from them):

We are excited to announce that the Don Moen Company has recently purchased MediaComplete Corp. The acquisition caps weeks of discussions and planning for how to best resource the church for a new generation of visual media. The new entity will be known as MediaComplete LLC. Don Moen recently founded the Don Moen Company. He is best known as a songwriter and worship leader having written some of the most recognizable songs in the church today.

Don commented on the acquisition, “We believe that making MediaComplete part of our organization will help us to better equip the Church to communicate more effectively and to lead life-changing worship which rests at the heart of God’s Kingdom. Additionally, we are committed to increasing financial and organizational support to the MediaComplete team as they strive to better serve the Church with cutting-edge technologies and expanded content offerings.”

All current staff will remain in place and the MediaComplete founders will continue with significant roles in the company including Todd Temple as Vice President and Chief Product Developer, and Paul Jackson as Vice President for Sales and Marketing. Additionally, MediaComplete will continue to be located at its present location in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee.

We are very excited to join forces with The Don Moen Company to better serve the church, and we believe this relationship will allow us to significantly expedite our product development process. We are looking forward to increasing our customer service capabilities, as well as introducing several important new software releases in the months ahead.

Additionally, Kevin Weimer, son of Christian industry icon Jerry Weimer, will join the team as President and CEO of MediaComplete, LLC. Weimer worked with Moen and The Don Moen Company, Chief Operating Officer, Chris Long, during his tenure as VP of the Integrity Label Group.

Weimer stated, “It is a great honor to lead the MediaComplete Team for Don and Chris. As more high quality media is being developed for worship, youth and children’s ministries, we are committed to developing cutting-edge products and services that will enable the church to utilize these media tools in the most effective way for their local ministries.”

MediaComplete is the first major acquisition by the Don Moen Company, which was started in 2008 by Platinum selling recording artist, songwriter and worship leader, Don Moen. Over the next twelve months Moen will be demonstrating the software both domestically and internationally as he appears in markets including South Africa, Nigeria, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines.

Sunday, I was working on Church 2.0 book stuff with co-writers Tony Steward and Cynthia Ware. Yes, in case you missed the announcement on Facebook yesterday: Tony and Cynthia are co-writing the technology section of the Church 2.0 book!

While we were sitting outside of Starbucks and brainstorming, we saw the Cowboys’ new tight end Martellus Bennett. Here’s the crazy thing: he saw me notice him and walked over to me, stuck out his hand and said, “Hello.” He was as nice as could be and we chatted for a bit. He was funny and warm and way nicer than someone with his fame would normally be.

I asked if I could take a picture with him. He said, “Sure” – so I did. That’s Tony sitting on the left (my right). Martellus represented the Cowboys in a great way. He was down-to-earth, friendly and a super ambassador for the team. We all remarked how well he represented the Cowboys. He even mentioned his faith when Cynthia told him I was a pastor.

I was truly impressed with his humility, humor and accessibility. My hat is off to him and the entire team, which, by the way, I’m picking to go to the Super Bowl. SO… who do YOU have going to the Super Bowl?

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!

Church Marketing Sucks, Tony Steward and Tony Morgan blogged about making Guy Kawasaki’s Modern Church Alltop List, so I will, too.

I am the 4th blogger listed on this very interesting list. So many of my friends and peers are listed here. This is a great place to check out some very relevant blogs worth reading! Thanks Guy! You can check it out HERE.

Thanks to Tony Steward for providing this:

*By the way, I encourage you to check out Tony’s “Internet Campus Starter Kit” blog – it’s great!