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.

My friend, DJ Chuang, has put together some great information and links on internet campuses HERE and HERE. So – what are your thoughts? Have you ever attended an internet campus? Would you consider launching one?

Today I continue with the other 2 internet campuses I attended this past Sunday.

Seacoast Church:

Number 3 was Seacoast Church. I know Seacoast well. I lived in Charleston, SC for 8 years (went to Charleston Southern University) and used to attend Seacoast on Saturday nights, then lead worship on Sunday mornings at my church. My friend and classmate at CSU, Shawn Wood, is the Experiences Pastor at Seacoast. I have a great respect for their ministry as a whole. 

This month Seacoast is celebrating their 20th anniversary. They had an AMAZING video intro and message graphics that Shawn told me were created by Dallas’ own Barton Damer. Below is a still frame from Rick Warren saying a “Happy Anniversary” to Seacoast Church.

Below is pastor Greg Surratt preaching. He shared a powerful true story of a major car accident that his family had been in 20 years ago. It was very moving. I have always loved his transparency. Notice the interactive response elements at the bottom. You can nail your sins to the cross, light a candle or prayer virtually. Click “More” for more information on communion and giving a tithe.

Out of the 5 internet campuses that I worshipped with, my favorite musical worship was Seacoast hands-down. Keep in mind that I was a worship pastor for 11 years and have a degree in music, so music and worship is very close to my heart. I’ve been a supporter of worship leader Martin Chalk for years, almost 10 years to be exact. 

One thing I love about the worship experience at Seacoast is that they always end with responsive worship. The message doesn’t end the service. I love that! I think once you encounter God through His Spirit and the teaching of His Word, you should have a chance to respond. Seacoast gets that! Below is their Internet Pastor (and fellow CSU alumni) Brad Singleton.

Central Christian Church:

Central Christian was a last minute add-on. I was reading Twitter and saw Mike Foster say that he was watching CC’s internet campus. I jumped on and caught them mid-service. With that being said, I didn’t get a chance to experience any of their music. I will another time. I did, however get to catch Senior Pastor Jud Wilhite – he’s great. I attended Central Christian when I spoke at NAB in Las Vegas.

Below you’ll see something that I found very helpful and just plain cool. You can not only take notes during the message, but you can also print out those notes or email them to yourself. I like that. 

I forgot to mention yesterday that Flamingo Road emailed me message notes – that, too, was very cool. Isn’t technology just an amazing tool God has given us???!!! 

* More information on internet campuses tomorrow. Today I speak to students at Dallas Theological Seminary on Church 2.0. My question to them: “How do you define innovation?”

Yesterday I (and my family) were home sick. I had already watched LifeChurch.tv’s Saturday night service online, but ended up worshipping with 3 other internet campuses while home sick. I actually saw a 4th internet campus, but was not happy with it and decided not to call them out. In the next 2 blog posts, I’ll share with you the 4 churches that blessed me this weekend:

LifeChurch.tv:

I think the “Mix & Mingle” Lobby Chat is fascinating and am amazed to see how God uses it. 2 weeks ago, over 50 people prayed to receive Christ through LifeChurch.tv’s internet campuses – that’s more than most churches see in a year.

No, that’s not Craig Groeschel. They had an awesome guest speaker. Of notice in this picture is their “Give Online” area of the screen. At the botton left, you can follow the message notes. Great experience. Most people think of LifeChurch.tv when they think of an internet campus.

Above, LifeChurch.tv always let’s you choose between 2 different worship leaders. This is cool, but I have an issue. What happened to Stephen Cole?? Stephen Cole is my favorite worship leader at LC and I’m thinking about starting a petition to bring him back as an option. He rocks!

Above is LifeChurch’s Internet Campus Pastor Brandon Donaldson. I need to get to know that dude.

Flamingo Road Church:

Above was a screenshot taken after one of their morning services. The red dots show you who was watching around the world!

Flamingo was having a baptism that day (they had a great video announcment about it – very cool). Want to participate in baptism? Just text the word: BAPTISM. Folks, we are literally watching the face of Church change before our eyes.

The thing that impressed me the most about my south Florida friends is that they know how to make church fun. This is a screen shot of beach balls being tossed around the auditorium. You’d have to be there to understand.

Above is Flamingo’s Lead Pastor, Troy. Flamingo was truly the highlight of my morning and a wonderful surprise. There is talk of the Church 2.0 Local Forum in Miami being held at Flamingo Road Church – shhhh!

Above is Flamingo’s Internet Campus Pastor, Brian Vasil. I was introduced virtually to Brian through my friend, Tony Steward via last week’s LifeShare. I was introduced to Flamingo Road’s Internet Campus through my friend, DJ Chuang.

More to come about these and other internet campuses this week on this blog! So… what are your thoughts? Does the thought of over 50 people praying to receive Christ via the internet freak you out? Do you praise God? Both? Is your church considering an internet campus? Are you philosophically opposed to one? Let me hear ya.

The Swerve blog announced a summer message series entitled “One Prayer“, which is very intriguing. It’s many churches coming together and participating. Check out the explanation video from Pastor Craig. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Is this something you’d do at your church?

EXTRA:

I am thrilled to announce that SermonSpice has opened a Spanish media store. I have been begging producers for years to produce content in Spanish or at least with Spanish sub-titles. I applaud….cheer… and herald SermonSpice for their vision and commitment to equip this HUGE part of our Church. Well done!

As I mentioned before, in preparation for our new worship center and moving from 2 cameras to 3, I’ve been visiting other churches to get ideas and inspiration. The last 2 Sundays I’ve visited churches via the internet. I’ve attended both LifeChurch.tv’s and Seacoast’s Internet Campuses. It’s been fascinating to watch and worship via the web. If you get a chance one Sunday and can sneak away into your office, log on and check ‘em out.

EXTRA:

I’ve got to give another shout out to my friend, Shawn Wood (Experiences Pastor at Seacoast), for linking to this video. I can’t imagine Burger King without the whopper. If you want to see what it would be like, check it out HERE.

ADDITION:

I accidentally forgot to mention this year’s Christmas product from Radiate Films in yesterday’s post. It has been added now and I encourage you to check it out below.

This just in from Shawn Wood, Communications Pastor at Seacoast Church:

“I wanted to let all my blog friends know about a conference that Seacoast Church has the pleasure of partnering with Community Christian Church, North Coast Church and Leadership Network with. This conference has been a catalyst in the multi-site movement with over 1200 people attending the two earlier additions in Chicago and Charleston. Now we get to spend a few days in San Diego in February. So if you are considering multi-site, are multi-site or just would like to hear one of these guys speak do me a favor.”

• Register today.

MORE THANKSGIVING RESOURCES:

Check out “A Cry of Thanksgiving” from BluefishTV. It’s #1 on their site and as all their videos, it’s only $1.99! While you’re there, also check out “Jars of Clay: The Spirit of Thankfulness“, “What is Thanksgiving?“, “Thanksgiving: It’s More Than Turkey or Football” with both a funny and serious version.

Thanks so much for all your prayers, comments and emails. I made it through surgery fine yesterday. The surgeon said my gallbladder was diseased and it was a good thing they took it out. I feel such a relief and validation. I knew my pain wasn’t all in my head! I’m just real sore and taking it easy, grateful to God for His comfort and presence and thrilled to have it behind me! On to today’s blog:

Many of you know of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY (one of the largest churches in the US). They have recently decided to join the multi-site revolution. I know there are many thoughts and philosophies on the multi-site movement. SCC put together a pretty funny and interesting video clip to introduce the concept/vision to their congregation. They interviewed the President of Kentucky Fried Chicken and asked him why he doesn’t just have one big KFC that everyone could go to, instead of having multiple KFC’s throughout the country. Check it out, by going to their sermon page and clicking on “Church on the Move”. What are your thoughts?

FYI – To my communication and video friends, they have some cool job openings:

Communications Ministry Director

IT Network Engineer

Information Technology Director – Full-time

IT Ministry Liaison Technician

IT Data Entry Technician

IT Desktop Technician

Student/Vine Sound and Lights Media Manager

Student/Vine Ministry Team Programming Director

Communications Ministry Videographer

Worship Team Video Producer