Greg Atkinson

There’s only one quality that I’m proud to tell others about me and don’t mind sharing. It’s a quality I also look for in others. And that is – I’m teachable. As long as I live, I’ll be a life-long learner. Partly because of the way I’m wired and I’m a reader, but also because I have a thirst to grow in knowledge.

Wherever I’ve lived and served, I’ve found someone to mentor me and I’ve tried to be a mentor to others. I’ve mentored guys younger and older than me (mostly younger). I’ve always found someone older than me and met with them regularly to learn from them and pick their brain.

There are many reasons to seek out a mentor. I must say again that it’s crucial to have a teachable spirit and sincerely believe you have room to grow and learn from another. One reason to seek out a mentor is to grow spiritually. Sometimes a mentor is further along spiritually than you and can disciple/mentor you in your walk with Christ.

Sometimes I seek out a mentor that is an awesome husband and father. I see how this person loves their wife and kids and I feel I could grow from spending time with them. I don’t know about you, but I want to learn how to be a better husband and father.

Sometimes I seek out a mentor that can help me grow professionally and as a leader. I meet once a week with a man that used to work with Ken Blanchard and helped write the book “Lead Like Jesus“. He’s led workshops on Blanchard’s “situational leadership” and countless “Lead Like Jesus” workshops and seminars. We meet weekly for him to pour into me and teach me about leadership (both situational leadership and servant leadership).

There are many reasons to be mentored and as you’re able to share what you, yourself, have learned over the years – you can mentor someone younger and pass on what you’ve been taught or learned the hard way. So what about you? Do you have a mentor? If so, tell us about it. Do you mentor others? If so, tell us about it.

In light of my last Church Leadership 101 post on being fired, I’d like to follow up with a simple philosophy I’ve tried to live by: never burn bridges. When I have felt God leading me somewhere else and resigned from a church, I’ve bent over backwards to make the transition as smooth as possible.

I’ve always worked with key volunteers in my ministry that would carry the load until the church replaced me. I thought it was important to set them up to win and show them everything I did, where I kept stuff, where I ordered stuff from, how I planned, scheduled and organized and anything that I thought they’d need to know after I left.

This speaks to one’s character and to a Kingdom mindset. We’re not competing and other churches are not the enemy. Even if I (or you) leave a church, I want them to succeed and do well in my absence – they are a part of the Big “C” Church and I’m all for their continued success.

If for some reason you find yourself fired or being let go, you have a wonderful opportunity to live out this principle of not burning bridges and show them you have class. I worked with a youth pastor one time that got fired and acted like a complete moron afterwards. He kept the church keys and wouldn’t turn them back in (we had to change the locks), he kept his pager (yes, we had pagers back in the day) and he threatened to storm the pulpit on Sunday and “tell his side of the story” (we had to post police officers at all entrances). In the end, he looked like a jerk and people really questioned his mental stability. Best advice: don’t go there. Turn in your keys, pack up your office and leave with dignity.

How have you handled transitions in your career? What do you think about burning bridges?

I’ll make this brief: Anyone in ministry is a person under authority. From the senior pastor answering to a board or the congregation (depending on your governance) to the executive pastor answering to the senior pastor, to all staff (paid and volunteer) answering to the executive pastor or senior pastor. Everyone reports to somebody and should be held accountable.

Ultimately, we all answer to the Head of the Church: Jesus Christ. Colossians 3:23 tells us “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” But on a practical, day-to-day working relationship, how does this whole concept work itself out?

Basically, we need to keep in mind that there are no lone rangers in ministry. Ministry should be done as a team and everyone should have someone that holds them accountable for goals set, discipline, and growth as a professional and a leader.

In a meeting, when something is being discussed, you have every right to speak up, voice your opinion and fight for something you’re passionate about, but once the decision has been made, you must get on board and champion that cause as if it was your idea.

Last week, I spoke at the National Outreach Convention in San Diego. I met a man from a known church in Texas and he told me he was on staff there and I went on to share with him my experience of visiting there and taking a tour. My team and I, years earlier, had been led on a tour by a disgruntled staff member who bashed the pastor and begged us to hire him. It was horrible. I remember driving away from that church and hearing our pastor say, “Don’t ever act like that to visitors.”

If you have something against your senior leadership (pastor, executive pastor, or elders/deacons) – keep that to yourself and take the initiative to seek them out (Matt. 18) and discuss your grievance with them privately. Don’t bad mouth your leadership to others inside or outside the church.

So, what about you? How do you handle issues of authority in your situation? Have you ever fought hard for an idea and had it shot down? How did you respond?

The following is a guest post from Justin Lee, Executive Director of The Gay Christian Network (http://www.gaychristian.net).

Of course, we all know that there are some hateful, bigoted people out there who call themselves Christians. But most of the Christians I know are wonderful, loving people. They may not believe that homosexuality is compatible with Scripture, but they would never, ever want gay teens to feel worthless, much less commit suicide.

Somehow, between the church’s intent to preach a message of love, and the gay community’s hearing a message of hate, something is going drastically wrong. And it’s up to us to fix it.

I know a little something about this topic. My job is building bridges between the gay community and the church. It’s something I do every day. Unfortunately, in my experience, most Christians are pretty clueless about why their messages are being misheard. They imagine it’s just a problem with the gay community, and that there’s nothing that they as Christians can or should do any differently. I sometimes hear Christians say things like, “That’s just the conviction of the Holy Spirit. If they don’t want to hear it, that’s their fault, not mine.”

It is true, of course, that sometimes people simply refuse to listen to God, and sometimes God hardens people’s hearts. But in this case, a huge part of the problem lies with the church. We have failed to understand those we’re trying to reach, and as a result, we’ve not only pushed them away; we’ve pushed away their friends, family members, and all who care about them. In some cases, we’ve become the Gospel’s worst enemy.

I often ask people this: If you were going to be a missionary to a foreign country where they didn’t speak your language, what would you do before you started trying to share the Gospel? Wouldn’t you first learn everything you could about the language and customs of the people you were going to witness to? You’d have to learn a lot about their language before you could even communicate with them at all, but you’d have to know much more than that to communicate effectively. You’d need to know, for instance, if a “thumbs up” sign is offensive to them, or if failing to remove your shoes before entering someone’s house is a sign of rudeness. If you didn’t learn those things, you’d risk turning them off to your message before you’d even begun. Right?

It’s common sense. But so many Christians fail to learn anything about gay people, their language, or their culture before trying to talk to (or worse, about) them as witnesses. You’d be amazed at how many arguments I’ve seen between gays and Christians that could have easily been prevented if the Christians had just taken the time to listen first.

I grew up Southern Baptist, a committed, Bible-believing Christian. Growing up, I thought I knew everything there was to know about homosexuality: it’s a choice, it’s a sin, and people need to be told that. Then life dealt me an unexpected blow: as I went through adolescence, I discovered with horror that my sexual attractions were for other guys instead of for girls. How could this be? I was a good Christian boy.

It took years before I would admit that I was “gay.” Even after I did, I was still trying everything to become straight: fervent prayer, therapy, “ex-gay” ministries, dating girls; you name it. I was crying myself to sleep night after night, begging God to change these feelings. But they didn’t change.

And as I told my story to other Christians, I discovered something horrible: They weren’t interested in my story. They didn’t want to hear what I’d been through. As soon as they heard I was gay, they would dismiss me as “deceived” or “not a true Christian,” and start preaching at me about God’s destruction of Sodom or the Leviticus command not to lie with a man as with a woman. (Even when I told them I was celibate, it didn’t help.) Years later, I would make a documentary called Through My Eyes about dozens of other young Christians going through the same experience.

So yes, I can tell you firsthand how the church comes across. It’s hard to stay in the church once you’ve been through that… and I’m a committed Christian who wants to stay in the church! If a celibate Christian struggling with his identity isn’t welcomed, then why would a partnered gay man with children expect to be? And if we treat our own that way, is it any wonder that those on the outside want nothing to do with us?

There’s hope for change. Our change. And it begins when we as Christians learn how to listen as Christ would.

*** So, what do you think about what Justin has to say and him sharing his story and experiences?

I post my blogs in advance and was gone last week to the Catalyst Conference, but before I left town, I watched Glee on Tuesday night – which was about spirituality, Christianity, God not answering prayers and how Christians treat homosexuals. I was messed up. I think it was one of the best episodes (powerful and thought-provoking) I’ve ever seen on television.

In what I think was one of the best vocal performances I’ve ever heard, Kurt (who is the gay teen on Glee) sang a very moving rendition of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles. You can download the song HERE. Watch this video and tell me what you think.

I get asked often how I keep staying busy doing secret shopper visits with churches around the country. The truth is there is no better investment you can make if you’re serious about reaching people in your community and getting them to return for a second time. Churches that are exploding with growth don’t happen by accident and they take my service seriously.

Last week I received the latest issue of Outreach magazine. Their Sept/Oct issue is on the “Largest” and “Fastest-Growing” churches in America. By the way, I’ll be writing about how to reach and keep guests in the next two issues of Outreach magazine.

In this month’s issue, however, Outreach listed the “Largest Churches in America” – many of which I’ve consulted with. In their listing of the “Top 9 Greatest Numerical Gain Churches”, 2 of the 9 had brought me in to do a secret shopper visit. Do I think my secret shopper visit is the reason they had the most numerical gain out of all churches in the nation? Absolutely not. What I do think is that they grew the most because they are hungry and not satisfied with the people they’ve already reached. I’ve seen this personally when I met with and debriefed the leaders of these churches and heard their commitment to be ruthless about reaching lost people and constantly improving what they do. Simply put, they said they brought me in because they want to get better at reaching people. I respect that.

I should also point out the #1 “Fastest-Growing Church in America” – 12Stone in Lawrenceville, GA also brought me in to do a secret shopper. Do you think it’s an accident that they’re the fastest-growing church in the country and they would invest in a secret shopper to improve their weekend experience? I don’t. Previous “Fastest-Growing Church in America”, Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, AL has also used a secret shopper several times.

So to get to the “Why behind hiring a secret shopper” like myself: it’s because you want to reach your community. You want to improve your first impressions. You want to remove barriers that would keep people from returning and you want a professional observation and report from someone who wants to see you succeed as it relates to the Kingdom.

I want to be clear: I’m not the missing link. What I’m saying is I’ve been around enough large and fast-growing churches to know that they work extremely hard to be good at what they do – it’s no accident. They bring in secret shoppers and consultants because they are passionate about reaching people and excellence in all areas. There’s a correlation between these churches exploding with growth and the measures they take to evaluate why and what they do as an organization. Believe me, I do know there’s a “God-factor” and God blesses churches, but I believe there’s a partnership between us as leaders and the work of the Holy Spirit. Chew on that for a while.

Let me be blunt: If you take seriously the story of leaving the 99 to go after the 1 and you want to see your community reached for Christ, you can’t afford not to hire a secret shopper – whether it be me or someone else. Some things you can’t put a price tag on. One church of 15,000 that brought me in recently said it was the “best money we’ve spent all year.”

Understand my heart, though: I tier my prices down to help out smaller churches. Only the biggest of the big churches pay my full price. If you’re a smaller church, you get the same service for a cheaper price. I’m not in this for the money. I’m trying to serve churches and make a difference in the Big “C” Church. You can get more details, prices and read endorsements HERE.

Contact me if you’re serious about reaching your community. You have to put your money where your mouth is – that’s as honest as I can get. God bless you as you lead. Contact me and let’s work together to go after the 1 lost sheep.

In last week’s blog post “An Introduction to Social Media Marketing”, I referred to SMO. (SMO) Social media optimization, sometimes known as social media marketing, is a branch of search engine optimization that isn’t as mainstream as it should be. Every business and church can benefit from some form of engagement with social media networks, but not every business (or church) does engage. In the very near future, any business ignoring SMO will do so to their severe detriment. This is why I do my social media marketing company (GTK Solutions) and something I help educate business owners about.

Here’s just a few of the functions an SMO campaign serves:

*Exposure. This is the main thing most businesses aim for when they engage in social media optimisation. Many companies let increased exposure remain as the limit of a campaign’s advantages. A little thought can make social media work harder for your website optimisation campaign.

*Customer service. As more of the average businesses can be contacted through social media than in any other forum, it makes sense to use social media networks as a kind of customer service line. The publicly viewable nature of social media communication means that positive customer interactions get your business some excellent coverage, although for the same reasons negative encounters are best taken offline.

*Brand and reputation management. One of the major changes social media has wrought upon the internet is the need for results in real time. This aspect of social media comes in as an advantage when your brand needs a little support. Businesses are using social media to respond to bad press in their own words, getting in before the media does too much damage.

*Media coverage. The social media can be used as your own little media network, without the trouble of bothering with journalists.

*** I hope you know that my heart is to educate, inform, train and equip you as Church leaders. Any mention to my company (GTK Solutions) in my blogs is just a passing reference to what I do during the day. Please know that my business is not geared to churches (they can’t afford it). I’m not writing this for any other purpose than to share for free what others pay me to tell them. My clients for GTK Solutions are businesses only.

However, I do offer consulting (not marketing) to churches and am passionate about teaching and equipping church leaders and pastors about social media. Let me know if you’d like to talk with me about consulting with your church or organization for SMO. I also include social media and online strategy in my report when I do a secret shopper for a church. If you have interest in that, go HERE for more details.

I’m going to list the most beautiful churches in the country. Are you ready? Follow me: If I said, “You have a beautiful church”, would you reply “Thanks. When did you visit our building?” or would you reply “Thanks. Who did you meet?”

It’s simple and subtle, but potentially dangerous. So often we refer to churches’ facilities or campuses and define that as a “church”, as if they’re synonymous. One of the reasons that I love church plants and those in portable facilities is that they don’t have to overcome this hurdle like churches with their own building.

We don’t go TO church. We ARE the church. If you want to see the most beautiful churches in America, you’ve got to spend some time with believers that are sold out to Jesus, filled with His love and grace, display the fruits of the Spirit and have a passion to serve their community.

While I’m thinking about it, read Dino Rizzo’s book Servolution – that’s a beautiful church. Each time I’ve visited a church that has a Dream Center, including the LA Dream Center led by pastor Matthew Barnett, I’ve seen a beautiful church. The ironic thing about this is churches with Dream Centers often are doing messy ministry and get their hands dirty; still, they are what I consider to be a beautiful church.

I remember years ago being at the Evangelism Conference at Willow Creek and hearing Bill Hybels share his heart and vision. What I left with is at the end of the day, it’s about people sharing their faith and life with other people. Please know I run a social media marketing company. I’m all for marketing and branding and using tools like social media, but when it comes down to it – people are the church and they, by their word of mouth, are used by God to grow a church and be salt and light in a dark world.

How can your church be a beautiful church? By making disciples and growing up people in their faith. Spiritually mature Christians are beautiful in their own way. They’ve had years to practice spiritual disciplines and give off the scent of Christ. New Christians are beautiful in their own way. Yes, they’re sometimes rough around the edges, but their passion and zeal is inspiring and their new found “first love” is a breath of fresh air.

I’m curious: If I came to your community, would I experience a beautiful church?

Yesterday, I had about 6 hours of flight time as I traveled back from my trip to Salt Lake City, Utah. When I fly, I have time to think. I started thinking about the fruits of the Spirit and how they seem to be missing from some Christians that I deal with from time to time.

I thought back to the time I read the book The Spirit of the Disciplines. What impacted me about that book was I was brought up in the church to be trained how to react to tough situations. I was told to practice being gentle or to reflect on joy and one by one try to act out the fruits of the Spirit.

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. - Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)

What dawned on me as I read that book many years ago is that the fruits of the Spirit are not to be drilled into us; rather they are what comes out of us naturally when we’re walking with Jesus. When you’re walking step in step with Christ and spending time in prayer and His Word, your natural reaction to troubles and trials are love and joy and peace and patience, etc. Get it?

Do I always display the fruits of the Spirit? No. Unfortunately, I go through dry spells in my walk and sometimes get too busy for the devotional time that I so desperately need and truly want. But, when I do get in the Word and spend time in prayer, I find myself more kind, more gentle, more self-controlled, etc.

My prayer for you, dear friend, is that you walk step in step with Christ, seek Him daily, pray continually and let the fruits of the Spirit be (naturally) evident in your life.

This blog post has been on my heart for quite some time. I don’t want to come across as negative or a party pooper, but I feel this is something we need to openly and honestly discuss. I started thinking about how blessed we are as a nation and how well we live compared to the rest of the world. I started to question if the average American takes that for granted and if we realize we’ve been blessed to bless others.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when I was watching a comedian (I’m a big fan of comedy). In one of this comedian’s jokes he laughed about how in other countries they don’t have clean water and how here in the US we play in water. He went on to pretend he was at a water park and splashing around in water and going down a water slide. Something deep inside me hurt when he made his joke and I sobered up to the fact that we do play with our water.

When I go to Six Flags, I love the water rides. I stand on a bridge and get splashed. I felt sick thinking about washing my car and how I have taken having clean water available for granted for too long. I have blogged about clean water before – as you know, I’m passionate about social justice issues. I also supported a Twitter campaign to raise money to build wells in other countries. I was also on staff at a church that raised money to build wells.

All that to say, I’m no stranger to the facts, but to hear the comedian laughing about it really stung. It upset me and made me want to do something about it. If you’re wondering how serious this issue is, here are the cold, hard facts:

Almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean drinking water. Unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all disease and kill more people than all forms of violence, including war.

Want some more hard truth? In many countries, people wait in line for food. Here we wait in line for iPhones. Let that sink in. Again, my heart is not to be negative, but to speak the truth in love. I sincerely believe we have been blessed to bless others.

If you have safe, clean drinking water and you’re not waiting in line for food (which is probably all of you reading this), then what can we do to make a difference? I’ve decided to add a free ad for Charity: Water on my blog (over to the right). I encourage you to click on it, read more about them and support them. I’ve blogged about organizations I support on here before. Here are a quick few that you can get started with right away.

• Water Missions Int.
• Charity: Water
• Food for the Hungry
• World Vision – My wife and I have supported WV for 15 years.

What will you give? What can your church do? How can we make a difference? We MUST wrestle with this and not ignore this part of God’s creation. If you’re up for donating something to one of these organizations, please leave a comment. Your action may inspire someone else to act. Together we can make a difference.