Greg Atkinson

Top Christian media website, Evangelize.com, has rebranded it’s video download site as MinistryFlix.com. To celebrate this name change, the site is giving away brand new exclusive content each week throughout the summer, created by some of its top selling producers. Please know some of this content you can’t find anywhere else on the web!

The site offers thousands of short videos that give viewers an opportunity to hear about important themes. Videos tackle issues such as gossip, worship, relationships and forgiveness – all from a Christian perspective. Many of the videos feature stars from such hit television shows as “The Office,” “Community,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Glee,” “Saturday Night Live” and more.

The site’s founder, Tom Rice, says “We are constantly bombarded with stories and visual imagery that compete for our imagination and aim to influence the way we view our world. Our imaginations are often led to value what is contrary to God’s teaching. MinistryFlix.com thinks it’s time to reclaim our imaginations,” says Rice.

MinistryFlix.com believes that parables and imagery are just as influential today as they were when Jesus delivered his sermon on the mount. They have put together a vast resource of materials that they believe will help capture the imagination of their audience and lead them closer to Christ.

“People yearn to hear truth that will set them free. Your audience might be your church, your family or perhaps your friends who don’t know Jesus. They’re ready to listen,” says Rice. Rice wants people to view MinistryFlix.com as the top digital resource for offering the best in Christian media for church, small group or individual use. The downloadable videos range from inspirational videos, documentary testimonials, and comedies and often feature recognizable actors. The content on the site is produced through a partnership of top Christian media producers.

Don’t miss that last point – it separates MinistryFlix.com from most of it’s competitors. They screen and filter their videos and won’t put up just anybody. My problem with some companies is they have so much junk on their website that you have to search for hours to find anything usable. Only the top Christian media producers have been selected to be on MinistryFlix.com. It’s really a who’s who of Christian media resources. If you want to save yourself time, it’s worth you bookmarking them and checking them first when you’re looking for a video clip for your ministry.

In case you missed it in the opening paragraph: They’re giving away FREE videos every week. The new Deidox film is only on their site and available as a FREE download. At least go get your free video!

Here’s something that I thought was cool.  Squeeze, made an appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s show the other night to play the classic “Pulling Mussels (From The Shell),” and the keyboardist was playing both the electronic ivories and an iPad. He even drops a nice solo in right around 2:32. YouTube commenter MooCowMusic says it’s his app, Pianist.

I’ve commented before that I look for laptops on the stage when I visit a church. If I came to your church, would I see someone playing an iPad? What do you think?

I’ve mentioned to several worship leader friends that my favorite worship song right now is “How He Loves”. I got introduced to it via Kim Walker of Jesus Culture and love her version of the song. As a guy, I also love what David Crowder did with it and his version. Yesterday, I got introduced to John Mark McMillan’s version of the song. Check out this video of him leading it live (via Relevant):

Parable Creative is a creative agency that helps ministries and non-profits. I’m proud to serve on the board of this new organization and will be at our first board meeting in Atlanta this coming Monday night. Check out this slide presentation…

The following is a guest blog from my friend, Brian Davis – Media Resources Manager at Highland Park United Methodist Church.

For months I have heard Paul Rasmussen (Pastor of our modern worship service) say, Don’t let resources dictate vision”. As a resources manager, I live in a very concrete world of what we have and what we don’t have – what’s real and what’s imaginary. I know what gear we have available, and what money we have in our budget. So I have to live with the tension of what we have and what everyone would like to do. Recently in a staff meeting, Paul fleshed out what he means, and I think it’s worth a few bullet points here.

* Resources is not the same thing as money. Resources include money, but also include you (what you personally bring to the table in terms of influence, skill and other traits), systems, and human resources (volunteers).
* Most people are pretty good with the You. A talented video producer might tend to simply take all the assigned videos and crank them out by himself. That mat be because he’s a perfectionist or control freak. But it may also be that the systems aren’t in place to accommodate volunteer editors. Or maybe there isn’t a system in place to allow the video producer enough time to develop people in that role.
* Many people who may be in good shape with the You or the money, but meet with opposition when trying to expand or change systems. In church work we often tend to operate without much personal margin, so when we are met with the slightest opposition, we retreat back to what we know. It takes continual pushing against the status quo to affect change.

Andy Stanley has said “Your people are exactly where they have been led to be”. And I’ve heard it another way – “Your systems are perfectly designed to give you the results you’re getting”. Historically, our church has not had a really strong emphasis on volunteering. In some areas, yes, but certainly not in the areas of music and worship service production. We are committed to changing that. At the very least, it will require two things. First, our people have to be led to a different place. Led by our pastor, led by me, led by our tech staff. Secondly, it will require a culture change on our part. We have to change the way we think about our work – who owns it, who we’re doing it for. We’ll have to be prepared to volunteers be better at our jobs than we are (that can be intimidating). Paul told us “The reason for increasing our volunteer force is not to get free labor, but to increase buy-in of our mission”. So lastly, we’ll have to change our definition of success. Success will have to mean much more than successful operation of equipment, and “professional” performance. We’re not giving up on that, but success has to be expanded to how well we engage the body and allow our people to increasingly take leadership in our services.

I’m convinced that doing this will help our people grow. And it will help us grow, too.

The following is a guest blog by my friend, Shawn Wood, Experiences Pastor at Seacoast Church – Mt. Pleasant, SC

I first heard of the concept of “Creating on Demand” from @toddhenry of the Accidental Creative. The concept goes like this.  When we think of create on demand we usually think of products.  Widgets and Woozets.  Someone stands in the same place and creates the same things over and over again – on demand.  The old factory model.

But in the last few decades the rise of the creative class has created a whole new factory.  A creative factory, but instead of widgets and woozets the assembly line now creates thoughts, ideas, innovation and ultimately…art.

An art factory.  Sounds great doesn’t it?

The only problem is that is not how creativity works.  At least it is not how it works for me.
Some days I have good ideas.
Some days I have bad ideas.
Some days I have good ideas that turn into bad ideas.

But truthfully, many days I have no ideas at all.

So then I was thinking about this whole create on demand thing and it hit me.

The Church is the ultimate create on demand culture in the world.  It does not matter how many times you look at the calendar Sunday comes every 7 days – even in leap year.

So our job it would seem is to create on demand every 7 days an environment that leads to an experience that can move people, usher people into the power and the presence of God and  ultimately a work of art.  Even 200 Pomegranates to an audience of one.

So here is my question.  How do you do this?  Something fresh and moving every week.  Something worth a mom and a dad getting all the kids up and dressed, dealing with the traffic of parking and walking into our churches and giving us an hour of their lives.  Here are just a couple of things to remember and then I would love to hear your tips in the comments:

1.  Give the other artists (all the attenders) in the church the tools to help you create.
This is not a spectator sport.  We are not supposed to finish the canvas by Sunday, the rest of the artists are showing up to help.  Our job is to make sure the supplies are out, the canvas is ready and that an environment is there that leads to an experience with God.
One example of this is our response time at Seacoast.  We leave margin at the end of each service for three songs of worship and give people space to respond to what God is doing in their lives.  We provide the tools.  Some music.  Response stations (cross to pin confessions of sin, candles to light in prayer, prayer teams, communion stations, offering boxes) and allow the artists to pant their own canvas.

2. Don’t pre-chew the food for everyone.  That’s just gross.
Can you imagine having to eat all of your food pre-chewed.
We sometimes do that as artists for our church  Don’t over-plan everything.  Planning is good, but make sure you leave some room in your services for people to contribute and be a part.  Don’t over-dictate the mood so much that there is no room for a mood shift.  Don’t have a big-idea so chosen that when God decides to use the theme of the service in a different way you can’t move with him.  Planning is awesome.  It’s a essential and infact I believe that planning leads to flexibility.  Just make sure to allow that to happen.

The other day I was commenting on how I had been listening to Tim Hughes’ song “Everything” over and over. It’s been stuck in my head and my heart ever since visiting North Point about a month ago and hearing them do it. My friend, Kye S. Chung messaged me on Twitter and told me to check out this video by Justin Pae. Check it out.

Everything from justin pae on Vimeo.

What could God accomplish through us if we were all pulling together? What kind of change could we see in the world? What if we were…

UNSTOPPABLE

That’s what we’ll be exploring as this year’s One Prayer teaching theme:

When the Church unites, it’s unstoppable.

Think about it… unstoppable grace, unstoppable compassion, unstoppable evangelism, unstoppable love, unstoppable generosity
, unstoppable truth
, unstoppable hope…

“Unstoppable” will be the common thread that runs through this year’s teaching. If you’re thinking about contributing a message this year (and you should), now is a great time to gather your creative team and see where God leads your teaching. You’ll have until early May to submit your messages. Video resources and important deadlines will be added to www.oneprayer.com soon.

And while you’re thinking of One Prayer, don’t forget to sign up your church if you haven’t already. Registration only takes a few minutes, and is your key to resources and updates: http://2010.oneprayer.com/join

During One Prayer, we get to learn about Jesus in unison with thousands of people around the globe—thanks for making that possible!

Thanks,

The One Prayer Team

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/oneprayer

Questions? Email: info@oneprayer.com

I met with a church leader yesterday and we were discussing ideas for this year’s Easter service at his church. I’m curious about you and your church. Please share what you guys are working on for Easter.

Greg Atkinson is a consultant, friend and partner with a select group of strategic partnerships. Greg works with these partner companies (listed in alphabetical order) and encourages you to contact him at greg@gregatkinson.com for more information on how we can be a resource to your church. Click on the logos to go to the company website.

• We focus on your finances. You focus on your church. We’ve created a web-based system that allows your church to outsource all aspects of day-to-day financial management. Greg is also available for financial consulting for your church or organization.

• HelpStaff.me is a church staffing company. If your church is looking for a new staff member or you’re a church leader looking for a new ministry position, contact Greg. Many organizations have hired employees to fill needs without having a master plan for their organizational goals and growth. HELPSTAFF.ME can do an overall assessment and help you set up your staffing more effiiently and effectively. Again, contact Greg for more info.

• TruthCasting creates custom iPhone apps for your church. Greg is your connection to this amazing mobile resource.