The Multi-site Church Revolution

ministry flows between multi-site campuses online and offline

Found this blog post from Brandon Buckner, Internet Campus Director at McLean Bible Church (MBC.)  This story of three people below shows how a church with multiple locations, both online and offline, can be used of God to reach people for Christ:

Katie, a single grade school teacher in PW County, attends three MBC services each week. Saturday night she attends the Tysons Campus. She enjoys the worship and teaching so much that she attends again Sunday morning via the Internet Campus from her home in Manassas. On Sunday nights, she also attends Frontline via the Internet Campus, where she is one of the most engaged members of the online community.

Three weeks ago, Katie was in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. Katherine, her best friend and a non-believer, came to visit her shortly after the accident. Seeing Katie laying there in the hospital, she made a promise to God. She told Him that if He got her friend through the accident, she would begin going to church. By God’s grace, Katie was out of bed the following day and scheduled to go home with only minor injuries. That very day, Katherine finally did something Katie had been trying to get her to do for months―she logged onto the Internet Campus. That morning, after Lon presented the Gospel, Katherine prayed to accept Christ. But the Lord had even bigger plans in mind, as the following week Katherine brought her younger brother to the Tysons Campus, where he too accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior.

Now, Katherine and her brother are regular attendees of the Tysons and Internet Campuses, with plans to attend the upcoming Christianity 101. Katie and Katherine express excitement on a weekly basis for the upcoming Prince William Campus, where they both hope to get plugged in as volunteers.

Hallelujah! And, to visually communicate the church's identity as one church with multiple locations, McLean Bible Church has recently re-done its corporate logo. Know of another great story of how an internet campus is ministering to people online and offline?

// DJ Chuang, Director at Leadership Network

Leadership Network Launches Multi-site JumpStart Innovation Lab

Leadership Network Innovation Labs

Is your church planning on launching a multi-site ministry in the next 12-18 months? Are you feeling caught between ideas and action? You're not alone.

That's why Leadership Network has developed The JumpStart Innovation Lab, a unique environment designed to help you develop a plan and accelerate the launch of your multi-site ministry. 

Click here to learn more about the JumpStart Innovation Lab Experience.

Applications are due August 14 for the lab beginning October 20-21, 2009.

For more information or to obtain an application, contact:

Greg Ligon
Leadership Network
2626 Cole Avenue, Suite 900
Dallas TX 75204
972-754-9724

twitter - gregligon
greg.ligon@leadnet.org

2 overlooked issues about multi-site churches

Larry Osborne, Pastor of North Coast Church in Vista, California, is one of the leading proponents for multi-site churches. He noticed that multi-site critics have overlooked two issues ::

• The first is an Attendance Ceiling.
  
  Few video campuses ever break through the 1,000 barrier. Almost all are midsized or smaller. 

• The second is a built-in Geographical Limitation.
  
  The further from the mothership one gets, the harder it is for a video-driven campus to succeed. Most (not all, but almost all) of the video venue success stories are found within the same geographical region as the main campus.

These two issues are nearly impossible to break-through or overcome. Read Larry Osborne's full post to see what all of this means.

Connect with other Multi-site Leaders via new social network

This is an exciting week for multi-site church leaders everywhere, as a new social network launched specifically for leading multi-site churches! Mac Lake, Development Pastor at Seacoast Church, announced it on his blog earlier this week::

With the expansion of multi-site there is a growing need for leadership development.  Many of these multi-site churches are growing so quickly that it makes developing leaders a challenge.  I was talking with another multi-site church recently and said, “You know what we need? We need a fraternity for Campus Pastors and Multi-site leaders where they can learn from one another and share best practices, a leadership development site for Multi-site leaders”  And with that an idea was born.  Today I want to introduce you to Leading Multisite social Networking Community.

If you are a Senior Pastor, a Campus Pastor or a staff person that supports the multi-site work of your church then this site is for you.  Our intent is to create a network where multi-site leaders can build friendships, ask questions, find answers, develop leaders, and identify best practices.  So stop by and check it out.   If you’re not a staff person or a multi-site leader no worries you don’t have to be a member to see the content. However, we do respectfully ask you not to join. 

Leading Multi-site also has a twitter ID at twitter.com/leadingmultisit

This is a video from Mac Lake -- consider it a personal invite:

I'm joining in the conversations over there too -- see you there!

// DJ Chuang, Leadership Community Director at Leadership Network

What makes a great campus pastor?

This article comes from the July 2008 edition of the Multi-Sightings eNewsletter from Third Quarter Consulting. Jim Tomberlin writes what he has observed as traits of an effective campus pastor for a multi-site church's location:

We have come along way from the early days of the multi-site movement when no one knew what a campus pastor was, or if they did, weren't interested in being one. Once seen as an emcee for a video service, the campus pastor role is becoming one of the most sought-after church staff positions in the Church.
 
What makes a great campus pastor?
 
I have boiled down my answer to the following observations. Assuming that this individual is a spiritually mature person of character with a proven track record, an ideal campus pastor is someone who is a:

1. Catalytic leader: high energy, self-starter who not only gets things done, but makes things happen!
2. Multi-Tasker: high capacity player able to juggle a lot of balls simultaneously and love it, being ADD helps.
3. People Magnet: a relational "animal" who draws people like flies to honey.
4. Team Player/Builder: not a lone ranger, but is able to work within the system and turn followers into teams.
5. Communicator: doesn't have to be a bible teacher, but is comfortable and articulate speaking to a room full of people.
6. DNA Carrier: bleeds and defaults to the mission, vision, values, and senior leadership of the church.

Traits not conducive to a campus pastor:

1. Someone who has to preach (unless you put them on the teaching team).
2. An independent entrepreneur.
3. Someone with an agenda other than reaching people far from God and growing a congregation.

Subscribe to the free monthly Multi-Sightings eNewsletter here. (Article is used with permission from Third Quarter Consulting.)

Campus Pastor Jason Curlee (Bay Area Fellowship in Corpus Christi, Texas) echos a similiar list of characteristics in his blog post, The Role of a Campus Pastor:

1. Champion The Vision – Probably the most important job of a campus pastor is to champion the vision of the church. One way we can do that is by creating the systems and structure to handle the growth of fulfilling the mission of your church.
2. Carry The DNA – It is so important that you don’t drift or stray from who you are as a church.  You must fight to always be who your church is.  The vision, mission, and values of your church must always be there.
3. Build Relationships – If your campus/church is new to the area you are in, one of your primary roles is to build relationships in your area. Whether it is community leaders or those who are attending for the first time, your campus will make a difference based on the relationships you are building.
4. Develop Leaders – If the campus is going to be effective, it is going to be because of the leadership team.  Developing a leadership team (not just picking out a bunch of leaders) will be crucial to all the campus will do.
5. Delegate – You have to delegate everything and every task that anyone else can do. As fast as you can... develop and delegate.  Accept that there might be a degradation in quality... but then again... there might not be.  If you don’t delegate you will bury yourself and your campus.
6. Create a Sunday Experience – Our role is to create relevant environments that will connect people where they are in life with the life flowing power of Jesus Christ. The vast majority of people that visit a church do so on Sunday morning. This is when people will invite those that do not already follow Christ to come.
7. Serve Your Community – You’ve come to your community... now it’s time to serve it.  What are the unique needs of your community?  Ask and then go serve them.  Live by the motto, “If your church closed down, would anyone even know or care.”

Thank you Jim and Jason for sharing these great learnings!