Multi-Site Church - Part 1

A couple of weeks ago in my sermon "Outside the Walls" in the We Will Tell Revisited Series I talked about our plans as a church to launch our first satellite campus in the next 12-18 months. We are planning to launch a multi-site model in which Grace would have a number of satellite campuses around the region. I wanted to use a few posts to unpack the multi-site concept. Some of the info in this post is thanks to the Acts 29 Network.

What Is a Multi-Site Church?

• A Single Church
• With Multiple Worship Services
• In Multiple Locations
• Some use live speakers and some use video venues

Advantages of a Multi-Site Church vs. a Church Plant

• Oversight by One Board
• One Budget
• Allows the church to maximize it's staff
  
• Shared Resources

Why initiate a Multi-Site Church?

• Evangelism Potential
  
• A Creative Way to Manage Growth
• A Strategy for Reaching Different Communities

Our intention with our first multi-site would be to use live worship and live preaching, but that the satellite would use the same sermon series, website, ministry philosophy, etc. We are taking a look over at the Harborcreek/ Wesleyville/ Penn State Behrend area right now to see what God might be up to. Stay tuned...

Thoughts on this Weekend

This weekend at Grace was amazing! We have such an awesome church. Here are some thoughts:

• We had the largest non-holiday attendance in our history as a church. We had 1017 people at church this weekend. That rocks! Keep bringing, keep inviting, keep watching God change lives.
  
• We did our version of "cardboard testimonies" this weekend and it brought the house down. I'm serious when I say that this is only a small portion of the stories that are being written at Grace these days. What a great reminder of the life change that is happening all around us all the time.
• Al did a great job talking through what it might have been like for the Acts 2 church to celebrate their existence one year after Pentecost. It was a new angle that was really intriguing to think about.
• Despite the difficult decisions and conversations we've been having about some changes at 9:15 - many of those 9:15 folks were at church and still engaging with what God is up to. I'm looking forward to getting a "task force" together to keep working toward implementation of the new weekend service arrangement.
• Met with Josh last week - we are trying to connect with everyone after their 3rd visit. He was a 3rd time guest that I met at Starbucks last Wednesday. It was awesome to hear his story and meet his fiance after services on Sunday.
• It was also great to catch up with Jim following the services and provide him with some resources for a talk that he's giving at his school. God will continue to use Grace folks to spread His fame around the Erie region and it's always a privilege to be a part of that!
• I can't believe that we've been in our new facility for almost a year! Dave's video tribute to our 1 year anniversary was very moving and it set the tone for the amazing services this weekend.
• Brian and his teams were awesome. Who Can Stand is one of my favorite Brian Lusky songs and one of my favorite worship songs period. Don't miss the worship event that is coming next weekend. It is going to be a blast to both honor God with our worship and to be a part of a live worship album recording session!
• Got a chance to meet with Jim, Matt, and Sam on Saturday to talk about small group leadership and personal spiritual formation. It is so fun to hear what God is doing through our groups that meet all over the region during the course of any given week. This is where spiritual growth happens!

All in all it's just an awesome time to be at Grace. To have a front row seat to see what God is doing through our church and all over the city is amazing. This is only the beginning.

This Weekend is Going to Rock

This weekend at Grace is going to be unbelievable. The church is gathering to celebrate our one year anniversary in our new building, and to celebrate the many changed lives that have occurred since our move. It is going to be moving and powerful and a "can't miss" service! We will also be re-committing ourselves as a church to the vision that God has laid out for our future. Our dream is to continue to reach out to more people and to see hundreds and thousands of more lives changed and affected by the scandalous life and death of our savior. At the end of the services this weekend we will be inviting people to commit money to this vision. It is going to be a beautiful expression of devotion and commitment to our Lord. It's going to be awesome. Get there early and be eager for what God will do. The cardboard testimonies segment is going to be off the hook!

Long Stretch

Sorry for the long blogless stretch - I'm ready to re-commit to some consistency here. I have to get more consistent in order to get ready for the blog section of the new Grace website which is getting ready to launch in a week or so. The last several weeks I've been busy working on some changes that will affect Grace for a long time. It's a really exciting time to be at the church. Want to keep the momentum and innovation going so that we don't become a barrier again to what God is trying to do at Grace. We waffled around decisions before for fear of hurting feelings - can't do that any more -the stakes are too high.

Anyway - I'll post some leadership learning from my most recent trip to Newspring in South Carolina and Tony Morgan's coaching Network this week. But the first one is just a funny exchange that happened over our lunch break.

What Tony actually said, "Hey Jack, how do you like your Mac Air?"
What I heard... "Hey Jack, how do you like your back hair?"

I'm thinking - holy crap - Tony really gets close with his mentor-ees - above and beyond the call of duty if you ask me...