Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

1 The Multi-Site Church RevolutionCopyright 2006 by Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren BirdRequests for information should be addressed to:Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataSurratt, Geoff, 1962 The multi-site church revolution : being one church in many locations / Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren Bird. p. cm. (The leadership network innovation series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-310-27015-7 ISBN-10: 0-310-27015-4 1. Church facilities Planning. 2. Church management. I. Ligon, Greg, 1962 II. Bird, Warren. III. Title. IV. Series. 2006254 dc22 2005034544 CIPAll Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version.

2 NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights quotations marked CEV are taken from the Contemporary English Version. Copyright 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, copyright 2000, 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the quotations marked MESSAGE are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright by Eugene Peter-son 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing quotations marked NKJV in this publication are from the New King James Version.

3 Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible: New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights website addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These web-sites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of Zondervan, nor do we vouch for their content for the life of this rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the may make photocopies or transparencies of the workouts at the end of chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

4 These may be used for classroom or church use design by Nancy WilsonPrinted in the United States of America06 07 08 09 10 11 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 43/2/06 3:39:42 PM3/2/06 3:39:42 PMContentsForeword by Erwin Raphael McManus .. 7 Preface: A Prediction for the Future ..9 Part One:The Birth of the Multi-Site Movement One: You Say You Want a Revolution? ..15 Meet several highly successful multi-site churches Two: A Wide Variety of Models ..26 Notice the broad range of models in this overview of the multi-site movementPart Two:How to Become One Church in Many Locations Three: Would It Work for You? ..45 Consider why your church should explore multi-site as a strategy Four: On a Mission from God.

5 60 Discern God s call for your church and leadership Five: Opportunity Knocks ..71 Don t expect We ve always done it this way to become your church motto Six: Selling the Dream ..84 Learn how to use effective vision casting, helpful language, and strategic field trips Seven: Who s Going to Pay for This? ..96 Discover how to do multi-site in ways your church can afford Eight: Launching the Mission .. 111 Evaluate these common factors in the successful launch of a second 53/2/06 3:39:42 PM3/2/06 3:39:42 PMPart Three:What Makes Multi-Site Work Best Nine: Hitting the Sweet Spot ..125 Make sure to define and replicate your unique DNA with help from these ideas Ten : Designing the Right Structure.

6 133 Learn to grow at multiple locations by modifying the way you staff, structure, and communicate Eleven: Building Better Leaders ..142 Experience success by emphasizing the role of campus pastors, developing the next generation of leaders, and promoting from within Twelve: Leveraging Technology .. 163 Find the right balance of technology, whether you use in-person teaching or video Thirteen: Avoiding Detours .. 173 Learn important lessons from churches that have taken wrong turns or hit roadblocksPart Four:Why Extend Further and Reach More People? Fourteen: Secrets of Ongoing Replication .. 185 Don t let your dream stop short of developing an entire movement of replicating campuses Fifteen: Where Do We Go from Here?

7 195 Be part of turning the tide in a battle being lost by current approaches to doing churchAppendix A: Internet Link for Multi-Site Toolbox ..201 Appendix B: International Multi-Site Overview ..202 Appendix C: Directory of Multi-Site Churches Cited ..204 Acknowledgments ..209 Notes .. 211 Indexes .. 215 About the Authors .. 63/2/06 3:39:43 PM3/2/06 3:39:43 PM15 ChapterYou Say You Want a Revolution?Meet several highly successful multi-site churchesThese men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. ACTS 17:6 ESVIt is coming .. a movement of God. Some even call it a Sunday morning at Seacoast Church, where I (Geoff) serve on staff in Charleston, South Carolina, a band launches into a hard-driv-ing worship chorus as lyrics and background images are projected on screens and television monitors throughout the auditorium.

8 Everyone begins to sing along with the worship describes the experience at many contemporary churches, except that this scene happens eighteen times each weekend in nine locations around the state, all of which are known as Seacoast Church. Using many different bands and worship leaders, Seacoast s eighteen nearly identical weekend ser vices represent the look of a church that chose not to fight city hall in order to construct a bigger building. We instead continued to reach new people by developing additional 153/2/06 3:39:48 PM3/2/06 3:39:48 PM16 The Birth of the Multi-Site MovementAt another church across the country, a congregation just north of San Diego sings How Great Thou Art in Traditions, one of six venues on the same church campus.

9 North Coast Church in Vista, Califor-nia, developed six different worship atmospheres, all within a few feet of each other. Traditions is more intimate and nostalgic, while other venues range from country gospel to a coffeehouse feel to vibrating, big subwoofer elements unifying these six on-site venues are the message (one venue features in-person preaching, and the others use videocasts) and the weekly adult small groups, whose discussion questions cen-ter on the sermon that everyone heard, no matter which venue they attended. North Coast has now developed multiple venues on addi-tional campuses, so that on a typical weekend in early 2006, worshipers chose between more than twenty different ser vices spread across five in Texas, Ed Young Jr.

10 , senior pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, preaches every Sunday morning on four campuses Grapevine, Uptown Dallas, Plano, and Alliance all at the same time. Ed delivers his Saturday night message in person in the main sanctuary on the Grapevine campus. It is videotaped and viewed the following morning by congregations at the other venues via LCD projectors and giant projection screens, framed by live music and a campus pastor. We decided we could reach more people and save a huge amount of money by going to where the people are and doing smaller venues instead of building a larger worship center in Grape-vine, Ed downtown Chicago at New Life Bridgeport, a small church meets in a century-old former United Church of Christ facility.