1. Are You Ready for the Multi-Site Church Revolution? By Tom Cheyney

2. Are You Ready for the Multi-Site Church Revolution? Today there are more than 1,000 churches experimenting with the Multi-site Church experience. What started back in 1985 with an idea from Elmer Towns to consider as an option for the expanded geography model, has taken root with a new name and a new vigor!

3. Are You Ready for the Multi-Site Church Revolution? According to Leadership Network research, there are currently at least 1,000 churches in North America that are using some portion of the multi-site strategy. Dr. Thom Rainer, President of LifeWay Christian Resources, believes that more than 30% of the churches he surveyed are toying with the multi-site strategy.

4. Are You Ready for the Multi-Site Church Revolution? The most obvious strength of the multi-site church is its increased effectiveness in the area of evangelism.

5. Why Should You Consider Going to the Multi-Site Model? You might be out of space and need new room for expansion. Your parking lot is full and you are not able to expand capacity. Personnel staff limitations fuel multiple simultaneous venues via video casting.

6. Why Should You Consider Going to the Multi-Site Model? You want to reach those not currently churched. This strategy takes the church to the people right where they are. If you are having 200+ attendance in a worship service, you are able to venture into this multi-site strategy.

7. Why Should You Consider Going to the Multi-Site Model? You want to plant a new church and like the possibility of launching the new work with a larger-than-usual core group. You want to turn the tide of growth in your region.

8. Challenges for the Multi-Site Church Revolution? What is the role of the Preaching/Teaching Team? In some cases the same preacher/teacher served in all the services themselves or through video technology. In other cases, there is a team of preachers/teachers that serve the various sites. In some cases, these basically use the same material for each service while in others they are on different tracks. Again, the model chosen determines the issues. Role of Campus Pastor – In this approach, the campus pastor serves as the primary visible leader for the particular congregation meeting at that site, but serves the larger leadership of the church in some other role.

9. Challenges for the Multi-Site Church Revolution? Role of music/drama/arts leadership for each congregation: many of the congregations, unlike the role of preaching and teaching, have multiple music and arts teams that can serve the multiple venues or sites. The question then becomes – how many different types of music and arts can we support? Is it a unified arts team or decentralized? Who helps give direction to those teams? A centralized structure or leader or the campus pastor.

10. Challenges for the Multi-Site Church Revolution? Maintaining the staff ’s focus. When there are multiple campuses, how does the staff stay together as a team? How does the team focus on the issues of the whole and the issues of the parts? Which staff and volunteers are critical to start another site? Determining which staff and volunteers are needed, depends on the approach a church chooses.

11. Questions to Answer as You Consider the Multi-Site Church Strategy Before you jump full speed ahead into the multi-site strategy, consider the following questions: 1.How far can we expand geographically and still keep up the level we are accustomed to providing for our members? 2.What will the new venue look like? Will it mirror the main campus or be completely different? 3.How will the main campus and satellite carry on a unified vision for reaching the target field? 4.What will be the covenant relationship between both sites? 5.What are the critical mileposts that will display success and viability? 6. How much autonomy will be granted the satellite?

12. Are You Ready to Go Multi-Site? Remember that this strategy while becoming quite popular among large and extremely large Christian bodies, is also an excellent strategy for contemporary church planting options.

13. Are You Ready to go Multi-Site? The real strength of the multi-site strategy is not that it grows a church. The real power behind the movement is that it keeps a church growing. When the church moves away from its four walled expression it will discover the power of reproduction.

14. Are You Ready for the Multi-Site Church Revolution? Example: Community Christian Church Naperville, Illinois Style: Contemporary music experience with a preaching/teaching experience delivered by three pastors that have worked on it together. It may be live or video cast. Venues: five weekend worship experiences in five suburban locations.

15. Are You Ready for the Multi-Site Church Revolution? Example: LifeChurch Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Number four in the Top 100 Fastest Growing Churches in 2005 conducted by Outreach, Inc. Style: Contemporary music experience with a video cast preaching/teaching experience. Venues: 23 weekend worship experiences in five locations.

16. Are You Ready for the Multi-Site Church Revolution? Example: North Coast Church Vista, California Style: Various musical experiences with a video cast preaching/teaching experience in all but one live venue. Venues: five weekend worship experiences delivered in four locations three times on Sunday and twice on Saturday with a total option of 19 different experiences.

17. Are You Ready for the Multi-Site Church Revolution? Example: Discovery Church Orlando, Florida Style: Contemporary music experience with a video cast preaching/teaching experience. Venues: two weekend worship experiences in two locations.

18. Are You Ready for the Multi-Site Church Revolution? Example: Seacoast Church Charleston, S.C. Style: Contemporary music experience. Venues: 17 weekend worship experiences in nine locations.

19. Are You Ready for the Multi-Site Church Revolution? Web Sites of Multi-site Churches www.seacoastchurch.org www.LifeChurch.tv www.discoverychurch.org www.northcoastchurch.org www.communitychristian.org

20. Are You Ready for the Multi-Site Church Revolution?