Over the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to experience four different churches who are meeting in more than one location, also known as a multi-site church. Another way to understand this concept is to think about our local Dairy Queen in Galesburg...two different locations but under the same ownership (leadership) with a mission to serve the physical needs (hunger) of people. These multi campus churches are striving to do the same thing in regards to the spiritual needs of people.

I am going to share TEN observations that I experienced between the four locations in IL, OH, NY and MA and from my personal time of reading.

1. VISION & MISSION began and continue because the church wanted to reach those who are spiritually lost, unchurched, non-christian or who have left the church. This was without a doubt the driving force behind why each of these churches choose to operate with a multiple campus method.
2. MULTIPLICATION of believers and new church locations is a central core value in this movement. The ultimate desire is that as each new campus location adds new Christians they will also work towards the development of adding an additional church location in order to continue building the kingdom of God.
3. LEADERSHIP among the staff and volunteers in the church was also very important. One major focus of the Pastoral staff is to lead and equip volunteers. A small paid staff combined with a church of people serving has been very effective. The goal of volunteer leaders also centers around their effort to reproduce themselves by developing more volunteer leaders.
4. OWNERSHIP of the vision and individual ministries of the church by volunteers is the norm. It is understood that a church will not be healthy and effective if left only to the care of the church staff. The church is made up of people and every person attending the church is valuable to the health and effectiveness of the church. If lead properly a church body should be able to function with great impact even in the absence of staff due to the impact of each person contributing to the overall mission that is guided by Godly leadership.
5. FOCUSED on the vision. One Pastor shared with me that they have ended some ministries that are moving side ways as opposed to moving towards accomplishing the vision. These churches understand the importance of only spending time doing things that line up with their vision and mission and choose to focus on only a few ministries and strive to do them well. The focus for them is outward.
6. IMPROVEMENTS at each location are being made. Every location I visited was in the middle of making changes, recently made changes or were getting ready to make changes in staffing or structure. The role of each staff person at each location was uniquely different and the structure of how each church and even how each campus location did things was uniquely different. Evaluating and improving the church in order to most effectively accomplish the vision was common. No one has arrived nor will ever arrive at perfection but the willingness to change and improve where needed was evident.
7. ANTICIPATION of someone new visiting the church was a core value for each location. The church as a whole was very focused on doing things with the expectation that new people will be showing up. Clear signage inside the building, greeters, a cafe serving snack and drink, communication during the service or the overall display of information in the entrances were designed with the new person in mind. This area is one that some are still working to improve while others seemed to be quite effective. Again, it is because of the faithful volunteers that others are welcomed into a new place that can often feel very uncomfortable.
8. ALIGNMENT between the original church location and campus location is an important value. Each church was intentional in making sure that every location (although unique in setting) were all aligned with the same vision and mission. You could also expect that the quality of what was being done at each location was well done. Although uniqueness was encouraged at each location, they were each connected to the larger family. The combined talents and leadership of staff and volunteers were a benefit to more than one location making each even more effective. The other important factor was that no location was considered inferior to the original location. This method does not use the terms “mother church” or “main church” but instead the term “one church in many locations” is common.
9. TEAM means that everyone in the church is necessary and important. The staff must be playing as a team and the volunteers are excited to be a part of the team, all motivated for the sake of the kingdom. I believe at the core of the leadership team is they remain focused “on the kingdom” (local community people and organizations, other churches of other denominations etc...) instead of simply focused on “the castle” (our church, our people, Christians only etc...). Another factor that was evident to me in observing and talking with staff members was that most of the people were committed to the church not because of “the pastor who is preaching” but because of their commitment  to Christ and to each other...the body of Christ. In some locations the preaching is a shared responsibility presented live or on video. At times the staff have been shifted from one campus location to another or work with volunteers at multiple locations. Again, since the church is made up of volunteers leading and serving, the focus in not on following “a certain pastor” but instead on following Christ, belonging to a body of believers, doing life together and serving each other for the sake of reaching the lost.
10. IMPERFECT people and churches exist in every setting, praise God. Galesburg Nazarene is happy to be known as a church of imperfect people. In other words we don’t claim to be a place only for people who are “good enough”. We want people to know we don’t have it all figured out and are still a work in progress and that they are welcome on this journey with us. It is only by the grace of God that He has transformed us into becoming more mature in our spiritual lives. The way we do church is also not perfect and no location is perfect, this is a good thing. Our personal lives and life of the church organization must be empowered by the Holy Spirit and when we allow His spirit to change us personally and as a church we become even more effective for the sake of the kingdom.

One thing I reflected on during this short journey was that Galesburg is doing some things very well and in other areas we still have a little room for improvement. But that’s ok. The same is true in all churches and they feel the same way. The important thing is that we don’t become comfortable and miss the vision God desires for Galesburg. I can say that I am experiencing a new uncomfortable. Please begin to pray what God wants you to learn through this journey at Galesburg Nazarene and decide if you are willing to be uncomfortable in helping to fulfill God’s mission to reach people for the cause of Christ.

This morning I attended the 9:00 am service of South Shore Community Church in Brockton, MA. which was held in a church building that had been closed down. Then I spent a little time at their original campus location in Bridgewater, MA (15 min away) during their 10:30 am service held in a high school. The church used to record a video of the message from the high school then made a DVD copy and drove it over to the other campus in time for the service that same morning. Recently they wanted to make improvements in the quality of video due to lighting etc...so they have made some changes in their schedule and structure to preach at both locations. After preaching live at the 9:00 service the Pastor then drives over in time to preach live again at the second location. Today the worship team did the same thing, the same musicians playing the same songs at both locations. After their first worship set, they left to get ready while the Pastor was preaching at the first location. The worship team for today was made up of one staff person and three female volunteers who normally lead two separate worship teams. Each of these three talented volunteers took turns as the "lead" worshiper on each song. It was neat to see such talented volunteers empowered to use their gifts to lead. The greeters and ushers at both locations were very easy to locate because they were all wearing the same color shirt imprinted with the church logo as well as a greeter badge around their neck.

A little before 5 am I took a shuttle from my hotel in New Jersey to catch the NJ city bus over to New York, then in NY took a bus to the upper west side of Manhattan. Walking a couple of blocks I arrived at a high school around 6:30 am. At 7:00 am church volunteers, a few interns and three staff members arrived in order to set up and prepare for three services at 10, 11:30 and 1:00 pm. This public school allowed the church to store a few things at the school but the remaining items where unloaded from a u-haul type truck along with a van. A variety of equipment and supplies was rolled in, carried up/down stairs or loaded into an elevator. The high school auditorium, 2 gyms, bathrooms, entrance and common area were transformed into a church. The worship arts and production teams were busy setting up the audio & video equipment in the auditorium. The band was preparing for a sound check and the camera operator was preparing to record the service. The hospitality crew and myself were busy putting together pipes and curtains to give the auditorium a smaller more intimate feel as well as setting up a variety of information tables and displays in the common area, others were hanging flyers over the toilets in the bathroom or adding nice bottles of hand soap for the sinks. Others were unpacking and setting up a fully functional nursery and preschool in one gym and another gym was designated for elementary children. The main entrance of the school displayed posters for each week of the sermon series and a large screen video projector playing announcements. Greeters and ushers then arrived one hour prior to each service for an orientation about their purpose and placement for the service. Some greeters handed out candy, others welcomed people, opened the door, carried a stroller up and down the stairs, directed guests to the restrooms or gave out a program. The ushers waited inside the auditorium in the aisles greeting guests and later collected the offering. The greeters remained on duty nearly half of the service until the teaching begin. Due to the demographics of this church the number of children present is very small. The children’s director shared with me that a Sunday with around 40-50 children is somewhat normal for this church of 1000. One location even met for an entire month with no children of any age in attendance although the meeting space was all set up and volunteers were ready. My children arrived in time to attend the 11:30 service with 4 children in the 1st-5th grade group. (3 of them were our boys). Following the 1:00 service they shared with me that everything is then packed up and stored or put back into the vehicles and transported to another location in time to get ready for a 6:30 pm service at the Village in NY. In addition to those two locations another crew of people were doing the same thing in Queens for one Sunday morning service then they pack up and head over to Brooklyn to set up again for a Sunday evening service in that area of New York City. Most people come to church via the bus, subway or walking but they come regardless. The Journey church has a small staff and a great number of committed volunteers in order to have church at four locations every Sunday throughout New York city. The Journey church also has a location in San Francisco and as of this week the Lead Pastor and Worship Arts Pastor are moving to Boca Raton Florida to begin a new campus location due to the very high percentage of unchurched people located there. I saw a lot of hard work from volunteers and a church with a heart to reach multiple cities that have a very high population of people who are not committed to Jesus...a very difficult mission but one that we are all called to be a part of in some way.

Sunday morning at 8 am, I had the opportunity to meet with Tevis, the pastor of Family ministry/Firehouse Campus pastor from Newark Nazarene. After chatting for a bit, I attended a few minutes of their 8:30 service (the first of three offered) at their original campus. I then rode over to their second campus called "The Firehouse" for the one service offered at 9:45 am. This old firehouse just a few blocks away from the original campus, has been converted into a family friendly worship space and a nice cafe serving flavored coffee, yogurt, fruit and other healthy selections. They joked about the original location serving donuts and cookies. The average attendance at the Firehouse is around 100 and mostly families with children. After a live worship band, some creative elements and some words from the campus pastor, a video of the message (from the previous week at the original campus) was played. After a few minutes of the video message, it was time for me to leave in order to attend the beginning of their third campus location. This small previously existing Nazarene church had closed down and Newark Naz was able to renovate and rebuild it as a third campus located in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood. The average attendance for them is around 40 people and staffed with a bi-vocational campus pastor and worship leader. The small sanctuary was set up with round tables for seating and a small cafe was available. This location also showed the same teaching video. I returned to the original location to spend a little more time chatting with Tevis, who has very similar strengths as mine, so it was helpful to discuss different aspects of ministry. The overall attendance at these locations is around 900 each week. Each location was unique, the candlelight atmosphere at each was very intimate and the quality at each was consistent. Like any church, they struggle to have enough volunteers and continue to make improvements to ministries or changes in staffing and very intentional about raising up and reproducing leaders. It was neat to experience the missional part of our denomination truly in action throughout these neighborhoods and community.

On Saturday afternoon Tavia and I took the family to a noon performance of Charlottes Web in the theater of Community Christian Christian www.communitychristian.org in Naperville at their Yellow Box Campus. Around 2 pm I "shadowed" Doug Leddon who is the Executive Business Director at the church. Doug left his position related to the Chicago stock exchange 2 1/2 months ago to accept God's call to the ministry of this church. I really enjoyed our conversations and behind the scenes perspective he was able to provide. One area he currently focuses on in addition to some administrative duties is the first impressions team (greeters etc...). It was also neat to see how God raised him up as a volunteer from within the church moving him into leadership. This church has 10 campus locations. I visited their 4:00 pm service on Saturday. Then observed the children's program during their 5:30 pm service. On Sunday morning we attended their Montgomery campus about 25 minutes away which was held in an old church. The sanctuary was slightly larger than our KidStuf room and the church building was very small. They average about 350-450 at this location over three services. The same message was given at both location by different teaching pastors. The Montgomery campus was a video venue for 6 years and has been doing a combination of video some weeks and live teaching on other weeks. Both of these locations were very different in atmosphere but it was neat to see how they are connected as one family. When walking into the campus on Sunday morning I was reminded of what it feels like to be new. We experienced that moment of being uncomfortable wondering if anyone would greet us and guide us. We found out later it was the wife of the campus pastor who took the time to make us feel at home. Then we told them who we were (they had heard we were coming). This experience was a great reminder of how important it is for our church to be on the look out for new faces and being willing to guide them through a new place and experience.