April 5, 2013 · 9:04 am

Campus Pastor Tool Kit… Jon Gruden, MultiSite Campus Pastor Coach

grudenqb

This tool in the Campus Pastor Tool Kit is inspired by one of my favorite times of the year… the weeks just before the NFL Draft.

It’s my favorite, because I love the 1-1 coaching style of Jon Gruden, and his QB Camp series on ESPN are fun to watch every year. The direct analysis and feedback to prospective NFL players inspires me to be a better coach and mentor. I really admire the ability Coach Gruden has to encourage greatness in an affirming, yet challenging way. Yeah, and I love football too.

Here is a post I wrote a couple of years ago on how Jon Gruden coached me as a multisite campus pastor.

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April 3, 2013 · 11:42 am

This Coffee Shop Isn’t Going to Make It.

This coffee shop isn’t going to make it.

It’s not that I am experienced in food service, a professional restaurateur, or even a coffee sales consultant.

I just enjoy coffee and I get to work from places like this. So, it’s a gut notion formed from intuition, observation, and experience. The same intuition, observation and experience that many guests who attend worship services every Sunday might use.

Here is why I feel that this coffee shop isn’t going make it:

 1. There are pretty much only two other people in here besides me. 

Like it or not, sustainability is tied to customers. Me and the other pastor (as evidenced by his MacBook and Bible) are milking a few hours of internet off one $3 cup of coffee. The other gentleman is an obvious regular, I have seen him here before and there are lots of inside jokes and conversations that I overhear while waiting for my espresso fix.

 2. The staff is a bit too overzealous. 

When I am in here, I am reminded to like their Facebook page, vote for them in a poll of some sort and tell my friends. Multiple times. This kind of frenetic “like us” activity just makes me feel like its up to me to keep the doors open, which is not what I was looking for when I walked in the door to begin with.

 3. The menu is always changing. 

I see:  “Now serving breakfast!”

“Open for lunch!”

“Have you tried our gelato?!!!”

I read: “We are grasping at straws here!”

“Our coffee and our atmosphere are not enough.”

As I said, these ideas are really just a gut notion, I am only a professional in as much as I drink a LOT of coffee. But I am probably right. And if so, I have other options right around the corner, including Starbucks.

What is missing at this particular coffee shop is an inviting experience built around quality and consistent coffee offerings. And I want to have that in my neighborhood, with my neighbors.

These thoughts raise the question, do guests who attend our churches see and feel the same things? Leaders pleading for support and attention to programs. Constant change in strategy to something read or copied from other successful churches. A bunch of regulars having insider conversations they do not understand or even care about. They walked in just looking for Jesus in a transformational moment.

Could it be that an inviting experience built around offering the Gospel with quality and consistency is all that is missing?

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April 1, 2013 · 5:31 pm

What About a MultiSite Church Launch Outside the Box?

If becoming a MultiSite church, or adding another campus, is on your vision-radar right now, chances are you are primarily thinking in terms of Sunday morning worship. Most MultiSite church expressions initially begin with a weekly service. And, in most cases, the worship service is a natural and necessary way to most effectively reproduce your culture across campuses.

But what if MultiSite was less about your worship venue and more about your missional engagement? Best practices of the past do not automatically create highest effectiveness in the future.

As a strategic outsider focused on vision alignment, here are two outside of the box approaches to launching a MultiSite campus that I am seeing churches consider before beginning a worship service.

Serve First. Starting with missional engagement allows immediate impact in the target area. The Serve First model tilts the investment scale toward leading people over assembling equipment. Immediate return with this campus launch model is meaningful activity in the community and the creation of opportunities for the core team to live the mission right away.

Groups First. Another church is beginning meet regularly and grow as disciples in smaller gatherings. Instead of waiting for worship services, group members invite neighbors and friends into fellowship and life-change in the neighborhood. Allowing the notion of “campus” to be decentralized into homes, versus concentrated in a building, a felt 7-day presence is immediate.

Both of these approaches to MultiSite campus development naturally bring the necessity of developing leaders to live on mission, as opposed to recruiting volunteers to accomplish a task. Corporate gathering for worship and teaching can still occur, but with the freedom to do so in non-standard times and other-than-weekly rhythms.

As MultiSite churches numerically move beyond the 5000 milestone of 2012 and exponentially toward the next horizon, innovative approaches to reaching people and replicating DNA beyond the Sunday morning service will continue to develop.

How are you thinking about MultiSite outside the box?

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March 27, 2013 · 5:16 am

The Best Easter Sermon Idea, Ever!

For the Pastor out there laboring over making this Easter’s message more memorable, more powerful or more compelling than ever before…

For the creative team trying to find a “hook” for the Easter service to make it more appealing or more exciting…

Jesus is Enough.

Just give them Jesus…

…the Son of God and Son of man.

…the One who emptied himself.

…the King who set aside His crown and wore a servants towel.

…the Friend of sinners.

…the Hope of all creation.

…the Leader who humbled Himself in obedience.

…the Love that hung on a cross.

…the Defeater of sin and death.

…the Tomb-emptier.

…the Highly Exalted of God.

…the Way, the Truth and the Life.

…the One whose name is above every name.

…the Name at which every knee will bow.

…the Confession of every mouth:

Jesus Christ, the Lord.

He will not be enough for some.

The crowd has always desired for Jesus to be more of what they want, than who He is.

But, Jesus IS enough for them this Easter.

And, Jesus is enough for you.

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March 20, 2013 · 3:50 pm

Campus Pastor Toolkit: The Launch Timeline

Final TimelineTwo years ago, I leaned into a key area in my personal growth that needed development, into order to expand ministry leadership. During this season, I reached out to people who I knew had strengths in system development and linear thinking. One particular friend-turned-mentor possesses the prototypical engineer’s mind (suffice it to say, he drives a Volkswagen) and over a series of Houston hole-in-the-wall lunches, my comfort level around spreadsheets increased exponentially.

For any similarly-minded campus pastors, the timeline can unlock a revolution in systems thinking and bring more people alongside the process of launching a campus. A well developed and effective timeline is an essential tool of any successful multisite launch or other strategic initiative.

A timeline is simply a representation of the passage of time over the course of a project, that organizes key milestones in chronological order. A timeline also illustrates the initiative and conveys information in a graphic format.

And I am a big fan of info-graphics.

An effective MultiSite launch timeline…

…starts with the end in mind, keeping the focus beyond starting the campus.

…erects mile markers for assessment in areas of outreach or communication.

…illustrates alignment between ministries and campuses.

…develops rhythm for teams working on differing, but interdependent launch initiatives.

…organizes activity around advancement and implementation.

…provides a leadership snapshot from 30,000 ft.

…allows for detail “double-clicking” into the progress of technology, ministries or groups.

…establishes sign posts for direction when critical decisions are needed.

…appeals to detail oriented, task driven and visual communicators alike.

…demonstrates the step-by-step process for launching the campus.

…equips the core team to participate, facilitating Ephesians 4:12 activity.

…directs intent for core team participation.

…fosters the ability to replicate a process or system naturally across campuses.

How has a timeline helped you advance vision in ministry?

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March 17, 2013 · 4:56 pm

10 Ways An Intentional Congregational Survey Builds a 10X Strong MultiSite Church Start

buttonIn a MultiSite Church, an intentional congregational survey can be one of the most useful tools to plan and prepare the campus launch team. By intentionally creating an assessment of your church, using localized vision and vernacular, a precisely designed survey can bring insight to…

     1. Track Ministry Effectiveness

Learn who and where your volunteers and participants are currently involved. Using this insight, accurately plan for highly effective ministry right from the start at the new campus.

     2. Observe Giving Trends

Track current giving based on age, involvement level, service attendance, and geography to optimize the campus launch for rapid sustainability.

     3. Move Beyond Speculation

Understand the relationship between drive time and attendee involvement in serving or small group activities by region, and discover opportune campus launch locations.

4. Examine Strategy Involvement

Measure involvement in ministry activity and tune growth around disciple-making to create a culture of mission and fuel the pioneer spirit at the new campus.

 5. Streamline Campus Launching

Discern the important essentials of growth and service by prioritizing actual laity response, over staff speculation, and set-up the campus launch for efficiency from the beginning.

6. Recruit Core Teams

Cross-reference ministry involvement, spiritual growth trends and community needs to develop a focused, localized campus launch team.

7. Assess Growth Markers

Benchmark existing conversion rate and growth as disciples and incorporate that data into your campus launch sustainability plan.

 8. Feel Felt Needs 

Understand more about the opportunities to minister and extend the Gospel into your targeted launch area, concentrating financial and missional resources where they are needed the most.

9. Plan Strategic Direction

Develop a launch timeline around actual conditions and personal experiences, precisely orienting initiation of groups, ministry and service launches.

 10. Strengthen Guest Connections

Monitor the speed and strength of guest connections into Bible Study and service, tune the campus launch to be highly effective in guest experience and involvement.

Start a conversation here to learn more about how Auxano can create an intentionally designed, customized survey to strengthen your multisite campus launch or support virtually any other vision-driven ministry initiative at your church.

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