Scott Miller Blog :: Good Stuff

Elkhart Campus Re-joining Middlebury Campus

After much prayer and discussion, we've made the decision to combine Pathway's Elkhart Campus back in with the Middlebury Campus as of July 3, 2011.  Please listen to the this podcast to hear Jason share his heart on this, which includes a few minute of my thoughts on vision at the end.

You can then listen to the same talk I made at the Middlebury campus by following the same link.

Why a Video Message?

Elkhart Campus Pastor, Jason Brooks, and I answer the question of 'why a video message' at our Elkhart Campus in this 7 minute video.  This video was shown at our Elkhart Campus on Oct 18.  Take it in if you are interested... 

 

Video Message?

I spent most all of Monday looking at possible facilities for our Elkhart Campus. One of the key features we have to look at concerning our Elkhart Campus facility (facility makes it sound like a bathroom or something...how about we call it...oh, I don't know...a building), or might I say building, is how well can the whole audience see the screen.  If the Word is going to be brought via video every week, then we better be able to see it! 

Speaking of video, I thought we got a great feel for how video of a speaker can work in a church setting this past Sunday.  Did you notice how you and the rest of the audience reacted to the clip I played of Matt Chandler preaching?  The second service actually started to applaud at one point in response to one of the funny things Matt said. 

I know it's different...I know most of us have never experienced it, at least on a regular basis, but I think we are going to find that a video message format is doable and effective.  Might not be for everybody...but...I think that pig is going to oink. 

Elkhart Campus Mtng

Last night's Elkhart campus mtng was a blast. Really, we learned a lot about each other…such as:

• One of us who has no sense of smell…
• One of us (from the Pathway Leadership Team) who actually has a tattoo from their younger years…(self inscribed tattoo at that)
• Another of us who actually got declined for the adoption of a pet by the Elkhart County Humane Society – in other words, they'd rather euthanize a dog than let the thing go to this guy and his family!

We talked for a while about some of what we saw happening on the 'ground' right now in Elkhart. We also tried to identify some areas where we can start serving right now.

A great team getting ready to make it happen in Elkhart!

The Last Multi-Site

Wow…just finished up our last Multi-Site night…a few of the highlights:

• The laughter, fun and fellowship of each night.
• The 'dance' chant that started on Monday night as Jason took the mic to start his talk. (don't remember the particular's, but there was a suggestion for Jason to do a dance at some point earlier in the night)
• When I somehow ended up talking about Uncle Jesse and Daisy Duke Wednesday night.
• Jason's phone ringing in the middle of his talk on Thursday night, causing yet another diversion from his talk.
• The chocolate peanut butter pie I had on Monday night.
• The chance to answer questions about the whole multi-site subject each night.
• The raspberry cream pie I had on Wednesday night.
• The raspberry cream pie I had on Thursday night.
• Watching as God seemingly raised Jason's level of spiritual authority and spiritual passion right before our eyes. The guy was on fire every night. His passion for the Elkhart campus is electric.

Thanks to the load of you who came out to hang with us!

Multi-Site Night - Monday

In one word, I can describe tonight's first Multi-Site Night mtng…fun…delicious…laugh-filled…faith-filled…etc…(was that more than one word?)…

A few questions that came up:

• Where will the Elkhart campus be?
• What about the youth?
• How do we join the Elkhart campus?
• Will all of it be on video?
• How will one message apply to different audiences (Middlebury compared to Elkhart)?

Want to know the answers to these questions, and the rest of them? I guess you'll have to be there Thursday night…there's still room for more of you Pathway-ites…

Multi-Site Article

After I read this article about Seacoast Church, and the way they do Multi-Site, I about went through the roof. This is it. I absolutely love their thoughts on this. Take a few minutes to read it before you come to our Multi-Site nights next week!

Check the article out here!

Multi-Site Nights March 16, 18, & 19

If you are a part of Pathway, you've got to be a part of our Multi-Site Nights next week!  This is going to be a fun night of questions/answers about our transition to being a Multi-Site church...one church, with many campuses.  Connect with your Life Group leader to find out what night you are to come out, or, if you aren't plugged in to a Life Group yet, sign up for the Thursday night event here!  Did I mention Essenhaus pie and coffee???

New Campus = New Life

I know I'm supposed to be having down time right now, but someone needs to tell the Holy Spirit…I keep getting all of these thoughts that I just journal and save, to think further through later on. BUT, I've already learned something…I think starting a new campus/church, out of an existing church, is one of the best things you could do for the health of all involved!

It's kind of like how you don't think about a lot of things when it's just you and your spouse. But then, there's a kid in the picture…and suddenly, you see things from a completely different perspective. Kind of like when Megan's brother Jeff (and wife Amy) bought their favorite niece (and only niece at the time) a huge blow up slide thing, with jumping area included (with a million plastic balls to get thrown all over the room and lost…I mean, a million plastic balls to receive the blow of the youngster landing.). It wasn't until Jeff and Amy had their own kids that they realized what an annoying gift that was! You see things from a different perspective!

I think the new perspective is starting to set in. It's not just what's best for Middlebury, but what's best for Elkhart…and wherever else we might start a new campus. I think this new campus is going to force (in a good way) our Middlebury campus to refocus on the vision, and force us to re-align any area that is not accomplishing/lining up with the vision and core values of the house!

I've been asking myself a lot of 'why' questions…like, why do we do Children's Ministry? Youth Ministry? Why do we do Sunday morning services? As annoying as this is to me, I think it's a healthy part of the process that we've got to work through…the why's should lead us back to the vision! And if it doesn't, then something is wrong!

These are my thoughts on this Tuesday evening at 11:51pm…

Elkhart Campus Pastor - Jason Brooks

If you missed this past Sunday's announcement, Jason and Sara Brooks, our Pastor of Connections, will be the initial Campus Pastor at our new campus in Elkhart.  The plan is (subject to the Holy Spirit) that Jason will then come back to the Middlebury campus after 6 months to 1 year in Elkhart, and the campus will then be led by someone who's been working alongside Jason thorugh this process.  You can hear more about it in this past week's podcast. 

There is so much I could say about this new campus and the transition to multisite ministry for Pathway, but let me just share what I think is most important for you right now:

1. This whole deal is about more than just a new campus in Elkhart.  It's about hearing from God that the way we can reach the most people with the message of the Cross, and help the most people to grow in their walk with Jesus, is through taking on a regional focus, and becoming one church, with many campuses.  God's put in my heart that in the next 5-10 years, we could have 5-10 new campuses!  All continuing in relationship with the Middlebury campus, ministering as a part of the staff under our leadership, and working out of the same Pathway DNA.
2. This is about more than Jason or Scott going to 'start a new church' in Elkhart.  It's Pathway, moving into its God designed destiny, and multiplying ministry all over the region.  It's God expanding His reach through Pathway!  Though some of you will go to be a part of this new campus, you are still part of us! 
3. What can I do now?  Just pray...literally, all God asks of you now is to pray.  Pray for Jason and I as we work together to lay the foundation for this campus.  Pray for those who God might be leading to come and be a part.  Pray for the downtown area - that God would find a facility for us.  Pray for finances to bring this vision to pass!  Pray that God would soften the hearts of the unchurched, de-churched, and simply religious.  We are not starting a campus in Elkhart for churched people who are looking for a church.  It's fine if churched people connect with the vision, and want to come serve with us, but that's the key - just like here in Middlebury - if you come, and you already know Jesus, you are here to serve!

If you missed the initial post on this, you can read it here.  Also, as you think on this, and you have any comments or questions, shoot me an email!

What a great time to be serving Jesus!

Big announcement tomorrow

Just finished up a great meal (even greater b/c I didn't have to pay for it) at the Essenhaus, with Dan and Laura Pongratz. Dan oversees the Church Development office of the Indiana District Assemblies of God fellowship we are a part of. He was excited to hear about what we are planning on taking on as a church in the area of Multisite.

Tomorrow morning I'll announce who will be initially leading the Pathway Elkhart Campus…you've just got to be there…

Pathway going Multisite!

A whole lot to say...not enough room to fit it in an email...and not enough attention span to keep you captivated! 

Here's the quick version of a faith journey we are leaping out onto at Pathway! 

More than just following the trend, I really think God is/has been calling us to be a multisite church...one church with many campuses.  It's a bit of a fad right now to go multisite, but this is more than just a fad for us. It's a way of doing church that I think can cause the most amount of people to come to Jesus, and grow in Him! 

Pathway will be used in the following ways over the next season of our life together:

1. Starting new churches/campuses.  These will be led by a strong leader with a passion for the community where it will be started.  This will look a lot like what Pathway was 8 years ago when we started...except one difference...the pastor of this church will continue as a staff member of the Middlebury campus (and they probably won't start in a garage).  More about this later.
2. Starting new video campuses.  These will be led by a strong leader with a passion for the community where it will be started.  The main difference in this campus style will be the way the Sunday service is structured.  We will have live worship...live Kids Ministry...live everything, but the teaching.  When it comes to the teaching/preaching time, a video from the Middlebury campus will be shown (either from the week before, or using some other sort of technology to get it there the week of).  This will allow the campus pastor to focus their time on developing teams (LG's, Kids Ministry, etc.), as opposed to studying for messages every week.  This campus pastor will also continue on as a staff member of the Middlebury campus, and will be forced to run around their respective community whilst wearing a pinkish tutu.
3. Existing churches being transitioned into a campus.  These will be led by a strong leader with a passion for the community where it will be transitioned, and a firm grasp on what God is leading us to do (going into an existing church and making quick, major changes is not an easy task!).  These may have live preaching by the campus pastor or through video.  This campus pastor will continue on as a staff member of the Middlebury campus.  (and obviously, the last sentence in the video campus thing, concerning the tutu, is complete rubbish...and if said campus pastor were seen wearing a tutu, appropriate measures will be taken to get them help)

Did you make it through all of that?  We feel like God is directing us to take on Elkhart for our first campus, a city with a population of 53,000.  If every Elkhart church were full with multiple services, there still wouldn't be enough room for all of the people! 

Does Elkhart need another church?  Absolutely.  But what we are jumping into here is more than just one campus in Elkhart.  It's a vision to smother this whole area/region with churches/campuses that share our DNA/Values/Purpose!

First Assembly Ministries, Fort Myers

This past Tuesday, I had a great time mtng with some guys from First Assembly Ministries, Fort Myers, FL.

Todd Weston, is the Campus Pastor at First Assembly's campus in Estero, FL. Todd had some great "before you do this multi-site thing" questions to throw out to me, as well as fresh insight on the dynamics of multi-site.

I first met Dan Betzer when I was in college, and he spoke at a mtng I was at. At that moment, I realized this guy was a man of faith. I was able to spend about 2 ½ hours with Dan, and had an absolute blast. Someone in the restaurant anonymously paid for our lunch b/c they had so much appreciation for Dan and his ministry.

We talked about everything from the price of a brand new BMW 500 series (he has a fascination with cars), to church planting. One thing he said really stuck in my mind as I left my time with him…Pastors never react, they always act. If any of you know the recent events at First Assembly, you understand what a statement of faith this is! Made me think…

Coast to Coast MultiSite Church Conference – Toby Slough

Toby Slough, Cross Timbers Community Church – Monday Evening (May 5)

Take away:

• The conference actually happened at one of the multisite churches Toby leads. They have done a tremendous job making their facility feel like a home. From the colors, to the other décor, to the 4 panel doors, I picked up on it as soon as I came in the building. Before the conference started, "Welcome Home" was projected on the screens. I wonder what "feel" people pick up from Pathway's facility? (Pastor Techno Geek comment here – how cool was it that when Jason and I drove up in the parking lot, the worship service, which had already started, was blaring in the parking lot! Speakers in the parking lot – I like it.)
• Toby talked about how one church came to him and wondered if Cross Timbers would be willing to step in/merge and take over his dying church. Toby sent a couple hundred people from their original campus (who lived in the area of the dying church) to seed into the congregation. Now that church is averaging 900 people on a weekend, using only video for messages. This multisite thing works with starting new churches, services, as well breathing new life into dying congregations.
• Apparently I'm missing the latest leadership jargon b/c a lot of these guys, including Toby, talk about people who are capital "L" leaders and people who are lower case "l" leaders. I understand what they are saying. Toby suggests only capital "L" leaders should be campus pastors. Suggests never to open a site/campus without a proven leader – key is the campus pastor.
• Again, I'm not saying I agree with everything these guys said, but I found something Toby said thought provoking – Don't confuse worship style with DNA. Up until this point, I would say our worship style is a part of our DNA. And I may still say that…but I thought it was interesting to allow myself to think that one through.
• Suggests to assimilate video @ your original campus as soon as possible. Larry Osborne does video at some of the original church campus services, as well as other campuses/venues.
• Spent a couple of years driving from campus to campus, preaching live on Sunday mornings. Almost killed himself doing it! Now they do video at every campus but the original.
• Picked up, once again, a heavy dependency on prayer and fasting as they moved into this adventure.

Coast to Coast MultiSite Church Conference – Larry Osborne

Larry Osborne, NorthCoast Church – Monday Evening (May 5)

Take away:

• I really like this guy. I've heard him speak before. His way of "doing" church is so simple and no-nonsense. He makes difficult church "stuff" easier.
• Larry and his staff (Chris Mavity) spoke about how many churches on the west coast are having Sunday night services again (including NorthCoast), but they are the same thing as Sunday morning. It's just another service offering…instead of attending Sunday morning, sleep in and come out Sunday night. Once you get past the psychological hurdle of using video for the preaching, the opportunities for service times are endless.
• In the late 90's, Larry was poised to take his church into a huge building program to where they had a several thousand seat sanctuary. B/c of red tape, it kept getting shot down by the local authorities. So they added another option on Sunday mornings – not just an "overflow," but an added benefit venue (coffee, doughnuts, etc.). What they found out was that certain people loved it b/c they could see Larry better on the screen, and the music wasn't as loud! Now they have many venue's, happening on the same campus at the same time (north coast live, video café, The Edge, Country Gospel, etc., read about them here), as well as happening at other places in the community.
• Don't remember the exact numbers, but NorthCoast has somewhere around 6000 people connected to their church. Here's the kicker, they have no mtng area that will seat more than 550 (there brand new main sanctuary they are building will still only seat 800)! A mega-church built around small campuses and small groups.
• They do Small Groups one way – every small group talks about the past Sunday's message.
• 2 Keys to our current society:
  • Authenticity – you've got to be authentic!
  • Bono Factor – what are you doing to help others.
• Really interesting thoughts on excellence. There is a fine line between excellence and equipping/giving opportunity for new people to get plugged in. Sometimes excellence trumps the Biblical mandate to equip people to minister.
• Most all of these guys talked about team teaching…meaning they have other people teaching on Sunday's with them, as well as have others involved in sermon prep (for the preachers sake, as well as for up and coming preachers to learn).

Tomorrow, Toby Slough from Cross Timbers Community Church.

Multisite Church

If you are interested in reading more about the whole Multisite Church stuff, check this website out.

Coast to Coast MultiSite Church Conference – Matt Chandler

I want to take some time over the next few days to download some of the thoughts from the Coast to Coast Muti-Site Church Conference that I went to earlier this week. Multi-Site can be done in a load of different ways. The main thought is that you are one church, with many sites. Those sites may watch a video of the starting church's pastor preaching, or have their own main teacher. But each site has it's own "campus pastor" that leads that site (or campus or whatever you call it!).

Matt Chandler, The Village Church – Monday Morning (May 5)

Take away:

• Stayed away from Multi-site b/c of a fear of becoming a cult personality ('those are all Matt Chandler churches'). Found that just the opposite was true b/c each campus has it's own campus pastor. He's just the teacher guy at these campuses, their campus pastor is their pastor!
• They feared that they wouldn't be able to be effective in Denton, TX (blue collar, graduation rate of 60%) and in Flower Mound, TX/Highland Village, TX (upper class, graduation rate of 90%) b/c of their different demographics. Not true – it just means that the main teacher has to be aware of these differences when choosing illustrations to use in message material.
• Really like the passion with which he talks about being a missional church. Instead of starting a church soccer league, join a league out in the community and take the church to them! Instead of creating a million outreach ministries for the church, find a not for profit that's already doing it and join them, taking Jesus with you. I love this train of thought…
• Ghetto is ok. Meaning – in your quest to have excellence, it's ok if mistakes happen (with technology, or whatever). Stating the obvious, but it's great to hear someone say it!
• Whole church spent 8 weeks in prayer and fasting while launching into this Multi-site thing.
• Campus pastors actually preach at their campuses around 14 times a year. The rest of the time, it's Matt on video at all campuses.
• About the whole video thing…the only thing on video is the message. Worship, offering, announcements, prayer time, altar time, etc., is all live. Matt had a great line for segments of the culture who would say how they would never watch video at church – then why are you fine watching it the rest of the day? (ipod, internet, etc.)

Silly disclaimer that I feel I have to give – I don't agree with all Matt or The Village Church is doing, but isn't that the amazing thing? How God can teach us things from people that do church different than we do? I love it…good stuff…

More from Larry Osborne tomorrow…or tonight…depending on when I have a few more moments to download my notes…

Missional Church

Though I try to keep up with what the Holy Spirit is doing in the world, I really had no idea what a "missional church" was until just recently in reading a few books and articles. We (Pathway) have been moving toward a more "missional" model of doing church, without even knowing it. How about those apples. I'm hesitant to even call Pathway a missional church as I still don't know the whole of what it means, but it is interesting that the Holy Spirit had already placed this in our DNA without even knowing it had some sort of name for it. Kind of like all of those people that went around tipping over cows while the cows fell asleep standing, and not knowing it had a name – cow tipping.

Dan Kimball describes the "missional church" as a body of people sent on a mission who gather in community for worship, encouragement, and teaching from the Word that supplements what they are feeding themselves throughout the week. A place where we encourage people to live in "the way of Jesus" -- sacrificially living for him and others and adopting a missionary stance in relation to our culture.

(thanks to Paul Stewart for the Dan Kimball missional church description)

Multi-site Church

I would define (and many would define) Multi-site church as one church, with many campuses. It's a bit like a strategy/method of church planting that seems to be very effective. In some ways, it's very much like a traditional church plant. In other ways, it's very different! I think it's possible to do both traditional and multi-site.

Anyhow, this is one of the huge area's I'll be working through while on Sabbatical (May – July). Don't really have time to say anything more than that…but here's what was discussed today during a conference call on the subject if you are interested…

Notes from today's Multi-site Conference Call:

• Challenges with Multi-site (which I think are pretty transferrable to a traditional church plant as well)
  • how to do the finances most effectively when you have multiple campuses
  • how do you transfer the culture of the starting church into all of the other campuses
  • keeping the same vision focused in every campus
• Some people are called into the ministry, but not necessarily to be the Lead Pastor. Given current church "setup," the Associate/Assistant pastor role is looked at as a 'lesser than' position than the lead/senior pastor. With a multi-site method, you can leverage the gifts of someone who may be very gifted in ministry, but not gifted to fill the lead role.
• Mark Driscoll - The major difference between a regular church plant and a multi-site is the leader. If they want to preach – they should plant a church in relationship with the starting church…if they are not really gifted/called to preach regularly – they should become a campus pastor, an extension of the starting church (one church, many campuses), working under the direct leadership of the starting church lead/senior pastor, and using video strategically for regular Sunday services.
• Multi-site changes the entire church…make sure it's an all church thing…put all the chips on the table if you will…
• Multi-site - You've got to know why you are doing it! It's not just something to add to the rest of your ministry…don't just copy a model, work it the way it will fit for you...
• Rural multi-sites – not a whole lot happening here…

That's it! I'm not saying I agree with everything I just wrote, but it's what was discussed in this conference call.

I admit it makes me a bit nervous to start sharing this info with you before I've even had time to completely process it. Know this though…whether it's multi-site, or traditional church planting, this has been in our DNA since the beginning to reproduce ourselves as a church. We will move forward with this! We just need to discern what the next step is!

If you are REALLY interested in this stuff, get this book and read it.

Exciting stuff…