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[ag-news] AG NEWS #1778: February 15, 2010
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AG-NEWS: Monday, February 15, 2010
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**Satellite churches: Multiple sites are changing how churches
operate
Some Assemblies of God churches finding answers to growing
pains by developing satellite churches. Use of technology and
volunteers enables opportunity for multiple sites, but church
leaders see having "campus pastor" on site as vital.
**Assemblies of God now on Facebook, Twitter
The AG has created official Facebook page, Assemblies of God
USA, and is now on Twitter under @AG_USA. With these social
networking sites, Tim Laffoon, Digital Communications
coordinator, hopes to bridge gap between national office and
members of local churches. Fans of AG on Facebook can receive
updates, resources and connect with other members in
Fellowship.
**This week in AG history -- February 15, 1941
Featured in this week's February 15, 1941, issue of
"Pentecostal Evangel" are articles by Lillian B. Yeomans, G.W.
Hardcastle, Ernest S. Williams, Adele Flower and others!
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Discover the Nations conference coming!
The second annual Discover the Nations conference takes place
March 46, 2010, in Carbondale, Illinois. This year's emphasis is
Making International Disciplemakers and features speakers with
20-30+ years of international experience. Registration is $40
per person. To register online, go to
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**SATELLITE CHURCHES: MULTIPLE SITES ARE CHANGING HOW CHURCHES OPERATE
Many churches across the nation are expanding their influence,
reaching new demographics, empowering staff members and laypeople to
become leaders, and maximizing their finances.
How are they doing it?
By becoming multisite churches.
On a typical Sunday morning in San Ramon, California, a platoon of
volunteers roll crates filled with sound and lighting equipment into
the auditorium at Gale Ranch Middle School. Chairs are neatly lined
up. Signage is hung. Gigantic video screens are assembled.
Classrooms and even hallways are transformed into play areas for
children.
Within hours, a fully functioning ? yet temporary ? church operated
by volunteers and a campus pastor is up and running. New Life Church
San Ramon is an offshoot ? or satellite ? of New Life Church (AG) in
nearby Alamo.
"We realized that if we were going to minister to more people, we
were going to have to meet at more than one location," says Doug
Heisel, lead pastor of New Life Church.
In Northern California's Bay Area property values are exorbitant,
and many churches ? such as New Life ? simply cannot afford to
expand their facilities despite fast-growing congregations.
"Having multiple campuses is extremely cost-effective and allows us
to be strategic in the way we reach into our community and the ones
around it," Heisel says.
Though the multisite church movement is nothing new, only recently
has such a methodology become popular. There now are more than 2,000
multisite churches in the United States. The Assemblies of God
represents more than 200 multisite venues.
By their very nature, multisite churches lean toward the
unconventional. Drop into one in California and then visit one in
Minneapolis or Washington, D.C., and the experiences are completely
different.
At Timberline Church in Fort Collins, Colorado, congregants can take
in one of the church's regular services in the main auditorium or
scoot across the hall to the video venue affectionately known as
"Timberline Edge." In the video venue, worshippers watch a broadcast
of the same sermon in the main sanctuary, but the music and vibe in
the video venue might be considered edgier.
In Washington, D.C., National Community Church has campuses
throughout the area. The vision, according to Lead Pastor Mark
Batterson, is to have a plethora of satellite campuses in movie
theaters along the city's Metro subway lines.
In Ozark, Missouri, James River Assembly in September opened a
campus 16 miles away in a rapidly growing part of southwest
Springfield where more than 13,000 households are clustered in a
three-mile radius. Some of those residents attended James River.
"People are willing to drive 30 minutes to attend church, but when
they do drive that far they are less likely to volunteer and bring
their friends," says Curt Cook, campus pastor at James River's
Wilsons Creek location. "By starting a campus in a high-growth area,
we saw that we could not only reach more people, but we could serve
the people who attended James River better."
And those two facts seem to be reason enough to add more campuses.
"There are many variations on the multisite theme," says Steve Pike,
director of the Church Multiplication Network for the Assemblies of
God. "But most every satellite church will identify themselves and
keep close affiliation with a parent church."
In most cases, the parent church ? including James River and New
Life in Alamo ? does more than financially support its satellite. It
also provides a campus pastor, staff, volunteers, resources, prayer
and the sermon ? via high-definition broadcasts.
"With the advancement and affordability of technology, you can offer
worshippers high-definition video that makes it appear as if the
speaker is actually there," says Heisel. "People at our San Ramon
campus react to the broadcasted speaker as if he were really right
in front of them."
The technology doesn't seem to keep people from having a spiritual
encounter, including attendees making decisions to accept Christ as
Savior.
"In large churches with video screens, most people look at the
screens versus the speaker anyway," contends Batterson, whose staff
downloads his sermons on hard drives and distributes them to the
satellite campuses. "There are certainly people who prefer a live
message, but many people love the video message. We have not found
it to be a hindrance to growth. But it's critical that you have a
campus pastor to provide leadership and pastoral care at each
campus."
Heisel agrees.
"Our biggest challenge is finding campus pastors for each site who
are on board with what we're doing," he says. "That's more
challenging than finding equipment and a site to have church."
The value of multicampus congregations ranges from shorter commute
times for worshippers to giving junior members of the church's staff
opportunities to wade into larger leadership roles that may
eventually lead to them planting churches or starting ministries on
their own.
"Satellite churches can extend a church's mission, help it grow
exponentially and rejuvenate the life of the parent church," Pike
says. "Any church ? whether it's a satellite church or a planted
church ? will always do better if it is started by and maintains a
strong partnership with a mother church."
Even so, there are skeptics of multisite churches. Such people often
say that the model erodes the idea of a church being an assembly
that gathers in one place at one time.
"If you're not questioning multisite [churches], you're not
thinking," Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, a Southern
Baptist agency that tracks church trends, recently said during a
videoconference. "I see multisite as a great opportunity.? But we
need to think through these things. I don't have a difficulty with
people coming to church and watching the sermon on a movie theater
[screen] if there is missional engagement locally, if leaders are
being raised up, and if leadership is being multiplied."
At Wilsons Creek, more than 1,700 people attend services each week.
Cook is still part of the James River preaching rotation, and when
he is back at the mother church preaching John Lindell, lead pastor
at James River, assumes the leadership role at the Wilsons Creek
Campus.
For New Life Church, the opportunity to start a church in a new
community at a fraction of the cost to plant a new one appeared too
good to pass up.
"Instead of costing us millions of dollars and taking several years
to start a church, we were able to have a church up and running
within five months," Heisel says. "The question we kept coming back
to was, 'What is the best stewardship decision we can make to reach
the most people?' The answer was to become a multisite church."
--Kirk Noonan, Pentecostal Evangel
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**ASSEMBLIES OF GOD NOW ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER
The Assemblies of God has created an official Facebook page,
Assemblies of God USA. Once a "fan" of the page, members can receive
updates on the latest things happening in the AG.
"At the Assemblies of God National Headquarters, we create countless
resources for ministers and laity ? videos, curriculum, marketing
tools, print and web publications," says Tim Laffoon, Digital
Communications coordinator for the Assemblies of God. "The challenge
is getting these resources to the constituency, and Facebook helps
us achieve that. We can post links, photos and videos to the page
and get instant feedback from fans."
The social networking site is a resource for fans to see what's new
in the AG, network with other members and get updates on special
news, videos and events taking place in the Fellowship.
"Facebook is a great example of how the Web helps bridge the gap
between the National Headquarters and members of local churches,"
Laffoon says. "We want everyone in the Assemblies of God to feel
connected to the national office, and through Facebook, we can
connect with people directly on a daily basis.
"Our Facebook fanpage isn¹t just a place for us to broadcast
information; it¹s a place to start conversations, allowing fans to
communicate with us and with each other, and people seem to be
embracing it ? it only took three weeks for us to reach 15,000
fans," Laffoon continues. "Our goal is that the Facebook page will
help us to more effectively resource and disciple believers in the
Fellowship, and so far, we think it¹s working."
Status updates from the Assemblies of God can also be found on
Twitter, using the handle @AG_USA.
--Becca Hodge
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**THIS WEEK IN AG HISTORY -- FEBRUARY 15, 1941
Healing evangelist Dr. Lilian B. Yeomans encourages believers to be
prepared for spiritual warfare in her article, "God's Reveille," in
the February 15, 1941, issue of "Pentecostal Evangel." The victory,
she suggests, comes from spending time in "the solitary place."
Also featured in this issue:
* "The Need of a Spirit-filled Life," by G. W. Hardcastle
* "The Coming of the Lord Draweth Nigh"
* "Coming Honors for the Church," by Ernest S. Williams
* "A Child in the Midst," by Adele Flower
And much more! Click here to read this issue now:
http://s2.ag.org/feb151941
"Pentecostal Evangel" archived editions courtesy of Flower
Pentecostal Heritage Center (http://iFPHC.org). For current editions
of the "Evangel", click here: http://pe.ag.org.
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For a regularly updated list of upcoming significant Assemblies
of God days and events--many linked to informational, registration
or ordering pages--see the following address:
<http://ag.org/top/events/index.cfm>.
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