Greg Atkinson

Continuing on with the theme from my last blog post (go HERE if you haven’t read it), I’d like to get straight to the heart of the matter. What all these “fastest-growing churches” have in common is an external focus. The reason that most churches in the United States are plateaued or dying is that they have an inward focus.

This inward focus affects everything they do from their leadership and decisions that they make to their style of worship and marketing strategy (or lack of one). In contrast, churches that are externally-focused make decisions based on the people that are not already there. I actually was just discussing this very thing with my mentor last week in our weekly meeting.

The reason that I made the connection to fast-growing churches using consultants and services like secret shopping is to point out that they are passionate about reaching lost people and will do whatever it takes to grow and make an  impact in their community.

When you make decisions as an organization, do you make them based on pleasing your existing congregation or doing whatever it takes to reach the people that are not already there? I know pastors and church leaders in fast-growing churches that will unapologetically say they make decisions based on their community and the people they’re trying to reach. They make it clear to their congregation that they are focused on reaching the lost and constantly cast that vision to their people.

To be honest, the difference between the internally-focused church and the externally-focused church is a vision leak. Churches that don’t intentionally, strategically, purposefully and consistently cast a vision for reaching the lost will inevitably turn inward. How do you address this constant struggle in your church? What tough decisions have you made to be an externally-focused church?

I get asked often how I keep staying busy doing secret shopper visits with churches around the country. The truth is there is no better investment you can make if you’re serious about reaching people in your community and getting them to return for a second time. Churches that are exploding with growth don’t happen by accident and they take my service seriously.

Last week I received the latest issue of Outreach magazine. Their Sept/Oct issue is on the “Largest” and “Fastest-Growing” churches in America. By the way, I’ll be writing about how to reach and keep guests in the next two issues of Outreach magazine.

In this month’s issue, however, Outreach listed the “Largest Churches in America” – many of which I’ve consulted with. In their listing of the “Top 9 Greatest Numerical Gain Churches”, 2 of the 9 had brought me in to do a secret shopper visit. Do I think my secret shopper visit is the reason they had the most numerical gain out of all churches in the nation? Absolutely not. What I do think is that they grew the most because they are hungry and not satisfied with the people they’ve already reached. I’ve seen this personally when I met with and debriefed the leaders of these churches and heard their commitment to be ruthless about reaching lost people and constantly improving what they do. Simply put, they said they brought me in because they want to get better at reaching people. I respect that.

I should also point out the #1 “Fastest-Growing Church in America” – 12Stone in Lawrenceville, GA also brought me in to do a secret shopper. Do you think it’s an accident that they’re the fastest-growing church in the country and they would invest in a secret shopper to improve their weekend experience? I don’t. Previous “Fastest-Growing Church in America”, Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, AL has also used a secret shopper several times.

So to get to the “Why behind hiring a secret shopper” like myself: it’s because you want to reach your community. You want to improve your first impressions. You want to remove barriers that would keep people from returning and you want a professional observation and report from someone who wants to see you succeed as it relates to the Kingdom.

I want to be clear: I’m not the missing link. What I’m saying is I’ve been around enough large and fast-growing churches to know that they work extremely hard to be good at what they do – it’s no accident. They bring in secret shoppers and consultants because they are passionate about reaching people and excellence in all areas. There’s a correlation between these churches exploding with growth and the measures they take to evaluate why and what they do as an organization. Believe me, I do know there’s a “God-factor” and God blesses churches, but I believe there’s a partnership between us as leaders and the work of the Holy Spirit. Chew on that for a while.

Let me be blunt: If you take seriously the story of leaving the 99 to go after the 1 and you want to see your community reached for Christ, you can’t afford not to hire a secret shopper – whether it be me or someone else. Some things you can’t put a price tag on. One church of 15,000 that brought me in recently said it was the “best money we’ve spent all year.”

Understand my heart, though: I tier my prices down to help out smaller churches. Only the biggest of the big churches pay my full price. If you’re a smaller church, you get the same service for a cheaper price. I’m not in this for the money. I’m trying to serve churches and make a difference in the Big “C” Church. You can get more details, prices and read endorsements HERE.

Contact me if you’re serious about reaching your community. You have to put your money where your mouth is – that’s as honest as I can get. God bless you as you lead. Contact me and let’s work together to go after the 1 lost sheep.

I wanted to re-introduce you to Parable Creative, an organization that I support, believe in and am on the board of. They are a creative agency designed to help ministries and non-profits tell their story to inspire people to take action. Check out this video:

Parawhat? from Parable Creative on Vimeo.

What’s interesting about Parable is that they are not just a website shop. They are a full-service agency that has long-term partnerships in mind. They do the research from the target audience and from the client themselves to come up with strategies that inspire. Then they help the org figure out the best way to carry out the ideas, which may or may not include them creating all the ideas they come up with. In fact a major part of their company is a not for profit group called The Parable Society. It is a network of creative professionals that volunteer through Parable Creative for Pro Bono work. Here’s another video on that:

Parable Society from Parable Creative on Vimeo.

If you have a vision for a cause you are trying to get of the ground or if even if you are an established organization, contact them at www.parablecreative.com to find out how they can help.

I was very happy to receive my copy of Sun Stand Still in the mail a couple of weeks ago. I knew Steven Furtick when he was a teenager. I remember him going to North Greenville College near where I grew up. Now I get to hear stories of how God is using him and his amazing church in Charlotte, NC. I hope you’ll get a copy. Read what Pastor Steven has to say about it:

When you strip the biblical miracles of their spectacular special effects, a common plot point emerges: extraordinary moves of God begin with ordinary circumstances and acts of obedience.

It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do for a living. If God lives in you, you have the potential to witness God do the impossible. In you. Through you. And around you.

That’s easy to say. But it can be hard to believe. My upcoming book, Sun Stand Still, is all about audacious faith and the invitation to believe that you were made to experience the miraculous on a regular basis. But what I found in writing the book is that it’s easy for me to share my story of audacious faith. It’s easy for me to make applications to other church leaders about how to have audacious faith.

But it’s much harder to relate the concept of audacious faith to people who may not see their life’s work in a very audacious light.

Maybe you can relate. You might be thinking that nothing remarkable—much less supernatural—ever happens to you. Your prayers appear to be rarely and randomly answered. And no agenda item in your life seems big enough to warrant God’s undivided attention anyway. Audacity seems to be reserved exclusively for others—the special Christians.

Clearly, God does special things in a special way through special people. But where does that leave the rest of us?

For instance, how can you be an audacious school teacher?

An audacious parent?

An audacious hourly employee?

An audacious student?

An audacious wife?

What I concluded is that audacity is not simply an activity. Audacity is an approach. Audacity isn’t qualified by what you do. It’s all about how you do what you do. Sometimes audacious faith is defined by the nature of the activity. Being a missionary in a third world country requires audacious faith. Audacity kind of comes with the package.

Other times, audacious faith is activated by your approach and attitude. In other words, it’s possible to approach a simple or ordinary activity with an audacious attitude, and glorify God in a remarkable way. Audacity is every bit as attainable for you, whether you are a stay-at-home mom or an electrical engineer—if you dare to relate to God on a new level.

Here’s what I know: God is able to stir up your spirit, pour out his presence, and reveal his glory in your family, business, or community. And in Sun Stand Still I want to show you that the extraordinary presence and purpose of God will burn brightly in the life of anyone willing to be set on fire.

For more info, visit the Sun Stand Still page.

*** By the way, today I (Greg Atkinson) turn 35. Wow! I’m grown.

Yesterday, I noticed my friend, Spencer Burke, tweeting about his interview with another friend of mine, Leonard Sweet. This conversation and Sweet’s new book “Nudge” grabbed my attention as this discussion is based around something God has been up to in my life over the last year and I plan to blog about soon.

Read what Spencer says about Nudge: Leonard Sweet calls us to make an impression—a God impression—a nudge, a dent on everyone we meet. But how we do that is to listen to discern what the Spirit is already doing, and to nudge that person toward understanding that God is working in their life. And by doing so, by recognizing and naming those nudges, we are nudged as well. We discover incredible ways that God is working all around us. We observe His creativity and imagination in all our senses—hearing, tasting, seeing, touching, smelling.

The subtitle of Nudge is “Awakening each other to the God who is already there.” Every person you meet is a divine appointment, says Leonard Sweet as he talks about his new book, Nudge, with Spencer Burke, host of ThinkFWD. The overarching premise is that we don’t “take” Jesus anywhere, but that wherever we go, God is already there and our job is to find out what He’s doing and join in.

This thinking takes a different approach to evangelism. Rather than thinking of evangelism and discipleship as two distinct “tasks” of followers of Christ, Sweet suggests that they are bound together. Whereas in the past, evangelism was touted as “go and tell,” Sweet says we need to “shut up and listen.” Our role is not to come into a situation and tell our story, but rather to listen, to hear, to study what is happening in another person’s life, or in the community we are in. By doing this, we are recognizing that God is already there and we are following His lead. Sweet quotes John Wesley’s life-changing words, “Go and see the poor in their hovels, for Jesus is already there and He will be with you.”

Very likely, it was not just one person that helped nudge you in your journey to faith in God, but it was many people’s influence in your life. Many impressions that moved you to faith in God. And this is the part we can play for each other, awakening each other to God who is already at work all around us.

Spencer, then follows up with 2 great questions that I’d love for you to answer and comment on here:

• How have you identified “nudges” in your own personal spiritual journey?
• Do you tend to begin by telling your story, or by listening to others and for what God is already doing?

*** Go HERE to watch a video discussion between my two friends, Leonard Sweet and Spencer Burke.

The following is a guest post from Jim Tomberlin, which appeared in REV! Magazine, July/August 2009. I thought this would go well with what we’ve been discussing as far as the role of campus pastor. Read the article and comment any thoughts or questions you have.

Almost every week I receive a call from a multi-site church desperately searching for a campus pastor. We have come along way from the early days of the multi-site movement when no one knew what a campus pastor was, or if they did, weren’t interested in being one.

Once seen as just an emcee for a video event, the campus pastor role is becoming one of the most strategic and sought-after church staff positions in many churches. The campus pastor is the most important element in the success or failure of a multi-site congregation. It all rises or falls on leadership.

Traits of a Gifted Campus Pastor

Having assisted many multi-campus churches across the nation, I have boiled down my answer to the following observations. Assuming that this individual is a spiritually mature person of character with a proven track record, an ideal campus pastor is someone who is a:

• Catalytic leader: a high capacity, high energy, self-starter who not only gets things done, but makes things happen.
• Team player: someone who people will follow, but who is willing to play second fiddle. Not a lone ranger maverick, but around them. They have a high “fun factor.”
• Mobilizer: not only attracts followers but can turn them into teams of volunteers. The key to success in any staff position.
• Multi-tasker: shows high capacity to juggle a lot of balls simultaneously and loves the juggling act.
• Communicator: doesn’t have to be the world’s best Bible teacher, but is capable and articulate speaking to a room full of people.
• DNA carrier: bleeds and defaults to the mission, vision, values, and senior leadership of the church.

Traits Not Conducive for a Campus Pastor

• An overwhelming desire to preach: Someone who has to preach (unless you put them on the preaching or teaching team). If a person believes he or she has been called primarily to preach, he or she will not succeed as a campus pastor.
• A passion for solo performance: An independent entrepreneur with the emphasis on independent.
• A capacity for mixed agendas: Someone with an agenda other than reaching people far from God and growing a congregation. You don’t want someone whose agenda is not completely in tandem with the church’s.

Where Do You Find Camp us Pastors?

The first place to look is internally. Who is on your staff right now who embodies your church’s DNA? Who has proven that he or she is ready for a new challenge? Who is the best person on your team? Lead out with that person.

If not on the staff, who is in your congregation that could transition into this role? There are high-capacity marketplace leaders sitting in your church who have the leadership gifts and your church DNA to be wildly successful as campus pastors.

The next best place to look is within the network of your own staff team.Whom do they know around the country who could be good campus pastor candidate for your church? Bring them on the team and incubate them. Take a year to train and acclimate them at home base before launching them into their own campus.

Finally, you can place ads in venues such as Willow Creek’s Exchange, Church Staff.com, Tony Morgan’s jobamatic blog, MinisterSearch.com, and denominational networks.

Are You Campus Pastor Material?

Contact Jim@Multi-SiteSolutions.com. If you have the right gifting, I may have a church for you!

Jim Tomberlin is chief strategist of Multi-Site Solutions, and has served as a senior pastor and various other ministries.

This made a splash on Twitter on Wednesday. I’m just now getting to blog about it. I think this has great potential to be a game-changer and will be keeping my eye on the development of this technology.

Check out what FastCompany had to say about this new product:

Ever see something you wish you had on film? Say, a miraculous home-run in the ninth, or your baby’s first steps? A new wearable camcorder called Looxcie (look-see) aims to capture all these shooting-star moments.

Looxcie ($199) is a Bluetooth headset that features video recording–but no record button. Rather, the device is designed to constantly capture video, which can either be viewed live on one’s smartphone, or saved to memory if a YouTube-worthy event occurs. Like any Bluetooth headset, Looxcie fits snugly around one’s ear (it’s a bit heavy), and can make and receive calls. But since the device is constantly on and recording to a temporary storage buffer, one must only hit the “Instant Clip” button, and the last 30-seconds of footage is automatically saved to your Android, and soon BlackBerry and iPhone. What you see is what you record.

“How can I capture things and be fully present in the moment?” says Bob Kron, Looxcie’s VP of marketing. “Everybody gets the splash, but nobody gets the whale–you’re always just a little bit too late. With Looxcie, you capture the moment as it happens.”

To store and record constantly, Looxcie comes with 4GB of flash memory and has a 4-hour battery life when continuously recording video. (Battery life is much longer when the camcorder is turned off.)

What’s more, using the Looxcie app, video clips can be instantly shared via email, Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter. It’s the camcorder for the social media age–a device that captures tweet-size video which can immediately be uploaded online. And in case the last 30 seconds wasn’t enough, users can always grab up to the last hour of footage through using the Looxcie app.

Though many smartphones have video recording, they’re often sitting in your pocket. It is Looxcie’s TiVo-esque playback feature that won’t let you miss a moment (think: Sully landing the plane on Hudson).

Of course, there’s always the issue of style. Capturing video of your baby’s first steps with Looxcie means you’re probably wearing a Bluetooth headset during your baby’s first steps. It means you’re probably the kind of person who wears a Bluetooth headset around-the-clock. But if you’re comfortable or shameless enough to wear one in public, why not add a camcorder? Who knows what you might see.

Check out the video quality below:

*** What are your thoughts? I can see bank tellers wearing these. I can see police officers wearing these. What uses can you see for this? Do you see a way that this could be used at church? Share.

The following is an article from my friends at WorshipFilms.com that I thought would be of interest and benefit for you. Enjoy!

Today’s digitized videos come in an array of file formats.  Let’s take a look at the most popular ones, and briefly discuss their differences..AVI files.  AVI stands for audio/video interleaved.  This file format is the most popular computer video format, and it is defined by Microsoft.  The file sizes tend to be large compared to some of the other formats.  These files will play in most of the popular media players.  Generally, they are used to edit video or when a high resolution version of the video is needed.

.MPG, .M1V, .M2V files.  MPG (or MPEG) stands for Moving Picture Experts Group.  This file type utilizes standards that have been, and are being, developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group.  They are a common file type and are generally much smaller in size than .AVI files.

.MPG most commonly denotes a file with MPEG-1 compression.  The most common resolution for this file type is 352×240, but other resolutions may be used (most of the MPEG-1 files produced by WorshipFilms are 800×600).  .M1V usually denotes a video with MPEG-1 compression that does not contain any audio.  MPEG-1 files will play in almost any media player.  They are generally used when limiting the file size is the main objective.

One confusing element is that .MPG can also denote a file that utilizes MPEG-2 compression.  These files are generally higher in resolution (most commonly 720×480), and are often used in the creation of DVDs.  .M2V generally denotes a video with MPEG-2 compression that does not contain any audio.  The file size of MPEG-2 files is generally larger than MPEG-1 files.  MPEG-2 files will only play in media players that have a MPEG-2 video codec installed.

.MOV, .QT files.  These files extensions denote a Quicktime media file.  Apple Computer developed this file type for the creation and viewing of media content.  Generally, most media players will play a Quicktime file that is version 2.0 or earlier, but later versions require player software that is proprietary to Apple.  File sizes are generally comparable or slightly larger when compared to MPEG-1 files (depending on compression settings).

.WMV files.  WMV stands for Windows Media Video, and refers to a video codec set developed by Microsoft.  In earlier versions, Microsoft utilized a form of MPEG-4 technology in developing this codec, but later versions has relied more on Microsoft’s own technology.  It is a widely used file format on the internet because of its relatively small file size, and is now used in other media players beyond Windows Media Player.

.ASF files.  ASF is short for Advanced Streaming Format.  It is a very compressed format that contains streaming audio, video, slide shows, and synchronized events.  It provides a continuous stream of data, so that even lengthy videos begin playing almost immediately.  It is not necessary for the entire file to download first.  This is a popular internet file format, especially for online seminars or other lengthy subjects.

.RM files (also .RA or .RAM).  A .RM file is a Real Media file, which (of course) is played in Real Media Player.  These files are generally intended to be used as streaming files, and cannot be played in other media players.

.MP4 files (or .M4V).  MP4, or MPEG-4 is a format developed by the Motion Picture Experts Group that allows you to combine multiple media streams into one file.  Initially, the MPEG-4 format looked a lot like the Apple Quicktime format, but has since been significantly changed and improved upon.  It is an end-user format that is used most often for streaming applications and mobile devices (PDA’s, cell phones, etc.).  The great appeal of this format is its general quality level in relation to its small file size.

Hopefully, this will serve as a basic reference for you on video file formats, and help you to more quickly identify file types in the future.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the interviews I’ve been posting on here over the last 2 weeks. I’ve got some more interviews coming that relate to what we’ve been discussing. If you can’t tell, I’m a big fan of the model of church that we’ve been exploring on here over the last 2 weeks. I’m building up to something that we’ll discuss and I’ll announce later on, but in the meantime, I want you guys (and gals) to ask more probing questions and anything that concerns or excites you.

This is where you guys come in: I’m going to be interviewing Andrew Statezny, who oversees the LifeChurch.tv Network churches. If you have questions for him, comment and let me know.

I’m going to be interviewing Jamie Munson, Lead Pastor of Mars Hill in Seattle (where Mark Driscoll teaches). If you have questions for Jamie about their model and his role, comment and let me know.

If you have some new questions for campus pastors of multi-site churches that you’d like me to go back and ask them, comment and let me know.

If you have questions for either the LifeChurch.tv Network church pastor or the North Point Strategic Partner church pastor, comment and let me know.

My goal, as always, is continuing education, inspiration and stretching us in our leadership. This is your time to learn from, challenge and question these models, these churches and these leaders. Is there a question or a follow-up question that you’ve been wishing I had asked these leaders? If so, let me know.

*** By the way, my friend Tony Morgan blogged about multi-site church findings yesterday. I want you to read the full post on his blog HERE. He also has a link to the full report. Here are a few highlights worth noting:

• There are an estimated 3,000 multi-site churches in the United States.
• The number of multi-site churches now outnumber the megachurches. That, of course, means smaller churches are beginning to use the multi-site strategy. (By the way, the number of megachurches continues to grow as well.)
• Multi-sites have a 90% success rate.
• Most multi-site churches launch an on-campus venue first before starting at a new location.
• The new satellite campuses tend to show faster growth than the original campus. In fact, 2 out of 5 surveyed churches have experienced growth of 50% or more the first year of their new campus.
• The median size of a multi-site church is 1,300 people including the attendance of all campuses.
• Churches who use a multi-site strategy are actually more likely to plant churches as well.

Wow, so surely you have some more questions for our guests? I’m sure the multi-site guru himself (Jim Tomberlin) would be willing to jump in and answer some questions to. What do you have for him and these other leaders? Fire away!

The following is a recent interview with Patrick Moore, Pastor of Life Church in Franklin. They are a Network church of LifeChurch.tv.

What is your ministry background? What did you do before becoming a Network Pastor?
I spent 7 years in radio broadcasting as a small market General Manager, Sales Rep and some on air. Before going full time as the lead pastor of Life Church last year at Thanksgiving, I worked as a Director of Sales and Marketing at a billion dollar community bank in western North Carolina. My ministry background involves about 8 years of ministry volunteer work as a youth leader and worship leader.

If you were a pastor, do you still preach? If you were a pastor, do you miss preaching regularly?
n/a

How would you define the role of Campus Pastor?
My role as the campus pastor is much the same as a pastor that teaches every week except the hours I would spend preparing a message are used to build relationships with our leaders, volunteers and people in our church and community. I work very hard to communicate and direct our church to keep pursuing the vision God has given us for our community and our mission to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. With the LC.tv Network we’re completely autonomous from LC.tv in every area except that they give us their teaching resources for free. It gives us the ability to still be the unique church we need to be for our community and have access to the amazing teaching from Craig Groeschel.

With your focus being on the role of a Campus Pastor and not preparing a weekly sermon, what do you get to do that you think a lot of pastors/preachers miss out on? What are the advantages of your role?
The best part about being a in the LifeChurch.tv Network is that I can spend my week completely pouring into the people in our church and community. With my background in radio I love public speaking and rather enjoy preaching, but I have found through the LC.tv Network that I am much more effective as a relational, connecting pastor than spending hours preparing messages. I love that I can spend my week meeting with our leaders and people in the church to continue building a healthy community church.

What are the unique challenges for a Pastor in a network partner situation?
The biggest challenge for us as a LC.tv Network church (and I think all the other Network churches) is communicating the relationship between our church and LC.tv. I constantly am communicating to our church and guests that we are a partner with LC.tv but totally autonomous in every area except using their free teaching resources. It was harder when we launched the church, but now our church attendees know the relationship and can explain it as well. It really comes down to casting the vision for the Network and how it works. LC.tv has also worked very hard to communicate the Network to their church and acknowledging the Network at each opportunity they have.

What is your communication like with your main campus or central support system?
Again the Network is setup so each church in the network is it’s own church. We all have our own leadership teams, bylaws, policies, ect…  We do however have regular communication that comes from LC.tv to the Network churches so we know important information that will affect us from a video teaching perspective. They also allow us to peer in a lot of the other things LC.tv does from a vision, creativity and training stand point. One thing to keep in mind is that the LC.tv Network is very much so a work in progress. We joined the Network 2 years ago and we were the 35th church to join. Now there are over 110 church in the Network.

This is from DJ Chuang of Leadership Network: Do you have a backup plan? If technology fails you are you the one to preach that day? What is your backup plan?
The backup plan is to just sing lots of music if there is a failure. No, but really we do have a backup plan. First, from a technical side there are 3 different versions of the message file that we download on Saturday nights to use on Sunday morning. We download all 3 versions and us a 720p HD for our main and have a DVD for backup. We have never had to use the backup file. If there were to be a major technical malfunction (loss of power, computer failure, etc…) I always have a message in standby that I can preach live. We have actually began doing some team teaching a couple times with Craig this year where he teaches half the message by video and hands it off to us local pastors to teach the second part. It has worked really well. If all the technology were to fail I would be more than ready to preach live myself.

Anything that you’d like to say, add, point out, etc.?
We are a great success of how God has used video teaching effectively in a small community. We started with 9 people 2 1/2 years ago and are now seeing over 400 people every Sunday. As the fast growing and biggest church in our community, people are amazed at the effectiveness of video teaching. I don’t think video teaching is for everyone, but I know it is for us. As a pastor it takes laying down your pride to believe God can work and lead people to Jesus through video as well (probably better) than you could do as a “live” preacher. Then it allows you to do relational pastoring with your church.

*** If any of this resonates with you and maybe you feel God leading you to transition to this type of ministry, I would encourage you to check out LifeChurch.tv’s Network churches.