Greg Atkinson

The last decade of the 20th century saw the rise of the multisite innovator-pioneers. The first decade of the 21st century saw the wave of the multisite early adopters with over 3,000 multisite venues and campuses launched across North America. Now as we enter the second decade of the 21st century, the middle adopters will mainstream the movement as it speads around the world.

Here is my annual forecast concerning multisite trends as we enter 2011 and the next decade:

1. The multisite movement began as a band-aid formegachurches that were out of room or limited by zoning restrictions. It quickly evolved into a growth strategy for healthy churches of all sizes and will become a revitalization strategy for stuck or struggling churches. Many of these aging churches are solid, but stuck in non-growing situations because of the inevitable social-demographic changes occurring around them and/or their inability to embrace contemporary worship styles and culturally-relevant ministry practices. Multisiting allows stuck churches to reinvent themselves by extending in new ways and to new locations without abandoning their base.  Revitalization mergers also allow smaller struggling churches to have a new beginning by being adopted by a stronger vibrant church. This revitalization will be the impetus in the surge of church mergers that is growing across the church landscape.
2. Church leaders will focus less on growing their church and more on reaching an area for Christ through externally-focused multisite campuses and “missional communities” (small groups).
3. The new big is small. Though the majority of megachurches have multiple campuses, smaller multisite churches already outnumber them and will lead the way in launching new campuses with a   smaller core in smaller communities.
4. The rise of the collegiate model of church reproduction. This is the hybrid of mullti-siting and church-planting. Church-planting churches will incorporate multisite campuses and multisite churches will launch church plants. These reproducing churches will be the newtribes or mini-denominations of the future.
5. Denominations will integrate multisite into their strategic plans and offer multisite and merger coaching to their churches.
6. The buzz word in church circles in the 1980′s wasgrowth. In the 1990′s it was health. At the beginning of the 21st century the word is connected. Effective churches of the future will fully utilize all the social networking tools available to build community and foster relationships.
7. Businesses and organizations that serve churches will fully incorporate a multisite orientation in the development and marketing of their products and services.
8. Technology will continue to produce more and innovative tools for communicating the Gospel and biblical truth. Multisite churches will lead the way in utilizing these tools. Video-streaming over the internet will be easier, cheaper, and the primary way video sermons will be delivered to multisite churches.
9. Multisite churches will explode across Europe, Africa, and Asia in the next decade.
10. More mergers, internet campuses, and international campuses.

What do you see on the horizon?

The following was a guest post from Jim Tomberlin. Follow him on Twitter HERE and read his blog HERE.

A friend of mine who is on staff at The Rock Church in San Diego did this video recently. Take a look and be inspired. Got a link to something you did at your church? Post it here.

The Rock Church Vision 2011 from chris loope on Vimeo.

I came across this powerful video/story yesterday on my friend Steve Murphy’s blog. Watch and share your thoughts.

Pennies HEART from phos pictures on Vimeo.

I saw this video yesterday thanks to my friend, Len Sweet. I was blown away by the amount of creativity and innovation that went into this. I wonder how far away the Church is from teaching like this? Your thoughts?

Yesterday, my friend Rob Thomas of Igniter Video posted this video on Facebook. I checked it out and was blown away. This moves me on so many levels. From the old, old story told in new, relevant, contemporary ways to the creativity, innovation and hard work that went into creating something like this. I’m absolutely amazed and encourage you to purchase it HERE and use it at your church this Christmas season. You can check it out below:

We live in a digital world. Texting, IMing, Facebook pokes and tweets – it’s truly a whirlwind when it comes to communicating these days. Call me old-fashioned, but I’ve found that a personal touch still goes a long way (yes, even in 2010 and going into 2011).

Everybody loves to receive a hand-written note thanking them for their service on your team. We’re coming up on one of the busiest times of the year with Christmas. Your volunteers are going to work countless hours (your staff, too). Take the time to write out Thank You notes to each and every one of them. If you have the budget, include a gift card in the note to them. Sometimes I did Chili’s gift cards for $25. Sometimes I could only do a $10 Starbucks card. Whatever your budget can do – make it happen.

Another thing that goes a long way in this digital world is phone calls. It seems we’ve lost the art of picking up the phone and checking on our team and seeing how they’re doing. I used to go through my team’s list of names and give them a call just to see how they were doing and if there was anything I could pray for them about. This went a long way!

One final thought I’ll mention on a personal touch is to give out hugs. You wouldn’t believe it, but a hug goes a long way. Now I know that some people don’t like to be touched and freak out if you try to hug them. You need to be aware of body language and know if you’re making someone uncomfortable, but by and large, most people like a good ‘ole hug. On Wednesday night rehearsals, I greeted my team members with hugs and asked how they were doing. This is in contrast to barking “Get to your station!” or “Did you hear of the changes we made?”

I used to say stuff like that in my early days and had a volunteer say back to me, “Good evening. How are you today would have been nice to hear.” Ever since then I’ve made it a point to not let something “business” come out of my mouth first. The person is always more important than the thing we’re trying to accomplish or produce. Check on them first and then update them on the changes.

How long has it been since you wrote a note? How long since you called a team member? Given any hugs lately? Let’s surprise our team and volunteers with kindness this Christmas season.

Staying in the Word and staying on our knees will help us with the final “stay” and that’s to stay pure. There’s nothing more precious to you and wanted by our enemy (remember the “You Have an Enemy” post) than to be pure. I’m talking about your character and integrity – who you are when no one’s looking.

Like being humble, this is also easier said than done. Purity flows out of the overflow of a heart that’s in love with Jesus and walking in the Spirit daily. Purity also takes a lot of wisdom, intentionality and purpose. You must set out to be pure and put up guards in your life to help protect your purity.

I’ve mentioned before that my wife and my best friend get sent an email of what websites I go to – this is a guard in my life. You may have something similar. It’s important to protect yourself (and your kids) from the dangers of the internet.

Purity also comes from setting boundaries with co-workers. It’s not okay to flirt with your admin or that new woman on the children’s ministry staff. You must know what is appropriate and what’s not.

Part of setting up boundaries is to have some close friends that can hold you accountable, have permission to speak freely into your life and ask the tough questions. If you’ve ever struggled with porn or a wandering eye, you should confess that to a person of the same sex that you trust and ask them to check up on you. Meet with them from time to time to read the Bible, pray and just talk. If you’ve slipped up, tell them and confess out loud. Ask them to pray for you and see how you can pray for them. You’ll probably find out you’re not alone and you can be a source of strength for someone else in need.

Purity also means to be pure in our motives. Doing things out of our love for Christ and not to get attention. This is tough for many in ministry. We should serve because He first loved us and we desire to worship Him through our service.

Finally, when it comes to purity, I also like to point out that even if you don’t struggle with purity, you may still be in danger of sin. Often times those not affected by porn or a wandering eye will start judging others that are struggling and in their judging and criticizing will sin and become men or women full of pride. Remember the Pharisee praying who said, “God I thank you that I’m not like that man, a tax collector.”? (Luke 18:10-11) – Don’t be that guy!

So what about you… is purity a struggle for you? Do you have people in your life that can hold you accountable?

Nothing gives you perspective, hope, guidance, direction, wisdom and encouragement like the Holy Bible – it’s a remarkable book. I remember years ago hearing Henry Blackaby say “When you read the Word, it’s as if you’re staring right in the face of God.” That always comforted and excited me to think about.

As Christians and Church leaders, we desire to have the fruits of the Spirit flow through us and out of us. Thanks to the book The Spirit of the Disciplines I read years ago, I learned that the fruit of the Spirit is something that happens naturally when we have a steady, real and vibrant relationship with Christ.

I grew up in a youth group (like many of you I’m sure) where I was taught wrongly that we were supposed to “work” at each fruit. They would say, “This week we want you to concentrate on being gentle.” (or kind or patient, etc.) This is how I was brought up.

Reading that book as an adult, my eyes were opened to the reality that we can’t beat these fruits into us – they must develop overtime in prayer and the Word. And as we become more and more like Christ, our natural reaction when tough or unexpected things happen will be to react with gentleness, kindness, patience, self-control, etc.

As a youth, I heard a statement that has proven over the last 20 to 25 years to be the truest statement I’ve ever encountered. I wrote this statement on the inside of my main Bible. The statement is: “Either this book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book.” Truer words were never spoken.

I have found time and time again that when I’m regularly in the Word, I’m far from sin and feel I’m truly walking in the Spirit (as opposed to walking in the flesh). I’ve also realized many times in hindsight that after wrestling with sin in my life for a season, I was away from my devotional time and didn’t feel like picking up my Bible.

Maybe for you, you’re in the Bible regularly, but you’re looking for ammo – meaning you’re studying for your Sunday sermon, youth talk on Wednesday night, preparing a devotional for your small group, or looking for lyrics for a song you’re writing. Often, we as leaders, are in the Word for “business”, but we stop going to the Bible just to know God more and spend time hearing from Him. The challenge to all Church leaders is to read the Bible just for the pure pleasure of seeking to know the mind and heart of Christ and be transformed by the renewing of our mind. (Romans 12)

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” – Joshua 1:8

So… how’s your time in the Word? Do you just open the Bible in sermon prep or do you regularly read it just to know God more? Is reading regularly a struggle for you?

Like I said yesterday, staying humble is easier said than done. I don’t expect you to do it in your own power. That brings us to today’s principle: stay on your knees. It’s important that we are men and women of prayer. When we have a vibrant relationship with Christ and spend time communicating with Him in prayer, the natural attitude that will come out of us is one of humility. This is also where the fruits of the Spirit flourish (this and what we’ll take about tomorrow).

Prayer is the lifeline for the Christian leader and pastor. Prayer keeps you grounded, focused, connected, informed, encouraged and most of all – it displays a true dependence on God. We all need to be dependent on God and the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. Not praying shows a spirit of independence and thus leads to an attitude of pride and also can become overwhelming. We feel like the weight of the world is on our shoulders and get stressed out.

I don’t have to tell you what a huge problem burnout is for ministers, but I would like to point out that I think this concept is a great contributor to our burnout epidemic as a Church. Leaders try to operate out of their own strength and eventually crumble under the pressure. Only dedicated time with God and hearing from His heart can fuel us and also keep us from sin (pride, lust, ambition to the point of sin, drivenness to the point of sin, etc.).

Staying on our knees (along with staying in the Word, which we’ll cover tomorrow) is absolutely essential to your (and my) physical, spiritual and emotional health. At the end of the day, it all comes down to health. We won’t to be healthy in every way possible. Prayer can calm the storm that rages within and all around us.

Prayer (and staying on your knees) is also a huge acknowledgement of submission to God. We acknowledge Christ as Lord and submit to His will, His way, His purpose. So… how’s your prayer life going?

Continuing on with the Church Leadership 101 series, we’ve come to a section of blog posts that start with the word “stay”. The first one is to stay humble. I know this is easier said than done, but I think it’s a sobering thought to keep our pride (which we all struggle with), ego and attitudes in check.

Some of the best advice someone gave me years ago was to not take myself too seriously. I’ve tried to live by that and laugh a lot. Does my pride sometimes still flare up? Absolutely. Does my ego pop up from time to time. Sure. But I eventually come to my senses, repent and get back to a Christ-centered, God-sized view of who I am and Who He is.

This concept is especially challenging for gifted and talented individuals. Some pastors can really preach. Some worship leaders are very good musicians. Some video editors have mad skills. Some designers – well all designers have egos, but the point is a lot of Church leaders are talented and it’s easy to see why they wrestle with staying humble.

The problem is when we start relying on our strength, skills and ability and stop praying for Christ through the Holy Spirit to lead through us, preach and teach through us, sing and play through us, edit and design through us. We must have the perspective of vessels, jars of clay and a Heavenly Potter sculpting us and shaping us and using us for great things according to His plans and His purpose.

So to keep it short and sweet, stay humble. Talk less. Listen more. Stay grounded. Keep your eyes on Christ and follow His example:

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled Himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” – Philippians 2:5-11