Pastor John Atkinson

Multi Site Staff Retreat

My amazing staff and I are headed to Lake Corpus Christi to spend a day and a night talking about the future of the BAF Multi Site ministry. One of the many things I love about serving under Bil Cornelius is he is an amazing man of faith who truly believes God is bigger than any circumstance we might face.Bil believes that the current economic problems this country is facing, did not catch God off guard. He believes God does not want us to hunker down and wait this thing out, He wants us to push forward with confidence not in things of this world, but in HIM! The Multi Site ministry will play a big part in that plan so were getting ready. 

In staff last week Bil led with a big vision to keep moving forward for Jesus no matter what is going on around us, and he had some big ideas about each of our ministries. He then told each of us, the Management Staff, to go out and think exponentially bigger. I did what he told me to do, and God really blew me away with a ridiculous vision for Multi Site that I know came from Him because it scares the crap out of me. Sorry if crap offends you, but it fits.

My staff and I will spend all day tomorrow and Saturday morning looking at this crazy vision and trying to figure out what it will take to pull it off. This retreat will be a time of vision, planning, scheduling, systems, and much more, but mostly it will be a time of prayer, because we definitely need God to pull this off. It's no coincidence that Pastor Bil spoke on prayer last week at the C3 Conference at Fellowship Church. As he spoke on prayer all I could think about was this huge, scary, crazy, and very exciting vision that overwhelmed me and ended up all over my white board. I could feel God speaking to me through Bil, as he spoke on prayer. 

On top of a great time to dream and plan for the future, it's going to be a great time to build relationships with the team. For us to pull of this crazy vision, we must work as a team. I have a great team, and were all having a blast together, but this vision is huge, and there can be no division amongst us or it could kill the vision. This retreat is about preparing us for something bigger than any of us could have imagined. We will leave the Lake as a team ready to go where God leads us. God has been hammering me to write a book that has been in my heart for some time now called Relational Leadership, tomorrow we will practice that very thing. I would ask you to pray for Pastor Bil as we need God to clarify the vision for the BAF Multi Site ministry through him. Thanks ahead of time for those prayers.

John

Unpacking Multi Site Pitfall #4

MS Pitfall #4 Someone On Your Staff Will Need to Champion the Multi Site Ministry

I always want to start these off the same way in case someone is reading this post not having read the others. We do not have the Multi Site equation down. We are not the end all experts in the Multi Site movement, many have gone before us, and many are way ahead of us, the Multi Site Pitfalls are simply us sharing our own Multi Site journey. I'm writing this in hopes that something from our journey might somehow help with yours.

As with any ministry someone needs to champion it. When vision is being cast, and plans are being made, someone needs to be there to make sure Multi Site is part of the discussion. Here's why this is important.

1. When decisions are being made that affect Children's Ministry, Children's Ministry at the campuses is affected too.

2. When decisions are being made that affect Student Ministry, Student Ministry is affected at the campuses too.

3. Financial decisions affect all campuses.

4. Decisions about preaching series affect all campuses.

5. Creative decisions affect all campuses.

I could go on and on, but hopefully you get the point. The reason you need a Multi Site champion is so there is always someone in those meetings to ask this question, "how will this affect the campuses." Even with a MS champion in leadership, things still fall through the cracks because the bigger you get, and the more campuses you add, the tougher communication becomes. So even with a MS champion no system is perfect, but at least with a MS champion you'll know there is someone in a leadership position carrying the torch for off site campuses.

When picking this person make sure they have passion for Multi Site. Just adding this to someone's plate because they're the closest warm body, is not the right answer. I believe if God is calling you to go Multi Site, He is also doing something in the heart of the person who will champion it. I say that because that's exactly how it happened here.

John