Welcome back to our monthly All About Multisite podcast! I’m chatting with a group of multisite ninjas and answering your questions about the ins and outs of launching new campuses. Our group is as follows:

Natalie Frisk is our family ministry expert. She is a key leader from The Meeting House. This church has 19 (!) locations and is doing all kinds of great stuff, including a killer kids’ & youth curriculum that they give away for free. Natalie’s a lot of fun and will have so many great insights around leading in a thriving multisite church.

Greg Curtis is our guest connections and assimilation expert. He leads at Eastside Christian Church, one of the fastest growing churches in the country, and literally, is the “go to” source for getting people to stick and stay in the church. (Eastside has assimilated something like 1,500 people in the last 18 months!) His coaching practice around assimilation is amazing.

Ben Stapley is our communications and service programming expert. Ben is one of the most helpful leaders I know. His day job is the Weekend Experience Director at Christ Fellowship in Miami, but he does so much to help other leaders with the “big show” part of church world.

And I, Rich, have been involved with 14 different campus launches over the years and enjoy helping churches that are thinking about multisite.

We are here to answer your questions about running a multisite church and are excited to be here today with our ninth episode.

Opening Question: What was a favorite (NON-CHRISTMAS) memory from your church this year?

* Natalie – We launched our very own kids’ music for the first time this year. Another sweet memory that’s just fresh: I taught at a retreat a couple weekends ago and I was the junior high speaker. It was so awesome to see kids hungry and seeking after Jesus.

* Greg – It was a panel our lead pastor did in a worship service. He asked the question “Is the God of all religions the same God?” He put a panel together and the results wowed me because he had a Muslim Imam, a young Rabbi, a Buddhist monk, and a Mormon bishop. They were all there for 5 services and had not met each other before. Two things make this my favorite moment for the year: by the end of it the Muslim Imam and Rabbi hugged each other on the stage, and the Mormon bishop said they could not believe how they’d been received by our church and they loved being here. They each articulated a very different understanding of God, but what was beautiful was how they all felt so welcomed at our church as a Christian community.

* Ben – This past summer we launched a special baptism service at the beach. We thought maybe we’ll get a few people. 500 people signed up for beach baptisms, which was going to be happening two weeks from that date. So when the Holy Spirit pleasantly surprises you it’s always beautiful. And then to see the staff pulled together in that scramble mode and worked together as a team was a beautiful thing. And lastly I had a chance to baptize my daughter at the beach as well.

* Rich – I’ve been back at Connexus Church just north of Toronto and we finally launched a third location. I’m so glad that we launched and am really proud of the team there. The last two weekends I got a chance to be a part at the campus for a little bit and with hosting and that has been a real highlight for me.

Today’s show is a bit different. It’s the last episode of 2019 so we thought we would make some 2019 multisite church predictions!

Rich’s Predictions:

Rich’s prediction is that we’ll see 2-3 name-brand churches that everyone knows take a foray into a virtual reality campus. Facebook Spaces is a technology that continues to mature. It can provide a good opportunity for those who can’t physically get to church to still attend church from home or the hospital or nursing home.