Thanks for joining this week’s unSeminary podcast. This is multisite month and I’m excited to have Paul Martel with us today. He is the CEO and cofounder of Resi, formally known as Living As One.

Paul began his work doing broadcasts at Hewlett-Packard and managing their transmissions. In the meantime, he was also helping his church with A/V needs. When his church wanted to do video streaming at their campuses, Paul brought in the same technology from HP to make it happen. Whereas HP was using a private internet connection for their transmissions, however, the church had to use public internet connections. As a result, data transfer for the church was incredibly slow and the campus viewing experience was poor because video would cut out. Paul started Resi in response to this problem churches have with streaming content to their locations.

Paul is with us today to talk about the technology that Resi has created and how it can help with streaming video to church campuses.

* The challenges of video delivery. // If you’re a church doing video teaching at your campuses, chances are you’re handling the transmission of that video in one of two ways. One method is to record your content to solid state hard drives and physically drive them to other campuses. However, this method can create a delay if the delivery isn’t on time, a file can get corrupted, or there can be on-the-spot errors that are difficult to solve in the moment. Another method churches use is to create a satellite connection in order to stream their content to campuses. But satellite is expensive at a $300,000 initial investment, plus additional costs for the satellite time as it’s used. Satellite also doesn’t work well for portable campuses because you have to set up a satellite receiver, and this can be tough for volunteers that don’t have the technical expertise.* Another solution. // Paul and his team knew that they couldn’t fix the slow transfer rates of public internet connections and it would cost churches thousands and thousands of dollars for a private connection. So Resi engineered another option for churches. They built their own hardware and software to capture the video and store everything at every step in the transmission process. This method put all of that data on local hard drives to make sure the broadcast was transmitted appropriately. Even if the internet at one location went out, everything was still stored and started back up where it left off when the connection returned.* Simple and scaleable. // Because the system that Resi developed is built through a cloud network, it’s incredibly scaleable. Plus it’s simple to use on both the broadcast sending and receiving end. The simplicity of the design eliminates the need for volunteers to have special expertise when it comes to using this system. The methods that Resi uses make it easy to keep these broadcasts streaming on both ends and they teach users how to solve issues that may come up. Additionally, the system is set up to broadcast automatically during scheduled service times. If there are any problems, the system will send alerts directly to you.* Easy setup for portable and small campuses. // Portable campuses are using this plan of streaming too since their internet is not always reliable. They can simply roll in their equipment on its rack during set-up and use wireless hot spots to broadcast the service. These systems have even been used in house churches where a group can gather to watch a message from another church. Some house churches in Australia that used this method grew so large that they became church campuses.

You can find out more about Resi and how they can help your church at

Are you serving in a multisite church and sensing some tension building between members of your broader team?

Do you currently feel a sense of competition with other campuses that isn’t entirely healthy?

Do you serve on a central support team and are looking for ways to increase the unity amongst the teams you help lead?

If you want to experience a more profound sense of unity among the staff team at your multisite church, you are not alone! The most recent comprehensive study of the multisite church movement by Leadership Network discovered that one of the top ten issues that leaders are facing is how to increase unity across locations. 

I’ve been a part of the multisite movement since the early 2000s. During those years, I’ve led the launches of 13 campuses and then helped manage those campuses as they began to work with their churches’ other locations. Over the years, I’ve also seen all kinds of break downs in unity among campuses. However, through prayerful leadership, we were able to develop a more profound sense of unity among our teams. Here are a number of the best practices that have helped churches to develop a deeper understanding of community amongst the campus teams.

Defer to Younger Campuses

One of the dynamics that drive healthy, growing multisite churches is that they defer to the newer campuses regularly. This is a heart attitude of humility that needs to be continuously championed with your leaders.

If you’re going to choose where to invest financial resources, it needs to be in the youngest campuses. 

If you’re making a decision where you’re going to send your best campus teams, you should point them towards the new locations. 

If you’re building a new process, you want to make sure it works best at the campuses that are the latest to launch.

Every campus at your church was started because the “original location” sacrificed to launch out the next location. They led the way and got the ball rolling. As leaders connected to this movement, we need to echo that heart and defer to the needs of the younger campuses.

Why? Because we know that campus is the most fragile in their early days; the hardest weeks and months are always at the beginning of the process. Accordingly, you should do everything you can to lift up those locations as they get started.

We need to keep this reality in front of our leaders as we roll through new launches. Moving leaders beyond a “scarcity mindset” that focuses on their location to an “abundance mindset” is the best strategy for building unity in a multisite church. 

Get the Language Right

So many problems in developing unity in a multisite church can be avoided by simply getting the language right. Think carefully about how you refer to the various aspects of your ministry and shape your words in a way that reinforces unity. 

Avoid some of these common language pitfalls:

* Don’t refer to the first location as headquarters, mothership, or the main site.* Avoid using language that diminishes your campuses like “satellite location,” “overflow,” or “extension campus”.* Make sure to honor the leaders at all the locations by paralleling their titles like Campus Pastor or Community Pastor. * Campus distinctions that assume the first location (“First Church North”) because that subtly communicates that campuses are only an appendage to something else. * Overreaching in titles.

Welcome to another special episode of the unSeminary podcast where we’re continuing to chat about multisite. Today I’m joined by Jenni Catron from the organization 4Sight.

Jenni and her husband helped plant a church in Nashville which introduced her to the world of multisite. During that time she worked at Cross Point Church as the Executive Director for nine years, figuring out how to make multisite work for them. Following her time at Cross Point, Jenni worked at Menlo Church in California, helping relaunch the multisite initiative there. In 2016 she launched 4Sight and began working with churches and nonprofits on culture and strategy, helping them look at the big picture of their ministry and create thriving leaders and healthy organizations.

Jenni is with us today to talk about one of the biggest problems which churches going multisite may experience.

* The silent suffocator of multisite. // When a church goes multisite, one of the big questions leaders ask is: How do we make sure what is core about who we are gets reproduced at other locations? Culture is often caught at churches, but when locations are spread out and the leadership can’t always physically be available to coach at the campuses, it can create a disconnect.* Defining culture. // What makes up the culture at a church? The culture is the values of the organization and team, how you work, and your behavior. A simple equation is value multiplied by behavior equals culture. Churches get stuck when they define what they value, but not what it looks like in a particular situation.* Culture needs to be taught. // When a church is smaller, culture is often caught, but as a church grows and especially if it goes multisite, culture needs to be taught. Leaders have to decide how they define their church culture by values, beliefs, and behaviors. Then they need to develop a process for actually transferring that culture. This process will ensure that every team member at every site can help replicate the culture in congruence with who that church is as an organization.* Behavior reveals what we value. // A church may define certain things that they value, but what do they actually value based on how they behave? It can be difficult to take a step back and examine the church culture in this way. Consider interviewing someone who has recently joined the team and ask what they think the team values based on their experience so far. Compare and contrast what leadership says they value to what your behavior reveals you value. This exercise will help you drill down to the core of your church’s culture.* Teach values. // It will do more damage to your culture if you work to define your values, but never talk about them after that. Your values need to be part of the rhythm of your organization. Create a process by which you consistently and regularly teach and discuss the church’s values whether it’s at staff events, team huddles, or planning meetings.* Watch for cultural drift. // If you notice a disconnect happening at a campus level and the staff and volunteers are drifting culturally from the rest of the church, first evaluate if you’ve been in their environment enough to experience it and know what they’re navigating. Own your role in their cultural drift. Is there anything you have not done to make sure they were well-equipped? Make sure you understand the situation and know what a campus leader needs so you can correct the drift happening and coach them well.* What is your reality? // 4Site helps church leaders recognize the values and beliefs of their team and teaches them how to transfer culture. First 4Sight does an assessment of how the culture works and where strengths and weaknesses may be, and then they’ll coach organizations through implementing healthy tools for that culture.

Welcome to another special episode of the unSeminary podcast where we’re continuing to chat about multisite. Today I’m joined by Jenni Catron from the organization 4Sight.

Jenni and her husband helped plant a church in Nashville which introduced her to the world of multisite. During that time she worked at Cross Point Church as the Executive Director for nine years, figuring out how to make multisite work for them. Following her time at Cross Point, Jenni worked at Menlo Church in California, helping relaunch the multisite initiative there. In 2016 she launched 4Sight and began working with churches and nonprofits on culture and strategy, helping them look at the big picture of their ministry and create thriving leaders and healthy organizations.

Jenni is with us today to talk about one of the biggest problems which churches going multisite may experience.

* The silent suffocator of multisite. // When a church goes multisite, one of the big questions leaders ask is: How do we make sure what is core about who we are gets reproduced at other locations? Culture is often caught at churches, but when locations are spread out and the leadership can’t always physically be available to coach at the campuses, it can create a disconnect.* Defining culture. // What makes up the culture at a church? The culture is the values of the organization and team, how you work, and your behavior. A simple equation is value multiplied by behavior equals culture. Churches get stuck when they define what they value, but not what it looks like in a particular situation.* Culture needs to be taught. // When a church is smaller, culture is often caught, but as a church grows and especially if it goes multisite, culture needs to be taught. Leaders have to decide how they define their church culture by values, beliefs, and behaviors. Then they need to develop a process for actually transferring that culture. This process will ensure that every team member at every site can help replicate the culture in congruence with who that church is as an organization.* Behavior reveals what we value. // A church may define certain things that they value, but what do they actually value based on how they behave? It can be difficult to take a step back and examine the church culture in this way. Consider interviewing someone who has recently joined the team and ask what they think the team values based on their experience so far. Compare and contrast what leadership says they value to what your behavior reveals you value. This exercise will help you drill down to the core of your church’s culture.* Teach values. // It will do more damage to your culture if you work to define your values, but never talk about them after that. Your values need to be part of the rhythm of your organization. Create a process by which you consistently and regularly teach and discuss the church’s values whether it’s at staff events, team huddles, or planning meetings.* Watch for cultural drift. // If you notice a disconnect happening at a campus level and the staff and volunteers are drifting culturally from the rest of the church, first evaluate if you’ve been in their environment enough to experience it and know what they’re navigating. Own your role in their cultural drift. Is there anything you have not done to make sure they were well-equipped? Make sure you understand the situation and know what a campus leader needs so you can correct the drift happening and coach them well.* What is your reality? // 4Site helps church leaders recognize the values and beliefs of their team and teaches them how to transfer culture. First 4Sight does an assessment of how the culture works and where strengths and weaknesses may be, and then they’ll coach organizations through implementing healthy tools for that culture.

Are you thinking about going multisite? Following leading churches is a great way to see how others have approached this method of church growth. 

Are you already multisite but want to improve your processes? Tracking closely with other leading churches can help you debug your own issues!

As a practice, you should follow other churches in the multisite movement in order to extract lessons for your own church. This curated list of churches is a great place to start! Each of these churches are leaders in the multisite church movement in their own right. They are the kind of churches that you would grow from observing and getting to know better!

I deliberately chose churches that you most likely haven’t heard of yet. We can often get too focused on a small handful of churches and assume that all multisite ministries should look like them. That’s not the case at all! There are a lot of ways to make multisite work, and these different churches can offer you a sense of what it could look like for your church. 

Mountain Christian Church

[Web] [Facebook] [Instagram] 

Interview: Staff Restructuring in a Multisite Church with Luke Erickson

This four campus church was founded in 1824 and is still thriving today! 

Life Point Church

[Web] [Facebook] [Instagram] 

Interview: An Insider Look at a Fast Growing Mobile Multisite Campus with Beau Jensen

This is one of the fastest-growing churches in the country. They are also doing some interesting stuff with microsites.

The Point Church

[Web]  

Interview: Rapid Multiplication Approach to Multisite Expansion with Chris Hankins

One of the most “multi” of multisite churches out there. This church is expanding so quickly! 

New Life Community Church

[Web] [Facebook] [

Are you thinking about going multisite? Following leading churches is a great way to see how others have approached this method of church growth. 

Are you already multisite but want to improve your processes? Tracking closely with other leading churches can help you debug your own issues!

As a practice, you should follow other churches in the multisite movement in order to extract lessons for your own church. This curated list of churches is a great place to start! Each of these churches are leaders in the multisite church movement in their own right. They are the kind of churches that you would grow from observing and getting to know better!

I deliberately chose churches that you most likely haven’t heard of yet. We can often get too focused on a small handful of churches and assume that all multisite ministries should look like them. That’s not the case at all! There are a lot of ways to make multisite work, and these different churches can offer you a sense of what it could look like for your church. 

Mountain Christian Church

[Web] [Facebook] [Instagram] 

Interview: Staff Restructuring in a Multisite Church with Luke Erickson

This four campus church was founded in 1824 and is still thriving today! 

Life Point Church

[Web] [Facebook] [Instagram] 

Interview: An Insider Look at a Fast Growing Mobile Multisite Campus with Beau Jensen

This is one of the fastest-growing churches in the country. They are also doing some interesting stuff with microsites.

The Point Church

[Web]  

Interview: Rapid Multiplication Approach to Multisite Expansion with Chris Hankins

One of the most “multi” of multisite churches out there. This church is expanding so quickly! 

New Life Community Church

[Web] [Facebook] [

Thanks for joining into this week’s unSeminary podcast. Today we have Andy Addis joining us from CrossPoint Church.

CrossPoint is a rural multisite church. They now have eleven campuses in Kansas as well as other partner locations across the country and in other parts of the world.

Andy is with us today to talk about multisite in a rural

context.

* The CrossPoint Constants. // CrossPoint doesn’t use a franchise model for their multisite network and so their campuses look different from each other, depending on where they are located. A location in a small city of a few hundred people might have 20-30 attendees. Meanwhile a campus in a more populated area has 1200-1800 on a weekend. CrossPoint’s standard for what makes a church is reflective on community. The constants between them are the branding, the mission, the vision and the video teaching on the weekends.* Reach across campuses. // A modern, bigger-styled church with its associated resources cannot exist in rural America without a support network. So having a multisite model in rural Kansas allows CrossPoint to share resources across their campuses and the most rural locations benefit. They’ve been able to go in and revitalize dying churches in smaller cities in order to reach out to people that may not be familiar with church, or have lost interest in it.* Curiosity and welcome. // CrossPoint assumes about 50% of the people who attend their campuses don’t have a relationship with Jesus. One of the things they do is renovate old buildings in downtown areas for the church to use. One of these locations was an old bowling alley. Curiosity brought many visitors to church just because they wanted to see what CrossPoint did with the bowling alley. Provide curious visitors with a welcoming environment that makes them want to keep coming back. In rural communities there isn’t a lot that is new and different so even using video teaching in the services has been an attraction.* Not all campuses are the same. // Outside of the constants CrossPoint mandates, campus pastors are encouraged to know their community and are given the freedom to reach out to them in meaningful ways. For example, worship styles can vary widely depending on what a community connects with. Events such as Vacation Bible School aren’t mandated across campuses either. One campus found VBS was a huge outreach to families in the community, but another discovered it was simply glorified babysitting, so they no longer do VBS. Still another campus partners with other churches in the community to do a community-wide VBS program.* Stay connected. // With the differences between campuses, it’s important for the campus pastors to maintain a connection to each other. Andy notes that he pastors the smallest “congregation” which is the other campus pastors. CrossPoint focuses on the relationships among the leadership to create unity between them, especially since they are so spread out over the state (up to 8 hours apart). Every Tuesday they have a two hour online leadership meeting that isn’t all focused on logistics and business, but rather on spending time together and connecting with God and each other. Andy encourages connection through through reading a devotional together, praying for each other, and just talking to get to know each other. Once a quarter, the leadership also meets face to face to get together and spend time in person rather than only virtually.* Three levels. // Everything CrossPoint does they are willing to give away. With this in mind, there are three levels of campuses within CrossPoint’s structure, representing different levels of partnership. Level 1 is the official CrossPoint campuses. Level 2 are new plants or revitalizations that have indicated they may want to be a CrossPoint campus.

Thanks for joining into this week’s unSeminary podcast. Today we have Andy Addis joining us from CrossPoint Church.

CrossPoint is a rural multisite church. They now have eleven campuses in Kansas as well as other partner locations across the country and in other parts of the world.

Andy is with us today to talk about multisite in a rural

context.

* The CrossPoint Constants. // CrossPoint doesn’t use a franchise model for their multisite network and so their campuses look different from each other, depending on where they are located. A location in a small city of a few hundred people might have 20-30 attendees. Meanwhile a campus in a more populated area has 1200-1800 on a weekend. CrossPoint’s standard for what makes a church is reflective on community. The constants between them are the branding, the mission, the vision and the video teaching on the weekends.* Reach across campuses. // A modern, bigger-styled church with its associated resources cannot exist in rural America without a support network. So having a multisite model in rural Kansas allows CrossPoint to share resources across their campuses and the most rural locations benefit. They’ve been able to go in and revitalize dying churches in smaller cities in order to reach out to people that may not be familiar with church, or have lost interest in it.* Curiosity and welcome. // CrossPoint assumes about 50% of the people who attend their campuses don’t have a relationship with Jesus. One of the things they do is renovate old buildings in downtown areas for the church to use. One of these locations was an old bowling alley. Curiosity brought many visitors to church just because they wanted to see what CrossPoint did with the bowling alley. Provide curious visitors with a welcoming environment that makes them want to keep coming back. In rural communities there isn’t a lot that is new and different so even using video teaching in the services has been an attraction.* Not all campuses are the same. // Outside of the constants CrossPoint mandates, campus pastors are encouraged to know their community and are given the freedom to reach out to them in meaningful ways. For example, worship styles can vary widely depending on what a community connects with. Events such as Vacation Bible School aren’t mandated across campuses either. One campus found VBS was a huge outreach to families in the community, but another discovered it was simply glorified babysitting, so they no longer do VBS. Still another campus partners with other churches in the community to do a community-wide VBS program.* Stay connected. // With the differences between campuses, it’s important for the campus pastors to maintain a connection to each other. Andy notes that he pastors the smallest “congregation” which is the other campus pastors. CrossPoint focuses on the relationships among the leadership to create unity between them, especially since they are so spread out over the state (up to 8 hours apart). Every Tuesday they have a two hour online leadership meeting that isn’t all focused on logistics and business, but rather on spending time together and connecting with God and each other. Andy encourages connection through through reading a devotional together, praying for each other, and just talking to get to know each other. Once a quarter, the leadership also meets face to face to get together and spend time in person rather than only virtually.* Three levels. // Everything CrossPoint does they are willing to give away. With this in mind, there are three levels of campuses within CrossPoint’s structure, representing different levels of partnership. Level 1 is the official CrossPoint campuses. Level 2 are new plants or revitalizations that have indicated they may want to be a CrossPoint campus.

Has your campus growth stalled out?

Have you launched a few locations but they aren’t reaching the community in the way that you’d like?

Are you wondering why your campuses aren’t growing as large as your initial location? 

In a recent study of the multisite church movement, Leadership Network found that the normative multisite church experience is that one campus accounts for the majority of church attendance. In fact, the data shows that, on average, one campus draws the largest crowds and accounts for 63% of the overall church attendance. While this is an important fact to keep in mind when benchmarking your church against the broader movement, there are some tactics you can employ to encourage your campuses to grow and reach more people. 

In my book and video course, Church Growth Flywheel, I explore the fact that the key factor for fast-growing churches is that growing churches create a vibrant invite culture where people are regularly encouraged to invite their friends. 

Growing churches are filled with people who frequently reach out to others and ask them to come to church. If your campus is going to grow, you need to get your people involved in the mission! Here are three ways you could increase the invite culture at your church: 

Leverage Regular Launch Cycles

Hopefully, your church is regularly launching new campuses. This provides an incredible opportunity to also see growth at your existing campuses. 

Often when a new campus is opened, there is increased communication in the church about the new launch. The church will celebrate milestones towards the launch, rally new volunteers to join the launch team, distribute promotional material in the community, and plan programming to help the new campus be as highly “inviteable” as possible. Take advantage of all those opportunities!

* Increase Your Volunteer Core // Healthy campuses are filled with lots of volunteers. Leverage the launch of the new location to raise up new leaders at your campus. Encourage your people to either go and help launch the new location or stay where they are and make that campus healthier. Don’t miss this opportunity to engage new groups of people in service.* Double Up on Promotional Material // Chances are you are investing in some sort of marketing for the launch of the new campus. The expensive part of that process is the strategy and planning piece. Use that same strategy to reintroduce your community to your existing campuses. You could even do a “grand re-opening” celebration around a milestone anniversary like five years! * Series Promotion // No doubt your church will host a “homerun series” with content that is guaranteed to get your people inviting others. Don’t miss the opportunity to go above and beyond with invite tools for this series at every campus. Develop invite cards and shareable social media content for your people to distribute and share. Countdown to the launch of the series so people know exactly when to invite their friends. Ask them who they are inviting in the weeks leading up to the series launch. Spend time publicly praying that God would draw people to the church for this special series. 

Big Days Make a Big Deal 

There are three or four days every year where you will see a spike in attendance at your campuses. It’s on these “big days” that two things happen: Your people are more likely to invite their friends...

Has your campus growth stalled out?

Have you launched a few locations but they aren’t reaching the community in the way that you’d like?

Are you wondering why your campuses aren’t growing as large as your initial location? 

In a recent study of the multisite church movement, Leadership Network found that the normative multisite church experience is that one campus accounts for the majority of church attendance. In fact, the data shows that, on average, one campus draws the largest crowds and accounts for 63% of the overall church attendance. While this is an important fact to keep in mind when benchmarking your church against the broader movement, there are some tactics you can employ to encourage your campuses to grow and reach more people. 

In my book and video course, Church Growth Flywheel, I explore the fact that the key factor for fast-growing churches is that growing churches create a vibrant invite culture where people are regularly encouraged to invite their friends. 

Growing churches are filled with people who frequently reach out to others and ask them to come to church. If your campus is going to grow, you need to get your people involved in the mission! Here are three ways you could increase the invite culture at your church: 

Leverage Regular Launch Cycles

Hopefully, your church is regularly launching new campuses. This provides an incredible opportunity to also see growth at your existing campuses. 

Often when a new campus is opened, there is increased communication in the church about the new launch. The church will celebrate milestones towards the launch, rally new volunteers to join the launch team, distribute promotional material in the community, and plan programming to help the new campus be as highly “inviteable” as possible. Take advantage of all those opportunities!

* Increase Your Volunteer Core // Healthy campuses are filled with lots of volunteers. Leverage the launch of the new location to raise up new leaders at your campus. Encourage your people to either go and help launch the new location or stay where they are and make that campus healthier. Don’t miss this opportunity to engage new groups of people in service.* Double Up on Promotional Material // Chances are you are investing in some sort of marketing for the launch of the new campus. The expensive part of that process is the strategy and planning piece. Use that same strategy to reintroduce your community to your existing campuses. You could even do a “grand re-opening” celebration around a milestone anniversary like five years! * Series Promotion // No doubt your church will host a “homerun series” with content that is guaranteed to get your people inviting others. Don’t miss the opportunity to go above and beyond with invite tools for this series at every campus. Develop invite cards and shareable social media content for your people to distribute and share. Countdown to the launch of the series so people know exactly when to invite their friends. Ask them who they are inviting in the weeks leading up to the series launch. Spend time publicly praying that God would draw people to the church for this special series. 

Big Days Make a Big Deal 

There are three or four days every year where you will see a spike in attendance at your campuses. It’s on these “big days” that two things happen: Your people are more likely to invite their friends...