Your bank has several locations. So does your cleaners. And your grocery store. Why not your church?
Three Virginia Baptist churches sent representatives to a multi-site conference in Dallas to discover whether this model might hold potential for them. In the past decade, the number of churches having multiple worship locations has mushroomed.
Eric Goforth, pastor of Chancellor Baptist Church, and 9 other members of that congregation attended each of the three locations of Cross Timbers Church which hosted the event. In addition to the original location in Argyle, Texas, the church now has campuses in Denton and Keller where the conference was held.
Marshal Ausberry pastor of Antioch Baptist Church of Fredericksburg Station and five members of Freedom Life Church in Hampton, including pastor Freddy Villarreal, also attended the conference.
In addition to pastor Toby Slough and the staff of Cross Timbers, Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church in Dallas and Larry Osborne, pastor of North Coast Church in Vista, CA also shared their experiences and insights.
Although churches with more than a single location differ in their organization, all three of the presenting churches have a central campus where the pastor preaches live. They believe it is important for each location to hear the same message from the same pastor to help reinforce the identity and purposes of the church.
A campus pastor provides pastoral care and leadership at each satellite campus, and the congregation views the senior pastor's messages on a large screen. Each campus provides its own music and singers although each site assists the others.
“One of the things we wondered about was whether the sermons would lose something if the pastor isn't even present. Can a message be both personal and pertinent if it is viewed on a screen?” Goforth reflected. Others from Chancellor agreed. To their surprise, they discovered that the screen was not a distraction.
“After a few minutes you are not even aware that you are looking at a screen” volunteered McKenneth King, associate pastor for worship of Chancellor. Members of the Denton campus of the Cross Timbers Church agree. “I started attending Cross Timbers at the Argyle [original] campus before the Denton site got started,” a member offered. “For a couple of Sundays I was aware that I was watching Toby [the pastor] on a screen, but then it became so natural I didn't even think about it anymore.”
One reason it seems “natural” may be the technology employed. The screens at each of Cross Timbers two satellite campuses are large enough to present a life-sized head-to-toe image that appears to be standing before the congregation. The image is crisp and bright because of high definition video equipment.
Though it presents logistical difficulties with timing, the Cross Timbers' leadership believes that a live, satellite broadcast, as opposed to viewing a tape of an earlier service, helps worshippers in the other campuses feel connected. Each views the pastor's message in real time. Through the satellite feed, each Cross Timber worshipper watches simultaneously exactly what the worshippers in Argyle see where Slough preaches live.
To accomplish this requires precise planning and careful attention to the countdown clock on the rear wall. Campus pastors and musicians know to the second how much time they have before the sermon broadcast begins.
Conference presenters cautioned against viewing the multi-site model merely as a means of increasing attendance. In fact, each said that only after another location was offered to their churches did they consider multiple locations seriously.
Although multi-site churches are considered something new, as far back as the early 1830's Jeremiah Bell Jeter, then pastor of Morattico Baptist Church led in establishing Kilmarnock and White Stone as preaching points in what we would now call a multi-site church.
Now that church leaders across the country have the benefit of observing how multi-site churches can work, they will no doubt lead in establishing many more.
Cooperative ministry (Cooperative Program) gifts from Virginia Baptist churches allowed the Virginia Baptist Mission Board to provide financial assistance to those attending this conference.