• Most things take longer and cost more than expected. Dr. Chris Stephens
• Get help from others. We used consultant Jim Tomberlin of Multisite Solutions. Jim was highly recommended and he helped us formulate a plan that worked. Since we had no experience, that was significant in the success of the launch.
• Ask lots of questions. Jenni Catron at Cross Point in Nashville answered tons of questions and made us realize that we were not going insane during the process (or maybe she confirmed it).
• The transition will be more difficult than you expect. Tons of things are impacted by multisite – especially communication. As long as we planned and as strategic as we were, there were still areas that I did not expect to be impacted by multisite. If you do not have a culture of change and adaptation, be weary of multisite.
• Prepare your entire church for multisite, not just those in the launch. We were intentional about creating buy-in from the entire church. I think that made our launch more successful.
• Hire the right Campus Pastor. Nothing can be more important, particularly in the first location. We hired a person who had the DNA of FPC and had been at the church for 10 years. It was significant in the success.
• Don’t plan on replicating everything, just the essential things. A church of 600 does not need what a church of 3400 needs. Try to evaluate the needs of each location and launch with those things. (This is challenging because it is hard to remember what is essential at different levels).

I could go  on and on, but remember that multisite needs to be right for your ministry and a leading of God. We literally talked and prepared for multisite for 5 years (a little to long). Today, our Blount Campus averages over 600 in attendance, after beginning with only 225 people.

What multisite experience would you share to help others?

There were moments of frustration and moments of sincere faith. It had to be God’s hand at work if it would be successful.

And now, we hope to announce the location this weekend.

So, will you pray that all the details are finalized this week? I can’t keep this secret much longer!

• Spiritual Walk – He told me about things that God was currently teaching him in his quiet time. It was great to hear about his walk with Christ.

• Leadership Development – He shared with me his 7 Ingredients to Leadership Development that he took directly from a study of the life of Christ. I was writing like a madman on post-it notes (I didn’t have my legal pad or computer with me). Awesome stuff!

• Multi-site – He started a website for multi-site leaders. You can find it here. Not to brag, but I received an email from Mac saying that I was #500 to create an account. I’ve always been a little slow.

If you want to grow in leadership development, follow Mac’s blog and become a part of Leading Multi-site. I honestly cannot wait to learn more from him.

Who is someone that you have met recently and what impacted you about them?

We took some awesome steps today. Let me share some general details – we are ready to hit the specifics with our staff team and are really excited!

• Evaluation: we spent time today looking at who is coming to Faith Promise and where they are coming from. We’ve identified 4 areas that we will consider launching first (can’t share those until our team knows). Here’s a sneak peak into some pics that will be included in Jim’s multi-site newsletter. A shout out to Marti, Caroline and Kyle for pulling these together! We have a great team.

• Preparation: We have a tentative launch date to share with our team! And, we have all of the steps that must happen to hit that date. Next weeks vacation will be needed (and will be the last for a while).

• Anticipation: Our senior team is ready and our staff is going to be pumped! Can’t wait to share all of the details with them and get their input.

In the past 6 years we have talked about multi-site a lot (and I have been fearful at times). But, today I can tell you that I am READY for the change and the challenges. Someone remind me of that next fall!

If you were going to attend a multi-site campus at FPC, what would you be most excited about?

Although it is still a year off, will you begin to pray for wisdom for our Senior Leadership Team? We have some huge decisions to make in the next few months that will shape the future of FPC and the impact that we have in the future for His Kingdom. Pray specifically for:

• The Campus Pastor
• Location, Location, Location
• Launch Core Team
• Financial Resources

It is going to be an amazing time and I cannot wait to see what God is going to do! Are you on board?