Eagle Brook Church Blog

The “Multi-Site Church Roadtrip” Blog Tour

Hey WB folks,

I’ve recently been asked by Zondervan Publishing Company to be part of a “Blog Tour.”  Yup, “Blog tour.”  I’m not sure about you, but I’ve never heard of a “Blog Tour” much less been a part of one.  Here’s how it works (if I understand this right).  I read a new book called “Multi-Site Road Trip.”  Submit a question to the authors and they respond (via email).  I post my question and their answer to my blog (I was supposed to have this done earlier today…sorry).  You, the faithful readers of this blog, give comments and add to the discussion.  The authors “tour” around and help answer questions if the dialogue warrants response.  About 15 other blogs are on the tour and you can follow learn more at www.multisiteroadtrip.com.  If you’d like to join in on the tour, it would be great.  Here we go.

First – a review of the book.  

I feel this is a great book for churches and leaders who are considering moving into a multi-site strategy.  The examples throughout the “Road Trip” emphasize unique questions that all churches must wrestle with as they consider really embracing this strategy.

 We’ve been a multi-site church for 4 years now (I’ve been the Campus Pastor for 3).  We have learned a lot of what this book has taught on our own through a lot of good days and a few bad days.  Churches and leaders moving in this direction will definitely increase the “good days” if they are able to learn from the lessons of others (as referenced in this book) rather than their own.

Question for the authors:

Chapter 8 hit most directly to where we are as a church.  We currently run with a centrally-driven model (page 122 – that describes that employees report to “specialists” and Campus Pastors lead by “influence”) and have 3 sites (8000, 2000 & 2000 attenders).  I have a staff of 11 people assigned to my site and “influence”.  We are looking to add 2 sites in the next 2 years and have been strongly considering making a matrix flip where staff would report to me, instead of to a centralized “specialist.” 

A. If we stay centrally driven – it seems like we’d be one of the last large churches sticking to this model.  Is that true? 

B. One of the real benefits to the centrally-driven model is that “specialists” are the supervisors for each position.  In other words, the CP is not an expert for lights, sound, production, etc.  Doesn’t reporting to a “specialist” have some real benefits rather than reporting to a leader who isn’t knowledgeable of the skills necessary to excel in a given position? 

C. One of the other benefits of staying centrally focused is that Campus Pastors can spend more time pastoring rather than managing a staff.  Isn’t this a win for the site, the staff and the attenders?

 Authors Reply:

In our experience a centrally-driven structure works well in a church with one to three sites (in addition to the original site), but generally begins to break down when a fourth or fifth site is added. There are several reasons for this. First, it is very difficult for a central staff to be aware of and stay on top of the challenges and nuances of each individual site beyond two or three locations. Second, ministries can become very siloed when they are controlled from a central location rather than as a team on a campus. Finally Campus Pastors soon feel out of the loop as to what is happening on their own campus because they are not in on the conversations with children’s ministry, student ministry or worship ministry.

 Because of these factors most churches begin their multi-site journey with a centrally-controlled structure and gradually morph to a more campus based model. Both models, however, require extraordinary attention to effective communication. The biggest challenge for all multi-site structures is keeping everyone on the same page, regardless of who is in charge.

Now – your turn to respond…

WBLer’s – If you have input on the above discussion – jump in.

Do you see benefits of staff assigned to our sites reporting to the Campus Pastor or to a specialist?

What benefits have you experienced being a part of a multi-site church?

Thanks for reading, thinking and any input…

For further dialog, see more Q&A at the authors’ blog www.multisiteroadtrip.com or contact them via Twitter: @geoffsurratt, @gregligon or @warrenbird. To order Multi-Site Church Roadtrip, click here http://bit.ly/7pmFZQ, and to order Multi-Site Church Revolution, click here http://bit.ly/5q5AaD.  I have also created a quick “cheat-sheet” of this book and if you’d like to see it, let me know.