Archive for 'Multi Site'
Orange: Multi-Site Breakout
Posted on 29. Apr, 2011 by Kenny.
This year I’m helping host some breakouts, so Multi-Site Kidmin is the only breakout that I chose to attend. Nina Schmidgall, the Children’s Pastor led the breakout and did a great job. Here are some details about the church:
- National Community Church is a multi-site church in Washington D.C.
- They have 7 locations: One coffee house, one performing arts location and five movie theaters.
- 78% of the church are in their 20′s or 30′s.
- 63% are single (49% are in 20′s and 29% are in 30′s)
- 27% are unchurched
- Campuses launch with full time pastor and volunteer kidmin
Don’t use “only” or “just” as it devalues what we’re asking them to do. Say it like it is, don’t say, it’s “only” once a year or “just” a one time meeting. Have more confidence in what it is you’re asking them to do.
Kid’s Campus Pastors – Keepers of the DNA
Sorry, there was a little more, but my battery died while I was taking notes. It was a great breakout and some good insight from a church doing multisite in a big way.
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Fantastic portable church video
Posted on 22. Mar, 2011 by Kenny.
I don’t even remember where I came across this this video, but I watched it yesterday and its totally a video that everyone in kidmin needs to see. But what if I’m not portable? Watch it anyway. It might challenge the methods you’re using to reach those who are far from God.
It’s amazing how HUGE portable churches are. Across the nation, thousands of long established churches are dying and fading in influence and thousands of new churches are springing up in schools and movie theaters. I think that it’s the influence of multi-site efforts and the growth of non-denominational church planting. It’s a cool thing. However, I think that this video puts its finger on a very important topic. Many pastors and kids pastors talk about the frustrations of portable church and their longing to eventually have a building of their own. I think that when slipping into that mindset, there’s a greater issue that’s easily missed. Many people who are coming to the portable church simply because it’s not in a church building. Actually, the people who we should be reaching are those who are more likely to come to a portable church set up in a school or theater.
Rather than dreaming of the building as the end goal (and it still might be a part of the goal), dream about more portable campuses that are done with such excellence and fully resourced to be as good (if not better) than any permanent facility. For those of you wondering what kidmin can look like in a portable environment, check out the video.
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Multisite versus megachurch
Posted on 29. Sep, 2010 by Kenny.
Studies show that you’re more likely to serve at a multisite church than a megachurch. An incredible new study came out recently about the state of multi-site churches. As of right now there are more multisite churches than megachurches (churches with more than 2000 attendees) and the number of multisite churches are growing faster than the numbers of megachurches.
What used to be really edgy and unorthodox is becoming much more mainstream.
Over the years I’ve written a lot about multi-site children’s ministry. A lot of other people have also written about multi-site ministry. I’m just thinking that if the average Children’s Pastor’s tenure is 2 years or less (sad, isn’t it?), then at some point in your career, chances are good you’re going to end up in a multisite situation. 
Do your research now. Start with this great study. Follow it up with the book, Multisite Revolution. Then read this blog or others to shape your understanding of a multisite Children’s Ministry.
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Coffee with Kennedy and Kummer
Posted on 24. Feb, 2010 by Kenny.
Although this title sounds like a movie, it really just describes a great meet-up Sam Luce and I had with two great Children’s Pastors. Tony Kummer is a Chidlren’s Pastor in Madison, IN, which is a small but beautiful town about 45 minutes North of Louisville, KY. He’s better known for his web site, Ministry-To-Kids which is currently the largest Children’s Ministry site on the web. Along with Kummer, we met with Jared Kennedy, who is the Children’s Ministry pastor at Sojourn Community Church in Lousiville, KY. You can find his site here.
We met these two guy at Sojourn Church, took a quick tour of their children’s space and then headed down to Bardtown Road (a funky and eclectic part of Louisville) for some coffee and Quills. For the next hour or so, we got to know each other, learn about each other’s journeys and wrestle through what we’re experiencing in our ministries. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay very long as we had to move on to Nashville, but we could have sat and talked for hours.
It was great getting to meet and know Tony. He was pretty quite, but I think that was due to a rough day. I didn’t realize how funny the guy is. His sense of humor is pretty dry and quick, but we cracked up quite a few times due to his remarks. He’s a very intelligent guy, which shows when reading posts from his blog. Although he serves in a small church, he thinks big which also shows from what he’s done with his website. It’s not an accident that it’s the biggest kidmin site on the web. I’ve shared many emails with Kummar, now I’m glad to be able to match his face and personality with his messages.
I first connected with Jarred about six months ago when he wrote some really nice things about me and this site. Since I first connected with him, I was very intrigued about his church. In many ways, Sojourn reminds me of Gateway. It’s very eclectic and arts driven. All down the hallways of their church, which used to be a school, is original art from local artists. The church doubles as a community center where artists and musicians display and perform their craft for the community. On the other end, Sojurn is a liturgical church. I don’t know if I can describe it well as I’ve never been to an actual service (Jarred, feel free to help me out). It appears that Sojurn puts a lot of emphasis on the best parts of the Christian tradition, something that many people are drawn to and something that the typical “seeker” church overlooks. What they’re doing has been very successful and it comes across as very refreshing. They’re currently expanding into the world of multi-site within the urban areas of Lousiville, KY, so we talked quite a bit about multi-site in Chidlren’s Ministry.
I’m grateful for the time we had with Tony and Jarred. If you find yourself in the Louisville/Southern Indiana region, you should do what you can to connect with these two guys, you’ll be glad you did.
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Policy Manuals for Multi-Site
Posted on 12. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.
Quick question for those of you who have multiple campuses.
I’ve found that there are sections of our policy manual that are “site-specific.” In redesigning our policy manual, I’ve created a core manual with addendum. These addendum includes specific content for check-in volunteers, early childhood, elementary, special needs and paid childcare. I don’t want every volunteer to have to sort through one super long policy manual, but rather tell them to read the core manual and the addendum that applies to the area they’re serving in.
However, I’m trying to think ahead concerning multi-site with the core manual and these addendums. As we continue to launch multiple sites, about 95% of the material in the manuals will apply regardless of the site. However, that 5% that is site specific is scattered all throughout the manuals. I can imagine making changes to a core policy and then having to go through each manual looking for how that policy affects each campus.
So, my question. How do you other multi-site people do your policies and procedures for multiple campuses. Do you have a core manual with extra stuff that pertains to individual campuses. I’m looking for a solution that is as simple as possible.
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Gateway Church: South Campus Remodel (Part 1)
Posted on 17. Dec, 2008 by Kenny.
Okay, I have need of a little collaboration. I had the opportunity to go to the South Campus of Gateway Church today. It had been about three months since I last attended and a visit was long overdue. Since we started small group up north, I’ve been preoccupied on Sundays. I know that I need to head South every other week if possible. They are without a Children’s Pastor right now, so we have a part time coordinator who is keeping things going.
So, I have some money to spend, specifically to spruce up the facilities. I probably have a greater need than money, but I think I’ll be able to do a lot and make some significant improvements. I know that environment is so HUGE and right now it’s one of the things we’re missing right now. My wife hasn’t been to the South Campus yet. She looked over my shoulder while I was importing the pictures and after seeing just two pictures she said, “wow, that’s un-inviting.”
So, I’ll post a series of pictures and explain the situation… maybe even some things I’ve been thinking already. Feel free to make as many suggestions as you’d like.
This is the Kid’s hallway. We have these banner displays in the hall and in front of every room. We do check-in with two laptop computers. The wired internet connection is new since my last visit. I want to pick up one of those rubber wire covers for the floor as the taped down wire was less than lovely.
Above is one of the preschool classes. I walked in the room and basically turned clockwise, snapping pictures until I got all the room. This is a band room and we use both sides of the room for two preschool classrooms. One thing I did notice is the clutter that isn’t moved during setup. There were some unused tables, chairs, podiums and other “school junk” that needs to be pushed off to the other side of the dividers.
Here’s what I’m having a hard time deciding. I can get the 3 foot high pipe and drape that will hide most of the junk around the room, but I wonder if I’d be better served using the 8 foot high drapes as the room is so incredibly cluttered. I also thought about using the primary colored vinyl panels that hook together, but then again, it doesn’t blog all the things you can see over it (only 4 feet tall). We’re also probably going to be getting some portable preschool tables and chairs as well. Right now they just have the carpets.
This is the other side of the band room. I walked in and turned clockwise. We used the travel crates and bookshelves to do a lot of our “walls.” Not more to add to this as it’s the same situation as the other side. Any suggestions?
This is the nursery area. We use one room that is also divided in half. We are using road cases, dividers and those vinyl panels to divide the room. At the back of the room, school desk are tipped forward to create a boundary (this drives me crazy). At the front of the room is this huge green platform that cuts into both sides. They use this as a diaper changing station, however the toddlers on one side of this room are prone to explore and climb the platform. Again, do I simply invest in those vinyl panels and create room walls with them or get the pipe and drape and go higher?
This is the one room that isn’t horribly cluttered. We’re using it as the elementary room. Right now the kids sit on the chairs on the risers. They do small groups on the floor in front of the chairs. The rest of the room is pretty empty. What I’d like to do is get rid of all the chairs, use pipe and drape to section off the risers and put the large area rugs on the floor for small groups. I’d rather the kids be on the floor on the rugs instead of the chairs. Whether I do the entire room or just parts of it in pipe and drape, I totally need a tall and wide backdrop in the front of the room to the right of the screen. It would allow me to have some “backstage” space as well as cover up all the junk in the front of the room. What are my options on a large banner or display as a backdrop? I know you can print on material that I could probably hang from the pipe and drape, but would it be too translucent and see through?
Any other suggestions here?
Well, tell me what you think. I’m open to all kinds of suggestions.
A friend of mine from Life Church Sent these to me:
These pictures were really helpful. They showed me what could be done with simple pipe and drape. In some of the classrooms, they used horizontal bars at the bottom of the drapes as well to prevent kids from simply crawling under the drapes the the next “room.”
A friend from Corpus Christi sent me these pictures:
I loved these pictures. I feel like there is an amazingly inviting environment. They used some pipe and drape to separate the kid’s area from the adult area, but used the vinyl locking walls to create the rooms. I love it.
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My Multi-Site Makeover
Posted on 16. Dec, 2008 by Kenny.
Probably over a month ago I created a new page on my blog and posted pictures of Gateway’s South Campus. It needs a SERIOUS overhaul. I went in about 6 weeks ago, took picures, uploaded them to this page and had some people (people doing the portable thing right now) give me suggestions. Some people sent me pictures, so I included them as well. You can check out this page right here!
I have a limited amount of money to spend right now, so I’m tackeling this thing one room at a time.
I’m actually going to take this page down and turn it into a blog post. As I spend the money, order furniture and equipment I plan to put that information on the blog here… so it fit better as a series of posts instead of a static page. However, I’ll replace the page with new page titled “Kids Environments” where I will link to posts of interest.
Yeah I’m in the middle of installing portables and remodeling a portable campus at the same time. Fun stuff!
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Cross Timbers Revisited
Posted on 19. Aug, 2008 by Kenny.
This past weekend I went back to North Fort Worth for a few days. Josh, my intern that worked (and lived) with me all summer wrapped up his time in Austin last Thursday. When we were planning the internship, I intentionally planned to take him to DFW and see a variety of multi-site churches. We planned to visit both Fellowship Church (the Grapevine and Fort Worth campus) as well as the Fort Worth campus of Life Church. These are some of the leading multi-site churches. However, the multi-site church that I knew best was Cross Timbers. Although I had been to DFW 3 or 4 times since being let go last November, I hadn’t actually visited the church since November.
I made arrangements to visit a few churches, have lunch with the Children’s Pastors at Cross Timbers and actually visit all the Cross Timbers campuses. We drove into town and had about 90 minutes to kill before our dinner appointment. Since the restaurant was in Southlake, we visited the Keller Campus of Cross Timbers. I expected the building to be locked down for the weekend, but I was surprised to find it open. I took Josh on an extended tour of the building that was once Anchor Church (the church that brought me to Texas) and then merged into Cross Timbers. Sara and I had a many happy memories in that church building. After taking out little tour, we let Titus go and hobble around the lobby (I say hobble only because he walks like a drunk man right now). I turned to Sara and said, “Isn’t it a little surreal to see our little boy walking around in this lobby?” It was while we were at this facility that we were childless for over a year and then went through the journey of two miscarriages. Sara began to tear up. I know this may sound bad, but there are some churches that I’ve worked at that I don’t totally “miss.” I was grateful for the experience and there are people we totally love, but we don’t completely miss the church. We do miss Anchor though, there is certainly still a pain in our hearts over that loss. So much has gotten muddied with mergers, new campus pastors, staff turnover, but many of those who were a part of Anchor are still around (actually, that’s who we were having dinner with a few minutes later).
On Saturday Josh and I took tours of both the Argyle Campus and Denton Campus. It was certainly refreshing to see some huge improvements that had been made over the past 9 months. The preschool hallway no longer looked like a dark and nasty pit. Ha! It looked bright and friendly. Good job Argyle. Afterward we went on up to the Denton campus. I had not seen the final product yet. Cross Timbers had just purchased the facility a few weeks before the layoff (one of the key reasons for the layoffs) and I never got to see what they did with the building. It looked fantastic. Miguel (the CP at Denton) has been doing a fantastic job with his new facilities.
It was fun visiting Cross Timbers this weekend. It was great to reminisce. There were a lot of memories formed there. It was also great to see improvements that had been made. It always feels great to see things done that you had either planned or hoped for. I can’t say it was also a little frustrating to see things that still hadn’t been done. Things that were promised initially, but never followed through. I did get to see a few people I hadn’t seen since November. For some of these people, it was so good to see them. For others I only have one word… awkward. Awkward only because of the nature of my departure. If my leaving had been under other circumstances, coming back for a visit would feel very different. There were a few people I really would have loved to have seen that I didn’t get a chance too. Maybe on my next visit. There were a few people that I didn’t see that I’m kinda glad I didn’t. Still a little awkward and still some things to continue to process in my heart… if you know what I mean.
Closing thoughts: Sara and I both felt it on Saturday. We love Keller and North Fort Worth. We could totally live there again some day.We had so much fun being there, eating at our old joints and hanging out with close friends. However, by the end of the day on Saturday, we were really ready to get home. Ha! That sounds kind of funny. We were anxious to get back to Austin… our home.
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North Point: Buckhead visit
Posted on 27. Apr, 2008 by Kenny.
This morning I got up early to drive into Atlanta and visit Buckhead Church. Since being involved in multi-site churches, I’ve never experienced a video campus larger than 1000 people. So, I wanted to experience Buckhead Church, a multi-site video mega-church. I was hoping to see a video teaching experience in this large church setting as well as experience KidStuf, the family worship experience that North Point is known for.
Buckhead is amazing. If your ever in Atlanta, you’ll want to spend some time in Buckhead. It’s an amazing community/city. It’s a little north of downtown Atlanta, but it’s where all the good shopping and restaurants are. I’ve been told that it’s becoming a business/financial powerhouse. As you drive around the neighborhoods you’ll see that this is a very, VERY high dollar community. Well, the church is right in the middle of it all. All around the church are high rises, shopping centers and busy city life. The church uses several private parking lots and the police and host teams are out in force directing traffic. I was a little unsure how I would find where to go, but they made is very easy.
The church almost feels more like a really nice, big-city hotel. It’s beautiful. You come in and begin going up a couple of escalators to get to the main floor. The lobby is big and inviting and the auditorium is HUGE (I’m guessing that it seats 2500-3000). All the elements from pre-service video, introduction, worship and baptisms were incredibly smooth… they were working it. Then came the disappointment that wasn’t that much of a disappointment. I came to Buckhead to experience this video campus, but Andy Stanley was teaching live. Don’t get me wrong, I was glad to get to hear him live… but I wanted to see him on video (most campus pastors at video campuses would cry with joy to hear their attendees say that). I thoroughly enjoyed. Andy preached the absolute best sermon I’ve ever heard on faith. Hands down amazing. I’m sure you can get it off iTunes as some point. It’s the second message in the “Faith, Hope and Luck” message series.
After the service I attended Kid Stuf. I just had to see this family ministry stuff. I loved it. I laughed so hard, they did such a great job. The room was incredible. I can see how some would come in, see it and be discouraged, thinking there was no way they could pull that off. What comforts me is that Reggie talks about doing Kid Stuf in a school cafeteria when they were first getting started. Now that reThink publishes family ministry curriculum, you really just have to recruit and equip your teams.
So, Buckhead was great. So glad I got to see it. Now I’m really pumped for Orange to begin. I’ll be updating the blog throughout the conference. Oh, and if you’re at Orange, look me up… I’d love to meet you!
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The Multi-Site Advantage
Posted on 21. May, 2007 by Kenny.
 Sorry, I still have multi-site on the brain. I was thinking about my last two posts all weekend and felt that I needed to emphasize the last few sentences of my most recent post. This was the thing that I found so beautiful and so powerful about multi-site kids ministry. [...]
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