1This 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!