Tag Archives: 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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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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Something’s hapening in Austin
Posted on 14. May, 2009 by Kenny.
This excites me very much. Austin is a Texas exception to the rule. It’s a liberal town in the middle of the Bible belt. I recently saw that only 10-15% of the city attends a church. So, there is a lot of work to be done.
However, there are a handful of big churches in this town that have a lot of influence. So, at least this city does have a voice.
I remember reading a book about six years ago that changed everything for me. I was in a mainline denominational church where I was a little frustrated. I picked up the book “Beyond the Box” by Bill Easum. It talked about churches that were doing creative new things to reach their communities. The two chapters that excited me most was the chapter on multi-site ministry and the concept of “a church in a city.”
Two year later I would become a part of a multi-site church. It was very exciting to see this realized. It could be that this next year I could get an opportunity to experience this “a church in a city” concept. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, let me describe what’s happening.
Last week my pastor went off with about a dozen other pastors here in Austin for a 24 hour retreat. Their agenda? Pray. They Prayed for our city and how they collectively could reach the city for Christ. During this retreat, many of the pastors submitted to each other’s leadership, committing their churches to be less so that The Church could be more. So, somethings happening when churches start coming together to plan out how to reach a community. What would it look like if a community felt a tangible difference made by multiple churches working together? Churches are notorious for not working together. It’s a reason many people are turned off by church. This is “a church in a city.”
So, pray for Austin. Pray that The Church would be Jesus to a community that is far from God.
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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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Enterprise 2.0
Posted on 30. Mar, 2008 by Kenny.
Okay. I think this this my last post in this two week series of technologically heavy posts (I think). I actually came across the little slide show below several months ago. It’s not outdated, but there are now other web application out there now that could also be included in this presentation.
Here’s where we are. The multi-site model of doing ministry is exploding. Members of the same teams are sitting in offices spanning cities and even states. Even though I was only 15 minutes away from one of our campuses, sometimes a few weeks would go by without even seeing the CP at that campus. So, we need the tools to effectively work together when we are apart. This is Enterprise 2.o. Most of the tools listed in this presentation are free (or very low cost). See how it may change the way you collaborate! [...]
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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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My Multi-Site Evaluation
Posted on 18. May, 2007 by Kenny.
Okay, my last post was getting too long and I hadn’t even gotten to my honest evaluation. So, I decided to add a separate post of my evaluation. I’ve been intimately involved in a multi-site church for about 18 months on various levels of leadership. In addition, our style of multi-site leadership has changed over the past 18 months. So, this evaluation is simply my honest opinion based on my experiences. [...]
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My Multi-Site Journey
Posted on 16. May, 2007 by Kenny.
My new friend Dawn shot me an email asking me about what my church (being multi-site) is like. If you are closely involved in the multi-site movement, you would know that every one is different… kind of like snowflakes. My snowflake is Cross Timbers Community Church and it’s been a very cool ride for me, not without a few bumps along the way. I can say with complete confidence is that we are different from a lot of other multi-sites, but even more so, we’ve been evolving since this trip started. Let me explain my journey… [...]
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