It’s been awhile since I’ve posted some thoughts on multi-site leadership.  And even though I haven’t been writing about it, my head has been swimming with multi-site details.

This month has marked two major milestones for Cross Point in multi-site leadership:

• Willy Maxwell came on as our new Campus Pastor for Dickson.  This was the first time we had a campus pastor transition at an existing campus and I’m so grateful for how well it has gone.  Willy is an amazing leader and I’m so excited about this year for Cross Point Dickson!  (Willy also blogs some great stuff about multi-site, you should check it out.)
• We launched our fifth campus – Cross Point Downtown.  This was our first campus geared to a very specific audience – 18-25 year olds/college students.  The energy of this place is amazing!  (I won’t bore you with my sob story of how old this crowd makes me feel )

Navigating these two major milestones has helped me define 3 Critical Elements that every site needs:

1) A Great Leader. This is true of everything in life.  “Everything rises and falls on leadership”.  In multi-site, the campus pastor is key.  Visionary.  Trustworthy.  Committed to the over-arching vision of the church.  Ability to manage staff well. Just to name a few.  John Atkinson has a great post on the qualities of a campus pastor.

2) A Team of Influencers. The best campus launches begin with a team of sold out volunteers who will do whatever it takes to make that campus happen.  They are passionate about creating a place to invite friends, neighbors and co-workers.  This team needs to not only have hard-working, whatever-it-takes attitudes, but they also need to be people who have influence in the community.  You want a team of ambassadors who will talk about the campus everywhere they go.

3) Location. Location. Location. Finding a great location that fits your budget and meets your needs is one of the greatest challenges to multi-site, especially if you don’t have the means to build what you want (I’m guessing that’s at least 99% of us doing multi-site.)  The most important thing that we’ve learned in choosing venues is that if you are going to be in leased space (school, theatre, etc), choose a location that is known by the community.  Choose something that is in the heart of where people live and work.

It’s impossible to launch the perfect campus, however the more we do, the more I’m realizing how critical these three elements are to the success of a campus launch.

What has made your multi-site ministry effective?

We’ve kicked off this new year with a new series called “MORE” and more is exactly what we’re experiencing at Cross Point.

More than we could ever hope or imagine.

We had another record-setting Sunday yesterday and we launched our Downtown Campus.  I’ve been reflecting the past couple of weeks on all that God has allowed us to be a part of in just 8 years.  I’m struck by the responsibility of our influence and I’m trying to wrap my head around how to lead our team to steward this season faithfully.

The Downtown Campus was simply amazing last night!  Nearly 300 college students with “arms high and heart abandoned” in worship.  Huge thanks to the dozens of volunteers who spent the day preparing the campus, our entire Cross Point staff who committed so much to make the launch possible, and Jesse Santoyo, our Campus Director, who jumped in and made this happen in just a few short weeks.  Remarkable!

And if that wasn’t enough, Pete’s message was fabulous too.  Here are my notes:

More by Pete Wilson

Genesis 12:1-5

We have a desire for more significance.  We know we’re created for something more, but what does that look like?

We don’t like ambiguity.  We don’t like the unknown.  We don’t want God to tell us to “go” without telling us all the details.  We don’t like it when God tells us “wait and see.”

Genesis 12:10-13

We operate from this equation: God calls.  We listen.  We obey.  God will bless.

We like to create equations for God, but one of the central themes of the Bible is that God says “you can’t predict me.”

Everyone’s journey of faith is different.

God cares more about who we’re becoming rather than where we’re going.

God loves you enough to strip you of anything that keeps you from Him.

Genesis 15:1-3

Do you have a God-given dream that is still unfulfilled?

God says “I Will”.  If you are willing to trust God, there is nothing of eternal value that is ever at risk in your life.

Will you trust God with all the details of your plans and dreams?  Will you trust Him with the unknown?  Will you trust Him with your future?

To live a life of MORE will require us to trust God with our futures.

Where do you need to trust God MORE?

Ouchy-wa-wa!  It seems that today’s message at Cross Point is a subject that God won’t allow me NOT to hear.  Messages of faith, trusting God, relinquishing control, surrendering my will are bombarding me from all sides.  I can’t ignore them so I’m trying to listen.

Our new series is entitled “Searching for MORE than Mediocre” and I know that it’s going to challenge me in a big way.

MORE: Series Launch Promo from Cross Point Church on Vimeo.

Here are my notes from Pete‘s message today.  *Read at your own risk.

Regret has a unique sting because you know it was within your power to do something different but you didn’t.

Our search for more is related to our lack of faith.

“And without faith it is impossible to please God.” Hebrews 11:6

“Faith is the most vital building block in your relationship to God”  Steven Furtick

When you come to a faith-filled moment in your life where God is asking more of you, you will be tempted to retreat to your hiding place.  Your hiding place might be:

1. Insecurity
2. Fear – you’re afraid to make a mistake
3. Procrastination – you hide behind the word “someday”

What’s your hiding place?  What’s your first reaction when God approaches you with a faith-filled moment?

In the story of Joshua, the faithlessness of that moment impacted an entire generation.

When you shrink back from God, it doesn’t just affect you.  It impacts those around you and possibly generations to come.

Big moves of God are almost always preceded by obedience to him in small things.

Joshua 10:8, 12-13

What is your sun stand still prayer?  What in your life do you so desperately need and want to see happen that is so far beyond your gifted-ness and abilities that you’re embarrassed to say out loud?

What seems impossible to me is not remotely difficult with God.

Exodus 33:7-11

Contact with the Creator is essential for faith-filled living.

What does your next step need to be in your faith journey?

**Recommended Resource for this series

Well, here we go!

January is here and we’re coming out of the gates sprinting.  I thought I would give you a quick rundown of some stuff that is coming up that I’m very excited about.

Our new series “More” starts this Sunday, January 9th at all of our campuses.

Do you know someone who’s tired of living a lie?

Do you know someone who has settled for mediocrity in their career, marriage, or just life in general?

Do you know someone whose plagued by regret?

Then please invite them to come with you Sunday.

You can send an evite HERE.

Our newest campus, Cross Point Downtown launches next Sunday, January 16th at 8:00 PM at Rocketown on 4th Ave.  Jesse Santoyo will be our Campus Director.  If you are interested in getting involved you can email him at jesse@crosspoint.tv.

Cultivate Her will be starting our new semester on Monday, January 24th.  We’ll meet every other Monday night at 6:30 PM at the Bellevue Campus.  Cultivate Her is a mid-sized community group that seeks to connect, engage and inspire women to develop their unique giftedness and leadership influence.  I can’t wait to get started.  You can sign up HERE (be sure to note “Cultivate Her” in the comments box).

What are you looking forward to this month?

Happy New Year Everyone!

We kicked off the New Year today at Cross Point with each of our campus pastors sharing their vision for their respective campus.  I love the passion and enthusiasm for 2011 already!

Pete opened our day with this great quote & challenge:

The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized in the lifetime of that opportunity. Leonard Ravenhill

Here are some of the quotes that I loved from the campus pastors:

“My prayer for the Dickson campus is that we would love our community in such extravagant, tangible ways that even the most ardent critic of Christianity would be bummed if Cross Point ceased to exist.”  Pastor Willy Maxwell – Dickson Campus Pastor

“What if 2011 was the year that we cared more; loved deeper; were more honest; more transparent; set aside more time for relationships; what could happen in this community if this place became a place of deep community?”  Pastor Justin Davis – Bellevue Campus Pastor

“It’s time that we go from ‘What’s in this church for me?‘ to ‘What’s in ME for this church?’“.  Pastor Blake Bergstrom – Nashville Campus Pastor

Here’s to Greater Things in 2011!

Today’s GIVE! story is from my friend Grant.  I’ve known Grant for over 10 years.  We worked together in our music business days and now I have the privilege of working with him at Cross Point.  I love Grant’s passion and energy for changing lives – it’s contagious!  His story today about the gift of community is so, so powerful and something that each one of us can give to others if we were only attentive enough to the need.

You can follow Grant on twitter here and be sure to check out his blog.

It was Sunday, August 29, 2010.  I had 37 cents in my bank account and had just used my rent money to make an 11^th hour car payment to, for the third time this year, prevent the repossession of my car.

I was embroiled in a genuinely challenging situation, one that was escalating, and I had no idea how it was going to play out.

Let me rewind and give some context for my story.

In January of this year, after coming face to face with the condition of my heart, I chose to walk away from the career that I had clung to so tightly as my source of identity and worth.  It was during this same time I came to Cross Point Church and on Sunday, January 17 I first met Wes Howard and walked downstairs to the church gym to check out the “Young Professionals” community group, which Wes led.  As relational as I am by nature, I was honestly quite reluctant to go see what this group was about, partly because at that very moment in my life I was unraveling and didn’t feel like a “professional” anything, except perhaps a professional failure.

I will never forget walking into the gym that first night, completely clueless as to what to expect, and finding myself in the midst of 60 people who were all there looking for the same thing: community.  Turns out, the group had grown from about 15 people to 60… THAT DAY.

Many significant things would occur over the course of the following months.

First, Wes and I became close friends and I was amazed to discover how much our stories were similar. Wes believed in me, encouraged me and invested his time and story into mine.

Second, I went from months of being unemployed and uncertain to getting a job at Starbucks which, looking back, wasn’t about coffee at all.  Rather it was an operating room where God would deconstruct and reshape my heart.  This season also brought with it a variety of financial challenges as I struggled to find the ends, let alone make them meet.

Third, as the months went on and the “young professionals” group grew larger, I began leading one of the small groups within the large group, as well as to help Wes with many of the behind the scenes administrative tasks involved in leading a group of over 120 people. Wes and I spent a lot of time every week, planning, praying, dreaming and creating together, and investing in this amazing group of people that we would officially rename as “STRETCH” in August 2010.

Which brings us to the August 29 scenario that I began with.

The Stretch group was back at the Cross Point gym, following a massive city-wide scavenger hunt we had put together for the group. We were all enjoying each other’s company when Wes took the microphone and began to speak.

He spoke about how his life had been impacted by the power of community and shared the part of his story where he was unable to pay his rent, and his community group quietly took up money for him, which ended up being the exact amount he needed for his rent.

He then called me up to the stage, shared how much he and the group loved me and presented me with an envelope of money they had collected for me.

I was in complete shock.

The amount of money was significant, and I was speechless.  But more than the much-needed monetary gift I received, or the amount, I realized that I had been given something much more impactful and intangible than an envelope full of money…

I had been given the gift of community.

As I drove home that night, my heart was overflowing knowing that they valued me enough to give the way they gave to me that night. I later realized that it was almost a year ago to the day that Wes’ group had done the same for him. Now, a year later, he invited the group to make a similar investment, knowing first-hand the impact it would have.

I will never forget the investment Wes Howard and the Cross Point Stretch group have made into my life, and not just with their dollars… but with their heart.

How has your life been impacted by the gift of community?

I’m not even sure where to start with today’s Sunday Highlights.  It was one of those days that reminded me of how much I love being a part of this place.

We started with some exciting announcements for the New Year:

1) The launch of our newest campus, Cross Point Downtown.  Geared towards 18-25 year olds, this campus will open January 16th at Rocketown and will meet each week at 8:00 p.m.

2) Our internet campus.  This one is probably a bit overdue, but we’re excited to launch a weekly live online experience beginning in February.

So excited about the opportunity to reach even more people in 2011.  Can’t wait!

Then we did this:

Pete challenged us with a message about generosity today and our generosity was put to the test by being willing to leave our shoes at the door as we left the service this morning.  (Keep in mind it was about 30 degrees.)

We partnered with a wonderful organization called Soles 4 Souls and collected shoes at all four of our campuses this morning. We’ll collect shoes all this week and Soles 4 Souls will distribute them to some of the 300 million people around the world who don’t own shoes.  A small sacrifice on our part could make such a major difference to someone else!

To learn how you can give shoes, check out www.giveshoes.org.

Also, big thanks to our local news stations for coming out to share the story.

You can see one of the stories here: WKRN Channel 2

Thank you to every one at Cross Point who participated today in the shoe drive.  You inspired me!

Every Christmas I do this.

I pledge to make Christmas about the true meaning.  I vow to escape the commercialism and find joy in the real reason of the season (sorry, I couldn’t help the cliche).

And every year I still mess it up.

Can you relate?

There is nothing more powerful than THE gift that we celebrate.  God was the ultimate gift giver.  He gave the greatest gift.  His son.  The light of the world.

This Christmas, let’s give light to a world that so desperately needs it!

Today we started “Light”, our Christmas series at Cross Point.  I love Christmas carols and hymns as a part of worship, the auditoriums all decorated, we even had a few flurries this morning on the drive in.  I love the expectancy of this season.  May we keep the focus on God’s light.

Light of the World by Pete Wilson

So many of the busy things of Christmas ruin this season of meaning, joy & hope.

Jesus was born into a very dark world, a time when people where desperately searching for hope.

Isaiah 9:2

In the darkness, apart from God we tend to blunder.  We’re afraid.  We’re self-centered.

Luke 2:8-12

John 1:8-10, 12

John 12:46

John 3:16

God is a giver.  That is what He does.

James 1:16-17

What makes Christmas so special is that God gives the most incredible gift ever given – His son Jesus Christ.

Matthew 5:14-16 – You are the light of the world

The design of your life is that you are going to be the light as a follower of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the light of the world, and now that light shines through me.

We can make this the best Christmas ever by being a conduit of God’s love.

How can you let His light shine through you this Christmas?

Allow me a moment of confession:

Today was one of those mornings that the last thing I wanted to do was get up and go to work.  Work meaning church… Sunday services… typically the biggest day of our week… yeah, the day I should be leaping out of bed. The alarm went off and I seriously considered “calling in sick”.  I never call in sick.  I usually enjoy going to work and I’ve always loved Sundays… the energy of everyone gathered, time for worship and a spiritual recharge.  Not this morning.

I finally peeled back the covers and got out of bed.  Somehow I scrounged myself together and headed to our North Campus.  I put on my happy face.  I chit-chatted with volunteers.  I helped set up the school where we meet.  I dutifully played my role as Executive Director.

About midway through the worship set, I slid into the back row and decided to settle into the service.  I love worship so I was really trying to disconnect from my funk and connect with God for a few moments.  And as I settled into the chorus of “Jesus Paid It All” something in front of me caught my attention.  One of our middle school girls ever so slowly began lifting her wavering little arms in the air in praise to God.  From the looks of it, I’m not sure she had ever raised her arms in worship before, but here she was singing out, arms raised, fingers quivering as she sang “all to Him I owe”.

It was in that moment that I wanted nothing more than to be right there.  Tears welling up in my eyes as I saw this precious young girl worshiping wholeheartedly.  I felt the pang of regret for my lack of enthusiasm this morning.

It’s moments like this that remind me of just how important every experience is that we create at Cross Point. You never know when someone may have a moving moment of worship.  You never know when someone’s life will be impacted.

Pete‘s message today was “God is Faithful”.

I felt His faithfulness today.  His faithfulness to remind me that even on my worst days, He is still faithful.  He is still working.  He is still there.  When I feel nothing, it doesn’t mean that He’s absent.

This is Our God – Faithful!

How has God reminded you lately that He is faithful?

As I shared yesterday, planning our Cross Point staff trip is one of my favorite things that I get to do.  I love creating an experience where our team has concentrated time to learn and grow together.

But for as much as I love it, I still make a lot of mistakes.  Here’s some things I’ve learned (by trial and error) that make for a great staff trip:

Get the date on the calendar EARLY and fiercely protect it. There will always be good things that get in the way as your year unfolds, but don’t sacrifice this trip.  Build your calendar around it.

Make it mandatory. Very few things are mandatory in our staff culture, but this is one thing that will now be mandatory for us.  The content and the camaraderie experienced on this trip can’t be reproduced.  Employees who miss the trip miss out on key bonding moments as a team.  Get it on the calendar early, so that everyone can plan appropriately.

Don’t over-program. I have a tendency to try to do too much.  Even this year I was really nervous that I had left too much free time.  Relationships are the most important thing you’ll accomplish on a staff trip, so don’t be afraid to leave good chunks of down time.  Relationships need space, not structure.

Don’t let budget defeat you. It doesn’t have to cost a lot.  Get creative.  One year we rented cabins at a local state park.  They were cheap and I should mention, not exceptionally nice.  But, we themed the trip “Cross Point Goes to Camp” and played to our environment rather than fighting it.  We also cook all our own meals and we keep them simple.  Cold cut sandwiches for lunch, pasta for dinner, etc.  This year we did chili and baked potatoes one night.  Super cheap but still great!

Use other voices.  Your staff hear you all the time and even though you may feel like you have so much you want to say, let someone else say it.  This year we invited another pastor to come and speak to our team.  I also had another one of our staff leaders lead one section of our discussion.  My goals were accomplished and I guarantee the team took more away from it.

Have fun! Throw in some surprises, create little goody bags, have plenty of snacks particularly snacks you know your team likes.  If you know they are gonna wanna watch Monday night football, build it into the schedule.  Watch the energy of the team and observe what they are enjoying and then adjust for it if you can.  Don’t feel bound to the schedule.  Let it breathe and make sure you enjoy yourself too!

What would you add?  What makes a great staff trip for you?