Pastors grow congregations via satellite broadcast of worship

By Bob Smienta; reprint from The Tennessean 10/22/2009

It's just before 11:30 on a Sunday morning, and at a nondescript strip mall on Main Street in Hendersonville it's about time for church.

In the parking lot, volunteers welcome latecomers with cups of free coffee. Inside a converted office suite turned worship space, a countdown clock on a video screen reaches zero, and the band breaks into song.

Within seconds, the Rev. Craig Groeshel appears on a video screen, beaming his satellite message to the crowd, because he is almost 500 miles away in Oklahoma.

Welcome to http://www.lifechurch.tv/">LifeChurch.tv — one of the biggest churches in America.

Nearly 27,000 people attend LifeChurch.tv's 13 locations, known as campuses, scattered from Arizona to New York. Headquartered in Edmond, Okla., LifeChurch.tv is the second-largest Protestant church in the United States, according to Outreach magazine. It's also one of 2,000 multisite congregations that use satellite technology to unite worshippers meeting in different locations.

Church leaders say multisite congregations are the wave of the future. But critics fear this approach turns churches into mega-chain worship centers void of the personal relationships that church members build with one another and their pastors.

Multisite campuses like the one in Hendersonville function a bit like chain store retail locations. The central office provides all the content, from Groeshel's sermons to the Sunday school materials, which are shipped in every month.

The central office also handles all the money. All the donations go to the church's main offices in Oklahoma, where all the bills are paid. The main office hires all the staff and makes decisions about how the church is managed.

That bothers Thomas White, who teaches theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, not far from another LifeChurch.tv campus. He believes local congregations should govern themselves.

"You forfeit local church autonomy and you forfeit your congregational polity with all of the decisions and money going to the main congregation," he said. "And the different congregations never meet together so you don't know each other. You can't pray for each other or lift up each other's burdens."

White also wonders about the wisdom of having one preacher speak to many locations, rather than having a preacher for each church. At most multisite churches, the same preacher speaks at every campus, either by satellite and video recording or by traveling from site to site.

Each site has a group of campus pastors who lead Bible studies, mentor and pray for church members, organize community service projects, conduct weddings, baptisms, and funerals — all the normal pastoral tasks but preaching.

Church plugs in

The Hendersonville campus began as a small congregation known as Church Unplugged. Kacie Frazier and her husband, Brandon, now one of the Hendersonville campus pastors, were two of the founding members. The church struggled with 50 members.

After merging with LifeChurch.tv in 2006, the congregation grew to 430, with hopes of growing when they move into a new place at the former Indian Lakes Cinemas building next year.

Frazier said the campus still has the feel of a small church, with the bonus of Groeshel, a megachurch preacher, and the resources of a larger congregation. It also has a "come as you are'' approach to church. "I like that my tattoos can show, and nobody will look at me and say, 'She must not know the Lord,' " Frazier said.

Scott Thumma, a professor of sociology of religion at Hartford Seminary, says that multisite churches can succeed because they draw on both the strengths of small churches, where everyone knows one another, and the quality programming of megachurches. "These folks feel like they are involved in a small, intimate congregation when in fact they are part of congregation of thousands," he said.

Pastor Ken Behr, who leads the Hendersonville campus doesn't mind not having to preach each week. Behr is a former Ford Motor Company executive who also served as the head of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. He came to LifeChurch.tv because he wanted to serve in a small congregation.

Not preaching, he says, frees him up to build relationships with church members and to recruit new volunteers. It takes about 100 volunteers each week to run the Hendersonville campus.

"Typically, a pastor delivering a message has to put in about 20 hours of preparation, to do it right," he said. "I can spend that 20 hours meeting one on one with people or leading a group — it's a much better use of my time.''

Campus pastors like Behr are one of the reasons multisite churches like LifeChurch.tv work, Thumma said. Because they're not worried about sermons or about big picture planning, campus pastors also are able to focus on welcoming and getting to know newcomers. That's important, because Groeshel ends every sermon with an invitation for people to accept Jesus.

When that happens, the campus pastor works to integrate the new believers into the life of the church, often by mentoring them or helping them join a small Bible study known as a Life group.

A steady stream of newcomers has fueled growth of Lifechurch, which began with a handful of people meeting in a rented dance studio in Oklahoma back in 1996.

"We are reaching a lot of people who don't know Christ," Groeschel said. "When this happens, those new Christians still have many friends who aren't followers of Christ. The new people are often highly motivated to share what they've experienced with their friends."

Churches save money

For a large church, having multiple sites makes economic sense. Once a church gets to several thousand members, there's pressure to build larger and larger worship spaces, with costs running in the millions.

That has led some other churches, like Crosspoint Church in Nashville, to move to a multisite model. Crosspoint, which draws about 3,000 people on weekends, has campuses in Nashville, Dickson and Gallatin, and plans to start a new campus in Bellevue.

"For us, the multisite model means we are able to be really good stewards," said the Rev. Pete Wilson, pastor of Crosspoint. "We reach a lot of people, while spending less money. The days of the sprawling 100-acre campus, with 10,000 people on it at a time are over."

Back in Hendersonville, the multisite approach has won at least one new fan. Rick Shown and his wife weren't sure they would like the church, and they only visited because their daughter invited them. Shown liked the sermon, which stressed that people — not a building — are what matters in a church.

"We were skeptical about the video at first, but it works," he said. "I'd be willing to come back”

R.E.S.P.E.C.T

Most churches make the claim that "Everyone is welcome". However, many of the churches that I've visited make it pretty clear that everyone, doesn't necessarily include everyone.

James, the apostle, and half-brother of Jesus gave the church this instruction, "My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality" (James 2:1). In other translations, the same verse is translated, "don't be a respecter of persons", or don't be a "snob" (Amplified Version).

It's difficult to say that everyone is welcome in the church when we are disrespectful of those that don't look like us, talk like us, have similar education, or may have difficult economic circumstances.

Jesus however demonstrated his love for these people. Jesus went out of his way to be with and embrace the sick, the lame, the blind, the beggar, sinner, prostitute and outcast. If Jesus loves these people, I need to love these people too.

The instruction we are given in the second chapter of James is clear that we are not to treat people that have money, or power, or influence better than others. We are not to show the poor the door, or intentionally exclude them from events. I think the instruction also applies to those that are socially awkward, terribly shy and unlovely.

We have developed code words for these people in the church. Words that are acronyms like "EGR" for Extra Grace Required. While the sentiment sounds polite and even grace-filled, often the actual result is that these people are too often rejected, avoided and shunned.

God has always had a heart for those that are mistreated. Perhaps we need to discover the same heart.

Church as Charity

One of the things that we want to encourage in the church is the idea of compassion or charity. Charity is the old French word “charité," which was derived from the Latin word for precious affection and loving-kindness. Hence the translation in the New Testament of the Greek word "Agape" for love.

Where Christian charity abounds, the Lord abounds. However, at the same time, the local church can quickly become distracted from the primary mission of reaching the lost, preaching the gospel and making disciples.

It’s not unusual and actually welcomed when the local church is approached because of a charitable need. Churches typically establish benevolence and “good Samaritan” funds for these particular needs and love to encourage individuals within the church (also known as the “body of Christ”) to identify these needs and meet them either themselves, within their family or within their small group. When a need is identified and that need is met, ministry happens.

The local church however, is not a charity to the extent that a longer-term need for housing, clothing, education, counseling, employment can be successful provided. While some community minded churches do a pretty good job at meeting some of these needs and organizing ministries that are equipped to handle these community requests, special purpose ministries and nonprofits are best equipped and more single minded in this regard. The body of Christ or the Church with a capital “c” extends these charitable ministries through specific ministries and nonprofits as the Lord provides.

Staying focused on the primary ministry focus of the local church: preaching, teaching, reaching the lost, creating disciples, creates churches that are beacons to the lost and serve their communities best.

Generous Church

It’s interesting that often one of the definitions of church success is measured in the size of its buildings or the number of people that attend. If that is true, then this definition of church success is based on how generous people have been to that particular church.

Let that thought sit in your frontal lobe for a minute. If the church has lots of money then isn’t it the generosity of the people that have created the magnificent buildings, gleaming auditoriums and lush park-like settings of many of our churches?

So what does a “Generous Church” look like?

It may be hard to define but I have some ideas of what it is not. Most likely, generous churches don’t see themselves as an oasis in the midst of a hostile and threatening environment. They don’t have a fortress mentality nor create a “Christian” version of every athletic, educational and social program that the world offers. Generous churches don’t consume 95% of all their funds on salaries, benefits, church buildings and programs.

When I was with the ECFA, I visited a large church that was proud that they gave 10% of all of their funds to foreign missions. The only problem was that if you included the debt that the church was also stacking up, they were actually spending more than 120% of all of their income on themselves.

I think that likely a generous church would be people that understand that they are to be salt and light in that hostile and threatening environment. True generosity happens in the church when we understand that the resources we have all been given, including our time and our financial resources, don’t really belong to us; they are to be available when a need is identified and when individually, or corporately, we have the ability to meet that need.

A generous church is staffed by people that don't run ministries but develop people. Their objective is not only to give them a spiritual makeover but to find the very heart of God in everyday compassion for others.

Does Size Matter?

Does size matter with respect to a local church? Well that is a great question and likely there are just as many that prefer a small church as those that prefer a large church. Larger churches or “mega Churches” often get criticized (often by smaller church pastors) for a lack of spirituality, or a “watering” down of the message or being too concerned about growth and not about the gospel.

However, a relatively new study by the Barna group supports the idea that the size of the church is related to spiritual beliefs and behavior. The bottom line however is that contrary to some opinions, the difference between the smallest and the largest of the churches gives a distinct advantage in spiritual maturity and belief to the larger churches.

The survey showed that the attendees of larger church were much more likely to give more theologically conservative responses to questions about the affects of sin and the nature of God. Attendees were also much more likely to be active not only in worship but in serving as well as attending a small group. Smaller churches attracted an older crowd (adults in their sixties or older), were more likely to home-school their children and were less likely to attract college-educated younger adults.

Perhaps the study partially can be explained more by demographics than behavior.Most of the larger churches tend to be in the suburbs and in the larger population centers of the Mid-South and the South. Evangelical Christianity continues to remain strong in the Bible Belt.

Losing My Religion

It’s often said that religion is man-made. That statement is true, but I supposed it depends on which religion you are talking about.

Now, before you get too smug, Christianity, as a religion, is also largely man-made. Christianity is often the container, or the receptacle of man-made rules and regulations that in many ways provide a false sense of security, or even superiority, that was never a part of the first-century church.

It’s possible that you may need to lose your religion in order to really find faith in God.

To many desiring material and financial success, Christianity is reduced to a system of positive thinking and endless opportunities for lifting our standard of living. It is neither. Christianity was not established to improve your bottom line but to uniquely show what it means to love your neighbor and how to deny yourself.

On the other hand, many people believe that Christianity is a religious system that has both the answers and the resources to solve the world’s problems. It is neither. Christianity was not established to be a cure to all of the problems of the word but to uniquely reveal the character of Christ in the midst of all of the problems.

Christianity is ultimately not a religion but an opportunity for a relationship with God through the completely finished work (the religion) of Jesus Christ. Religion, while creating opportunities for personal solace and reflection, is an unsatisfying substitute for the real thing.

Perhaps it’s time for you to lose your religion.

Independent 'Til The End

That confident, arrogant and independent streak in us is going to be our downfall.

It's something that appears sometimes admirable. A person so confident in his or her own ability to achieve that they are stridently independent and unwilling to even ask for help. However, it’s difficult if not impossible for that person to admit that they are a sinner and unable to make it without Jesus.

Arrogance on the other hand, when it creeps in, is not something admirable. Arrogance is an unjustified attitude of superiority. It accompanies an unwillingness to submit to anyone or anything.

However, Jesus' request for submission is simple: He died for us. Though His death and resurrection, he redeemed us to Himself. We now belong to Him.

While we may want to remain independent thinkers and free spirits, the truth of the matter is that you no longer belong to yourself if you claim Jesus as Lord and Savior.

The decision to make Jesus the Lord and Savior of your life is actually the last independent expression of your life. This is likely why it is often so difficult for anyone to actually decide to submit to the Jesus and “surrender all”.

The scriptures actually say it would be impossible without God. Fortunately, He chose us and loved us and made it possible. Just lose that confident, arrogant and independent steak.