Category Archives: Northshore Baptist Associations
On Multi-Site Church
Our Church Multiplication Network Round-tabled this week about multi-site church. We learned from local practitioners 
Woodland Park Baptist, Hammond and Celebration Church. Most of the q’s were practical, not theological, which may demonstrate that this trend is becoming more mainstream as research is showing. As a church planter and strategists, I love multi-site, because it’s the heart of New Testament church growth: MULTIPLICATION, OFF-CAMPUS MULTIPLICATION. Here’s a few big takeaways and some of the resources that we shared:
- “We took this journey on our knees” ~ Pete Charpentier, Pastor of Woodland Park Baptist in Hammond
- “We just didn’t believe the best use of our resources was to build a bigger building”~ Peter Charpentier
- “We’re doing this because God said ‘Go and make disciples'” ~ Pete Charpentier
- Multi-Site has a 90% success rate.
- Only 20% of Multi-Site expressions are video based.
- “We never use the word ‘merger.’ Adoption is a better term” ~ Craig Ratliff, Celebration Church, St. Bernard
- Multi-site churches now outnumber Mega-churches in North America.
Resources on Multi-Site:
- Multi-Site Church Road Trip – Leadership Networks Multi-Site Church Website.
- Gospel Coalition Video: Multi-Site, Yea or Nay? Mark Dever, Mark Driscoll, James MacDonald debate multi-site church.
- 9 Marks Journal Devoted to the Issue of Multi-Site. Helpful articles for and against, theologically and practically.
- Ed Stetzer’s Summary of the 9 Marks Journal Multi-Site issue. From 160 pages down to 4.
- The Multi-Site Church Planting Strategy by Tom Cheyney, Director of Mission for the Greater Orlando Baptist Association.
- Multi-Site Church Survey by Leadership Network. Ton of great info here.
- Should Your Church Go Multi-Site? Great worksheet by Leadership Network to assess readiness to go Multi-Site.
- Pete Charpentier has blogged about his personal journey through multi-site. Find his posts here.
- The Multi-Site Church Revolution: Being One Church in Many Locations by Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, Warren Bird
- Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers by Ed Stetzer, Warren Bird
- Deliberate Simplicity: How the Church Does More by Doing Less by Dave Browning
- Exponential: How You and Your Friends Can Start a Missional Church Movement by Dave & Jon Ferguson
- One Church Many Congregations: The Key Church Strategy by Tim Ahlen & Lyle Schaller
And I appreciate what one of the initial innovators and author of The Multi-Site Church Revolution Geoff Surratt recently wrote as a caution. Find his post here.
Multisite is a great tool for some churches to fulfill their God-given mission. It is not, however, the right direction for many or even most churches. Multisite can be a drain on leadership and budgets, it can feed an already overfed pastor ego and it can be very difficult to undo. (Once a site is launched it is really hard to un-launch.)
For a church that is experiencing rapid growth, or has a God-inspired passion for a unique outreach into an underserved community, multisite is brilliant way to expand the Kingdom. But for a church that is just looking for a new growth curve or the next big thing multisite is a terrible idea. It is never a good idea to attempt to give birth when you aren’t pregnant.
On Fruitful Ministry to the Poor
[New Audio] is up at Northshorebaptists.net from our most recent Compassion Network Meeting. Randy Poole from Mississippi River Ministries explores the subject of poverty and understanding different economic worldview’s in the context of ministry. Get the audio on Itunes or at our website.
Here’s a few big takeaways from part 1:
- Fruitful ministry to the poor happens when we see them as God sees them and understand how they see themselves.
- Every economic worldview has good and destructive things within them.
- The church typically doesn’t reach out to the rich b/c we think we have nothing to offer them. And we don’t reach out to the poor b/c they have nothing to offer us.
- Evangelicalism is a middle-class phenomenon and we’ve made ministry about moving people from poverty to the middle class.
Check out the audio. It will make you think about your churches ministry to people at the different income levels.
On Discipleship #verge2012
Got to catch a couple of sessions of the Verge Conference this week via Simulcast with some of our Northshore Church Multipliers. This conference and network has really stimulated my thinking over the past couple of years. Here’s a few big take away’s from the sessions we caught:
- “If God is a missionary God, we must become a missionary people. If God is an incarnational God, we must become an incarnational people.” ~Alan Hirsch
- The Jesus Mission = Reach, Restore, Reproduce ~Dave Ferguson
- “What if we took the words of Jesus seriously and didn’t water them down?” from the video Sara’s story. Incredible testimony. Watch it here.
- We all must live as missionaries. “A missionary sacrifices everything but the Gospel for the sake of the Gospel.” ~Todd Engstrom
- “Consumerism is a cancer that kills mission.” ~Jen Hatmaker
- “Live it or you have no hope of leading it.” ~Jen Hatmaker
- “If people imitated you, where would the kingdom be in five years?” ~Jen Hatmaker
- Does the church affirm comfort as a Christian virtue when Jesus affirmed death? ~Jeff Vanderstelt
- Most Christians are not willing to die for the one who died for them. ~Jeff Vanderstelt
- The Great Commission is to make disciples, not converts. ~Gilbert from India
- The fruit of the mango is a mango tree. The fruit of discipleship is a disciple maker. ~Gilbert from India
- Discipleship is leading people to an ongoing surrender and dependency to Jesus as Lord. ~Jeff Vanderstelt
- You will make disciples, but what are you making disciples of?
- We all look great from afar off, but are we willing to allow people to get close enough to imitate us? ~Jo Saxton
- You can’t be what you can’t see. From afar we can illustrate and inspire, but imitation can’t happen. ~Jo Saxton
New Data on Faith, Religion, and Perspectives on Church in TANGIPAHOA Parish
We’ve been working with Don Turner from Turner Research on a first of its kind opinion poll survey conducted with residents of the Northshore. The study was commissioned by the Northshore Baptist Association and the LA Baptist Convention. This is the first professional opinion poll that I know of that is specifically Northshore opinions of religion and faith. The study was also conducted in New Orleans and the Shreveport area. Much more will be released in this study in the coming weeks, but here’s a few interesting findings from the Tangipahoa Parish data. See the St. Tammany Data here. I’ve included the St. Tammany data where I could below for comparison sake.
- 61% said they had not been contacted by a church by phone, mailout, or visit. 66% in St. Tammany.
- 40% said they would be ok with someone coming to their door to invite them to church. 38% in St. Tammany.
- 63% said they would listen if a Southern Baptist contacted them with an invitation, compared to 34% w/Mormons, and 30% with Jehovah Witnesses. 51%, 29%, and 25% in St. Tammany.
- On direct mail from churches: 48% said they “never read it. I always trash it.” 47% in St. Tammany.
- 67% said they would attend churches that met in schools, movie theaters and other public buildings. 62% in St. Tammany.
- 63% said they attend church at least 2x per month. However, analysis of attendance roles indicate that actually only 24% attend 3/8 Sunday’s. 64% in St. Tammany.
- 11% said that when they attend they attend a Southern Baptist Church, 29% Roman Catholic, 6% Methodist, 4% Charismatic.
- 80% said if they attended church they would enjoy a church of 200 or less the most. 73% in St. Tammany.
- Ministries needed and that your family would actually attend: Prayer Group – 67%, Informal Bible Study – 59%, Block Party – 49%, Leadership skill development – 40%, Marriage seminar – 33%.
- “What is one single thing a church could do that would cause you to attend?” 30% said “Clear message/strong service.” 21% said “Less Judgement.” 7% said “Invite me.”
- 82% of people could not explain clearly how a person can become a Christian. 85% in St. Tammany.
- When asked, “Would you attend a church with the word Baptist in it?” 68% said yes. 55% in St. Tammany.
More on the study will be released in the coming months. What does this say about our community? Any big take away’s if these are indeed true? Anything surprising? Any question that you have or wish you could ask the community?
World Changers Coming to the Northshore
I’m already excited about the upcoming Summer. For us it means 4-6 mission teams, dozens of block parties, many home repair 
projects, and lots of needs met in our community. This year we have the incredible opportunity to host World Changers. Since 1990, World Changers has mobilized over 300,000 teenagers and college students to do home repair and community development projects in over 100 cities in North America. This year, FBC Covington will host 300 students and leaders to conduct 20-25 home repair projects in the West 30’s neighborhood in the City of Covington. They’ll be opportunities for local churches to get involved through prayer, adopting a site for lunch, follow-up with homeowners, and more. Our Northshore Baptist Association page for the week is here. Info will be updated on the site regularly along with opps to sign up to be a part. Or if you’d like to register to be a part of the Covington Project, there is still time. Go to the World Changers website, click on projects and find the Covington project info.
Here’s the basics as of today:
- Dates: July 9-14.
- Host church: FBC Covington
- On the web: world-changers.net. Facebook, Twitter
- Download the World Changers Poster.
- View or Download the World Changers 2012 Promo Video here.
- Fast Facts about World Changers: PDF
- Opps for your church: Register for the Covington site at World-changers.net. Plan to feed a crew at a work site. Prayer, Prayer walking, more to come soon at http://northshorebaptists.net.
The Elephant in the Christian Church
today is that we are not seeing robust disciple-making taking place. You are more likely to find evangelicals affirming that there is more than one way to get to heaven today than you were 15 or 20 years ago. Why? We’ve done great at getting them in the door, but we’ve done terrible at actually growing them up and grounding them in the faith.
This quote is from the most recent edition of Facts & Trends Magazine. Ed Stetzer reports on three important church trends: Decline, Dropouts, and Discipleship.
Recent research of our own area here on the Northshore backs up each of these as a local trend as well. Our Northshore PROBE found that there was a 14% drop in attendance in SBC Churches from 2000-2010 and a 14% drop in Baptisms, with an accompanying 19% increase in population. I think the quote above from Stetzer explains a little bit of the why. Without robust disciple-making, we cannot expect robust spiritual fruit. A recent opinion poll conducted by Turner Research of residents of St. Tammany Parish (see my previous summary of the research here) mirrors research finding from around the country.
- 69% of people asked affirmed this statement: “It doesn’t matter where you attend church, all teach and preach the way to go to heaven.” 33% of self-identified Southern Baptists polled affirmed this statement.
- 84% of people asked could not tell in their own words how a person can become a Christian. 35% of self-identified Southern Baptist polled could not.
Many churches are now rediscovering ways to push more depth from the Sunday morning stage, better ways to assimilate the crowds into small groups and discipling relationships, more organic ways to nurture spiritual formation, and stronger ways to create missional expansion in their communities and world.
What are other ways to create an environment for robust disciple-making in our churches?
More info on the opinion poll data to be released next week.
What if…. Multi-Housing Ministry Ideas
Yesterday we held our annual Multi-Housing ministry roundtable on the Northshore. Thanks to Jeff Cook for leading us in the great dialogue about ideas for engaging a vastly unchurched population segment. By the numbers:
- 24%, or 47,611, housing units on the I-12 corridor are mobile homes or multi-unit dwellings. That doesn’t include the 1,300 dorms at Southeastern, and the multitude of institutional settings like nursing homes and retirement centers. Get our full report on Multi-Housing on the Northshore.
- 2%-3.5% of Multi-Housing residents do not attend church.
- Experts say that 4% of the people in a multi-housing complex can be reached by going and inviting them to your church. 30% can be reached by taking your church to them through Bible Studies, Kids activities, congregationalizing inside the complex or park.
How do I start ministering to a multi-housing complex. 3 Tips:
- Get to know the Management. Ask them, “How can a church help?” Then get ready to respond to needs.
- Think Incarnationally. How can we bring our church/VBS/Sunday School/etc. to them?
- Pole your church and see who is already living in local multi-housing complexes. Then work toward commissioning them as missionaries to the park.
- Look for needs. Be creative. Start Small. Ideas: Block Parties on site, beautification projects, outreach to the vulnerable (elderly, widows, single moms), activities for kids, benevolence ministry.
- Trailer Park Weatherization Clinic
- Tutoring ministry for kids.
- Outdoor Movie Night. Blow up movie screens can now be purchased for $200 or so. The Northshore Baptist Association has one in our Block party trailer.
- Affinity classes on site: Parenting, Financial Planning, Marriage, Addiction Recovery, etc.
- One of my favorite books in this regard is an oldy – One Church, Many Congregations by Tim Ahlen.
- Check out this video on Francis Chan’s new mission of starting congregations in high rise apartments in San Francisco. It’s called Adopt A Building.
What if every multi-housing complex or park had a church adopt it for prayer, activities, and ministry?
New Data on Faith, Religion, and Perspectives on Church in St. Tammany Parish
Yesterday afternoon I had the privilege of being with Don Turner from Turner Research as he revealed the findings of a fresh opinion poll survey recently conducted with residents of the Northshore. The study was commissioned by the Northshore Baptist Association and the Louisiana Baptist Convention. This is the first professional opinion poll that I know of that is specifically Northshore opinions of religion and faith. The study was also conducted in New Orleans and the Shreveport area. Much more will be released in this study in the coming weeks, but here’s a few interesting findings from the St. Tammany Parish data:
- 66% said they had not been contacted by a church by phone, mailout, or visit.
- 38% said they would be ok with someone coming to their door to invite them to church.
- 51% said they would listen if a Southern Baptist contacted them with an invitation, compared to 29% w/Mormons, and 25% with Jehovah Witnesses.
- On direct mail from churches: 47% said they “never read it. I always trash it.”
- 62% said they would attend churches that met in schools, movie theaters and other public buildings.
- 64% said they attend church at least 2x per month. However, analysis of attendance roles indicate that actually only 24% attend 1x per month or more.
- 73% said if they attended church they would enjoy a church of 200 or less the most.
- Ministries needed and that your family would actually attend: Prayer Group – 55%, Bible Study – 50%, Block Party – 43%, Leadership skill development – 31%, Marriage seminar – 27%.
- “What is one single thing a church could do that would cause you to attend?” 32% said “Clear message/strong service.” 6% said “Invite me”!!!!
More on the study will be released in the coming months. One aspect of the study of particular concern related to the churches effectiveness at making disciples of Christ, I’ll post about later this week.
What does this say about our community? Any big take away’s if these are indeed true? Anything surprising? Any question that you have or wish you could ask the community?
Crossover Northshore 2011
Mission/Ministry minded Christians needed for a weekend of impact across the Northshore on November 11-14. Each year
Louisiana Baptist churches gather for a two day convention. This year, we’re excited to host the convention in Covington! The weekend prior to the convention churches are asked to partner with local ministries to make a difference in the host communities. Here’s a snapshot of opportunities to get involved. For more info and contact info check our website.
STAMPEDE RODEO, Franklinton LA: Volunteers are needed (60-80) at the Fairgrounds in Franklinton LA as the gospel is shared through the excitement and competition of a “barrels, ropes, and bulls” rodeo. An evangelistic messasge will be shared, The Sermon on the “Mount.” This event will be totally free, attracting about 2000 people. Volunteers are needed for parking cars, registration, one-on-one evangelism, spotters, and stock handlers. Orietntation is at 1PM. The rodeo will go from 6PM til…
HISPANIC HEALTH FAIR, Slidell LA: First Baptist Church will be the host site as six Hispanic congregations in the Northshore region partner to conduct a health fair. The health fair will feature simple screenings such as blood sugar, blood pressures, body mass, etc. The event will also feature a Block Party with family entertainment, fun for the kids, food, and music. Spiritual health will be the primary focus as the gospel is presented in a variety of ways to both adults and children. Volunteers, especially medical professionals (doc, nurse, p.a.) are needed as well as bi-linguals and interpreters.
WOMEN’S HEALTH SYMPOSIUM, Hammond LA: Redemption Christian Center will sponsor this symposium that will touch the specific needs of four communities in Hammond. Women’s Health is the attraction; however, ministries will be provided to entertain and make clear gospel presentations to children (200-300) through a Block Party Team, storying, a martial arts expo, music, and games. Moms will be treated to a few treats as well while the churches nearest these neighborhoods provide heavy interaction on order to hear their spiritual needs, pray for those needs, and to respond with shared faith. A prayer booth will be featured and manned by community chaplains and pastors. Volunteers are needed to assist in all areas, including additional medical professionals/educators.
Additional service opportunities include:
- Prayer Walking across the region.
- Evangelistic Block Parties in Hammond, Madisonville, Covington, Talisheek, Waldheim, St. Tam Jail, and Slidell
- Faith in Action projects in West St. Tammany. Assist with painting, home repair, etc.
And of course, this weekend will be great preparation for Crossover 2012 in New Orleans as our region host the
gathering of Southern Baptist Churches from all over the United States next June. Follow the info about Crossover 2012 here.
A Few Basics for Longevity in Ministry
At our monthly Pastor’s Gathering in Tangipahoa recently, 89 year old A.L. Palmer shared a great and challenging message about the
Gospel being for every man and our responsibility to carry the Gospel to every man. After the message he was asked how he stayed so sharp mentally and physically through 60+ years of ministry. His responses were simple:
- Constant Review – Memory will lapse, truths must be reviewed over and over again.
- Physical Exercise – noticing that people who had physical fitness routines were sharper than those that didn’t, at 55 yeas of age he became a jogger, lost 25 pounds, and ran 3 miles a day for 12+ years.
- On dealing with Problems in the church – Don’t let troubles build up, get at’em early, find out what the facts are. Don’t be afraid to challenge problem people.
Great to listen to those leading the way into Gospel ministry longevity. Grateful for men like Dr. Palmer.
Here him in his own words. You’ll be blessed:
Lane Corley 