Many Students, Multiple Sites

Many Students, Multiple Sites
Student Ministries Are Thriving In Multisite Settings
by Andy Williams
Leadership Network • Many Students, Multiple Sites
1
Many Students, Multiple Sites
Student Ministries Are Thriving In Multisite Settings
by Andy Williams
Overview:
Article Summary
Churches across the county are experiencing a
synergy as student ministry leaders move into
multiple locations to reach and develop middle
and high schoolers. Multisite student ministries
around the U.S. utilize various ministry models
and leadership structures to accomplish the same
goals but all agree that joining forces across
multiple locations is netting strong results.
Further Reading
Multiple Everything by Colleen Pepper
Leadership Network invited leaders from other
U.S. churches with four or more campuses to
participate in a survey that specifically targeted
churches with four or more satellite, branch, or
regional campus locations. This report includes
eight ways that churches with four or more
campuses are distinct, and some of the most
significant perspectives they’re discovering.
How Externally Focused Churches Minister to
Children by Krista Petty
Externally focused churches seek to be salt and
light in their communities, showing the good
news of Jesus Christ through good deeds and
good will. Church leaders and volunteers serving
children in their communities find it to be one of
the most rewarding as well as challenging ways
to extend God’s grace beyond the walls of their
church.
Leadership Network • Many Students, Multiple Sites
2
Many Students, Multiple Sites
Andy Tilley had just experienced the
kind of moment that puts the power of
multisite student ministry on big-screen
display.
A high school student who was part of
Andy’s “United” student ministry at
Cross Timbers Church in Argyle, TX
(www.crosstimberschurch.org) had
been killed by a drunk driver, and the
student’s younger brother and sister—
also part of the student ministry—were
in the car, but survived the crash.
Days after the tragedy, Tilley was
speaking from Cross Timbers’ Keller,
TX satellite campus a few miles from
the main campus, and he was being
broadcast to the church’s two other
sites. As he was leading the groups in
all three locations to pray for the family
of the student who died, the brother
and sister walked into the main campus
location in Argyle.
Multisite student ministries around the U.S. agree that joining forces across multiple
locations is netting strong results.
awesome!’ They don’t know these kids.
They probably never met them. They
just know they’re part of something
with them.”
“It was just this unique time where
everybody was pulling together,” Andy
recalls. “And these two come through
the door, because their church is the
first place they went to get support.”
Andy’s story mirrors the synergy that
other churches are experiencing across
the country, as student ministry leaders
move into multiple locations to reach
and develop middle and high schoolers.
Multisite student ministries around the
U.S. utilize various ministry models and
leadership structures to accomplish the
same goals. But all agree that joining
forces across multiple locations is
netting strong results.
Andy got a text message while on stage
with a photo of the two students in
Argyle. “I said, ‘Hey, Keller, I just got
something I want you to see,’ ” Andy
says. “The two people we were just
praying for are at the other church right
now.’ ” The crowds erupted at all three
locations, Andy says. “Everybody’s
clapping and cheering, like ‘How
“For a smaller ministry like ours to be
able to join bigger events for outreach
and discipleship is a huge win for our
kids,” says Chris Burkley, who leads
the student ministry at the Forney,
TX campus of Lakepointe Church in
Rockwall, TX (www.lakepointe.org).
“To be able to jump into those bigger
scenarios allows us to do things we
Leadership Network • Many Students, Multiple Sites
wouldn’t be able to do otherwise.”
New Opportunities
for Ministry and
Leadership
Steve Beck knows first-hand what
happens anytime you break out a
skateboard ramp. “Skateboarders come
out of the woodwork,” says Steve, one of
the leaders of multisite student ministry
at Manna Church in Fayetteville, NC
(www.mannachurch.org). “They seem
to appear out of nowhere.”
Manna’s Rush Skate Movement has
grown to reach hundreds of skaters
every year in its own skate park,
and the park has become a central
gathering place for Manna’s multiple
sites, which meet in small groups across
the community and into nearby rural
areas.
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Manna’s ministry to skateboarders grew out of the
church’s strategy of equipping students to start groups
in their own communities and schools.
Manna’s ministry to skateboarders
grew out of the church’s strategy of
equipping students to start groups in
their own communities and schools,
and then bring those groups together
for larger, multisite gatherings in three
locations. Steve says the decentralized
and student-led strategy allows Manna
to reach into demographic pockets the
group could never reach with only a
centralized gathering.
“We have students leading ministries
on their own campuses where they do
everything from canned food drives
and feeding the homeless to gospel
outreaches and prayer groups,” Steve
says. “Students are leading the way on
their campuses vs. parents or youth
leaders going in and doing it for them.”
That type of mobilization for ministry
and outreach is becoming a trademark
of thriving multisite student ministries,
as students who might have blended
into the background of a large youth
group emerge as leaders in a multisite
setting. “Students and adult leaders
have so many more opportunities to
serve in a multisite student ministry,”
says Sherry Surratt, director of Student
Ministry Innovation Labs for Dallasbased Leadership Network. “Now
instead of needing one worship band,
for instance, student ministries have
four or five and there are so many
more opportunities to step up and do
ministry.”
Chris Burkley saw that scenario
play out when a worship leader from
Lakepointe’s original Rockwall campus
helped launch the new Forney location.
Two other students who couldn’t serve
at the main site because of driving
distance have become key leaders in
the satellite location. “They were never
that committed before and just floated
through,” Chris says. “Now, they are
there at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday helping set
up and praying for the ministry.”
Greg Bradford, High School Pastor at
Lakepointe’s main Rockwall campus of
1,000 students, also saw two nominally
committed students blossom in their
leadership at a new multisite location.
“They were sort of quiet and got lost
in the big crowd,” Greg says. “They
became part of a smaller multisite
location, and were probably better
cared for. They were able to thrive.”
One of the girls is going on a mission
trip to South Africa. “She probably
never would have gone on a trip with
us,” he says. “We were too big and she
got lost in the shuffle.”
Multisite student ministries also are
creating gathering points for students
Leadership Network • Many Students, Multiple Sites
who move away, and places for students
to connect friends who might not drive
to a main campus. A young girl who
dropped out of Lakepointe’s student
ministry when she moved resurfaced
when the Forney campus opened. She
hasn’t missed a week. “We assumed
she transitioned to a new church when
she moved,” Chris says. “But she didn’t
feel like she fit anywhere, and hadn’t
plugged in.”
Lakepointe held a student retreat for all
of its satellite locations, and students
from the main campus invited friends in
their remote communities that probably
wouldn’t have come otherwise. “One
girl said she missed being in a small
group and riding the bus with her
friends from Rockwall,” Greg says.
“But she was able to bring four or five
friends, and wouldn’t have been able to
do that if they had to drive all the way
to Rockwall to come.”
A Vital Decision:
Centralized Teaching
Model or Unique
Thumbprint?
Andy Tilley doesn’t ever have to wonder
4
The only thing that’s different in each
location is the culture of the kids.”
Other thriving multisite student
ministries have chosen the other fork
in road, where autonomous leadership
and programming is encouraged and
planned for in each location. “Initially,
we tried the exact same programming
in each location,” says Lakepointe’s
Chris Burkley. “But it didn’t work for
us. The culture of each location was too
different.”
Multisite student ministries also are creating gathering points for students who
move away, and places for students to connect with friends who might not drive
to a main campus.
what students are being taught at Cross
Timbers. “I do most of the teaching,
and we do the same thing in every
location,” Andy says. “So I always
know what was said on stage, and what
our kids are hearing.”
That kind of unified communication
across multisite campuses allows a
student ministry to maximize its most
gifted communicators, while releasing
other student pastors to focus on
ministry to the students. It also exposes
the students to a common message in
a smaller environment where they
can develop relationships and interact
around the messages. Those factors,
along with the money saved by unified
programming across locations, has
made Cross Timbers’ leaders strong
advocates for an identical approach to
multisite student ministry.
Everything at United—parking lot
and check-in procedures, name
tags, weekly schedules, large-group
teaching, events, retreats and camps—
are the same. “We save so much
money by not trying to do three
different things in three different
places,” Andy says. “That way, we
can put all our resources into making
one thing bigger and better.”
Andy says students who attend a
different location know what to
expect, and their parents can breathe
easier. “No matter which of our three
locations they go to, they know what
it’s going to be like,” Andy says. “That
gives the parents confidence, because
it’s not like they’re going to another
church they don’t know anything about.
Lakepointe combines its student
ministry locations for larger events. But
the youth pastor of each location has
freedom to grow, create and uniquely
lead each site. “We all have different
events that we do, and different names
for similar events,” says Lakepointe’s
Greg Bradford. “So we lose a little bit
of that common language and direction
between campuses. But this allows a
guy like Chris to lead at his campus the
way he thinks it should go.”
Manna Church has operated on an
identical strategy for each location,
but is strongly considering a shift to a
unique direction for its three sites—
Andy Tilley says students always know what to expect--regardless of which of
their three locations they attend--and their parents can breathe easier.
Leadership Network • Many Students, Multiple Sites
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primarily because two are located in the
city and the other is in a rural setting.
“We’re looking at the demographics of
the students we work with,” says Steve
Beck. “The expectations in a rural
community seem to be different than
they are in the city. So we’re trying to
figure out what will benefit them and
allow them to get the most out of our
student ministry, while keeping the
same overall DNA as the church and
student ministry.”
Some Keys to Making
it Work
Regardless of the model or ministry
setting,
leaders affirm that
communication and trust
among leaders across
multiple sites, as well as
consistent core values
and DNA, are vital to the
success of multisite student
ministries.
“Our communication is very good
because we’re all doing the same
thing,” Andy says. “But the biggest
challenge is communicating the vision
of multisite all the way down to all the
kids so that they care about the kids
at the other campus, because we’re the
same church.”
Multisite student ministries that are
setting the pace all meet weekly with
team leaders to discuss issues, celebrate
successes and stay focused on the
unified vision of the ministry. Manna
Church utilizes a standardized training
manual for all student ministry leaders,
so that everyone leads from simple,
duplicative core fundamentals.
Lakepointe’s multisite student pastors
go beyond their weekly meetings with
informal lunches, occasional golf
outings, vision retreats and generally
“doing life together.” That keeps them
connected and builds trust that carries
them through times of decision making
and direction-setting.
“To have that trust between us has
been huge,” Chris says. “When Greg is
making decisions about bigger events
that we are part of, I know he’s not
going to do anything that would hurt
our kids when we’re dealing with the
different sizes we have. Greg may have
100 kids who are part of something
and I have five. But I know Greg’s got
my back.”
Working to build and maintain that
trust may slow things down, Greg
says, but it’s invaluable to the health
of the campuses. “We work very
hard at having great relationships as
campus pastors,” Greg says. “When
we’re making decisions, we have
three others who need to weigh in
on the decision. But they know that
when we make a decision, we have
their best interest at heart.” Multisite
student leaders also stress that it is
vital to establish core values and DNA
that are consistent across locations
and that mesh with the original
campus. Lakepointe’s first multisite
student campus developed out of a
church merger; it took two years for
Lakepointe’s DNA to flavor the new
student ministry, Greg says.
Conversely, when Chris was launching
the Forney campus, Lakepointe’s core
values were deeply ingrained in him
because of his years on the church’s
youth ministry staff. “That DNA
is something I take with me to the
new location,” Chris says. “It’s not
something I have to learn in the midst
of starting a new student ministry. It’s
something I already know.”
Leadership Network • Many Students, Multiple Sites
Strength in Numbers
Multisite student ministry leaders are
unanimous on this point:
They can accomplish more
as one student ministry in
multiple locations.
That fleshes out as students and leaders
get a sense of God’s bigness that they
likely wouldn’t experience in a standalone group with smaller numbers.
Financial resources and volunteers are
more readily available in a ministry
of a few hundred vs. a few. With
multiple campuses, student leaders
know they aren’t doing ministry alone.
Campus pastors have others to lean
into, to share ideas with, or go to for
advice. It’s a ready-made family that
understands what each other is going
through. Community service projects
and retreats with 35 students regularly
become events with several hundred.
Global mission trips that might not
happen in a small youth ministry
become commonplace with a larger
student ministry and church connection.
“When we combine, we’re so much
bigger and more powerful,” Andy Tilley
says. “Instead of 80 kids going after
something, we have several hundred
kids working on the same goal.”
When it all clicks in multisite student
ministry, grieving students such as the
ones Andy described earlier can even
feel the love of multiple campuses and
hundreds of students standing with
them. “When you’re not in multisite,
you don’t know what that feels like,”
Andy says. “You can look around
and see what God has done in the
community. We get a chance to say,
‘Look what God’s done through your
lives and how you choose to live them.
We’re not a group of 70; we’re 700
strong. We’re part of something big—
let’s do this.’ ”
6
About Leadership
Network
About the Author
Andy Williams is the Communications Manager for an
insurance company in Omaha, NE. He and his wife Lorrie have three boys and are part of a network of organic
churches in the Midwest.
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Multiple Everything by Colleen Pepper
How Externally Focused Churches Minister to Children by Krista Petty
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