Multi-Site Student Ministry - Part 1

I'm learning a lot in this season of life and ministry. It seems as time flies by I am learning to be a Dad (almost twice) and a multisite student pastor. 

If you told me that I would be serving with a multisite church a few years ago, I would have been surprised. I am enjoying the movement of churches that are seeking to reach their area for Christ in the multisite approach. It is a great way to extend the reach of a church without only adding to one sole campus by building bigger buildings. 

Over the past year, I've been reading some great blogs and books on multisite. What I'm seeing is that there are many writings on children's ministry and the weekend service, but scarce writings on student ministry. Why? 

I think that student ministry is one of the most flexible ministries in the local church. Students are not worried about a certain time or place, they simply want to build relationships and desire to know the truth about God in today's world. We are learning how to lead students to imitate Christ and influence the world in our context of multisite. 

Multisite has helped me focus upon what is most important. Helping another campus with a student ministry helps us realize what truly should be transferrable across campuses. It helps narrow the focus of what we are trying to accomplish. The goal is whatever is easy, reproducible and sustainable. 

Multisite has helped me grow my faith. I am learning to think differently than ever before in my ministry. Instead of the ministry being at one location where I am, it is now going to three campuses this year. Leadership development is the goal more than my presence being felt in each location. 

Over the next few posts, I'll be sharing how I'm trying to accomplish multisite within the context of central Florida. 

If you are in multi-site or are moving towards it, what have you learned? How are you leading to make it effective?

InstaLife Series Week 2 – Message in 10 Tweets

#instalife series – week 2 “#selfie”The teaching from week 2 in 140 characters or less…

1) Recap of Week 1: God is who determines our identity, not how many “likes” we have online! 

2) The word “selfie” has a root word, “self.”

3) At the root of sin is SELF. It is the word, “pride.” 

4) If we only focus only on people liking us, we lose sight of what God says about us.

5) Focus upon pleasing God and not pleasing people (1 Thessalonians 2:4, Galatians 1:10).

6) Live from God’s approval and not for the approval of people.

7) Stop taking pictures with a motivation to have people PRAISE you. God is who created us.

8) Proverbs 29:26: “Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety.”

9) Jealousy based upon outward appearance hurts everyone (Proverbs 14:30).

10) Life is not about drawing attention to self, but denying self to follow Jesus (Luke 9:23).

To watch any of the series messages, check out vimeo.

One Excuse that Limits our Lives

We all have excuses don't we? Excuses of why we don't want to do the dishes or excuses of why we made a mistake. One of the biggest excuses I see is this one, "why go overseas to reach people when we have so many people here that need to be reached?"

To start off, Jesus didn't believe this thought process. Jesus said this in His final words before heading home to Heaven:

"Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20.

I'm sure you have read or heard of this passage before. I believe it is the foundation of the mission of the church. It is Jesus' marching order for the church in every generation.

Notice Jesus did not say, "Go and make disciples of Jerusalem" or "Go and make disciples of the country you live in" but went with a global mission rather than just one-dimensional.

The big excuse is to limit the mission of the local church to be one-dimensional.

Look at the layers of mission that the early church began with in Acts 1:8:  "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The kind of mission Jesus called churches to seek to become is making disciples of all nations.

Why?

First, Jesus commanded it. Second, it teaches us to not become comfortable reaching people we are comfortable reaching. Third, Jesus has a heart for all people to be saved, not just Americans. Fourth, the local church exists to reach everyone. Fifth, Heaven will be populated with every nation.

Finally, I believe one of the biggest ways to help develop mature disciples is to give them a worldview of the gospel.

Lead people to go on mission to experience it short-term so when they return they will live with a better understanding of how God is moving all over the world.

A God-sized mission that doesn't include missions outside of America doesn't live up to the mission that Jesus delivered moments before returning to Heaven.

Let's always ask God to help us reach people that are far from Him locally, nationally and internationally.

The question instead of "why" should change to "why not" in reaching beyond the shores of America to the world.