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Leadership Network NewsLeadership Network Announces Major Advances in Multi-Site Church Ministry DALLAS, TX—For more than 20 years, Leadership Network (www.leadnet.org) has led the way in identifying and promoting innovative practices among North America’s healthiest churches. And over the past few years, no trend has shown more promise than the rapid growth of multi-site churches. Greg Ligon, who directs the multi-site initiatives for the Dallas-based non-profit, says, “Multi-site ministry has been embraced by large and small congregations alike, across all sorts of denominational lines. It’s a creative—and, now, proven—way for a single church to essentially replicate itself. The same essence, the same philosophy, the same ‘DNA,’ spread to a number of separate campuses. We call it ‘one church in many locations.’” The recent Coast to Coast Multi-Site Conference held May 8-9 in Charleston, S.C., dramatically illustrates the growth of this new movement. Jointly sponsored by Leadership Network and three established multi-site churches (Seacoast Church of Charleston, Community Christian Church of Naperville, Ill., and North Coast Church in Vista, Calif.), the sold-out conference attracted more than 725 pastors, church leaders, church planters and denominational leaders. Collectively, the participants represented 188 churches spread across 35 states and provinces in the United States and Canada. A similar event last October in Chicago drew some 400 church leaders. Ligon notes, “The success of the Coast to Coast Multi-Site Conference shows that there isn’t a single model for effective multi-site ministry. It’s a highly adaptable strategy. Rather than churning out look-alike churches, our goal is to help participants build the kind of multi-site strategy that precisely fits their unique situation.” Plans are already underway for a third Coast to Coast Multi-Site Conference on February 5-6, 2007, in San Diego. For more information (including speaker bios and a detailed schedule) see www.multi-site.org. In another huge development, three Leadership Network team members have just released a groundbreaking book that promises to further accelerate the growth of multi-site churches. The Multi-Site Revolution: Being One Church in Many Locations (Zondervan, 2006) provides real-life examples that illustrate a wide range of creative approaches to multi-site ministry. Drawing on the experiences of more than 50 pioneering multi-site congregations, the immensely practical book includes guidance, insights, action steps, resources and self-diagnostic tools that will help leaders determine whether multi-site is right for their church and, if so, how to make the move to this new form of ministry. In The Multi-Site Revolution, readers will learn how to successfully:
Joining Ligon as co-authors are two other specialists in this emerging field. Geoff Surratt is a staff member with Seacoast Church, a highly-respected multi-site church in South Carolina. Surratt also serves part-time on Leadership Network’s staff. Warren Bird, Director of Research for Leadership Network, has more than 10 years of church staff and seminary teaching experience. Bird has collaboratively written 14 books, all on subjects of church health and innovation. The Multi-Site Revolution is the second title in the “Leadership Network Innovation Series,” produced jointly with Zondervan, the world’s leading Christian communications company. Each book in the Innovation Series provides high-capacity church leaders with success stories, analyses and practical “how-to” resources for putting innovative ideas into practice. Released earlier this year was Mark Driscoll’s Confessions of a Reformission Rev: Hard Lessons From an Emerging Missional Church (Zondervan, 2006). For more information or to order a copy of The Multi-Site Revolution, see www.zondervan.com or contract your local Christian bookseller. Interested individuals can also download a sample chapter from the Leadership Network Web site at www.leadnet.org. Leadership Network’s events and book publishing initiatives are an important part of its overall strategy to capture and distribute knowledge to high-impact church leaders—a strategy that includes a variety of e-newsletters, downloadable concept papers, podcasts, videos and other resources. See www.leadnet.org for specific titles and products. About Leadership Network: Based in Dallas, Texas, Leadership Network is a non-profit public charity that fosters church innovation and growth through a variety of programs, resources and strategies in furtherance of a far-reaching mission to identify, connect and help high-capacity Christian leaders multiply their impact. For more about Leadership Network, see www.leadnet.org or contact Rick Long at 1.800.477.6698 x 102 or rlong@sourcepub.com.
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