Friday, August 26, 2011

Why touring other churches is better than attending a church Conference.

We decided as a staff this year that instead of going to a church conference we would find some church facilities we could tour, and sit down with their staff for a little Q&A.  All the face to face time we had with these churches was outstanding.
It was a whirlwind tour. Seven churches, four states all in three days. Wow!

Faith Church Lafayette Indiana
Rock Point Church crawfordsville Indiana
Emmanuel Church Greenwood Indiana
DoorCreek Sprecher Road Campus Madison Wisconsin
Blackhawk Church Middleton Wisconsin
Northridge Church Plymouth Michigan
Grace Church Akron Ohio

Here are some of my takeaways from the tour.

1.Longevity was a characteristic of six of the seven lead pastors.
2.Clear vision was at the heart of all of these churches.
3.Each of the leaders we talked with were strong, confident, and forward thinkers.
4.All seven churches were Elder rule/staff driven.
5.When we asked each of the churches how they made it to the next level here is what we found.
They experienced growth when they started a multi site campus, offering different venues, clear vision, new facility, multiple services, name change and building phase one and two.

Maybe the best part about the tour though was hanging out with the SGC team. We had a blast.
If you ever get the chance to tour churches don't miss it. It's an opportunity to get up close to some great leaders, and ask your own questions that deal with your ministry. That's something you'll never get at a conference.

Do you have any churches you would recommend we tour?








3 comments:

  1. I do actually ;) I have a few questions I'd like to ask myself. With 11 campuses, CCC would be a great source of information I'm sure!

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  2. Sounds like a great tour! I can't believe you guys did all that in 3 days! Sounds like you learned a lot. I hope I don't get scratched from membership for saying this, but I've always liked the idea of an elder-run church, I guess because it's modeled in the Bible! Not that I would choose/leave a church over it (obviously), but I think it's something to consider. Just my 2 cents! :)

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  3. Yeah... this is much more personl than going to a conference, where you are just like cattle going from one thing to the next. I always wonder what I am missing when I go to conferences. There is always too much going on that you never see everything and probably miss key things. Like how do you know that your workshop will be quality?

    With this you get lessons from everything. Does a church really suck at what it does? Well you can learn what not to do! Whereas at a conference, bad ideas are given as much traction as good ones!

    I like the potential relationships you built with these other churches too. At conferences you try to "network" but it is very shallow...

    I am excited for Y'all!

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