Scott's Thoughts: Sun, Aug 14, 2022
Total Reading Time: Just under 7 mins (acc to wordcounter.net)
Sorry, I try to keep ST to no more than 5 mins, but we have got a lot to cover today, with launching a 3rd campus and all. The theme of today’s ST is…
Many Miscellaneous Multisite & Ministry Musings & Memoranda
I.e., don’t even try to discern a meaningful pattern. There’s so much disparate stuff going on that it’s just kinda listed with little flow of thought. (I.e., part 2, I usually (always!?) overattempt such intentional flow of thought and wind up (even more) frustrated (than today, when it only took me [absurd amount of time spent goes here] to abandon my overattempt. Yes, that is the plural of “memorandum.” And yes, I am medicated.)
Guests & New Peeps: We’re Launching a Third Campus on Sun, Oct 16, at South Greene High School – Just figured I’d say this up front, as much of what follows assumes you know this!
The Role of Campus Pastors: Important & Life Group Coaches – Along with the Elders and me, our CPs are our local shepherds who oversee proper teaching/doctrine, execution of personal growth strategies and ministries, personal/pastoral care, discipline, and protection of the flock. While they aren’t technically Elders, we require Elder-like readiness and they come to our Elders meetings. So—and I know this is obvious—but they are really important! As we were planning for multisite, everyone told us over and over that the #1 determinative factor for long-term multisite health and success—(duh, aside from how disciplined, fastidious, inspiring, and grammatically correct the Lead Pastor is)—is the health of the Campus Pastor. Thanks be to God, but we’ve got great CPs, y’all. I’m excited to see how God uses them at 3 campuses. Also worth noting here is that the CPs are already beginning to function as Life Group Coaches at their respective campus. Chris Oakes, LGs Dir, will continue to function in admin, helping coordinate groups, on/off-ramping people, etc., but CPs will meet more regularly with LG Leaders and visit groups, help with training, etc. This is going to help us ensure personal shepherding and care happen well. Chris and the CPs have been regularly meeting for months and these tweaks have already shown to be a helpful as we dive headfirst into 3 campuses.
Lotsa Folks Being Baptized and Becoming Members – Just worth saying… It’s so cool to see and hear of stories—week after week lately—of people saying yes to God’s vision for their lives! Love it.
Last Week's Scott's Thoughts re Small Tweak in Some of My Focus – If you haven't yet read last week's re "My Calling and Role as Lead Pastor, Great Questions Answered, and a Forewarning," it would behoove you to do so.
Upcoming Elders Letter – The Elders are currently writing another quarterly update letter re Life Groups, Multisite, and other such high-level all-church issues.
Aug is Life Groups Month – Now is the best and most natural time, y’all. Not only are we studying how small groups in the book of Acts were the intimate community in which the first Christians spiritually grew together and how they were also key for gospel advance, but for all of Aug, we’re pushing LGs bigtime. LGs are about 8-12 people gathered weekly, in homes, around a table where we eat, study and apply God’s Word, and pray together. Let us know you’re interested on the Connect Card as we’re going to begin matching folks with groups in the next couple/few weeks. And if you’re in a LG and you’ve got space, be on the lookout for someone and invite them to your group. (You may wanna, I dunno, talk to your LG Leader first, though, if there’s any doubt.)
Guests & New Peeps, Pt 2 (and a Smidge of Refresher and New Stuff for Veteran FCCers): A Few Things to Know For Effectively Navigating FCC Goings-on – We’ve been having around 250 per campus the last few Sundays, (which, btw, is about the threshold we are shooting for having at each campus, we tracking?! This obviously varies with each campus based on differing capacities, but just wanted to say that to help point out a multisite vision tweak that the last few years have made clear, namely, to generally keep campuses small and personal. See fccgreene.org/multisite for a quick 1-to-2-mins read re our multisite vision. The 250/campus figure is also helpful for folks to know as many see only their own worship service and occasionally wonder, “Where are all these people?” In the other services, that’s where.) Anyhoo… The recent influx of new folks (i.e., around 50% are new in the last 12-14 months) means that a bunch of us who have been around a while take knowing some things for granted that new peeps may not know. So here are a few important “well-known” basics to help you navigate, with a couple not-so-well-known items to include the not-so-new folks:
- The website (fccgreene.org) is directed at guests checking us out and provides vision and information.
- Our app (…/app) is directed at FCCers and provides resources and more insider info. There’s a TON of stuff on the app that isn’t on the website.
- Next Steps (…/nextsteps) is really important for getting a feel for how our vision actually works. Even if you’ve been in church your whole life, things work a particular way around here and it’s kind of a lot to take in without being intentional to go through the NS process.
- We try to keep announcements during our Sunday services on the downlow, keeping the Pulse Video to pre-service, "What's Next" post-service, and the Pulse Email (sent on Sundays at noon). So it would behoove you to listen to what our Campus Pastors emphasize during the “What’s Next?” time at the end of our Sun services, to check out the “Pulse” tab on the app, and to sign up on the Connect Card (in the Worship Guide or “Home” tab on the app or …/cc) for various comms outputs like emails and txt msgs. The app is likely the handiest place for that moment of “Wait, when was that one thing?!”)
Kids (0-5th grade) Fall Volunteer Kickoff (for all 3 Campuses) is Today! – Today, after 2nd service, at the AFton campus (FCCAF), come find out about our vision for our kids and families for the upcoming year. Grab a friend (who’s willing to consider helping in Kids Min? Esp at FCCSG?) and come for lunch, fun, and inspiration to carry you through the year!
Students (6th-12th grades) – 180 Parent Night - Aug 24, 6-8p, at FCCGV (GreeneVille) Campus, in the Student Center – Parents, this is super helpful for seeing what goes on, how we minister to students, and how you can know what is upcoming for this year. Details here.
General Fund Giving: Thank you! – Just wanted to say thank you to so many of you who faithfully contribute to our ongoing financial needs. In recent weeks I’ve seen numerous reports of how inflation is hitting everyone, including us here at church. We’re battening down the hatches a bit and being careful. Though for many years we’ve consistently run in the black, to ensure we are debt-free, financially healthy, and ready to respond to needs like a new campus, YTD 2022 we are right at even when it comes to INC v EXP, which is relatively good news. And I wanna thank you for pursuing generosity that looks like the grace of God! We never want to take that for granted.
Campus Commitments – Good news! We’ve hit 100% on 2 of our 3 campus commitment goals, which are 125 commitments for each campus. A “commitment” means agreeing to pitch in and serve at that campus. We’ve met those for FCCAF (127) and FCCGV (132), but still need 42 more for FCCSG (which stands at 83, a marked improvement over 77 a week ago!) So, if you’ve already let us know, thank you—no need to do so again. But if you haven’t yet let us know to which campus you are committed, please just go ahead and check the South Greene box! ;o) Just kidding! (But no, seriously, we could use your help.) Wherever you land, please pray with us for the Lord’s blessing and wisdom. Let us know your commitment on the Connect Card (in the Sunday Worship Guide, the “Home” tab on the fccgreene.org/app, or fccgreene.org/cc).
Multisite Fund – Also good news! We’re at almost 97% of our $100,000 goal that helps us “launch strong,” by which we mean ensuring our overall finances have enough margin for ongoing ministry and emergency funds. We try to run in the black so that over time, we slowly accrue enough surplus to stay financially healthy and are ready to launch a new campus when God makes it clear. How cool that we’re able to do that for our second multisite campus expansion in a row!? That puts us at almost $97,000, so we only need a little over $3,000 to go.
Last Sun’s Multisite Dinner, South Greene Preview, and Launch Plans Update – Wow! What a great night! We easily had around 250 adults and 50 kids. There was a definite air of excitement and anticipation. Bigtime thanks to so many of you who showed up early to setup and/or stayed after to clean up! (FYI, we say “setup and cleanup,” not “load-in and load-out” or “setup and takedown.”) Also, thank you for coming on time, participating enthusiastically, and praying with us for God’s direction and blessing. We ate, talked, sang, had fun, talked through the next 2 months leading up to the Sun, Oct 16 launch at FCCSG (and relaunch at FCCAF & FCCGV), covered a lot of multi-related content, got some really great updates on ongoing outreach at all 3 campuses, and ended in prayer. Look at the top of the “Home” tab on the app for more info and to watch the video.
Launch Guide – Make sure to pick up a copy of the LG (Launch Guide, not Life Group) that we passed out at Last Sun’s Shindig (here’s a PDF, if you’d like.) Here are a few important items to know about and to plan for, taken from the LG:
- Sunday is Pray Day – Every Sunday till launch, we pray. See the “Prayer List” at the end of the LG.
- Sun, Aug 28 – 1st (of 2) Launch/Relaunch Team Mtg, 6-7p at FCCGV (FCCGV GreeneVille) – For all 3 campuses/launch/relaunch teams
- Sun, Sep 11 – “Shock & Awe” Promo Campaign Begins – See the LG for more.
- Sun, Sep 18 – 2nd Launch/Relaunch Team Mtg, 6-7p at FCCAF (AFton, not Air Force) – For all 3 campuses/launch/relaunch teams
- Sun, Oct 16 – South Greene Campus Launch!
Preaching Rotation – As we discussed at last Sun evening's Multi Dinner & Update Shindig, for now, we are still looping Bob into the mix, to get some at-bats for game time, so for now until we launch South Greene, it’s a combo of 2 of me, 1 of CPs (Campus Pastors). When we launch FCCSG (South Greene) on Sun, Oct 16, (which is also this season’s first “el clásico”, for the La Liga fans), we’ll do 5 weeks of me live/streaming in an ongoing rotation between the 3 campuses, (if you/I can stand it), then 1 week of CPs live at their respective campus, to let us all get the hang of 3 campi. Then we’ll (hopefully quickly, after 1 cycle!?) move to a 4:1 rotation. That’s all theory, of course. Vacations, conferences, sickness, series breaks, etc., make theory hard to practice perfectly, but you get the gist.
The Role of Campus Pastors: Important & Life Group Coaches – Along with the Elders and me, our CPs are our local shepherds who oversee proper teaching/doctrine, execution of personal growth strategies and ministries, personal/pastoral care, discipline, and protection of the flock. While they aren’t technically Elders, we require Elder-like readiness and they come to our Elders meetings. So—and I know this is obvious—but they are really important! As we were planning for multisite, everyone told us over and over that the #1 determinative factor for long-term multisite health and success—(duh, aside from how disciplined, fastidious, inspiring, and grammatically correct the Lead Pastor is)—is the health of the Campus Pastor. Thanks be to God, but we’ve got great CPs, y’all. I’m excited to see how God uses them at 3 campuses. Also worth noting here is that the CPs are already beginning to function as Life Group Coaches at their respective campus. Chris Oakes, LGs Dir, will continue to function in admin, helping coordinate groups, on/off-ramping people, etc., but CPs will meet more regularly with LG Leaders and visit groups, help with training, etc. This is going to help us ensure personal shepherding and care happen well. Chris and the CPs have been regularly meeting for months and these tweaks have already shown to be a helpful as we dive headfirst into 3 campuses.
Catalyst Coffee Has New Motto, Donates $2,000 Each to Hope Center & Longview Ranch, Takes Employees on Tours of Places Helped, Has New T-Shirts & Mugs, and Needs A Few New Good Employees – (1) Catalyst’s new motto is to “produce goodness and promote others.” Check out …/catalyst for more. Thanks to Crista Larsen (and whatever other Larsens helped?!) for drawing our new sandwich board sign. It looks great! (2) In case you missed it, our own Catalyst Coffee just donated $2,000 of net profits each to the Hope Center (Gville Sun article & photo at fccgreene.org/catalyst; hopecentergreeneville.com) and Longview Ranch (Gville Sun photo; longviewranch.com). How cool is that?! Our GM, Nathan, has begun taking employees on a tour of the places where we are donating, which is a cool way to see how we’re helping! They took a tour of the Hope Center and got to see the new Honeysuckle Studios project. Really cool. (3) Btw, they’ve got new t-shirts with the new motto and new Catalyst-branded mugs, and btw, did you know we roast and sell our own beans?! In fact, we’ve got a whole crew of faithful behind-the-scenes FCCers who volunteer to roast our beans. Cool, eh?! (4) If you know of a hard-working Christian who is interested in working a fast-paced job that is also ministry, chat with Nathan Dickerson, Catalyst GM.
Posted in Scotts Thoughts