Newest Video of BAF Beeville Construction Project

 

Well its been a while since I’ve posted a video on our newest campus start up but thats mostly because the work that was being done didn’t show much in a video. However, things are moving along so here’s the newest video.

John

New Beeville Multi Site Campus Video

Here is the newest video from the series I’ve been doing called: Starting a Multi Site Campus from vision to launch. Its not the only way, just our way. Hope it helps someone. Not a great video but the best I can do until we get all the lighting in. The project will be changing big time from now as we start the finish work so stay tuned.

John

The Craziness of Multi Site

Doing Multi Site in fun and will definitely expand your reach to the lost, but it’s also full of land mines that will make you a bit crazy at times. In my opinion, one of the greatest challenges you’ll continue to face no matter how long you do this, at least in a video venue setting, is media issues. Whether you’re playing a recorded message from the previous weekend, live streaming, or using a satellite, the challenges never cease. If you were to talk to different churches using all these different methods of getting a video to campuses, each would tell you about the struggles they’ve had.

Thats exactly what almost happened to me this last weekend. Three of our pastors at the original CC campus were out last weekend, so Pastor Paul (Exec Pastor) asked me if I would come in and be the campus pastor, of course I was glad to do it. My day to day role is the Director of Multi Site, but recently we moved the Padre Island Campus Pastor (Dave Cotham) back to the Corpus Christi Broadcast campus and promoted him to run all the small groups in the church. This happened fairly quickly so because we needed someone to fill his role at the campus, I took over the interim leadership on top of my other duties, and I pulled my son Cody (Multi Site Intern) out with me to help with day to day stuff and to cover for me when I’m out like last weekend!

So Sunday morning I’m headed to the CC campus and my son calls and says, “Dad, we have a melt down, projectors aren’t working.” So now I’m facing having to not go to the CC campus where I’m supposed to be, and going back to the Padre Island Campus and preaching on five minutes notice. To help you understand the full emotion I’m feeling at that moment, you have to know I’ve been doing nothing but starting seven campuses for the last five years. I haven’t preached in over four years because leading all those campuses and starting new ones has taken all my time. So I run home, open my computer to get an old sermon, and I mean old, and the file where they are supposed to be in, is gone! Seriously its gone, like not there, missing in action, disappeared, unaccounted for, well you get the point. Pastor Joey (MS Worship Pastor) and I recently switched computers, guess it got lost in the transition. So I go to my blog, print out the my last post, and head to the campus to preach on five minutes notice, not having preached in four years, with nothing but a blog post! :)lol

Seriously you can’t make this stuff up!!!

Its way funny now, but Sunday morning,  well not so much Thankfully I got five minutes from the campus and the team figured out the problem and we played the video, but the reason I’m writing about this is to let you know that Multi Site is crazy stuff and things will go wrong! We are starting our 9th campus right now and we still have problems all the time, I suspect we always will no matter how long we do this. Technology is great, but sometimes like everything else, it breaks! What we’ve learned to do is just laugh about this stuff and move on, because if you don’t it will drive you crazy. It’s also important when doing Multi Site to remember, God is bigger than any melt down or failure that could happen at a campus, and you just have to move on, fix the problem, and try to keep it from happening again.

Years ago when we started our second campus (BAF 5 Points) Pastor Jason and I had worked our tails off for four months getting ready for our launch Sunday, but we were very new at this and things didn’t go exactly as planned. We realized, on our big launch weekend, that we didn’t have enough AC in the worship area so it was 92 degrees in both services, and beyond miserable. The lead singers microphone quit in the middle of the first song, and the right speaker just decided to quit right along with it. Jason and I were devastated, sick to our stomachs! After the abysmal failure of a start, at least in our eyes, we went through the information cards and realized that 8 people had prayed to receive Jesus Christi into their lives! In spite of all that had happened, God blessed the effort we had put into His new Church over the last four moths and peoples lives were changed.

So heres the cliff notes if you will. Yes, there will be tons of melt downs if you do Multi Site, but there will also be tons of amazing life change, and what that has taught me is, God is big enough to handle any problems you will have, so He doesn’t need us to be perfect, He just needs us to be willing!

John

BAF Beeville…Inside Area Pre Construction

To continue the posts on a start up from vision to launch, we went over to Beeville to the new building to shoot some video of the inside of the building before we start tearing it down. When looking at this building, or any building you might be considering, be sure to look at its potential, not at its current condition. If you get a place thats beautiful and ready to go, and I hope you do, you’ll probably have to pay an arm and a leg for it! We were able to buy a 7000 sq ft building in a small town for $125,000, so seeing a buildings potential is critical. I actually think you’ll be blown away by how different it looks when its done.

Hope this helps some folks, but please feel free to leave comments or questions and I’ll do my best to get back to you!

John

Time To Rest

Today I’m loading up my team and were heading to Kerrville Texas for a couple of days of R&R and fun. We are so blessed to have an amazing couple in our church that has a 120 acre ranch in the middle of the most beautiful part of the Texas Hill Country. The house is beautiful and has a pool, hot tub, pool table, foosball table, basketball goal, and tons of animals. This place is truly special and you can literally feel the presence of God there.

The campuses have expanded so rapidly that I have been having to really crank down on processes and accountability lately. We moved so fast over the last few years that systems haven’t kept up with the pace. It’s been a tough month or so as I’ve really tightened things up, and it hasn’t always been fun along the way. Things are in a really good place and the team is ready to step up to the next level of leadership, so were going to go have some fun. I want this team to enjoy what they do and getting some R&R will really help that.

Were leaving this morning and will be back tomorrow night. Short but sweet, but I know it will be a great bonding time and a great time to get really quiet so we can hear God. Not sure I’ve ever been anywhere that is more conducive to hearing God, it’s beyond quiet and peaceful. Almost no cell or internet coverage so I will be challenging the team to unplug for a couple of days, something that may actually put a couple of them under! I won’t mention any names, Jason Curlee, well maybe just one :)

John

I’m a Christian! But Are You a Christ Follower?

It blows me away to hear all the excuses Christians in this country use to justify why they’re not doing what God’s Word says they’re supposed to do. American Christianity is far to easy, especially compared to most places in the world where Christians put their lives on the line every day simply because they believe in Jesus. I’m not saying I wish we had to put our lives on the line every day, even though it would probably make us appreciate Jesus more, what I’m saying is, why in this country are so few Christians willing to do even the basics of what the Bible tells us to do? I’ve heard all the excuses, I don’t have time, family, kids sports, my job, my health, my business…blah blah blah. What if Jesus would have said to the world, “I would love to die on the cross for your sins, but between work and family, I really don’t have time.”

Here’s what I talking about?

1) The 80/20 rule is alive and well in churches all over this country ? If you don’t know what that is, it means that 20% of the people in churches do 80% of the work. Why are so many Christian’s unwilling to do the basic requirement to serve, something Jesus modeled for us? You don’t think this is a problem, call any church in America ask the pastor! Mark 10:45  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 

2) In Malachi 3:8-12 God says we are to give the first 10% of what He has blessed us with back to His Church. Yet studies show that only 2-3% of those who claim to be believers, tithe the full 10% God commands us to give?  If you’re a believer, you might want to read this scripture because it’s clear it’s not meant as a suggestion. In fact Gods Words says you’re actually robbing God, or stealing from God,  if you don’t do it. These are Gods words not mine!

3) God tells us we are to love the widows and orphans, and take care of those less fortunate than us.  James 1:27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. If believers in this country would all obey what God tells us to do, world hunger would come to an end, because we have all the resources we need to wipe it out!

4) The Bible is crystal clear about how important the local church is, and yes scripture supports that we are to worship corporately, yet a large majority of those in the country that say they believe in God, don’t even bother to attend a church regularly, and a large majority of those don’t attend at all often stating, “I don’t like organized religion.” It’s not organized religion, it’s the house of God and He tells us to be there. And because they don’t worship in God’s house then none of the things I’m talking about here get done! If you don’t like the church that makes you feel that way, go find one you do like!  Acts 2:46: ⁴⁶ They worshiped together at the Temple each day,(The Local Church) and met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity. The example is clear!

 
5) I can’t tell you how often someone criticizes me because I won’t forward some email that says, “if you truly love God you will forward this,” but the problem is, whether you forward an email or not says nothing about your faith. FAITH is a verb, it is not something you have, its something you live out, its something you do! It can’t be lived out behind a computer screen at work!

6) Do you hate anyone believers? Be honest about it, did you hate Osama Bin Laden, or were you glad we got him because it meant justice was served? Very different heart condition. Do you hate your ex wife or husband? Do you hate the girlfriend, boyfriend, or spouse that cheated on you? Do you hate the person they cheated with? Do you hate a former business partner that stole from you? Do you hate the IRS, never mind on that one doesn’t count. LOL The Pharisees asked  Jesus what the most important of all the laws was, Jesus said this, Luke 10:27 “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’’ Loving your neighbor as yourself means loving others even if they don’t love you back or have hurt you, or another way, love the unlovable. One of the best quotes I’ve ever heard says this, “The person you love the least in how you love Jesus.” That one gives me chills every time I hear it!

These are just a few!

So whats the problem with believers in this country? It seems to me it can only be one of two things, they either have no clue what the inspired Word of God clearly says about this stuff, which means they don’t read the Bible, or they just don’t care, which pretty much speaks for itself. So how you will know if you fall into this category of believers, well if this post ticks you off, you’re probably in it, because the believers who are sacrificially giving their lives for the cause of Christ, already know these things and are doing them.

So why did I write this? To condemn, judge, or shame my fellow believers? If you know me, you know theres not one ounce of that in me, I wrote this because this scripture scared me almost to death at a time in my Christian walk when, I said I loved Jesus, but was living as if I didn’t.

Matthew 7:22-25:
²² On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ ²³ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

My take on a modern version of that scripture would be, But Lord I went to church, I prayed before I ate at restaurants, I wore a cross necklace, I used Christianeeze, I facebooked/twittered about Jesus, but God replied, I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws. Are any of these bad, of course not, but just because you do them doesn’t mean you have a relationship with Jesus.

This scripture was so personal for me because made it so unbelievably clear to me how far I was from being ready to go before my Savior, I’m so thankful that someone showed it to me before that happened!

John

Hosting Pastors Today

One of the things that I love to do is host churches that want to come down and hang out. Last night a group of seven pastors and leaders flew in to spend some time with us touring our campuses. They are from Grace Fellowship in Paradise Texas which is northwest of Ft Worth. Pastor Brandon and I had dinner with them last night and really enjoyed hanging out and talking church. Great group of guys and we laughed like crazy for a couple of hours.

Today we’ll begin a three to four campus tour in an attempt to show them some very different facilities so they can get some ideas for how they want to begin their  Multi Site journey. I hope they take away some great ideas and feel like they learned from some of the things we’ve done pretty well, and probably more importantly, from the things we’ve done that just didn’t work out all that well.

There is no one right way to do Multi Site, were not going to attempt to show them the right way, just show them the way were doing it, at least the latest version, and hope they can take some things back that will help them design a system that fits their DNA and culture of the their church.

Before I ever went on staff I toured a number of churches in Texas visiting with Pastors trying to learn more about what this new journey was going to be like for me, and in that journey I was treated pretty bad at a church I respected and had driven a long way to get to, in the parking lot of that church, three months before I ever became a pastor, I promised God I would always be available for the men and women of God He would send my way, I can honestly say I have kept that promise to Him, and the funny thing is, it has blessed me more than the folks who have come to spend time with us.

If you get a chance to host leaders from other churches, throw out the red carpet and love on them, and give them that most valuable of commodities that every leader really doesn’t have enough of, time, and God will do things in the life of your church you can’t imagine. Loving on Gods called leaders and their churches honors God in a huge way,  and what could be better than knowing you’re one of His churches He can count on!!

John

Multi Site Journey- Patience

One of the toughest parts of starting a campus is having to wait on others when you’re ready to roll. We have been practicing a lot of patience lately as we’re starting the Beeville Campus. You would think after seven campuses we would get used to having to practice patience, but honestly the process always drives me and Pastor Bil nuts!!

As much as I wish I could speed up the process, the process simply takes time. Purchasing a building requires a bidding process that has to go back and forth usually multiple times, and each time either party makes a counter offer, paperwork has to be redone. I think, I should be able to just sit down with the owners of a property and hash it out and make a deal, but apparently no one really cares what I think about it, because thats not how it works.

Once you’re done with the purchase or have signed a lease, you have two more steps before you can start tear down. First you have to begin a bidding process so you can figure out how much this is going to cost. And by the way, when you get you very best estimate, add a minimum of 20%, that has played out in every campus we have started. Here’s one of the frustrating parts, until you have complete access to the building, it’s hard to get anyone to bid. No one really wants to begin the bidding process on building that isn’t purchased or has a lease signed on it. So getting bids has a number of steps that have to be completed before you start.

Then once you have all of that done, you have to get permits. All cities are different, some are easier than others to work with, but permitting takes time and they work at the pace they work at, and trust me, theres pretty much no way to speed it up, or at least not in my experience.

Once you have all these in place then you can get moving, but just be prepared to work into you plan that it takes a significant amount of time from the time you find a place to the time you begin your remodel. If you build that time into your plan it will frustrate you less. On the Beeville Campus we’re working on now, it has taken close to 6 wks. However, we had to do some things that aren’t always a part of a purchase. We had to re-negotiated the property lines because the water and sewage lines for the entire strip center would have been on our property which would have kept the owners from having access, something we did not want to do to them. That meant we had to do a new survey which had to measured, drawn up, and submitted, which cost us an extra couple of weeks. If you lease a building you will shorten the purchase side of it, but not the permitting side of the re-model. If you decide to go into a school you of course shorten the entire process because you’re mobil.

Bottom line, it takes the time it takes, so learn to be patient. I’m on number eight right now, and sadly I’m not really any more patient that I was on number one, but most people would tell you I’m still a bit of a work in progress

John

BAF Beeville Pre Construction

This is the building we bought that will be BAF Beeville. I wanted to get some videos and pictures so you can see what it looks like now, so you’ll appreciate what it looks like when were done. With a building like this you have to be able to see past the shape its in when you first see it, and have a vision for what some hard work can do to bring it back. A building this size, almost 7000 sq ft, in great shape, would cost a fortune, but in this shape it’s a steal, and you can bring one back to life for a lot less money and still have something amazing when your done.

Hope this gives you a starting point, I’ll do the same next week on the inside. Wish I could have got inside to video but it was a lot darker outside than the video showed it to be and with no electricity in the building yet, I doubt if the video would have been much good. Hang in there with us as we walk you through the process from the vision to the launch.

John

Multi Site Requires Humility

Pastor Brandon (W Side CP/Regional CP) and I are heading to Beeville today to meet and have lunch with a local pastor from the community. It’s so important when you go into a new town that you go with the heart to join the good work God is already doing in the community, not with the attitude to come save it. God is working in every town you will ever go to long before He leads you to go there!

I’m really looking forward to meeting this pastor and honoring him for his commitment to spread the Gospel in Beeville. Not every pastor or church will be excited when you come to town, but all that means is you have your work ahead of you building those bridges of trust.

Nothing is more critical when entering a new community to start a church than Humility and Honor.

I will also be going by the building and doing my first video for the blog. I’m excited for everyone to see how bad this building looks right now, and how beautiful it will be when were done. Nothing excites me more that taking something broken and making it beautiful again, and as much fun as doing that to this building is going to be, were only doing it because it will become a place where broken people can come so God can fix their lives and make them beautiful again too!

John