Next Generation Leadership Community

The Onion and the Barn

Linda Stanley

Take a look at this photo and see if you can guess where I am today. No, I am not indulging my inner cowgirl nor am I visiting a Brokeback Mountain movie set. I’m at church. That’s right – a church. Today, I’m visiting with Toby Slough, senior pastor of Cross Timbers Church in Argyle, Texas (north of Dallas).

Where in the heck is Argyle?
Argyle, population 2800, is one of those wide-spot-in-the-road, two-lane farm-to-market road, one-signal-light-at-the-crossroads communities that is experiencing a building boom. Like many small towns north of the Dallas metroplex, Argyle is an amalgamate of picturesque horse farms, comfortable country homes set on beautiful acreage, brand spanking new tract developments and some downright impressive McMansions – sometimes adjacent to scattered mobile home estates complete with chickens scratching around in the front yards. Newcomers relish the genteel country lifestyle and quality schools knowing they can always commute to Big D for major sports events, pricey shopping malls, world class dining and other big city amenities.

Totally Texas
But back to the Cross Timbers story. Six years ago, Cross Timbers was known as the church that got its start meeting in a bar. How Texas is that? Not long after the first group gatherings, nine acres of land was acquired and construction began on the permanent site. Today, facilities include a sprung building, known affectionately as “The Onion” which can seat 1400 for worship services, office and other multi use space and “The Barn.” On my first visit to Cross Timbers last year, I roared right past the site thinking it was just another horse farm. Far from it. This is one happenin’ place.

One Church, Three Campuses, Four Locations, Seven Services
When you check the website, this is how Cross Timbers describes itself. Yes, they are a multi site church and plan to multiply their regional presence by opening at least a couple of new locations in the near future. They were just gifted an additional eight acres at the main campus site. For now, the plan is to keep things regional. Toby and the staff hold high the value of connecting locally with concentrations of people in the region. Demographic studies support their regional strategy. Toby does most of the teaching live now but will transition to incorporating more campus pastors and video teaching as Cross Timbers continues expansion.

Cross Timbers in Keller
In December 2005, a church in Keller approached Cross Timbers about becoming an extension campus. On January 1, 2006, Cross Timbers began its first celebration service at this location with 200 people attending. Within eight weeks, attendance jumped to over 800. Toby lights up when telling the story of a family that formerly attended at the Argyle campus but then switched to the Keller campus since it was closer to their home. The family was excited about inviting their friends to attend Cross Timbers now that they would not have to ask their friends to drive 30 minutes to come to church. 

Word spread fast about the Cross Timbers expansion into Keller. Subsequently, other churches in the area have expressed interest in becoming a part of the Cross Timbers family. This wasn’t part of the original plan but Toby feels that God is opening some unexpected doors of opportunity.

CT2 for College and Young Adults
CT2 is Cross Timbers’ young adult ministry and meets in an old movie theatre located in nearby Denton on the downtown square. Although this ministry has only been up and running for about nine months in this location, Cross Timbers is already considering relocating this ministry base closer to the University of North Texas campus. Denton’s student population is about 40,000, drawing from two major universities and one community college. About 100 young adults regularly attend CT2.

Partnership with School
At the main campus in Argyle, Cross Timbers partnered with adjacent Liberty Christian School to share parking space as well as renting space at the school to hold two weekend celebration services. Toby commented that even though the two locations are within walking distance of each other, the Liberty campus attenders have already come together as their own faith community within the larger Cross Timbers family. Both locations are considered part of the main campus and share about 3800 regular attenders.

The Healing Place – Recovery and Compassion
A major resource to the region is Cross Timbers’ recovery and counseling ministry. The Healing Place provides professional Christian counseling and offers a broad range of targeted recovery groups. Cross Timbers is well known in the region for its ministry to those who are hurting, lonely and in need of care and compassion – “ordinary people who desire to love an extraordinary God, and they can come as they are.”

Plug in Through ACTS
ACTS is the acronym used to describe four kinds of small groups. Some of the groups include the Cruisers motorcycle group, scrapbooking, fishing, scouting, several fitness groups, sports groups, Super Mommies, bible studies of all kinds and support groups.

As we talked on this day, some of the topics discussed:

LS: With multiple campus locations and everything that Cross Timbers has going on, how do you go about multiplying and developing leaders?

Toby:
We use a very organic approach. The metrics we use to measure progress involve measuring how many people our team leaders are getting involved and developing. We start with our campus pastors and they work with their team leaders and the team leaders work with their teams and so on. The cool thing to see is how many leaders we are raising up from within our congregation. And I’m talking about some that are coming on as paid staff now.

LS: What are some of the biggest challenges facing Cross Timbers now?

Toby:
One of the things I would like to know more about is how do you leverage resources across all locations and all ministries? I’ve heard many discussions about the big Sunday event when it comes to multi site ministry but what keeps me up at night are questions like ‘what does effective youth ministry look like in a multi site campus context? What does an effective recovery ministry look like in this context?’

Another challenge would be how to navigate healthy transition as we grow. There is a need to think through how the various ministries work together and impact the overall organization. It’s not a matter of simply adding or taking away something without considering how it impacts the overall picture.

Communication is another big issue. How do you create a seamless transition in the midst of change and growth while everything is in motion?

And how do you avoid creating a corporate environment? Growth brings the need for structure. Structure is necessary. How do you retain the heart of who you are yet operate differently because of the growth and change?

LS: And for you personally, what’s been the biggest challenge?

Toby:
The hardest thing for me is not being able to hang around after the services and just be with people. I’m very relational and I draw great energy from interacting with people. I want to be around people. I’m doing five live services every weekend now, alternating between Argyle and Keller, so I have to move. I can’t hang around and be with people.

LS: Tell me about something you would like to see happen in Cross Timbers’ future?

Toby:
We have a nonprofit foundation set up now and I have this dream of hosting a conference for Christian coaches as a start for a new ministry designed for them. I want to create a place for coaches from all over to come and be encouraged and emphasize the importance of their influence and leadership with kids. A coach’s leadership can either build a kid up or crush a kid. I’m very connected with the coaches in this area and I’ve coached some myself so I know how important this is. I would love to see some big names and people with influence get involved and help us make this happen.

Creating Buzz on Capitol Hill

Linda Stanley

In two movie theatres, a soon-to-open coffeehouse and occasionally in a DC nightclub – these are all locations where National Community Church in Washington, DC celebrates worship and hosts special events. Mark Batterson (Mark's blog, evolutional.com), senior pastor at National Community, recently spoke with me about the importance of creating buzz and how that affects the way this church engages its community.

First, a retrospective from Mark on the early days of National Community Church -

Our first Sunday we only had three people show up since our opening service occurred during a record setting blizzard in January 1996. The next Sunday, we had 19 people show up – a 600% increase in one week! Over the next nine months, we averaged between 20-25 attending. At that time, we met in a public school. Then in September, we got a call from the person in charge of leasing public schools that the school where we met was closing – immediately! We were about to be a homeless church. After some intensive prayer and an extensive search, God opened an amazing door of opportunity.

“God strategically positioned us in the middle of the marketplace.” On November 17, 1996, NCC held it's first service in the movie theaters at Union Station. Union Station is home to nearly 150 retail shops and restaurants. Located four blocks from the Capitol, it is one of the most accessible and visible places in DC. Nearly 100,000 people pass through the Station each day. By virtue of its location, NCC has its own metro stop, bus stop, and train depot. "We've had people come to church during a layover on Amtrak and get back on the train headed in a totally different direction spiritually." Approximately one-quarter of the congregation gets to church via metro. And when NCCers exit church, they can choose from forty food court restaurants.

"Our goal is to be a church for the unchurched and I can't imagine a more strategic spiritual beachhead than Union Station."

In October of 1998, NCC launched its first community group. "Community groups are the 'community' in National Community Church." There are now twenty-plus groups meeting seven days a week at locations all around the DC metro area. "Ultimately, we'd like a community group within ten minutes of everyone living inside the beltway."

In April of 1999, NCC opened "The 3rd Place," it's coffeehouse on Capitol Hill. According to Sociologist Ray Oldenberg, people need "third places"--"informal meeting places away from the concerns of work and home." The relaxed environment of The 3rd Place is perfect for everything from coffeehouse concerts and communion services to variety shows and superbowl parties. "The coffeehouse has become a vital part of our DNA.” Now we’re planning to open a new coffeehouse that will also house our offices.

On August 12, 2001, National Community Church was featured on the front page of the Washington Post. "The reporter was just as surprised as we were that it hit the front page of a Sunday edition. I thought the article would be buried in the religion section." Since the article appeared, average attendance has more than doubled . "What I love about the article is the fact that no one can take credit for it. It's the favor of God."

LS: So what’s the latest on National Community Church? 

Mark:
We meet in two movie theatres here in the city. I alternate live teaching between the two theatre locations. We do video teaching at the other location when I’m not there live.

We like to be creative with our ministry. We create things like movie trailers and videos, man on the street interviews, stuff like that. We’re opening a new coffee house in March that will be our third location.

Our church is about 75% young singles, 20 somethings. About half of these are congressional staffers.

LS: Between the two locations, about how many people attend NCC now?

Mark:
We have about 1000 people attending now.

LS: Describe the DNA of NCC.

Mark:
Culture is one of our core values. It’s the fabric of who we are.

If you think of the Kingdom of God as a corporation, then we would be called to work in the R&D department. We are doing that now with our podcasts, blogs and other means as a way to bring more people into the church. We try to do it in a creative, relevant way.

LS: How would people in your community describe NCC?

Mark:
I think they would say we are the church that “walks the talk” in our community. We are known for the Easter Egg hunts, the home make-over we did for a single mom on Mother’s Day and things like this that create a positive buzz in the community.

LS: Tell me more about the new coffeehouse opening soon.

Mark:
Yeah, we’re really excited about it. It’s called Ebenezers Coffeehouse and it’s going to open right on Capitol Hill in March.

It’s a three-level coffeehouse that will also house church offices. In 2002, NCC purchased a piece of property located one block from Union Station and kitty corner to a development that will become the largest office building in Washington, DC.

We're going to kick off our Saturday Night services with four inaugural services. We want every NCCer to be able to be part of history. We'd like every NCCer to try out a Saturday Night service, but not everybody can attend at the same time so we'll have four inaugural services: March 11 at 6 and 8 pm and March 18 at 6 and 8 pm.

We decided to ticket the event so people could hang on to the tickets as a memento. I'm sure they'll be worth thousands on ebay :) Seriously, lots of people keep ticket stubs from special games or concerts. Why not church?

(Ticket from Ebenezer's Inaugural on Tuesday – Feb. 21, 2006 from Mark's blog)

We just got our offering plates for Ebenezers. We use popcorn buckets at our theater locations. We figured, why not burlap coffee bags at our coffeehouse location! 

(picture of bag from Mark's blog)

LS: I read on your blog that NCC is hosting its first national conference called The Buzz Conference. What’s that about?

Mark:
Yeah, we’re hosting a teaching church conference, the Buzz Conference, May 4-5.

This is our first endeavor to produce and host a teaching church conference. As a church, we feel called to be a teaching church. We want to help other churches learn how to become more effective in bringing in people and remaining relevant.

The Buzz Conference goes back to teaching modalities. We have a holistic approach when it comes to being a teaching church. We are a small groups based church. We will focus on this aspect as well as other specific ministry areas. Regardless of which ministry area, the focus will be on the practical side of ministry.

LS: What’s the best piece of advice you want to communicate to other pastors out there?

Mark:
I would say to just enjoy the journey. Most of us are really driven but I’m still trying to just enjoy the journey. Enjoy every stage.

How Come 4,000 People Can Find It and I Can’t?

Linda Stanley

Like the rest of the Leadership Network team, I spend most of my time talking with and visiting with some great ministry leaders and churches around the country. I think I can speak for the rest of the team when I say that we are honored to have so many men and women open their doors to us and set aside time to talk with us about their ministries. It seems a shame that many times only our team and the database get the real skinny from those conversations. I thought I would crack open the legendary top secret LN files and share some of those conversations with you. Maybe you will be inspired, as we are, to go and visit some of these churches and get to know their leadership teams.

(What’s the story behind the title of this piece? I drove around for at least an hour trying to find this church and never did. Apparently, Highlands, just outside of Birmingham, doesn’t think much of street signs since there aren’t any! And yes, I called for directions!)   

I recently visited with Chris Hodges, senior pastor at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama. Chris is on an interesting journey. He began the journey in 1984 by serving as Youth Pastor at Bethany World Prayer Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with Pastor Larry Stockstill.  In 1987, Chris and his wife, Tammy moved to Colorado Springs to serve at New Life Church,  with his former youth pastor, Ted Haggard. Chris served as Youth Pastor and Senior Associate Pastor. Chris and Tammy were there to experience New Life Church’s explosive growth, going from 400 to over 5,000 people in seven years.

Chris and Tammy and their three children returned to Baton Rouge in 1994 to serve as Associate Pastor at Bethany World Prayer Center. Chris had a major influence in the Baton Rouge area as a District Cell Group Pastor, worship leader, and co-host of Lifeline, a daily television program. He also trained churches nationally through cell church seminars. Two more children were added to the family during their time in Baton Rouge.

Here is a photo of the Hodges tribe – Chris, Tammy, Sarah, Michael, David, Jonathan and Joseph. Tammy is entirely too gorgeous to have five child ren.

Chris and Tammy moved to Birmingham at the end of 2000. Their dream was to build a life-giving church focused on the simplicity of the gospel and the power of an intimate relationship with a loving G od. Church of the Highlands had its first service in February 2001 with 350 people meeting at Mountain Brook High School. Today, Church of the Highlands meets in two locations, has six weekend worship services and welcome about 4,000 people to its celebration services. A third location will open in April 2006.

FYI – In 2002, with about 600 people attending, Church of the Highlands was involved with helping to plant six new churches. Chris said they made a decision to set aside 25% of their total giving to missions. Chris also serves as Secretary of the Association of Related Churches – an organization that focuses on building strong relationships among pastors and churches and shares its resources for church planting and growth. A significant part of ARC’s guidance, counsel and support is offered to member churches at no charge.

That’s a little background on Chris and Church of the Highlands. Here’s the rest of the conversation.
LS - How would people in your community describe your church? Church of the Highlands would be known for what?

Chris - We are known as the church that has lots of younger age people attending. More than half of our people are under 35 years old. We’re also known for our exciting celebration services. And I think people know us because of our love and appreciation for the unchurched in our community.

LS - What new ministries at C.O.T.H. are you most excited about these days?

Chris – We don’t have that many ministry programs. The most exciting thing about our church is that more people are involved in small groups than attend our Sunday celebration services.

LS – You mean you have more than 4000 people involved in small groups?

Chris – Yes, that’s right. Small groups are the heart of who we are and what we are about. We use a “free market” approach to small groups. We have all kinds – recreation groups, bible study groups, fellowship groups and many others.

LS - How do you identify and develop enough people to serve as leaders for that many small groups?

Chris - Our staff’s primary job and purpose is to equip people to do ministry. We are committed to do this constantly so that we never have to motivate people to come forward to serve as leaders. We develop leaders on a continual basis. It is very relational on the front end and an organic leadership development approach. We help people discover their gifts and then allow them to use those gifts to serve.

LS - How do you help people discover their gifts?

Chris - Really get to know the person. Spend time with them. We have a gift discovery tool we use but we also make appointments with people to spend time with them to get to know them and to find out more about their gifts.

LS - What’s the best piece of advice you would like to pass along to other pastors?

Chris - Do away with a volunteer mentality. God has already gifted people to do ministry. Discover what their gift is together and then equip to use their gift to serve.

Our goal is to change the culture of church. You know, we go around to different conferences and keep looking for the right ministry components but it’s about creating the right culture. We want to create a culture of life. The soil has to be right. Create the right culture, then plant the seeds and stand back and watch them grow.

Discover the passions, dreams and gifts of the people God has brought to your church and then design ministry around that. Programs are necessary but don’t allow programs to drive things.