WHAT PEOPLE THINK

Yesterday I took a look back at the first book I read about multi-site church, back in 2006. It was written by Greg Surrat and others, Greg being one of the pastors of what I consider the flagship of multi-site in this country, Seacoast Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

I was interested to read something Greg wrote about their first campus, the beginning of them going multi-site -

When we first proposed the idea of doing off-site campuses at Seacoast, I had a line of people at my office door, telling me why it wouldn't work. Why do we need to replicate ministries that we do poorly at the original campus? We don't have enough leaders, volunteers and musicians for the services we are already doing, how can we do more? Budgets are stretched tight, how can we spend money on additional campuses?

I wanted to argue with them, to show them that we had a divine mandate from God, but they were right. Some of our ministries were held together with rubber bands and duct tape, we had no backups for our music teams, and our finances were so tight we had to bring WD40 to budget meetings. Going multi-site didn't make sense, except for the fact that we had no other choice.

Sounds very much like us. Why did he write they had no other choice?

Because if you're choosing between what God has told you to do and human reasoning, God wins every time. And when you obey him, you win too.

SPACE ISSUES

I told a couple of folks yesterday that the normal fall away from launch day to week two is 25%, though I'm not sure where or when I read that number. Today I was pretty reliably informed that the figure is more like 35% to 50%, so I guess the drop we experienced on our second Sunday in Mastic from 203 to 183 pretty much bucks that trend. I like that!

By the way, it was 9.85% to be exact.

We initially planned to use the largest theater at Island Cinemas, but opted to start with the second largest in the end. So for the past two Sundays Theater 6 has been comfortably full, which means there is no convenient room for growth.

As we moved out yesterday we said thank you and goodbye to Theater 6 and next Sunday we will move into the 250 seater Theater 7 next to it. I must admit that at this stage the biggest venue is beginning to look small, but we'll just keep moving forward and see where we end up!

ONE WEIRD THING ABOUT LAUNCHING

There are a lot of very interesting facets to launching a new campus, but there's one that's common to every church planting situation and it has been part of my week too.

When everything was about done following the launch of our Mastic campus last Sunday, I asked the leader of our Welcome Team for the total headcount. As I've mentioned before, my initial goal had been 100, so I was thrilled to know we had actually passed 200.

Given about 60 seconds to let that news sink in and to enjoy it, I then moved on to the next stage, wondering how many of them will return this coming Sunday. Who will come back? Will anyone? So this week's uncertainty is about as real as last week's.

We had friends with us for the launch who had come to wish us well and will not be part of that campus in an ongoing capacity. Plus of course there were inevitably some people who checked us out and decided we are so non-traditional, our salvation is probably in serious doubt. They won't be back either.

But then, to balance that, we have been getting feedback from excited first-timers, all of whom have friends and family and who will have been spreading the word this week.

Some won't be there, others will.

So will the attendance take a dramatic drop, hold its own or even build?

I have no idea, which is another reason I'm looking forward to Sunday.

LESSONS LEARNED ON DAY ONE

So, I guess the one thing we need to draw from the launch of our Mastic campus is we should never underestimate what God can do.

Knowing that you need a good crowd for critical mass, I was hoping we would hit the 100 mark - bearing in mind we already had about 50 of our own folks planning to be there. As it turned out, we had way more folks come, with an eventual total of 203 in the building.

Other things we learned -

+ New folks come early.

+ Running out of bagels and donuts is not a good thing.

+ People love a friendly welcome.

+ Every method of advertising we used produced results.

+ You can't presume the building will be clean!

+ Preaching to people who don't know you is totally different from speaking to those who do.

+ Church/campus planting may be the extreme sport of ministry, but there's nothing like the rush of opening day.

+ Hard work pays off.

SO WHAT IT'S RAINING?

Having delivered over 9,000 door hangers last weekend announcing Sunday's launch, we planned to take care of the final 2500 or so this evening, but it has rained all day. I don't just mean light stuff spitting out of the heavens, I mean the kind of rain and wind that is driving the leaves from the trees prematurely and generally causing havoc.

I waited all day for a break in the clouds, since it seems the forecasters seldom really have a clue, but just after 5.00, I realized it wasn't going to happen.

Tomorrow's main activity is handing out invitation postcards in the Stop & Shop shopping center, so will the final hangers get done?

I don't know. I'm planning to attack some when I'm free later in the day, but I'm really not worried.

Here's the deal.

Our folks have worked like dogs getting the word out. I knew they are committed people, but honestly didn't realize how much they were into what we're doing. We've worked hard at this. We've covered a heck of a lot of ground.

So now we'll do what we can and then wait for God to do what he alone can do. It's the Holy Spirit who draws people, so I'm going to guess that God isn't going to fall off his throne tonight because the weather sucks.

Chances are he had a hand in it, so I'll leave it with him!

THE MONEY MYTH

We launch our new campus on Sunday and are virtually broke - as in, we have used up all the available resources. But that's okay, because we're just about all set to go.

The question of what it costs to start a new campus is one I often see discussed and it's interesting to see what people have to say on the subject. As far as we are concerned, we are launching in Mastic with a budget that is a fraction of what the "experts" recommend.

These are challenging economic times, but some of the most effective churches in America were started during times when this country and everyone living here was being stretched - Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois and Saddleback in California.

My concern is that pastors hold back because of the recession or because they don't have much money and miss the terrific opportunities we have to expand our borders all over this nation.

So let me come right out and say this - don't listen to the nonsense about it costing $150k to $200k minimum. We are starting a new campus this weekend and our start-up budget has been $22,000. That is something like 15% of the lowest number I have seen quoted. Why $22,000? - because that's what came in.

Okay, we are not adding staff to pull this off, we have shopped wisely and we have seen some amazing occurrences of divine intervention. We don't have the newest and greatest of everything, but we have a set-up that blew the movie theater owner away when we did a run through on Sunday.

You don't need a bundle of money, you need a big vision and a bigger God.

The development of the church cannot come down to how much we have in the bank and what it looks like we can afford.

You don't need to have a fortune.

You can do it for much less than you imagine.

So don't be put off - spread out!

PRESSING ON

One of the things I have heard over and again is that starting a new campus will stretch you. Today I have been feeling stretched and so have some of those around me, I'm sure.

This will be one crazy weekend, with so much to be done. I guess we'll all be that bit more stretched by Monday evening, but come next Sunday morning it will all be very much worthwhile.

CRAZY WEEKEND AHEAD

Okay, this is it. We have all the stuff and there's still more of it in my garage despite the fact that the bulk of our equipment is already stored at Island Cinemas.

But this weekend is about the launch itself. It's about people. It's about getting the word out.

So here's the plan -

Friday evening and Saturday evening - Distribute flyers for Monday's End Of Summer Fair outside movie theater.

Sunday morning - Run through service at Island Cinemas, 10.00am.

Sunday morning - Distribution of door hanger invitations to homes in Mastic, Mastic Beach and Shirley, followed by pizza party.

Sunday all day - Booth at Ronkonkoma Street Fair, distributing Back To Church Sunday invitations for Ronkonkoma.

Sunday evening - Distribution of door hangers by CATMO, Integrity Fellowship and Lamb's Chapel youth groups. Looking to end the day having given out all 12,000.

Monday afternoon - 1.00pm to 4.00pm - End Of Summer Fair outside Island Cinemas, Mastic.

By Monday evening we want everyone living in the Tri-Hamlets to know we're coming!

WALKING THINGS OUT

Our initial plan for our second campus was to have live music and video teaching, but it soon became clear that since Mastic is less than 20 miles from Ronkonkoma, timing services appropriately would allow the same preacher to be in both locations every week. Teaching could be live.

We have a great worship band in Ronkonkoma. Capable, committed people who do an amazing job week in and week out. It amazes me sometimes that in a church our size we don't have any back-ups, musicians are in very short supply.

This has been a challenge in preparing to launch the next location and we have simply had to wait, pray and see what God would do.

One solution we have found is that the good folks at lifechurch.tv in Oklahoma make their band's worship sets available for download. So some weeks we will have the band on screen instead of the preacher. The trial run for this went over pretty well in Ronkonkoma a few weeks ago.

Twelve days before we are due to start, yesterday I wasn't sure what we would be doing for music on day one, but this morning I got the message I had been hoping for. Michelle Margiotta, an extremely gifted worship leader is going to be with us on Sunday 13th, so she will be fronting that first morning for us.

We have got to know Michelle over the past five or six weeks and she has committed to covering some Sundays for us, but didn't know if the 13th would be good for her.

So that has turned out very well indeed.

If it sounds like we're flying by the seat of our pants here, in some ways we are. I have read everything I could lay my hands on about multi-site over the past three years. I have talked with pastors who are doing it and those planning to do it. I have visited multi-site churches and attended multi-site conferences and workshops.

But in the end of the day, you just have to get out there and do it - and just can't wait until you have every single detail worked out before you move.

We're just walking this out and enjoying seeing God cover our glaring inadequacies.

KIDS COUNT

Today's big news is that the Editor of the South Shore Press has offered to let us switch our full page ad from black and white to full color for the second half of its run - at no extra cost! Is that amazing or what?

The photo shows the people heading up our children's programs on both campuses - Charlotte Engel in Ronkonkoma and Tracey Berner in Mastic.

The whole point of us developing campuses is that we have developed a model that can be reproduced. So while Island Cinemas in Mastic is a different shape building than Regal Cinemas in Ronkonkoma, we want it to look exactly the same and to offer the same programs.

We'll have a full menu of activities for boys and girls in Mastic from day one as we not only value youngsters, but we realize that if they are happy with us, mom and dad are more likely to be too.

Nursery, KIDMO, The Bridge are all good to go in just twelve days from today.

BILLBOARD

With our advertising getting into full swing, Jorge and Dotti Leiva are parking our customized van outside Island Cinemas, Mastic every day and it's sure getting some attention. Heard today about a lady who has seen it there and plans to be there on the 13th with her family. It's a great billboard.

This week the local paper is carrying a half-page article about our venture and I'm a bit nervous. Reporters don't always grab what we're saying, so I'm praying for a good write-up.

This time next week all the door hangers should be out and the End Of Summer Fair we're planning for Labor Day will be over.

Busy week ahead!

BLESSED

I sometimes tell the story about a disillusioned pastor who used to mysteriously disappear from the church office at the same time early every afternoon. Suspecting he was up to no good, some staffer followed him one day and discovered him sitting alone on a grassy bank outside of town. Fearing he was waiting for some illicit meeting, they confronted him and asked why he came there every day. Pointing at the train passing on the nearby track, he commented, "To watch the only thing around here that moves without me having to push it."

I led my Weight Watchers meetings this morning, as I do every Saturday, which keeps me at the Selden Center from 6.45am to 1.45pm.

Meanwhile over at Island Cinemas, Mastic, a crowd of very excited, hard-working volunteers off-loaded all the equipment for our new campus, unpacked it, put it together and set everything in its place.

The good news is that everything worked - sound, video, lights. Everything fit well into the storage areas and we're all ready to rock and roll with our run-through over there next Sunday morning.

What a great team of people we had over there working, laughing and sweating together. I am blessed to have such terrific folks around me who have so thoroughly got hold of the vision that they run with it - without me!

MOVING DAY

Everything's set for moving our stuff into Island Cinemas tomorrow morning, though it looks like the weather isn't going to cooperate. We have a ton of new equipment to be unloaded, unpacked, set up, tested and then put into the storage areas we have in the theater.

I can't be there myself as I lead Weight Watchers groups on Saturday mornings, but part of the strength of this new campus is we have some really committed people, so things do go on when I'm not there.

Next Sunday, September 6th will be our first actual service but tomorrow is preparation day.

Oh and I get my garage back!

MANY HANDS

A lot was accomplished today - and I mean a lot - as we had two teams of volunteers working in separate locations. Great day. Great people. They're wired!

Out in Mastic, the workteam got all the new banner stands made for Ronkonkoma - the Mastic stands had already been completed. For us the whole multi-site concept involves branding where each location looks pretty much the same. So the new signage will appear in both places on the 13th.

Back in Coram another excited group of people separated and bundled the remaining 9,000 door hangers and then stapled around 1,000 free coffee invitations to invitation cards for the Mastic launch. They did all that in record time.

The UPS man kindly brought the lawn signs we will put along the roadside outside both theaters. We owe him a huge tip at Christmas.

Everything goes over to the theater on Saturday to be unpacked, assembled and tried out in advance of Sunday September 6th when the service will be in Mastic so we can have a trial run whilealso letting the Ronkonkoma folks check out where the second location will be.

Full, busy, purposeful day. This is good.

THE FOOD CONNECTION

Diners are fascinating places and they're a good place to meet people. The Diner in the small strip of stores alongside Island Cinemas in Mastic is fairly new and it's a bit quiet there at the moment. However several weeks ago I decided since we are going to be in the community, I'd eat there from time to time.

There's actually a novel configuration of stores with a diner and a pizzeria side by side, looking like two different businesses, but with an opening inside so you can walk between the two. It's the same owner, a very nice guy that I have been getting to know.

When it comes down to it, church isn't about lighting, video equipment, microphones or any of the paraphernalia, it's about people. So I'm glad to be getting to know someone who's local.

He's also helping us.

There's one of our big Back To Church Sunday posters in his window already, announcing our launch.

He's going to serve pizza to all our door hanger volunteers at 1.00pm on Sunday September 6th.

He'll give 10% off the check in either the diner or the pizzeria to anyone showing a church newsheet at Sunday lunchtime.

In turn I hope we'll help him, by improving his business and by being such a good example of followers of Jesus that he will come to follow him too.

PEOPLE POWER

Trips to India, Home Depot, Staples, Lowes, Furniture Stores and a load of other places, plus enough online purches to make the UPS man a friend of the family. Add to that the purchases made by members of the launch team and we just about have all the stuff we need for launch day, which is a good thing.

My garage is full of stuff. Jorge and Dotti's home gym is packed. Next weekend it all goes into the storage areas in Island Cinemas and we start to focus on the really important stage of our preparations.

When it comes to church planting, while I have never seen this stated so bluntly, it's a case of Go big or go home! Launch day decides a lot of things. If you have 25 people there, you will struggle to add to that number and may never get remotely near the 100 mark. If you make a significant impact on day one, the road ahead is a lot easier.

So now our attention is turning to getting word out in the community and that starts with the newspaper ads and the posters that will be appearing this week.

In the end of the day, we have all the literature we need and probably more besides, but it will come down to having the people to get everything out. We have a great launch team and for the next few weeks they will be incredibly busy as we put door hangers on every door, pass out invitations outside the theater, host a Labor Day Fair in the movie theater parking lot and pass out hundreds of coupons for free 7-11 coffees.

The stuff is easy. You find it, pay for it and get it.

Now it's all down to people, their commitment, their time, their effort.

And one day not to far down the road, the words of Churchill after the Battle of Britain will be very relevant - "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Go Team!

UPDATE

Haven't been here for a couple of says, so here's a synopsis -

+ Door hangers are all printed and printing of invitation postcards is underway.

+ Editor of South Shore Press is letting us run full page ads for just $200.

+ Bought chairs for Big Screen Cafe today. We wanted the same as Ronkonkoma to maintain a uniformity between the two campuses, but white patio chairs are tough to find this time of year.

+ Had encoraging email two nights ago from a couple offering to underwrite the cost of our new soundboard.

+ Coming down to the wire. There is a heck of a lot to do over the two weekends leading up to our launch Sunday.

+ Tomorrow we're getting the Mastic info added to the back of our customized van.

+ My Mustang is out on the driveway as new equipment has finally taken over its spot in the garage.

ODDS AND SODS

+ Just got the layout for the newspaper ad we'll be using for the opening. Meeting the Editor Tuesday morning and hoping for a great deal.

+ The Back To Church Sunday theme should grab the attention of Long Islanders, the majority of whom do have a church background - mainly Catholic.

+ Had our first taste of video worship today - that phrase doesn't do it justice. We'll be using downloads of worship sets from Lifechurch.tv some Sundays, so ran one in our Ronkonkoma service today and I am very happy with the feedback.

+ Visited Integrity Christian Fellowship and Lamb's Chapel this morning to talk about our venture. Great reception - kingdom-minded pastors.

+ Four weeks from now our first service will be history.

+ Need to get a sound board this week. That's about the last major item - I think.

+ We're going to start parking our customized church van outside the Mastic Theater all day. It will serve as a billboard for us.

+ I could write a book about everything that has fallen into place already, but the best stories are still to come - changed lives.

FAMILY

With so many people doing so much to prepare for our Mastic launch on September 13th, I was thinking today how blessed I am to have a family that is so supportive and committed.

At one time this afternoon, Gill was in our kitchen checking that the new coffee pots for our Big Screen Cafe worked okay before we pass them on to the folks heading up that area of ministry(can't leave it until the big day, she told me!).

At the same time and for a couple of hours, there were calls and emails going back and forth to Plano, Texas as our son Jonathan worked on some more of the graphics for our advertising. I am so glad now that he dropped trivial subjects like Math in high school and focused almost entirely on art!

Then Charlotte was in her office searching the internet for the best deals on some of the outstanding bits and pieces, like table cloths in our new colors, while also casting an eye over options for chairs for the cafe.

Thankfully ours is only one of many families who really have caught the vision.

Praise God for family!

(By the way, the photo is my three grandchildren - the next generation)

IT'S ALL ABOUT TEAM

I hope my theology is correct, because it appears to me that the whole concept of working in sync with others begins way back in Genesis 1 with the revelation of the fact that God is a Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Of course that theme continues right through the Bible into the Gospels and the book of Acts where Jesus and the Apostles ministered with teams around them.

There is an amazing group of people helping in different ways to get our new campus under way and two of them made a huge dent in our preparations today.

Dottie and Liz got the printing of our door hangers under way - 4,000 done and 8,000 to go. They come in sheets of three, but once printed were separated and put into stacks of 350 for every delivery duo we have going out on Sunday September 6th.

With the printer going all day, Dottie began working out delivery routes for each of the afore mentioned duos, ensuring we cover every possible home in Mastic, Mastic Beach and Shirley. Then Liz worked at organizing the staffing of the Street Fair in Ronkonkoma on Sunday 6th with all the volunteers who have come forward to offer their help.

Tonight I'm meeting a couple of guys over at the theater and we'll work out our final arrangements with the owner so that we're ready to be up and running for our dry run on the 6th.

I guess the apostle Paul knew a thing or two when he told the Ephesian believers that the church grows through what every part brings to the table - not a literal translation, but my own!

LIVING IN TENSION

This has been a good day and a busy one for that matter. It went in a different direction than I planned, but tonight I'm very grateful to God.

After a great breakfast organising our tri-church youth challenge to distribute 9,000 door hangers, I was a few minutes early for my next meeting so I wandered into Target to check out the bargains in menswear. From there I went to the seasonal department and saw some chairs on clearance that would look excellent in our cafe in Mastic, but there were only six of them.

So after my next meeting and before the third I checked out the other two Target stores vaguely in our area. Sadly, no joy there. Would have loved that look in the cafe, but it's back to the drawing board!

Check out my regular blog for some more comments I wrote today on planting a new campus -

http://www.churchatthemovies.com/blog/?p=1694

THE GARAGE IS BULGING

Pretty early on in our church's story, we made the decision to finish the basement of our house, creating a suite of offices, rather than rent office space elsewhere at NY rates. That decision has saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past ten years.

It also means that every time some new piece of equipment is ordered, the UPS man brings it to our door - and the poor guy is working overtime right now. Todays offering was eight packages containing the rolling racks we will use for storing some of our equipment in Mastic.

The accumulating mass of essentials for the new campus presents one minor problem - it is threatening to force my Mustang out of the garage.

Like many Americans, we have a two car garage that holds one car and an amazing assortment of junk. The junk side was pretty much full before all this stuff started arriving, so today I had to move a load of miscellanous rubbish around to get the latest arrivals in.

Four weeks to go, but I'm nervous that the other half of my garage may no longer be safe. I understand the necessity for sacrifice, but there are limits.

INNOVATION IS A WONDERFUL THING

Being totally challenged when it comes to practical matters, my admiration for those who can be creative and innovative knows no bounds. So today my hero is Jorge Leiva, who this afternoon completed the prototype of a $13 banner stand that will probably be the staple for all the new signage at our Mastic campus.

As I reported here earlier, I saved a fortune by outsourcing the printing of the banners to India and with Jorge's efforts, we will have the package of banner plus stand for just $20.

That is insane. You can pay up to $75 for a stand alone.

Not sure when we'll go into mass production, but we need a load ourselves and should then probably set up a cottage industry for new churches!

STUFF

It's amazing how much stuff you need to get a new campus underway, but when it comes to finding deals on the internet, Charlotte is something else.

She spent hours at her computer today, buying all kinds of bits and pieces -

Rolling carts
Balloons for the street fairs
High speed multiple CD copier
Table cloths
Banner stands
Coffee pots

I guess when it arrives, it will live with all the other bits and pieces waiting patiently in our house, with a load of other equipment already at another couple's home.

I'm glad that we're getting close to having all we need to get things moving. Last minute shopping is too much pressure nowadays.

THERE'S A LOT TO IT

Okay, so today we tried to make a comprehensive list of all the stuff we still need to get the new campus under way and there's a fair bit, to say the least.

Then we chatted through the areas of ministry that we need to make sure we have covered and that was quite a number too. The danger is going to be we have most of our launch team involved in activities around the place and no bodies to help populate the worship area.

There's still a lot to be done and a long way to go, with the question always hanging over us of whether the finances in hand will be sufficient.

It's all these challenges that make this fun!

BACK IN ACTION

Yesterday I returned from my trip to India, where we had outsourced the printing of all our new signage which will serve both campuses. I know that may not thrill the President, but since we now live in a country that produces precious little, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

How about this? -

We ordered a total of around 38 banners.

The printer picked up the graphics from the church office in Mumbai. No one needed to go to him.

The next day he delivered all the banners. The job was done in 24 hours at a total cost of $267.

I'm into signage in a big way. There's nothing worse than going into a new environment and having no idea of where everything is. So since we want to put our guests at ease, we're brightening up the whole place with colorful banners that tell them most of what they want to know.

Today I also outsourced graphics for newspaper ads, the back of our invitation postcards and also of the door hangers we're using. But that job only went as far as Texas where we always get an even better deal than the print job. It's great to have a son who is as committed to our vision as anyone living it up here.

IT'S A SIGN

Part of the equipment we'll need for the Mastic campus is banners and signage for inside and outside the building, which is a huge item. We're going to renew all the signage on the Ronkonkoma campus too as it's definitely showing signs of wear and tear, so we need two of everything.

With the best prices we are aware of, this would all cost over $4,000 (yes, we do have a lot of signs - not many wonders, but plenty of signs).

So rather than spend that kind of money, I sent the graphics files to my friend Basil D'Souza in Mumbai and he has got everything done for me for $267. No typo folks, $267!

Tonight I'm taking a little trip in the interests of sound economics, flying over to Mumbai with Air India. I'll stay there a few days, catch up with Basil, spend some time with the good folks at his church and come home next weekend with all the banners, saving at least $3,000 in the process.

I know it's out-sourcing and we're not meant to encourage that, but the chances are that your shirt was made over there too.

16,574

Demographic studies reveal there are 16,574 homes in the Tri-Village area - Mastic, Mastic Beach and Shirley. When wse decided to go with door hangers rather than direct mailing, my goal was to cover every one of those houses, but my ambitions were trimmed by the other members of our pastoral team who felt that was unrealistic.

I was disappointed at the time, but they were right. We finally settled for 10,000 and as I wrote yesterday, we have alm ost all the people we need to put them out.

Today I had breakfast with my friend Tony Balsamo, who pastors Integrity Christian Fellowship in Yaphank - http://www.integrityfellowship.com/ It has been a while since we sat down together, so there was a lot to catch up on, including the fact that Tony wanted to be updated on our preparations for the launch of our new campus.

He came up with an outrageous and brilliant idea that will enable us to go way beyond hitting the 10,000 homes we had planned and actually covering every house in the final few days before we kick off.

I'd like to share it with our folks first on Sunday and I'll write it here later that day.

Tonight I am a very happy camper!

DELIVERY TEAM

Here's the deal, totally trusting the information I got from my friend, professional church-planter Tim Fowler, I went with the fact we can deliver 90 door hangers an hour. That gives us 180 homes covered by everyone who will join in the 2 hour push right after our Pre-Launch Service in Mastic on September 6th.

All of that means that 50 people can deliver 9,000 in two hours and that's the goal.

So today I finally got to check through the response cards from last Sunday when I floated the fact we need a delivery team for that weekend, a team to work the Street Fair in Ronkonkoma and a team to make the End Of Summer Festival happen in Mastic on Labor Day.

Our folks are the best, because on a very thin Sunday for attendance, we got responses that just about put us there in every category.

Now we'll go for more than 50 door hanging helpers so that the task becomes easier for all concerned.

Anyway, the reason I'm so happy this evening is not that the work will be done, it's that so many people have clearly caught the vision - that folks, is HUGE!

WHEN TO LAUNCH

There are three key times in the year for launching a church plant or a new campus - the end of summer, January or Easter and without a doubt September would be my pick every time here on Long Island.

I've never been a great fan of starting on Easter Sunday, because it doesn't make too good an impression the following week when the attendance is halved. Add to that the fact that it only gives you a couple of months max before you hit summer and everyone heads off for the beach, graduations, family gatherings, vacations or whatever.

January would be an insane month to try anything here. You could start one week, then have a snowstorm the next and be forced to cancel church altogether. Not the best way to kick things off.

So September comes out best, with a run of almost three months before Thanksgiving and Christmas hit. It's also the time when life is getting back to normal here as the kids return to school.

That's why we've opted to open our next campus the Sunday after Labor Day, but it does have its drawbacks too, like the fact that the final preparations are done during the summer with key people coming and going.

I'm off to India myself on Sunday - we're getting all our banners printed over there and its cheaper to go get them (by a long way) than get them all done here.

But once I get back, it will be ready, steady, run.

I guess there's no perfect time to start, but September comes out as first choice.

EVERYWHERE YOUR FEET TOUCH

Back in the Old Testament, when Joshua was getting ready to lead the Israelites into the Promised Lnad, God told him he would give him everywhere the soles of his feet touched.

It was a sunny afternoon and Monday is my day off, so I decided to try an experiment and see if my 21st century version of that works. I drove up and down streets all around Mastic, Mastic Beach and Shirley, praying for the people I saw walking around and those living in the homes I passed.

I'm asking God to give us everywhere the tires of my Mustang covered!

TEEN CHALLENGE

Today in church I talked about the 10,000 door hangers we want to get out in Mastic/Shirley on Sunday September 6th right after we do our first run-through service there before launching the following week.

I challenged our teens that if they can put out more door hangers than me, I'll buy them dinner.

Some of them won't sweat the thought of losing out on a free dinner, but it would kill most of them for me to beat them - and I will!

SEPTEMBER TASKFORCE

As part of my teaching in tomorrow's service, I'm going to be inviting massive involvement in our major efforts to make our presence known at the start of September.

That means that in Ronkonkoma we're looking for a load of volunteers to take care of our booth at the Street Fair on Sunday 6th.

Over in Mastic on the same day - we'll be doing our service there so that the team can do a run through of everything - we face the challenge of getting out 9,000 door hangers.

Then, of course we have to man the End Of Summer Festival on Labor Day.

Looking for huge buy-in - and expecting it from our folks!

IS ANYONE OUT THERE?

I read something once in a really good book about writing your vision down. I opted for doing that and also drawing a picture, or maybe I should call it decorating a map. The red dots are mainly in our county (just one exception) and they represent the movie theaters we have expressed interest in renting in the future through National Cinemedia. (For the purists, the dot near the fork in our county should have been on Riverhead).

There is a ton of scope in Suffolk County, with its 1.5 million, mainly unchurched people. I couldn't help smiling yesterday when I read that a prominent preacher and an internationally known worship leader had teamed up to start a church in the spiritually bereft city of Atlanta and had a crowd of 3,000 at their first service. God bless them - may they prosper and reach a lot of unchurched people for Jesus.

But God, please send some people to Long Island and save them from falling over each other in the Bible Belt!

I joined an online social network for multi-site church pastors today. There are 406 leaders participating and not one of them is from New York. Now I do know a couple of pastors in our state who are either multi-site or looking to go multi-site, but that's about it.

New York needs passionate, sane visionaries who are sold out to reaching the lost.

Long Island does too - and I could give you 3,000,000 reasons why!

END OF SUMMER FESTIVAL

Labor Day will give us a great opportunity to make an impact on the Mastic community, just six days before our launch, with our End Of Summer Festival.

We're planning three hours of family fun in the front parking lot of Island Cinemas, right on Montauk Highway, which is about as high profile as you could get.

We've got the basics booked - the bouncy stuff - and now we need to add on the bits and pieces like face painting, cartoon charatcters, balloon giveaway and of course the food. We plan to give away hundreds of burgers, hot dogs and cold sodas that afternoon.

We'll maximize the opportunity the holiday presents us with and fervently pray for sunshine!

EARLY FRUIT

Just to remind us that we're on the right track. think about this -

+ When I got to see the Communication Slips from Sunday's service I found that three people had trusted Christ as their Savior. One of those was a man who has been worshiping with us since Easter. His wife has been praying for him for 30 years. And they live in ... Yep, you guessed right, Mastic.

+ Sunday I was delighted to see a lady who had been part of our church a while back, but like so many others had moved south. I thought she was back for a summer break, but it turns out she is back to Long Island for good - and living in Mastic.

+ When I took the messages off the office phone this morning - we close on Mondays - the first call had been from someone wanting information about our campus in Mastic.

It's amaziing what happens once you get out of the boat!

DUDE WE'RE GETTIN' A DELL

I liked those DELL commercials a couple of years ago with what's-his-name, but that wasn't why I ordered one for Mastic today. My technical know-how is basic to say the least, so I asked for help.

Where do you look for support on computer-related matters? India - Duh!

I asked my friend Yashwant in Mumbai (techy wiz guy and renowned researcher) where we could get what we need at the best price. And he came back with dear old DELL.

Hey, I'm using one now, each of the four workstations in our church offices is equipped with one, so I'm not going to argue wiith that - especially since Yashwant found me a great deal.

They know a lot of stuff in India - I like their cooking too!

DO THE MATH!

I started this blog three days ago when there were just 55 days to go until the launch of our Mastic campus and as things stand now, there are 63 days to go.

You may think I'm counting backwards or that God is miraculously giving us more time, but the truth is that when I was thinking this morning about how long to go until we start, I realized it was exactly nine weeks.

I have no idea where I got 55 from - it must have been 66 days when I started writing.

But I'll retain the blog title if you promise not to tell anyone I can't cope with basic math an more!

ADVERTISING FOR THE LAUNCH

We're adopting the theme of a nationwide fall campaign for the launch of our Mastic campus and we'll also be using this material in Ronkonkoma at the end of summer too.

We reckon this will strike a cord with people in an area with a strong Catholic tradition. We need 60 people to give two hours to get the door hangers out in Mastic over Labor Day weekend - email me if you're ready to commit now.

roger@churchatthemovies.com

THIS BOOK WILL BE OUT TOO LATE FOR MASTIC, BUT WILL HELP US IN PLANNING FURTHER CAMPUSES

You can pre-order it over at www.amazon.com - I did!

HOW MANY?

I've been more than a little obsessed with numbers this past couple of days. I am aware of the fact that we need to hit critical mass right out of the gate. Go big or go home doesn't always apply, but it's certainly my mindset when it comes to planting a new campus.

So what advertising is going to make maximum impact without breaking the bank?

We've opted for door hangers over direct mailing as the returns on direct mail nowadays are generally minimal. It's a couple of years now since I read a book entitled Your Marketing Sucks by someone or other and they said if you want to do direct marketing, just cut out all the effort, open a window and throw your money out -the end result will be the same.

The problem with doing door hangers is that it's labor intensive, so how many can we realistically expect to be able to do?

There are 16,400 and change homes in the tri-village area - Mastic, Mastic Beach and Shirley and I would dearly like to cover them all. Our pastoral team advise that it may be unrealistic to go for that, so the question of the week is how many can we expect to do and therefore how many do we buy?

We talked about 5,000 - not a number I was happy with - but then I did a little more research. My friend Tim Fowler who is launching a new church in western Texas the week before we start in Mastic, gave me some very good input.

He reckons you can do a minimum of 90 door hangers an hour, so I reckon for each person giving us two hours we can get 180 out. That means that 50 people could get through 9,000 in two hours, which is a number I like a bit more. Add in 1,000 for a church that has offered to help us and we should be able to cope pretty easily with 10,000 door hangers.

So that's my latest thinking. Nothing ordered yet!

TODAY'S GOOD NEWS

I spent some nights last week wondering what the heck we were gettiing into, but thankfully to balance that, I have ended every day this week thanking God for his provision and blessing as we continue with our preparations.

Sunday we were given $2,000 worth of 7-11 coupons to distribute in the community as part of our PR in the run-up to opening day.

Tuesday we were able to buy thousands of dollars worth of brand new equipment for just $855 - two video projectors and a flat screen TV.

Wednesday I met with a guy who is fairly new to our church who looks like he will play a significant part in worship leading in Mastic. He's also a state certified sound engineer who will get all that area set up for us.

Today I took a ride over to Mastic to show my sister the theatre before she returned to the UK this evening. We had lunch in the diner right beside the theater and the owner asked me for posters to put in his window there and also in the pizzeria he has next door. We don't even have them yet, but I loved the fact that he asked me! I did give him some of the cards we have announcing the launch day and he's putting them in both stores.

I took the rest of the cards I had - probably 800 to the movie theater and the manager immediately agreed to start handing them out to customers as they purchase their tickets.

I love it when a plan comes together!

55 DAYS TO GO

So, that's how long before Church At The Movies holds its first public service in a second campus - Island Cinemas, Mastic, NY.

I've been picking the brains of church planters I know in getting everything in shape and several of them have told me, "Let me know how things go." But I'll forget most of the details of this part of the journey unless I write them down - so here goes.

Also, I figure this blog will give me a record of what we did this time around so that we can draw from it when we launch our next campus.

Welcome!