Collide Magazine

Launching Satellites: Going Multi-Site

Aaron Linne - Originally posted Thursday, April 10, 2008

For the leadership of North Coast Church in Vista, CA, the problem was apparent: They didn’t want people to feel like they were being punished for coming to church. North Coast Church had grown to the point that they were out of seats. That meant—if they did things the traditional way—people were going to have to go to the dreaded “overflow” room. It might have seemed like a slap on the hand to them: “You woke up late so you don’t get to enjoy worship in the same room as everyone else. You just get to watch a video feed of the service, not really take part in it.

Thus, in 1998, Production Pastor Dennis Choy and North Coast Church set out to make a change in how they dealt with the overflow room. Choy wanted people to actually choose to go to the overflow room because it would be more casual with a different ambiance. There would be a live worship band in the room and, yes, there would be coffee. Only the teaching would be provided through the video feed; everything else would be a unique experience.

The experiment was a success, and North Coast Church now has four separate venues on their main campus and two offsite venues. The church is in the process of planning for a brand new building and—instead of building a giant, 3,000-seat auditorium and calling it a day—the church is choosing to build four large venues on its main campus (with room to add one or two more). North Coast is choosing the multi-site approach to church so that individuals’ needs and tastes can be met. North Coast is choosing not to have a giant hall or auditorium, but rather multiple venues that people can attend based on their preferences for ambiance or music style.

But how do they, and other successful multi-site churches, use technology to spread their message across multiple venues?

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Mike Hurt of McLean Bible Church in McLean, VA, says on the technology side, churches have to make one of two decisions—do you want higher quality or do you want to reach more people? He says, “Hi-def won’t lead someone to Christ, but making the message available will.” For Hurt, it was a lesson learned from McLean’s main campus. MBC built a $93 million dollar campus and it was filled to capacity 18 months later. Their intent, however, wasn’t to build a big campus, but to impact the city. They saw no reason to simply build a bigger campus; instead, they went multi-site.

The church operates their multi-site campuses a few different ways. Two of the campuses have live preaching. The team that leads their Frontline service at the Tysons campus also leads the service at the Frontline Arlington campus on Monday nights. For one of the remote campuses, McLean is in the process of installing satellite gear. But in the interim, they are using a digital recording of the church’s Saturday night message.

According to Hurt, the cost of entry into satellite distribution is high because of the necessary equipment. After purchasing the equipment, however, McLean simply rents satellite time as needed to distribute the service. Because they have moved to satellite distribution, McLean’s plan is to send a live feed by Easter 2008.

MBC also has an Internet campus that has been a great success, averaging nearly a thousand viewers each week. Currently, the live stream featured on the Internet campus costs MBC about 30 cents per viewer. But more important than the technology involved or the quality of the videocast is people’s ability to connect with the church even though they aren’t physically present in the main campus.

When I met with Russ Hall of Long Hollow Baptist Church, a multi-site church in Tennessee, he was excited to talk about the decision his church recently made. They decided to sell their high-definition video equipment. In early 2005, Long Hollow purchased an HD camcorder, HD tape decks, and HD projectors. In fact, the projector they purchased was one of the first nine made of its model.

The reason Long Hollow is dropping the HD gear is that it is simply too cost-inhibitive to expand using that technology. The investment is too steep to allow them to grow. The heart of Long Hollow Baptist Church is to expand their reach, and they have not been able to do so due to budget constraints. Now that they have dropped the need for HD, Long Hollow is already in talks about opening a third campus.

In reverting from high definition to standard defintion, Hall also has changed the way they shoot video. Previously, they utilized a locked-down wide shot of the stage. The projector at the offsite campus was set up so it appeared as though the speaker was actually standing on the stage, creating the illusion of a live, in-room teacher.

The offsite venue has actually enjoyed the change from HD to standard definition. Using a widescreen shot of the pastor and re-creating the same feel of the main campus wasn’t effectively utilizing the asset of image magnification. Now, the video crew shoots a more standard production featuring close-ups of the pastor. As Hall said, “Instead of looking at a communicator on stage, he’s in your face, talking to you.

For Long Hollow to get the video from one venue to another, it’s as easy as driving a tape over to the off-campus venue and hitting “Play.” They’ve done some experimenting with streaming over the Internet, but have found that medium isn’t ready just yet. However, because they’re broadcasting in SD and not HD, Internet streaming will become a viable option sooner rather than later.

In talking with Choy, Hurt, and Hall, all of them emphasized the fact that technology is not the most important part of a multi-site church. Instead, all of them cited how important it is for the church to have a great campus pastor at the offsite locations, as well as the importance of finding leaders to raise up at each location. As Hall said, writing a check for the technology is easy; finding the right people is the key.

Choy adds that the campus pastor really is the pastor of that church’s congregation; the message that arrives via video is just the teaching. Having the right people in place, both at the main site and the additional venues, is a vital part of planning to expand a church to a multi-site model. Choy’s church isn’t about “taking over the world,” but building multiple campuses to meet people where they are, and to make sure no one feels punished for waking up a few minutes too late.

Aaron Linne is a Digital Media Producer for LifeWay Christian Resources. He and his wife are small group leaders at their church, Mosaic Nashville. Aaron regularly writes on his blog at www.aaronlinne.com.