As a part of the message this past weekend, I talked about our multi-site strategy.  We’ve been working on multi-site, and looking at Canton, Georgia for more than a 14 months, and I’m really excited about the future.  Here’s seven reasons why multi-site is our future?

1.  New is often more effective than old.  This is why I buy new candy bars at the check out…caramel, pretzel, peanuts, Oreo and squid…if you slap the word NEW on it, chances are that I will try one.  In our short history, we grew the fastest in year that we were the newest.

2.  We can grow large while staying small.  We currently have a multi-service strategy…four different services on the weekend.  So even though there may be 1,000+ people attending, it can still feel comfortable.  Multi-sites will allow this to continue to happen.

3.  We want to keep growing.  I believe it’s God’s plan for the church to grow.  I’m going to keep leading us to accomplish the Great Commission.  Healthy things grow, and I ain’t putting up a “we’re full…go away” sign.  There are some great churches in Canton, but if they were all totally full, there would still be thousands of people who don’t know Jesus.

4.  We need more seats at optimal times.  I would do a service at 1am on Tuesday morning if people would come.  But for some strange reason, I don’t think it would be very popular.  Most people like to go to church on Sundays at something that starts with an 11.  That just “feels” like the right time for church to people in the south who don’t go to church.  So a second campus would allow us to have more services at the best times. (By the way, this is why I need 100 of you to make the switch to our Saturday night services.  We’ve got space there but we’re pretty full on Sunday.)

5.  It’s good stewardship.  It would cost millions of dollars to build a big building.  I don’t have a problem with that, but I don’t think God is calling us to do that now.   But for a relatively small amount of money, we can rent space, set up, and hold services.  We think it’s a great way to manage God’s money.

6.  We feel called to reach a pocket of people in Canton.  A lot of Leafers live or work in or around Canton.  And a lot of Leafers have family or friends there.  But Cartersville is just a little too far for them to drive.  So we will go to them.  Incidentally, I looked very hard at Canton before starting Oak Leaf Church, and I always felt like we would do something there.

7.  It will help us develop new leaders.  Anytime we have leadership opportunities, people step up and fill them.  I want to send our best people to Canton, and see hundreds of new people step up right here to fill those shoes.