Last week I began my church planting residency at Lifepointe Church. It’s an exciting time to be able to pursue this new endeavor, and I look forward to all I will get to learn and experience.

This Sunday (September 13th) Lifepointe is launching a campus in Wake Forest. Much of my time right now is with the campus pastor for that location, and really being able to see all that goes into launching a campus. Though there are some differences between launching a new campus and launching a new church, there are many similarities as well.

One of the big misconceptions I have seen when it comes to churches with multiple sites, is this idea that these churches are just about numbers, or just about building up themselves so that they can look good, or that they care more about people coming to their own church than they do about people actually meeting Jesus. And while this can be true of some, the reality is that most of these churches are effectively reaching people, with the only alternatives to multi-site being building larger buildings or turning people away altogether.

Plus, it can’t really be said that multi-site churches are really only in it for themselves when they are also actively engaged in planting separate, new churches.

Studies show that people don’t want to drive as much as they used to, and many people won’t drive to church if it’s over 15 minutes away.

Now I don’t think this holds true to most mature believers firm in their faith, but the problem arises when they want to invite their friends to a service or get them connected to the church. The longer the drive, the less likely this will happen. And this is where being multi-site comes into play, by equipping your people to more effectively reach those around them.

So if you are in the Wake Forest area, we would love to see you this weekend! The services will be at 9:30 and 11 and we will be meeting at Wake Forest High School.

And as many of you know, my residency at Lifepointe is fully funded by us raising financial support. I am really grateful and humbled that we have raised 75% of our goal, but that also means we have about 25% left to go. If you would like to contribute to us so that we will be able to reach more people for Christ through church planting, you can do so by clicking here and selecting “Leadership Resident – Dodson” as the giving reference.