We really wanted to make baptisms special at Elevation Church; as you can see from this previous post God is doing amazing things.

These are a few of the things we did to pull it off…
- Retrofit baptismal tank from churchpools.com:
The tank is meant to be dropped into a permanent structure, but we retrofitted it to work on the stage. We built a false wall in front of the tank covering it with a custom series banner. Safety is always a big concern so we built some freestanding steps for each side of the baptismal and covered the steps with anti-skid tape. We wanted the water to be warm so we purchased a baptismal heater.

-”Let it Rain Down”
We thought it would be great to add the visual effect of rain to the baptismal tank. This effect is actually very simple. We purchased a 10 foot section of pvc pipe and drilled 3/8″ holes every 2 inches. On one end we placed a 2 inch glue on cap, and on the other an adapter that allowed for a garden hose connector. The pipe and hose were all zip tied to a light bar that was above the stage. We then ran the hose back to a sink. If you do not have a bar above your stage, get creative, it should not be difficult to suspend this setup.

- The final touch:
The band played the song “Rain Down” by Delirious. When the first chorus of the song began it rained on the stage. We used some lighting to accent the rain as it fell into the baptismal tank. This left everyone talking and gave
people something to tell their friends about.

Damion Pirolli - Production Director

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It’s been said that imitation is the highest form of flattery and no one really creates anything new, we just borrow what someone else has already done. Well that’s what we did with spontaneous baptisms. The idea didn’t originate with us we actually borrowed the concept from Mountain Lake Church in Cummings, GA. A few months ago while in a production meeting talking about what to do with baptisms, Pastor Steven Furtick threw out the idea, “what if we did spontaneous baptism”? We loved the concept because it fit Elevation Church. It was crazy and over the top. It was audacious enough that if it worked God would get all the glory, but if it failed we would look like idiots.

We got in touch with Pastor Shawn Lovejoy (Mountain Lake Church) and picked up their Spontaneous Baptism Kit and proceeded to rip it off. So before moving forward, let me give you a disclaimer, many of the ideas we used were borrowed from Mountain Lake and adapted for our needs. Thanks guys! Your hard work fast forwarded us in the process.

With the initial planning for spontaneous baptisms there was a mixture of excitement and terror. The thought of people walking into a worship experience without any clue of what was about to happen and the belief that they would move out of their seats to be baptized was exhilarating. But the next thought, “Oh crap, what if no one gets up”?, is pure terror. To make a long story short, God pulled an Ephesians 3:20. It was an amazing success, God was glorified and 388 people were baptized between our two campuses. And we’re not done yet; we have a second week of baptisms at our Elevation Union campus this coming weekend. It’s even more amazing when you realize that the goal we set for the entire year was 144 baptisms and God blew it up the first Sunday.

Preparing for the baptisms was a logistical roll of the dice, it’s like planning for a party when you have no clue how many will show up. How do you move an unknown number of people from their seats and out of the auditorium, have them change clothes and get them back on stage in an orderly fashion, all the while having contingency plans for 10 or 100 people? And by the way, you’ve only got 5 minutes or less to get the first ones out on stage.

Getting started, we had to wrestle with several key factors to determine if we could execute successful spontaneous baptisms. Here is a list of things churches should consider before moving forward:

1. Do you have a critical mass and a culture where it won’t feel silly or just plain weird? Know your church, stage of development and your limitations.
2. Who is the point person? At the end of the day, who is responsible for pulling it off?
3. What is the point and tone of the sermon and will it motivate people to action?
Watch Pastor Steven Furtick’s messages from the two weeks of baptisms for great examples.
4. What are the logistical concerns/limitations of your facility? Where will people change clothes and is it close enough to the stage?
5. How many do you believe you will baptize? This will help determine the type of baptistery you will need and the number you can accommodate during each worship experience.
6. Are you prepared to commit the necessary resources to make it happen?
7. How many new believers do we have sitting in the seats ready to be baptized? Since February we have seen 377 people come to faith in Jesus Christ.
8. How many people sitting in the seats grew up in traditions that practiced infant baptisms?
9. What are the excuses that people will have that will keep them in their seats and how do we diffuse them most effectively?

Before you jump into the deep end, take a serious look to see if you’re ready. But if you’re like Elevation, you like taking risks, risks where people will be stretched beyond their comfort zone and lives will be transformed because the church is willing to call people to action and give them an immediate opportunity to respond.

This is the first of a two part blog outlining the major components we walked through preparing for and pulling off spontaneous baptisms. We learned a great deal through our planning and the adjustments we made along the way. We want to give that information away. So we will be making available a spontaneous baptisms kit that will be linked on this website in the next few days for anyone who’s interested. It will detail everything, so take what we did, rip it off and make it better!

Larry Brey – Assimilation Pastor

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One of the main topics that comes up every time I talk to someone about
groups is GroupLink. I’ll usually try to point you to North Point in Atlanta, GA since (as far as I’m aware) they hold the patent.
But if you insist on finding out how I did it, I’ll tell you something like this:

You’ve got to begin with a church-wide belief that small groups are the best
way to get-it-done! That vision has to come from the senior pastor and
filter down to the mom of a first-time guest. If you’ve got that in place,
then GroupLink becomes nothing more than planning a huge party!

Some of the Nuts-and-Bolts of GroupLink:
-We had people pre-register by filling out a Community Groups
Connections Card. This card was in our worship guide for two weeks and we
encouraged people with videos and announcements to fill it out. This card
asked for basic contact information, preferred location, childcare, age
group, type of curriculum preferred, and type of group preferred (you can
see our newest version of this card online at this site).

-The pre-registration card became the check-in sheet at the event.
We split the roster between three separate tables to try to speed up the
process.

-Once in the room, the group leaders stood behind tables with color
coded signs on them. Each sign gave away that group’s location, type of
group (men’s, women’s, couple’s etc…) and whether they offered childcare.

-The biggest WIN for our GroupLink event was the presence of
Connectors. The Connectors wore matching t-shirts with the GroupLink Logo
on them. They each had a clipboard with a list of the groups and leaders.
Their only job was to “work the room”, looking for that person who was not
engaged and try to get them connected to a leader.

-We also had cheesecake, coffee and a U2 concert streaming the
entire hour and a half on a huge screen. Who wouldn’t want to get into a
group when a fifteen foot rock star is yelling out ‘Yahweh’ in the
background?

-I would say that our first GroupLink was a raving success. We had planned
for about 250 people, but we bought emergency cheesecakes the night before
to feed 350, and we ended up with about 450 people at the event. As a
result, we went from 12 groups to almost 50 in just under 3 hours (of course
it took me until April to sort it all out…). Nevertheless, there are some
things that we will do much better next time.

Things to Improve:
-We will be much more prepared for the enormously overwhelming
follow-up that comes the next day.

-We will provide every one who comes in with a numbered token. The
person will give the token to a group leader if they join a group, or
they’ll drop the token in a box on their way out. This will allow us to
track who got signed up and who didn’t AND it will keep people from signing
up for multiple groups!!!

-Finally, we will try to figure out a much more creative way to
provide people with instructions about the evening. The Connectors did a
killer job but their job would have been much easier if we could have
provided more information up front.

John Bishop, Community Groups Director

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Part Three - Structuring for Success….

The previous two posts (Part One & Part Two) relating to over-the-top guest services dealt with vision and philosophy of ministry. That has to be the starting point, but unless you can effectively translate the vision into practice it will remain a great idea. So, let’s get extremely practical for a minute. During the
first few months of Elevation Church here are some very practical steps that helped us in the process:

1. Teams - Figure out what teams are needed to provide an over-the-top
guest experience. We have the usual teams such as Ushers, Parkers,
Greeters, First Impressions (cleaning) and Information. Because of the
importance we place upon first time guests, we created a First Time Guest
Team. This group of highly relational people is placed under a big blue
tent right in front of our meeting location. Their sole function is to seek
out and connect with our First Time Guests. We wanted to make it easy and
obvious where to go so that’s why we bought the tent.

2. Who’s leading - We divide up the span of care with our volunteers;
the old adage “everyone cares but no one cares too much” applies. Each team
has volunteer leaders that oversee 10-16 volunteers. Their role is to cast
vision to their team, logistically line up their people and make sure the
systems we have developed are being implemented.

3. Identify potential - Identification of those initial leaders is an
essential key to success.
The filter we use evaluates Attitude, Competence, Commitment and Leadership.
The simplest definition of leadership is “do they have the ability or
potential ability to influence others.”

4. Who’s on point - Every Sunday we have a guest services coordinator
who oversees the quality control for each of our volunteer teams. His or
her main responsibility is to see that each of the teams is functioning at a
level at or above our threshold and maximizing the systems we have put in
place.

5. Tie it all together - The key to making it all work, the thing that
keeps volunteers doing it over and over again, is when you can tie what they
do to the life transformation process. When you cast a compelling vision
that allows a volunteer to see that they are just as important as the
pastor, now they are in for the long haul. No longer is it just parking
cars, it’s an opportunity to welcome anxious first time guests and prepare
people to hear from God. It’s no longer just greeting, it’s a chance to,
out of the overflow of the heart, show hurting people a genuine smile.

Larry Brey - Assimilation Pastor

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