This post is by far one of the most important concepts that has affected the overall atmosphere on a Sunday morning at Elevation Church. It’s really pretty basic and probably something on every church planter’s checklist. But I think it’s also one of the first things that may lose its priority especially when there is no easy solution. We’ve learned that it’s not free Starbucks coffee but rather room seating dynamics that dictate the energy level in our Sunday Morning Worship Experiences. And this is something that we are very intentional about controlling.

I know- here they go again; the church is manipulating people by controlling the environment on Sunday morning. No- the church is actually using their brains to create a distraction-free environment for the God of the universe to speak to those who may not know him. Why not control a room? What’s more distracting than an empty room and empty seats?

The golden rule in church planting has always been that a room that is 80% full is done growing. And there is a lot of truth to this but I’d argue that a room that is less than 80% full is not only a distraction but a reason for a visitor not to want to come back. Guests feel alone and singled out in a sparse room. They wonder why nobody else is there. Today’s culture likes to blend in when placed in a new environment. 75 people spread over a 250 seat venue is not only disturbing for those in the seats but try being the preacher.

Why not be creative and somehow shrink the room to 100 seats to achieve critical mass. Or better yet somehow start with 60 seats (liked you planned it) and then when 75 people show, all they’re talking about is how you had to free up more seats because “that placed was so packed��?. The rule of thumb is to always look like more people showed up than you were expecting. This is a fundamental principle to maintaining momentum.

So, our golden rule is to always set out too few chairs, block off more seats than we need to, and have everybody leave talking about how crowded the room was. We pack the rows tight and hope that the only empty seats (if there are any) are behind the people. Of course this offends some that like to sit in an aisle seat and those that want to sit in the back because the music is too loud. (So we do things like put an earplug dispenser in the lobby and risk offending the easily offended.)

Sure, it’s inconvenient to have ushers ask people to squeeze in, and to move pipe and drape back as more people come in. And we have people say “Why don’t you just open up all of the seats��? or “set out all of the chairs��?. It would be easier not to have to do these things but nothing is more important than doing our part to create a distraction-free environment for God to move in people’s hearts. We believe that empty seats lead to distractions and a lack of anticipation. Most non-Christians understand packing a house for things like concerts and movies. These events tend to be crowded when they are worth going to but somehow church is supposed to be boring and you sit wherever you want because there are plenty of seats.

For those who are filling up one service- add a second service. Some need to add a third. Some churches need to move to a bigger venue and make it feel small initially by controlling the seating dynamics and shrinking the room. Whatever you do, never settle for not being able to grow as a church. You should always strive to have some empty seats. Just get creative in how you hide or block off those seats while maintaining critical mass in the available seats for every worship experience.

Chunks Corbett, Executive Pastor

Filed under: Church Planting, Creative Elements, Growth | Comments Off

If you’re considering spontaneous baptisms the event just became a whole lot easier.

We’ve compiled the hours we spent planning into a concise format that will fast forward the process. The systems and practices in the kit were utilized over the past two weeks in which 388 people were baptized between our two campuses. It was an experience that profoundly changed those who were baptized, produced a new level of resolve in our volunteers and instilled an attitude of excitement throughout the church.

Begin by reading Part 1 and Part 2 of our previous Spontaneous Baptisms blogs if you haven’t done so already. Feel free to rip us off and make it better. The only thing we ask in return is that you share the stories and let us celebrate with you.

Check out the entire kit online.

Larry Brey – Assimilation Pastor

Filed under: Creative Elements, Growth, Worship | Comments Off

God has blessed Elevation Church and we want to share some of the things we’ve learned in 14 short months of ministry. The intention of Access Elevation is not to tell anyone how they should run their Church. The goal of this blog is to simply allow the staff members of Elevation Church to share what they’ve learned in their area of ministry.

Before we begin this venture I must throw in a few disclaimers. First, we don’t have anything figured out. God has given Elevation Church an unbelievable wave of momentum that this team of fishermen is simply trying to not screw up. Our hope is that through this blog we will give anyone that wants to know some insight into why we do certain things, how we arrived at those decisions, and hopefully keep you from repeating our mistakes.

It is important to know that as systems evolve we must be willing to change. This means that if we ever decide the way we do things is perfect, then we will confine ourselves to the very system we’ve created. Thus, the innovation is lost and we get stuck. We refuse to do this at Elevation Church. So, as we describe some of the processes and systems of Elevation Church, know that in 6 months we may think a particular idea is horrible and be ashamed we ever posted about it. But we’re not scared. A growing Church is on a journey not headed for a particular destination. Along the way there are many stops that we will be addressing in routine blog entries.

The plan is to post 3-4 times per week with different staff members chiming in each time. Our prayer is that this is a resource for the Church starts, while also ministering to existing Churches. We are also well aware that there is more than one way to skin a cat. This is how we’ve skinned it and continue to skin it. If you’ve got better systems, praise God and stick with them.

Chunks Corbett - Executive Pastor

Filed under: Church Planting, Growth, Marketing | Comments Off