Interview for Multi-Site Church class

In fulfillment of my independent study on Multi-Site churches, I interviewed Dr. Jimmy Scroggins, Associate/Teaching Pastor at Highview Baptist Church.

It was a fun time and I enjoyed the results.

I have decided to post the interview here so that I could receive feedback and have dialogue with my fellow future pastors.

Enjoy!

Could you tell me how Highview came to be a multi-site church?

We began doing “Multi-site” 7 years ago, wanting to reach more people in the city. If we are honest, the original campus is not in a great location to reach the city due to its location and was maxed out in every aspect. The idea came up by asking, “What if we just took a group of people from our church here, and started another service at another location?” We chose the east end because it was the fastest growing zip code and there was not a strong “evangelistically minded Baptist church.” A small group in Spencer County joined the church and became a campus which is now at 150 in attendance. Recently, an elderly church in Valley Station voted to become a campus and we started a campus in Sellersburg, IN. We also have a Spanish service in our Fegenbush facilities.

Describe to me how Highview is expressed as a multi-site church.
Is the governing structure of the multi-site church Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Congregational, or some variation and/or combination of these historic church polities?

From their website: “Highview is Pastor-led, Deacon-served, Committee-functioned, and Congregationally approved. The congregation, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, is the most basic unit of church government. Through prayerful submission to God and His Word, members are responsible for selecting their leaders, developing the church constitution, preserving unity and purity in the body, as well as exacting church discipline when necessary.” Highview is a congregation church, where each of the six congregations share committees. Each congregation elects and votes on committee members and these committees make decisions for all of the six locations. See What makes Highview’s six locations one church? for further explanation.

What makes Highview’s six locations one church?

There is one senior pastor with a group of pastor, one deacon body, one budget, and one congregation that is voting. The pastors and committees make decisions. Committees are comprised of representatives from all the campuses, elected by each congregation. The committees are: Finance Committee, Personal Development Committee, Grounds Committee, Nominations Committee, School Committee, By-Laws Committee, Trustees, Treasurer.

Does MS kill the autonomy of the local church?

It depends on whether you define each site as a church, which we don’t. We see each site/campus as a congregation or gathering but they are apart of Highview Baptist Church collectively. The church of Jerusalem was a one church, many locations since day one. It may not look the same as ours today, but it was. This arguement can be used against any large church that has more than one services/gatherings. We already had multiple services, so MS is a naturall progression. Remember, ‘multiple services in many locations” is how we have always thought of MS since day one.

What motivated Highview to go MS?

A desire to reach more people in the city.

What general and/or specific biblical and theological concerns came up and how did you deal with it?

The biggest question we had was: how are we going to handle the preaching? We decided not to do video venue for two reasons: Programmatically, it is expensive to do it well. Theologically, we think that according to 1 Tim 3 that part of the role of the shepherd and one of the tools/resources he has to shepherd is preaching. If we were going to show a video, why not show CJ Mahaney or someone that could preach better than we could. The reason we get up and preach is because we think that it is one of the things that God has called us to do here, for our people and one of the things we are to do in terms of leading and teaching his people is preaching.

Was traditional church planting considered? Why was MS decided?

Highview participated in church planting and felt that they could do it better as Highview due to its credibility and by being MS leverages resources and expertise in an incredible way.

How is each site connected? Is there a sense of community that exists between each site?

Sunday Night Celebration are a business meeting of sorts where everyone from every campus is able to come together and break bread and have baptisms and vote of official business.

How are new leaders identified, selected, trained, and launched into ministry in the church/sites?
No campus is a ‘farm team’ where all the training is done at one site so that they can be put into a better site. We have a ton of Seminary Students, with an unending stream of great talent. We have a pretty intensive internship with Boyce and Southern, where they come to Highview and are involved for 3-4 years and often are offered the position when it opens up. With that said, however, most of the staff has been raised up from within the church and have not come as a result of this internship.

Do you agree or disagree with the general conviction that the multi-site approach is how churches can do a better job of communicating the gospel to people who won’t or can’t come to those churches? Why?

I would not say that it is the BEST way. It is what God has called US to do right now, right here. For Highview, in 2007, it is the best way but it might not be in the future. We’re developing and trying to figure it out and are open to God’s leading in any of these areas. We are not even passionate about defending our position. We are trying to reach people, not develop a model.

If more sites enables your church to be more effective and accomplish its goals and purposes, is there a limit to the number of sites it will launch and, if so, why?

We would not do a campus somewhere else in another city/state. We give to cities for church planting, but they would never be a Highview Campus because they couldn’t gather. A site in another city couldn’t share deacons, can’t share committees, can’t share budget, they can’t gather. There is an aspect of gathering in the local church and if congregations can’t gather they aren’t one church.

What has the adoption of your MS approach cost the church?

I have seven children. Some have more, most don’t. Children cost a lot of money, energy, and effort. And sometimes my wife and I look at each other and say wouldn’t this be so much easier if we just had two? We try to budget for vacation and imagine how much more easier it would be if we only had two. So yea, there are costs but would we trade any of our kids for less cost and an easier time? Absolutely not. There are costs. But we wouldn’t trade any of it.
What’s interesting, and this is what I love about our church, is that no campus except Fegenbush could stand on it’s own and it was the Blue Collar, middle class, two income families here in Fegenbush that bought the land and built the building for the White Collar families in the East End. They bought the land and built the building that is nicer than their that they will never worship in except for a couple of Sundays Nights a year because they wanted to reach more people. So yea, there are costs, but this is what God has called us to do and we enjoy doing it.

Any advice would you give to other churches considering a MS approach?

Each situation is unique, but the one thing I would say is that you have to check your motives. The question you need to ask is, in my opinion, a Great Commission question, and that is, what is the best way for our church to take who we are and what God has given us and reach more people? And if the best way is to plant churches, stay in one location, or have multiple services, that’s what they need to do. The church is not McDonalds and shouldn’t be seen as a Franchise. If MS is done, it should be done because that is what God called you to do.

Can your MS approach develop a maximum Christian?

I don’t know how to answer that. The short answer is of course we already have. The question is; is this the best way to do make the greatest number of maximum Christians? We are making disciples, but I don’t think that it is because we are a MS. Discipleship is a two-way thing; they have to want to learn. Is MS the best way to do it? I don’t see how this model affects that one bit. If we weren’t doing a site in Spencer County, would the 12 families that were previously unchurched, be attending church? I don’t know, but they are more maximally a Christian than they were before. Can churches take credit for the ‘maximum Christians’ anyways? If they become a martyr, can we say it was because we were MS?