March 12, 2010

This week we will continue making a splash.

The Eagan and Woodbury campuses are both in week #3 of our 5-week message series called, “The Ripple Effect.” Although the Eagan campus usually has a one-week delay for the messages, we wanted this series to be in sync.

Why? There are actually a number of reasons. The main reason is quite simple. Since we are “one church in two locations,” we want to be able to report the pledged commitments and campaign progress to both locations…in real time.

The Ripple Effect series and campaign is a “watershed” (sorry, I couldn’t help myself) event in the history of our church and it is important that both campuses know exactly what this campaign means, thus the need for 5-straight-weeks of video teaching at the Eagan campus.

For example, (spoiler alert) this week, you will hear very moving stories from Pastor Phil’s trip to Africa. What happened to him in Africa was the catalyst for a major part of our 3-year Ripple initiative. You don’t want someone else to tell Phil’s stories. You need to hear it from him.

Because this campaign is so significant, we have chosen to pre-record each of the sermons for the Eagan campus. Because of past technological difficulties, we decided to also film a back-up message during the week specifically for Eagan. For the first two weeks, we have chosen to use the “back-up” because of some technical issues and complicated sermon components. But our ultimate goal is to use the Saturday night live service.

The important thing to remember for this series is that Crossroads Church is “one church in two locations.” And God has called us (Eagan and Woodbury) to a goal SO BIG, that if He is not empowering us, we will fail.

On April 4, James will be with us live for Easter. After Easter, we will return to the normal one-week delay messages, which will include a mix of live in-person and live-recorded messages as part of our Eagan worship experience.

Video is an important part of making a multi-site church successful…and being multi-site is new for everyone. Whether live or video, we have had one goal in mind: to provide the best possible worship experience for those already at the Eagan campus…and those who have yet to come.

Over the next few weeks and the next three years, we are excited to see how God will use Crossroads Church to ripple around the world.

See you Sunday.

Pastor Steve