Organic Church Growth

As most of you know, Brandon and I are in the process of planting a satellite campus of Redemption World Outreach Center in Charlotte, NC. There is a lot, I mean, A LOT of work that goes into birthing one of these things (who knew, right? ha!)

And, as most of you know, we are also in the process of moving, and there is a lot, I mean, A LOT of work that goes into moving a family of four across state lines. As seen in this post, we are trying to sell our home in the Greenville area before we head over to look for homes in Charlotte. I would hate to find something I simply cannot live without only to realize I'll have to live without it because we don't have the funds available as they are tied into our house in SC. That would be bad.

During this time of transition, we have been spending a lot of time researching best practices (there are already a lot of churches doing this satellite campus thing well. Why reinvent the wheel, huh?), building launch teams, negotiating deals with possible sites in Charlotte, and trying to figure out the best way to market this awesome, life-giving church to the people of our new city. A lot of questions have arisen concerning how to grow a church.

And I think we have an answer. or at least an idea as to how RWOC Charlotte will be growing:

Yes, that is what you think it is. And yes, it is ours. And yes, we realize what craziness having a baby, moving, and starting a church all within a few months of each other can wreak on a family who already has a 2 year old and a 3 year old.

We are about 12 weeks in (that pic was taken about a month ago) and almost done with the yucky, nausea-filled, ultra-exhausted, all-I-wanna-do-is-lock-the-kids-in-their-room-and-take-an-uninterrupted-nap first trimester. Actually, the exhaustion has been doubled from what I remember from the last two babies, but the nausea hasn't been nearly as bad. In fact, not once (yet) have I had to quickly find a trash can, commode, or remote patch of grass (I learned the hard way never to throw up or pee on concrete--it always comes back to haunt you).  So happiness is on its way. I can feel it.

So, by Christmas, RWOC Charlotte will have at least one new member. And we couldn't be more tickled about it! Actually, on our awesome launch team (which I can't wait to tell you more about, they are awesome!), there are a few other families who are also expecting in 2011, so that is practically exponential growth! Charlotte, get ready!