3 Multi-Site Locations Announced

Tonight Mark Beeson unveiled the three locations of our new campuses which will be launched this fall. They are…

• South Bend, Indiana – Kerasotes Showplace 16 Theaters
• Elkhart, Indiana – Carmike Encore Park 14 Theaters
• Niles, Michigan – Wonderland Theaters

He also announced our delivery system–the services will be 100% video, including the worship, drama, music, teaching, and the greeting and transitions by the campus pastor.

This plan is…

• Scalable. We can have 1, 2, 6 or even 10 theaters in the same complex having a service simultaneously for NO additional cost.
• Workable because we are meeting in movie theaters. Everything about a movie theater tells you to watch what is happening on the screen, yet expect an experience that is moving, maybe funny or emotional, perhaps thought-provoking.
• Untested. We don’t know of one church in the world that is doing this (away from their main campus, not just a video overflow) as a permanent solution. I’d love to hear from you if you are doing this.
• Exciting. Mostly because it is untested, it gets the heart beating fast!
• Proven. We spoke with North Point Community Church. They offered this solution (100% video) for several weeks during a transition of facilities, and they said it worked great. They said, "It is a myth that people will not worship to a service on video."
• Low-Risk. We are investing in rent and leadership. Not a lot of equipment.
• Timely. I don’t think this could have been considered two or three years ago. We are just now at a place where the necessary high-quality video capture and delivery equipment is falling in price and cost-effective for a church to consider.
• The Trend. Just in the past few months, we have seen live events being sent to movie theaters. The Miley Cyrus concert was re-played in theaters to sold-out crowds. The U2 concert is playing now in theaters. The Metropolitan Opera even transmits its performances to crowds in movie theaters.

There were 1200 Granger-ites tonight cheering about this news. Now the work begins!