7/22 @ north point community church

Last week Danny Bunnelle and I had the opportunity to visit Andy Stanley's church in Alpharetta, GA.

North Point Community Church is about 10 years old and already seeing crowds of 12,000+ on the weekends.

Danny and I went to check out their college/singles gig. It's called 7-22. It was amazing. We got invited through an online application process to a two-day learning experience called Backstage Pass.

Backstage Pass basically gave us full access to everything 7-22. We toured the building, sat in on rehearsals, attended the production meeting, and had Q & A's with the 7-22 team. It was a great experience--well worth it.

The reason we went is because we're going to be starting a college/singles gig of our own. Look for it sometime in early '07.

While at Backstage Pass, I took about seven pages worth of notes. Here are some of the highlights from my legal pad:

• While touring the building, the volunteer giving the tour commented (rather off-handedly) that it's 'drilled in' to every team member/volunteer that the reason they do what they do is "To lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ." In other words, every time a ministry team or volunteer team meets, they are reminded: Hey guys, the reason that we're here...the reason we do this is because we want to be able to lead others into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. That's awesome! I'm trying to make sure, now, that every time I meet with a group of volunteers or small group leaders, that I'm reminding them that the reason we serve is to do precisely that: Lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
• Here are some of the things I learned about their volunteers: They begin recruiting every May. They ask for a one-year commitment. Things get kicked off with a volunteer orientation. Applications get filled out. Volunteers go on a weekend retreat for team-building. Retaining volunteers is difficult. They have six different volunteer teams: 1. Greeting team 2. Resource team 3. Prayer team 4. Ministry team 5. Late night team 6. Production team. Each team has two leaders.
• Here are the requirements to lead a team: 1. stay sexually pure, 2. have your finances in line with Biblical standards, 3. if you drink, you must drink responsibly, 4. all leaders are required to have an apprentice.
• The target audience for 7-22 is 21-30 year-olds.
• About doing things with excellence: "Even if those coming don't believe in what we're doing, they respect what we're doing enough to listen to what we have to say."
  They would say that for 7-22 "worship is the centerpiece and God is the main event."

It's a first-class, well run organization. VERY impressive. And oh, by the way, the actual event, 7-22, was mind-blowing. The evening was called "Touch of Heaven." Louie Giglio brought a message about compassion and true worship. At the end, he asked for a response...he asked, get this, a room full (3,000 or so) of college students and singles to give generously to Compassion International. They tallied the giving--and that night they raised $41,000. It was simply an amazing evening. You can watch it here.