New Campus Launch – What’s that about?
Our Problem: Did you know that about 60-70% of the people in the Greater Harrisburg area do not attend church? That means there is more than 450K people in our area who aren’t celebrating there life-changing relationship with Jesus with others every Sunday.
Our Dream: Daybreak’s dream is to provide an authentic, life-changing environment along the 3 major driving corridors of the West Shore (RT.81, RT.15, RT.83) in the next 3 years so that our unchurched friends and family can exchange their hurts, hangups and small dreams for God’s awesome dream for their life.
Why us, Why now? God is on a mission to invite His creation to be part of His forever family! Jesus says we are to join Him on that mission, so we can’t sit on the sidelines, we must accept His invitation to join Him! The fact is, we offer a uniquely authentic encounter with Christ in a warm loving environment that people in our area are seeking. Launching new Daybreak campuses in new communities removes one more hurdle for people seeking the life-change Jesus offers. We must do all we can to help them.
Getting up to speed –
**STAY UP TO DATE BY SIGNING UP FOR TWITTER UPDATES AT TWITTER.COM/DAYBREAKWEB **
February 28th we had our first Campus Launch Information Session. We had over 30 people in attendance. We talked about the people we are going to reach, the means by which we can reach them, and how to get involved. The excitement at Daybreak over helping more people discover a life-changing relationship with Jesus is growing every day. So – let’s see if we can bring you up to date on the same information.
FAQ#1
I bet you can guess the question I’ve been asked most since we started talking about launching a campus – right? Where we going? Specifically, what building is it? Last November found me scrambling and praying to begin that search – as the song says…”living on a prayer”. Andy Shay came along side me and partnered with the same Realtor that helped us find our first Daybreak facility and off they went. Turns out, its not easy finding a place large enough to have a weekend service, with enough parking spots for lots of people, easily accessible along a target driving corridor, for the right price, and with a Lessor that is willing to work with a church. Maybe, nothing short of miraculous!
Andy and Laura have been a huge part of discovering where God was working to soften the hearts of a Lessor – and provide facility. Three months later, we have several options we are actively pursuing, but are still working out the details on which might work out (more on that later). As we searched and prayed, God opened doors only along the 81 corridor on the Carlisle Pike – and worked in the hearts of the launch team to lay on the hearts of the launch team the Carlisle Pike community. God continues to grow our burden to reach this community of more than 80,000 people within 5-10 minutes of this Route 81 corridor. We’ve looked at two facilities, one in the Hampden 8 plaza, the other in the plaza by where Cremo’s currently keeps house. (Watch a mini-tour video of one of the facilities here) How about this: Daybreak – One church, Multiple Campuses. Gettysburg Pike Campus (Rt.15) and Carlisle Pike Campus (Rt.81).
FAQ#2
Want to know the second question I get asked? Who will be on the team? We now have a great team that will be introduced this month in our weekend services. Let me list them for you:
- Campus Pastor: Shawn Andrews…better known to myself as “Me”
- Campus Children’s Ministries Leader: Linnea Hollander (currently the assistant director of children’s ministries)
- Campus Hospitality Ministries Leader: Matt Pearson
- Campus Worship Arts Ministries Leader: Susie Andrews
- Campus Biz Mgr: Joe Zmetrovich
- Campus Communications Coordinator: Angie Bly
- Campus Care Coordinator: Nate Shields
- Campus Special Projects Coordinator: Andy Shay
Many others have committed to attend the campus and are discovering their role like: Brian Schriener, Lon & Carrie Lebo, Denise Brooks, Jen Hamsher, Mike & Amber Keister, Steve & Laura Sinkonis, Andy & Maureen Shay, Bob Wolfe, Linda Shields, Tim Oberholtzer, Lucinda Kramer…and so many other find Daybreakers – Are you ready to add your name to the list? Just email me at Shawn.Andrews@daybreakweb.com and let me know “You’re In!”.
FAQ#3
Alright – just one more question before I’m done…third most common question I get is: How will the sermon get delivered? We prayed and sought a lot of guidance on this one. We looked at video delivery like our accoustic, considered the strength of our preaching team, thought through the implications of running other campuses a week behind our Mechanicsburg campus…and in the end it became apparent that we should capitalize on our values and strength. We have decided, for now, to launch with live speakers at each of our campuses. Pastor Joel has worked hard at developing a team approach to speaking. We have worked very hard on collaborating on sermon development as a team and having many quality voices delivering the weekend sermons. This is one of our unique strengths…so we are running with it!
So – at each campus – we will have the same message delivered by different speakers on the weekend. One Church – Multiple Campuses – One Weekend Message. That means I will be speaking at the Carlisle Pike Campus about 50% of the time, with our speaking team rotating in (including Pastor Joel) and Pastor Joel will be speaking about 50-60% of the time at the Mechanicsburg Campus while continuing on our current rotating speaker schedule.
So much more to tell…so stay tuned in for more updates this month on the weekend, on Twitter, and on the blog!
Serving Christ Together,
Pastor Shawn
Its been a great month – we had our first launch team gathering at the end of January. 20+ people (adults & kids) – it was blast. We are all very excited about the possibilities.
Andy Shay has been working with our realitor to find potential locations, and we have a few on each corridor. The next step with the facilities is to begin to talk to the owners and discover prices, modifications that will need to be made, and work out many other details. We hope to have this process moving forward by March.
We printed huge posters for the wall, which we will put up soon – they will help us track who is on board for the new campus. This way, we can all celebrate as people join the launch team to bring a new Daybreak campus to their community. Want to know more? Join us for our first Campus Launch Information meeting on Sunday 2/28 from 12:30 – 1:00 pm. More info coming in the scoop soon.
The other day, I got some time alone to think about where I’ve been and where I’m going. Given the size of the mountain ahead (campus launch) to climb and the how “risky” it feels to follow God for me these days (all good things, but none the less I’m at a place where I’m asking new questions) – I asked myself this question – Why do I share what I consider the best news ever? Why do I lay down my life to do so? Why do I gladly lose sleep at night, give up things I truly enjoy, take a position for much less money? Why does anyone, for that matter. After all, not everyone equally shares my zest for talking about Jesus Christ at the center of one’s life. So -
Why do I share the Good News??
1. I find value & worth without shame in the forgiveness of Christ.
2. I find freedom from my past and hope for my future because Jesus power is partnered with me.
3. The Father believes in me – my potential is released by His calling, gifts, & sense of meaning & fulfillment.
4. I have found that Jesus personal love & sacrifice is irresistible.
5. I went from once loving success and feeling empty to loving people and feeling fulfilled.
6. I used to be a slave to performance, now a am free to be the Father’s beloved son. I love that!
7. Impatience and sarcasm once ruled my behaviors, now I am remembered for being a listener & encourager.
8. I believe everyone deserves a chance at being free from the slavery of fear, performance, and hurts – that chance is only found in God’s power of redemption.
9. I have learned that exchanging your dream for God’s dream is really “Trading Up”.
10. All the best friends, most impactful relationships, greatest moments have been in helping others exchange their dream for God’s too!
New Campus Launch – What’s that about?
Our Problem: Did you know that about 60-70% of the people in the Greater Harrisburg area do not attend church? Our Mechanicsburg Campus is getting very full (have you tried to find parking lately at our guest friendly times of 9:30 or 11:00am?). To expand on the Mechanicsburg campus will cost more than $4 million, which is a huge stretch for us financially in this season.
Our Dream: Daybreak’s dream is to provide an authentic, life-changing environment on the 3 major driving corridors of the West Shore (RT.81, RT.15, RT.83) in the next 5 years so that our unchurched friends and family can exchange their hurts, hangups and small dreams for God’s awesome dream for their life.
Why us, Why now? God is on a mission to invite His creation to be part of His forever family! Jesus says we are to join Him on that mission, so we can’t sit on the sidelines, we must accept His invitation to join Him! The fact is, we offer a uniquely authentic encounter with Christ in a warm loving environment that people in our area are seeking. Launching new Daybreak campuses provides an affordable alternative at a fraction of the cost of building a new building. New campuses allow us to provide a Daybreak Church worship location a little closer to home for our guests.
Getting up to speed –
**STAY UP TO DATE BY SIGNING UP FOR TWITTER UPDATES AT TWITTER.COM/DAYBREAKWEB **
As many of you read in the December update, (see old updates below) we are excited about launching two new campuses in our area over the next 3-5 years. We are working toward having a campus on each of the major driving corridors on the West Shore (Rt. 81, Rt. 15, Rt. 83). Just this past week, we finished surveying over 400 Daybreakers, of which 290 gave us valuable input about how many people they are praying for in their area to find Jesus, in part through a closer Daybreak Church campus. Over 325 people were named as potential guests of Daybreak Church if a campus were brought closer to where they live!
We’ve been working to summarize and pray through what we learned from this research. Asking God, what do you want to say to us? What should we learn? How are you working in and through Daybreakers? Where are there many potential guests who are ready to exchange their dreams, hurts, and hang-ups for God’s awesome dream for their lives. In short, here’s what we learned:
- A Daybreak campus on Rt. 81, or Rt. 83 has great potential. There is great potential to bring guests who can discover God’s dream for them in both areas. Rt. 81 responded with 33% more potential guests.
- Daybreakers are equally interested and excited about the locations.
- Demographics in the area do vary and we should be aware of how we prepare to enter each community.
Want to see the report at length? Click here!
What’s next?
Next month, the elders have authorized several Daybreak staff to travel to a church who has a lot of experience in launching campuses to get some coaching, and see how God works in that church of multiple campuses. We will be narrowing down viable facilities on both corridors and even walking through some. Our campus launch leaders will be meeting regularly as we invite other Daybreakers to join us in this great adventure. Meanwhile, Pastor Joel, Ric and I will be working on making our process of helping people exchange their dream for God’s as simple as possible…so that we can reproduce it at new campuses as well. It will be an exciting month! Please pray that God will make it very clear as to where we should join Him in His work for the launch of our second campus.
Getting Involved
We are still looking for PRAYER PARTNERS who will simply breath a 10 second prayer to heaven for us daily via twitter updates (sign-up at www.twitter.com/daybreakweb ) or pray weekly via an email from our prayer coordinator Steve Sinkonis (sign-up by sending me an email: shawn.andrews@daybreakweb.com ). Look for announcements during the weekend services, interest meetings, and invites from launch team members soon!
Serving Christ Together – Shawn
Our family adventures
This year has been an amazing adventure filled with fun, work, and lots of surprises. Let’s see if we can round up a couple quick highlights:
- January 6th, Caleb falls off the latter and breaks his wrist. Ouch! Nothing like a Saturday trip to the emergency room! Oh, and our 2001 Intrepid died! The engine seized, and then the Durango broke as well! Luckily, our neighbor and friends loaned us some vehicles to get us through.
- February 1st, our family gathered around the big-screen tv at Susie’s brother’s house to watch the STEELERS win their SIXTH SUPER BOWL!
- March, finally found a used Toyota Corolla and were able to purchase it with no loans!
- April 13th, our family made our first trek to Washington D.C. We walked the Mall, visited the Smithsonian, and road the subway.
- April 25th, we pulled out the free pool we got last fall, and with the help of many friends – we dug a hole and put up our new (quite old) above ground pool. Then I spent the next 5 weeks re-assembling the deck that went with it…like putting a puzzle back together!
- May, filled up our pool with water – 17,000 gallons all pumped out of the sump pump in our basement! Yes, we have way to much water in our basement int he spring! We also visited Philadelphia with the boys on their school field trip. Lots of history… ZZZZZZ.
- June, Shawn went off to Tozer Seminary for 2 weeks out in Redding, CA. Suz took the boys with her mom on a roadtrip to Georgia and Florida. She had a blast our her cousin Greg’s house, stopped by Toccoa Falls College (her college experience), went to Stone Mountain, and survived 14 hours in the car with the boys.
- July, we swam in the pool when we could…it was such a cool summer that didn’t happen as much as we’d have liked! Shawn through a tremendous birthday party for Suz! She turned 29 again!
- August, we went tubing with Susie’s cousins and had a great time. Her cousin Rob managed to break his finger on a rope swing…Ouch! We all had a great time. We also went up to see my parents and watched the boys catch some fish. (their Dad is not much of a fisherman)
- September, Suz and Shawn went to the NFL Kickoff game in Pittsburgh. It was Susie’s first Steeler’s game…she was like a kid in a candy store…just amazed at the thought of being there. We also joined our friends the Starlings and the boys went water-skiing at Lake Meade. They had a blast, and they can now get up on the skis without Dad’s help.
- October, we celebrated our church’s 10th birthday! Planted 10 years ago…who would have thought it? The boys played lots of soccer and were loving their new role as 5th graders.
- November, enjoyed time with families at Thanksgiving and Shawn spent many, many, many Saturdays working on his theology class for seminary.
- December, Christmas shopping, snow storms, and Shawn’s happy dance cause he finished his theology class.
Next year, we are looking forward to a big adventure in our lives….launching a new Daybreak Church campus in our area. Shawn is leading the effort and will be the campus pastor for that campus. It has been a lot of hard work even so far, but we just love helping people find their way back into God’s arms and exchanging their dreams for God’s! Susie will be helping with the worship, and hopes to begin recording on a new worship album this year as well. We love the season of life God has put us in, but keep praying for us that we stay sane! (wait, yeah, I know we should have started sane!)
Launching a new campus? What’s that about?
Our Problem: Did you know that about 60-70% of the people in the Greater Harrisburg area do not attend church? Our Mechanicsburg Campus is getting very full (have you tried to find parking lately at our guest friendly times of 9:30 or 11:00am?). To expand on the Mechanicsburg campus will cost more than $4 million, which is a huge stretch for us financially in this season.
Our Dream: Daybreak’s dream is to provide an authentic, life-changing environment on the 3 major driving corridors of the West Shore (RT.81, RT.15, RT.83) in the next 5 years so that our unchurched friends and family can exchange their hurts, hangups and small dreams for God’s awesome dream for their life.
Why us, Why now? We offer a uniquely authentic encounter with Christ in a warm loving environment that people in our area are seeking. Launching new campuses provides an affordable alternative at a fraction of the cost of building a new building and that are a closer location for our guests.
Getting up to speed –
**STAY UP TO DATE BY SIGNING UP FOR TWITTER UPDATES AT TWITTER.COM/DAYBREAKWEB **
Since September, so much has happened! As many of you read in the November update, we created a map to display where we all live and reviewed that map to discover three unique driving corridors that would allow us to reach Daybreak guests a little closer to their home. Currently, we have a campus on the Route 15 corridor, but we believe God is inviting us to expand our vision to launch two more campuses which reach the entire West Shore region: one on the Route 81 corridor (Wertzville Rd to the Route 114 interchange) and one on the Route 83 corridor (north of the Turnpike, potentially the Cedar Cliff area).
Just this week we met with a Coach/Consultant from Newthing.org who is a campus pastor at Christian Community Church in Naperville, IL. Our elders and staff learned so much from this time it has become invaluable to us. We had several ‘Aha’ moments like:
- Complexity is the enemy of reproducing a campus. You’re church can only reproduce what you can understand in a simple way.
- Launching multiple campuses is a beautiful way to be Great Commission minded by GOING closer to people who need Christ while continuing to ATTRACT people to your current campus.
Being ONE CHURCH FAMILY in Three locations can be difficult to grasp. Try thinking of it like this:
What’s next?
Over the next two months, I will be working with Pastor Joel and various other staff members to come to especially on whether our second campus will be in along Route 81 or along Route 83. We’ll be sending out a survey questionnaire to people who are likely candidates to make that campus their home campus with a few strategic questions. We are also looking at potential facilities in those areas. Please pray that God will make it very clear as to where we should join Him in His work for the launch of our second campus. If you’d like to know ‘how do you determine a good potential facility?’ – check out my blog posting for this month!
Getting Involved
We are still looking for PRAYER PARTNERS who will simply breath a 10 second prayer to heaven for us daily via twitter updates (sign-up at www.twitter.com/daybreakweb ) or pray weekly via an email from our prayer coordinator Steve Sinkonis (sign-up by sending me an email: shawn.andrews@daybreakweb.com ).
Serving Christ Together – Shawn.
When launching out into a new community to provide a gathering space for weekend celebration service, it is important to pick a great facility that fits the needs of your church and provides a launching pad to serve the community. It’s tempting to count out certain facilities or not consider important factors in whether that facility will best serve your guests and larger community. How do you know what makes a good facility? The book “Multisite Road Trip” lists seven important factors can help you decide.
1. Positive Community Image: What is the perception of the facility and its location in the community? If negative associations exist, is the facility able to be transformed into a positively viewed asset in the community? For instance, a place that has cheap rent, lots of parking, ample rooms for children and a chapel might seem great – but will people be “dying” to come to a funeral home for church?
2. Location Accessibility: Is the location near the people you want to reach? It’s important they can get to it easily by car and public transportation. If people can’t find your campus without a compass and guide dog, it could really inhibit guests’ attendance.
3. Facility Accessibility: Is the location accessible for moms with strollers or people with difficulty walking? Is it easy to get to the children’s area and the worship center or do people have to walk through a maze to get there? People need to be able to get in and out of the major areas of your facility with relative ease.
4. Room for Growth: Once you move in, you probably don’t want to move to another facility quickly. Can the facility handle expansion needs if we doubled in size? What if we tripled in size?
5. Noise Tolerance: Can the location accommodate loud music, laughter, and preaching? In quiet moments of the service, can it foster adequate reflection time? Your weekend celebration service is an environment where you want to do everything possible to allow your attendees to focus on what God wants to do in their lives by minimizing the possible distractions.
6. Decent Rent: Everyone wants a great deal, but you must be aware of that old adage: “You get what you pay for.” Look for a great deal, but make sure you discover and can accept the reasons behind getting that great deal.
7. Room for Storage: One of the biggest issues for campuses that rent weekend only space in a school auditorium, YMCA, or other type space is storage for the portable equipment. When you need to move equipment in and out each week for setup, its important to have on campus storage spaces which are close to your setup space. Expensive sound equipment lasts much longer when it doesn’t need to be lugged outside into haul able trailers each week.
Using these factors have guided many churches to choose many different kinds of locations. Places like schools, YMCAs, movie theaters, event centers, and community recreation centers can make great locations because of their locals and weekend only rent.
Alternatively, renovated retail space gives you several very strategic advantages. The 24/7 access affords opportunities for mid-week events, as well as visibility. Visibility is key to having a community feel your presence, allowing potential guests to ‘check you out’ during the week. This access also keeps you from having the setup/teardown burden every week and gives a sense of permanency to the attendees. However, even with low per square foot rates, build out costs can be expensive depending on what must be done to ready the facility.
So, if you see something that fits that criteria – you may have found ‘the spot’…so please let someone know! Keep looking and praying Daybreak!
What’s this New Campus thing all about?
Our Problem: Did you know that about 60-70% of the people in the Greater Harrisburg area do not attend church? Our Mechanicsburg Campus is getting very full (have you tried to find parking lately at our guest friendly times of 9:30 or 11:00am?). To expand on the Mechanicsburg campus will cost more than $4 million, which is a huge stretch for us financially in this season.
Our Dream: Daybreak’s dream is to provide an authentic, life-changing environment on the 3 major driving corridors of the
Why us, Why now? We offer a uniquely authentic encounter with Christ in a warm loving environment that people in our area are seeking. Launching new campuses provides an affordable alternative at a fraction of the cost of building a new building and that are a closer location for our guests.
Getting up to speed –
**STAY UP TO DATE BY SIGNING UP FOR TWITTER UPDATES AT TWITTER.COM/DAYBREAKWEB **
Since September, so much has happened! As many of you read in the October update, we created a map to display where we are all from. As we reviewed that map, and drove the Capital Beltway, we realized something very unique about the
What if it were easy for people along the other two corridors to get to a
What’s next?
Over the next two months, I will be working with Pastor Joel and various other staff members to come to working decisions about some of the critical issues like: which corridor is most suitable for our first campus, what leaders are in place for our essential ministries like Hospitality, Children, and Small groups, how will we deliver the sermon content (video or live), an estimation of the costs, and meeting with our Campus launch coach from NewThing.org. Looking forward to keeping you informed as we move forward following God in this new leap of faith!
Getting Involved
We are still looking for PRAYER PARTNERS who will simply breath a 10 second prayer to heaven for us daily via twitter updates (sign-up at www.twitter.com/daybreakweb ) or pray weekly via an email from our prayer coordinator Steve Sinkonis (sign-up by sending me an email: shawn.andrews@daybreakweb.com ).
Serving Christ Together – Shawn.
As I’ve thought and prayed about where God wants us to launch a new campus to continue to reach people far from Him in the surrounding Harrisburg area, I’ve come to realize there is a lot more to this than rolling some dice! Frankly, its hard work intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. I don’t expect God to send a lightening flash that carves the address of the new campus on some marble stones (although, I’ve heard He’s done that kind of thing before), but I do want to open up my head, my heart, and my faith to follow Him to the best location – the one He might have in mind.
How do you decide? Wish it was as simple as a nice linear algebra problem: x + y = z. At this point, I’d even be willing to do Integrals or Differential math (math geek as an undergrad – remember?). Far as I can tell, no easy formula’s to solve for this one. However, there is a lot of good counsel from those who have gone before us on this adventure to launch another campus. Here’s some of what I’ve learned you should consider:
- Where are your people located? Well, I looked at that and even have a sporty map to share with you
Make it Big! - Where are there growing communities? (e.g. the fastest growing communities in the surrounding Harrisburg area include Hampden/Silver Springs Twp., and Colonial Park area)
- Where is there available facilities? (e.g. lots of empty car dealerships and retail space these days)
- Are there general areas people not going to church might consider to far from your current location to attend? (e.g. like Carlisle, Harrisburg, 83 South, Enola)
- Are there general locations where you see God at work and consider it an invitation to join Him there?
- Are there strategic locations that might allow you to eventually launch another campus at a more distant location?
These are just six very informative questions to consider. I’m sure there might be more others with a different perspective might consider.
In the end, I know God has something in mind. I will keep asking, I know many others who will too. I’m convinced He is not out to keep it hidden – but He does seem to like really good timing. And this is the journey of faith!
As many of you know, one of our REFOCUS goals is to Expand God’s Kingdom through launching a new campus in the surrounding
Getting up to speed
This summer, we initiated the research required to understand the key factors that would be involved for
What’s next?
Over the next two months, I will be working with Pastor Joel and various other staff members to come to working decisions about some of the critical issues like: where we will launch, what essential ministries will be part of the launch, how will we deliver the sermon content (video or live), an estimation of the costs, and who will help coach/mentor us on this journey. Fortunately, there has been a lot of research done on this subject and many other churches who have taken similar, but unique leaps of faith to expand God’s kingdom. Looking forward to keeping you informed as we move forward following God in this new leap of faith!
Heidi Willis