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Select capable men from all the people – men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain – and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. (Exodus 18:21)

Moses saw the wisdom in his father-in-law’s advice. He broke the nation of Israel into small groups and community-size groups, and he commissioned leaders over them. He continued to be the primary vision-caster and the one ultimately responsible for the direction of the children of Israel, but he entrusted the day-to-day care and feeding of the people to trusted leaders. You might say that Moses created the first multi-site church.

The key to success for Moses’ multi-site effort is the same for any multi-site church today: leadership development. Finding, training, and deploying effective leaders are essential to successfully building a church in more than one location. It seems simple, but people often underestimate the importance of leadership in building off-site campuses.

While different multi-site churches handle staffing with a great variety of approaches, one role common to almost all successful models is that of campus pastor – the term most commonly used today to describe the leader who will convey the DNA of the primary campus, recruit the core team, develop the new leaders, and carry on the ministry once the campus is launched.

Greg Surratt from Seacoast Church (Charleston, South Carolina) says, “For each new campus our church launches, we must have a person to carry the Seacoast DNA.” That someone doesn’t have to have extensive training, such as a seminary degree, but that individual does have to know and embody the Seacoast “recipe,” which includes practical life-giving messages, a sense of God’s power in worship, a relaxed nonthreatening atmosphere, excellent children’s ministry, and relational small groups.

The former careers of Seacoast’s campus pastors include that of a dentist who now leads a campus of 1,000, a farmer who leads a campus of 1500, an electrician who leads a campus of 400, and a worship leader who leads a campus of 700.

Four keys to the selection and development of campus pastors

Many people feel the success of a multi-site campus rises and falls on the leadership of the campus pastor. The importance of the effective execution of this role cannot be overstated. Following are four tips for selecting and developing campus pastors.

1. Know what qualities you are looking for in a campus pastor.

Churches with experience in developing campus pastors told us they look for these qualities:

• A leader who completely buys into the church’s vision and is loyal to its senior leadership
• A team player with strong relational skills
• A team builder who can reproduce vision in others
• A pastor, someone with a desire and heart to shepherd groups and individuals
• A flexible entrepreneur



2. Develop an intentional and accessible process.

Seacoast Church has developed a leadership pipeline that carries people from attender to member to small group leader to coach – with continuing development to campus pastor. Their process, like that of other churches, has thoroughly integrated use of an online strategy for greater access to the associated tools and tracking mechanisms.

Dave Browning of Christ the King Community Church uses online tools and even texting/messaging functions in their multi-site model which extends beyond the Pacific Northwest to international locations. “The goal is to carry the informational content – about 70 percent of training – as much as possible digitally, so that we don’t have to be limited by geography,” says Dave. “The relational content – about 30 percent of the training – will be personal.”

3. Remember that leadership development is more relational than anything else.

One error that churches often make when looking at leadership development is to mistake a program or class with building leaders. When Jesus developed the 12 men to whom he would entrust the most important mission of history, he didn’t send them to a class or put them through a program. Jesus developed his leaders by hanging out with them, eating with them, and experiencing life with them.

As churches begin to expand rapidly through multiple campuses, it’s important to remember that the most effective means of leadership development is sitting around a dinner table, sharing the ups and downs of life.

One of the reasons that development must be relational is that one of the variables in growth is timing. “Mentoring is not dumping all you know onto the protégé,” says church management consultant Bob Biehl. “It’s finding the teachable moment to ask, “What are your plans?” and “How can I help?”

Larry Osbourne, lead pastor at North Coast Church in Vista, California, agrees. “Most leaders grow on a need-to-know or need-to-grow basis,” he says. “Our video venues grow just like any other church. Unless you have a host pastor who understands leadership and group dynamics, the growth stops. If a ministry doesn’t have strong leaders, it falters. “In short, churches face a leadership-making challenge because ministries cannot grow or stay healthy without leaders. Teachable reflection is one of the factors that leads to the formation of great leaders.

4. Take advantage of the various communication tools available.

Community Christian Church in Chicago uses videoconferences and teleconferences to connect its campus pastors located in different parts of the country. They meet weekly to collaborate on the weekend message, focus on upcoming concerns, and enhance the sense of community.

A few online tools available include:

• www.mogulus.com – live stream video to an unlimited number of concurrent users
• www.tokbox.com – multi-user video chat effective for 12 to 15 users in different locations
• www.dabbleboard.com – virtual whiteboard allowing multiple participants to draw on screen and collaborate

As Jesus reminded his followers, the ultimate answer to the leader-making challenge is a God who calls and sends: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Luke 10:2).