What’s Next?

OUR CURRENT STATE AND NON-WORKABLE SOLUTIONS

(What’s Next Video!)

Okay, you ready?

Good morning everyone, my name is David Sorn, and I’m the Lead Pastor of Renovation Church

It’s pretty unbelievable what God has done since we started this church almost 16 years ago.

And as we said, we’re continuing to fill up quickly.

And over the last FOUR years, our church has not just doubled, or tripled, or even quadrupled, but has quintupled in size.

And the crazy part, to me, is that it’s not slowing down.

Almost every pastor told me, “You’re going to build a building, and you’ll grow a lot for 6-12 months, but then it will stop”

But it just never stopped.

In fact, we are now seeing almost 50 first-time visitors every Sunday. FIFTY!

God is doing incredible things…so let’s open up His Word together.

Matthew 18:12-14

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In Matthew 18, Jesus tells the story of the wandering sheep, and it’s similar to his story of the Lost Sheep in Luke 15…but we get a slightly different emphasis and commentary.

Let’s take a look

(Matthew 18:12-14) - NIV

12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

(What’s Next – Title Slide)

This is the heart of our Father in heaven.

Your Father cares deeply about those who don’t know Him, and so should we as His children.

And so we, as Renovation Church, we can’t stop reaching them.

And yet, this building is filling up.

Here we are this morning, just 13 months after the Grand Opening of our building expansion, and at 4 services already, and if I can be honest with you, if we do nothing, we’re going to be at 5 services in just 9 months.

And we can do that, and add yet ANOTHER service…

But at some point, my voice is going to give out.

At some point, we’ll reach the law of diminishing returns.

We aren’t going to have 700 people at 3:30 in the afternoon service 😊

So what do we do?

WHAT WE’RE NOT GOING TO DO

Let me start by telling you what we’re not going to do.

Because I know we’re going to get a gazillion questions on this, and you’re going to want to know, “Have we thought about “x”?”

Indeed we have!

I’ve been watching the numbers throughout all this, and honestly, I’m not sure, there is anything I’ve thought more about in my entire life than this.

Our amazing leadership teams have had endless conversations, prayer meetings, read countless books, and talked and visited a lot of other churches who’ve been in similar situations.

And through that process, there were many options that we ruled out.

WHAT WE’RE NOT GOING TO DO:

#1: Add on to our building here

Quite simply…because we can’t.

We’ve bought up every piece of land around us that we can, and then used up pretty much every square inch for building, parking lot, and required green space.

So we’re landlocked without the ability to further expand here

WHAT WE’RE NOT GOING TO DO:

#1: Add on to our building here

#2: Build a bigger building somewhere else

I think if we had built this building 10 or 20 years ago, we’d highly consider this.

But we JUST built this.

And we put 15 million dollars into these 2 building phases

And so it doesn’t feel right to us just move on to the next building.

I don’t think we’ve completely ruled out this option for the future down the road…but it’s not what we feel the Lord calling us to right now.

And plus, I think we can do MORE for the Kingdom of God with other strategies

WHAT WE’RE NOT GOING TO DO:

#1: Add on to our building here

#2: Build a bigger building somewhere else

#3: Start a video venue site

…that is another location where you watch me on a screen.

We’re not gonna do that.

So about half of you need to let out that breath you were holding in

Listen, I have pastor friends that do this, and they reach of plenty of people for Christ (they do!), so I don’t want knock it

But at the end of the day, it’s just not us…it’s not me.

I just refuse to believe that all this growth is about me and needs to be built around me.

WHAT WE’RE NOT GOING TO DO:

#1: Add on to our building here

#2: Build a bigger building somewhere else

#3: Start a video venue site

#4: I go preach at other locations too

Again, I don’t want this to be about me, and I’m already preaching at least 4 times a Sunday here, and so it just isn’t possible to find another time to drive to somewhere else, let alone multiple places.

WHAT WE’RE NOT GOING TO DO:

#1: Add on to our building here

#2: Build a bigger building somewhere else

#3: Start a video venue site

#4: I go preach at other locations too

#5: Start more autonomous church plants

…as a way to solve our growth challenge.

If you’ve been around here for a long time, you know that we are a church planting church.

In fact, we’ve started 6 autonomous churches out of our church.

They are their own churches, with their own boards, finances, and leadership.

But we gave them people, finances, and coached their pastors in how to start a church.

And I LOVE (LOVE!!) church planting.

And God has really used it here.

In fact, IN our 6 church plants, and now their church plants (our grandkid churches), there are over 2,000 people in our church planting tree.

However, when we plant a brand-new church, we can only realistically send about 30 people to it.

Because if we give 100 people to a church plant, they will all just want another Renovation Church…

…but the new church planting pastor will have their own fresh vision for how they want to do church…

and they want a team of people from unique church backgrounds to come together under their vision.

And so with church planting, we’re capped out at sending no more than 30 people to a new church plant.

But listen, over these last 12 months, we’ve been growing by 30 people every 14 days.

And so we could spend a year getting a church plant off the ground, but in the end, it would only buy us 2 weeks.

And so we do want to continue to plant new churches in the future (we do!), but unfortunately, it’s not a solution to our growth challenge.

WHAT WE’RE DOING

(What’s Next – Title Slide)

So what are we going to do?

We are going to start new locations of Renovation Church.

And each new location will carry the culture, DNA, and the ministry programs of Renovation Church, but will be led by a live pastor at that location, who will also preach live.

So what does that mean when I say each will carry our culture and ministry programs?

EACH RENOVATION CHURCH LOCATION WILL HAVE:

Bible Teaching

Our locations, for most of the year, will go through the same texts and books of the Bible, and each pastor at each Renovation Church location will deliver their message on the text.

Weekly Gospel Invitations

We are seeing SO many people come to Christ because we’re holding out the way to life…every week.

And God is using it.

By the way, those first two pieces (Bible teaching and weekly gospel invitations) don’t usually go together at churches nowadays.

A couple of years ago, we made up a word to describe the uniqueness of Renovation Church, and we said that this church is “Deepvangelistic”

We go deep into the Word and have very challenging/deep teaching here, and YET are also incredibly evangelistic and see hundreds come to Christ.

Most of the time, churches are one end or the other of that spectrum, but we believe you can do both!

And so every location of Renovation Church will be Deepvangelistic

1-on-1 Discipleship for New Believers

A huge part of our exponential growth is the fact that we disciple, 1-on-1 every single new believer.

We are disciples who make disciples who make disciples.

And so each new location will run our same discipleship system.

House Church

Every location will have House Church, and it will run same as it does here

And many other things will be the same as well (like Renovation U).

So these are the core pieces of what makes Renovation Church, Renovation Church…

And YET, each location won’t be a carbon copy clone.

We want each location to serve and reach their city in ways that are contextual to the city they are in.

And the beauty of this system is that then we can go anywhere.

We can go to another suburb, we can go rural, and we go into the city even.

You could do this in another language if you wanted to

We could have all of the same systems and programs that are working so well, but allow for contextualization with live preaching, worship, and leadership.

All of our locations will be united under one church, one board, one financial structure.

And yet on a Sunday morning, they will FEEL very much feel like a new separate church.

Listen, I’ve spent the last decade and a half recruiting, working with, and training church planters…and the #1 reason that pastors are terrified to plant a new church is that they don’t know how to start an entirely new organization.

They’re intimidated by becoming a 501c3 non-profit. And plus, how do you get insurance, set up payroll, do bookkeeping, and develop the gazillion systems you need for an organization?

But now all of that will be provided, centrally, for every location, along with ministry systems and creative resourcing

We’re freeing up pastors to PASTOR! (to preach, shepherd, and lead)

And I think…one of the blessings of this is system is that you can have all of the things you love about Renovation Church, but in a smaller context where it’s even easier to know and be known.

“So WHEN are we going to this?”

We are officially launching a second location (this location is our first one) in March.

Location #2: March 2026

And in the coming months, our hope is to send something like 200 of you out to reach a new city for Christ.

And then, come next September, just 12 months from now, we are aiming to do it again, and launch the 3rd location.

Location #2: March 2026

Location #3: September 2026

And so we want each and every person here to start praying about if God would have you go when we reveal the next locations.

“Where is the 2nd location going to be?”

We aren’t sharing the location of our second site just yet, as we are still wrapping up some details, and want to make sure every “i is dotted and every t crossed” first

But most likely each of these locations will begin as rented sites, not new buildings

We have already hired a location pastor for our second location, who will be preaching and leading that location.

He is amazing, and we’re going to introduce him to you in 2 weeks on the 21st.

(Q&A slide)

Also that Sunday there will be a Q&A at 12:40 (after 4th service) for anyone who has questions…we want to answer them for you.

We’ll also hand everyone a “Frequently Asked Questions” document on the way out today.

ANSWERING FEARS & FURTHER OBJECTIONS

(What’s Next – Title Slide)

If you just step back for a second, especially for those of you who have been here since the Northpoint days, this wasn’t even fathomable even 48 months ago.

And yet here we are…people are streaming in like crazy to hear about Christ, and so we must do something!

If we do nothing, we only invite chaos.

There is no scenario where everything stays the same and we just keep reaching for Christ. That’s not a real option.

I could the lock the doors I suppose, but then I feel like a lot of you wouldn’t’ get it…I see what time you’re rollin’ in

If we do nothing, it won’t be long AT ALL until you don’t have a parking spot…

…or your coworker or sibling finally says yes to come to church, but when they get here, there isn’t a seat, so they turn around and walk out.

And so we must start more locations so we can continue to reach people (both HERE and elsewhere)

And I know that some of you, especially if you’ve been around the “church block” a bit, you hear anything that sounds like sites, or locations, and you tense up…

…and you go, “I just don’t like that”

Listen, I know there have been plenty of churches who’ve tried something like this because they wanted to jump on the growth bandwagon, or they do it because they think it will help them grow again.

That’s not what we’re doing here.

We’re doing this because we’re overflowing, and because we want to keep reaching people!

And I also know that some of you are even picking some churches in your head, and going, “Oh, I knew it. This church is just becoming ____ church”

Listen, firstly, we’re too hard on other churches…I’m pretty sure we’re on the same team.

But secondly, if you’re going to go there…this is NOT the same.

This isn’t going to be your classic version of multi-site church. At all.

Take what you know and throw it out the window.

We’re redesigning the system here.

When people attend these locations, it’s going to feel more like a church plant.

With a live pastor, and live teaching, and live leadership and shepherding.

There are no video sermons; we don’t even livestream our services.

Besides, how we preach, is incredibly different than most churches

We go deep. Just in the last year, we taught on fear of the Lord, adultery, transgenderism, church discipline, you name it

How we teach is DIFFERENT.

How we do community is DIFFERENT.

Plenty of large churches don’t even have 10% of their people in community, we’re at almost 80%!

How we do discipleship is DIFFERENT!

Saying that this is just like another church now just because there now there are multiple locations is like saying McDonalds and Fogo De Chao are the same because they have multiple locations.

Do me a favor: Don’t do that.

VISION

If we fall into the trap where we say, (cuz here is what is in a lot of our hearts…I’m just gonna call everything out today), “I just wish it weren’t getting so big though)…

…what are we even saying when we say that?

And, would you say that same line to God?

I pray that God would give us, every single person in this room, His heart for the lost.

Like we talked about in Elisha, that we would WEEP for the lost.

Or as we read today, that Jesus is the shepherd that goes after the lost.

He’s not the one that says, “Sorry, we’re full, I like it the way it is”

He’s the one who says, “My heart is that none of these should perish”

And if that’s not our heart, then who are we?

Do you remember watching the Titanic back in the day?

When the wealthy first get in the lifeboats, but then other passengers come streaming up and want to jump on, but then those already in the boat block them…because they want to be uncomfortable…in fact they head out before it’s even full!

That can’t be us.

This can’t be about our preferences; it has to be about what God’s doing in our midst.

And listen, we’re talking about REAL people here.

I wish you could stand with me when I do follow-up with the new believers after the service.

These are real people, with real families.

Just in the last few months:

I could tell you stories…like the 65-year-old woman at follow-up that couldn’t even listen to what I was saying because the grace of God touched her so deeply, she just wept through the whole thing

I could tell you about a young woman, whose husband cheated on her, but in the midst of her pain, she came here and found salvation.

We had a youth come to Christ (in our explosive youth group), and he was so transformed, that his dad came to church to find out what this was all about, and HE GAVE HIS LIFE TO CHRIST!

We just had a gay man come to Christ..

We had a former Satanist come to Christ

A Buddhist come to Christ, Atheists come to Christ

Listen, not one, but multiple people, have told me that they used to drive by our church every day when it was getting built and say, “What do we need another stupid church for!”

And now those same people are in this church worshipping Jesus Christ!

I heard a testimony from a man at our church talking about how he was drinking 6 or 7 drinks a day, and it was destroying his family.

But then he truly experienced Christ at our church, and everything turned around.

I heard another testimony from a man about how he and his wife were near divorce, but then, as a last ditch effort, they saw one of our signs, and tried church…

And when he heard the gospel, he stood up, and then he looked over, and saw his wife standing too.

…And now they’re whole family is transforming…and their young girls can’t stop talking about Jesus…and are just so thankful that mommy & daddy are together.

THESE ARE REAL PEOPLE!

And you know what??

There are REAL PEOPLE in our surrounding cities too!

And they’re lost sheep. And they don’t know Jesus. And they’re on their way to an eternity without Him.

And so we’re going to bring the Gospel to them!

And we’re going bring it soon!

Because look at me, now is the time to move.

Now is the day of salvation.

The truth is, part of the reason we’re seeing so many people come to Christ, especially young people, is that secularism’s promises are being revealed for what they are: empty.

Lots of American have chased the false promises of atheism and supposed sexual freedom all the way down the rabbit hole and they’ve found nothing but pain.

And so now, in America, for the first time in a generation or two, people are looking en masse, for answers.

And we’re going to give it to them.

We’re going to point them to THE Answer!

Listen, I feel like my whole life, Christians have been on the defensive.

Always shrinking back and watching the enemy take more ground, saying, “Well, the church is shrinking…Christianity is shrinking…sure is getting worse out there, nothing we can do”

But I say, “No more! No more! I’m done being afraid!”

I’m sick of saying, “We’re surrounded.”

The Bible says, “We’re not surrounded, but God has surrounded our enemy”

God is doing something absolutely unique and special here, and we’re not going to just keep it to ourselves.

We’re going go.

We’re going bring Christ to the metro.

And I’m going stand in front of God and I’m going to strike the arrows on the ground as many times as we need to

Because we will not rest until all have heard the gospel

Will you join me?

I pray you do.

Let me pray.