Beyond Sunday
Beyond Sunday is a podcast where we dive into what our Church is up to, what's happening in society, go deeper into topics from Sunday mornings, and hear leadership talks and coffee break theology from Pastor Greg Griffith. This is a podcast of King of Kings Church in Omaha & Fremont, Nebraska. Learn more at kingofkings.org.
Beyond Sunday
Multisite Update: Have the Courage to Invite!
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Inviting people to church is one of the most important aspects of the success of our multisite approach. We discuss the who, how, and when of inviting others to join us at King of Kings.
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Inviting People to King's Northwest Campus
Speaker 1Hey there , king and Kings family , welcome into another episode of the beyond Sunday multi site podcast .
Speaker 2We've got a special intro for you today , peter , take it away beyond Sunday is the fun way to know what you need to know .
Speaker 1He has not prepared that at all coming in . We are doing that every single time from here on out . I'm sorry , peter , you've locked yourself into that .
Speaker 2I like that Good . Yeah , it wasn't the best sound . We might need to record a different sound , but yeah , otherwise it felt good .
Speaker 1Good , all right . So , listeners , you're hearing all these random voices . My voice is Dan Hoppin . I am the director of small groups here at King and Kings . The singing voice that was Peter Bay . He is the campus director of our new Northwest campus , which we're going to be talking about today , and we also have Julie Easley , who is our executive director and head of basically all things multi site not really an official title , but we all know that Basically . Thanks for joining us today , guys .
Speaker 3Thank you Hi .
Speaker 1So the reason that we are so hyped today is because we get to talk about the Northwest campus . We're going to be opening it this fall in Concordia Junior senior high school . We are going to hold our first official service there the morning of October 1st , followed by an awesome night of music , bingo at 6 30 PM that night . So it seems like a long way is off still , but that's really if only a few months , and those months are going to fly And that's why we're here today . Um , because we want to get people in here .
Speaker 1We want to let people know that this thing is happening and we want people to come , so we're talking about inviting today . Why is now the perfect time to start inviting people to the King Kings Northwest campus ?
Speaker 3Well , you know , we've got a lot of our current congregation who live out Northwest , and how awesome would it be to say , hey , you want to come to church with me ? It's two minutes away from where we live right now . Right , all the places that we work and play , this campus is close to it , so it's an that makes it a really easy invite . Another thing that I think about is , as people leave our I street campus to go to Northwest , we're going to have empty seats And so there's going to be lots of space . We're going to be actually it's going to be in our face every week Like , oh , we need to be inviting . So , um , I think on both of those campuses , it's going to be a really easy way to to say to people Hey , come experience our church , come experience Jesus .
Speaker 2Yeah , well , and and they encourage all the listeners out there , I think there might be this intimidation factor of like , oh no , we're losing people , what are we going to do ? Um , when , when God says to go , and we're obedient to that command , um , there's a reliance of faithfulness that we have to have on him above ourselves . And when we are living with that spirit , with that fruit , um , i think the courage to invite it , it's also a byproduct . So , if , if you're like , oh no , what's , what's it going to be ? Well , have courage .
Speaker 2A , god is giving you a spirit of courage , not of timidity , and you have neighbors right by you who don't go to church , who are not against you , They are for you . And , um , building relationships with them and inviting them into something bigger than themselves is actually going to be best for them and rewarding for all of you , and the Holy spirit is giving you the spirit to do it . So , um , yes , there there will be a short season , but church after church that we've talked to , i said , when they have multi-sided , when they have planted , those empty seats seem to fill in way faster than they anticipated . That's pretty exciting .
Speaker 1I love the way that you guys framed that , because when we talk about multi-sided in our second campus and Northwest campus and everything , there's kind of a tendency to think well , we need to invite people to Northwest because that's the new thing , that's the thing that no one's been to before . You know , that's where we need to get people . We are going to need to get more people here at I street too , because we have some awesome , faithful people who are transitioning over to Northwest . So , yeah , there are going to be some more seats on ice street . So , even if you are planning on staying at the ice street campus , the invitations got to come from you too . So this might seem obvious , but what is the power of an invite , especially when it comes from someone that you're close to ?
Speaker 2What do you think , julie , you want me to take this one .
Speaker 3Yeah , why don't you grab it and I'll take it on afterward ?
Speaker 2Yeah . So the part of the invite and this is not just for church , this is for everyday life . I think that a lot of us live with a desire not to burden the people around us and or bother them , and we tend to think that way with invites as well . Think of times when you've been invited into something . I mean a lot of us we have a tendency to say yes to things we don't even really want to do because someone thought of me Oh , i mean , that's why I coach flag football , although I never played football in my life . That's why , why I said yes to a steering committee for the music building at Concordia and Seward is because someone thought of me Oh , i guess I can do that .
Speaker 2And so think of those times when you've been invited and you've been thought of , and remember that when you invite others into something and whether that's into a relationship of , hey , neighbor , why don't you guys come over , we're making burgers ? Like I need to know your kids names , you know , inviting them into something like that , all the way to the point where you have relationship and the Holy Spirit gives you confidence to invite them to come join in a church .
Speaker 3You know , we were recently at a conference where the Barna group presented They're a group that kind of does a research . They're an organization that specifically focuses on Christian organizations and they presented some research about Omaha in particular , and what they said is people you know , who don't attend church very much , omaha people are pretty predisposed to feeling favorably about the church And you know , i think if you haven't set foot in a church for a while , it'd probably be pretty intimidating to go on your own . But I bet that there's a ton of people in our community who , just if you invited them , that would be the tipping point for them to go , because they're not averse to the church and they don't think badly about it . In fact they might consider going . So if you're thinking like , oh , all my neighbors are super hostile to the idea of going to church , you've got a wrong picture of things And so that simple invite could be all it takes for them to say yes .
Speaker 1So we've talked a lot about neighbors , but obviously there are other relationships that we can consider when we're thinking about OK , well , who should I invite ? What are some other relationships you guys have identified that are maybe easy invites or not even necessarily easy , but just different people in our lives who you might not think to invite to church but might be receptive to it .
Speaker 3Yeah , well , i mean , i think if you're kids attend school right there , you're interacting with parents all the time at kids events or at sports events , sort of those extracurricular clubs , the stuff that your , your children , are involved with . Maybe some of you have family that you would consider inviting . I do think neighbors are a natural kind of a natural invite point , like we just mentioned . but I think what you need to do is just prayerfully consider who is God kind of brought into your circle of influence ? Maybe it's somebody that you're seeing at the gym all the time and you've kind of become friends . It's just putting like a different pair of glasses on and thinking about and really praying about it , because I do think that when you pray into God , who is it that you would have me invite ? Who are you placing into my life to share your message ? He's going to open your eyes to who those people are .
Speaker 2Right , yeah , Back when , I mean , this was a crazy summer , the summer of 2020 , and the George Floyd incident happened in Minneapolis and there was all these conversations and I was like , man , how do I ?
The Power of Invitations
Speaker 2I felt such a pressure to be a positive influence to people on social media , because that was like just so rampant at that time Like post certain messages , make sure everyone knows that you're on board with certain stances , whatever . And I was like , how do I go about doing this ? So I call a buddy of mine who I trusted , and his question to me was Peter , who do you really have influence over ? And I was like , Oh well , like maybe some of my co-workers , my kids , and he's like , Yeah , talk to them about that .
Speaker 2And that really made it more simple for me . It made it less like something out of reach and more something within my control . So who are the people that God has put around me on a day-to-day basis that I have relationship with That ? maybe your family , maybe your neighbors , maybe your friends ? It may be if you go to the same car wash every Sunday or every other day . People go to the car wash so much .
Speaker 2now . Omaha car wash scene is hot And there's the same person who works at that booth and you drive by them every single day like Lord , give me the courage to ask for their name . Lord , give me the courage to ask them how their weekend was . Lord , give me the courage . And after weeks of saying So , do you have a family ? And after months or maybe years , to say Can I pray for you ? Is there anything you could use prayer for ? And if we are able to keep our eyes up and notice the people that God has placed around us , god will show us people to invite .
Speaker 1That's really well said . I know Pastor Greg has been a great example for me . He goes to the gym every day And when you go to the gym you see generally the same five or six people at the front desk who check you in , and he's been very intentional about learning their names and he's let them know over time that he's a pastor and he's invited them to church . I don't know how many of them have come , but he's at least planted those seats and he's intentionally built relationships And I think that's pretty similar to what you guys have talked about Now . I think the reason that a lot of people don't invite people to church is because you don't want to hear those two letters come out of their mouth No , that reject . No one likes to feel rejection , even if it's said in the kindest way possible . So what do we do if someone says no ?
Speaker 2Get over it , kind of . But here's like what's the worst that can happen is that they say no And don't take a no as an I don't like you or as I don't want to be around you or I don't want to be your friend , take a no as no , not this time .
Speaker 1Yeah , i would point out , not right now , right , because that person that door might open again in the future .
Speaker 2Right And timing is such a crucial thing . I would have to look into the details of this , but there's a years and years ago . There's a company . They plugged in tons of money into a system that would allow you to watch videos from all over the world , no matter where you are , and it totally bombed . And then , a little while later , there's some guy who wanted to figure out a way to for his relative to see videos of his kids and he created the like the base platform for something called YouTube , and it went bonanza because it was a timing thing . Now , if you fact check that , i'm totally wrong . Just it is what it is . Nobody fact check , Peter , just take him at his word .
Speaker 2And if I'm right , then make sure you let me know that too . but timing really matters , and we never know what's going on in someone's life , and so just because it's no , it doesn't mean it's always a no and it might plant a seed for a future invitation .
Speaker 1Okay . So for some people it can be really intimidating to visit church for the first time and some people may have had a rough experience at church and they might be a little hesitant to come back in , Even if that door is cracked open . They might just be like man , I don't know . And that's why we , and specifically you guys , have created a series of like fun events to invite people to that aren't necessarily church related , But they show people that , hey , we're just out here to have community . We want to enjoy you guys , We want to love on you guys in a place where you're comfortable . What are some of those events and some some examples of those events that we have coming up in the coming months ?
Speaker 3Yeah . So we've got concert in the park coming up in July . We're praying that all of that those dates line up for us to be at a park with an awesome concert by names , without numbers , and we'll have inflatables there . That's going to be a really chill kind of July afternoon where we can kind of hang out together . We've also got kite day , which is coming up at the end of September which is going to be phenomenal , right .
Speaker 3So there's going to be food trucks galore , there's going to be kites as big as a house flying overhead at Concordia and just an opportunity for kids to make their own kites . Tons of fun things . Those are really soft asks and you can bring your friends , have them kind of experience the fantastic people . I'll be honest to King of Kings We're not scary , we're not intimidating , and that might be a good first ask prior to inviting them to church .
Speaker 2Right And have the courage to say , hey , my church is putting on an event . There's going to be a concert , a band just playing covers and there will be inflatables , and like , when people come to that , your church put this on , this is a church event . Like , yeah , it is .
Speaker 2And hopefully they meet someone . And part of it is getting over that hurdle of , like a lot of our and it's not just for Christians Like when I think of someone from a country I've never been to , like if I picture someone from Portugal , i don't really know what to picture , so my brain computes like some ideas , like , and I don't even know what that would be I like picture the Portuguese flag and I see someone wrapped up in that . If I met someone from Portugal they wouldn't have the natural flag wrapped around them . But that's like , that's what I've created in my mind . And people do the same thing for all kinds of folks , including Christians , and so we don't know what's caused the picture of Christians in someone's mind . It could have been a negative experience , could be a whole lot of nothing , but to provide them with the experience that is just fun and happy and joyful , it could be a breath of fresh air for a lot of folks .
Speaker 1I did not expect the country of Portugal to make an appearance on this podcast today .
Speaker 3But here we are in a beautiful analogy .
Speaker 1I would say Wrapped in the flag . So you guys mentioned some of these coming events . We have more as well . To stay up to date on everything that we've got going , follow King Kings Northwest social profiles . We'll be putting all kinds of stuff out there about them .
Speaker 1Also , at kingokingsorg , if you look up in the right hand , the upper right hand corner , there's like a icon of a pen , similar to what you see . If , like , you Googled something and Googled the location , if you click on that , you can look at our different locations and go to specific pages on our site . That'll tell you hey , here's what's going on on I Street , here's what's going on Northwest . So you go to that Northwest tab . You're gonna be able to stay up to date on everything going on there . And I just wanna close out today just with maybe what are some cool stories that you guys have seen or heard of invites , whether it's a time where you've been invited to come to church or an event when you've invited someone else . Maybe it's been a third party where you saw someone else in the congregation invite someone and now that person has become a staple member at King of Kings . Just wherever you guys wanna take that direction , what power have you seen in the invitation ?
Speaker 2Yeah .
The Power of Invitations
Speaker 2So I have a buddy . I went to college with his sibling , but I got to know him when I was in college . he lived in that area and he texted me out of the blue and said , hey , have you ever been interested in working in the financial industry ? And I was like no . And he was like , well , once a year we think of personal people that we think would maybe be good at this , and would you be willing to be with me ? And I was like , yeah , i'll be with you because I hadn't seen this brown a long time . And I was like , yeah , let's meet , it'll be fun . So I get to the place and he's not there And someone else says , hi , i was told to meet you here .
Speaker 2And I'm like , oh , who are you ? And they said , uh , this guy couldn't make it , um , so I'm here to meet with you . I was like , oh , my goodness , what is this ? And so the the lady asked like so what are ? what are we doing ? And I said I think you're supposed to convince me to be working in financial field . She said you want to do that . I said no . She said , okay , well , let's just talk . So we hung out , um , and after just hearing and she was a very open person , um , and open to these conversations . Just hearing her story and um it was , she had young kids and Kim Kings is a great church for families of kids . I was like come and check it out , like your kids will love it And I think you'll love it too .
Speaker 2Um , and then it was months I'd never thought of it again , and then I saw her and her kids , wow , walk on into church and then uh , a little while later her husband joined and they , they are active , they're regular , Um , and it was all because my buddy didn't show up at the lunch .
Speaker 1Thank you . God has incredible .
Speaker 3I love that . I think one of the things that I was really impressed with is we have , you know , this core team who and that's a team of around 20 people committed to um attending at our Northwest campus for the next couple of years , serving giving , being in a connect group , and we had that . We had a food truck event in March , um , and we thought , wow , this is going to be an amazing time . Tons of people are going to come and get free food . And then it snowed like the most it snowed the whole freaking sun you know winter .
Speaker 3It was the so we're . I mean it . It's hard to discourage Peter Me really , but it's a little like . But the thing that really encouraged me was seeing how many um core members invited friends who showed up , yeah , and neighbors right Kind of that reach out .
Speaker 3Yes , I mean here it is . It's super snowy . It's probably the most adverse conditions we could have looked for . Yet people invited and people came . So , man , just imagine what it's going to be like in October when it's beautiful right 65 and sunny , Um so Knocking on wood , knowing Nebraska Yeah .
Speaker 1It'll somehow dump two feet of snow on us on .
Speaker 3October 1st Right .
Speaker 2Yeah , and and it's not just us . I mean , i've I've heard so many stories from other people too , um , of just like what what ? I ask anyone who looks unfamiliar to me on a Sunday , i said have we met ? And if they say no this is my first time here I said , well , how'd you hear of us ? Um , and most every single time it's a friend invited me . Um , invitations are powerful And , uh , and a lot of those folks , um , the reason they stick around to is because they already have a friend that they trust who's there . So inviting someone to like Hey , um , not only just a friend to church , but like would you like to join us ? We attend that 11 and I'll sit right by you , and it gives a little bit of confidence to everybody .
Speaker 1That's very well said . Well , thank you so much , guys . I think we really got some good insights on inviting , kind of gave some little tips on maybe how to invite some , maybe softer invites that we can extend . So this was this was exciting and a lot
Invitation and Authentic Relationships
Speaker 1of fun . I think it's important to note that , like , yeah , it can be kind of intimidating to invite someone because you are you're putting yourself out there a little bit , but you're also doing what Jesus called you to do , Like that that was the great commission is go and make disciples . Well , that's going and inviting them to come into his house and experience just the love and the blessings that he has for them . You're not asking them to do something . I mean , on the surface it might seem scary , but ultimately it's the greatest blessing that you could possibly give to them .
Speaker 2And I'll add one more thing . I don't know if any of you have experienced this where , like maybe a college friend reaches out to you and you haven't seen him in like 15 years and they're like Hey , i just remember you from college , we were such good friends , we should hang out . I'm an otter like at the utmost and I get so excited about those . And then if that person meets with you and wants to talk to you about a pyramid scheme like it , it crushes my soul and my heart , and so that's the other part of invitation that I would urge you is , like relationships , yep First . Like get to know the people around you and pray for God to move in your heart , to actually care for them , and God will give you the time and the courage to give them an invitation into something much deeper . So we're not doing a bait and switch on our invitations to give people to come to church . We're inviting because God is bigger than everything else we're facing and it's worth it .
Speaker 1It's a very important distinction to make . All right , This is normally where I do the little , do my little , outro and say let's continue living our faith lives beyond Sunday . But Peter , you want to sing us out beyond .
Speaker 2Sunday is the fun way to know what you need to know . That may have been different from the first one , i don't know .
Speaker 1That was awesome , yes .
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