The Fellowship of the Hills

I recently visited a church plant in Tallahassee, Fl called The Fellowship of the Hills. Over all, it could be considered a typical contemporary church plant. However, there are two things that struck me as slightly different.

Thing #1-They are what they call a "Parachute Plant." There are three families on the original plant team. These guys simply moved to Tallahassee and started making contacts and recruiting visitors and support. After only a few months they had several hundred in attendance-mostly college age (even though the guys are 40 and 50 something.) There was the usually summer slump that every church has while we were visiting. The Pastor I spoke with (Pastor Brian) mentioned that there are pros and cons to having a core group (or launch team). Con's being making sure that everyone is on board with the vision. It would seem easier to bring people on board as your doing the ministry rather than before you do it. Of course I can see the good thing about having a core group as well.

Thing #2-They don't have a "lead" Pastor. This is first time for me honestly. Of all the churches that are effective in our country, I can only think of one that doesn't have a pastor personality driving it. Everywhere else there is a name of a pastor that goes along with the success of the place. My only fear with the pastor personality is what happens when that pastor leaves? Vines leaves First Jax and things get crappy. Adrian Rodgers leaves then dies and his church just about falls apart! I am glad to meet a church staff that's really a team. Pastor Brian definitely made it clear that they have a pastor team that operates on level ground.

I gained a lot of insight from my short visit there about leadership! The leader creates the atmosphere!

later