Darrin Patrick at Multi-Site Exposed

Yesterday was a great day at New Life Community Church in Chicago as we kicked off Multi-Site Exposed.  It was great to get to hook up with Darrin Patrick, Mark Jobe and Jim Downing and hear what God is doing in their churches.  It was also cool to connect with Greg Ligon and Todd Rhodes of Leadership Network who (once again) were the engine behind making this go.

Darrin Patrick is the Lead Pastor at the Journey Church in St. Louis which has four locations with about 2500 people.  Darrin is an authentic passionate leader who I love being around.  He talked about the complexity of communication with staff and alignment of sites.  They use the acrostic R.A.C.I. and the following four questions to help with communication and alignment:

• Responsible:  who is responsible?
• Accountable:  who is accountable?
• Consulted: who needs to be consulted?
• Informed:  who needs to be informed?

Darrin made this great point:  "The important question is not 'will you do multi-site'; the question 'is your church on mission?'"  Darrin concluded with  this question:  "What one thing will you and your team do to make sure your church is on mission?"

Comments

[Matt]

Would the "one thing" at NewThing churches be reproducing? Would reproducing ensure that the church is on the mission?

[Justin Lathrop]

I had never heard of that R.A.C.I. thing. I just googled it and wow this could really be a help to our multi-site communication.

[gjwagner]

Hey Dave,
Several years/services/campuses ago...I remember telling you about and discussing RACI (or the more expansive RASCI) with you and the then ABC's. If I remember correctly you felt it was too complicated and the simpler approach was "get more and better leaders and trust them" (please forgive me if my memory is missing something).

Since then I have added more understanding and know the RACI tool and other org/development models are difficult to implement in a matrix org (CCC and most multi-site churches).

Are you / CCC rethinking roles? Are "policies" (the ultimate end game for RACI process) in the CCC future? What might be a better way to approach communication challenges in a high-trust matrix org like CCC?

A curious observer!

Thanks,

Glen