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My name is Chad. My family and I moved to Columbus, Ohio last June and quickly got to work building a launch team. Prior to that we spent about 10 years in college/youth ministry and I led worship full time for about 6 years.

We launched in April with more than 430 in attendance with a launch team of about 40 people. Since then, we've remained steady above 200 and into the 250's and have held our ground even as summer has settled in. We meet in an AMC Theatre which provides a great atmosphere, and whether we have 300 or 150 in our auditorium, it really feels the same - that's been a good thing for us.

The best launch idea I have - which is what Guy asked for, is probably what we did with 30 in 30. I got the idea of 30 in 30 at ARC Basic Training, but we decided to take it to the next level. We got our sponsor church to give us a double match, so we made our 30 day challenge public. Every dollar raised up to $30,000 was matched twice. In 30 days, after a lot of prayer and fasting, and after a lot more phone calls (hours a day) we were able to raise more than $120,000 for launch - and we spent it all. It's amazing how fast money disappears when you're trying to launch big. Our big investments were marketing and audio visual. I'm glad we didn't skimp on the sound. It's one thing that from the very beginning, sets us a part from most of the churches in this area. We were fortunate to have a lot of help in making sure we got the right stuff - and some of the bigger pieces were bought used.

Our marketing campaign, particularly our mailer, probably made the biggest impact. We took our idea from iTown Church and sent out 80,000 postcards. I can't tell you how many people, still, after 14 weeks, come to Rock City and say that the reason they're there is because of our postcard. It was a brilliant idea that we can't take credit for. The "This Piece of Mail Could Change Your Life Forever" ad worked - really well. One thing though, is that we made it our own. The wording was ours. It told people who we were.

We're gearing up now for our Big Push this Fall. Our plan is to move to 2 services on September 18th. I never thought time could move so fast, but now that we're launched, and doing message series, it's crazy how fast time passes. Summer is just a few message series long... and then it's Fall, then Christmas. Lord help us all!

I'm interested to see what ideas others have, and how we can perhaps encourage and/or put out ideas for others to run with.

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wow. man that's awesome. If you don't mind my asking, who did you call during your 30 days? Not asking for specific names but were these people you knew or just various businesses?

Thanks for checking in by the way.