Jarrett Stevens recently moved to Chicago to start Soul City Church. I have enjoyed getting to know Jarrett and his story a bit through his participation in our Vision co::Lab.

A few years ago, Jarrett moved from Willow Creek to lead 722, a singles ministry associated with North Point Community Church, formally spearheaded by Louie Giglio. When I found out that Jarrett was responsible for leading 722 to close its doors, I couldn't resist a phone call and short interview. I had one question in mind.  How would a strategic bunch of folks, connected to strategy maven Andy Stanley, shut down a ministry?

Here are some notes I made from the interview. Below is Jarrett's announcement to 722 in 2008.

BACKGROUND



  • After Louie Giglio, our team was tasked with taking 722 to the next level

  • Louie was incredible communicator and they did great worship

  • There was a strategic choice to not offer 722 specific serving opportunities and small groups

  • 722 started as a singles ministry but ended up attracting people 16-46 years old



INITIAL LEADERSHIP



  • Clarified our vision to reach single folks in the city

  • Asked college and high school students to get plugged into their OWN ministry (who wants 30 year olds at their highschool?)

  • Half our audience dropped in one night

  • Moved to Buckhead campus, better version, although radically different

  • We continued with the same basic format of worship and teaching



DISCERNING THE NEED TO STOP



  • After a year run, things didn’t take off like we had hoped

  • We wanted to reach people that Buckhead church wasn’t already reaching

  • We had become more of an alternative service to the weekend without realizing it

  • If we can’t be radically unique and absolutely critical, we wondered why we should exist



THE DEFINING MOMENT



  • We finally asked two questions as a team

  • Q #1: Do you think that 722 is doing what only it can do to reach people that no one else is reaching?

  • Q #2: So is there any reason to continue what we are doing now?

  • We all concluded that we didn't want to give our lives to an option.



THREE GREATEST LEARNINGS



  • Engage a prayerful process about shutting down the ministry

  • The best thing we did was to quit doing what we had always done hoping it would offer different results

  • Our greatest challenge as leaders is we can't see quitting as winning



Topics: Date: Mar 16, 2010 Tags: 722 / andy stanley / focus / Jarrett Stevens / Louie Giglio / North Point Community Church / Soul City Church / Stopping Ministry / Vision co::Lab

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