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Andy Stanley: Circles Are Better Than Rows

Had the great privilege of attending the Re:Group conference recently and there was a moment in one of the main sessions that I just can’t get out of my mind. Andy Stanley was speaking. It was a great session. And then suddenly . . . I couldn’t write fast enough. What he said was just amazingly spot on.

Today, as I was listening to a recent Catalyst podcast, I heard a similar riff and just knew you’d appreciate it. He was asked what he says to people who wonder what will happen to North Point (and their sites) if something happens to Andy. Here’s what he said:

Let’s say that something happens to me, all the staff, and all the buildings simultaneously explode. Let’s make it worst case scenario. There’s no staff. There’s no buildings. And there’s no me. Here’s what would happen. On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday of the following week, thousands and thousands of adults would gather in homes all over the city and pray together, and do Bible study together and take care of whatever family members are left over and the church is going to go on.

Because at the end of the day, circles are better than rows. And from day one, we’ve been committed to creating a culture that’s all about circles and not rows. We are famous for our rows. But the strength of our churches is what happens in circles.

Catch that? I love that! Bet you do too. If you want to listen to his Catalyst podcast interview, you can hear it right here

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Mark Howell serves as Pastor of Communities at Canyon Ridge Christian Church in Las Vegas, NV. He founded SmallGroupResources.net, offering consulting and coaching services to help churches across North America launch, build and sustain healthy small group ministries. He spent four years on the consulting staff at Lifetogether and often contributes to ministry periodicals such as the Pastor's Ministry Toolbox and ChurchCentral.com.