Elevation Church and Web 2.0. In America, and more specifically, in the Ssouth, there are churches everywhere you look. Over

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1 Snipes 1 Austin Snipes Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English April 2012 Elevation Church and Web 2.0 All throughout time, worship, religion, and church have been a major part of most cultures. In America, and more specifically, in the Ssouth, there are churches everywhere you look. Over time, the perception, and the way church is done, of church has changed drastically. The way of church used to be putting on your best suit or dress, cramming into an overcrowded, old, white church, and listening to a long, sermon about hellfire and brimstone. Although it is still around, you don t see a lot of that style of traditional church today. Over the last decade, mega-churches have been emerging all across America. A mega-church is one that has over two thousand in attendance each week (Church Sizes). It would be nearly impossible for a mega-church to be traditionally styled. With the large volume of people in attendance each week, there would not be enough room to fit all of these people in a classic small church building like we are used to seeing. For this, mega-churches function much differently. To make it possible for the large amount of people, these churches are building multi-million dollar campuses with state of the art technologies and auditoriums, and in most cases, the church is spread out over multiple locations throughout a geographic region. The worship style and dress is also much different at mega-churches. Nowadays, sanctuaries have been replaced by auditoriums, pianos and organs organshave been replaced, by drum kits and electric guitars, and suits and dresses by blue jeans, and t-shirts. This whole shift in style is made in attempt to attract the young generation to church. Elevation Church, in Charlotte is the perfect example of one of these contemporary styled mega-churches.

2 Snipes 2 Elevationchurch.org tells the story of how Elevation Church was started in 2005, when Pastor Steven Furtick, his wife, and seven other families took a leap of faith, packed everything they owned, and moved from the small town of Shelby, North Carolina, to the big city of Charlotte, with the dream of starting a movement for God (Where We ve Been Going). The church literally started with nothing, just a dream and a mission statement, So that people far from God would be filled in life with Christ (Furtick) On February 6, 2006 Elevation Church held its first service in the atrium of Providence High School, with 121 in attendance. The church continued to meet at this location until they began running out of room. Eventually Elevation had the resources available to rent out the auditorium weekly. This became Elevation s first portable location, known as the Providence Campus. A portable campus is one where the church rents out a space, and moves everything in early Sunday morning, and moves everything out by the end of the day. Even with more seats, in the auditorium, space was still limited. This led to Elevation launching its first video campus, at Porter Ridge High School briefly. The brief stay at Porter Ridge only lasted a few months, until Elevation opened its second portable campus at Butler High School, closer to the original campus at Providence. This became the Butler campus. Easter Sunday of 2009 possibly marks the most important day in the church s history. With the hope of a great movement over the entire city of Charlotte, Elevation rented out Time Warner Cable Arena in downtown Charlotte, so all of its 3 locations (at the time) could meet under one roof and worship on Easter Sunday. Although it was a huge leap of faith, it was a great success. With over eleven thousand11,000 in attendance, and over 700 public salvations, the event was a huge success (Joye). With all this success, Elevation church has continued to snowball, and now averages over 9,000nine thousand in weekly attendance, over 6 locations throughout North and South Carolina. The large amount of success experienced by Elevation in the last six6 years is due

3 Snipes 3 in large part to its incorporation of Web. 2.0 in the church. Elevation reaches out through itunes, simulcast, point to point technology, and the Elevation network to maximize the amount of people it can reach locally, and around the world. Elevation would not be what it is today without the use of these technologies and Web. 2.0 Elevation Church and itunes In the world we live in today, almost Everyone everyone knows that if there is a song they enjoy, they can log on to Apple s itunes music store, and purchase the song and have access to it within seconds. Dating back to the start of Elevation Church in 2006, Elevation has used itunes as a primary resource to reach members and nonmembers of the church. Every week, Elevation s production leaders recorded Pastor Steven s sermon and uploaded it to itunes, making it available to as a free podcast download. This is still being practiced today, and now over 300 sermons are available on itunes via the Elevation Church podcast. In Elevation Church s 2011 Annual Report, the following information is given. In the year of 2011 alone, over 1.5 million audio sermon podcasts were downloaded, and over 400 thousand video sermons were downloaded (Hollingsworth 15). Introduced in summer of 2011, all of these audio and sermons were confined to one space with the free Elevation Church iphone appelevation Church app for iphone. Now, the app has been installed on over 60 thousand mobile devices devices(15). Not only has Elevation made the sermons available online, but also the music from the church s band, Elevation Worship. Elevation Worship has released three studio albums, and one live album, all available for purchase on the itunes music store. No album had greater impact than the most recent, the live album: For the Honor. The album was released for digital and hardcopy on November 21, 2011 and debuted as number one on the Billboard Heatseeker Charts (15). For the Honor was also number one in itunes downloads on the Christian/Gospel category and 21 st overall, the week of the release. By

4 Snipes 4 the end of 2011, For the Honor sold over 20,000 albums, and had over 25,000 individual track downloads on itunes. With all of the success on itunes, Elevation Worship s most popular song Give Me Faith was released to the radio in February of Through itunes, Elevation has been able to reach thousands of people through sermons and music, which it would not have been able to reach without the use of this technology. Elevation Church and Simulcast Early in Elevation s history, over crowdedness was a major issue the church knew it would face in its future. This problem first became a problem when the providence campus began consistanly running out of seats, every Sunday. The way this problem was initially dealt with was by opening its first internet campus at Porter Ridge High Schoolinital solution to this problem was opening its first all video location at Porter Ridge High School.. This is a tactic Steven Furtick learned from the man who he refers to as his pastor, Craig Groeschel. Groeschel is the lead pastor of Lifechurch.tv, in Edmonton, Oklahoma, the largest church in America, with approximately 40, 000forty attendeesthousand attendees each week (Who is Lifechurch.tv?). Lifechurch.tv was one of the first churches to use video sermons in his church. In 2002, Lifechurch launched three new campuses after running into the same problem Elevation ran into, of not having enough seats.in hope to fix space issues. These three new campuses opened more seats in the church, and also cut down the distance for some, to maximize attendance each week. Since then the church has grown by over 30,000 people. Today, Lifechurch.tv has 14 total campuses across Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, Florida, and New YorkThese three were the first of 14 video campuses for Lifechurch.tv, across 5 states. Since, Lifechurch has grown to over thirty thousand attendees each week.

5 Snipes 5 Following Lifechurch.tv s model, Elevation is looking for similar success using the same technique as Lifechurch. Elevation Church s self made documentary, This is How we Change the World, explains in depth how each campus came to be. Once a permanent site was found for the temporary campus at Porter Ridge High School, the Butler campus at Butler High School in Matthews became the second official Elevation campus. Around a year later, Elevation announced the opening of the uptown campus, its second video campus. In August of 2008, Elevation purchased and moved into an old furniture warehouse in Matthews. This eliminated the Butler campus, and officially became the office and headquarters of the church, along with a 500 plus seat auditorium. This campus became the satellite campus for the church, where all of the video sermons were recorded and videoed to be used online. Shortly after the opening of the Matthews campus, the church announced the start of a financial campaign to build and open its second Elevation building. After millions of dollars in donations, Elevation Blakeney opened in the summer of Elevation Blakeney is 7 million dollar facility with a 1,086 seat auditorium with state of the art audio and video recording technology, sound, and lights (State of the Art Performance Center). Each Sunday, Pastor Steven s live sermon is recorded and broadcasted from the Blakeney campus, and For the Honor: Elevation Worship s live album was also recorded at Elevation Blakeney. Since the opening of Blakeney, Elevation has opened two new campuses, which are strictly video campuses, the University campus, and the Rock Hill campus. Pastor Steven never preaches live from these locations. Besides the 6 Elevation campuses in North and South Carolina, there are 20 extension sites all across America, and in 2012, over 30 more extension sites are scheduled to launch. (Hollingsworth 15) All of these Elevation campuses are made possible and linked by Sennheiser technologies. These technologies make it where all campuses have the same high quality audio and video across the city, and no campus is better than

6 Snipes 6 another, audio or video wise. Using the Sennheiser technology, the church can have a simulcast using point to point technology (Elevation chooses Sennheiser rings true). A simulcast is where one campus is recorded live, and though point to point technology, all other campuses see this recording in real time simultaneously. Elevation incorporates the simulcast in many ways such as announcements, worship songs, and the sermon. Not only does this link the 6 locations in the Charlotte area, but also the numerous extension sites. The traditional alter call has also been changed due to the new worship style. Instead of coming down to the front of a sanctuary, at Elevation, at the end of the sermon, Pastor Steven may lead the sinner s prayer through the simulcast. Without this technology, Elevation would not have been able to reach the 164 people who gave their lives to Christ through the extension sites, and the thousands who have given their lives to chirst at the 6 central Elevation campuses.. Without the simulcast and point to point technology, Elevation would be limited to just the Charlotte area, but with it there are endless places and people for the church to reach. Elevation and the Elevation Network Even though Elevation has had a large amount of success reaching people in other geographical regions though simulcast and point to point, they were not satisfiedelevation was not satisfied, and believed their full potential was not being reached. In order to reach the maximum amount of people possible, Elevation knew something had to be done, even if a large risk had to be taken. Just before the end of 2011, Pastor Steven made a radical announcement to the church, that starting on January 11, 2012, Elevation would be hosting Code Orange Revival, a 12 night, old fashioned revival, with 12 of the best preachers and speakers in the world ranging from Craig Groeschel, Perry Noble, a mentor to Pastor Steven, Christine Caine, of Hillsong churchchurch, one of the largest in the world, and many others. Along with the

7 Snipes 7 announcement of Code Orange Revival, Elevation announced the launch of the Elevation Network, the Elevation online campus. The Elevation Network is a website with 24/7 recorded sermons from Pastor Steven, every hour on the hour. It was introduced to start the revival so people that could not make it to the live revival, at the Matthews or Blakeney campuses; they could easily log onto the Elevation Network, and watch it from the comfort of their own homes. This became a very essential piece for the revivals success. Since the revival was limited to 2 two campuses, and just over 2500 seats, there were a very limited number seats, it was very difficult to actually get into the auditorium, or even a seat in overflow, in the lobby. For this, by the end of the revival, people would camp out in the parking lots overnight, and stand in line 10 hours before the doors were even opened. Since the elevation network launched, it has been accessed over 1.5 million times in 193 countries across the world. Over 600 thousand total sermons have been viewed on the Elevation network, totaling over 51 years in total viewing time, and approximately 25 percent of this was viewed on mobile devices (Hollingsworth 15).. The revival was a monumental moment for the church, and an incredible start to the new year. During the revival, Speaker Christine Caine used her sermon to motivate Pastor Steven into modifying the mission statement. The new mission statement at Elevation Church is so people far from God would be raised to life in Christ, which is now displayed at the bottom of every page, on the church s website.. With the impact felt in the church, in the city of Charlotte, and around the world, Code Orange was a definite success, in large part due to the Elevation Network. It is clear that Charlotte is in the middle of a move of God because of Elevation Church, and based on events like Code Orange Revival, and the Elevation Network, the best is yet to come. After all the information put forward, the answer should be evident to the question, how has Web affected Elevation Church? In an interviewa recent blog post,, Pastor Steven has stated We

8 Snipes 8 are all about the numbers at Elevation (Furtick) many critics twisted this and turned it into a negative thing that the church does not care about the people reached and life change. What Furtick meant, is that every single person the church reaches is important, no matter how they were reached through live attendance, simulcast, or the Elevation Networkis he and the church care about the number of marriages that can be restored, the number of teenagers that follow the lord, the number of depressed people who find hope in Jesus. (We Are All About the Numbers). Though Web 2.0. and the all of the efforts made by Elevation to reach as many people that they can should prove that Elevation is all about reaching people far from God, not just the pure numbers. Elevation is not only just reaching people far from God, but they are also reaching people who are just far. Through all the technologies the church is reaching the amount of people that Pastor Steven, and the 7 other families that started the church, would never would have dreamed they could have reached. The whole church started with a vision that God would move in the city of Charlotte, and with Web 2.0., this vision is playing out. No matter where one is in the world, they can listen to the music from Elevation Worship or a sermon from Pastor Steven. One can get a full Elevation worship experience from an extension site, or logging onto the Elevation Network. Each year, sermoncentral.com uses statistics from churches and compiles a list of the fastest growing churches in America. It is not a fluke that Elevation Church has been on the sermonscentral.com faster growing churches in America listthis list for the last four years. Elevation is doing what is required of any organization for success. They are taking the resources they have, and successfully implementing them in the church, to where they can literally reach millions all across the world. The large amount of success and people reached by Elevation Church would not be possible without the effective use of Web 2.0. Through this effective use, Elevation

9 Snipes 9 is filling people far from God to life in Christ. One thing is for sure, Charlotte is in the middle of a move of God, thanks to Elevation Church. Works Cited Code Orange Revival Recap Elevation Church. Code Orange Revival, 29 January Web.

10 Snipes March March 2012 Neto, Leon Contemporary Christian Music and the Praise and Worship Style The Official Journal of the National Association of Teachers and Singing, November Web. 27 February 2012 Journal of the National Association of Teachers and Singing, November Web. 27 February 2012 Elevation Church Brings Back Old-School Holy Ghost Revival Smith, Brittany. Christian Post. 10 January Web. 27 February 2012Post. 10 January Web. 27 February 2012 "Elevation Church Chooses Sennheiser to Ensure Message Rings True." Press Release Distribution. 29 Mar Web. 2 Feb Distribution. 29 Mar Web. 2 Feb State of the Art Performance Center Elevation Church. Elevation Blakeney, August Web. 30 March 2012Web. 30 March 2012 Furtick, Steven. Sun Stand Still, Colorado Springs, CO, Multnomah Books, 2010, Print Bealer, Jessica, Bendickson, Tonia, Britt, Kyle The 2011 Elevation Annual Report Elevation Church, Volume 3, Issue 10, Spring 2012: 14-16, Print. This is How We Change the World, Dir. Jared Hogan, Elevation Church, Doc, 2011 Top 100 Fastest Growing Churches in America The Outreach 100. Sermon Central. July, 2008 Web. 30 March 2012

11 Snipes 11 Web. 30 March 2012 Where We ve Been, Where We re Going Elevation Church. History, September 2011, Web. 30 March March 2012 Who is Lifechurch.tv? Lifechurch.tv. Who we are, June 2011, Web. 30 March "Blueprint Lays Out Clear Path for Climate Action." Environmental Defense Fund. Environmental Defense Fund, 8 May Web. 24 May Campbell, Malcolm. MLA Means Man, Louie it s Annoying. Charlotte: Walkabout Press, Print Fog: How to Live Peacefully with a Farting Dog. Charlotte: Walkabout Press, Print. Clinton, Bill. Interview by Andrew C. Revkin. Clinton on Climate Change. New York Times. New York Times, May Web. 25 May Dean, Cornelia. "Executive on a Mission: Saving the Planet." New York Times. New York Times, 22 May Web. 25 May Ebert, Roger. "An Inconvenient Truth." Rev. of An Inconvenient Truth, dir. Davis Guggenheim. Rogerebert.com. Sun-Times News Group, 2 June Web. 24 May Friedman, Thomas L. "The Whole World Is Watching." New York Times 27 June 2007: 23. Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 2 Nov GlobalWarming.org. Cooler Heads Coalition, Web. 24 May 2009.

12 Snipes 12 Gowdy, John. "Avoiding Self-organized Extinction: Toward a Co-evolutionary Economics of Sustainability." International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 14.1 (2007): Print. An Inconvenient Truth. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Perf. Al Gore, Billy West. Paramount, DVD. Leroux, Marcel. Global Warming: Myth Or Reality?: The Erring Ways of Climatology. New York: Springer, Print. Milken, Michael, Gary Becker, Myron Scholes, and Daniel Kahneman. "On Global Warming and Financial Imbalances." New Perspectives Quarterly 23.4 (2006): 63. Print Nordhaus, William D. "After Kyoto: Alternative Mechanisms to Control Global Warming." American Economic Review 96.2 (2006): Print "Global Warming Economics." Science 9 Nov. 2001: Science Online. Web. 24 May Shulte, Bret. "Putting a Price on Pollution." Usnews.com. US News & World Rept., 6 May Web. 24 May Uzawa, Hirofumi. Economic Theory and Global Warming. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, Print.

E L E V A T I O N C H U R C H A N N U A L R E P O R T

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