LifeChurch.tv Boards the A.R.C.
About two years ago, I met Chris Hodges from Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama, and Rick Bezet from New Life Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. After an hour of conversations, it seemed like we’d been friends forever.
Chris and Rick introduced me to a group of churches that work together to start new churches called A.R.C. (Association of Related Churches). I discovered that Greg Surratt from Seacoast and Dino Rizzo from the Healing Place were a part of the A.R.C.
The leaders invited me to speak at a gathering for A.R.C. church planters. When I got there, I was shocked at the quality of the planting pastors. These young leaders were amazingly gifted.
I learned the A.R.C. had already planted over 50 churches across the U.S. Many of these church plants are growing big—fast.
The more I learned, the more intrigued I became. This is one of the best church planting groups I’ve observed:
- Their assessment is top-notch.
- Their training is incredible.
- Their financial plan is wise and generous.
- Their results are as good as I’ve seen.
- The pastors are very tight-knit and have a blast serving Christ together.
After meeting more A.R.C. pastors and praying for some time, I’m excited to share that LifeChurch.tv will be joining the A.R.C. I’m grateful to the leaders for allowing us to contribute financially, host round tables, mentor church planters, and share in the joy of starting churches.
We are praying that God would allow us to plant 30 churches this year! If you are interested in planting a church, you can find out more about A.R.C. here.
I’d love to hear from any ARC pastors! Tell us who you are and something about your church.
Visit 
Wow! Welcome on board Craig. We met last year at the ARC conference at Celebration Church in Texas. Chris Hodges introduced us (I pastor a Church in Orlando, FL) and we talked a little while about our experience meeting in a movie theater. Any way, I have thoroughly enjoyed your blog, and want to say how thrilled I am that you have become part of the ARC.
Hey Craig,
I was in Austin when you spoke at the ARC conference. Your talk really resonated with me. We are a two year old church that is a part of the ARC. These guys are the real deal. I’m pumped to have you on board.
Jeff Kapusta
[...] LifeChurch.tv Boards the A.R.C. Another link in my alien conspiracy theory! The Truth is out [...]
[...] Like I said a few days ago, a big announcement is coming from LifeChurch.tv and Craig Groeschel. It’s here. [...]
Joseph, I remember our conversation! Thanks for the welcome to ARC. I pray your church continues to reach a ton of people!
Jeff, Thanks so much! We are so excited to help launch a bunch of churches. Blessings to you in Austin.
Criag- This is awesome, it’s amazing to see what God is doing through this group.
It was great to spend some time last year with Chris Hodges and the rest of the crew from the Church of the Highlands; they were awesome and God is doing some big things through their ministry.
Plant, plant, plant!
Craig -
I just started working at New Life Church with Rick Bezet on their creative arts staff. He’s spoke so highly of you and he’s pumped to have you on board in the ARC.
Any chance you’re coming to the ARC Conference in April?
Craig,
Very excited about Lifechurch.tv joining ARC. I am an ARC plant in Destin, FL and I always say this when it comes to church planting, “You can do it the hard way or you can do it the ARC way”. OK I have never said that before but I might start to always say it.
Besides the ARC conference in Austin, I interviewed you on video at the Buzz Conference in which I think I caught you off guard by asking you if you performed your own stunts (as in Tom Cruise). Not only will it be a benefit to ARC but I think it will be a blessing to LifeChurch and after careful observation, I’d say that you have “IT”.
Thanks for this kind of advice. Very practical, and I’m excited about checking the ARC out.
This is a great post. My wife and I are right now in the middle of praying about becoming church planters. We feel God really moving our hearts to do it. But we need training. We will definitely be checking out the site. Thanks for the insight.
This is awesome, the ARC is so Kingdom Minded, Lifechurch is an amazing addition to the ARC family.
Neil, Rick is an amazing pastor and leader. You are blessed to learn from him!
Eric, I remember the conversational with your video camera well. And yes, you did take me off guard.
Marty, Glad to hear you’re going to check ARC out.
Clif, Thanks! We are very excited to be a part of ARC.
John, So glad to hear you and your wife are praying about planting a church.
If any of you have questions about ARC, please ASK! Since I’m new, I won’t all the answers, but maybe some of our other ARC leaders and church planters can help answer your questions.
Craig,
This is Matt Keller. We are an ARC church in Fort Myers, FL. We have been part of the ARC for 5 years now. We have a huge heart for Coaching Church Planters and have been doing so for the last couple of years. We are working with the ARC right now to develop a Church Planters Residency Program to train planters in the future. We sat right behind you at the ARC Conference in Austin. We introduced ourselves as the MyCrappySexLife.com church that was on CNN last year.
Welcome aboard!
Matt Keller
That is so awesome! I’ve been really impressed with the ARC organization and their vision to plant churches. My first exposure to ARC actually came when a friend of mine let me listen to your message about the “IT” factor - it really challenged me.
My wife and I are in the process of planting a Church just north of Indianapolis. We are so amazed at how many amazing resources are available to church planters today! Thank you for partnering with such an awesome organization.
Brad Ruggles
http://www.bradruggles.com
Thanks Craig!
The biggest issue we are having is finding an internship, residency or someone looking to plant out of their church. We know we are not ready to run out and plant. I have been in ministry for 9 years but it has all been in youth ministry. So if anyone knows of a church looking for someone to partner with that would be a huge help.
Craig,
Very exciting to hear this news. My family and I are in the early stages of planting a church in Tampa, FL. Rick Bezet’s brother Randy introduced me to this organization and we are looking forward to getting on board with them in any capacity we can. We are scheduled to go through their assessment process in March.
Steve Wulf
BTW… Andrew & Amy Statezny were classmates as well as close friends of mine in college. I was excited to see him partnering with you as on of your campus pastor
Love the ARC. I didnt plant with them, because I didnt know about them until I was already rolling, but I have been directing as many planters there I can find. I have friends in Minneapolis, Rob Ketterling, Darin Poli, and Tori Farina, who are ARC, and hitting out the park!
So glad to hear you guys are joining up with them! Craig, love what you guys do and the spirit in which you do it. You are blessing so many churches which is ultimately blessing the kingdom!
Thanks!
Matt, How could I forget the pastors with the crappy sex lives? It is great to be a part. So glad to hear you are helping equip other planters!
Brad, I pray your plant is blessed in Indianapolis. Glad the “it” talk ministered to you.
Jon, Maybe you’ll make a connection here… That would be cool!
Steve, Glad to hear you are going through the assessment process! Andrew and Amy are amazing people. Their campus is “on fire.”
Josh, Thanks for the encouraging words.
Life goes full-circle. Prior to entering into talks with Life Church about merging, MetroChurch in Edmond approached Chris Hodges about becoming Senior Pastor. He was already planning the plant in Birmingham but came to check out the opportunity. After prayerful consideration he decided to continue with his church plant. MetroChurch merged with Life Church, and, as they say, the rest is His-Story. It’s exciting to see the new developments.
I was fortunate enough to travel with Craig to Church of Highlands and spend some time with Chris Hodges last December. He’s incredibly passionate about ARC and committed to developing strong leaders for its plants. The leaders of the ARC organization that we have been speaking to through the “boarding process” have been great to work with. It’s the most impressive model I’ve seen, and the success rate of the plants is staggering. These guys’ hearts are on fire to reach communities for Jesus. I can’t wait to see what God does through ARC and LifeChurch.tv’s partnership with it!
Thrilled to have you guys on board with the ARC. I, along with many others here, was at the ARC Conference in Austin when you spoke. I’m on the creative staff at Keypoint Church in Northwest Arkansas, Casey Henagan is our pastor. I believe he might have gotten a chance to speak with you.
Craig, i am so excited about this. I have been on staff at Church of the Highlands for a little over a year now.
I am pumped about you all joining the ARC. I love what you all are doing and how you are reaching the generations!
Welcome to the ARC!
Jon, Check this out:
http://www.benarment.com/history_in_the_making/2008/01/waiting.html
I’ve been following Church of the Highlands here in b’ham for a while. Hodges appears to be a great leader. I’ve visited their numerous times. Love their new facility by the way. Anyone interested in networking about future ARC plants in and around the southeast, feel free to give me a shout. You can contact me through my blog. blakewingo.com
SO very exciting. I can’t wait to see what amazing things God will continue to do through ARC!
And I am quite honored to know the miss (soon to be Mrs.) Lynse Leanne above.
She’s a rock star, so it only makes sense she works at COTH.
I also was in Austin with the staff from Keypoint Church, welcome aboard. Hope to see you guys in Alabama.
Tom, It is pretty cool how God works.
Lance, you are so right. These guys are the real deals.
Ratlcliffe, Thanks for the welcome.
Lynse, I love your church! If Anne says you’re a rock star… wow!
Blake, Thanks for making yourself available to help.
Thanks, Tim.
Craig,
Thanks for the link. I emailed Ben. We will see what God has in store.
wow! Rock Star, eh?
nice!
thanks Anne and Craig.
Craig, it is great to have you and LifeChurch.tv on board with ARC. As I mentioned on the phone the other day, all of the leadership team members at ARC are pumped to have this relationship and the opportunity to do huge things together through church planting. Here’s to 2000 church plants by 2020!
Blessings, Billy Hornsby
Craig, This is great news! Big welcome to you. God has his hand on the ARC in an unusual way and I know he’s aligning things strategically for a massive Kingdom expansion. Come on! Let’s plant some more life-giving churches!!!!
Craig — Welcome to the ARC! My wife, Cara, and I planted in Cabot, AR three years ago and have been amazingly blessed by our relationship with ARC. I sincerely never realized there were so many guys and gals with such passion for soulwinning through churchplanting. These guys are for real and you and lifechurch.tv are a tremendous addition to a great work God is doing.
Can’t wait to get to know you!
Paul
Craig,
This is exciting news! I attended my first ARC event last year at Celebration Church in TX. Thanks for your message, we’ve listened to it numerous times.
My wife and I planted ARC church #51 here in Gilbert, AZ this past September. It’s been an awesome ride!
God Bless
Craig,
I’ve been watching, using, stealing your sermons for at least two years now - You and your church have blessed our young congregation in many ways already! To us it seems like you have always been part of the family!!!! Glad to hear the news about you joining the ARC
Andrew Fortner
Networks Church
Lee’s Summit, MO
Billy, It was great to visit with you on the phone. We are looking forward to hosting a round table in the future. Thanks for your great leadership and influence!
Steve, Sounds great!
Jeremy, Blessings to you all in Gilbert!
Andrew, I am honored to know that our church has helped yours. Looking forward to a great partnership with you and others!
Hi Craig,
This is awesome news! Journey Church (Baton Rouge, La.)has been a part of the ARC for about a year now. Hearing you speak at the conference last year in Austin really blessed my wife and I. The ARC has been a source of ongoing life-giving encouragement for our church.
Hi Craig, 30 churches this year, WOW! That’s exciting. Can you give any details on where you are hoping to plant and how you choose the areas?
Hey Craig,
Welcome aboard the A.R.C. It has been fun to see it grow from about 30 guys in a Sunday School room in Atlanta to a group of churches that are changing the country. Lifechurch.tv is a great addition to the family.
Every few years, Chris Hodges & I visit and study some of the top rated high caliber churches in the US. It was an obvious decision to make lifechurch.tv one of our stops and it’s a decision we’ll never regret.
We knew immediately that Craig and Life Church were going places for a reason. He and his staff had an angle and approach on every topic that was fresh, clear and savvy. That place was completely focused on the plan to win the next soul and they were willing to do everything possible without compromising! Chris and I knew that with the divine flow with Craig…we were in the right place to learn and this deal was working for the long haul.
Because of the ARC influence, our church here in Arkansas is thriving. We’ve grown in 7 years from one family to over 5,000 in attendance. We have 8 services each weekend and we’re building our second 2,500 seat auditorium to be completed in June. Outreach Magazine reported us as being the 4th fastest growing church in the US but after a recount we were listed as 6th. If they count again, we may not even be in the top 100!
As a member of the ARC, I’m pleased to join forces with the fastest growing church in America…Life Church. Thanks Craig for being such a cool friend. Seriously, how many times do you hear the words “cool” and “pastor” go together?
Living the dream with you!
Hi Craig - Wow! We are excited to have you be a part of the A.R.C! I was at the conference in Austin and was looking forward to meeting you in person. I was one of the last guys in line before you had to take off - so I’m looking forward to another oppotunity to meet you in person. I’m confident that it will happen.
I’m an A.R.C. church planter - we are just about to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of Oasis Life Church in Maricopa, AZ. We are blessed to have a facility because of A.R.C. and our mother church, Desert Springs Church of Chandler, AZ. We re already running 2 services and have an average attendance over 200! We visited your Mesa campus several times and designed our auditorium somewhat like what we saw there - a great concept!
The A.R.C. has been an incredible resource and support for us. Incredible to now have LifeChurch.tv on board.
Thanks again for you generosity regarding resources - we use them regularly and they are a HUGE blessing.
All the best - Scott Helsel
Hey Graig!
This is awesome news man! Our church is part of the ARC as well. We are in Chandler, Arizona (Iglesia Vida, Life Church in english, and a hispanic church plant).
I met you at the ARC conference at Celebration Church in Round Rock, TX last year! I was able to speak to you after your message. Man it rocked! It’s awesome to have LifeChurch.tv on board with the ARC!
As a church planter, I’ve learned so much from many churches in the ARC. It’s a blessing to network with a bunch of guys who have a passion for church planting. I hope to speak with you again someday!
Welcome LifeChurch.tv!
Craig! I can’t believe I mispelled your name! My bad! Love you bro! Again, this is awesome news!
Jay, Blessings to your whole crew at Journey!
Tim, Great question. I hope to write more about the strategy in posts to come. The biggest part of the plan is to find gifted and called planting pastors.
Geoff, It is an amazing story, isn’t it. Say “hello” to your whole crew for me!
Rick, The story of your church is “off the charts” amazing! Look forward to hanging out with you again!
Scott, Sorry we didn’t get to meet last time. We’ll make sure to connect at another event. Blessings to you in AZ.
Abel, Great to hear from you. I hope you and Scott can meet our team in Mesa (if you haven’t already). God’s best to you!
[...] 1. I am a member and minister for a church of Christ. Our churches don’t usually partner together to do anything- although there are some notable exceptions (our church for example supports 3 evangelists in Trujillo, Honduras while a church outside of Atlanta, GA supports the Christian school in the same town- the evangelists work there as well), so reading about how other churches do that is always interesting to me. Here is some news from LifeChurch.tv. [...]
Craig,
Welcome to the ARC my friend! I actually contacted you guys a few years ago to ask for a copy of the videos for the series Difficult People that you guys did. The a year or two later after following your ministry and your blog, Bro. Billy tells me you will be speaking at our ARC conference in Austin. I met you there briefly. Your “It” talk was awesome. Hey, a while back I received a congratulatory email for being the fastest growing church in America or something alone those lines. We knew instantly they had confused us with you guys (both being Life Church). All we could do was laugh but it felt good for a minute. We are in West Monroe Louisiana pastoring the first church that Billy Hornsby ever planted himself back in 1976. I got saved in that church as a 16 yr. old young man, later became a missionary in southern Mexico and am now pastoring the church here in north Louisiana. Welcome to the ARC! It is truly an honor to have you on board.
Craig
Welcome to ARC! we are launching Destiny Church in the southwest corner of Vegas this Sunday (Jan. 20th.)We are in a fast growing area of Vegas with about 150,000 people in our immediate area and there are only 5 churches here!!(counting us) If it weren’t for the ARC, we would not be here either. Please pray for us as we begin this journey of reaching the Vegas valley for Christ….
Good stuff man. You guys have a lot of wisdom and experience to bring, so I’m sure everyone in the ARC is excited to have you on board.
sweeeeet! what a cool deal. welcome aboard - can’t wait to see what God does with this. you guys are such a proven, awesome collection of God-loving geniuses who love connecting with others. woooohooo!
from all of us at healing place church - welcome aboard!
What a great win for church planters! Very cool - this is going to be a serious marriage big time… This is huge for the Kingdom.
I’m looking forward to doing some life together. Welcome to ARC.
Very Cool.
I am a lay leader at Healing Place Church, I lead the Book Club Life Group and we read and loved Chazown last year.
I have followed Swerve for over a year.I also follow Flower Dust, I watched Dust join your team and now you are joining the ARC team.
Welcome.
Be Blessed!
Craig, congrats from Switzerland! We met briefly at ILM last year. (I am the one who is translating some of your outlines into German). We are a recent church-plant and are working on building a model for ARC Europe. Great having you on board.
Joel, Thanks for sharing part of your story. Very cool!
Terry, Thanks for telling us about your church launch. I’m praying for you right now. Please stop back by and tell us how it goes!
Thank you, Alex!
Dan, We are pumped to be a part. Bobby and I hope to come visit Healing Place one day. You guys inspire us.
Dino, You are the man!
Carole, Glad you enjoyed Chazown. God bless you all at HP.
Desmond, Praise God for what you are doing in Switzerland! Please keep us posted on what you are doing and how we can pray for your ministry!
Hi Craig. I am on staff at Healing Place Church and have listened to your “IT” presentation at least 10 times. Every time I hear it, it inspires me again. Welcome to ARC. Be blessed in Christ, Claudia
PS Craig,
Greetings from Healing Place. I am excited and thrilled to have you and Lifechurch.tv as apart ARC. We have seen amazing things come from ARC and by the looks of things their is no slowing down with new creative church plants across America. Thank you and enjoyed hearing you at NOC, great word.
JP Brumfield
HPC
jpbrumfield.com
Craig,
Did they explain that you have to become an LSU fan? (Go Gamecocks)
Craig:
I subscribe to pastor Dino’s blog and heard about Life Church and the ARC from his blog. The funny thing about this story is I attend Life Church here in Edmond. We moved here two years ago. We are so excited that our old church HPC (Go Tigers #1) and our new church are now connected. We are all just one big church in this big world and it’s awesome to be apart of it all. Congratulations ARC and Life Church.
Craig, Jillian and I have been blown away to watch walls come down and divine links taking place among great leaders in the Body of Christ. When we had dinner with you in December a couple of years ago we were praying that there would be a connection between you, ARC & ILM. Amazing to watch God knit hearts, passions & gifts to advance His Kingdom!
Danny & Jillian
Btw, don’t listen to Greg. Stick with the Sooners or the Cowboys!!!
Craig, Thanks for your continued passion. I haven’t heard of ARC but will definately check it out. A good friend of mine, Johnny, and I have started networking through our website http://www.flocksdiner.com. We upload our sermons and he writes articles on the Jewish perspective of Scripture. We are wanting to network more with others. Please, anyone reading this check it out and give us feedback. God bless!
Craig, I meant to tell you we have over 4,700 weekly downloads of our podcasts through http://www.flocksdiner.com. It has been a great networking and much farther reaching ministry than we could have imagined! Thanks!
Claudia, I am thrilled the “it” talk ministered to you. Thanks for the “welcome!”
Thanks JP!
Greg, Sorry but I can’t cheer for anything called a “gamecock.”
Sindy, Welcome to Edmond! Glad you found a home here from Healing Place! God bless you!
Danny and Jill, Thanks for your prayers. It is awesome to connect with your friends. I pray you are very blessed.
Vance, I’ll check out your site.
Craig:
I have a passion for this subject.
We are looking to launch approximately 25 new churches here in Oklahoma over the next 5 years. We are partnering with Lance Humphreys at Bridgeway. However, the church plants will come from many denomiations. If you don’t know him, he has a great heart.
Also, I will get you the book list you requested in the next couple of weeks.
Best wishes,
MM
Hi, my husband and I have the awesome priviledge of leading the medical ministry at Healing Place Church with mobile medical and dental units. It can become very challenging having “lay” jobs and serving His house as a volunteer. One of our pastors gave us a copy of “IT” and it has changed my life and the way I approach ministry. The principles apply not only to pastors, but anyone who has a heart to serve the poor. Thank you for all you do! Welcome to ARC.
Fantastic move Craig. The guys at ARC are mission and kingdom minded. They want to impact their communities and state for King Jesus as well as the nation and the world!
Craig,
Man, it’s great to have you and lifechurch.tv on the team. Looking forward to the our future together and having a lot of fun along the way!
Your friend,
Stovall
Welcome, I look forward to meeting you when you visit HPC in Baton Rouge. I am a intern with HealingPlaceChurch and work for Pastor Mark Stermer. I pray God will bless you and your family for what you and your team have done for the Kingdom.
Eric Doucet
thedoucets.com
[...] January 20, 2008 Sunday: It’s all worth it!!! Posted by the6doucets under Uncategorized LifeChurch.tv Boards the A.R.C. [...]
This sounds like a great fit.
BTW - we are a six year old church plant in central NC and God has been blowing our minds. We would love to bless back. How might we support and join ARC?
Peace - Benji Kelley
http://www.benjikelley.com
Matt, Lance is a great guy! Looking forward to your book list.
Cheri, Sounds like you are making a big difference. Hope to meet you one day.
John, Thanks so much!
Stovall, Thanks for the welcome! Looking forward to more time with you. Blessings to your ministry!
Thanks Eric!
Benji, I’ll reply to your question later in the morning when I have more time.
Benji asked how a church could support and join the ARC. Since I’m new to the team, someone else might be able to bring a better perspective.
From my observation, building relationships is very important. You might want to consider being a part of the event at Church of the Highlands in April.
Of course, you are welcome to contribute financially. Another big element is helping to find and mentor great church planters. Our biggest need is finding and building great leaders.
Craig,
Let me give my welcome to you and Lifechurch.tv as well. I get excited just thinking about the possibilities. For all those interested in joining ARC go to http://www.relatedchurches.com/partnering-with-arc/ or you can contact any of us on the lead team at our church offices.
With you in the Cause that counts,
Chris
Hey Lifechurch.tv!
Welcome to the A.R.C. At first, I was shocked…in a good way. Now, I’m excited to the see the synergistic opportunities between Lifechurch.tv and the A.R.C church plants. Let’s maximize the potential!
Lucas Baerg
Olathe Life Fellowship
Olathe, KS (Kansas City)
http://www.innovationatchurch.com
Hey Craig,
It was great having you at the Austin ARC meeting and while we were meeting with you, I had the “What if” thoughts of you partnering with us to make a bigger Kingdom impact. Now, here we are partnering together and I’m thrilled to welcome you to the ARC! I’m looking forward to the future and hoping you feel right at home with all of us, even those of us from the north, that cheer for Gophers, Twins, Wolves, the Wild and the Vikings! (We have more options than those that live in Baton Rouge!)
Glad to have you on board,
Rob
Chris, Thanks for your influence in my life! Hope your 21 day fast is going great!
Lucas, Thanks so much!
Rob, I feel very much at home and am glad to hear we have some options of teams to pull for!
Craig! I’m on staff at Seacoast Church and headed to Chattanooga, TN in the fall with my wife and a team of 20+ to launch a new church - The Net Church!
Glad to hear you’ve joined the ARC - looking forward to the future! By the way, I was at Seacoast the week we gto your video message… great stuff, very creative.
Craig,
Hal Hardy here at the Life Church in Hotlanta, GA. Welcome to the ARC team. We planted in October of ‘06 and are having the time of our lives. The ARC really is the UFC of the church planting world. Thanks a ton for all of the first class free resources. Welcome Home!!
Hal
http://www.thelifechurch.tv
[...] weeks ago, I announced that LifeChurch.tv joined the A.R.C. Next week, the A.R.C. is hosting a church planters round [...]
Hey Craig, i’d like to welclome you to the ARC! i have the privilege of serving on the leadership team for the ARC and we spent some time with you at the last ARC Conference. these are exciting days and i look forward to partnering with you! Matt Fry
Craig,
Welcome to the ARC! You’ve joined with an amazing group of men that I’m privledged to call friends. We’re more than thrilled to have you and Lifechurch.tv on board, what an inspiration you’ve been to all of us. I pastor Keypoint Church in Northwest Arkansas and I look forward to getting to know you better!
Casey
Hey Craig & Crew,
I am a church planter in downtown Atlanta and will be a part of the upcoming ARC assessment center. I learned of ARC from this blog post back in January and have been making the connections since.
Praying for your great success!
Shaun & Crew
The Courageous Church
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You’ll get there really fast, it depends on your connection speed.
Good luck.
As a brand new Pastor I am on a mission to plant a church in Oklahoma City. Currently I have little money and no idea how or where to begin to get church members intrested. can you help?