Billy Hornsby » General

ARC Begins College CPRs

admin — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:53:55 +0000

Rick Bezet and John Bolin did an incredible job with CPR at ORU. This was our first CPR on this campus. We met several ORU staff and graduates who were thrilled that we were there and asked to come back. We will do at least 2 CPRs there each year. Also with us was Aaron Stern who taught the last lesson and did a great job. The room that we used was the board room with leather executive chairs that reclined and each one had a microphone next to it when the participants wanted to ask questions or make comments. I didn’t know how to act!

The next day I spent 6 hours with Bill Sheer of GUTS Church. I had an opportunity to share at their staff meeting. Bill and the staff at GUTS are really doing some cool and creative things to reach the lost. In October they will start their “Nightmare” outreach. This is like a “spook” house but deals with the violence in the world and then leads the groups through a maze to a place where they get a chance to view a virtual hell and then go to into counseling rooms to receive Christ. Over 12,000 people signed cards last year that they accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. What a ministry.

Thanks ORU and Pastor Bill Sheer for a memorable two days in Tulsa.

Great Article about ARC and Stovall Weems

admin — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:28:33 +0000

Check out this recent article in the Jacksonville Times Union paper. The journalist wanted to write an article about the move of non-denominational churches, especially those that are connecting with associations like the ARC. The article paints a cool picture of Celebration Church and has a few great quotables by Stovall. Here’s the LINK.

Amazing Bridge Pointe Church

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:24:25 +0000

Charlene and I spent the weekend with Chuck and Jill Angel at Bridge Pointe Church in Woodstock, Ga. What an amazing couple and a fantastic church. Meeting in the Woodstock High School theater, Bridge Pointe Church has over 1100 people in attendance. The worship was wonderful, one of the best sets of worship music and authentic praise that I have encountered this year. I love these guys for what they are doing in Woodstock and how they serve ARC. Chuck and Jill have both helped in the assessment process and have faithfully served time and again at the assessment meetings. Thanks God for this couple and this church.

ARC Board makes Multi-Site venues part of its church planting focus

admin — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 12:18:10 +0000

There were several new ideas discussed at the recent ARC Lead Team meeting in Orlando. As many of you know. In the past we have had several of our churches launch video campuses that we never claimed as church plants. But after examining the issue we realized that there is no difference except that the message is on video at the campuses. As a matter of fact, many churches are using video at the main campus more often than ever. There are pastors, worship teams, small groups, children and youth ministries, counseling and other similarities that would qualify a multi-site campus as a church plant. ARC already worked with Chris Surratt to do a Seacoast plant in Greenville, SC that is a video venue and now we will expand to other churches. We are not yet sure of what it will take for a church outside of ARC to qualify to plant campuses through ARC, but partnership will probably one of the requirements as well as agreement on beliefs and DNA issues. But we will see. It opens many new doors for the ever growing church planting movement.

Re-launch your church! Another church planting strategy is to help existing churches of less than 2-3 years old that did not get a good start re-launch. So if you want to re-launch your church, contact us for more information at www.relatedchurches.com.

We also discussed a 9 Day Residency program that we will use for more in depth training for church planters. We will run one later this fall and see how effective and workable it is. Another idea discussed was a DNA weekend for existing churches to refresh or learn for the first time what it takes to employ the successful ARC model.

Thanks to a great team and staff that made the Lead Team retreat a great success.

Innovate Church Conference

admin — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 01:19:01 +0000

Just got home from the Innovate Church Conference at Thomas Road Baptist Church. It was a gathering of nearly 1000 pastors from around the country. Rick Warren spoke the first night and was, as usual, inspiring and authentic. He is an incredible leader. The next day we heard from Church Colson. Chuck Colson challenged us all to defend the faith by being true to Biblical truth and doctrine. He is a brilliant man with deep convictions that even challenged me to get back into a stronger study of the scriptures We also got to hear from my dear friend and hunting buddy Tom Mullins. Tom did a great job relating on how to deal with stress as a leader. We had a great time together…as well as with my friend Matt Fry. Matt did awesome in his panel discussion on leadership.

Jonathan Falwell is a gracious host and is doing a wonderful job at TRBC and Liberty University. I joined Ed Stetzer, Tom Mullins, Elmer Towns, Matt Fry, Brian Bloye and Jamie George in a panel discussing Church Planting. What a legacy Jerry Falwell left behind! To see Jonathan carrying on with integrity and clarity of vision is refreshing and exciting. Check out this LINK to see more about the conference.

Thanks for the invitation Pastor Falwell!

Success for the 2nd in Command

admin — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:46:57 +0000

If you are a 2nd in command leader or if you have 2nd in command leaders that work with you, be sure to check out Billy Hornsby’s new book,Success for the Second in Command. Click HERE for more info or to order a copy today.

ALL ACCESS 2008

admin — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:30:23 +0000

What can I say? The All Access Conference was a tremendous blessing to me and for the many that attended. Church of the Highlands was an incredible host, Brian Houston did a fantastic job, and we were honored by Jonathan Falwell and many other main session speakers and workshop speakers who each did an amazing job. Thanks be to God for ARC and the team that He has brought together for this ministry to plant 2000 churches by 2020. I want to let the attendees to have the final say about the conference on today’s blog. Add a comment on this blog and tell me about your experience. Here’s one:

“Just a word to say how much I and my staff enjoyed the conference this year. It was awesome and really confirmed our direction and fired up everyone on the team. I look forward to getting to download all the workshops and listening to the them all when they are available. Thanks for asking me to be a part of the ARC it is a blessing to me and my church.”

Olathe Life Fellowship Church

admin — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:45:25 +0000

Olathe Life Fellowship Church in Olathe, Kansas, just outside of Kansas City is a thriving life-giving and relevant ministry. I thank God for Timmy and Jana Gibson and the testimony of their lives as they have planted and built an amazing local church. Olathe Life is one of the early ARC church plants that have set a high standard for church planting and has helped many other ARC churches and pastors find success in launching churches.

Timmy and his family are dear friends of mine and to many other ARC pastors. The church was vibrant in worship and very relational. Timmy and Jana thanks for your hospitality and the work you are doing in Olathe.

New Home for Billy’s Blog

admin — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:29:30 +0000

Hey everyone! Just wanted to welcome you to my new blog page. Enjoy!

Remembering the Beginning

admin — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:56:19 +0000

I am with John and Luke Bolin this week filming some videos for the upcoming ARC conference in Birmingham, Alabama. Yesterday, April 1st, Greg Surratt and I sat and reminisced about how ARC began. It was wonderful to recollect all the bits and pieces that brought a church planting movement into existence. It made me realize just how much God was bringing us together in a sovereign way. Greg is a joy to work with in this vision even though he is not from Louisiana.

In those early days God brought Dino Rizzo, my brother Scott, Rick Bezet, and Chris Hodges together with Greg and I to ask, “What if?” Now, “what if” has become “what now?” After 59 new church plants and the possibility of 30 this year, we are asking God for His direction for the future. We still believe that we will plant 2000 churches by 2020 and that ARC churches will have a huge impact on world missions. So, pray with us and believe with us for the great things that God wants to do through ARC. I also want to thank the ARC Leam Team for all that they do to make church planting on this scale a reality. Thanks to:

Stovall Weems
Rob Ketterling
Matt Fry
Randy Bezet
Rick Bezet
Scott Hornsby
Chris Hodges
Greg Surratt
Dino Rizzo
John Sibeling
Joe Champion