how to measure success at an Internet campus

This is an interview with Anthony Burns, the Campus Director of HighImpactChurch.tv, which is the Internet campus of Richmond Community Church in Virginia.

Please share how your church started its Internet campus, and describe how a worship experience looks like.

HighImpactChurch.tv, the Internet Campus of Richmond Community Church began in January 2008. We here at RCC, looked at the Internet Campus as an extension of our multi-site vision. The Internet Campus allowed us to leverage the Internet to bring a modern worship experience to people at their computer anywhere in the world. 

In the last year we have improved the streaming capability, overhauled the website and added many of our ministries to the campus. The Internet Campus is truly a campus; it has small groups, classes, and ministry happening on a daily/weekly basis. 

The HighImpactChurch.tv experience is captured live from the Glen Allen Campus service every Sunday morning. We do break away during announcements and closing for Internet Campus specific material. 

How has the Internet campus made a difference in someone's life?

HighImpactChurch.tv has changed my life for sure. As the Campus Director, I have been exposed to other cultures and countries that I may have not experienced if not for the Internet Campus. I have also met people from all around the world. The idea of connecting with someone from Europe or around the world through our Internet Campus is really exciting to me.

The Internet Campus has also changed other people’s lives too. We have had people attend classes where they learn about Jesus, the Church, and Faith. These classes help seekers and believers connect with God. We have also begun small groups where people from all around the world can connect on a weekly basis.

How do you define success? What results do you measure?

Success for us is measured in a number of different ways. We look at weekly attendance, giving and campus participation in classes, small groups, and other online activities.

We have an Internet Campus Leadership Team lead by the Campus Director; this team strategizes how to reach quarterly goals. These quarterly goals include increasing weekly attendance, giving, and participation in the campus. We have used different ways to reach these goals and have gotten different results. 

That's a lot of good things to measure. Do you have a chart that plots your Internet Campus' quarterly progress in those areas?

We are currently using a number of different programs for measuring progress. We use ChurchMetrics.com for attendance and donations while class participation and small group attendance is tracked by the facilitator then entered into an Excel spreadsheet then charts can be created if desired.

What are other online activities that you measure, and why do you consider it success for HighImpactChurch.tv?

We track how people come to our main site, whether it’s direct, referred, or paid ads. These items let us know if the Google Ads are worth the monthly investment and we can also see that people are referred from different sites such as Facebook, MySpace, etc. 

How do you decide if the Internet Campus is financially sustainable?

Recently we began promoting an opportunity to give to the Internet Campus during our Internet Campus Announcements. Since this opportunity we have been able to see the direct giving to the Internet Campus. This capability gives me the ability to let our Senior Pastor know how much was given.

Anthony, thanks for the interview!

Do you have any comments or questions? Please add them in the comments section below.

// DJ Chuang is a Director at Leadership Network, launching digital initiatives, and connecting multi-site churches and Asian American pastors.

Comments

[James]

success is in attendance and giving?
i think we can do better than that as the church of Jesus Christ. based on this interview i am not convinced that anyone has been impacted by this church's online service. can we hear some stories of changed lives? names? locations?
just trying to be honest.

[Chris Marsden]

I think for me the question of success is "how many people connected to this 'internet campus' who were not previously connected with Christ?" Of course this is a problem that plagues the church in general. We attract people from other churches with what is cool/new, but are we truly connecting with people who are not already connected with the body of Christ?

Another related question would be "how many people do not have a physical church alternative?" For those who travel, are homebound, or live in a relatively unchurched part of the world, an internet campus may be a reconnect to the body of Christ that is sorely needed. Of course, the flip side to that coin is that we lose a person who might have been encouraged to plant a church or start a movement as they become a passive participant of an internet campus of some larger congregation.

[Brian Vasil]

Anthony and the team are doing an amazing job at RCC. I have visited the site on occasion and have learned a lot from the creativity and passion of those that are there. Keep up the great work online...you are making a Kingdom difference!

Brian Vasil
Internet Campus Pastor
Flamingo Road Church
www.frclive.tv

[Anthony Burns]

Thanks Brian! I'm very excited about the possibilities the Internet Campuses have for the Kingdom.

Here's some additional info about our services and our new Children's Ministry online:

"Our services continue to grow and expand. We are exploring other service times. We know that we are getting more and more people overseas that watch the services. We recently had a number of our business people fly to London, Dubai, China and France they brought some of the "Church online...Really?" business cards and dropped them around those areas. We noticed this past weekend we had some people in those areas. That's such an easy way to share what we are doing here in Richmond, VA and what God is doing through the internet."

"HighImpactKidz.tv just launched on March 1, 2009. We were exploring since our Internet Campus launch, a way to connect kids who are at home while Mom and Dad are watching the Internet Campus service. Alan Phillips, our Children's Pastor at Richmond Community Church teamed up with me and we created HighImpactKidz.tv. Weekly Pastor Alan tapes a special message for parents and kids on the Internet Campus. We recently just finished building a second floor and state of the art Children's Auditorium. The new Children's Auditorium called LAUNCH PAD, offered us a great place to tape every week. HighImpactKidz.tv is updated every week for parents and kids to connect with God while joining us at HighImpactChurch.tv"