Dissertation Progress - Interview

On Wednesday, I visited North Coast Church in Vista, California to interview Pastor Larry Osborne.  The interview was a part of my dissertation research.  Larry Osborne is author of Sticky Church, a book that describes North Coast Church’s commitment to sermon-based study groups. At least 80 percent of the multi-site church attendees (numbering over 9,000 people) attend mid-week study groups in order to discuss the previous weekend’s sermon.  Larry and I were able to discuss this focus which solidly connects body-life with the sermon experience—the subject of my dissertation.

Here is a picture of North Coast Church’s main campus. The room with the largest capacity here seats approximately 500 people.

Other venues host attendees who hear the same sermon as those in the main auditorium. Pastors in each location shepherd the flocks and provide local leadership. The ministry activity that links the multi-venue, multi-site church is the sermon-based study groups.

In order to learn more, you’ll need to read my dissertation.  Thanks for praying for me.  My writing progress slowed quite a bit while we were travelling and preaching.  I'm back into it now.