Running head: INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

Interview Transcript Leadership Member

Karin Fonseca
Valdosta State University

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

Interview Transcript Leadership Member

Interview Day: November 7th, 2016
Interview Time: 4:00 pm 5:00 pm
Interview Location: CrossPointe Church Office.
Karin: I am here with Jason (name deleted for confidentiality purposes) and we are going
to begin the interview process. Today is November 7th. The first thing I want to express is that I
wanted to interview you because I understand you hold a leadership position at CrossPointe
Church. It is important to mention that we are using a fictitious name in order to insure
confidentiality. Your real name will not be used or shared in any process of this research.
Furthermore, this interview is intended to hopefully not provide with any risk to you, nonetheless
please be sure you have full right to stop the interview at any moment shall you feel is necessary.
You can also choose not to answer a question and you can simply inform me that you dont wish
to answer that particular question. I am hopeful that with this interview I can gain a better
insight on the leadership style and success story of Crosspointe Church. This assignment is for
class purpose only and might be shared with my instructor and class discussion only. Before I
submit this assignment, please know that this interview will be transcribed and I will provide you
with a copy for your review to make sure all is expressed as you intended to. This is our
informed consent; please let me know if you have any questions at this time.
Jason: I have no questions at this time and I understand the process and purpose of your
study.
Karin: With that said, lets begin.
Karin: How long have you been a member of CrossPointe Church? Can you provide from your
knowledge a brief history of this organization and its main focus?

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Jason: Ive been a member of CrossPointe Church for almost exactly 6 years. It started
about 11 years ago in our pastors livingroom with just a few people. It grew to meet at
the Baptist Student Union on Valdosta States campus, then it moved into a warehouse in
Remerton. When it outgrew that facility, it moved to its current location on Northside
Drive. The founding pastor is still our pastor & we have launched a second campus in
Quitman a couple of years ago.
Karin: Have you always attended this particular church community? If not, how long did you
attend the previous organization and what are the factors that influenced you in stopping
attending the previous organization? (If you agree, please name the institution you attended
previous to CrossPointe).
Jason: We have not always attended CrossPointe. We attended church in Moultrie the
first year we were married, where I was a youth pastor. After leaving that position, due to
living in Valdosta and desiring to go to church in our town, we began attending Northside
Baptist Church. We stayed there for 18 months, then we moved to Crossroads Baptist,
where we served for 7 years. When we decided to leave Crossroads, we went directly to
CrossPointe and never tried any other church. We had 2 small children at the time &
didnt want to move them around from place to place, and we also knew of David
Rogers, the pastor, from when I grew up in Moultrie. I knew enough about him to trust
his heart and his character, and I knew we could trust him as our pastor as we left a
difficult situation at our previous church.

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Karin: Did you try other organizations before joining CrossPointe? How many? Briefly discuss
some of the reasons why you decided that they were not of your interest. What factors influenced
your decision in choosing CrossPointe?
Jason: A church, like and other organization, is only as effective as the mission and vision
communicated by chief executive. David is a clear communicator of the mission and
vision of CrossPointe Church and summarizes the mission almost on a weekly basis
when he reminds congregants that Crosspointes mission is to Connect, Grow, Serve, and
Send. These 4 words remind us of the greater purpose that we gather together each week.
We had been involved in other churched and left our previous church where there was no
clear mission and vision of the church. Matter of fact, when I was serving in a layleadership position, I asked the senior pastor for the mission and vision of the church and
his reply was that they were implied and that such things were overrated. This lack
of effective leadership impacted all areas of the church because none of the staff or
congregants was unified around a common mission and vision. This led to other conflicts
within the different ministries within the church that I will not go into because I feel that
they would detract from the focus of this interview. But the ensuing strife made my wife
and I realize that we needed to invest our time and talent within a church that had a very
clear-cut mission and vision. CrossPointe fit the bill for us.
Karin: How long have you hold a leadership role at CrossPointe? Did you ever want to have a
leadership role in your Church organization?
Jason: I have been on leadership in some capacity for about 5 years. I started a
LifeGroup in my home within our first year at CrossPointe, and we have maintained that

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for the past 5 years. Im also on the Servant Leadership Team, which helps fulfill the
vision for the church.
I did want a leadership role at CrossPointe. I have been in leadership in churches before,
and I wanted to make a difference using my personal strengths.
Karin: Can you briefly describe your role at CrossPointe organization?
Jason: As a LifeGroup leader, I am tasked with upholding and communicating the
mission and vision of CrossPointe Church to our LifeGroup members. I am tasked with
encouraging spiritual growth and formation among the members as well. I am also a
member of the Servant Leadership Team. Essentially, the servant leadership team serves
in various capacities around the church from serving communion to greeting church
attendees on Sunday mornings. We are also available for short-notice projects like when
CrossPointe served as a Red Cross shelter during Hurricane Matthew. I was able to
serve those who were forced from their homes as Matthew meandered up the East Coast
of the US.
Karin: What are the main characteristics of the organization that you have seen change in the past
years?
Jason: The church has grown a great deal. It has planted a small campus in Quitman,
testing out our vision to be a multi-site church with the same values but in different
communities. In the past few years, we have changed our missions statement from
Connect, Grow, Serve to Connect, Grow, Serve, Sendrecognizing that we dont
just need to serve here in our own churchwe need to be sending out missionaries &
leaders into the world to make a difference there as well.

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Karin: Who is the person that you consider have the most influence in your church organization
and why?
Jason: Pastor David, without doubt, is the most influential person in our church. He sets
the vision, leads the church, and continually reminds us of our purpose. But in the same
capacity, he also empowers others to lead. When we added a second campus, David
reminded us that the church isnt about himhe didnt want to build a huge stadium in
Valdosta to have people from all over coming to himhe wanted to plant churches in
other small communities around the area, each with their own pastoral staffs.
Karin: Please describe the most important characteristics / leadership of the Pastor of your
organization and the leadership team as a whole.
Jason: Our pastor is HUMBLE. He isnt out to make a name for himself, but rather to
make Jesus name known. He listens to othershe isnt just there to be a talking head &
draw a paycheck. He has sacrificed so much of his life to plant this church, and he is
passionate about it continuing to follow Gods lead for the future. For example, when our
church began the process of buying land for a new building, every single step was
covered in prayer and David was very clear that God had led the Shepherding Team to
that point. He wasnt just telling the church that he had made a decision & that was the
end of ithe was making that decision in conjunction with others.
Karin: What do you consider are the most important challenges and difficulties your Church
organization face in the 21st century in order to continue to grow?
Jason: It is typical to measure a churchs success by the number of seats it has & how
many church members it has, but Pastor David often says, We do not measure our
success by the number we SEAT, but by the number we SEND. Sending out church

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planters, missionaries, and church members into other communities is actually a way for
us to measure our growth. So our new church wont seat thousands upon thousands of
peoplebut we will instead be praying for new sites to open in surrounding
communities. That makes CrossPointe different, and that in itself is a challenge.
Karin: What internal and external factors, do you consider, influence church leadership in the 21st
century?
Jason: A huge external factor is that the culture is always changing. Its difficult for the
church to be relevant without compromising the message.
An internal factor that has influenced church leadership would include technological
advancesif a church is resistant to technology, for example, it will limit itself in the
type of church member it will attract. In this example, CrossPointe chooses to utilize a
wide variety of technology to help engage people, rather than being afraid that
technology will distract people.
Karin: What strategies and tools you consider are the most important to employ in order to
achieve organizational growth, considering the rapid changes in society today?
Jason: While society may change, we continue to love people the same and stay faithful
to the mission and vision that Pastor David provides to us.
Karin: What is your vision of the future for Crosspointe?
Jason: CrossPointe Church will continue to grow and will one day have multiple
campuses all over South GA and North FL. We will continue to serve in the future as we
have in the past.
Thank you so much for your time and for sharing your great insight about your experience at
CrossPointe.

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