 | What is the difference between The Branch, Farmers Branch Church of Christ, and The Branch at Vista Ridge? |
 | The Farmers Branch Church of Christ was founded in 1905 in Farmers Branch, Texas. The nickname The Branch is often used for this community of believers. In 2005, the leadership shared a vision for being a multi-site church, or one church in multiple locations, under the name of The Branch. The first site to launch was The Branch at Vista Ridge. We now use The Branch to describe the church, with each campus having its own name. You will often hear the terms Farmers Branch campus, and Vista Ridge campus, all under the name The Branch. Find out more about service times and locations here.
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| Why the Multi-Site Approach? |
| We believe that we will be able to expand our capacity to influence more people to live in an intimate relationship with God through making it possible for more of our members to live within fifteen to twenty minutes of a gathering place for worship, encouragement, and ministry. This isn’t to say that worship, encouragement, and ministry doesn’t take place where we live, work, and play during the week. It does acknowledge, though, the partnership between our individual efforts to witness for Christ during the week and our collective efforts to witness for Christ on the weekends through our worship gatherings. There is a benefit to being able to introduce those we’re reaching out to during the week to the experience of believers who gather together for worship, encouragement, and ministry to one another. Multiple campuses allow more members to live within proximity of a gathering place. We believe this will help in our efforts to reach out to those living around us.
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| In what sense are multiple campuses still one church? |
| All campuses of The Branch will be served in leadership by one group of elders and the same senior minister and executive minister. Both campuses will also be operating out of the same budget. Our staff is considered “one” staff though some have responsibilities that are site-specific. Both campuses will be brought together on occasion for the same events such as mens’ and womens’ retreats, youth camps, mission trips, large-scale compassion ministry, leadership development, training for various ministries, and special conferences for marriage, family, etc.
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| How is the preaching done across multiple campuses given that services are happening at the same time? |
| Chris Seidman, our Senior Minister, rotates between venues at each campus. Each venue is equipped to project a video of the message when Chris is not “in person” at that location.
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| Are other aspects of the service (i.e., music, prayer, communion, etc.) on video? |
| No. These things will be done “in person” by those leading and facilitating services at each campus. Only the message will be via video.
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| Will there be additional campuses beyond Vista Ridge? |
| Yes, God willing, it is the heart of the leadership to add new campuses in the future as our congregation grows. At the All Church Celebration on November 7, 2008, Chris shared a vision for each campus to launch a new campus by the end of 2011. This would mean The Branch could potentially consist of four different sites by the end of 2011.
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| Do you have other meeting times aside from the weekend worship services? |
| We encourage everyone to connect with believers in a small group regularly. We have groups that meet in homes at different times of the week. There are also a variety of other activities that happen throughout the week, including Ladies Bible Study, Men’s Life, and Celebrate Recovery. Check out the calendar for details.
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| Do you have instrumental music? |
| The leadership of The Branch believes that music lifted up in praise to God and His Son is an outpouring from the heart of a person filled with the Holy Spirit. This offering can be vocal, instrumental or both together. This conclusion is the result of much prayer and considerable study of the Scriptures on this matter. Currently we have two acapella services and one instrumental service at the Farmers Branch Campus and three instrumental services at the Vista Ridge Campus.
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