by Mark Smith

Greg Surratt, senior pastor of Seacoast Church in Mount Pleasant, S.C., kicked off the day’s program.  Seacoast was one of the pioneering churches in the recent phenomena of multi-site congregations.  Surratt said that when the city zoning commission ruled a few years ago that the church would not be permitted to build on a site on which they had envisioned a new church, it seemed like the darkest day in the church’s history.  But it turned into an amazing victory as the church grew on multiple sites.  “When we get desperate,” Surratt said, “we’ve got to innovate.”  “Many victories would not have been possible in the following years without losing that battle,” he added.
After its launch in February 1988 with 65 people joining together in an apartment clubhouse, Seacoast today has eight campuses in South Carolina, two in North Carolina and one in Savannah, Georgia.
Referring to I Corinthians 15:58 (“… knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord”), Surratt focused on three keys to overcoming discouragement that comes from seeming defeats in church planting and in the pastorate.
1.    Base your preaching on the simplicity of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2.    Base your confidence on the fact that God has chosen you.
3.    Base your hope on the fact that you are on the winning team.