I still see great value in a worship and teaching gathering that is a “partner to one’s Christian walk and an individual’s church involvement”. That’s what 7|22 was to me when I attended years ago.

I think many people come to 7|22 to experience worship which is not available to them on the weekend at their own church, or to be inspired by teaching that they then pass on to others in their own gathering. 7|22 does reach the unreachable, maybe not directly, but rather through the thousands of inspired attendees.

But if a majority of 7|22 attendees do or would attend Buckhead Church on Sunday, then I guess Jarrett has a good point. I will be praying for the 7|22 team as they seek what is next.

I’ve got to much to say here but i wanted you all to know i have high hopes for the future. Check out my blog post on this topic and feel free to chime in there.

http://www.jonese.us/post.cfm/seriously-seriously-seriously

Best of luck to all of the 7|22 staff and i thank them for the impact they had on my life and for being such wonderful stewards of God’s word and love.

I accidentally posted this on another blog, so I thought I’d copy it here, to where it’s most relavent.

I have just a few thoughts to share.

I assume the event name, “722″ will be retired. After all, it’s a reference to 2 Samuel 7:22, which reflected the focus of the original team to bring Atlanta (Christian) singles together to corporately bring praise and glory to God. Well, now that the focus is shifting to reaching lost singles in Buckhead, a new verse / title needs to be identified which reflects this change. And it must be a title that would not make a non-believing attendee sense that they are a target.

By the way – I’m all for the shift in focus. Both are legitimate focuses and it seems Sunday service environments keep both in mind. Yet I think it appropriate for the new “722″ to focus on creating an environment where lost singles would feel especially welcomed and comfortable – so that in time, they might accept the invite to a Sunday service. To this end, I think there is little need to speak of what Christians need, but rather how do we attract non-Christian singles to the event – whether it be in the church building or not.

One suggestion in this regard: Make the event very interactive. Once prime objective for singles is to meet that special someone – and not especially for marriage (so no “how to be ready for marriage” type messages, which might needlessly scare them off). What singles want is an opportunity to catch the eye of someone that interests them and you can’t do that sitting in rows, watching some sort of performance. It has to be some sort of environment where you are regularly instructed to turn to those around you and interact in some way. It gives individuals an opportunity to be known and that is what most singles, like myself, what – IMO. This may almost sound like Fusion, but Fusion is sort of geared toward insiders.

In general, we need to focus in on the felt needs of the lost singles we are trying to reach. This is a difficult task since the spectrum is widening as time goes on. We have young professionals who don’t yet feel that something is missing in their life and resent people who imply that they should. Those that are feeling it. Many divorced people, like myself, that have different life issues than their younger counterparts – yet still have that basic need to connect in a meaningful way with someone special.