How many times have you heard someone (maybe even yourself) repeat the old saying “experience is the best teacher?” And it seems like it should be true – the more we do something, the better we should get at it…. But the truth is, experience alone is a pretty bad teacher. In fact, experience alone doesn’t make you better. I … Read More
The Missing Piece of Pastor (and Church) Growth: Accountability
In all my years of ministry experience (over 20 years now), I have met more pastors than I can begin to count. And I’ve never once had a pastor come up to me and say: “Nelson, my church isn’t growing and I don’t care.” No, they’re all serious about God’s calling on their life, serious about reaching more people for … Read More
Yeah, But I Can’t Make Those Changes In My Church
In coaching over 1,000 Senior Pastors over the last few years (and interacting with tens of thousands more), I’ve observed a number of major misconceptions that hold back pastors and the churches they lead from reaching their full redemptive potential. And perhaps the most limiting of these misconceptions is the illusion of a lack of control. The average pastor in … Read More
Who Are You Listening To? (Church Planting)
I’ve been focusing on Church Planting here on the blog in recent days, so I thought I’d share another concept today that’s important when you’re starting new church from scratch. Here’s the concept: Be mindful of who you’re listening to. As a church planter (especially in the pre-Launch process) it’s easy to get caught up in chasing to the latest fads, … Read More
Adventures in Spiritual Warfare (Church Planting)
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in church planting, it’s to expect the unexpected. It seems like the spiritual warfare is always a little more intense when it comes to the birth of a new church. This past Sunday was no exception – we were launching The Journey Church in Boca Raton (click here for details). About a half-hour from … Read More
Go God! And Thank You (Boca Grand Opening Update)
On Friday, I asked you to pray for us and the Grand Opening of the brand new Journey campus in Boca Raton, FL. And today I want to send out a BIG THANK YOU! God showed up in a mighty way by sending 550 people yesterday. Yep, 550 people! Needless to say, we were (and still are) blown away! Today … Read More
Prayer Request – Launching The Journey – Boca Raton this Sunday
If you’ve been reading along this week, you know that this has been “Church Planting Week” on the blog. There are a couple of reasons for that: 1) we had a huge church planting webinar on Tuesday (thanks again to the over 1,000 pastors/planters who attended), and 2) I’m in the middle of a powerful church planting week personally. As … Read More
The Key to Church Planting Success: Launch Large
Ok, its a bold title but I believe it it! Just like birth weight of a new baby is critical to his early health, ‘launching large’ is critical for a new church plant. Here’s my goal with all that I offer on Church Planting: I want to help you start a church from scratch that will reach as many people as possible, as quickly … Read More
Three Deadly Sins of Church Planting
(Before I jump into the article – a huge thanks to everyone for a great Church Planting Webinar yesterday – over 1,000 pastors/church planters on the call. I hope to do more training for church planters in the future. . . now, on with today’s post) According to Catholic church teaching, there are seven deadly sins (I once did a Big Day series on … Read More
Nine Things I Know About Church Planting
In honor of today’s webinar on Top 3 Church Planting Mistakes (you are registered, right? It’s free, click here), I want to share a summary of the Nine Things I Know About Church Planting – these lessons are from my coaching, writing and conferences with church planters – they also come out of my study of the New Testament Church. … Read More