Today’s guest post comes to us from Travis Stephens for ChristianityToday.com.

The small town church where I serve as Executive Pastor will turn 12 years old this year. In those 12 years we’ve experienced incredible growth in many different areas. We’ve seen hundreds of people experience salvation and take their next step through baptism. We’ve seen our giving increase tenfold. And we saw our average weekend attendance top 700 people, in a one stop light town with a population of 2,200.

I believe small town pastors have amazing opportunities to do big things in their communities. I believe your small town church can make a big impact, and I believe your small town church can grow; I believe this because I’m living it.

As far as the changes that have helped us grow, there are far too many to fit into one blog post. Maybe someday I’ll write a book about all of them. But, I do want to share some of the major changes that I believe have made the biggest impact along the way.

1. We stopped settling for good enough and started saying, “Make it better.” It is so easy in rural churches to settle for good enough. We did it for far too long. Our worship’s not great, but it’s good enough. We never get started on time, but it’s good enough. Our coffee is not great, but it’s cheaper and that’s good enough. You get the point. As long as you’re ok with good enough, you’re going to have an average small town church at best. You have to change your mindset and your congregation’s from good enough to let’s make it better.

Click here to read the full article and the remaining four major changes that made a big impact.

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Nelson

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About Nelson Searcy

Nelson Searcy is an experienced church growth strategist, pastor, church planter and coach, consulting with churches around the world. As founder of Church Leader Insights and the Renegade Pastors Network, he has personally trained more than 3,500 church leaders in over 45 denominations through live events, seminars and monthly coaching. Nelson is also the Founding and Lead Pastor of The Journey Church, with locations across New York City and in Boca Raton, FL. Nelson and his church routinely appear on lists such as “The 50 Most Influential Churches” and “The 25 Most Innovative Leaders.” He is the author of over 100 church growth resources and 18+ books, including The Renegade Pastor: Abandoning Average in Your Life, Ministry and The Difference Maker: Using Your Everyday Life for Eternal Impact, and At the Cross with the People Who Were There. He and his wife, Kelley, have one son, Alexander.