Pastor John Palmieri reveals one challenge that his congregation was facing as they came out of a pandemic-induced hibernation — they had become, as he put it, “too inwardly focused, and not focused at all on our neighbors.”
John pastors the Elgin, IL campus of New Life Community Church. New Life has 27 campuses all over the Chicagoland area. He is also a current member of my Senior Pastor Coaching network.
Once John learned about evangelism training, he says he knew immediately that this would be a great tool to change the focus of his congregation back to reaching the community. He shares, “It was time to remember that we still have lost neighbors that we need to reach!”
A PROVEN WAY TO MOBILIZE YOUR CHURCH
The Difference Maker is a powerful evangelism training program, which we use at the Journey Church. Churches of all kinds have been using this training in order to grow the evangelistic impact of their members.
It’s based on my book, The Difference Maker: Using Your Everyday Life for Eternal Impact, which encourages people to share their faith using their own story of God working in their lives. The pocket-size 80-page book, combined with the training materials I make available, equips you to teach your church members how to share their faith effectively, without fear.
A HUNGER FOR PRACTICAL TRAINING
New Life Community Church-Elgin is a growing congregation, which currently draws about 150 people for weekend worship. John shares that he wasn’t sure how many people would sign up for the Difference Maker training. So he did everything he could to make the training attractive.
“I set up a dedicated table in the foyer to promote the training, with a volunteer on hand to answer any questions, and help people to sign up,” John explains. He scheduled the training on a Sunday afternoon, right after the worship service.
“I wanted people to already be here, so they didn’t have to plan another time to come for the training. We offered free lunch also. Anything to make it as easy as possible.”
All the effort that went into preparing for the training paid off: 54 people attended this recent Difference Maker training! “We were overjoyed,” John shares. “It just confirmed for us that people in our church were hungry for something like this, an opportunity to get some practical spiritual training.”
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES
John reveals that the church worked hard to take care of anything that might have been a hurdle, an obstacle, to people attending the training. “We had people RSVP beforehand, so we would know approximately how many would be attending.”
John says. “Not only did we have lunch for everyone, we provided a copy of The Difference Maker book for everyone who attended the training.”
Those who attended received effective, time-tested strategies for sharing their faith. In addition, the training includes some profound reminders of the fact that we are surrounded by people who don’t know Jesus — people who we can reach with our stories.
This training walks your people across the bridge between the lostness of people in the world, and the abundant hope we have to offer in Jesus.
Your partner in ministry,
Nelson
P.S. Find out you too can lead an evangelism training in YOUR church!
You’re invited to join me for a brand new FREE online workshop, How to Train Your People to Share Their Faith this Easter. I’m leading this LIVE, one time only, THIS Wednesday, Feb. 19 from 2:00pm – 3:30pm ET.
I’ll walk you step-by-step through the process of training your people to invite others to church for Easter 2025! It’s FREE for you if you act fast plus you will receive over $439.92 in bonuses when you sign up and stay to the end of the workshop.
Click here to learn more and save your FREE spot now!
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