WHY “RENEGADE” PASTOR?

Perhaps the question I’ve received most about this network and the one that deserves the most in-depth discussion is this:

Why do you call it the “Renegade” pastor network? 

I mean no disrespect with the word ‘renegade’ or at least not much. In fact, I chose the word quite carefully.

What a ‘renegade’ is not:

* A renegade is not a lawbreaker (God’s or man’s)

* A renegade is not contrarian just for contrarians sake

* A renegade is not a cynic or a critic (look up the definition of each, it’s worth your time. Too many pastors are ineffective in ministry because they are cynical. And too many seminaries are turning out critics under the guide of teaching them to ‘think critically.’ I would prefer that our seminars teach pastors to think biblically . . . there’s a difference.)

* A renegade is not looking for a fight just for the sake of a fight.

Maybe I’ll expand this list in a future blog.

So, the obvious question now is:

What is a “Renegade Pastor”?

To answer that, let me tell you a story.

If you know some of my back story (that’s a screenplay term for what happened in my past that effects our current relationship – there’s a lot to be learned as a communicator by studying the art of screenplay development) then you know that I started a computer business at age 13 and by age 16 had seen quite a bit of success. In fact, I was so successful that I was drowning.

Thankfully I was thrown a lifeline by some caring businessmen who decided to help out this ‘punk kid’ with the gift of logic and programming. So at age 16 I was given a cassette player (remember those?) and some personal and business development audio programs and told to ‘go forth, listen and memorize.”

One of those cassettes was The Power of Positive thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. Being only 60minutes long, 30 minutes on each side, I listened to it over and over and soon memorized it. Wake me up at 3am in the morning tomorrow and give me the start of the sentence, bet I can complete it. A second one was on goal setting by my buddy Zig Ziglar. I recently re-listened it, no on CD.

But the third one was a 6-tape album called “Lead The Field” by Earl Nightingale. Earl said several things that were helpful to me in leading my thriving computer business but one thing he said has served me well for the last three decades and I expect will serve me well for the next three. I never committed the six cassettes to memory ala Zig or Peale but here’s how I remember the quote, a maxim really:

“If you want to be successful in life and you have no role models,
look at what the majority of people are doing and do the exact opposite.
The majority is always wrong.”

I can still hear Earl saying this maxim in his rich and inimitable baritone voice (you could smoke a stogie every night for a decade and not get his voice, I’ve tried). There might be some minor room for argument with Earl’s premise but I think he’s on to something, especially for us pastor types. What the majority of pastors are doing isn’t working. How the majority of pastor’s function and organize and lead isn’t working. The majority is wrong.

I’ve tried to live by this principle. My first book “Launch: Starting a New Church From Scratch” was in many ways a treatise against the then-average ‘majority’ view for how to plant a church.

When I started The Journey in NYC in 2002, we were multi-site before anyone was using that term – why? I wanted our church to reach as many people as possible as quickly as possible and wasn’t content with average. We had the equipment and the evenings free so why not do a second location? We did grow twice as fast; established that we weren’t an ‘average’ church and became financially self-sustaining a year before we planned.

I’ve been writing, livin’ and coachin’ (and seeing God-sized results) from the Renegade Pastor approach for a long time.

So, here’s my Renegade Pastor-take on Earl’s contrarian quote:

“If you want to grow a church but have no role model for how to do it, look at what the average church around the corner is doing and do the exact opposite. “

I won’t go so far as to say that the ‘average’ church is wrong I’ll just say they are ‘misguided.’ They may mean well and their hearts may be write but their results are less than God’s best. Faithfulness and fruitfulness are two different things just as sincerity and successful are two different things.

Here’s what’s wrong with being an ‘average’ church:

* The average church is declining by 9% a year (the problem with a decline of 9% a year that you generally don’t notice it until year three and then its too late)

* The average church is behind on budget and thus unable to say ‘yes’ to God-sized Kingdom opportunities should God send them their way (He probably won’t because it would be an injustice – think about it).

* The average church is begging for money, begging for volunteers, begging for lost people to attend (begging may humble you but humility doesn’t require it).

* The average church is seeking a new pastor every 18 months (easier to find a new pastor than break the cycle of average).

* The average church has developed systems to keep them and their pastor operating in average ways (that’s why you need this network, my resources and my books – my systems are anything but ‘average’).

Did you go into ministry because you wanted to do ‘average’ things for an ‘average’ God at an ‘average’ church?

Do you pray to play it safe or do you pray to put a dent in hell?

That’s one goal of a Renegade Pastor: to put a dent in hell.

So a Renegade Pastor is someone who has abandoned “average” and is pursuing God’s highest best for their life, their ministry and their church. A Renegade pastor is obedient, surrendered, spirit directed and passionately abandoned toward a Kingdom.

There’s a strong argument to be made that Jesus was a renegade. How about you?

Are you ready to be a founding member of The Renegade Pastors Network?

You can join right now at this link:

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/index.php/resources/renegade-pastors-network

** Yes Nelson, let me in NOW. I’m ready to join the Renegade Pastors Network for “Founders Only” rate of just $99 per month – that’s less than ONE THIRD the monthly investment of a regular coaching network but hurry, this founders status won’t last long **

© Nelson Searcy. All Rights Reserved.

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.