Church Leader Insights Blog with Nelson Searcy

Lessons Learned From Rick Warren - Lesson #3

Lesson #3 - You Are Blessed To Be A Blessing

Rick taught me The Principle of Generosity. This principle states that you are blessed to be a blessing. God wants to work through you. He wants the blessings He pours into your life and ministry to flow out of you and bless others. Picture a living river, being fed from the source and giving out to the tributaries. If you just take God’s blessings for yourself and never pass them along, you become more like a stagnant pond.

Not only does Rick teach this principle, he models it. During my years at Saddleback, I witnessed his extraordinary generosity many times over. He was constantly giving away books and materials to pastors who couldn’t afford to buy them. He was always pouring free stuff into the community. When we had conferences, he made sure that price didn’t keep pastors who needed the information from being able to be there – We always sold thousands of tickets to people who could legitimately pay and also gave away thousands to those who couldn’t.

I’ve really tried to take this principle to heart. Through Church Leader Insights, I have made intentional efforts to model generosity. God has blessed me, The Journey and CLI greatly, so it is my responsibility to let that flow through me and back out to you. That’s why we give away almost $7000 worth of free materials every week to church planters. We recently gave away more than $50,000 worth of Evangelism Seminars, and our free reports are packed with information we could sell but would rather give away. And you know what? God continues to bless us even more. I’ve learned that you can never out-give God.

This kind of mindset has exponential results. I understand and model The Principle of Generosity because of Rick. Hopefully, in some small way, you will take to heart and model The Principle of Generosity because of me. Who will learn The Principle of Generosity because of you?

Every day, ask yourself: “How can I use my blessings to bless others?” Just imagine the ways God would move if we all committed to being flowing rivers.

- Nelson

P.S. - Speaking of giving away free stuff, if you haven’t had a chance to download the free “Maximizing Summer” special report yet just click here to get it! The information will really help you grow through the summer and set yourself up to have great momentum in the fall!