I want to take a moment today to tell you about a new Executive Pastor Tele-Coaching Network led by Kerrick Thomas that is starting in a couple of weeks.  It is an eight-month, relationship-based coaching network for Executive Pastors seeking to improve their competency and increase their leadership skills in the eight areas we’ve identified as crucial to being an effective Executive Pastor.

Kerrick will be leading this network each month, and there will be special presentations along the way by other Journey Staff. Kerrick is no stranger to regular readers of the blog.  He is the Executive Pastor and a Teaching Pastor at The Journey Church.

He also co-authored Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch and Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups with me, has led numerous coaching networks for church planters, and regularly co-teaches with me at training events. Kerrick has been a part of The Journey since day one and has played a key role from our earliest days right up through today.

Here are a few fast facts about this new Executive Pastor Tele-Coaching Network:

• The basis of the network is a group of Executive Pastors talking together monthly over the phone for two hours, focused on growing the skills necessary to be an effective Executive Pastor.
• This Tele-Coaching Network will consist of five or more approved Executive Pastors.
• Applicants must hold the role of Executive Pastor or carry responsibilities in their church similar to that of an Executive Pastor.
• The network will cover The Top 8 Executive Pastor Challenges such as: the systems of the church, supporting and leading the Lead Pastor, leading staff, planning strategies/processes, stewardship/finances, space/facilities, etc.
• Like all of our coaching networks, this opportunity is reserved for those who are are committed to growing as a leader and doing their part to see their church grow.

If you are ready to read more and download an application, here’s the link:
http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/coaching/exe.php

P.S. If you aren’t an Executive Pastor, check out our other coaching opportunities here: http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/coaching/

With the beginning of spring just around the corner and the new growth that comes with it, I’d like to do a series of “Church Planting Q & A’s” here at the blog.

It also just so happens that my only scheduled Launch Conference for 2009 is coming up in just about a week  – next Tuesday, March 17 – in the Baltimore, Maryland area.  If you are a church planter or a leader of a church that is planting other churches, I hope you’ll register today and join us in the Charm City!

In celebration of spring time, the CLI Team and I will be answering a number of your church planting questions over the next couple of weeks.  Anyone involved in starting a new church knows that time is of the essence, so I’ll try to keep them short and sweet.  Today’s question is:

Q: When do you recommend church planters to have their first membership class after launching?  How far into the process?

A: We would not recommend doing a Membership Class before 8 months after launching. In some cases we’d recommend waiting at least a year (depending on size). But we would say don’t worry about doing the work to get together a Membership Class too early in the process.

The truth is, you need some time for your new church to begin to gain its identity so you can have something real to say at the class anyway. And you want your first membership class to be a good one!

P.S. If you are thinking of joining me for the Launch Conference keep in mind that space is limited, so if you are able to make it I recommend you register now.

Here’s the link:
https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/cart/store.jsp?view=4&i=p235&navicat=27

Here are some of the sample files from The Journey that I reference in the Maximizing Easter Tele-Seminar.  Feel free to take a look (you can right-click on each and “save as” to download them to your computer):

• Easter Invite Card – Outside
• Easter Invite Card – Inside
• Fasting for Lent (2009)

Thanks for being on the call!

Nelson

Here at the end of the week, I want to send out a big THANK YOU to all of you who have grabbed a copy my FREE E-Book, “How to Maximize Easter”.  Since its release on Tuesday morning, nearly 1,500 of you have downloaded your copy.

Four quick thoughts:

1 - If you haven’t yet taken the opportunity to download your FREE copy of “How to Maximize Easter”, here’s the link: http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/resources/maximizing_easter_report.php

2 - If you have already downloaded your copy, would you consider sending the link to a friend who you think may benefit from it?

3 - Will you make a note and commit with me to pray for maximum Kingdom impact this Easter for all of our churches?

4 - It’s not too late to go even deeper than the report by joining me for one of my “How to Maximize Easter” Tele-Seminars! Here’s the link to register: https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/cart/store.jsp?view=1&i=51

Thanks again!

Don’t forget to remind your church to set their clocks forward before heading to bed on Saturday night.  Otherwise, it might be a lonely Sunday morning…

Have a great day!

I just released a brand new e-book called “How To Maximize Easter.” It’s breaking all of our records for report downloads (nearly 1000 people in two days!).  If you haven’t grabbed your copy yet, get it now (Easter Sunday is only a few weeks away) – it’s FREE:

FREE “How To Maximize Easter” E-Book

If you’ve already downloaded the report (and assuming you found it helpful) will you send this link to a friend or let the pastors in your network or on your blog know about it? I want it to help as many people as possible.

The CLI team and I are committed to doing everything we can to help you and your church reach more people than ever this Easter.  That’s why we’re giving away this free e-book AND why we’re offering 5 different “Maximizing Easter” Tele-Seminars (we just added the 5th because so many of you have already signed up).

Please join us me in praying that this Easter will bring glory to God in a powerful way in all of our churches’ Easter services and that He will work in and through us to impact more unchurched people than we even thought possible!

Thanks,

Nelson

P.S. There was so much more that I wanted to share about leveraging Easter to maximize your church’s Kingdom impact this Easter, but I couldn’t get it all into the e-book.  To get even more info (and more than $100 of FREE Bonus Resources) sign up for one of our “Maximizing Easter” Tele-Seminars!  Here’s the link to register:

https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/cart/store.jsp?view=1&i=51&navicat=51

Have you ever wondered why no one is responding to the mail your church is sending? Are they even opening it? Bueller? Bueller? (pardon the obscure 80′s movie reference)

Here’s a video where I introduce the idea of A, B, and C mail to a group of pastors in my Senior Pastor Coaching Network. Listen closely and see what you can learn about how to ensure that what your church sends out gets a fair viewing on the other end.

I have been humbled by how many of you have purchased my book, Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups.  It has proven to be a useful resource to churches of all shapes and sizes in building a small groups system with 100% participation.  I want to thank all of you who have already read and recommended it.

Many have settled for 30-40% small group participation and have even made that a worthy goal, but our experience here at The Journey tells us otherwise.  In writing Activate, Kerrick and I really wanted to help people re-think a lot of the conventional wisdom we have been taught about small groups over the years.

I believe so strongly in helping people re-think how small groups should be done that I’d like to give you a free gift.

For those of you who haven’t yet read the book, follow this link to get a:

FREE COPY OF CHAPTER 1 OF ACTIVATE

If you’ve already read the book and are interested in going deeper into the nuts and bolts of the Small Groups System, you may want to purchase the Small Groups Intensive (now downloadable).