We’ve all heard this line from a frustrated pastor (or ourselves):

“We would be growing if we could just close the back door.”

The first step in closing the back door and keeping more first time guests is eliminating the mistakes you’re making now in assimilating new people!

After coaching over 1,200 Senior Pastors – of all types, church sizes, denominations, worship styles and geographic locations – I’ve identified the 3 most common mistakes churches make over and over when it comes to helping new people get connected.

I want to share these mistakes with you in a new, FREE webinar I’m doing called “The Top 3 Assimilation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.”

www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com/AssimMistakes

In this 75-minute free webinar, I’ll walk you through each of these three most common mistakes and what you can do this week to correct them.

Will you join me for one of these FREE webinars Today, Tomorrow or Thursday?
(same webinar – 9 different times for your convenience):

• TODAY, 11:00am – 12:15pm Eastern OR
• TODAY, 2:00pm – 3:15pm Eastern OR
• TODAY, 7:00pm – 8:15pm Eastern OR
• TOMORROW, 11:00am – 12:15pm Eastern OR
• TOMORROW, 2:00pm – 3:15pm Eastern OR
• TOMORROW, 7:00pm – 8:15pm Eastern OR
• Thursday, 11:00am – 12:15pm Eastern OR
• Thursday, 2:00pm – 3:15pm Eastern OR
• Thursday, 7:00pm – 8:15pm Eastern

Here’s what you can expect to learn:

• The #1 reason you’re unable to follow up with first-time guests and what you can do about it this Sunday!
• How you can WOW guests into coming back as a second-time guest
• The mistake every church makes and how you can avoid it
• Plus much more

It is FREE to participate but I do need you to Sign Up & Reserve Your Spot here:

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/index.php/free-stuff/top-3-assimilation-mistakes

Space is limited on each webinar!

I hope to see you on the webinar this week!

Nelson

P.S. People have asked me why I offer these Free Webinars and the truth is, I’m passionate about training, equipping and coaching you for maximum Kingdom impact in your church and community.

Here’s the link again to let me help you identify and avoid these Assimilation mistakes:

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/index.php/free-stuff/top-3-assimilation-mistakes

As the excitement of Easter Sunday wanes, don’t miss out on the lasting spiritual fruit – upgrade your Assimilation System to be sure you’re doing all you can to follow up with your Easter guests and help them get connected to your church.

Today and Tomorrow, I’m giving away a FREE copy of the executive summary of my bestselling book,“Fusion: Turning First Time Guests into Fully Engaged Members of Your Church.”

This book has helped tens of thousands of churches to implement a proven system to help people move from first time guests at your church all the way through to fully engaged membership!

This summary will give you a glimpse of what your Assimilation System is all about and get you in the mindset to make sure no one falls through the cracks at your church.

Grab your FREE 8-page executive summary of “Fusion” here:

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/fusionsummary

Get your FREE download ASAP – it’s only available through end of day tomorrow (Thursday)

Your partner in ministry,

Nelson

P.S. If you find this summary helpful (or think you will), please post the link above on your Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ or blog – as long as your friends get it thru my link, its free!

P.P.S. In conjunction with this free download, I’m leading series of free webinars on Assimilation, called “The Top 3 Assimilation Mistakes” – you can register for those when you download the summary.

Nothing impacts the growth and health of your church quicker than improvements to your assimilation system!

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/fusionsummary

We’ve all heard this line from a frustrated pastor (or ourselves):

“We would be growing if we could just close the back door.”

The first step in closing the back door and keeping more first time guests is eliminating the mistakes you’re making now in assimilating new people!

After coaching over 1,200 Senior Pastors – of all types, church sizes, denominations, worship styles and geographic locations – I’ve identified the 3 most common mistakes churches make over and over when it comes to helping new people get connected.

I want to share these mistakes with you in a brand new, no-cost webinar I’m doing called “The Top 3 Assimilation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.”

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/index.php/free-stuff/top-3-assimilation-mistakes

In this new, 75-minute free webinar, I’ll walk you through each of these three most common mistakes and what you can do this week to correct them.

Will you join me for one of six FREE webinars Tomorrow or Wednesday?
(same webinar – 8 different times for your convenience):

• TODAY, 11:00am – 12:15pm Eastern OR
• TODAY, 2:00pm – 3:15pm Eastern OR
• TODAY, 7:00pm – 8:15pm Eastern OR
• TOMORROW, 11:00am – 12:15pm Eastern OR
• TOMORROW, 2:00pm – 3:15pm Eastern OR
• TOMORROW, 7:00pm – 8:15pm Eastern OR
• Thursday, 11:00am – 12:15pm Eastern OR
• Thursday, 2:00pm – 3:15pm Eastern

Here’s what you can expect to learn:

• The #1 reason you’re unable to follow up with first-time guests and what you can do about it this Sunday!
• How you can WOW guests into coming back as a second-time guest
• The mistake every church makes and how you can avoid it
• Plus much more

It is FREE to participate but I do need you to Sign Up & Reserve Your Spot here:

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/index.php/free-stuff/top-3-assimilation-mistakes

Space is limited – I only have a certain number of spots so if you want to attend, reserve your spot now!

I hope to see you on the webinar this week!

Nelson

P.S. People have asked me why I offer these Free Webinars and the truth is, I’m passionate about training, equipping and coaching you for maximum Kingdom impact in your church and community.

Here’s the link again to let me help you identify and avoid these Assimilation mistakes:

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/index.php/free-stuff/top-3-assimilation-mistakes

Last week I mentioned the HALF OFF “Back to the Basics” Sale we’re running on my 3 hour Seminar Resources (here’s the link) – I’ve expanded the sale this week, but I wanted to share one of the “basics” when it comes to your Assimilation System.

If you’re not sure where to begin improving the 8 systems of your church for growth and health, assimilation is the place to start because it brings immediate results!

And when it comes to assimilation, one of the key mistakes people make is to try to move new people (First Time Guests) along too quickly – even directly – toward church membership (the overall objective of assimilation).

No, when working on your process for newcomers, you need to think one step at a time.

For example, here’s a glimpse at the proven method I’ve discovered over the years:

That way, you can focus on helping first timers to return a second time, not trying to educate them on all the ins and outs of your church and motivating them to join.

Just one step – returning for a second time. We have developed a series of actions and invitations that we use to accomplish this simple goal.

And so on, throughout the process – help 2nd time guests become regular attenders, then help regular attenders make the commitment to church membership.

It’s this kind of systematic approach that has allowed The Journey and over 3,000 other churches drastically improve their retention rate of first time guests… and it can do the same for your church, too.

Here’s to keeping more first time guests this Fall!

Nelson

P.S. Leading your church to upgrade its underlying systems (like Assimilation) will enable you to cooperate more fully with God to accomplish His purposes for your church!

That’s why I’m giving you any or all of 14 three-hour seminar resources for HALF OFF (only $49/seminar) in the expanded “Back to the Basics” Sale this week:

Click Here to Secure 14 of my Seminar Resources for HALF OFF!

Hurry – sale ends this Friday, September 28

One of my greatest thrills as a coach is hearing about how God is using members of my coaching alumni to expand our influence across the U.S. and around the world.

I recently received an email from Ryan Howell, one of my Advanced Coaching Alumni and Lead Pastor of Curtis Lake Church in Sanford, Maine.

Ryan spent some time in Romania and had the opportunity to lead two separate training events for Romanian church leaders.

He gave me permission to share this report with you today:

Hey Nelson,

In July I had the amazing experience of doing two seminars on church leadership in Eastern Europe.

The first seminar focused on practical leadership skills for church leaders in the capital of Romania, Bucharest. Held at Mustard Seed Church, 15 young church leaders came and discussed leadership principles that will help their ministries grow and teams become stronger.

These young leaders represented a generation hungry to understand the power of planning and personal leadership in the churches of Romania.

The second leadership seminar took place about a week later in Chisinau, the capitol of Moldova.

Moldova is a former Soviet state who regained its independence in 1991. Moldova is seeing a great move of God among evangelical churches.

I was privileged to lead a seminar for about 35 pastors from the capitol city and surrounding villages. I shared the 8 Systems of the Church and began to contextualize them with these Moldavian church leaders.

The pastors quickly showed a hunger for Assimilation so we spent the next 5 hours working through the Assimilation System and brainstorming how to apply principles like 1st- and 2nd-time guests gifts in the context of city and village churches.

The pastors loved the seminar and are looking forward to learning other systems in the coming years. Interestingly, we figured that over 1.2 million potential 1st-time guests were represented by the church leaders in attendance.

I want to extend a special thanks to Church Leader Insights for my personal training and allowing me the opportunity to train church leaders in Eastern Europe.

The evangelical Church in these communistic nations desperately desire practical tools to help them succeed in reaching the millions of unchurched people in their communities.

God is going to use these practical systems to encourage church leaders and help these developing churches see amazing growth.

Just thought you would be encouraged!

Ryan Howell, Lead Pastor
Curtis Lake Church
Sanford, ME

Wow – go God… What a great report!

Keep up the good work Ryan – know that we’re praying for you, your ministry and these churches in Eastern Europe.

Nelson

P.S. Ryan has learned and implemented the Assimilation System in his church AND taught those same principles to pastors abroad.

I’d like to partner with you to implement a complete assimilation system – to help people move from First Time Guests to Fully Engaged Members – in your church.

I have a brand new, 7-month focused Assimilation Coaching Network beginning THIS Thursday, September 6, and I hope you’ll prayerfully consider joining.

This new network will be delivered in convenient online modules, so you can fully participate at your own convenience.

Click here to Read More and to Join the Assimilation Coaching Network Now

We’ve all heard (or said) this line:

“We would be growing if we could just close the back door.”

Well, the first key to “closing the back door” is eliminating the mistakes you’re making now in assimilating new people!

After coaching over 1,200 Senior Pastors – of all types, church sizes, denominations, worship styles and geographic locations – I’ve identified the 3 most common mistakes churches make over and over when it comes to helping new people get connected.

I want to share these mistakes with you in a brand new, no-cost webinar I’m doing called “The Top 3 Assimilation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.”

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/index.php/free-stuff/top-3-assimilation-mistakes

In this new, 75-minute free webinar, I’ll walk you through each of these three most common mistakes and what you can do this week to correct them.

Will you join me for one of six FREE webinars Tomorrow or Wednesday?
(same webinar – 6 different times for your convenience):

• TODAY, 11:00am – 12:15pm Eastern OR
• TODAY, 2:00pm – 3:15pm Eastern OR
• TODAY, 7:00pm – 8:15pm Eastern OR
• TOMORROW, 11:00am – 12:15pm Eastern OR
• TOMORROW, 2:00pm – 3:15pm Eastern OR
• TOMORROW, 7:00pm – 8:15pm Eastern

Here’s what you can expect to learn:

• The #1 reason you’re unable to follow up with first-time guests and what you can do about it this Sunday!
• How you can WOW guests into coming back as a second-time guest
• The mistake every church makes and how you can avoid it
• Plus much more

It is FREE to participate but I do need your RSVP here:

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/index.php/free-stuff/top-3-assimilation-mistakes

Space is limited – I only have a certain number of spots so if you want to attend, reserve your spot now!

I hope to see you on the webinar today or tomorrow!

Nelson

P.S. People have asked me why I offer these Free Webinars and the truth is, I’m passionate about training, equipping and coaching you for maximum Kingdom impact in your church and community.

Here’s the link again to let me help you cut out your Assimilation mistakes:

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/index.php/free-stuff/top-3-assimilation-mistakes

I’m just finishing up the final touches on my brand new webinar called “The Top 3 Assimilation Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them).” This webinar will help you close the back door and connect more new people into your church.

The webinar is FREE and you can sign up now for one of six convenient times tomorrow or Wednesday.

Reserve your spot now at:

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/index.php/free-stuff/top-3-assimilation-mistakes

This is a brand new training – Together we will walk through each of the three most common mistakes, what you can do this week to correct them, and how to ensure that you’re doing everything possible to cooperate with God to get guests connected to the life of your church.

In this 75-minute, FREE Webinar, you’ll learn:

• The #1 reason you’re unable to follow up with first-time guests and what you can do about it this Sunday!
• How you can WOW guests into coming back as a second-time guest
• The mistake every church makes and how you can avoid it
• Plus much more

Prefer to RSVP by phone? Call us at 1-800-264-5129, ext. 1.

Hope to talk to you on the webinar tomorrow or Wednesday!

Nelson

P.S. Some people have asked me why I offer these Free Webinars, and I’m passionate about training, equipping and coaching you for maximum Kingdom impact in your church and community.

Easter Sunday is always such an amazing day. I hope you had as wonderful of an Easter service as The Journey did in all of our locations. God truly blessed us with so many gifts. The gifts are the people that walked through our doors for the first time yesterday.

Now we get to show our appreciation to God for entrusting us with these lives. Let’s show God how excited we are to have been given this chance to show ourselves faithful.

In this Blog, there is not enough room to take you into all that we do at The Journey to follow-up with our first time guests, I do hope to simple outline the process to encourage you to take next steps in improving your follow up.

Here is what we are doing in all of our locations today:

POST-EASTER FOLLOW-UP

• 36-Hour Email Response – By this Tuesday, each and every one of our first-time guests should receive an email that (1) thanks them for attending your Easter service and (2) invites them back to your church.

• 96-Hour “Snail Mail” Response – By Thursday afternoon, every guest who provided us with a mailing address receives a personal, handwritten note and a small gift to “wow” them. This will be anything from a Subway card, to a Starbucks gift card to a $5 gas card depending on the location – just something to show God’s love in a practical, unexpected way. We will also include a postcard about the series we kicked off on Easter.

• One-Month Follow-Up Letter – While the initial goal is to get our Easter guests locked in for the current series, sometimes even people with great intentions simply don’t make it back after Easter. Just because we haven’t heard from them in a month doesn’t mean they aren’t interested in returning. So, for these guys, we use the One Month Follow-Up letter to remind them of their experience with our church, we give them a little more information and invite them back one last time.

I hope you find this helpful as you take steps today to be found faithful with the gifts that God has given you.

Nelson

PS – For more details on how we follow-up at The Journey, be sure and check out my Assimilation Seminar which includes all the next steps in the system to see someone move from a first time guest to a member.

Click to Download the Assimilation System.

The Journey Church’s newest location in Boca Raton, FL just celebrated it’s First Birthday. While we have seen tremendous numbers in our first year of New Believers and First Time Guests, one of the most excited elements is how many people have gone through the Membership Class AND are now fully engaged in the church in such a short period of time.

We attribute much of that success to the way we handle our membership classes.

Today I wanted to share one of my “Membership Tricks” with you. In every membership class we take a group photo. We do this for a number of reasons and today I will give you two of them:

1. We are able to email the group photo to those individuals who accepted the membership covenant with their “Welcome To The Family” email on Tuesday.

- This reminds them of the people they met in class.

- This allows them to see themselves as a “part of the group.”

- This increases their buy-in that they “officially” belong.

A picture really is worth a thousand words and helping someone feel connected is truly priceless.

2. Having this picture allows us to celebrate with the entire church on the following Sunday. We place this photo on the screen during service and it shows the rest of the church that God is growing the ministry.

This presentation during service also allows the people in the photo to once again feel connected. (Everyone loves to see themselves on the big screen… even if they won’t admit it)

I could give several more reasons for taking the photo but I would suggest you take some active steps evaluating your own Membership Class. Membership is vital to the health of your congregation. What can you do today to improve your upcoming membership class?

P.S.  For a comprehensive resource that contains everything you need to plan, prepare for, execute and follow up on a Membership Class at your church, check out The Maximizing Membership Package (available for Immediate Download).

I have an announcement about two great events coming up in the next 2 weeks but first:

How to WOW First Time Kids:

Growing churches have learned the importance of taking great care of their first time guests but today I want to challenge you even further.

If you have implemented my Assimilation Seminar tactics, you are seeing a great return and on average many of you are reporting a 30%-40% return rate, but today we are taking another step.

Here’s my question: What are you currently doing to follow-up and WOW your first time kids?

Our newest Journey location in Boca Raton, FL, has been piloting a new tactic with some great results. Since I am so excited about the upcoming Fusion seminars my mind is on Assimilation today.

Here is what they are doing:

Every child who attends “Journey Kidz” receives an inflated beach ball in the mail! We purchase these inflatable balls from a wholesale store, blow them up and write a short greeting on the ball like “Thanks for joining us in Journey Kidz this week. “Have a ball” and we will see you Sunday!

The address goes on the opposite side. The post office will mail these as an irregular shape.

We have heard such good feedback from new parents on how excited their child was when they received this in the mail that I had to share this with you!

Now for the big announcement:
I am doing 2 Fusion Events in Florida. Join me LIVE for an updated Fusion Seminar. You’ll learn the proven system that has helped over 3,000 churches PLUS the latest learnings from The Journey Church and over 1,000 coaching alumni churches!

Thursday, March 8th, 9am – Noon, Orlando

Wednesday, March 14th, 9am – Noon, South Florida

It’s not enough to just attract first-time guests – you must learn how to keep them! This LIVE seminar on Assimilation discusses practical steps that will help you create an inviting environment for your first-time guests; one that they will want to come back to time and time again!

As a Part of this LIVE Seminar, you will learn:

• How to WOW! first-time guests by the way they are greeted, directed, treated and seated
• How to effectively collect information from first-time guests
• How to follow up on first-time guests so that they are prayed for and invited back
• How to survey first-time guests
• How to treat and follow up with second-time guests
• How to move people toward baptism and membership
• How to develop a customized assimilation strategy
• Plus so much more!

Space is Limited – register today!

Thursday, March 8th, 9am – Noon, Orlando

Wednesday, March 14th, 9am – Noon, South Florida