Welcome to week 5 of my 6-week blog series, “Igniting Growth In Your Church.” Happy Thursday to you, once again. My hope is that this series is consistently pushing you further in your study of evangelism by giving you special insight into my new book, Ignite: How To Spark Immediate Growth In Your Church.

Last week, we discovered how you can best mobilize your people for evangelism. This week, we are going to take a look at how you can use promotion effectively by targeting your “best fields.”

Today’s Topic:

Promotion: How to Pinpoint Your Best Fields

Jesus’ parable of the sower and the seed gives us great insight into the idea of promotion. (Take a minute to read the account in Mark 4:3-9.) The first principle Jesus wants to teach us through the wise farmer in his parable is this: Before you scatter your seed, Pinpoint Your Best Fields.

In order to sow effectively, you have to know what fields to scatter your seed in. You have to identify and concentrate on the most fertile soil and use seed that will take root there. Otherwise your efforts will be in vain. To identify your best fields, ask yourself these questions:

1. Who am I currently reaching?

If God is predominately bringing a certain type of person to your church, that’s a good indicator of who you are most equipped to reach.

A few years ago, the average age of Journey attenders was 27. That has increased a little now, but we’ve always had a special outreach with the late 20-somethings. So, we focused our seed-sowing on soil that would reach that group. We created invitations that would be appealing to them. We thought about how we could connect with them in their current reality.

2. Who is like me?

You are best equipped to reach people who are like you. That’s a fact of human nature. You will attract who you are.

A wise pastor-friend of mind once wrote, “If you are a pastor, you must honestly ask yourself, ‘What kind of person am I? What is my cultural background? What kind of people do I naturally relate to and what kind do I have a harder time understanding?’ You need to do a frank analysis of who you are and the type of people to whom you relate best.”

3. Who is not churched?

Your best fields are in the middle of the unchurched. If some of your promotion falls into the hands of Christians involved in other churches, so be it. But current Christians should not be your target. Instead, keep your attention focused on those who are unchurched in your community. God is working in their lives. Concentrate on pointing them toward His hope.

If you aren’t sure how to begin outreach to the unchurched, start by focusing on people who are under tension, undergoing transition, or in trouble. Time and time again, I have found that people are most open to hearing the truth of the gospel when God has them in one of these three situations.

Understanding these three Ts – tension, transition and trouble – will exponentially increase your effectiveness in the unchurched world. In fact, let me encourage you to do an exercise that will help you focus in on the types of T situations that the people around you are dealing with…

Pull the key leaders in your church together and talk through the greatest tensions and trouble they see in the lives of those they live around every day. Ask them to think about what kind of transitions they see people facing. Sketch all of these down and then begin planning outreach that will connect with those experiencing such, tension, transition and trouble. Think about planning a big day kick-off sermon around the greatest felt-need that comes up in your discussion.

One final warning note – Don’t get caught up in the seed that lands on rocky ground, gets eaten by the birds or gets scorched by the sun. God calls us to focus on the fertile soil. The enemy is always going to be working against our efforts to bring people into the knowledge of Jesus Christ. If we focus on what he is doing, we lose our clarity on what God wants to do.

For more in depth study on effectively evangelizing your community, make sure to pick up Ignite: How To Spark Immediate Growth In Your Church. You may also want to check out my popular resource, “The Evangelism System.” Just click here.

Next week, we’ll wrap up this “Igniting Growth In Your Church” series by looking at how to prepare for and follow up with the people who say “yes!” to being your guest! Don’t miss it!

- Nelson

P.S – If you missed the first four posts, don’t worry! Just click here for Week 1. Click here for Week 2. Click here for Week 3. And click here for Week 4.

Welcome to week 4 of my 6-week blog series, “Igniting Growth In Your Church.” Happy Thursday to you. I trust that this weekly series is driving you deeper in your study of evangelism by giving you a sneak peak (or review!) of my new book, Ignite: How To Spark Immediate Growth In Your Church.

Last week, we discussed how pastors can use the staff, stage and structure of the church to keep the evangelism temperature hot. This week, we are going to shift our focus away from the pastor and talk about our people’s personal evangelism. How can you light a fire for personal evangelism in your regular attenders and members? Read on…

Today’s Topic:

Personal Evangelism: x = tools + training + timeliness

As we discussed last Thursday, challenging your people from the stage is essential, but it won’t get you far if you aren’t also equipping them for the challenge. So, how can you give your members and regular attenders what they need to be able to invite their friends to church? What can you do to increase the likelihood that they will step out on faith and ask that often uncomfortable question?

Personal evangelism is all about helping your people see the opportunities they have to invite their friends and then helping them to seize those opportunities. You want them to see and seize every opening God provides.

Getting your people ready for the work of evangelism is, well, work. You’ll have to invest some time and effort. But if you commit to putting certain elements in place, you can ensure a heightened level of effectiveness.

There is a proven way to grow the percentage of your people who are actually extending invitations at every opportunity. You just have to put the Personal Evangelism Formula to work for you. This formula looks like one you may remember from your algebra days. It follows the form of x = a+b+c.

If x = high levels of personal evangelism, let’s take a closer look at the other elements we need to plug in to bring those high levels into being…

a = TOOLS. People are more likely to do what you ask of them, if you give them some tools that will make things easier.

b = TRAINING. They will respond even more favorably if you provide them with a little training, so they feel confident in what they are being asked to do.

c = TIMELINESS. With tools and training, you will have your people on the right track, but there’s one more thing that will greatly increase the likelihood that they’ll start inviting people to church. Give them a reason to do it “now.” Provide a sense of urgency.

x = TOOLS + TRAINING + TIMELINESS

That’s the true formula for personal evangelism. If you give people the tools they need, train them how to use those tools, and then give them a period of time in which they need to carry out their task, you will send your evangelistic temperature soaring:

HIGH LEVELS OF PERSONAL EVANGELISM = TOOLS+TRAINING+TIMELINESS

Don’t miss any of these three elements. Too often, we train people from the stage or through small group studies, but we don’t give them any accompanying tools. We don’t put anything in their hands.

Then again, sometimes we give them good tools and training, but set no timeframe. Successfully equipping our people means ensuring that we provide them with all three variables of the Personal Evangelism Formula.

For more in depth information on how you can keep the evangelistic temperature of your church red hot, make sure to pick up your copy of Ignite: How To Spark Immediate Growth In Your Church. You may also want to check out my popular resource, “The Evangelism System.” Just click here.

Did you know that you can also use promotion to ignite your church’s evangelism? In fact, promotion can be incredibly effective and lots of fun. It also provides great “air cover” for your people as they put their new evangelism skills to work. We’ll talk more about that next Thursday!

- Nelson

P.S – If you missed the first three posts, don’t worry! Just click here for Week 1. Click here for Week 2. And click here for Week 3.

Welcome to week 3 of my 6-week blog series, “Igniting Growth In Your Church.” I trust that this Thursday series is driving you deeper in your study of my new book, Ignite: How To Spark Immediate Growth In Your Church.

Last week we dissected the four best times of year to do a big day. Now that you have a big day on your calendar (you do, right?), the next step is to understand how you, as the pastor, can use it to ignite evangelism in your church…

Today’s Topic:

Pastor – Igniting Evangelism Through the Stage, Staff and Structure

Each and every time you step in front of your crowd, you have the chance to speak truth into their lives. Whether you are preaching from a stage to thousands of listeners, from a pulpit to hundreds, or from a makeshift sanctuary to just a handful, you have been given incredible power to shape the lives and eternities of every person listening to you.

That’s exactly why the responsibility for keeping the evangelistic temperature in the church boiling hot falls on you. There are three ways that you can raise the level of evangelism in your church…  1) through the stage 2) through your staff and 3) through your church’s structure. Let’s look at each one in a little more detail:

Stage: What gets presented from the stage is more likely to get accomplished in the pews. In other words, you can’t keep quiet and assume that your people will do anything. You have to challenge. You have to encourage. Here are three of the most effective ways to use the stage to challenge your people toward evangelism:

• Tell Your Own Evangelistic Stories
• Have Others Give Their Testimony
• Teach an Evangelism System

Staff: Challenge your staff to be actively involved in evangelism and then hold them accountable for what you’ve asked them to do. Encourage them to lead the way by:

• Serving in Evangelistic Activities
• Praying for Unchurched Friends
• Praying and Fasting for Big Days
• Inviting Friends to Church

Structure: Think about the underlying structure of your church. Have you structured with an eye to the greater community? Have you structured in a way that helps you mobilize your people for evangelism? You can either structure your church for control or for growth, but not for both. Here are three of the best ways to make sure you are structuring for growth:

• Plan Regular Evangelistic Events
• Engage Small Groups in Evangelism
• Allow People to Belong Before They Believe

As you use the stage wisely, expect the best of your staff and structure your church for evangelism, you will be cooperating with God in reaching people for His glory. He will bless your efforts with lots of new people!

For more in depth information on how you can keep the evangelistic temperature of your church red hot, make sure to pick up your copy of Ignite: How To Spark Immediate Growth In Your Church. You may also want to check out my popular resource, “The Evangelism System.” Just click here.

So now you have an idea of what you, as the pastor, need to do to foster evangelism in your church. But what about your church members? How can you mobilize them for evangelism? That’s what we’ll talk about next Thursday. Make sure to check back!

- Nelson

P.S – If you missed the first two posts, don’t worry! Just click here for Week 1 and click here for Week 2.

Since so many of you seem to be enjoying my book recommendation videos, I decided to do it a little different this month by filming outside of the office.

In case you the last few months’ videos, you can click these links to see my book recommendations for July, August and September.

Here’s my October book recommendation:

October Book Recommendation:

P.S. Have you already read Ignite? I’d love to hear your feedback — you can send it using the “Ask Nelson” button on the right side of the blog.

Today is the second installment of my 6-week blog series, “Igniting Growth In Your Church.” This Thursday series is your sneak peak into the pages of my new book, Ignite: How To Spark Immediate Growth In Your Church. If you are one of the tens of thousands who are already reading Ignite, well, thanks! I trust that this series will serve as a weekly reminder and reinforcement of what you are learning.

Last week we uncovered four of the most powerful reasons for doing a big day. Once you decide to go for it, the next step is to pick the most strategic date…

Today’s Topic: When Should I Do A big Day?

Here are four of the best times of year for a successful big day:

1. Easter Sunday – The Built-In Big Day - Easter is a big day “gimmie.” God has already put this one on the calendar for you, so your job is to maximize the increased turn out you are already destined to have. If you’ve never done a big day, this is a great one to start with because a large part of the structure is already in place.

2. Fall – The Back-To-School Big Day - The second best time of the year for a big day is one month after school begins. Yes, you read correctly – you should schedule your big day for approximately one month after school begins. Your regular attenders and members won’t all start returning with normalcy until the Sunday after school begins. You need some time for them to get back in the swing of things before your big day.

Also, we’ve found that reaching unchurched people is even more difficult than usual for the first couple of weeks after school starts.  They are consumed with getting everyone back in a routine.  Give them a month to settle into the school year and get back on track. Then, they’ll be more ready to accept your invitation to attend a big day.

3. February – The Unexpected Big Day - You may be surprised by this, but February is an extremely effective time to do a big day. It’s a hidden gem of a month that you can maximize to help you break through growth barriers. Why? First of all, February is a time of the year when people are home. No one is traveling; they’re hibernating. Secondly, February brings with it a host of emotional needs that stay repressed during other months. The days are short. It’s dark. In a lot of households, this leads to tension and fighting.

February is also an ideal time for a big day because of its proximity to Easter. If you have a big day in mid-February, you will usually have five to eight weeks before Easter. That double boom of two big days close together is a great way to build fast momentum and break through some barriers.

4. Your Pick – The Big Day of Choice

To fill in any seeming dry spells in your annual calendar, I suggest that you pick one more day each year and make it a big day. This big day probably won’t be as big as your Easter, fall and February big days – because it won’t necessarily have the natural rhythm of the calendar supporting it – but it can give you another burst of momentum at what you consider a low time.

To balance out The Journey’s annual calendar, I usually create a big day in the summer. I will either kick off a big summer sermon series or leverage an existing day, like Father’s Day, and turn it into a reason for people to invite their friends.  Be creative.

For more information on planning and executing a big day, make sure to pick up your copy of Ignite: How To Spark Immediate Growth In Your Church. You may also want to check out my audio resource, “The Big Day.” Just click here.

Once you decide why and when to do a big day, what’s your next step? That’s what we’ll talk about next Thursday. Don’t miss it!

- Nelson

P.S. – I just recorded a brief podcast on doing a big day, called “Is it possible to double my church in a day?” You can listen to it by clicking here.

P.P.S. – I also have some upcoming LIVE Ignite Seminars in North Carolina (one in the Charlotte area and another in the Raleigh area) – check out this link.

And watch for more Live Ignite events in 2010!

Hey guys, I’m coming to North Carolina to do two identical events.  One will be in the Charlotte area on October 28th.  The other will be in the Raleigh area on October 29th.

I’d enjoy meeting some of the reader of my blog and at the same time teach evangelism.

Click here to register now.

Here’s a glimpse of what I’m going to cover:

-  How to DOUBLE your church in a day (it can be done)

-  How to immediately raise the evangelism effectiveness of your church

-  How to mobilize your congregation to reach their friends

-  How to spark growth in a stalled church

-  How to keep momentum year after year in a growing church

-  How to excite your people, even if they’ve not been motivated in the past

-  How to influence your leaders to reach out to the community

-  How to plan and implement a proven BIG DAY process

-  And much more . . .

I look forward to seeing you in North Carolina!

Nelson

P.S.  If you haven’t picked up my new book Ignite yet, you can do so here.

Today marks two weeks since the release of my latest book, Ignite: How to Spark Immediate Growth in Your Church. I always say that leaders are readers – and thanks to leaders like you, Ignite has already begun to impact communities around the world. So, thanks for your passion and commitment to expanding God’s kingdom!

I am kicking off a six-week blog series today, called “Igniting Growth In Your Church.” If you haven’t gotten your copy of Ignite yet, this Thursday series will give you a sneak peek into its pages and uncover some key concepts for sparking your church’s growth. If you are one of the many who have already started studying Ignite, this series will provide you with some bite-sized reminders and reinforcement.

My hope is that these posts will leave you all with something to think about as you go through your day… and drive you even deeper in your study of how to spark immediate growth in your church.

Today’s Topic: Why Should I Do A Big Day?

First of all, let me define what exactly a big day is. A big day is an all-out push toward a single Sunday for the purpose of breaking the next growth barrier and setting an attendance record, in order to reach as many people as possible for Jesus.

Why should you worry about pushing past your next growth barrier? Why do a big day? Here are four reasons to consider:

1. Do a big day to reach new people – The biggest reason to do a big day is to cooperate with God in reaching the most people possible for the kingdom while we still can. We have a responsibility to do as much as we can to bring people to Christ and grow them up into spiritual maturity. Isn’t that why we do what we do?

Reaching our communities is not going to happen without intentional effort on our part. We can’t just stick to the status quo and assume that the people in our churches are going to be filled with a passion to reach others for Jesus. We have to make a concerted decision to put time and energy into connecting with the world beyond our doors. That’s where the vision for a big day begins – with a heart for the community and a heart to reach new people before God’s final big day.

2. Do a big day to make the devil mad – Okay, this shouldn’t be your primary reason for doing a big day, but every once in a while it’s good to do something that will irk Satan. If he’s not bothered by what you are doing, you must not be doing much against his cause. Or as a pastor/mentor of mine once advised me, ‘If you haven’t met the devil head on lately, maybe its because you are moving in the same direction!’

3. Do a big day to grow the Christians in your church – There’s nothing like doing a big day to ignite some passion in your people and mobilize them for service. When you share your vision for reaching a new level through a big day, you will find people more than willing to give extra time and energy to the cause. They will be eager to reach out to their friends, family and co-workers. You will spur them on to greater spiritual growth by giving them the opportunity to take part in something bigger than themselves.

4. Do a big day to build momentum in your church – I run into a lot of churches who say, “We feel like our momentum is beginning to wane.” If you can relate, that’s all the more reason to do a big day. Big days build momentum by uniting your people in a common goal, attracting buzz from the community, and propelling you to the next level of growth.

For more information on planning and executing a big day, make sure to pick up your copy of Ignite: How To Spark Immediate Growth In Your Church. You may also want to check out my audio resource, The Big Day. Just click here.

Now that you’ve discovered some of the strongest “whys” for doing a big day, you definitely won’t want to miss next Thursday’s installment of “Igniting Growth In Your Church.” We’ll be looking at the “whens” – the four most effective times of year to do your big day. In the meantime, take some time to envision the effects that a well-planned big day could have on your church…

- Nelson

P.S. I’m have upcoming Ignite Seminars in New York City, Charlotte and Raleigh – follow this link for more info

This is the last call to take me up on the over $140.00 in Bonus Resources that I’m giving away for ordering my new book, Ignite: How to Spark Immediate Growth in Your Church.

So many of you jumped on my one day bonus offer last week, that I decided to extend the offer until October 10th.

So, if any of you may have been putting it off (surely there are no procrastinators in the Church Leader Insights family) or if you just found this offer, click here now to read the instructions, order your book, and get your Bonus Resources:

http://tinyurl.com/ignite-bonus

To help me get the word out one last time, would you mind sharing this link on your Twitter page, Facebook, blog, whatever means you have available:

http://tinyurl.com/ignite-bonus

Thanks again!

Nelson

Quick post this morning -

So many of you jumped on my bonus offer for ordering my new book, Ignite, yesterday that I decided to extend the offer until October 10th!

Thanks to you, Ignite made it all the way up to #11 on Amazon.com’s bestsellers list yesterday (#1 in Religion & Spirituality).

I was blown away!

In response to all of that, I’m going to make the bonuses (over $140.00 worth) available for another week!
Will you help me give more resources away?

You can do that by sharing this link on your Twitter page, Facebook, blog, whatever means you have available:

http://tinyurl.com/ignite-bonus

Thanks again & God bless!

Nelson

UPDATE: Thanks to your overwhelming response, I’m extending this BONUS offer until October 10!

I am happy to announce that my latest book, Ignite: Sparking Immediate Growth In Your Church is available for order today, Oct 1, at Amazon.com!

And, if you pick up the book today (for only $10.11), I’ll give you over $140.00 in special bonus resources (including a gift certificate for Church Leader insights that is equal to your book investment, including shipping).  That’s quite a return on such a small investment!

My new book will help you break the next growth barrier in your church by using the proven ‘big day’ concept  (which I lay out in step by step detail) while helping you develop an ‘evangelism system’ that will allow you to keep growing long after the big day has passed.

Here’s why I’m doing this  . . . .

First, I want to say Thank You for ordering my new book.

Second, Amazon.com is the ‘big dog’ in the book world.  And Day One sales are very important to the online giant.

Simply put, my new book will be recommended more, receive higher placement from Amazon and be featured more prominently if Day One sales are high.

So, it’s a win/win for us both . . . You get the book before its available in stores and at the lowest price anywhere (its even cheaper on Amazon than my ‘authors discount’).

Here are the Bonuses You’ll Get For Ordering My New Book TODAY:

BONUS 1.  A Church Leader Insights Gift Certificate for $19.18 that can be used on any of my other online resources (this amount is designed to help you recover the investment you made in the book + shipping at Amazon).

BONUS 2. The Big Day: A Proven Process for Breaking Your Next Growth Barrier – 60+ minute Audio MP3 ($23.95 Value)

BONUS 3. Reaching Your Community through Servant Evangelism MP3 ($23.95 Value)

BONUS 4.  My 28-page Church Systems 2.0 Report PDF ($23.95 Value)

BONUS 5. The Top 5 Most Effective Evangelism Invite Tools MP3 ($13.95 Value)

BONUS 6. Free attendance and an early-invitation to my upcoming Ignite Teleseminars.  Dates and Times will be announced via email later this month. (A $39.00 Value)
So, are you ready to pick up the book and receive your bonuses?

There’s only ONE way to get these incredible bonus resources for free and it’s to buy my book through Amazon today, Oct 1.

The process will take under 5 minutes. It’s as simple as “A B C”:

A. Go to the following link and buy the IGNITE book:

Paperback Link

Kindle Link

B. Check your email for Amazon’s receipt. When you have it, then…

C. Go to the following website and enter your info and Amazon Order Number:

Enter information here.

(Note: Please MANUALLY enter the number, and don’t try to cut-and-paste, which does not work.)

That’s it!  We will then email you with instructions for all your bonuses.

I know I’m biased, but I really believe implementing what I’m going to teach you in the Ignite book  is one of the best investments you can make in your church this Fall.

Wishing you a great Fall season of Evangelism!

Nelson Searcy

P.S. If you’ve already pre-ordered the book on Amazon, simply track down your receipt and follow the steps above.   Thank you!