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.

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”
— Benjamin Franklin: 18th century statesman, scientist, and writer

On my recent panel discussion at Fox News I was asked if I thought it was appropriate to use foul language in the church (curse words, profanity, etc.).

My answer was ‘No’ and I did my best to explain it, but honestly, Ed Young says it so much better than me in this 3 minute video:

Thanks Ed!

P.S. Looking for something “clean” to say from your pulpit?
Check out these Sermon Series

I just finished the video shoot for the Easter message. . . we filmed the entire message from start to finish at noon today.  I’m feeling good!  I sorta wish I had the pressure to finish my message by Tuesday noon each week (OK, not really).

But it does feel good to know the manuscript is done and there’s a (pretty) good video in can.

We did the video shoot of the message because we are beginning monthly services at a new location this week (Journey-Queens) and we wanted the first message to be via video since the location is a video venue.  Hope that makes sense.

All other locations will be live this weekend.  But. . .if anyone gets hit by a bus we have a video back-up!

I’m praying that none of you are hit by buses on Easter Sunday

Nelson

I have been invited to lead the Teaching Track at the Willow Arts Conference on June 10-12. The theme is “Wonder” and it’s definitely a wondrous opportunity for me.

In fact, with big names like John Ortberg leading this track in the past, it’s got me scratching my head… everyone else must be out of town that week.

Seriously though, it is a tremendous honor and I hope you will consider joining me. The folks at Willow put together a powerful conference each year and this one won’t disappoint.

Here’s the link if you’re interested:
http://www.willowcreek.com/events/arts/2009/index.html

Either way, I hope you’ll pray for me as I prepare.

Thanks!

P.S. If you don’t already have it, I encourage you to invest in my Planning a One Year Preaching Calendar resource by clicking here: https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/cart/store.jsp?view=4&i=p93&navicat=35

I heard this quote last week:

“Samson killed a thousand men with the jaw bone of an ass. That many sales are killed every day with the same weapon.”
– Anonymous

I wonder, could you replace the word ‘sales’ with the word ‘sermons’?

Nelson

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
– Albert Einstein, Theoretical Physicist

The short words are best, and the old words are the best of all.”
–Winston Churchill

Today, I will conclude our Lessons from “Yes!” series with three final truths from the book:

“Resistant children who easily find excuses not to do their homework or tidy their room are more likely to be persuaded if they’re first asked to take a small step in that direction.   As long as they feel they’ve said yes to the first small request voluntarily—rather than through coercion—the psychological momentum should propel them toward scholastic awards and cleaner living quarters in which to place those awards.”

“The labeling technique involves assigning a trait, attitude, or other label to a person, and then making a request of that person consistent with that label …you can use the technique to remind clients that their decision to deal with your organization shows their confidence in your company and in you, and that you appreciate and will continue to justify that confidence.”

“Asking, “Will you please call if you have to cancel?,” led to a no-show rate that dropped from 30 percent to 10 percent. If the caller then adds, “We’ll mark you down as a ‘yes’ and I’ll let the others know as well,” the commitment has three components that potentially cement that potential voter’s commitment: The commitment becomes voluntary, active, and publicly declared to others.”

Take these lessons from “Yes!” and apply them to your preaching, your communication and your church sign-up processes…you will be more persuasive!

To purchase the book “Yes!” from Amazon.com click here. I highly recommend you get it, study it and make the changes it suggests.

Have a great Friday!

Nelson