Meet Dr. Nelson Searcy

Nelson Searcy is the Founding and Lead Pastor of The Journey Church, with locations across New York City and in Boca Raton, FL. By God’s grace, he identified and developed the Eight Systems of a Healthy Church^® that he has used to coach over 5,000 churches in the US and around the world to adapt those eight systems to their unique ministry fields, resulting in great health and growth.

Nelson regularly coaches pastors online and in-person through the Church Leader Insights and Renegade Pastors Network ministries that he founded. He also leads several annual pastor in-person conferences and online training events. In ministry for more than 25 years, Nelson and his church routinely appear on lists such as “The 50 Most Influential Churches” and “The 25 Most Innovative Leaders.”

He is the author of over 100 church growth resources and 20+ books, including The Renegade Pastor: Abandoning Average in Your Life and Ministry, The Difference Maker: Using Your Everyday Life for Eternal Impact, and Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests Into Fully-Engaged Members of Your Church. Nelson is the recipient of the prestigious Donald A. McGavran Award for Outstanding Leadership in Great Commission Research.

He is a longtime student of church history, especially mastering the areas of evangelism and church growth. He divides his time between NYC and South Florida. He battled Stage 4 cancer and has been cancer-free since 2018, praise God! He has an amazing wife, Kelley, and a teenage son, Alexander, who continues to grow in so many ways.