If you are a church planter or church leader, you have probably heard the name Nelson Searcy. nelson is the founding pastor of the Journey Church of the City of New York City. He started the church in 2002 and now has over 1,000 members. Nelson was also on staff with Rick Warren at Saddleback Church, where he was founding director of Purpose Driven Community. Nelson, along with Kerrick Thomas, one of the co-teaching pastors at Journey Church, have written, what I consider, the textbook for small groups in the local church.
Nelson and Kerrick have a very “readable” writing style that makes Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups easily understandable and simple to implement. Activate is really more of a “how to” guide to Focusing, Forming, Filling, and Fascilliating your small groups. Their passion for the church and small groups is evident, and their results cannot be argued. This system works.
NOTABLE QUOTES
- “Average leaders focus on what happens next. Extraordinary leaders focus on what happens AFTER what happens next.”
- “People grow over short periods of time (stress). Then they need to rest (release). After a period of rest, they can grown again (stress)…and the cycle continues.”
- “Trust God with your leaders and trust your leaders with your groups.”
