Renegade Pastors Network: Your Path to Abandoning Average and Maximizing Growth in Your Church

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EVENTS CALENDAR

New Senior Pastor Coaching with Nelson Searcy
Tuesday, July 21
2:00pm - 3:30pm Eastern

Titanium Coaching with Nelson Searcy
Tues., July 28 - Wed., July 29
⚲ Orlando, FL
↗️ Click here to learn more

View Full Calendar

Featured Book Summary

EVENTS CALENDAR

New Senior Pastor Coaching with Nelson Searcy
Tuesday, July 21
2:00pm - 3:30pm Eastern

Titanium Coaching with Nelson Searcy
Tues., July 28 - Wed., July 29
⚲ Orlando, FL
↗️ Click here to learn more

View Full Calendar

Featured Book Summary

THE SEVEN COMMITMENTS OF A RENEGADE PASTOR™

1- I WILL FOLLOW MY LORD: Am I valuing my relationship with God above all other relationships? Matt. 6:33; Mark 8:34; Phil. 1:21-24

2- I WILL LOVE MY FAMILY: Am I sacrificing my family on the altar of ministry? Matt. 19:4-6; Eph. 5:25-33; Eph. 6:4

3- I WILL FULFILL MY CALLING: Am I using my gifts and abilities to become all that God has called me to be? 1 Tim. 3:1-7; 1 Pet. 5:1-4

4- I WILL MANAGE MY TIME: Am I in control of my most limited commodity? Ps. 39:4-5; Eph. 5:15-17

5- I WILL SHEPHERD MY FLOCK: Am I effectively leading, feeding and protecting the sheep under my care? Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2-4

6- I WILL MAXIMIZE MY CHURCH: Am I doing everything I can to lead my church for maximum impact? Matt. 10:16; Acts 2:42-47; 1 Cor. 3:7-8

7- I WILL EXPAND GOD’S KINGDOM: Am I leading my church to reach its full redemptive potential? Matt. 28:18-20; Luke 10:2; 2 Tim. 4:5

2026 Renegade Pastors Memory Verse

"Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example."

- 1 Peter 5:2-3 (NLT)

LATEST BLOG POSTS

Church Planters, Stay Close to the Source (FREE Resources)
on July 1, 2026 at 11:30 am
"With all the work that goes into starting a new church, new church planters sometimes make the fatal mistake of substituting ministry activity and professional growth for their own spiritual growth. The enemy would love to see you fall into this trap. Not only would you be operating through […]
Big Idea #2 from Ignite, Nelson's Best-selling Evangelism Book
on June 30, 2026 at 11:30 am
Big Idea Number 2 on Church Growth:A Big Day builds momentum in your church by propelling you to the next level of growth. As your people get involved, the community is touched, growth barriers are broken through, and excitement fills the church, setting the stage to do it again with future Big […]
4 Ways to Be a Lifelong Learner in Your Ministry
on June 25, 2026 at 11:30 am
The call to ministry is the call to prepare—and preparation is an ongoing process. You will never learn all there is to be learned about any subject; you’ll never reach the pinnacle point in any area. And who would want to? It’s the continual reaching that grows you, equipping you to live and […]

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Church Growth Champions

CLICK HERE FOR ALL CHURCH GROWTH REPORTS

What Members Are Saying About Our Coaching Networks

When I arrived we were running less than 40 people and it took us 12 years to break the 100 barrier. Seven years ago, we began implementing the principles in the Assimilation Seminar. Our paradigm completely shifted. We now average 9 first time guests every week and 80% of them return back as a second time guest. We went from 110 people to nearly 350 in four years. This Assimilation Seminar will change your culture!

Roger House

Allen St. Baptist Church, Clinton, MO

We were big in evangelism but we were not effective in keeping people. It wasn’t until the Assimilation Seminar with Nelson Searcy that we had an intentional plan to follow up with people. We’re now able to retain the people who come in to our church.

Paul Earle

Life Church, Victorville, CA

Your seminars and resources are so practical and helpful. I know that implementing the things I’ve learned from you has made it easier for God to work through our congregation to reach non-churched people from my community.

David Michel

Pastor, Stepping Stones Community Church, State College, PA

The church systems are very good. But what makes Nelson so good is the bigger picture that he brings to everything. He knows so many people — both by coaching and as mentors — and reads so much that he is able to pass on the best of his learning to those in his network.

Jeff Fartro

Pleasant Valley Presbyterian, Parma, OH

I enjoy the nuts and bolts approach. I am a systems/process thinker and the network helps me think through different areas of our church and challenges the way I think about our processes and how I lead/pastor.

Andy Rainey

Blue Ash Community Church, Blue Ash, OH

Second only to my relationship with God is my family. In a growing church this can be a challenge. I am thankful for Nelson’s coaching to keep my priorities God honoring. I have seen so many pastors struggle in their marriage and their kids end up resenting the church. The principles I have learned have helped me make my marriage better than ever and both my boys love the church. All the while having 6 years of steady growth the church is now 5 times larger than we started. It is possible.

Michael Shreve

Mountain West Church, Stone Mountain, GA

Joining the Coaching Network will be a personal and ministry- impacting experience. It brings real clarity to what’s required to lead a growing church. It will be an investment into yourself and your ministry.

Jesse Giddens

Destiny Christian Center, Apple Valley, CA

When I first heard about the eight church systems, my first thought was this could help the ministry of my church go to a whole new level. Well, it has! Our giving has increased 10% every year, we’ve grown from 200 to 330 in morning worship, there are now 150 volunteers and we actually have a system for following up with first-time guests.

Rick Rouse

Akron Free Methodist Church, Akron, NY

Being a part of this network has helped me to lead our church more effectively, reverse what had been a slow decline, mobilize greater numbers of our people in outreach and service, reach and retain more new people, and significantly raise the level of generosity in our church.

Robert Haynes

New Life Community, Olive Branch, MS

Nelson gives you a plan — then we get to wrestle with it, apply it and he is there to offer suggestions based on how we are doing. I didn’t get the practical side of ministry in Seminary and this filled the gaps for me when I got the ‘big’ office at church. I knew how to preach — I needed to know how the church ran and what my role was as we look at all the systems; what was missing, working, needing attention.

Timothy Thiessen

Birch Bay Bible Community Church, Blaine, WA

Assimilation has helped me to build our congregation. We’re serious about discipleship. We’ve learned how to handle guests so that we can bring them into a relationship with Christ. We help them to stick and stay in our church through the Assimilation system.

Robert Fowler

Victory Baptist Church, Las Vegas, NV

The Renegade Pastors Network is the single greatest investment you can make towards growing your church. Period.

Lon Dean

Connect with Nelson

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 3,500 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.

THE SEVEN COMMITMENTS OF A RENEGADE PASTOR™

Church Growth Champions

What Members Are Saying About Our Coaching Networks

Connect with Nelson

Meet Dr. Nelson Searcy

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