Customer Reviews

Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members of Your Church

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Every church needs systems to accomplish their purpose. We spend so much time, energy and money on getting first-time guests into our churches. But what do we do AFTER they have come into our doors? That's where Fusion will make a HUGE difference to every pastor and church leader. Step by step, Nelson guides you through an assimilation system that WILL give you great results in taking first-time guests to membership. If you are looking for what works - this is it!

Let me invite you to follow the steps that our church, The Pointe (www.thepointega.com), located in Albany, Georgia, took and in less than 18 months have grown from zero to over 600 attending each week! The steps you find in this book are a MAJOR reason we have seen our growth!

Are you a church leader looking for a proven system to assimilate first-time guests into your church? Are you a pastor looking for a system that you can build a team around? Fusion is the answer. This book belongs on every pastor's/church leader's list of books to read in 2008! Get yours today!

This was a great book on Assimilation. Although I have his audio seminar and much is repeated from that, this book adds to an already proven strategy. Nelson is a practitioner and has the ability to transfer concepts into workable real steps you can take now.Full of nuggets, insights,statistical truths, and more, this book is not only one of the few on the subject, but one you cannot be without.Not every part of this plan will work in your culture, as Nelson clearly states, but many of these are principles and not strategies, which makes them adaptable to any setting. Also a very easy read, not shallow, but easy.Thanks again Nelson, Roy, and Kerrick. Will see you at the next event. Victory Outreach Alcance Victoria Brooklyn, Pastor Eddie Ramirez

We are a 2 year old church plant in Tampa (Church at the Bay). What I love about Nelson's system is it can be given to a new staff member or volunteer and they can run the process for the church (we did this!). As a church start, we put tons of energy into getting people to come for the first time. The next step is to turn those first time guests into regular attenders and Christ Followers. This book will help your church to help people establish a growing relationship with Jesus Christ!

This book will become a standard training manual for all who work in guest services, greeting, ushering, etc. It is an easy to read, practical, step by step manual that works. Nelson has carfully thought through the essentials of an assimilation system, has condensed it into one book, and has shown his mastery of the subject by making it so simple that anyone can follow it.

We have implemented this system in our church and it has made a huge difference. Our guest to member retention rate has exponentially increased.

This book is written in such a way that it also serves as a good check list to review the esentials of your assimilation system to make sure that major items are not being dropped or that the system is not getting off track.

There are some books you read and put on a shelf to collect dust and then there are the rare ones like this one that you will keep close by and refer to time and again. It is one of the best investments you can make!

I was fortunate enough to be on staff at The Journey in NYC with Nelson. In fact one of my main responsibilities when I was there was to manage the assimilation strategy that Nelson had developed. I was able to see first hand the impact that Nelsons system had on integrating first time visitors into full fledged members. At every membership class we had when I was there we heard story after story about how important the first contact we made with them was and how the subsequent attention they received was critical to their decision to return and get involved.

The knowledge and experience with Nelsons system was invaluable to me as I went on to plant a church in San Francisco. Needless to say I still follow Nelsons system at my church and I am seeing the same kind of positive results.

This book is one-stop shopping for any church looking to build up a new assimilation team. It has example letters, equations for calculating visitor retention and a start-to-finish approach of assimilation.
If you're looking to boost you're already established method, this book may not be quite right. It's all-inclusive nature makes it hard to pick pieces out to adapt for your own setting, meaning it might require a complete rebuild of your assimilation process (not necessarily a bad thing?)rather than some productive tweaking.
That said, it's a great, concise, and thorough look at a healthy and productive process for turning guests into members.

Searcy and Henson have done a great job of putting together a very practical and readable guide to church growth. The basic premise is assimilating guests into engaged members by practicing an intentional hospitality and a structured follow-up strategy. The methodology makes perfect sense, and it is the same approach that Searcy used to grow his "from scratch" church in NYC. It is targeted toward a younger audience but could be adapted to different segments. There are also templates and other tools included in an appendix which make this a very implementable system. Searcy also shows that the motivation behind church growth is found in Bible verse. More information about Searcy can be found at www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com.

I became a Nelson fan in April of 2007 when I was introduced to his Assimilation System through a coaching network. We have seen nothing but positive results from the system that he maps out in this book. Three out of every five first time guests have returned, we have 65% of our adults in community groups and over 50% of our people volunteering. Our Church is 10 months old and we wouldn't be where we are if it wasn't for Nelson and his practical approach to connecting people to the local church.

You will read this over and over again!

Nelson Searcy has put together this amazing and practical approach to Assimilation that has significantly helped my church. He brings the seemingly allusive topic for many pastors and churches into an easy and understandable way to bring first-time guests into fully-engaged members. Since getting a hold of Nelson's common sense approach i've been able to get a bird's eye view of my church and track who comes in and who comes back and how to wow them in process. Nelson helps us to focus on guests God brings into our church by asking, "Are we doing all we can to accept and honor His blessing?"

Here's what I took away and/or was challenged about:

1. Guests are a gift from God - Treat them right.
2. God will never give us more than we are prepared to receive (huge
impact on me and my team!)
3. Making guest relations ubiquitous - everyone experiencing
everything every week!
4. Fusion gave us a system that we could run with and adapt to our
environment.
5. The power of the personal note
6. The help of the 1st and 2nd time guest surveys
7. Using the connection card for everyone, ever week.
8. Having an appropriate response for every box that is checked on the
connection card (part of the system)
9. The ability to track visitor retention.
10. Creating sticky situations.
11. That a 200 pound man feels safe behind a styrofoam cup of coffee

We started implementing the principles from Fusion in May and the
result has been incredible. Our visitor retention is up. Our back
door has shrunk and it has created some great momentum this Fall.

Great stuff. Thanks Nelson.