Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch (Paperback)

by Nelson Searcy; Kerrick Thomas (Author)
Key Phrases: healthy launch, many church planters, comeback events, New York, Rick Warren, Ray Kroc (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Starting a church from scratch? Start here! This is no typical church planting or church growth book. The authors, both pastors at The Journey Church of the City in Manhattan, offer specific strategies for beginning a church from scratch, based on their own experiences in launching a church with no members, no money and no staff and watched membership skyrocket to more than a thousand people in three years! They offer clear, practical how-to strategies for quickly raising funds, creating a team, planning services, effective evangelism and rapidly developing a growing membership. Specific advice is included for reaching that often difficult-to-target demographic, the 20- to 40-year-old. You ll also get an insider s look at The Journey Church of the City as a model for church planting. The helpful strategies here will help you remove many of the barriers, questions and doubts encountered in starting a church from scratch. If these principles work in NYC, they ll work for you!

About the Author
Nelson Searcy is the founding pastor of The Journey Church of the City in New York City, which he and his wife, Kelley, began from scratch in 2002 and now has more than a thousand members. He has personally trained more than a thousand church planters through his seminars, and is the publisher of Evangelism Online, an Internet resource for pastors. Prior to starting The Journey, he was the founding director of the Purpose Driven Community at Saddleback Church, with more than 5,000 member churches and a key architect for Rick Warren s Pastors.com. KERRICK THOMAS is a teaching pastor at The Journey Church of the City in New York City. Thomas, who received his Masters of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, regularly co-leads training events with Nelson Searcy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 219 pages
• Publisher: Regal Books (January 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830743103
• ISBN-13: 978-0830743100
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,764 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Practical, but broadbushing!, February 18, 2007

By	S. Doyle "lsdjr" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I like this book, but I have issues with it as well. I like the fact that they are more practical than theoretical. That said, I find it a bit too broad bushing. They imply that if someone plants a church and doesn't follow their advice, then that person is going down the wrong path or cannot succeed. I think they have great ideas, but I have no doubt that God can use different methods in different cultural settings. One church planted in NY doesn't make one an expert on church planting nationwide. I have read other books from men who have planted multiple churches on multiple occasions in multiple areas of the nation who come to different conclusions on methodology than do Searcy and Thomas. I tend to lean toward the guys who have done it several times. Time will tell whether or not this book and the methods promoted within it are timeless or trendy.

Finally, I don't like the emphasis on numbers as being the barometer for health. We have been meeting with our core group for 4 months now and I have seen phenomenal growth with few numbers added. Perhaps their background with Saddleback has influenced them to be numbers driven. It's Christ who grows the church anyway, and He is sovereign and will build according to his free will.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nelson and Tomas are trailblazing for many of us, March 5, 2007

By	E. Ramirez "Christ Is King" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have been very blessed by reading the principles in this book. I have planted a church in New York, and it is not easy. However, Nelson has done it, and is doing it as he writes. Although I dont personally agree with all of there philosophy of ministry, i do think that the benefits of this book far outweigh the loss of not reading it. after reading this book and meeting nelson and tomas at a recent roundtable conference, I have adapted many ideas from them and am convinced they are building a ministry as a model in which we can all benefit. If you have issues with saddleback, or contemporary churches, you should not let that mentality keep you from benefitting from the wealth of insight and ides this book has. Wothwhile read.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ...wish i had this book before I planted (oops...launched) my church., February 19, 2007

By	Daniel Egipciaco "www.danegipciaco.com" (Miami, Florida) - See all my reviews

Everyone has a different philosophy in church planting. Thanks to Launch it gives you step by step help in thinking through all the processes of church planting. This is a must read for all church planters. It gives them examples and help. The truth is Nelson has been extremely successful in one of the most secular cities in the U.S. I wish I would have had this book before I planted Relevant Church Miami. So.... Read the Book, Apply the principles.
thank you Nelson. Keep up the good work.
danegipciaco