Nelson Searcy (born October 3, 1971) is an American

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

minister and author. He is the founder and lead pastor of The Journey Church, an evangelical Christian church in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 97,422 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and it ranked as the 23rd-largest city in Florida in 2022. Many people with a Boca Raton Address, ...

. Founded in 2002, The Journey Church has grown to include multiple campuses across metro New York City (in Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island) and a campus in Boca Raton, Florida. The church continues to grow and innovate and serve the people of metro New York City and beyond. The Journey has been featured in articles in Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times. In addition, he is an author of many

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

books on church leadership and numerous resources for pastors and other church leaders. He is also the founder of ''Church Leader Insights'', an organization that provides training and resources for pastors.

Biography

Personal life and education

Nelson Searcy grew up in North Carolina. Searcy met his wife, Kelley, on a blind date while they were in college and the two were married in 1994. They have lived in

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, and currently reside in Boca Raton. Searcy received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in Psychology and a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. He received his

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and ...

(M.Div.) from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

and has pursued additional study at

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

, Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity, and

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in Louisville, Kentucky. The seminary was founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, where it was at first housed on the campus of Furman University. The s ...

Early Ministry

After becoming a Christian while in college, Searcy entered full-time ministry in 1990. Searcy served with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina and pastored churches in North Carolina from 1990 to 1999. Searcy went on staff with

Rick Warren Richard Duane Warren (born January 28, 1954) is an American evangelical Christian pastor and author. He is the founder of Saddleback Church, an evangelical Baptists, Baptist megachurch in Lake Forest, California. Since 2022, he serves as execut ...

in 1999. There he was the founding director of the Purpose Driven Community at

Saddleback Church Saddleback Church is an Evangelicalism, evangelical, non-denominational Christian Multi-site church, multi-site megachurch based in Lake Forest, California. It is the largest church in California, and one of the largest in the United States of Amer ...

, with more than 5,000 member churches, and a key architect for Warren's ''PurposeDriven.com''.

The Journey Church

Searcy and his wife, Kelley, moved to New York City in late 2001 to start The Journey Church of the City. On Easter Sunday of 2002 a handful of people gathered in two Manhattan locations as The Journey launched weekly services. From the very beginning, The Journey was "one church that met in multiple locations" - on the Upper West Side on Sunday mornings and in the East Village on Sunday evenings. From there, The Journey has steadily grown in numbers and ministries . Over the years the church has met in comedy clubs, church basements, off-Broadway theaters, public schools, hotel ballrooms and even in larger concert venues. As of July, 2012, The Journey meets in two locations in the Metro New York area. Most recently, The Journey launched a new campus in Boca Raton, Florida, on February 13, 2011. The Journey has always been a diverse group of people united by their desire "to give people the best opportunity to become fully developing followers of Jesus". Over 1,200 people attend services each Sunday and over 1,400 people get plugged into a Journey Growth Group each semester.

Church Leader Insights

Searcy founded Church Leader Insights (CLI), an organization that provides training and resources to

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

s and to church

leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

s. more than 16,000 pastors receive his bi-weekly ''Church Leader Insights'' newsletter (formerly known as ''Evangelism Online'') each month, CLI hosts live training-events throughout the United States and online through

webinar Web conferencing is used as an umbrella term for various types of online conference, conferencing and collaborative services including webinars (web seminars), webcasts, and web meetings. Sometimes it may be used also in the more narrow sense of ...

s, and offers free resources for church planters and pastors.

Honors

* 2004 Purpose Driven Church Health AwardPurpose Driven Church Health Award - Previous Winners
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Bibliography

*''Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch'' () *''Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Engaged Members of Your Church]'' () *''Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups'' () *''Ignite: How to Spark Immediate Growth In Your Church'' () *''Maximize: How to Develop Extravagant Givers in Your Church'' () *''The Generosity Ladder: Your Next Step to Financial Peace]'' () *''Engage: A Guide to Creating Life-Transforming Worship Services'' () *''Revolve: A New Way to See Worship'' () *''Connect: How to Double Your Number of Volunteers'' () *''The Greatness Principle: Finding Significance and Joy by Serving Others'' ()

References

External links

The Journey Church - New York website

The Journey Church - Boca Raton website

Church Leader Insights website

Nelson Searcy's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Searcy, Nelson 1971 births Living people 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century evangelicals 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century evangelicals American Evangelical writers American male non-fiction writers American religious writers Duke Divinity School alumni Evangelical pastors Founders of new religious movements Writers from New York City