Fusion

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At Rocky Creek, we have a 1-word project our leadership is focusing on for every month this year.  As we evaluate how we can best connect our guests into a relationship with Jesus and this church, I have been collecting many different types of resources.  One of those is Nelson Searcy’s book, Fusion.

Book Overview

Next Sunday God will prompt hundreds of thousands of people in the United States, and millions around the world, to visit a church for the first time. The Sunday after that, He will do it again. God is consistently blessing His Church with regular guests. Are we doing all we can to accept and honor His blessing?  Built on Nelson Searcy’s Assimilation Seminar, Fusion offers you a step-by-step, biblically-grounded, tested and proven plan for establishing a relationship with newcomers that starts with the first seven minutes of their visit and ultimately prompts them to become fully developing members of your congregation. This innovative, practical guide is full of how-to information, testimonials from newcomers-turned- members and from participating church leaders, examples of assimilation materials and check points to make sure you stay on track. Here is help for setting newcomers on the path toward true life transformation and spiritual maturity.

Favorite Quotes

  1. Gifts from God are given freely – and strategically – and God expects us to handle what we’ve been given with the same strategic care. First-time guests are extraordinary gifts of unparalleled potential (27).
  2. Unfortunately, we live in a culture in which the business world understands more about true expressions of hospitality than the Church does (42).
  3. Assimilation is simply well-planned biblical hospitality through service (43).
  4. Seven minutes is all you get to make a positive first impression.  In the first seven minutes of contact with your church, your first-time guests will know whether or not they are coming back (49).
  5. Everything speaks to first-time guests – everything (54).
  6. Your focus should not only be on getting them to respond to an invitation but also on knowing how to invite them back so that they can witness the power of God in a consistent, strong way (68).
  7. Especially when dealing with the unchurched, you will increase your chances for a return visit tenfold when you reach into their weekly lives, genuinely thank them for joining you and encourage them to come back by continuing to show them God’s love in a practical, relevant way (103).
  8. Having systems in place that are ubiquitous by their very nature allows us to welcome and encourage all of our attenders equally (118).
  9. Schaller’s research suggests that the more friends a person has in the congregation, the less likely that person is to become inactive or leave the church (121).
  10. We are integrating them into the Body so that they can continue to grow toward knowing Jesus Christ if they don’t already (130).
  11. In its simplest form, the tenets of the entire Assimilation System can be boiled down to the three Rs of retention: Return, Relationships, and Responsibility (134).
  12. If you don’t encourage your regular attenders to become members, you are doing them a disservice (144).
  13. An assimilated member is someone who will, inevitably, turn back toward evangelism (152).