VINTON — Prairie Creek Pastor Randy Nash celebrated a mountain top moment, recently, with the publication of his new book, “Beyond Words: The Art of Leadership Through Body Language.” This book is a milestone Nash had hoped to accomplish by age 50, but on Oct. 28, 2024, two days before his 65th Birthday, his dream was at last realized. For this Kansas farm kid turned preacher, Nash said that having his first book published has been a “surreal experience.”
“Beyond Words” brings awareness to the power of body language and is meant as a tool for honing leadership skills, something Nash has focused on for much of his 39-year career in ministry. Each chapter includes exercises intended to help amplify leadership skills and also includes examples of actual meetings and the effect body language played on each outcome. The book also helps explain how the variance in personality types affects understanding between people.
“Ninety to 95 percent of our communication is nonverbal,” Nash said. “I started teaching this about 15 years ago, the idea of being able to use body language to soften tones and to calm a room down. How to use your hands when you’re speaking, the importance of eye contact, and even the aspect of how culture affects perception.”
In the book, Nash explains how to read body language and helps people understand how they might be communicating nonverbally.
“How we present ourselves in body language matters. If I come into a meeting, with my arms crossed, or with a broad stance, everybody’s already on the defensive. But if I come in with relaxed shoulders, standing upright and straight, but palms open, people will accept that,” Nash said.
Nash explained that since there are currently seven generations living on the earth, generational differences are another potential problem in communication. Any human relationship, whether it be with a coworker, spouse, child, or neighbor requires conflict management. Nash said he teaches people how to recognize their own personality traits, as well as those of others.
“You have your ‘stress personalities,’ what you’re born with, and then you get the ‘personality perceived’ that you’re trying to project. The idea is to stay in your ‘perceived,’ not go to your ‘stressed’,” Nash explained. “In conflict management, the goal is to understand. The goal is not to be understood. When you understand, then you can respond instead of react,” Nash said.
Raised in Kansas on a dairy farm, Nash first heard the call to serve in the church at the young age of 16. The call came while on a trip to Detroit, Mich. with his father to hear Shadrach Meshach Lockridge. S.M. Lockridge was the Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego, Calif. and was a well-known preacher during the civil-rights movement.
“My dad was a blind, crippled man, and so we made a deal. He bought my first car if I took him wherever he wanted. So that was the worst deal and best deal I ever made,” Nash said. “My dad was in politics at one time, and so he knew a lot of leaders and had a lot of big time preacher connections. So he took me to see all those people, and that influenced me.”
While raising five sons and one daughter with his wife Nancy of 45 years, Nash has held a few occupations outside the ministry, but has consistently been working on the art of leadership. This pursuit put him in contact with a pivotal person in his life, John Maxwell, who was a preacher at Skyline Wesley in California for a number of years, and is the author of several books on leadership, like “Developing the Leader Within You,” and “Failing Forward.”
Maxwell made an impression on Nash at just the right time. During a rough patch in Nash’s ministry he moved his family to a remote area. In 1995, a friend reached out and invited him to a Leadership Conference in Florida where he met John Maxwell. They developed both a friendship and a professional connection around the concept of leadership, and eventually, Nash became one of the founding partners of Maxwell Leadership Group. The group’s motto is, “we are people of value who value people and add value to people,” and began with just 50 speakers in 2011, and now has over 60,000 speakers/trainers across the world.
Now a professional leadership coach, and a certified church consultant, Nash shares what he has learned and experienced about leadership and communication with churches, corporations, and individuals. His favorite way to use his communication skills, however, is to tell people about Jesus.
“I tell people all the time, I got the best job in the world,” Nash said, with a good-natured chuckle. “I get to tell people about Jesus all week, and then they give me a check. The craziest thing you ever saw.”
Nash has served at Prairie Creek Christian Church for just over a year and he said he and Nancy are enjoying living in the Vinton community. Although his daughter and her family live in Ohio, (his wife’s home state), all five of Nash’s sons and eight of his 10 grandchildren live in the Cedar Rapids area, something they both consider a huge blessing.
Nash’s book publishing was also a family affair. His daughter-in-law, who is a journalism major, edited the book, and his son designed the cover. Upon the return of the copyright, his sister-in-law will be reading the book for Audible. The book is now available on Amazon.
For more information on leadership consulting, visit Nash’s website at connectionpointeconsulting.com, or email Pastor Nash at [email protected].
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