Carey Nieuwhof

My name is Carey Nieuwhof. I'm a husband, a dad to two sons and a daughter-in-law, and the founding and teaching pastor of Connexus Church north of Toronto Canada. I'm also incredibly passionate about helping leaders lead like never before. As a kid, I decided I wanted to be a lawyer. I'm not sure what needs to be wrong with a kid to want to be a lawyer, but that's my story. I got distracted along the way. At 16 I walked into a local radio station and asked them to hire me, and to my surprise, they did. For the next 8 years radio was one of my part time jobs in my then hometown of Midland Ontario and later in Toronto. I got into the law school of my dreams only to have two incredible things happen. I met the most amazing woman I've ever met in my first year of law school. We got married before we graduated. By far...she's the best thing to come out of law school for me! But the second thing that happened was I experienced a call to ministry. I'd been a Christian since I was a young teenager, but I went through a crisis of faith in my late teens and early twenties. Before attending law school, I recommitted my life to Jesus. At the time, I simply thought it would mean I practiced law as a Christian (yes...that is possible). Honestly, the call confused me as much as it compelled me. I spent a few years trying to figure out what it meant, praying through it and consulting wise people I knew. I finished law and out of obedience, enrolled in seminary. In 1995, as I was wrapping up seminary, I started ministry as a student pastor among three little mainline churches an hour north of Toronto. When I started, one of the churches had an average attendance of 6 (not making that up). Much to my surprise (I never thought I'd stay this long), I had discovered a community I'm still a part of almost 20 years later. Our church has changed everything in those two decades...the music, the buildings, our governance, our mission, our vision....everything, really. We even left our denomination and now are a multisite church with two locations reaching over 1200 people each weekend. And Connexus is a North Point Strategic Partner. I love our team and love the mission we're on together. Along the way, I developed a passion for helping other leaders lead like never before. That's evolved into what you see here...and I hope it helps you and your team in some meaningful way.