Luke Edgerton leads Mercy Road Northwest, a large congregation in Indianapolis.

The church is part of a network of churches with the original Mercy Road Church as its epicenter. But this is definitely a network, not a “church with many campuses.”

I asked Luke about money as it relates to their disciplemaking and church multiplication efforts. He responded, “I do want to make clear that five percent goes for departmental expenses. One of our largest expenses is staffing. And our largest expense is this facility. Facilities are just so expensive…Yeah, I think that I think that the budget thing has to be considered. And I think what I want your listeners to hear if anyone's listening in your 20s or 30s Get this right now. The greatest church planting disciple making campaign in the history of the world didn't have a budget.”

He expanded on money and multiplication, “The multiplication of disciples and the multiplication of churches throughout Mediterranean in ancient day didn't have a budget…churches have gotten themselves into a corner where they want massive budgets to do what the priesthood of all believers ought to be doing. When we can just pay for the multiplication of disciples, rather than do the hard work of multiplication of disciples. And ironically, if you took that massive departmental expense, budget and applied it to multiplication, you will probably see the Kingdom grow. Basically, you have $1 in your pocket. You have more than you need. If you've got the word of God in the Spirit of God, you got enough. You just you know, so if you've got money cool if you don't, you can still do ministry.”

When I asked for closing thoughts Luke responded, “You know, you can hope and dream and you can wish for multiplication to happen in your context and by your leadership. But if you don't have a plan to activate it, it will remain a hopeful, wishful deal… Every Thursday morning at 7am I teach the same 12 Guys everything I know about following Jesus and living my life honoring the Lord. We use the Bible and we use supplementary curriculum. And I teach them this from seven to 8am every Thursday for 12 months, and I've been doing this for five years now and a different group every year. They know when they say yes to that invitation, if they're expected to go…teach someone else…proof in the pudding is to show a second generation group of disciples.”

For more go to mercyroadnw.com or connect with Luke at [email protected].

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Carl Moore grew up in a church plant. We launched Hope Chapel Hermosa Beach when he was six months old.

At age 12 he became the “head usher” when we launched Hope Chapel Kaneohe Bay. He was 15 when he led his first microchurch. He and a friend, “Sumo” Sato planted Hope Chapel Ontario, CA as college students (the building had bullet holes in the walls). Upon graduation he helped a friend and professor, Mark Lebsack, launch Hope Chapel Huntington Beach, CA. They started with a dozen adults and two junior high students.

Huntington Beach grew to a couple hundred adults and a couple hundred students by the time we hired him to lead youth in Kaneohe. He eventually pastored the church when it was time for me to hand off to the next generation.

In this podcast we get into what it was like growing up in a disciplemaking home. We end up discussing the slowing of church multiplication in Hawaii along with steps my friends took to rejuvenate the movement.

For more from Carl you can reach him at [email protected] or find him on Instagram as CaptainCarl. He’s also on Facebook. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carl Moore grew up in a church plant. We launched Hope Chapel Hermosa Beach when he was six months old.

At age 12 he became the “head usher” when we launched Hope Chapel Kaneohe Bay. He was 15 when he led his first microchurch. He and a friend, “Sumo” Sato planted Hope Chapel Ontario, CA as college students (the building had bullet holes in the walls). Upon graduation he helped a friend and professor, Mark Lebsack, launch Hope Chapel Huntington Beach, CA. They started with a dozen adults and two junior high students.

Huntington Beach grew to a couple hundred adults and a couple hundred students by the time we hired him to lead youth in Kaneohe. He eventually pastored the church when it was time for me to hand off to the next generation.

In this podcast we get into what it was like growing up in a disciplemaking home. We end up discussing the slowing of church multiplication in Hawaii along with steps my friends took to rejuvenate the movement.

For more from Carl you can reach him at [email protected] or find him on Instagram as CaptainCarl. He’s also on Facebook. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carl Moore grew up in a church plant. We launched Hope Chapel Hermosa Beach when he was six months old.

At age 12 he became the “head usher” when we launched Hope Chapel Kaneohe Bay. He was 15 when he led his first microchurch. He and a friend, “Sumo” Sato planted Hope Chapel Ontario, CA as college students (the building had bullet holes in the walls). Upon graduation he helped a friend and professor, Mark Lebsack, launch Hope Chapel Huntington Beach, CA. They started with a dozen adults and two junior high students.

Huntington Beach grew to a couple hundred adults and a couple hundred students by the time we hired him to lead youth in Kaneohe. He eventually pastored the church when it was time for me to hand off to the next generation.

In this podcast we get into what it was like growing up in a disciplemaking home. We end up discussing the slowing of church multiplication in Hawaii along with steps my friends took to rejuvenate the movement. For more from Carl you can reach him at [email protected] or find him on Instagram as CaptainCarl. He’s also on Facebook. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You'll enjoy part 2 of my interview with my friend, Curtis Honeycutt.

Curtis is one of the most interesting individuals that I've ever met. He's super outgoing and an idea-a-minute yet he's an introvert (I relate to the introverversion).

His upbringing was both good and horrible. His best friend stuggled with cancer and someone shot his brother.

He sought riches then found Jesus. He attended Hillsong College in Sydney where he met his future wife. They traveled the U.S. attempting to support hurting pastors. Then they planted a church that's into multiplication. Today he serves as Leadership Development Pastor with a thriving network of churches.

The guy is a reader and amatuer historian. This promises to be an interesting interview.

You can connect with Curtis at curtishunnicutt.com or at https://www.newlife.live/our-team/curtis-hunnicutt.

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Curtiss Hunnicut is an intriguing person.

The guy has done a little bit of everything--which usually draws suspician. But not with this guy.

After he stopped following Mammon to follow Jesus everything he's done has been with a singular purpose--to expand the Kingdom of God.

He's sold insurance. He's run several successful businesses. He's been a marketing director. He planted a church that plants others while investing in community uplift. Today he's the Leadership Development Pastor at NewLife.live, a church in Maryland with a heart for multiplication. These folks are unique. They plant from off campus sites. They host multiple church plants on their own campus. They plant macro and they plant micro. Talk about flexible. They're even running digichurches.

You can connect with Curtis at curtishunnicutt.com or at https://www.newlife.live/our-team/curtis-hunnicutt.

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This is the audio from the last session of "Doing Church In a Post-Christian Environment."

I posted it here to give you a sample of what we're offering. You would get the video and PowerPoints along with the audio. Sessions like these come out twice each month for those participating in the Equippers Lab.

Participants get the twice monthly materials plus access to all course materials, past and present. And, we've reduced the price to just $29/month or get two FREE months by paying annually. Learn more at https://www.ralphmoore.net/equippers-lab/

Enjoy!

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This is my second interview with Jim Britts and I hope for more as his story unfolds.

Jim is living on the front lines of a disciplemaking movement in Oceanside, California. The church currently operates a dual operating system as they transition to the new approach.

The congregation serves long-time members on Sunday mornings and then serves microchurch leaders with a less formal yet highly focused training time, laced with food and fellowship on Sunday evenings. The main function however takes place throughout the week as members continue to make disciples who will probably never attend on a Sunday.

If you’re hoping to build by making disciples rather than marketing programs you’ll love this interview for its practical details.

Jim tells how members prayer-walk with the purpose of meeting and praying for people who might self-identify as “spiritual but not religious.” When they meet a new person they explain that they are walking a neighborhood to pray that God will bless the homes and people in it. In the interview, he explains how these simple conversation starters lead to praying with new friends and quickly opening doors to disciplemaking relationships.

As you might guess, an occasional “person of peace” emerges from these efforts. This is the person who immediately shares what they are learning with family and friends. That leads to microchurches forming (without the terminology).

This one will shatter many of your categories and assumptions about being church. It will point you toward new opportunities for fruitful evangelism

via prayer with near strangers.

You can catch Jim at https://parksidechurch.cc and the interview is so good that we posted it to YouTube at https://youtu.be/BI14RgykXno

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jim Britts: Second Interview Shows Progress As a Disciplemaking Movement

This is my second interview with Jim Britts and I hope for more as his story unfolds.

Jim is living on the

front lines of a disciplemaking movement in Oceanside, California. The church currently

operates a dual operating system as they transition to the new approach.

The congregation serves long-time members on Sunday mornings and then serves microchurch leaders with a less formal yet highly focused training time, laced with food and fellowship on Sunday evenings. The main function however takes place throughout the week as members continue to make disciples who will probably never attend on a Sunday.

If you’re hoping to build by making disciples rather than marketing programs you’ll love this interview for its practical details.

Jim tells how members prayer-walk with the purpose of meeting and praying for people who might self-identify as “spiritual but not religious.” When they meet a new person they explain that they are walking a neighborhood to pray that God will bless the homes and people in it. In the interview, he explains how these simple conversation starters lead to praying with new friends and quickly opening doors to disciplemaking relationships.

As you might guess, an occasional “person of peace” emerges from these efforts. This is the person who immediately shares what they are learning with family and friends. That leads to microchurches forming (without the terminology).

This one will shatter many of your categories and assumptions about being the church. It will point you toward new

opportunities for fruitful evangelism via prayer with near strangers.

You can catch Jim at https://parksidechurch.cc and

the interview is so good that we posted it to YouTube at https://youtu.be/BI14RgykXno

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

God is at work in New York City.

The last few years have brought dozens, if not hundreds, of

church planters to this incredibly diverse, massively secular and hugely

influential city.

After a stint in South Africa, Benjamin Lee returned to New York

bent on planting a different kind of church. He's using a podcast mingled with

a growing network of friends to launch a string of microchurches. He is

intentionally bivocational and hopes to disciple microchurch leaders who stay

in their jobs and careers to maintain and build relationships among pre-Christ

followers.

The movement is embryonic which makes it interesting. We'll

follow the progress in future podcasts.

You can catch up with Ben at https://www.realchurchpeople.com

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