Hero Maker

by Dave Ferguson

  Since then Lori has allowed God to use her painful past and her leadership gifts to apprentice three other women leaders, whom she now coaches. In addition to leading, “Lori is our number one recruiter,” says Sue. Lori is always inviting women to join Connections—teachers at her children’s school, fellow parents at a dance class for kids, other parents at sports events, a former nanny, and anyone new she meets at church. Lori tells everyone, “Connections changed my life!”

  Lori’s life was indeed changed. Hundreds of women’s lives were changed. All of that change because of a question, multiplication thinking, and a big dream.

  MULTIPLICATION THINKING CHANGES OTHERS

  Multiplication thinking is contagious. It is infectious. A multiplication mindset not only changes your questions but slowly begins to change the people God has put around you!

  I was speaking at the Ambition Conference, hosted by InterVarsity, with about one thousand college students and leaders in Tampa. The purpose of the gathering was very clear: to inspire and equip these college leaders to double the number of college campuses that would have an InterVarsity presence. It was essentially a church-planting conference. It was awesome!

  I was privileged to be in on some of the early planning meetings with senior level staff of InterVarsity and hear them dream of seeing InterVarsity go from being on about five hundred campuses to being on one thousand. They had prayed and thought through this vision and had unleashed it on their leaders. The rapid response to this kind of vision was multiplication thinking. Leaders said things like, “For us to double, that means I need to reproduce myself” or “We are going to need a multiplication strategy for developing at least five hundred more leaders.” It was working. The InterVarsity staff had found a way to get their leaders to do what Toffler encouraged: “When you are taking care of the little things, think about the big things so the little things go in the right direction.”

  Before I spoke to these young leaders, I made sure every attender had a napkin. I told my own story about writing out on the back of a napkin in a little Mexican restaurant the dream of becoming a multiplying church. I told them how it was such a big dream that I kept it tucked away for several years, afraid to share it. Then, at the insistence of a friend, I showed it to him, and he said the most powerful words: “Dave, you can do that!” Once I took that dream public, it moved our team and me farther into a multiplication mindset. I ended my talk by asking every one of the leaders to write out their big dream on the back of that napkin I gave them and never hide it!

  My favorite moment at the conference was at the end, when organizers asked every person to hold up their dream napkin so we could pray over them and ask God to do what only God can do. It was so awesome! And since that time, I have had college leaders from all over the country text me pictures of, or tweet me an update on, their dream napkin and then share with me their multiplied results.

  MULTIPLICATION THINKING CHANGES YOU

  Thanks to the encouragement of people like Lyle Schaller and my friend who said, “Dave, you can do that,” I have spent most of my leadership life pursuing big dreams with a multiplication mindset. The dream of Community Christian Church being a multiplying church, the vision of NewThing being a catalyst for movements of multiplying churches, and the big dream of Exponential moving the needle from 4% to 10% of churches in the United States being reproducing or multiplying churches—that has changed me forever!

  Because of multiplication thinking,

  • I continually ask questions that lead to multiplied results.

  • I find myself surrounded by people, leaders, and high-capacity influencers who are passionate about big dreams.

  • I am more dependent on God than ever! I live with more anticipation than ever!

  Multiplication thinking will change you too!

  Unlikely Hero Maker Who Gets Multiplication

  Multiplication happens as apprentices make other apprentices who in turn make still other apprentices. One of my very favorite hero makers who gets that is my friend Ralph Moore, pastor of a church named Hope Chapel. Their experience is nothing short of viral in how one church has birthed at least twenty-three hundred other churches. What was the trigger God used? Ralph says, “Once we made multiplication our focus, the number of churches expanded rapidly as new churches made disciples and multiplied new churches.”

  If you’re imagining Ralph as the kind of leader who takes charge of a room just by his presence, think again. Ralph is so unassuming and understated that you almost have to drag his amazing story out of him. Even after you pull it out of him, he will downplay his role in it.

  I was so impressed with the number and quality of leaders Ralph has developed that I lined him up to speak from the main stage at our Exponential East and West conferences. Exponential East came first. Ralph was so humble and chill that he neglected to mention during his time onstage that he is the catalyst behind starting more than twenty-three hundred new churches. Also (don’t tell Ralph I said this), his unassuming nature and reluctance to elevate himself didn’t exactly grab the audience’s attention. Sometimes that happens with hero makers. They’re not necessarily used to being in the spotlight. They’re not always comfortable being the hero.

  Ralph was so humble and chill that he neglected to mention during his time onstage that he is the catalyst behind starting more than twenty-three hundred new churches.

  Since I had him speaking again at Exponential West, he and I had a phone call to discuss it. Ralph confided in me (and has since written publicly) about his struggles with anxiety and depression.24 He told me about one time when he had a panic attack that was so bad, he couldn’t sleep at all for three days and nights. For seventy-two hours, he couldn’t focus on anything for more than ninety seconds. “It was the most difficult period of my entire life,” Ralph said. Since then, he has regularly taken medications twice a day.

  I knew Ralph has one of the best hero-making track records in our country, so I suggested that for Exponential West, we use him in interview format. My thought was that I could ask the question, “So, Ralph, tell us: how many churches have you planted?” And then he would have to tell his story. But then on the day of our interview, in front of thousands of people, Ralph called me out: “You thought I was boring last time, so now you’re interviewing me, huh?” At first I was stunned. Then he smiled, and the audience got in on the joke.

  In fact, many of the hero makers you’ll meet across these pages will be quick to let you know the ways in which they’re broken. They’re all quick to affirm that any good influence they’ve had in making heroes of others is only because of a God who delights to work through their limitations, whose “power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).

  When I think of Ralph, I’m reminded that if God can use a laid-back guy who struggles with poor self-esteem and deals every day with anxiety and depression to start twenty-three hundred (and counting) new churches, then God can definitely use you! Ralph is another example that God can use anyone who is surrendered to make a hero of others.

  God can use anyone who is surrendered to make a hero of others.

  Following, Ralph shares his story in his own words. Notice his humility in the opening paragraph. I know you’ll learn a lot from him.

  One word of explanation: For each hero-making profile throughout this book, I’ve asked the person to speak in his or her own words. I also asked them to come alongside you and include helpful advice for leaders in churches or ministries who are experiencing the first three levels on the multiplication spectrum: Level 1 (declining), Level 2 (plateauing), or Level 3 (growing but not multiplying). I asked them to offer advice that would coach someone toward multiplication—moving their church toward not only Level 4 (reproducing) but also Level 5 (multiplying).

  Ralph Moore

  HOPE CHAPEL

  KANEOHE, HAWAII

  More than twenty-three hundred churches came from one church’s multiplication movement in less than twenty-five years.
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  I got thrust into multiplying leaders by accident, at least from my perspective.

  I was leading Hope Chapel church in Hermosa Beach, California, which was using a 1950s approach to ministry—the idea being that growing Christians would come to a church building on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening.

  That model of church didn’t work for a bunch of younger families who lived several miles away. One of the men asked permission to start a Sunday night meeting in his house. It went really well, and a few months later the group asked permission to become a church. Initially I said no, but then someone else tried to recruit the guy to start a ministry and I didn’t want to lose him, so I quickly changed my mind and said, “Yes. Great idea!” That turned out to be a good move, because not only did their church go well, but in the next couple of years, he and his wife started several other churches. He showed himself to be a reproducing leader, and I saw in him the potential to lead a Level 5 multiplying church.

  Because we had both grown up being trained in multiplication thinking through a group called Navigators, what happened was not a total surprise to me. He and I would meet every Monday morning at 6:30 a.m. to walk around a nearby golf course, pray, talk about Scripture, and do discipleship by hanging out together and dreaming.

  I was genuinely trying to make him the hero, because I knew he would then do the same with others. In that relationship, I was more of a teacher and encourager than anything else.

  Then I moved from California to pastor a church in Hawaii, where at the time only 1% of the population attended church regularly. I took with me my experience of multiplying leaders and churches. At that point, I believe God told me to start enough churches within the next decade that would help reach a greater percentage of the population for Christ. I knew that to do what God said, we had to multiply leaders and churches. I needed to become a hero maker.

  I knew that to do what God said, we had to multiply churches. I needed to become a hero maker.

  The process we used for discipleship and leadership development was very simple.

  For discipling people, we kept the discussion in our small groups based on that week’s sermon. After starting with food and fellowship, the leader would simply ask three questions:

  1. What did you hear from the Holy Spirit?

  2. What will you do because of it?

  3. How can we pray for you?

  Then they’d pray. It was that simple.

  If we were discipling leaders, we would all read the same book. We would gather around food for fellowship and ask three similar questions:

  1. What did you hear from the Holy Spirit?

  2. How will that impact your ministry?

  3. How can we pray for you?

  Then we’d pray. Again, a very simple, reproducible approach to developing leaders.

  If someone had started three groups, and those groups were moving toward reproducing, we would explore bringing that person on staff or sending him or her out as a church planter. We weren’t really that precise or rigid, but it was a very simple, highly relational system that we used month after month, year after year, with amazing results.

  The culture of Hope Chapel placed a high value on multiplication, and my job was simply to develop, cheer, and make heroes of people who multiply at any level.

  We were a part of the Foursquare denomination, and when they saw our multiplication efforts, they decided to make me a district overseer. I served over one geographic area, alongside Wayne Cordeiro, lead pastor of New Hope Honolulu, who oversaw another jurisdiction. Typically, denominations only allow you to plant within your geographic territory, but in our case, after a while they wisely told both of us we could plant churches anywhere we wanted. And we did!

  Our teamwork, along with others like Hawaiian Islands Ministries, led to the transformation of Hawaii’s spiritual landscape. According to Barna Research,25 while once only 1% of our state attended church, now 37% of the population of Hawaii attends church regularly, and 62% of the state call themselves Christians. Hawaii was the only state of the fifty that saw a net increase in church attendance.

  Hope Chapel has now seen more than twenty-three hundred churches birthed in Hawaii and around the world, all from that first little church in Hermosa Beach. Who but God could have imagined the fruit that started from twelve people in 1971 and multiplied as disciples made disciples who made disciples!

  Ralph’s hero maker tip: Here’s my advice to someone leading a Level 1, 2, or 3 church or ministry: Give just five hours a week to doing the work of discipling others and/or reproducing leaders. Make it one of your hobbies. Start by selecting three young leaders to mentor, and impart what you know. You never know, one might eventually lead a Level 5 church. If that happens, the time you spend making heroes could help trigger the start of thousands of new churches in our lifetime and truly saturating our communities with the gospel. Really! These churches could literally change the whole world.

  Why Do So Few Practice Multiplication Thinking?

  To me, Ralph is one of the very few solid examples in North America of a leader who has practiced multiplication thinking and leads a Level 5 church. Some of his backstory is that early in his leadership, someone was a hero maker to him (I’ll tell you about that in chapter 6, and it might surprise you who!). But our takeaway from Ralph here is that when leaders disciple and release leaders who then in turn make disciples who plant churches that plant churches—that is how movement making happens! This inherently requires multiplication thinking.

  Why are Ralph and others so few in number? It’s what motivated me to build this whole book around the term hero maker. Deep inside most Westerners is an aspiration to be a hero. The predominant model of a successful church is Level 3, with the pastor being the hero. At that level, you get invited to speak at conferences, you sponsor a popular podcast, and you’ve been courted to write a book.

  That’s what we aspire to, so we adopt that paradigm. As in the movie The Truman Show, we don’t realize that there’s a whole other world out there. But just as Truman Burbank (played by Jim Carrey) punches a hole in the boundaries of his world and is never the same after stepping through it, so more and more church leaders are punching a hole in their Level 3 thinking and are never the same. And just as Truman was urged by the cast and producers to return to the show, church leaders may sense a pull to return to the old paradigm.

  I remember being invited to a nationally prominent church, one that had modeled Level 3 growth for many years, to talk about how to reproduce by going multisite and planting churches. Their response showed the backward tug. After my talk, one of their senior staff said to me, “How can we do what you say, when we haven’t got this one right yet?” Yet this was one of the most “right” churches in the world!

  Simple Tool for Multiplication Thinking

  THE DREAM NAPKIN

  In Exponential: How You and Your Friends Can Start a Missional Church Movement, my brother Jon and I tell the story of the dream God gave us and a handful of others that became Community Christian Church. I mentioned earlier in this chapter how I wrote it out on a napkin in a restaurant. I now have it in my journal, and I carry it everywhere I go, praying often as I notice it in there. I call it my dream napkin, and I’ve encouraged thousands of people to use the same simple tool. (See Figure 5.4.) When I speak at conferences, I’ll often put a napkin on every seat, and I walk people through the process. At Community Christian Church, we even have a napkin dispenser on a wall!

  Let me walk you through what to do.

  FIGURE 5.4

  1. Napkin. Get a paper napkin. It can be any napkin. Of course, there is nothing special about the napkin. What is special is what’s about to happen between you and God. And if you lose the napkin, you can write out your dream again on a different napkin. (I lost my original napkin. People always express sympathy when I tell them, but I just write out a new one!)

  2. Pray and write. Take a look at your dream. Now honestly ask yours
elf, “Can I accomplish this dream through my own leadership?” If your answer is yes, you need to get a bigger dream. If you don’t have a dream that makes you dependent on God, you need to get a bigger dream. I challenge you to take your dream and multiply it by 100x. This 100x vision is the kingdom-size dream only God can do through you working through others as a hero maker.

  3. Expand by 100x. Next, multiply your dream by one hundred—or more. You may need to get a second napkin and start all over. What makes this a dream napkin is that this is not what you, your ministry, or your church can do on your own. This 100x vision is the kingdom-size dream only God can do through you working through others as a hero maker.

  4. Pray and believe. Using all the faith you have to visualize the dream on that napkin becoming reality, ask God, “How can you use me to do this?” Share your desire with God in prayer.

  Over the coming months and years, God will take you down new paths and create new opportunities. So you will need to do this over and over again. Dreaming big is a catalyst for multiplication thinking.

  Who Is Waiting on You?

  Without Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker might never have become a Jedi Knight and led the rebellion against the evil Empire.

  If Mickey hadn’t challenged Rocky, perhaps he never would have kept fighting, inspiring millions.

  Take away Dumbledore’s friendship with Harry Potter, and Voldemort might never have been defeated.