So now as I shined my flashlight in the water I could see the four bumps, that was a frog. I had identified my target. But as I would thrust my gig at the frog, it would jump away so fast the only thing I was hitting was water and a bruised ego. My friend came over once again and asked what was wrong. I told him, “These frogs are smart, they jump out of the way every time.” “Oh,” he said “You’ve got to aim the gig right in front of them. If you lead them, they will jump right into the gig and you’ll stick ‘em every time.” So I took the advice of my expert frog gigging disciple-maker and wah-lah, I got my first frog! And then another one and another one. I was pulling frogs out of the water like no body’s business. The same goes for the disciple-maker that can accurately identify the 4th soil person but then you have to gig ‘em. Well, that sounds a little violent so let’s say, you have to “win ‘em” That’s what you are trying to do, win their hearts. Let’s go back to Jesus. He demonstrated a keen sense of the Father’s will, He was supernaturally astute, He displayed supernatural abilities, loved people extravagantly, He was a master of the Word of God and a man of prayer, and these are just a few of His qualities. In other words, Jesus was a 4th Soil man and attracted 4 Soil people. Now that’s a pretty high bar but we can start by looking at Jesus and trying to become like Him. As we mature, people notice. If you want to win the hearts of the 4th Soil person you must be 4th Soil yourself (or at least one step ahead of the prospective disciple you wish to train). When 4th Soil people see a person walking with Jesus consistently and effectively, they are naturally drawn to you because they want what you got. Are you getting it, Jesus I mean?
Is this a fad? Everyone is talking about multiplication. Multiplying disciples, multiplying churches, and multiplying movements is kind of a buzz among missional Christians nowadays. I’m super excited about that but I’ve found if we don’t have a reason “why” we are doing something, it’s usually a fad we pass through on our way to the next good idea. So what the big deal? Why should we be multiplying? What does the Bible say about multiplication? And if you’re like me and hate math and still don’t even have your times’ table memorized, just stick with me to the end. (And please don’t rat me out with my grandkids)
It all begins with the beginning. One of the purposes God created the living creatures and man himself was to multiply and fill the earth. (Gen 1.22,28) It’s literally a command. “Be fruitful and multiply.” In the Hebrew, the word means; “be or become great, be or become many, be or become much, be or become numerous.” (Strong’s H7235) So the word “multiply” in Hebrew doesn’t necessarily mean multiply in a purely mathematical sense of the word. But one thing is for sure, that “mathematical multiplication” is certainly the fastest way to accomplish the growth God commanded. The Father wants His creation to grow and cover the whole earth.
Here’s a classic story of multiplication. The servant who invented the game of chess brought the new game to his king. The ruler was so impressed he offered to grant any reward the servant desired. The servant is very wise and asked that one grain of wheat be placed on the first square on the chessboard and then two on the next square. He requested that the grains be doubled for each of the squares on the board. If you know the story you know the power of multiplication. By the time the wheat would be placed on the last square, the whole of India would be covered in wheat over 50 ft. deep.
Now before we run off and start “multiplying” let me give you a warning. Efficiency is not the main reason we approach ministry with a multiplying method. No, the main reason we approach ministry with a multiplication mindset is that God commanded us to multiply. And here’s why this is so important to get a handle on. You’re all hot to trot and you get your first person who wants to make disciples and you’re started. Now one becomes two and two become four and four become eight and etc… Then you notice some of the people you started with aren’t so excited about following Jesus anymore and they drop off. Oh no! That just completely messed up my beautiful pyramid scheme! Yes, this is the cold hard reality of multiplication in the kingdom. It’s messy math, not clean math. So there will be huge holes in our “progress chart” but you know what? The kingdom grows and multiplies despite the mess. So I’m not applying a multiplication method because it works. I’m not primarily aiming at the results. And now instead of deep disillusionment in ministry, because I’m not seeing the numbers I expected, I continue to march because this is what my King commanded me to do. I’m primarily doing this because I’m doing the right thing. I’m obeying God.
I love the end of Jesus’ Parable of the Sower;
And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” (Mark 4:20)
Now there’s some messy math for you! We are all slinging seed (sharing the gospel) but the sowers may experience different results. Thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. I’m am so glad Jesus put that part in His story! I think He knew we all like to play the comparison game and look over the fence at our brother or sister’s fruit. I may start to feel a little down on myself because my brother has sixtyfold and I only have thirty (or maybe three!) and I say to myself, “What a loser I am because I didn’t produce more.” Oh, stop that! You’re not a loser! You’re an obedient servant of the Most High God! Or, on the other hand, maybe someone is saying, “Well I have a hundredfold and my poor pitiful brother only has sixty. What a loser!” Oh, stop that! Because you know what’s coming next, right?
You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time. (1 Peter 5.5-6)
So be careful with your math. It’s going to be messy math for you and everyone else. The key is that we are doing it! We are making disciples in such a way that the kingdom of God is increasing. We are not getting in the way of His plan by doing anything in any way that would be a bottleneck to growth. We are obeying the King and He is using us to grow His kingdom.
Have you started multiplying by sharing the gospel? Have you taught someone else to share the gospel? Are you making disciples that primarily want to obey God not just see results? Are you playing the comparison game? Are you multiplying in the Biblical sense of the word (doing messy math)?
If you would like to join me in my study of multiplication, click on the link below;
When I was a boy a neighbor friend of mine asked me if I wanted to go “frog gigging.” I know, right? Sounds strange but hey, I’m a boy and anything having to do with frogs sounds fun to me. His dad drove us to the lake that night and I was handed a flashlight and a long pole with a trident on the end of it. My friend told me to shine the light on the frogs and stick as many as I could. These were to be de-legged later and then eaten. Yummy!? (I’ve haven’t eaten frog legs since) So I went beside the water looking for frogs and for the life of me I could not see them. My friend came over after a while and noticed I hadn’t gigged one frog. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “I can’t even see a frog, let alone gig ’em,” I said. He laughed, “Oh, you look for four bumps sticking out of the water. The two small ones up front is the frog’s snout and the two larger ones behind are his eyes.” He showed me with his flashlight shining on the edge of the water and low and behold, I could see them! I now knew what I was looking for. Many disciple-makers don’t have 4th Soil people because they don’t know what they’re looking for. The disciple-maker needs a trained eye. Jesus actually shows us what 4th soil looks like. He describes their attributes in the Parable of the Sower. In Luke’s rendition, Jesus says, 4th Soil people “are ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance. (Luke 8:15) Write those qualities down and continue to study the closest disciples to Jesus and you’ll get an even clearer picture of 4th Soil. This is what you are looking for.
But what if you are having trouble finding 4th Soil people? Uh, yup, that’s a big problem! It’s really like trying to find a needle in a haystack! But how did Jesus find 4th Soil? He gives us the answer in His parable. What farmer intentionally throws seed on a path, rocks, and thorns? None of the smart ones I know. But I think Jesus is making a point here on the aggressive and indiscriminate way the farmer is sowing. He’s just slinging it! And we need to do the same. And do you know why? Because we don’t know the condition of the soil (heart) until the seed (Word) hits it. So this is an important lesson on finding 4th soil men and women is aggressive, indiscriminate, abundant seed sowing. Are we sowing the Word the way Jesus describes the farmer in His parable? Are you looking for people who sow the seed this way? Let the gospel be the filter; the person of peace receives it and the disciple shares it.
Not finding 4th soil should bother us as if we were a barren would be parent. Consider the attitudes of Abraham, Rachel, Hannah, and Elizabeth (Gen 15.2-3, 30.1-2, 1 Sam 1.3-16, Lk 1.24-25). They were intensely troubled by the fact that they didn’t have children. That desperation should not drive us to despair but to prayer. Notice Jesus prays all night before He chooses the 12 (Lk 3.12-16) And then just before the cross, Jesus acknowledges that the men were given to Him by the Father (Jn 17.6). 4th soil people are a gift from God so I need to be asking the gift giver for the gift. First, am I praying that the Holy Spirit would create 4th soil attributes in the existing believers I’m helping? Am I praying that God would help me find 4th soil people in the harvest? The bottom-line question is; “Are we fervently praying that the Father would give us 4th soil people?”
Have you ever noticed how often Jesus got into a boat with His disciples? As intentional as Jesus was, I find it hard to believe that it was just a convenient mode of transportation (sometimes it was downright inconvenient!). We can probably come up with many observations on the “Boat Time” Jesus spent with His disciples but I want to zero in on one; Capacity. We know that Jesus didn’t tap into His deity but operated as a man. He was fully human. He had the limitations of time, space, and energy. This is crystal clear when we read Mark 3.7-10. We see a great mass of people crushing in on Jesus and He tells His disciples “that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him.” Pure Genius! Jesus uses the water and a boat as a natural boundary between Him and the people so they wouldn’t overwhelm Him. In the same way, He used the water and boat to get exclusive time with His 12. With the constant needs of the masses, Jesus breaks away to teach, debrief and even try to get a nap on one occasion. Think of all the private lessons the 12 got from the Master! And the genius of it all? You can only fit 13 in the boat! This provided the environment for focused attention on the 12. Sometimes Jesus would go up a mountain, or on a long walk, use a rock for a pillow, hang out in places where people wanted to kill Him. All of these situations helped Jesus to zero in on a few. So do you recognize that you too have a limited capacity? Do we get young disciples away from the din of the world in order to give them strategic attention? And do we recognize our capacity is so limited, we probably need to fill our boat with the most committed people we can find? What is your “Boat” and who’s in it
A lot of disciple-makers have so much 3rd Soil in their boat, they don’t have room for 4th
Jesus preached the parable of the sower as instruction to those who would begin sowing the Word of God to be aware of 4 responses represented by 4 types of soil that the seed lands on (Matthew 13.1-23, Mark 4.1-20, Luke 8.4-15). Jesus was looking for 4th soil, those who would bear fruit as the seed took hold in their lives and the would multiply, some 30, 60, 100 times. They were interested, they weren’t a flash in the pan, they weren’t distracted by the things of the world. One of the first tests to find this kind of soil was to tell parables and wait for a response. Some people thought it was nothing more than a 3rd-grade science lesson and paid little attention. But those who were spiritually hungry had the gumption to ask questions; “Jesus, what in the world are you talking about?” (Mark 4.10-12) Jesus made people itch and when they cared enough about their own spiritual condition to get it scratched, He knew they were close to the Kingdom of God! Jesus was telling his guys, (in so many words) “Follow my example. Look for the 4th soil. They will care enough to do whatever it takes to understand and follow Me.” He raised the bar in discipleship and expected His men to do the same. Are you raising the bar in discipleship? Are you asking people the tough questions? Are you using loving accountability to spur people on to love and good deeds? Believe it or not, the three thirds format will do the heavy lifting for you and help you find 4th Soil men and women if you stick to the script. And just so I’m not misunderstood by the shepherd or the prophet; Yes, it does take time for people to grow. And No, you should not vote people off the island because they don’t jump through your hoops. But hear this, if you spend all your time with people that are not serious about following Jesus as their King, you are in for a very disappointing ministry. More later on the boat :)
One of the things I love to do to stay connected with my adult sons is to read the books that they are reading. It gives us a great platform for our discussions when we get together. My oldest son, Chuck, is a consultant with Bain and Company. For professional development he was reading a book called “The Founder’s Mentality” by Chris Zook and James Allen. You can see a title like that would be sure to peak my interest. The premise of the book is that successful companies that begin to wain or even fail have usually left the core principles and practices of their founder. Now that insight alone is worth a million bucks! So I asked myself, “What are the core principles I have learned from our Founder (the Lord Jesus Christ) and how am I doing at practicing them?” I narrowed them down to six. Three of the titles I stole from Troy Cooper. He distilled our mission into the Big Three (in italics) and the rest I added after some thought and prayer. Here’s what I came up with;
When I say the word “priest”, what do you think of? I was raised a C.E.O. Catholic so the first thing I think of is a professional clergyman wearing a black and white collar. You might think of another denomination or an Old Testament priest. Even in our most conservative evangelical circles most people probably think of the pastor/preacher. But what if someone told you the first thing I thought of was a mom of three toddlers rolling a stroller into a park sharing the gospel with the other moms? Is that legit? As far as most of the people in NPL are concerned it is!
Our culture (Christian and Non-Christian) has done a bang-up job of portraying the priest as a professional clergy person. Two problems: It’s unbiblical and it’s a bottleneck to the movement of the gospel.
Our “go-to” passage is 1 Peter 2.9
But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
We are a race, a priesthood, a nation, a people. Peter is saying, “All y’all, are priests.” Peter is not saying everyone is an elder or that everyone should be professional clergy. But what he is saying is that everyone and I mean everyone, has kingdom responsibilities. Notice the end of this wonderful passage: so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. If you consider yourself to be “in the light” you are responsible to tell others about “the good things the Lord has done for you.” We are all “proclaimers.” That’s what a priest does. We bring God to the people and the people to God. This principle is one of the core values and practices of NPL because it’s biblical. (More passages highlighting the priesthood of the believer: Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Act 1:8, Romans 12:4-5, Ephesians 4.11-12, 1 Peter 2:4–8, Revelation 1:4–6, 5:6–10, 20:6)
So what’s the big deal? How does this misunderstanding of a biblical view of the priesthood impact anything in day to day Christian living? Well, actually this misunderstanding cuts the knees out from under the movement. This brings us to the second reason the priesthood of the believer is so important. When we take the God-given right and responsibilities away from the common everyday believer we become the “toad in the road.” We restrict the ministry and the movement of the gospel to a chosen few. That will stop a movement from going viral. We must put the ministry back into the hands of those who can get into every nook and cranny of everyday life. We must unleash the movement of the gospel. The professional has to throw gas on the fire rather than being the bottleneck. We have to release authority and equip everyone to do the work of the ministry. (Ephesians 4.11-12)
It really boils down to what the Bible says about “Who Can and Who Can’t.” Now let’s be clear. The Bible has very specific requirements for elders and deacons (1 Tim 3.1-13, Titus 1.5-9) But for some reason along the way we have relegated the simplest functions of discipleship to clergy and clergy only. Things like sharing the gospel, making disciples, baptizing disciples, serving the Lord’s Supper, preaching and teaching, and even performing weddings and funerals. (Which, by the way, in my Bible college and seminary experience, I only got extensive training in preaching and teaching. The rest of these ministry tasks, it was “You’re on your own, chicken bone!)
I remember when this realization dawned on me. I was meditating on the Great Commission one day (Matthew 28.18-20). I was slapped in the face with the fact that I had been teaching people to disobey this command for years. Not all of it, just ¼ of it. It was ok for you to obey Jesus and Go, Make Disciples, and Teach but you better leave the baptisms to me. Kids don’t try this at home. Leave it to the professional. Oh boy! I was in trouble. Why was I doing this? Because that’s what had been modeled for me from day one. Now I had a choice: Obey Jesus or allow tradition to trump the command of God (and we all know how Jesus feels about allowing tradition to get in the way of the commands of God! – Matthew 15.1-6, Mark 7.5-13).
We have placed ourselves in an unhealthy codependent relationship. The priests (think disciples) have relegated their God-given rights and responsibilities to the professional (clergy). When it comes to things like evangelism, baptism, making disciples, etc… we say that’s what we pay the pastor to do. We have out-sourced our part of the kingdom. And the professional is allowing the priest to shirk their responsibilities. This may make them feel important and special but in the end leads to burn-out, truncating leadership development, and the worst part, stalling the movement.
We need to take a page out of Jesus’ playbook. He turned sheep into shepherds, fish into fishermen, and ordinary people into priests. Let’s go back to baptism. How quickly did Jesus delegate the role of baptizer? Pretty quick. Check this out:
Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were) (John 4.1-2)
So Jesus had delegated this very important role to His disciples. Notice it doesn’t say the Apostles. And even if it did, they hadn’t been to seminary or pastored a church and some weren’t even sure of who Jesus was (Matthew 16:13-20)
A short time after my little proverbial slap in the face, I got a phone call from a friend asking me to speak at a conference. Just before ending the conversation they said, ‘Oh by the way since you’re ordained, would you please do some baptisms and serve us communion?’ And I said, “No! (long pause on the phone) But I will teach you how to baptize and serve communion.” So when the time came, I was standing in front of 75 people and I told them to pair up and right there in a crowded hall, I taught everyone how to baptize someone. It was crazy and loud and chaotic and I was wondering if I hadn’t just made a huge mistake. The next morning, the stories started to roll in: moms were baptizing their children in the nearby ocean, husbands were baptizing their wives and the atmosphere at the retreat center was electric. The lion was off the leash.
And what about making disciples? The eleven had abandoned the Son of God in the most strategic moment in history and Jesus turns around and gives them the most important responsibility on the planet: Go and make disciples of all the nations. “Uh, what?! Jesus you know you’re talking to eleven losers that just did you dirty. And after you had invested all that time in them and even counted them as your friends, they cut and run on you. I’d be getting myself a new team if I were you.” But here’s the bigger miracle. Jesus turns to you and I and says the same thing, “There’s the world, sic ’em!” Now if you thought the eleven were a bunch of knuckleheads, you haven’t begun to see the shenanigans I’ve pulled!
I like the little ditty, “God doesn’t call the qualified. He qualifies the called.” I love that. But you know what? It’s very messy and God is willing to put up with a lot of mess with those who are willing.
I could write a book on this topic and I just may. But here’s the deal, we are robbing the people of one of the most exciting, terrifying, growth causing, meaningful parts of the Christian life. I for one have decided to quit doing that. And I have decided that this one principle, the priesthood of the believer, needs to be the new reformation. Let the lion out of the cage! You can do it!
Have you completely owned your God-given rights and responsibilities as His priest? Are you practicing the priesthood on a daily basis? Have you relegated any of your responsibilities to others? If you are a professional (earning your living from the ministry), are you doing anything that would rob the people, the priests, of their rights and responsibilities? Are you an active champion of the priesthood of the believer by multiplying priests not just converts?
So I have my cake. And I’m gonna eat it too. I have a great big ol’ piece of chocolate cake, in my possession, right here, right now, and I’m going to eat it. Try and stop me. It will be down the hatch in no time flat and the only thing left, I’ll be licking of my smiling lips. Who said, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too?”
NPL is taking this approach. We are a Both/And (and More) kind of crew. We are going after those who don’t know Jesus and those who do. We share the gospel with lost people and train the saved to go after the lost. I’ll train people to make disciples who have been churching in a building that’s a hundred years old and I’ll train disciples who are churching in Starbucks. I don’t care. I’ll train your dog if it looks at me sideways! It’s important to share the gospel and raise up brand new disciples but it’s just as important to the movement to mobilize existing believers to share the gospel. It’s a two-pronged attack on lostness; 1) Share the Gospel 2) Train Believers to Share the Gospel. This is how we multiply our efforts.
Now I’ve heard people take sides on this and it boggles my mind. One side says; “All you guys do is train believers.” The other side says; “All you guys do is share the gospel.”
Really?!
Have you ever noticed how we tend to pit things (good things) against each other? I’ve done it, we’ve all done it (well, uh, except you, you’ve never done this). Let me give you a great example of a bad example. When I first started down the movements road I was all about “obedience-based” discipleship. We ought to be about “obedience-based” discipleship not “knowledge-based” discipleship. Obedience good. Knowledge bad. Until I read a scathing article from one of our critics. His premise was very simple; “Since when is knowledge a bad thing?” OUCH! I was rebuked! He’s right, knowledge is not a bad thing. In fact, it is essential. So it’s both obedience and knowledge. Can you see how I got into trouble there?
I call this “reactionary theology” and this can lead to “pendulum theology” which usually leads to “bad theology.” We react and swing all the way over to one side or the other. We start pitting one truth or method against another. And, let’s be honest, in our culture today, people love a good argument and it plays right into Satan’s sticky little trap. Nope, we are a both/and movement.
I once asked Steve Smith a question; “Of the 200 movements of the gospel in the world (now there are over a 1000), how many are being led by people who were won to Christ in the movement? His reply, “2.” That means 99% of the movement leaders were existing believers and came from outside the movement. Training existing believers is a huge part of almost every movement in the world. But make no mistake about it, it’s all about reaching lost people.
What Jeff and Angie Sundell did when they returned from Nepal is nothing short of genius. The Holy Spirit challenged them to do what they had been doing among the unreached in Nepal and India. So they started sharing their story and God’s story in Bugger Hollow, NC. People started coming to Christ. They also started training believers to share their story and God’s story and even more people came to Christ. And of course, these new baby believers needed to be discipled and gather together in church so they trained everyone to do that too. New leaders started to emerge and they trained them. They were getting so much traction in Bugger Hollow, churches around the United States started asking for training to reach the lost people in their communities. And now thousands of people in American are sharing the gospel, making disciples, planting new churches and reproducing new leaders. Eight years later over almost a hundred missionaries were sent to other countries. The NPL movement was born. And you know how? Through a both/and mentality.
Jesus was a both/and kind of guy. He looked for followers by the sea, in the synagogue, a long the road, in the temple, and even in a cemetery. His primary target was the “lost sheep of Israel” but if you showed any kind of faith at all, He was on you like a duck on a Junebug. You could be a lost loose lady, a dog lady, or even a devil dude. (Jn 4, Mt 15:21-28, Mk 5.1-20) You could be an army officer, a lawyer, or even a seminary professor. (Mt 5.8-13, Lk 10.25, Jn 3) He was wuppin’ the kingdom on anyone and everyone who would listen. And let’s face it, finding fourth soil people is so hard. We better be engaging everybody everywhere. It’s going to take a both/and approach to engage the lost and get the saved engaged.
So you have my permission; have your cake and eat it too.
Do you have a both/and mentality? Are you sharing the gospel on a regular basis? Are you casting vision to other believers to join in the Great Commission? Are you training existing believers to share the gospel? Is sharing the gospel a key part of your short-term discipleship? Can you see the value in celebrating differences in ministry?
ToBeLikeJesus 