Hi Everyone,

Well we’re happy to say that we’re back from Exponential and that it was a great experience! We learned an awful lot from so many of the great minds in church planting, including people like: Alan Hirsch, Ed Stetzer, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay. We had some time to really dig into what God is calling us to do – a truly exciting opportunity!

One of the key challenges we left with is the fact that as we look to plant a church we are not simply called to plant one singular body, but as Christians called to grow God’s kingdom in our world, we are called to plant a church that will in turn plant churches. We are called to plant a reproducing church. This challenge excites us and scares us – a healthy combination. Again and again presenters challenged us with this goal.

For a sign of a mature church is it’s offspring. Healthy churches plant more churches. We are not called to plant a single tree, but an orchard that reclaims God’s world.

Ask yourself – Is my church reproducing? Are we growing new leaders? Are we dedicating funds for new ministries?

One key when thinking about all of this is whether or not you and your church are practicing addition or multiplication. If you hope to reach the greatest number of people for the kingdom of God addition simply won’t cut it. In fact addition, focusing on adding people to your current congregation, grows slowly. While multiplication, adding church upon church creates growth at an exponential rate that reaches into the far most corners of God’s world.

So as we are challenged, may you too be challenged. As you look to share the good news of the gospel, as you partner with God in growing his kingdom here on earth, may you look to practice multiplication rather than addition. May you look to mature and reproduce. May we together plant an orchard – to the glory of our God!