The Power of Multiplication

Every ministry has to decide if they want to use addition or multiplication thinking. What do we mean? Well, if a ministry chooses addition, then the impact of that ministry will be measured by how many people are directly affected by the ones who lead the ministry. If it chooses multiplication, the impact will be measured by how many people are affected over multiple generations, beginning with those who are directly affected by a ministry’s leaders.

To illustrate, imagine taking a penny as your starting point and adding another penny each day for thirty days, that is one penny on day one added to two pennies on day two, three on day three, etc. if you do this, you will end up with $4.65. Now imagine taking a penny and doubling it every day for thirty days, that is one penny on day one, two on day two, four on day three, eight on day four, etc. If you do this, you will end up with $5.4 million, give or take a few pennies. That’s the power of multiplication!

Over the years, we have been asked so many times how many people we have trained. On its face, it’s a pretty simple question to answer if you’re thinking in terms of addition. But, if you’re thinking in terms of multiplication, it gets a little harder. How many have we trained? I’m guessing we’ve directly trained about a thousand students over our twenty-five trips. That’s awesome, and we’re delighted to have done this. But, we don’t think this tells the whole story.

Our Zambian director and dear friend, Percy Muleba, puts it like this: “We have trained more than ten thousand over the years. And I’m just being polite!” That is, we have trained more than ten thousand if you think in terms of multiplication, not addition. Our students have become trainers of students who’ve become trainers of even more students who’ve become…Well, you get the idea.

We thought of this when a young pastor in our Mumbwa class named Given, Jr. told us about his dream for the future of his ministry. Given, Jr. is currently planting a new church about thirty-five miles into the bush outside Mumbwa. His wife, Veronica, and he ride a motorcycle two hours each way every Sunday to lead worship and disciple what is now a fifty member church. It all started two years ago when a friend from the village called asking for help on behalf of her friend, a head woman in the village, who had a very sick ten year old daughter. The head woman had been taking the girl to the witch doctor and she had grown progressively and alarmingly worse. Given, Jr. and Veronica were willing, so this woman brought her daughter and left her with them in Mumbwa. Her parting words were, “If she dies, at least I know she will die in God.”

But, she didn’t die. Given, Jr. and Veronica prayed for her and cared for her, and she became healthy again. When they returned her to her mother, this head woman and her daughter were now open to the Gospel. Over about six months, Given, Jr. and Veronica led them to Jesus and discipled them. And a church was born. It’s been difficult, Given told us, because of the widespread witchcraft and polygamy in the village, but steady life transformation is happening!

Now, back to Given’s dream, in his words: “I want to raise a generation of people who deeply know God and are grounded in his Word!” We believe his dream is possible if he continues on the path he has chosen for ministry. After all, he’s already up to fifty disciples and he’s only twenty-nine years old. Now that’s multiplication thinking!

As always, thank you for your love, prayers, and support. We couldn’t do this without you, and it is our joy. And, remember, where we go, you go!

George Lufasi, Given, Jr. Kansabwa, Abby, and Nanah Mayeya

The now healthy and happy head woman’s daughter!

Given, Jr., his wife, Veronica, and a friend begin the two hour ride to worship.

“We pray out of fear of Satan, not love of God” “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…” 1 John 4:18

Abby and I arrived in Livingstone, Zambia on April 13th where we spent several days resting and adjusting to the time zone change. We did worship at House of Kings on our first Sunday at the invitation of our friends, Innocent and Ossy, who are husband and wife co-pastors there. It was Doug’s privilege to preach, and his text was 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10.

Then on Monday and Tuesday, we traveled to Mumbwa, Zambia, about a nine hour drive. We went with a strong sense of excitement because last year, Dan and Nanah Mayeya had invited us on behalf of Percy Muleba’s Biblical Worship Training Centre (BWTC) to lead a weekend workshop for the churches in Mumbwa, and it had gone very well. Dan and Nanah are the Southern Africa Coordinators for BWTC. This year, Bishop Bishop - yes, that’s his title and name - had worked with Dan and Nanah to gather and prepare fifteen pastors, both men and women, from area churches who were eager to commit to all three phases of our training.

We began Phase 1 as we usually do now, with Abby teaching “The Wounded Healer” and Doug teaching “Understanding Guilt, Shame, and Fear.” These classes establish common ground with our students and open the possibility of sharing our lives and ministries at a deep level. After seven days of training, Abby and I agreed that this was, perhaps, the best Phase 1 training we’ve ever experienced because of our students’ engagement, openness, and vulnerability. In short, our students were amazing.

One of the benefits of teaching a small class is the opportunity to get to know our students at a deeper level than would be possible in a larger, lecture style format. One student we got to know better was a young twenty-eight year old pastor named George. One afternoon, we talked for a couple of hours with him and another pastor named Given, Jr. We discussed their backgrounds, calls to ministry, and current work.

During the course of our conversation, George said something arresting. “Here, we often pray out of fear of Satan, not love of God. I’m learning that we pastors are leading people into fear, not love!”

In a fear-power culture like Zambia’s, people are often driven to gain mastery over their fear through spiritual power, whether it’s through a witch doctor’s drugs and incantations or coming to church and casting out devils in Jesus’ name. Don’t get us wrong, the devil is very real in Zambia (as he is at home), and the witch doctors are well-connected in that realm. That’s why the fear of Satan and the cries for spiritual power can often dominate the prayers of Christians here, whether public or private.

The Bible teaches us, however, that the solution to fear is not the acquisition of spiritual power, but the reality and experience of the love of God for us in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. It is love, not power, that is the solution to our fear problem. As John, the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 13:23) says in his first letter, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.” (1 John 4:18)

Thank you for praying for us and supporting our work in Zambia and beyond. We are, as always, incredibly grateful for this amazing opportunity. And, remember, where we go you go!

The nametags of our amazing Mumbwa class!

Small group breakouts are always worthwhile in our training.

What a joy to get to know george lifasi, a deeply committed young pastor, who was hungry for knowledge about god, the church, and people.

Gathering around gods word brought our students, both men and women, together.

“All the nations…will come and worship before you, Lord…” Psalm 86:9

This morning, we left for Zambia, and are now spending a few hours in the Newark, NJ airport, about twenty minutes from Abby’s childhood home in north Jersey! Just got two fabulous cups of coffee for $5.00. Such a deal.

We’re looking forward to friendships and ministry for eight weeks in Zambia and Namibia. Our current plan looks like this:

April 11-13: Travel to Livingstone, Zambia

April 13- : Rest and adjust in Livingstone

April 17: Travel to Mumbwa, Zambia

April 18-27: Phase 1 Training in Mumbwa with pastors and leaders from multiple churches

April 28: Travel to Mongu, Zambia

April 29-30: Personal ministry to old friends who pastor and plant churches

May 1: Travel to Katima Mulilo, Namibia

May 2-7: Phase 2 Training in Katima with pastors and leaders from multiple churches, including 3 Khwe men and 2 Khwe women

May 8-21: Relationship building/training with the Khwe leaders in Chetto and Omega

May 22: Travel to Livingstone, Zambia

May 23-June 3: Training, visits, and studio work recording video classes.

May 26-28: Boot Camp 2 for Percy’s BWTC team

June 4-5: Travel Home

We deeply appreciate your prayers and support and will blog regularly while we’re away as internet access allows. And, remember, where we go you go!

Success or Significance?

We’ve been home from Zambia for about ten days and have rested really, really well. We’ve had wonderful reunions with our kids and grandsons. Such joy! We’ve eaten late season South Carolina peaches. So good! And we’ve worshipped with our church family. What a privilege!

Now we’ve begun to reflect a bit on our trip to Zambia and Namibia. We think about our trips a lot once we’ve returned home and we’ve learned to ask one very important question as the years have gone by. Not, “Was our trip a success?” But rather, “Was our trip significant?”

What’s the difference, you might ask. Well…When we think of success, we tend to think in terms of accomplishments, of numbers, of programs done well. But when we think of significance, we think of legacy. And when we think of legacy, we think not about programs or numbers or accomplishments, but rather about people. We think about multi-generational impact. We think about children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. We think about people. About disciples.

Sadly, it seems the church sometimes aims for success rather than significance. Jim Cymbala, the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, once wrote something to the effect that the church was always in danger of worshipping the “unholy trinity of attendance, buildings, and cash.” In other words, of aiming for success rather than significance. Jesus, after all, commanded us to make disciples, not develop popular programs, build buildings, and maximize giving. Disciples making disciples making disciples, then, are our legacy.

Our significance, in other words, does not come from our accomplishments, but rather our legacy of people. It’s not what we accomplish, but the impact we’ve had on others and the impact they’ve had on us. And then their impact on others and so on. Success is programmatic. Significance is relational. Success can be measured. Significance is multiplied. Success is temporal. Significance is eternal.

The question, then, is not how many attended, but rather how many are living out their discipleship on a daily basis? The question is not how nice is our building, but what happens in, with, and through people when they gather there? The question is not how much money are people contributing, but how radically are they sharing whatever they have with others?

The Apostle Paul tried to convince the Corinthians that they had missed the mark, that they were aiming for success, but not significance. He wrote: “…Do we need…letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:1-3). In other words, our ministry is you, Paul says, and your discipleship. Our legacy is you. Our significance is you. And it’s all the Holy Spirit’s doing.

So, how did our trip go? Well, it wasn’t really much of a success, to be honest. We taught small numbers of people. We met in unfinished buildings with outdoor toilets. And, we did not take up any offerings.

On the other hand, we think our trip was significant. Significant both for us and for our students. And for this, we are incredibly grateful.

Let’s put it like this. We can’t wait to hear how our students influence others as they walk with Jesus and share the Good News over the coming years and across multiple generations of believers. The truth is, though, that once our influence reaches the third or fourth generation, they will not know our names and we, in all likelihood, will not know theirs. But, that’s okay because Jesus knows every one of us by name. And that is more than enough for us.

Thank you for giving us the privilege of going once again to Zambia and Namibia. Thank you for sharing your love, your prayers, and your generosity to and through us. You are significant to us. Thank you for making us so significant to you. Both our students and we are your legacy.

“…you are a letter from christ, the result of our ministry, writtEn not with ink but with the spirit of the living god…on human hearts.” (2 CoRinthians 3:3)