If You Want To Be A Movement Catalyst, Stop Investing In Non-Multipliers

Part 2 of a series on how to identify, develop, and send movement leaders

Filtering. It’s the hardest part in identifying movement leaders.

The thought of filtering is difficult for me because it feels like something that will create a bunch of hurt feelings and broken relationships. This creates conflict in my mind because I know that the only way to get to multiplication is to give extra time to those who are multipliers.

So the question becomes, how can I pour deeply into the few, while also not causing harm to everyone else? The answer is given by Jesus (like always). Jesus modeled how to focus deeply on leaders while not leaving other disciples or the lost behind.

Precision Harvesting

This is something we see Jesus model in the Gospels. You should study the Word on your own to learn from the master before reading any of my thoughts: Precision Harvesting.

When you read the Word, you will see that Jesus filtered to find leaders using:

1. Hard Sayings: “On hearing it, many of his disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?’ … From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” (John 6:60, 66)

2. Parables: “When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He told them, ‘The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables’” (Mark 4:10-11)

3. Lordship Issues: “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” … “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 6:46, 9:23)

Practical Application

When I first heard about Precision Harvesting, I understood it theoretically, but failed to translate what I had learned into practical applications. To illustrate how I use it now, here are some real-world scenarios where I have used hard sayings, parables, and lordship issues:

Training on Sharing the Gospel

• Hard Saying: “Jesus calls us to make disciples of all nations in Matthew 28:18-20. That means that he wants all of you to share His gospel with those around you”

• Parable: “Let’s study John 4:4-42 to discover how God used the Samaritan Woman to make disciples of those around her.”

• Lordship Issue: “Jesus calls us to make disciples and be like the Samaritan woman. Who in your life is He leading you to share with? Next time we see each other, I’ll ask how you did in obeying what Jesus called you to do.”

Starting a Church in a Home

This scenario comes after several weeks of meeting with a group, praying, studying the Word, and generally seeking the Lord together.

• Parable: “Let’s study Acts 2:37-47 to discover what the early church did”

• Hard Saying: “Can we do these same activities that the Acts 2 church did right here in our home? Or do we have to meet in a building? What’s stopping us from calling ourselves a church right here?”

• Lordship Issues: “Are we willing to commit to following Jesus together as the church?”

Finding Elders

Even though the emphasis in this post is on finding multiplying leaders, precision harvesting can be used to find all types of leaders (and all types of leaders are needed in a church planting movement!)

In this scenario, I started a church, but need to move on to start another one elsewhere. I’m trying to identify Elders to shepherd and teach the church long term:

• Hard Sayings: “We see in Acts 14:23 that Paul and Barnabas appointed elders to continue leading the churches that they started. They went on to start more churches in other areas. I feel led to go start more churches like Paul and Barnabas, so I think we are at the point where we need to appoint some elders”

• Parables: “Let’s study 1 Timothy 3:1-7 to discover who an elder should be and what they should do”

• Lordship Issues: “Are we ready to follow the pattern from the Word and appoint elders? Who is God raising up to be an elder of this church?”

Getting Fooled By Early Faithfulness

I’m an “all gas, no breaks” type of guy. This can be good, but when I first started learning to multiply disciples and churches like Jesus, it caused me problems. I was too naive to know how to use my energy in the right places.

Back then, when I saw someone being faithful to share the gospel, I went all-in with the relationship and treated that person like they were going to be a multiplier. I trained them on how to disciple new believers and study the Word with their lost friends. They loved the teaching, but after a few weeks, I realized they never applied it. A lot of seed sowers never wanted to follow up with the people they shared the gospel with. They wanted to catch the fish, but let someone else clean it.

These relationships became very awkward very quickly. I was training and pushing them to do something they didn’t really want to do. I could feel the frustration from both sides. When I saw that I had overcommitted, I knew that I would need to give less time to these people. It was uncomfortable to back out of these relationships I had committed to.

This same situation has come up in various ways in ministry.

Some folks were willing to follow up and disciple new believers, but were unwilling to start a church.

Even fewer were willing to start a church in their home.

An even smaller group of disciples were willing to identify the disciple makers in their church to invest in deeply.

I needed to stop letting early faithfulness fool me into thinking that everyone was going to be a multiplier. I had to start applying precision harvesting at every stage of ministry.

Filter Many To Find The Few

Jesus went through every town and village in Galilee preaching the gospel (Matthew 9:35). According to scholar Eckard Schnabel, this would have been roughly 200,000 people. And yet, he was left with only around 500 disciples (1 Corinthians 15:6), and deeply invested in just 12 men.

If Jesus had to preach to so many people to find the faithful few, how many people do you think you need to go to?

I have learned to give a lot of people a little bit of time in the beginning, then a little more to those who obey, and more still who keep on obeying. I keep filtering like this until I find the people to spend 60-90 days a year with for 2-3 years. I only give that kind of time to multipliers.

If it feels like I’ve slammed into a brick wall with someone, then that’s a clue that I’ve developed this person as far as I can, and I don’t give them anymore focused time.

In filtering like this, I don’t get fooled by early faithfulness and overcommit to relationships, which saves me and them from frustration and hurt feelings.

The Balance

Just because someone isn’t a leader doesn’t mean I can’t give them some time. It’s just only going to be my “go” time. Any disciple is able to be a part of my church where I can fellowship with them and we can grow together. Anybody can come to a game night, a prayer and worship night, or run an errand with me.

These are all activities that are already in my schedule. I’m not carving out extra time for them. In this way, I can still have relationships with non-believers, believers, and leaders all at once. It is a balance that Jesus models and I try to emulate.

Ruthless Evaluation

To do this well, you have to ignore your personal feelings and ruthlessly evaluate what people are doing. You cannot invest in people based on their potential, but on their actions. This can be tricky to identify, so in the next post in this series, we will dive into what it means for someone to be Faithful, Available, and Teachable.

This is part 2 of an 8ish part series. Be sure to subscribe to see to keep up with the rest.

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