My Strategic Plans For 2026

Looking at what it's going to take to get the gospel to every person and a multiplying church in every community until there is no place left in my city

This one’s going to be a little different.

Almost all of my posts have been reflections on movements in America that are derived from the Scripture and from research and data gathering I’ve done. My posts have been more about sharing ethos and principles than practical “how to” guidance.

This post is going to be a lot more about the nuts and bolts of ministry. In particular, the nuts and bolts of my ministry.

I want to share them with you because I covet your feedback. Does it sound like good or bad strategy? Any questions you want to ask me? Basically, I’m looking to crowdsource my strategizing with my wise and spirit-filled Substack followers (as in you)

Some Background

I moved back to the Raleigh-Durham (RDU) area in 2019 with a burden to reach its 1.6 million lost. One goal that God had placed on my heart: multiply a church to the fourth generation. By the end of 2021, that goal was accomplished by God’s grace, and even though some churches have faded away, new ones have always started so that there’s always been a consistent 4th generation church.

After pumping my fist a few times and feeling good about myself for a few weeks, my heart became unsatisfied. There was still 1.6 million lost in my city. Even though we had started a fourth generation church, there was only a total of seven gatherings in our network. Seven. It didn’t feel like I’d even made it to the starting line yet.

This frustrated me because I don’t like to say that God has led me to do something and then fall short of actually doing it.

This drove my wife and I to a year of prayer to ask the Lord what we were supposed to do next. Our vision is to get the gospel to every person and a multiplying church in every community of RDU until there is No Place Left. We just needed to know the practical next steps.

Vision for 2030

Through this prayer time as a married couple and with other brothers and sisters, we realized that we had started a network of multiplying churches, and to reach the whole city we needed a whole lot more networks.

When Paul said that he had No Place Left for the gospel in Romans 15:23, he had started networks of churches that met in homes in the different cities he had visited. All the churches in a city like Corinth, Thessalonica, or Ephesus related to one another as a city church. This city church was a church of churches.

Through prayer, we came to the conclusion that we wanted to be like Paul and catalyze several networks of churches across the city.

Our goal is to have 10 networks of multiplying disciples and churches using movement principles by Dec. 31, 2030.

If God does that, then maybe it will feel like the gun just went off and we took the first step across the starting line.

Breaking It Down Into Smaller Steps

The vision for 10 networks is a long-term goal, so we looked for some markers along the way that would show we’re on the right track:

Mid-Term Goal

To have 10 networks by the end of 2030, we need 10 church planting multipliers by Dec. 31, 2028

Going back to my last post, multiplication happens through leadership development. If God brings us the 10 right leaders, they will be able to gather a band of other leaders who will be able to catalyze a network of multiplication.

On Paul’s second journey, he brought Silas along with him, picked up Timothy, and Priscilla and Aquilla along the way. All those coworkers were pivotal leaders who helped start more multiplying churches around the eastern Mediterranean.

That’s what we’re going for in RDU. Just like Paul picked up leaders, we need to pick up a total of 10 leaders by the end of 2028. That timeframe gives each leader at least two years to start a network.

Short Term Goal

Before we get to 10 multipliers, we have a goal to get 3 more church planting multipliers by August 1, 2026.

We started writing these goals down in the Summer of last year, so an August cut off date is in line with a one year goal.

One thing to note about finding 3 multipliers this year: we’ll need to identify at least 6-10 potential multipliers by August because we know not everyone with potential will in turn see multiplication.

Current Status

Before we even set the goal of wanting to see 10 networks started, there were already two networks going. Ours and one at NC State University. So we’re already 20% of the way there!

There was also a handful of people who were just starting to reach out or start their first church. These 5 or so people are all potential multipliers. We’re staying in relationship with them and waiting to see what the Lord does.

Since setting the goal of finding 3 more church planting multipliers in a year, we have found 3 more potential couples. One couple has already started two gatherings through their ministry. One couple came to Christ relatively recently through our work, though are some generations away from us. They have started their own church and may start their own network. And the third has started a few gatherings in a previous city, but just moved here and is getting started again.

Biggest Stuckage

There’s one big stuckage we face with these goals. Catalysts move on too quickly. It’s as if they get a vision for moving overseas at the same time they get a vision for multiplication, and start planning their exit right away. Since coming to RDU, I feel like it’s a huge success if a potential multiplier stays in the city for longer than a year.

I was watching a David Watson interview today, and he talked about how leaders move on too soon in this country. He said that one key for catalyzing movements in America is accepting the fact that it takes 2-3 years to develop a leader.

When these potential multipliers move on so quickly, their work is wiped away. They didn’t give themselves enough time to develop another leader. The potential to multiply is never fulfilled.

If all the leaders we’ve worked with hadn’t moved on from RDU, we would probably already have 4-5 networks and 50 total gatherings in the city. I’ll be addressing this stuckage further in a later post.

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What do you think? I would love some encouragement, constructive criticism, or questions in the comments.

I plan to post an update on this every few months for the sake of accountability and to bring you guys along on the journey. If you would like more frequent updates or ways to pray for us, feel free to sign up for our prayer newsletter.

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