How Our Faithfulness to Reproduce Can Yield a Big-Time Harvest

God loves sharing mission with us. Mission is what should be, what could be, and what can be. Mission doesn’t look for excuses. It looks for accelerants. It doesn’t see the problems; it sees the possibilities. Mission looks into the future rather than in the past! Mission looks into the decade of harvest and knows the goals are attainable.

I look at the remainder of this decade with a big smile on my face. I understand the multiplying potential of a group on mission. A penny doubled for 30 days equals over $5,300,000 and for a year equals over $68,000,000. The same can be true in ministry too! It starts out slow but ends up huge. When I see the work we are doing in church coaching, Forerunner Experience, reaching new nations and new cities, it makes me smile. When I see our potential in Messenger College, the new online credential process, and the wonderful work happening in churches, cities, districts, and the nations, my smile grows. We will see the power of multiplication and compounded efforts as each year propels us towards God’s missional goals for us.

In his article for Latitude Ministries, Pastor Bryan Pue discusses the power of multiplication as a growth force that can dynamically impact the life of the church. But there is a distinction to be made between addition and multipliction. While addition strives to enlarge an existing congregation by adding more members, services, or programs (ex. 2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2= 20), multiplication instead aims to actually give birth to new organisms altogether—new ministers, new churches, and new congregations—which possess the capacity to also birth new organisms (ex. 2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2=1024).¹ There is quite a difference between production and reproduction. Production is growing bigger apples on a tree or growing a few more apples in a tree, but reproduction is planting more apple trees and more apple orchards! Do you see our multiplication potential for the rest of this decade?

2 Corinthians 9:10-11 says that God supplies seed for the sower and resources for all we need. He also multiplies the seed we sow and gives us a multiplied increase in fruitfulness or harvest!

At The Life Center, where we served for many years in Kamiah, Idaho, God put a big mission in our heart. He asked us to make life better for our community. He asked us to reach people other churches weren’t reaching. We began with what we knew. We changed our church culture to be truly missional. We were building our church, our heart, and our vision for people who weren’t there yet. We talked about it, acted on it, modeled it, prayed over it, and experienced it.

One day God put a desire in our heart for a thrift store. We talked about it in public, along with several other missional things. I mentioned it a NAPA parts store, and a few months later, I received a call from a lady who remembered that. Within a few hours we were the proud owners of Kamiah Emergency Warehouse, a local “thrift store” that had been slowly dissolving. The previous owners were aging, and they were only able to keep it open one hour a month.

Well, in the span of just few months and with the help of some faithful servants, we began to revitalize it into a full blown, remodeled, tribute to mission. Today it is called Loving Hands Thrift and More. It is fully supported by our community and employs over 20 people with 30 more volunteers. It is a place where friends meet, loneliness is eliminated, and people are loved and prayed for. We distribute hope by the bagful, and every dollar raised goes to support the store and meet needs in the community. It is in the top five businesses for cash flow in the community, and everyone knows only God could do such a missional and marvelous thing.

Many of our employees and volunteers weren’t saved but now are. Many of our customers and community members experience the spirit of love, which comes from the Spirit of God, and are drawn into the Kingdom.

Mission can be multiplied in various ways. It can be a thrift store, food bank, VBS, painting a house, praying for a neighbor on the sidewalk, meeting a need, being generous, giving a hug, hosting a youth event, being part of a community organization, ministering to marriages or singles, being a resource ... or a thousand other things! Our God is so creative. The missional options are unlimited!

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¹ Pue, Bryan. “Growth Force #2 – Multiplication,” Latitude Ministries. Accessed March 2024. https://www.latitudeministries.com/growth-force-2-multiplication/.