If God’s At Work, Let’s Get Busy!
James and Rick serve in a region of the world where bombs are falling. No one would blame them if they took their families and left. That day may come, but until then, they don’t want to lose the opportunity a war presents. Because where the bombs are falling, God is at work.
People are thirsty. They no longer put their hope in politics. They’re disillusioned with Islam. War, unrest, and upheaval have caused them to question everything. They’re looking for answers.
James and Rick have been told, "If you had tried to share the gospel with us a couple of years ago, we might have shot you. Now we’re ready to follow Jesus. We have nowhere else to turn."
How have James, Rick, and their local leaders responded to this opportunity? They’re training.
Large numbers of people are eager to hear the gospel. So they’re training every disciple to enter unreached fields and neighborhoods and share the gospel.
They follow the 5 Levels of Leadership
L1: Seed Sowers: Believers who actively share the Gospel and engage lostness within their own relational networks (oikos).
L2: Church Planters: Leaders who consistently gather new believers into functioning, reproducing churches.
L3: Church Planting Multipliers: Leaders who successfully train others to plant churches, fostering second- and third-generation disciples.
L4: Movement Trainers: Leaders who develop and train across multiple church-planting networks.
L5: Strategy Coordinators: Leaders who mobilize broader networks and resources to reach unengaged segments of the population with balanced, reproducible strategies.
They want new disciples to reach their friends, family and neighbors. They want existing disciples to enter an unreached field and identify God-prepared people who open up their relationship networks to the gospel and discipleship.
These leaders make sure everyone knows what to do and how to do it.
They don’t train large groups in classrooms. Instead, they use a MAWL approach to training in the field, often one-on-one.
MAWL
Model - Show them how to do it
Assist - Help them do it
Watch - Watch them do it
Leave - Entrust them with the work
They apply MAWL to every aspect of a movement plan.
Entry: How do I enter a new field?
Gospel: What do I say?
Discipleship: How do I make disciples?
Church: How will I form healthy churches?
Leaders: How do I multiply leaders?
Notice how when war breaks out and the harvest takes off, these leaders are not chasing every opportunity. They’re training the basics and mobilizing workers at every level. New disciples are immediately trained and released to reach their communities with backup coaching and support.
They worked hard to nail down L1–L3 activities. Making sure that everyone was trained and knew what to do.
Then they stepped back and identified a need for L4 and L5 leaders.
A level 4 leader is a hot coal. They can go into a different context—a different village, province or even a different country where they are unknown. There they can identify and train disciples to become L1-L3 leaders. Eventually that produces more L4 and L5 leaders.
L5 leaders work strategically across a wide region. They identify the gaps—places and people—and gather resources and workers to go to those gaps.
Here’s two things that stood out for me in this interview.
1. God is at work in the hardest places.
Fifteen years ago I asked some workers in the Muslim world, ‘What are you learning?’ They answered, ‘We move towards the chaos.’
Today Rick and James are saying, ‘Where the bombs are falling, God is at work.’
God is Creator and Lord of history. He is working out his purposes. He holds the nations in the palm of his hand. Before Jesus went to the cross he spoke about the times between his first and second comings.
There will be trouble, persecution and hardship. ‘And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come’ (Matt 24:14). It’s what he promised and what we should expect.
2. If God’s at work, it’s time to get busy.
Notice the conviction of these two men and their local leaders. God is at work in unprecedented ways, therefore we better get working.
They don’t stand idly by resting in the sovereignty of God. Because they trust God is at work, they get working. They double down on training every disciple in the basics of entering unreached fields, sharing the gospel, making disciples and forming churches. They train everyone, the newest believers, to do the basics. They put the tools and the strategies to work. They identify and develop leaders who can multiply and open up unreached fields.
This is a movement response to a sovereign work of God, and you don’t have to be in a war zone to follow their example.
The Interview: 375-Multiplying Disciples While the Bombs Drop
