Living – BRACCIANTIEDILIZIA

Riding the Smaller Waves

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 18:38:22 +0000

I used to surf. Not well, but enough to learn something that has stuck with me for decades.

The small waves are where you learn to ride. Most beginners ignore them. They’re watching for the big swells, the dramatic sets that lift you ten feet and carry you all the way to shore. But you can’t ride those until you’ve practiced on the small ones. And I kept missing the small ones because I was always looking past them.

I think that’s exactly where a lot of pastors are right now.

There are real signs of spiritual awakening happening around us. Gen Z church attendance has surged dramatically over the past several years. Bible sales in Britain rose 87 percent between 2019 and 2024. Young men (a demographic the church had largely written off) are showing up in unexpected numbers, hungry for structure, community, and something worth giving their lives to.

But here’s the question that matters: what do we do with it?

History gives us a warning. The Jesus Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s was a genuine spiritual awakening. Young people — hippies written off by polite society — were encountering Jesus in living rooms and coffee houses and beach baptisms. It was raw and real and utterly outside anyone’s program.

In the places where churches opened their doors, embraced the awkwardness, and built disciplemaking structures around those new believers, movements were born. Calvary Chapel. The Vineyard. Contemporary Christian music. Lasting fruit.

In the places where churches demanded these new believers conform to existing forms before they’d be welcomed — the awakening passed right through. Like a wave under a board.

We face the same choice today.

Awakening is what God does to hearts. Revival is what we do with awakened hearts. The difference — the entire difference — is discipleship, structure, and sustainable community.

Which means: if you’re waiting for the big wave before you start disciplemaking, you’ll miss both. You need to be riding the small ones right now.

What does that look like practically? Are you personally discipling people, or just running a congregation? Are the people you lead having honest conversations about their lives in light of scripture — or just consuming content? Are you and those you’re equipping praying with outsiders, building genuine friendships with people far from Jesus?

The greatest per-capita spiritual awakening in recorded history happened in Hawaii from 1837 to 1843. Nearly the entire population of the islands came to faith. But here’s what people forget: the missionaries who were there when the big wave hit had been riding small waves for seventeen years first. Personal salvations, small renewals, people falling away and returning. Seventeen years of what might have looked to some observers like failure.

They weren’t failing. They were practicing. They were building the disciplemaking culture that could steward what God was about to do.

You may be in one of those seasons right now. It may not feel like much. A few people meeting in a living room. A handful of young adults asking real questions. Small groups forming in unexpected places.

Ride those waves. Learn from them. Build the structures. Invest in the people. Because the shape of a coming awakening is determined in part by the disciplemakers who are faithful in the small things before it arrives.

The big wave is coming. Are you ready to ride it?

Want to go deeper? This blog draws on themes from Making Disciples: Developing Lifelong Followers of Jesus (2nd edition) by Ralph Moore — a practical, story-driven guide to the ancient practice that builds movements. Available on Amazon.

Ralph Moore is the Founding Pastor of three churches which grew into the Hope Chapel ‘movement’ now numbering more than 2,300 churches, worldwide. These are the offspring of the 70+ congregations launched from Ralph’s hands-on disciplemaking efforts.

He travels the globe, teaching church multiplication to pastors in startup movements. He’s authored several books, including Let Go Of the Ring: The Hope Chapel Story, Making Disciples, How to Multiply Your Church, Starting a New Church, and Defeating Anxiety.

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CPP #653 Is Now Live!!!

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 19:00:22 +0000

In this episode of the Church Planter Podcast, Peyton Jones sits down with Todd Wilson, co-founder and former CEO of Exponential, to talk about church growth, church planting, multiplication, and Todd’s new book, How Did We Get Here?

Todd shares the story behind Exponential, the influence of Bob Buford and Leadership Network, and how the modern church planting and multiplication movements were shaped by leaders working behind the scenes to “pour gas” on what God was already doing.

The conversation also turns toward one of the biggest questions facing the church today: What if our current operating system is not built for multiplication? Todd explains why the American church does not just have a church planting problem, but a disciple-making and mobilization problem. If churches want to see gospel saturation, they cannot rely only on programs, platforms, or Sunday-centered ministry. They need to mobilize everyday disciple-making missionaries.

Peyton and Todd also discuss the rise of consumer-driven church models, why programs do not reproduce but disciples can, and why the next generation may need permission to build new playbooks instead of simply inheriting the old ones.

The post CPP #653 Is Now Live!!! appeared first on Newbreed Training.

The Chain That Changes the World

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 22:37:04 +0000

Here’s something that should stop you in your tracks.
The person who told you about Jesus was told by someone else. Who was told by someone else. Who
was told by someone else. Pull the thread all the way back and you’ll eventually land somewhere near the
first century. Near a small group of ordinary people who had spent three years watching a carpenter from
Nazareth.
That chain didn’t survive two thousand years through institutions. It survived through relationships.
A friend of mine in Thailand calls it “discipolic succession.” Not the Catholic version — no bishops
required. Just an unbroken chain of people who took seriously the call to invest their lives in a few others
who did the same.
You’re in that chain. The question is whether you’re extending it.
I’ve watched movements explode in places where Christianity was barely legal a generation ago.
Mongolia. The Philippines. Parts of Africa. In every case the fuel was the same — ordinary people who
understood that their faith wasn’t a possession. It was a deposit to be passed on.
This is what Jesus meant by “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Not “Go and build impressive church
buildings.” Not “Go and launch excellent weekend services.” Those things aren’t wrong. But they’re not
the same as making disciples. A disciple is someone who is learning to live the way Jesus lived and is
helping others do the same.
The math of multiplication is staggering when you actually sit with it.
If you disciple three people this year, and those three people each disciple three people next year, and
that pattern holds for just ten years — you’ve touched tens of thousands of lives. Not through a
megachurch budget. Not through a media campaign. Through a chain of relationships.
That’s not a business model. That’s the New Testament.
I know a medical doctor in Hawaii who left his practice to pastor six people. Six. Some would call that a
failure. Within a few years that church had grown to 400 and spawned a cluster of daughter
congregations — all through a disciplemaking culture. He didn’t scale through programs. He scaled
through people who made disciples who made disciples.
I know a South African pastor who drives thirty hours — thirty — to disciple young men in other nations.
Not because he’s required to. Because he understands what’s at stake in the chain.
There are Starbucks locations hosting five simultaneous disciplemaking groups right now. Not inside a
church building. In a coffee shop. Because someone understood that the chain doesn’t require a
sanctuary.
Here’s where it gets personal. You are a link in this chain whether you choose to act like it or not. But a
passive link doesn’t extend it. A passive link just holds what was given and passes it on through nothing
more than doctrinal statement or church attendance.
An active link invests. An active link chooses one or two or three people and says — I’m going to give you
my time, my honesty, my prayers, my failures and my faith. And we’re going to figure out together what it
means to follow Jesus in the real world.
That’s it. That’s the chain.
You don’t need a title to do it. You don’t need a platform. You don’t need to be further along than you are.
The best disciplemakers I’ve ever known were honest about their own struggles — and that honesty was
exactly what made people trust them.
Your mistakes don’t disqualify you. They qualify you. They’re the proof that Jesus works in real, broken
people. That’s the most persuasive thing you can show someone.
Extend the chain.
Making Disciples: Developing Lifelong Followers of Jesus by Ralph Moore traces this idea of
“discipolic succession” across fifty years of movement building. Available on Amazon: [search “Making
Disciples Ralph Moore”].

The post The Chain That Changes the World appeared first on Newbreed Training.

How to Set Aside False Narratives and Let God Retell Your Story

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 19:01:47 +0000

It’s not about what you do—it’s about who I AM!

Those words stopped me in my tracks. The spoon in my hand stopped stirring and hovered over the pot, and for a moment, the clatter of dinner prep faded away.

I had been pouring my heart out to God for weeks, asking how I could serve Him in this new season. Praying incessantly. I was in my early thirties, and my entire adult life up until that point had been wrapped in how I could serve God and His church. I went to Bible college and had been in ministry on church staffs since I was nineteen. I loved every minute. But now, we had left California for Texas. My husband, our young kids, and I were in a new place, convinced we were following God’s lead. But for the first time in over a decade, I wasn’t plugged in anywhere. Nobody outside the walls of my home needed me. I was lonely and looking for somewhere to serve but couldn’t find my place.

I couldn’t shake the feeling of being utterly alone. Even in a room filled with people, I felt invisible. My life, up until that point, had been defined by what I did and what I produced. While I never considered myself someone who sought accolades, apparently, I did. When I was complimented, “Thank you for what you do,” I wore that badge with pride. That’s how I brought value to people (and received it myself). So, who was I going to be when nobody relied on me for anything? With nowhere and no one else to turn to, I finally cried out to God.

Silence.

Sure, I gained some peace through prayer, but it wasn’t enough. There was no joy. And I began to wonder, God, what am I missing? Silence.

What did I do wrong?

Silence.

I thought You were leading us here for a great adventure, and we were taking a step of faith.

Silence.

Are You there, God?

God, why aren’t You speaking to me?

Silence.

So, I made dinner.

And there, in my mundane, ordinary life, I heard in my innermost being, It is not about what you do, it is about who I AM!

God had spoken to me. Not at church. Not in a prayer session or worship service, and not immediately. How did I know it was God? Because something shifted deep within my soul. My spirit leapt. Over the years since this conversation with God, I’ve been reminded of those words many times. Deep transformation does not occur based on our actions, productivity, performance, or abilities; it occurs by God gifting us our being by inviting us to know His. That is how He invites us into His narrative.

Where did I come to believe that my value arose from what I did for God or other people? Rationally, I already had answers to that question. What I did not know at that time was that these patterns of false narratives—lies I was believing about God, myself, and others—were ingrained in my autobiographical memory. A false narrative is a perpetuated lie that we begin to accept as reality. Living in a false narrative is like wearing sunglasses in a dark room—it’s impossible to tell what the world really looks like. And when we don’t see the world or ourselves clearly, the actions that follow are also out of sync with what is good and true.

Discerning truth is an interesting puzzle. Two siblings can grow up in the same home, with the same parents and rules, yet have entirely different perceptions of their childhood—one positive, the other negative. And their parents might hold an altogether different perspective themselves. One sibling might follow their parents’ religion; another wants nothing to do with it. This raises an important question: If our unique perceptions of reality can differ so widely from others’, how do we determine what is true? Which interpretation of events is the true narrative?

The struggle exists because we can’t help but perceive our reality through our own worldview. Our worldview is our narrative. In life, our narrative is the lens through which we interpret our story. This does not mean that our perception is reality—but it is what we perceive as truth. If I center my life around my narrative and you center your life around yours, then our disagreements will inevitably end in conflict. We don’t know how to get to a shared sense of reality. Who is right and who is wrong? Whose perception holds the truth? It is not a question two people in conflict are able to answer.

Truth must exist outside of our perception. Without a shared reality, even in part, reconciliation in relationships is impossible. When two people disagree, there must be a third lens, one that interprets fairly and faithfully. Only God’s reality can be that true reality that unites us.

In a story, the author provides a narrator to give that outside perspective throughout the character’s journey. The author has an intention in telling that particular story, and the narrator helps frame it for the audience. They use pacing, voice, and perspective to communicate what they want to. Have you ever considered who your narrator is? Is your narrator encouraging or condemning? Whose voice does it sound like?

When you are authoring your own story, you serve as your own narrator. You are listening to a soundtrack on repeat with all the justifications of your personal inner dialogue. It is the story you know. Until it is disrupted.

When our lives are troubled, when confusion clouds our minds or pain silences our hope, it’s not the end. It’s an invitation to lay down anyone or anything we have placed at the center of our lives other than the one true God. It’s an opportunity for light to shine in and for truth to set us free (John 8:32). Truth and lies cannot coexist any more than darkness and light can.

The truth is that we are the ones who pull away from God. Yet God allows the fatal flaw to remain, not because He is cruel or uncompassionate but because the separation creates an insatiable void in us that ultimately forces us to recognize our need for a Savior. Jesus doesn’t just speak the truth or ask us to quote the truth—He is Truth. Jesus overcomes our separation, and the Holy Spirit is the One retelling the story and leading us into truth. Only Christ can interpret the true narrative of who God created us to be and the story He wants to tell through our lives.

Adapted from Becoming Good News: Reimagining Discipleship Through Identity, Story, and Science by Jessie Cruickshank and Julia Schmaltz, releasing in August 2026 from NavPress.

Jessie Cruickshank is a Harvard-trained expert in the neuroscience of transformation. She founded Whoology to equip churches and leaders worldwide in brain-based discipleship. Author of Ordinary Discipleship and a sought-after speaker, Jessie weaves story, science, and faith to inspire lasting change. She lives in Colorado, where she enjoys mountain adventures with her husband.

Julia Schmaltz is a storyteller and leader with three decades of ministry experience and serves as the Chief Operating Officer of Identity Exchange, equipping others to live fearlessly in their true identity. Julia holds a master’s in Evangelism and Leadership from Wheaton College and is shaping discipleship efforts across the globe. She lives in Orange County, California, with her husband and three adult children.

The post How to Set Aside False Narratives and Let God Retell Your Story appeared first on Newbreed Training.

BUILD THE TEAM BEFORE YOU BUILD THE DREAM

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:00:22 +0000

Reposted with permission from the Church Vitality Network, original article by Gary Mortiz: https://www.thechurchvitalitynetwork.com/blog/teambuilding

The pastor sat alone in the office at 9 p.m. The bulletin still needed proofing. The volunteer schedule sat half-built. Three texts waited for a reply. He led everything. He owned everything. And the church still was not growing. Sound familiar?

You cannot revitalize a church you are holding together by yourself.

Patrick Lencioni studied why some organizations thrive and others stall. His finding cut against the obvious. Smart strategy does not separate the great from the average. Health does. And the first mark of a healthy organization is a cohesive leadership team.1 Strategy comes second. The team comes first.

Health does not start with a plan. Health starts with people.

Moses learned this in the desert. He judged every dispute himself. The line of people never ended. His father-in-law, Jethro, watched one full day and named the problem. “You will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone” (Exodus 18:18). Jethro told Moses to select capable leaders and share the load. Moses built a team. The work multiplied.

The man stopped breaking.

Here is how you build a team that produces health.

NAME the gaps before you fill the seats. Most leaders hire for what they like. Hire for what you lack. Andy Stanley puts it plainly. “Your weakness is someone’s opportunity.”2 Map your blind spots on paper. Then find people who carry strength where you carry struggle. John Maxwell calls this the Law of the Niche. People add the most value when they serve in the right seat, not the open one.3 A team of people just like you is not a team. It is an echo.

SEQUENCE the hires in the right order. Order matters more than speed. Build the core team before you chase the next program. Lencioni found that healthy organizations get the leadership team right first, then move to clarity and strategy.1 Craig Groeschel names the same need from the church side. He calls it unmistakable camaraderie, the bond that holds a team together before any system scales.4 Get the people aligned. Then build the machine. Most revitalization stalls because leaders chase the visible role and skip the structural one.

RELEASE authority, not just tasks. Delegation fails when you hand off the work but keep the decision. Stanley teaches that the competent leader learns to do less to accomplish more.2 People do not grow by running errands. They grow by owning outcomes. Give your team the goal, the deadline, and the boundary. Tell them what done looks like. Then step back. A team that cannot decide is not a team. It is a waiting room with your name on every door.

Three moves. Name the gaps. Sequence the hires. Release the authority. None of them require a bigger budget. All of them require a humbler leader.

Run your team through three questions this week. Where are you still the smartest operator in the room? What seat have you refused to fill because filling it costs control? Who needs your authority and not just your assignments?

The church you are trying to save does not need more of you. It needs a team that no longer runs through you for everything. That is what health looks like. That is what outlasts you.
Build the team, and the team will build the church.

Footnotes
1. Lencioni, P. M. (2012). The advantage: Why organizational health trumps everything else in business. Jossey-Bass.
2. Stanley, A. (2003). The next generation leader: 5 essentials for those who will shape the future. Multnomah.
3. Maxwell, J. C. (2001). The 17 indisputable laws of teamwork: Embrace them and empower your team. Thomas Nelson.
4. Groeschel, C. (2022). Lead like it matters: Seven leadership principles for a church that lasts. Zondervan.

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Why Hi-Vis? By Andrew Hamilton

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 15:41:30 +0000

So who writes a book and calls it Hi-Vis Faith?

Who intentionally pitches a book at tradies, manual workers and other people generally not typified as readers? Because that is exactly what I am doing here.

Well… Someone who has lived in that world for 20 years and knows it from the inside.

Someone who understands that hi-vis workers—both men and women—want to follow Jesus faithfully in their workplace.

Someone who knows theology needs a practical edge if it is going to carry any real currency in everyday life.

For the last twenty years I have operated three different trade-based businesses while also pastoring churches and reflecting on the challenges of a practical working life.

I have read many books about work and deeply appreciated the way others have articulated the importance of our work in God’s world, but I’m yet to come across someone who writes with the gritty realism of having been immersed in a rough-edged trade environment for an extended period of time.

So this is my attempt to bridge that gap. My hope is that it may empower and inspire these people to make better sense of their work in God’s world.

I could have landed a gig as a full time pastor—but for various reasons as I entered my mid forties, I found myself working in irrigation and landscaping. It was hard work, often done in the brutal summer sun. And it was unfamiliar territory to me. I had always worked in ‘white collar’ jobs, as a teacher or a pastor. Initially I was a fish out of water. These weren’t my people.

But I soon found myself enjoying the different culture—the conversations that happen on a worksite that are quite distinct from those in a church foyer or a school staff room. I appreciated the raw and unfiltered questions about “religion” that were often tossed at me.

I enjoyed doing a hard day’s work and then feeling proud as I looked at the lush green lawn, as I saw the smiles on the faces of the property owners.

As you read—or listen—to this book, I hope that you will feel equipped and inspired to go back to work knowing what your role is as a Christian.

I won’t be teaching you clever ways to convert people. That isn’t why you go to work. I will be helping you develop the conviction that your work matters. And I hope you will receive encouragement to represent Jesus well in tough and sometimes toxic work environments.

Because when you “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and work with your hands”, as Paul said, people will notice. And if you live that life with integrity and faithfulness, you will win the respect of your co-workers, your clients and your community.

I spoke at a church recently where a young woman introduced herself to me and when I asked about her work she said coyly, “I’m just a check-out chick.” To her credit, that girl’s mother spoke before I could get the words out and said “You are not just a check-out chick.” I applauded the mother’s observation and her insistence that her daughter refuse to let her work be diminished by that label. Although this book is shaped by the hi-vis world, the deeper questions it explores belong to all of us.

Whatever you do—your work matters and the way you do it matters too. You have a role to play in God’s kingdom on this earth and your capacity to live your faith in whatever workplace you find yourself in is deeply needed in our world today – because ordinary work really is sacred ground.

Click here to check out Andrew’s book High Vis Faith.

Andrew Hamilton is an Australian pastor, church planter, author, and speaker with more than three decades of experience in local church ministry and mission. He has led established churches, planted new faith communities, and spent much of his ministry helping Christians rethink what it means to live as “backyard missionaries”—sharing the love of Jesus faithfully within their own neighborhoods and everyday lives.

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Was Jesus a Prophet?

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 18:15:45 +0000

This article originally appeared on Fivefold Training. Used with permission. Subscribe to Nathan’s Fivefold Training Newsletter and get a Free PDF download exercise in a gift area of choice.

Do you remember the story where Jesus challenged injustice, flipping over tables in the temple in his righteous anger? That was Jesus being a prophet.

Do you remember when Jesus withdrew to lonely places to spend time connecting with his Father in prayer to get insight and direction? That was Jesus being a prophet.

Do you remember when Jesus had a word of knowledge for the woman at the well, confronted her sin, and emphasized worshipping the Father in spirit and truth? That was Jesus being a prophet.

Depending on where you grew up and which churches you’ve been a part of, it’s highly likely that you were rarely – if ever – taught specifically that Jesus was a prophet.

It’s funny cause if you have had conversations with Muslims they are very quick to acknowledge and honor Jesus as a prophet (which is a great bridge-building conversation by the way, to then ask what the job of a prophet is, and then quote truth of John 14:6 and ask whether what this prophet said is true.)

Unfortunately, there is often stigma associated with the word prophet, and maybe the first thing you think of is “foretelling the future.” But when we look throughout Scripture, that function is peripheral. Primarily, a prophet is someone who speaks on God’s behalf. It’s about listening, obeying and speaking.

For starters, let’s look briefly at some instances where Jesus was explicitly named as a prophet.

The Samaritan Woman at the Well

“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.” -John 4:19

The Triumphal Entry

“And when he (Jesus) entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” -Matthew 21:11

On the Road to Emmaus

“Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?’

And he (Jesus) said to them, ‘What things?’ And they said to him, ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.’’’ -Luke 24:18-20

Jesus Living it Out

Okay, so Jesus was identified as a prophet, but how did he live it out? I gave some brief examples at the beginning (challenging injustice, spending time in prayer, etc); here are a few specific passages in Scripture:

Jesus communicates in relationship

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” -John 10:27

Jesus calls people to hear and obey

“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” -Mark 4:23 (and many other places)

Jesus calls people to repentance

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” -Mark 1:15

Jesus prioritizes prayer and worship

“In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.” -Luke 6:12

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” -John 4:23

Jesus confronts evil

“Jesus reprimanded him. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him.” -Mark 1:25-26

“Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” -1 John 3:8

These are all examples of Jesus’ prophetic ministry. And this leads us to know Jesus deeper — this aspect of his character and his ministry — so as to become more like him.

This simple graphic from the book Holy Disruption shows how Jesus was the perfect prophet and the bridge between the old and new covenant prophets.

For more, check out The Pulse of Christ: A Fivefold Training Manual by Nathan Brewer

Nathan Brewer is the founder of Fivefold Training and is passionate about helping people discover and live out the fullness of God’s calling on their lives. Through coaching, team development, and church training, he equips individuals to identify their gifts and calling, helps teams become more collaborative through unforgettable outdoor team-building experiences, and partners with churches to grow healthier, stronger, and more reflective of the fullness of Christ. As a certified Working Genius Trainer, Nathan also helps business teams improve collaboration by uncovering the unique strengths each person brings to their work.

A Kingdom-minded entrepreneur, Nathan is also the founder of Kyrios Ministries, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering Christian leaders to live out their unique Kingdom calling. In addition, he planted Reimagine Church, a house church network based in Vienna, Austria.

Originally from Springfield, Illinois, Nathan earned a B.A. in Business and Entrepreneurship while studying on the coast of San Diego, California. In 2007, he moved to Vienna, Austria, where he now lives with his wife and their two sons. When he’s not coaching or training, Nathan enjoys hiking to waterfalls, eating Mexican food, following European football, and exploring new countries.

The post Was Jesus a Prophet? appeared first on Newbreed Training.

Episode #649 of CPP is now live!

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 20:06:52 +0000

In this episode of the Church Planter Podcast, Peyton Jones and Pete Mitchell return to the “church planter diary” format with a real-time update from The Abbey.

Peyton shares what happened on a Sunday when almost everything looked like it was working against them: most of the core team was gone, the room was smaller than usual, a disruptive visitor came in, and Peyton had very little left in the tank after a difficult week.

But instead of becoming a throwaway Sunday, it became one of the most powerful gatherings The Abbey has experienced so far.

Peyton unpacks how the church leaned into open testimony, interactive teaching, Psalm 131, prayer, and honest participation from the whole room. The conversation highlights why church planting can’t be reduced to attendance numbers, polished services, or perfect conditions. Sometimes the most meaningful moments happen when leaders are weak, the room is small, and the Holy Spirit is given space to work.

If you are a church planter who has ever felt discouraged by a low-attendance Sunday, an unexpected disruption, or your own exhaustion, this episode is a reminder that Jesus can still meet his people powerfully in the middle of it.

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:
Simplify Church: simplifychurch.com
NewBreed Training

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Your Fishing Pools Are Already Full

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 15:01:18 +0000

Jesus said something deceptively simple to a group of tired fishermen: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

They knew fishing. They knew about pools and currents and the difference between casting in the wrong place and pulling in a net so full it nearly breaks. And Jesus was telling them — same skill, new water.

Here’s a question I’ve been asking pastors for fifty years: Where is your fishing pool?

Most leaders I talk to think the answer is “out there somewhere” — in the community they haven’t yet reached, the neighborhood they haven’t yet visited, the demographic they haven’t yet figured out how to attract. So they spend energy on programs designed to pull strangers into the building.

Meanwhile, they’re standing next to a pond full of fish.

God has already positioned you. Your workplace, your neighborhood, your gym, the parents on the sidelines at your kid’s soccer game — these aren’t accidental relationships. They’re the people God has placed in your life for a reason. Your fishing pool is already full. The question is whether you’re fishing in it.

I spent years at Hope Chapel in Hawaii watching this play out. Some of the most effective disciplemakers we ever had were not pastors. They were electricians, teachers, nurses, and plumbers who understood that their job site was their mission field. They weren’t waiting for a program. They were already there.

Here’s something that might reframe how you think about your week: disciplemaking happens in two streams — pre-evangelistic and post-conversion.

Pre-evangelistic disciplemaking is just what it sounds like. It’s building genuine friendships with people who don’t yet know Jesus. Not as a project. Not with an agenda plastered across your forehead. Just as a real human being who actually cares about other real human beings. You become someone they trust. You become someone who listens. You become someone they call when life falls apart.

That kind of friendship is rare. And in a lonely, disconnected culture, it is profoundly attractive.

Then there’s post-conversion disciplemaking — walking alongside someone who has just come to faith, helping them grow into a follower who can disciple others. This is where the multiplication happens. This is where the chain gets long enough to change a city.

Both streams begin in the same place: your existing relationships.

I want to push back on something. There’s a lie that circulates in ministry circles — that effective outreach requires more resources, more staff, a better facility, a slicker program. Maybe a consultant. Maybe a rebrand.

That’s not what I’ve seen build movements.

What I’ve seen build movements is a pastor who eats lunch with the same three people every week and talks honestly about life and Jesus. A teacher who invites students to her home on Friday nights. A business owner who stops treating his employees as a workforce and starts treating them as a mission field.

Your fishing pool is full of real people who are hungrier than they let on. They’re lonely. They’re searching. They’re tired of the cultural scripts telling them that success and sex and distraction are enough.

You already know some of them. You’re already in the water.

Stop waiting for the right program. Cast the net.

Think about the five people you spend the most non-church time with. How many of them are far from Jesus? How many of them know you actually care about them as people, not just as potential converts?

How would things shift if you spent the next month being more intentional with those five relationships — listening more, praying for them privately, letting your life be a little more open to questions?

That’s not a program. That’s a fishing pool. And yours is already full.

The post Your Fishing Pools Are Already Full appeared first on Newbreed Training.

What a 16-Year-Old Taught Me About Making Disciples

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 18:08:52 +0000

I was 22 years old, fresh out of the classroom, armed with theology and absolutely clueless about real
ministry.
His name was Dan Boyd. He was 16. And he knew something I didn’t.
I had the degree. He had the relationships. I could explain the Great Commission. He was living it. Dan
had taken a younger friend named Tim under his wing and was simply investing his life in him —
spending time together, talking about Jesus, letting faith spill over into everyday conversation. No
curriculum. No program. No strategy deck.
I watched it happen and slowly realized I was witnessing something ancient. Something Jesus had
modeled. Something the early church had practiced before we got sophisticated enough to replace it with
better systems.
Forty years later, Tim still meets weekly with nine men. Dan pastors a thriving church. And I finally
stopped being surprised by any of it.
Here’s the thing about disciplemaking that took me too long to learn: it doesn’t require a seminary degree.
It doesn’t require a clever program or a charismatic personality or a perfect life. It requires time. It requires
love. It requires someone willing to let another person close enough to actually see how they live.
Most of us have been trained to think of disciplemaking as an event — a class, a small group, a
curriculum. We sign people up, run them through the content, hand them a certificate, and wonder why
nothing really changes. The content was fine. The problem was the container.
Jesus didn’t run a classroom. He invited twelve men to follow him — literally walk with him, eat with him,
watch him pray, hear him confront the Pharisees, see him weep at a tomb. The classroom was his life.
The curriculum was the relationship.
What would change in your church if you stopped treating disciplemaking as a program and started
treating it as a way of life?
I’ve spent five decades planting churches. More than 2,600 of them across California, Hawaii, the
Philippines, Mongolia, and Africa. And the thread connecting every lasting movement I’ve ever seen is not
a clever strategy. It’s face-to-face disciplemaking. Ordinary people investing their lives in other ordinary
people who do the same.
In Mongolia, the Christian population grew from three believers in 1989 to six percent of the population in
just a few decades. Not through crusades. Not through imported programs. Through ordinary Mongolian
believers who met someone, befriended them, introduced them to Jesus, and then spent time helping
them grow.
You probably have a Dan Boyd in your life right now. Someone younger, maybe newer to faith, maybe
not yet in faith — who needs you to stop being a lecturer and start being a friend with a purpose.
That’s where disciplemaking starts. Not in a classroom. In a coffee shop. In a car. On a walk. In the
messy, ordinary overlap between your life and theirs.
You don’t need a new program. You need a new posture.
What would it look like this week to spend an hour with someone you’re already in relationship with — not
to teach them, but to live life alongside them and include Jesus in the conversation?
Dan Boyd didn’t plan to change my understanding of ministry. He just loved his friend Tim. And that
changed everything.
Want to go deeper? This blog draws on themes from Making Disciples: Developing Lifelong
Followers of Jesus (2nd edition) by Ralph Moore — a practical, story-driven guide to the ancient practice
that builds movements. Available on Amazon: [search “Making Disciples Ralph Moore”].

The post What a 16-Year-Old Taught Me About Making Disciples appeared first on Newbreed Training.