The Multiply Project Podcast

The Multiply Project
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Most pastors want to multiply, but few know where to find the leaders to do it. The Multiply Project Podcast is for pastors who are ready to move from addition to multiplication. We believe you don't need to import talent; you need to uncover it. There are church planters in your church right now. Join us for honest, peer-to-peer conversations about calling, equipping, and sending from within. We sit down with practitioners, planters, and network leaders to share the actual tools and "trenches" stories you need to build a pipeline. Stop waiting for a superhero to show up. Be the church that sends.

Episodes

  1. 1d ago

    Sent from the Seats: Get Ready While You're Not Ready

    The planters you're looking for are already in your church. The Church Planter Scouting Guide shows you how to spot the one: https://multiplyproject.org/church-planter-scouting-guide/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=s02e11_vogel Nobody is ever ready. Aaron Vogel waited 24 years from the day God first put a church on his heart to the day he actually planted one — and he'd tell you that's not a failure of timing. It's the whole point. Aaron is the lead pastor of Grace Church in New Orleans, a church he planted in September 2025 at age 43 — in the city where five generations of his family have lived, within five miles of where he sits today. But before the pulpit came the marketplace: bivocational restaurant server, then general manager of a $1.2 million operation, then co-founder of District, a New Orleans restaurant group that opened a new location nearly every year until 2020. He knows what it costs to build something. He also knows what it costs to lose one — his group poured over half a million dollars into an upscale vegan restaurant two months before the pandemic and lost nearly a million before closing it. Here's what makes this conversation land for any pastor who thinks the clock has run out: Aaron isn't a 26-year-old with a great voice and a launch team. He's a 44-year-old who spent two decades getting ready while he wasn't ready — and arrived a better planter for it. Craig names the stereotype directly: church planter as young, gifted, thirty. Aaron dismantles it with wisdom you only get from failure, hurricanes, and 17-hour days. And then he does something most pastors never do — he tells you exactly how he scouts. Aaron walks into a room looking for potential, not readiness. The kid who couldn't carry plates without soaking the floor became a general manager in five years, because Aaron saw something and gave it time. Now he's running the same play at Grace: give a guy the microphone to host on Sunday, let him bomb, watch who leans in. "I don't think he's that guy — but he could be the one right beneath that guy." That's the lens. That's the work. This is an episode about the long game — for the marketplace leader wondering if it's too late, and for the pastor who's stopped seeing the potential already sitting in his own rows.   Start with one. Grab the Church Planter Scouting Guide — it shows you how to spot the planter already in your church. Name and email, and it's yours: https://multiplyproject.org/church-planter-scouting-guide/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=s02e11_vogel Not sure your church is ready to multiply yet? Take ten minutes and find out the honest truth with the Readiness Assessment: https://multiplyproject.org/readiness-assessment/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=s02e11_vogel Know a marketplace leader who thinks he's missed his window? Send him this episode before the day ends. Stop looking somewhere else. Become the church that sends. Church planting · church multiplication · bivocational ministry · marketplace to ministry · New Orleans church plant · disciple-making · sending churches

  2. Sep 8

    Sent from the Seats: Anybody's Capable of Anything Wes Lynch | Season 2 Episode 3

    Free Church Planter Scouting Guide → the one you're looking for is already in your seats: https://multiplyproject.org/church-planter-scouting-guide/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=s02e10_lynch A former sheriff's deputy who arrested people in his own hometown now pastors some of them. If God can reroute a heart, He can reroute a calling. Wes Lynch spent years in law enforcement — 911 dispatch, county jail, the road — chasing a dream of becoming a state trooper. Then his son Lucas was born with half a working heart and had open-heart surgery at three days old. In a dim ICU in Indianapolis, Wes stopped surrendering his son and started surrendering his life. Within a year he'd traded a secure salary, insurance, and a 401k for odd jobs and a free youth-pastor role. Six years ago he planted Radiant Lighthouse in Greenville, Ohio — a town of 11,000 in a county where 30,000 people are dechurched. He planted where everyone knew him: the vice principal who remembers his high school years, the people he once arrested, the neighbors who now leave steak on his porch. And out of that church, three more have already been sent. In this conversation, Wes, Craig, and Jeff get into the conviction that runs under all of it: anybody's capable of anything. The danger a cop learns to see in everyone — and the redemption a pastor learns to see in everyone. It's the same lens. Most pastors have stopped using it on the people in their own rows. If you've been waiting to "find" a church planter, Wes will tell you plainly: that's an excuse, and he's all about solutions.  The planter is already there. You've just stopped seeing the potential. Start with one. Grab the free Church Planter Scouting Guide — it shows you how to spot the one already sitting in your seats: https://multiplyproject.org/church-planter-scouting-guide/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=s02e10_lynch  Not sure your church is ready yet? Take ten minutes and find out the honest truth — the Church Multiplication Readiness Assessment: https://multiplyproject.org/readiness-assessment/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=s02e10_lynch Know a marketplace leader who can't shake the feeling God's calling them out? Send them this episode before the day ends.

    Sent from the Seats: Anybody's Capable of Anything Wes Lynch | Season 2 Episode 3

  3. Sep 1

    Nobody's Disqualified Andrew F. Carter | Season 2 Episode 2

    "The pain you've walked through isn't your disqualification. It might be the platform." Andrew was, running a successful CrossFit gym with 200 members, and chasing the American dream—until he served 18 months in prison before ever stepping behind a pulpit. Most pastors would look at a story like Andrew Carter's and quietly file it under "disqualified." In this episode, Craig and Jeff sit down with Andrew F. Carter, who planted Royal City Church in Inglewood, California, just three months after feeling the call—with no seminary, no network, and zero fundraising. Andrew reveals how he develops leaders exclusively from within his congregation, the 14-week cohort model he uses, and why the future planters you are looking for might already be sitting in your pews. FREE RESOURCES & LINKS Church Planter Scouting Guide: Spot the leader God already planted in your seats https://multiplyproject.org/church-planter-scouting-guide/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=s02e09_carter Church Multiplication Readiness Assessment: Find out if your church is ready to multiply https://multiplyproject.org/readiness-assessment/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=s02e09_carter KEY TAKEAWAYS IN THIS EPISODE Redefining Disqualification: Why a complicated past can serve as your greatest ministry platform rather than a barrier. In-House Leadership Pipeline: How Andrew uses a 14-week discipleship cohort and his "Five Cs" framework to raise up local preachers without hiring outsiders. The Counterintuitive Sabbath: Why stepping out of the pulpit one Sunday a month actually accelerated his church's growth. Marketplace to Ministry: Why business success doesn't equal a pastoral calling—and why you need spiritual confirmation before quitting your day job. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — From Marketplace to Ministry 02:52 — Foster Care, Drugs, and the First Yes 04:54 — The Prophetic Word That Made Him Run 06:09 — Building a 200-Member Gym 07:53 — The House of Cards Comes Down 09:30 — Rock Bottom and 18 Months in Prison 11:30 — The Viral TikTok That Woke Him Up 12:58 — Who's Stuck in the In-Between? 14:41 — "If You Build It, They Will Come" 17:25 — Planting With Zero Idea 19:16 — How CrossFit Got Him Fit to Carry His Cross 20:41 — The Hardest Thing to Unlearn 22:17 — Why He Stopped Preaching One Sunday a Month 23:04 — When the Opposition Comes From Christians 26:48 — Developing People From Within 27:21 — The Five Cs and the 14-Week Cohort 30:28 — The Woman Who Yelled From the Street 33:37 — Where Are the Planters in Your Church? 35:06 — Before You Leave Your Job 36:22 — Nobody's Disqualified CONNECT & SUBSCRIBE Know a pastor who's written someone off—or written themselves off? Share this episode with them today! Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell for more episodes on church multiplication. #ChurchPlanting #MultiplyProject #AndrewFCarter #MinistryLeadership #Discipleship #ChurchLeadership

    Nobody's Disqualified Andrew F. Carter | Season 2 Episode 2

  4. Aug 26

    Pathway to Planting: The Yes Outweighs the Risk with JT Riley | Episode 1

    Grab the Church Planter Scouting Guide — it shows you how to spot the one already in your church: https://multiplyproject.org/church-planter-scouting-guide/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=s02e08_jt He walked into a recruiter's office with piercings, tattoos, and a chip on his shoulder. Nine years later he walked out of the Marine Corps to plant churches near every Marine base on the planet. JT didn't wait for a voice from heaven. He said yes — and kept saying it. In this episode, Craig and Jeff sit down with JT, lead planter of Local Point Church near Cherry Point, North Carolina — 132 baptisms since launching in September 2024, and already working to send their first plant to Camp Lejeune in 2028. Before any of that, JT was an aircrewman flying C-130s, a self-described troublemaker whose marriage nearly ended in 2007 before he grabbed an usher by the jacket in a Texas church and said, "I'm all jacked up. I need Jesus." Here's what makes his story more than a testimony: five elders saw something in JT before he saw it himself. They didn't wait for him to announce a calling. They said, "We've been praying — we think God has a hand on your life, and we want to disciple you." That's the whole model. Calling in the New Testament comes through someone sitting across a table saying "I see this in you" — not a lightning bolt. You'll hear JT on the superpower the Marines gave him without knowing it (the government trained a preacher and didn't realize it), why the mission decides what you say no to, and the plain answer he gives pastors asking where the planters are: look at who's already carrying the gospel into the marketplace. They're already there. You've just stopped seeing them. This one is for the pastor who keeps looking outside his walls for a planter who's already sitting in his seats. Timestamps: 00:00 — The yes outweighs the risk 00:20 — Meet JT: Local Point, Cherry Point, 132 baptisms 04:07 — Planting a church near every Marine base on earth 05:28 — Piercings, tattoos, and the day the towers fell 07:54 — "I don't want a divorce — I just don't like who I am" 09:40 — "I'm all jacked up. I need Jesus." 11:10 — The Golden Corral moment: called to go tell people 16:33 — The mission is the Marines, not the church 17:02 — The first man who saw potential in JT 19:34 — What five elders did that made a planter 29:37 — The superpower the Marines built without knowing it 31:53 — Why the mission decides what you say no to 36:31 — The Marine he's discipling right now 39:19 — "Where are the planters?" JT's plain answer 42:04 — Just say yes 43:33 — Stop looking somewhere else Start with one. Grab the Church Planter Scouting Guide — it shows you the nine things to look for: https://multiplyproject.org/church-planter-scouting-guide/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=s02e08_jt Not sure your church is ready to send yet? Take ten minutes and find out the honest truth — the Church Multiplication Readiness Assessment: https://multiplyproject.org/readiness-assessment/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=s02e08_jt Know a pastor sitting on a planter he can't see? Send him this episode before the day ends.

    Pathway to Planting: The Yes Outweighs the Risk with JT Riley | Episode 1

  5. Apr 1

    The Marketplace Multiplier: Engineering a Movement with Ali Roohi | Episode 7

    If you only look for church planters in seminaries, you are missing the majority of the workforce God has already provided. Your next planter might be an engineer, a business owner, or a manager sitting in your pews right now. In this season finale, Ali Roohi (Pastor of Bold Church in Silicon Valley) joins Craig and Jeff to share his journey from high-level software engineer to church planter. Ali is the "proof of concept" for the Antioch Way—a high-capacity marketplace leader who just needed a pastor to see his potential. We discuss how marketplace skills like Agile methodology and ROI thinking actually accelerate Gospel movement and why every pastor must become a talent scout. Whether you are a Champion Pastor looking for new recruitment lanes or an Explorer wondering where to find leaders, this conversation proves that God's next great move often starts with a tap on the shoulder in the marketplace. The Takeaway One Actionable Step: Be a talent scout. This week, identify one marketplace leader in your church who is already taking initiative in their job. Send them this episode with a text that says: "I See In You the grit and leadership of a church planter. Let's grab coffee." Links & Resources Free Resource: Marketplace Leader Scouting Guide Connect with Ali: BoldChurch.org Join the Movement: MultiplyProject.org

  6. Mar 17

    Making Sending the Default with Randy Deal | Episode 6

    Most pastors fear that sending their best leaders will kill their church. At Rock Point, they've proven that sending isn't a sacrifice. It's your greatest strength. In this episode, Randy Deal (Executive Pastor at Rock Point Church) joins Craig and Jeff to discuss how to move past multiplication as a "project" and turn it into your church's heartbeat. Randy shares the story of how Rock Point embedded a "Beyond" vision from day one, leading to 17 daughter churches and a leadership pipeline that spans from middle school to master's degrees. We explore why the whole church must "own" every plant and how to shift your default setting from gathering to sending. Whether you are a Champion Pastor looking to scale or a Skeptic worried about losing resources, this conversation provides the blueprint for a culture that thrives by giving itself away. The Takeaway One Actionable Step: Audit your default. This week, review your last three staff or leadership meetings. How much time was spent on internal management versus external sending? Shift the first 10 minutes of your next meeting to exclusively discuss "Who is next?" Links & Resources Free Resource: Multiplication Readiness Assessment Connect with Randy: RockPointChurch.com Join the Movement: MultiplyProject.org

  7. Mar 10

    The Clinical Residency: Building a Lab for Planters with Chandler Miner | Episode 5

    You don't need a massive budget or a formal syllabus to start developing church planters; you just need to be a trainer. Most pastors feel the tension between the "addition" of growing a local church and the "multiplication" of sending one out. They assume that moving into a sending model requires complex infrastructure or a seminary-level residency. In this episode, Jeff Bennett and Craig Whitney sit down with Chandler Miner, Operations Director at The Well Austin, to dismantle that myth. The Well is a 14-year-old church plant with a "white-hot" vision to plant 100 national and 100 international churches in their first 50 years. Chandler reveals how they move toward this goal not through classrooms, but through a Clinical Residency model. By treating the local church like a surgical lab rather than a lecture hall, they empower emerging leaders to get the "reps" they need in real-time. We discuss how to be a talent scout who sees potential where others see unreadiness, and how to use a "Learning Contract" to create high-accountability growth. Whether you are leading a staff of fifty or a core team of five, this conversation provides the framework to start identifying, equipping, and sending the church planters who are already sitting in your chairs. The Takeaway Be the Scout: Review your leadership team this week. Identify one person with "potential" (not just readiness) and initiate a simple "Clinical Rep." Instead of giving them a book to read, give them a specific project or meeting to lead, and commit to providing immediate, 15-minute feedback afterward. Resources Mentioned in This Episode: 🔷 The Scouting Guide: Our practical tool to help you identify high-capacity leaders in your church - https://multiplyproject.org/pipeline/ 🔷 The Antioch Way by Craig Whitney: A roadmap for building a sending culture from within - https://craiglwhitney.com/the-antioch-way/ 🔷 The Well Austin: Learn more about their work at https://thewellaustin.com/   👉Connect with Us: Subscribe to The Multiply Project for weekly coaching and stories from the trenches.  Instagram: instagram.com/@MultiplyProject LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/multiplyproject

  8. Mar 6

    Be a Kingdom Scout: Finding Planters in Your Church with Clayton Greene | Episode 4

    Your next church planter isn't waiting for an invitation from a seminary; they are likely sitting in your church right now, leading a team at work or a small group in their neighborhood. Most pastors feel the tension of a leadership shortage, but the reality is often a "sight" problem rather than a "talent" problem. We've been trained to recruit for slots instead of scouting for callings. In this episode, Jeff sits down with Clayton Greene, Director of Summit Collaborative, to discuss the shift from a "hiring" mindset to a "scout" mindset. Clayton shares his own journey from the marketplace into ministry and explains how Summit Church built a culture that identifies, develops, and sends leaders from within. This conversation moves from the "Safe" territory of acknowledging the need for more leaders into the "Deep" work of giving away ownership, celebrating the "send" as much as the "stay," and looking into the marketplace to find raw, high-capacity leaders who are ready to be mobilized for the Kingdom. If you are an Explorer Pastor looking for a starting point or a Champion Pastor ready to refine your pipeline, Clayton provides the framework to help you see the potential already in your midst. One Actionable Step: Be a Kingdom Scout. Don't wait for a superhero to walk through your doors. This week, use the Scouting Guide to identify three people in your church who exhibit the character and grit required for planting. Move them from "volunteers" to "candidates" by having one intentional conversation about their calling. The Track: Calling & Pipeline Development Resources Mentioned in This Episode: The Scouting Guide: Our practical tool to help you identify high-capacity leaders in your church. The Antioch Way by Craig Whitney: A roadmap for building a sending culture from within. Summit Collaborative: Learn more about their work at https://summitcollaborative.org/ The Intensive: Check out the Summit Collaborative Intensive at summitcollaborative.org/intensive Connect with Clayton Greene: Email: clayton@summitcollaborative.org Instagram: @summitcollaborative Connect with The Multiply Project: Website: multiplyproject.org Join the Movement: If this conversation sparked a new way of thinking for you, subscribe to The Multiply Project Podcast and leave a review. Your engagement helps other pastors move from addition to multiplication.

  9. Mar 3

    The Global Standard: Reimagining Church Planting with Yucan Chiu | Episode 3

    The "solo superstar" model of church planting is a Western invention. Around the world, the Gospel is moving through ordinary people who refuse to wait for a building or a budget. In this episode, Yucan Chiu (Redeemer City to City & Ethnos Network) joins Craig and Jeff to discuss the "Global Standard" of multiplication. Yucan shares how churches in global cities are moving past Western individualism to embrace communal, bi-vocational, and refugee-led movements. We explore why the "Antioch Model" remains the most strategic roadmap for reaching diverse urban centers and how any pastor can start talking about multiplication today. Whether you are a Champion Pastor looking for a global perspective or an Explorer needing a simpler model, this conversation will help you see that the mission is bigger than your zip code. The Takeaway One Actionable Step: Shift your language. This week, stop asking "What is next?" for your church's programs and start asking "Who is next?" . Identify one person whose leadership gifts you can recognize and affirm   Links & Resources Connect with Yucan: Ethnos Network | City to City The Book: The Antioch Way by Craig Whitney Free Resource: Global Mission Prayer Guide

  10. Feb 19

    The 16% Mission: Escaping the Addition Trap with Dave Ferguson | Episode 2

    In this episode, Dave Ferguson (CEO of Exponential) joins Craig and Jeff to confront a sobering reality: only 7% of U.S. churches are currently reproducing . To reach a sociological tipping point, we need the "16% Mission" . Dave breaks down how any "ordinary" church can stop managing the middle and start leading at the edges—focusing on personal discipleship and big-picture vision . Whether you are a Champion Pastor looking to scale or an Explorer wondering if you have what it takes, this conversation provides the framework to transition from a church that gathers to a church that sends .   The Takeaway One Actionable Step: Stop managing the middle. This week, audit your calendar and identify one "management" task you can delegate to a leader. Replace that time with a one-on-one discipleship meeting with a potential "Rick"—a lay leader in your church who is available but untapped Links & Resources The Assessment: Are You Ready to Multiply? – Discover if your internal systems are holding you back from Level 4 . Connect with Dave: Exponential.org . Follow the Movement: The Multiply Project .

  11. Feb 11

    The Antioch Shift: Reclaiming Your Identity as a Multiplier | Episode 1

    Most pastors want to multiply, but few know where to find the leaders to do it. You don't need to import talent; you need to uncover it. In this inaugural episode, Craig Whitney and Jeff Bennett sit down to discuss the "Antioch Way"—a simple, repeatable operating system for churches that choose to send rather than just gather. We move past the "Jerusalem model" of addition to show you how the early church became a launching hub for the Gospel. Whether you are a Champion Pastor looking for clarity or an Explorer needing a doable model, this conversation provides the roadmap to stop being a builder and start being a multiplier. --- One Actionable Step: Look at your current leaders through the "What to Who" shift. Identify one person in your church who has a leadership "spark" but isn't on staff. Take them to lunch this week and ask: "What has God put on your heart for this city? --- Links & Resources The Book: The Antioch Way by Craig Whitney Free Resource: Church Planter Scouting Guide Connect: Multiply Project Website

  • 11 Episodes

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Most pastors want to multiply, but few know where to find the leaders to do it. The Multiply Project Podcast is for pastors who are ready to move from addition to multiplication. We believe you don't need to import talent; you need to uncover it. There are church planters in your church right now. Join us for honest, peer-to-peer conversations about calling, equipping, and sending from within. We sit down with practitioners, planters, and network leaders to share the actual tools and "trenches" stories you need to build a pipeline. Stop waiting for a superhero to show up. Be the church that sends.

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