Why Plant Churches?

 

Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis, and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

Some have said, “There is no command in the Bible telling us to plant churches. Why do you spend so much energy on church planting?” The assertion that there is no biblical command saying, “Go plant new churches!” is true. But the statement is misleading. When the apostles heard Jesus’ command recorded in Matthew 28:19,20 given on the day of his ascension, shortly before the day of Pentecost, they put His word into practice by planting churches. They planted their first church in Jerusalem. But from there they continued church planting through Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth, just as he had commanded. When we plant churches, we follow the example of Jesus’ apostles.

But why plant churches?

The Great Commission is grounded in the Great Commandment to love God and neighbor. Jesus’ call to love our neighbors as ourselves is the basis for making disciples by planting churches. Most church planters’ hearts overflow with love for those who do not yet know Christ. Does yours?

We plant churches because the love of God constrains us. We long for many, not just a few, to be reconciled to God, to experience the abundant life in Christ, to know the Good Shepherd, to live confidently and full of hope. So, we plant churches.

And we long for transformation, for liberation, for peace, and harmony. We know that only God can bring redemption. We know that only the Messiah can fulfill the deepest longings of our neighbors. But we also know that community is God’s idea and that communities are a big part of God’s plan for blessing the world. He guided Adam towards blessing when He said, “It is not good that man should be alone.” This of course applies to marriage. But it also can be applied to other communities like churches.

We plant churches because we love the blessing that is shared when followers of Jesus unite in faith, when they come together in one accord, when they submit together to the Lordship of Christ. So many people in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas who enjoy the fellowship and sense of community that comes with being a member of a healthy church say “I never experienced love like this in my family. This church is a wonderful blessing to me!”

So, we plant churches because we want people to experience authentic community where they walk in the light, as Jesus is in the light, and they enjoy life giving fellowship.

Why do we plant churches? It’s all about love. We follow the example of Jesus who loved us and gave himself for us. If you are starting to plant churches, don’t quit. If you have planted many churches, don’t quit. Church planting is love at work.

This has been “Multiply,” and I’m Dean Davis asking, “Who will you share this encouraging word with today?”

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #PlantChurches

Leadership Development - What Do We Mean by Leadership?

 

    This is Chuck Rapp with Multiply, a podcast to provide a word of encouragement for village church planters and leaders.

Our topic for 2026 is Leadership Development. Today I want to begin by addressing some fundamental understandings of leadership … what it is – and perhaps more importantly – what it is not.

For the past 33 years, I have adhered to the following leadership definition shared by a Sunday School teacher I had during our years living in Belgium. He brought both a military and a biblical Christian perspective as he taught us about leadership.

Leadership is the ability to influence people through consistent obedience to God’s commands.

​​​- Lt. Colonel Gene Klann, NATO, 1993

I like the directness and simplicity of this definition.

* Leadership is about influence more than power or authority

* Godly leaders must be consistent in our obedience to God. People will choose not to follow those who are hypocritical.

* The foundation of our leadership must be fidelity to the Word of God and the instruction of the Holy Spirit.

Here is a second description that applies very well to Christ-honoring leaders. This comes from Dr. Robert Clinton.

A leader is a person with

1. God-given capacity, and

2. With God-given responsibility to influence

3. A specific group of God’s people

4. Toward God’s purposes for the group ​​​-

I appreciate his clarity.

* A leader’s capacity comes from God (more on this in a moment)

* Leadership is a responsibility entrusted to us from the Lord (again, more on this in a moment)

* Leadership is about influence and not coercion

* Leaders lead groups of people in order to achieve the purposes of God. This aligns with our description last year of a steward leader as “someone who manages resources belonging to another person in order to achieve the owner’s objectives.”

I have two more observations to share today.

1. Leadership is a spiritual gift. In Romans 12:8, Paul wrote about spiritual gifts, and he had this to say. “If [ones gift] is to lead, do it diligently.”

2. Leadership is also a calling. Acts 13:2 shares the experience of Saul and Barnabas.  “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ These two were called to be leaders in the early Church, and God still calls and raises up leaders today.  

May we be open and receptive to God’s calling and gifting in our lives.  May we also be attentive to those around us as we are intentional to identify and equip new leaders.

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters and leaders.

Leadership Development - Introduction to Our 2026 Series

This is Chuck Rapp with Multiply, a podcast to provide a word of encouragement for village church planters and leaders. 

Our topic for 2025 was steward leadership, and today we launch into 2026 with a new series on Leadership Development. This year’s theme was prompted by a conversation I had in early December at a Coalition of the Willing meeting in Lome. 

I was asked by JJ, the leader of the Coalition of the Willing work, “what would it take for VCP to double in the next 5 years?”  That was a great question; one that I pondered for a few moments. 

It believe it was the Lord who quickly brought to my realization that VCP already HAS doubled in the past 5 years. Pre-Covid, VCP had about 350 training centers in 19 countries; today we are working in 36 nations with nearly 900 training centers. We praise God for this growth. 

To return to JJ’s insightful question, the Lord showed me that our limitation is not funds. The Lord has repeatedly demonstrated His provision to us. 

I believe that our current limitation to further growth lies with the need to identify, raise up, equip and empower more leaders. We need more VCP trainers, coordinators and supervisors. We need more Church Multiplication Facilitators and support personnel in the US. We need more skilled mapping technicians in Africa, and we need more African and western project managers. Undergirding all this, we need more pray-ers. 

Consequently, in 2026, this podcast series will be devoted to Leadership Development.  Supervisors and coordinators, I am speaking to you right now. I need your help translating and passing along these episodes to those whom you are leading.

I would also ask you to be intentional in your efforts to identify, equip, mentor, empower and release emerging leaders. Here is an important principle to consider. Leaders, until you have prepared someone to succeed you, you cannot be considered for promotion. I want to repeat that. Leaders, until you have identified and prepared a successor, you won’t be promoted; you are still the only person capable of performing your current role. 

I will close this episode with Jesus’s view of leadership from Matthew 20:25-28. Godly leaders are called to serve those whom we lead. 

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters and leaders.

 

A Word of Encouragement for the New Year

     This is Multiply, a podcast for Village Church planters, pastors, and Christian leaders, and we are your host Brad and Daneille Snowden. Happy New Year. 

I cannot believe that we’re already approaching a brand-new year. Over 2000 years ago, in the Gregorian calendar, New Year’s began to be celebrated on January 1. It goes way back to the Babylonian in time, but the whole idea of New Year’s and everyone is resolution and what we’re going to do and want to do goals for the next year. Christians, we want to look at it as a desire to change to be more and do more for Christ so that we would be transformed. Transformed into the image of Christ in Romans 12:2b  said, be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and 2 Corinthians 3:18 says we are being transformed into his image, and this comes by more of God, more of his word, more of his presence as we worship and seek my prayer and fasting, and of course, more worship being transformed. 

This comes in the place of desiring something different. Peter and John went to the temple to pray, and the lame man cried out to them. They spoke to him as we find in Acts 3:5, a focus of what I think is important as we look to the new year approaching. Acts 3:5, and the man began to pay attention to them equally, expecting to receive something from them. (anticipate, expect) When we pray for God to be in control of our hearts in the coming year, we can wait with expectation because God is always faithful to us. We can stand in that truth that he gives us to be transformed into his image. 

This has been a word of encouragement for village church planters.

Steward Leadership - Thanks to the Entire Podcast Team

      This is Chuck Rapp with Multiply, a podcast to provide a word of encouragement for village church planters

and leaders.

As we close out 2025, in this episode I want to say a big thanks to the many people who make possible the

Multiply podcasts.

 Brad and Daneille Snowden who faithfully distribute the podcasts

 The Snowdens also write and record many Multiply podcasts, with a focus on  many topics.

Dean Davis provides podcasts that accompany VCP training topics

 Many thanks to all those who diligently translate Multiply podcasts into local languages and then

distribute them to others. We do not have an accurate count of how many languages Multiply is

shared in, and we have no idea how many people receive these podcasts.

Special thanks to the trainers in our VCP training centers. The training centers are the “engine” that

propels VCP – and Christ’s Kingdom – forward.

Lastly, I want to express my deep appreciation for VCP Director Claude Douti, to our 10 VCP

Supervisors and to our nearly 100 coordinators. Your faithfulness and diligence in your service is

inspiring

May God Bless us all.

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters and leaders.

The Greatest Story Ever Told

  Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis, and this is “Multiply,” the podcast

that provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

One of the most beautiful features of the Village Church Planting training

program is its focus on telling God’s Big Story by telling individual Bible stories

in chronological order. At Christmas time, maybe more than any other time of

the year, we need to remember God’s Big Story and tell it to all who will

listen.

The world we live in is broken. We see brokenness all around us. But this was

not God’s original design. God created the world so that we could experience

his love and so we could love one another. The world he created was good. But

the first man, Adam, and the first woman, Eve disobeyed God. Their rebellion

brought brokenness to our world. God saw that the descendants of Adam and

Eve could not and would not turn back to him.

So, He took matters into his own hands. He called a man name Abram to follow

him. God said to Abram, “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

The descendants of Abram knew God, but they persisted in their sin and

rebellion. God sent many prophets to teach them, correct them, and guide

them in a better way. But they continued in their rebellion.

Finally, 2,000 years after calling Abram, in the fulness of time, God sent his

one and only Son to be born in Bethlehem. A song called “King of Kings” tells

it this way:

In the darkness we were waiting

Without hope, without light

“til form Heaven You came running

There was mercy in Your eyes

To fulfill the law and prophets

To a virgin came the word

From a throne of endless glory

To a cradle in the dirt

That’s right, God sent his Son to take on flesh and face the life we face. God so

loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, so that whoever puts their

trust in Him may have abundant, eternal life. Jesus was confronted with

challenges, threats, and temptations just as we are. Yet he faced them all

without rebelling against God. In everything he did, Jesus showed love for God

and love for his neighbor. But sinful men nailed Him to a cross. Jesus the Son of

God, bled and died. But on the third day He rose from the dead. He came once

to show the way, to suffer, and to die. He is coming again to rule over a new

heaven and a new earth in which there will be no more sorrow and no more

tears. So, we love him, we trust him and we obey him. And we rejoice as we

await his second coming.

This is God’s Big Story. The story of Christmas when his Son took on flesh and

became one of us is an important part of that Big Story. So, tell it well and tell

it often; tell others and tell it over again to yourself. Tell it to your family and

your church. Tell it to your village and your nation. It is the greatest story ever

told!

This has been “Multiply,” and I’m Dean Davis asking, “Who will you share this

encouraging word with today?

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #MobilizeGifts #HumanResources

Steward Leadership - VCP Supervisor Peter Baraka's Leadership Values

 This is Chuck Rapp with Multiply, a podcast to provide a word of encouragement for village church planters and leaders.

During 2021 I shared three leadership values of VCP Supervisor Peter Baraka, and today I would like to highlight them once again.  

1. A good leader listens well and understands others’ perspectives.

When I asked Peter about his leadership values, listening with empathy was his first point. One might ask, “Why is it important for a good leader to listen well in order to understand others’ perspectives?”

I would suggest that the following are some of the results:

o We demonstrate that we love and value others when we listen and understand them

o Active listening – with the goal to understand – yields increased mutual trust and respect

o Understanding others’ perspectives enables us to make better, more informed decisions

o Receiving others’ counsel may help us avoid mistakes

o Understanding others’ perspectives usually reduces tension and conflict between two parties

 

2. Godly leaders are not afraid of criticism

Leadership is a challenging calling, and if you’ve been a leader for any time at all, you know that it is impossible to please everyone. Inevitably as a leader, you will receive criticism. Some of it will likely be valid, and some will not be.

As Christ followers, we can be assured of our security in Him and our acceptance in Him (Ephesians 1:6). Furthermore, 2 Corinthians 3:5 reminds us “that we are not competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.”

Because it is God who justifies us; because we are secure in Christ; and because our competence and abilities come from him, then – I would suggest – that our proper response is to seek to obey, serve and please an Audience of One.  

3. We must love those we lead.

Peter’s final leadership value is the imperative to love.

When Jesus taught his disciples in Matthew 20:25-27, He … “called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.’”  

As good and godly leaders demonstrate their genuine love for their followers, several positive things happen:

* Followers feel appreciated and motivated.  Their commitment to the vision increases.

* Relationships and loyalty with one’s followers develops and then becomes strengthened. Teamwork and hard work follow.

* There is forgiveness for unintended mistakes or offenses

* You begin to “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2), to pray for one another, and to provide practical support for each other.

* Kingdom work advances because everyone is working for a common Purpose.  

Let us love well those whom we lead.

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.