INTRODUCTION

Pull Up a Chair

There’s a place at the table for you.

And not just any table. This one is different. It’s not crowded with egos, titles, or performance metrics. It’s not reserved for the elite few who’ve “arrived” in leadership. No, this table is sacred space—where leaders are formed, hearts are healed, and multiplication begins.

This is the Multiply Table. And it just might be what the church needs now more than ever.

We live in a moment when the pace of ministry is fast, the pressure is heavy, and the call to make disciples often gets drowned out by the call to keep up. Pastors are tired. Leaders are stretched. Churches are struggling to raise up the next generation. And if we’re honest, the idea of developing leaders—let alone multiplying them—can feel like another overwhelming task on an already packed calendar.

But what if multiplication wasn’t another thing to do?

What if it was a way of life?

What if, instead of starting with strategy sessions or leadership pipelines, we started with something more ancient, more intimate—more like Jesus?

The Table Jesus Built

When Jesus wanted to change the world, he didn’t build a platform. He set a table.

He didn’t recruit a crowd. He called a few.

He didn’t launch a brand. He invested in relationships—deep, consistent, life-on-life relationships that formed the foundation of a movement that’s still multiplying today.

Think about it. Jesus spent the majority of his time walking with the few, not preaching to the masses. Time spent around tables. Walking along dusty roads. In quiet moments of challenge, correction, and encouragement. He was intentionally forming leaders—not just informing them.

And Paul got it. That’s why he told Timothy, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2). That’s four generations of multiplication: Paul → Timothy → Reliable People → Others.

The pattern is clear. The method is relational. The fruit is generational.

But somewhere along the way, many of us traded tables for training events, presence for performance, and people for programs. And while those things have value, they can’t replace the slow, sacred work of investing in leaders the way Jesus did—up close, over time, at the table.

Why This Book

This book was born out of both conviction and experience.

For over four decades, I’ve had the joy and challenge of developing leaders in local churches, ministry networks, and global contexts. I’ve sat across tables from emerging pastors, marketplace leaders, discouraged church planters, and faithful volunteers who felt overlooked, under-equipped, or unsure of their calling.

What I’ve discovered is this: Leadership multiplication doesn’t happen in a classroom or a conference alone—it happens in relationship. But it also requires healthy leaders. You can’t multiply what you don’t have, and you can’t sustain what you haven’t stewarded. (We’ll address this more fully in the bonus chapter.)

It happens when someone sees potential in another person and says, “Come sit with me.”

It happens when we make space at the table—not just to teach, but to listen. Not just to equip, but to walk alongside. Not just to give answers, but to ask better questions.

This book isn’t a formula. It’s a framework.

It’s not about creating clones. It’s about cultivating kingdom carriers—leaders who will multiply others not by copying your style, but by embracing Jesus’ way of life and leadership.

This book is for pastors, planters, mentors, coaches, and network leaders who are tired of going it alone and hungry to see God raise up leaders around them.

It’s also for anyone who has ever wondered, Do I have what it takes to lead others? Spoiler alert: You do. And this book will show you how.

What You’ll Find Here

The Multiply Table is built on a simple but powerful invitation: Come to the table to be discipled, developed, and deployed.

In these pages, you’ll discover a biblical and practical model for relational discipleship and leadership development; the Four Seats of the Multiply Table: Discover, Develop, Deploy, and Multiply; how to identify and invest in leaders who will multiply others; discussion guides to help you process personally or with your team (see appendix); and tools and templates to help you build your own Multiply Table in your context.

You’ll discover how faithful multiplication becomes movement, and how the table Jesus set two thousand years ago is still calling leaders today.

Each chapter is designed to give you both inspiration and ideas for implementation. You’ll find biblical principles, real stories, and practical steps you can start using right away.

But more than that, I hope you’ll feel the invitation behind the words: You don’t have to build this alone, there’s a seat for you at the table, and someone is waiting for you to pull up a chair for them.

The Vision Ahead

Imagine a church where every leader has someone pouring into them and someone they’re pouring into.

Imagine a movement where leadership isn’t about climbing higher but about inviting others deeper.

Imagine networks of churches where multiplication isn’t an initiative, it’s a culture.

That’s the dream. And it doesn’t start with a stage. It starts with a table.

Just like Jesus.

So whether you’re a seasoned pastor longing to see more fruit in your final chapter, a young leader wondering how to take your next step, or a ministry team looking for a shared vision of discipleship and development, this book is for you.

How to Use This Book

You can read this book alone, but it’s designed to be experienced at a table with others. Consider these different ways of utilizing the book: reading it with your leadership team and discussing each chapter together; using it as a guide for mentoring an emerging leader one-on-one; working through it with a cohort of peers who are also building Multiply Tables.

However you engage with it, my prayer is that you’ll not just read about multiplication—you’ll begin practicing it.

Pull up a chair.

Let’s multiply.

CHAPTER 1

The Chain of Multiplication

“One of the highest honors a man can have is to be the link in the chain that brings another soul to Christ.” —Attributed to Charles Spurgeon

Most people want their lives to matter during their short time on earth. We want to make not just a temporal difference, but a lasting one. As Christ-followers, our desire is to make an eternal difference in the world. In short, we want our lives to multiply.

No matter who you are, the best way to multiply the impact of your life is to leave an indelible imprint of yourself in the lives of others. As a proud father, and now a delighted grandfather, I am most pleased when I see myself reflected in the lives of my children. I love hearing them say what I once said, repeating my words as if they were their own wisdom.

Now imagine if you were to imprint your life and see yourself reflected in the lives of others, and then have that imprint repeated over and over again in generations beyond you. This is the process Jesus had in mind when he gave his disciples the Great Commission.

More Than a Decision

As communicators of the gospel, we sometimes sell the process of discipleship short. Too often we have reduced the gospel to this: “Come to Jesus so you can go to heaven when you die.” Certainly, there is eternal truth in that statement and a simplicity to the gospel when deciding to follow Jesus.

I was eight years old when I first understood the gospel. Even though I wasn’t a hardened criminal, I realized I was a sinner by nature and by choice, and needed his forgiveness. The assurance I wanted was simple: When I died, I would go up to heaven and not down to that “other place.” I am thankful the gospel was communicated in a way I could understand it as a young boy.

But since that early age, I’ve learned there is so much more to following Jesus than that initial decision. I’ve grown in both knowledge and experience, realizing that salvation is the starting point—the doorway into discovering and living out God’s purpose for your life on earth.

The Radical Declaration

So what does it actually mean to follow Jesus beyond that initial decision?

The entire premise of the New Testament is that when we say, “Jesus is Lord,” we are not simply repeating a religious phrase—we are making a bold and radical declaration. We are proclaiming that our lives no longer belong to us. We have surrendered our rights, our plans, our preferences, and our identities to the authority of Jesus Christ. In that confession, we step out of the kingdom of self and into the kingdom of God.

To say “Jesus is Lord” means we no longer live for ourselves, but for the One who died for us and was raised again. It means our decisions, our relationships, our finances, our time, and our calling are all under his lordship. We don’t get to build our own empires—we are now co-laborers in building his kingdom.

This surrender leads to mission. Look at Jesus’ mission assignment to his disciples: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).

Notice what Jesus didn’t say. He didn’t say, “Go make converts.” He didn’t say, “Go build large congregations.” He said, “Go make disciples.” And here’s the crucial insight: disciples make disciples. That’s how multiplication happens. Jesus was commissioning his disciples to create a self-replicating movement that would span the globe and outlast them by centuries.

He’s saying to his disciples, “Go make more disciples who will make more disciples, who will then make more disciples.” This isn’t addition. It’s exponential multiplication.

Dr. Robert Coleman, in his classic work The Master Plan of Evangelism, captures the heart of this commission:

“…the Great Commission is not merely to go to the ends of the earth preaching the gospel (Mark 16:15), nor to baptize a lot of converts in the name of the triune God, nor teach them the precepts of Christ but to ‘make disciples’—to build people like themselves who were so constrained by the commission of Christ that they not only followed his way but led others to as well.”

A disciple is simply a follower, a student, an apprentice of a teacher. Jesus lived by example and taught his students that he is the way, the truth, and the life. Therefore, a disciple is someone who follows their teacher’s ways, has discovered his truth, and lives out the life lessons of their teacher. And then they reproduce what they’ve become.

The Unbroken Chain

One day, I had a moment of clarity that reframed everything I believed about discipleship. I realized that the process of disciple-making, which began in the early church, has never stopped. There has been an unbroken chain of multiplication from Jesus himself all the way to me, and to you.

I like to imagine one of the original disciples—maybe Peter—gripped by the power of the resurrection and filled with the Holy Spirit, taking Jesus’ words personally: “Go and make disciples.” And so he did. Peter discipled someone. That disciple, empowered and entrusted, went on to disciple someone else. And that one made another…and another…and another. For 2,000 years, that chain has continued—life to life, faith to faith, table to table—until eventually, it reached my life. And your life.

The Power of Ordinary Faithfulness

The story of my own discipleship chain can be traced back to a remarkable woman—my grandma, Anna. She was born in the late 1800s in a humble log cabin tucked into the tobacco fields of Yadkin County, North Carolina. Life was hard. Her mother, my great-grandmother, was a single mom with two young daughters to raise and very little income to depend on—just the mercy and generosity of relatives and others. At a young age, my grandmother was sent to live with another family, not for adoption, but simply to work in exchange for food, shelter, and survival.

She was just a little girl when she began working in that home, standing on a wooden box so she could reach the wash tub to scrub clothes and dishes. But here’s what changed everything: that family took her to church. Every Sunday, they brought her to a little country congregation where faithful preachers declared God’s Word and Sunday school teachers told her stories of Jesus. One wintry morning, as the gospel came alive in her heart, my grandmother surrendered her life to Christ at the Little Richmond Baptist Church near Elkin, North Carolina. Shortly after, the men of the church broke the ice in the creek behind the church, and my grandma was baptized in those frigid, mountain fed waters. I imagine heaven rejoicing as the chain of discipleship continued through her.

But her journey didn’t stop in the rolling hills of the Yadkin Valley. My grandma eventually moved to Iowa, married a farmer, and together they raised three children. Just like the family who had taken her to church, my grandparents made it their priority to pass on their faith. They regularly walked, or rode in their horse-drawn buggy, with their children down a quiet country road to a little white church called Cottage Community Church, which stood just a mile away across the cornfield from their Iowa farm. That’s where my mother met Jesus. And it’s also where I, as an eight-year-old boy, gave my life to Christ.

Your Table Awaits

The Multiply Table began long before I had language for it. It was passed through generations of faith-filled obedience. My grandma had no degree in theology, no platform or title, but she was a multiplier. Through her faithful, ordinary obedience, she introduced Jesus to her children and grandchildren—and now, multiple generations later, many of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren have gone on to serve as pastors, church planters, elders, missionaries, and disciple-makers across the globe.

That’s the power of multiplication. It doesn’t begin with strategy or stage presence. It begins with someone deciding to take Jesus’ commission personally. It begins with the courage to pass on what we’ve received. My grandma didn’t know she was a link in a divine chain, but she was. And because she was faithful, I’m here today. And so are many others.

Here’s the encouraging truth: Multiplication doesn’t require extraordinary people, just faithful ones. You don’t need impressive credentials, a large platform, or perfect circumstances to become a multiplier. Ordinary faithfulness has power. Whether you’re pastoring a rural church of fifty or leading a suburban congregation of thousands, whether you’re just starting in ministry or nearing retirement, you have everything you need to multiply leaders.

The table isn’t reserved for the gifted few—it’s set for the faithful many. And that includes you.

From Addition to Multiplication

At the heart of the Great Commission is the call to make disciples. Once the process of discipleship began after the day of Pentecost, it didn’t take long for the early church to move from addition to multiplication. Beginning with Peter’s first sermon on that historic day, the multiplication of disciples has increased exponentially ever since. Notice that multiplication first begins with addition: “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47 NKJV, emphasis mine).

Throughout my life, I have had the privilege of praying with many people to receive Christ. In doing so, I have rejoiced whenever God added even just one person to his family. In each circumstance, there was a “hallelujah” that rose in my heart, joining with the angel’s choir in heaven.

While addition is good, what if we can move beyond addition to multiplication? This is what Jesus had in mind as he was developing his own disciples to become disciple-makers themselves. Notice the rapid expansion of the church which took place shortly thereafter: “The Word of God spread, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly” (Acts 6:7 NKJV, emphasis mine).

Did you catch it? The number of disciples multiplied greatly! Something qualitatively different was happening—not just more people coming to faith, but disciples making disciples who made more disciples. They moved beyond addition to multiplication.

But how did this happen? Let’s go back to the beginning.

The Gospels end with a handful of disciples. There’s no church yet. Just a few disciples who received their marching orders: Go to Jerusalem, wait for the Holy Spirit, and then, as you go, make more disciples.

It’s clear that Jesus wanted his disciples to ultimately reach an unlimited number of people. He never intended for them to stay in the upper room. He invited them to enlarge their vision and follow his instructions.

By the time we get to the Epistles, we see believers growing in maturity, established churches, and leaders being developed and instructed in how to lead the church. In just a short time, they moved from addition to multiplication in kingdom mission.

And it all started around a table.

Your Place in the Chain

Now it’s your turn. You are part of the same unbroken chain. The question is: Who will be at your table? Who will you invite, invest in, and raise up to carry the gospel forward?

The Multiply Table is built on the idea that disciple-making is personal, intentional, and generational. It starts with one person investing in another. One conversation. One relationship. One surrendered life poured into another. That’s how the chain remains unbroken.

The early church was not built by professionals—it was built by disciples who made disciples, by followers of Jesus who invited others to the table, shared their lives, and sent them out to do the same. It happened because those disciples heeded Jesus’ call to be disciple-makers. That same call has been passed down through the centuries to us.

The Chain Continues

Multiplication is not for the few. It’s for the faithful. It can happen through you too.

The chain that brought the gospel to you is on its way to someone else. Your role isn’t to be the final link—it’s to forge the next one. At the Multiply Table, we don’t just receive; we reproduce. We don’t just follow; we form others to follow.

But how does this actually happen? What does it look like to move from theory to practice? How do we systematically discover, develop, deploy, and multiply leaders?

In the chapters ahead, we’ll explore the practical framework that makes multiplication possible. We’ll discover how ordinary believers can become extraordinary multipliers, just like my grandma. We’ll learn how to identify potential leaders, develop their character and competencies, deploy them with confidence, and help them multiply others.

The table is set. The invitation is extended. The chain continues through you.

Who will you invite to sit down?