At least once a week I receive a call from an aspiring planter that includes a some variation of the following question…”where is the best place in America to plant a church?” When I probe to make sure I understand the question, almost without exception I discover that by “the best place to plant a church” they mean a “fast growing” typically suburban community where the time and money investment will be quickly recovered. Such reasoning certainly makes sense if the only consideration is going after the “low hanging fruit.”

A major problem with this approach is that everyone is doing it. Go to any fast growing suburban community and you will find a bunch of new church start ups.  Typically, these new start ups are pursuing a similar strategy… good marketing, excellence in presentation, relevance in message, cool brand… And so, in the “best place to plant in America” you end up with a group of planters playing a game of “our church is better than the other churches.” And only the very best survive. And as I’ve pointed out in other blogs, David Olson’s research indicates that when the dust settles they’ve mostly succeeded in playing a good game of musical pews. 

So maybe a better question to guide our planting efforts is “where will I find the right place to plant a church?” Since there are unreached/disconnected people everywhere and God loves them all then it stands to reason that He’s not just calling multipliers to the fastest growing suburbs. He also cares about rural America, tough urban places and communities that aren’t fast growing. Places like Scranton. I have a feeling that God is calling people to the harder places, but His still small voice is being drowned out by the stampede scrambling to the fast growing suburbs.

It’s time to stop. And listen. Maybe He is calling you to a fast growing place. But it’s actually more likely He’s calling you to a place like Scranton. God loves people there too.

The AG family of churches is postured to be a significant part of a spiritual revolution in America. We’ve got a solid base of over 12,000 existing churches and a visionary leader in Dr. George Wood who is serious about reaching the millions of Americans who are currently disconnected from the Church.

Multiplicity is our annual get together for doers, dreamers and leaders of church multiplication efforts. This year, we literally have something for everyone. Whether you are parenting, satelliting, planting, thinking about planting, leading planters…anyone who does anything connected to multiplication will find something helpful in this years edition of Multiplicity. Dr. George Wood will also be sharing his passion and vision for planting with us and answering your questions about whatever you care to ask. 

Our theme is Zero…because that is where every journey of faith begins. You’ll hear from and interact with multiplication leaders who have stared “zero” in the eye and then believed God to provide everything they need to do what he’s called them to do. You’ll hear from some of the nationally known leaders in the world of multiplication along with a diverse group of lesser known but very anointed leaders who are part of God’s plan to multiply His Kingdom everywhere to everyone. We’ve also selected a location that is easy to get to…CT Church is only 5 minutes from Houston Hobby airport, a Southwest Airlines destination…which means even if you need to fly, the travel cost is minimal.

So check out the website and register today. Readers of this blog can benefit from our discount code that will save you $90 off the full registration price. Simply enter 2008ZERO in the discount code blank and you will receive the lower price. We also have even better deals for teams who register together. We’re only a month out from the conference so don’t delay!  

Jay Covert is a US Missionary multiplier in East St. Louis, Illinois. Three years ago, Jay arrived in East St. Louis with a lot of faith and little else. East St. Louis is a challenging place and most observers didn’t have much hope that Jay could be successful. This morning I received the following note from Jay.

“Hey UO Pastoral Friends,

We planted the UO Church in East Saint Louis on July 9, 2006 in a small one room store front building. For 2 years we averaged upper 30’s to mid 40’s in attendance then we were given the task and challenge to renovate and revitalize the Washington Park Church and replant a new work there all the while renovate an abandon building in ESL for our 3rd sanctuary expansion.

I had no reservation on launching the second work, I have been looking forward to this for a long time expecting for a great harvest but if today is an indication of what happens when a small church installs, releases and mothers a daughter church plant then wow!!! In just two shorts weeks we have grown triple in numbers then meeting on Sunday mornings 116 weeks in one place!

Pastor Tommy Smith @ Washington Park had 48 folks in service today, today we moved into our new sanctuary in East Saint Louis and it was pretty much a normal service BUT we had 69 folks in attendance. Praise God! We grew almost triple with 117 folks in attendance in two locations verses holding on to folks in just one location.

God is awesome and we believe the increase and harvest in these two cities is being released. Church Planting is vital if we are going to reach and change our communities all across Illinois. If a small inner city church in a very poverished city can do it then just think what your church can do with the resources God has given you………….”

Thanks for sharing this great news Jay! It proves once again that God is bigger than any challenge we face. I heard a great illustration the other day. A scarecrow indicates the presence of much fruit. Jay ignored the “scarecrow” and is finding a lot of fruit. America has thousands of harvest fields guarded by “scarecrows” of crime, poverty and economic challenge. It’s time for us to run past the “scarecrows” to the harvest. That’s where we’ll find Jesus.