Converts or Disciples? Rethinking the Ghosting Problem

You preach a strong sermon. You give the invitation, hands go up, the prayer team is at the front, and ten people receive Christ. A week later, someone finally calls the numbers on those cards. Most don’t answer. Some hang up when they hear it’s the church. We call it ghosting, and we usually try to fix it with a better follow-up system. In this episode I ask a harder question. A discipleship pastor once told me that about 80% of the people she called wouldn’t take her calls. That’s not a phone problem. It’s a question about whether we’re making converts or disciples. I talk about what we invite people into when we ask for a decision, and why pulling new believers away from their families and friends can leave their faith fragile. I’ve seen this in India and Thailand, in Nigeria and Europe, and here in the US. We look at the Parable of the Sower in Mark 4, because not every silence is our fault. And I explain why handing new believers from one person to the next can feel like being passed between too many parents. With Christmas outreach just around the corner, I close with one question to ask before you plan yours: how will the people who say yes stay connected to someone they already trust? Free resource: 3 Mindset Shifts That Unlock Multiplication — resources.daretomultiply.com/3mindsetshifts More from Dare to Multiply: daretomultiply.com  

A huge idol statue. A shrine. Everything about the room said he wasn’t interested. Then he asked me to sit down and tell him a Bible story. In this solo episode of Dare to Multiply, I talk about the quiet assumptions that keep us from starting spiritual conversations, and why they’re wrong more often than we think. I share three real stories: a man with a shrine in his home in India, a waiter in Anaheim, and my Ghanaian hairstylist. I also share research showing how badly we misjudge strangers’ willingness to talk. We look at Philip and the chariot in Acts 8, Jesus’ words in John 4:35, and one simple practice anyone can use this week: start with appreciation, then offer prayer. Whether you pastor in the suburbs or make disciples among the unreached, this episode will help you open your eyes to who’s really open to God. Free resource: 3 Mindset Shifts That Unlock Multiplication Resources.daretomultiply.com/3mindsetshifts More from Dare to Multiply: daretomultiply.com

Manny Martinez had just finished teaching 40 Egyptian pastors and church planters when his translator came up with a question from the room. "Your English is so good," they wanted to know, "but you don't look American." Manny explained that his grandparents came from Mexico. The light went on. Oh, you're Mexican. The conversations went deeper from there. Manny is a mission mobilizer with Via. He spent six years in Peru mobilizing the Latino church toward unreached peoples, and now he's back in Austin, Texas, working with Latino believers and with a large North American church. Jenn Chang and I ask him what's different when you mobilize Latinos and Anglos. In many Latino churches the barrier is permission, because nothing moves without the pastor's blessing. In many Western churches, especially large ones, the barrier is comfort and a hamster wheel of programs. Manny's approach to the first is simple. He never goes around the local church. I also ask him a question I keep wrestling with: what do you do when believers are released to make disciples on the field in ways their sending churches would never allow at home? Manny answers it honestly. Jenn shares how some Thai pastors have helped by offering covering to new house churches. And Manny tells the story of Ronald and Glenda Chunga, who now lead the mobilization work in Peru and do it better, he says, than he ever could. Maybe you pastor a congregation with Latino families in it. Maybe you're a practitioner watching God raise up workers from the global South. Either way, this conversation will stretch how you think about who goes, and who sends. Learn more about Via at vianations.org. Free resource: 3 Mindset Shifts That Unlock Multiplication — resources.daretomultiply.com/3mindsetshifts

"How do I grow my church?" Dave Ferguson calls it a good question. It's just not a great one. Dave was lead pastor of COMMUNITY Christian Church in Chicago for thirty years and now leads Exponential, the organization behind the 16% Mission. In this episode of Dare to Multiply, he explains the Level Three magnet that keeps growing churches from reproducing. He also shares RPMs, the four-minute daily check that keeps leaders from drifting, and the reason you will always reproduce who you are and what you do. We compare how Dave defines a multiplier with how those of us in Disciple Making Movements use the word. He closes with two shifts any leader can make right away, starting with always having an apprentice. Whether you lead a growing congregation in the suburbs or train movement leaders in Africa and Asia, this conversation will help you check your own gauges and start asking the kingdom question: How do we reproduce and multiply God's kingdom?

What kind of disciples are we actually multiplying? Cynthia talks with Josh Benadum, author of A Life That Leads, about the character qualities that hold up under pressure — self-will, gentleness, teachability — and why ambition for multiplication can quietly become its own form of self-will. A candid conversation for any leader who wants their multiplication to outlast their name.

Fear is the exact opposite of faith — and Cynthia says it's never passive. In this episode, she tells her own story from a restricted-access country in Central Asia, shares what friends are facing right now in Asia under growing anti-conversion laws, and names the quieter Western version of the same fear: hesitating to mention Jesus to a coworker, or being willing to go against a church's unbiblical traditions for the sake of the Kingdom. Anchored in Ephesians 6:19-20, the episode closes with a practical challenge to turn your own fears into faith this week. 🎁 Grab the free 3 Mindset Shifts guide: resources.daretomultiply.com/3mindsetshifts

In this episode, Pyry Winter gives us a raw, hopeful look at how disciple‑making becomes movement — not through programs, but through ordinary people who refuse to stay passive. He shares why Finland’s lonely, secular culture is actually ripe for harvest, how experience beats information, and why breakthrough often comes only after years of faithfulness. If you’re wondering how the Kingdom breaks through in your own context, this conversation will reframe the way you see community, courage, and multiplication.

In this episode, Jenn and Steven share about how to live and serve out of an abiding life in Christ. They share their own story of ministry difficult and burnout into discovering the secret of union with Christ. They walk through John 15 and also the life and example of Hudson Taylor, a missionary known as "a man in Christ." Additional Resources mentioned in this episode: 1) Abide in Christ by Andrew Murray https://link.amazon/B09VDpJxa/ 2) Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray https://link.amazon/B0fVNbLcb/ 3) Union With Christ Blog Post on MissionsLeaders.com Union With Christ (Part 1) – The Problem - The Missions Leaders Blog and Union with Christ https://missionsleaders.com/union-with-christ/ (Part 2) – Surrender and Receive - The Missions Leaders Blog https://missionsleaders.com/union-with-christ-2/ 4) Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret https://link.amazon/B0eWkXaBY/  

"It's irresponsible — maybe even unbiblical — to let a brand-new believer lead." Cynthia tackles that objection head-on, unpacking what 1 Timothy 3:6 actually says, two different ways leaders default to control, and why Jesus released new believers same-day rather than someday. Recorded just before her own sabbatical begins — and living the lesson as she records it.

Disciple-making rarely fizzles because people stop caring — it fizzles because nothing around them supports what they're trying to do. In this episode Cynthia Anderson and Jenn Chang explore why team and church culture are essential to sustaining multiplication, what leaders get wrong, and one honest diagnostic question every practitioner needs to sit with. Practical, story-driven, and for anyone who wants to build something that outlasts them. 📖 Free guide mentioned in this episode: 3 Mindset Shifts That Unlock Multiplication — resources.daretomultiply.com/3mindsetshifts