Consider the story of the Flipside Christian Church of Madera Ranchos. The church’s style is described by the pastor as a “rock concert party at church.” The church invites people to church by giving out shot glasses in local bars and liquor stores with a slogan that says “Give Us a Shot.” The church has the ambitious goal of planting a church near every town along the 99 corridor between Madera and Bakersfield—thirty churches in thirty years.

This is just part of Satan’s two-pronged deception. He desires both to promote false church growth and stifle biblical church growth. Because of Satan’s tactics of fear and confusion, many pastor’s have unwittingly shrugged their responsibility to plant churches.

Consider the three main options for planting churches.

1. Colleges taking responsibility for starting new churches.

2. Church planters taking responsibility for starting new churches.

3. Local churches taking responsibility for starting new churches.

Of these three options, only option #3 has the potential for exponential growth. Unfortunately, it’s the option that has been least taught in good Baptist Bible colleges for the past several decades.

Unintended Consequences

I purchased a book in 1972 titled Planting the Independent Fundamental Church.This book is a collection of very helpful church planting articles written by fourteen different fundamental Baptist church planters, including great men such as Dr. Monroe Parker, Dr. Bill Rice, Sr., Dr. Tom Malone, and Dr. Otis Holmes. These were great men who planted great churches.

But the forward of the book reveals why my generation of preachers don’t often get excited about planting churches out of their own church:

This is a textbook for young preachers who are learning how to build independent, Bible-believing churches…. With the 1971 academic year,Bob Jones University embarked on a program of church planting. God has given us the burden of establishing at least twenty-five new churches each year, for if America is yet to be spared the judgment of God and to be given an opportunity for spiritual revival, there must be Scriptural churches through which God can work. (Planting the Independent Fundamental Church, page 7)

The underlying philosophy assumes that individual church planters and colleges start churches. Please understand, I’m not trying to be critical of this book’s contents or the great men who contributed them. The intent of the book was to help see churches planted—a great thing. But because of the unintended consequences of this philosophy, hundreds—if not thousands—of pastors were released from their God-given responsibility to start churches. After all, there were good colleges and church planters willing to assume this responsibility, and the average pastor has enough to do without adding “start church” to his project list.

I praise the Lord for every independent Baptist church that is started, no matter who starts it. Paul said in Philippians 1:18, “What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.” I was saved, baptized, and married in a church that was started by a church planter, Dave Barba, supported by Bob Jones University. I am eternally thankful for the impact a church planter had on my life, but there is a better way.

Gospel Math

The very first time the word churches (plural) is mentioned in the Bible we find the word multiplied. “Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied” (Acts 9:31). It’s interesting that in Acts 2:41, 2:47, and 5:14, the Bible says that believers were added. But when you reach Acts 9:31, it says that the churches were multiplied. Churches were drastically increasing the reach of the Gospel by multiplying themselves.

What would happen if every independent Baptist pastor would assume their responsibility to start multiple churches out of his local church? Let’s look what would happen if ten-thousand independent Baptist churches reproduce themselves every five years and teach the new churches to do the same:

An additional 2,550,000 churches in forty years! Only one word describes this increase—revival. This would be approximately twenty-five times more independent Baptist churches than we have today. This would represent twenty-five times more converts, baptisms, missionaries, financial resources, and spiritual influence over our nation.

This would be an incredible increase, but this is our actual track record—in the last forty years we have seen an increase of approximately ten-thousand new independent Baptist churches.

If we will ever see a revival in America, we must have a revival in church planting. The solution to America’s problems is in the local church—the pillar and ground of the truth. “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15).

If I were the devil, I would promote a philosophy that places the burden of church-planting on just a few colleges or “church planters” and removed it from the agenda of local churches. In fact, if I were the devil, I would keep things just as they are.