I remember the day I met Bob Roberts. I was at the Crystal Cathedral at a conference in January of 2007, and it was a Tuesday morning. Two of my classmates and I had just had breakfast with our professor, Len Sweet. I had my first drink from Starbucks (I’m not a coffee guy so I never thought should go in. Now I’m there every week drinking my tea or apple cider.), which was conveniently located in the hotel Len was staying at. I remember that morning that I was specifically wanting to meet Bob Roberts; I told Len that he was the Southern Baptist I wanted to be.
I was sitting in the sanctuary near Len and listening to Brian Houston from Hillsong Church in Australia. In comes this guy with a weird paisley shirt. He turns and walks to Len and they talk for a while. I was still listening to Brian, because I have to write a conference report for school and I need something to say, when Len came over to me and said, “This is Bob Roberts”. So in the middle of the talk by that guy from Australia I walk over and introduce myself to Bob Roberts. We talk for a few minutes, and then I go sit down. For some reason, I felt odd about talking with someone else while the speaker was talking.
So during our lunch break, I see Bob at the book signing table, and no one around. So I mozy over and spend more time with him. He gave his email address and I was just plain giddy.
A few weeks later I had his book Glocalization in hand. I read it in four hours. I was mesmerized by the content. There are moments when I have had paradigm shifting experiences and others that succinctly brought together all I was thinking. The latter happened as I read that book. Much of what I had been thinking about was summarized in that book and it blew me away. I bought 15 or so books for my friends. I even sent one to the President of the Southern Baptist Convention, Frank Page. The resonance was astounding.
It was April when I got the call from Bob’s assistant. I really like her. He wanted to interview me for his newest book. Last month The Multiplying Church was published, and when it arrived I looked in the index to see if I had made the cut. I did (page 87, paragraph 2). I skimmed parts of it earlier, but tonight I sat down and read it all.
Bob lays out the case for church multiplication. He speaks to the large church pastor and the small church pastor about the need and benefits of multiplying the church. He talks about church planting movements as well. But what I truly loved is that he reminds us of two things. First, there are no primary church planting movements. Church planting movements are at best second tier movements. The primary movement is the Jesus movement. The focus must be on the bridegroom and our relationship with Him. It is necessary for us to fall in love with Jesus for it is out of that relationship with Jesus that disciples, not pastors or planters, initiate church planting movements. Disciples are the LCD of the movement (lowest common denominator).
The second reminder we get is that as pastors, we need to be raising up, mentoring, and resourcing potential leaders of church planting movements. He calls them Apostolic Fathers. He talks about moving from teaching them to mentoring them, which requires a complete level of transparency and investment.
Other great aspects of the book include a section on what to look for in potential church planters today. I would contend that his discussion should be engaged by leadership of all types. We need pastors who are designers and cross-disciplinary learners, mystics, and evangelists.
In his last section, he lays what it takes to start a church-starting center in a church. In this section he describes four processes to help planters get on their feet. They are initiation, assessment, partnership, and resourcing. He also spends time in this section talking about issues of family and church planting, sharing how to deal with time, stress, and marriage.
This book is a memoir of sorts, describing the lessons learned from 20+ years of church planting and the experience of planting over 100 churches across the world. It reminds us that the focus must be on Jesus. But it also helps us see the processes and thoughts of a pastor intent on seeing God transform the world.
If you are a small-minded, small worldview person, you may not like this book. The dream may just be too big for you. But you need to read it anyway. Large church pastor, read this book and understand that you can be more effective through church multiplication than growing your own big church. Small church pastor, read this book and understand that you can plant churches no matter how big you are. Heck, we’re running 50 and planted our first church last year. You can do it as well.
Bob, on a personal note, in the book you tell of a conversation with Leighton Ford. You state: “When young me would meet with him, he noticed how often they had a list of things they wanted to talk about. However, some would rarely ask about him, his ministry, or his life. Another significant global business leader I know once told me that in spite of all he did on the behalf of others, few said thank you”. I want to personally say thank you for all you invested in my life. And I hope in our talks I’ve never only wanted to talk about me. I hope I’ve given back, even if it was just a word of encouragement or showing interest in what you were doing and where you were. Bless you for being a mentor when the light wasn’t shining on you and now that it is shining on you.
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David is an entrepreneur, pastor, coach, and author. He has his doctorate from George Fox Seminary where he studied under Len Sweet, his M.Div. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and has done post graduate work in communications from the University of Alabama and the University of South Florida. He lives with his wife Brenna Phillips in Smyrna, DE. 
I look forward to reading it. Thanks for the plug.
I want to say “thank you” to you, David, for my copy of Glocalization. It had the same effect on me as it did on you. In fact, I just quoted it on another blog. Go figure.
Of course, this is in addition to trekking to Vietnam with Glocal Ventures recently – a direct result of a phone conversation with you.
Thank you for investing in me in much more substantial ways than just fixing my blog.
Thanks David. Getting books to Europe are so terribly expensive. I am, therefore, very selective in ordering them. I do look forward to reading this one. Thanks for the review. It helps me to make better choices.