Dinner with Neil

I had the great honor and privilege to have dinner with Neil Cole the other night. I heard, on a whim, that he was headed to Otown for a church planting conference. Of course, as providence would have it, that day was a Campus Crusade for Meetings day. I asked my compadre John Waidley (Intercultural Ministries guru in California) for Neil’s contact info – on the outside chance I could grab some time with him.

So on Monday evening I found myself sitting with Neil and Mark and Kristi Gauthier, Carrie Walker and the fantabulous Linda. And I have to say – I love the way Neil thinks and the information he has put to paper. And it is not just information – he is not just spouting theory, but really trusting the Lord to build organic rapidly multiplying church movements. We bought Neil a big steak and then proceeded to ask him so many questions he could barely eat the thing.

There were many nuggets of wisdom put forth, but here is one I found intriguing: Neil asked . . . . What is your goal? If it is to plant 50 churches [movements] then add couple of more zeros. If your strategy cannot get you to 500,000 then you are doing addition and not multiplication. If you start with the essence of multiplication, then top end is attainable.

Neil – thanks for the time. I look forward to more conversations.