Several years ago, I rode shotgun in a church van during our town’s big music festival. We were doing “safe rides” back to campus—because nothing says college ministry like the combination of a church van, a late-night Taco Bell run, and a student who may or may not remember the ride the next morning.
Shelby, one of our freshmen, had spent the whole trip trying to share the gospel with a slightly tipsy student who wanted nothing to do with it. As the girl hopped out of the van, Shelby tried one last time and asked, “Can I pray for you?”
And when she did—I kid you not—she sounded exactly like her dad. Same cadence. Same gentle tone. Same pauses. If I closed my eyes, all I could picture was her dad praying with an 18-year-old voice.
Afterward I teased her: “You pray like your dad.” She shrugged and said something that has stuck with me ever since:
“I should pray like my dad. He’s prayed with me every day of my life.”
That’s multiplication. Not programs. Not pipelines. Not another event. But a life so deeply invested in another life that the heart, habits, and hunger for God are passed down almost subconsciously.
Multiplication is caught more than taught. It’s less about head knowledge and more about spiritual DNA. And if we want to multiply disciples—not just fill calendars—we need new thought patterns, new paradigms, new mental pictures. Here are five.
1. The Field Over the Room
Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” He never said, “The chairs are empty—go fill the pews.”
Rooms are great. I love rooms with people in them. It’s my love language. They make me feel like I’m doing something right. But rooms can deceive us. You can cram people into a building and still not impact your city or campus.
The field, however—the actual places where lost people live, work, study, and avoid eye contact at the grocery store—that’s where multiplication happens.
During the pandemic, ministries scrambled to recreate the “room” online. We measured livestream numbers as if Jesus was up in heaven refreshing the YouTube dashboard. But Jesus never prayed for better attendance. He prayed for workers.
When we value the field, we celebrate ministry that happens outside our walls more than inside them. We train our people for their own personal ministry, not just to run our programs.
And here’s the sneaky, wonderful thing: if you stock your ministry with workers instead of attenders, the room eventually fills anyway—just for the right reasons.
2. The Table Over the Platform
If you’ve ever been to my house, you know it’s controlled chaos. My wife Bethany and I raised four young kids while leading a college ministry. It was a season powered by caffeine, prayer, and the faint smell of Goldfish crackers.
Years later, student after student still tells me, “Your wife made the biggest impact on my spiritual life.” Remember—Bethany wasn’t on staff. At that time, she was a stay-at-home mom. She had no platform. No microphone. No Instagram ministry brand.
What she did have was a table.
She invited young women into the chaos—folding laundry, chopping vegetables, wiping noses—and she shared her life. The Apostle Paul said, “We were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” Bethany did that. And it multiplied.
You can impress from a distance, but you impact up close. A sermon might inspire someone for 30 minutes. A relationship shapes them for a lifetime. Those same students don’t remember one of the sermons that I worked so hard on, but they remember how Bethany sat with them and shared life.
If you want to multiply disciples, spend less time polishing your platform and more time pulling up chairs at your table.
3. DNA Over Appearance
My grandmother grew the ugliest tomatoes you’ve ever seen. Misshapen. Splotchy. Not fit for a grocery store display. But man—they tasted like summer itself. Put them in the ground and next year the same amazing tomatoes will spring up.
The shiny supermarket tomatoes? Beautiful. Red. Symmetrical. Sterile as a surgeon’s scalpel. Plant their seeds and you’ll grow…nothing.
They look the part. They just can’t reproduce.
Many churches are full of shiny people who know how to look like disciples but have never spiritually multiplied. Not because they’re bad people—but because no one ever taught them how.
But multiplication does not start with appearance. It starts with spiritual DNA—faithfulness, availability, initiative, teachability, and a heart for God.
Do we train the ones who “look the part”? Or the ones with Kingdom DNA who might not dress like a worship pastor from Instagram? God looks at the heart.
Jesus picked fishermen who smelled like low tide. Why? DNA.
4. Calling Over Comfort
Let’s be honest. Comfort is easier. Comfort means predictable schedules, quiet nights, and ministries where no one rocks the boat. Comfort loves volunteers who show up, smile, and don’t cause trouble.
But calling? Calling disrupts things.
Called people see needs and start knocking on your office door with ideas. Called people ask annoying questions like, “Why aren’t we reaching those students?” or “Can I start a Bible study in that apartment complex?” Called people make you uncomfortable in the best way.
Comfort creates consumers. Calling creates missionaries.
Guess which one multiplies?
5. Repetition Over New Information
We live addicted to “new”—new series, new logos, new curriculum, new strategies. But anyone who has discipled someone knows the truth: people aren’t transformed by fresh content. They’re transformed by consistent repetition.
Jesus repeated Himself constantly. Paul repeated himself constantly. Every parent repeats themselves every single day (“Brush your teeth” and “stop punching your brother” are my spiritual gifts.)
Multiplication requires repetition:
– Repeating the gospel
– Repeating the basics of prayer
– Repeating Scripture memory
– Repeating obedience
– Repeating mission
We don’t need to teach more—we need to review more.
Repetition turns beliefs into habits, and habits into a lifestyle. That’s where multiplication begins.
Multiplication is a Life Worth Copying
Multiplication isn’t complicated. It’s costly, but not complicated. It happens when you:
– Walk into the harvest instead of waiting in a room.
– Share your table more than your platform.
– Look for spiritual DNA over outward polish.
– Chase calling instead of clinging to comfort.
– Teach the same truths until they stick and spread.
Shelby didn’t pray like her dad because someone gave her a workbook. She prayed like him because he prayed with her every day of her life.
That’s the heart of multiplication:
Live a life worth copying—and give it away on repeat.
Clayton Bullion is the Director of Via Students. You can follow him on Instagram @bullionclayton.
