About Us

1.    Name & Motto: Early in 2019, Ben & Jody led a small group of families to begin preparations to start planting a new church adopting the name “Multiply” Christian.

o  Several of the families and individuals first on the launch team were formerly members of “Havendale” Christian Church, which closed in November of 2018 (after voting to donate their property for church planting efforts). We believe that HCC was the “seed of wheat” (John 12:24) God provided to start Multiply Christian.

o  The reason “Multiply” was chosen as our name comes from two scriptures: Luke 10:2 and John 12:24. We believe “the fields are ripe and ready” for God’s workers “to harvest,” and we believe the “seed of wheat” God provided should be used to plant more seeds of the gospel. In this way, our legacy will be to “multiply” the number of souls saved in the next generation of “harvesting” for God’s kingdom.

o  Our Motto: “Multiply God’s Love by Planting God’s Word.”

2.  Vision: Our *first vision has been to “Make God the priority in our lives.” We believe God wants us to faithfully pursue His kingdom and righteousness as our number one—personal and corporate—priority. 

*NOTE: In July of 2024, we decided to sell the property at 3900 Lake Blue Drive, Winter Haven, Florida. This was a direct result of faithfully following the first vision, God gave to us. We believe obedience to God's direction is key to understanding God’s next purpose for Multiply Christian beyond 2024.

3. Goal: Inspired by Revelation 7:9, we have set our **first goal to create an environment that is welcoming to everyone; no matter one's ethnic background or economic circumstances.

o  In Revelation, the Apostle John describes Heaven as a place where everyone has a seat at the table regardless of personal history, family background, ethnicity, or economic well-being; a place where “every nation and tribe and people and language” gather and worship before the throne.

o  As part of Christ’s Church, we want to faithfully reflect the truths of Heaven as best as we can. Therefore, reaching out to our community with the “Havendale Food Pantry” as well as sharing our worship spaces with two Spanish-speaking congregations and a 24/7 Prayer Room were important to us. All three ministries needed a place to meet and we were able to help. Both our efforts to feed the community and to provide ministry space to other ministries have been rewarding to the members of Multiply Christian and have boosted our reputation in the community.

**NOTE: Since the sale of our campus, our goals and vision need refining and redefining by God. Currently, we believe God’s next goal for Multiply Christian is to: “Create environments where disciple-making will thrive.”

We have some interesting ideas on how to carry out this new goal, however, we’re not fully ready to act on the ideas yet. We are still praying for clarity. We want to test the ideas to be certain that they align with God’s Word and with how we see the Holy Spirit guiding us. We hope to be ready to publish our new Vision and Goals this fall (September-October 2024).

4.    Our Mission: Based on Luke 19:10 & Matthew 28:19-20 can be summarized by four "R" words: Reach, Restore, Reproduce, and Release; and one five-letter acronym: B.L.E.S.S.

o  Reach: Our mission is to reach people who are spiritually far from God. Jesus said to "Go into all the world and make disciples" (Matthew 28:19). We believe we must accept that challenge and "go" and actively be disciples who make disciples by reaching out to B.L.E.S.S. people who are far from God.

o  Restore: Another part of our mission is to restore God's kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.” As Christ followers, we feel we shouldn’t just talk about serving the needy or idly complain about the growing lack of morality in our culture. Instead, we should seek God’s guidance and learn how to address these issues and tangibly carry out solutions. Jesus said, "God has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor" (Luke 4:18). As Christ’s hands and feet, we must endeavor to bring the gospel to the needy as well as the rich! (The gospel doesn't care about someone’s economic situation or ethnicity—It cares about multiplying God's love—by bringing the good news that the one true God wants to restore His relationship with all people.

o  Reproduce: We want to see God’s kingdom multiply. To see that. we must reproduce Christ’s mission in others. Christ's desire is to see the gospel spread from "Jerusalem...Judea...Samaria...to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). To fulfill that desire, Jesus commissioned His followers to make disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples. Therefore, at Multiply we’re trying our best to apprentice, coach, and teach new disciples, and equip existing disciples to make more Christian disciples. To help the process we encourage accountability with both old and new Christians to reproduce new disciples to pass on Christ’s desire and commission to others. Disciple-making is not just for church leaders; it’s meant for all of Christ’s followers!

o  Release: We believe the responsibility to continually encourage and release disciple-makers into Christ’s mission field (Luke 10:2) is vitally important. Jesus calls his followers to be “fishers of men” and sends them out saying, “Just as the Father sent me, so I send you" (John 20:21).

When you put all four “R” words together—RRRR—you can really hear things getting revved up and ready to go! (Sorry, I know that might sound a little like a “dad joke” but it helps folks remember it!)

At Multiply Christian, we’re trying to live out the mission and the purpose that Jesus has for our local church by creating relationships and environments that encourage disciple-making to happen.

o  This is how we intend to BLESS our neighbors (see: B.L.E.S.S. by Jon & Dave Ferguson: Salem Books, 2021).

 B.L.E.S.S: Begin with prayer, Listen with care, Eat with sinners, Serve specific needs, and Share your testimony of faith.