Steve Addison's Blog

God told Houston to start a Bible study in his gym, what happened next is the topic of our conversation.

Massacre of the Innocents, Leon Coignet, 1824

My last book, Everywhere, got me thinking about the role persecution plays in the movement of God. Reading Matthew has got me thinking about the world Jesus was born into. A world in which both God and evil are at work.

The Magi from the east came searching for the king of the Jews, led by a shining star. They came to worship and deliver precious gifts. Warned in a dream, they returned home by a different route. For Herod was roused and seeking to kill the child who would threaten his throne.

No sooner had the Magi left than, in the night, Joseph, Mary and the child fled for their lives into Egypt.

Furious at being outwitted, Herod had every baby boy in Bethlehem and surrounds murdered, fulfilling Jeremiah’s word:

‘A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more’ (‭‭Matt 2‬:‭18).

This strange paradox right from the start. Jesus is the promised Messiah who will shepherd God’s people, Israel. His birth fulfills the Scriptures (Matt 2:6). He is worshipped and honored by the Magi. Yet he is hunted by Herod’s men.

God is in control. He fulfills the Scriptures. He brings the Magi from the east, guided by a light in the sky. He sends an angel to warn Joseph and they flee into Egypt.

God is in control, yet Herod murders the young boys of Bethlehem.

This is the world into which Jesus was born. A world of angels, guiding stars, and Scripture fulfilled. A world ruled by evil kings, a world of murder and exile. Yet God is in control, and when the time is right, out of Egypt he calls his Son (Matt 2:15).

We inhabit that same world. God is in control, working out his purposes. We have a part to play, and it’s dangerous.

More thoughts on 375-Multiplying Disciples While the Bombs Drop . The episode hasn’t shown up on Apple podcasts yet. Working on a solution.

Lebanon is a divided society with different religions and people groups—Shia Muslims, Sunni Muslims, Catholic Maronites, Greek Orthodox Christians, and Druze.

The key to breaking into an unreached community is finding a God-prepared insider.

God gave Mohammed a Muslim-background disciple who began strong until his family disowned him and his brothers tried to kill him. Their rejection shook his faith.

But God’s grace and Rick’s love and persistence got him through a very dark time. He came out the other side and he’s back to sharing the gospel faithfully, making disciples and raising up workers.

When the latest war broke out there was a well-equipped team of guys like Mohammed ready to risk their lives and enter the chaos. Several died sharing the gospel as the bombs fell.

We were out of the country at the time having a baby. When we returned I sat down with Mohammed. He really wanted to talk.

We opened Zechariah chapter 13 and read together.

In it the Lord says the sheep are going to be struck and scattered. A third of you I’m going to throw in the fire. I’m going to refine you like silver is refined and test you like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them (Zech 13:7–9).

I said, "Mohammed, you’re going through the refiner’s fire." We talked about that.

In a crisis we keep training, we keep working the strategy, but there’s another side to this. God has been working in Mohammed’s heart through persecution and danger. He took some steps back when his family persecuted him and then he moved forward again despite the danger. God is shaping him.

This is going on all the time in our leaders’ lives.

I’ve been working for four years out in the valley. Jamal is one of our most faithful leaders; his wife threatened to divorce him unless he stopped following Jesus.

At the beginning, she left him but came back because they were raising their daughter. Now the daughter has left home, and the wife has decided to stop tolerating this infidel. She went back to her family and gave him 48 hours to renounce Jesus and stop sharing the gospel.

Jamal told her, ‘You’re not giving me a choice. I can’t deny Jesus.’

He told James, "I feel numb. My wife hates me. Her family hates me, and they’re trying to kill me."

Some of his wife’s relatives are militant Muslims. Jamal was driving to a meeting on a back country road with no traffic. Suddenly, a Jeep Cherokee with black tinted windows came out of nowhere, rammed him, and sped off. His car flipped. Fortunately, no one was injured.

Some of his wife’s relatives are militant muslims. Jamal was driving to a meeting on a back country road with no traffic. Suddenly, a Jeep Cherokee with black tinted windows came out of nowhere, rammed him, and sped off. His car flipped. Fortunately no one was injured.

Jamal went through a dark depression, but he’s coming out of it. He’s going to be okay.

We read 1 Peter—anybody who suffers as a Christian ought to do so with honor, with dignity. We read 2 Timothy—"Be a good soldier. Share with me in suffering."

As Jamal and other disciples suffer and allow their lives to be shaped by the Scripture, they are going deep with the Lord. They wouldn’t make it without the Word; my words of encouragement can’t touch what they are going through.

We read Isaiah 53 together. They understand how Jesus was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. All our guys are walking through this but they’re not walking through it alone. Jesus is with them.

God has been shaping a generation of leaders who have endured persecution and can serve as living examples. In their suffering, the Bible comes alive to them. They read it with new eyes.

They are learning what it means to serve as elders when their people are getting beaten and are in danger of death.

They keep working the strategy; they keep getting the gospel out, knowing that the people who believe will also suffer.

Most of James and Rick’s time is spent serving these leaders as they serve their people. Working on character and encouraging them to persevere. Showing them they love them.

The Bible was written for persecuted people like these, to remind them they are not alone.

375-Multiplying Disciples While the Bombs Drop.

If God’s At Work, We Should Get Busy

James and Rick serve in a region of the world where bombs are falling. No one would blame them if they took their families and left. That day may come, but until then, they don’t want to lose the opportunity a war presents. Because where the bombs are falling, God is at work.

People are thirsty. They no longer put their hope in politics. They’re disillusioned with Islam. War, unrest, and upheaval have caused them to question everything. They’re looking for answers.

James and Rick have been told, "If you had tried to share the gospel with us a couple of years ago, we might have shot you. Now we’re ready to follow Jesus. We have nowhere else to turn."

How have James, Rick, and their local leaders responded to this opportunity? They’re training.

Large numbers of people are eager to hear the gospel. So they’re training every disciple to enter unreached fields and neighborhoods and share the gospel.

They follow the 5 Levels of Leadership

L1: Seed Sowers: Believers who actively share the Gospel and engage lostness within their own relational networks (oikos).

L2: Church Planters: Leaders who consistently gather new believers into functioning, reproducing churches.

L3: Church Planting Multipliers: Leaders who successfully train others to plant churches, fostering second- and third-generation disciples.

L4: Movement Trainers: Leaders who develop and train across multiple church-planting networks.

L5: Strategy Coordinators: Leaders who mobilize broader networks and resources to reach unengaged segments of the population with balanced, reproducible strategies.

They want new disciples to reach their friends, family and neighbors. They want existing disciples to enter an unreached field and identify God-prepared people who open up their relationship networks to the gospel and discipleship.

These leaders make sure everyone knows what to do and how to do it.

They don’t train large groups in classrooms. Instead, they use a MAWL approach to training in the field, often one-on-one.

MAWL

Model - Show them how to do it

Assist - Help them do it

Watch - Watch them do it

Leave - Entrust them with the work

They apply MAWL to every aspect of a movement plan.

Entry: How do I enter a new field?

Gospel: What do I say?

Discipleship: How do I make disciples?

Church: How will I form healthy churches?

Leaders: How do I multiply leaders?

Notice how when war breaks out and the harvest takes off, these leaders are not chasing every opportunity. They’re training the basics and mobilizing workers at every level. New disciples are immediately trained and released to reach their communities with backup coaching and support.

They worked hard to nail down L1–L3 activities. Making sure that everyone was trained and knew what to do.

Then they stepped back and identified a need for L4 and L5 leaders.

A level 4 leader is a hot coal. They can go into a different context—a different village, province or even a different country where they are unknown. There they can identify and train disciples to become L1-L3 leaders. Eventually that produces more L4 and L5 leaders.

L5 leaders work strategically across a wide region. They identify the gaps—places and people—and gather resources and workers to go to those gaps.

Here’s two things that stood out for me in this interview.

Fifteen years ago I asked some workers in the Muslim world, ‘What are you learning?’ They answered, ‘We move towards the chaos.’

Today Rick and James are saying, ‘Where the bombs are falling, God is at work.’

God is Creator and Lord of history. He is working out his purposes. He holds the nations in the palm of his hand. Before Jesus went to the cross he spoke about the times between his first and second comings.

There will be trouble, persecution and hardship. ‘And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come’ (Matt 24:14). It’s what he promised and what we should expect.

Notice the conviction of these two men and their local leaders. God is at work in unprecedented ways, therefore we better get working.

They don’t stand idly by resting in the sovereignty of God. Because they trust God is at work, they get working. They double down on training every disciple in the basics of entering unreached fields, sharing the gospel, making disciples and forming churches. They train everyone, the newest believers, to do the basics. They put the tools and the strategies to work. They identify and develop leaders who can multiply and open up unreached fields.

This is a movement response to a sovereign work of God, and you don’t have to be in a war zone to follow their example.

The Interview: 375-Multiplying Disciples While the Bombs Drop

James and Rick serve in a region of the world where bombs are falling. No one would blame them if they took their families and left. That day may come, but until then, they don’t want to lose the opportunity a war presents. Because where the bombs are falling, God is at work.

People are thirsty. They no longer put their hope in politics. They’re disillusioned with Islam. War, unrest, and upheaval have caused them to question everything. They’re looking for answers.

James and Rick have been told, "If you had tried to share the gospel with us a couple of years ago, we might have shot you. Now we’re ready to follow Jesus. We have nowhere else to turn."

How have James, Rick, and their local leaders responded to this opportunity? They’re training.

Large numbers of people are eager to hear the gospel. So they’re training every disciple to enter unreached fields and neighborhoods and share the gospel.

They follow the 5 Levels of Leadership

L1: Seed Sowers: Believers who actively share the Gospel and engage lostness within their own relational networks (oikos).

L2: Church Planters: Leaders who consistently gather new believers into functioning, reproducing churches.

L3: Church Planting Multipliers: Leaders who successfully train others to plant churches, fostering second- and third-generation disciples.

L4: Movement Trainers: Leaders who develop and train across multiple church-planting networks.

L5: Strategy Coordinators: Leaders who mobilize broader networks and resources to reach unengaged segments of the population with balanced, reproducible strategies.

They want new disciples to reach their friends, family and neighbors. They want existing disciples to enter an unreached field and identify God-prepared people who open up their relationship networks to the gospel and discipleship.

These leaders make sure everyone knows what to do and how to do it.

They don’t train large groups in classrooms. Instead, they use a MAWL approach to training in the field, often one-on-one.

MAWL

Model - Show them how to do it

Assist - Help them do it

Watch - Watch them do it

Leave - Entrust them with the work

They apply MAWL to every aspect of a movement plan.

Entry: How do I enter a new field?

Gospel: What do I say?

Discipleship: How do I make disciples?

Church: How will I form healthy churches?

Leaders: How do I multiply leaders?

Notice how when war breaks out and the harvest takes off, these leaders are not chasing every opportunity. They’re training the basics and mobilizing workers at every level. New disciples are immediately trained and released to reach their communities with backup coaching and support.

They worked hard to nail down L1–L3 activities. Making sure that everyone was trained and knew what to do.

Then they stepped back and identified a need for L4 and L5 leaders.

A level 4 leader is a hot coal. They can go into a different context—a different village, province or even a different country where they are unknown. There they can identify and train disciples to become L1-L3 leaders. Eventually that produces more L4 and L5 leaders.

L5 leaders work strategically across a wide region. They identify the gaps—places and people—and gather resources and workers to go to those gaps.

Here’s two things that stood out for me in this interview.

Fifteen years ago I asked some workers in the Muslim world, ‘What are you learning?’ They answered, ‘We move towards the chaos.’

Today Rick and James are saying, ‘Where the bombs are falling, God is at work.’

God is Creator and Lord of history. He is working out his purposes. He holds the nations in the palm of his hand. Before Jesus went to the cross he spoke about the times between his first and second comings.

There will be trouble, persecution and hardship. ‘And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come’ (Matt 24:14). It’s what he promised and what we should expect.

Notice the conviction of these two men and their local leaders. God is at work in unprecedented ways, therefore we better get working.

They don’t stand idly by resting in the sovereignty of God. Because they trust God is at work, they get working. They double down on training every disciple in the basics of entering unreached fields, sharing the gospel, making disciples and forming churches. They train everyone, the newest believers, to do the basics. They put the tools and the strategies to work. They identify and develop leaders who can multiply and open up unreached fields.

This is a movement response to a sovereign work of God, and you don’t have to be in a war zone to follow their example.

The Interview: 375-Multiplying Disciples While the Bombs Drop

Rick and James serve movements of disciples and churches in the Middle East.

Previously: 366-Multiplying Disciples and Churches in a War

The 5 Levels of Leadership

A discussion hosted by Will Smith about my latest book, Everywhere.

Buy on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4gAwXRN

Cain slaying Abel, by Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1600

Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

‭‭1 John‬ ‭3‬:‭12‬-‭13

My field research for the book, Everywhere, has got me thinking about the relationship between movements of disciples and churches and persecution. I’m going to explore that theme for a while and see where it goes. We’ll start with the first biblical account of persecution.

In Genesis 3, following the fall from God’s grace, God banished the man and the woman from paradise, stationing an angel to block their return. Life continues, yet it does so under the shadow of God’s judgment and human sin.

In Genesis 4, with God’s help, Eve gives birth to Cain, their firstborn, and then to Abel. Abel becomes a shepherd, while Cain works the ground.

Though there is no return to the garden and humanity remains under God’s curse, they are not abandoned. The possibility of a relationship with God still exists. The two brothers approach the Lord with offerings: Cain brings produce from the soil, while Abel offers the fat portions from the firstborn of his flocks.

God welcomes Abel’s offering but rejects Cain’s. In response, Cain is consumed by fury and discouragement. God asks him, "Why? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? Sin is like a wild animal crouched at the door, but you must master it."

Why was Abel’s offering accepted while Cain’s was rejected? In itself, produce is a legitimate offering. The cause of rejection lies not in the gift, but in the heart of the giver. Hebrews reminds us that only Abel’s sacrifice was offered in faith (Heb 11:4).

God’s word to Cain was not a call to improve the quality of his offering, but a warning to guard his heart, lest sin destroy him. Cain ignored God’s warning and, in a fit of jealous rage, murdered his brother.

Unable to strike God directly, he chose to kill the one God loved.

When Adam first sinned, the Lord came searching for him, asking, "Where are you?"

Now the Lord searches again, asking Cain, "Where is your brother?" God knows the answer, yet he offers Cain an opportunity to confess and turn toward forgiveness.

Cain answers first with a lie—"I don’t know"—and then with defiance: "Am I my brother’s keeper?" This response reveals the heart that poisoned his original offering.

Abel’s innocent blood cries out to God from the ground, demanding justice. Though Cain has murdered his brother, God spares this unrepentant killer. Nevertheless, there are consequences. God curses Cain and the ground he works—the first time a human is directly cursed by God. Driven from the land, Cain becomes a restless wanderer upon the earth.

Even then, Cain thinks only of himself, yet God mercifully places a mark of protection upon him.

Then Cain went out from the Lord’s presence.

In this narrative, the spotlight remains on Cain—the world’s first murderer and the first persecutor of God’s people. Abel, the first martyr, is silent. His blood cries out, but his voice is never heard.

Abel dies accepted by God, yet unlike Cain, he receives no mark of protection. His murderer is allowed to live. This incident illustrates how persecution is fundamentally an attack on God by way of attacking His people.

It is an attempt to defy the Creator by those who have rejected grace and are ruled by sin.

God’s faithful people often suffer injustice. God did not intervene to protect Abel or prevent his death. He allowed it to happen.

The one true God stood by while Cain did his worst. The first human family was torn apart by hatred, yet God refrained from intervening. He rules over a world where His people remain vulnerable to those who reject Him.

This serves as a profound lesson: even a murderer is not beyond God’s mercy and protection. God is gracious. He could have justly punished Cain’s sin with immediate death, honoring the warning given to Adam and Eve: "...when you eat from it you will certainly die" (Gen 2:17).

They lived, though death entered the world. The same God who extended grace to the first parents extends grace to their firstborn.

Persecution exists because God is gracious. While God can certainly destroy the persecutor—as seen with Herod (Acts 12:19–24)—He often extends grace instead, as seen with Saul (Acts 9:4–7).

Cain is allowed to live in the hope that he too might one day find the forgiveness and divine approval that his brother once enjoyed.

Steve Addison, Russell Godward

Russell Godward was a pastor who didn't know how to share the gospel when God called him to go after NoPlaceLeft Britain.

At a gathering of workers from across Europe, Russell shares his story.

A hundred years ago, Nathan Shank's great-grandparents were missionaries in India. Nathan and Kari's children, born in India are the fifth generation of Shanks to serve in India. Nathan discusses the decision to exit India and pursue a new field.