Steve Addison's Blog

An Arab cafe

Hassan came to Christ through a dream of Jesus and online media.

You will deny me.

He told his family and they threw him out of home. For a while, he moved from house to house, running through his savings. While his family was threatening to kill him.

The strain overwhelmed him. He buckled. When he denied Christ and his family allowed him to move back in.

He fell off the radar for a couple of months.

A second chance

Then he resurfaced and met with Rick. He told Rick ‘I don’t share the gospel anymore. I don’t read the Bible. I’ve denied Jesus to my family and they think I’m a Muslim again.’

Rick had a guest room and he invited Hassan to stay one or two nights while he worked himself out. Hassan never left.

Rick told him, ‘If you’re going to stay around, we’ll read the Bible together every morning.’ He began growing again. Within a few weeks, he was sharing the gospel.

Hassan had never really quit following Jesus.

Counting the Cost

When his family found out, they barred him from returning home. His brother tried to kill him.

A disciple called Abood listened and then challenged Hassan, ‘You told your family so much quicker than I told my family. And when I told my family they tried to kill me, they tied me up, and they beat me. I had to run away. This is what I learned, you need to deny your family if that's what's keeping you from following Jesus. That’s what Jesus told us to do. You need to choose to follow Jesus.’

Everything changed that day. Hassan has not looked back.

The Movement Surges

In the past year, Lebanon has gone through a horrible war. Hassan’s people were hit hard. There have been so many airstrikes and everyone knows people who died in the war. When people think they might die tomorrow, they don't want to just follow any religion. They want to know who God is.

Hussan began sharing boldly and making disciples.

Rick challenged him not just to train the disciples but to train disciples who make disciples. After just a few months, there were fifth-generation disciples and churches in Hussan’s network. He has passed on everything he learned — the strategy and the tools.

Lessons

Movements are slow. Discipleship takes time. Hussan had to count the cost of following Jesus. Rick and Abood played their part, but it was God who changed Hussan’s heart.

Movements are fast. Once that deep work was complete, the movement surged forward as Hussain applied a 4-Fields strategy and simple methods. The outcome was generations of disciples, disciple makers and churches.

Podcast: 366-Multiplying Disciples and Churches in a War

My interview with David Garrison on his latest book: Inside Church Planting Movements. So much wisdom from experience.

Here’s my review. . .

I have been a student of David Garrison for over 25 years. His writings on Church Planting Movements opened the door and set the agenda for a generation.

His latest work examines twenty-eight assessments of church planting movements over twenty-five years — from India to Cuba, from Guatemala to the megacities of China.

Teams of assessors gathered data to reveal the size and nature of these movements. Are church planting movements real?” In eleven of the case studies, the evidence was undeniable.

Garrison explains how the assessments were conducted and provides the tools to help researchers conduct their own.

This is a book for those who want to go beyond the hype of movements to the reality of what it takes to multiply disciples and churches to the glory of God.

Amazon

 

Insights from a recent podcast.

1.Journey from ‘movement soup’ to movement reality.

Rick caught the vision years before he arrived in Beirut. He grasped the idea. To turn vision into reality he needed two additional elements:

Real field engagement.

A mentor who had seen multiplication.

Now Rick knows movements from the inside and is training and mentoring others.

2. God is in control

God rules over creation and history for his purposes. The best training and mentoring that Rick received could not change the receptivity of the Lebanese and Syrians he worked with.

Years of war and tyranny have changed the equation. People are tired of a religion that does not bring peace. They are ready to meet the Prince of Peace.

3. It is not how many disciples you train, but how many are training.

Notice the generations of disciple makers. James trained Rick, who trained Abood, who trained his disciples, who returned to Syria to multiply disciples and churches. The simple pattern of 100, 50, and zero fueled multiplication.

4. Discipleship takes time

Abood was a believer for three years and he’d never shared the gospel. He was making disciples among strangers long before he’s shared with his wife and family. He was afraid. With James’ encouragement, Rick persisted and the breakthroughs came.

5. Seize the opportunities

When the war erupted in Lebanon, Rick and Abood seized the opportunity to bring small groups of disciples together in safe houses to train and form churches.

When the Syrians fled home Abood seized the opportunity to visit and strengthen the disciples and churches.

6. Local ownership is the end-game

James and Rick decrease as their disciples increase. The local disciples have the vision, the skills and the ownership of the core missionary task.

LINKS

Getting from movement soup to movement.

366-Multiplying Disciples and Churches in a War

When Rick arrived in the Middle East, he had a vision for movements of disciples and churches, but didn’t know how.

He called it his ‘movement soup’ — a mixture of principles and strategies he’d never applied.

Then he met James.

James had turned vision into action, seeing multiplying disciples and churches.

James told him, ‘The best way to learn is to join me in the work.’ Rick began following James around, doing evangelism, making disciples and coaching leaders.

James gave Rick an assignment to train a Lebanese believer.

Abood had been a believer for a few years, but no one had discipled him. The only option he’d been given was to leave his Muslim neighborhood and move into a Christian neighborhood where he could attend a church. Once he’d done that, he’d be a marked man. He could never go back to his neighborhood.

Rick took Abood through the Commands of Christ. A series of discovery studies on discipleship.

He had Abood draw an oikos map of his relationships — his wife, best friends, and closest relatives.

Abood had never shared with any of them.

Rick taught him a simple gospel outline, but based on past behavior, he didn’t Abood would share.

James encouraged Rick to persist.

A month later, Abood had shared with six Syrian refugees. One was ready for baptism and there had been one attempt on his life.

He still hadn’t shared with his wife.

Rick urged Abood to train disciples who make disciples. Abood caught the vision and within a year he had a band of 25 he had trained to make disciples.

Now there was a new problem. The Syrian refugees were working 14-16 hour days. They had one or two days off each month. They had no time to meet and form churches.

They saw the challenge and prayed for a breakthrough.

A few days later, pagers began exploding in people’s pockets. The war had begun between Israel and Hezbollah.

Many refugees fled back to Syria, taking the gospel with them.

For those who remained, Abood and Rick provided safe houses. ‘They were unemployed with nothing else to do but read the Bible and do church every day.’

The pair thought, The guys can live together and we can train them in the four fields — gospel, making disciples, planting churches, and developing leaders.

Meanwhile, reports began coming in from the disciples who returned to Syria.

The population was weary after years of war and hungry for the gospel.

The mother of one leader was dying of cancer. He was sharing with others but was afraid to share with his family. He thought, If I share with strangers, they might get mad and beat me up. But if I share with family, it could cost my life. I don’t want to be rejected by the people I love.

Finally, he summoned the courage to share with his mother in the hospital. She was angry, ‘Why have you not told me this news yet? You see what Islam has done to our country — the destruction, the killing!’

She chose to follow Jesus in those last days of her life.

Despite the danger, Abood decided to visit the disciples and churches in Syria. Rick helped prepare him using the 100, 50, zero approach.

100: You watch me train 100%.

50: We train together 50/50.

Zero: You train 100% with your disciples, then 50 then zero.

As Abood was preparing, the Assad regime fell and the civil war ended. Abood arrived a few days later.

Abood now has a network of around 1,000 disciples in ten provinces.

Back in Lebanon, Abood finally shared with his family. They rejected him and threatened to kill him. He came to Rick distressed, ‘You’ve got to help me get fake passports for my wife and I. We have to escape!’

Rick challenged him to go back to God to find out whether this desire came from fear or from God. Abood went away and prayed and concluded that the plan to run away was from Satan.

Finally, he told his wife he was following Jesus. She was furious. They separated, but only for a short time. She loves him and wants to be with him, but is not ready to follow Jesus. They keep talking and recently, she asked for a Bible.

Abood has formed a leadership group from the disciples he’s trained. They own the strategy to multiply churches in every province of Lebanon and Syria.

Airstrikes continue every day in the city. People are fed up with war.  They're fed up with a religion that tells them to hate.

They want to know who God really is, because tomorrow they might be dead,

More: 366-Multiplying Disciples and Churches in a War

A conversation with Rick about multiplying movements across two war zones in the Middle East.

Laborers’ Church

I edited my interview with Bruce Hackett down to just 18 minutes of pure gold. Don’t miss it . Here are my takeaways.

1. A movement of God

Like Peter on the rooftop in Joppa, Bruce was clueless until God stepped in and confronted him. Bruce didn’t come up with this vision for NoPlaceLeft on the campus; it was God’s idea. When God intervened, all Bruce had to do was repent and get to work. It’s not Bruce's movement.

2. A chain reaction

Years ago, God led a guy named Steve Parlato to invest in a young youth pastor named Troy Cooper. Troy was a slow learner, but Steve persisted. Years later, Troy was at the skatepark when a guy called Max Doty tried to share the gospel with him. Max was an evangelist. Troy trained him to become an evangelist who multiplies. Years later, Bruce and his son walk into Max and Sydnie’s house church and are blown away. Max trains Bruce, and three years later, there are 30 churches with leaders Bruce is investing in. Sometimes the work progresses slowly, but if you keep investing in the people God sends your way, it will multiply. You may not get any credit. I wonder who got Steve Parlato started?

 3. Full strength revival

There’s a lot of talk about revival these days. Maybe GenZ is turning back to God. Maybe people are returning to church. So what? Social trends come and go. At Pentecost, the Word went out in the power of the Spirit through ordinary people, but it didn’t end with a packed stadium, a band, and some smoke machines. The movement of God doesn’t stop until there are disciples and churches to the glory of God. Everywhere.

It doesn’t stop with the Spirit. It doesn’t stop with the gospel. It doesn’t stop with 3,000 decisions. It keeps going until disciples gather in community to learn to follow Jesus and to go to the ends of the earth. That’s revival.

And that’s what they’re doing at Grand Canyon University. And it’s spreading.

4. No secret sauce

These guys are “just” doing the basics. Going out every week looking for people of peace. Sharing the gospel with the people they know. Gathering for discipleship around the Word. Encountering God in prayer and worship. Forming disciples in healthy churches (Acts 2:36-47). Multiplying workers.

There’s no secret sauce. They train and do the basics again and again.

5. This has happened before

Back in the late 1800s, there was a move of God at Cambridge University, England, through the American evangelist, DL Moody. Scores of students were converted, and seven enlisted to join the unknown China Inland Mission led by Hudson Taylor.

A movement was born with a vision for “The Evangelization of the World in this Generation.” The Student Volunteer Movement spread across British and American university campuses and led to 20,000 volunteers going to the nations with the gospel.

It can happen again.

The interview: 365-NoPlaceLeft on Campus

 

Bruce Hackett tells the story of how God is at work on Grand Canyon University (GCU).

Connect with Bruce on Instagram.

   

After a year of research and eighteen months of writing, my next book is in the pipeline.

Movements of disciples and churches are transforming lives around the world—from the underground churches of Iran to the suburbs of California, from the bustling streets of Indonesia to inmates on Texas death row. 

In Everywhere, movement catalyst Steve Addison takes you inside these incredible stories, revealing how God is at work. You’ll witness the simple, reproducible principles and practices he is using to equip ordinary believers to fulfill Jesus’ command to make disciples everywhere.

Discover the power of the Word and the Spirit to fuel these movements and learn how to get started right where you are.

COMING MARCH 2026

Haik Hovsepian

The movement of God that is sweeping Iran had humble beginnings. In 1969, Haik Hovsepian, a young Armenian-Iranian pastor, started reaching out to Muslims in Iran. The new disciples met in homes and spoke Persian (Farsi), rather than an ethnic Christian language like Armenian or Syriac. By 1976, twenty Muslim background believers gathered in five churches.

Despite the hostile environment, Haik’s ministry continued to expand. By 1981, the number of disciples had grown to sixty. The Islamic government demanded that Haik reveal the names of these Muslim background believers, but he refused.

In 1993, Haik drew international attention to the plight of Mehdi Dibaj, who the Islamic courts had imprisoned for over ten years for apostasy. The campaign embarrassed the government, and under international pressure, they released Mehdi. Three days later, Haik disappeared. Eventually, his body was found, riddled with stab wounds.

The death of Haik Hovsepian sparked a fire across Iran. Hundreds of Muslim background believers defied government agents—who were recording their names—to attend Haik’s funeral. A movement was forming.

UPDATE: After I published this post, I learned that January 19 was the anniversary of his death in 1994.

How are we to understand the trouble in Iran?

At Pentecost, the first believers included Persians, Parthians, and Medes. Since then, followers of Jesus have existed in the region now known as Iran.

When the Islamic revolution overthrew the Shah in 1979, Iran had a population of thirty-nine million people, most of whom were Shia Muslims. On the eve of the revolution, there were only 500 Christians of Shia Muslim background in Iran. No one expected that the revolution would lead to a surge in conversions from Islam to Christ. But God had a plan.

Who would have predicted that God’s plan for Iran was to hand the country over to Islamists? Yet, he is shaping human history to fulfill his purposes. He turns what people intend for evil into good.

After the revolution, the Islamist strategy was to stop Christianity from spreading from Armenian and Syrian communities into the Farsi-speaking majority. They banned the Farsi Bible, outlawed Christian gatherings in Farsi, and forbade Muslims from attending. Muslims who followed Jesus were threatened with imprisonment and death; some, like Haik Hovsepian, paid the ultimate price.

Yet, as Duane Miller argues, the government’s use of coercion weakened its legitimacy, exposing the truth of God’s power in Christ. The regime’s credibility was further diminished by its failures. Because the government claimed to rule according to God’s laws, not man’s, when the regime failed militarily, politically, and economically, Islam was discredited.

Advances in technology prevented the regime from stopping the flow of information from Christian sources. When millions of Iranians fled the regime and settled abroad, many found Christ and shared their newfound faith with friends and family back home.

The Ayatollahs seized power and eliminated all rivals. They maintained control through the strength of the state, supported by the Revolutionary Guards and the police. Despite their monopoly on power, they could not stop the growth of this “powerless” community. Islam had power, but it had lost its legitimacy (Miller).

The message of a crucified Carpenter, who is the victorious and eternal King of Kings (a Persian title), is resonating with Iranians weary of the oppressive control of a discredited religion.

God is Creator and Lord of history, and the future belongs to him!

Links:

What the Iranians taught me.

Pray for the movement of God in Iran.

Duane Alexander Miller. Power, Personalities and Politics: The Growth of Iranian Christianity since 1979.