Early in his ministry, Jeff Leake faced a problem common to growing churches: He needed a new larger building but didn’t have enough money. So he prayed, “God, we have a problem, and it seems that You are not offering any solutions here!”

The thing about talking to God is that He talks back, and Leake felt God saying this to him: “Have you considered that I have a problem too?” God’s problem, it turned out, was that too many pastors were interested in growing their churches and too few interested in reaching their cities.

That encounter with God took Leake on a church-planting journey. In Twelve Trends in Church Multiplication, he talks about different ways local churches can reproduce themselves in new congregations. I’ll be talking to him about this book in this episode of the Influence Podcast.

I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Jeff Leake is lead pastor of Allison Park Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which has seven campuses and has planted 31 new churches.

This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.

Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.