Larry Stockstill
I am excited to invite you to participate in Surge, formerly the Global 12 Project which has planted over 20,000 churches in the last ten years!
I went to the mission field with Melanie when I was twenty-three years old (Two weeks after we were married!). We toiled with limited vision and understanding of multiplication. Building chicken farms and importing vehicles were not God’s method of shaking a nation.
Now, the Lord has heard my prayer and has shown us how to incredibly multiply the Gospel by church planting. These churches are not “brick and mortar” but instead are the support of a godly, accountable pastor who is in a network of relationships for the span of one year.
By partnering with each new church planter’s sending church, the new congregation we plant is able to support their pastor and often plant many new churches in twelve months! The cost of each new plant differs zone by zone. Some churches in Europe and the Middle East can cost up to $250 a month for a pastor’s family to live, but in places such as Ivory Coast, West Africa, the cost is a mere $75 a month. This cost includes purchasing bicycles for each new pastor which allows them to spread the Gospel more effectively.
Our goal in the coming year is to plant 30,000 significant churches and 300 strategic or mega churches. Strategic churches cost in the neighborhood of one hundred thousand dollars. At our present rate of growth, we will have planted church number 100,000 by the year 2015! Some of our first church plants are now being turned over to associate pastors and the senior pastor is now going out again to plant ten new churches…that’s multiplication.
Dr. Lester Sumrall told me once in regards to church planting, “Plant a tree, and you will eat the fruit from it for many years.” I challenge you right now, invest in a “tree”—a church plant in a third world country. In heaven, you will receive multiple rewards for all of the fruit produced by that one tree in an entire nation!
Your fellow church planter,
Larry Stockstill
ABOUT PASTOR LARRY
Larry Stockstill, along with his wife, Melanie, is the former senior pastor of Bethany World Prayer Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Bethany is known for its small-group mentoring relationships and its emphasis on prayer and missions outreach. The church currently holds weekend services at three campuses in the Baton Rouge area, and Bethany members meet weekly in small groups around the city. Pastor Stockstill is also president of Heartbeat of Louisiana, a coalition of pro-life ministers. In addition, he serves on the board of directors for Church Growth International in Seoul, Korea. He also hosts a local television program called Lifeline with Larry Stockstill.
