4 DECISIONS THAT SEPARATE MULTIPLIERS FROM MANAGERS

There are some decisions that are like dominoes - they will have a growing impact and determine if you are Multiplier or a manager.

DECISIONS ARE DOMINOES

In 1983, physicist Lorne Whitehead discovered something fascinating about dominoes.

There are some decisions that are like dominoes, they simply have an outsized impact.

If you line up dominoes so that each one is 50% larger than the previous one, something incredible happens. The first domino may only be two inches tall. But if every domino is just 50% bigger than the one before it…

…by the 18th domino, it can knock over the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
…by the 23rd domino, it could knock over the Eiffel Tower.
…and by the 31st domino, the chain reaction would be powerful enough to knock over the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which at 2,722 feet is the tallest building in the world!

All because of one small domino tipping the next domino.

Multiplication always starts small; but small obedience multiplied over time creates exponential impact. Multipliers understand first domino moments. Because they know that those moments can become movements. Those moments often show up as four decisions that I want to share with you.

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(Much of the content in this article comes from chapter 10 in my new book: Multiplier - How Healthy Leaders Create Lasting Impact)

A DOMINO DECISION…

“Why would you want to do that?”

That was my gut-level and even audible response when our student ministry director first approached me about planting a new church.

At the time, I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to leave COMMUNITY. We had a strong team, a great culture, and if I’m honest, I was proud of the fact that I could say, “Nobody ever wants to leave our staff.”

So when he told me he felt called to plant a church, all I heard was that he wanted to leave.

It felt like a loss.
A blow to my ego.
And a future I didn’t want.

We kept talking. He shared his dream of planting a new church in Denver. I gave him a hard time about his “calling” to mountain views and craft coffee. (Funny how the Spirit rarely seems to whisper Cleveland or Detroit, isn’t it?)

But it soon became clear—this wasn’t a passing idea. This was obedience. I still hoped it would fade. So I told him, “Go out to Colorado. When you come back, we’ll talk.”

Nine days later, he returned—with relationships formed and enough funding committed to launch. I was stunned. And I knew this wasn’t his idea. This was God’s idea!

I still didn’t want to lose him. But I also didn’t want to get in the way of what God was doing. So I stood in front of several hundred of our leaders from across all our COMMUNITY locations, put him and his wife on stage, and challenged our people with this: “If God is sending them to Denver to plant a new church… I believe God is sending some of you too.”

I was asking people to go. Not to stay. Not contribute to COMMUNITY. I was asking people to go and help start a new church. This was a domino decision.

Over the next several months, 35 people sold their homes, got new jobs, transferred schools, and moved 1,000 miles away to help start a new church.

That was our first church plant. At the time, it felt like we were losing something.

What I didn’t realize was this: we weren’t losing a leader; we were tipping the first domino.

Over the next twenty years, that one decision became part of a movement that helped start NewThing, expand the influence of Exponential and plant more than 33,000 churches in 69 countries.

That’s when I began to understand:

Managers focus on protecting what they have.
Multipliers focus on starting what God wants to expand.

Managers see the first domino and think, “That’s too small to matter.”
Multipliers see the first domino and think, “That’s where the movement begins.”

If you want to become a Multiplier, there are 4 domino tipping decisions you will make. I sometimes call these decisions, “The 4 Always.” These are decisions that will determine whether you simply grow something you manage or start a chain reaction that outlives you.

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DECISION #1: Always Apprentice

Movements don’t happen through one leader; they happen when a Multiplier apprentices others to carry the mission forward. If you want to see multiplication, you must always have an apprentice. Apprenticeship is the first domino that tips all of our action toward movement.

When Jesus launched his movement, he didn’t just preach to the masses; he apprenticed a small group of people to become disciple-makers. Mark 3:14 says, “He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.” Paul did the same with Timothy, ensuring the mission continued beyond him. II Timothy 2:2 explains this: “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” If we are serious about multiplying disciples, leaders churches and networks, we must always have an apprentice learning beside us.

Before there was Exponential, NewThing or COMMUNITY, the first task I took on as 25 year-old church planter was to recruit an apprentice leader for the group I was starting.

At the core of every movement are reproducing apprentices.

Apprentices aren’t just volunteers helping with tasks. They are future leaders in training. Multiplication begins when we intentionally make disciple-makers who go on to plant, pastor, and send others. This means actively identifying potential leaders, walking alongside them, and releasing them into leadership. A Multiplier knows that movement doesn’t happen through one leader. It’s built on a culture where every leader, like a set of dominoes is apprenticing the next leader.

DECISION #2: Always Lead Small

Multipliers never stop leading at the smallest level. A great example is Nicky Gumbel who introduced the Alpha course to his London church, Holy Trinity Brompton in 1990. Since then, under Nicky’s leadership Alpha has become a movement that is used in 190 countries around the world. However, Nicky has personally led an Alpha course every single semester for the last 36 years! Why? Because he knows that it is important for him to continue to lead small.

No matter how many leaders or churches a Multiplier influences, they stay personally engaged in the core work of apprenticeship and disciple-making. They always lead small.

I have always led a small group, and my intention is to always lead a small group where disciples are made. Why? Because I need it! And because it keeps me connected to the mission. It ensures I remain grounded in disciple-making, apprenticing new leaders, and real-life challenges. It also models multiplication for others. If the leader of a movement is actively discipling in a small context, others will follow their example.

Some leaders think they outgrow this as their influence expands. But multiplication always requires a deep relational investment, and that only happens in small, personal spaces. Culture is not just taught; it’s modeled. If you want to see multiplication, an important domino decision is to always lead small.

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DECISION #3: Always Lead Large

While leading small is important, Multipliers must also lead at the largest level possible. Yes, your focus is on leading at both the smallest level and at the largest level of your influence.

Let me use Nicky Gumbel again as an example. While Nicky still leads an Alpha course every semester at his local church, he is now the board chair of Alpha global and overseen it’s expansion to 190 countries. While he has always led small, he has also continues to lead large.

When I started leading, my focus was on a single small group. Today, I am also leading movement leaders across different continents through Exponential. This shift happened because I intentionally scaled my influence by always apprenticing others.

Leading large means valuing apprenticeship and making disciple-makers but thinking beyond that.

It requires focusing on the small, but at the same time seeing the bigger picture—your city, your region, your country!

Multipliers focus on the small but then think about scaling it. Multipliers are able to think about the people they are apprenticing while also launching a church, eventually a network and then perhaps a movement of churches!

DECISION #4: Always Train & Trust

Multipliers lead at the smallest level and the largest level, but train and trust others to lead in the middle.

Multipliers don’t lead in the middle.

Multipliers take seriously Ephesians 4:12: "to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ." Because of that, Multipliers understand that they must train and trust new leaders to carry the mission forward.

Too many leaders try to do everything themselves. They struggle to release responsibility because they fear failure and want control. But multiplication only happens when leaders step back and empower others. It’s about equipping them through real experiences and then trusting them to lead.

If you hold on too tightly, you create bottlenecks. If you train leaders but never release them, you end up with a group or church that can’t multiply. Multipliers equip others so well that they can fully trust them. They create a leadership culture where people are given opportunities to lead even before they feel ready.

When you train and trust, you build a leadership infrastructure that allows multiplication to happen without you at the center. That’s when movements begin to take on a life of their own.

MAKE DOMINO DECISIONS

In the end, multiplication isn’t complicated—but it is costly. It’s a series of decisions to apprentice, to lead small and large and to train and trust when we are tempted to hold onto control. Each one may feel small in the moment, almost insignificant. But that’s how movements always begin. Like dominoes, the first decision doesn’t look like much—until it tips the next, and the next, and the next. And over time, what started as a simple act of obedience becomes something only God could have orchestrated. And if you don’t make that decision you are confined to managing something far less than God dreamed for you.

So don’t underestimate your next decision. It might not just shape your future—it might be the first domino in a movement that outlives you.

REFLECTIONS: What are some other decisions that might be domino decisions? I’d like to hear from you what you have come to learn were decisions that have a lasting impact?

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Guest-Post: 4 Decision that Separate MULTIPLIERS from MANAGERS