Mark Goering
09/13/2025
Like an echo, we find a scene that might seem familiar in the Book of Acts happening a few decades after Christ’s ministry—a catalyst discovering a potential movement leader of the message.
But there’s more here than meets the eye. As we pull back the layers, we discover a pattern that echoes what we saw on Galilee’s shores, now playing out in the hills of Lystra and Derbe.
Something familiar happens in Acts 16. Paul, revisiting the region of Lystra and Derbe on his second missionary journey, encounters a young disciple named Timothy. At first glance, it might seem like a simple recruitment story—a seasoned apostle finding a promising potential leader. But what if we stepped back and traced the footprints that led to this moment?
Rewind a couple years.
The streets of Lystra are buzzing with activity. A visiting preacher named Paul is stirring up the city with a message about a Jewish Messiah who offers salvation to all peoples. The response is electric—so much so that the crowds try to worship Paul as a god. Then, in a dramatic turn, these same crowds stone him and drag him out of the city.
But here’s where it gets interesting. What does Paul do after being left for dead? He gets up, dusts off his clothes, and walks right back into Lystra. What would drive someone to return to the very place of their persecution? And more importantly, what effect might this kind of resilient proclamation have on those watching?
Among those observers is a Jewish family—a grandmother named Lois, her daughter Eunice, and Eunice’s young son Timothy. We don’t know exactly when they first encountered Paul’s message. Were they in the crowd during his initial preaching? Did they witness his stoning? Did they hear about his courageous return?
Fast forward to Paul’s second journey. As he arrives in Lystra, he hears something intriguing. There’s talk about a young disciple whose reputation has spread beyond his hometown. The believers in both Lystra and Iconium speak well of him. What might this tell us about what’s been happening in the years between Paul’s visits?
Look closer at Timothy’s situation. He’s not just a passive believer. Something about his life has caught the attention of multiple communities. What kinds of actions, what patterns of faithfulness, might generate that kind of reputation? And why would believers in Iconium, a different city, know about a young disciple from Lystra?
Now watch what happens. Paul, seeing a faithful evangelist in Timothy, invites him to join the mission. But there’s a cost attached—Timothy will need to be circumcised before they leave. It’s not a small ask. Yet Timothy’s response is immediate and willing.
Take a moment here. Where have we seen this pattern before? A young man, already familiar with the message, responding immediately to a call that requires leaving everything behind?
The pieces start to form a pattern when we look closely:
What’s the relationship between Paul’s persistent proclamation in his first journey and Timothy’s emergence in the second? Could it be that movement leaders often arise from ground that’s already been thoroughly sown with the gospel?
Why does Timothy’s reputation matter so much? What might it suggest about the connection between local faithfulness and readiness for broader ministry?
And what about that immediate willingness to embrace both opportunity and cost? Where else in Scripture have we seen that kind of decisive response?
As these questions percolate, more layers of the pattern emerge. Consider the progression:
- A region receives broad, persistent gospel proclamation
- Lives are impacted, including entire households
- Some begin living out the implications locally
- Their faithful response becomes evident to others
- A leader recognizes this faithfulness and extends a deeper call
- The cost is clearly presented
- The response is immediate and total
Does this sequence remind you of another story we’ve explored? What might happen if we laid this narrative alongside those scenes by the Sea of Galilee?
The questions multiply: What if finding the next generation of movement leaders isn’t primarily about searching for talent or potential? What if it’s more about observing who’s already responding faithfully to what they’ve received? And what if the best indicator of someone’s readiness for greater responsibility isn’t their capabilities but their demonstrated pattern of responding to the gospel’s demands?
These aren’t just historical curiosities. They probe at the heart of how movements grow and multiply. As we’ll explore in the next section through a contemporary ministry story, these patterns continue to surface in unexpected places, challenging our assumptions about how God develops leaders for His mission.
Geographic Focus and Broad Proclamation
Fast forward to the year 1997. Like Jesus choosing Galilee and Paul focusing on specific cities, Guy and Kelli Caskey recognized that effective ministry required geographic intentionality.
Houston’s vast expanse—larger than some New England states with over 160 zip codes—could have paralyzed them with options. Instead, they adopted Jesus’s principle of selecting and saturating specific areas.
Their approach began with systematic gospel sowing across their target zones. Through what they called “events with intent”—soccer tournaments, community gatherings, workplace relationships—they created multiple touchpoints for the gospel message. Like Jesus moving through Galilee’s villages or Paul teaching daily in Ephesus, they maintained consistent presence in their chosen areas, ensuring the gospel message penetrated every corner of their target communities.
The key was their understanding that events meant nothing without clear intent. As Guy emphasized: “Events are good, but if you don’t have an intent, then it’s just a lot of busy work. The intent is, how are we going to get the gospel out, disciple, gather, reproduce that process and leaders in it?”
Watching for the Faithful Few
Just as Jesus observed responses to His teaching before calling the disciples, and Paul noticed Timothy’s reputation among the believers, the Caskeys learned to watch carefully for patterns of faithfulness emerging from their broad engagement.
Their work on Houston’s east side illustrates this progression perfectly. What began as broad prayer and gospel engagement in a troubled area led them to one woman who showed genuine response to the message. Rather than continuing to cast the net wider, they recognized her faithfulness and invested more deeply. This woman’s transformation and growing influence in her community caught their attention—much like Timothy’s growing reputation in Lystra and Iconium.
Their investment proved strategic. This woman became a bridge to Stella, another responsive individual who not only came to faith but eventually led a church that met in the very restaurant where she had first encountered the gospel. The pattern was unmistakable: broad sowing, watching for faithful response, focused investment, and multiplication through those who proved trustworthy.
The Four-Dimensional Framework
The Caskeys developed a practical framework for identifying where to focus their broad sowing efforts, organizing their approach around four key areas:
Passion: Soccer tournaments and community sports became natural gathering points where gospel conversations could emerge organically—much like Jesus engaging people around their daily work by the sea.
People: They identified specific people groups with ethné communities and life-stage groups within their target areas, recognizing that different populations may have different barriers to seeing the gospel flow to every pocket of the City.
Place: Strategic locations became hubs for ministry—transforming a restaurant known for illegal activity into a center for discipleship, echoing how Jesus used homes and gathering places throughout Galilee.
Profession: Workplace networks provided another avenue for gospel proclamation, with lunch breaks becoming Bible discussion opportunities and professional relationships becoming discipleship pathways.
From Sowing to Leadership Development
The most remarkable aspect of their ministry mirrors what we see in both Jesus’s and Paul’s approaches: the leaders who emerged weren’t recruited from outside but grew from within their broad sowing efforts. Like Timothy arising from Paul’s ministry in Lystra, or the disciples emerging from Jesus’s work in Galilee, indigenous leaders developed from those who had first encountered the gospel through their broad engagement.
These emerging leaders didn’t require extensive external training—they learned through guided experience in the same contexts where they would eventually lead. They understood their communities’ needs, spoke the local cultural language, and carried natural credibility that no outside worker could manufacture.
The Multiplication Effect: Jesus’s Strategy Validated
The fruit of their intentional application of Jesus’s approach validates the biblical pattern they chose to follow. Indigenous churches formed in multiple communities—not by accident, but because they had deliberately implemented Jesus’s model of identifying and developing local leaders. Leaders emerged who could reproduce both the message and the method, exactly as the Caskeys had studied and planned from Jesus’s example.
The gospel spread through natural networks in ways that honored Houston’s unique urban dynamics while following the timeless principles the Caskeys had committed to learning from Jesus. What began as their deliberate broad proclamation across specific geographic targets led to the identification and development of faithful local leaders who could carry the work forward—precisely the outcome Jesus’s strategy was designed to produce.
This wasn’t serendipity or natural talent. The Caskeys had studied the pattern that started with Galilean fishermen and continued through Paul’s network in Asia Minor, then consciously applied those same principles in modern Houston. Their success proves that Jesus’s approach to ministry remains as effective today as it was two millennia ago—but only when applied with the same intentionality He demonstrated.
The key insight the Caskeys proved through their deliberate practice: movements multiply not through programs but through people who emerge from broad gospel proclamation and receive focused investment to become multiplying leaders themselves. They didn’t stumble into this truth—they learned it from Jesus and applied it faithfully.
The Call to Muddy Boots Ministry
The pattern stands proven across cultures and centuries. From Galilean shores to urban Houston, the principle remains unchanged: movements multiply when we combine broad gospel proclamation with focused investment in the faithful few. Yet knowing this pattern and living it are two different things entirely.
The Geography at Your Feet
Look around you. What territory has God placed within your reach? Perhaps it’s the subdivision where you live, the office building where you work, the gym where you exercise, or the school where your children learn. Maybe it’s an entire zip code, a cultural community, or a professional network. The specific boundaries matter less than your willingness to claim them with intentionality.
Jesus chose Galilee not because it was impressive but because it was strategic—a crossroads where His message could spread naturally through existing networks. Paul focused on key cities positioned along trade routes where the gospel could travel through established pathways. The Caskeys selected specific areas of Houston where they could maintain consistent presence and build authentic relationships.
Your geography doesn’t need to be large to be significant. It needs to be defined, accessible, and sustainable for long-term engagement. The question isn’t whether your area has enough potential—it’s whether you have enough commitment to see the pattern through.
Beyond Programs to Presence
The temptation in our program-driven culture is to create events and activities that draw people to us. But Jesus’s model calls us to a different approach: consistent presence in spaces where people already gather. His “muddy boots” ministry happened in marketplace conversations, seaside encounters, and dinner table discussions.
What would it look like to redeem the time you’re already spending? Instead of adding more activities to your calendar, consider how your existing routines could become platforms for gospel proclamation. The commuter train becomes a place for conversation. The neighborhood coffee shop transforms into a ministry hub. The children’s soccer field turns into a discipleship opportunity.
This requires shifting from event-based thinking to relationship-based ministry. Programs end, but presence endures. Events attract crowds, but consistency builds trust. The goal isn’t to gather people for special occasions but to engage them in the ordinary rhythms of life where real transformation happens.
Eyes for the Prepared
Train yourself to watch for FATR indicators—Paul’s criteria from 2 Timothy 2:1-7 for identifying those ready for deeper investment:
Faithful like the soldier: Who demonstrates unwavering commitment despite difficulty? Look for people who stay true to their word and persist through challenges.
Available like the soldier: Who doesn’t get entangled in civilian affairs but remains ready for service? Watch for those who prioritize kingdom purposes over personal comfort.
Teachable like the athlete: Who competes according to the rules and receives instruction well? Identify people who ask questions, accept correction, and apply what they learn.
Reproducing like the farmer: Who works hard with an eye toward future harvest? Find those who naturally share with others what they’ve received.
These indicators reveal readiness for multiplication—people who won’t just receive discipleship but will reproduce it in others.
The Cost and the Call
Deep discipleship demands time, emotional energy, and sacrifice. You’ll share struggles and celebrations. People may question why you’re “wasting time” on a few instead of reaching more. As disciples grow, they’ll make surprising decisions.
Yet this cost pales beside multiplication potential. Every faithful disciple can reach networks you could never access and plant churches you could never start.
Start now: Define your territory. Begin broad proclamation through natural relationships. Watch for responsive faithfulness. When you see someone acting on truth or influencing others positively, invest deeply.
The Timothy in Your Sphere
Somewhere in your influence lives your Timothy—disguised as a coworker, neighbor, or fellow parent. They’re waiting for someone to combine broad gospel sowing with focused investment in their development.
The pattern is proven. Your context offers opportunities. All that’s missing is your willingness to get your boots muddy in kingdom multiplication. The territory waits.