What helps a pastor finish well? We often talk about the personal disciplines that sustain healthy leadership—prayer, Sabbath, Scripture, rest. But in this article, Tara Korpi asks us to consider another important question: Who surrounds the leader? Healthy leaders need people who will tell them the truth, share real authority, bring different gifts, know the person beneath the title, and help carry the mission forward. Because no leader was meant to carry the weight of ministry alone. Swipe through, then read Beyond the Practices of Faithful Leaders at exponential.org/articles.

Stop what you’re doing and RUN! 🏃💨 …to get your ticket to Exponential National Conference. 👀 Join us this fall for powerful main sessions, practical workshops, worship, and time with leaders who are ready to multiply what God is doing through their lives and churches. 🎟️ Grab your ticket at exponential.org/events

Missed our latest Multiplier Webinar? You can now watch it FREE and on demand! 🙌 J.D. Greear + Dave Ferguson sit down to tackle an important question: Are we making disciples... or disciple-makers? Together, they unpack what it looks like to move from information to transformation, good intentions to reproducible obedience, and discipleship activity to multiplication. Watch now at exponential.org/webinars

What if what we call “urban ministry” is simply… ministry? In this Urban Missions NEXT article, James Hobson explores why many Black Christians don’t see urban ministry as a specialized calling or strategy... it’s simply ministry happening in the communities they call home. And he challenges leaders to consider whose voices we’re learning from, approach communities with humility, and recognize the people God was already using long before we arrived. Swipe through, then read Why Most Black Christians Don’t Say Urban Ministry at exponential.org/articles.

What if technology could help us remove some of the barriers that have been getting in the way of ministry? In our latest podcast episode, Aidan Britnell of Kaleo AI and James Donley of OneChurch.io join Tom Planck to talk about what that can actually look like... from helping people participate across language barriers to connecting churches around prayer and mission. Technology isn’t the mission, and it can’t replace real relationships. But it can help the Church work together in new ways. 🎧 Listen to Technology That Removes Barriers wherever you get your podcasts or at exponential.org/next-podcast

What if your ministry’s next breakthrough isn’t waiting on a new idea... but a new version of you? In this Innovation NEXT article, Tom Planck explores how different seasons of ministry require different versions of the same called leader. The calling may remain the same, but a new season will always require something new from us. What version of you does this season need? Read “A New Version of You” at exponential.org/articles.

Happy Birthday to our CEO, President & Co-Founder, Dave Ferguson!🎉 We’re so grateful for your love for Jesus and your family, your heart for people, and your passion for seeing healthy leaders multiply healthy disciples, leaders, churches, and movements. Thanks for the way you continue to lead, encourage, and champion others. We hope you have the best day, Dave! Join us in the comments to wish Dave a happy birthday!

What if church planters weren’t expected to carry the weight of multiplication alone? In this Networks NEXT article, Patrick O’Connell challenges the lone-hero approach to church planting and explores practical ways churches can share the responsibility, resources, and opportunity of multiplication. Because multiplication doesn’t require a massive budget. It requires churches willing to link arms and plant together. Swipe through, then read the full article at exponential.org/articles.

What if reaching the next generation starts by recognizing where God is already at work? In our latest podcast episode, Tom Planck sits down with Michael Swalley of Break Free Ministries and Austin Rockwell of Kamp Love to talk about cultivating Jesus-centered communities within hip-hop culture and on college campuses. Together, they explore the power of trusted relationships, culturally rooted leadership, and equipping young leaders to create missional movements from within their own communities. The next generation doesn’t just need an invitation to come to us. What if we equipped them to live on mission right where they already are? 🎧 Listen to “Where God Is Already Stirring” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or at exponential.org/next-podcast…. Watch the full conversation on our YouTube channel.

If God's Spirit is inside you, then everything that’s needed to change the world actually dwells inside you. The question is, will you make yourself available to it? This fall at Exponential National Conference, we’re gathering around what it means to become a Multiplier—a healthy disciple-making leader who champions reproduction. Come be encouraged, equipped, and challenged to multiply healthy disciples, leaders, churches, and movements. 📍 WEST | October 27–29 | Castro Valley, CA 📍 CENTRAL | November 10–12 | Naperville, IL Register at exponential.org/events.

30+ workshop sessions. Completely FREE. 🙌 Our newest Resource Kits from the 2026 Exponential Global Conference are now available! This drop features sessions from our Models and Approaches tracks, with practical conversations around fresh expressions, multiethnic church, AI and the Church, urban church planting, church multiplication + more. Hear from Mark DeYmaz, Dr. Patrick M. Quinn, Larra Wallace, Dhati Lewis, Angie Lewis, Rob Wegner, Kathryn Maack, Joel Repic, Corey Garris, Patrick O’Connell, Derwin Gray, Kenny Jahng, Dan Pourbaix, Dustin Alexander, Rich Birch, Eric Brown, Matt Wilson, Scott Woller, Jon Ferguson, Naeem Fazal, Kristin Mockler Young, Jay Moon, Jim Tomberlin, Kenny Petty, Anne Bosarge, Troy McMahon, Justin Knapp, José Nieves, Dr. Warren Bird, Tarah Schloss, Tyler Prieb, Eric Metcalf, Rodrigo Cano, Harry Li, Brian Beauford, and the Exponential NEXT Ventures presenters. Whether you’re looking for fresh ideas for your ministry, something to work through with your team, or practical approaches you can put into action, there are 30+ sessions ready for you to explore. Watch. Learn. Share with your team. All for FREE. Download the newest Resource Kits at exponential.org/resource-kit…

What if exhaustion isn’t the measure of faithfulness? For pastors, ministry leaders, and marketplace leaders, it can be easy to pour everything into the work while slowly losing sight of the health of your own soul. In his new book, The Soul of a Leader: Moving From Burnout to Overflow, Mark Neal offers a different way, one rooted in Jesus’ image of the vine and the branches, where fruit comes from connection, not striving. This isn’t another leadership manual. It’s an honest, practical invitation to care for the soul behind your leadership so you can lead, multiply, and finish well. 📖 Download the PDF for FREE or get the print or Kindle edition on Amazon. exponential.org/product/the-…

What does the next generation really need to follow Jesus? In “Simpler and Deeper: Helping the Next Generation Follow Jesus,” Jordan Whitmer, Founder and Global Director of HowToLife Movement, challenges us to look beyond elaborate strategies and invite young people into something simpler, and deeper. A bigger understanding of the Gospel. A deeper walk with Jesus. And real responsibility to actually live out their faith and participate in the mission of God. Because this isn’t ultimately about finding the right strategy to “fix Gen Z.” It’s about inviting them into the life Jesus has always called His disciples to live. Swipe through for a few takeaways, then read the full article at exponential.org/articles.

Your National Conference experience just got an upgrade... FREE. 🙌 For one week only, register for Exponential National Conference | West or Central and get a Pre-Conference FREE with code FREEPRECON. Already registered? You can upgrade your existing ticket and add a Pre-Conference for free, too! Come a day early and go deeper with practical, in-depth equipping on topics like multiplying leaders, AI, women in leadership, multiethnic ministry, reproducing networks, spiritual health, and more. 📍 WEST | October 27–29 | Castro Valley, CA 📍 CENTRAL | November 10–12 | Naperville, IL Use code FREEPRECON Offer ends October 8 at 11:59 p.m. Register + explore Pre-Conference options at exponential.org/events.

Are we making disciples, or disciple-makers? Join J.D. Greear and Dave Ferguson for our next FREE Multiplier Webinar, Making Disciple-Makers, as they explore how discipleship moves from information to transformation, and from good intentions to reproducible obedience. Together, they’ll unpack the tensions between decisions and disciples, programs and people, and knowledge and lived faith and share practical next steps toward forming disciples who multiply disciples. 📅 October 8 ⏰ 2–3 p.m. ET 💻 FREE Making disciple-makers isn’t just another ministry program, it’s central to the calling of the Church. Register FREE at exponential.org/webinars!

What if multiplication doesn’t require a big platform or endless resources? In the newest episode of Church on the Frontier, Tom Planck sits down with Dhati Lewis and Doug Beutler to explore the potential for multiplication in churches and communities that are often overlooked. Together, they unpack what it looks like to move from survival to mission, develop leaders from within your community, and rediscover a disciple-making identity rooted in the place God has already called you to serve. Because some of the Church’s most important work is happening far from the spotlight. 🎧 Listen to “Multiplication in Overlooked Places” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or at exponential.org/next-podcast…. Watch the full conversation on our YouTube channel.

Earlier this month, 25 emerging leaders gathered in Nashville for the first in-person gathering of our SOLD OUT Emerging Leaders Learning Community! 🙌 These leaders are spending four gatherings together, two in person and two online, learning from experienced Multipliers, building meaningful relationships, and discovering what it looks like to move from addition thinking to multiplication thinking. And we’re investing in them by making the entire Learning Community FREE for every participant. This is one of the ways your generosity helps us equip the next generation of healthy disciple-making leaders who will carry multiplication forward. Let’s Multiply the Movement together. Give today at exponential.org/give.

How do we share an unchanging Gospel in a constantly changing culture? In this Multiethnic Church NEXT article, Dr. Harry Li explores why Cultural Intelligence (CQ) matters for the Church, and how the ways we communicate, lead, and create belonging may need to change as the people and cultures around us change. The Gospel doesn’t change. But how can our churches continue making room for the people God brings through our doors? Swipe through for a few takeaways, then read “Cultural Intelligence (CQ): A Gospel Imperative” at exponential.org/articles.

We’re just about ONE MONTH away from Exponential National Conferences! 🙌 This fall, 1,000+ leaders will gather at National Conference | West and Central around one big idea: MULTIPLIER: How Healthy Leaders Create Lasting Impact Because we reproduce who we are and what we do, multiplication starts with who we’re becoming. Through powerful main sessions, practical workshops, worship, and connection with other leaders, you’ll be challenged and equipped to become a healthy disciple-making leader who multiplies disciples, leaders, churches, and movements. 📍 WEST | Castro Valley, CA October 27–29 📍 CENTRAL | Naperville, IL November 10–12 The speakers are ready. The workshops are set. And we’re getting close. 👀 If you’ve been thinking about joining us, NOW is the time to register! You are meant to be a Multiplier. Join us this fall! Register at exponential.org/events.

Where should we draw the line when it comes to using AI in ministry? In this AI NEXT article, Kenny Jahng shares 11 ministry tasks you should never hand to AI, from responding to someone in crisis and personal apologies to counseling notes, discernment, and pastoral care. And underneath all 11 is one simple test: Does this task require someone to be known? AI can create capacity for ministry. But there are moments when presence, relationship, history, and trust simply can’t be handed off to a tool. Swipe through for Kenny’s 11 tasks and the thinking behind them, then read the full article at exponential.org/articles.