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What Is Multiply? and David Platt
Francis Chan
Francis Chan (1967–present). Born on August 31, 1967, in Hong Kong to Chinese parents, Francis Chan was raised in San Francisco after his family immigrated to the U.S. His mother died during his birth, and his father, a pastor, passed when he was 12, shaping his faith through loss. Chan earned a bachelor’s degree from The Master’s College and a Master of Divinity from The Master’s Seminary. In 1994, at age 26, he founded Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, California, growing it from 30 to over 3,000 attendees by 2010, when he resigned to pursue broader ministry. Known for his passionate, Bible-centered preaching, he authored bestsellers like Crazy Love (2008), Forgotten God (2009), and Erasing Hell (2011), urging radical devotion to Christ. In 2013, he launched We Are Church, a house-church movement in San Francisco, and later moved to Hong Kong in 2020 to plant churches, though he returned to the U.S. in 2021. Married to Lisa since 1994, he has seven children. Chan says, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.”
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of fulfilling the Great Commission given by Jesus to make disciples of all nations. It challenges believers to move from being followers of Christ to actively making disciples, highlighting the need to overcome fears and insecurities through the power of God's Spirit. The goal is to empower every follower of Christ to engage in disciple-making and provide support and tools to aid in this mission, ultimately aiming to see disciples made in every nation and among every people group.
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The thought of someone rising from the dead and saying all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, that's a huge statement. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. So it starts with Jesus saying follow me, I'll make you fishers of men, at the end he says now go and make disciples of all nations. This is what you were created for. A lot of people have memorized this passage but are they doing it? Is it actually happening? We're all afraid, we all have insecurities, can we work together to get rid of those and pray that God gives us power over those things and then actually observe, actually go and do what he commanded us to do. So the heart behind Multiply is to help us remember, remind each other, hey we're disciples of Jesus, that means we make disciples of Jesus. This is not just for the super gifted, the super talented. I really believe as we're doing this we're really going to experience the presence of Christ with us in a much more full way, in a much more real tangible way. I mean that's why he gave us the Holy Spirit, was he says look I'm going to give you this Holy Spirit and when he comes you're going to receive power to be my witnesses. The heart behind Multiply is saying how can we encourage every single follower of Christ to fish for men, every single disciple of Jesus to make disciples of Jesus and then along the way equip one another, help give one another tools that can be helpful in the process of making disciples so that you and I together can be a part of accomplishing the greatest mission on the planet, seeing disciples made in every single nation, among every single people group.
What Is Multiply? and David Platt
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Francis Chan (1967–present). Born on August 31, 1967, in Hong Kong to Chinese parents, Francis Chan was raised in San Francisco after his family immigrated to the U.S. His mother died during his birth, and his father, a pastor, passed when he was 12, shaping his faith through loss. Chan earned a bachelor’s degree from The Master’s College and a Master of Divinity from The Master’s Seminary. In 1994, at age 26, he founded Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, California, growing it from 30 to over 3,000 attendees by 2010, when he resigned to pursue broader ministry. Known for his passionate, Bible-centered preaching, he authored bestsellers like Crazy Love (2008), Forgotten God (2009), and Erasing Hell (2011), urging radical devotion to Christ. In 2013, he launched We Are Church, a house-church movement in San Francisco, and later moved to Hong Kong in 2020 to plant churches, though he returned to the U.S. in 2021. Married to Lisa since 1994, he has seven children. Chan says, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.”