Interview with Pastor Chris Galanos of Experience Life

“How did you go about casting the vision for disciple-making to your church members?”

CG: We started by introducing the concepts through two sermon series. The first was “Meltdown: The Decline of the American Church” based on The Great Evangelical Recession by John Dickerson. To cast a compelling vision, you have to first show you’re not doing disciple-making well. Dickerson’s book did that for us. It stirred our church to see the problem.

A few months later, we did “Miraculous Movements,” based on Jerry Trousdale’s book. We told stories of disciple-making movements in Africa and introduced movements as the solution. Then, on our 10-year anniversary, we shared a bold prayer: to see 1,000,000 disciples made using a Disciple Making Movements (DMM) strategy. We’ve been pursuing this ever since.

MF: How difficult was it for your large body of church members to catch the vision for making disciples?
CG: People love the idea of making disciples in theory. But when it comes to the actual work—going out among the lost, praying together regularly, rearranging schedules—it gets harder. Many people aren’t willing to make those changes.

Some caught the vision, went through DMM training, and are now actively making disciples. Others preferred Sunday gatherings and eventually moved on to other churches.

MF: As you have relaunched eLife as a more missional form of doing church, talk about those who have come to join you.
CG: There’s always a small group hungry for more. They read the New Testament and want to experience that. They’re the “radicals”—eager to be sent out. Most who joined us fall into that category.

MF: Share some statistics for the glory of God.
CG: Absolutely. Here’s what we’ve seen so far:

• 474 people have completed DMM training (many pastors and leaders).
• 15 Generation 0 DMM churches started. One of them has started a Generation 1 church.
• 11 more Generation 0 churches are forming.
• 161 Discovery Groups started with lost people (40 still active).
• One stream has reached 4th generation, several reached 2nd generation.
• Over 5,200 spiritual conversations tracked.
• Over 2,600 hours of corporate prayer.
• About 90 half-night prayer meetings (4–5 hours of prayer).
• 11 long-term workers sent to Thailand (6 still serving).
• We’ve cast a vision to send 500 long-term workers to the nations. We’re still praying toward that.

MF: What has been most “costly” to you and your church in making the switch? How has it been worth it?
CG: The hardest part is pressing on when people think you’re crazy! When we launched Experience Life, people questioned everything—from my age (25) to meeting in a skating rink. Now, we’re doing “church” differently again. It feels like déjà vu. But we’re trying to stay faithful to what Jesus is asking of us—no matter how crazy it looks.

MF: What suggestions would you have for any other church that wants to start doing DMM?
CG: Get a coach! That’s the #1 thing I’d say. Stan Parks was our coach. Without his guidance, we might have quit early on. Movements are foreign to the U.S., and it’s easy to get off track. Learn from those who’ve seen them happen.

MF: What are some must-reads to help those who want to learn DMM and apply it in their own church?
CG: Here’s my list:

• The Great Evangelical Recession – John Dickerson
• Miraculous Movements – Jerry Trousdale
• Spent Matches – Roy Moran
• Church Planting Movements – David Garrison
• The Kingdom Unleashed – Jerry Trousdale
  Also, Letters to the Church by Francis Chan is great for American pastors. It’s not about DMM, but it challenges the current church model.

MF: Talk about how you’ve empowered the kids in your body to do DMM. Do you have a short story?
CG: Our youth pastors revamped the youth ministry to focus on DMM principles. They cast vision to students to reach the 40,000 students in our area, use the DBS process in small groups, go on prayer walks, and start groups at school.

One incredible story: a teacher messaged me about a quiet 7th grader in our youth group who started a Bible study in her classroom before school. He used the DBS method, saying, “We’re going to talk about what this says about God, what this says about people, and who we would share this with.” His youth leader encouraged him to start the group. That’s boldness only the Spirit can give!

MF: What has been the most difficult part for your members to learn to make disciples?
CG: Time. Our American schedules are packed, and disciple-making gets squeezed out. We’ve had to overhaul our calendars—putting disciple-making first and planning other things around it. That’s a big shift. But it’s worth it. We’re learning to give up some things we enjoy for something we enjoy more: making disciples.

MF: What surprised you in this whole process of transition and relaunch?
CG: The impact a few devoted disciples can have. As a megachurch, we had 100–200 first-time guests every weekend—requiring a big staff and budget. Now, a small DMM church with no budget can reach the same number of lost people in a week. Multiply that across 26 churches, and the impact far exceeds what we had as a megachurch.

The American model is built around getting people to come to church. But most lost people aren’t interested. So we’ve got to go to them. That realization made the vision of reaching 1,000,000 feel possible.