Seven Lessons from an Interview with Ralph Moore

January 26, 2016

It’s not how many churches you plant, it’s how many of the churches you plant, plant churches that plant

Ralph Moore, pastor of Hope Chapel in Honolulu, is a 70-year-old, humble hippie who is planting the third Hope Chapel in Hawaii. Ralph is responsible, directly or indirectly, for more than 1,000 church plants. I was struck by his humble, straightforward way of sharing both himself and what he has learned.

Here is what I learned from my interview with this great man.

Lesson One: Too much control and not enough passion is deadly.

I asked Ralph what was the key to his planting success: He responded, “The key to our multiplication is to have a simple, decentralized plan and a red-hot passion for the Great Commission. We just let it happen, and we are passionate about church multiplication.” Moore left the Foursquare Church because they wanted too much control over how things were done.

Lesson Two: Church planting isn’t the issue.

While I talked to Ralph, he offered this timely reminder: “It’s not how many churches you plant, it’s how many of the churches you plant, plant churches that plant. Hope Chapel Hermosa Beach planted 30 churches that resulted in more than 1000 churches.”

Lesson Three: It takes time to prepare a planter.

I asked Ralph how they choose their planters. His response was insightful. We wait 5-7 years before we send someone out to plant a church. If a person starts three small groups (they call them mini-churches), we are going to look at them as a potential church planter. These small groups reflect each week on the sermon around some soul-searching questions, much like those of Wesley’s class meetings. We always ask, “What did the Holy Spirit say to you this week?”

Lesson Four: Small groups are the best incubators of church planters.

Ralph told me, “Everything centers around our mini-churches and our ability to foster discipleship and raise up planters.”

Lesson Six: The church planting movement can’t wait on formal education for its planters.

I asked Ralph if all of his planters had formal theological training. He responded, “All of our direct plants come out of our church with people who have had no formal theological training.”

Lesson Seven: Too much emphasis on megachurches hurts the church planting movement.

When asked about why multiplication is happening all over the world except the U.S. Ralph quickly responded, “The U.S. puts too much emphasis on megachurches. This takes time away from discipleship. It costs a lot of money to be mega.”


Bill Easum has a thirty-year track record of growing congregations in two denominations. His last church, which he re-started and pastored for twenty-four years, grew to be one of the largest United Methodist Churches in South Texas. His record of “evangelization” and “social justice” ministries was acknowledged by Industrial Areas Foundation in New York as one of the finest examples in North America. Since 1987 Bill has devoted his time to consulting, coaching, and speaking. Bill is the Founder and President of The Effective Church Group, formerly 21st Century Strategies.

Join Bill Easum & Ralph Moore at Exponential East where they and over 150 other speakers will focus on the conference’s theme: Becoming Five. For more on this year’s theme, you can read the FREE eBook Becoming a Level Five Multiplying Church by Exponential founders Todd Wilson & Dave Ferguson.

This article was originally published through Effective Church Group. Used with permission.

Bill Easum

Bill Easum

Bill Easum has a 30-year track record of growing congregations in two denominations. His last church, which he pastored for 24 years, grew to become the largest United Methodist Church in South Texas. Bill is the recipient of the prestigious Donald McGavran award for outstanding church leadership. Over the past 20 years, Bill has served as a consultant to congregations and denominations. He is the author of numerous best-selling books such as Church Growth HandbookHow to Reach Baby BoomersDancing With DinosaursSacred Cows Make Gourmet BurgersBeyond the Box and many more. His latest book is Effective Staffing for Vital Churches: The Essential Guide to Finding and Keeping the Right People.
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