Adam Muhtaseb sat on a Baltimore curb and wept. The tire had blown on his way to a meeting—just one more thing after years of cramped rental spaces, a beloved church member’s departure, newborn-induced sleep deprivation, his mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and financial leverage that kept him awake at night. As he sat there, the weight of unmet expectations and comparison with ‘former glory’ crushed him. He was living Haggai 2:3 in real-time: “Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?”
If you’ve been in ministry longer than a month, you’ve had your curb moment. The distance between the vision God planted in your heart and the gritty reality of your present circumstances creates a gap that swallows hope. And here’s what I want you to hear: that gap is not evidence of failure—it’s the very place where discipleship happens.
The Broken Leader Multiplies
Paul Tripp reminds us that ministry is war—but the battlefield is not primarily outside us. It’s the internal war between the kingdom of self and the kingdom of God raging in our own hearts. Everyone lives for some kind of treasure. The treasure you value controls your heart. And what controls your heart controls your behavior.
When a church planter sits on the curb broken, something profound is happening that no assessment tool can measure. Noah Oldham discovered this when his entrepreneurial score came back at 38 out of 100—the assessment team questioned his calling. But his pastor understood something assessments miss: “I’m going to go plant anyway. Because you didn’t call me to plant. God did.”
This is the paradox of 2 Timothy 2:2 multiplication: “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Notice the chain—Paul to Timothy to faithful men to others. Four generations. But what qualified Timothy? Not perfection. Not unbrokenness. Not a high entrepreneurial score. Timothy was qualified by proximity to Paul’s life, including Paul’s sufferings.
Whole-Person Discipleship in the Breaking
America is the most resourced nation for discipleship tools, yet our approaches often reflect Western reductionism. We manage discipleship like we manage businesses—reducing people to thoughts, feelings, OR actions based on our own strengths. But curb moments don’t allow for reduction. They demand wholeness.
When Adam Muhtaseb wept on that Baltimore curb, it wasn’t just his circumstances breaking—it was the illusion that ministry success could be calculated, optimized, or controlled. Haggai speaks directly to this space. The prophet identifies two sources of discouragement that plague leaders: unmet expectations (the distance between vision and reality) and comparison with past glory (“How do you see it now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?”).
The answer? “Be strong… for I am with you.” (Haggai 2:4). The message of Haggai is stunning in its simplicity: discouragement shrinks when we remember who is with us and where God is taking us.
Charles Spurgeon, who knew his own battles with depression and ministry discouragement, wrote: “I would go into the deeps a hundred times to cheer a downcast spirit. It is good for me to have been afflicted, that I might know how to speak a word in season to one that is weary.” The very breaking becomes the qualification for ministry. Your curb moment is becoming someone else’s lifeline.
The Discovery of Discipleship in Weakness
Over the last thirty years, Disciple Making Movements have grown globally through ordinary Christians committed to prayer and making disciples who make disciples. The Discovery Bible Study method asks three questions: What does this tell me about God and people? What will I do to obey it? Who else will I tell?
But here’s what we often miss: the multiplication happens because obedience, sharing the Gospel, and making disciples are built-in from the outset—not because leaders are impressive, but because they’re faithful.
Recent research from the Verge Network reveals a startling statistic: among self-identified “born-again Christians” in America, beliefs and lifestyles are virtually indistinguishable from the world around them. There are scores of people who culturally identify as Christians but biblically are not followers of Christ. They’re spectators, not multipliers.
The antidote? Leaders who have been broken enough to stop performing and start discipling from their actual lives—not their aspirational ones. When a church planter can say to his disciples, “Let me show you how I’m learning to depend on Christ in my brokenness,” multiplication becomes possible. When leaders hide their struggles behind polished presentations, they produce polished pretenders. When leaders disciple from their weakness, they produce faithful disciples.
John Calvin understood this. In his commentary on 2 Timothy, he wrote: “The Lord does not measure his work by our capacities, but by his own power. He does not choose those who are fit, but he makes fit those whom he chooses.” Your brokenness is not disqualifying—it is the very raw material God uses for multiplication.
The Path Forward: From Curb to Commission
So what does discipleship look like when you’re sitting on the curb? Three movements:
First, embrace the breaking as formation. The perceived tension between ministry and family, between calling and capacity, between vision and reality—this isn’t part of God’s design because you’re failing. It arises when we seek personal fulfillment and identity in ministry roles that should be found only in relationship with God. The breaking is God prying our fingers off the kingdom of self so we can grip the kingdom of God.
Second, invite others into the process. This is the genius of 2 Timothy 2:2. Paul didn’t disciple Timothy from a distance with polished video content. It was life-on-life. It was “in the presence of many witnesses.” Timothy saw Paul’s struggles. He witnessed Paul’s suffering. He watched Paul’s perseverance. And when Paul told him to entrust these things to faithful men, Timothy knew exactly what “these things” meant—not just doctrine, but the whole life of following Jesus through difficulty.
As 9Marks Journal recently emphasized: “Discipling is not a program. It is not a podcast preacher. It is not a one-size-fits-all information transfer. It is life-on-life loving in word and deed.”
Third, keep your eyes on the future glory. Haggai doesn’t stop with the present disappointment. He points to what God is building: “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house.” (Haggai 2:9). The church planter who weeps on the curb today is participating in something that will far exceed every former glory. The multiplication happening in secret faithfulness will erupt into public kingdom advance.
The Multiplication Promise
Here’s the stunning reality: Disciple Making Movements aren’t fueled by the most gifted, the most resourced, or the most impressive leaders. They’re fueled by the most faithful—ordinary Christians committed to prayer and making disciples who make disciples. The Discovery App is now available in ten languages because ordinary believers said yes to multiplication in their brokenness.
The multiplication mindset shifts from addition (“invite to church”) to multiplication (“teach to disciple others”). As one movement leader noted: “If we invite a person to our church we maybe grow the kingdom by one. If we teach a person to make disciples wherever they are, it may never stop growing.”
Your curb moment? It’s not the end of your ministry. It may be the beginning of your multiplication. The very place where you feel most broken may become the foundation from which God raises up faithful men and women who will teach others also.
Don’t waste the breaking. Disciple from it. Let others see how Christ sustains you in weakness. That’s not a liability—it’s the gospel.