John began to write down ideas about potential sequences for trainings in 2003. Eventually, those notes - with discussions, additions, and refining by others throughout the years - became the “ministry path” that Multiplication Network uses today. Two years later, in 2005, John and others created the first website and decided to call the ministry Multiplication Network Ministries and because of the focus on Latin America, they started with Spanish - Red de Multiplicación. The name seemed to best describe what they were—a network of leaders who were interested in the multiplication of healthy churches.
2000-2002
The seed for the vision of Multiplication Network was planted after Dr. John Wagenveld was approached to write a book on church planting. To promote the book Iglecrecimiento Integral (Wholistic Church Growth) and make the ideas more accessible, a seminar was held on September 30, 2000 in Puerto Rico. It was led by Alfredo Vallellanes, Raúl Orlandi, Rosilio Román, and John Wagenveld. The success of the Wholistic Church Growth seminars led to John developing two-and-a-half-day church planter bootcamps that were provided in various parts of Latin America. At this time, John and a few others were starting to sense the need to switch from an event orientation to a process orientation that actually had measurable and verifiable results.
John moved to Chicago in 2001 to begin working with Bible League as the Associate Director for Latin America where he was able to use the Wholistic Church Growth book and conference as a way to promote their existing programs.
In 2002, John was invited by FLET to write a book on church planting. In collaboration with 22 authors from 11 countries and varied denominational backgrounds, Sembremos Iglesias Saludables (Let’s Plant Healthy Churches) was published by Unilit and FLET in 2004