Kathy loved flowers, especially roses. So she decided to plant rose bushes alongside the fence separating her back yard from the back yard of her neighbor. Three years passed but still no flowers. Kathy was disappointed, and decided that she had planted the bushes in the wrong place: the afternoon sun was on the other side of the fence. No roses.
In the fourth year, however, her neighbor came over for morning coffee. “Thank you so much for the gorgeous roses!” she told Kathy. “Every morning I eat my breakfast in the presence of their beauty.”
Surprised, Kathy walked into her neighbor’s back yard. The branches of the rose bushes had gone through the fence and bloomed on the other side—the sunny side, totally unknown to Kathy! All along the neighbor’s fence stood a display of flowers fit for a queen.
The roses had bloomed on the other side!
Sometimes, this is how our prayers work. We often till the pains and desires of our hearts in prayer before God. Sometimes we see God act quickly in response to our prayers. But sometimes we see no response at all.
But rest assured that somebody sees God’s response to our prayers.
“Somebody sees God’s response to our prayers.”
Jerry Trousdale grew up in the a cappella churches of Christ, attending Lipscomb Academy, Lipscomb High School, and Lipscomb College (now University). When he was 22 years old, he married Gail, and three years later they joined a mission team in the country of Sierra Leone. At that time, over 50% of the people of Sierra Leone were animists. 40% were Muslim. And less than 10% were Christian.
Jerry and Gail worked in Sierra Leone for only five years. They returned to the U.S. and moved to Southern California for Jerry to attend Fuller Theological Seminary. Jerry also took a preaching job at the Arcadia Church of Christ, but Sierra Leone remained heavy on his heart.
Because of Jerry’s love for Sierra Leone, in the early 1980s a women’s group at the Arcadia Church of Christ began meeting weekly to pray for the gospel in Sierra Leone. They prayed for years. And nothing happened.
Meanwhile, Jerry was being mentored by the likes of Don Finto and John Wimber. The cessationist views of Jerry’s upbringing no longer held. He had seen too many non-cessationist things in Sierra Leone to believe that God quit performing miracles. And both Finto and Wimber were well known for their charismatic belief in the supernatural. Jerry remained friendly to the a cappella Churches of Christ, but soon considered himself a non-denominational, charismatic “world Christian.”
“They prayed for years. And nothing happened.”
Jerry and Gail’s life rolled on. In the late 1980s, they moved back to Tennessee where Jerry became a radio host for LifeTalk and the director of publishing for Thomas Nelson publishers. At Nelson, Jerry led in the international promotion of the best-selling New King James Version. Jerry also served at the Belmont Church in Nashville, and then at the Belmont church plant in Murfreesboro, Tennessee—where I live.
I once met Jerry in the 1990s. For years I was the senior minister of the North Boulevard Church of Christ in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. In an evening lesson at the church in 1993, I offered some critiques of the NKJV. A few days later, Jerry was at the door of my church asking to meet with me about my comments. We had a lunch about the NKJV, and Jerry gave me a leather copy of the translation. The lunch was friendly, even though we both had our suspicions. After all, I was skeptical of Wimber and Finto, and Jerry probably saw me as a scold.
Some years later, a member of my congregation called me after seeing a demon in their bedroom several nights in a row. I had never been asked to do an exorcism—and I did not know anyone who had performed one. So I called the one charismatic I felt comfortable calling—Jerry—to help me think through the troubling matter. Together we tried to deal with the spirit through several visits to the room.
Life rolled on, and I lost track of Jerry.
“The lunch was friendly, even though we both had our suspicions.”
Meanwhile Jerry, still living in Murfreesboro, had met a minister from Sierra Leone who had planted six congregations. His name was Shodankeh Johnson. Jerry had never lost his interest in the African country he loved so much. Shodankeh visited Jerry in Murfreesboro in the year 2000 to discuss Sierra Leone. Coincidentally, in that same year a charismatic church in Murfreesboro was hosting a church planting event featuring David Watson. Watson told spectacular stories about planting thousands of churches in India using simple, reproducible tools. Jerry and Shodankeh skeptically decided to attend.
Incredulous at the tales Watson told, they asked to meet with him after the event. Soon, David Watson was coaching Jerry and Shodankeh in the principles of disciple making and church planting movements. Jerry and Shodankeh at first said, “It will never work in Sierra Leone.” But then they decided to try the methods in Sierra Leone for half a year—Shodankeh working in the country and Jerry providing state-side support.
Within a year’s time, Shodankeh was reporting amazing results—hundreds of baptisms and multiple churches planted. Jerry and Shodankeh went all in on the disciple making and church planting strategies. In 2002 Jerry and Shodankeh, along with Claude King and Younoussa Djao, founded Final Command Ministries to promote disciple making movements around the world. Later Jerry partnered with CityTeam, now called New Generations. New Generations also funds and promotes disciple making and church planting movements around the world. Shodankeh would start New Harvest Ministries to help manage the tens of thousands of baptisms and the hundreds of churches that were now spreading across Sierra Leone. 
“Within a year’s time, Shodankeh was reporting amazing results—hundreds of baptisms and multiple churches planted.”
By 2016 there were hundreds of thousands of new Christians and thousands of new congregations across Sierra Leone—a feat so amazing that it deserves its own chapter in the history of missions textbooks. More Muslims were being baptized in Sierra Leone than have been baptized in the past fourteen centuries of all of human history. Animists by the hundreds of thousands were giving up the idols of their dead ancestors for the cross of the living Christ. It was miracle upon miracle—Acts 2 coming alive again.
I knew none of this when the Spirit led me to conclude that my congregation should help plant 60,000 churches.
It happened this way. In 2012 I went away from my duties as senior minister for a week of prayer, asking God how our congregation might make a great kingdom impact on the world. Somehow God put it on my heart that we were supposed to help plant 60,000 churches. I didn’t like what I was hearing—it felt ridiculous, embarrassing, and destined to fail. “Why 60,000?” I asked. No answer from the Lord. Just a repeat. 60,000 churches.
With secret fear and dread, I announced to my congregation in 2013 that I believed we should help plant 60,000 churches. That year I was trying to articulate a vision for moving toward the thrill of world-wide Christianity. I had no idea how we could possibly plant 60,000 churches, and I was terrified to announce the number. But God had put it on my heart. I assumed we would fail, but I decided to trust God.
“I assumed we would fail, but I decided to trust God.”
The local newspapers published an article about our vision—after all we had raised $6 million for it. The paper screamed my 60,000 church plants announcement to the whole city, which I hated because by now I was regretting making the 60,000-church announcement.
But who was reading the paper? Jerry Trousdale, whom I hadn’t seen in years.
Intrigued, Jerry visited my congregation. I saw him in the hallway, and both of us were surprised. “Jerry! To what do we owe your presence at our congregation?” He replied, “I don’t know. I read about your desire to plant 60,000 churches, and I believe I’m supposed to be here.”
Jerry introduced us to disciple making and church planting movements, and within a few years, the North Boulevard Church of Christ was partnering with Final Command, New Generations, and New Harvest to make disciples and plant churches across the Global South. Shodankeh spoke at our church several times. Jerry became a member of our congregation. Various members of Final Command, New Generations, and New Harvest became part of our lives at North Boulevard. David Watson even coached one of our ministers for a year or more.
And last I heard, North Boulevard had helped plant nearly 10,000 churches—well on the way to 60,000, near miraculously. We help plant at least one church every day of the year.
“We help plant at least one church every day of the year.”
These disciple making and church planting movements across the Global South have changed the world. In the West we get the sense that the Christian faith has stalled. But in the Global South it is exploding. On the continent of Africa alone, Christianity has grown from around 10 million in 1900 to nearly 800 million today. The Christian faith is spreading like fire in nations like India and China. Even in the Middle East and in Iran, and in other unsuspecting places, the Christian faith is quietly growing. Sierra Leone now is nearly 50% Christian—mostly because of Shodankeh’s movement. His movement has started schools, medical centers, and various relief centers—all over Sierra Leone. Everywhere you go there, people know the name Shodankeh Johnson. Many people want him to run for president of the country. After all, nearly over a third of the country has been baptized through his movement. He would surely be elected.
And the North Boulevard Church of Christ got a front row seat to much of it, doing another fundraiser of $12 million in 2022 to fund more expansion of the Kingdom. I will forever be blessed because of my part in it, and North Boulevard has been tremendously blessed by God for its missionary faith.
And one last thing: the prayer service in Arcadia, California.
“Sierra Leone now is nearly 50% Christian.”
Yes, the women continued to meet for years, throughout the 1980s, the 1990s, and the early 2000s. Men also joined them from time to time. But they remained totally oblivious to the disciple making and church planting movement in Sierra Leone. Yes, the women prayed, year after year, never personally seeing any results and having every reason to quit praying for Sierra Leone. Some members of the prayer group passed away having never heard the news. Others persevered, not knowing anything about Shodankeh, the hundreds of thousands of baptisms, or the tens of thousands of new congregations. They just kept praying—faithfully trusting that God would do something in Sierra Leone.
And on the other side of the fence, in my life and halfway around the world, the roses bloomed in the hearts of millions of believers.[1]
[1] Most of this story came from my time spent with Jerry and Shedonkeh, as well as meeting with David Watson, John King of Final Command, Harry Brown of New Generations, and others involved in the disciple making and church planting movements around the world. In 2018 I was blessed to tour the work in Sierra Leone with Shedonkeh. It genuinely is Acts 2 all over again. Also, several years ago I was able to read a letter from one of the elders at the Arcadia Church of Christ reporting that the women’s prayer meeting had gone, if I’m remembering right, more than 20 years. For more information, read Jerry’s books, Miraculous Movements and The Kingdom Unleashed.
