“I found you a job today!” My dad seemed very excited about his new discovery. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I wasn’t looking for a job.

We drove to a small church in my hometown, and my dad handed me a toilet brush. I was their new janitor. For the next eight hours, I learned to wash toilets and mop floors. When my work met my dad’s approval, I received my first pay check of $35.

Over the next 30 days I would make $140. It was the most money I had ever seen. Later, I was presented with a question: Would I trade in my cash for one penny if I was assured that it would double each day for the next 30 days? I was 13 years old, so I pretty much knew everything. I chose the cash.

Then the math was laid out before my eyes. After the second day, I would have 2 cents. The third day would bring 4 cents and the fifth 8 cents. After the first week, I’d have 32 cents. It was clear I had made the best decision. However, as I continued to do the math I realized that by day 15 I would have more than my monthly pay. On day 30, I would be a multimillionaire, with $5,368,709.12 in my bank account.

That is the day I learned the power of multiplication.

Sometimes in the church we focus on addition rather than multiplication. We pour a great deal of resources and time into attempting to add to the large number of people in our assembly. We get excited if our congregation of 140 grows to 150.

What if just one person in the congregation decided to invest in someone far from God all year and modeled for them how to follow Jesus and disciple someone else? At the end of the year, they each would choose someone to repeat the process. After 30 years, they would be spending yet another year with a disciple and have 30 individuals they had poured themselves into — and the entire population of nearly 5 million in the state of South Carolina would be disciple makers!

The greatest investment you can make is in the souls of mankind. All other things on earth will soon fade away, but the soul lasts forever. An investment in someone is an eternal investment.

Give yourself away. The tomb is empty! There is hope!

Now go share — and multiply.