Joby Martin: Why “Pace Is a Myth” and Faithfulness Wins

On the flip side, what concerns you for the U.S. church right now?

My No. 1 concern for the American church is the pulpit. Because there are a lot of people that just don’t teach the gospel. They don’t teach the Word. They’re tickling ears to be remarkable, and they want everybody to like them. That terrifies me. 

Now, I’m not worried about that too much at our church. I’ve got lots of really good, godly pastors around me that would come get me if I began to swerve away from what the Bible taught. 

At our church and churches like ours, what terrifies me is complacency, because we’re big, man. We’re big. We have got a bunch of campuses, and tens of thousands of people. And the moment you show up, look around and think you’ve arrived, then you have completely lost the marching orders that Jesus gave in Matthew 28:19. We are not done until every tribe, tongue and nation has heard the gospel. 

And if you go to a big church, the danger is you could be sitting in the seat and you know God’s called you to do something, but in your complacency, you look around, and you’re like, Well, surely somebody else will handle this. Surely somebody else will step in and volunteer. Surely somebody else will give generously. Surely somebody else will serve. And you might not feel the urgency of the call of Jesus in the Great Commission. That makes me nervous. 

When you spoke to Outreach for an interview in 2021, you said your biggest dream was to finish well. Has your understanding of what that means changed at all in the past few years, or would you say that’s still consistent?

My executive pastor’s name is Ryan Britt. His dad’s name is Billy Britt. [Billy] pastored a bunch of churches in Georgia, some really good, successful churches. He passed away in 2024 and I went to [the] funeral. And in that moment, sitting in that funeral, celebrating this man’s life, the goalpost changed. 

If you read in Matthew 25, the Parable of the Talents, the two-talent guy might actually be the real hero because he spends zero time comparing himself to the one-talent guy or the five-talent guy. He doesn’t look down his nose at the one-talent guy and be like, “Well, at least I’m better than that guy.” And he doesn’t look up at the five-talent guy and be like, “Well, if I had all he had, then I could really do something.” He just does what the master’s called him to do. And when he gets to heaven, he hears, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” He doesn’t hear, “Well done, good and fruitful servant.” Because the fruit is up to the Lord. 

Let’s be honest—at our church, we sing and talk like everybody else. We all preach from the same Bible. I don’t have a secret book or something. I have no idea why God would save so many people at our church. I mean, there are some things you can do to prevent it, but you can’t make it happen. But the brother that’s out there just serving faithfully at the church that God has assigned him to, when he gets to heaven, he gets the same reward: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” 

In fact, this doesn’t get celebrated enough. There’s a little church in Clifton Forge, Virginia, you’ve never even heard of. (You’ve probably never heard of the town.) It’s called Lone Star Church. My wife’s grandfather was the pastor there forever. And I don’t know how many they have in attendance, maybe 150 people, 200 people. Faithful church, just [a] sweet, faithful church. 

But you know what that church did? They made a disciple and her name was Gretchen Nicely. And I married that girl 26 years ago, and now she’s Gretchen Martin. And in 2003, I was this close to stepping away from ministry. I thought I was done … and my wife talked me into giving it one more run because she didn’t think I was done.

That’s what led us to Jacksonville. Leading up to 2012 when we planted Eleven22, as we were talking and praying about should we do this or not, I began to get offers from other very great, well-established churches. And it would have been safe and secure and easy on my family [to take those offers]. They had things like health insurance and guaranteed paychecks.

I’m like, “Babe, what do you think?” I mean, just for me, I wanted to plant a church, but I didn’t know if I wanted to drag my family through the risk of that. And she encouraged me, put courage on the inside of me. “You know, God’s called you to do this. I’m with you. Wherever you go, I go.” She quoted Ruth to me. She says, “I’m with you.” And I go, “You realize this thing could flop, and I don’t know what I’m going to do.” She repeated, “I’m with you.” 

So twice in my ministry, she talked me into the next step. Now we just baptized 2,552 people on the beach. All of that fruit hangs on the tree of Lone Star Church, this little, tiny, faithful church that’s just making disciples, because you have no idea what hangs in the balance. 

I think it’s very, very important just to be faithful with what God has trusted you with. And if he decides to give you more, praise God. And if not, praise God. Just do what he told you to do.

What are you praying God does through The Church of Eleven22 over the next decade?

Honestly, just more of the same. One of the things I’m most excited about is we’ve planted and partnered to plant a little over 900 churches, and we’re not stopping. And what’s so exciting—and this is around the world, East Africa, South Africa, a lot in the Amazon, in Brazil, places all over the U.S.—there are more people in attendance at the churches that we’ve planted than are in attendance at Eleven22 every single weekend. I love that.