Many times God’s instructions do not follow a glorious victory, but a grueling defeat. This was certainly the case for Josh Foliart. The University of Arkansas Razorback football team, whom Josh played college football for, had just returned a few days earlier from playing in the Las Vegas bowl. They were trounced by the Rebel football team, which were supposed to be an easy opponent. On Christmas Eve, 2000, Josh was up late reading and praying, when the Lord led him to Isaiah 55:3-5. Little did He know that in the context of humiliating defeat, God was about to define the purpose of his entire life. This is what God spoke that night: “Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David. See how I used him to display my power among the peoples. I made him a leader among the nations. You also will command nations you do not know, and peoples unknown to you will come running to obey, because I, the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious.” With that simple breath from God, a calling to the nations was born. Josh has lived his life towards this promise ever since.
After working with the Arkansas Athletes Outreach for three years and then reluctantly working as a middle school math teacher, the Lord spoke again to Josh through His word. Psalm 119:32 said: “I run in the paths of your commands for you have set my heart free.” With this, The Lord was inviting Josh to pursue the dream he had been given six years prior. Josh resigned from his teaching position, and with an eight-day-old baby boy named Lucas, his wife Casandra having quit her job, the decision to pursue the Lord’s word was daunting, to say the least. With one final paycheck from his teaching position, Josh and Casandra remained in hope of the promises they had been given. Within two months, Pastor Steve Dixon, the lead pastor for Christian Life Cathedral extended Josh a part time position.
The part time position at Christian Life Cathedral provided the atmosphere for the Lord to begin to lay in Josh the foundations that would encompass MULTIPLi. Josh launched theLINK, a college and 20-somethings ministry there in 2006. The following year, in September, 2007, Josh walked his neighborhood deep in prayer, when the Lord unveiled a vision to Josh of his family and him holding the flags of seven nations that the Lord had given them as an inheritance for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In July, 2011, Josh experienced the beginnings of the first promise the Lord had given him in 2000 in the wake of his college football defeat. He visited Peru, and it was during this trip that Josh discovered he shared a birthday- July 28, with that nation. At this, the Holy Spirit revealed to Him the assignment he had there.
A year later, in September, 2012, Josh resigned his position, now as an Associate Pastor, at Christian Life Cathedral and began making plans to move his family to Peru to plant churches there.
January, 2013 saw Josh, Casandra, their son Lucas, and daughter Sofia moving to Lima, Peru. One year later nearly to the date, they launched their first church in the city of kings. After 30 months of praying and planting this new lima based church, the Foliarts decided that it was time for them to move into phase two of MULTIPLi. They would move back stateside to continue gathering finances and future leaders for the work in Lima and the six other nations that God is calling them towards. They are currently based in North Atlanta. The mission of MULTIPLi to make disciples, train leaders and plant churches is stronger than ever. In March of 2016, MULTIPLi in partnership with the original plant in Lima, will be planting a second location in Lima, Peru.
The vision is simple; plant works in every district of Lima, (there are 43) empowering leaders to carry the ministry into every sphere of society and eventually the model into six other cities of the earth. May the Lord do immeasurably more than we can dare to ask or even imagine.