The need to plant more churches is huge. When Jesus went from village to village, he saw the crowds and he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless. They were like sheep without a shepherd (Mt. 9:36). The sheep are out there; they need a shepherd. Here are few statistics that show the great need for starting more churches. As of the time of this writing (January, 2013):

• There is one PCA church in all of the greater Cleveland, OH, area, with a population of over 2 million.
• There is one PCA church in all of the greater Detroit, MI, area, with a population of over 4 million (and it is a church plant).
• There is one PCA church in all of the greater Milwaukee, WI, area, with a population of almost 2 million.
• There is not a PCA church in Montreal, Canada, with a population of almost 4 million.
• There are major university towns in the U.S. without a PCA church, like Lawrence, KS, Minneapolis, MN, and East Lansing, MI.
• There are very few PCA churches in the major population centers of the west, like San Francisco, Denver, Phoenix, and Portland.
• There are 20 million people in metro Los Angeles and there are only 12 PCA churches.

Besides all of this, studies show that more people come to faith in Christ in the first five years of the life of a church than at any other time.