Claim. A leader raises members by total investment of heart — staying up all night, treating each member as if their conversion determines thousands — because sincere investment is never lost; even when a member falls away, an equivalent person arrives.
Elaboration. SMM models leadership as inexhaustible parental investment: “You should stay up all night making devoted efforts to raise core members. If you can offer this effort for three days, they will bond with you and feel grace that will stay with them throughout their lives” (3.2. Devotion and sincerity must be invested to guide members, 23-249, 1969.5). The non-loss principle is explicit: “Never be discouraged if a member falls away. When a member falls away, a very interesting phenomenon occurs: A person who resembles that person’s character, speech, and even the way he walks, will join the church… You can understand that sincere investment and prayer are never lost” (ibid, 42-162, 1971.3.4). The one-on-one strategy SMM describes — talking to one person as if to thousands — is the working method (ibid, 96-284, 1978.2.13). Even mistakes are not grounds for severance: “If there is something bad, do not get rid of it right away… If a person is cut off due to a mistake he made a year ago, then he may spiritually die completely” (ibid, 72-313, 1974.7.14). The implication: church growth is a heart-investment economy, not a recruitment funnel.