the youth ministry farmer

Most Monday evenings and Saturday afternoons, in the spring and fall, you can find my family at the soccer fields coaching a team or two of 7/8 year olds, aspiring to get some exercise, have some fun, and learn the game of soccer. Our family has been volunteer coaching for several season in our city-wide rec league. We make the time because we believe that God wants us to be youth ministry farmers. We have the seed of Jesus' love and light in our lives and we feel obligated to spread the seed on to others. We never get to talk about Jesus; we never get to read and discuss a story from the Bible; we never get to pray with our team; we never really get the chance to share our faith with the parents. But, we do get to be a positive influence in their lives; we do get to have some healthy, clean fun playing the game we all love; we do get the opportunity to get kids to smile and treat them with respect; we get to be the light of Jesus for 7 children. And the kids love playing for us! We rarely win all of our games, but we always shake hands and celebrate like winners. Do you see yourself as a "youth ministry farmer"? You are; you can be; you should be... You are sowing the seeds of respect, love, truth, fun, attention, listening in the name of Jesus to a group of students. Their hearts are ripe for a new seed to be planted; some of them need their hearts tilled because they have been beaten down by the world; soem will close you off and out of their lives. But you can not worry or stress over what you can not control. You are in charge of spreading healthy, truthful seed; that seed is the truth found in God's Word to us. And you can build relationships with your kids that will begin to softne their hearts to the seed that over time, will be planted in their hearts. You may get to see the "fruit/harvest" and then again, you may never get to see it at all! But tonight, like my family, you can rest your head on the pillow knowing that you gave it your all; you shared and sowed the seed of Jesus' love to the kids in your care. And the rest is up to the Spirit of God. Stay faithful to scattering the right seed... be blessed in your farming efforts!