From the Pastor's Desk (Oct. 2025)
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” ~Matthew 9:37-38
It’s unbelievable how quickly the days pass by. Every year, as we get into the Spring months, and we drive by the corn fields and see the green sprouts begin to peek above
the soil, Rhonda has to put up with her husband going through the mixed feelings of
excitement and impatience. She hears me get stoked about the imminent arrival of sweet corn, while grumbling that it isn’t growing faster.
Some wise person once said, Don’t wish your life away. Indeed, it seems that if you blink more than a few times, the corn is tall, full, and the roadside stands are loaded with ears ready to eat. The time in between did, in fact, go quickly with all the activity going on in our lives. Spring closed with Rhonda completing a school year and us taking a vacation to Billy Graham’s Home Place, and summer arriving with normal seasonal activities and our trip to Annual Conference. Upon the completion of Conference in early July, we returned home to our first batch of sweet corn.
But even those months went by so quickly. Driving down the country roads today takes you past very few corn stalks that haven’t turned brown and completed their life cycle for another year. It won’t be much longer until the other vegetables are finished, too, and the harvest for one more year will be complete. Next year will be another year, and the cycle will start all over again.
It was in the prime of Jesus’ ministry He expressed a similar trend with the people He saw as He went from town to town, but with one distinct difference. Matthew says in chapter 9: Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Out of Jesus’ deep love and compassion, He was even more eager for this harvest of people than we are for the harvest of vegetables, and Jesus calls us into that same enthusiasm, but with more urgency. The distinct difference I mentioned was simply this: The harvest of people has a time limit. We don’t always have the same luxury of “waiting until next year” when we encounter those people without a shepherd. You might have that one chance alone to give the message of Christ to the downtrodden person you see in the grocery store parking lot, or the single mother or father trying to find encouragement in a world that is quickly crashing down around them. You may be the hope they are waiting for. Returning to the same fruit stand of people “next year,” while it may give you another chance to help somebody, will not give you the chance to help that one who needed it most in that moment.
Jesus was correct when he said the workers are few for the abundant harvest of souls. Our Mission and Vision Statements are meant to reverse that trend, but it’s up to you whether or not that works. May God show you the next one to be picked, loved, prayed for, and given the message of Christ.
Go Get ‘Em!
~Pastor Eric
It’s unbelievable how quickly the days pass by. Every year, as we get into the Spring months, and we drive by the corn fields and see the green sprouts begin to peek above
the soil, Rhonda has to put up with her husband going through the mixed feelings of
excitement and impatience. She hears me get stoked about the imminent arrival of sweet corn, while grumbling that it isn’t growing faster.
Some wise person once said, Don’t wish your life away. Indeed, it seems that if you blink more than a few times, the corn is tall, full, and the roadside stands are loaded with ears ready to eat. The time in between did, in fact, go quickly with all the activity going on in our lives. Spring closed with Rhonda completing a school year and us taking a vacation to Billy Graham’s Home Place, and summer arriving with normal seasonal activities and our trip to Annual Conference. Upon the completion of Conference in early July, we returned home to our first batch of sweet corn.
But even those months went by so quickly. Driving down the country roads today takes you past very few corn stalks that haven’t turned brown and completed their life cycle for another year. It won’t be much longer until the other vegetables are finished, too, and the harvest for one more year will be complete. Next year will be another year, and the cycle will start all over again.
It was in the prime of Jesus’ ministry He expressed a similar trend with the people He saw as He went from town to town, but with one distinct difference. Matthew says in chapter 9: Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Out of Jesus’ deep love and compassion, He was even more eager for this harvest of people than we are for the harvest of vegetables, and Jesus calls us into that same enthusiasm, but with more urgency. The distinct difference I mentioned was simply this: The harvest of people has a time limit. We don’t always have the same luxury of “waiting until next year” when we encounter those people without a shepherd. You might have that one chance alone to give the message of Christ to the downtrodden person you see in the grocery store parking lot, or the single mother or father trying to find encouragement in a world that is quickly crashing down around them. You may be the hope they are waiting for. Returning to the same fruit stand of people “next year,” while it may give you another chance to help somebody, will not give you the chance to help that one who needed it most in that moment.
Jesus was correct when he said the workers are few for the abundant harvest of souls. Our Mission and Vision Statements are meant to reverse that trend, but it’s up to you whether or not that works. May God show you the next one to be picked, loved, prayed for, and given the message of Christ.
Go Get ‘Em!
~Pastor Eric
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