On July 29, 2014, three Irish teenagers from Manor-Cunningham, Donegal gave their hearts to Jesus. For two weeks, my Encounter team had been playing raucous youth group games (see two new scars on my right arm), giving testimonies and loving on the kids who came to Youth Club every night. We had been real in communicating the deep healing and restoration Jesus has done in our lives. We had also talked about the ways that Christ works in us, day to day; guiding us, protecting us, making us new. I have had the privilege of having many of these conversations for the past year on the World Race. Each time, I was honest in speaking and prayed that God would bring words out of my mouth that were exactly what others needed to hear in order to understand His deep love for them and His commitment to them….even though they didn’t know Him yet.
In I Corinthians 3, Paul talks to the church at Corinth about the process of ministry. He is clear, in verse 6, that he plants spiritual seeds through his words and actions, but God is the one who brings growth. Anyone who gardens knows that much of the growth of a seed takes place underground, where it it imperceptible to the senses. The gardener still has a job to do, though…..watching, fertilizing, pulling weeks, making sure the seed has the right conditions to grow. Then, at the right time, the seed sprouts through the earth and grows to produce fruit. As a master gardener would, God has been cultivating an atmosphere of growth for these teens. And, after many months of planting seeds around the world, I was very honored to be part of their sprouting and entering into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Please pray for these teens…..that they would be “good ground” and invite God to grow their roots in Him down deep. Two of the three teens are pictured below. Thank you for sending me to serve around the world. It is truly an honor and I truly couldn’t have done any of this without you.
Jessica (left) led Shannon (right) into a relationship with Jesus on July 29, 2014.
Dillon (left) led Ashley (right) into a relationship with Christ on July 29, 2014
