Send Forth Laborers

Which is better? One laborer alone or many laborers working in the field?

A couple of days ago I said that I wanted to address the subject of LABORERS. This is a desperately important subject in ministry. Every church and ministry I know needs more laborers. One of the questions I ask other pastors, missionaries and church workers is about their present and potential labor force. I will be addressing this issue and asking these questions in the morning to a group of Haitian pastors and church leaders.

I am always very surprised, though maybe I shouldn’t be, that many pastors say to me they do not have any potential preachers or missionaries coming along in their church. Is it that they believe they will live forever and not have to be replaced? Is it that they feel no need to prepare anyone to follow them because they can depend on a pulpit committee or mission board to find their replacements? Surely that cannot be the case.

As I look back in my ministry (remember in the last post I said that I always do that at the first of the year) it seems the greatest blessings I can recall are tied to those who were called, trained and sent out as laborers under my ministry. Those are the definite bright spots and highlights for me.

Presently I have the joy of working with several good young men who have been called into the ministry. But I am not satisfied. I am thankful for them, but not satisfied because we need more laborers. I see the wonderful work that we are involved in together. I see the growth in their lives, their maturity coming on, our ministry expanding on and the other lives that they are beginning to touch and train. But I am not satisfied. There are more fields. There are more souls who need to hear the Gospel. So what must I do?

What must I do? What MUST we do? What did Jesus do? He saw the multitudes. He was moved with compassion. He saw their deep needs so He told his disciples to PRAY the Lord of the harvest that he would send LABORERS! That is what He said to do and I KNOW that is what I need to do. I hope you will pray with me. Please PRAY with me: Lord of the harvest, send laborers. SEND LABORERS! SEND LABORERS! Amen.  BaptistEvangelism.org

Tags: church leaders, laborers, lord of the harvest, multitudes, pulpit committee