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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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Thursday, June 25, 2009 9:43 PM CDT
Clergy Views: The seed of the Gospel is plentiful, available to everyone

By PASTOR MIKE SNOW, First Baptist Church, Mattoon

In recent weeks, on my journeys to and from the office, I have witnessed the daily progress that our area farmers are making as they prepare their fields for planting.

With all of the rain that we have been having, this year has been a challenging one as they dodge the downpours, trying to get the seeds planted in time. Through their years of experience they know that there is a specific window of opportunity for planting that will bring the greatest yield to their labors.

In a similar way, research has shown that there is a window of opportunity for planting spiritual seeds, as well. Surveys of adult believers have shown that nearly 80 percent of professing Christians made their decision to follow Christ before the age of 18.

So in the spiritual harvest, there is a planting season in which our young people will be most receptive to the Gospel.

As believers, God has called us to be faithful stewards of our spiritual fields. We must do all that we can to use this unique planting season to sow seeds of faith in the hearts and lives of the children and youth of our churches and community.

That’s why it’s vitally important that we provide a wide variety of activities and programs through which our children and youth will be presented the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

However, we must not only provide the opportunities, we also must provide the encouragement and support to enable our young people to participate.

It’s true that our calendars are already saturated. The activities calling for our time and attention are loud and relentless. While most of these activities are inherently good and provide the potential for establishing healthy values and developing character, not every activity has the potential of making an eternal impact.

It’s often easy to forget that the choices made today can influence our young people for eternity.

That’s why as parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, pastors, teachers, neighbors and friends, we must make every effort to encourage our children and youth to participate in activities that will nurture the development of their faith.

Yes, it’s planting season, the seed of the Gospel is plentiful and available to all.

But the weeks and months quickly pass and planting season will some day come to an end.

The law of the harvest is that “we reap what we sow,” and tomorrow's harvest will not come unless the seeds of faith are sown today.

So join this special work that God has entrusted to each of us. Sow spiritual seed by spreading the Word of God into the lives of our children and youth. The harvest is far too valuable to miss.

“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven … a time to plant and a time to harvest.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 (NLT).

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kamfong wrote on Jun 29, 2009 6:25 AM:

" Anybody heard froms Shumpries latelty? I hope she's ok. "

Laramie wrote on Jun 30, 2009 7:56 AM:

" She just changed names. "

Becky wrote on Jun 30, 2009 11:26 AM:

" A very nice message pastor. We all need to be reminded that our most valuable resource is our children and that we must teach them the important things in life while young so they can carry on as adults responsibly and with love in their hearts. Thank you! "