December 2022 – Mission Director’s Report
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I certainly hope this article finds you doing well in the Lord’s grace and mercy.
Believe it or not, we are at the end of 2022. If you will remember, I said in my last article that we would get into the weeds of the lessons that I learned from taking the challenge of raising a tomato plant for the specific purpose of harvesting the seed from those tomatoes to raise another tomato plant next year. And all along, asking God to teach us lessons through this experience about discipleship.
Before I get into this month’s lesson, I want to share something Bro. Brian Meade shared with me about this practice. A missionary once told him that you can count the seed, and you can count the plants, but you can’t count the seeds within the seeds; they are innumerable. This is so true, and has the potential of disciple making.
Let’s revisit the last article. These are the lessons I learned and am continuing to learn.
It is hard work; it is impossible without surrender; it is a daily effort; it is rewarding; it is necessary; it is a way of life.
Summarizing statement: Tomatoes make tomatoes that make seeds that will make other tomato plants that will make other tomatoes. Therefore: Disciples make disciples that plant seeds that will make other disciples that will make other disciples. Seems simple, and when you look at these lessons it is simple – but simple doesn’t mean easy.
Lesson #1 – It is hard work.
It is hard to fight the weeds. It is hard to till the ground or plant in buckets or raised beds. No matter your method it’s hard work. It’s hard to start with seed – some come up, many don’t! It’s hard to get them to the stage where they can be put outside. Have you ever heard of “hardening off” your plants before youput them in the ground? One year I lost almost half of my transplants because I did this part wrong. It’s hard work once you get them in the ground. Daily weeding, once a week watering, staking, pruning, and the list goes on.
I think you get the picture: growing tomatoes for the express purpose of propagating fruit for next year’s plants is hard work. So, what can we derive from these lessons about discipleship? Well, it’s hard work to plant seeds into the souls of men, women, boys, and girls. It’s hard work to fight the weeds of sin in our own lives, much less the sins in others’ lives to keep from choking out the seeds planted. It’s sometimes hard work to get the soul of the church right to receive new plants. It is hard work to disciple a new believer to the point that they can handle the cruel world as a Christian and take Christian stands in a hateful and hostile world. And then when they are discipling others, it’s hard work to encourage them when their disciples struggle.
Don’t lose heart, dear disciples, it is all worth the hard work. We will look at lesson number two next month.
May the Lord richly bless you,
Ben Kingston
