As I type this, we are finishing up day two of VBS. So far we have had over 200 kids in attendance with over 100 volunteers serving to make this week a success. We do this having just come off sending a group to Santa Cruz, CA where we spent a week serving and working alongside our church plant, trying to advance the Gospel. In less than two weeks, the first of two groups will be leaving for Falls Creek for summer camp in the Arbuckle Mountains. Our hope is to send well over 100 JH and HS students where they will encounter God and continual teaching from His Word. The goal of all of these weeks is the same; for God to be glorified as he transforms hearts and lives. Our heart and desire (because it is the heart of God) is to see people born again and to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We know this is ultimately God’s work, but we also know that God has ordained that he uses ordinary people like you and me to accomplish this work. This is why it is imperative that you and I are doing everything in our power to plant and water gospel seeds.

In 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, Paul addresses that he and Apollos are simple servants of God, with a role given by God to plant and water seeds of the Gospel. While he acknowledges that they “aren’t anything, but that it is God who gives the growth” (v.7), it doesn’t take away from the importance of him and Apollos planting and watering. As a matter of fact, the fact that God is going to give the growth, gives value to their work, because as he states in verse 9, they are God’s coworkers.

In the same way, you and I as servants of God, are given the opportunity every day to join him at work, planting and watering Gospel seeds. You may be planting, or you may be watering where someone else has already planted, but you are doing so, believing that God is going to bring the growth. The hope is that at the right moment, God is going to take the work we are doing and bring it to fruition. Each of these acts are imperative and meaningful, because He has chosen in his grand plan of redemption to use people like you and me to accomplish his plan and purpose. So where are you planting and where are you watering? Where is the field that you are called to labor in as a coworker with God? It may be as a volunteer at VBS, a sponsor at Falls Creek, or at your workplace or home, but you are compelled by God to plant and water. We do so diligently believing that he is going to work through us to bring the harvest and growth.

For His glory and your joy,
Pastor Charlie