It’s been eight years since we first came to Atlanta. I remember my first youth leader lunch here. Me and my buddy Larry Stair flew in from Denver expecting fifty or so pumped up youth leaders to attend our free lunch and preview event. The plan was to feed them and cast the vision for a Dare 2 Share conference in the ATL. But instead of a packed room of fifty we had six youth leaders show, that’s right six.
Now six is a fine number, but not for a youth leader luncheon. After the lunch I was so discouraged I went to see a movie with my buddy before we caught a flight back home. We saw Meet Joe Black. NOTE TO SELF: IF DISCOURAGED DO NOT GO SEE A MOVIE ABOUT THE GRIM REAPER. CHECK OUT A COMEDY INSTEAD.
But from those six seeds that were sown eight years ago the harvest has come forth! We are expecting somewhere between 4,500 and 5,000 teenagers this weekend in Atlanta! By God’s grace and through his divine blessing we have seen the Lord bless this event and bless this city through the teenagers and youth leaders who attend.
So whether you are in a youth group that is small (let’s say 6) or large (let’s say a lot more than 6) just know that God can take a handful of seeds and multiply it for his glory. Check out the words of Jesus in Mark 4:
He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”
