Looking for Good Soil

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

Leah and I have memorized the stories for the first weekend of our upcoming women's evangelism conference, have lined up our translators and, after buying a few items tomorrow morning, will have fully completed our preparations. We are excited and a little nervous about getting things started!

Prayer Necessities:

1. Our dear friend Simon is going through some significant trials lately related to his family and to his hometown. Please be in prayer for him and his family as they seek to navigate the difficulties of raising two teenagers and of facing major opposition for the cause of Christ from many in his hometown. (Pictured here is Simon with his wife Daria, and their children, Ruben and Cesia.)

2. Please continue to pray for our upcoming women's conference. Ask that God would send to us the women He has prepared to participate and that there would be much fruit as a result of their participation.

3. Pray for wisdom for Leah and me as we are seeking the Lord's direction regarding a major ministry change in the coming months. This would involve leaving the Quechua and going to work with another people group for the last six months of our time on the field.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

Several months ago, I read a book that had me looking at Jesus' parable of the sower (or, more appropriately, the parable of the soils) in a whole new light. In the context of our upcoming women's evangelism conference, I've been thinking a lot more about this parable and thought I'd share those thoughts with you.

The parable goes like this:

"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times." (Mk. 4:3-8)

Jesus went on to interpret the parable like this:

"Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop - thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown." (Mk. 4:13-20)

Leah and I have been working in Ayuma for well over a year now and, when it comes to seeing fruit in those with whom we have worked, we have precious little to show for it. Nelly, the woman with whom we have spent the majority of our time, has learned ten stories from Scripture. Two other women have learned at least one story, but none of them has shared what they have learned with others. And since the whole goal is for them to be doers of the Word and not hearers only - meaning they, too, should be going out and making disciples - the results have been more than a little discouraging to us.

All of that has me thinking again about this parable which, according to Jesus, is fundamental. He asks in verse 13, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?"

During the women's conference, which will run every other weekend for three weekends in July and August, we will teach seven stories from the Bible, beginning with creation and ending with Christ's resurrection. Not only will the women need to learn all seven stories, but they will also be required to tell them to at least one other person.

Leah and I fully expect to have 100 women or more there for the first weekend. Oh, the Quechua DO love their conferences. They will expect to come and sit on wooden benches or stand in the back of the church's building to listen to some teaching, eat a few large bowls of food, and listen to their brothers and sisters sing and make music well into the night. What they'll get, aside from the food, is something VERY different. From the very beginning, these women will be asked to be active participants in the conference, rather than passive observers. They will have to interact with us as the leaders, speak in front of the other participants, and then go put into practice what they've learned. On the second weeked, they will be asked - in front of everyone present - whether they shared the stories they learned with someone else. If they didn't, they will have to go out and share them before they can learn the next story.

No, this conference is not for the faint of heart.

More accurately, it's not for the disobedient.

And we don't expect to have very many that will fulfill the requirements we have set. But the ones that do will be the good soil. And, after spending so much time sowing in non-productive earth, I long to plant God's good seed, His Word, in soil that will produce fruit at a yield of 30, 60, or even 100 times what was planted.

Please pray that God would cultivate that soil ahead of time in preparation for the sowing of His Word and that we would sow it faithfully. (Pictured here are a couple from Ayuma as they sow beans in their field.)