Somtimes, you just can't see it!

As a preacher of the Gospel, it can sometimes feel dark and fruitless as only a few people respond to the claims of Christ over a given period of time. In my own ministry there have been years of amazing fruit, and years of barrenness.

However, we often forget the principle of evangelism revealed in Mark 4 - the parable of the sower. We focus so much of our attention on the soil and the sower in this parable we diminish the actual outcome of the parable; where some grain produces thirty more grains, some produce sixty more grains, and other one hundred grains.

If we lead 1 person to Christ, who in turn leads 20 people to Christ in his lifetime, who in their turn lead 120 others to Christ, we are part of an amazing chain of Gospel ministry and the sense of fruitfulness merges into God's picture of evangelism, and not ours. Refreshing, isn't it!

Let me illustrate from an video produced by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association:

1. In 1855 a young minister named Edward Kimballwas trying to reach a young shoe salesman, and it was getting nowhere, until one day this show salesman believed. His name was Dwight L. Moody.
2. In 1873, Dwight L. Moody was preaching in Liverpool, and a Baptist minister named F.B. Meyer became influenced by Moody's style and content and began to revive his own congregation and community.
3. F.B. Meyer toured the USA and at the Northfield Bible Conference a struggling young minister named J. Wilbur Chapman was transformed and he, in turn, became a travelling evangelist with a very influential ministry.
4. In the early 1900's, J. Wilbur Chapman led a young baseball player named Billy Sunday to faith in Christ and this man became one of the most famous travelling evangelists in USA history.
5. In 1934, at a crusade in North Carolina being led by Billy Sunday, a local evangelist participating in the crusade prayed, "Lord, give us a Pentecost here". That day, a young student was born again in this crusade. His name - Billy Graham.

Could Edward Kimball, in 1855, see Billy Graham and His ministry. Not at all. But God could.

So, focus intently on the ONE you are ministering to, and let God produce the grains of wheat from your ministry - maybe one, maybe thirty, maybe thousands.