More or Less
If you’ve been in touch with this ministry at all you know that I have a burning passion inside me. People have described it like a fire similar to the one talked about in Jeremiah. It’s in my bones and it can’t be put out.
I always want to do more for the Kingdom. I always want to see who we can touch. But sometimes I feel God saying, “Less is more.” I know that we can do more when every person does what God has gifted them to do, rather than trying to do more just for the sake of doing more.
I recently met a 60 year old man with gray hair and a big gray handlebar mustache. Les is a truck driver who works with so many awesome farmers in Iowa, driving their corn and soy from the farms to the granary. He’s such a neat man. He told me his life story and about his passion for people and the Lord. He belongs to a little Baptist church and has been coming to Lifest for years. “When I heard you speak at Lifest,” he said, “I decided that I had to get the youth in my area to hear you, Bob.” Now, he brings a group to the event every year. “But we can’t get them all to come hear you,” he said, “So I decided I would bring you to them.”
He’s part of a great church, but the youth in their community aren’t knocking down their doors. So he decided he would go get them! He tried to bring me in before but couldn’t round up the finances in his small town. It didn’t work out that year, but he didn’t give up.
Earlier this year he met someone from Youth For Christ, who only 6 months earlier said he was ready to throw in the towel in ministry because he became frustrated with how hard it is to get churches to unite for the purpose of reaching youth with the gospel. He felt alone and discouraged. I know the feeling; I’ve felt that way many times in ministry too.
But then Les entered the scene and shared the vision with him. This guy didn’t know who Bob Lenz or Life Promotions was, but he captured Les’ vision for youth and said, “Let’s do it!”
In walks another guy from the community named Bill who shared, “God told me to help you guys raise finances.”
Incredible. Together this group of men from a small town in Iowa raised the money and we were able to come and do assembly programs in four schools – a junior and senior high school in one community, and two high schools in the next town. During the day we had 800 students hear about bully awareness and emphasizing how every person is valuable even when they’ve been treated badly. In the evening we had a rally which also featured our long-time ministry friend, AJ the Animated Illusionist. Afterwards, I was able to share about my love of Jesus.
The facility for the rally wasn’t conducive to having pizza, which I always like to provide for students. It encourages more of them to come back out. We normally expect an average of 25% of the kids we spoke to during the day to come back out at night for our rally. Well, this night we had 400-450 come back out, which is over 50% of the people we spoke to during the day! But even more exciting was that we had 103 people receive Christ as their Lord and Savior, which is over a ¼ of the audience. And it was all because of Les.
Afterwards, I stuck around with the Youth For Christ director, various pastors, and others who were there to help with follow up. We sat there with the names of those who responded to the gospel laid out before us, along with the bible studies we provided for them. The Youth For Christ director, the same guy who was ready to throw in the towel, literally fell to his knees and prayed for the kids, their new-found faith, and for the follow-up that would be taking place in the coming days.
I know that they’re going to be in a bible study and that the churches are going to be working together to make sure these new believers are plugged in and growing in their faith. The evening we spent with each other spurred on a work for these churches to work together and reach into their community.
I know they’ll be back at Lifest, but I’m glad we could bring a taste of Lifest to them. More really is less. Or in the case of Les and his obedience to God’s call, there’s more… More love. More passion. More Jesus. All because of Christ.
For the Kingdom,
Bob Lenz
Founder & President
Life Promotions, Inc
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