Will has this amazing gift of being able to connect with people. Undoubtedly a spiritual gift. There are so many times when I watch Will and think, “Wow! I wish I had that.” I guess that’s why we’re placed together. We fill in the strengths where the other is weak. I don’t know why I feel compelled to share this letter. Perhaps it’s just because reading this email is another reminder of why I love Will so much. Maybe it’s the “PS” at the end that serves as another reminder of a conversation we had last week… I’m not really sure. Nonetheless, this being the Sabbath I thought today would be a good day to post a letter Will wrote to the youth minister that took Will’s place when we left. He’s a young college student. In fact- he was one of Will’s students back in the day! Okay, okay. Enough rambling. I just wanted to share this today. Oh- by the way. Don’t tell Will I did this!

Brian,

I was glad to hear from you.  I meant to write sooner, however your email got buried in my FULL inbox and I simply lost track of time.  You mentioned your dad, how is he doing?  How is your family dealing with his absence?  How much longer will he be deployed?

I totally understand what you are currently dealing with as far as low numbers and what seems like minimal support from the church.  I want you to understand that numbers is NOT the only way to measure success in the ministry.  I am sure you know this, however many times we get trapped in a numbers game that seems to compel everything we do!  After all, when you talk to other ministers what is one of the first questions they ask, “How many people do you run?” Am I right?  This was hard for me to except when I first came to Central.  Remember I came from a much larger youth group, that had an abundance of workers willing to support in seemingly every way imaginable.  The only way I could shake the idea that I was somehow failing because we weren’t running 100 youth in the department was to go to scripture.  Remember Jesus chose 12.  Now we see that as a small number, however Jesus knew that with these 12 he could impact eternity in a mighty, mighty way.  He invested His life into these 12.  He never stopped reaching out to others or trying to draw people in, however He never stopped filling these 12.  I think this should be an example to all of us.  Pour your life into the group you have currently.  Teach them in His ways, so that the core of your group is strong and in turn they will begin to draw others.  Now don’t get me wrong, continue to create programs as outreach; however don’t become so obsessed with numbers that you neglect the ones you have already been given.  You may never know this side of eternity what impact you had on simply ONE life.

I hope in some small way you can take comfort in these very simple words.  Remember I have been where you are and I understand what you are going through.  Contact me at any time, and I will do everything in my abilities to help.  I am proud of the work you are doing, and I KNOW it will have eternal rewards.

In Christ’s ETERNAL Love,
Will

P.S.  I forgot to answer your question about our future plans?  We truly take this ADVENTURE a day at a time.  We have a tentative time table, however we understand God might move us at any moment.  I truly don’t know what God has for my future.  Currently I am where He has called me, however it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if He called me back into the full time ministry of the church or some affiliation of in the future.

So that’s it. That’s the email. I guess I’m posting it because it spoke to me. That Will is a smart guy! One of the other main reasons I shared this was because I wanted to talk to you guys about the “PS” part, but I’m afraid I’m not going to have the time today. We had a really long talk about it a couple weeks ago. This email was another one of those “Wow! Will is really supposed to be preaching for a living” sort of moments. I’m still doing a lot of mulling and thinking and praying… but I thought to myself, “I know! I’ll vomit all this crap I’m dealing with into a post! That would be the PERFECT venue!” Lucky for you- no such thing today.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!