Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” – Matthew 9:37-38 (ESV)
The harvest is plentiful… The blue-haired barista who makes your morning lattes, the businessman who coaches your kid’s little league team, the mom you see every afternoon at the bus stop – we don’t have to look far to find the people who make up the harvest. The question is, do we see them? Do we see their spiritual condition? At the last TIMES12 Collective, Jorge Solorzano saw Jack.
Pastor of Axis Church in Annapolis, MD, Jorge recalled that as he and his fellow church planters gathered for equipping and encouragement during their last monthly Collective, he took special notice of their waiter. “Usually waiters that serve us are there when we need them but then they go away, but he stayed with us and was paying attention. He even participated in a couple of instances,” Jorge had observed of Jack. “I was feeling in my heart that the Lord was speaking to the guy.” After the Collective, Jorge approached Jack and introduced himself, telling the young waiter that he had sensed God speaking to him during the meeting.
Jorge had no way of knowing that the Lord had been preparing Jack’s heart for that very moment. “It’s funny you say that,” Jack told him, “because I didn’t grow up as a believer but over the last three or four weeks I’ve been feeling that if there is a God, I need to know more about him.”
“Bro!” Jorge exclaimed, “We need to grab coffee!”
The following Friday Jorge shared the gospel with Jack at Panera, and his heart burned. He gave his life to Christ right there in the restaurant. Jorge invited him to Axis, and a few Sundays later Jack boldly declared his faith in Jesus through baptism.
“Since then, he’s been attending, serving, growing as a disciple, bonding with the body of Christ, making radical decisions – it’s just beautiful to see it,” Jorge shared. He has continued to meet with Jack weekly for discipleship, and the young believer has been on fire for Jesus. Jack has shared the gospel with his mom, sister, and girlfriend. When he shared with his father about his growing relationship with Jesus, to his joyous surprise, his father told him that he too had come to faith just a year earlier and had been praying for Jack to trust Jesus.
Jorge and Jack’s incredible story is just one of dozens of examples of how TIMES12 is raising up laborers who multiply more laborers to go into the harvest and win people to Christ. From day one, our mission has been to equip planters to multiply gospel-centered disciples and churches. Through biblical training, we equip planters to not only make new disciples, but also grow faithful disciples – just as Jorge is doing weekly with Jack.
This is happening in many neighborhoods, cities, and subcultures through TIMES12 church plants. It’s our desire to come alongside even more leaders to equip them to make and grow disciples of Jesus. Every day we are helping church planters see the spiritual condition of those around them and devote their lives to being laborers among the harvest. Thank you for being a part of this gospel-centered movement through your prayers and faithful giving.
Jorge & Jack (Left to Right)
Jorge baptizing Jack