Hey Cameron,
Hope all is well and this finds you abundantly blessed. Whenever you have people responding to the gospel you always want to balance your caution with joy. You mustn’t become cynical. When Jesus taught the parable of the sower he mentioned that there were four different kinds of soils, and that those soils were a picture of different types of hearts. You are bound to encounter different types of hearts in the various places that you serve the Lord. Hard hearts don’t respond at all(clearly that’s not the case in your community). Rocky hearts respond with joy at first but they are easily turned off by things like trials, or broken relationships – their commitment to the Lord is emotional, and fragile. The Weedy hearts are those that come to know the Lord and yet never produce fruit because they have all kinds of issues choking them out, financial worries, etc(the tricky part is they have longevity). Sometimes you find those people that respond and begin to bear fruit – those are the Good hearts – those are the hearts you want to invest in. So the solution is probably to wait and see, then you will realize what kind of heart you are dealing with.
The question the parable is begging is: What differentiates between the soils? When you find the answer to that question you then have an upper hand in your evangelism, in your discipleship, in everything. What differentiates between the soils? What determines the fruitfulness of the soil? What makes it the target and focus of the sowers investment? What is the purpose of sowing seed? What is the implication for investing in Hard hearts? Rocky hearts? Weedy hearts? It’s an answer to our prayers that you guys are seeing responses. We are blessed and so are you. It’s incredible here, since we arrived we have seen people getting saved, getting baptized in cattle feeding troughs, and dozens of smaller groups of brothers and sisters getting together. When people give their lives to Christ in this community, they are cut off by their family completely. Often times they lose their jobs. There is a tremendous amount of persecution here which makes it significantly more of a cost to be counted in order to commit to Christ. I think (not that it matters what I think) that everything in this community makes for very Well-prepared hearts. Clearly this makes Mark chapters 4-5 a guide post for your life’s direction. That’s the reason we are here.
But you might ask why is ——- in ———-? I think he knows the spiritual landscape and he is aware of the kind hearts that are predominant there. He wants to do a work of preparing hearts. He knows that he is called by God to be there, and I don’t think he questions it. Clearly some go to hard hearted countries, and come back rather quickly and rather discouraged – because they expected fruit in a place that never promised fruit. Jesus said: “Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.” Mark 4:24,25 In other words if you invest in the wrong hearts with the wrong expectations, you’re going to be disappointed. However if you’re called like ——- is, then you have Biblical expectations just like him. Keep him in prayer, as I know he and his family pray for you.
Gotta go,
Leep