By Curt Williams, Founder & Executive Director
For several years now, Youth-Reach Houston has been operating short-staffed. This means that those who do serve here carry more weight, are present in the homes more hours, and sacrifice time with their families so that the work of the ministry can continue. We are covering the hours, supervising the boys, holding classes in our on-site school, serving nutritious meals and upholding the state-mandated staff-to-resident ratio, all thanks to the sacrifices of our amazing team.
We are not looking for twenty people, or ten or even five. We need three mature, passionate, disciplined and teachable Christ-followers, yet try as we might, we have been unable to find these people. This is especially striking when we consider the Great Commission and Christ’s clear command to make disciples. Here at Youth-Reach, our staff have the opportunity, as a calling and an occupation, to live and serve somewhere that allows them to make disciples every day of the week … yet so few answer the call. At times, it seems as if the Great Commission is treated merely as a suggestion rather than the final charge of our Savior.
Nationwide, Bible schools and seminaries continue to churn out newly minted ministers, yet most are looking for a position and a pulpit, not an altar on which to sacrifice their lives for the gospel. Young men and women who surrender to the mission fields of foreign lands must scrape and scrap to piece together the funds and resources they need to go into all the world. They are willing to throw their lives onto that altar, but they must regularly climb off to seek the crumbs from the Western church.
You may be reading this and wondering if I am angry or bitter, and I can assure you I am neither, but I am disappointed. So many kids need help, so many have been wounded, and so many have been abandoned. The world and our inept government can offer no hope, and here we have the golden opportunity to touch lives and execute what the apostle James called “pure religion”. Yet we are hampered by a lack of men who see this work as valuable enough to commit their lives to it.
I can agree that no one is going to get rich serving at Youth-Reach. We pay a decent salary, especially considering that all living expenses are covered, as all our staff live in nice staff residences on our campus. We do all we can to live in authentic Christian community, and then invite broken, troubled or abandoned boys into that community. Serving and living here is not for the new believer or for those wrestling with life-controlling issues, but it is a life-giving opportunity for a single man, a young couple or a family led by a strong father.
Will you join us in praying for these people? Matthew 9:38 encourages us to “Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field.” The harvest is plentiful, but clearly, the available workers are few. We do not need many, so please pray for the few. Thank you! CW
