This Little Life Of Mine - Chapter 38 Fishers of Men Thomas M Parsons

38. Fishers of Men

Jesus said, “I will make you fishers of men.” He meant that His followers would go throughout the world preaching the Gospel and convincing people to trust Christ. Fishing for men has taken a variety of tracks through the two millennia since Jesus uttered his statement.

Pastor Christen, like virtually all pastors, had a desire to see people in the community come to know Christ as their Savior. There are many ways to reach out to people; Pastor chose one that was very popular with churches in the 70's. Emmanuel had a bus ministry. Of course, if you read the last chapter you know that. One of the things I did not do in the bus ministry was drive a bus!

But I did go out with people from the church on Saturday afternoons, rain or shine, snow or blue sky. We made new contacts in the neighborhoods around the church, seeking people to send their kids on our buses to Sunday School and Junior Church.

The bus captains also went out on Saturday afternoon, but they went specifically to the homes where they usually picked up children. Their purpose was to keep in close contact with the parents so they could gain and keep their trust. They also wanted to remind the parents and kids that they would be by in the morning.

Emmanuel had a fleet of buses; I think we had seven. They were eggshell blue with white tops, all used buses, as you may remember from my experience driving kids to camp during the summer. And they worked, mechanically most of the time, in bringing kids in all of the time. And sometimes we were able to get families to come for a special presentation. It was a way to make ourselves known in the community and to reach people with the Gospel.

I spoke in Junior Church once in a while. It could be mayhem, what with fifty to seventy-five kids with not much church background among them. But most of the time it was controlled and effective. A very talented man who was good at keeping the kids’ attention led songs and provided the parts of the service that led up to the message. Then I or some other less talented individual would bring the message. I say less talented, at least in my case, because my training and natural abilities enabled me to teach and preach to people in their teens and adulthood. But these were mostly kids in second through sixth grade.

Of course there were often contests to stimulate involvement. Sometimes the contests were pitched to the kids with prizes offered them for faithful attendance or bringing visitors. Sometimes the contests were pitched to the bus captains to encourage growth and to keep kids coming back week after week. Many different ideas were used in attempting to win the hearts of kids. Most were quite effective; the number of bus kids attending each week grew steadily. Occasionally one of the kids would come to know the Lord as Savior. And once in a while we would have an opportunity to minister in the homes of a bus kid.

Today Larry, now a grandfather, is working for a private contractor in Iraq, involved in security and training. He frequently displays pictures of his work in Iraq on his Facebook page. He also attests to the fact that this is no fish story.

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Larry was one bus captain with an idea to promote regular attendance by the kids on his bus, and to get them to bring new kids. He got the idea from reading literature the church provided its captains.

As a young man just out of his teens, Larry was not yet married. He was a great guy; I always enjoyed working with him, and eventually a young lady recognized the greatness God had given him and snagged him for her husband. But the kids loved him before she did.

Larry promised the gang on his bus that if they would reach a certain number of kids by a certain date, he would swallow a live fish right there on the bus. A live goldfish. Swimming around in a glass of water. He made the promise and the kids went to work.

The date came. The kids had met the challenge, and more than the required number of kids were on the bus the last day of the contest. And there was Larry. And me, with my camera. And one small goldfish swimming in a glass of water.

The kids were alive with anticipation. My camera was loaded with 35mm slide film and was ready to go. And the little fish was swimming in the glass of water.

Anyone who has ever maintained goldfish in an aquarium know that they are not known for cleanliness. I could only imagine what might be floating around in that glass of water besides the fish.

Larry thanked the kids for their hard work. They screamed with anticipation. Larry said how glad the Lord must be that they were coming to His house each week. They screamed with anticipation. The little goldfish continued to swim and make deposits in the glass of water.

Larry said he was glad that he could swallow this fish because it meant many children were coming to God’s house and hearing what God had to say to them. The kids screamed with anticipation. The fish swam unaware of its certain fate.

“Okay,” Larry said. “Here goes.”

He had another glass of water that was held by the driver of the bus. He took that and took several sips, filling his mouth with the liquid. Then he took the glass with the fish in it and put its contents into his mouth. And swallowed. “No more fish,” he said.

“Ewww! Disgusting! I think I’m going to puke!” and various comments of this nature filled the bus. But the kids were awed to see what Larry was willing to do to get them to hear the Gospel.

Larry certainly gave a new twist to Jesus’ statement that He would make His followers fishers of men!

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