Workers and Shepherds

June 2024 Devotional
Empowering LGBTQ+/SSA Leaders

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. —Matthew 9:35-38

I first taught the Bible when I was 16 years old. I was barely a Christian — I had been following Jesus for just six months. The English Pastor at my church (immigrant churches need language-specific pastors) taught me a few things, had me pray about a specific passage, and scheduled me to teach the youth group of about 60 kids on a Friday night.

As you might expect, I was terrible.

I’m sure I avoided heresy, but the lesson was unclear, my nerves were high, and at one point, I was shaking so bad I spilled purple VitaminWater all over my white shirt, leaving me vaguely violet and unfortunately soggy for the rest of the message. All I remember, though, is my pastor smiling at the end of the night.

Years later, I would ask him what madness convinced him to put me on a stage when he was such a great preacher. He answered, “There’s too much work for any one person, and you have the same Holy Spirit I do.”

You have the same Holy Spirit I do… that stuck with me.

My pastor was modeling for me what Jesus is teaching his followers in Matthew 9. The work of the Gospel is big, necessary, and too much for any one person to do… so God’s Spirit is constantly working in God’s community, raising up new shepherds.

This is what was in my heart when I started our Revoice Reach initiative. As I serve our community and talk to LGBTQ+/SSA folks around the country, I feel what I think Jesus felt in this passage: compassion for a community that is too often left like “sheep without a shepherd.” 

The good news is, Jesus our Good Shepherd is often raising up shepherds of his own… His Spirit is working in the lives of our siblings around the country and around the world, fostering new servant-leaders, speakers, writers, caretakers, pastors, and missionaries. As I’ve served our Reach applicants these last two years, I often end our Zoom calls with tears in my eyes, thanking God for the workers being raised for the harvest… and especially thanking God that those workers come from within our community.

Would you join me in praying: Lord, send workers for your harvest. Raise Shepherds to tend your sheep.

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