Harvest Sunday - 10.9.2011

Date Announced for 2011

2011-03-24T12:33:00.002-04:00

This year's Harvest Sunday is scheduled for Sunday, October 9, 2011. Begin to make plans now. More details will be announced soon.

Did You Host a Specific Prayer Time on Sunday?

2010-10-12T20:57:00.003-04:00

We'd love to hear what you did. Post how you handled "Harvest Sunday" below. We'll send you a free "Harvest Sunday" VFY T-Shirt to the first 10 people who post. Thanks.

YOUR CHURCH CAN PRAY FOR NEW HARVEST WORKERS

2010-09-27T16:04:00.004-04:00

I love this time of year. I had the privilege over the past weekend to spend several hours in my car driving through the gorgeous countryside of northeastern Pennsylvania’s Endless Mountains and the Southern Tier of New York State. Although not quite peak “leaf viewing” season, I enthusiastically admit that the spectacular views of the forests ablaze with autumn colors were absolutely amazing. The orange, yellow, and red, blended together with the green, formed breathtaking panoramas of our God’s creative genius. I love this time of year!

My travels also took me past field-after-field of busy farmers who were utilizing the weekend’s beautiful weather to harvest their crops before what soon will be a dark, long, and cold winter. This visual aid reminded me again of the great need for a new generation of “harvest workers” to head into God’s global harvest. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself put it this way, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Luke 10:2)

Truly the harvest is great! If the world’s population was significant back then, it is truly enormous now. Statisticians tell us that the population of the world is growing by a BILLION people in just over 12 years. Look around. People who need the Lord are everywhere. It doesn’t take “rocket science” to see a lost and needy world in desperate need of a Savior.

The laborers are few! It’s also quite obvious to see that the world’s mission fields need new workers. New Christian workers, church planters, and missionaries are needed immediately in every country on every continent – including the United States. For years and years, many Christian leaders have referred to the statistic about the great number of retiring evangelical missionaries. If that particular statistic was true back when the Moody Monthly magazine reported it; it must be exponentially true now. Members of what Tom Brokaw called “the Greatest Generation” are dying. The once-dominant Baby-Boomers are soon to retire in record numbers; while the Gen’X’ers and Millennials are still trying to make their way in vocational ministry.

Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers! The harvest IS great – and the laborers ARE few. God’s solution is to pray!

The Lord Himself gave us His plan for impacting the world’s ever-growing population – we are to pray! Friends, when was the last time your church prayed specifically and intentionally for the Lord to call a new generation of harvest workers in His harvest?

Let me be even more pointed. When was the last time your church sent out a new missionary? Of course, some readers are active in churches that continually equip, train, and send new missionaries and Christian workers into the world’s needy mission fields. But, many are not.

We must be intentional about asking God to call a new generation into His global harvest! He has commanded us to do that.

That’s why Vision For Youth has instituted this international campaign called “Harvest Sunday.” We’re calling all churches everywhere to carve out some time on Sunday, October 10, 2010 (10.10.10) to pray for God to send new workers into His harvest. This won’t cost you any money, and it doesn’t require a huge promotional effort on your part. All we’re asking is for you to schedule some time on Sunday, Oct. 10th to pray specifically for God to call a new generation of people into vocational ministry.
Some churches will take some time during their morning worship service to pray. Other churches will take the entire Sunday School hour to pray, and other churches will schedule an early morning prayer meeting. The ideas are up to you. The important thing is to pray.

Please use whatever influence you have in your church to call people to pray. Send letters. Make phone calls. Send text messages or e-mails. Ask your youth group or Sunday School class to pray. If nothing else, drop to your knees that morning and ask the Lord to call new workers into His harvest. In doing that, you’ll join others, from Asia, Europe, Africa, South America, and even North America, in calling out to God to call new workers into His global harvest.

This is what the Lord Himself asked us to do!

-Mel Walker, Vision For Youth, Inc.

ABWE Joins "Harvest Sunday" Campaign

2010-08-31T15:54:00.004-04:00

We just received word from Dr. Tony Beckett (vice president of church ministries) at ABWE that they will join our international campaign for “Harvest Sunday” on October 10, 2010!! We are very thankful for their networking with us to ask our Lord to call a new generation into His global harvest. Take a look at: www.abwe.org. We'll post more information about this in days ahead.

2010-08-20T10:52:00.001-04:00

STUDENT-LED REVIVAL

2010-08-14T21:56:00.003-04:00

I need to tell you about one of my heroes. His name is Art Bowser and he taught church history courses during the years I was in Bible college. Probably because I needed another history course to graduate, I decided to take his The History of the Great Revivals my senior year. Most of the dates and historical names are long gone from my memory, but I’ll never forget Mr. Bower’s desire to learn all he could about great movements of God in the lives of human culture. He loving and longingly taught us about Martin Luther and The Great Reformation, the Wesley Brothers and George Whitfield, and the amazing work of D.L. Moody.

It certainly wasn’t the facts of history that endeared Mr. Bowser to me; it was his enthusiasm for true God-centered, heart-changing revival. He had a great knowledge about the chronological dates and he had learned much about history’s human influencers, but what impacted me most was his great love of genuine revival. His passion was contagious.

Here’s what I remember most from Mr. Bower’s Great Revivals course: most of the great revivals in history began (humanly speaking, of course) with students.

I’m sure there’s a level of human logic here that makes sense. Students often possess an idealistic outlook that propels them to seek change. They see things as they are currently and they idealistically want things to be different in the future. Students realistically have their entire futures ahead of them and they have the energy and enthusiasm that drives them toward accomplishment and achievement.

However, Mr. Bowser taught me that there maybe another factor involved in student-led revivals. It just may be that God uses students to change things.
Readers, I honestly believe that this may be the most compelling reason why I love youth ministry. God has given me multiple opportunities over the last 35 years (since I started working with youth in college) to see great works of God in and through the lives of young people. A major part of my ministry career has been a personal involvement in some significant and large-scale youth and youth ministry events. I had the opportunity to have a small role in the beginning of a state-wide youth Bible conference that attracted over a thousand teenagers each year for several years in a row. I led a national youth conference for a fellowship of churches where hundreds of teens participated in worship, ministry, and preaching. I also served on the leadership team at 2 different Bible colleges that gave me the occasion to direct their annual youth conferences. Without any exaggeration these events often resulted in God doing momentous things in and through the lives of students!

Not only did I have the great privilege to see God at work in the lives of teenagers (and, let me tell you, it never ceases to amaze me to see our Lord do incredible things in the lives of students), I also had the unique advantage to hear reports from numerous churches about how God used kids, over and over again, to be a genuine catalyst for revival in their home churches after the event was over.

Art Bowser was right. God does use students to launch great revivals.

At this point it’s important to note that genuine God-centered revivals are never produced via a formula or recipe. If that was the case, man would have undoubtedly put “one-and-one-together” in an all too human attempt to manufacture what only God can truly generate. Authentic revivals are exclusively and entirely of God. However, even a cursory study of the history of revivals reveals that God also used fervent and intentional prayer as an essential ingredient of a true spiritual resurgence.

One of my favorite stories from the annals of historical revivals is that of the Haystack Prayer Meeting in northwestern Massachusetts in 1806. God supernaturally used the passionate prayers of 6 students in an amazing way that led to what is often referred to as the “Student Volunteer Movement”. Up until that time, the United States was usually not considered a sending nation for global missionaries. Yet, historians now credit this “Second Great Awakening” for propelling over 10,000 foreign missionaries into the world’s harvest fields. Some have had lasting influence for Christ generation-after-generation in countries that are now closed to Christian missionaries. God used a simple, but fervent prayer meeting to make a lasting difference for eternity.

There’s another, more familiar, illustration of how God is currently using students to make a significant impact for Him. Most readers probably have some level of awareness about the student-led prayer movement “See You At The Pole”. In the early 1990’s a “small group of teenagers in Burleson, Texas came together” asking the Lord to use them to impact their high schools for Christ. Here’s how the SYATP web site recalls the beginning of this campaign. “Compelled to pray, they drove to three different schools that night. Not knowing exactly what to do, they went to the school flagpoles and prayed for their friends, schools, and leaders.” Another incredible prayer movement was born. Last year over 3 million American high school students met at their school flagpoles in a remarkable demonstration of student-fueled prayer.

I believe with all my heart that students can make history when they band together to cry out to God!

Friends, it’s time for another prayer meeting!

The Lord Himself gave us this strategy in Luke 10:2 for launching a new generation of workers. “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into His harvest.”
We must be obedient to our Lord’s command. It’s time to call a new generation to pray intentionally and fervently for our Lord to send out workers into His harvest!

The need for new “harvest workers” has never been greater. The population of the world is growing by a billion people in less than 12 years – and will reach 7 billion people sometime in the year 2012. At this moment, 1/3 of the world’s population is under the age of 21; and the most telling statistic of all – close to 90% of people accept Christ before they leave their teenage years.
We are asking pastors, missionaries, church leaders, Sunday School teachers, and youth leaders everywhere to schedule and organize an intentional prayer emphasis for Harvest Sunday on October 10, 2010. (Yes, that day is: 10/10/10!) Perhaps through our collective prayers, God may choose to launch another great movement of students heading into the global harvest.

Place this date on your church calendars (10/10/10) and schedule some time that day for fervent prayer for harvest workers. Pray in Sunday School and in church services, schedule an early morning prayer breakfast, organize your church people to pray around the clock, organize small prayer groups, etc. Be creative and intentional. The important thing is to pray for and with students.
Please join together with other churches and youth workers all around the world to pray specifically on October 10, 2010 for God to once again use students in a mighty and world-changing way for His glory! Who knows what He may choose to do.

For more information on Harvest Sunday – or to post ideas of what your church or youth group is planning to do – take a look at: www.harvestsunday.org.

2010-08-14T20:18:00.002-04:00

This May Be More Important Than We Could Ever Imagine!

2008-08-30T11:36:00.000-04:00

As I have written in previous posts – “it is time for another prayer meeting!” Just as the Lord used the Student Volunteer Movement of the 1800’s, and See You At The Pole in recent days to motivate thousands of young people to pray; I really believe that the Lord wants to use our Harvest Sunday campaign to launch a new generation of students to consider His call to global harvest ministry. Something very special happens when students collectively call our God!

Plus, the Lord Himself commanded us to do this. His simple plan is this: “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” (See Luke 10:2.)

When was the last time you ever participated in an intentional prayer meeting to rally God’s people to pray for Him to send a new generation of workers into the ever-expanding global harvest? In fact, we are very seldom use prayer to unify our churches around something that God implicitly tells us to do.

It’s one thing to gather students to pray at their school flagpoles. But, this focused campaign for harvest workers is something that can motivate and galvanize an entire generation to consider God’s call on their lives. You’ve heard the statistics. The population of world will reach 7 BILLION people by 2012. There are already over a billion teenagers in the world and ninety percent of people come to Christ before they reach 18! We’ve got to pray for this new generation to respond to His call.

So, I beg you – do whatever you can in your church and within your sphere of influence to call God’s people to pray intentionally and specifically on Sunday, October 12th for God to send people into this needy, needy harvest field. Some churches will host an early-morning prayer breakfast. Other churches will take their entire Sunday School hour to pray. Still others will schedule a missionary or youth ministry speaker to challenge people with the Word during the morning service. Please take some time to be creative on this. What can you do to encourage people to pray?

Vision For Youth will help you anyway we can. We have ordered white silicon wristbands (“the fields are white unto harvest”) to remind students to pray. We also have t-shirts available for youth workers, parents, or students that will help you promote this event. We can also send you PDF files of other promotional items to assist you. This blog site is available to encourage other youth workers and church leaders to share ideas.

The important thing, of course, is to pray. This may be more important than we know! I’m anxious to hear what God is going to do.

IT IS TIME FOR ANOTHER PRAYER MEETING -

2008-07-17T16:47:00.003-04:00

IT IS TIME FOR ANOTHER PRAYER MEETING -
BECAUSE SOMETHING AMAZING HAPPENS WHEN STUDENTS CALL OUT TO GOD!

Students make history when they band together in specific prayer!

It happened once in 1806 when five students in the northeastern corner of Massachusetts met behind a haystack during a severe thunderstorm to ask God to use them to impact their entire generation. This simple prayer meeting became the catalyst for the “Second Great Awakening” or the “Student Volunteer Movement” that according to historians propelled over 10,000 foreign missionaries into the world’s harvest fields.

It happened again in early 1990 when “a small group if teenagers in Burleson, Texas came together” asking the Lord to use them to impact their generation. “Compelled to pray, they drove to three different schools that night. Not knowing exactly what to do, they went to the school flagpoles and prayed for their friends, schools, and leaders.” Another incredible prayer movement was born. By the third Wednesday of September 1990 the news of this simple prayer campaign had spread as over 45,000 teenagers met early in the morning at their school flag poles to pray – and See You At The Pole was born. In one year this phenomenon had increased to include over 1 million students and this past year over 3 million American students met at their schools for intentional prayer for this generation. Plus, SYATP has now spread to over 20 other countries around the world.

It’s time for another prayer meeting!

Our Lord Himself challenged His disciples to pray specifically in Luke 10:2, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.”

It’s important to remember that God is still calling people to work in His harvest. The world-wide need is greater now than it has ever been. God’s plan is still that His people must pray for “the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest.” According to projections by the United Nations, the total population of the world will exceed seven billion people sometime in the middle of October 2012. If the harvest of souls was great in the first century, just think of what it will be by the time our world’s population reaches seven billion. It’s more important than ever that we pray “the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers.”

It’s time to be intentional about implementing this Biblical strategy. Praying for laborers is God’s plan - it is something that He wants to bless. If the Lord used the fervent prayers of five college students meeting under a haystack to thrust over ten thousand missionaries into the harvest, just think of what He could do if churches all across this nation (and maybe even around the world) would intentionally mobilize their people to pray specifically for harvest workers. Who knows what might happen? Perhaps our Lord would supernaturally bless a new prayer emphasis to launch another great awakening of students into worldwide vocational ministry!

So we are asking youth workers everywhere to prayerfully consider an organized and intentional prayer emphasis for harvest workers. Let’s set aside Sunday, October 12, 2008, as “Harvest Sunday.” We can pray in Sunday School, in youth group meetings, and in church services. We can also organize other creative ways to call our people to pray. This could be huge. Perhaps through our combined efforts to be intentional about praying for harvest laborers, God may choose to launch another great movement of students heading into global missions.

Let’s all begin to think of how we can network with others to make this happen. Let’s call on youth groups, churches, Christian colleges, and missionary organizations to join with us on Sunday, October 12, 2008, for “Harvest Sunday.”

It only makes sense for us to select that particular day for this renewed prayer emphasis. It is the anniversary weekend of when the world’s population reached the six billion mark, (see http://www.unfpa.org/6billion/) and it is close to the time of year, projected for October 2012, when our population is slated to hit seven billion. Plus, it’s during the harvest season, so this time of year can be a God-given visual aid of praying for harvest workers.

Let’s do everything we can to challenge youth workers and other church leaders to make “Harvest Sunday” a reality this year on October 12th. Let’s think this through and share ideas of how we can emphasize intentional prayer for harvest workers that day. Perhaps some readers will want to make contacts with other influential leaders and so on. We need to get the momentum rolling, so let’s share ideas and creative ways to promote this endeavor.

In the meantime, place this date on your calendars. Sunday, October 12, 2008, is “Harvest Sunday.” Please send us your ideas at info@visionforyouth.com. Or just post your ideas for Harvest Sunday as a post to this Blog. This is a perfect way to create a conversation and momentum for Harvest Sunday.

It’s time for another prayer meeting!