The Miracle of Growth~by Glen Volkhardt

It would be fair to say I’m a wannabe farmer. I remember planting corn with my grandmother as a little guy and seeing the “thicket” that resulted from not following her instructions. From that early experience onward, I’ve had an appreciation of the miracle that takes place between planting and harvesting. Some would say what I call a “miracle” is really just the force of nature. I understand
their argument, since growth happens “naturally” all around us, but it still is amazing to me.

Farmers might say I discount their part in the harvest. I’m not saying the work of the farmer is irrelevant. There are many ways I can destroy a harvest! It is just that there are processes that underlie the farmer’s work over which he has no control—or even much understanding. Would the field of corn be there without the farmer’s work? Of course not! Then did the farmer make the corn grow? Well, not exactly. Other forces were at work, more powerful than his own.

Jesus used many farming stories in his teaching because agriculture contains great examples of the balance between God’s work and our work. Jesus taught that our spiritual lives have both elements. We don’t grow spiritually without exerting effort at sacred spadework, weeding, fertilizing, and watering. But do we cause our spiritual growth? Obviously not! Just like on the farm, when spiritual growth takes place, we can look back and remember our hard work, yet still marvel at what God has done.

Growth is our theme in this edition of the Paraclete Perspective--the growth of Paraclete and the growth of the church around the world. We want to introduce the team members God has brought to us in the last year. As in the case of the farmer, we worked hard to recruit these people. Also like the farmer, we
look back and marvel at where they came from and how God directed them to Paraclete before we knew anything about them.

These new associates begin their Paraclete ministries at a time when the church around the world is growing at an astonishing rate. My wife, Shelly, and I marvel at the growth in our beloved Latin America, where we served for 20 years. In 1979, when we began service in Ecuador, if we had received a vision of the size and reach of the church of 2012, we would not have been able to believe it. The growth that we have seen in the span of a single generation is staggering.

Our new Paraclete associates step into this environment--not just in Latin America, but also in a setting of dramatic church growth around the world. It is a harvest season. It is a time of growing pains for the church. It is the perfect setting for the experienced specialists who form Paraclete. It is the right time for Paraclete’s commitment to coming alongside those who are working in the field.