I am honored to know another long-termer in youth ministry who has been in it longer than me. What a good man, Brian Farmer of First Baptist of Salisbury, NC, is. January 9 is a special anniversary to him. On that date in 1978 two friends of his were murdered. In reflecting on that anniversary Brian wrote this to me:

(Part of a long email entitled “Another Reason Why Youth Ministry is Still Important to Me”)

“This past October (when the murderer was executed) I relived the events in my mind, with more detail than I wish I had remembered. As I did so, one thought continually kept coming to the forefront, ‘did anyone ever minister to a young John Ferguson?’

I am not talking about prison ministry here, although as hard as it is to accept, we are called as Christians to minister to the “least of these”, even those in prison (Matthew 25). Also, I am not diminishing his crime nor am I forgetting what an embodiment of evil he was. What I am talking about is the John Ferguson BEFORE he began taking lives. I wonder if things may have been different had someone shown him the love of Christ and helped him enter into a relationship with Jesus long before that horrible day….

“It has been said there is enough food and clean water in this world that no one should ever be hungry or thirsty. Yet scores die daily because of shortages of both, the problem is in distribution. In the same way, the love of God is endless and HE has scores of believers HE has called to distribute it. When we fail to distribute that love as we have been called too many suffer; the one needing that love, ourselves and society as a whole. For me January 9th is not only a day to remember the loss of two precious people. It is also a day to renew my commitment to reach ‘the least of these’ with the love of Christ that changes lives for eternity.”

Be challenged.