Taste And See!

For decades, a northwest Indiana fundamental Baptist mega church sent a fleet of buses into many Chicago neighborhoods such as mine to pick up children for their youth evangelism ministry. The buses were staffed mostly by students from the church’s Bible college, who led the ministry both at the church and in the buses while traveling. They taught Bible stories, scripture memorization and shared the Gospel, with many games and prizes along the way to make it fun and exciting for the children.

Seeing their buses came and go every Sunday I have to admit I was somewhat critical that they took kids away from their families and local churches and enticed them with so much fun and games. I was running a local church youth ministry at the time and couldn’t begin to compete with them. But I could see that as the children they worked with got older, the sparkle of the fun and prizes wore off and the implications of Gospel’s call to repentance and faith became real, so most ended up dropping out of the bus program as young teens. Later scandals made it even easier to be critical of their ministry, and I became more committed to local, relational ministry as a result.

However, as I have been reaching out to people in these same neighborhoods over the years, I’ve met many dozens of adults who had been involved with this bus ministry as children. I’ve had the chance to ask them about their experiences, and overwhelmingly I’ve noticed that, although most have fallen away from any profession of faith they might have made in the ministry, almost all have expressed a soft heart toward the things of God.

One of these people was a young man named Alex, whom I met while grocery shopping. At first, when I asked about his beliefs, Alex seemed overwhelmed by despair and distraction to the point where he no longer believes in God or the hope of eternal life. But as we talked and he remembered more of what he had learned and experienced in the bus ministry as a child, the embers of his faith began to turn into a flame.

Like so many children of parents who are willing to give their kids over to strangers on a Sunday morning rather than take them to their own local church themselves, Alex had no local church to fall back on once he stopped going, and instead fell into the distractions and temptations of the neighborhood. He freely confesses he would need to make some serious changes if he were to begin to follow Jesus through repentance and faith. But I could tell he still has the hope of God’s love that he first heard about through the faithful youth leaders he met in the bus ministry.

Psalm 34 tells us “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” Alex has been privileged to “taste and see” of the things of God through this ministry. Despite my misgivings about it years ago, I’ve met people like Alex and am increasingly grateful for the work God began in them through this ministry. Without it, they may never have experienced the hope of heaven and the love of God’s people, and their hearts would likely be hardened as a result.

Now, I believe Alex has no doubt that he could also be one who is blessed as “one who takes refuge” in God. I hope he realizes he needs not only to repent and believe for salvation, but also to spend time daily in God’s word and regularly with God’s people in a local church. The seeds planted by the faithful people of the bus ministry are still there, and his heart is still soft enough for them to grow.