Bay Presbyterian Church - Labor Not In Vain

YOUR LABOR for the LORD is NOT in VAIN
Mike Vonderau

Ministry is difficult. If we ever find that it comes easy, we must be doing something wrong. I can remember walking into my first Avon Lake football game five years ago as a brand new staff member with Young Life and being overwhelmed by the thousands of people that filled the football stadium because I didn’t know a single one of them. One of my objectives was to begin a Young Life ministry at Avon Lake High School which I was excited about but the first few years were difficult because it takes time to enter a new community and establish trust. Progress came slowly, and there were plenty of times that I wondered if I was completely wasting my time. I was lonely, frustrated and often doubtful. Even some Christians in the community questioned the value of my efforts.

In the midst of this I clung to a verse, 1 Corinthians 15:58, which reads, “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” I also clung to the memory of being a seventeen year old kid sitting in the cafeteria of Bay High School and having my life forever changed by a Young Life leader who knew me by name before I had ever met him. I knew that my life was eternally impacted because someone took the time to love me and share with the message of Christ in a way I could understand.

Five years later it’s incredible to look back and see what God has done in me and through our ministry in Lorain County. We just arrived home from a summer camp trip. Forty Lorain County high school students came with us, three quarters of whom were from Avon Lake. There are a number of stories of impact I could share from this trip, but I’ll highlight one. There was a group of guys on the trip who, for various reasons, wouldn’t strike most people as the type of kids you would expect to respond to the message of Christ. But another Young Life leader and I have loved these kids and prayed for them for three years and after all this, they have finally responded to the message. By the end of the trip these young men were devouring the Bible and asking question after question.

The day we got home from camp my phone was dead from the trip so a couple of these guys contacted a friend of mine in order to get a hold of me. When my friend handed me his phone I was thinking that something must be wrong. Instead, they were persistently trying to get a hold of me because they wanted to come to church with me the following morning. So I brought two of these kids to church with me, neither of whom had been to church in four of five years. Not only are they planning on coming next week, they want to bring more friends with them as well.

It is incredible to look back over the last five years of ministry and see how faithful God has been despite my vacillation between faith and doubt. Ministry is difficult, there is no doubt. Yet, in the midst of this, God is good. As Paul promised the body of believers in Corinth some 2,000 years ago, “your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Mike Vonderau, Area Director
Young Life Lorain County
P.O. Box 193
Avon Lake, OH 44012

Cell: 440-315-2992
FAX: 866-789-2959