Letter to Christians
By L. E. Carl Ketcherside
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A young brother writes me that he would like to preach the gospel but is afraid to give up his employment lest he would not receive support for his family. What strange reasoning! Why should we think it necessary to give up our employment in order to preach the gospel? You may reply, "But the Book says, 'GO preach,'" and that is very true. But it does not say just how FAR we should go.
The very first congregation I ever assembled had its beginning in the living room of our home and on the lawn of our front yard. The material for that assembly was taken from unbelievers and people of good and honest hearts from many persuasions. It was at that very time and place that Carl's father obeyed the gospel. The first four groups I assembled while working in the mines. For the first four years I preached brethren contributed to my expenses a total of $25.00.
By this time I was beginning to receive letters from old and well established congregations requesting my 'assistance" in their "annual protracted effort." Many of my brethren insisted that if I did not give up my secular work and "enter the field," I would surely be found guilty of "burying my talent." I was just immature enough to fall for that line. I did not stop to reason that I was already "in the field," and that my "talent" had not as yet been buried so deep but what it was clearly visible to a large number of people.
I never stopped to ask myself, or anyone else, "What preacher that has ever lived in this Missouri Lead Belt has ever brought together even two congregations during his lifetime?" The groups then meeting in this area were made up of members coming from older congregations, and of brethren following their secular employment. The "mother" group of them all was allowed to die many years ago.
Well, I was persuaded to "take up evangelistic work" and "go preach," (as if I had not been doing that effectively for four years). I gave up my employment, traveled over several States, tried to answer every call. Spent much time away from my family. Have often come home with empty pockets. Have repeatedly borrowed money for car fare home. But, I was "in the field" trying hard to keep my "talent" on the surface!
I finally awoke to how foolish I was being. My very home was right in the center of the largest "field" -- the world. I turned a sad but unyielding ear to hundreds of calls, returned to my home and took up secular work again, and entered the field at the place where I had left it -- my own door step. Brethren at Galesburg, Pekin, and Peoria, Illinois, can partly fill in the story of my labors in that area.
My advice to every young man who would preach the gospel out of love for dying souls, and who would enjoy the greatest satisfaction from his labors, is to find employment, if possible, that has future possibilities, establish your home and enter the "field" at your own door step, and preach the gospel to as large an area within reach of your home as your earnings from your secular work will allow. This plan will provide you with the greatest satisfaction to be realized from doing the Master's work.
Of course, if you are seeking personal glory, an easy road and the luxuries of this life, just close your eyes to the teachings of God's word, sear your conscience, join the ranks of the hirelings, enjoy the comforts of a rent-free home provided you in part by widows, pensioners, the infirm and your brethren who toil in factories, mines and mills, who do not own a home
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