Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Matthew 9:37-38
“Why in the world would the laborers be few with a plenteous harvest?” It is a question Pastor TJ Grooms asks himself during the hard moments of ministry. Why, when doing the work of the Lord, would there be a need for workers? Shouldn’t that be exactly where we as believers want to be?
It is in those moments of questioning, TJ says, “the Lord always reminds me that the harvest is where people don’t want to work.”
Chicago is a place where people don’t want to work and the amazing part about it is, that there is so much work to be done in those areas, so many hearts to ‘harvest’ for the Lord, and yet, so few are willing to work in those places.
“These people are not bad people, the scripture says they are treasures and so you just have to get past the earth, the dirt to get to the treasure.” To see the person God created with His own hand and the love that He has for them.
Where do we find TJ, in the middle of the harvest.
For the past four years, TJ has been serving at New Beginnings Church in the heart of the community of Chicago. Within the first few minutes of speaking with TJ, you can hear the heart and compassion he has for the treasures in the Chicago community.
The mission field in the heart of Chicago, he says, is the kind of ministry that hurts. It’s the kind of ministry where he’s had to perform four funerals in one week for four young men who were killed due to gun violence. “That is the part of ministry that can hurt, but… you get the opportunity to talk to hundreds and hundreds of young people that may not necessarily come to church but will come to a funeral. And you get a chance to speak to them and show them what it means to be saved, what it means to operate in a better life and you can’t squander it, you can’t waste it.”
The harvest is plentiful.
New Beginnings Church is seeing that plenty, as even through a pandemic and a financial giving campaign that has lead pastor, Corey Brooks, sitting on the rooftop, the church is growing!
TJ shared that in the trenches of inner city ministry you need to have big faith. You need to stop believing that you see the entirety of the harvest. You need to take God out of the box we place him in and allow Him to move as only he can. Even if that’s asking for $35,000,000.
New Beginnings Church has been called to create a Christ-focused community center in Chicago. This center will house a pool and basketball courts. It will have a Win Trust Bank, urgent care center, a theater, and a grocery store that provides healthy food options. The center will also be where Project H.O.O.D. will host their trade classes where they help young members of the community see they can, as TJ puts it, “Put down the gun and they need to pick up a hammer.”
This ministry is the church’s outreach arm; “It gets the world into the church, but it gets the church out into the street.” The ministry recently graduated an all-woman electrician class of almost 100 women, and one lady from the class, after finishing her first solo project, turned around and gave back to Project H.O.O.D. in order to help others find a different path away from the streets.
Because of TJ and Corey’s reliance and trust in God, New Beginnings Church has raised $18.5 million of the $35 million needed. Even before they have finished raising the money needed, lives are being impacted. Over 75 kids gave their lives to Christ during their summer camp, people, not even connected with the church, are giving money to the project, and God is growing the church.
The laborers are few.
But TJ recognizes that while there are few, he is not alone. He shares that most of the time he and Corey are in an environment of negativity and hurt, the Highpoint SEND Network has been a blessing and a reminder there are other laborers, in different fields, but doing the same work.
“To be able to be connected to pastors that are actually just as like-minded and supportive and that are just as successful in their own endeavors and in their own particular ministries–it fuels us… It is great to be around some people that can pour into us because we pour out so much, and that’s what SEND does.”
As you continue in your own ministries this month, remember that you may labor and in your immediate circles there may be few alongside you, but you belong to a network of other laborers who are in the fields working the fields next to yours.
Is your church impacting your community? We as a network want to celebrate that with you! Contact Elise Iler at eiler@highpointsend.org so we can praise God for what he is doing through your ministry together!
