The Impact Of A Single Soul

August 16th, 2023

by Pastor Andrew Wolfenbarger
08/16/2023

Proverbs 11:30 - “He that winneth souls is wise.”

I recently spent time with the man who founded the Bible College I attended. He has become a spiritual mentor and encourager of mine during my ministry. As he spoke, he told the story of his grandfather. He was a 2nd generation farmer in the high desert of Colorado.

One day, as his grandfather was plowing one of his thousands of acres of land, a faithful soul-winner waited at the end of his next row. When he came to where the man waited for him, he parked the tractor and conversed with the man. In the place where his grandfather had reaped so many harvests, that man of God led him through the plan of salvation, and he trusted Christ as his Savior.

My mentor explained that because of that conversation, God had called his father, an uncle, both his brothers and him to Pastor churches. It shocked me when he said, “Because of that soul-winner at least 100,000 people and probably closer to 200,000 people have trusted Christ”. Having familiarity with their ministries, I can verify that this is not an exaggeration.

The impact of an individual soul may never be grasped this side of Heaven. The Bible says that when a single sinner trusts Christ that all of Heaven rejoices (Luke 15:7). If Heaven’s reaction is to be any indication, there is great value in a single soul. Furthermore, we also don’t consider that the one who turns to Christ might do an even greater work than we could ever imagine for the Lord.

Consider the significance of the man who invited Billy Sunday to that mission the night he got saved and later went on to preach to more people than any American evangelist ever had at that time. Consider the anonymous preacher that preached that night in Charlotte, NC as Billy Graham walked the aisle and gave his life to Christ.

These men may never have preached to hundreds of thousands of people, but through their faithful ministry of caring for the souls of others, God reached hundreds of thousands of people.

I love the old hymn “Little Is Much”. The chorus goes like this:

Little is much when God is in it!
Labor not for wealth or fame.
There’s a crown-and you can win it,
If you go in Jesus’ Name.

The first verse must be carefully heard:

In the harvest field now ripened
There’s a work for all to do;
Hark! the voice of God is calling
To the harvest calling you.

The place where God wants to do His greatest work today is in the place that we call the harvest field. It is the place where the wise soul-winner is diligently laboring for the souls of men by lovingly sharing the gospel message with one person at a time. Can you see the tremendous value and impact of a single soul today?