In 1877, James A. Harding (for whom Harding University is named) went to Clarke County, Kentucky, where he held a gospel meeting. When asked how the meeting went, one of the elders at the congregation responded, “It was not much of a meeting. Oh, Brother Harding did his usual powerful preaching, the attendance was fair, but the results were negligible. Only little Jimmy Shepherd was baptized.” God doesn’t always perceive things the way we do. When we work hard to serve people in the name of Christ and few respond to our message, it is easy to think, “The results of my work are negligible.” But we must never underestimate the power of one seed that really takes root. In the case of little Jimmy Shepherd, the sole response to Harding’s preaching in the gospel meeting, he stayed dedicated to the cause of Christ all of his life. He is better known to some as James W. Shepherd. While he was in college, he began preaching. In 1883, he helped to establish the Berea Church of Christ in Madison County. In 1888, he left with his family to do mission work in New Zealand for several years, preaching all around the country, as well as in Australia. Upon returning to the states, he worked from 1905 to 1912 as the office editor of the Gospel Advocate, where he both wrote and edited some works that have been treasured for decades.
In Luke 8:8, Jesus is teaching a parable about a sower. Though much seed might never take root or grow, the seed which does take root can produce “one hundred times” what has been sown. Every seed that you plant matters, because only God knows just how much good can be done when a person plants a seed through a single act of Christian conviction.
— Bulletin Gold