On Fire With Enthusiasm

"Catch on fire with enthusiasm, and people will come for miles to watch you burn." - John Wesley

On Sunday, I confirmed 4 young women in our congregation. As part of our confirmation classes, I took them to our United Methodist Conference Center, where they met our bishop. While there, they learned about Imagine No Malaria, the UMC campaign to eradicate malaria by 2015. The bishop told them that for just $10, an insecticide-treated bed net can be sent to a family, thus saving a life from malaria.

After leaving the bishop's office, 2 of our confirmands pulled out $10 bills and pleaded for me to allow them to run back into his office to give him a donation. The other 2 confirmands begged me to lend them $10 so they could do the same thing. All it took was a few minutes with the bishop, and these 4 young women were ready to save the world from malaria.

It gets better. The following Sunday, one of the confirmands came in with a wad of cash in her hand. "Here you go," she said. "It's half of the money I got for my birthday as gifts this week. Can you give this to the bishop for the malaria thing?"

We adults think we're hot stuff with our 10% tithing, and here's a teenager ready to give half of her birthday money to help people halfway around the world. With these 4 confirmands, you'll never hear me call them the future leaders of the church. No, they're leaders of the church right now. They've allowed themselves to catch on fire with enthusiasm, caring enough for all God's children that they will give generously from their many blessings.

Now, they're leading a 4 week event in our congregation to raise money for Imagine No Malaria. It was a privilege to confirm them on Sunday, allowing them to profess their faith in Christ, to stand on their own as members of Christ's church, and to be so caught on fire by the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday that people will come for miles to help these young, vibrant leaders eradicate Malaria.