I would like to think every church has "unsung heros", who labor faithfully in their calling, regardless of whether anyone notices.  Don't you know Jesus has some surprising rewards in store for such as these?  We all know the parable of the talents, where Jesus rewards those who were faithful with what little was committed them.  ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’  (Mt 25:21)  What an encouragement to work faithfully!

Some rewards for the faithful, though, come sooner, in this life.  A few days ago I was training our small group leaders and our numbers were down, probably due to severe cold and bad roads.  I must admit this discouraged me a bit.  Then Natasha shared how she and her husband Sasha, answered God's call to lead the teen ministry in our church.  Because of certain conflicts and troubles this last year, many of our teens quit coming:

"We only had two teens coming to our meetings in August.  The same two kept coming every       week and we continued to work with them in September, October, and November.  Each time we had to drive all the way from Kiev we began to wonder about the time commitment (45-60 minutes).  Nevertheless, we kept praying for all the teens. Finally, in December several more teens returned, and now in January we are averaging fifteen at every meeting!  I am so thankful we did not give up!  God is so good!"

 I repeat, what an encouragement to work faithfully and not give up!  Please pray for Sasha and Natasha as they lead and pray for this teen group that it may grow and prosper with more teens coming.  Small group ministry is growing in our church and for that we are excited.  Natasha is seated in the center (blue sweater).