Here's an example of how one "Sprout" has grown over the years. I won't claim that all of Billy Lee's present spiritual maturity can be traced to three years of Sprouts attendance, but surely Sprouts planted a seed of discipleship that is still growing. Billy, now seventeen and considering full-time Christian ministry, wrote the following article for the newsletter at First United Methodist Church, Pompano Beach, Florida, the birthplace of Sprouts:

In a poem entitled "The Flower," Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote: "Up there came a flower, the people said, a weed." I saw the youth group of this church as a weed. The poem goes on, "then it grew so tall it wore a crown of light." Our youth has blossomed into a beautiful flower!

The FUMC youth group is made of many teens craving and sharing the word of God. The Sunday that the Haitian United Methodist Youth group worshiped with us we were all filled with the Holy Spirit. The Sunday night youth group has become one of my favorite times of the week. "The Flower" continues, "Most can raise the flowers now, for all have got the seed." All of us have got the seed inside us! No matter what age you are, you have a seed. Feed our spirits! Watch us grow! The youth are blooming!
      — Billy Lee, FUMC Youth (adapted)

In his letter granting permission to use his article in CDQ, Billy included these remarks, "[Sprouts] was a major part of my life. One night in youth group someone asked me, 'Billy, why is your faith so strong?' I did not know what to say. So I said, 'I believe what I believe and no one can change that.' "

Edie Harris is the Volunteer/Casework Coordinator for St. Laurence Chapel: Caring Center for Homeless People, Pompano Beach, FL, where she also serves on the Methodist Federation for Social Action Board of Directors. With Shirley Ramsey, she co-authored Sprouts: Nurturing Children through Covenant Discipleship.

Source: Fall 2001 Covenant Discipleship Quarterly

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