I hate waste. In a world of drought and hunger, it troubles me to see food thrown away. In a world where hundreds of millions of people have no access to clean water, it bothers me to see a tap or shower left running. 

In a needy world, waste is inexcusable. So when Jesus lamented that “the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few,” I can’t help but think of waste. The problem as Jesus stated it was not one of minor imbalance, but one of tragic inequity — a huge harvest and a tiny work force. When there is far more fruit to harvest than there are workers to harvest it, there will inevitably be waste — much waste. That thought should deeply trouble every serious follower of Jesus.

It is estimated that the total world population when Jesus issued His call to prayer for harvesters was roughly 200 million people. Today there are 140 million people born into the world every single year! If the harvest was huge then, how much greater is it today? And how much is being lost for lack of harvesters? The late songwriter Keith Green once said, “This generation of Christians is responsible for this generation of souls on earth.” It is not that there are not enough harvesters.  It’s that there are not enough who will obey the Lord of the harvest.

The close of this year marks another gathering of globally-minded followers of Jesus at the Urbana conference, arguably one of the greatest events to impact the world of missions in the modern era. First started on the campus of the University of Toronto in 1946 with 575 in attendance, this triennial gathering will attract well over 20,000 potential harvest workers to this year’s conference in St. Louis. Oh that God would use them to put an end to the waste of lost souls in our generation!

Shortly after the birth of Urbana, Oswald J. Smith, pastor of the Peoples Church in Toronto made this statement: “No one has the right to hear the gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heard it once.” To Smith, the waste of a human soul for lack of harvesters was unconscionable. God help us stop the waste.