Our Partners for Fruitful Ministry,

Almost every weekend in cities like Winter Garden, FL, Litchfield, IL, and San Antonio, TX, Reach Out trains younger generation leaders to implement Jesus-Focused Youth Ministry. But this last weekend in Tupelo, MS was extra special.

The Best Expression

What made it so special? Sue McAllister--Sue Mc to us! She helps coordinate the network of churches that hosted the training. For 38 years, Sue and her husband Lee have invested their lives in equipping youth leaders, discipling teenagers, and reaching into the schools to share Jesus. Together Sue and Lee are THE BEST expression of youth ministry I know anywhere!

All of these years, Lee, a banker, has reached out to and discipled kids in his free time. He has supported Sue with time and money in every endeavor. In 1973 Sue became the part-time interim youth minister at Harrisburg Baptist Church. Women with an official title of "Youth Minister" were non-existent. She served that church for 24 years as the youth pastor. Then she went across town to do the same at Calvary Baptist for four and a half years and then again at First Baptist for one year. Each time she replaced herself with young men she had trained. Now all the youth leaders in the city look to her for leadership--a veritable network throughout the city!

A Beautiful Life

Since Sue came to her first Reach Out training in 1975, we have forged a friendship and worked alongside each other in many endeavors. Always she has desired to know Jesus and to make Him known to kids. That "spring of Living Water" inside of her has resulted in a beautiful life. I see her as...

• ever hungering and thirsting for more of Jesus
• a loving and caring wife to Lee, mom to Katie, and daughter to her mom in chronic illness
• a lover of kids, parents, youth leaders...and so many others
• a servant in every situation 
• a consummate giver instead of a taker
• a trusted advisor 
• a sensitive encourager to Ginny and me after Carol died and a good friend to Lawanna and her first husband, Dave Busby
• having an amazing knack for remembering our family's special occasions--even when I forget! 

Bundled together, these qualities reflect Jesus to all around her. The fruit of the Spirit inside of her reveals Christ consistently to every person she meets. I am thankful that she has let Jesus in her life bubble over to my life. I am a much better person because of Sue Mc!

A Bountiful Ministry

Sue's ministry reflects her life! An example from only one year reveals how bountiful Lee and Sue's ministry has been. In the class of 1979 Lee and Sue each discipled two groups of kids and led an adult Leadership Team, many of whom also discipled groups of kids. Five high school guys in those discipleship groups--Nathan, Robby, Bill, Jim, and Bobby--all serve faithfully in ministry today and each one has discipled many others. Nathan, for example, has a remarkable history of spiritual multiplication. Through him Tim, Sam, Aaron, Blake, Landon, and Billy to name only a few, have become ministers and missionaries who disciple the next generation. 

In Tupelo today, the evidence of Lee and Sue's long term investment in kids runs the gamut from grandparents to middle-schoolers.  Among the current youth pastors there, Nathan, Kurt, Blake, Aaron, Barton, and Jeremy are part of the "much fruit" God has produced and multiplied through Sue.

Imagine 38 years and 38 graduating classes of kids discipled to follow Jesus who have gone on to disciple others.  They span the generations and all walks of life. It is impossible to estimate how many youth leaders and teenagers have been influenced through Sue's ministry of multiplication. From what I can observe, it is more than any other youth leader I have ever known!

Leaders like Lee and Sue are rare. Yet the church needs more of them. When you invest your prayers and money in Reach Out, you can have confidence that we are giving our concerted energies to raising up more leaders like Lee and Sue Mc!