The seventeen year old high school senior left each day at 11:00 am on a work permit. His daily destination was the construction site of Grace Assembly of God in south Oklahoma City. At some point in each afternoon’s work itinerary, the local youth pastor would bring the strange greetings of “Hey fathead, how are you doing?”. Believe it or not, it was a welcome greeting. It was also the beginning of a lifetime friendship. I was that student and Keith Elder was the youth pastor.

It was certainly a blessing to be in Hungry Horse, Montana this past Saturday night as Keith and Marlys Elder were honored for twenty nine years of amazing service as District Youth and Education Directors. In my commitment to abbreviate these blog entries, I will not attempt to appropriately list their accomplishments. Simply stated, the Elders are living legends in Assemblies of God youth ministries. Even better, Pam and I consider them to be among our dearest friends. What a gift from God!

The lesson in this for all of us is that we should see every young person as a good opportunity for investment. I will always be grateful for the youth pastor who sowed into the life of this fathead.