“The late B.C. Goodpasture used to tell of the time when James A. Harding held a meeting in Clark Co., Kentucky.  The year was 1877.  When an elder of the church was asked about it, he said it was ‘…not much of a meeting.  Oh, brother Harding did his usual powerful preaching, the attendance was fair, but the results were negligible.  Only little Jimmy Shepherd was baptized’” (History of the Restoration Movement: James Walter Shepherd 1861-1948, therestorationmovement.com; this is a reprint of Dennis Gulledge’s article: Can You Count the Apples in a Seed?). 

J.W. Shepherd (1861-1948) went on to do many good things in the Kingdom of God.  He graduated from Kentucky University’s College of Bible (1884).  He became a preacher.  He did foreign work in New Zealand (1888-1890) and Australia (1890-1892).  He served as  office editor for the Gospel Advocate (1905-1912).  He later did domestic work with churches in Detroit, Michigan, Washington D.C., Richmond, Virginia, and Birmingham, Alabama.  He wrote Handbook on Baptism.  He compiled, edited and contributed to several David Lipscomb books including: Queries and Answers; Salvation from Sin; and the Gospel Advocate Commentary series – Romans; 1 Corinthians; 2 Corinthians and Galatians; Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians; Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus and Philemon (Information gleaned from therestorationmovement.com and Voices Crying in the Wilderness: A History of the Lord’s Church with Special Emphasis on Australia by David Roper). 

One may not know the good that he is doing when he sows the seed (Mark 4:26-28).  However, we are told that when the seed comes in contact with a good heart it grows and bears fruit (Mark 4:8).  Let us sow the seed. 

Dennis Gulledge remarked, “Someone has said that you can count the number of seeds in an apple, but you cannot count the number of apples in a seed.  When applied to the preaching of the gospel that means that you can count the number of people who respond to gospel preaching to be baptized, but you cannot count the number of good things done in the life of one person who becomes a Christian, as in the case of James W. Shepherd” (ibid).  Never underestimate the value of one soul brought to Christ.