Things cannot happen in a day.  Christianity itself is a growing, developing thing.  “First the seed, then the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.”  Have patience!  Maybe you will have to win the boys yourself first, before you can win them for Him.  Read this letter from a man who has the vision, the plan and a lot of common-sense patience, and think it over: 

“Very recently I came across your card, and it brought to mind the promise I made to report progress with my class of boys.

“You see so many people in the course of a week, to say nothing of a couple of months, that it may be well to remind you that I am the chap who came to your room in ——­, and afterward stuck to you all the way to ——­ when you were leaving town.

“When I saw you I was having an average attendance of three, if one is allowed to stretch a fraction of a boy into a whole one, and a membership in the class of four.  These boys had lost all interest in the Sunday school, and it was only that ‘Dad said you must’ that any of them came at all to the service.

“Today I have done as well as the faithful servants, and behold my four talents have gained other four.  There is no longer a membership and average attendance, for they all come when they are not sick or out of town; and one thing which is a wonder to me is that a good many of the boys from other schools come to us whenever there is no service in their own churches.

“I have not said ‘now boys’ to this class once, but we have gone hunting caves and are going again next Thursday, and we are all going camping if we can arrange a time during the summer.

“These boys, who used to come to the church with a lurching walk and underlip stuck out, now come in like men.  They have covered the class room walls with pictures from magazines, have brought rocking chairs from home and use their room as the place to plan the fun for the following week.  They have, after some pretty violent pushing from the teacher, petitioned the powers to give the basement of the church over to them and the other classes of intermediate grade for the purpose of having a social evening once each week.  The petition has been granted and we will probably open up about May 16th.

“None of my class show any violent signs of getting converted yet, but when one considers that this is a class who could not keep a teacher over three or four Sundays; who used to start a rough-house on all proper and improper occasions, and who had been known to throw books or any other handy article when they got sick of hearing any more Bible, I think I can report progress.

“The most of my boys were arrested a couple of months ago for breaking into summer camps and looking around.  Today three of them came to my office with one of their friends who had cut his foot and told me all about their trouble, owning up to the whole business and ending by saying that if I would take their Boy Scout society they would cut all that kind of business out.  I wish to God I had the time to take up this Boy Scout job, but I have not; but I will do the next best thing by taking them hiking on Thursday, which is my day of rest.