How much for one person?

Several years ago I was a pastor at a church and we purchased a drum set to use in our contemporary worship service. We had budgeted the money in the church budget and we found a reasonable price on an electronic drum set for slightly over $500.00. Even though we had the total amount budgeted, my wife and I went ahead and donated half the amount to defray the cost to the church. We began using the drums and it enhanced the worship experience considerably and enabled us to do more than we did before. The best part about using the drum set is that it enabled a new person to use their talents for the Lord. Eventually the young person that played the drums left and we were in need of a new drummer. One of the church members said he had a teenage neighbor who played the drums so we invited him to play the drums for us. His family was a member of another church in the area, but they did not attend. Nick became a fixture at our church youth group and the worship service. A few months after Nick started playing the drums, on one Sunday morning during the altar call he stopped abruptly, placed his sticks down and came up to me and told me he wanted to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. What a day of excitement that was for me and for those worshipping with us during that service. We loved Nick and for him to come to that point in his life made everything worthwhile. Later I thought it only cost us a little over $500 to see him come to Christ. How much will it cost to see others come to Christ? However, the story does not end there. Remember I told you that we had budgeted the money for the drum set and that we actually only had to use half of the budgeted money to do so. Yet there were individuals who were upset that we used budgeted church money to purchase a drum set. They were upset and a little bit angry. Even after the story of Nick was shared, they could not let go of the fact that we purchased a drum set. Flash back almost 2000 years ago to a small town on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus arrived in a town where a demon possessed man confronted Jesus and the demons cried out "what do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?" Jesus discovered that the man had numerous demons in him, possibly as many as 6000 and they called themselves Legion because there were many of them. Jesus commanded the demons to leave the man and they entered into 2000 pigs who immediately ran off the edge of the cliff into the sea. 2000 pigs was a lot of money in those days and it probably was a huge economic loss to the owners and even to the people of the area. Yet here is where the story gets interesting. Mark 5:14 - 17 tells the rest of the story. The people tending the pigs ran into town and reported what had happened. The townspeople came out and saw the formerly demon possessed man sitting with Jesus, dressed and in his right mind. Exciting news, they should celebrate and throw a party because of this one man who was now restored. Yet listen to the words of Mark "Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon possessed man - and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region." After hearing about the pigs the people asked Jesus to leave. It was all economics. Typically we are more concerned about money than we are about people being restored. The question that begs to be answered is "How much are you willing to give to see someone come to Christ?" How much does it cost? I pray that we as believers will realize what it cost God to restore us and never look at people the same way again. I hope we will always consider them worth everything it may cost to see them come to Christ. What do you think? Are people worth the price of a drum set or maybe a herd of pigs?