For those of you who have been following along with my blog during my journey with the World Race, you will know that the manner in which I discovered the World Race was a surprise. It was as simple as reading a blog post by a friend from a Facebook News Feed, followed by an overwhelming sense in my spirit that I needed to say yes to this call. So I did.
Missions have been a part of my story since I was a freshman in high school. I have had the opportunity to travel to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to work with orphans when I was 15. When I was 16, my youth group traveled to Toronto to help with various tasks in the inner-city from collecting food cans to helping with kids. The following year, we traveled to Chicago to work with kids in the city again.
Hope College, where I attended, offered a number of immersion trip opportunities during spring break. I was fortunate to be able to compete on the Hope College women’s tennis team and was consequently required to attend competitions over spring breaks and unable to partake in those trips. Don’t get me wrong, playing in Florida over spring break was a welcome alternative to playing indoors in March because Michigan seems to be perpetually covered in snow, however, I was really bummed to not be able to go on any of the immersion trips. With the majors I chose and my participation in tennis, study abroad was also not a possibility. This drove me to find summer options and led me to SERVE Nazareth, a three-month internship in Nazareth, Israel, where we received different placements of ministry throughout the city. I helped in the surgical and psychiatric wards of the English hospital and helped in Nazareth Village where we dressed in the garb from Jesus’ time.
When I stopped to think about my “missions resume” I realized that I’ve had missions on the brain for 10 years. That’s remarkable and serves as a good reminder that this is something I’m passionate about (as if there was any question).
To help solidify this desire, the World Race truly fell into my lap. I found out later that January 6th, the day I learned about it, is what some refer to as Epiphany Day in the church calendar. That’ll work. While I was on the Race, I thought that I might discover what type of ministry I’m most passionate about. When you work with 11 different ministries for a month, it’s a good sample platter of the types of ministry out there. There were some that I absolutely loved: sports ministry, lifeskills training, and anything that involved team bonding. I had the chance to serve as a team leader for the first 7 months of the Race and it was there that I really discovered what I love: leading, working with a small group of people, and helping create unity. Few things get me as excited when a group of people bond together for a common cause and everyone feels solid in their roles because their gifts are being utilized well.
We cannot always be in leadership. In fact, I’ve discovered that the best leaders can also follow and be supportive. That’s definitely a valuable lesson that I learned while I was away as I made the transition from team leader to supporter. Taking all of this into account, I will say that whenever I take spiritual gift tests, one of my top gifts is leadership. Whether I choose it or not, I have found myself in many leadership positions during my high school, college, and early post-graduation years. From all of this, I determined that I wanted to continue to improve my ability to lead.
This brings me to my next step. I have been accepted into an additional program through Adventures in Missions (AIM) called Center for Global Action (CGA). CGA was designed to help be a continuation of some of the major lifestyle aspects of the World Race while being in the States. In other words, it helps move returning Racers towards their calling and through their adjustment to being Americans again. Participants can choose to be in up to three, three month semesters for a maximum of nine months. Each semester consists of a variety of classes and an apprenticeship through the office. The classes are geared towards tracks such as Leadership, Worship, All Sons and Daughters (orphan focus), Missions, Storytelling, and more. I’ve been accepted to the Leadership track where I will get further training in leadership as well as direction on my calling. In the afternoons, I will be placed with a department within Adventures in Missions to help out in the office. The longer one is a part of CGA, the more in-depth the mentoring becomes to help you network and figure out life beyond AIM.
We will continue living in community as all apprentices are placed in houses together. All living expenses, including a $200 monthly stipend for food and other needs, are received through fundraising. Carpooling is obviously a top priority to save on gas…also the environment. Go green!
All of this begins on September 11th and my Leadership track will go on until mid-December. At the completion, should I choose, I will be prepared to lead another World Race squad or other program through AIM. The other possibility is that I may continue on in an additional track for more semesters of CGA. While I would like to have the plan firmed up now, I’m waiting to determine what I feel led to do once in Georgia. All this to say, my time with AIM will not be done in December. It helps that the AIM staff really wants to aid apprentices in their adjustment back and then assist them in going out into the world (where that means…when you have people who have been to 30+ countries, it takes on a new meaning) to be whatever they’re going to be. This program isn’t designed to try and keep people with the organization, rather serves as an additional tool to prepare for whatever calling the Lord has placed on each individual’s life.
There you have it. I’m really excited about starting my time in CGA. Leadership is on my radar. There is so much to learn and I am confident that this is part of how God will use me to do more Kingdom work for the next three months as well as beyond my time with AIM. I’m also encouraged by the prospect that He will continue to reveal more of my calling through this process. Please let me know if you have an questions!
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Be on the look-out for a t-shirt fundraiser in the near future as well as more information about ways you can help out both prayerfully and financially. I’m excited about the design and the story behind it!
