I didn't write a blog from South Africa, well…because I felt guilty. You see, due to my role as a logistics leader I wasn't involved in too much of our ministry. Whoo…there I said it. I already feel a little better. My job as logistics leader isn't really all that glamorous and exciting. OK, there was this one time that our squad was dropped off at the wrong train station in China and I was literally running around with David, my partner, playing the most ridiculous game of charades you've ever seen trying to figure out how to get to the right train station. And I am now friends with the manager of a hostel in Beijing, and I'm also on a first name basis with Mario, who works at the Mozambique Consulate in Cape Town, South Africa.
Back to my point. In July at our training camp, I was asked to be one of two logistics leaders of our squad of 44 people. When I said yes, my World Race experience forever changed. I was still going on the Race to love, serve, and to share the Gospel, but now I was also going to serve my squad by helping secure transportation from destination to destination, by helping the leadership on the field get SIM cards for their phones, by helping team Finance Leaders balance their spreadsheets, and by helping 40 people get their visas at the South African/Mozambique border despite a very moody Mozamibiqan government worker (these are just a few examples).
Logistics takes up quite a bit of my time and I struggle with how much I have to step out of "traditional ministry" in order to serve in other ways. Honestly, at times I'm even a little embarrassed and would rather not talk about what I actually did during the month for fear that it's not ligitament ministry. It's hard for me to say that attempting to navigate my way around a third world country's website trying to find visa information is just as much ministry as passing out food to families in the neighborhood who are hungry. Right now the way I reconcile the ministry I've been called to do, by helping move 44 people from country to country and managing all the other behind the scenes tasks is that I'm giving the teams more time to be the hands and feet of Jesus to people who so desperately need to know that they are loved by God.
Last month I didn't get to go out into the neighborhood and spend time with kids who so desperately needed some positive influence in their lives nearly as much as I would have liked. Rather I was inside trying to figure out the cheapest way for us to get Mozambique visas, and how to get 40 people from Cape Town, South Africa to Maputo, Mozambique. But I can't hide it any more. This is my coming out of the closet…I'm a Logistics Leader, and proud of it!
View my new blog site at http://www.iamchrisbritton.wordpress.com
