So much has happened. I fear this blog post won’t do enough justice to all God has done and is doing, however, I will convey as much as possible.
The very last week of March we had what World Race calls “debrief”. Debriefs only occur every three to four months, and it’s essentially a time to rest, reflect, and recharge. Some debriefs also involve team changes, which was the case for our squad. In my first WR blog post, I vowed to be vulnerable, and I am committed to continue being vulnerable. So, going along with that, for a period of time right before debrief I thought of myself as a failure, in regards to my team leader role for the first three months. My view of myself not only as a team leader, but also just as a team member, was one of failure and disappointment. When I looked back over the previous three months, I was reminded of countless times when I could have led better, or could have paid more equal attention to my whole team. Most of my feelings of failure came from the fact that I could have done so so so much better and could have poured out more of myself to my team. When our time of debrief arrived and we were reunited with the rest of our squad, I began to sense a new message enter into my thoughts. As my perspective began to change, I began to realize that God had been fighting to reveal to me that I’m not a failure. Not only does He not see me as a failure, but His view of me is actually quite opposite than that of a failure. Grace was poured out over me, and soon I discovered that somewhere along the way I began to stop listening to the Lord, and began listening to other things for how I view myself. A few days before debrief, one of our squad leaders sat me down and told me that leadership had decided to make me a team member instead of continue being a team leader at debrief and beyond. My pride took a huge hit in that moment. Honestly, I thought of how this change would make the rest of the squad view me. It’s worth noting that I fully trust the leadership team over this squad, and trust that every decision they make is done so prayerfully and after earnestly seeking what the Lord wants, and then walking in obedience to what He speaks to them. This change, in regards to me no longer team leading, is one that I know the Lord brought about. Throughout debrief and up until team changes were announced, I thought a lot about the change I knew was coming, and I discovered a few things about who God has been molding me to be. Equipper of the saints. After taking some time to review all that God has done leading up to the race, and all that He’s done so far on the race, I began to see that God has gifted me to equip the saints. And this isn’t an entirely new thought, but one that I haven’t visited in a while. My strengths lie in one-on-one conversations and helping others grow on an individual basis, and discovering how God wants them to grow. A huge privilege I experienced before the race was being able to disciple a couple of guys in my University Ministry at First Lubbock. Being older and slightly further along in my leadership, I was able to disciple these guys as they too took on leadership, and began growing in their leadership. It was exhilarating seeing the Lord move in and through me and through these guys, and any good thing that came about from those conversations with those dudes I take zero credit for, as I know it was the Lord doing as only He can through me. My personality is not one that’s out in front of the masses, but rather one that is behind the scenes, quietly moving and keeping things in good order. This is not to boast, but in any movement there are always people who perform tasks that often go utterly unnoticed, but the work they do is imperative to the movement taking place. The Lord is molding me to be one of those people who pour out and disciple those whose calling is to be out in front of the masses. That’s where equipping the saints comes to mind.
Ephesians 4:11-13
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
This is the call to which God has placed on my life, and I realize it’s fairly vague but I’m anxious to receive more details to that calling. With all that being said, I can see why God has called me to experience a season outside of positional leadership.
Turns out, the only four males on the whole squad got put into a team for this month in Indonesia, and possibly longer. So, it was basically best case scenario. Just for this month here in Indonesia we have what is called an exposure participant named Landy. He is with us for only one month, just to get a glimpse into what the World Race is all about, so there are actually five of us bros for the whole month. We are in Bali, Indonesia. Contrary to what I thought previously, Bali is an island, not a specific city. The World Race has certain teams do what is called Unsung Heroes, which is a month where some teams travel to a country or part of a country where WR (World Race) has little to no ministry contacts. We are stationed in Bali doing Unsung Heroes for this month. It consists of a lot of ATL, which stands for “ask the Lord”. So far God has opened up some exciting doors in networking with already existing Christian organizations/churches here in Bali and seeing if they are potential ministry contacts for future WR teams to visit. I am pumped for what God will start and continue to do!
