For those that do not know, the World Race is made of up of large groups that launch in monthly segments called squads. These squads are then broken broken down into 5-7 person groups called teams that are sent out to various ministry contacts in each country. So without any further hesitation, I must introduce you my team!
Elizabeth Huff // Loren Messarra // Jack Messarra // Spencer Adams // Peter Owens // Sarah Graley
T E A M S H E M A H
Team Shemah is our formal name, which literally translates to “Hear, O Israel” as found in the passage Deuteronomy 6:4-9, among a few other places in the Old Testament.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
Jesus considered the Shema' to be the greatest commandment, and in Matthew 22:37-40 he exposed the "hear and do" implications behind the original command. The whole passage basically goes on & on, calling for this covenantal relationship to be a part of everything they are and every aspect of day-to-day life. So with that, it's our hope to be a team that hears and simply takes what is heard and does it.
It is also important to note that we also sometimes refer to ourselves by our street name as Team Toaster. This name is an absurd and obscure reference to Philippians 3:12. You could consider Toaster as the “party in the back” portion of our mullet-like identity. This is perfectly fine with us.
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Jack & Loren are the married couple on my squad and quite frankly, I am beyond stoked to have them in my daily life. Both attended Houston Baptist University where Jack studied Biblical Languages and Loren studied Psychology. Loren and I first met during simulation at training camp where ½ of our squad’s packs were “stolen” and we inevitably became dependent upon one another for the basic needs of life. In this sitution, it turned out that Loren & I ended up sharing a tent with Amanda Stoesz. Putting three people in a two-person tent is probably one of the best icebreakers I have ever heard of. I definitely look forward to more great conversation with them both and sharing a love for soccer & ultimate frisbee with Jack!
Elizabeth is A-Squad’s youngest, coming in at the tender age of 20. For a reader reference point, this is the girl that came up to me & spoke about being a fighter. She is in the process of studying Parks & Recreation at Texas A&M and has intentions to work with youth. Since she is bringing a slack-line, I foresee that we are going to become extremely skilled and balanced come the end of these 11 months. I am so amped to grow alongside & learn from her!
Spencer is the Bro of Finance for Team Shemah which means he will keep track of our team budget. Therefore, it may not be surprising to know that he studied Finance at University of Colorado at Boulder. He’s well traveled and has done just about everything you could dream of doing as a resident of Colorado. Because of this, its very obvious that Spencer is pretty willing to try anything and everything, so I can’t wait to see what kind of adventures go down with Spencer on our team!
Peter is our team’s leader. Although intellectually realistic, Peter is most definitely a man of optimism & willingness. He graduated from Huntington University with a Bachelor's in Religion and it was there that he formed an accapella group on campus. This immediately made me see him as an Andy from the Office, of sorts, and that’s not a bad thing. He’s bringing a ukelele and I’ll have my guitar, so I look forward to the musical odyessys ahead and leading worship with him along the way.
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So, as Team Shemah, we will be living together day in & day out. We will share stories of the tragedies and horrors of squatty potties. We will come to accept everything about one another, especially the unique places that God is shaping us in. This is my immediate communty and together we will be experiencing the goodness of God in the nations and witnessing His work, expecting both the common & the ridiculous ways of His working.
I love that all of Team Shemah seems to contain a fearless, go all-in-and-all-out, “why the HECK not?” kind of attitude. With that alone, I think that God is going to do some amazing things in and through us, not to mention I think we’ll have some crazy adventures and come out with some good stories to tell. I am most certainly stoked for the joy that is evident in our team, by far. I mean, we found ourselves climbing trees together on our first team outing at training camp; I kind of pride myself on how much fun we have and how loud our laughs can become. This is my kind of team.
