Everyone has a story to tell.
And everyone should tell it, because stories reveal how God is weaving all things together for good…
After spending ten days with some of the most amazing people walking around on the face of the planet right now, I was encouraged, sharpened, convicted, and stripped of the ability to compartmentalize God and His ways…
I heard many beautiful stories of how individuals came to find out about The World Race, and how God led them to apply, and suddenly found themselves in the middle of Georgia climbing walls, doing excessive amounts of push-ups, choosing to leave emotional baggage behind, and experiencing a whole new realm of what God wants to do through His church.
I’d like to tell you my story about how I came to The World Race…
In February of 2007, I began to sense that the season of my life that I was in was coming to a close. Two things deeply burdened my heart: the sickness of the American church, and this one word I kept hearing EVERY time I prayed– ‘GO’.
I asked Him, “Lord, what does ‘GO’ mean? Does ‘GO’ mean leave my present job? Does ‘GO’ mean leave California? Leave the country? Or is ‘GO’ the general call that is placed on every person who chooses to follow Christ instead of themselves or the world; to make disciples of ALL nations, to GO to invite them into a deeply intimate relationship with the Creator of all things? What then, Lord, do you mean by “GO”?”
And church… what does THAT word even mean? Because I had a feeling that ‘church’ was intended to be so much more than pristine power point sermons encapsulating 5 easy steps to the Christian journey, fog machines and light boards, marketable worship music, and compartmentalized services that border more on a performance than a coming together of brothers and sisters in freedom under Christ.
And so, born out of my discomfort, I had a vision, an idea… As I talked with a good friend of mine, I shared that I wanted to start a non-profit organization that would consist of 10-15 people in their 20’s, who desired to explore what these two key words meant: ‘GO’ and “Church’. We would commit to leave everything behind for 1 year of our lives, travel to 12 different countries to aid missionaries with their work, and commit to live in deep community with one another as Acts 2:42-46 describes.
We would call it “Go Church”, traveling as the organism of the church was created to be, sharing the news that souls can be free NOW and forever because of Jesus.
I loved that vision of Go Church. But the more I prayed about it, I realized that my inexperience on the mission field thus far would make it incredibly difficult to START a non-profit. So I began to pray for other opportunities to serve on the foreign missions field, intending on keeping Go Church on the back burner.
About 2 months later, that same friend who shared the vision of ‘Go Church’ called me and said,
“Uhhh, Kim? Have you heard of The World Race??!?” To which I answered no… To which he answered, “I hate to tell you this, but somebody already took your idea. And they’ve been doing it for 3 years, and they’re calling it The World Race.”
Seth Barnes beat me to it. Praise Jesus. 🙂 But how beautiful that God planted this desire in me before I knew that The World Race existed. And so begins the next chapter in the story I get to partner in with God. We will GO as the CHURCH to 11 countries in 11 months on a Matthew 10 journey. I feel I’ve stepped onto a roller coaster, and God hit the go button on August 31st. We’ve taken off, life will never be the same, and there’s no way I’m turning back now. I’m about to begin the new ride of a life-time.
Thats my story and I’m stickin’ to it.
