How does one sum up the 10 days of training camp? To be honest, that is an extremely hard task. There is more than just 10 days of memories, there is a life time. Life time friends, inside jokes, squad war victories, encouragement, hard lessons, a season of pruning, and love is what filled this time of training camp. It is next to impossible to fully describe to you my experience, so I will use three words to sum up how God was moving.
UNITY
WARRIOR
FREEDOM
Unity: It is incredible how each one of my teammates stories has been woven together. Different parts of the country, varying educations, drastic personalities, we are all so different, but that is what makes us all so beautiful. Our one love is to worship Yeshua Messiah, the Alpha and Omega, our Hope, the great I Am, our Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus has put the mission of the nations on each one of our hearts. Our heart breaks for the injustice of the world, but what hurts the most is the estimated 3 billion people who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ in the 10-40 window in which we will be traveling to. We worshiped together, we prayed together, we cried together, and we celebrated together. We quite literally spent hours praying, worshiping, and reading scripture together fighting for each other over the span of those 10 days. We are one Squad, one Team, one Church united through Christ.
Warrior: This word was spoken to many of us at training camp from many different people at different times. Our squad is something special. If what we went through at training camp is an example of what we will experience in the world, then we will have to be warriors to be able to fight those battles. At the beginning of prayer session that lasted almost two and half hours God took me the book of Job 2:13. This is where Jobs friends learn of his sufferings and come to be with him. When they first see Job they go down to him and mourn with him. Job’s friends did not say anything for seven days to him, they just sat in the dirt with him. Although they did not say anything aloud I just know that they were praying without ceasing during those seven days. It was a picture that God was showing me of what friendship should look like and what the race is going to look like for my squad. I had no idea of the preparation that would take place in that prayer session for our squad. I could write a while blog just on that two hour prayer session, maybe I will later. That evening solidified the word that was spoken to our squad. We are warriors, there is a battle to fight, we have been commissioned to fight this battle from the side of victory because we already know the result of the war.
Freedom: Lives were changed, healing occurred, the voice of God was heard. We are set free, so we no longer have to submit to the yoke of slavery. It is for freedom that we have been set free. We have been set free from slavery to pursue ultimate freedom in Christ Jesus. A few years ago I wrote in my Bible while reading Galatians “Funny, we are set free from slavery to become a slave to Christ.” Oh how wrong I was. I did not understand the difference between slavery and servitude. One is forced with no freedom to choose, the other is not forced and has ability to choose where he serves. I fully understand this now after training camp. We are not forced to go to the nations, we are not forced to give a year of our lives to God, we are not forced to do any of this. We get to choose. This is freedom. We are no longer under the yoke of slavery, and we are now under the yoke Jesus. Our hearts become aligned with his once we truly understand who he is. The last thing Jesus said was to go, and that is what we will do.
This is only just a little of what is on my heart from training camp. Im planning writing another blog about training camp. I am a just over 50% funded! Wohooo! I am planning on doing some more fundraisers here soon! Hopefully I will be able to sell some beanies with a super sick logo on it! Once I get that worked out I will reach out to yall with the information! Continue praying for me and my Squad as we are in the final stretch of preparation! We will meet in Atlanta, Georgia on January 9th and leaver around the 12th!
Love yall
Joe
