Sorry to blast you all with 3 long, wordy blogs. That’s what happens when internet isn’t really available!!
Swaziland debrief has been great – relaxing, and refreshing with plenty of time to actually debrief myself out of Mozambique and all that happened. Our awesome trainers are here, this time with their wives, so we have all had time for one on one debriefs and counseling with women! Awesome! Even with all this good time to debrief, think and process, I still feel like I haven’t thought it all out and figured out how I really feel and think. How do you process out of the 2 most incredible, life changing weeks of your life without about 3 days of silence and focused journaling? Ahhh!! At least that’s how I feel. The stories are endless (check out other B Squad’s blogs for some of these), and the internal, spiritual affects reeling…
June Racers have arrived and we are getting to know them a bit, and imparting the knowledge and experiences we have to them, that they may start a few steps further ahead than we did. The trainers are training the newbies, but the more seasoned Racers are also taking part and gaining more great wisdom and the power of God from these anointed men. I taught a session with Steph and James on unity and community living yesterday that went very well. It was pretty cool to look at all that the Lord gave me (and my team) to share with them, because it showed how much I have grown and learned in the last 5 months about these issues. I guarantee that I could not have come up with half the wisdom that came off that page at the beginning of this crazy journey! God is so incredibly great to us!!
Team ZEO had our own team debrief with Seth and Karen Barnes the other day and will be meeting again with them, for more wisdom and insight into our group, our growth, our ministry, and our vision. At the halfway point, all the issues that people have had, good and bad, have been brought to the leadership and so they are looking at ways to change and make the Race better, for us and for the following teams.
From here on out it looks like more flexibility and opportunity for each small team to and redefine what ‘ministry’ looks like. To this point, for all teams, ministry has been primarily evangelism, which is great, but hasn’t utilized every person’s giftings. Some people are evangelists, some are intercessors, some are deeper relationally minded people, some are teachers, some are preachers (and there is a great difference), some are great with kids, others with peers or older adults. Some relate best in a day to day life, submerged in a culture, others best relate in chance meetings, striking up conversation with an always potential friend on a bus or in a coffee shop.
All of us at some point should be able to operate at our best in each of our strengths, though obviously, we have to adjust and grow in other aspects as well, not always in our peak. The leadership and each Racer desire that we all have the chance to be our best in our giftings.
I am looking forward to something new – perhaps going out as just the ZEO team to find ministry apart from the B Squad. A whole new host of challenges will present themselves in this possibility, but we are ready and eager to face and tackle them. We want to grow, becoming more dependent on our Heavenly Father to provide all our needs, and the Holy Spirit to empower us in our weaknesses.
Please pray for us, as we ask the Lord for wisdom about where exactly we are headed from here, after this weekend. We can join others in some set ministries or check out new stuff as a small team. The options are wide open at this point… well, in the South Africa region… 🙂
I have missed keeping you all updated in the last month. I hope I haven’t lost many of you! Just kidding, I know you love me enough to wait patiently for my blogs. 🙂
I will update if possible from here in Swaziland to let you know where we head next!
