This blog is to supporters, family, and friends who are not familiar with all things World Race.
Recently, The World Race (WR) started implementing a new kind of ministry for teams on the field called “Unsung Heroes”. Each month a different team from the squad will take on the Unsung Heroes ministry. This ministry primarily involves finding new contacts in the assigned country(s) for Adventure in Missions (AIM) and the WR to partner with in the future.
AIM and WR have been around for many years now, sending dozens of teams throughout the year to the same countries to work with the same contacts. Needless to say, there are so many other countries that have yet to be explored by the WR and a TON of other fantastic ministries out here in the world who have yet to be discovered (by AIM and potentially anyone else)!
So our ministry for the month as the “Unsung Heroes” is to research, network, and find contacts in our assigned country AND surrounding countries (if applicable) to contact and visit in hopes of building a relationship so AIM and future teams can work with them! What better way to explore the country and find other profitable ministries for AIM than through us, who are already here, and are already seeking the Lord’s heart daily for guidance?
This is an exciting but also daunting task.
Pros and cons from my perspective:
Pros: We get to find new and exciting ministries out here who may have been praying for help to come, or just praying for some encouragement and support. And we get to be the answers to those prayers through the orchestration of our Father! I love seeing the Body of Christ coming together for a common purpose and just being a part of something great in places that may be so overlooked. Also, we have the opportunity to go to other countries we may find potential contacts in. 11 countries in 11 months? Why not more? I can’t wait to see what else God is doing through His people all over the place! We’ll get to meet these people, find out what they’re all about, tell them all about AIM, see if we share the same values and Truth from God’s Word, and see what we can do to support them to reach the world together.
Cons: I am a very detailed and schedule oriented person. Very. I would much rather have someone tell me exactly what to do, how to do it, when, and where. So coming into a month where we have no “assigned” ministry and have complete reign over how and where we go about our day and all the other little details, concerns me. I won’t have just one ministry to work with, one place to stay, one same thing I do everyday. There’s the potential for “too much free time”, laziness, burnt out, miscommunication, frustration, and exhaustion. I won’t have one place to stay. I may move every week. My team and I may have differing ideas of who we should contact, where to go, and how to spend our minimally allotted finances. I won’t have someone telling me what to do every day, I will have to be intentional.
Intentional. This weighty word we use a lot on the WR because the WR is really what you make of it. Be intentional in ministry, with your team, with your relationship with the Lord. So far, being intentional in ministry looks like going on prayer walks when ministry for the month looks slower than anticipated. Taking bold steps in conversations with the locals in order to intentionally tell them about Christ. Using your wifi time wisely so you don’t let hours slip by wastefully and before you know it, realizing you haven’t spent time with the One who matters most.
So basically, not having a set schedule and literally not knowing what tomorrow may hold, worries me. I’m excited for this new challenge and the opportunity to grow, make new contacts, and partner with them for a short time I’m just not excited about the lack of day to day structure.
With all this said, I would LOVE to have all of your prayers this month for me (and of course my team) to be flexible, patient, and wise as we make decisions. Pray that God would lead us to exactly the right contacts so we may be a help and answer to their prayers. Pray that in the meantime (in the freetime) that we’d be intentional with our time, resources, and relationships with those around us!
*If you happen to know of any missionaries or people in Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, or Macedonia we can contact please let me know!*
