The contents of this blog may be more interesting to future World Racers, rather than those looking for an update on my time in the field. But either way, it’s a glimpse into the lifestyle of the World Race, which happens to be my lifestyle at the moment…and for the next nine+ months.
- Squad: WR squads leave at different times of the year, and are currently classified by the letter system. I’m on O squad, which is composed of 51 World Racers. There are five squads on the field right now, L through P. (We’ll all meet up in Dublin, Ireland at the beginning of September). Do not make the mistake of thinking that these squads are just random groups of people who happen to want to leave at the same time of the year. We belong together. We are together to learn from each other. It’s not random chance or timing that put O squad together.
- Teams: our squad of 51 people is broken up into eight teams. Each team came was created and came together at training camp, where we came up with our team names. O squads teams: Jubilee (yay!!), Umoja, Cheetahs, Koinonea, L’Chaim, Shofar, Lovesick 5:14, G.L.O.W. There are times that we will be living with or ministering with other teams, like next month. There are also times that every team will be in a different location and ministry, like last month.
ROLES
- Squad leaders: for O squad, these amazing people are Jenny Brown and Jacob Hoyer. They have both been on the World Race before and have again raised money to be able to come with us on the field for the first four months. Best way to summarize their role: they are here for us. Whether it was directing all the team leaders to get stuff done when we first hit foreign soil six weeks ago, praying for the direction of this team, calling us out on stuff that we need to change or realize… The definition of their role could on and on. And Jubilee hasn’t even gotten more than a few days with them yet! Lots to look forward to.
- Team leaders: There are eight of us who were called out at training camp to lead teams. Contrary to popular opinion at our ministry sites thus far, none of us have been on the WR before. It’s definitely an honor to lead a team, and have team members who are responsible for partnering with God in calling out and raising up leadership in us. It’s also a crazy honor to be one of the team leaders because that means being a part of a second team. Example: during our few days together in Bucharest, all the team leaders were able to spend some time together that turned into an amazing time of challenge and an awesome picture of what this squad can move into.
- Finance people: each team is responsible for its own finances, budget, receipt-collecting and reporting of totals for each month in each different currency. At training camp, eight people were called out to serve as the finance person for their team. They are responsible for finances for food, lodging, transportation, supplies, translators…anything the team could possibly need to spend money on. They serve constantly and tediously.
- Logistics: two of the guys on our squad, also called out at training camp (a lot happened that week) are in charge of logistics for the squad. They work behind the scenes, coordinating stuff with the logistics department at AIM stateside. They will be in charge of organizing lodging, food and meeting places several times in the next year for fifty some people in random foreign countries. We’ve barely seen the tip of everything they have and will do to serve the squad.
EVENTS
- Training Camp: 8 days of turning your world upside down and back again. Amazingly unexplainable time. One of the first things that happens where World Racers realize that living in this community may not be explainable or make sense to anyone who hasn’t experienced or lived in this before. There’s an entire blog or three that I’ve already posted about this, so there’s your reference.
- Awakening: I can barely imagine or explain. Last year was the first Awakening. This year it will be held in Dublin, after our next month of ministry. All five squads on the field right now (L-P) will gather in Dublin for three days (?) of worship, community, teaching, and an absolutely crazy time. World Race alumni and their families are also invited, and a bunch of AIM’s staff will be joining us. YAYAYAY!!! More on this after it happens.
- Debriefs: at the end of our ministry time on each continent (or about every three months), there will be a time for the whole squad to be together, check in and share with each other, be poured into by our squad leaders and squad coaches, and generally just have an amazing time with this massive family. Again, more on this after it happens directly after Awakening.
OTHER STUFF
- Feedback: It happens every night, and it changes all the time, at least for Jubilee. It’s a chance for teams to practice healthy communication, speaking into each other’s lives, encourage each other and call out the best in team mates. The goal: for it to become a way of life. The common example we’ve been given and refer to for “constructive feedback� is an oreo. Cookie, stuff, cookie. Encouragement, challenge/calling out, encouragement. It’s hard to explain without being in it, and it’s hard to define because it can look different each night
- Family time: go out and have fun. Or stay in and have fun. Enjoy time together with your “family� or team. Possibly eat a slightly normal, or closer to normal, meal.
- Sharing our stories: intentionally sitting down and letting the team in on your background, how you ended up here and what God’s moved drastically in your life. For Jubilee, we didn’t share stories until this month, which was right for us, yet different from other teams. Waiting to share our stories created a foundation, a view of who and what God has brought us up to be without the taint of the past weighing in.
- Fluid: haha. Take the idea of being flexible…with schedules, with expectations, with family members, with plans and logistics and “necessities� of life…and expand it. “Flexible things can still break, so be fluid.� We heard this at training camp, and are continually relearning this lesson and repeating “We are fluid.�
- Unoffendable: my computer doesn’t even recognize this term. Living with six or seven people twenty four hours a day for eleven month, culture shock x 11 in as many months, sleep deprivation, travel days, living out of a backpack, living out of comfort zones and constantly being an open book…all reasons that could easily cause times of distress and offense. One of our first challenges was to remain “unoffendable� throughout this whole thing.
- ATL: acronym for “Ask The Lord�, synonym for listening prayer. It’s a practice that will hopefully become a lifestyle. Example of intentional ATL happened at training camp when our team came together for one of our first activities and spent time “ATL’ing it� before leaving for Atlanta to go do something as a team in a ministry mindset.
- “Dropping in�: lol. Ok, so this is a Jubilee term. I believe it originated when we were the team to be placed in Romania while the rest of our squad was in Ukraine. And then expanded while being “fluid� in our ministry in Romania. And then it was emphasized when we were unsure of our ministry contact a week before leaving for Ukraine. It continues. But the motions and idea are generally of a SWAT team, dropping in from above, no one really sure where they’re coming from or going, but always with purpose.
- World Race Community: encompasses all aforementioned terms and the experience of living out and through all of them; understanding the idea of hearing the “whisper of something more� and responding to it by leaving behind a normal life for 11 months and beyond.
