“As a whole, Training Camp offered a life-altering revelation about what it means to listen to God’s voice, use the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and follow Him.”
Hey readers!
The World Race is definitely starting to feel like a reality for my squad and me. On October 27th, I returned from a 10-day training camp at the Adventure In Missions headquarters in Gainseville, Georgia. It was incredibly demanding, exceptionally informative, excessively amusing, emotionally taxing, but, above all, spiritually enlightening.
Over the 10 days, I met nearly everyone in the January 2020 World Race Launch group (except for the lovely folks on the Unscripted Route, sad day), and, more specifically, the entire C Squad who will be joining me on Route 2, our newly formed teams, as well as dozens of AIM leadership members. Our community camped together, ate together, prayed together, worshipped together, laughed together, cried together, and prepped our hearts as we prepare to live together. We slept in tents for nine of the ten nights (one night was on the floor), took bucket showers (some more than others), hiked laps at a local park (with our packs), and ate all sorts of exotic foods (like crickets) as we began to break out of our American comfort zones. I hadn’t slept in a tent so much since Boy Scouts!
Our schedules were packed nearly all day, every day from 8:15 AM to 10:00 PM. Most days, we ate breakfast in the morning, worshipped in the main lodge, intently listened to speakers during a session or two, devoured lunch, heard several more speakers, participated in team-building exercises, bonded with our squad, polished off dinner, worshipped some more, and partook in another session or two. Sessions focused on a variety of topics such as Biblical metanarrative, identity, team feedback, cultural lenses, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, storytelling, hearing God’s voice, fundraising, the vision for missions, and being men and women of Christ.
We also had both squad and team breakouts where we discussed our route and roles. One evening we even had the opportunity to drive into downtown Gainseville and pray over locals. To summarize, it was nearly information and fellowship overload, but I am very thankful for all that AIM scheduled for us because it was undoubtedly effective. Despite the craziness, we were still blessed with a Sabbath day where I was able to dive into scripture and witness Georgian creation like the image below.
It was nothing short of supernatural how close we grew as a community in such a finite amount of time. I feel like I’ve known our entire squad for months, but, in reality, it’s only been a couple of weeks. We shared our triumphs, our struggles, and our goals with one another. In total, there are twenty-nine C Squad members and we will be traveling with one another from country to country. For most of the World Race, our squad will be our immediate source of friendship, accountability, and fellowship. The other twenty-eight fantastic C Squaders are the following:
- Aaron Strother
- Angelica Spence
- Anna Borchard
- Annie Harris
- Caroline Smith
- Em Collard
- Fifina Lawrence
- Hannah Maher
- Hannah Mitchek
- Isabel Harrison
- Jenna Watry
- John Carothers
- Josiah Stillwell
- Kaitlynn Little
- Kenia Martinez
- Kylie Day
- Lauren Carpenter
- Lauren Watts
- McKenzie Alexander
- Megan Widner
- Morgan Gillespie
- Rachel Collins
- Raquel Portillo
- Samantha Dillon
- Sasha Lambert
- Seth Borchard
- Stephanie Gilbreath and
- Shauny Gordon
Our squad has been called to the Race from a variety of walks. There are racers from Georgia, Tennessee, Colorado, Indiana, North Carolina, Kansas, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, Minnesota, Texas, Iowa, Louisana, Arizona, Australia, and even Venezuela! We range in age from 21 to 31 and come from varying ethnic backgrounds, but are all incredibly hungry to see what God has for us next year! You can read more about each squad member here and I’ve included a picture of us below with several of the leaders. Please be praying for each of us in 2020!
World Race structure can be a bit confusing, but within our squad there are also multiple teams. In total, there are five teams of five or six people and, during our trip, each team will be assigned a distinct ministry in each country. My team of six also includes Em Collard, Hannah Mitchek, Kenia Martinez, John Carothers, and McKenzie Alexander. We call ourselves Culturevate because we aim to cultivate a culture of spirituality… but also because I couldn’t live without our team name including a pun. These five individuals are who I will be spending most of my time with during the race, at least starting out. I feel like God pulled us together for a reason and I am excited to see how He uses our group dynamic to challenge us, change us, and empower other people. It’s surreal how well I feel like I know each of them already!
As a whole, Training Camp offered a life-altering revelation about what it means to listen to God’s voice, use the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and follow Him. I witnessed God in the details left and right while at camp. He spoke to me in scripture, through worship, and with coincidences that can only be called supernatural. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are as alive and well as ever, even when our comfortable American lives don’t seem to call for them. The gifts of healing and prophecy are real and we witnessed them firsthand at camp. People were healed, perspectives were changed, chains were broken, and hearts were mended. A small group prayed over my left knee that still hurts from time to time since my ACL surgery in 2014. They put their hands on my knee, prayed over it in the name of the Holy Spirit, and I can genuinely say I felt a distinct, significant change immediately afterward. My knee still isn’t perfect, but it’s the healthiest it has felt in years. If you have the Holy Spirit in you and a willingness to say ‘yes’, almost anything is possible.
I believe God is going to work in some incredible ways next year. If Training Camp was any indication, the Lord is going to challenge us to follow Him in ways we never have, trust Him beyond what our logic deems reasonable, and cultivate an intimacy with Him that will last the rest of our lives. Through these changes, I pray that the impact we have on each community is only strengthened. I envision the small match that is our squad will become a blazing forest fire by month 11.
On another note, I appreciate all of you for following along this journey and for your support through both prayer and finances. The day after I returned from camp, I am humbled to say that, to my complete surprise, I received a staggeringly generous gift. In a mere moment, I went from being less than 40% funded to more than 65% funded. God is so good and often blesses us when we least expect it. Although fundraising has been stressful, it is beautiful and reassuring observing God’s hand over the entire process. I can’t express my appreciation enough for all the generous support so many people have shown me and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
Gratefully,
Austin
“He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” | John 15:2
