When I was a senior in high school looking at colleges, a big part of me wanted to forget about the whole “higher education” thing and jump right onto the mission field. I didn’t know where I wanted to go, but I knew I loved getting to know people from other cultures – people who view life completely differently than I do. I also knew that many of these amazing people live their entire lives without ever hearing the name of Jesus or knowing the freedom and hope He gives throughout our lives. I looked into several gap year mission programs for high school graduates, including the World Race. But I also remember telling myself, If you can just get through four more years of school, you’ll have the rest of your life to share Christ all over the world. And you’ll (hopefully) be a whole lot smarter when you go.
So I decided to go to college. And not only that, I decided to go to Liberty University, the one college I knew would stuff me full of biblical knowledge to carry with me wherever I went when I graduated. I was pretty reluctant to go to Liberty, although it was completely my own choice. But I knew that if the next four years were meant to be a time of preparation, I’d better go big or go home.
Over the next four years, I took classes like Evangelism, Theology, Old Testament, New Testament, Creation Studies, and even Biblical Worldview. I was surrounded by a community of Christian friends who constantly encouraged and challenged me in my faith and were easily the greatest benefit of attending a Christian university. I minored in Global Studies, which taught specifics of living, working, and sharing the Gospel cross-culturally. Having had a relationship with Jesus since elementary school, I’ve felt confident in the Gospel and Christ’s impact on my life for a long time, but I chose a Christian school and this minor so I could understand and articulate the truth of the Gospel as confidently as possible before venturing out to share Christ overseas long term.
Four years ago I stood in front of my freshman seminar class and gave an assigned presentation on my life goals. I spent the entire five minutes I was allotted talking about my goal of going on the World Race as soon as I finished college. And here I am, less than a month away from graduating. I have committed to leaving for the World Race in October of 2018. I will take the months in between graduation and departing for the Race to spend time in Lexington, VA with my family, saving and earning as much of my own money to put toward my race as possible.
In October I will leave with a team of about 45 other young adults. We’ll say goodbye to our comfortable homes in the US for 11 months. We will be going to Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Vietnam, Cambodia, Albania, Serbia, Romania, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Rwanda. Each month will look a little bit different (okay a lot different), but the goal is always to serve the communities where we are placed in a way that will benefit them long term. We will be paired with ministry hosts that live in the communities and serve them in any or all of the following ways: helping with construction, teaching English, serving in orphanages, handing out eye glasses, serving food, and ultimately seeking to meet the biggest needs of each particular community.
Of course, a huge aspect of this trip will be sharing the Gospel. We will work to meet physical needs of the community while also sharing the good news of God’s love and Jesus’s gift of grace, which have an eternal impact. To me, this is the most exciting part. If you are experiencing life in the freedom of Christ, then you know what an amazing gift it is to be free. I believe it is my responsibility to tell others about this so they have the opportunity to experience it too. On the World Race, I will be meeting different types of people from every walk of life, many of whom are skeptical of the Bible, some who believe it wholeheartedly, and even those who have never heard of it. Some of these people will be devout Muslims, Buddhists, atheists, or Confucianists. Some of them aren’t sure what they believe. I believe I have been called to love every type of person with the selfless, passionate love of Christ, and on this trip I will have the opportunity to do that for those whose daily lives look nothing like mine. I really can’t express how much this excites me.
A huge reason I have decided to go on the World Race is because I know I want to live overseas long term– I just don’t know where yet. My degree is in Teaching English as a Second Language, and after the Race I want to move to a country and teach there for at least a year. Ultimately, I would love to help plant a church or be involved with some sort of ministry in that country. It is my hope that the Race exposes me to a variety of cultures (FOUR continents!!) and that I can make connections with the ministry hosts and locals I meet in those countries, and perhaps even find a place to call home in the future. I don’t view the Race as just a gap year or a slew of short term mission trips tacked on to each other. I see this experience as a step in the direction of my future.
I’ve encountered several passages of Scripture that have really stuck with me throughout the process of deciding to embark on the World Race. I would love to share what I have learned from all of them, and I’m sure at some point I will, but for now I would just like to leave you with Luke 4:18.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free”
