2 Simple Words. So much meaning.
For future Racers (Before Training Camp),
those two words mean excitement, anticipation, and worry.
You are excited to meet everyone on your squad for the first time,
test out all your new camping equipment, and
hopefully get more information about what you’ll be doing for the next 11 months of your life.
Perhaps you are anxious because you don’t know how you will get along with everyone on your squad from judgments you’ve already made (too spiritual? too charismatic? too dogmatic? just too annoying?). Or perhaps you’ve heard the stories about brokenness and vulnerability—challenges physically, emotionally, and spiritually–and you’re just not sure if you area ready for it, if you can handle it, or how to prepare.
For supporters & ministry partners,
training camp means a time for your World Racer to get some practical training in short-term cross-cultural ministry, a time for theological training and spiritual growth, and a time for you too to get some answers to some of the questions you’ve been having.
For friends and family, especially parents and close loved ones,
this means a time of actuality, that this really is happening, and a time for the beginning of the process of letting go and trusting God.
for a World Racer who has gone through Training Camp and is preparing for Launch,
let me tell you what Training Camp was for me.
Community
To finally be able to meet all my squad mates in person, this was where I felt I could start building true community and getting to know everyone personally on a deeper level (Facebook is great, but it has it’s limitations. There’s only so far you can really truly get to know someone in the Facebook group, Google+ Hangouts, texts, chats, etc.)
Team Formation
Of course the whole squad community and dynamic is great, but it would be really difficult to go deeper into community life and ministry together with all 50+ racers on my squad. In the field, we will be in smaller teams of 6 or 7, and Training Camp was where we started working together in different groups to discover who our other team mates would be.
I’ll admit, I was somewhat nervous about this, not knowing much about the process or who I would be “stuck with” or what kind of position I would have within the team. But what comforted and calmed me was knowing that even though AIM staff were observing us and they would be the ones to pick the team, I knowthat they were submitting EVERYTHING to God in prayer. It wasn’t them picking who was on each team based on their observations of our behavior and interaction or judgment of our personalities and temperaments. Rather, they were submitting to God, listening for His voice. So ultimately, it wasn’t the staff picking the teams but God Himself, in His perfect wisdom and foreknowledge, forming and ordaining us through the AIM staff.
The Sessions
These were loaded with great talking & teaching and amazing worship. Talked ranged from learning how to live in close community with each other for a year, personality differences, emotional processing, finances and logistics, etc. Teachings were Biblically sound, theologically practical, profoundly spiritual, insightful, useful, and very challenging, yet all of it came from a place of experience.
Worship was free and expressive (but orderly, not wild and crazy). This was a time and a place more than just singing songs of praise to God, but a time of experiencing the presence of God and responding to Him. One night, the talk was supposed to be on “Kingdom Come,” but in worship, we got to experience a taste of that (actually, that happened several times throughout the week). People began to respond to their Heavenly Father personally, intimately. One person was not worried or distracted by what the person next to them were doing. Some cried out to God in groups of prayer. Others danced and rejoiced in praise and delight of their Lord and Savior, others quietly contemplated and mediated on their Father having personal moments of intimate connection with Him, while others began to experience healing and deliverance. It was truly a God-ordained moment.
Scenario Simulations
Of course, what would Training Camp be without some great “practical” preparation for 11 months of life around the world. This included anything from cultural eating practices and cuisine (perhaps cuisine is too fancy of a term; maybe I should say diet), different sleeping arrangements, healthy lifestyle living, and a few others.
I won’t divulge too much here, just because I want future World Racers who might read this blog to be able to experience the impact of these simulations firsthand, and knowing that the simulations may change from one TC to another. However, if you are a supporter and would like to know more, feel free to contact me anytime.
In the next blog, I will go into more detail with you about two profound and impactful experience for me from Training Camp. Be sure to check that out! See you soon 🙂
