For a long time, I have wondered what was beyond two things. The first was what was, metaphorically, beyond Anderson University where I got my undergraduate degree. What did God have for me after college? The second was what was literally beyond Exit 19A, the exit that I take to get to Anderson from Charlotte, on I-85. I have driven to this exit many times but never gone past it…
Ironically, on August 10th, I found out what was beyond both of these. I drove past Exit 19A for the first time to what God has after Anderson University for me. I drove down to training camp for the World Race.
Training camp was 10 days long and held at the Adventures in Missions headquarters in Gainesville, GA. At training camp, I got to meet my squad and eventually the team I will be working with while on the Race. We slept in tents, took bucket showers, ate crickets and other random things, worshipped, trained, grew spiritually, worked out, did team building exercises (thank you Venturing Leadership Training for already teaching me most of these), and did a fitness test. It was fun… for the most part… minus eating the crickets and doing a few other things.
Training camp was hard for many people because the first five days focused on letting God deal with baggage in your life so that you don’t bring it on the race. This was done through lessons, worship, reflection, and testimonials. It was a very emotional time for a lot of people as they went through things. Each night I would see people who were letting go of their baggage. Letting God have things can be painful and brings many tears but at the same time can bring such joy as the Lord frees people. It was an amazing and moving experience to witness this happening to people.
For me, training camp was hard for a very different reason. I have been blessed with very few things in my life to give me baggage, and I had already gone through a lot of it when I got my degree in Youth Ministry. For me, training camp was hard because it involved a lot of worship, around 2-3 hours a day, and a lot of teaching that I had already heard in my classes (5 ish hours a day). That was a lot of sitting, listening and singing for someone who likes to be active and doesn’t listen to music very often.
It was a good reminder for me to be putting others before myself, though. I worship in the outdoors best so during our down time and at night I got to soak God in and be in His presence. That was my time. Worshiping God through music and the teachings was very good for my squad mates. I may not have enjoyed it, but it was something they needed to do and hear. It was their time. That is what makes the Race work: a bunch of people laying down their wishes and lives so that others can grow.
The second half of the week was a little easier because it involved a lot of team building and seminars on how to deal with things in different countries which is something I hadn’t learned as much about at Anderson. I had done most of the team exercises through Venturing (an outdoor leadership program) before then, so those were a lot of fun for me! These were to test how we worked with different people in the group so that they could split us up in order to make our ministry team. It was interesting to do them with people I didn’t know and who didn’t have the team building background like the other people I usually do these exercises with. The splitting of teams and naming of leaders was not what everyone expected and took some getting used to. Once we slept on the team assignments and got to spend time together, it smoothed a lot of things out. It will be a new experience for a lot of us to be working closely with people that we really had no hand in selecting.
I would not classify training camp as fun on the whole, but it was good. It was a lot of work and learning and a whole lot of sitting, but we needed it as a team and individuals. God has made it clear in the last few weeks that what is beyond Exit 19A and Anderson University is a lot of growing and learning. Both are not easy things, but they are good things. October 1st is coming, and it will be good! It will be a lot of work, but it will be good.
Here is to what is after Exit 19A.
