Training has been an amazing experience. They have brought in some of the most amazing men of God to mentor us and speak truth into our lives. These men are all on fire for God. I know that sounds incredibly cliché, but it’s honestly a perfect description of them. They want to see us wrecked for God, willing to give our whole lives to follow Jesus when He asks us to. And guess what, He’s already asked us to.
Last night, we had a session on strategy and leadership. We’ve had so much training on spiritual issues that they thought it was necessary to give us a practical approach to ministry. There could very well be situations this year when we get to a country, our contact falls through, and we have to come up with a plan. This session taught us the steps to come up with an effective strategy for ministry.
A few days ago we had been asked to pray about if we felt God calling us to any specific type of ministry (for example: orphanages, hospitals, refugees, slums, etc.). I wasn’t hearing anything from God. I know that orphans have a huge place in my heart, but I was having trouble deciphering if that was God really calling me to that, or if it was my comfort in the situation since I have done it so many times. During the strategy session last night, they mentioned microeconomic development several times (i.e. starting small businesses in the community in which we are ministering in so that we can meet physical needs in addition to spiritual needs). My heart jumped when I heard this mentioned. About 6 months ago, I really felt God calling me to this type of ministry. I did some research on the internet about it, but never took it past there. I let my laziness kill that call that I felt. But I don’t want to do that again! After the session, I talked to Seth Barnes (the director of AIM) about opportunities to do this type of work. He told me that he had a lot of contacts, and we could try to set something up.
Please pray that I will respond to God, and that He will give me the wisdom I need to go after this dream I have.
After this week of training, I have no idea where we are going or what we are doing. We might stay in Swazi for a bit, go to S. Africa, or some other bordering country. I don’t know what the leadership team has decided yet.
