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"But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 (NIV)

I was sitting at a table in a frozen yogurt shop in Georgia studying my six teammates, in awe that God placed me on a team with so many spiritual powerhouses. Each of us comes from different backgrounds and different parts of the country, but we each bring something imperative to the team. God has brought us together for a reason, a purpose.

I focused back on the conversation between my teammates as the topic turned to the importance of names, both personally and as a team. The name of our team would define our attitude for the year to come. What did we want to accomplish? If we could sum up what we want to do on the Race, what would it be?

Then Jed said it: raise the dead.

Immediately, my heart began to race at the implications of this idea: going into the world and raising the dead. Reviving communities who desperately need the love of Jesus. Setting no limits on how God works through us. We will never doubt His ability to heal if we truly believe He can raise the dead.

But how do we convey all of this into a single name? The Raising the Dead Team? Team Dead Raisers? We were walking a fine line between spiritual revival and what sounded like a zombie apocalypse. We decided to table to discussion, pray about it, and meet up either before bed or first thing in the morning to discuss it.

Before our last session of the night, Kimberly came up to our team and said God spoke to her about our team name and asked us to meet up after the session. After the session, the seven of us circled up and prayed, eagerly awaiting this discussion.

Then she described what God told her.

Resurrection Power. We desire to have the power to raise the dead: the spiritually dead, the physically dead, and the eternally dead. We want to go into these nations that are dead, revive hearts and revive lives. In Greek, this resurrection power is anastasis, and this is our team name.

This is the team that God has blessed me with: Team Anastasis.