A question I get alot these days is…“so what exactly is the World Race. I mean I know you travel all around the world and do missions, but what makes it so different?” It’s a hard question to answer not because it’s top-secret or un-understandable answer. It’s just that each person who embarks on this journey will have their own unique and personal pilgrimage. Each squad has it’s own leaders, race route, and participants. And each person on the squad brings different gifts, understandings, and backgrounds. Bottom line is that the World Race isn’t about tests, passing/failing, or receiving a piece of parchment that says you’ve completed it. The WR isn’t about what you accomplish at all. It’s fully and intentionally guiding you to become the Man or Woman that you are created to be! To take you out in order to bring you in. To offer a unique and adventurous motive to step outside your comfortable world and be shown the reality of this thing. To encourage you with your questions; Who is God? What does he want with me? Why am I here? Why is there suffering? Can I love? etc.
So what is the World Race? The World Race is a piece of the larger movement that is getting this generation activated. Offering a controlled (of what travelling the globe can be) environment of self-discovery and a safety net for international missions work. A place in which you are required to step that extra inch into the unknown through true faith. It is a community that learns to walk in freedom and grace. If you make a mistake, it’s ok….the past is the past, how do I move on. It’s a place of encouragement. A place of learning from everyone around you. A place of accepting those who were never accepted. A place of you getting over yourself and struggles and walking into identity and destiny. To seek for your purpose. To seek your maker and get a better understanding of who Jesus truly is. By the end I guarantee you that you’ll be asking for the greater things.
The WR is a missions program. That means you become missional in purpose and lifestyle. You learn to live to serve. By living in rural Africa you serve the people around you (as they will serve you with all they have). You will be sought out in Asia for prayer. You will be asked what it is you believe in India. You’ll do mindless hard labour in South America and not because you have to, but because it’ll get you close with the people. You’ll be placed in their shoes. Living among them to truly grasp what it is that the world lives on and their attitude towards it. You’re not just someone offering 2 weeks of time, but you will find yourself investing your heart. And through this whole time you’ll be living with at least 4 other Americans on the same journey as you. Learning, fighting, growing, and loving.
That is the community we all desire deep down. People who “get” me. People who listen. People who are annoying yet have truth for you! You will live alongside Prophets, Evangelist, Teachers, and Pastors. And you’ll be guided on the track of who YOU are in all that the Lord has made you. You gain an understanding of authority and submission to those appointed to lead you. As well you’ll lead others with and without the title, because you’ll soon realize title holds no merit in the Kingdom. And speaking of Kingdom, you will never want to go back to this world’s standards. Once you truly see a piece of what the Kingdom is, you’ll want to chase it with rest of your life.
So to even grasp any of this, the training camp journey must come first. And training camp isn’t the traditional how to do finances, and what is the race race route. Those things won’t matter after the 10 days spent in Georgia. It’s about digging real deep into your heart and your life to start the process of grieving and working through the issues we all individually have. Get to the roots of our despair, the roots of our fear, the roots of our pride, and worthlessness. You learn how to walk i humility from day one, because no matter how much you try to put your mask on, it’ll be ripped off faster than you think. You’ll be found out. You’ll be exposed to the greater things that we have often tabboed. You’ll learn what prayer is, what walking if faith is, and what dying to yourself is all about.
The days leading up to the race won’t go by fast enough. Sure you’ll miss everything you’ve ever known, but the longing for “something greater” will take hold. You’ll read blogs just to get the feeling of what life is like out on the field. You’ll be anticipating, wondering, and excited for the unknown.
Every 3 months as another team returns, a new wave sets out, why? Because people have seen the transformation of those who’ve gone before. The WR has nothing to do with how many people get saved, or how much money gets raised. It’s about the transformation of sliver of a percent radical Americans chasing after something that the 99.9% don’t understand.
So if you have a desire in your heart for the grater things, you don’t need the World Race. The World Race isn’t about the World Race or even Adventures in Missions. It’s about the KINGDOM of God and all it’s glory. Of what I’ve seen and how my learning style is, I feel activated. The leaders from the top down have invested into ME. They have watched me, listened to me, rebuked me, corrected me, and encouraged me. They have seen my best and my worst. They have been alongside me as I battle myself to walk in complete FREEDOM from my prisons I’ve lived in. AIM as an organization has blessed me with patience and encouragement.
I am one of many that have completed the 11 month journey. We are all ready for more. Maybe all of us aren’t stepping back into the WR, but we know of this greater calling upon our lives than living in fear. We don’t work for th next paycheck. We work for the Kingdom in front of a computer to behind a camera, to the house kitchen looking after children. We are the radical generation that is saying that it is possibile to have more for our lives. There is purpose. There is hope. And it is possible to live in a supporting community like the Lord intended!
If you are over 21 and are looking for an adventure, look into the WR. If you are 45 and looking for a new way to let the Lord stretch you, look into the WR. You really can’t lose. If you bottle yourself up and accept your lot in life, than Satan is succeeding. We aren’t called to be just “christians”, we are called to be Christ Followers. The World Race is one of those opportunities to be pushed to who you are called to be!
