A Missionary’s Life: Losing track of time

I feel like I need to explain my absence.  I’ve been in Gainesville, Georgia since last Saturday and I’ve yet to really grasp my time with any kind of authority in such a way that it would allow me to manage it.  One of the things a few of us have really been learning in the last week is that, “important things are rarely urgent, and urgent things are rarely important.”  I’m learning how to structure my time and not let the threat or excuse of ‘busyness’ creep into my life.

The good news is I’ve been writing down some terrific bouts of inspiration that have come to me in the past week, inspiration that I felt was lacking for quite some time.  So in the madness of the next week, I hope to find some stillness to gather my thoughts on paper and share them with you.

Marketing 101.  I’m not sure how many of my lovely readers are familiar with what I do inside of Adventures in Missions (AIM).  In the business world you might call it marketing.  In the missions world, you could call it mobilization.  I’ve never had much interest in marketing, but I’m finding that it’s actually kind of fun, especially in this particular context.  I’m calling/mobilizing missionaries to action.  Then I get to train them, and then I get to send them out.  AND THEN I get to stay in touch with them on the field.  It’s great.  So the first part of the week our “marketing team” met for several days and strategized our next moves.  Now we’re implementing them.  It’s pretty cool.

Becoming a leader.  On Wednesday a few of my closest friends and I received project leader training for short-term mission trips through AIM.  Now we can lead short-term mission trips.  It was a lot of fun.  We learned some cool things.  And I have a gut feeling I’m soon-to-be recruited as a worship leader on some trips.  It’s a pretty sweet gig though…

Training world-changers.  Thursday was chalked full of preparations for the June 2009 World Race team that’s coming down to Georgia for the next 10 days for their training.  The office here in Gainesville has been buzzing with excitement as we’ve been getting things ready.  They come in today (Friday).  It’s my first training camp on this side of the table (as a trainer), so it’s just as exciting for me as it would be for them.  Maybe…

American Idol.  I don’t think there has been a week that’s gone by that American Idol hasn’t been on my weekly five.  It’s nuts, but it’s true.  I think that it was time for Sarver or whoever the oil rig guy was to go home.  Scott barely missed the axe, but I have this gut feeling that his time’s quickly approaching.  I’m still in awe over Adam Lambert’s performance though.  My goodness…

And she’s off!  I’m getting ridiculously excited because my sister is coming up to Port Huron after training camp to visit!  It’s only for a short weekend, but I’m stoked because she finally gets to meet my ‘other family’ and see what we’re all about.  Plus, it’ll be nice to get a hug : )

I am still looking for financial supporters to help get me through the year.  My goal is to raise about $1000/month.  Currently I’m raising about $250/month.  If you or anyone you know is interested in helping mobilize a generation for world change, get in touch!