A little over two years ago, I was driving from New Orleans to Oklahoma with my squad mate, Morgan, to go visit another squad mate for our Spring Break. We hadn’t officially launched for the Race or even gone to Training Camp, but that was the moment that I knew that my life was going to be different after the Race. Morgan and I were talking about all the opportunities that are presented to Racers after the completion of the Race. One these were squad leading. I told Morgan that there would be no way that I would ever Squad Lead for Gap Year.
Gap Year is under the same umbrella as the World Race, but instead of going to 11 countries in 11 months, they go to 3 countries in 9 months. The age range for Gap Year is 18 to 20 years old, unlike the age range of 21-35 years old for the 11n11 World Race. The biggest turn-off for me those couple of years ago was the fact that Alumni Squad Leaders for the 11n11 Race stay on the field for 5 months until the Racers are comfortable being overseas, however, 3n9 Alumni Squad Leaders stay on the field the full 9 months. That wasn’t appealing to me back then.
Fast forward to Month 3 of the Race in Bulgaria. I was sitting in a coffee shop on one of our days off, spending some quality time with the Lord when I heard Him say, “You are going to Squad Lead for Gap Year.” Immediately I was like, “NO!” and I left it at that. But that was the beginning of the month and God kept pressing on my heart. By the end of the month I was having a conversation in a Sofia McDonald’s with Morgan where I was telling her “I think God is calling me to Squad Lead for Gap Year.” That was just the tip of the iceberg.
I spent the next 8 months on the Race, plus the next 6 months at home, and the next 5 months at CGA preparing myself. I drew closer to the Lord, became more confident in my ability to lead and trusted that He would guide me exactly where He wanted me to be.
So here I am on my 25th birthday announcing that I am going on the Race again! This time as a Gap Year Alumni Squad Leader! This has been a long time coming since I told God “no”. I am excited to live life with these Racers, even though this will be a very different Gap Year than what any of us planned.
I will head to leader training in the middle of August to prepare for these incredible people of God. We will do a combined Launch and Training Camp at the beginning of September and hit the ground running in the middle of September. We will spend the first few months in the Gainesville, Georgia area training in intimacy with God, missional training, building authentic Christian community, Biblical foundations, preparation for the future, leadership development, worship, and storytelling. Essentially everything that would be learned on the field, but stateside!
There are so many unknowns about this next season, so here’s to the next adventure, and more importantly the rest of my life, where I risk it all for the Kingdom.
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