I’ve been sitting around for days wondering how in the world I’m supposed to write this blog? How can I communicate all that’s been going to you? I just feel I have so much to say and express. So it’s going to take a couple blogs, but I can at least get the nuts and bolts of it out to you now.
Alright – so bottom line is this, the Lord has called me to “prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” (Ephesians 4:12)
OK, so just follow me on this for a moment.
Michael and Kathy Hindes have been our squad coaches since we left the states back in January. Now not only are they our coaches, but Michael also runs the World Race. And his goal is to make this thing a movement – a way to bring young people into who God called them to be. Which is to say, to show people God is much bigger than just four walls and a Sunday morning service and that the Lord really does have a greater plan for their lives. We want the people who are asking questions like these:
Is this all there is?
Is this what following God really looks like?
What would happen if I really did just take a leap of faith?
Who is God?
Where is God?
Does life really have to look like this?
Is this what I was made to do?
And the many other countless questions we all have. My question before I jumped into the World Race was “now what?”
Here’s the thing, Michael has invited me to be a part of this movement from the other side of the race. And he’s asked me to move to Michigan to work alongside him in this deal. What exactly will my role look like? We’re still figuring that out. And we probably won’t have all the details until January. I do know we’ve got others on this squad that have committed to making the move to Michigan. So we got to match up people’s giftings with the right position.
But I can tell you this; I am called to prepare God’s people for works of service to build up the body of Christ. And I’m called to do that thru the World Race. This next year I could be doing a number of things. Here are some possibilities:
– Encouraging and teaching others during monthly debriefs, squad launches and training camps.
– States side leadership support
– Church planting and overseeing of the process
– Maintaining and building upon the relationships of World Race churches
– Using my video skills to promote the World Race and raise money for other ministry projects
– Recruitment of new World Racers
– Marketing the World Race
– Helping with the creation of a World Race alumni network
– Logistics for the World Race
– Strategizing and planning new World Race trips
– Opening up new contacts in new countries
This time next year we’ll have four squads in the field. So we are talking about nearly 250 world racers in the nations. And if we can plant ten churches per squad – that’s 40 churches worldwide per year. This thing is already turning into a movement and we need more fulltime people to make it work.
The World Race can make a difference. It’s already had an impact on thousands of people throughout the world. I’ve seen it firsthand.
So not only are we advancing the Kingdom, but we are also waking people up to whom God called them to be. We want to help the young people on the race to find their voice and identity – to find that who they are is not found in what the world says about them. We are all sons and daughters of God and we have all been given the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Cor. 5:18)
And to do that I will need to raise quite a bit of money. Since we are just getting this thing off the ground we have no budget for salaries. So I’m walking in faith and asking you folks out there to join me in this walk.
To travel and do the things necessary to serve the people in the field I will need to raise $30,000 per year. One-time gifts are great and accepted of course, but I really need monthly supporters. I don’t care if you just want to give 25 bucks. I say great, just please give it to me in 12 monthly installments of two bucks a month. Well maybe that’s extreme, but you know what I’m saying. If after praying about this you feel led to give then you can do so by clicking on the “support me” link on the left side of the page.
Now this whole living in Michigan thing is much more than just some job opportunity. My next post will bring you the deeper story behind the move to Michigan.
Stay tuned.
