“What was a need you saw this year that impacted you?”
It began as an exercise to launch Project Searchlight, a way to transition into discussing kingdom dreams, but it turned into something much greater.
Everyone in the room paused briefly for reflection and then one by one names and stories were spoken aloud. Cheeks became moist with salty tears as the room filled with memories, passions, and the bottled up cries of our hearts for those we had come to love around the globe – orphans, prostitutes, AIDS victims, and the list goes on. A year ago we left the comforts of home and became wrecked for anything less than seeing the kingdom of God active on the earth. Our hearts became broken as our eyes were opened to what is and what could be.
Then we came home.
For some it took minutes, maybe days. For others it was a little longer. Inevitably the excited screams faded, people tired of race references, missed TV shows became re-runs and we came face-to-face with ourselves – who were were, who we are, who everyone anticipated was returning and the the massive gap in between reality and expectations.
The needs of the world still weighed on our hearts and the dreams God placed inside ached to escape, but it seemed all we cried for became lost in the noise of our western culture.
That day as we sat in our scheduled class, with our notebooks and laptops, it was refreshing. We could lay the burdens of our heart before one another as we began to bridge the gap between who we were and who God has called us to be.
The next two weeks were filled with times of intimate worship and prayer followed by leaders sharing their hearts, their successes, their failures and their tools as they encouraged and guided us towards a plan for both our personal development and our kingdom dream. We were given the freedom to experiment with the desires of our hearts and taught the importance of setting goals while remaining flexible for the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Some emerged with clear goals and a plan toward gaining the needed skills and networks to see a dream realized. Still others walked away having narrowed down the vast field of possibilities and were a little less distressed by the next step of life. We all came away joyful to be in community again and more aware of our own personal development and how we can become more of who God has created us to be regardless of where we go from here. Has God placed a dream within you that needs a little direction? Or have you discovered many passions and feel overwhelmed with the vast possibilities? Or have you returned from the Race and feel lost and alone? Project Searchlight will equip and empower you to continue moving forward to pursue all God has now and in the future.
