For the past 10 days I’ve been in Gainesville, Georgia, spending time at training camp, preparing for the world race with the group of 50 brothers and sisters I’ll be traveling with next year. We camped in the unpredictable Georgia weather, slept in tents, ate most meals with our hands and chopsticks, and never got quite enough sleep.
I’ve learned so much about missional living, intimacy with God, and community and I couldn’t be more excited to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
The best part of training camp is it is 10 days of being uncomfortable. As Christians, we aren’t called to be comfortable, but to be strong and courageous, to be warriors for the kingdom (Joshua 1:9). Everyday God called me more and more out of my comfort zone. It wasn’t easy. Every expectation of what I thought God had planned for me as a man came quickly crashing down as I heard him telling me to give more, to lead my brothers and sisters, and to walk according to the spirit (Galatians 5:16).
During prayer after a sermon on emotional health, leaders were laying hands and praying over the future missionaries. Emotions and feelings from past events had been unboxed by hundreds of people in the room. All I could hear were physical and spiritual cries out to God, prayer, and grown men weeping in the arms of their brothers. All I could feel was the weight of everyones emotions on my shoulders. All I could do in response was sit and look at my feet. I couldn’t move or think clearly. I tried getting up and walking out of the room, but I was literally paralyzed by the overwhelming emotion of the room. All I wanted to do was pray and cry at the feet of the Lord. I left confused and filled with anxiety. It wasn’t an easy night for me, and it took several days to process what the Lord was wanting to show me with that experience. After talking to several leaders and peers, I came to several realizations. I realized that the Lord has allowed me to feel the emotions of others and understand what they’re going through. At first I was struggling to tell if all the anxiety and pressure I had been feeling was from the Lord or from the evil one, but I came to realize that this is a gift and I can’t wait to use this gift as a tool for ministry to relate to others.
On another night there was a sermon about the Holy Spirit given by a man named Deon. He talked about the Holy Spirit as a best friend, someone who lives inside of him; a partner and companion. He had intimacy and power with the spirit, and as he talked about this friend of his, I realized this was something I longed for. I realized that since giving my life to Jesus I had given the Spirit visitational rights; I would invite this spirit in but I couldn’t consider him a companion and partner. Deon says when he gave the spirit habitational rights instead of visitational rights, everything changed; and I wanted this for myself too. I prayed that the spirit would take residency in my heart. After I prayed people would walk up to me and pray over me like they knew something in my heart had changed that night. A member of the serve team put hands on my chest and prayed and I could feel my chest become full as the spirit took residency.
After the sermon there was a new feeling in the room. It was filled with renewal and celebration of life change. We worshiped and rejoiced with more excitement than I’ve ever felt. We jumped and sang at the top of our lungs: “I’ve been healed by the river of your love. I found my freedom in the river of your love. I found my joy in the river of your love”.
It was a night I’ll never forget.
The past 10 days have been filled with learning, equipping, maturing, intimacy with God, and community. I’m leaving with a desire to serve that’s stronger than I’ve ever known. I’m so thankful for this experience and I couldn’t be more ready to go into the nations.
There was so much that happened at training camp- I couldn’t fit everything into a single blog post, and this post doesn’t do everything that happened justice. Please, if you want to hear more about what God is doing inthe hearts of myself and other world racers, contact me at 512-944-2013. I’d love to sit down or talk on the phone about my experience.
Thank you so much to the people who have already donated. You got me to training camp which has forever changed my life; I can’t thank you all enough. That being said, I’m halfway funded which means I still have $7,500 left to raise by December to complete this mission. If 10 days has done this much for the kingdom, I can only imagine what 9 months will do. Please, if you feel led to give, do it. Whether that be prayer, financial support, or anything else, you will be supporting me to change lives and bring people from death to life. I feel something special about my team, my people, this ministry, and this generation. I can confidently say this generation of people will change the world for the better. Please consider joining us.
Here’s some links to videos from training camp made by Lissie Butler, AnnieBlock, and Nick Richardson:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JP2rgjbyAmw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj4LWIXorys
