Honestly, I signed up for the course because the pastors at ReChurch recommended it to me. So I registered and bought my plane ticket... to Kentucky... not knowing ANYTHING about the class except for it was about cross-cultural training and the mission field. Pretty broad if you ask me...
I arrived in Louisville last night later to be picked up by a young couple, who are also facilitators of the class, who were generous and hospitable enough to house me for the week! I spent the night reading my Bible and journaling. For the first time in a long time, I have set a New Years Resolution... to learn something new about God and my relationship with Him every single day... this means reading Scripture, journaling, doing daily devotionals, reading other theological material, etc... so far, it has been going well, I just hope this is one New Years resolution I actually keep... I just had no idea what God wanted to do in my heart this week. I felt like I came to Louisville to just fulfill the training requirement for my internship, but I know God works in greater ways than that. There was a reason this course existed and why it was so recommended to the leaders of ReChurch... there was a reason it was recommended to me. Even after one day of the class, I realize how intentional God's plans are (especially in relation to this course).
This course is intense. Today, we started at 8:30 am (Yeah, I'm definitely not a morning person), but they did get us all coffee, so that was wonderful! After the head facilitators introduced themselves and explained a little bit about the schedule for the day and week, we all had to introduce ourselves to the rest of the class. There are almost 30 people taking it... and let me just tell you, it is one DIVERSE class. I am talking men and women ranging in ages from 19 to 68. Full time missionaries to people who have never even traveled out of their own state. Missionary children to an individual who became a Christian 2 months ago. I think that's just INCREDIBLE that God brought all of us together to share in the experience and to better understand mission. After introductions, this is basically what the rest of our day looked like: lecture, intensive prayer for designated countries, video lecture, scripture study, lunch break, lecture, intensive prayer, scripture study, devotional, small groups, video lecture, intensive prayer... End.
There was SO much information and the material was so meaningful, but it all was weighing so heavily on my heart. Since I am leaving next week, all I wanted to be was a sponge... And it's exhausting, but in a good way. I feel like my brain just had a really good workout. I pray that my heart can continue to reflect and live out the information that we are learning.
Here are the main points we studied and examined today:
- That we need to see the Bible as God's love story... not just how God loves people, but how He is calling people and transforming them to become a people who can fully love Him
- God's covenant with Abraham and how that will be fulfilled no matter what
- 10/40 window and the 40/70 window in the world
- That mission didn't begin with the Great Commission in Matthew, but in Genesis when He was first dealing with humanity
- True worship is God's love accomplished
- Our motive for mission should be a love for God's glory, to see His name be exalted to ALL the nations
- That while not all of are called to work as missionaries in the field, we ARE called to pass on the blessings to all the families of the earth
- Jonah, ethnocentrism, and his hesitation, reluctance, and anger in obeying the call and will of God
Like I said, I am both exhausted and exhilarated. Nervous yet anxious to be in New Zealand. Desiring for the Lord to break my heart with full knowledge of how much I need to give up. I cannot wait to see the way God is going to work in that class the rest of the week.
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