Training and Team Building

One of the greatest things about trips like this is the opportunity to have an extended and concentrated time of discipleship and training for the trip. We do our best to set the expectation in that training that we are going to spend a ton of time together preparing for "this trip" but remind them that we are really engaged in discipleship that will hopefully last well beyond a one week trip to Ethiopia. Thought we'd share a few of the highlights from that training time.

One of the things we always do is what we affectionately call a "shots party." This is where we take about a half a day, have an organization called Corporate Health come out and administer all the vaccinations that we'll need for our trip, and do some training as we do so. Specifically, we try to spend that time learning about the culture of the country we're headed to so we don't go in blindly.

Another really fun event we do is a team building event at a place called Group Dynamix where we get to play games that involve problem solving, team work, etc. May sound like a cheesy "trust fall" type event, but they really do a great job and it is fun to see some of the personalities really come out, as well as get to see various leadership styles and giftedness of team members.

We also ask that our teams participate in a 5 week class called "Find Your Mission" where we discuss how to share your personal testimony, spiritual gifts, abilities, heart/passions, personality, and experiences and how all of these things are to be stewarded for the glory of God. We had a great time in a real concentrated way of seeing the various gifts, abilities, personalities, etc. of people and how the body of Christ is so diverse and beautiful in the way it works together. We were really encouraged by that.

One of the most intimidating things we do, but typically one of the most eye-opening and rewarding, is send our folks out in teams of 3 or 4 throughout Dallas to simply share the gospel with people. Many on our team had never done something like this and they were crazy-intimidated going in, but everyone seems to have the same reaction afterwards, surprised at how simple it is and how if we'd just take the time to see people, we'd be amazed at the opportunities around us. We don't want to send people half a world away to share their faith who won't walk across the street to do so. And the creativity of people in figuring out ways to engage with the lost is fun to see. We had people who hopped on the DART train and just rode up and down talking to people as they got on the train. There was another group that went to a blood bank to give blood and then shared the gospel with the technicians. We had people descend on malls, Starbucks, and a few other places, places you go every day, but this time slowing down long enough to see dying, hurting people. The best story of the day came from one of our guys who was sharing with someone else at a Starbucks when a guy walked up and threatened to beat him up for no reason. Rather than let it go, he engaged the guy in conversation and he ended up coming to the Porch with our team member a week later where he was able to share Christ with this guy. Awesome to see God at work.

All of this is done in hopes of preparing our hearts for Ethiopia, but with a greater vision of growing our hearts for the mission field God has us on every day. Tomorrow I'll introduce you to a few members of our team and let you hear from them.