Some Catching Up To Do...

I wish that I had been able to blog my E-Team experience while it was occurring, but I just wasn't able to make it happen. So over the next few days, I'm going to try and recount some of the highlights of our trip to St. Croix, if for no other reason than to further cement them in my memory.

We pulled into Nashville on June 9th, not exactly sure what to expect. What I really didn't expect is how many new friends we would make. While finishing a project is a noble goal, any missions trip should be about more than painting a room, or digging a trench. It should always be about people and about making disciples.

The Lord used some new friends and some old ones to continue discipling me. Two of my new friends are Josh and Alicia Crowe.

Alicia is as sweet as she can be, and Josh is as crazy as he can be, but they both have a huge heart for Japan and I know that God is going to use them to change lives in that country. We met other team leaders on Monday and Tuesday, some young and some not as young, but all dedicated to encouraging these teens and serving the Lord.

Jonathan and Teresa Snow were also a huge encouragement to me during this time. Their love for the peoples of the world was evident to all and their attention to detail reminded me that leading a team was not to be taken lightly. I felt privileged to be in the company of folks like these.

Right away we learned an important lesson. Not everyone can lead. We would learn this again on our St. Croix team in just a few days. When you have so many strong leaders, it is sometimes hard to sit back and follow and even harder not to share your opinion. I want to thank Benchmark Adventure Ministries for doing a good job of teaching us things like this.

Hopefully I can come back to this idea in another post, but one thing I took away from training week: "Don't let your circumstances determine your attitude."

Chew on that one for a while.