This past weekend was our new leader training at Adventures in Missions for our summer high school and college age trips. I must say that we are blessed with an awesome group of leaders who are passionate about discipling students and helping empower them to be the sons and daughters of God that they were created to be. The leaders were really the focus of the training time; who they are as individuals and how they fit into their leader teams and the body of Christ. In addition to lots of information, they went through numerous team builders like the one below where each leader team constructed a raft to get across the lake.
We also experienced some sweet times of ministering to each other and worshipping our redeeming God.
Heather and I have been investing in these leaders since January sending countless emails, getting their paperwork filled out, answering questions, praying for them, and helping empower them to lead. It was such a neat experience to place faces with names and to invest in them personally. Our heart really beats for discipleship, investment, and empowerment so it was a sweet time of serving the Lord this weekend.
As a worldwide Adventures in Missions family we also experienced incredible hardship and pain as one of our participants lost their life in the Lord's service. 3 of our students involved in the First Year Missionary program in South Africa were involved in a car accident and sadly, one of them died due to resulting injuries. Both Tag Thompson, the director of the FYM program, and Seth Barnes, the founder of AIM, recenlty wrote a blogs about this unfortuante accident. For more information I encourage you to read their blogs:
Later today Heather and I leave for Manchester, England. Since leaving England almost a year ago, I have longed to get back there. I have days where I feel like I left a piece of my heart on the other side of the Atlantic. I am so excited to see my friends, ministry partners, and for Heather to experience the people and place that are so dear to my heart.
Please join with us in prayer as we'll be flying on stand-by buddy passes today and that we'll make the flight. I also ask for your prayers for safety while we are in England and as we get to do a bit of traveling down to London and hopefully over to Wales. Our friends Tag and Holly will be keeping Maeby so you can pray for them as well because Maeby can be a handful!!
Despite the circumstances we might find ourselves in the midst of, we cling to the promise that God is as good as he says he is.
Blessings,
Chad, Heather, and Maeby.
