What
REACHers Are Saying…
At the end of the fourth
week of REACH Discipleship Training School, participants were asked to
share during parent weekend about some of the experiences they have had and
things they have learned:
House Life:
Hans from the Himalaya team says… “Most mornings, most of
the Himalaya team, and sundry members of other teams rise well before the
sun and take to the streets to wake themselves with a mile or two of
running, walking, or bicycling. After breakfast, we spend an hour of quiet
time with G-d between 8 and 9 a.m. Following quiet time, we engross
ourselves in sessions with a variety of wise and educated teachers who
teach on a multitude of topics. At noon, we eat lunch, except on
Wednesdays, when we split into teams and spend the lunch hour in fasting
and prayer. In the afternoons and evenings, teams are often gone from the
RIC for Community O-treach, Lifegroups, etc, and those who remain at the
center spend their time playing games, talking, working on required
reading, memorizing, or just generally whooping it up.”
Life Group:
Kendra from the South Asia team shares… “Life group is a
time where teams get together and spend time hanging out with their team
members. The purpose of this time is to get to know your teammates better
and draw closer as a unit. Every team is given the requirment of at least four
hours a week for life group. Life groups can be serious, such as talking
about sessions, or they can be fun, like going out for ice cream and
playing games. Often this is just a time for teams to have fun together and
get to know each other.”
Sessions:
Janae from the Kenya team writes… “I’ve felt like every
day there has been a 5 gallon bucket full of truth poured over us and I
only have a little cup to catch it. I just want to take it all in. Some
specific teachings that have stuck out to me were on pr-yer, character, and
evangelism through relationships. I was challenged by one of the activities.
We were told to write down what we consider our values and priorities and
how much time we spend doing them. And did the time we spent doing them
match up. We often look to J-sus 'words but ignore his example. What did J-sus
actually do? It was cool, because I had been reading in Luke that day for
my quiet time and 4 different times I read about how J-sus withdrew and
spent time with the Father. Another thing that challenged me when looking
at J-sus' example was looking at how much he served—one of the other
speakers said, 'We are not here to suck air and eat groceries.' I had to
ask myself, Are my actions showing the love of Chr-st?
I was also challenged to act on my good intentions and to
pray that G-d would turn my intentions into real fruit, by the H-ly Spirit.
Because only G-d can transform you, no matter how hard you try, it is only
Him that changes my heart.
It was also made known to me how important relationships
are when winning people to Chr-st.
Quotes I have taken from the sessions:
'If you don't cultivate relationships, you won't make
disciples.'
'Humans are talked into talking, loved into loving, and
related into believing.'
'Pride has never gotten along with anyone, except those
who are proud in the same way.'
'It's impossible for two humble people to not get along.'
'The number 1 cause of m-ssionaries leaving the mission
field is conflict with other m-ssionaries.'
'My relationships are as deep as I am open and as shallow
as I am closed.'
'Unity is corporate humility.'”
Ethnic Meals:
Trudi from the Thailand team writes… “Ethnic meals are a
chance for each team to experience a little taste of the different culture
cuisines from each individual REACH team. The tasty fusion is highly
anticipated amongst the REACHers and is experienced every Sunday night for
supper. Teams spend time researching and getting acquainted with their
culture’s cuisine and eating techniques. After compiling information and
recipes, the team takes time to shop at their local ethnic supermarket
before undertaking the task of cooking and preparing their meal. After all
is completed, the result is a culturally authentic meal for all to enjoy
together in community as we learn more about and how to better understand
the different o-treach locations and their accompanying culture.”
Sunday Night W-rship:
Rhonda shares for the Thailand team… “Sunday Night W-rship
is a good time where we re-group after the weekend and get ready for the
coming week. It is a time to just come together and reflect on the past
week and get our hearts prepared for what’s coming in the new week. W-rship
is different every Sunday evening. One time Austin and Rachel read some
scr-pture and we sang some w-rship songs. One time Carmal led w-rship, and
it was a very relaxing time where we drew or wrote and shared with others. It
was good to just hang out in G-d’s presence. We had w-rship at the campfire
once too. That was an exciting time to just sit around the fire and praise
G-d. A unique part of w-rship is that we usually take part in communion,
which is a great reminder of the sacrifice J-sus made for us. Sunday Night
W-rship is something that is a really good part of everyone’s week and I
always look forward to it!”
Team Prep:
Denise from the Middle East team says… “Team prep is a
time for our team to experience and get to know the culture that we will be
living in for six or nine months. Part of our Team Prep is having to learn
the T-rkish Language. Chadwick Miller comes to the RIC center once or twice
a week to teach us T-rkish. We have been learning the T-rkish alphabet,
greetings, numbers, and more phrases that will be useful while in the
Middle East. We also have been taking an online English course, called
TESOL, so that we will become certified to teach English in the Middle East.
More Team Prep time is made up of making Turkish food and tea, watching
cultural movies, and hopefully going to a T-rkish restaraunt at some point
here in Columbus. All of these activities are preparing us for our trip to the
Middle East!”
Interc-ssion:
Jessica says for the Spain team… “Interc-ssion is a time
when teams get together and pr-y for people, different o-treach locations,
etc. Each of the teams spend their interc-ssion times in different ways. We
as the Spain team usually start our interc-ssion times off with w-rship and
then we spend time in silence listening to what G-d wants us to
specifically pr-y for. After that we share with the rest of the group what
we feel G-d is saying to us. Then we pr-y. Its a good time to focus on ministering
to people through pr-yer. On Wednesday the entire training fasts over lunch
and we spend that hour in pr-yer. It's a good time to refocus on the week
and on people other then our teams. Each team is required to spend at least
two hours each week in interc-ssion.
On September 18-19, we had a 24-hour Pr-yer Vigil. We all
did a Daniel fast which is just eating fruits, veggies, and drinking juice.
During the Pr-yer Vigil people were constantly pr-ying. There were
different stations set up that we could pr-y at. One was under the cross
and it had our different countries and pr-yer requests to pr-y for. There
was also a station where we could draw and write notes. Then there was a
staion for communion. Also during the Pr-yer Vigil there was someone
reading through the B-ble at all times. We ended up reading through Psalms,
Proverbs and the entire New Testament. We each took a forty-five minute
block of time to do that. It was a very restful time when you could just
rest in the L-rd's presence. It was nice to just let Him lead us in pr-yer.
I think that we all felt pretty rested and peacefull after that twenty-four
hours.”
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