What happened at Boot Camp

Last Monday night, after 7-hours cruising in the faithful Honda, we arrived at the Comfort Inn in Harrisburg, PA. What were we doing in Harrisburg you ask? Well, we had the privilege of going to an intense 2-day training called Boot Camp. It is for Christian workers from dozens of different organizations, denominations & associations, who, despite those smaller differences, share many awesome things in common, including the very practical need to raise their own financial support in order to do God’s work. And that is precisely what Boot Camp was all about, how to develop partners who will send all these workers into the harvest fields. 

Here is a photo to prove we were there.

Can you find us?

The best part for me about Boot Camp was really examining God’s Word in all the instances it talks about ministry and how God’s workers are to be provided for. 

I was so encouraged to spend so much time in God’s word, to really soak in it. It strengthened my understanding of why we develop Partners, because our Partners are going to hold the ropes for us, literally not figuratively. They are going to be our dearest friends, the people who invest in us and the people we invest in, here in the U.S. 

But also, and this was a newer concept for me, we are doing a great service to our Partners by providing an opportunity for them to give and grow in generosity and cheer. God loves generosity and somehow, I don’t fully understand it, but somehow by opening our wallets it also opens our hearts more fully to God’s purposes and also to God’s blessings. Jesus rewards our sacrifices. Like He explained in Matthew 19:29, after the rich man went away sad after Christ told him to sell all that he had and give to the poor, Jesus explained to the disciples that...

“everyone who has left houses, or brothers or sisters, or father or mother, or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” 

I am so joyful that our Partners are not just providing for and blessing us, but God is doing the same for them.

Another of the passages I really like is Proverbs 11:24–35 

“One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”

We learned a lot more at Boot Camp, but today I just wanted to express how awesome God’s Word is. It really is the bread of life. Now, I think I will go make a sandwich for Ryan and I so we can be nourished by that as well.