Introspection on Israel: Part I

I've been back from the Promised Land for about a day and a half now.  My apologies to those of you who were looking forward to hearing updates while I was gone...the internet wasn't as accessible as I originally anticipated.  However, be prepared for a barrage of posts in the days to come, as there is much to share about the life change that I experienced in the past week.

Before I get to the specifics of what was so life-changing about this trip, I'll just start this post series by explaining a little bit of what this trip was all about.  I went with my two Youth Ministry profs. from Bethel, Dr. Terence "T-Money" Linhart and (soon-to-be-Dr.) Robert Brandt, two of the coolest guys on the planet, and also a fellow Youth Min. student from Bethel, Adrienne "Adri-Anne" Searer, a pretty cool cat herself.  We were heading into the trip one man down, as my best buddy Justin "Preppie" Romine had to leave our team at the last minute because of an emergency appendectomy.  

I digress...

The conference was put on by an organization called Global Youth Initiative (GYI).  Their mission is "equipping young leaders for movements of multiplication."  This conference, then, was a gathering of over 250 youth leaders from 56 countries around the globe coming together under this common mission and purpose.  I can now certainly say that it is something special to experience such a unity among leaders from different countries and organizations all around the world.  One of GYI's main goals is to connect like-minded organizations and leaders who follow Christ's model for starting disciple-making movements so that they might work together as one team in the Kingdom of God. Sounds pretty awesome, huh?

Besides having two general sessions a day in which we learned more about issues relating to multiplying disciples, we also spent several hours each day touring the sights of the Holy Land. The combination of learning about Christ's model for ministry and then bringing to life the actual physical places in which Jesus' ministry took place was somewhat overwhelming and truly life-changing. I think I will be processing all that I saw and experienced for many months and maybe years to come.

So hold onto your hats as I take you through the transformational journey that began in my heart and life just a week ago...