A barn, concrete floors, cabins, and Jesus

The
whole Black Tribe had the privilege of debriefing 80 World Racers this
past week. We were all in freezing (it was 30 degrees and less at
night) Jo-Burg, South Africa in a barn. Yes, a barn: concrete floors,
cabins with little to no heat, and Jesus!

One of my old friends from the States came to help us with the debrief
and pour into the kids. Tom Sipling, his wife Cindy and their two kids
moved to Gordon’s Bay, South Africa a year and a half ago. Tom and
Cindy are an amazing couple living by faith here in Africa. The last
time Tom and I were together was days after 9-11. We flew into New York
with Lou Engle to pray over Ground Zero; it was a powerful time, but I
had only talked with Tom via email since then.

The theme of the debrief was Fear of the Lord: Consecration, Prayer and
Intimacy, Apostolic Family, and an Ephesians 4 movement. Tom was
brilliant! He is on a journey of next-level faith and everything coming from prayer and time with the Father. He communicated and imparted that message very well.

He talked a lot about going to the mountain with God, how the Acts
Church was constantly in prayer and how the power of God was
demonstrated from constant prayer, family, community, and radical
faith. He used this model to drive home some points to the Racers: no
possessions our your own, you own nothing, and you have no rights. He
warned them that ministry can become your mistress – your relationship
with God is the key. He stressed that your “doing” has to come from
“being” – Christ only did what His Father was doing. Your only goal
should be to reveal who your Father is – the fruit of your ministry should be the fruits of the Spirit, not what you do.

Lisa brought one of the most amazing words I have ever heard (yes, I am biased). She talked about Elizabeth mothering Mary.

The first thing Mary did when she found out she was pregnant was run to Elizabeth for four months of spiritual parenting.
True
Apostolic family is how we as leaders are called to be spiritual
parents to the Racers, their generation, and help them birth what they
have been impregnated with from the Father – their redemptive gifts.

At the end, the four of us (the Siplings, Lisa, and I) stood in the
middle as many of the Racers got on their knees, sobbing, and repenting
for their generation and turning their hearts back to the fathers! We,
of course, responded, repenting for fatherlessness, for our generation and
for how we have not been their as fathers and Church leaders.

The heaviness
and reality of the Spirit on this was numbing – I wept like a baby
seeing God restore ten-fold what the locust had eaten over the past seven
years. Then, for about two hours, individuals honored us with what we
have meant to their lives: how we do what we say, live what we preach –
Chris and others that lived in Swazi the past month spoke about who
we were to them, and how their lives were changed from just

being with
us. I have had few times like this in my life and especially not for many years.

After one of the night sessions, we kept them in to just lie before the
Lord and not leave the freezing barn until the Lord said to leave. My
Alexis (she said, “I am like in a middle school crush with Jesus; I just
can’t stop thinking and talking about Him”) and Caleb were their until
after 1:00 am and were changed at a very real level.

The Lord is birthing something very real here – the journey is what it’s all about! These young missionaries aren’t just learning about it; they’re
living it! If you think God might be calling you to this adventure of initiation, check out www.theworldrace.org.