Why the World Race?

After graduation, I will be participating in the World Race, a 9 month missions based gap year through Adventures in Missions. I have chosen a route that travels to Malaysia, Thailand, Romania, and Guatemala for a few months each. While I don’t have details about the nature of my squad’s work in each country, the World Race participates in work such as children’s ministry, orphan care, evangelism, teaching English, and community projects.

Choosing the World Race was far from an easy decision. I went back and forth several times trying to figure out if this was going to be the best thing for me or for my walk with God or for my career. There are so many factors to consider. I even had a season of panic when I thought about switching my route to something that would only require a month or two sacrifice. I’ve since settled in to the idea that this is actually happening. I’m going to leave my family and my house and my state and my country for nine months and serve others.

On the one hand, it’s scary. I have a lot of questions. What if I’m not good at sharing the gospel? What if the people in my squad don’t like me? What if I don’t like the people in my squad? What if I get a horrible disease and die or Russia moves into Romania and there’s a national crisis and I die? In other words: “There is a lion outside; I will be killed in the streets!” (Proverbs 22:13) So yeah, I had the thought process of a sluggard. It turns out that it’s not very likely that I’m going to get a random, fatal disease or get killed by Russia. But the reality is that standing up for God and His Word anywhere opens doors for persecution and hardship. Jesus warned his disciples that they would be persecuted and hated. However, even when there is risk, that does not negate my responsibility to be faithful to God and to open myself up to being useful for His Kingdom. We are called to carry our cross and follow Him. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to die on the mission field, but it does mean that if I do, I will die obeying Christ, for which there is great reward in heaven.

On the other hand, it’s incredibly exciting. Despite growing up as a pastor’s kid, I have never actually been on a missions trip. I’ve read in the Bible passages like the Great Commission and James 1:27 that command spreading the gospel to all nations and helping widows and orphans. This is a fantastic opportunity to help share the good news of the gospel with people who maybe haven’t heard it before. I also get to travel the world. I get to go to four countries I have never been to before: Malaysia, Thailand, Romania, and Guatemala. I get to interact with many people from various cultural backgrounds along with my fellow racers, who will also offer different perspectives than I’ve seen before. These are all opportunities to grow my character and prepare for a life of interaction with such a diverse population as the world has to offer.

Why I chose the World Race

I could have done just about anything with life after high school. Apart from being an athlete, but that’s besides the point. So why did I choose the World Race?

1) I need a break from school

When people say that junior year is hard, they mean it. I had the bright idea to try to take AP Human Geography, AP Statistics, AP Calculus AB, Honors Chemistry, and online AP Language and Composition. I do not recommend that to anyone. I was drowning the whole year, and I didn’t even make it through all of AP Lang. I somehow managed to end the year with straight A’s, but I lost just about all my motivation for taking high level classes, and a lot of the motivation necessary for more basic classes, too. Needless to say, I am now taking one AP class, and the rest are regular, college prep courses. It’s a fight just to get my homework turned in on time as it is. I am far from ready to jump into college courses. It didn’t take any convincing to get me to consider a gap year, so the question became, “What do I do with it?”

I went to the most obvious place to figure out what to do with a gap year: Google. I discovered quite a few Christian gap year programs in addition to the possibility of working for a year to save money for college. Most of the programs I found involved college level courses, something I was too burnt out to consider. A lot of them were based in camps, but that wasn’t really something I was super interested in. Working was certainly a possibility, but I wanted something faith based and the opportunity to get out of the house and spread my wings. Then I discovered the World Race and found that it met pretty much all of my qualifications.

2) I want to see if overseas missions is a good fit for me

I come from a family that is very missions based. My dad is a pastor. His dad was a pastor. My mom always wanted to be a missionary like her parents before her. Some of my aunts and uncles have also been missionaries or pastors. The question has never been if I serve God, but how.

In freshmen year, I learned about human trafficking and immediately developed a passion for caring for people who experience what it’s like to be sold. I knew I had to do something about it, so when Christmas rolled around, I committed to pay for the schooling of a young girl from SE Asia who was at high risk for being trafficked. It has been at the back of my mind since then that God might have a place for me in anti-trafficking efforts, particularly aftercare. It’s an intimidating idea, but if it’s one that comes from God, I don’t want to just dismiss it altogether out of fear. I initially chose this route because it was projected to go to both Cambodia and Thailand, both of which have significant issues with human trafficking. Cambodia has since been removed from the itinerary and replaced with Malaysia, but the region as a whole has a reputation for human trafficking. Whether or not I will gain exposure to human trafficking and its victims, I don’t know, but my goal is to experience missions with people from other cultures and to see if I’m prepared to live in another country and culture at all, which is certainly a possibility should I decide to pursue human trafficking relief efforts or more general overseas missions work.

3) I want to learn more about God and build a stronger relationship with Him

This seems like it ought to be number one on my list, but to be honest is to say that this came later in my processing. Throughout high school, I have been humbled to learn that my relationship with God is not as strong as I thought it to be. I have spent some time questioning a number of things regarding faith and who God is and who I am as His child. But in my questioning, and sometimes unbelief, God has been faithful. He is my good shepherd. When I wanted to believe lies, He was there to remind me what was true, whether I wanted to hear it or not.

God’s rescue isn’t something we experience once and then we’re a saint who doesn’t need any further help. The life of a Christian should be focused on knowing Christ and being progressively sanctified and transformed into His image. This sanctification process takes a lot of work. That’s where spiritual disciplines and learning to look for ways that God is working in our everyday lives comes into play. I still have desires, thoughts, and words that don’t honor God. I still need His help and the work of His Spirit to carry me to greater faithfulness and greater reliance on Him.

If I’m going to take my relationship with God seriously, He can’t just be a side thing in my life. He can’t be Lord of my Sunday’s, but Monday through Friday are for education and Saturday is for me. Going on this World Race where every day is dedicated to knowing Him more and serving Him is a way to practice keeping God at the forefront of my mind every day. I want to serve Him well. I want to give Him my life. I want to watch Him change me and use me to accomplish His work. Kingdom work is hard; I’m going to need His grace and mercy every step of the way, but I believe that He will provide everything I need and use this experience for my good and His glory.

4) I don’t know what I want to do with my life

As I went through school and discovered that I was skilled in math and science, I mostly just assumed that I would find a career in math. Junior year’s STEM class overload knocked the maths and sciences off my list. Then I went to Pennsylvania All-State Chorus my junior year and “discovered” that I was good at music, which had been by far my favorite hobby. I participated in my school musical in the fall of senior year, and still more people encouraged my to pursue a career on the stage. I had already committed to the World Race, but it was time to start preparing for college after my gap year, so I began looking at colleges with the intent of majoring in music therapy. I concluded that music therapy would be fun for me because I would get to sing and play instruments for a living, but I would also have the opportunity to help people through music. Win win, right? It all sounded good at first, but as I continued through the college application process, hesitation set in. The bottom line is that I have no idea what I want to do with my life, and I need time to figure that out for myself. Of course, if I don’t figure that out 100% in 9 months, that’s okay. But I would rather not pick a college not knowing if I want to go into music therapy, math, or ministry, because that would make switching gears quite a challenge.

5) I need solid, Christian friends

In addition to having the opportunity to serve Christ in a tangible way, I also get to work with other believers who have the same desire. I have been going to public school for the past eight years. There are not a lot of solid believers at Kutztown Area High School. I have about three Christian friends my age. As of this moment, there are 36 people signed up for the route that I’m going on. I have not met any of them, but based on the fact that they have interest in a trip like this, I’m going to guess that most if not all of them are genuine believers. I only recently transitioned churches to a church where the youth group has a regular attendance of at least sixty. I came from a church where I was the only person in high school or college age. It blows my mind that there are even that many teenagers in Berks County that would go to church on a day that isn’t Sunday, much less 36 people aged 17-20 who want to give 9 months of their lives to Christian missions. And that’s just people who picked my route! I hope to walk away with some solid friendships with other Christ-followers.

What can you do?

1. If you want more fundraising and ministry updates, follow this blog!
2. Pray for my trip and my preparation. There’s a lot to be done.
3. Support my trip financially by giving either a one-time donation or more regularly. Any financial support is very much appreciated! If you go to the support link at the bottom of this page, it will take you to my personal donation page. I have currently raised $2,201. I still need to raise $14,799.
4. Get involved at your own church and in ministries where you are. We are all called to share the gospel and engage in fellowship wherever we are.