It Was a Rush!

“We’ve got an idea.  Would you be interested in helping with this?  Do you have the time?  What do you think?”  Julie was on a phone call from Thailand with one of our ministry partners, Multiply.  And within seconds of her coming through the door and explaining to me what was happening, I almost screamed out “Yes, of course!”

This is What I’d Been Waiting For

Earlier that morning God had placed on my heart a burden to pray for some specific way for me… for us… for Grow2Serve to step up and serve in the midst of the oncoming world-wide health crisis.  God told me not to get all clever and try and invent something myself.  He said to wait, but it turns out I didn’t have to wait long.  It was the evening of March 15^th and within hours would be Monday morning, the first day of my high school senior son not going to high school ever in a building anymore.

I almost screemed “yes.”  This is what we’d been waiting for.  The Lord had been leading Andy and Randy, two of the senior leaders for Multiply, and they wanted to explore developing an online course to help those in ministry figure out how to approach life and ministry in a God-honoring way in the midst of a time of crisis.  This was March 15^th and by the evening March 28^th, 13 days later, we were enrolling dozens of individuals into a shiny-new course, Living on Mission in Times of Crisis.

A Better Way to Build Courses?

For several years I’d been wondering what it would be like if we could fast-track the process of course development.  What if instead of the traditional 2-6 months we’ve taken for building a course, we could do it in a matter of days.  Would it be more efficient?  Would the end product be better?  Could we engage more people and have each play small roles in areas of their experience or expertise?  What if we could sound the alarm “all hands on deck!”?  Would it work?

March 15^th – March 28^th we found out the answer to these questions as we gathered a team, strategized and outlined a plan, set outcomes and objectives, recruited facilitators, collected media, resources and stories, wrote and recorded material, contacted potential learning participants, commandeered editors, producers, video techs, Bible teachers,  theological checkers, story-tellers, instructional designers, and promoters and launched into a process of creating… and re-creating.  And then “there she was!”

Wow! It’s Working.

As of today we’ve hosted 9 cohorts with 120 participants engaging with this 12-day online course, Living on Mission in Times of Crisis.  By my count this means over 1600 hours have been invested by learners and facilitators in coming before the Lord and sitting at His feet learning from Him, from the Word and from each other. That is what makes me excited!

This experience has been one of the most exciting for me in many years.  It is exciting when you get to see how your experience, abilities and resources play a part in a plan that God has made and that He is executing.  It is a rush when you realize what is happening.  Thanks, Lord, for including us!  I’m ready for the next thrilling ride.