This is my reaction

This past weekend, most of the second and third years of Twenty-Four Seven, including myself, had the amazing opportunity to help launch a new ARC (Association of Related Churches) church. Because so many students have an interest in church planting and love serving, staff decided to take the cadre up north by a couple of hours for a few days. During our time there we helped promote the church’s first service by mostly handing out fliers everywhere and talking with people.

Besides the radio announcements and mail announcements provided by ARC, we put hundreds of door-hanger invitations on home doors, passed out thousands of fliers in shopping areas and at college campuses, and put many invitations on car windshields. Many people to whom we talked had heard about Action already and couldn’t wait to attend. One of my cousins and his wife also looked forward to helping with childcare at the church; I loved seeing them and a mutual cousin with them. Saturday night before the first service on the 26^th, we got to help clean up the school where the church holds its service by washing windows, weeding tree beds, and picking up trash around the campus. Then the morning of the launch we all set up different areas of the church and served in various ministries at the church. I had so much fun playing with kids, leading them in worship, and discussing the Bible lesson with them!

Although Action had a bigger launch than most church plants probably have, I enjoyed seeing the small beginnings of something God will use to do great things in that area and around the world. Many of the staff and launch team also came from Twenty-Four Seven, so learning about the opportunities that alumni can have was cool too. Pastor Justin Dailey, the former Twenty-Four Seven director and current lead pastor of Action, has a great attitude about how God builds the church instead of him, and he trusts God throughout the birthing and development of the church. This mindset helped him to have such a successful launch with nearly 700 attendees at the very first service. God opened doors, provided funding, and helped him build a great lead team; He will continue to help His church all over the world too.

Leading to where I am now

GOD ALWAYS DIRECTS OUR PATHS.

Before I joined Twenty-Four Seven all that I really knew about myself was that I could do virtually anything with hard work and God, and that I wanted to share the love of Christ with others through ministry like missions. Throughout my life I have always known that the typical college and career life did not suit me, so in high school the military life really appealed me. I have family members that have served in some military branches and/or attended service academies, but I had no real understanding of the military. Despite that I convinced myself of the possible benefits of attending a service academy and pursued this throughout high school. Not only could I reach soldiers and internationals with the gospel, but I could also get paid to protect my country and learn a valuable and interesting trade. Between tenth grade and graduation I pushed myself to have the best possible student resume and worked hard on the application, which required a lot of time, effort, and ability. While interviewing with liaisons,  taking medical tests, training physically, and much more, I excelled in classes, played sports, participated in theater, volunteered in my school, church, and community, and did a lot of other stuff to look good on paper, which I did not mind since I love trying new things and working hard. In my mind serving in the military and earning an engineering degree were worth the work. Despite excelling in many areas, I could not get a nomination from a state or national representative. Slowly realizing that God was closing that door for me, I remembered visiting my cousins in Arkansas at their ministry school called [Ca]dre Academy.

In the midst of my military pursuit, my mother sent me to Little Rock to check out this ministry school and internship program and to see some of my cousins. Since I had little interest in ministry school and was planning to attend Video Games Live with a friend, I mostly went to see my cousins, but did not really even want to fly out. However, once I arrived, friendly faces greeted me and the director talked about all of the amazing growth that took place in students’ lives. God transformed the young people who came through events, classes, and training that facilitated accelerated physical, social, mental, and spiritual growth. All of this sounded so exciting and appealing, and I knew God wanted something like it for me. Once I returned to Virginia, though, I forgot my trip to New Life Church and resumed my business.

After things started to look bad for me and the military, my aunt called my mother to talk about some changes happening to Cadre. God showed me again that He did not intend for me to enter the military. My aunt also told my mom about a similar school in Florida called Twenty-Four Seven that did things the way that I saw and liked during my Arkansas visit. Next I began to reach out to this ministry school and apply. Every detail worked out perfectly for me to come to school in Florida, and my life has forever changed for the better.

A broadened perspective

THERE ARE A LOT OF GIRLS.

On my team right now, girls outnumber guys eight to six. Before Thanksgiving break one of the five teams in Twenty-Four Seven this year dissolved. All of the ladies from that team, except one cadre, joined my team; all of the men from that team joined another team. Staff decided that this difficult move would have the greatest benefit for all of the students, and I agree. During this sudden change, I had mixed feelings of excitement and nervousness, sprinkled with disappointment and anticipation. Initially the idea of five first-year females under my care overwhelmed me. Later, though, I realized that God broadened my perspective on all of the first-year ladies in the whole school, not just on my team. Every woman in Twenty-Four Seven needs loving on, pouring into, and hanging out with; whether or not a certain girl is on my team should not determine the amount I invest in her. Also, after finally becoming comfortable with not having other cadre ladies on the team, I had to readjust my way of thinking and operating. Now that there are both more cadre and first-year females on my team I can see the bigger picture of how everyone works together to help with the growth of everyone. Since the addition of new members, I have grown closer to more girls in the school and seen how so much good can come from something that seems negative at first.