A Vision is Born

My recent trip to Czech Republic was inspirational.  I made many new friends on this trip, but there was one in particular that really stirred my thinking.  He said something that will probably stick with me for a long time to come.

My friend, Jirka, is doing an internship program with a ministry called Josiah Venture.  During our time together we had a chance to talk about what our visions were for ministry and where we would like to be in the next few years. When I asked Jirka this question he told me that he would like to be a student in a Christian outdoor school.  Possibly something similar to a NOLS or Outward Bound but geared towards ministry and spiritual growth.  I had to tell him that I didn’t know of anything like that in Europe or even in the US.

It was a flash for me that something like this needs to exist.  A place where youth workers can come and be trained to lead young people in the wilderness.  A place where they can come and learn how to use experiential learning, the outdoors and adventure to teach kids the truths about God; a physical school where people can come from all over and be trained in this way.

Is this dream too big?  Is it too big to think that we could have an accredited school on multiple continents around the world training youth workers how to use their own environment to reach kids in their community?  Yep, it is a big dream all right, but I think it is one I definitely willing to stick with.