Boot Camp is Just the Beginning
I enjoyed working with Military people during my internship in Maryland. They always had great stories to tell and were enjoyable coworkers. I developed a HUGE appreciation for the Marines while I was there. One guy I worked there told of the crazy stories of the Marines and the things they had to endure. What’s amazing is the Force Recon, a sort of Marine Special Ops. Marines are tough enough as it is so these guys are simply crazy. They are trained above and beyond those of ‘simple’ Marines. You need specialized training to accomplish the missions they are called upon. Basic training just doesn’t cut it.
CFC often refers to itself as an army. We’re not just a ‘hospital’ that heals people but once they’re healed, we prepare them to take on the enemy. We are known for training workers. We have a system that is basically plug and play. You stick people in and out pops kingdom workers.
I was talking with an older brother this past winter about my future and some questions I had. He made the analogy that CFC is like boot camp. It trains people into workers but it’s general. You go in, go through the helpers program, missions training, coserving, serving, maybe officership and well, then you’re done. But this is just the basics. There is no specialization. CFC was designed to train people for a limited time then commission them to wherever God has called them. Now people are staying longer and longer and the ‘limited training regime’ isn’t ‘long’ enough. They’ve tried implementing various ‘programs’ to extend it and incorporate the older members of our church.
This older brother explained to me the necessity of specialization. CFC will teach you how to do good college ministry. However, not everyone is called to college ministry. If you are, then stay in the small group system and you will learn how to do college ministry well. If not, you should specialize. He explained to me the idea of a ‘spiritual roadmap’. In the workplace we establish long term goals, where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years and how are you going to get there. He explained that this applies to our spiritual life as well. Where do you see your calling 5, 10, 20 years down the line? Are you called to be a pastor, missionary, mission mobilizer, or youth worker? What are you doing to get there?
This made me think, what am I doing? I don’t know where I’m supposed to be or what I’m supposed to do. I’ve just been going along the conviction I received 3 years ago when I committed to stay on campus and lead a small group for 3 years. Now that commitment has run its course and I’m once again free to choose and re-evaluate. I enjoyed the counseling course I took with Pastor Min. I enjoy counseling and I think I’m ok at it (not great but I can help people, or at least that’s what they’ve told me). I also really enjoy discipling people and again, I think I’m ok at it (one guy turned out alright …) I’ll begin taking a counseling course this summer at the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation (CCEF). I’m also exploring means to do more counseling here on campus. As I alluded to in my previous posts, my heart breaks for these broken people and I want to help restore their lives; I want to help them find Jesus and apply him to their lives. I’m tossing around the idea of not serving next year and starting a focused discipleship group.
It seems that my time in boot camp is coming to an end. I haven’t learned everything I could possibly learn but then again, there’s always something to learn. I feel like I’ve learned the basics and it might be time to move on. As boot camp teaches the Marines the basic, there is much more advanced training to learn. Effectiveness increases with specialization. Not anyone could have taken out those pirates but highly specialized Navy SEAL snipers. I feel like these 4 years serving have just been the primer; there’s more to come and I’m getting excited. We’ll see where God leads.