Too Young for the World Race? You Don't Have to Wait!

A quick update

Posted in Pre-Race by Chad Harbaugh on 4/14/2012

It's been a while since my last blog post, here is some of what I've been up to since then.

First I want to say thank you again to everyone who is supporting me. I crossed my first fundraising goal this week, almost 3 weeks before the deadline. My next fundraising deadline is June 18th.

The next big hurdle I face is needing to get my house sold. If you could keep that in your prayers I would really appreciate it. If I can't get it sold before June I may have to delay going. Ideally it would be good to get it sold before I go to training camp which is May19th-26th in Atlanta..

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Pride and blogging

Posted in Pre-Race by Chad Harbaugh on 11/23/2011

As I'm starting to prepare for the World Race God has been showing me how pride is a much deeper issue in my life than I would like to admit. It really boils down to being more concerned with or focused on myself than God.

Just because I'm content being in the background and I don't like being the center of attention doesn't make me humble. I focus way to much on me, most of my thoughts are self-centered. I worry about what people will think of me, so I usually avoid doing or saying anything that will bring attention to myself.

The organizers of the World Race encourage everyone going to write a blog as we prepare for the race and when we are out in the field. This has been a struggle for me. I look at things that other people have written and compare myself to them, thinking "I'll never be as eloquent, insightful, or funny as them so why bother trying." I don't like writing, I can never can think of anything to write about and also have trouble organizing my thought into words. I don't even usually post on facebook. I tell myself I don't have anything that important to say and I don't want to bother anyone. In reality these are all just issues of pride.

Hopefully blogging will be one way I can practice humility over the next 20 months by just writing about what God puts on my heart and not worrying what it looks like to anyone else. So I will be writing about what's going on as I prepare to go. Once we leave I will also keep you up to date on were we are and what we are doing as ministry every month. If you want to follow this blog you can subscribe at the link to the left.

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Why the World Race?

Posted in Pre-Race by Chad Harbaugh on 11/19/2011

I'll admit, I've never really had a passion to go on a missions trip, I knew they were important, but never saw it as something I would do personally. My life for a long time has been really focused on me. Most of my time was spent watching TV, movies or playing video games. Anyway, over the last year I came to realize that comfort and entertainment had really become an idol in my life. So I started setting aside several days a week where I would spend time listening to sermons online, reading the Bible and other Christian books instead watching TV.

This last August I decided to go the whole month without turning on the TV. One night I was aimlessly surfing the internet and for some reason did a search for mission trips. I came across AIM's site, and clicked the World Race link since it was under my age group. After watching the video, reading all the information pages, and a several of the blogs I really felt like it was something I should do. I couldn't get it out of my head, for days I was constantly thinking about it.

Over the previous several months I had been really convicted about the fact that just trying to be a better Christian or gain knowledge to make our lives better isn't the point of this life. We are commanded to go make disciples and to love others.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. - Matthew 16:24-25

The World Race would require me to give up comfort, serve and love others, and live in Christian community. All things I know I really need, but am having trouble doing where I am right now.

I went ahead and sent in my application and was praying a lot asking God to show me if He really wants me to do this. I ended up being accepted and just had to make a final decision and send in a deposit to secure my spot on the squad. During this time a lot of doubt and fear was starting to creep in. "Maybe this isn't what God wants me to do" "I'm not cut out for something like this"

I can't really definitively say I have ever heard something from God. I never know if it's Him speaking or just my own thoughts. I was praying and trying to silence my thoughts and just listen for His voice, but I get impatient after a few minutes and start worrying about why I'm not hearing anything.

All I wanted was a clear answer to tell me if this is was what I should do!

I frequently hear people talk about hearing from God. Mark Driscoll always talks about how God spoke to him when he was like 19 and "He told me to marry Grace, preach the Bible, to plant churches and train men."

Why can't I get specific directions about my life like that? I just want to know if you want me to go on the World Race or not. I was sort of frustrated I hadn't heard anything so I picked up my phone and started reading posts on The World Race's Twitter feed. One of the posts was the WR daily where they list the user names of several twitter users who made their top stories of the day. I clicked on the first name and read the most recent tweet.
All it said was: God says YES!!! :)

I almost couldn't believe my eyes. Was God speaking through a tweet? It was just a crazy coincidence, right? I didn't know what to think. I don't know why she posted that, or what it was about, but how do you write something like that off as pure chance?

Maybe it was a way for God to remind me His plan is perfect, even if I can't be patient and wait on Him to let me in on it. He knows what He's doing and is in control of all things, even something as silly as a random tweet on Twitter.

I'm going on the World Race in July 2012.

I'll be gone for 11 months traveling to India, Nepal, Thailand, a TBD country in Asia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Latvia, Estonia/Lithuania.
We will be partnering with local mission organizations in those countries to serve in a variety of ways. We won't know for sure what ministry will look like at each location, but mostly it will be to show people the Love of Jesus in any way we can. That may be working with orphans, visiting hospitals and jails, running VBS, teaching English, preaching, visiting people door to door, doing work projects, or something else entirely.

I can't do this without your help.

There are a few ways you can partner with me to support me in this ministry.

Prayer - My team and I will need lots of prayer during the time leading up to and on the race. Here are a few things we can use prayer for:

that we won't be discouraged or doubt while we are preparing to go
that we meet our fundraising goals
that we trust God especially when things aren't going according to our plans
safety while we travel and for our health
for unity within our group
for the people we meet and will be ministering to

Financially - I need to raise $15,500 to cover the cost of the trip. Your support can help me go and minister to people overseas. You can make a one time donation or a monthly pledge. Any amount will help. If you feel called to contribute toward the cost of the the trip you can click here to support me. Anything you can do to help will be greatly appreciated.

Adventures In Missions, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and a long-time member of ECFA. Your donations are tax deductible based on the policies and principles detailed at www.adventures.org/policies.

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