Fancylandless & The Team Formerly Known as Real (WR)

Month 8 debrief found us wrapping up India, a tough month, as I’ve previously alluded to in my last 2 blogs.  It also found us in a small town, without many luxuries, trapped, for the most part, by incessant rain.  But I think that’s what we needed.

Many of us had a tough month spiritually and/or  otherwise, the threat at a luxurious debrief would have been to, as my new squad leader Rebekah Clark aptly pointed out in her blog, run to worldly things for comfort and peace.

But those amenities weren’t available to us.  In fact, nowhere we looked to have debrief was going to be filled with convenience or lots of “pleasure” as we typically might seek it out after a tough time.  Instead, the only place of real comfort and solace we had to turn to was God and each other.  For the most part I think our squad took advantage of that.

It wasn’t the debrief many wanted or envisioned.  Even I, though I knew “Fancy Land” wasn’t the best for us, didn’t see the incessant rain as an issue to the extent that it was.  Sure it was monsoon season, but that had been dwindling down throughout our month of travels… not this week.

But as I alluded to in my last blog, the things that aren’t our “favorite,” can often be best for us.
In the times in our life when we feel the most beat down, when we have luxuries or easy things we can run to them and not to the God whom we need alone.

Thankfully, God protected me from that during this week.

As John Piper pointed out in “Don’t Waste Your Life,” God doesn’t often call us to an easier life.

Tough times will drive you further from God and closer to rock bottom, or they can push you the other way.  A lot of that depends on attitude and perspective, and what you chose to do with the cards your dealt, and of course the sway of His Spirit on our your heart.  Thankfully, He pulled me a good way.

Something else happened…

Team Changes…

4 of the previous 6 team leaders were given a reprieve from team leading.  Only one remained a team leader, my old leader, Becca Burger.  Rebekah Clark was raised up to a squad leader (totally made for it even if she doesn’t believe it yet) in place of my first team leader Rachel Williams, who was given a great blessing to be able to “just be.”

Sam, Austin, Molly, and Rach had all been in leadership since the beginning of the race, and Janelle had been in it for 4 months.  They all greatly deserved the break, and I’m very happy for all of them as I am thankful for their service and leadership.  I am hopeful in this season that they can enjoy the things and freedoms they couldn’t before, because they were so busy pouring themselves out for their fellow teammates and squad mates.

So what does all this “freeing” and change mean?

Well “Unveiled Pursuit” has gone the way of the great “Mosaic” and is no more.


*Cue “Taps” *

It’s still mostly intact, but I’ve been taken away, and in my stead Sam and Leah (two of my favorite people on this journey) have filled in what is now “Breathe.”  And I’m sure they will be a breath of life for my old teammates.  I’m happy for all of them to have each other, and know they will be a great team.

So what of me? What became of this gangly man?

I’ve been given the honor of being a team leader of what is now “The Team Formerly Known as REAL.”  And I know what you’re thinking… and the answer is Yes… We do have a symbol.



I am humbled that I not only allowed to serve and grow alongside, Austin, Ben, Jenna, Sarah, Meagan, and Kristin, but to be charged with leading them.  This would be such a heavy burden without their support, but I’ve been so moved by the welcome I’ve received.  These are some really great folks, and I’m excited for what God will show us, and show others thru us.

Please pray for me as I try to lead such strong and wonderful children of God.  Pray for wisdom, discernment, conviction, and strength.  Pray that I would reject passivity, but be filled with humility, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness and mercy.  Pray that my pride dies its last death, and that I lead with vulnerability and a servant heart.

And perhaps even more… pray for them.  Pray that He would give them gracious hearts to understand and be forgiving in the times I fall short.  Pray for open hearts, and for all the things I asked to be prayed for myself.

Pray that we can learn from each other, but above all… Pray that God be glorified in us as individuals and as a team, and that we leave each person we meet along the last 3 months and as we go home, wanting, knowing, and having more of the God we have grown in.

“GAME… BLOUSES!” (If you don’t get it, it’s okay).

It'sss Beginning to Look a Lot Like Krish-na (WR)

So whenever I get home from this whole World Race thing people will undoubtedly ask, “How was your trip?” or ”How was your year?”  For the most part, those people probably won’t want more, or get more than “good.”  Some will go a little deeper and ask something like “What was your favorite country?”  That, too has a lot of possible answers, depending on if you are speaking of contacts, ministry, the beauty of the country, etc.  Even within those breakdowns it will still be somewhat difficult to say, and that’s with about 3 full months left.

What I can say, however, is that I will likely not be answering “India” to the latter question.

It wasn’t that I hated India, I don’t.

It wasn’t that I’ll never go back.  In fact, India was home to some of the people that sought to honor me, my team, and squad the most.  I now have, what I feel can be, lifelong friends in India.

It wasn’t just because I struggled to find my place in the ministry we were assigned to.

It wasn’t just because I didn’t always agree with what I was faced with.

It wasn’t just because our team struggled with communication.

It wasn’t that I didn’t have any adventure in India.  We started in Mumbai for a few days, trekked 27 hours by train to Calcutta, another 4 or 5 hour travel day (including 2 hour flight) had us in Jaipur, and a few days later an overnight bus took us 7 hours to Udaipur.  3 days later we were shuttled 6 hours to Jhabua, and a couple days after that we found ourselves in Delhi (a missed train, 5 hour rocky-sea-like car ride, and plane trip later).  We were the only team that got to visit the Taj Mahal, via a round trip of over 10 hours one day from Delhi, before heading back on a flight to Mumbai.

Then there’s the whole travel to debrief a couple hours away, travel from debrief to an airport where our flight had been canceled without our knowledge, and search that finally had us in bed at 7am 2 hours from the airport.


This month didn’t lack stories so much.  It definitely didn’t lack cows in the street, palaces, and curry.
It didn’t lack a ministry.  We traveled around the country worshipping the Lord with Burn 24/7, but it was a struggle for me.  And I can’t say that a lot of it had anything to do with India itself.


Sure we had celebrity status in a worship setting, and while I’ve never feared celebrity status, in a worship setting it’s tough.

It’s the kind of thing that made me wonder if these people could be closer to worshipping the One True God if I hadn’t brought my white butt to their village or city.

But instead I stood there trying to be genuine and find a secret worshipful tone with the God I love and want others to as well, but they are more interested in snapping camera phone shots of me than what I, and they, supposedly came there for.



Even at the Taj Mahal, filled with thousands of people, most near our team seemed more interested in us than this wonder of the world.

It was humbling.  Because I know I didn’t deserve this sort of attention.  I didn’t come for it, but it was there.

The month had a lot…

From feeling miles from God while others worshipped joyfully below, to riding thru a red light district in Calcutta feeling discontent for not feeling the brokenness I knew in my heart that the situation called for, to feeling a bit of weight lifted, to seeking Him thru all the noise and acclaim for my team and me.

This month brought some of the moments where I’ve felt the most distant from God in my entire life, and, in the end, some of the moments where I‘ve felt the closest.

And, as I sit and type this, the thought occurs that maybe God was just preparing me to be able to seek find the secret place with Him, even when everything and everyone else looking in from the outside points at me or my group as something “special” or “exceptional,” when I knew better.

I’ve felt there’s a potential call on my life that might lead to a large platform, and who knows if that’s true, but I felt for great leaders of the church this month like Giglio, Chan, Piper, and so on…   Men who teach and proclaim and seek so much for people to treasure Christ and love others as a result, often times only to hear more about their name and how awesome they are for saying it a certain way, than the message they tried to convey.

I’m not saying I’ll ever reach that status, but God pushed me to a point of being desperate for Him this month, and Him alone, and that’s never a bad place to be.


India is just hard.  It’s spiritually dark and needs so much light.  It’s not that there aren’t lights here, seeing places like SEAL and meeting people like Prathap, the Ellis family, Steven, Praveen, Kevin, etc showed me that, but there’s so much darkness and so much need for more light.


I faced spiritual attacks in a way like I’ve not experience prior on this journey, but I also found a peace that I can’t quite compare either.  There’s a peace I’ve felt prior, but there’s nothing quite like peace after a battle and a storm.

So I must say India was not my favorite month, in fact it was probably my least favorite, but as with many things that aren’t our favorite in life, they have the potential to turn into the thing that was the best for us.

And it’s quite possible that August in India was the best month FOR me, even if it wasn’t the best month TO me.