Dangerous

DANGEROUS
ENGAGING THE PEOPLE AND PLACES NO ONE ELSE WILL
CALEB BISLOW
WITH
TED KLUCK
7
Caleb Bislow with Ted Kluck, Dangerous Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2013. Used by permission.
2013 by Caleb Bislow Published by Bethany House Publishers 11400 Hampshire Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55438 www.bethanyhouse.com Bethany House Publishers is a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bislow, Caleb. Dangerous : engaging the people and places no one else will / Caleb Bislow, with Ted Kluck pages cm Summary: A missionary shares rsthand stories of how God is using Christians to help people in slums, war zones, and other di cult places. Readers are encouraged to express their faith boldly. Includes lists of organizations to join or support and prayer needs for around the worldProvided by publisher. ISBN 978-0-7642-1091-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Missions. I. Title. BV2061.3.B56 2013 266dc23 2013016374 Emphasis in Scripture shown by italics is the authors. Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com Some names of persons and other details have been changed to protect their privacy. Cover design by Lookout Design, Inc. Cover photo credits: Condemned House: Photo24/BrandX/Getty Images; Feet of Impoverished Child: Ignacio Hennigs/Flickr/Getty Images; Slum in Rio de Janeiro: John Wang/Photodisc/Getty Images; Girls Walking the Street: Adalberto Rios Szalay-Sexto/ Photodisc/Getty Images; Uganda Huts: Sam DCruz/ShutterStock Author is represented by Wolgemuth & Associates. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my three favorite kidsTrace, Kaiya, and Asher This book is full of Daddys stories overseas, but dont forget that the best part of every trip is coming home to all of you Getting a welcome-home kiss from Mommy and being tackled by the three of you is unmatchable You mean the world to me, and I pray that my travels never hinder your walk with God May you continue to love God with all of your hearts for all your days
Contents
Foreword 11 Introduction: Give Me Danger 13 Section 1: In Search of Unusual Soldiers 1. Stranded 23 Section 2: Refusing to Be Cautious 2. Abandon the Ordinary 37 3. No Better Way to Die 51 4. Embrace the Ridiculous 66 Section 3: Treacherous Territory 5. 13th Floor: Outside the Camp 83 6. Dark Places: The Unreached, the Uncontacted, the Restricted 92 7. Dangerous Places: The Hunted, the Convicted, the Infected 99 8. Despised Places: The Marginalized, the Discriminated Against, the Enslaved 112
9 Kluck, Dangerous Caleb Bislow with Ted Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2013. Used by permission.
Contents
Section 4: Rules of Engagement 9. Love Audaciously 127 10. Dare to Trespass 136 11. Stay Primitive 144 12. Multiply Until You Die 156 13. Risk Everything 165 14. Never Waver 176 15. Rules of Engagement in E ect 183 Section 5: Awakening Unusual Soldiers 16. On the Brink of Extinction 195 17. Mobilizing the Dangerous Few 206 Note from the Author 219 Acknowledgments 220 Appendix A: The Invisible Button: Ministries That Focus on 13th Floor and Mission Opportunities 223 Appendix B: Training Opportunities 228 Appendix C: Further Study 230 Appendix D: Most Dangerous Countries for Christians 232 Notes 236
Foreword
n a day of easy discipleship, tame dreams, and an addiction to comfort, my friend Caleb Bislow is a breath of fresh air. Over the past twenty years, Ive watched God take a young Cornhusker (yes, I have Nebraska roots, as well) and mold him into a risk-taking, faith-lled adventuresome warrior. Caleb is the real deal. His passion for hard places, along with his sensitivity to the Spirits leading, has been anointed by God. Biz, as his friends call him, breaks the mold of pioneering warriors. Instead of having a rebel independent spirit, he maintains a coachable attitude. He continually seeks wisdom from those who are more experienced. I enjoy every opportunity I have to connect with him. While he seeks to learn from me, I nd myself gleaning new insights and strategies from him. Having worked with him as an intern at our church and traveling with him overseas, I can vouch for his heart, passion, and authenticity. As you read this book, youll nd yourself asking, Is this really true? Are the stories exaggerated? Is this guy on the level? The answers are Yes, No, and Yes. The stories are true.
Foreword
I know many of the people mentioned, and they testify to the accuracy of the events. No, the stories are not exaggerated. And yes, Caleb is on the level (as much as can be expected of a faith-lled warrior). Each generation must write its own chapters of faith. Just hearing others stories is never enough. I constantly urge people to be a part of something that has the ngerprints of God all over it. I implore you to step out on the edge of faith, where God either does it or you look like a fool. Its not just adventure for adventures sake. It is about being obedient to God and taking obedient steps of faith. This is the story of Dangerous. What you are about to read is as real as the book of Acts. I know that the canon of Scripture is closed, yet the stories of Gods activity in our world are still being written. My prayer is that Dangerous will ignite in you a fresh passion and urgency for God to write new inspiring chapters in your walk with him. God still works through people, unlikely people, to do incredible things. And Im thankful to call one of them, Caleb Bislow, my friend, fellow warrior, and partner in the cause. May the re that was initially ignited in Caleb in the Old Testament, and now in Caleb the Cornhusker, be ignited in you in your own dangerous journey.
Dave Engbrecht Chairman of the board for World Gospel Mission, senior pastor of Nappanee (Indiana) Missionary Church
Introduction
Give Me Danger
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to ones courage. Anais Nin
All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to nd that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible. T. E. Lawrence
love movies that inspire me to get o the couch. Its surprising how pop culture can teach us about our faith and our insecurities. Now, dont get me wrong, Im not a nd something redemptive that isnt necessarily there in every movie type person. But I think a movie like M. Night Shyamalans The Village reveals a lot about Christians and how we think. If you havent seen the lm (spoiler alert!), its about a group of hippiesall of whom have been wounded by this fallen worldwho decide to create their own compound and cut themselves o from society.
Introduction
Of course, the appeal in this approach is that we can delude ourselves into thinking that if we can just engineer our surroundings the right way, perhaps we can navigate through life without ever being hurt. This mind-set is as incredibly tempting for us as it is for the folks in The Village, until, of course, they need to engage the outside (in this case, for medicine). This sets the stage for a hero to emergeJoaquin Phoenixs charactersomeone willing to cross to the forbidden woods. Someone brave enough to go outside the camp. Arent you just drawn to courage? I feel it when I watch freestyle motocross legend Travis Pastrana attempt something impossible, like a 720 backip o a ridiculously huge ramp at the X Games. My heart pounds, and if he lands it or not, Im proud of him (I think theres common grace in there somewhere!). Pastrana never lets fear, failure, or broken bones stop him. He always believes and always pushes through the pain. Evel Knievel, the grandfather of extreme sports, knew both physical and spiritual pain for most of his life. But at the age of sixty-eight, he stood in front of a church and declared, I wrote in my book that Ive had a life better than any king, president, or prince. Thats hogwash! Because I didnt have Jesus Christ in my life. I had ve Rolls Royces. Ive had ve Ferraris, the Stetsons, the Lamborghinis. Ive had two jet airplanes. I ew one alongside of the other so I could read my name . . . on the side of [it]. . . . Ive had the diamonds and the gold, the racehorses, women, and the booze. I tell you, Ive been a sinner! Youre looking at a real sinner, but not anymore. . . . I just am so happy! This is the biggest step I have ever taken in my life.1 Less than a year later, Evel jumped the gap from earth to heaven. His testimony was a wake-up call to many, but
Introduction
imagine the impact a creative, risk-taking maverick like Evel could have had on the world if hed funneled that passion in the right direction at an earlier age. Katie Davis is one of those young world-shakers. Inspired by Mother Teresa, Katie ventured from Tennessee to Uganda at the age of eighteen to teach at an orphanage for a few months. After the experience, she could never go back to life as usual. The American dream held no grip on her, and she refused to let her fears kidnap her from mothering the numerous impoverished children she had met. She quickly started a child sponsorship program, a feeding program, a nonprot ministry, and has personally adopted more than a dozen children. The crazy thing is she is still in her mid-twenties! Courageous forerunners like Katie not only inspire us, they give us a glimpse of the God-given potential that lies within each of us.
The 13th Floor

Hebrews 13:13 reects imagery we see in The Village: Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. Him in this verse is Christ on the cross, outside the city gate, where animals were sacriced. This suggests that Jesus did much of his work outside his cultures acceptable camps, places where he was at the risk of disgrace. In Let the Nations Be Glad, John Piper writes, Outside the camp means outside the borders of safety and comfort. It is above all a missionary text. Outside the camp are the other sheep that are not of this fold. Outside the camp are the unreached nations. Outside the camp are the places and the people who will be costly to reach and will require no small sacrice.
Introduction
But to this we are called: Let us go and bear the abuse He endured. It is our vocation.2 I nd it ironic that Hebrews 13:13, a frequent commissioning verse for missionaries, contains the same digits as one of the most feared places todaythe 13th oor. Did you know that an estimated 80 percent of high-rise buildings dont have a 13th oor? They skip from the 12th oor to the 14th oor, because people are superstitious and think the number 13 is bad luck. They think the 13th oor is where bad things happen. An unlucky place thats best forgotten. Even outside the United States, the superstition exists. Some airports dont have a 13th baggage carousel, and even some airplanes dont have a 13th row. As Christians, we sometimes do the same thingwe mark places as 13th oors, places we shouldnt go because good Christians dont go there. We pretend they dont exist. I remember when I was a kid there was a guy who came into our Sunday school class and confessed that hed gone to a bar. That was a huge sin for him, I guess. I dont think he identied with the bars culture, but just because he entered that place, he felt he had committed a sin. This book is lled with Hebrews 13:13 storiesoutsidethe-camp stories I have experienced with others following Christ to forgotten places. I want this book to be a compelling motivator and commission for those of us inside the camp to go to the worlds dark, dangerous, and despised places. I want it to be a love letter to those who reside on the outside. As you will nd out, theres nothing especially unique about me. Im just a guy from Nebraska who loves his wife and kids, loves adventure (which I think the Lord has used), and has a heart for people outside the camp.
Introduction
Its my prayer that the pages youre about to read will feel more like a trebuchet (a large catapult), launching some of you from a risk-free lifestyle to a potentially dangerous calling for Christ. Id ask you to buckle up, but the last time I checked, catapults dont have seat beltsso get ready to leave your comfort zone as you embrace a wild ride that could land you anywhere.
Rated R
Im driving around my parents property in rural Nebraska today with Ted, who is helping me write this book. Its where I grew up. I can see the hills I used to ride my dirt bike up and downthe cli my friend fell o of when we were little, and the mounds of dirt I used to jump. I know this land like the proverbial back of my hand, and I love it. I o er Ted an opportunity to ride dirt bikes with me and he declines, probably wisely. His decision reminds me of the danger (no pun intended) in writing a book like this. If Ted had agreed to ride bikes and felt pressured to jump over the same jumps Ive been navigating my entire life, I probably would have ended up showing him the inside of a rural Nebraska hospital emergency room. Whats exciting about a book like this is that it could challenge you to do ministry in some of the darkest, most dangerous and despised places on earth. The terrifying thing is that it could challenge you to do ministry in some of the darkest, most dangerous and despised places on earth. Heres what I mean: 1. A book, and a lifestyle like this, isnt for everybody .I didnt know it was for me until I felt the Holy Spirit calling
Introduction
me to it. That said, be open to the challenges, but dont assume youre called to these places until you sense and conrm the Holy Spirits prompting in your heart. Well talk a lot more about Gods calling as the book unfolds. 2. This book could be rated R because, honestly, theres some graphic stu in it. Ive seen and experienced amazing things as a missionary, but a lot of it wouldnt be t for a Christian movie. Its gritty, because dark, dangerous, and despised places are gritty. If youre under eighteen, make sure you involve your parents in this process. Let them preview the book for you, and let them guide you through the process of deciding to pursue an initiative for Christ. 3. Be passionate in your pursuit of spiritual maturity. This kind of maturity is only gleaned through exposure to biblical preaching, immersion in the Word of God, and prayer. Spiritual maturity will help you to discern whether youre called to a dangerous lifestyle. 4. Get further training. While this book is full of narratives about what God is doing in dark, dangerous, and despised places, most of these trips were conducted after a lot of thought, prayer, and training. We can learn many invaluable lessons from those who have gone before us. The appendixes in the back of the book highlight various mission organizations and training opportunities. I have my own organization called Unusual Soldiers, which trains men and women to go boldly into these hostile and dangerous places. 5. Involve your church. The pastors, elders, and deacons in your local church are called in Scripture to keep watch over you, their ock. Its a solemn and weighty responsibility, and I encourage you to involve them in your decision to pursue missions. Spirit-led followers of Christ have always been involved in my trips, and are involved in my Unusual Soldiers training to this day.
Introduction
A word about how to digest these stories: First and foremost, revel and glory in the goodness of the Lord! Glory in the fact that God is still at work and active in our world. Glory in the fact that the Holy Spirit still speaks and miracles still happen. Thank him for his redeeming work in your life, and in the lives of those you read about on these pages. Also listen for the Holy Spirit, who may be calling you to a specic person or place. This isnt always the case, but it may be! The stories here are told to the best of my memory. I have tried hard not to exaggerate or hyperbolize them. If some descriptions seem a little vague, or if Ive changed the specic names of people and places, its because Im trying to protect the folks who are ministering there. With that, I invite you to dive into Dangerous. Im the type of person who draws inspiration from others. Some of my ideas on where and how to minister have come from movies, artists, extreme-sports athletes, mentors, time with God, and obviously the Bible. I hope and pray that the Lord will use this book to propel your life forward in extraordinary ways!
SECTION 1
In Search of
Unusual Soldiers
Out of every 100 men, 10 should not be there, 80 are nothing but targets, and 9 are the real ghters and we are blessed to have them, for they the battle make. Ah, but one, one of them is a warrior, and he will bring the others home. Heraclitus (500 BC)
If it aint raining, it aint training. Royal Marine Commandos
1
Stranded
leven college kids sit dgeting in a basement meeting room in the world headquarters for Unusual Soldiers. There are camo pants, lots of bandanas, a few backpacks, one Rambo-looking survival knife, and lots of chewing of ngernails. I say world headquarters semi-sarcastically because were located in the middle of nowhere. Franklin, Nebraska. Population, one thousand. Its remote location is probably what inspired the notorious outlaw Jesse James to consider moving here a month before he died. Its the sort of place where men grow up to farm, guzzle beer at a bar called the Black Powder, and debate the relative merits of Ford versus Chevy trucks. Our o ces are in the old Franklin library, a small brick building just o the main drag, downtown. The space says a lot about me. Theres a kayak and survival equipment hanging from the walls. Theres an old fridge full of Mountain Dew and Red Bull. The walls of the bathroom are covered in gra tidrawings and inspirational quotes from movies
In Search of Unusual Soldiers
like Braveheart. In the basement, there is a Gladiator helmet surrounded by motocross helmets to give visitors a nice welcoming stare down. Around the room sit a few discarded couches and the supplies that the nervous-looking students will have the opportunity of taking into the wild with them. Let me explain. A few years ago I started an unusual mission-training program called Stranded for followers of Christ who dare to be radical. It gets them out of meeting rooms and into a wild outdoor environment where theyre challenged with tasks intended to get them to humble themselves, rely on God and on each other. At Stranded, we are not looking to train large crowds, but rather a small core of students who have humble hearts and a desire to risk danger for Christ. In fact, when students arrive, they are greeted with a sign that reads W S T W W Y L . That type of lingo tends to weed people out rather quickly. The bonus is that those who are willing to travel across the country to be a part of this program are usually the ones who really want it. I often refer to them as the dangerous few. Ministering in dark, dangerous, and despised places overseas is not a walk in the park. I remember being stranded in numerous places all over the world, sometimes multiple times in a day. Broken struts, dead batteries, blown transmissions, and being stuck are all parts of a normal day in third world countries. Some excursions require that we stay up day and night to get back to civilization. We get tired, thirsty, and hungry as we force our minds to get creative with the available tools. Jumper cables become towrope. Para cord holds an axle to the frame of your car. Sticks become hammers. Its often treacherous to say the least.
Stranded
All of these potentially painful experiences play a big role in why we founded Stranded. Its better to know what youre made of here in the Nebraska wilderness than to nd out on the other side of the world. This afternoon the students (nine guys and two gals) will sign a lengthy waiver and then Ill abandon them in the middle of several hundred acres of land that has been in my family for decades. It is old school Nebraska countrysidea river, a cli , a cow pasture, and lots of challenges. Theyll be setting up a camp, foraging for food, avoiding wildlife, and witnessing to a ctitious Vulture tribe. The whole thing is either brilliant or completely misguided, depending on which day you ask me. While all this may appear to be a little extreme, lets not forget where the Holy Spirit led Jesus before engaging in public ministry. He lived in the desert without food for forty days. Now, thats extreme. And as if that was not enough, the devil did everything he could to bring Jesus character down. But Jesus never wavered. He refused to let physical needs, power, possessions, and pride rob him of the mission God had placed in front of him. I guess Stranded o ers the one week in the year where I get to play the devils advocate, but Im cheering them on to make the right decisions rather than the wrong ones. Ive asked the students to rank themselves according to their own comfort with risk, 10 being the highest and 1 the lowest. One guythe oldest person in the group at age thirtysixis an adventure guide and team-building specialist. I can tell by his military-grade clothing and survival gear that he is condent and ready, but I am unsure how he will fare in the tests ahead.
One kid, Bradley, gave himself a 1 in terms of his comfort zone with risk. My family used to camp at Lake McConaughy in Nebraska, he says, taking o his hat and glasses. Hes a shy, quiet kind of kid, and his voice cracks as he speaks. One time we brought another family, and there were several people driving up at once. We got there at night and we all made a circle with our cars to shine light on the tents while we were setting up. Finally, we fell asleep, and my friend Dylan decided to set up his tent behind the vehicles, because of an argument we had. Later that night, he says, Dylan, who was sleeping in his tent, was struck by a vehicle. Bradley hasnt been camping since. Im a play-it-safe kind of guy. I have to forgive myself, he says, but its really hard to forget. His presence at Stranded is already one of the most courageous things Ive ever seen. We gather around Bradley, lay our hands on him, and pray. Bradley tells us afterward, I just live with my mom back home, so theres nothing manly about my house. I came here to get out of the house . . . and to experience God. His mom called me a week ago, racked with worry but also proud of her son. Im praying he does well, and that the Lords power is visible in Bradleys weakness. I come alive when I hear the students share their life stories. Not only because I get to discover who they are, but because it gives me a picture of who they can become in Christ. Like many others, some share about painful pasts, but some of the greatest ministries have been birthed out of an individuals deepest pain. I am hoping that by the end of the week their wounds will be turned to weapons for Gods glory. This experience, while its geared to be fun (for a certain type of person, probably), its meant to stretch them so that they
Stranded
learn about themselves, about team dynamics, and about their relationship with God. Ive divided the teams between the Risky (black team) and Non-Risky (yellow team) in order to see how the interpersonal dynamics play out. I try hard not to gear this experience just for the chest-thumping, bring-it-on macho crowd. Sometimes Rambo types dont fare so well in the wild. Sometimes they fare even worse on the mission eld, where reliance on the Holy Spirit always wins over self-reliance. Well see. Ive just nished giving them an hour-long presentation on the dangers of Nebraska wildlife, covering everything from nearby cougar sightings to diseases carried by ticks and mosquitos. Everybody gets two bottles of water, and the teams have been given the chance to select from a list of elements theyd like to take into the wild with them. Both teams choose bug spray. The black team chooses a survival knife and a piece of int, while the yellow team chooses a waterproof Bible and passports (uncooked eggs). Both teams overlook sleeping bags and choose shelter, which comes to them in the form of loose tarps and some rope. However, the black team, in their zest to hit the wild, will forget their tarps on the oor of the basement. With the int, it looks like the black team will have a warmer night of sleep, but choosing to enter the land illegallywithout passportscould crush them emotionally. The passports allow them entry in and out of certain parts of the pasture and are meant to replicate some of the bureaucratic dramas encountered on the mission eld. The passport idea came directly from a situation I faced in Nairobi. I have heard many people call Kenyas capital city Nai-robbery, but I didnt come face-to-face with that
reality until a few years ago. After a trip to Sudan, I decided to stay in Kenya for three days to check up on some of the new churches that had been planted and possibly catch a peek at the wildebeest migration. Well, neither of the two happened. When my translator and I were getting ready to head to the bush, I decided to buy a blanket so I wouldnt spend the whole night shivering. I purchased my blanket and then made my way to our car. While I was putting the blanket into my car I began to panic because I noticed that my wallet was missing. I ran back to the clerk and asked if Id left it on his counter, and he politely said no. Cameras were on him and he seemed trustworthy, but the eighty-yard route from his counter to my car was full of people, and it soon became evident that somebody had snatched my wallet. We talked to security, but they were little help. I had no idea what to do. In less than three minutes I went from being somebody to nobody.
No passport + No drivers license = No identity
I went to a hostel with a computer to Google what I was supposed to do, and discovered I would need to take a police report to the U.S. embassy. So I followed a dirt road to the nearest police station we could nd. I sensed it was a sketchy place right away, especially when the police tried to separate me, the mzungu (the white man), from my translator to get a bribe from me. They were trying to rob someone who had just been robbed! In the nicest Christian way, I cut the conversation short with Forget you, guys! and walked out. After lots of headaches, we nally found a police station with honest employers and led our report for less than one dollar (as compared to the hundred-plus dollars it may have cost us at the other place).
Stranded
While waiting in the embassy, I looked around, wondering if anybody else had a sob story like mine. I began to talk to a Muslim woman from Somalia sitting near me. She said she was now an American citizen and that her husband had secretly married another woman in Somalia, and he was trying to take six of her eight kids back to war-torn Somalia. In that moment, I realized my situation was really nite in comparison. I o ered to pray to Jesus for her, but she quickly responded, No, Allah. I told her I was a Christian and that I could only pray to Jesus, which was met by a smile that expressed her gratitude. This short interaction with this woman was well worth my three days of frustration, and way more rewarding than seeing a wildebeest migration. Dave Engbrecht, a friend of mine, has said, Sometimes interruptions are Gods appointments. And in this case it was true, but I must say, being passportless is one of the most stressful scenarios a traveler can encounter. While I cant re-create that for my Stranded students, Ill do my best to shake things up a bit for those who chose not to bring their passports. My border guard tonight is a transplanted middle-aged Brooklynite named Tommy, who is as out of place in rural Nebraska as you can imagine. His loud voice is perfect for harassing passportless students. And without passports (the raw eggs), all they will be able to do for the next three days is stand outside a fence, unless, that is, they decide to somehow get inside illegally. Soon the students pile into the back of my pickup, and we traverse the dusty dirt roads that lead to the propertythe property where I learned to hike, hunt, race dirt bikes, and have all the adventures of a child. Ive been all over the world,
but its still one of my favorite places. The students are quiet. Nervous. Taking in their surroundings. I stop and blindfold them to make regrouping even more of a challenge. I decide to drop the students o in pairs at staggered intervals along the south edge of the property. Their task is to nd the cli and congregate there, where theyll eventually try to pool their resources and set up camp for the night. Its where theyll eat (if theyre lucky) and sleep (if theyre really lucky) and try to avoid freezing. Its warm now, but temps can plummet at night on a Nebraska pasture. After the sun goes down, I grab a few of the more cautiousminded students and give them the opportunity to face o with fear. The Vulture tribe demands that a couple students must pass through a rite of passage if their team is going to interact with their tribe. I gear them up in motocross gear and take them on a night hike to the creature pit, which is actually a random storm cellar out on the prairie. Its dank, dark, and disgusting down there. Perfect for a challenge. And its the home to some of Nebraskas ercest-looking wildlife. The mission is simple: Go down there, name the creatures, and get out ASAP. Every year I wonder if I am pushing the limits too far, but so far there have been no casualties. The reward? Nothing more than permission to meet the tribe and a personal story of bravery.
Stranded nights are sleepless nights for me because, truth be told, Im thinking about, praying for, and worrying about how my students are making it out there. I often drive out a couple times during the night to check on them, though I do it from afar. And I usually have someoneusually a volunteer, if not myselfsleeping close by in the eld.
Stranded
I hop on a quad bike in the morning and drive out to the campsite for a morning debrief. When I nd the students, they are wrapped in the plastic tarps, lying by a decent re. Theyve gathered a lot of good wood, but it is still a cold night. Two of the tougher guys are practically spooning each other to stay warm. When youre in a cold, scary situation, ego tends to fall by the wayside. You guys are lucky, I tell them. It poured down rain here the previous two years. The farmers are praying for rain, so theyre praying against you. Bradley, our non-camper, reports that he slept like a baby, and Im glad. Its proof that hes trusting Godand trusting the group. The group also encountered rebels (my friends James and Kasey with paintball guns) in the night. The rebels were menacing and wanted to know why they were there. I told them we were there to share the gospel, says Dan, the thirty-six-year-old, who has become the groups de facto leader. No reason not to tell the truth. While the rest of the students hid in the weeds, the rebels told Dan there would be consequences if they tried to evangelize the Vultures. I ask the students if they witnessed any instances of selfsacrice during the night. Cassie lent me her coat, says Greg, a tough-guy type in cuto shirtsleeves. It was cool that Dan claimed to be the leader and stepped up to talk to the rebel group, says another. And it was great that Hunter volunteered to go down into the creature pit. I was terried, says Hunter, who was close to going into military service a year ago. I just wanted to get it over with. I was secretly impressed with the way Hunter humbly confronted his fears the night before.
I give the students a primer on what to expect when they meet the Vulture tribe that evening. To the Vultures, water is sacred. They worship their ancestors and the spirit of the Vulture. They dont speak English. And theyve never been reached. The students split into teams to plan their strategies, standing with a marker and a piece of white cardstock, beneath trees. Both teams agree to respect the water and try not to make contact with it as they approach Vulture Island. One team suggests bringing a gift of bottled water. They both discuss the idea of talking about Christ as the Living Water and how if you know Jesus, youll never thirst. One girl suggests dedicating a team member to constant prayer. I think its a good idea.
Before ministering, the teams have a chance to win back their passports (eggs). They could have been playing for food, but because the black team chose to enter the country illegally, they are now paying the price. Its been twenty hours since anybody has eaten, so emotions are starting to come out. The challenge: Using only six discarded barrels and four planks of wood, they have to get from one side of a small pond to the other without touching the water in one hour or less. Dan immediately takes charge, stripping down to his swim trunks, and begins to fashion a boat out of the supplies. Some of the more reective students just stand and study the water. What I dont reveal is that Ive never actually done this myself. Im not sure it can be done, but either way, the team building will be valuable and show the character and personalities
Stranded
of the students. As expected, the black team charges ahead, mostly failing, and soon a few of them are covered in water and mud. The yellow team is a little paralyzed by indecision. Truthfully, Id like to help the black team nd a new leader to see what happens when Dan is out of the picture. His age has made him the default leader, while the others seem to hide under his shadow. But after about forty-ve minutes, Dan has come up with a triangular boat design that works, and soon he and his teammates are rowing across the little pond. Theres no way theyll make it, I say to a friend. They make it. Hello passports. During a nal debrieng moment with the team, quietvoiced Jon says, I really learned about facing fear with faith. We were put through di erent mock scenarios that were really quite intimidating. Being hungry, tired, wet, and cold were di cult, but even more di cult were the questions: What do you do when rebels catch some of your team and tell the others hiding to come out or they will start shooting? How do you take Christ to a tribe that may be hostile toward you? What do you do when the chief of the tribe tells you that their tribe is forbidden to embrace outside religions? When rebels sneak into your camp at night and quietly take you hostage without shoes, do you yell and wake up your camp, risking their lives, or go quietly, knowing they may torture and kill you? I can tell Jons a deep thinker. He closes by saying, These were just some of the scenarios that we were faced with. I learned that there can be great value in discussing these kinds of scenarios with your team ahead of time. However, perhaps there is not always a black and white answer, or maybe a scenario you didnt plan on comes up. There is a
great necessity to be in tune with the Holy Spirit and follow him in faith rather than follow fear. The team was getting it. They were seeing a direct correlation between being bold for Christ and depending on the Holy Spirit.
Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the L Almighty. Zechariah 4:6

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DANGEROUS

ENGAGING THE PEOPLE AND PLACES NO ONE ELSE WILL

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to ones courage. Anais Nin

The 13th Floor

If it aint raining, it aint training. Royal Marine Commandos

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