This past weekend, ten young men orienteered the hills and hollers of Oklahoma, lived in shelters constructed by their own hands from their natural surroundings, foraged and fished for food, started and cooked over fires made with primitive tools, and learned how to mitigate and thrive balancing the stress, anxiety, and hopelessness of surviving for two nights absent modern day conveniences and comforts.
Why incorporate a survival weekend as part of a Christian discipleship ministry?
- This survival weekend is a microcosm of life.
- What was required of them sounds a lot like living in the real world:
- Build a home.
- Cook food.
- Provision food.
- Purify water.
- Ensure safety.
- Find comfort and strength in the Lord through prayer and His Word.
- What was required of them sounds a lot like living in the real world:
- This survival weekend had risk.
- Each potential danger was weighed and balanced by a holistic risk mitigation plan:
- Fall injury.
- Dehydration.
- Food and water contamination.
- Snake bites.
- Spider bites.
- Ticks and mosquitos.
- Heat-related illness.
- Storm-related injuries.
- Each potential danger was weighed and balanced by a holistic risk mitigation plan:
- This survival weekend created distinctions with an opportunity for advancement as skills were proficiently employed.
- Throughout the weekend, GAP students were tested on skills, content, and Bible taught them over nine months.
- We all know the Christian life isn’t a competition among Christians; however, Paul instructs Timothy (and all Christians) to be workers who are not ashamed…an athlete who competes according to the rules (2 Timothy 2).
- Following the guidelines, some excelled this weekend and embraced a spirit of survival. As a result, their experience was quite different and better.
- Life has many roads to traverse, and those who walk in the way of the Lord–though faced with difficulties–press on because of their dependence upon Him and their obedience to His way.
- Throughout the weekend, GAP students were tested on skills, content, and Bible taught them over nine months.
I could not be more proud of these men who all rose to the occasion and, in a sense, learned to press on despite the discomfort, pain, fear, and the unknown. As young men, they did more than survive; they learned how to thrive in the face of a challenge.
This is part of the GAP ministry because it is a small part of equipping young men and women for true success.
“I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.”
Ezekiel 22:30
