R a i s i n g C a n e y . c o m

So, as most of you know, Tasha and I are members of Chi Alpha. Chi Alpha is one of the campus ministries here at Louisiana Tech. The body of believers in Chi Alpha varies greatly as far as the background denominations of its members. The organization itself though, is sponsored by the Assembly of God (AG) church. AG hosts the World Missions Summit (WMS) every 3 years.  At WMS, Missionaries from all over the world come together to recruit, train, educate, inspire, and minister to (primarily) college students interested in being missionaries (long term, short term, etc.).

Over New Years holiday I had the opportunity to go to Cincinnati, Ohio  for WMS with a group of people who are in Chi Alpha with us.  Unfortunately, Tasha could not come, as her doctors advised her not to do any extended traveling as long rides and such can cause blood clots in her legs (and would be uncomfortable in general).  Soooo, Tasha and I spent our first married New Years apart …  The bus ride was about 13-14 hours I think, and I slept probably 12 of those hours.

There were big praise/worship and informational services and skits throughout the WMS.  In between these services we had breakout sessions and meals.  The breakout sessions were AMAZING.  The most popular one was probably the Eurasia Experience.

The Eurasia Experience is a tour of a fake “country” called Eurasia (referencing the geographic region, of course). Each visitor is issued a fake “passport.”  As we waited in line, customs workers came and separated us having men stand on one side and “women and the unclean” on the other.  Also, we were required to remove our shoes.  We were warned not to have any religious materials for distribution and that in Eurasia cameras and videos were not allowed.  As we waited to enter, the customs agents came through interrogating people about their religious materials and “arresting” people who had materials for distribution.  You enter the room, and men are issued a traditional ethnic hat from various Eurasian cultures.  The women are given scarf head-coverings.  You begin by walking through a “bazaar” where vendors are shoving “fresh meat” in your face.  The skinned goat’s head reeked, but it looked…plastic.  I touched it thinking it was fake.  It was real…and gross.  There were people “pickpocketing,” and there were so many people that you couldn’t tell who was doing it.  There were people selling women into prostitution/etc.  Then you get to a big room where we all sit on the floors.

People who are arrested are placed in a guarded mock jail-cell to the edge, but when everyone is seated the show begins.  There’s a man dressed in religious Hindu attire who dances through the crowd placing a red dot on the forehead of the women.  There’s a Buddhist who goes through the crowd performing a religious ceremony.  There’s an Orthodox Jew who goes through doing a ceremony. There’re Muslims on the center stage praying toward Mecca on mats.  Then, person after person comes through describing the violence, aggression, persecution (reasons NOT to go into missions) and finally, the breakthroughs (the reasons WHY to go into missions) that they experienced in different cultures or parts of the world.  These people are making a huge difference in the Kingdom of God, reaching people who would never have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, were it not for their selfless sacrifice.  It was…amazing.  The reason why cameras weren’t allowed was really “for security purposes.”  Some of the missionaries are in closed countries, places where they would be kicked out if discovered to be missionaries.  Even more unsettling, in some of these nations, missionaries can be arrested and ultimately executed.

It was…an amazing experience.  Also, we got to keep the hats!

This is only the beginning of the amazing things God did during this trip, but I’ll save that for the next post.

-Cy