By 2005, Wonder Voyage had a formula that worked: personalized journeys that allowed participants to explore unique destinations, serve the local community, and encounter God in a real way.
2006 was our most impressive year yet, with a growing number of trips, directors and new locations. We were set to lead 560 pilgrims on nineteen trips to thirteen different destinations, host ten Expozure camps with 420 kids, and four Sanctuary retreat weekends. But one of our first trips that year best demonstrates a profound shift in Wonder Voyage’s trajectory.
We were back in New Orleans with a team from Point View Baptist Church (Combine, TX) that first worked with us in 2005. The team from Point View is, without a doubt, one of the hardest-working teams that we’ve ever taken out. They happened to also be one of our most challenging clients.
Shawn and his staff felt like the Wonder Voyage formula worked and they eagerly tried press Point View into that mold. But their crew preferred physical labor to exploration. To hear a story or spend precious minutes on a spiritual exercise was a waste of time and mission. Point View’s seeming lack of interest in encounter moments or even prayer frustrated Shawn and the team. We were forced to ask ourselves: does our formula work as well as we think it does? What do we have to do differently? We decided to accept full responsibility for our difficulties with Point View and to change our approach.
In spite of the tension between the Wonder Voyage staff and the Point View leadership the year before, they decided to take another trip with us to New Orleans in 2006. But this time it was much different. We let them work. They labored from early in the morning, before the New Orleans heat would become too oppressive, and well into the afternoon, until they were completely exhausted. We didn’t try to fit them into our schedule: we let them serve and did our best to add our “formula” when the time seemed right.
Putting the team first, we allowed the Holy Spirit to take over. And it was one of our best trips ever. We were able to do some exploration and encounter. Those moments went so well, in fact, that the pastor leading the Point View team, Mike, told Shawn: “I finally get it. I understand why encounter and exploration is as important as the mission.”
Our big milestone in 2006 was that we began to see ourselves as servants before we saw ourselves as experts. We realized that if what we did was real, genuine, and a calling from God instead of just a good idea, than we had to meet our clients where they were and not try to cram them into our mold.
It made all the difference and it continues to make all the difference.
On any given summer, we guide pilgrims with varying cultures, theologies, socio-economic statuses, and shaping experiences. We can do nothing but try to speak the common language of the love of Christ. It is the same language we try to speak in whatever place we find ourselves. We’ve learned that when we allow ourselves to become servants, we encounter Christ and better love those we lead on our journeys.
Mike Flickinger has been leading Wonder Voyage trips for years and works full-time as Shawn’s administrative assistant. He has been commissioned to write this series of articles to document the history of our organization. This articles covers the Wonder Voyage year of 2006.
Pastor Mike Working Hard (2006)
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