For Wonder Voyage 2005 was a year much like 2010. The year was a chance to look back upon five years of growth, change and increasing definition. Up to 2005, we had created over fifty events and worked with over fifty different churches. We had taken 1400 participants on our trips, retreats and Expozure adventure weekends. The five-year-mark and increasing events certainly boosted our confidence. Making it to five years as a specialized Christian nonprofit as unique as Wonder Voyage held significance and reinforced the legitimacy and purpose of God’s call on Shawn and the others who had formed the organization. However, Wonder Voyage was starting to grow larger than Shawn dreamed. More trips meant the necessity of more staff, more volunteers, more personalities, more management, more training; all amounting to potential changes to the culture of the organization.
But Wonder Voyage’s success forced us to face a choice. We could either stay on cruise control, not allowing ourselves to expand outward by keeping the same number of people remaining in the same roles. We could have coasted, kept our client base, and remained comfortable; or submit ourselves to the challenge we felt God was leading us in to with no guarantee of growth. Shawn could see the possibility for new adventures and opportunities was there, but not without uncertainty and a fair amount of risk.
Being an organization centered around unknown destinations and adventure on the horizon, Wonder Voyage embraced change the best they could. We developed forty new Encounters, as opposed to staying stagnant with what was working. We branched out to several new denominations, leading the first of many “Journey to Adulthood” pilgrimages, a common youth program in hundreds of churches. Shawn began the lengthy and energy-consuming process of publishing The Via Crucis. We continued our experimentation with different events through monastic retreats called Sanctuary. Though we eventually stopped hosting Sanctuary, we were able to delve further into our Christian roots. Wonder Voyage coordinated post Katrina relief in Dallas, partnering with Dallas churches and the Salvation Army to minister to displaced families housed in Reunion Arena. In 2005, we also put on a record number of Expozure events, many of them marked by a surge in creativity.
The change and experimentation of 2005 caused growth pains. Wonder Voyage had to do things differently than before. There were many failures, moments of frustration, realignment of priorities, and dead ends. But 2005 laid the groundwork for what we have now, a thriving organization still willing to follow Christ wherever he leads us.
Here in 2011, it feels a bit similar to six years ago. We are traveling down unfamiliar roads this year. We are committed to submitting ourselves to God. Like 2005, we have added some new staff, branched out in fresh directions and we are diving in to new opportunities as God presents them to us. Things will be different and better but we do not know exactly how it will look. Our definition of pilgrimage is still what it became in 2005: “Pilgrimage is not about a destination as much as transformation of the heart.” God has called us to minister to the Body of Christ and the world in this unique and exciting way. Wonder Voyage stands poised to change in whatever way God wants us to. We look forward to what is happening in our hearts.
Mike Flickinger has been leading Wonder Voyage trips for four years and works full-time as Shawn’s administrative assistant. He has been commissioned to write this series of articles documenting the history of our organization. This articles covers 2005, the sixth year of Wonder Voyage.
Am so grateful for all the adventure, learning experiences and insight I have gained since my time as a pilgrim with Wonder Voyage. It has continued every year since as I read each of the letters others have they posted about their journey. I enjoy praying for the groups and knowing that we are all connected by the call to pilgrimage, to service and to know God in a more intimate way.
Thank you for sharing your passion, knowledge, and your unique style of doing mission trips. Praying that 2011 will be even more amazing!
Ahhhh, the thrill of flying by the seat of our pants in God’s grand adventure that He has laid out for our lives. I love the road less traveled, the narrow path, the one with high challenges that reward us with high adventure. WV has only just begun to unfold the wonders of it’s future. Love what you have done over the past 10 years as well as what you will continue to do, t:)
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