Explore, Experience, Share
Steve and I were off again on another legendary adventure. We arrived at the airport at 4:30 a.m. for a 5:20 flight. We were headed to a tennis club, but we didn’t have any tennis racquets. We did not bring paper boarding passes because we had the American Airlines App newly installed on our smartphones. We hoped we were smart enough to use them. We tried to board the airplane that had faulty landing gear and were turned around. Other than that, what could go wrong?
We arrived seven hours late, just after the end of the first session at the John Newcombe Tennis Ranch in New Braunfels, Texas. We were greeted by a team of five Cru leaders from Colorado and encouraged to get a good night’s rest. The meeting would begin promptly at 8:30 a.m. the following day. We were at the Facilitator Guide School, presented by Lifelines Outdoors, a network of Cru.
As advertised, we started at 8:30 Central Time, 2 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time, but who is bound by time? Steve and I took seats 18 and 19, curiously positioned across from each other at the two ends of a giant “U” of tables. Facilitator Guide School (FGS) ran Monday afternoon through Friday. It was a full schedule every day from 8:30 a.m. until 8:30/9:00 in the evening with breaks for lunch and dinner. Friday was a half day when we would present our activities for the “final,” and then have wind-down events because, duh, we all earned them.
FGS is training for experiential learning. Some of the participants in the group were Lifelines Team Leaders like our own Sam and Maddie Lampe. Aside from Steve and I representing the age of advanced experience, most FGS attendees were twenty-something Cru Team Leaders in their own states—Pennsylvania, Maine, Massachusetts, and Colorado.
Experiential learning, as we came to understand, is activity-based learning-by-doing. We were introduced to and participated in, one activity after another over the week. Using the vehicle of experiential learning we collected tools to facilitate people under varying circumstances:
A facilitator is one who helps others process life, making connections from situations and experiences to the rest of life. A facilitator helps others grow and develop through reflection. -Facilitator Guidebook
Our Foundry Church youth group had the opportunity to do an activity with Sam Lampe last year. Sam employed the classic Lifelines “Grid” activity that calls forth the operation of Grace and Truth in our lives. With the aid of two rope rafting rescue lines crossed on the floor in Fellowship Hall, Sam led the youth through some ridiculous and crazy candy-eating, nerf ball throwing, and jack-jumping activities. Then from the heights of youth outrageousness, they went to the polar opposite of thoughtful probing reflection of their lives. He asked them about their relationships with friends, with family, and with God.
FGS was a ton of fun and games, but so much more. We learned about developing and maintaining healthy groups through the establishment of norms. Norms establish group guidelines and goals. Together with a facilitator, a group reviews the norms regularly to keep the group on track. We learned to develop good questions that drive a discussion towards a point. I loved the wheel of progression they used as a framework for developing questions:
What: What happened? What were the results?
So What: What do these results imply?
Now What: What will I do differently next time?
Do it.
(Facilitator Guidebook)
Did we get amnesia and forget we are in our sixties? Are we trying to recapture our youth by becoming Lifelines Team Leaders? No. Do we want to be just like Sam and Maddie Lampe? Kind of. We had tasted some of the skills Sam and Maddie use in their ministry and found that they were good. Sam told us about FGS, and following the Holy Spirit’s kick in the backside, we signed up and made arrangements to go. We are glad we did, and by faith we know God will use the experience to His good pleasure.
We were plenty tired when we arrived home with our suitcases full of dirty clothes and our hearts full to overflowing with love, encouragement, grace, and truth from the FGS group. We have a whole new level of appreciation for our missionaries, Sam and Maddie Lampe, and the work they do in Central Oregon and the Pacific Northwest for Lifelines Outdoors.
Sam is a senior backcountry guide, senior raft guide, and backcountry guide instructor. Maddie is certified as a wilderness first responder. The Lampes did their stint at FGS in 2018. Outdoor activities are just one small piece of what they do with Lifelines, but the adventures they lead bring lasting impact. A recent attendee to a snow camping weekend said she deeply learned about God. Rafting, rock climbing, and other wilderness experiences will reach some that no coffee shop Bible study format can touch.
Some of you may have participated in the Cojourners class the Lampes facilitated last year. Through the six-week offering, they shared how they intentionally place themselves on the front lines with college students. Like elsewhere, that giant chasm yawns between Jesus' disciples and those who have never met Jesus. They are always on the lookout for people who need to find the bridge.
We are all called to be ambassadors for Jesus. That looks different for all of us. The Lampe family is reaching out to college students. If you’d like to stand with them, or learn more about what they do, give them a warm “hello” and invite them to coffee. You can view their page on the Cru website https://give.cru.org/0968926.
Facilitator Guide School 2024 was a doozy. I wish you were there.