When the term “Boot Camp” is used, certain expectations go through a person’s head. Whether it is through one’s firsthand experience, other’s recollections, or depictions in cinema, boot camps are understood to have certain elements, which train and test one’s abilities.
A fresh-faced 18-year-old steps off the bus, surrounded by a flurry of activity. Tossing down her gear, she looks around with fearful anticipation. The nervous worms that were present while riding on the bus have now gone through metamorphosis and are fluttering about frantically. She reminds herself that she “can do this,” straightens her posture, gathering all of the self-confidence she can, and waits.
The Church Multiplication Network (CMN) hosts events around the nation; the Network calls these events Boot Camps. The purpose of these camps is for the training-up of church planters. Church planters are people who believe God has called them to start a new church/ministry in a certain area. Answering the call, these men and women arrive at the camp with nervous anticipation; many have no idea just what they have signed up for.
Still taking it all in, the young recruit’s attention is arrested by the sound of bellowing voices “welcoming” the young soldiers to the camp. Needless to say, the introduction is overwhelming and the potential for one loosing that initial, driving excitement is high. “Can I do this?” “What was I thinking?” “Everyone else seems so excited, and I feel sick!” Clustered now into groups, the recruit is forced to form immediate alliances based on proximity.
The CMN Boot Camp, is led by seasoned church planters; individuals who have “seen real action in the field,” and are desiring to train up new planters. The future planters are arranged into small groups – groups in which they will remain for the entirety of the camp – and assigned a “coach.” This camp will be a one-week intensive look into the life of church planting, the life of the community to be planted, and into the life of the planter.
“Information overload is the only way to explain the situation” is how the young recruit begins her first letter home. “I feel like they have ripped open the top of my head and just began to pour stuff in frantically…don’t they see how much fell out in the process?” The drill sergeants have managed to strip the recruits of many of their preconceived ideas about the life they have chosen, and about themselves. Now it is time to train them into the soldiers they were meant to be; they need to be.
Looking around the room at the CMN camp, varying levels of emotion were constantly on display. Some still showed levels of naive excitement, while others held confused, almost scared looks in their eyes. Most of the campers now realize the severity of the situation, and their own personal deficits. Through various methods/activities, the coaches and facilitators begin the process of training and equipping these men and women into the planters/pastors/missionaries they need to be.
Leaving Boot Camp is a flurry of emotions for the young recruit. Looking back, she remembers the butterflies as she stood outside the bus that first day. She remembers the various ways in which her leaders unearthed her weaknesses, and laid bare her insecurities. These vulnerabilities ripped open, her sergeants then poured a fresh foundation, a solid foundation, a foundation broad enough to build upon. She understands the importance of personal ability, but now, even more, the importance of team ability is at the forefront. She, on one hand is ready to leave, but on the other hand will carry the experience with her forever; forever will she continue to build upon that well laid foundation.
As stated, there are many expectations associated with the term boot camp. The Church Multiplication Network Boot Camp does not require combat boots or the ability to lob an explosive pineapple, but those really are not the main goals of a boot camp. The CMN camps, like the camps of the Armed Forces, effectively drill to the core of the individual, begin to extract the God given abilities within, and teach the individual the ways in which those resources can be used for the benefit of the mission. That said, the term boot camp is appropriate.
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