Last week was GoWeek! We had 17 Goers and 1 new GoCorps staff who went through the training that we do twice a year to equip Goers to raise their funding, communicate with their partners and get orientated to some scriptures and stories that will prepare them to persevere and thrive as a Goer. The Goers arrived on Sunday (May 24), and we ended yesterday evening (Thu) with a prayer commissioning time, and then a dance party!

In 2010, we hosted our first GoWeek for our first class of Goers - 6 students going to 3 different countries with three different sending partners. This week was our 27th (!) GoWeek! For the last several years, we’ve hosted GoWeeks at a camp in Southeast Minnesota, and our staff team each year tweaks the schedule a bit, and tries a new thing or two, and then the Goers arrive, and usually quickly bond with one another, and they dive whole heartedly into the content of the week. This week has been no different.  

"It’s been an amazing week. I came into this week committee to ‘my mission.’ But I’m leaving the week committed to all of God’s missions!"

"It’s been an amazing week. I came into this week committee to ‘my mission.’ But I’m leaving the week committed to all of God’s missions!" This is what Mark, a recent grad with an education degree from Washington State told me last night after the commissioning. He’s heading to a closed country in Asia to each high school literature for the next 2 years.  He’s the son of parents who both immigrated to the US, and while seeing their son’s first job be all the way over in China wasn’t their first choice, but as they see how committed and excited their son is, they’re slowly accepting it.

I asked the mission rep of the org he is going to be serving with for her thoughts on Mark’s role in tithing his career in Asia and this is what she said, "Mark’s heart for the nations is so evident. There is no doubt his compassionate heart will be a blessing not only to the students he will be teaching, but to the community he will be joining. He is intentional, passionate, and God-centered. He is mature beyond his years, and we are looking forward to hearing stories of how God is using Mark as a conduit for transformation in the lives of those he connects with in his new country and community."

This is just one of the 17 Goers from this GoWeek.  What fun to partner with God in this work!

Overall, this GoWeek was special because…

>> This class of Goers seems to be the first ‘post COVID’ class.  All year, our staff team sensed more readiness and optimism than the last years since COVID.
>> This group of Goers insta-bonded in a special way!  They had so much fun with each other and were quick to pray all week.
>> Our on-site staff team was only 4 people this year, but they rocked it!

The Funnel to GoWeek

GoWeek is a reminder for all of us as to why we do what we do. As a mobilization organization, each year we are working with a funnel: lots of people need to start at the top of the funnel in the beginning, and then our staff and our sending org partners work to help find the Goers as they go down the funnel. At GoWeek, it’s the bottom of the funnel of the last year of thousands of prospects and coaching conversations, hundreds of questions and emails, and lots of prayer. You are a crucial part to each section of the funnel!

And the Goers at GoWeek are the nuggets that you have been investing and praying for. This is the first half of the fruit from the funnel of the last year!