Parent Launch Weekend

Earlier this summer the Racers were given a chance to invite parents to Launch Weekend.

This is the weekend all the Racers descend on Atlanta, take over a hotel, and have more training before taking off for their respective countries.

Not all Racers invite their parents. There are a variety of reasons.
1. The parents dont support the racers call to missions.
2. The parents arent christians and dont want to be a part of launch weekend.
3. The racer doesnt want them there.

Im so thankful Amber invited us to join her for the weekend.
The parents stayed in a separate hotel, several blocks from the racer hotel.

AIM packed the weekend full of parent seminars and information.

One lady stood out to me.
She sent a child many years ago on the race. She shared that at first she yearned for information/contact from her racer. She searched her phone and facebook and the blogs every day for a word from him.  It wasnt until she finally let go of knowing all the 'details', that she finally appreciated that the race is more than a just a missionary trip. This is about the kids finding what they believe, not just standing on what the parents believe. This is about growing as a person, a christian. Dealing with faults, failures. Questioning motives. SO much more than a missionary trip.

They also stressed that we need to let our racers go. Dont force contact while they are gone. Dont pressure them to skype home.  They will do it when they are ready.

Saturday night we (parents) joined the kids and had an amazing praise and worship service. Its so inspiring to see young kids worship the Lord!!

Sunday our seminars included alumni racers talking about their experiences, a short presentation by Seth Barnes, founder of AIM, and a question and answer session about the parent participation week they will offer around month 8.