Years ago I was part of an intense 10 missionary, leadership, discipleship program known as 24/7 out of New Life Church in Colorado. At the time Ted Haggard was the head pastor there. There was a 10 day part to this program known specifically as "missions training". It involved a series of fake scenarios to test your faith that starts out with getting kidnapped in the middle of the night.
Throughout the training we had met pretend contacts in pretend countries to try and simulate what it would be like. We ended up being pretend kidnapped for preaching the gospel in a foreign country. I want to say the word torture but I think that's a bit harsh. We didn't get our teeth pulled out with a rusty spoon but we were sleep deprived to no end. By the end of this charade each one of us were pulled from a basement, sat in a chair, and asked to deny Christ. If you refused to deny there was a gun shot and then as amazing grace was being sang your obituary was read.
I could go on about how crazy that entire program was but one thing has stuck with me after all these years. During the missions training we had to carry around these sheep while climbing up mountains. These sheep stuck with us for several days and were not cared for in the slightest bit. A plastic bag was tied around one of the sheeps butts because it was sick. By the end of it the sheep had to be carried completely because they were exhausted. It didn't feel right and it didn't look right.
Once we got to the top of the mountain we simulated that the sheep were given to us as an offering to eat. As groups we all took part in killing and cooking the sheep. It was different for me because I had never witnessed an animal being slaughtered alive before. That could very well be why this bothered me so much but I have a thing for animals and I believe that they didn't need to die that day. Year after year they do this practice and I like to hear some thoughts on whether this is an ok form of using farm animals. In my trips to three different countries we never had to kill a single animal. So I can't help but feel as though that bit of training is unnecessary and borderline cruel. I hope this isn't too long I've never really posted to a forum before.
Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.
Cheers.[/size]
Throughout the training we had met pretend contacts in pretend countries to try and simulate what it would be like. We ended up being pretend kidnapped for preaching the gospel in a foreign country. I want to say the word torture but I think that's a bit harsh. We didn't get our teeth pulled out with a rusty spoon but we were sleep deprived to no end. By the end of this charade each one of us were pulled from a basement, sat in a chair, and asked to deny Christ. If you refused to deny there was a gun shot and then as amazing grace was being sang your obituary was read.
I could go on about how crazy that entire program was but one thing has stuck with me after all these years. During the missions training we had to carry around these sheep while climbing up mountains. These sheep stuck with us for several days and were not cared for in the slightest bit. A plastic bag was tied around one of the sheeps butts because it was sick. By the end of it the sheep had to be carried completely because they were exhausted. It didn't feel right and it didn't look right.
Once we got to the top of the mountain we simulated that the sheep were given to us as an offering to eat. As groups we all took part in killing and cooking the sheep. It was different for me because I had never witnessed an animal being slaughtered alive before. That could very well be why this bothered me so much but I have a thing for animals and I believe that they didn't need to die that day. Year after year they do this practice and I like to hear some thoughts on whether this is an ok form of using farm animals. In my trips to three different countries we never had to kill a single animal. So I can't help but feel as though that bit of training is unnecessary and borderline cruel. I hope this isn't too long I've never really posted to a forum before.
Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.
Cheers.[/size]
