Dearest Leaders,

As I'm thinking about you tonight, God keeps bringing to mind the one point that has made things so much better for me on every trip I've ever led. The word is "unity". Up til this point, Ben and I have been talking to you through this blog about taking care of yourselves, spending time with the Lord, leading beyond survival and toward lifelong change. Great stuff. Now, I want to give you something that is an additional tool for you to use on the field, one that will help take some very unnecessary stress off your plate from the very beginning. The tool is this: training your team towards unity.

That's a strange concept, eh? "Training" a team towards unity? Aren't we supposed to already have that? As Christians, aren't we supposed to be all about it? The answer is simple: God desires for us to have it. We fight it. We let everything from pride, self-centeredness, and even business get in the way of our unity. There's nothing like basking in the Kenyan dirt in a full day of awesome ministry, seeing the local people hit their faces in tears at the presence of God in their lives, and then coming back to your base to two of your team members going off on each other because of a sarcastic comment one let slip.

Over the years, I've heard many comments from different leaders that sound like this: "Unity is not possible with such a big team". "Unity is not the focus, ministry is". "People are all different and there is no way that everyone is going to get along all the time." I rebuke all of those thoughts in the name of Jesus!!! Unity has always been one of the biggest strong points of my teams for one reason: because we continually asked God to make it so. We continually cried out to Him for unity and community among us. We prayed long before our trip ever started for it. We made it a priority, not the thought that "oh, if it happens, great". We mess up. And then we repent and start over. We hug a lot. We do encouragement circles, a lot.

You will hear much more about this at training camp. We'll give you dozens of different scenarios and let you see how unity played itself out in those teams. We'll give you dozens of tools that you can use on the field to encourage unity. We'll do team builders galore at training camp, and then you do even more on the field! I'm not saying that having unity is easy. It's not. It's work. The point is: start NOW asking God to build unity in your team. Get the kids to begin praying to that end. Last year in Swaziland, I had the most diverse team I have ever led in my life. 16 people all from extremely different walks of life. The only thing we had in common was Jesus! We didn't always understand each other, but we stood up for each other. We worked it. We prayed. HARD. And today, that team continues to pray for each other, email, and lift each other up.  

I've copied a letter below that I always send out to my teams. I would have written a more hip 2007 version, but it's really late and I need to go visit with my mom and dad for the one full day I am with them here in Ms! I want to ask you to read the letter, and either copy and paste it and send it to your teams, or write your own version of it. This is training our teams for unity. This is the body of Christ. The letter is written very simply-remember, some of our kids are 15:), but the ones who've read it have always gotten the point.

My prayer for you this summer is that your team will be unified.

Love Alli

Dear Team,

As you are reading this letter, you are getting prepared for the journey of a lifetime! How are you all feeling about that? Excited? A little nervous? Stressed about all that you have to get done before you leave? Thinking about leaving home for more than just a week or two? Pumped to see the Lord use you in ways you never dreamed possible? Maybe a little of all of that! Well, this letter will hopefully help you to feel more prepared. It will also lay out some of the expectations that AIM and your leaders have for you as a team.

This letter is fondly entitled "The Unity Letter". This is the singularly most important letter you will get from us. Please read it carefully, as it will greatly affect the outcome of our time together.

"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." -
 Ephesians 4:1-3

"Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers." - Ephesians 4:29

Many of you have gone on mission trips before, or gone to college. You have lived in communion with other people for some time. We all grew up in families, whether large or small. But how many of you have lived twenty-four hours a day with people for seventy to ninety straight days? When I say "lived", I mean ate with them, slept next to them, used the bathroom next to them, everything! LIVED! This mission trip is not the place to come to SPEND TIME ALONE! You will be with people 24/7, and your patience will be tested in ways you never imagined! You will have one hour a day for your personal quiet time with God, but even that will often be done with one of your teammates sitting near you. You will often be sleeping together in one room, and will spend countless hours together in the van. Are you ready?

Team, if we are not unified, we might as well just stay at home. People will be able to tell in one instant if there is division on our team, if there is quarreling, disagreement, if there is anything but pure love. On one of my summer trips to Jamaica, our team had many people speak negatively against us. We consisted of twelve girls, and people said, "Oh, there will sure be cat-fights on that team!" and "Man, I'm glad I'M not on a 12-girl team!" But my team did not allow Satan to get a foothold, and begin praying for unity before we left for the trip. I'm telling you, unity was the strongest aspect of our team! Everyone saw it! The people we were ministering to did not believe that we had just met each other at training camp, that we were strangers before we came! When they saw the love that had quickly bonded our team together, the Jamaicans begin to want that, too. They quickly became our friends. In Christ, it was easy! In our own selves, it was impossible!

You know how you feel when it's too hot in the car and no one will turn the air conditioner up? And a very sweaty boy is sitting beside you and you're both sticking to the vinyl seats? You know how you feel when so and so forgets for the twenty-third time that you HATE jelly on your peanut butter sandwich, and gives it to you anyway? You know how you feel when someone borrows the last bit of your shampoo without asking, and you can't get to the store until Monday? You know how you feel when someone laughs that loud obnoxious laugh for the 80th time and embarrasses you in public? You know how you feel when it seems like you are ALWAYS the only one who stays behind and does the dishes while everyone else does their own thing? Well, think about these scenarios. This is what you will be faced with every day. Sounds irritating, huh?

One thing the Lord has shown me consistently in the past few years is this: Who am I to say that somebody is "getting on my nerves"? Who am I to say that one of God's precious beloved is "bothering me" or that I find her/him "irritating"? Just because one of my Christian brothers or sisters has a different personality trait than I do, just because someone acts or reacts or thinks differently than me, this does not necessarily mean that the person is wrong. Just different. In order to accept others' differences, we have to leave ourselves at home. When packing for this trip, don't even pack up your Self. Put it in a corner back home, or better yet, take it to the cross of Jesus and let it die there! That is the only way we will make it, Team. We must die to self.

Pray now for team unity like you never have before. Pray that the love of Christ will give us compassion for each other, and passion for His lost. Pray that God will use each one of us to lift each other up, to encourage each other, to cause each other to burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter, and to give big hugs when we are feeling lost or lonely. He will do it for us, Team. He always does. But it is gonna take EACH one of you to make this work. If ONE person decides to be divisive, if one person decides that it is "all about me day", then we are in trouble.

Let me close with one last story of unity that God wrote through one of my teams. I went to Zimbabwe in '98, and if you've been watching the news, you know that they are a nation torn by racial prejudice and strife. On my team were six people with light-colored skin, and three people with dark-colored skin. We were nine people who had an incredible love and respect for one another. We laughed together, a lot. We found joy in each member of our team, and it showed! All we had to do was stand up before a congregation, all in a row. Different colors of skin. Together. And you could almost hear the crowd gasp. We were a picture of unity before we even opened our mouths.

What picture will you be for the world this summer?

It's up to YOU. Not just your leaders. Not your teammates. It is up to YOU to let God reign in all of your actions, in all of your reactions, in all of your secret thoughts.

Here are some common things that easily destroy unity. Begin praying against them NOW, and ask others around you to do the same:

1.Sarcasm. Sarcasm is the number one thing that can tear people down. It is absolutely forbidden on this team, but a hard habit to break if you are in the habit of being sarcastic. Think about it: sarcasm sometimes makes us laugh, but not if you are the one being laughed at. It hurts, it cuts, it wounds. Pray now against any sarcasm. If you are a sarcastic person, as many Americans and Canadians are , ask others around you to break that, and begin replacing your sarcastic words with uplifting ones. Ask the Lord to help you think before you speak.

2. Gossip. This is the number two thing that can tear people down, especially groups of people. Each person on this team needs to make a conscious decision to be a "rubber wall". We must each decide that under NO circumstances will we talk about another team member behind his/her back. If you hear anyone start to talk about anyone else, then you let it bounce off of you and die on the floor. Gossip can only live if it has room to grow. If it dies with you, then it has no chance. Even in discussions with your leaders, you will not be allowed to talk negatively about any team member. If you have a problem with a team member, the Word says to go to that person first and discuss the problem. See Matthew 18. 

3. Not giving people the benefit of the doubt. If someone says something to hurt your feelings, stop for a second. Look at that person's heart. Were they in a hurry when they said it? Did you misunderstand them?

4. Unforgiveness and holding grudges. Team, we have to be first to forgive. And first to let an offense go.

5. Not being open and honest with each other. If someone hurts your feelings, then go directly to that person - immediately! 

And there are many others that you can think of! Think about times when you have not gotten along with people. What were the reasons? And then pray against them!

Your Unified-Lovin' Leader,

Alli