Caleb Bislow
Forge Speaker
This past summer I was reminded why directing a unique training program called Stranded is worth it.
One of the eight goals of Stranded is for students to leave with a burden for a dark, dangerous, or a despised place. We shed light on nine groups in those regions hoping and praying that God will raise some of them up to be ambassadors of hope…true unusual soldiers. Those nine groups are currently known as the: unengaged, isolated, restricted, impoverished, convicted, infected, hunted (refugees), enslaved, and the marginalized.
I have been amazed to see what can happen when a student gets a burden to make a difference in one of those places. A few weeks ago, I was on a panel of missionaries at Forge’s Deep Camp. We were asked to share one of our greatest ministry moments. As I looked at the panel, I realized that over half of the panel had been through Stranded or on a trip with me. One of the people we trained now stays with convicts in cells in Central America, two of them are translating the Bible for an “isolated” tribe in Africa, one of them has freed multiple enslaved children in Asia, and yet another man on the panel had just joined me in Southeast Asia to locate unengaged tribes.
After hearing their stories, I was blessed to see what the Lord was doing through Forge and Unusual Soldiers training programs and I simply answered his question, “I’d have to say that today is one of my greatest ministry moments.”