Last night all the students who flew into Chicago arrived at Training Camp. Driving into camp at 7:00PM, they were about 90 minutes late. One of the buses had over heated.
Tom Ives, Director of Royal Servants, stepped on to each bus to welcome each team, then students quickly unloaded, gathered their luggage, and went to their team areas to get their tent assignments and move in. In their tent rows each team was oriented by their staff disciplers on tent etiquette: no running in the tent rows, leave your doors and windows zipped when away, how to use the zipper to extend its life, where to put your shoes at night, etc.
Later, all the Royal Servants teams met under the big top for their first large group meeting. Brian Meaden welcomed them with an amazing message about their chosenness and how God sees them. After that they toured the camp, had worship, and Tom Ives spoke about P.R.I.O.R.I.T.I.E.S.
P.R.I.O.R.I.T.I.E.S. is an acronym for a set of guidelines Royal Servants live by during the summer. These guidelines make life smoother as a ministry community by clearly establishing our expectations of one another. After teaching, the entire team learns P.R.I.O.R.I.T.I.E.S. in a call and response review. It goes like this (the caller in bold):
We have a key word! What is it? Priorities!
P—Prompt. Its about being on time. Well, not exactly. It's more about not making an entire team wait when we have stated a clear meeting time. It's about courtesy and helping a large group to work together and move efficiently.
R—Responsible—Everyone needs to take care of his or her stuff, listen to instructions, and diligently accomplish the task at hand, not to mention be prompt.
I—Initiate. Take the initiative. Notice what needs to be done and serve. Don’t wait to be asked. For example, if there is garbage on the ground, pick it up. If there are tarps that need to be folded or tools that need to be put away, do it.
O—Organized—Stay organized. Keep your blue pack neat and clean so you can quickly find what you need. It is important to make the places we stay look clean and presentable to other visitors. Know where your passport is at all times—on you, inside a quart zippy, in your passport holder, around your waste. Use your moments of time to stay organized and prepared.
R—Relationships: 40/60, threes, friends only—Spend 40% or less of your time with your best friends. Spend 60% or more of your time getting to know others and investing in them. Threes? Go everywhere in groups of three. Overseas, at times it will be fours or fives and will require a male or a staff discipler. No exceptions. Friends only—no dating relationships.
I—Injury. Report it. We closely pay attention to everyone’s health and keep careful records. If you get an injury, even a small splinter, report to the team medical person. Report everything.
T—Talk, stop and listen. When a person raises their hand, all hands go up and talking stops until the announcement or instruction is given.
I—That’s the problem, yield your rights. Don’t focus on yourself. Instead, focus on others.
E—Enthusiasm, choose to ooze. Even when your tired, don’t like the task, or when things don’t go as planned on the field, good attitudes enable the team to face difficulty and overcome. Good attitudes are contagious. Make the choice to have a good attitude.
S—Sleep, don’t worry about it. Trust the team leaders with your sleep. Your health is our concern. We will play close attention and make sure you get enough sleep to stay healthy. We don’t allow kids to stay up all night playing cards or talking.
See the India mission trip team in action working on P.R.I.O.R.I.T.I.E.S. together.
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