Edinburgh 13 was a powerful weekend full of God's love. Throughout the weekend, I witnessed God working with the team and participants as I worked with the past graduates from past Kairos weekends who volunteered to help with the weekend. Team servant is my favorite position on the team because it allows me to see the seeds of God's hope planted with the participants and how they have been growing in the lives of past graduates.
As I sat in the back, it was easy to see how the prayer chain wrapped all four tables like a fishing net, gathering the team and participants toward God. 24 men started the weekend, and 23 men finished, and I can honestly say by the end of the weekend we were all drawn closer to God. I witnessed so many unforgettable moments.
On the first evening, we completely exhausted the alternate participant list, a fact not lost on the participants. Being on a Kairos weekend is something many of these men try to be on over and over again, but at Edinburgh, there is only enough space for four tables of six, so many of the guys who want to be on the weekend can not. So when the participant list was released, many of the men were not on it, but for many different reasons, we went through all seven alternate participants on the list before getting all 24 seats filled. Many men pointed this out in their comments during the closing, saying that this weekend had to be genuinely their special time with God, an actual Kairos moment. I have served on many different weekends and have never seen the team struggle so hard with the participant list, but in the end, God chose who he wanted.
At the graduation, one man, after being Muslim for 40 years, accepted Christ, and another graduate shared a story of the miracle healing of his son from cancer. Several expressed finding the love and acceptance they had been seeking their whole life. To say this weekend was nothing short of a miracle would not be true, and I was privileged to witness it.
Please remember that many of these men are just starting their journey to know God, so please continue to pray for them. As we all know, the struggle is real.