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January 8, 2022

2021: The Past...

By Barry Rudesill

In December, we usually post an article about what we did in that year; and then, in January, we do an update on our plans for the following year. This year, shortly before I sat down to write the wrap-up article, I got COVID. Strangely enough, lack of oxygen + brain fog + ADHD = writing that is just a bunch of random words strung together incoherently!

Now, with my brain returning to semi-normal, I wanted to write this week’s blog post to cover 2021, and next week we’ll give you a glimpse of what’s coming in 2022!

The Trek

To start off, let’s talk “Trek”! For The Trek, 2021 was an incredible year! We launched Trek 2.0 in October of 2020, but it wasn’t until May of 2021 that we actually finished uploading the final Main Classes!

At the same time, we uploaded our first Scenic Overlook – a full-sized class called “Self-Image”. We also sat down to map out the Scenic Overlooks that we wanted to film and are now sitting at over 30! This means that we are going to be able to achieve our goal of keeping The Trek constantly up-to-date and give participants a chance to dig deeper into areas that matter to them.

Finally, we began to make changes to the website. The first round of updates, while they may not have been obvious, changed a lot of the structure behind the scenes, allowing us to update the programs more easily.

The Bridge

Okay, let’s talk about “The Bridge”! In 2021, we completed a project that we had been wanting to do for nearly three years: we completed “The Bridge For Students”. Now, participants in the Trek Student Edition have access to a corresponding Bible Study and it is the hope and prayer of all of us at The Bridge that they will learn to see themselves as God sees them!

Another exciting thing – at least to us – is that we did have some Bridge participants ask to receive a Bible so that they could follow along with the classes. We offer these free-of-charge, and it is an honor for us to send these to any Trek participant who needs one!

Finally, the new Bridge 2.0 has allowed us have some deep and personal conversations with people about their identity – who they are – in Jesus Christ.

Facilitators

Finally, we can’t wrap up the year without a HUGE shout-out to our Facilitators! In 2021, we had our first “official” Zoom Facilitator Training which we followed up in October with a live, in-person training! It was so good to see both returning Facilitators and new ones in the group and it really is an honor for Maria and I to get to spend time with the people who are making a difference in their communities!

We also had the opportunity to sit down in 2021 with a number of people who had been Trek participants and who were now looking at organizing Trek groups within their own communities! It has been so much fun traveling to meet these people, to hear how Trek has been used in their own lives, and to see how excited they are to use what they’ve learned to help others on their journey! (We may end up offering new training events in multiple states in 2022!)

This year, we also completed the Trek 2.0 Training Manual and began work on a Bridge 2.0 Training Manual. (We’ve never had a Bridge Training Manual before and we’re looking forward to completing that in 2022!)

So, those are just a few of the highlights from 2021. Next week, we’ll talk about the updates and upgrades that we have going on in 2022!

By the way, before we close this post, we just wanted to let you know that this weekend The Trek is going to be manning a booth at the EV Free Districts Youth Conference in Green Bay, Wisconsin! If you are attending, we would love to have you stop by, say “hi” to Maria and I, and meet some of the Interns who are working with both Crescent Lake Bible Camp and The Trek!

January 8, 2022

2021: The Past...

By Barry Rudesill

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