People have legitimate questions about the World Race. Here are a few.

Q: How much does it cost to participate in The World Race?

A: The 2008 World Racers will raise $13,800 from friends, family or their church to participate in The World Race. Canadian participants will raise $13,500 Canadian Dollars.  Money can be received in one time gifts and monthly pledges.

Q: What does the cost cover?

A: The funds that you raise cover all team costs once the race begins. This includes:
food, lodging, and air, land & sea travel. It also covers administrative costs, set up costs, leadership costs, debrief costs and training prior to and at the start of the race.

It does not include:

- Personal spending money
- Visa application costs
- Travel to the training
- Travel to the start point
- Return travel home from New York at the conclusion of the race
- Medical insurance [required]
- Vaccinations

With the exception of personal spending money, you are permitted to raise additional funds to cover these costs and be reimbursed.

Q: Is the money spent on each World Racer better sent directly to the field?

A: We're not sending the money, we're sending you! And once it grabs your heart, how much is your lifetime devoted to the Great Commission worth? How many lives will you impact?

Q: What qualities are you looking for in World Race participants?

A: We are looking for participants with: ministry experience, demonstrated flexibility/international travel experience, people skills/team players, spiritual maturity, and intelligence/initiative.

Q: What is the age range of participants?

A: The minimum age for this trip is 21 [before the start of the trip]. The age range is approximately 21-32. We will consider candidates who are older than 35, especially if they have mission/ministry experience and leadership qualities.

Q: What is the application process for the World Race?

A: There is a "Quick Application" online which allows us to get a sense of whether or not you would be qualified for this trip. If you are selected, you then fill out a complete application online and a $35 application fee is due at the time of application. We prayerfully review all applications and if you meet the above criteria, we will call you for a telephone interview. References are required.

Q: Do you accept married couples?

A : Yes. Each person must fill out a separate application.

Q: Does the race get in the way of the ministry?

A: No. The ministry is 4 weeks out of a month, the race is 3 days. The race is about capturing the imagination of those who need to trust God and abandon everything to follow Him. It shows the world that with very little resources, you can do amazing things if you're trusting Him.

Q: How are teams chosen?

A: At the end of training camp, AIM staff will assign participants to teams.

Q: How can I find out more about the World Race?

A: All information about the program is on the website. If you have specific questions, you may send an e-mail to info@theworldrace.org

What is AIM's main goal for this trip?

To send people around the world as ministers of reconciliation everywhere they go. We believe that this process will disciple and radicalize participants. We are praying that many of them will discover a calling to ministry through their involvement in the race. Supporters will participate in the faith adventure of the trip. Prayer partners will find their faith stretched as they pray specifically for a team's needs. We are excited about the ways in which participants will find their faith continually challenged.

What values are you trying to communicate to World Racers through this trip?

Partnership - with God, God's poor, and God's people around the world, and your team.
Abandon - living simply and leaving behind the distractions and noise that keep you from God.
Immersion - in ministry. You'll have the opportunity to minister as Jesus' disciples, 24/7.
Dependence - on God for everything. You'll have many tests of faith along the way.

The acronym is P-A-I-D. "You are PAID as you embrace God's agenda."

Should I purchase international health insurance to go on this trip? 

All participants are required to have health insurance coverage for all international trips. It is important to know that most regular health insurance plans do not cover you overseas.

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See the accompanying letter for more info:

Is the World Race Missiologically Sound?

Background: I first made public the idea of the World Race in late April. Within a month, the missiological establishment in the person of the head of the Missiology Program at a theological seminary attacked it in a paper he presented to missions conference. A month after that, I ran across the paper as I was doing research on the web. I immediately wrote him the following email.

Dear Dr. ----------,

Hi, I'm Seth Barnes, Ex. Director of Adventures In Missions, the organization whose World Race program you singled out as an example of appealing to the wrong motives in people in your paper presented at the Trinity conference.

I can appreciate where you are coming from and have made a similar point at various times in the past. I recall when someone called me up asking for my help in promoting a "missions cruise" - the idea was to combine business with pleasure, presumably by rushing off the ship to distribute tracts at various ports of call. I thought the idea was perfectly awful and promised to do everything in my power to prevent his trip from happening since it would introduce a slippery slope for the rest of us.

Perhaps our World Race trip does introduce the concern of that possibility given its name; I don't know. This is the first one. Our ministry is to call people to a life of discipleship and Great Commission commitment, and sometimes we appeal to what may seem crass or mixed motives in getting them to take the first step.

The reason I'm writing is that I'd like to point out a distinction for you. There is a difference in appealing to mixed motives in getting a person to go and in actually dabbling in or catering to our hedonistic desires. I'll put AIM's trips short term missions up against any others in terms of their fruit - we promote ministry-based trips founded in partnership where the ultimate fruit is a more outreach-oriented individual and church on both sides of the fence, the sending church and the host church. We are fairly rigorous in our screening and are constantly challenging participants and partners to a higher level of missions commitment. We've seen many people commit themselves to missions as the result of our trips. We work with host church partners whom we trust overseas.

However, in promoting these trips, indeed, in the naming of our organization, we do acknowledge and capitalize on the fact that people are convoluted and have mixed motives. It shouldn't be, but it is. When my mother first got me to go on a 2-month short-term mission (STM) with Teen Missions in 1975, the only reason I said "yes" was that Guatemala looked exciting. I knew nothing of missions. I came back changed and eventually committed myself to long-term ministry, but it took a series of experiences to pry me away from my own agenda to God's call. And I think that process holds true for many.

How does that apply to the World Race? Yes, we are shamelessly tipping our hat to the Amazing Race. People want adventure; they want to see the world. But there is a big difference to piquing their interest and pandering to their baser, more selfish motives by designing the trip as some kind of a "see the world" adventure.

We've priced this trip at $1090/month. Alternatively, we could have designed it as a scholastic course, called it "An introduction to global partnerships" and priced it at $40,000. That's what a lot of missionaries have to raise to go overseas and learn in any case. But we're also interested in participants learning to depend on God and learning to walk out a life of faith. Regardless of the crass overtones of its name, I think this program has the potential to mobilize a great number of young people to God's agenda. They will plug into partnerships with indigenous churches that are themselves looking for help in their campaigns to plant daughter churches. They will come under the authority of those churches and our bases and local staff in each of those places. They will go far more prepared than most STM participants. In the process, they'll get to try on a lot of different possibilities and life callings. They will enter into ongoing efforts and conversations and will receive a missions education that, I believe, will be better than anything an institution of higher learning offers. Their experiences will be supervised and debriefed. And because we're targeting recent graduates from college, we'll have a chance to capture their imaginations before they get sidetracked on the world's agenda with mortgages and careers.

In catching their attention with an eye-catching name, perhaps we are a bit disingenuous, but the curriculum and setup we have prepared is anything but that. Young people need to have an opportunity to get on board with God's agenda in a way that is missiologically sound and organized by people recognizing that we go as learners, servants and story tellers. But we have to catch their attention if that is to happen. Whatever we call it, the concept of World Race has the potential to be a Matthew 10 STM for our generation. In terms of its design and prospects for Kingdom fruit, I'm willing to match it up with any other STMs out there.

I didn't want to slam you for calling us out, especially since I identify with your perspective, but I did want to give you more context.

Yours in Christ,

Seth Barnes

Ex. Director, AIM