Our 2nd Kingdom Journeys Men’s team is traveling in the 10/40 Window, living and sharing the kingdom in countries where Christianity is illegal.
While “tract bombing” in the dead of night with the number #1 rule of “Don’t get caught,” World Race Alum Luke Geldmacher jumped off a 14-foot cliff in the middle of the night – and walked away.
Since July, my team has visited over a dozen villages throughout the mountains of China. But if you asked me what these villages were like, I couldn’t tell you much – because it’s all been in the dead of night.
Instead of restaurants and homes, parks and temples, my memories are of dogs and dark alleys, of throwing Chinese and Tibetan Christian tracts (literature explaining the Gospel) over walls and fences, then leaving for the next village while still under the cover of darkness.
I can’t tell you about the faces I remember because if my team and I do this ministry right, we see no faces, we hear no voices, and we leave undetected.
So far, we’ve distributed over 3000 tracts throughout western China.
We have 4 rules:
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Don’t get caught.
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Don’t be seen.
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Blend in.
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If you are caught, don’t snitch.
Most of our nights are relatively uneventful. We frequently throw rocks at dogs or hit them with sticks to keep them away and sometimes we have to hide. But mostly we just walk very quickly, distribute our tracts, and drive to the next city.
Last night was not that simple. I’m not entirely sure why, but everything that could go wrong for me did.
We rolled into the first city around 11 P.M. I got out of the van and it drove off into the night, leaving me alone. Used to walking through these cities by myself, it didn’t really bother me. I had my tracts and I knew the plan, so I went about my business.
I walked to a bank, leaving a few tracts by the ATM – when suddenly a door opened. With only a moment to hide, I ran into an alley and squatted with my back to the road, trying to be invisible.
The light flashed over my back and a man angrily said something in Chinese.
I’m not sure what he said because I don’t speak Chinese. But I was able to glean that he wanted to know what I was doing.
Hesitating for a brief second, I gagged and make a vomiting sound while spitting and waving my hand at him in a “Leave me alone, I’m miserable” gesture. He made a disgusted sound and walked back inside without seeing my blatantly American face and beard. I quickly walked away, throwing tracts as I went.
Relief washed over me, but little did I know that my bad luck was just starting that night.
The next village we went to was a lot larger. My role was to pass out tracts on one side of the main road while Patrick passed them out on the other. Then we’d meet up with our teammates and the four of us would run the labyrinth of the residential area, “tract bombing” it as quickly as possible.
It didn’t take long for me to get ahead of Patrick. I walk very fast and he had a lot more alleys to bomb on his side of the street than I did on mine. As I walked down the street, suddenly, a light turned on and a group of people appeared right beside me. Because it would’ve looked suspicious to run, I stuck to the shadows and turned my head from the light.
Luckily, I made it to our rendezvous point uneventfully. Bryan, Kyle, and I waited for Patrick in an alley trying to look inconspicuous. But with so many people walking by, we knew it was a matter of time before three bearded Americans in an alley sparked curiosity. So we decided to start throwing tracts in the area and hoped to see Patrick later.
I went down one alley by myself and turned to rejoin the others when a door opened and a man with a flashlight appeared. He hadn’t seen me yet, but there was nowhere to hide so I ran to the others.
We fled the city via a dirt road, walking up a mountainside, in the opposite direction of where we needed to be. Our vehicle waited on the other side of the city. We were left with two options: re-enter the town or go down the other side of the mountain to get back to our vehicle.
Since people were clearly looking for us in the city, Kyle led us over the mountain.
Going up the mountain was easy, but we realized quickly there wasn’t a clear path down. We climbed down steep declines and jumped off small ledges, rapidly descending the mountainside, when we came to a stop.
Kyle examined one cliff side where he could barely see in the dim light. “I don’t know about this one; I think it’s a lot farther down than it looks.”
I was grumpy and tired by this point. “Whatever; we’ve done worse than this already.”
Then I sat on the edge of the cliff and jumped.
I expected to fall a few feet before hitting the ground, but there was a lot more dead air beneath me than I anticipated. Crashing to the bottom of the cliff in a tumble of dirt, I twisted my ankle and banged my hip in the process.
“Dude, are you ok?” came from above.
“Don’t do that,” I yelled back in a pained voice. Then a rock hit my head as if to mock me. “Ow”.
That was when I realized I had jumped off a 14-foot cliff in the dead of night.
When my teammates found a 3 foot drop not too far away, they were kind enough not to tease me too mercilessly about it. Kyle went to find Patrick, located our vehicle, and left.
Because it was time to do it again.
At our next city, our contact instructed me to throw tracts in a construction site. I was a bit relieved; I figured a construction site would be pretty safe – no cliffs at least. So I brazenly walked inside, leaving tracts in helmets and on stacks of materials, not even trying to hide.
I walked into a room, tossed a tract in the corner and heard a grunt. A man turned on his cell phone and shone the light in my face. It was then I discovered that I was in a room filled with sleeping men, , and I had just thrown a tract right at one of them.
I grunted and turned away, hoping he hadn’t realized I wasn’t Chinese. Walking quickly I bombed a few more rooms before I heard shouts. Still limping from my twisted ankle, I took off running through the construction site and out of the city.
I climbed down into a ditch and waited for my contact to come pick me up. A half hour passed, with only the sounds of the night and my breathing to keep me company. Then my ride came and we left for our next city.
It was time to do it again.
Most of my nights aren’t that exciting, and I’m thankful for that. I’m still beat up from that night and tired from the many other nights we go out and work. But that’s okay. Despite the bad luck that night, I’ll keep going and faithfully tract bomb where I’m told.
There’s nothing like an adventure for the sake of the Gospel. It makes for the best kind of story.
Is God calling you to live the adventure of your faith on the World Race? In 2016, Squads launch in January, April, August, and October – including our newest Expedition Routes. Click HERE to start your journey!
