3C: We did it!

After four years, I’m finally allowed to tell you all about it.

I first heard of World Team’s global conference in mid-2019, when I was asked to help on the communications team. Such an event is unprecedented in our org's history, so four of us in Cameroon, France, the Philippines, and Cambodia began meeting on Zoom to figure out what our job entailed. For one thing, what would this conference be called? We were told it would focus on community, collaboration, and celebration, so we called it the 3C conference. We built and launched a website for it in late 2019, with a countdown to July 2021. 

When COVID hit, all our planned e-mails vanished from our to-do lists. The website sat and sat. Later, the organizers decided to aim for July 2022. We were able to update the URL to “3C 2022” and started our timeline again before the organizers postponed it another year. This time we didn’t even bother updating the URL. How sure was anyone that we could pull this off?

The URL still says “2022,” but the conference was indeed pulled off last month, to our relief, joy, and amazement! I can now tell you that we met in Chiang Mai in mid-July… information that we worked hard to keep under wraps for fear that unfriendly parties would try to infiltrate, as they have done with similar orgs. (This is not an issue for me, but some World Teamers worldwide had good reasons to be cautious). 

While we never anticipated a two-year delay, the conference ended up coinciding with WT's 150th birthday! Although preparation generated a lot of work for many people, including me, I think we were all delighted to see our efforts succeed. The other teams did an excellent job on logistics, schedule, content, and fund-raising, and our resort was beautiful and well-run. Participants came ready to dive in. And for me, part of the joy of convening resulted from the relationships I had built in preparing for 3C... not only with the Communications team, but also with my workshop co-leaders. 

The location was easy for our Cambodia field. I had just 2 ½ hours in the air and a 90-minute layover, compared to 30+ hours for participants from South America. Still, I was dreading the first leg of my journey, something I’d hoped never to do: driving the Gabriels' pickup truck six hours to the capital. On two-lane roads with everything from tractors to delivery trucks to speeding Lexuses, every passing vehicle means a chance for a head-on collision. My teammate Sina joined me, having returned just days earlier from her year in Kenya. So did Charlie, the dog staying with the Gabriels and me for six months, who is an angel with us but rather defensive and not yet trustworthy with our normal sitters. Car rides are one of his favorite things, and to my relief he was docile with Sina. 

We had a fairly peaceful ride, and I savored the time listening to Sina's experiences overseas. Still, I was exhausted by the time we dropped off Charlie at Cambodia’s only pet-boarding facility, and all the more after running errands at rush hour on Phnom Penh’s crowded streets. (A construction detour led us to a narrow street where I scraped the side of the truck. The Gabriels were very gracious about it.) We both collapsed in World Team’s office guest room that night.

The next morning at the airport, we met up with eight other World Team Cambodia people (3 couples and 2 teens). We all sat there joking together during our layover in Bangkok. What a fun change from my norm of solo travel! We arrived mid-afternoon at our hotel in Chiang Mai, where more happy reunions ensued as well as several introductions. 

So happy to room with Cindy again - a native Parisian, she's the Global Coordinator who assists our CEO

There were around 300 total attendees, including children and teens and the team devoted to serving them. The 180ish adults participating in the meetings included World Teamers living overseas and working for the sending centers, missionaries seconded to WT, as well as global and national board members and representatives from partnering groups like DMG in Germany and the Cameroon Baptist Convention. Cambodia is currently WT's biggest field with 30+ members; some other fields have just 2-4 members. I probably knew more people than average and wanted to help include those who were less connected. But the night I arrived, at the dining hall and later at an icebreaker, I hit a wall. Despite my e-mail assuring people that this event would be introvert-friendly with lots of free time for R&R, I was majorly peopled out. I stumbled out early, my eyes stinging with fatigue.

3C lasted five full days, and they flew by. We spent each morning together, in addition to worship each evening and a 90-minute workshop during two of the afternoons. Organizers did a great job of having many different people speak in the morning plenary sessions: men and women, younger and older, native and non-native English speakers. We interacted in small groups throughout each session, organized around key World Team values: the gospel, growing global communities, focusing on multiplication, and looking for the unreached. We resonated with one Costa Rican speaker's challenge to look more like Christianity worldwide, where the global South comprises the majority and the future of missions. Full-time World Teamers are still mostly white English-speaking Americans, but we're gradually changing, and 3C was significantly more diverse, with many languages (even French sign language) during prayer and worship. What would it take for that to become our new normal? We explored that question a bit in the workshop I co-led that afternoon on multi-cultural teams, which we hope to expand into an online course next year. 

After night 1, "people time" was more spread out and manageable, and I was better rested. I appreciated the organizers leaving most afternoons and evenings free, as well as most of Friday (day 3). I was very happy to meet Scarlett, Dave, and Paul from the Communications team after working with them online for so long. I also enjoyed meeting several fellow single women for the first time; we had instant camaraderie despite our contexts varying from Cameroon to central Asia to Cambodia. It was great to reunite with my fellow Leader Cohort participants and trainers. I didn't work nearly as hard during the conference as I did in preparing for it, but I still had a bit to do before co-leading a workshop and a worship session, plus posting minor announcements. I had a lot of chances to tell people, "Oh, you're the one who helped me with..." or "I loved your video about..." as well as a few more like, "You live where? I didn't know we had World Teamers there!"

Leader Cohort back together (with Josh's son substituting in for Rachel, who was very missed)

With our Leader Cohort trainers

During the free time Friday, I loved climbing the Sticky Waterfalls with a mixture of old friends and new ones. It was beautiful and refreshingly cool in the sticky Thai heat. Affirming my positive impression of Thai parks, it was free and spotless. Having written an e-mail advertising the great options around town, it was fun to hear others' reports of meeting elephants, learning to cook Thai food, and exploring the night market.

The last night, watching a traditional Thai dance performance culminated in a very multicultural dance party. Like the multilingual worship, it was a moment when the veil lifted and heaven seemed a teeny bit closer. 

3C was a special week that refocused us and spurred us on toward our vision: "innovative teams multiplying disciples and communities of believers, bringing the Gospel within reach of lost people everywhere we go." I am grateful to have been a part of this historic event. And I'm curious: when I look back in five years, how will I see this conference's continued impact on my life and my community? Many people's stories and attitudes inspired me. So far, the comment I've come back to most often is a simple one from someone who, like me, struggles with the fear that her weaknesses could derail God's plan. She recounted a leader's encouragement to her: "Honey, you're just not that powerful." I believe the conversations we began at 3C will generate new friendships, collaborations, and synergy for decades to come.