THE SHORT VERSION:
Peak Performance is an outdoor school of leadership and evangelism that is designed to inspire, influence, and impact individuals to reach the world for Christ through and intense and challenging environment.

And by "leadership" we mean:
Setting an example by inspiring others to achieve their God given potential, while influencing those around them to Impact their world for Christ.

And by "evangelism" we mean:
The act of bringing an individual one step closer to the person of Jesus Christ.

THE DETAILED VERSION:
Each year we offer several courses designed to combine leadership development and the study of comparative religions, with outreach opportunities in several countries throughout the world. Our courses differ in design from very physically challenging courses in the mountains, to much less demanding courses that focus more on leadership in a ministry setting. This next year we will be taking Peak Performance teams into the country of Nepal. Our more physically challenging courses run during the month of January and include 10-12 days of trekking in the mountains and ministering to the people in villages along the way. Our lower impact courses are offered in the summer and include only 2-4 days of trekking and longer time spent in the villages. Our courses run from 3-5 weeks in length beginning with a 2-3 day training period followed by 3-4 weeks all of which take place in the host country that we are ministering in. While on course you will encounter an experientially based leadership development program designed to expose you to different voices in the area of leadership, open your eyes to your own leadership styles, and give to an opportunity to put these principles into practice. We are committed to keeping our curriculum current and practical so that the leadership experience you gain on our courses can be translated into all aspects of your experience back home. You will also be immersed into the culture that you are ministering in and experience first hand the tastes, smells, religious beliefs and traditions of the people you are interacting with. We will also be exposed to the struggles that many of these people experience as a result of social, economic, and political circumstances. All these things will combine to give you insight into ways that we can effectively communicate the truth of who Christ is and share the love He has with the people we are in relationship with. In order to be most effective, we must first have a genuine understanding and a genuine love for the people and the culture we are walking in. This can only be done through relationships, seeing the people through the eyes of Jesus and learning from Him how we can demonstrate His love effectively.

We are also very intentional about working along side the local church and para-church organizations in the countries that we offer courses in. As one of our core values, we believe that indigenous people are the most effective avenue in sharing the Gospel. As an organization we want to come along side the church and offer ourselves as a resource not adding to the burden that the church will often will experience with short term teams. We offer ongoing training to pastors and lay staff throughout the year through our First Wave training, and have genuine partnerships in each of our host countries. We have been and continue to be a part of planting churches and equipping national pastors to lead these churches and to work with the churches current strategy in reaching people for Christ.

AS A MEMBER OF A PEAK TEAM:
You will engage in learning about several world religions in order to understand more clearly how to share the truth of who Christ is with followers of those religions.

You will study leadership principles from a variety of perspectives as you are placed in circumstances that require you to live out those ideas in practical ways.

You will be challenged physically, emotionally, and spiritually as you deepen your relationship with Christ, interact with the experiential curriculum and as you embrace the culture and ministry opportunities that present themselves.

PEAK NEPAL: A TENTATIVE ITINERARY
The Peak Nepal course begins in Kathmandu, Nepal. The team arrives in the afternoon and we immediately head to our guest house and get settled into our rooms. We have a short orientation where we introduce the team to our Nepali staff and talk about what to expect during the next few days. During our first three days in the capital city, we will begin to immerse ourselves into the culture and religion of the country, that up until 2007, had been the only Hindu country in the world. We will visit the most famous Hindu temple in all of Nepal and see how the people practice their religion. We will also head to the main Buddhist stupa in Nepal. In both of these places we will attempt to have inter faith dialogues with the monks and priests that call these places home. Our purpose is to obtain as much information as to what they believe and why in order that we can be more effective at sharing the message of Christ with individuals who are steeped in these world views. We look for bridges that we can use to draw people into deeper conversations about faith and ultimately conversations surrounding the good news and message of Jesus Christ, and how they can enter into a relationship with Him. We will also visit several other cultural sites that make Kathmandu famous.

In addition to learning about the culture of Nepal, we also want you to meet the people of Nepal. In order to do this our instructors will take the team on a walking tour of the area and introduce you to many of the people we have been working with during our extensive time in Nepal. Some of these people have come to know Christ, some practice other religions, while others are still searching for what they believe. The people you will meet are of several different faith journeys, some are Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, and some would say they believe in all or none of these. It will give you great opportunities to share your story with these people and tell them all the ways that Christ has impacted your life. You will have many opportunities to bring individuals one step closer to the person of Jesus Christ.

After a few days of getting over jet lag and adjusting to this new and different culture, we will head to the city of Pokhara. After a day or two of meeting some of our friends in Pokhara we will head into the mountains for 10-12 days of leadership development, evangelism training, outreach opportunities, and spiritual growth, as we trek through the mountains of Nepal. Each day we will spend anywhere from 4-9 hours trekking through steep terrain, through terraced rice fields and local and remote villages where the message of Christ is still unknown and undiscovered. We will have opportunities to develop as a team, grow as individuals, and see God work in our lives and the lives of the Nepali people. We will spend time in mountain schools with the children of Ghandruk and Chhomrung, and pour our lives into the people that we have been connecting with for years.

Once our training and ministry in the mountains has come to a close, we begin the next phase of the course. We will now seek to give away everything that we have learned. We will run headlong into ministry opportunities in Pokhara as well as back in Kathmandu. We will work with orphanages, schools, a community of lepers, homeless street kids, and an organization that rescues women who have been sold into the brothels of India and Nepal. Sex trafficking has become a global crisis, and we will seek to increase our awareness of the issues surrounding trafficking, both in Nepal and around the world. We will learn what we can do once we arrive at home to help prevent this increasing travesty.

Once our ministry comes to an end, we then spend a couple days debriefing our time in Nepal and coming up with an action plan for what our experience has prepared us for once we arrive home. The end of our course is really the beginning of a new lifestyle of ministry once we arrive on our home soil, putting into practice the things we have learned and impacting the world around us through the experiences we have had. For many students this has lead them to leadership positions at their churches and universities, for some it has lead them to raise money and awareness for change in Nepal and around the world, for others it has lead them right back into the mission field as full time workers.

As you can see it is a packed month of non-stop action. You will see Nepal like few people ever will. You will meet amazing people, see amazing sights, and come face to face with our amazing God. It is truly the experience of a lifetime. If you want to hear what other students are saying about their experience check out our video or email us to be connected with one of our alumni who can share first hand their stories and experiences. We really hope to see you on one of our teams soon. The fields are definitely ripe, are you ready to reach your Peak Performance, are you ready to head out into the fields where you will taste and see that the Lord is so very good? Call or write with any questions you might have, and we hope to see you soon.

Peak Performance Nepal

Known mostly for Mount Everest, the highest mountain on the planet, Nepal has become the primary location for our outdoor school of leadership. The Himalaya Mountains become the backdrop for our classroom as we seek to become more like Christ and learn how to live that out among the indigenous people living in places commonly untouched by traditional missionaries. You will be trained in leadership, world religions and evangelism, while journeying on a physically challenging trek in the Annapurna Mountain range where we learn from our instructors and from one another. We seek to share Jesus with the unreached people who call these mountains their home. We also spend significant time in the cities of Kathmandu and Pokhara working with street kids, orphanages, a community of individuals suffering the effects of leprosy, and an organization that focuses on ending the human trafficking that has plagued the women of Nepal. If you desire to be challenged in all aspects of your life, and learn to become more and more like Christ, then this might be the course for you. Physically demanding, as well as challenging spiritually and emotionally, this is a very rewarding course. Our High Impact Peak teams are in January and include 10-12 days of trekking, while our Low Impact teams go in the summer and include 2-4 days of trekking and are less physically demanding.

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