Odyssey Leadership: The Beginning of a Lifelong Journey

Contributor: Josh Bunnell

Odyssey Leadership 24/25 Class at Top of the Rock in Branson, MO.

Prologue

Odyssey Leadership allows Challenge IV graduates some time to wind down as they anticipate a lifelong journey of learning and leadership.  I have often heard Odyssey Leadership be described as a gap year.  However, this assessment is only partially accurate because it is the first chapter of that lifelong journey.

Odyssey Leadership is an unprecedented opportunity for students to prepare for the odyssey of adulthood within the comfort of their own home.  Due to the towering expenses of college and the daunting prospect of moving out, Odyssey Leadership is a viable option with its relatively low tuition and hybrid format.

But the blessings of Odyssey are not limited to convenience.  The program also equips students with the tools needed to learn more about themselves, others, and especially God.  Understanding this triangle of relationships, as well as making an effort to strengthen these relationships, is the key to becoming a leader of their community and a servant of Christ.  In these ways, Odyssey Leadership is nothing less than the initiation of adulthood.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

In contrast to the Latin exercises and Team Policy Debates to which Challenge students have long been accustomed, the bulk of the Odyssey assignments are personality tests, student assessments, and other self-reflections.  The goal is that students will finish the year with a better understanding of who they are and who they are called to be. 

The purpose of this self-reflection is not to encourage egocentrism, but to foster one’s relationship with God.  Furthermore, the students bond with each other by sharing the results of their personality tests and reflections during each community day.

German-American novelist Charles Bukowski said, “If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.”  We must be able to love ourselves before we can love others, and we Christians accomplish this by knowing God and realizing how much we desperately need Him. 

Odyssey students spend so much time discovering their own personalities, talents, and preferred methods of worship so that they fully understand how to give those things back to God.

“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” – Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV)

It is important to recognize that our peers are no less the Image of God.  If God knitted us together in our mothers’ wombs so that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” should we not celebrate that fact?  This is why Odyssey Leadership has students share their personality test results with each other: to recognize that we all are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Servant Leadership

After people learn to love themselves and to love God – who loves us so much that He sacrificed His Son for us (cf. John 3:16) – then they can become His servants.  This servitude is unique in that it is performed through leadership, a theme which is explored in Humility by Andrew Murray.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16 (NIV)

Odyssey Leadership teaches servant leadership through readings on biblical leadership (including Murray’s book), student-led discussions, and the excursion jurisdictions.  Prior to each excursion, students are assigned jurisdictions so that they have the opportunity to effectively plan and prepare as a team.

Students on the Planning Team are responsible for planning and budgeting activities to do during the excursions.  The Safety Team observes potential risks to ensure that all students are physically safe throughout the excursions.  The Catering Team is in charge of composing a comprehensive yet inexpensive grocery list, preparing recipes, and cooking those recipes at the designated Airbnb.  

The Worship Team writes devotions and practices worship songs to perform during the excursions.  The Hospitality Team ensures that everybody feels welcome and part of the Odyssey community.  Finally, the Executive Team is responsible for connecting with the other jurisdictions to ensure that they are on track and have no unanswered questions.

While all students are responsible for planning and preparing each of the four excursions, there are plenty of opportunities for these jurisdictions to be satisfying and enjoyable.  These treasured moments are necessary for student leadership and the fostering of a Christian community fueled by love and grace.

For example, the Hospitality team during the 2024/25 Nashville excursion organized a “Shrek Night,” in which we wore Shrek-themed costumes, ate Shrek-themed foods, and watched Shrek in the Airbnb’s living space.  During the Flagstaff excursion, the Worship jurisdiction put together a “compliment circle,” in which all the students took turns giving each other compliments.  

Community Virtues

Through this love and grace, students in Odyssey Leadership learn virtues that can only be learned through community.  One of the most important lessons I learned during Odyssey Leadership is how to connect with people who have different opinions and backgrounds.  In addition to developing new opinions and beliefs on certain issues, I learned how to walk in the shoes of those who take the opposite side of such issues.

For example, during my time in Destin, I had a remarkably gentle and graceful conversation about politics with another classmate.  It must be noted that Odyssey Leadership does not necessarily argue for one political party over the other, but gives students opportunities to use the tools they have learned in their Challenge years to arrive at their own conclusions. 

My classmate and I never expressed the slightest form of hostility towards each other because we used our insights to spur each other towards love (cf. Hebrews 10:24).  I believe that the two of us bonded over this conversation more strongly than could have been achieved through our similarities.

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” – Hebrews 10:24 (NIV)

There may come a time when students will have to step outside of their comfort zone.  Although I naturally shy away from any kind of confrontation, my time in Odyssey Leadership has helped me attain the confidence to have challenging conversations.  The encouragement of the program’s mentors and the gracious atmosphere of the Odyssey community allowed me to grow in confidence and thus become a leader within the class.

Epilogue

There comes that dreaded time when the students must say their goodbyes to those with whom they have invested a year of fellowship and community.  Many Odyssey students continue to remain in touch with their classmates, while others part ways earlier than they had anticipated.  In the end, what remains are the blissful memories that will last a lifetime, as well as the virtues learned through devotion to God and community with other human beings.

As I transfer to Taylor University in January to pursue my film degree, I will enter a new season in which I can apply everything I learned during Odyssey Leadership.  I will perhaps meet new people and experience new things, but what will never go away are the memories I shared with my classmates in Odyssey. 

I will never forget that initiation into adulthood, shared with others, which could never have been more bittersweet, nor more beautiful.  It was the beginning of a lifelong journey.