It was a moment I’ll never forget...

My toes hung over the edge of the platform 25 feet above the ground, my hands gripped the trapeze bar, and my whole body went still. Then, I heard the call, and I jumped! Air rushed past as I swung out over the net below. I listened intently again for the second call — the signal that it was time to let go of the bar and be caught. When it came, I released my grip, stretched out my hands, and looked for my catcher. He was right there with perfect timing and strength to catch me in mid-air.

I took flying trapeze classes last Fall during my study leave. It was the perfect, embodied complement to all the interior work and discernment I was doing at the time. Trapeze isn’t something you learn by reading a book or watching someone else do it. Eventually you have to climb the ladder, step onto the platform, and trust your body to learn what your mind alone never could.

Two lessons stay with me. First, the strength of the swing depends on the commitment of the leap. A hesitant jump doesn’t generate enough momentum for what comes next. Second, and this one stopped me, the caller is the catcher. The one who calls you to jump, to release, to stretch out for the catch is the very one waiting to receive you. Listening to that voice calling for the jump and release brings a new level of awareness that the call and the catch are not two distinct things; they are one act of trust.

I’ve been doing this work long enough to recognize when we’re being called.

For many years, Missio Alliance has helped leaders and communities cultivate faithful, sustainable ways of being present in their contexts, offering language, frameworks, and theological imagination for participating in God’s renewal of the world. That work has mattered deeply. And we are increasingly recognizing something more. Formation cannot only happen from a distance. Our theology, ecclesiology, and missiology cannot be fully shaped through information alone. Formation, mission, and justice must be embodied, experienced, and entered into.

We are not moving away from what we’ve been doing. We are growing deeper into it. We are integrating immersive, experiential learning opportunities, pilgrimages, retreats, and “come and see” journeys, that invite leaders to step out of observation and into encounter. In some ways, this is a move from the platform…into the air.

Imagine traveling to the US–Mexico border not to observe from a safe distance, but to encounter brothers and sisters whose lives have been shaped by migration. Listening before speaking. Learning without extraction. Wrestling with questions about hospitality, belonging, and the church’s witness, not as abstract theological debates, but as lived realities.

These experiences are not designed to provide simple answers. They invite us to release the illusion that faithfulness always comes with certainty. Like stepping from the trapeze platform, they require trust. Trust that God is already present before we arrive. Trust that brave, difficult conversations can become places of grace. Trust that being unsettled is sometimes part of being formed. And, perhaps most importantly, trust that the One who calls us into these experiences is also the One who meets us there.

We’ve heard the call. We’re jumping from the platform. We’re trusting the Caller to be our Catcher in what lies ahead for Missio Alliance — and we’re thrilled to see how the next season unfolds!

More details are coming, and I can't wait to share them with you. In the meantime, I'd love to hear from you. Have you had your own trapeze moment lately? A place where you've had to let go and trust?

Still flying and trusting,

Lisa Rodriguez-Watson

National Director, Missio Alliance