I’ve been a part of lots of conversations about mission trips.   The toughest convesations alway center on the idea of ”what is a mission trip”.  In these conversations someone is making the point that “something” is not a mission trip.  And it’s always things like…  If you don’t share the message of salvation, it’s not a mission trip.  If you don’t serve those with the biggest need, it’s not a mission trip.  If you don’t go to the part of the world that has the most important issue, it not…  You get the idea.  These conversations are interesting and even necessary to make sure that all of us are doing our best to truly reach out to anyone that God is calling us to…  but… these conversations have always frustrated me.

Those who are most aggitated during these conversation appear to be far more concerned about what a mission trip cannot be rather than all the amazingly good things that they could be…  I’m far more interested in attracting as many people as possible into the amazing experience of serving someone else.  So, admittedly my definition of what a mission trip is may be a little more “open-minded” than even some of my friends who organize mission trips.  For me – any trip or event where we, as Christians, are serving another person is a mission trip.   So, with my definition, the following would qualify:

• a  2 week trip [...]

  Continue Reading “Missions? Domestic or International or (fill in blank here)…”

I’ve had several conversations over the past few weeks about the cost of missions. A good friend and I discussed trips I’ve taken to Africa. In Africa they often say it would be so much better for them to get the thousands of dollars per person spent for an American to come there as a direct cash donation instead. I agree. What I try to explain is that unless someone comes to Africa and has a hands-on experience they will be hard pressed to send over thousands of dollars as a donation. In that case the expense to go and see bears fruit much beyond the trip. Fruit that would not have otherwise been harvested.

Another conversation had to do with the rising cost of domestic missions. With gas costs fluctuating, material costs rising and other economic factors it’s hard to maintain or reduce the cost of organizing a mission trip. With the economy in turmoil it’s harder to find the funds to go on a mission trip. More and more people are asking, ‘Is it worth the money to go on a mission trip?’

For some this is a legitimate question. Your personal financial situation has changed and you simply cannot afford the money it takes to do mission. For many, however, it’s often an emotional response to difficult times. Their financial situation is the same as always…maybe even [...]

Continue Reading “What Price Missions”

As the New Year dawned I was once again on the road for missions. I attended the Urbana conference hosted by Intervarsity every three years. This year it was in St. Louis and nearly 20,000 college aged Christians gathered to consider mission work. There were to many opportunities to count.

After the conference I hit the road to keep looking for communities where a new single day of service, 1 by Youth, can be launched. Soon I’ll be returning home.

What has struck me about missions is that there are really only two things necessary to make mission happen. Need and Desire. Initially you might think that need is on the side of those you’ll serve and desire is on the side of those coming to serve. If you’re thinking that, you’d be half right.

Need goes both ways. Yes, there’s no mission without people who need help…spiritual, physical, emotional, etc. But there’s also no mission if those with the resources have no sense of need to help. If you’re into mission you might be surprised by this, but there are a lot of good people who claim to be Christian and really have no urge to help others in substantial ways. Perhaps they have the misbegotten notion that missions means a huge commitment of time, expense and travel to a distant land. For whatever reason there’s no need.

As for desire, [...]

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Christmas is a time when new is in the air. We celebrate the newness of a Savior’s birth, even though it happens every year Christmas provides the chance to feel the freshness of the story all over again. It’s also a time when most of us anticipate new stuff. New clothes, new toys, new games…a new Lexus. (Honestly who buys a new Lexus as a Christmas present. Maybe I don’t travel in those circles, but $60,000 on a single gift seems pretty crazy to me. Not that I’d turn it down if that’s what you were planning to get me this year!!)

The new thing that’s got me all excited this year is a new mission opportunity I’ve been working on. It’s called 1 by Youth and the idea is to bring transformational change to a single neighborhood in need in a single day through the work of 1000 – 2000 volunteers. That’s the kind of new thing that gets me very excited. And it’s not just a wild-eyed dream. There are teams working right this very minute to make such a thing happen in Indianapolis, Indiana and Manassas, Virginia in the spring of 2010.

The thing about most new stuff you get at Christmas is that the excitement wears off and the joy goes away and the stuff wears out or goes out of style. When it comes to mission work [...]

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Had a great conversation recently with a youth leader who describe his approach to events like mission trips and retreats as part of the “Pickling Process.” In short, a pickle used to be a cucumber, and now it’s not. And it never will be again.

And that’s the true goal of all that we do in youth ministry – to move kids along on that life-changing relationship relationship with Jesus. Not just filling their heads with stuff and Bible trivia knowledge, but literally creating opportunities to “pickle them” with Jesus, which allow Him to change them irreversibly into an image of Himself.

So how do missions and service opportunities intersect with the pickling process? Well, they provide the setting for a kid to literally be immersed in life-change without the distractions of their normal, well, distractions.

Cucumbers that sit around in salt water and spices would only eventually taste like a salty cucumber. (Not bad with ranch dip, but do we really want to be handing out dip packets to students to make them more spiritual? I don’t think so.) Instead, a cucumber needs a lot of spices, and to be immersed in vinegar, and then cooked under high pressure until it’s … BAM… a pickle.

If only our ministry efforts would be that simple.

In our research at Group, we’ve found that big events, like a short term mission trip and weekend retreat, really ARE life-changing events for students. There’s a tendency [...]

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One of the great outcomes of a youth mission trip is the cast of characters met while serving. Some interesting people are thrown into the mix – both those who are being served and those with whom you serve. Our camps provide such a rich relational soup – meeting residents who need your service and youth and youth leaders who serve along side of you…. Don’t miss the opportunity to mine for the high grade “ore” of relationships while serving.

I’m particularly grateful for one character met while serving in Haiti. We were visiting a hospital for children with TB when I almost walked past a dimly lit room at the back of the building. I looked inside the room to discover an elderly woman in a rocking chair with a baby in each arm – smiling at first the babies then at me. She explained that she and her husband had been missionaries in Haiti for years and upon retirement had moved home. After many years, her husband had died and she found herself in a nursing home with little to do but rock in a chair. Coming to her senses, she determined to return to Haiti where she could “rock with a purpose”. This is one huge and inspiring story coming from one person who connected to Jesus while serving and it changed her life forever. Serving [...]

Continue Reading “Serving Changes US”

We have a problem in youth ministry:  kids are selfish.  You know what?  Adults are too.  I know it sounds like an oxymoron – selfish serving.  I’m guilty of doing just that sometimes – selfishly serving to get what I want.  When selfishness gets combined with service it can be pretty ugly and un-productive.  People know when we’re trying to get something from them through our acts of service.  It’s called manipulation or worse and it seems contrived to those who are “beneficiaries” of such service.  Kids in my youth groups knew when I was trying to move them to a different place through disingenuous service.  They got what I was trying to do to and for them and they resisted my efforts.   However, I noticed that when I genuinely served them out of response to Jesus – not for what I could get out of them – my service had an impact.  If we want our youth ministries to possess genuine service in the core of the group, the leaders (you, me, other adults who have influence) must check their serve and open our hearts to genuine open handed Jesus connected service .  That kind of service, the kind we want to see our kids possess in their faith and character, is often caught from a leader who shows the way.  So how’s your serve?

Here’s a quick, wacky, free Thanksgiving game for your group meeting this week.  It’s from your friends at Group Week of Hope.

Turkey Ball Game!

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Cool tradition. Youth trade these crazy hats all weekend at this national youth conference. What fun!

I had an interesting conversation with a Youth Minister yesterday. She has been taking her youth group on mission trips for over ten years. But she’s experienced a huge level of frustration on her last two trips. Her problem… adult volunteers from other youth groups.

Adults from other churches have made a girl in her group cry, sat around and not help in the service at all, or worse – bosing kids around like a dictator and doing everything for then because it wasn’t good enough. She has reached a point that if it doesn’t get better – she was thinking of doing something completely different with her group.

Her question to me was. “What can you do to help me?”. And I was at a loss… Our ministry provides a “guide” for all adults attending a trip, a pre-trip meeting for all adults, a video that walks adults thru what is expected of them, and a Code of Conduct just for adults. We strive to help all adults feel prepared to serve and yet there is, unfortinately, nothing we can do about an adult leader that chooses to have a bad attitude while on a trip…

Do you have ideas? What does your group do to prepare adults? Share a comment and help a struggling fellow youth leader out…