YM DEVO: Missions around You
As I prepared for a message to some college and young adults this past week, I was challenged to look at the mission field a bit differently. So often I (and I am sure many others) view missions as something you go out and do in other towns or countries around the world. But, as I looked at Christ's life (and that of Philip), I remembered that my mission field is right in front of me. In fact, it is wherever God leads me. Let me explain.
Read Acts 8:26-38.
- Where was Philip going?
- Who directed him?
- How did God use Philip?
- Teach all people (not just my ministry focus of youth and young adults or those in other cities or countries) about Christ. Whether it is my daughter or my neighbor or a friend I come into contact with, I cannot withhold the love, grace and peace of Christ that has impacted my life for the better. I need to share Him to others. I can't just keep him compartmentalized to my "ministry job". If Christ has impacted me in my life (which He has), then I need to share Him at all times during the day.
- Christ told His disciples to teach others everything He has commanded them. Well, for those 11 remaining disciples, they spent 3 years with Christ. Do you think they had a lot to teach others? As Sarah Palin would say, "You betcha". In the same way, whether you have been with Christ for many years or for just a bit, you have something to be sharing about Christ. You don't have to be a "minister" to be able to share. All you have to have is a life changed by God to share with others. How will you know when to share? Look at the next point.
- I will know when to share when the Lord directs me. It doesn't mean you have to be to another state or country to share about Christ. It can be to someone right next to you. As we see with Philip, he was told/directed twice (v. 26 & 29) to go take action that led to the Ethiopian eunuch coming to know the Lord as his savior. Philip just didn't look on the map and say I'm going here and I will do this. No, the Lord directed him. Because of this example, I realized I need to be in communion with the Lord for Him to direct me. Philip knew where to go because he knew the voice of the Lord. He knew what the Lord sounded like. I need to be able to discern the voice of the Lord and the only way I can do that is if I spend time with Him regularly.
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- The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Day 2
- The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Day 1
- 2 Lessons Learned from Sandy Koufax
Mission Trip Debacle
I submitted this for Kurt Johnson's upcoming ministry book. I don't believe it was taken as I never heard back from them. The assignment was for every youth minister to share about an experience entitled, "I hate it when that happens". My submission centers around a mission trip that went wrong. Here is what I wrote. I hope you laugh a little while you read it.
I drove out of the parking lot with a ton of excitement and lots of expectations of a great mission trip ahead. This was my first mission trip that I planned myself and I was determined to prove that I could plan a good trip and that lives would be eternally impacted. Even though our group was smaller than years past, I definitely thought that this was going to be a trip that we would talk about for years. We still talk about it, but unfortunately not in the way I had thought.
Our trip started in Tennessee for a two-day training that preceded our actual mission work in Atlanta. My excitement and expectations quickly took a u-turn as soon as we drove into the training facility. The training facility looked more like a cult compound than anything else. It was fenced in with trailers all over and a big warehouse building. As soon as we drove in, I got the eerie feeling that I was going to meet a David Koresh type figure. Although that did not happen, our time in Tennessee just continued to get weirder by the moment.
I knew that the organization I choose to link up with was a little bit more charismatic than our Church was used to, but I thought our group could handle it. After all, I had been exposed to some very charismatic churches in the past and it did not affect me one way or another - and I'm a pretty conservative guy. However, as soon as our training meetings started with dancing, jumping around and speaking in tongues, I began to see the horror on my students faces and I knew we had a problem. Students were immediately on their phones calling parents begging them to send in a S.W.A.T. team to break us out. Although I settled everyone down, things at the "compound" came to an ultimate climax when the organization did a reenactment of the trial and death of Christ. Not only did it look real (bravo for doing an excellent job), but they literally tied a man up on the cross in an open field as the final scene. It was more than a little weird. In hindsight, I wished I had a camera with me; I could have made serious cash from a tabloid with some of those pictures.
After we finished our training, we went to Atlanta to begin our mission experience. When we got to Atlanta, I was hoping that things would improve. How worse could it get? Things improved a little, but the mission work we did was ill-prepared, not well thought out and lasted for just about 4 hours a day. In addition, our lodging accommodations weren't exactly "roughing it". We got to stay in a plush youth house of a local church that was equipped with Cable TV, video games, a security booth (yes really) and a coffee house environment. The youth house was bigger than my current church size! We were not roughing it in the least bit.
To cap this mission trip off, on our 10 hour return trip, our van’s AC stopped working so we had to drive windows down most of the time in some very hot weather.
Needless to say, I hate it when these things happen.
The Lesson Learned for me during this trip was to thoroughly do my homework on picking an organization that works for my group. It is good to stretch my students, but had I picked a better organization that lined up more with my ministry philosophy, this trip could have easily stretched them while giving them a great experience at the same time. This trip did neither and I learned a lot from it. Thankfully we have found an organization and area that fits our purposes quite well now.
So what about you all? Have you had a mission trip experience that was a debacle? It is fun to look at these things now and kinda laugh them off a bit, but they can also be very frustrating. TAKE A MINUTE and share about an experience that you had on a mission trip that didn't turn out so well. AND, what was the lesson(s) learned from it so we can all learn from each other?
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- The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Days 4 & 5
- The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Day 3
- The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Day 2
- The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Day 1
- 2 Lessons Learned from Sandy Koufax
An Argument for Domestic over International Mission Trips
I'm a big fan of mission trips. My life was changed when I went on a mission trip right before my senior year in high school. Because of that experience, I believe everyone should have the opportunity to go on a mission trip - domestic or international. As a minister, I have led both International and domestic mission trips before and I see the value of both. However, for ARGUMENTS SAKE, I'm taking the position that more people should go on domestic mission trips over international ones. Here is why:
My case for domestic trips:
- Christ's mission strategy starts domestically. In Acts 1:8, Christ tells his disciples that they will be His witnesses in Jerusalem, all of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. At this point the disciples main stopping ground was Jerusalem and the sounding area. So with Christ challenging them to be His witnesses, He didn't say "go to the ends of the earth to be my witnesses". No, He said that they will be His witness from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. That means that we need to be doing missions locally and domestically, not just international trips.
- They are cheaper. International mission trips are often over $1,000 (mainly because of the airplane tickets). I have done many domestic mission trips for just over $300. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that this alone increases the ability for more people to go on these life changing trips. And that is a HUGE, especially in such an economic downturn our nation has had over the past few years. What also hurts is that if families with multiple people wanting to go on the same trip. You could send 3 of your family members for the cost of just 1 international trip! What good is it to have these great, life changing trips, if they can't afford to go on them? Too many people will miss out and that is unacceptable.
- They show you that Americans are hurting too. It is great to do an international trip and help people in poor countries or areas that are in desperate need. The only problem is that there so are many people here, in America, that are in desperate need as well. I'll never forget seeing teenagers and young adults in our West VA and Western PA trips riding bikes to and from places (whereas some of my youth were driving BMWs at the time), wearing the same clothes for most of the week (where some of my youth changed outfits twice a day during our trip) and infected with lice, living in rat infested, condemned housing. These were Americans, who looked just like me and my team and who, realistically, could have been any one of us. I LOVE these domestic trips because it shows our youth that their fellow Americans are struggling too.
- They are just as impacting. Serving God and serving others anywhere impacts lives. Every year I come back from these domestic mission trips and our leaders and students alike are just as impacted as the people from our church who come back from Nicaragua. Serving the Lord anywhere, with the right heart, can impact anyone.
Again, I see the value of both domestic and international mission trips and hope that in your life you are able to go on both. But too often I believe that we limit ourselves to think that unless we go to Haiti or Nicaragua or some other international destination, we didn't really go on a mission trip. So these are simple 4 primary reasons why I am passionate about domestic mission trips.
What do you think? TAKE A MINUTE and thoughtful process my argument for domestic trips. Did I miss something or am I inaccurate somewhere? I'd love to have a great dialogue going about this so post a comment so that others may be challenged and encouraged.
Possibly Related Posts:
- The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Days 4 & 5
- The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Day 3
- The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Day 2
- The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Day 1
- 2 Lessons Learned from Sandy Koufax
Follow Up after Trips
I just got back from one of our best, if not the best, youth mission trip we have ever done at Cedar Run. I saw God do some amazing things as He pushed and challenged our students in their faith, in how they view others and the blessings they have been given. And, I saw Him bring together students who did not know each other well. It was a great experience.
As I have posted before, mission trips are just one of the 4 different types of summer camping: outreach, discipleship, mission trips and high adventure trips. I believe that there is no right or wrong choice; it just depends on what your intention is and where you want to take your students. The bigger question that we need to ask ourselves comes after you get back from the trip. That question is how do you capitalize on what God did during that trip? No matter what kind of trip you go on, you usually come back with students who grew in their faith and are now in closer community with each other. So, what do you do with them so that you can build off of the momentum and encourage them in Christ while inspiring others to do likewise? Here are a few suggestions that came to mind.
How do you capitalize?
For starters, you could do a Post-Trip Gathering. Young Life does a great job with this. After every summer camp they go to, within 3 weeks, they do a Post-Trip Gathering in which they have invite everyone who went (and their parents) to a dessert or cook. Then, they show a slide show or video of the trip and then have a few students share about how that experience changed their life. It is a fantastic way to reinvigorate the students as they reflect on the memories they made and hear about how real life change happened during that time away. This can be the perfect prelude to introducing a summer time Bible study or inviting the to come back to Church to hear about your latest message sequence.
Another idea is to create a month long Discipleship Follow Up. Often times, students come back from trips on a spiritual high, but return to the realities of the world where they can be spiritually discouraged and crushed – a clear momentum killer. When they return from a trip, even though they are on these highs, many times they are not equipped or prepared for the realities of the world. A great way to counter this is to have something already planned out where you can continue to bring the students together and unite and encourage them in Christ. There are many different ways you can go about this. Some examples are to invite them to Church, a small group Bible Study, a study designed just for those who are coming back from camp, etc. By doing this, students can stay on fire for the Lord by getting spiritually fed. Even though the realities of their lives will impact them to some degree, they will know that there is Truth waiting for them just right around the corner.
You could also build off of the momentum and excitement of the camp trip by spending time at each Sunday morning or at your evening program talking about it. For instance, you can have 1 person each week for a month share about their experience and how it impacted their life. This way you are indirectly promoting your trip for next year by showing others that life change does happen and that those who didn’t go on the trip missed out on a unique experience. It also keeps the memories and experiences fresh in their minds and encourages everyone that they can impact and help others for Christ in the local community.
The last and maybe most important key here is to include everyone. This past year, I was very pleased to take 22 students with us on our mission trip. Although that is a solid number, that represents just about 25% of our total youth program. If you truly want to capitalize on a powerful experience, you have to include everyone in your group and make them feel that they are still important and can contribute to the youth program in some way.
TAKE A MINUTE and…
- Recall past post-camp experiences. What made that time a success in building off the camp trip and what were some misses that prevented you from in building from your experience?
- What can you do this summer to help capitalize and build upon so this coming year can be one of your best trips ever?
Know this, it’s not too late! Even if you already did you trip earlier in the summer, you can still capitalize on this trip. If you don’t have a follow up strategy for your trip already, come up with one so you can build upon this and bring more students into a more mature relationship with Christ.
Questions, thoughts or experiences? Feel free to post them so we can be encouraging each other.
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- Working on a Plan B
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Summer Camping
Over the years I have been doing youth ministry I have heard of and experienced many different kinds of summer camping. The more popular ones seem to be:
- Going on a week-long summer camp. The purpose of this camp is mainly discipleship (although students are encouraged to bring their friends) and fellowship.
- Going on a mission trip. The purpose of this trip is to serve others and build community amongst the students going.
- Going on an outreach trip. Young Life does this so well with their summer camps. The purpose here is to bring non-christian students to camp so that they can hear and hopefully respond to the gospel by accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior
Of these 3, I have done the mission and outreach trips. I have never led or participated in a summer camp before. I have not done an outreach summer camp since I left Young Life in 2003 (although I have done weekend outreach trips since then). My primary trip over the summer since I have been at Cedar Run has been to do a mission trip. The reasons why I like doing a mission trip over the summer are because:
- I like challenging students to step out of their comfort zone and pushed in their faith.
- As I mentioned above, Young Life does such a great job at outreach camps that I would rather just send them to Young Life camp than try to duplicate what they do.
- With all the summer camps that students can do over the summer, I like to keep camp trips light. I am a firm believer in mission trips so I do not schedule a regular summer camp mainly out of default. I do not have a strong belief in or against it.
What about you? What is the camping you do and why do you do it? Post some comments so we can be encouraged and challenged.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Summer Idea: Partner with Other Ministries or Churches
- Working on a Plan B
- Honoring Graduates
- 3 Reasons to do a Summer Program
- Going Dark
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Past Posts
- The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Days 4 & 5
- The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Day 3
- The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Day 2
- The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Day 1
- GUEST POST: Beyond our Sandbox
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