I was buying gas the other day when I noticed something that I hadn’t seen in while, the price was $2.29.9. That .9 cent got me thinking…how much money has that .9 cent cost me over the years? The answer was a lot, or at least a new set of golf clubs.  But it got me thinking about how many other little things cost me over time.  My mind first went to how little compromises lead me deeper and deeper into sin by convincing me that it’s no big deal.  But then my mind went to how short cuts in ministry keep from doing a great job or making a huge impact in students’ lives. It’s the little things like writing a note to students, saying thanks to a volunteer, or staying late when students need to talk. Maybe it’s planning the event to be different than last year instead of just running the same event.  It really is little things that will make a big difference.

What little things are you doing that are bring you big results?

Today Simply Youth Ministry and LeaderTreks have launched a new mission trip resource  – Prepare-Go-Live

This resource includes:

• Pre-trip spiritual training with 4 sessions on preparing your heart for service
• On-trip devotional with Bible study, prayer journal, growth journal and daily evaluation tool
• Post-trip debrief with 4 sessions on how to live a mission-lifestyle at home

This is everything you need to run a purposeful mission trip. This will help your students get more from your mission trip than you expect. Check it out at http://www.simplyyouthministry.com/resources-discipleship-prepare–go–live-.html

Personally,  I am very excited to be working with the team at SYM.  They have an incredible heart for youth workers and students .

For the past few months I have been making presentations to adult volunteers who will be going on summer mission trips with LeaderTreks. I do this every year but this year I wanted to focus on helping adult volunteers really understand the purpose for student missions. So I created this presentation of 10 Keys to Leading a Great Mission Trip and now I am going to share it with you. Ten seems like a lot but I needed to fill an hour and to be honest all of these things are important.

Just a quick note: The reason I wanted to focus on adult volunteers is because for the past few years I have noticed that one group of people who don’t seems to get what students can do are adult volunteers. The truth is we seldom have any problems on mission trips with students but often we butt heads with adult volunteers. A couple of different reasons but if I had to summarize them they would fall into two headings. One; adults want logistic roles and not relationships with students (they are afraid of students) and two; they want to rescue students and not challenge them. It is very difficult to train adults on the trip, so to prevent problems I focused on pre-trip training to help volunteers have more impact with students through the experience.

10 Keys

1.    Going is not enough
We must be intentional with a student’s mission experience in order to see transformational change happen. Often times we think; that’s great the kids are doing a service project. This is short sided; we don’t just want them to go we want them to grow. By being intentional with the mission trip we could see students return with a desire for a daily quiet time, we could see them want to spend their whole lives in service to the needy. God can do so much through our students let’s not sell him short.

2.    Be a trip mentor
A trip is a great place to develop a long-term, life changing relation with a student. We must be more than chaperones. Must adults go on trips with students to keep them out of trouble and drive the van. If adults used the trip to develop deep relationships that led to mentoring then the trip could be more than a mountain top experience for students. Challenge and train adults to look for opportunities to become mentor while on the trip.

3.    Have a purpose for the trip
What do you want your students to look like when they return? How do you want them to be different? Once you have answered this question work backwards from that goal to where you are now. What kind of experiences do your students need to have to look and think like your goal? Share your plan with the other adults going on the trip. Cast the vision for your plan to parents and get them on board. Inspire the students with how their world will be different because they have changed. All of these activities will be positive reinforcement of the purpose of the trip.

4.    Inspire spiritual growth
A mission trip is a great place for a student to encounter God. Students will feel a need for God while on the trip; this is a great opportunity for you to introduce them to spiritual disciplines. Set aside time on the trip for devotions and prayer time. Provide a tool like a Bible study guide or prayer journal that students can use. Encourage students to continue with spending time with God even as they return home. Don’t miss this golden opportunity to inspire spiritual growth.

5.    Find teachable moments
Teachable moments happen when you mix a student’s experience with the truth of God’s word. On mission trips students will encounter many different experiences and they will be challenged to think in new ways. We have the opportunity to challenge their thinking and to help them make applications for changing their lives back home. We need to help them connect the dots between real life and Gods word.

6.    Challenge students
Challenging students starts with challenging the top performing students. We often think about challenging the students that don’t get it but honestly if we challenge the students that do get it then the students that are struggling will have a model to look at. Challenge can be as simple as asking students if there is a better way or how can we improve tomorrow? These questions will require students to think about their performance and how they can grow.

7.    Get sleep
Trips become ineffective as team members become tired. I am amazed by how many teams come on trips with the idea they are going to stay up all night. Here is the truth; students can’t be challenged or learn if they haven’t had enough sleep.

8.    Add value to your adult volunteers
I have done over 200 student mission trips in my day and the number one problem I see over and over again is adult volunteers have no idea what they are doing on the trip. They come because youth trips need adults but beyond that they are not sure why they are there. We can change this by offering up-front training, by giving clear roles and by having a clear purpose for the adults being on the trip (mentoring relationships that lead to life change would be my purpose – see key 2). Another way to add value is to write a note to spouse of volunteers thanking them for sacrificing their spouse for a week.

9.    Boundaries = Love
Don’t give students what they want – give them what they need. If you raise the level of expectation than your students will rise to met it. If we have low expectations for our students they will met that as well. Start now before the trip and ask more of students than you think possible – challenge their potential and see what happens.

10.    Stay connected to God
You can’t impart what you do not have. If your spiritual tank is empty you can’t ask students to fill theirs. We must work first and foremost have intimacy with Christ yourselves. Acts 20:28 says, “So guard yourself and God’s people” it starts with you having a deep relationship with God so you have something to give to others.

Focusing on these keys will lead to great mission trips this summer. Below is the PowerPoint that goes with this material, you can download it by hitting the link below.

ppt10-keys-to-mission-trips

When I am starting the process of developing young leaders, I teach them about positional leadership vs. authentic leadership. I want them to know the difference between barking out orders and really caring for the people they are leading. I urge young leaders to see themselves as living in an upside down triangle, leading from the bottom. This builds trust and people want to follow someone they trust.

When I work with maturing leaders I talk with them about transactional leadership vs. transformational leadership. This is the same concept but at a deeper level. While transactional leadership is the sharing of facts, transformational leadership connects to the heart and motivates others to action. The more time we can be transformational, the more impact we will have with our follows.

When we teach this concept to our staff at LeaderTreks we use the following worksheet. Check it out and feel free to use it with your staff to discuss how to grow in leadership.