Taking your students on a mission trip is always good. Students learn to serve and care for each other. They also get to see what Jesus is doing in the world, which can be a big eye opener. Mission trips have become a central part of most youth ministries’ summers. Much has been written about effective youth missions and for the most part mission organizations and churches have made some attempts to have more impact, but honestly mission trips are much the same of they were 15 years ago. In my mind the problem is the focus of the trip. Most churches focus on the location of the trip verses the purpose of missions. We live in “sell” culture, we think we have to sell the students on the location in order to get them to sign-up. Effective mission trips start with discipleship. When students connect serving others as an outcome of the their love for Christ then mission trips will be effective in growing the kingdom. If your students are not there don’t pass on the mission trip, just change the purpose. Make the purpose of the trip to grow your students. Change your activities and pre-trip training to focus more on discipleship instead of cultural training. This will most likely change what you do on the trip as well. Be open to thinking differently about the experience because going is not enough.

Ever notice when students return from a mission trip they always talk about how they were impacted more than the people they went to help? We need to pay attention. Students are telling us that mission trips are more about their growth than their service. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying service is not important. I am saying we need to spend more time focused on their growth through the mission trip than the logistics of service. If you’re focused on logistics, you need to read this book so you can maximize your student’s mission trip experience.

My friend Mac Lake is a genius at mentoring. Mac and I were talking about how to organize a quality mentoring sessions, a simple way for a mentor to walk a mentee through a comfortable conversation. So often we get into a mentoring relationship and we don’t know what to say. So Mac developed this Five P question plan and he is allowing me to share with you.

1. Personal

Start the mentoring sessions by talking about how the mentee is doing. What is happening in his/her life? How do they feel and what are their concerns. This will allow the mentor and mentee to connect and build community. This could also help each of them to remember the things they talked about the week before. This time is important for building trust.

2. Priority

What are the priorities and goals of the mentee for the week? Priorities give insight into the values of the mentee. They give the mentor good opportunities to ask follow-up questions and to dig deeper into the mentee’s life.  The answers to these questions will give the mentor indication of what the mentee needs to work on to grow in their walk with Christ.

3. Problems

The question the mentor wants to ask is “what problems are you facing and how can I help?” This question gives the mentee the opportunity to ask for help or seek advice. Often times the mentee comes to the mentoring sessions with questions and needs certain issues addressed in their lives.

4. Plan

This question is designed to help the mentee begin to think about a plan to reach his/her goals with the advice the mentee has acquired from the mentor. Discussing this plan gives the mentor the opportunity to ask questions about potential obstacles or road blocks the mentee might face.  Once a plan is put in place, the mentor needs to ask the mentee if they can hold them accountable for executing the plan. This part of the mentoring session is where the real growth will take place. The mentee knowing that the mentor will hold them accountable is more likely to carry out the plan and because of it experience growth.

5. Pray

Before praying together, take some time to share weakness and areas of life that need accountability. Then pray together. There is no better way to carry each other’s burdens then to pray with and for each other. Pray through the priorities, problems and plans the mentee has. Draw near to God and have him draw near to the both of you. Don’t just end your time in prayer, like it’s a check list item. This is a sacred time; be aware that God makes us for community and to share in each other’s struggles.

If you are not currently mentoring someone because you don’t know what to say, I hope these 5 P’s will encourage you to look for someone in your life who you can mentor. Mentoring has the power to guide people to Christ who are going through life’s ups and downs.

I am surprised by how willing I am to fight. Whenever I am wronged, I want to fight. I have a high justice value and I see the world as black and white so I have a natural bent to want to fight. I wish I could  keep my desire down. The thing I hate the most about fighting on teams and in organizations is that it waste so much time and energy. Most churches have people like me, people who want to make a big deal out of every little disagreement. So how do we deal with people who like to fight? Well being one a have a few insights:

1. Time and space
People who like to fight are usually like a bull in a china shop. They come in like thunder and once they cool down they see thing in a new perspective. Give your fighters lots of time and space to think and cool down. Don’t react to their craziness, keep a cool head and soon things will settled down.

2. Explain why
Once the fighter has cooled down explain the thinking behind the decision. Fighters see only the truth they want to see. Explaining the reason you made a decision will go a long way to them understand the process of the decision.

3. Stand up
Fighters can be bullies so be ready to stand up against them. They will try all kinds of intimidation to get you to change your decisions but don’t. Bullies kill churches, people leave because of them. If you stand up, you will be helping a lot of other people who this person could hurt.