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What's in store for us for the summer of 2024???
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MEMPHIS -SUMMER OF 2023
June of 2023 takes us to Memphis, TN.
Home of blues, soul and rock-and-roll music, famous musicians recorded some of the most important songs and albums of their careers right here in Memphis. This is the same city where Martin Luther King Jr. made his final efforts in the Civil Rights Movement before being assassinated. This week we explore these famous moments and make some memories of our own as we begin to view our world with a new perspective.
We get the opportunity to serve the people in Memphis in some wonderful ways. Youth will care for children while introducing the love of God through service to each individual child, serve with a local community project to better the environment of Memphis residents, and help prepare and serve hot meals to those needing sustenance.
While in Memphis, we will have the opportunity to journey to the past where we can get a deeper understanding of slavery and those who resisted the unjust laws of their time to create the underground railroad. A look to the past can help you view the present in a better light. Experiencing different perspectives of the great need in this city opens our eyes to the needs in our own communities. As we make our way back home, we take with us the power of perspective. Let the inspiration of loving and serving others give us a fresh, new view of the world and inspire others to see the world through a lens of love.
Home of blues, soul and rock-and-roll music, famous musicians recorded some of the most important songs and albums of their careers right here in Memphis. This is the same city where Martin Luther King Jr. made his final efforts in the Civil Rights Movement before being assassinated. This week we explore these famous moments and make some memories of our own as we begin to view our world with a new perspective.
We get the opportunity to serve the people in Memphis in some wonderful ways. Youth will care for children while introducing the love of God through service to each individual child, serve with a local community project to better the environment of Memphis residents, and help prepare and serve hot meals to those needing sustenance.
While in Memphis, we will have the opportunity to journey to the past where we can get a deeper understanding of slavery and those who resisted the unjust laws of their time to create the underground railroad. A look to the past can help you view the present in a better light. Experiencing different perspectives of the great need in this city opens our eyes to the needs in our own communities. As we make our way back home, we take with us the power of perspective. Let the inspiration of loving and serving others give us a fresh, new view of the world and inspire others to see the world through a lens of love.
IRELAND - Summer of 2022
The youth and leaders embarked on a spiritual pilgrimage to Ireland in lieu of a service trip. Every 3 or 4 years we take a spiritual pilgrimage instead of a mission trip. We utilize the expertise and spiritual guidance of Wonder Voyage -an extraordinary non-profit organization that creates personalized pilgrimages and mission trips. Our voyages encourage an encounter with the heart of God through exploration and sacrificial service to distinctive communities around the globe. Through Wonder Voyage, each event becomes a journey and every participant becomes a pilgrim.
2019 Mission trip took us to Portland, OR!
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What We Learned About Portland: Our group listened to local leaders and service partners about the issues Portlanders face, including struggles of homelessness, gentrification, historic and current racism, and concern over environmental issues. We served existing social service organizations and participated in the good work these organizations are doing to serve vulnerable populations of the city. In the evenings, we experienced a taste of what it is like living in Portland, explored some fun sights in the city, and hosted a community cookout for those we met during our service time. |
Click HERE to take a look at a previous trip to Brooklyn, NY.
5 REASONS EVERY TEENAGER SHOULD GO ON A MISSION TRIP February 11, 2014
by Sam Townsend
What would you do if you discovered an incredible experience that opened eyes, softened hearts, empowered service and changed lives?
When a youth pastor saw how mission trips had drawn his students to others and toward Jesus, he asked himself that question. His answer was starting YouthWorks, an organization that now invites over 30,000 students and leaders on mission trips each summer.
For over 20 years, we have seen mission trips play a crucial role in the lives of countless teenagers, and we continue to believe every teenager should experience a mission trip.
1. Mission Trips Bring Youth Groups Together.If you’ve ever been on a weekend student retreat, you know how that experience can build community. Teenagers ride together, play together, eat together, stay up late together, get up tired together… “Together” is a powerful word. Think of “together” as glue – the more broadly it’s spread, the better a youth group will bond. Mission trips apply “together” to students’ sense of adventure, their desire serve, their relationship with God, their daily experiences, their broken comfort zones and much more (including these things below!).
2. Mission Trips Broaden Perspectives.Teenagers might be more connected than ever with what’s happening around the world, but have they seen what it’s like to live below the poverty line in small-town America? Or experienced the energy and exhaustion of inner-city living? Or felt the heartbeat of Native America beaten across the taut surface of a drum? Pulling teenagers from their typical context helps them understand that the world is larger that their daily lives would have them believe. By beginning to understand another setting, their own context comes into truer focus.
3. Mission Trips Challenge Comfort Zones.Beyond broadening perspectives, mission trips demand that teenagers participate. Painting a house, playing with kids, serving a meal, sleeping on an air mattress, experiencing a new culture – these are a few examples of ways comfort zones are crossed. But when coupled with intentional processing and worship, mission trips have the unique ability to challenge students’ comfortable perceptions of God and the world. Faith steps beyond the doors of the church and demands to be applied to real-world living.
4. Mission Trips Empower Students.God is doing incredible work through the Church. The energy, authenticity, fresh perspective and passion teenagers bring are a vibrant part of that church. Done well, mission trips help students take ownership and initiative. Eyes are opened. Passions are ignited. Possibilities are exposed. Pursuits begin. Mission trips help teenagers see what they are capable of. But first, the Church chooses to believe in the incredible opportunity of being a teenager – not a possibility to be met “someday,” but a boiling potential just waiting to overflow.
5. Mission Trips Create Sacred Space.The Israelites used to build monuments by throwing together big piles of rocks to point at later and say, “That signifies God’s faithfulness in our nation.” For many teenagers, mission trips represent a time and a place when God worked in and through their lives. More than a mere mountain-top high, these sacred spaces both anchor students in their faith and propel them forward in their relationship with God. Even in times of trouble, teenagers often point toward their mission trip experience and say, “That signifies God’s faithfulness in my life.”
by Sam Townsend
What would you do if you discovered an incredible experience that opened eyes, softened hearts, empowered service and changed lives?
When a youth pastor saw how mission trips had drawn his students to others and toward Jesus, he asked himself that question. His answer was starting YouthWorks, an organization that now invites over 30,000 students and leaders on mission trips each summer.
For over 20 years, we have seen mission trips play a crucial role in the lives of countless teenagers, and we continue to believe every teenager should experience a mission trip.
1. Mission Trips Bring Youth Groups Together.If you’ve ever been on a weekend student retreat, you know how that experience can build community. Teenagers ride together, play together, eat together, stay up late together, get up tired together… “Together” is a powerful word. Think of “together” as glue – the more broadly it’s spread, the better a youth group will bond. Mission trips apply “together” to students’ sense of adventure, their desire serve, their relationship with God, their daily experiences, their broken comfort zones and much more (including these things below!).
2. Mission Trips Broaden Perspectives.Teenagers might be more connected than ever with what’s happening around the world, but have they seen what it’s like to live below the poverty line in small-town America? Or experienced the energy and exhaustion of inner-city living? Or felt the heartbeat of Native America beaten across the taut surface of a drum? Pulling teenagers from their typical context helps them understand that the world is larger that their daily lives would have them believe. By beginning to understand another setting, their own context comes into truer focus.
3. Mission Trips Challenge Comfort Zones.Beyond broadening perspectives, mission trips demand that teenagers participate. Painting a house, playing with kids, serving a meal, sleeping on an air mattress, experiencing a new culture – these are a few examples of ways comfort zones are crossed. But when coupled with intentional processing and worship, mission trips have the unique ability to challenge students’ comfortable perceptions of God and the world. Faith steps beyond the doors of the church and demands to be applied to real-world living.
4. Mission Trips Empower Students.God is doing incredible work through the Church. The energy, authenticity, fresh perspective and passion teenagers bring are a vibrant part of that church. Done well, mission trips help students take ownership and initiative. Eyes are opened. Passions are ignited. Possibilities are exposed. Pursuits begin. Mission trips help teenagers see what they are capable of. But first, the Church chooses to believe in the incredible opportunity of being a teenager – not a possibility to be met “someday,” but a boiling potential just waiting to overflow.
5. Mission Trips Create Sacred Space.The Israelites used to build monuments by throwing together big piles of rocks to point at later and say, “That signifies God’s faithfulness in our nation.” For many teenagers, mission trips represent a time and a place when God worked in and through their lives. More than a mere mountain-top high, these sacred spaces both anchor students in their faith and propel them forward in their relationship with God. Even in times of trouble, teenagers often point toward their mission trip experience and say, “That signifies God’s faithfulness in my life.”