Before You Go

By Doug Franklin June 12, 2013

June has arrived. Summer is finally here. Our schedules are a little more relaxed, and school is no longer in session, allowing us to spend more quality time with students. Many of you are putting the finishing touches into planning your mission trip or you’re getting ready to join us for a LeaderTreks Trip. You’ve covered all the details for lodging, food, transportation, packing, work projects, etc, but have you gotten your team together for pre-trip spiritual training? We often focus on all the exterior details before the trip–where we’ll go, what we’ll do, where we will stay–but we don’t often put a ton of focus into getting our students spiritually ready for the trip. A mission trip has the potential to make a lasting impact on a student’s life, from their way of thinking to even a potential vocational shift. Every day on a mission trip we get the opportunity to debrief what we are learning, but only if the students are ready to discuss what God is doing in and through them.

I was reminded of this today as I was on the phone with a youth worker discussing trips for next year. The topic of pre-trip training came up. After a few minutes she said, “I understand why it’s so important now; by getting students used to discussing spiritual matters well before the trip starts, we are actually training them to be comfortable in sharing their hearts while they are on the trip.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Pre-trip training really does train students for their trip, and for the lasting impact the trip will have on their lives.

If you are still looking for solid pre-trip training, you can check out several great resources here.