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Thank you for visiting Adventures In Missions’ blog! We’re thrilled to share our stories, experiences, and insights with you, and we hope our blog provides valuable information and inspiration for your own missional journey.

At Adventures In Missions, we believe that every person has a unique call to serve others and spread love and hope to the world. Our blog is just one of the ways we’re sharing that message and encouraging others to join us on this mission.

Thank you for taking the time to visit our blog and for your support of Adventures In Missions. We look forward to connecting with you and continuing this journey together.

Teen 2.0: What Every Youth Worker Needs to Know about Their Teens

February 16, 2011
Teen 2.0 by Robert Epstein if a must-read for any parent or youthworker concerned about discipling young people. This book explores why American teenagers act the way they do, the cultural phenomenon of adolescence, and how much trouble the youth of America are in. Although a bit long (over 400 pages, including appendices), Teen 2.0 is very accessible and essential reading material for anyone who cares about the development of teenagers. I highly recommend it, but be warned: it will rock your world. Here’s a brief synopsis: Arguing that adolescence is an unnecessary period of life that people are better off without, this groundbreaking study shows that teen confusion and hardships are caused by outmoded systems that were designed to destroy the continuum between childhood a…

Short Term Mission Trips Make an Impact on At-Risk Youth

January 14, 2011
Interesting study on how short term mission trips make an impact on at-risk youth:   The Barna Group, a research organization that focuses on “the intersection of faith and culture,” recently released a study looking at the impact of short term missions and found what Adventures in Missions has seen in its own participants: short term mission trips change lives.    …According to the Barna study, 85 percent of the youth that were surveyed felt more loved by God and more than 80 percent said they learned new things about God and Jesus. Read more: The Impact of Short Term Mission Trips on Youth   Have you seen this to be the case?

Reasons Why Christian Youth Don’t Share Their Faith

January 12, 2011
Here are some interesting reasons for why youth don’t share their faith in Christ, compliments of Brian Ford: They think the youth leadership team will do it for them – If all we do is preach Matthew 28:19-20, but don’t push them to take action they will always expect us to do it for them. They are afraid of rejection – It’s that point when you begin to share your faith in Christ and the person cuts you off before you even have a chance to get into the meat of the gospel story.  They lack the confidence – All of us at some point has and will experience moments where our confidence level is low. They don’t know how to bring it up – How do you make the transition in conversation from talking about the weather to Jesus? They are afraid they don’t know enough – This …

Missions Without Jesus?

January 4, 2011
A very interesting article in RELEVANT Magazine from last fall asks the provocative question: “Is missions about words or deeds?” Here is an excerpt: Evangelical youth now hold the term “missionary at arm’s length, afraid of the colonialist connotations of the word. They prefer being involved in “social justice” under the auspices of a more generalized Christian sense of charity rather than operating under anything resembling (groan) “soul winning.” Certainly, this raises the ageless question of whether short-term missions are still effective or relevant. That is, however, a topic for another time. For the sake of this discussion, let’s assume that we agree that short-term missions still have a place in the church and the development of a young person’s faith. How, then, do yo…

10 Commandments for a Short-Term Mission Trip

December 27, 2010
Here is my version of the 10 Commandments for Short-Term Mission Trips (I originally got the idea for this after reading a similar list of commandments for short-term missions on Trevin Wax’s blog). My 10 Commandments for Short-Term Mission Trips 1. Remember that the primary function of a short-term mission trip is to partner with God in what he’s doing in a given part of the world. 2. Always seek to serve those with whom you are partnering — whatever that may mean. 3. Lay down your expectations and be ready for whatever the Spirit wants to do. 4. Be flexible. 5. Honor the authorities over you, including government and church authorities. 6. Leave a light cultural and financial foot print in the area that you’re visiting. 7. Be a learner. Prepare for your trip by study…

Youth Ministry: Choices that Define Us

November 29, 2010
We all have choices to make. In life. In ministry. In following Christ. Here is a video of Clint Bokelman, sharing about his days as a youth pastor when he faced a tough decision he had to make. He tells a story about his youth group and church reaching a point of spiritual breakthrough that wouldn’t have happened had it not made a choice. Our choices that we make in this life matter. We’d love to hear from you and how you’re processing through this season. Is God leading you to make a choice? What is it? What is an example of a choice that you made in your life or ministry that defined you? To choose your next mission trip with AIM, find out more by clicking here.

Taking a Break… and Looking Ahead?

November 20, 2010
What’s your youth ministry look like right now? Are you slowing down (even ever so slightly) and accessing how your summer and fall programs went? What are some of the things you’re looking to do in 2011 to build disciples? In our ministry, we’re about to kickoff fundraising activities for a small team of youth and adults that will be heading down to Haiti in July (you know, because it’s so nice in the Caribbean that time of year). And we just finished our fall retreat, so the team is focused on continuing to build the relationships with our younger/new students that developed during the weekend away. I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas — it means a break is coming, and I’ll have some time to reflect on what’s working and what we’d like to try out in the new yea…

Is it Worth It?

November 11, 2010
Anyone else out there a big Paulo Coelho fan? (He wrote The Alchemist, one of the best-selling novels of all time and a personal favorite of mine.) He’s also a pretty prolific blogger and wrote a post recently called, “Yes, It Is Worth It.” Here it is in its entirety: Life is like a big bike race where the goal is to fulfill you personal legend. At the start, we are riding together, sharing the camaraderie and enthusiasm. But as the race progresses, the initial joy gives way to the real challenges: tiredness, monotony and doubts about our own abilities. We notice that some have withdrawn. They are still running, but only because they cannot stop in the middle of a road. They are numerous, pedaling alongside the support car, talking to each other and performing only their obligations. Ev…

Francis Chan on Risk and Security

November 8, 2010
For those of you who haven’t seen this video of Francis Chan talking about risk and security, it’s a must-see for parents and youth workers. (If you’re reading this via email or in a feed-reader, click here to watch the video.) Here are some interesting quotes from Francis on our lives and faith: “I’m just gonna have my nice little family. We’re just gonna keep to ourselves. We’re going to live in a gated community. I’m gonna home-school my kids, make ’em wear helmets everywhere….” “You just live your life in the safety of ‘I don’t want to do anything crazy for God.'” “Your greatest prayer is, ‘God, I would love to die in my sleep and not even feel it… and then just go up to heaven.'” His basic premise is this: Living a life of safety as a Christian is not a life of true faith,…

Bringing a Baby to Youth Group?

November 3, 2010
Here’s something I never expected to give much thought to when I started out as a youth worker: child care during youth group. Last week, I had a parent of one of our teens ask if it was okay for her son to invite a friend to youth group the next week (of course!). She’d bring her 5-month-old (wha-huh?). Put on the spot like that, it took me a few moments of sputtering and stammering to form a well-thought out answer. As my mind raced and the parent waited for an answer, I weighed the pluses and minuses of bringing a baby to youth group. On the positive side, we don’t want to discriminate against anyone who wants to come to our meetings. We strive to do the opposite of what the world does, especially in the case of someone like a young teenage mother, and welcome them with open arms….

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