Eight lessons learned on a mission trip

Group, Mar/Apr 2001 by Case, Steve

So you've got a great Plan A for your group's next mission trip? Well, God is all about Plan B's. Here's what one veteran youth leader learned about maximizing the impact of a mission trip in his kids' lives.

It was supposed to be a straightforward little urban outreach trip. We fly in the cheap seats to Washington, D.C., spend three days working for some social service organizations, see a few tourist attractions, and come hoe. But our Plan A trip quickly deconstructed into a strictly Plan B, C, and D trip.

Jesus said, "I am the way," but he never drove his disciples through our nation's capital in a 15-passenger van during rush hour.' I'm not saying he couldn't have done it. But on our fifth merry-go-round ride around Dupont Circle, Jesus' Way was not the street sign I was looking for.

And that's what happens on mission trips-sometime, somewhere, somehow, you'll have to fly by the seat of your pants. That's basically God's strategy for helping you and your teenagers actually learn something. Here I've cataloged the lessons we learned when our best-laid plans turned to mulch. We did not die because of this experience, therefore, we are stronger people.

LESSON ONE-PUNT WHEN YOU HAVE TO.

You might have a great game plan for your mission trip, but never mistake planning for performance-you still have to play. Things are going to happen that are beyond your control, and you'll need to divert from your plan to stay in the game.

After an encouraging problem-free flight, we landed in D.C. and discovered our "guaranteed" rental van was missing in action. I spent an hour "on hold" on a pay phone, listening to songs from the Island of Misfit Music, We eventually took a $90 cab ride from the airport to the church that was our home base for the week. Of course, our contact wasn't there to meet us, and one of my young people jimmied an "open" door. I called the property manager from the church office and asked, "Where are we sleeping?"

We had to rearrange our first-day schedule so we could get transportation and food. Once we did that, the commitments on our itinerary fell like a line of dominoes. We actually started out the week with no idea what we would do the rest of the week.

LESSON TWO-WE'RE SEED-PLANTERS, NOT SEED-GROWERS.

After we found a van to rent, we spent the remainder of our first day at a transitional apartment complex for homeless and low-income families. The managers had two apartments that needed to be cleaned before new families moved in. Our job was to scrub them from the ceiling to the baseboards. I doubt they'd been cleaned in a year.

I wanted the experience to be memorable for my kids. I wanted them to appreciate what they were doing. But spurring growth in your teenagers is like planting a seed and begging it to grow-you can't will it to happen. The best we can do is give kids the truth, then let the truth do its own work.

LESSON THREE-SHARED MEALS ARE PRIME DEBRIEFING TIMES.

After hours of sweaty work scrubbing the apartments clean, we returned to the church to shower. Then we left to find some supper. We got lost in Georgetown (again) and eventually wound up at the Little China Cafe not too far from our church. The place had only 15 chairs, and we occupied 11 of them. Instead of ordering individually, we ordered several plates of "group food" and everybody had some. In some cases, kids were eating off each other's plates.

Nothing brings the defensive walls down quite like sweating next to someone. At the table that night, we laughed and

1 Three words of advice about tripping in Washington, D.C.-take the Metro subway to wherever you're going, make sure you leave time for a Smithsonian excursion, and stop at the Little China Caft in Georgetown to sat. Oh, if you're looking for some basic information on the nation's capital, go to pe.net/~rksnow/dc.htm.

talked and began the process of becoming a group. We ate there a second night and several of my teenagers bought official Little China Cafe T-shirts. Sitting around that table, I could feel them starting to jell.

LESSON FOUR-BE FLEXIBLE BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN GOD MIGHT TAKE OVER.

Thursday we went to work for an organization called For Love of Children2. Their office is in a converted YMCA-they help find foster parents for kids who are taken out of abusive homes. Our job was to make 1,000 bookmarks advertising the service. At first it seemed like a relief from the backbreaking cleaning of the day before, but I could sense a "What good is this?" attitude in the room. The director explained that they typically find one foster home for every 300 contacts (phone calls or visits). And our 1,000 bookmarks might produce 300 contacts. So our work there on that one afternoon could get one child out of a dangerous situation.

By the end of our scheduled shift, we'd completed only 740 bookmarks. So, again, we ditched our schedule and stayed until the job was done. Because of that, a few of my kids wound up playing basketball with some foster kids.

LESSON FIVE-KEEP THOSE HANDS BUSY.