Adventures in Missions

World Race: Through the Fire

February 10, 2011
Adventures
World Race

It started off as a typical day off for a team on the World Race in the Dominican Republic. They had plans to go to dinner and were running late. But what started as a typical day soon turned into an adventure in which they saw God move in an incredible way. As they walked down the street they saw flames erupting from a nearby house and knew to do only one thing–move, and move quickly. Joel Dutton tells the story of how he made the quick decision to go into the building and save whoever he could. “My first reaction was shock, but before it...

Why Go On a Short Term Mission Trip?

February 4, 2011
Adventures
Short Term Missions

When I first met a friend of mine, who is now a long term missionary in the Philippines, she told me her heart for missions began on a short term mission trip to New Orleans. She’s not the only long term missionary who’s experienced the impact of short term missions. Many other long term missionaries’ heart for missions began on a short term mission trip. Most of these trips happened during their formative years, through a youth group. Short term trips affect each participant differently. Some will feel called to full time missions, others will feel called...

Real Life: Learning True Community on a College Age Mission Trip

One of the core things we like participants in each of our programs to experience is a feeling of deep community. For our college aged students participating in Real Life this spring, the goal is no different. As the most recent group of Real Life participants dives into ministry all over the world, they’re also finding a ministry that may have been unexpected: the ministry of each other. Daily they live together, share their stories, and bring in God’s Kingdom. They face trials together, celebrate together, and love together. By doing this they realize...

Short Term Missionaries as Bridge Builders

February 2, 2011
Adventures
Short Term Missions

The question of whether short term missionaries actually make a lasting impact is not only a popular one, but one that’s legitimate. Karl Dahlfred (M.Div, Gordon-Conwell) is a missionary with OMF International, working in Thailand. In this guest blog post, he explains how short term missionaries can best serve the communities in which they work. He blogs regularly at Gleanings from the Field. Short-term teams are often limited in their language ability, cultural knowledge, and depth of relationship with the people they are seeking to minister to. The number of...

Prayer on a Mission Trip: Asking the Lord in Philly

February 1, 2011
Adventures
Prayer

We have a practice that is unique to our ministry called listening prayer. In our training, we teach you how to listen to God and respond to what he is saying. This is more challenging for some than others, but the bottom line is that we believe God wants to communicate with us and that most of us could make more room in our lives to listen. Usually on your typical AIM mission trip, you will have at least one opportunity to do an “Ask the Lord” (ATL) exercise. This is basically a more focused time of listening prayer, in which your ministry team asks God what type of...

Why Choose AIM For Your Short-term Mission Trip?

January 28, 2011
Adventures
Short Term Missions

We believe that Adventures in Missions offers youth groups and churches unique short term mission trip opportunities in a way that can’t be found anywhere else. There are many ways our staff is here to serve any need along the way, including preparing a flexible and custom-made trip, teaching you more about listening prayer, and giving you plenty to do. “I have spoken to people who have gone on mission trips and were disappointed to not have enough to do. In our experience with AIM everyone gets a chance to contribute all day long. The morning task is not...

Kenya Mission Trip: How God Heals

January 27, 2011
Adventures
Mission Trip Stories

Have you ever wondered if God is still in the business of healing people? In North America, we don’t often hear much said about healing (what with our advanced medical technology and such). However, this kind of question can come across as absurd to those living in the developing world, where faith upon a God who heals is sometimes a matter of survival. For those living in countries suffering from endemic poverty, such as Kenya, the possibility of God healing someone is not only a reality, but a necessity. When Kelsey Moss was in Kenya this summer on a college mission...

January 2011 | Following Jesus, A Reunion, and A New Year with Real Life

January 26, 2011
Adventures
Missions Newsletters

A Word from the Director Learning to Follow Jesus in Juarez | Seth Barnes Seth shares a story of following Jesus’ model of discipleship during a short-term missions trip in Mexico: A number of years ago, on a missions project in Juarez, I was translating for a small group of students. This was their first time and they were a little worried. “How do we know who to talk to?” they asked me. “Well, let’s stop and ask God what we should do,” I replied. When we had finished praying, we looked up and saw a white truck approaching them on the...

Is Listening Prayer Biblical?

January 25, 2011
Adventures
Prayer

Does God still speak? Listening prayer has its fair share of critics, but is listening prayer biblical? What are the arguments for and against? AIM founder Seth Barnes takes a look at the art of listening prayer. People like me who believe that God speaks to people using a variety of means and not just Scripture face two frequent critiques: Luther’s tenet of Sola Scriptura and Hebrews 1:1-2. Sola Scriptura, according to Luther, meant “All that man needs for salvation is contained in the Bible.” He was responding to the abuses of the organized church which had...

Short Term Mission Trips Impact People at Home

January 21, 2011
Adventures
Short Term Missions

When our participants set out to make a difference on a short term mission trip, they’re bringing that impact back home to their community. For Erin Desautels, who recently participated in a short term trip to Haiti, the amount of people she impacted grew exponentially when her hometown newspaper The San Diego Union-Tribune featured her story. Desautels traveled to Haiti with Adventures in Missions for the second time in late December. She recounted her group’s journey on the anniversary of the earthquake that shook the country a year ago. ...

Real Life: Four Months of Changing the World Begins

As college students around the country step foot into classrooms for the start of the spring semester, more than 40 Real Life mission trip participants are stepping foot into foreign soil this week to learn some of the biggest lessons of their lives. The lessons began at training camp for these Real Life participants, where they learned some valuable lessons in letting go of expectations, learning about prophecy and ministering to others. Here’s a look at what some of the participants had to say about the start of their journey. “I’m jumping...

Missions Trips: Is Volunteerism Harmful?

January 19, 2011
Adventures
Missions (General)

Not all mission trips are created equal. There is a growing skepticism in the American church towards short-term mission trips. To be honest, many of the skeptics are justified. When not done well, short-term missions can, quite frankly, hurt more than they help. At the same time, there is a growing interest in philanthropy and volunteerism in our culture. We are more interested than ever in helping people, but less inclined to include Jesus in the experience. This approach can also be quite harmful, according to Todd Eckhardt, director of Homeland Ministries at World Gospel...

Author: Adventures