Adventures in Missions

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...

College Missions Video: Are You Satisfied?

“The world is going to change, because the people of God get up and move and do something about the realities of our world.” All over the world. . . . . . 385 million people live in extreme poverty. . . . 143 million boys and girls have been orphaned. . . . 27 million men, women and children are trapped in slavery. Will you be satisfied just standing by? If you’re not, check out Real Life, our missions program for young adults ages 18-22.

The Impact of Short Term Mission Trips on Youth

January 14, 2011
Adventures
Youth Missions

If short term missions can change the lives of at-risk youth, what could a trip to an Apache Reservation, Appalachia, or New York City do for your church’s 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. Each year we send out youth groups not only around the world, but to domestic locations to experience many different...

Short Term Mission Trips Change Lives (Even Your Own)

January 13, 2011
Adventures
Short Term Missions

Benefits of Short Term Mission Trips: How They Change Lives As a mission organization that is over 20 years old, we definitely believe in the benefits of short term missions as a catalyst for long-term change. Without a doubt, short term mission trips change lives. But they also change your life. Short term mission trips can change the lives of strangers you meet in other countries with whom you might have an opportunity share the Gospel. They can change the lives of local Christians that you serve through acts of service. But short term mission trips can also...

Author: Adventures