Mission trips for students are one of the most powerful experiences a student can have while in school. No question about it, the question we face as youth workers is how do we get the most out of the experience for our students? This question inspired us to develop the LeaderTreks mission trip.
From the beginning our goal has been to offer youth workers an alternative to traditional youth missions. You have heard it said by returning students that they got more out of the experience than the people they went to serve. So why not be more intentional about focusing trips on students not on sites?
LeaderTreks’ response was to design trips that focused on leadership development. We took every job an adult filled on a trip and made it a leadership role for a student. Crazy maybe, but what we found was that students loved it. They loved making the decisions and they loved saving the world for Jesus Christ.
Every LeaderTreks trip has everything that traditional youth mission trips have; work projects, evangelism outreaches, and a strong discipleship program. People who are in need get help and the mission Jesus gave us is fulfilled but, when we added the leadership component we took the trips to the next level.
These are the results: trips moved from being a mountain top experience to a growth experience. Your mission trip has a 52 week effect on your students and youth ministry. Leadership has the power to do this.
