[featured_image]Like Paul the Apostle, you are on a mission. Though your circumstances are less dramatic and dire than Paul’s, do you know that the mission is still the same? You and your team are gearing up and looking ahead to an exciting and life-changing trip in a matter of months. There will be challenges and triumphs ahead for you. some will oppose you but many will appreciate you and listen to you! While you prepare for your mission trip, I hope you’ll remember that your mission venture has already stared! Your mission isn’t just then and there. It’s here. It’s now. — Brian Aaby
This is one of the initial paragraphs in the Introduction to Anywhere! – an amazing Mission Prep Workbook developed by Brian Aaby for Youthmark Mission Ventures. (Brian is the Founder and Director of Youthmark – an organization committed to providing life-enriching experiences for youth ministry. In nearly two decades of working with students, he had lead over 150 national and international mission trips involving scores of churches and thousands of participants.)
I love the emphasis that Brian places on mission being Anywhere! It’s not just here. It’s not just there. It’s anywhere you are!
The training materials that Youthmark provides for groups preparing to serve on a short-term mission trip are wonderful! The trips that they coordinate are life-changing. However, more than all that they do to prepare for one-week mission trips – I’m impressed by their emphasis on living on mission with Jesus for the rest of the 51 weeks of the year!
At Youthmark, we fervently believe that mission is not just for trips! Mission is a full-time endeavor, we call it Mission51. One-week mission experiences provide invaluable opportunities, and your trip this year will undoubtedly make a lasting impact on your life and many others. But we don’t see great mission trips as the main thing. Our long term goal at Youthmark is to provide the best resources to guide you, to help prepare you for an outstanding one-week experience – all for the purpose of seeing you motivated, excited, and equipped to live missionally for the 51 weeks outside of the mission trip. Mission51 is a full-time venture. It’s a way of life; every day, every week of every year!
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Mission trips are great training opportunities to live on mission anywhere you are!
If you are leading or serving on a missions team going anywhere – I’d strongly encourage you to utilize Youthmark Mission Ventures Mission Prep Workbooks and other training resources. It may just empower you to live on mission for the rest of your life anywhere you go!
Learn more about Youthmark Mission Ventures.Visit Brian Aaby’s blog.Follow Brian and Youthmark on twitter. Become Brian’s friend on facebook. Enjoy Youthmark on Facebook. Invite Brian to speak at your church or youth group!
