NYWC 2006

So Kevin and I got back from the National Youth Workers Convention on Monday. We drove up to Austin late into the night on Thursday (Oct. 5) and the convention was Friday through Monday. Anyway, if you are a youth worker, I highly recommend it. This is my second time going...and the second time I have brought a volunteer with me (I miss you Joel). Very good stuff. I great mix of spiritual refrestment and training. Some of the highlights of the main sessions were David Crowder Band and Shane & Shane leading worship and talks from Donald Miller and Sharon Cohn. My breakout session highlights included learning about the latest research on adolescent development from Tony Jones and learning about experiential worship from Dan Kimball. All good stuff.

Oh, and by the way, if you ever get a chance to see Dan Kimball live...DO IT! Why? Well just because he has really...interesting...hair.

I only attended one session that ticked me off. Yeah. And I don't really get ticked off all that easily. The title of the session was, "Sacred Journeys: Re-Crafting the Youth Mission Trip as Pilgrimage."

Here is my summary of the session:
If we are honest, we'll admit that we take our youth on mission trips so that they will be changed. Changing the lives of the people we minister to is secondary. And, while we are at it, let's go ahead and admit that we really don't make much long-term change on their lives anyway. ("They" being the people our students minister to on the trips.) So, instead of taking mission trips, let's all go on "spiritual pilgrimages" where the focus is squarely on changing the lives of our students.

Now, I'll admit that this line of thinking has some worth. I have taken our students on mission trips where, if I am honest, I must admit that (1) we were there more for ourselves than for the people we ministered to and (2) we didn't make much of a real, lasting impact.

In fact, this whole concept has really shaken me over the past year as we been on the receiving end rather than the sending end of mission trips. Actually, you could make a case that the reason we have had so many churches do hurricane relief through us (instead of a big parachurch organization) is because they want to make a real and meaningful impact on the lives of those they help.

Berean is here for the long haul. Berean is committed to following up with the families that have been helped by hurricane relief teams. Berean is committed to changing and adapting to meet the new needs that are presented to us by being involved in hurricane relief.

AND, at the same time, we feel confident that the "missionaries" are being changed by the experience as well. My experience as a youth pastor who takes mission trips is always in the back of my mind as I lead in our hurricane relief efforts. Our goal is to reignite churches to reach their own community when the get back home.

So I think we have stumbled upon a model that is both/and instead of either/or. We have been able to create a model where both the "missionaries" and the "mission field" are impacted in a meaningful, long-term way by the experience. And I would argue that the key ingredient in this model is local churches working with local churches.

So what is the plan for our youth mission trip next summer? Well, we found a church that stayed here last summer that we felt a kinship to. It's a church that in many ways is a step ahead of us in their involvement in the community. We want to be able to go up and work with them in their community in much the same way that they worked in ours. It looks like it just might work out...