Here's what we did:
3 mission trips, one week, 3 cities. Our 7th and 8th grade students served here in Broken Arrow and Tulsa. For most of them this was their first mission trip. It taught the importance of serving our City and this area and created experience for students new to missions.
Our 9th and 10th grade students served in Kansas City. This was close by and kept the cost down and was a step up from a local trip.
Our 11th and 12th grade students served in Cleveland. More expensive but a trip that required more experience in missions. Door to door evangelism, far from home, flights and travel.
By doing 3 trips it made smaller more effective teams. Often when you take large groups on one mission trip you end up with a lot of people but not enough work. With smaller groups everyone had to do their part and benefitted from having an area to serve. Plus logistics for a youth pastor are so much easier when you're trying to keep up with a smaller group of people.
Plus we were able to make a difference in 3 cities in one week. I believe we made a greater Kingdom Impact by spreading out opposed to being in one location.
Next year we are going for 5 mission trips in one week. Not quite sure how that will look but I'll let you know when it's done. If you're a Youth Pastor let me encourage you to begin expanding your mission strategy to reach more for Christ, your students are ready for it, just lead them there.
