The Importance of Youth Mission Trips

  “I can no longer live comfortably in the United States for the rest of my life” is what God so clearly spoke to me as I looked across the concrete houses and dirt roads in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. I was on a High School and College Student Mission Trip with my home church, First Baptist Church of Sturgeon Bay. It was not my first international mission trip, but it still had a profound impact on my life.
  At the time, I had no idea how God would use those week-long youth mission trips for His Glory. It’s because of those mission trips that kept me in my faith during the hard college years because I knew God had a greater purpose for me than anything this world could offer. Ultimately, it was these High School Youth Mission Trips, that led me to Bangkok, Thailand, where I served as a missionary for four years after graduating from college. That was never a part of my plan, but rather God’s Will that He so carefully orchestrated with each mission trip I had gone on.
  And now, after being a leader on Snyder’s High School Youth Mission Trip, I can’t help but wonder how God will use that trip for the 25 youth involved. It’s more than a “good” experience, but a life-changing one that has an eternal impact going beyond our plans, wills, and desires. I have already heard from multiple students wanting to go back, and one even said they would drop everything to be a missionary. God used this mission trip to shake up the hearts of those who went. However, it’s easy to come back encouraged and ready to go back out, but that can fade quickly with the busyness of life.
  At Snyder, it is our job to continue to encourage these students and pray for them to not only listen to what God has to say but also to act on what God is calling them to do. God continued to work in my life as a high school and college student because of the foundation, prayers, and experiences I had on youth mission trips. We should continue to fervently pray that our students be sensitive to the Spirit and His leading, and not forget what God spoke softly to them in Kenya.

By Kate Pearson