IMPACT and GO teams

Today there are two teams from NMC Senior High heading out to allow God to stretch and use them.  I am excited for the journey ahead for them. You can follow what's happening with each team...

IMPACT Dominican - www.korylantz.blogspot.com

ChicaGO SEMP Team - www.gotrips.blogspot.com

Last night before going to bed, I passed this email on to our leaders to share with our teams:

Dear IMPACT and GO Teams,

It's Sunday Night here in Uganda... Sunday afternoon back in what Katylynn has now officially called the "Unison States." As my two kids (wow, that' fun to write) are fat asleep and I get ready for bed here, my heart and mind has been very focused on you all. I don't know how to say this any other way, 
 I have been very burdened to pray that God would wreck every one of your lives in the days to come. Yup, that's right, I want to see Jesus ruin your lives.

To explain a little further, my prayer is that through your time you would see that any other path but passionately following after Jesus would be pointless, and useless. I'm praying that you will be so wrecked and ruined toward any other thing than serving our Savior, that you will surrender yourself to 
His Will and submit to His Ways.

May you be challenged in ways you have never been challenged.
May you be stretched in ways you have never been stretched.
May you experience the move of the Holy Spirit in ways you've never experienced.
May you practice bold obedience in ways you have never practiced.
May you see your life IN HIM in ways you've never seen.
May you be wrecked and ruined for everything else but serving Jesus!

Matthew 16:
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

Tomorrow you begin a journey that has the potential to change your life, the lives of your teammates, and the lives of those you come in contact with. Know that there is a family halfway around the world who is seeking to pray for you regularly.

You are Loved,
Derry

Back from ChicaGO

Some thoughts:

• Empathy, Compassion, Serving... I saw these concepts grasped and put into action. I believe they will be put into action at home as well.
• There is something amazing that unleashes inside us when we are willing to take that one step past what's comfortable.
• Any time I see siblings embrace or pray with each other on trips like this, I just lose it.
• Add a new one to what will make me lose it; when a mom and son embrace or pray together on a trip like this.
• God speaks. Awesome things happen when we obey.
• There will be approximately 150 individuals who will be receiving a letter from a GO member. These letters are an effort to share the love of God with some spiritually lost or struggling friends and family members. There will be follow up to come upon returning home.
• There is a fantastic crew of 9 adult leaders investing, challenging, and encouraging students along the way.

We (Janelle, Katylynn, and I) head back to Chicago tomorrow to Katylynn's first Cubs game! We will reconnect with the GO team at the game. God's doing some great things in ChicaGO, and I think greater things are yet to come.

GO Reflections

I arrived in Chicago to spend do some morning training sessions with our ChicaGO team. The setup of our GO trip is something I really love.

Mornings are spent in Time Alone With God and training.
Afternoons are spent out on the streets in ministry.
Evenings are spent in debriefing.

The bottom line goal is for students to come home with a burden to share their faith with their peers. There are 43 High School students here who I really view (there's only a handful missing... most of them are in Haiti) as the leadership to our Youth Group next year.

My prayers for what God will do in the team are pretty simple.

• They would die to self.
• They would be burdened for others.
• A Heart of Empathy and Compassion.
• Break their hearts for what breaks God's Heart.

We are staying at the Philadelphia Church in Andersonville. It just so happened that there was a weekend festival happening right outside the church when our team arrived. 4 city blocks had been sectioned off. The bands were rocking. The beer was flowing. To add to the experience for our students, there was a large amount of those present at the festival were homosexuals.

The reality of a lost and dying world was right outside our door. What I love is that we walked outside the doors and into the that world. It was intentional. Praying, listening, watching, and asking God to guide our steps.
Some students got into significant conversations.
Some students found themselves speechless and only at a spot where they could pray.
Many were broken.
For all, IT JUST GOT PERSONAL.

I'm excited with what I see God stirring in students. He is present and working!

NMC Student on the move!

I L-O-V-E this time of year. It's a time where students get stretched, challenged and used by God in some major ways...

Tomorrow morning, these 14 students and 8 adults begin their journey to Haiti. While there, they will be working in the city of Cap' Haiten with Open Door Haiti. They will be doing Vacation Bible School, hut-to-hut evangelism, construction for an orphanage, and visiting with many who were affected by the devastating earthquake. You can follow along on their journeys (June 10-20) at www.geoffcocanower.com and www.twitter.com/geoffcocanower


On Saturday morning, 43 students and 9 adults will board a bus and head to the Windy City for our ChicaGO evangelism training/experience. They will be learning how to most effectively reach their peers while being challenged to live, pray, serve, listen, and share in the city itself. I will be with this team Sunday through Wednesday. The team will be there Saturday through Friday. You can keep updated here as well as at www.gotrips.blogspot.com and www.twitter.com/nmcchicago2010.

Thoughts on Missions Trips, Leadership & Life-Change

1999 - SEMP Chicago/ IMPACT Peru (Lima)
2000 - SEMP Toronto/ IMPACT Honduras
2001 - SEMP Toronto/ IMPACT Peru (Huallanca & Huarles)
2002 - SEMP Toronto/ IMPACT Ecuador
2003 - NYGO/ IMPACT Peru/ IMPACT Honduras
2004 - SEMP Toronto/ IMPACT Dominican
2005 - SEMP Toronto/ IMPACT Peru (Pucallpa & Lima)
2006 - Merge Toronto/ IMPACT Dominican
2007 - NYGO / IMPACT Mexico
2008 - DCGO / IMPACT Mexico
2009 - PhillyGO/ IMPACT Dominican

Above is the list of "Missions Trip Experiences" we have done since I came on Full-time at NMC. There are two types of trips we do. (Those in Bold are the ones I've led).

GO Trips: (this includes SEMP, Merge, and those trips with "Go" in them) We consider this an "entry level" missions experience. The name has dual meaning... GO as in the key word to the Great Commission, and also an acronym for "Gospel Outreach". The trip is centered on Evangelism Training and application. It is normally run stateside (or in Canada). Experience is marked with evangelism training (Conversation style), service projects, and getting on the streets to strike up conversations with people. Students are required to attend a GO Trip before being a part of an IMPACT team.

IMPACT: Again, dual meaning. IMPACT as in what we are seeking to do in the World for the sake of Christ. Also and acronym for Individuals Making People Aware of Christ's Teaching. The trip is always to a foreign country (to this point, we've stuck to the South, but continually dream of heading East). The focus is on coming alongside local churches and ministries in order to partner in whatever way possible.

In both situations, here are the key elements we see necesarry:

• Application Process: Students need to go through a process where they understand the commitment they are making. We do not turn down any student willing to make the commitment to a GO Trip. For IMPACT, however, students are required to go through an interview process where their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual readiness is taken into account.
  
• Pre-trip training: We do not see these these as simply trips, but as opportunities for discipleship. GO trips include 3 months pre-trip training with an Overnighter, and IMPACT trips have 6 months training with a 3 day retreat. Training includes pre-trip readings, scripture memory, testimony preperation, ministry assignments, and heavy accountability.
• Leadership: This is most often the difference between a good and great experience. The right adults need to be there. They need to be individuals with a high level of trust in the primary leader. They also need to be at a spot where they understand that they are primarily there to invest in the students, yet they must also be able to dive into the trip for their own experience and growth.
• Debrief: I call it the there/here principle. We head "there" to serve and advance God's Kingdom, but we feel like we fail if students are not able to bring some element of "there" back "here", meaning that this experience brings a transformative element to their everyday life. Ample time is spent nightly on the trips to allow students to process through what God is doing in them and through them. At the close of the trip, we block out a length of time for students to sumarize their experience as well as walk through next steps.
• Partnerships: Those we partner with need to be aware of what our purpose and goals are, and we theirs. If we aren't on the same page, someone is going to be disappointed. When someone is disappointed in these situations, usually both sides end up disappointed. We haven't batted a thousand on this one. God has always done great things on these trips, but poor partnerships have caused for major frustration and confusion, as well put a ceiling on the opportunity for major breakthrough and growth.
• Support: These experiences are expensive (GO trips average $600, IMPACT $1100). These trips are incredibly intense physically, emotionally, and spiritually. As a part of the "Missions Experience", students raise financial and prayer support to make the trip happen. The financial support is an awesome faith lesson, as well as an opportunity for the ownership of the experience to be broadened.

I would say that these trips pay ENORMOUS Spiritual Dividends. Here's just a few.

1. Discipleship: It is incredibly hard to accomplish strategic discipleship in students. This is due to finding the students who are ready and available. Many who are available aren't ready, and some who are ready have trouble being available. The commitment to go on the trip allows for accountability for students to be commited to those elements connected to the trip. There are elements in the training that may have very little to do with the upcoming trip, but much to do in the spiritual maturing of a student.
2. Blown Up Boxes: It happens nearly every time. Our students in the cornfield are exposed to poverty, a worldview, or a move of God in a way they will not experience at home. They come to grips with how holy and huge the Almighty God we serve is.
   
3. Long-term Change: As I look through th lists of those who have been on a GO trip, I'm encouraged to see where the majority of those students are at in life. As I look through the IMPACT students from years past, the amount of spiritual crash and burns are very small (I came up with just over 10 out of nearly 200). Not only that, as I look at those students who are agressively serving the Lord in both the marketplace and the church, the shining examples were on IMPACT trips.
4. Ministry Fire: I can't tell you how many times we have seen our Ministry set ablaze over what God has done through our IMPACT and GO trips. I will often make it a point to get together with leadership from both trips in order to see what "Megathemes" are present as we head into our Summer Camp. Many of our "What If?" moments have their roots in these experiences.

Video Testimonies from Philly

These are compliments of Adventures In Missions, who helped coordinate our Philly trip.

AIM Philly Mission Trip - Monday 6/15 from Adventures In Missions on Vimeo.

Adam talks about his AIM Philly trip from Adventures In Missions on Vimeo.

Ashley talks about her experience in Philly from Adventures In Missions on Vimeo.

Mallory shares about her time in Philly from Adventures In Missions on Vimeo.

Great Reports from Philly

I loved reading this post from our PhillyGO team last night.

Also, they are looking to shower the team with encouragement tonight. Go here and leave a comment if you want to participate.