Missions Trips: Good or Bad?

I was reading a great article on short term missions and it got me thinking about my own experiences being a part of trips and leading them. Here's the article I read; check it out: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/practical-faith/rethinking-mission-trips


Over the years I have compiled a list of 11 missions trips in which some I was a part of and some I led. Over the years I have discovered a few key truths about short term missions trips. These truths are the same for every trip and for most students going because it doesn’t matter where you go, it's just a matter of going. The reason I put most students is because I have discovered that not all students are going for the right reasons. Sometimes they allow God to get a hold of them, shake them loose of the bond the devil has on them and they come back different! I know this because I was that kid the summer before my senior year. I went with my youth group to the Cayman Islands on a mission trip to help run a camp for kids. One night we were helping run a service and God got a hold of my heart and I have never been the same.

When we go on trips we are always focused on what we are going to do and how we are going to accomplish the task. You need goals and tasks in order to help a community, share the Gospel and use your talents for His Glory. If you didn’t have those then why are you going would be an appropriate question that needs to be asked. But the question that often gets missed is: What is God going to do in my life because of this trip? That's where we find our mission trip truths. Here are 3 key truths I see in every trip.

1. It's eye opening.
Almost always your going to a place that is not like your place, your surroundings, your comfort level. Hopefully you are being stretched and your view of the world is being changed. When your eyes are opened it seems like it makes room for the Holy Spirit to make some changes. This leads into the next key truth.

2. Lasting Impact
This one seem like it should be combined in the last one but let me explain.. Missions trips should create a lasting impact because when you are there, you are serving and allowing God to use you. You are portraying what God asks of us in the Bible; how He wants us to live. The Bible says if you want to be free, give your life away. If you want to be first, be last (servant hood). If you want to be close to God's heart, see the World through my eyes. When you are on these trips you are being stretched and used. You are so close to God's heart and God is doing a work in your life. I have seen students come back from trips and want to make impact in their own communities like they did there. I have seen students come back and make career choices based on how they felt there. I have seen students go on mission trips and want to become missionaries. There is no doubt that when students go on trips God could make a lasting impact in their life.

3. Jesus' becomes clearer
In their own life on these trips Jesus because more clearer. Students make decisions to go harder after God, to quit doing certain things that are hindering their relationship with God, to change their life and become real about their relationship with Jesus.
I have seen these truths be evident in my own life and in the lifes of many students over the years. Don’t underestimate the power that a short term mission trip could have on the life of a student.
If you go to HCC, there will be a 2013 missions meeting on Aug 19 at 10:30 in the VERB Lounge to go over all of the missions trips for VERB next year along with the adult trips as well. Yes, these core truths are the same truth for adults.

What's up Next for me

As my dad takes the family and me to the airport for us to fly back to Baltimore after a two week vacation where we spent a week at the beach, celebrated 8th anniversary with my bride, and got to see a lot of friends and be challenged at the General Assembly. I am saddened and happy about my return to Maryland.

I'm saddened only for the fact that vacation is over and had to say goodbye to family.

I'm happy because I'm super happy and excited about what's going on at VERB and HCC over the next few months.

Here's a few things to list and pay attention to and pray for. On Thursday a group of middle and high school guys leave for WV for 3 days for Man Up where we will be whitewater rafting and rock climbing. Then I fly to ATL for a few days to tour the ATL Dreamcenter for some possible ministry opportunities next summer. Aug 8-10 is church wide summer bond. Then VERB will hit up Hershey Park on Aug 14. Aug 17-18 multi youth church event called Upside Down. Aug. 19 2013 summer missions meeting. Aug 22 VERBs own 7:14 service. Sept 2 VERBs Labor Day Party to kick off the fall semester. Sept 28-30 HS Fall Retreat. Oct 26 Halloweenfest with a Zombie Invasion. Nov. 17-19 middle school trip to OC for Alive.

I'm stoked about the fall and all I believe God is going to do in the lives of our students. Hopefully your just as excited and be in prayer for VERBs leadership team and be in prayer for the students to allow God to speak into their life and for them to speak into the lives of their friends.

Later....

Were taking 2 weeks to talk about money and try to make sense of what God is asking of us when it comes to it. Because in this day in age we have it completely backwards when it comes to money, possessions and want. Through this series, my hope is that students get a clear sense of what God wants from them when it comes to there life and their money.

2012 and some goals

Every year we all try and set goals that we all want to achieve by end of the year. So, I thought I would include you in on some of my goals so you could see what I aiming for. Possibly, you can hold me accountable to them as well.

- Read through the Bible on one of those year plans
- Read 15 books. Here's the list I have so far:
- Finish Doctrine by Mark Driscoll
- Hunger Games books
- Bringing Up Girls by Dr. James Dobson
- 99 things every girl should know by Neely Mcqueen
- Soul School by Jeanne Stevens
- Sustainable Youth Ministry by Mark DeVries
- Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey
- Vintage Church by Mark Driscoll
- Parenting a new generation by Chap Clark
- Erasing Hell by Francis Chan
- Love Wins by Rob Bell
- Desiring God by John Piper
- Re- Read Chasing Daylight by Erwin McManus
I know I have more then 15 books here but I would imagine that some of these will be replaced

- Become more healthy
- By eating better and becoming a better cook
- Continue to Work out and get down to 200 pounds (I am at 235 now)

- Become a more disciplined Leader and Teacher
- Do something adventurous that I have never done
- Play some golf
- Look into getting my master's
- Date my wife more
- Love on my kids more
- Hike Maryland's portion of the Appalachian Trail
- Travel a little
- Spend more one on one with some students

Christmas and VERB

This time of year is always crazy and VERB is no different! So I wanted to give you the inside scope on what all is happening with VERB through the holidays. So here it goes:

December 7th: Small groups 7pm (Band Practice at 6pm)

December 11th: Kids play 6pm no VERB service. The reason were not having a service is we have several students in the play along with several of my leadership teams kids (including mine) in the play. So we didn't want to battle with the show or miss it. Plus, we want to be supportive of future students of VERB. So, on this night we will have band pratice at 4pm and then open our doors for games and snacks at the bar at 5:30 and then close it all down at 5:55 to go over the the sanctuary. After the show we will open the VERB Lounge back up.

December 14th: Small groups 7pm (Band Pratice at 6pm)

December 18th: VERB Christmas Party (Band pratice at 4pm)
The party will consist of food (that we are hoping you can help bring...you know, some of the best Christmas food ever!!), Ugly Christmas Sweater contest, and Christmas games. Doors open at 5:30.

This is also an excellent opportunity for Students to bring non-persihable food items to help feed local Hungry children through Harmon's, Woodbridge and Hilltop Elementary Schools. (Check out the list of potential food items at the end of this blog)

December 21st: Small groups 7pm (Band pratice at 6pm)

December 25th: NO VERB: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

December 28th: NO VERB (Church closed)

January 1st: NO VERB

January 8th: VERB Moves to SUNDAY AM's!! (9am serivce in Grand Hall 1) Today will be the big switch from Sunday night to Sunday morning. We will no longer be offering anything on Sunday nights. Our full services will be from 9:00am to 10:15am with the VERB Lounge open for games and snacks till 11am.

Food to Feed Hungry Children

New Series "Welcome to the Movies"

We all love movies. I find it rare to find someone who does not like movies. Now the reasons on why someone likes them vary; but I love movies because I love stories and it's easy to get caught up in a story. It's easy to recognize different elements in a story, and it's easy to get involved in a story.

God is writing a bigger story then we or hollywood could imgiane and He is inviting us to be apart that story. Over the next couple of weeks were going to discuss God's invite into that story, the reasons that stop us from accepting His invite and to close out the series is the how to accept His invite into our bigger story.

Hopefully will see you over the next couple of weeks.

Hope to see you Sunday night....doors open at 5:30

VERB IBS...

No...we don't have Irritable Bowel Syndrome; but we do have our very own In- Between Scene this Sunday morning!! If your a middle or high school student or a parent of one. Or, if you have no earthy idea what VERB Student Ministries is...come by The VERB Lounge this Sunday morning at 10:30 - 11:00 and check us out or just come and hang out with us and drink some coffee and eat some doughnuts. Hope to see you there.

Facebook without ceasing

Have you ever read this passage before: "Never stop praying." 1 Thessalonians 5:17 and thought "There is no way that can happen". I know I have before and felt as if it was an impossible task.

The other day I noticed that I kept looking at my phone and refreshing my facebook page and realized with office computer, home computer, phone, Ipod that I am always connected to facebook. Always connected to my 500 something friends (I know I should downsize). Probably the longest I go without checking facebook is while I am sleeping (I know, another thing I should downsize).

But it got me thinking about this 1 Thessalonians 5:17 and our students at VERB. We have taught on this passage before and taught that prayer is not about always having to be in a quiet place, you don't have to be kneeling down, you don't have to close your eyes. Prayer could happen anywhere (just like facebook can happen anywhere). Yes, there are times....many times; daily even, that we should slow down, be quiet, kneel, close our eyes.

I don't know if Paul, the writer of 1 Thessalonians is implying that never stop praying means to always be in your prayer closet or always on your knee with your eyes closed. I believe that he was telling us to have more of the facebook style of prayer; that you are always connected to God, your never too far from Him in your thoughts or words. You are always hitting the refresh button making sure you and God are up to date on everything.

Never Stop Praying becomes attainable when we are checking into God as you would be checking up on a friend.

Paul is not trying to make our life harder, but easier. If you go a couple of hours or a couple of days not connecting on facebook and you log in and want to read all that you missed it will take some time (or if you’re like me, you give up). But if your always connected like I know most of us are it only takes a few minutes. The same is true with Paul's thinking, if you never stop praying it’s easier to stay up to date and connected to Him. And not feel like you have to play catch up and often feel like you want to give up.

So today, every time you check facebook first say a little something to God and check in with Him and see how your life might change throughout the day.

5th Quarter

Were hosting an event on Oct 14 called 5th Quarter, basically a blow out party. It's intention is to get students to come out after the football games on Friday night and hang out at VERB. It will start at 9pm and go until midnight. Were going to have Chick-fil-a, a band, a massive bonfire and games. Cost is $15 for the night. Tickets are on sell now for the event.

Here's the catch if you buy you tickets by Oct 12 you will be registered for a $50 gift card to iTunes. So if you wanted to you could buy your ticket and all of your friends tickets for them (then collect the money from them later) and you be registered to win the card for all those tickets. Our hope is to have a ton of students come out and get as many tickets sold early as possible.

Get in before it's too late....

Changes to the OCT. calendar

This month we have had to make some changes to the calendar for the month of Oct. The changes are:
- Oct. 21 Friday night Frenzy
- Oct. 28 David Crowder Band Concert

Both of these events have been canceled for this month. FNF is canceled because of the 5th Quarter were doing on Oct. 14 at 9pm and we don't want to over load the calendar every week. More info about the 5th Quarter to come out later today.

David Crowder Band Concert is canceled because the event sold out several weeks ago and the only tickets for sell are like $176 as of yesterday.

If you have any questions about these events please email me at jason.harris@heritagec.net

Fall Retreat is right around the corner and it's going to be epic. The details will start being leaked next week but I promise you are not going to want to miss out. Here's the payment plan:

If you have any questions about the payment or in need of help for the trip please email me at jason.harris@heritagecc.net

This Sunday night at VERB we start a three 3 series on sin. Sin isnt going anywhere but we are and when we get hooked on sin it limits where we can go. Hope you will make it out to VERB this week as we begin the process of cutting open sin adn expossing it for what it really is.

Parents don't forget to go here: http://verb.heritage-cc.org/info/sermon-discussions for follow up questions during the week.

VERB's Pancake Breakfast

This Sunday VERB is sponsoring a Pancake Breakfast during the In-Between Scene. All you can eat pancakes and sausage for donation. Hope to see you there.

Small groups...DONT MISS IT.

We started small groups last week and if you missed out no worries; there's still time! Heck, we never stop accepting students into small groups! Last week we allowed small group leaders and students to get to know one another and catch up on summer events and how school was going so far.

After this week there will be a change in how were doing things. Last Wednesday and this Wednesday all small group leaders will be there at 6 to meet all students and parents. Whether it's this week or a month from now if your wanting your child to join small group you as the parent will need to meet the small group leader and fill out a little paperwork. It's important to us that parents and leaders know each other and have good communication. So the only thing that will change is the fact that the leader may not get there until 6:15, 6:30, so you may miss them. Take advantage of this perfect time to meet them!

Another feature were adding to small groups this year is an email that will be sent to you from the small group leader about the weeks topic. Here's this week's email:

Dear parents,

This week we started a four-week series called "God's Big Story." This series will provide teenagers with a big-picture view of God's story, with the goal of giving students a healthy understanding of what the Bible is about and how it applies to their lives.

In this first week, we looked at Genesis 1-2 and examined the picture of how God created the world. The world is broken, but God didn't create it that way. He created a world that was truly "good." It's important for our teenagers-and for adults-to remember how God meant things to be. We live in a world filled with pain and difficulties, but God designed a world that was good.

Each week in our series, we're giving students two key words to help them remember the big idea. This week our key words were CREATION and GOOD. Simply put, God created the world, and it was good.

Here are some questions you might use this week to engage your teenager in some conversation about this week's lesson:

•What main idea stuck with you from your small group meeting this week, and why?
•What is one way that you see God reflected in your own life?
•If all of humanity is created in God's image, how might this affect or shape the way you treat other people?

Thanks for your trust as you allow your child to be a part of our ministry!

If you are not signed up yet with your child's small group leader and you would like to. Email me at Jason.harris@heritagecc.net and I will make sure that you are.

Parent BBQ

On this Friday evening were encourging all parents of VERB (parents of Middle & High School students) to come out for an evening of good food, laughs, bonding and hopfully building. The event is free but we do ask that you R.S.V.P. by Wed Sept. 28 so that we will have accurate amount of food. You can do that my emailing me at jason.harris@heritagecc.net

Let me know if you have any questions

Thanks,
Jason

Parent + VERB = Great Partners

We think at VERB that if VERB and the parents are on the same page and working together it will make for a better outcome with the student. So one of the ways that VERB is trying to partner with the parent is by providing you with some follow up material for during the week.



Every week at VERB we cover a topic; most of the time we spend a few weeks on a certain theme (this week we start a 2 week series on Friends). So what were going to do is provide you with the main points, the verses (once our podcasts get fixed you will be able to listen to it) and a few questions for you. This way you can have some follow up discussion later on in the week with your student.

This discussion can be done during a meal or a car ride or you can have several through out the week. Our hope is that you would use this resource to help stir some Biblical dialogue and communication between you and your student and help VERB keep the message in their life a little bit longer.

This content will be loaded on the VERB website every Sunday night or first thing Monday morning. You can find this resource on the VERB website here: Sermon Discussions



Hopefully this will be a helpful partnership and it will continue to grow more and more. Let me know if there's anything I can do for you and your family.

P.S. - The Parent BBQ coming up on September 30th at 6pm. It's FREE! We DO need you to R.S.V.P. by Wednesday night. Please make time in your schedule to make it out to this dinner.

We all know that this day in age with Facebook, having real friends and keeping real friends is a bit of a challenge. It's almost like friends are changed as often as students brush their teeth or middle school boys take showers which is about once or twice a week.

This Sunday night at VERB were going to be looking at the good and bad of friendships and even though the Bible is not 100% clear on how to get friends or how to keep friends. It is pretty clear on a few things we should look for in friendships and things we should aspire to as a friend. Hope to see you Sunday night.

VERB Small Groups

On Sept 14 we launch our small groups. Topics to be covered in small groups this semester will be: The Full Story of God, Identity, Who is God, and Belonging in Community. The cost for small groups is $20 for the year. On the 14th were asking for a parent to join the student between 6-7pm to meet the small group leaders, fill out a quick sheet about their child and ask any questions they may have about small groups. The total time needed for this meeting will be 15min or less, please make yourself available. It's important to us that parents and leaders know each other and have good communication. If you can't make it email me at jason.harris@heritagecc.net and I will set up a time for you to meet your small group leaders.

VERB's Newsletter

This Week at VERB:

Tonight: Movies at VERB - it's the last one of the summer. Next week we launch our small groups. To read about them click here: http://journeyfrom98.blogspot.com/2011/09/verb-small-groups.html

This Sunday marks the 10 year anniversary to 9/11. So, we will not be having a VERB service but we will be having a church wide prayer and praise service starting at 6pm.

Dates to pay attention to:
- Sept. 14 - 2hr. early dismissal. If your wanting to be picked up from school on this day by VERB and have lunch. You need to email me at jason.harris@heritagecc.net to sign up for it. Sign up by Tues Sept 13.
- Sept. 14 - Small group Launch
- Sept. 16 - Friday Night Frenzy 6pm - 9pm
- Sept. 18 - VERB Service "Let me tell you about my Best Friend"
- Sept. 24 - First Fruits Farm
- Sept. 29 - Paintball trip (public school is out)
- Sept 30 - Parent BBQ 6:30