Our preparations for our summer mission trips are going strong!  All told, between our trips to Ukraine, Chicago and Maine, we currently have 62 leaders and teens taking part in missions this year!  It’s incredibly exciting to see the momentum starting to build, the teams growing and the prep getting serious as we come close to our departure dates (June and July).

On Sunday, all three teams were meeting in various times and places.  I led the Maine meeting, where we were in lesson two of our Prepare series (from the Prepare Go Live curriculum).  We spent some time praying together, setting goals and discussing them, and planning for the trip.  We also spent a significant part of the time doing evangelism training; giving the kids tools they can use in general to lead people to the Lord, but also specific advice and training for leading children to Christ in a VBS context, since we’ll be leading VBS in Maine.

I also had fun meeting with the Chicago team that evening.  They spent the afternoon serving at Sojourners and then came back to the church to go over some team preparations and training to help them be ready for ministry in inner city Chicago with CSM.  Chris Z is leading the team and this kind of ministry opportunity is the perfect fit for his ministry heart; social justice is a real burden for him.  It was interesting to me to see the differences between the two teams but at the same time, I really got energized for this summer and what we have coming.  It always amazes me to see what young people can do for God!

All in all, between church, teaching Student Quest, taking my kids to Family Fusion, leading the Maine team meeting and participating in the Chicago team meeting, it was a long day!  But an incredibly rewarding one at the same time!