4 Perspectives from the YouthWorks Booth at NYWC

At the beginning of October, four YouthWorks staff made the not-so-difficult transition from Minnesota to Sacramento to take part in the National Youth Workers Convention. And after spending four days talking to youth workers about life-changing, Christ-centered mission trips, we thought it’d be good to each share something we walked away with.

So here are 4 Perspectives from the YouthWorks Booth at NYWC:

“YouthWorks? We LOVE YouthWorks!”
from Sami Tierney

The weekend was spent connecting with Youth Leaders, sharing the story of YouthWorks and talking about our many mission trip opportunities. We handed out mugs, T-shirts, stickers, brochures and Take 5 candy bars to the youth ministers working their way through the NYWC Exhibit Hall. Many of the conversations were the same, “What do you guys do?” was a pretty standard question that issued a response about service models, community investment and trip types.

And then, through the mass of meandering people, I heard, “YouthWorks?! We LOVE YouthWorks!”

The conversations that followed was with two sisters, both youth leaders. One has been going on YouthWorks trips for years, doing two trips with her church each year. Having seen her name attached to certain mission trip weeks on my computer screen, it was great to actually meet her. Geez! I even met her twin sister! I loved having the opportunity to sit with them, hear about their experiences in the great adventure of youth ministry, learn about the dynamics of their youth groups and the churches they serve. They shared with me their heart for missions and their experiences as teenagers on short-term mission trips. It was great to have an opportunity to really talk to and connect with these wonderful women who have a passion to be like Jesus, serve others and inspire their students to do the same.

The Other Side of Mission Trips
from Mike Thompson

As an Area Director, I naturally approach the idea of youth mission trips from the perspective of the community. My vantage point of YouthWorks often involves a pretty heavy dose of advocating for and with our communities and always looking for ways to continue implementing respectful service. This makes sense considering I spend most of the “offseason” traveling to our sites, meeting with and investing in the people and organizations that continue there long after the last summer group has packed up their van. I then live between a few of those communities during the summer, working alongside our staff to facilitate programming. So, outside my normal setting to spend a weekend with youth pastors at NYWC.

And yet, being surrounded by youth ministry gurus, pastors and volunteers who dedicate their lives to investing in and inspiring youth, I feel as if my eyes were truly opened to a whole new side of the mission trip experience. For me, much of the trip begins and ends with a group’s arrival and departure, but as I listened to the stories of countless youth leaders, I better understood all the work that goes into a trip, from choosing a site and fundraising to debriefing the group after the trip and finding ways to bring home the experience after it’s over. This all gave me a significantly deeper appreciation for the dedication and passion of the youth workers who sacrifice every day for their youth and communities.

Life-Change and Short-Term Missions
from Sam Townsend

At NYWC, YouthWorks had a table where we collected “101 Ideas for Post-Mission Trip Follow-up.” Often, I would ask youth leaders if they had any practices to contribute. One very nice woman’s response struck me: “We don’t need to do follow-up,” she said. “They come home already changed.”

Now, I deeply appreciate her faith in mission trips to be life-changing, and I know her comment was very well-meaning, but our intentionality in collecting these post-trip ideas come from a belief that mission trips that don’t form connections back home have the distinct danger of being easily forgotten and never-applied experiences.

It is, of course, our aim to provide life-changing mission trips for teenagers, but it’s a hard goal to measure. We used to ask adult leaders on their end-of-trip evaluations if teenagers experienced life-change during their trip. Some of our wiser youth leaders didn’t answer the question. They wrote, instead, that they weren’t sure yet. Students’ lives were stretching out in front of them and it would take time to see if the trajectory had been benefited through this mission trip.

The conversation with this well-meaning youth worker at NYWC reminded me of YouthWorks’ role in both providing and encouraging youth leaders toward healthy mission trip practices – like following up after the trip. As we think about missions year-round, our desire is to continually communicate better ways to do ministry with teenagers, especially as we strive to connect them to communities and to Christ in meaningful and – yes! – life-changing ways.

Making Moments and Sharing Stories
from Kryn Luhmann

I have gotten the opportunity to be a part of NYWC for the past few years, and I look forward to going every fall because of the fun atmosphere and the amazing people that I always meet. This year I was excited because it was my first time spending all my time in the Exhibit Hall at the YouthWorks booth.

This year at the YouthWorks booth we had a chalkboard wall where youth workers could share their mission trip moments, which allowed me to read lots of stories I would have otherwise not heard. Some stories brought laughter – for example, a team ran out of toilet paper on day 2 of their trip. Some stories brought questions – such as, “Why would a youth pastor jump out of a moving vehicle?!” Other stories brought chills – like when I heard about the “trouble maker” students giving their lives to Jesus because of service. These stories of mission trip moments reminded me how powerful stories can be.

All weekend long youth workers stood at our booth and read the moments that people shared. They connected with complete strangers over these moments. I was reminded of the power of vulnerability and what sharing a story can do. Sharing a story allows you to be connected to others and be reminded that you are not alone. I was so thankful to be a part of watching this chalkboard wall of mission trip moments come to life over the NYWC weekend.