Mission Trip Preparation

Don't get me wrong, I am very excited for our upcoming mission trip to Haiti (we leave in 2 days). When I mention to some of my pastor friends that I am taking 23 college/young adults with me and for 15 of them this is their first time on a cross-cultural mission trip, they look at me with that look which says that I am crazy without actually telling me that I am crazy. Normally, I wouldn't take this many, but we have a great group of young adutls going and I am confident they will do just fine. I have learned a lot over the last few months so I thought I would share a few pointers for the brave few, and I mean few, who wish to maybe one day plan a mission trip for their group.

1. Plan Enough In Advance - If you know me, you know that I am a planner and try to be well-organized. I would encourage you to begin the initial planning one year out. Time always moves faster than you think and I refuse to allow things to sneak up on me. Things always change when working with missionaries on a foreign country so being well prepared makes these changes a bit easier. This is also helpful in raising funds, we needed to raise $35,000 for our trip and all of our money has come in.

2. Use a Travel Agent - Takes all the headache away in using a quality travel agent. You will pay a fraction more for using an agent but it is a small cost for not having to worry about dealing with the airlines. As a leader of a group, the last thing you want to do is make sure you get enough seats on the plan and have every ones names spelled correctly.

3. Have Enough Team Meetings - We had 1 meeting each month (6 months out). We gave each team member enough information and made sure that each member knew exactly what is expected of them. Even though we had several meetings, I still get questions. I simply refer them to the handouts and tell them to read and memorize the booklets.

4. Pray - This should go without saying, but already we have seen God work in our group in numerous ways. God has proven himself faithful and we are already experiencing the fruit of our labors. Our prayer is that the gospel will be made known through us and God will receive the glory that He deserves!