The world's population is exploding while our church rolls are shrinking and our youth are rejecting the faith. What can be done to help students develop a faith all their own?
Paul wanted to take Timothy on the journey...
- Acts 16:3
Today’s youth are concerned about the world and our environment. “Go Green” and “Think Global” are phrases they hear all the time. The secular world is working hard to challenge our students to care about global warming and clean water. It’s time the church awakened these same students with concern about “living water” and eternal warming—hell’s gonna be really hot!
Let’s give our students credit. They are capable and willing to embrace meaningful opportunities and challenges. Let’s help them build speed and velocity in their spiritual journey to the point of their "faith taking flight”!
Jesus commissioned His disciples to “Go into all the world and preach the good news.” The early church embraced their call and in the course of a generation, “turned the world upside down.”
Paul, an apostle and missionary extraordinaire, met a young disciple named Timothy and invited him to join the mission team. Paul set the precedent for student missions. It must have been hard for Timothy’s family to let him go. They did, though, and God used him to help save the world. Paul invested in this young man and sent him two letters that we read to this day. All this because Timothy was willing and able to take a disciple trip. The question is, are we willing to send our students on their disciple trip?
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
- 1 Timothy 4:12
DiscipleTrips is an organization built to take high school students on short term mission trips to third world countries. We believe the best way to make disciples is to take disciples into places where the gospel is desperately needed. Our trips are intentionally designed to challenge our youth with a variety of service and outreach opportunities. We carefully choose locations where the need is great, the environment is safe, the country is stable and where we know the local missionaries.
Upon arrival, we jump right into the culture and get started on our assigned mission. Due to language barriers, much of our work is compassion based. We are able to transcend such barriers with various acts of service: feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, clothing the poor and building basic housing. Jesus said, “When you’ve cared for the least of these, you’ve care for me.”
Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
- Mark 16:15
DiscipleTrips is a ministry under the oversight of the Sunset Church of Christ in Lubbock, Texas. The Sunset church has a 50 year history of service to our brotherhood through the Sunset International Bible Institute (SIBI), School of Missions and the Adventures in Missions (AIM) program. DiscipleTrips is the vision of Sunset’s campus minister, Jeff Smith, who realized the need for churches of Christ to make it possible for high school students to have the life changing opportunity of short-term mission trips. The partnership of the Sunset church along with the resources of SIBI and AIM, create a credible environment for a program like DiscipleTrips to succeed.
Like any trip, you have to make your reservation. DiscipleTrips begin with a three phase application process:
Once your application is accepted, you’ll be enrolled in our online training program. The focus of the curriculum is discipleship and evangelism. You’ll be introduced to practical lessons from the World Bible School curriculum that will help you grow and acquaint you with time-tested outreach materials. This will prepare you to share your faith with someone around the world or across the street.
These classes will help the student spiritually prepare for the assignment and will also serve as an indication of the candidate’s commitment to the process.
Candidates who successfully complete step two will confirm their reservation but there's one more step before your DiscipleTrip. Your entire mission (students & sponsors) will gather at your trip's departure city approximately 36 hours before your flight for an intensive training workshop called-DISCIPLE U. This final meeting is essential in bringing all the elements of our mission experience together. We'll review the things you’ve previously learned and also focus on topics like: team building, mission principles, cultural sensitivity, health/safety, personal evangelism and more. This last step is a critical component and must be completed as a team.
And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I; send me.
- Isaiah 6:3
hello@discipletrips.com
Jeff Smith 806.790.4654
Ray Young 806.592.1947
DiscipleTrips
3723 34th St.
Lubbock, TX 79410
Do you have more questions? Check out Frequently Asked Questions.
PDF Brochure
PDF Honduras Summer 2013
PDF Antigua Summer 2013
PDF Application
Church Leader Recommendation
Parent Blessing
