Well, Tim Schmoyer over at StudentMinistry.org has just launched the Online Missions Trip 2010 website. It has a ton of free resources on how to get started preparing your students for two weeks on a social networking evangelistic mission.

What is the Online Missions Trip?

• Equipping students to use social networking (which they already use) to share their faith.
• Two weeks of focused and intentional posts on their social network pages that talk about their stories and faith.
• A real life outreach event at the end of the two weeks. The projected date for this also happens to be Valentine’s Day! No greater love than this.
• Follow up with new converts.

This is a great opportunity to work together with the other churches in your community. Imagine all your kids in town using their Facebooks and MySpaces to be witnesses. Then you can combine resources and do a large event together to end the two weeks.

I think it would be best to equip the students to do the follow-ups as well (with some help from the leaders), and give the new converts opportunities to get connected to one of the local ministries in town.

Getting other ministries involved, like the Christian Clubs and parachurch organizations like Youth For Christ and Young Life can make this experience a whole lot more fruitful. You can also get parents and other adults on board to pray for the whole “trip.”

Online Missions Trip Video

Additional Resources

• For more information, check out Tim’s blog post on reaching students online.
• Facebook Page for Online Missions Trip.

What Now?

So go ahead, sign your group up!

• A service project designed to cross denominational lines. (link is dead) A great article about using a service project as a way to unite students from different churches and denominations. What is it about service projects that unite people? Common goal? More focus on the mission?
• Save money by doing mission “trips” at home. This church decided to serve their community and save money by doing a mission trip at home.
• Youth ministry should be ministry BY youth, not just TO youth. We serve students with the hope that they “get it” and begin to serve others.
• The key ingredients to youth ministry. Josh Herndon emphasizes the importance of listening, parents, relationships, experimenting, and valuing students in the early stages of starting a youth ministry. “As a Shepherd of your flock, it’s your responsibility to cherish the students you have and not envy the ones you don’t.
• Busyness versus effectiveness in youth ministry. Jeremy Zach tackles the myth that busyness equals effectiveness, arguing that busyness can often lead to ineffectiveness.
• The importance of longevity in youth ministry. Too many youth workers aren’t in it for the long haul.
• How do you integrate students into the larger church body?
• Reaching out to the Gay-Lesbian-Bi-Transgender community in your town. I was privileged to attend Andrew Marin’s seminar last year at the National Youth Worker’s Convention in Sacramento. His heart for the gay community is amazing; you should check out his new blog. His ministry is a great resource for anyone who has students struggling with sexual identity or if your local high schools have a GLBT club, such as the Gay-Straight Alliance.
• Congratulations to Tim and Dana Schmoyer on their first child, Hannah!