The devotions in Called will give adults a solid spiritual assessment before they head full-force into ministry on a short-term mission trip. A mission trip leader will want to ceremoniously present the book Called to all trip participants at least fifteen days before they leave. Then each member of the mission team can read the same material and prepare together.
The devotions in Changed empower adults to put their servant spirit into action in their own communities once they return home. When the mission trip team returns home, a mission trip leader will want to ceremoniously present Changed to all team members. The adults can then spend time deconstructing what they learned and how they grew from the trip.
Tween girls have access to an unbelievable amount of media and information with just a simple click of the remote or mouse. Every outlet they turn to attempts to subtly influence their worldview...and what they believe about themselves directly affects how they live. Wynter Pitts, founder of For Girls Like You magazine, gives girls a new devotional showing them a correct definition of themselves, opening their eyes to God's truth and the difference it makes in their lives. Each daily devotion includes a prayer to help girls apply the lesson. "If you've wondered whether there is anything left on the planet to entertain your young beauties that promotes morals you'd approve of, look no further" —Author and speaker Priscilla Shirer
Extend the impact of any mission trip with a gospel-centered, grace-motivated devotional and travel journal from Serge. This guided, ten-day devotional helps Christians-young or old-process and remember the surprising, moving, and potentially life-changing lessons learned. Book jacket.
Ready-to-Go Devotions for Mission and Service is a toolkit of daily devotionals for youth mission trips. The devotions in this book address every aspect of the mission experience, from leaving home and sleeping on the floor to dealing with language barriers and grumpy teammates. Each devotion includes a relevant Bible story, a commentary that connects that story to the mission experience, and a section that challenges the reader to take specific actions on the trip, back home, or both. The book includes devotions in preparation for, during, and after the mission trip or service project. The ready-to-go format allows the youth worker to quickly assemble a customized devotional journal for participants, matching each day’s selection to what’s likely to happen that day. The devotions could also be used in a group setting, which would allow the youth worker to pick devotions based on what has happened during the trip or event. Either way, the devotions point to the larger biblical and personal significance of mission trip or service project happenings . What if you held a mission trip and nobody changed? It’s a haunting, daunting question, one that youth workers and researchers across America are beginning to ask. Short-term mission trips (STM) have exploded in popularity since the mid-1990s, thanks in part to the Internet, which makes connecting with mission agencies and mission recipients easier than ever. Sociologist Kurt Ver Beek estimates that the number of North American short-term missionaries grew from 125,000 in 1989 to as many as four million in 2003. Many of those short-termers are teenagers. According to Christianity Today, more than two million American teens enter the mission field every year. Pollster George Barna reports that 15 percent of U.S. Christian teens have done a short-term mission trip, while the National Study of Youth and Religion found that 29 percent of all teens had participated in a short-term mission trip or religious service project. Unfortunately, the impact of short-term mission trips may be short-term as well, both for those who go on mission trips and for those who receive mission teams. Ver Beek recently surveyed North Americans who worked in Honduras after a 1998 hurricane, as well as those who were served by them. He found that the North American work teams had “little or no lasting impact” on the communities they served and that missionaries reported only “a small, positive, lasting change” in their own lives. The situation isn’t hopeless, however, according to Robert Priest, associate professor of mission and intercultural studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. “In research with Ph.D. students at Trinity,” he wrote in Christianity Today, “I’ve been impressed that while STM may not always or automatically produce desired results, the right sorts of STM, carried out in the right sorts of ways, and accompanied by the right sorts of reflections, have potential for good.” Unfortunately, youth workers don’t always build “the right sorts of reflections” into their mission trips. At best, they allot time in the daily schedule for reflection or debriefing. At worst, they just hope and pray that their students will somehow be transformed by the mission experience. The existing literature isn’t much help. Books on mission-trip planning offer plenty of advice on selecting a mission agency, raising money, coordinating transportation, handling emergencies, entering closed countries, and re-entering the “normal” world, but they offer precious little advice on using the mission experience to impact the participants’ lives. The handful of available mission-focused devotional guides offer some assistance, but they typically take a one-size-fits-all approach. Usually presented as mission journals, these guides assume trips will be a certain length or include certain elements, such as dealing with non-English speakers. Ready-to-Go Devotions for Mission and Service fills the void, offering targeted, topical devotionals that can help turn short-term missions into life-changing experiences.
Written by popular author and blogger Sophie Hudson, this elegant devotional journal reminds teen girls that Jesus is their All in All—over all, through all, and in all that they do.
More than ten million readers have enjoyed Robert Boyd Munger's spiritually challenging meditation on Christian discipleship. Now revised and expanded, My Heart--Christ's Home leads you to examine for yourself all the aspects of your life--considering what Christ most desires for you.
Life Is Good. . . Praise God! Life Not Going So Well? . . . Praise God! . . . Do you find that it's easy to praise God when life is going well--the bills are paid, family members are healthy and thriving, and every day is smooth sailing--but difficult to muster up genuine praise when life isn't going so well? With 180 Devotions for When Life Is Hard Journal, you will discover just the comfort and encouragement your heart needs for the areas of life that truly matter to you, including family, finances, work, health, faith, and so much more. Whatever life brings your way--through every mountain and valley--you will encounter words that uplift and inspire your soul in this lovely devotional journal.
Here is a delightful devotional journal that celebrates the presence of the heavenly Father in life's everyday moments. 180 thought-provoking readings will speak to your heart, sharing spiritual truths from God's Word.
