Chicago (part 1)

This past week, I led a team from our church on a mission trip to Chicago. It was an amazing week, and I'd like to share a few thoughts about the trip... probably over the course of several posts :).

First of all, I really like working with CSM for several reasons. (By the way, check out their blog here.) CSM is great about offering a variety of ministry opportunities. Whereas on most mission trips, you build a house, offer a backyard Bible club, or do some kind of evangelism campaign, with CSM you get to do several things during the week-- even several things a day! So, when I have a student who complains about having to wash dishes, I can say, "No problem, we'll be doing something different in a couple hours." For example, this past week we had two groups (a group of 10 and a group of 11, not counting CSM hosts), and between these groups we served in three childrens programs (CCO, YMCA and By the Hand), four city "experiences" (the prayer tour, Meet a Need, Immersion and Ethnic Plunge), and four feeding ministries (Living Room Cafe, CCO, CCIL, and Humboldt Park Social Services). On top of that, the students experienced the city's cultures through four different ethnic restaurants (Thai, Lebanese, Indian and Mexican). These experiences expose the youth to a whole host of issues pertaining to the city they are serving... you really get a better sense of "Chicago" because of it.

In addition to the variety CSM trips provide, they are great because they are very flexible and customizable to our group, they do all the legwork, and they provide you with great city hosts to work alongside the groups. And it's nice to know that once we leave, CSM doesn't. CSM has an ongoing presence with these great ministries we work in. It may be short-term for us, but they are constantly supporting and providing volunteers to many of these ministry areas.

I'm also a big fan of doing urban ministry with my students. I've now taken youth to work in the inner cities of Toronto, Nashville, Philadelphia and Chicago. Sitting at a table across from a hungry family at a soup kitchen, kneeling down to deliver a bag lunch to a homeless person on the street, looking into the eyes of kids who are becoming hardened by the streets, driving through neighborhoods where there is no one who looks like them, being confronted by the reality of poverty, hopelessness, and injustice-- these are truly cross-cultural trips that show a part of the world that kids from Kentucky are rarely ever exposed to (without the cost of having to fly overseas). And I believe there is great value in just being exposed to it... to see it with your own eyes and to feel the weight of it bear down on your soul. You can't leave the city unchanged.

Another exciting thing about this year was our student participation. The first year I was at GBC, we took a group of seven to Nashville. Last year, we had 14 go to Toronto. This year, we again jumped by seven and took 21 with us to Chicago (and an extra van). Because we were split up, I missed getting to spend time with Alex and Donna and the nine kids in their group, but Jennifer and my group were awesome! It gives me a lot of hope for the direction of our youth ministry and the priority of missions in the lives of these youth. Along with the attendance, we had a couple of our youth participate by contributing to our morning quiet times. We have a tradition (handed down from my own experience in youth group) of having a half-hour morning quiet time where we have our Bibles, a pen, and a couple written pages to lead us in morning devotions and prayer. Usually I put these together myself, but this year I was excited to have Andrew and Rebecca write one each for our trip (Monday & Wednesday). They did such a great job, and I'm so proud of the work they put into it. Also, almost all of our group prayed out loud at some point during the trip, whether for a ministry site, a meal, or during our debriefing time. They all worked so hard all week. Great participation by everyone!

More to come later...