Jesus sent His disciples out on short-term trips. You ask, "Why go for just two weeks or just one or two months? What good is that going to do?" Jesus sent His disciples out on short-term trips, sometimes for a week, sometimes for a couple of weeks.
Someone who goes on a short-term trip can be an asset in ways that people who do long-term missions work may not be. If Jesus sent His disciples on short-term trips, surely He would know whether it is a valuable and credible way for a young person to spend their energy.
Sometimes we think, "Why do they need to go while they are young? Why don't they wait until they are a little bit older?" Jesus called His own disciples lambs.
They were not even sheep yet, they were lambs. They were young. They were wet behind the ears. They did not know how to do very much. They were not very talented, and they asked a lot of stupid questions.
Maybe you feel your young person is a little too immature or not very strong in the Lord. Maybe they haven't been a Christian very long. It is exactly that youthful zeal that Jesus wants to harness and use to change the world.
The fact is, an experience on the mission field during the teenage years could dramatically affect the way your teen spends the rest of their life. They can see God's hand directly involved in their life, using them to minister to people who have never heard about Jesus.
I know it is not easy to let go. While at a church where I was ministering, a man came up and grabbed my arm as I was sitting in the congregation getting ready to preach.
He said, "Ron Luce, you came here a year ago and started talking about taking kids to Russia. I thought you were crazy. My daughter came home from church that day saying she wanted to go to Russia. I thought she was crazy.
I told her I'd let her go if God would give her the money. God gave her the money and I thought He was crazy. So last summer I let my little girl go to Russia. It was hard being away from her for two months and I really had to use my faith to entrust her into God's hands.
I got a couple postcards and a couple phone calls from her, but I was so excited to see her when she came home. I picked her up at the airport and as she was telling me all the stories of how God had used her, I thought 'Yeah, yeah, I'm just glad my baby is home.'
Then when we got to the house, we put in the video tape that showed my little girl involved in ministry."
This man began to cry, and with tears streaming down his face he said, "And when I saw my baby, my own flesh and blood, passing out tracts to those people who had never heard about Christ, I knew it was worth it.
I knew it was worth entrusting her into the Lord's hands and it was worth all of the finances she had raised. I realized I had made a difference by sending my little girl."
If your young person even has a little bit of an inkling to go, let them go while it is on their heart. You do not know if the desire will always be there. Seize the moment.
The older they get, the more distractions there are—cars, clothes, jobs, and relationships. If your teen has that desire to go when they are young, let them go and God will do something in their heart that you could never do.
Do not be like that one parent who prayed, "Oh Lord, please do not let my young person go on a mission trip. I want them to be a success in life."
The Lord wants to use them in a mighty way. Send them out to the mission field while they are young—it keeps them from getting into trouble in the summer, and it will plant in their heart a vision for God to use them for the rest of their life.
Excerpt permission granted by Albury Publishing