Stacy Long
AFA Journal staff writer
May 2014 – It takes commitment. It takes overcoming fear. It takes trusting God like never before. It’s a short-term mission trip.
For most Christians, the phrase “short-term missions” probably brings to mind a 7-10 day trip to help with construction, medical and health needs or vacation Bible school. But some groups are challenging young adults with much more rigorous and demanding missions involvement. In fact, the three organizations below each reflect a different approach to missions.
World Race
The website makes it sound simple: 11 countries in 11 months. But there is much more to the World Race, explained Weston Belkot from Adventures in Missions, the parent organization of World Race.
“The World Race is more than a short-term mission trip,” he told AFA Journal. “There is a short term mission trip element, essentially 11 short-term trips back to back, but no other mission trip gives its participants the amount of exposure to the ways God is moving in the world. Missionaries get full exposure to what the church, as described in Acts, is intended to be. This helps the World Racers discover where God may be calling them long-term.”
With approximately one month spent in each of 11 countries visited on four continents, a World Race journey is designed to introduce people to ways they can serve. Ultimately, the goal is to transform people for a life of kingdom impact.
“We want the Race to launch them into a lifestyle,” Belkot said. “We want them to learn to be obedient to God’s voice, to taking steps of faith. Maybe that means doing things that don’t make sense, that feel like a risk in our American mindset. But it becomes the norm to live like, ‘This is what God’s calling me to do, and I’m going to do it.’”
World Race invites applicants 21-35 years of age who desire to grow and change, experience the presence of God, live in authentic community and exhibit a positive attitude. Overall, Belkot said what is most important in applicants is the condition of their hearts, not life stage or the circumstances of their lives.
We hope,” he concluded, “whether they return home, or get engaged in ministry in the states or move overseas, that their lives will be completely wrecked – wrecked for the ordinary in the sense that God has taken hold of each of them and said, ‘No! I actually have a very different plan than you have for yourself.’”
That is a process that begins very early in the journey, as Hannah Riley, currently on a World Race, told AFAJ.
“When the World Race was presented to me, I asked the Lord if He would give me the opportunity to love on the broken and lonely in countries around the world,” Riley shared. “Now in just one month, I have already seen so many people decide to trust in Jesus and have a relationship with Him.
“We experience what life is like for the locals. We travel on buses that are packed with people; we sleep in bus terminals [and other places] that are filled with poverty, garbage and horrid smells. But it is all worth it to see orphan children smile and laugh as we come to pray over them – to see people in the villages and market places finally understand salvation and decide to follow Jesus.”
Sea Hawks
While World Race is taking her on a new journey, Riley is not new to missions. She was previously involved in another unique missions program – the Sea Hawks, a component of Friend Ships, a ministry in which Riley served full-time for more than seven years.
“Friend Ships specializes in disaster relief,” she explained. “I have seen so many broken lives changed and people come to know Jesus through this amazing ministry. As well as disaster response within the U.S., I had the opportunity to be on a vessel going back and forth to bring relief and share the gospel in Haiti after the earthquake in 2010.”
A one-year program with Sea Hawks is provided with full scholarship to carefully selected individuals 18-25 years of age. After extensive military-style training in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Sea Hawks are prepared mentally, physically and spiritually to travel on domestic and international relief missions and become leaders in the workplace or mission field.
Global Journey
Riley joined the World Race after years of involvement in missions. However, for another woman, World Race was the catalyst that brought her into missions and sparked the founding of a new short-term mission program. Sarah Posey majored in biochemistry in college, but in 2006 she traveled with the World Race and discovered a calling to missions.
“On the World Race trip, I really felt like the Lord had given me a vision to start a missions organization,” she told AFAJ. “I struggled with fear my whole life, and going on the World Race for a whole year was very frightening to me. I went because I felt God was calling me, more than that I wanted to go. So I wanted to reach an audience that maybe, like me, was afraid to go for a full year. I ran a pioneer trip in 2008 and I basically said, ‘Okay this is what I’m supposed to be doing.’”
That was the beginning of Posey’s Global Journey, a Texas-based ministry that plans a two-month trip twice each year, sending several teams of 8-10 people on each trip. Each team will travel through five countries on four continents and work with a variety of missionary organizations. Posey’s hope is that Global Journey will be an introductory trip for those new to missions and give direction to those who feel called to missions.
Courtney Cox told AFAJ that this is exactly what Global Journey has done for her.
“I knew the Lord was calling me to missions, but couldn’t decide where,” she said. “I’d never been on a mission trip. With Global Journey, I could go to different places and see where my passions and gifts line up. We went to Uganda, Hong Kong, India, France and Nicaragua, and did all types of mission work.
“It was India that grabbed my heart. At the orphanage we visited, it was great to be with children who have nothing, but Jesus is everything to them. When we left India, I asked, ‘How can I leave them?’ Then I was reminded that the Lord took care of them before we got there, and He is going to continue to take care of them after we leave.
My perspective of God was blown away. It’s not about me as an American saving the world, but just about the Lord allowing me to see His goodness in all these places.”
Recently back from a second trip to India, Cox explained that when people feel called to a certain place or work, Global Journey will help them return to it for a longer trip.
Overall, as Posey pointed out, the goal for Global Journey is for people to be changed to live a life surrendered to the Lord, whatever decision they may make on future involvement in missions. 
In addition to challenging longer-term missions, short-term trips are also offered through Adventures in Missions, Friend Ships and Global Journey.
Global Journey
P. O. Box 160134
San Antonio, TX 78280
731-293-7970
Friend Ships
1019 North First Avenue
Lake Charles, LA 70601 337-433-5022
info @ friendships.org
Adventures in Missions
6000 Wellspring Trail
Gainesville, GA 30506
877-811-0210
theworldrace.org
