After leading a recent mission trip to Guatemala with his church – Disciples Church in Folsom, California – Stu Streeter, NAB VP of Ministry Advancement and Church Multiplication, shared a few reflections on the struggles of re-entry into North American life with the rest of his team. The version we share here has been adapted some to allow for wider application to any team as they return home after the spiritual high of a short-term missions experience. We hope this serves you well as you prepare for and return from your summer mission trips.
By Stu Streeter
VP of Ministry Advancement and Church MultiplicationA few weeks back I returned from what I think was my nineteenth or twentieth mission trip. I’ve been on mission trips in several North American inner cities, Utah (the land of Mormons), Cameroon, Paraguay, Mexico, and Guatemala.
Read on: it’s not as spiritual or impressive as you might think.
You’d think by now I’d have the re-entry game figured out, too, but I don’t. I really, really don’t. I get tired and grumpy – really grumpy. Additionally, at some point in the first few days after returning, I cry for no reason – I hate crying for no reason. Then out of the blue I’ll feel overwhelming joy as I reflect on what God let me do and see. Sure, some of this re-entry difficulty might be from the travel, emotional exhaustion, long days, new people, and foreign languages. But I am growing confident there is more to this, something inside me crying out for change, and if I will be attentive, it could be the beginning of a great renewal in my life.
So I spent the morning of my return thinking about this and come up with some rambling thoughts and insights. They are in no way complete or comprehensive. They are really just designed to serve my friends I traveled with to Guatemala this past week. However, the airports are packed during the early summer months with teams in matching T-shirts and necklaced passports coming and going on mission trips, so I am sharing them more widely in case they can serve others as well. . . .
Today is the last day to register for Triennial 2024! With only two more weeks until we all gather together in St. Paul, Minnesota, this is your last chance to register to join nearly 500 of your NAB brothers and sisters for a time of worship, fellowship, refreshment, challenge, and good food.
If you can’t make it to every day of the conference, you can still register for a Day Pass, giving you access to part of the conference without needing to pay the full cost:
- Thursday/Friday – $119
- Saturday (including banquet) – $119
- Sunday (including brunch) – $59
If you choose to attending via Day Passes, you can choose up to two, mixing and matching to attend whatever days you are able.
(Please note that the Thursday/Friday Day Pass does not allow entry until after 6:00 p.m.; only those attending via the full conference registration will be allowed to attend the Business Meeting.)
Whether you choose to attend all or only some of the time, don’t miss out on your chance to register.
When College Heights Baptist Church was planted fifty years ago in Prince George, British Columbia, they started out as a simple Bible study. They soon grew to meeting at a local school and before long were erecting their own building. Once they had their building, the intent was always to plant again once it started to get full.
Over the years, they would bring up the conversation about church planting, praying about it and even seeking out consultation from within the church planting world. But, according to Pastor Curtis Reimer, “It seemed very time we were making progress, a door would close.” Whether it was a change in the pastoral team, a conflict in the church that needed to be resolved, or a struggle to find someone to lead a new church plant, the pieces never seemed to fit into the places they needed to. All this time, the leadership team were, as Pastor Curtis put it, “cultivating the congregation” to think about what kind of impact they could have in their community.
For the 2024 Summer Offering, the NAB is highlighting the story of College Heights Baptist Church and their new church plant, Garden City Church, a culmination of a desire to multiply fifty years in the making. You can read the full story at the link below, where you can also give in support of the Ministry Resource Fund, which, in part, helps to support this kind of multiplication, allowing us to resource new pastors, support sending churches, and train leaders in what it looks like to impact our local communities for the Gospel.