Get excited! You are about to lead a team to experience sights, sounds and smells they have never experienced before. Your team is going to meet wonderful people with completely different backgrounds and make new friends that may last a lifetime. You will all remember this trip for a long, long time.

As the leader, it is your responsibility to make sure the trip is a success. This means shepherding your team, planning trip logistics and objectives, recruiting and training team members, and overseeing financial responsibilities. Here are three ways to carry out your responsibilities well.

1. Disciple your team members

Discipleship is teaching others to grow in obeying everything that Jesus commanded. The goal of discipleship is always becoming more and more like Jesus.

As you go on your trip, help your team maintain their focus on God’s fame spreading through their efforts. Lead daily devotions or Bible studies about how God loves to orchestrate events, so that He alone gets the glory. Talk about these things, and ask your team to point out how God is not getting the praise He is due among the people you are serving.

2. Help your team focus on the needs of those around you

Discover the needs of those who do not know the Gospel where you are going and among the Gospel workers there. How can you help meet those needs?
What preparation may it require before your trip? On your trip, pray daily as a team about how you can continue to meet these needs.

3. Focus on God’s glory

Encourage your team to not criticize the people, culture and needs of those you are serving. Focusing on God’s glory will help the team focus less on how tired they feel or how strange the culture may seem.

Channel their thoughts away from being critical and help them to constantly think about how great God is, how great the Gospel is, and how great these needs are. In short, lead them to serve out of their love for God and their love for those around you.

Remember that God wants to do as much in you as He does through you on this trip. Be ready and willing to lead your team to join the mission of God among the nations in a way that leads to a lifelong commitment of being involved in God’s mission around the world and in your own backyard.

Teaming together is hard work but well worth the results.