This thread can easily dissolve into death by firing squad for short term missions, so let me say a few good things about short term trips before I begin firing away:

A FEW POSITIVE WORDS ABOUT SHORT TERM MISSIONS:
These trips, when done with substantial pre-trip counsel and post-trip debrief can be a pivotal time in a young persons life.

MY OWN EXPERIENCE:
I spent some time in the Amazon after I was saved, gave nitroglycerin to a heart attack victim dying before my eyes and saved him and delivered a baby and had to cut the cord with a Wilkerson shaving razor and boiled a string from the hammock to tie off the cord..... WOW! My world was rocked.

THE VALUE OF SHORT TERM SPIRITUAL "HIGHS":
... we sometimes need these spiritual "high" moments to motivate us and - as my generation is apt to say - get us "PSYCHED UP!" I wish more of the people in my churches were, in fact, psyched up and I would even love to hear some from my traidtion speak of some things as AWESOME! Instead of analyzing and dissecting things in dry, doctrinal stale language.

God has throughout Scripture arranged pivotal moments in the patriarchs lives to set them on a different path and somtimes these were quite dramatic. When a person is called as a pastor or missionary (or even saved) often God uses dramatic moments or experiences that really make the recipient ponder their priorities. A missionary trip may prove to be God's orchestrated way of stepping away from it all and re-prioritizing.

I think God works through these exciting experiences and I would encourage all the bug-eating that one can fit into 2 weeks if they came and visited me. Sago worms are plump and meaty and full of protein.

SUGGESTIONS TO MAXIMIZE SHORT TERM TRIPS:
As a short term, pivotal time, I do want to say that short term mission trips can be a very effective tool for the recruitment of the next class of missionaries. It also allows a church to see first hand and raise awareness of needy peoples when these short-termers return back Stateside.

A method for effective short terms would be as follows:
---A church gets an opportunity (like building a house form someonein the jungle in the summer to fall of 2008),
---young people who are open to serving overseas sign up and are examined by the elders.
---Appropriate elders/leaders are selected and a chain of command is establsihed so that there is a clear spiritual leader.
---Assignments are given, such as reading Piper's Let the nations be Glad and Don't Waste your Life.
---On the trip itself, time is set aside to even fast, pray and search the Scriptures about what the Lord would have these young people do in life.
---The missionary on the field should challenge them with missiological scenarios from daily life (homeschool versus boarding school for kids, what is a gift and what is a bribe, do you accept gifts that have been vlessed by local shamans, etc)
--A set apart time per day would be established on a short term trip to meet and use as a "classtime" to discuss field issues.
--The young people on the trip are required to keep a journal and even field daily questions.
--Once the group returns the group is responsible for sharing all this to not only their home church but maybe even call some of the missionary's other supporting churches and help the missionary give an upate to them (through the eyes of these short termers). This keep things "real" for those in the States.
--The Short termers should be encouraged to think freely, ask freely and question the motives and methodology of the missionary on the field (respectfully). WHy are some things done this way or that...

Short term missions usually do very little for the local people visited (unless you bring an electrician over and help a missionary wire his house in the summer or fall of 2008). But it ties home churches and missionaries together and helps disciple young US church kids, if adequate preparation and follow up is done and screening is done to weed out those who only want a holy holiday.

FINAL THOUGHT: Short term missions is here to stay for at least the next decade or two. I feel compelled to make the most of them until this season passes. Most long term missionaries serving now, on average, have been on at least 1 short term trip in the past and most have been on 2 or 3... so short terms, hopefully, will be an entry-level exposure on the road to long term service and so I am careful not to dissuade them but to try to refine them to use them the best way as possible.

So, if given proper prep, God bless short term missions

__________________
Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone