SLAM Testimonies

God really used our week at SLAM to push our kids toward having more of a heart for missions. Our students enjoy doing mission projects but are not often using their own initiative to start them. Through our mission projects, God really spoke to multiple of my students and showed them how capable they are in serving others. My students still cannot stop talking about worship.

This week confirmed that I want to move forward with leading a Bible study this upcoming school year which I had been debating. This week also reminded me that I need to continue to strive to be like Jesus and not compare my life to those on social media.

SLAM leaders are some of the most passionate people I've ever met.  They are all in on Jesus.  They are all in on living a life of servanthood.  This isn't some phase they are going through that will wear off in a year, it is a lifelong commitment they have made to serve in the name of Christ.  Their example is a powerful one and had a huge impact on my students and challenged them to consider their identities as followers of Jesus.

I was challenged by Students Living a Mission to re-think missions as being less about the work (though we did work hard) and more about the people. In the past, my mission trips had been all about the projects; but SLAM made the focus on the people and that helped me see what really mattered. That change in focus has changed how I do ministry to this day.  I worry less about the tasks and more about the people I minister to. Tasks come and go, people are for eternity.

SLAM was one of the best things I ever did for my ministry. Our church kept coming back to SLAM year after year because I wanted to, my students wanted to, my parents wanted to...we loved it.  Before SLAM we would change locations and organizations often; but after we found SLAM we never wanted to change again.  We loved working with them, we loved learning from them, we trusted them.

Our youth ministry brought a group to SLAM for several years in a row, first of all, because of the relationships that were developed with the SLAM team and with other groups who participated.  The "serving together" relationships along with the "serving others" aspect of the mission trip create a tight sense of unity in the mission of Jesus.  Another reason we would keep coming was that the SLAM team provided a variety of opportunities for the youth to serve:  refugees, children, elderly, etc, and doing manual work like building community gardens which required a lot more sweat.  Thirdly, the worship and teaching times gave our youth a chance to hear it from someone else, and raised their awareness of what a commitment to following Jesus is all about. 

I've been doing youth ministry for 19 years and I've been on a lot of different mission trips. SLAM is the real deal and I haven't seen anything that compares. If you are looking for solid service opportunities for middle school and high school, as well as incredible discipleship and tons of fun, this is the Mission Trip for you! SLAM is very easy to work with, they are the best deal for the money, and they are living and loving like Jesus!

Most mission trips I've been on have a strong emphasis on work and little emphasis on long-term relationships and discipleship. SLAM covers it all! They are living and serving their community year round and we get to be a part of that!

We will continue to work with SLAM in the future because of the evening worship.  Seeing my students experience God in such a tangible way was wildly invigorating and affirming.

Evening worship was powerful and moving every night. Never quite experienced something to that degree in my own life. Was truly humbled and blown away by how these teens and leaders were worshiping our Lord.

SLAM energized me and gave me hope for our youth moving forward. It's harder and harder to see what a community of Christ can look like functioning together. But SLAM bears proof that Christian community can happen in meaningful ways even in the face of a divided time in many of our churches

SLAM Ignited a fire. As ministry leaders, we don’t always get the time to just decompress and not be in the weeds of programming. It was nice to just be there and be present with students and absorb the presence of God. I walked away, feeling refreshed. 

God used the week to remind me of my call to serve students. SLAM allowed me to practice true Biblical fellowship with my students in proclaiming the Gospel together. It was and is very special to me. 

It really was an incredible platform for our rising upperclassmen to step into their leadership roles for the school year to come. I sensed a release in a big group of our students to be free in what God’s calling them to.

Everything else was very well thought out, intentional, and done with a high-level of excellence. The staff team was amazing. It was one of the best mission experiences I have been a part of and we are already looking forward to future trips.