Baptist and Reflector
FRANKLIN — Tennessee Youth VENTURE Team is now accepting applications from 10th-12th grade students who are actively involved in missions and want to level up their missional lifestyle in the coming year.
Six to eight students from across the state will be selected to serve on the 2021-2022 launch team, and will participate in monthly missions discipleship through a retreat, mentoring, Bible study, serving at Tennessee Baptist Mission Board (TBMB) and Tennessee WMU events, and a mission trip.
Team members will be given resources and equipped with knowledge and skills that will enable them to influence and lead their peers to be intentional in living a holistic missions lifestyle.
VENTURE Team leader Kim Cruse said, “We are looking for students like David — a high school student who came to the Philippines one summer because, as he said, ‘I want to be a missionary, and I don’t want to wait until I’m old.’
Kim Cruse
“God used his obedience, and after sharing his testimony through a translator in a villager’s home, a Bible study was started there, which became a missionary sending church,” Cruse said.
“God has always been in the business of using young people, and it’s our responsibility, as mentors, to cast a vision, challenge and guide them. God is calling out an army of young people to bring their energy and creativity to serve alongside long term missionaries to reach those who have never encountered the message of Christ.”
An application and two references (from a youth pastor, mission group leader, small group leader, etc.) may be submitted online from April 1-May 15 at www.tnbaptist.org/missions-ministries/tn-womans-missionary-union/tn-youth-venture-team/ .
Team members will serve from June 1, 2021 until May 31, 2022. The retreat, event registration and lodging, and mentoring materials will be provided by Tennessee WMU.
The one-year term will end with a mission trip with TBMB/WMU staff to a North American Mission Board ministry site. Fundraising guidance will be provided, and team members will each have a lead role in planning and executing the mission experience. B&R
