That might sound weird unless you grew up on an island as I did, but that boat gave me a kind of freedom as a fourth grader that I think is pretty rare today. I grew up on Puget Sound in Washington. That’s about as far away from a calm pond or lake as you can get. My parents also trusted me and gave me a lot of freedom to explore. So that’s what I did. I fished, saw whales, hiked on some pretty remote beaches and had what I felt was a pretty adventurous life. As I grew older, that continued because it was a big part of me, and there wasn’t very much else to do on the island.

In college, I had some cool opportunities to go on mission trips and spent an entire quarter living in Europe, traveling with a professor and other students. Similar to my youth, I had a sense of freedom, wonder and excitement about the opportunities that existed. Adventure became a part of my DNA.

When I started working with students, I brought that same sense of adventure with me. Early in my classroom when I was teaching, it wasn’t enough simply to talk about things. I wanted my students to get out and feel what they were learning.

So we did things such as hiking, climbing, repelling—anything I could get away with that would bring adventure to their lives and learning.

In the youth ministry world, it’s incredibly important to add adventure to everything we do. This is especially important on mission trips. We often are so focused on what we are doing that we forget to look around and see what God has created and what He’s doing. The locations, cultures, people and life offer all kinds of cool pieces and places we need to explore so we can see and experience the real world.

One spring break, we took a group of students to Mexico to build houses. It was a good trip, but we’d done it quite a few years in a row, and I knew it had lost some of the original excitement among our older students. I wanted to do something they would remember, so I had the brilliant idea of having a huge bonfire we could dance around and have fun with. I took one of our trucks, and in the course of one afternoon found about 20 wood pallets that would be perfect for a bonfire. We stacked them up, and when it got dark, we lit the whole pile. It was an adventure, but not exactly the one I had planned. I had no idea how quickly the pallets would burn, how hot they would get or (most important) notice that our tents were too close to the inferno. There were a few frantic moments of ripping our tents out of the ground and dragging them 30 yards away from the roaring fire. No one got hurt, and now it’s a pretty funny memory. I know for sure no student will forget that trip, and every once in a while I get a text from a former student recounting the moment and laughing about our adventure.

One summer, we were going to Poland to help restore an old church. We decided to partner with a German and a Polish youth group. The work was pretty boring. We essentially dusted everything for about four days. We built adventure into the trip by taking the entire group to Auschwitz to tour the concentration camp. That was probably the most difficult debrief discussion I’ve ever led as all three groups had very different experiences. I was amazed at the depth of insight, pain and openness the students all shared with each other. I know that hearing about Auschwitz from a Polish teenager explaining how some of their families had been there was incredibly eye opening for my American students and perhaps even more for the German students who had relatives there, too, but in very different roles. This adventure actually led to some pretty difficult yet incredible conversations as the American students actually were confronted by the other two groups because they didn’t show enough respect and reverence for what had happened there. That adventure completely impacted the American students in a way I had not expected.

When I take students on mission trips, my goal simply is to add something to every trip so they don’t feel as if their faith is stale and boring. Jim Rayburn, founder of Young Life, once said, “We believe it is sinful to bore kids with the gospel. Christ is the strongest, grandest, most attractive personality ever to grace the earth. But a careless messenger with the wrong method can reduce all this magnificence to the level of boredom. It is a crime to bore anyone with the gospel.” This goes for mission trips. We don’t want to overwork our kids or bore them either. So, how do we do that, and how do we ensure our adventures on mission trips make sense and are executed well?

I have been known to dream pretty big. I know I’m a dreamer, but I also know many of the things I have done with students never would have happened if I hadn’t dreamed and asked the What-if questions. If you aren’t a dreamer yourself, find some people who can help you, and start kicking around ideas. Dream up some crazy stuff and wild adventures.

Sometimes I let the adventure become a bigger deal than the trip itself. You know this has happened when you get home and what the students talk about is the adventure and fun more than the mission. Make sure you keep your students focused. Debrief a lot. Remind them that you have a purpose and are there to serve. The fun pieces are part of that but shouldn’t overshadow it.

Make sure to have all the things you might need in order to have an adventure. I always tell students to pack a swimsuit even if there isn’t a known place to swim where we are going. We throw extra sports equipment or supplies in the vehicles in case we have a last-minute change of plans. During one trip, we got stuck somewhere in a huge rainstorm. That could have been a huge bummer, but I remembered we had a box of big trash bags with us, so we made rain ponchos and played soccer. What a great memory.

I learned this one pretty early. I need to run some of my adventure ideas by my other leaders and get their feedback before jumping straight in without considering certain implications. Sometimes extra wisdom is helpful when contemplating whether going to a bullfight is a good idea. (Actually, it was a great idea until they started stabbing the bull…probably should have asked a few questions ahead of time.)

Go see the place where you’re taking your kids. Take a scouting trip. While you’re there, open your eyes and mind, and think about what would add a sense of adventure to each trip. Keep a notebook with you, and write down every idea you can think of while you’re there. Look around the community. Ask other youth pastors and other folks what they might suggest would bring adventure. I’m always looking around the next corner and listening to what’s cool, because I don’t want my students to miss out on anything.

Not joking at all—when you take kids on a mission trip, simply going outside for games, a coffee break or hanging out at a playground can be an adventure. Remember our typical mission trips: We move from early mornings to cold showers to van loading to work all day, and then back to home base to clean up and reload to do the same thing the next day. Take an unscheduled trip to a park and give kids an hour to unwind. Look for pick-up soccer games you could join; find street markets where you can experience things the way the locals do. Because I’m a beach guy, I’m always looking to see if there is one nearby that would be a great place to put our feet in the water and watch the sunset.

Sometimes it’s the little things such as eating street tacos on the street in Mexico and touring historical spots in Poland. It’s kayaking on the Jordan River with Palestinian and Jewish youth in Israel. Don’t eat chain food; eat local food. Don’t buy trips from a chain vacation service; hire local folks and businesses. Yes, I know this one is a little dicey; and if your students get sick, you’ll hear about it from their parents. So, ask your host or mission organization for recommendations. Go where they go, and eat what they eat (within reason). I promise your students will remember those local pastries, churros, cold drinks and anything else you find.

If you are going to a place where the culture is more modest, make sure you don’t jump at an adventure that is going to make your group appear to be rude Americans. This is another good thing to talk about with your hosts or others who have been there before. You don’t want to offend anyone.

Adventures really are fun until someone gets hurt. Years ago on a mission trip to Nicaragua, my wife and I were introducing our 1-year-old daughter to local frogs. We kept moving her about 6 inches from the frog’s mouth and saying, “Look at the frog,” and laughing. About 10 minutes later, we learned from our host about being careful about getting too close to frogs because their saliva can blind you. Remember: You are only one bad decision away from risking injury and losing parents’ trust and perhaps your job.

The ultimate purpose of all of this is to point our students to a life with Jesus that is full of life, adventure and excitement. We have such an amazing opportunity to help them see how Jesus wants them to really live life with Him. I love looking back on pictures or hearing stories from students years later who say, “Remember when we did that?” and I know that in part the adventures helped connect their faith to a deeper part of their lives.