It’s been a very busy couple of weeks for my team and me. We recently launched applications for our summer mission trips and now we are conducting interviews. That means a lot more hours added into our weekly schedules to be able to intentionally meet with each applicant before we confirm they are on the team.
I know some of you may read this and go, “You do applications and interviews for a mission trip?! That’s intense and a lot of extra work!” Believe me I hear you on that. It does add a little more weightiness to applying for the trip and it does add more to our schedules. But there very clear wins and benefits to requiring an application and interview.
1. It helps us know our team better.
This is a big one for me because of the size of our youth group. I don’t know all of my students as well as I wish I could, so these moments help me to get to know them on a deeper level.
Regardless of the size of youth group, interview and application questions help you understand more about your students, their faith journeys, their strengths and weaknesses, and their reasons for joining the team.
2. It provides insight into how we structure our training.
When you get to know your team better it allows you to shape how your training looks. If you know your team needs to be equipped in better interpersonal skills, you can incorporate team building moments that focus on communicating and relationship building. If your team needs to understand more about sharing their faith or ministering in a different environment, you can focus in on equipping them.
These interviews allow you to better understand your team and shape the training to make this trip the most beneficial for them.
3. It generates buy-in.
Having an application and/or interview process generates buy-in because it requires effort and intentionality on the part of the applicant. The process doesn’t need to be crazy long but it should require thoughtful and intentional responses and highlight the importance of the trip. These moments help to ensure your team has the right reasons for going and that they understand what is expected of them.
4. It humanizes the process.
Sometimes just going through a sign-up process or application can feel clinical. But when you add in a face-to-face interview it allows you to put the process on a more personal level and gives you the opportunity to be intentional with your students.
I have found that on applications and in interviews students are incredibly honest about themselves. That affords us the opportunity to truly care for and walking alongside our students in highly relational and intentional ways throughout the trip and beyond.
5. It allows us to see strengths and pressure points.
Part of my rationale in conducting interviews is it allows me to get to know my team better and it highlights pressure points and strengths that each member brings to the table. In understanding that, I am able to see potential opportunities and flare ups that may come up during the training and/or the trip itself. This helps me to both prepare and engage with those responses in proactive ways rather than having to be reactive in the moment.
6. It helps us prepare for interpersonal relationships and conflicts.
This is similar to the previous point, but it takes it a step further and looks specifically at the relational moments that will occur. If you’ve ever gone on a trip with students or witnessed them interact at youth group, you know that there are moments where there is tension, differing personalities, and conflicts.
Now put those components into the context of a mission trip. Emotions are heightened, spiritual growth is happening in rapid succession, students are confronted with their own humanity and necessity for God, lack of sleep, new environments, and all the feels and it can seem like a powder keg is about to blow up. But when you conduct interviews it enables you to see where those potential flare ups may be and therefore allows you to prepare and/or circumvent them beforehand.
7. It helps us as leaders prepare for the trip.
Mission trip interviews take a long time and add a lot more to my schedule. But hear me out on this: while it makes a few weeks busier for me, it actually makes the trips easier. Why? Because I am better prepared.
I know my team. I know more about what needs to be done to equip the team. I have a better understanding of what the dynamics will be during the trip. I have insight into each person and how to care well for them. All of these things empower me to be a better leader and to be more equipped to lead my team well.
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