The Duster Today

Media Credit: Google Images Student leaders make an impact worldwide through YMIM.

Students looking for hands-on missions work overseas are needed as Youth Ministry in the Mission Field takes off.

With students already having major success in Germany, the program looks to send the next group of students out for an extensive period of time.

YMIM comes out of Littleton, Colo. where Rick Odell, the youth pastor and worship minister, is the overseer from the Littleton Church of Christ. Beginning the program just a few years ago, Odell is confident that more students will get involved and begin their work on the mission field.

This program seeks to place students on their continent of choice working solely with youth. With missionaries all over the world trying to reach adults, YMIM serves the youth.

Most recently, an opportunity has opened up in Nigeria. This country is only one on the list on many including Germany, Scotland, Canada, Australia and Brazil. Odell is confident there can be work found anywhere.

"If a student wants to be in a certain country in the world, I guarantee I can find a missionary for them to work with," Odell said. "There is an opportunity in Nigeria, they are pretty devastated and are looking for people to go to the mission field."

In talking with missionaries around the world, Odell has come to a general consensus. Reaching students of foreign nations is the goal of YMIM as the difficulty of reaching the adults of those nations has become more prevalent.

"I have had conversations of how difficult it is to reach adults and it is hard, there was a report that after 25 years of missions, only 30 people were in the church. So will students be more open then adults? Absolutely," Odell said. "All over the world in every culture there are people in the mission field who think reaching students will work."

YMIM is different from other programs because it lasts for an extensive time. Instead of going for a short time and building connections and then leaving it on the missionaries to continue with, YMIM keeps connections going for two and three years with the same person.

"The problem with these short programs is groups that come over and do these projects go home and all those contacts and those people they have made connections with are now in the responsibility of those missionaries to try and follow up on them, And they're so overwhelmed just trying to do what they can do that it makes these missionaries feel guilty," Odell said.

Odell hopes to fix this problem.

"We can do this affordably, we can do it effectively and it would make the difference in supporting the missionaries in those countries," Odell said.

Students and graduates are welcomed into this program. Odell is looking for anyone interested to take part in the experience of YMIM.

"If someone is interested and God's moving in their hearts to do something kind of crazy like this, it takes a couple years out of their life to go do this, then absolutely, let's talk," Odell said.

For more information e-mail Rick Odell at rickmon@littletonchurch.org.

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