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Mobilizing a generation to establish the Kingdom of God
Whether you've heard about us from a friend, know someone who went on missions with us, or simply searched the web for a missions organization, we're glad that you're here!
You want to follow in Jesus's example in the way he cared for the lost and the hurting. You want to take up Jesus's commission to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28) and be his witness to the ends of the earth (Acts 1).
We want to mobilize people to missions as a means of discipleship, and we've been at it for over twenty years. We want to help you mobilize and disciple others.
Thank you for checking us out and considering partnership with us. The body of Christ stretches so much further than we could ever imagine and we're privileged to partner with the members of his body all over the world. We hope to join with you in this adventure!
Adventures in Missions is an interdenominational missions organization that focuses on discipleship. We emphasize prayer and relationships in our work around the world.
Since we were established in 1989, we have taken over 115,000 people into the mission field, some for as short as a week and others for as long as a year or longer. We minister year-round through our ministry bases and strategic ministry partnerships. We believe that by giving people the opportunity to step outside their comfort zones and join what God is doing in other cultures and nations, lives are transformed.
We seek to disciple as Jesus did; our vision is that God would use us to raise up a generation of radically committed disciples of Jesus Christ.
We exist to awaken and activate people worldwide to their identity and role in the Kingdom of God.
Deeply connecting to Jesus and His Movement.
Racism is a sin against God and man. The history of racism in America is abhorrent and must not be accepted or allowed to continue. Christ followers and the Church in all its forms should reflect God’s hatred of injustice and His compassion for those who are hurt by it.
Our beliefs:
Our actions:
Seth Barnes is founder and president of Adventures in Missions, a discipleship and missions ministry that has taken over 125,000 people on mission projects around the world since 1989. The mission of Adventures is to deeply connect people to Jesus and his movement. Their goal is to train 100,000 disciple makers focused on fulfilling the Great Commission. Adventures has ministry training centers around the world that are focused on making that goal a reality.
To move toward the fulfillment of the vision, Seth also founded the World Race in 2005. The World Race provides trained teams of young adults the opportunity to engage in 11 international mission contexts in 11 months using an experiential, missional discipleship model. Adventures emphasizes listening prayer, relationships, and servanthood in their work amongst the poor. Both through ministry/training centers and World Race ministry teams, Adventures maintains an active presence in a number of African countries. In addition to overseeing Adventures in Missions, Seth is a speaker, author, and prolific blogger. His blog, Radical Living, can be found at www.sethbarnes.com. Seth is married to Karen. They have five children and seven grandchildren.
Adventures in Missions does an amazing job of blending healthy discipleship and spiritual formation with Holy Spirit empowered missiology. Their theology is solid and their mission is clear. Jesus is their message and His Kingdom come is their goal. It is my great joy to partner with them. I strongly recommend to you the powerful ministry of Adventures in Missions.
My team was exceptionally blessed. There was a wide variety of ministry opportunities... We faced trials and hard times, but overall my team worked incredibly well together and finished strong. Overall the ministries we worked with were Kingdom focused and [represented] displayed the needs of the world.
Adventures in Missions is honestly one of or if at least, the best Christian missions organizations that I have ever worked with or been a part of. God has used you in amazing ways and taught me so much in every area of my life -- emotionally, physically & spiritually! I am forever grateful to God for giving me the opportunity to be apart of Adventures and the World Race and will definitely continue to recommend to any and all.
Thank you for taking the time to care about my heart more than I ever did and for bringing me to life. And for fighting for me and with me to get me to the gates of the kingdom lifestyle, so that Jesus himself could walk me through. You are amazing. There isn't more I could say.
That night, we saw the deaf hear, the blind see, and many people with back pains, headaches, stomach pains, and all sorts of afflictions healed right in front of us! That sort of thing became regular, or as regular as miracles can become.
I can sum up my World Race experience in one word: Kingdom. Because in that word is the depth of true community, God's heart for the orphaned, widowed and sex-trafficked, a hope-filled way to engage the world and the fullness of God which is the love of Jesus. And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is nothing else I want to give my life to.
For those who may see the World Race as just another mission trip, I would have to disagree. It's a classroom where the gifts God gives people and the realities of how those gifts were intended to shape and shake the world come together, completely changing a life, spanning the globe through relationship after relationship.
God has a massive heart to love, forgive, and bring freedom, and he has given me a glimpse of it- I now hurt when someone hurts, I have passion for people in ways I can’t describe. I love deeper than ever even though my flesh wants to sometimes reject, but Gods love has completely overtaken me.
World Race Sets Missionaries on Adventure of Lifetime
Imagine quitting your 9-to-5 job, leaving everything you own behind and embarking on a nearly yearlong mission trip: 11 countries in 11 months to be exact.
It's known as the World Race, a ministry of Adventures in Missions.
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In Through Painted Deserts, Donald Miller opens with the concept of “leaving.” He explains the spiritual importance for him of making a simple move from Texas to Oregon. It opened up a whole new world for him – new places, new perspectives, new people. It made him appreciate going back home so much more.
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Christians Prepare for 'World Race'
Some young Christians from the United States are preparing for a near year-long missions trip, during which time they will give up their comfortable lifestyle to live like the indigenous people in eleven countries.
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One of our writers, Curt Devine shares his experience on the World Race, an 11-month missions trip to 11 different countries. We asked him to reflect on what he’d seen, to offer us snapshots—both visual and written—of his trip around the world, from urban slums and red-light districts to prisons, rural churches and orphanages.
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World Race Sets Missionaries on Adventure of Lifetime
Imagine quitting your 9-to-5 job, leaving everything you own behind and embarking on a nearly yearlong mission trip: 11 countries in 11 months to be exact.
It's known as the World Race, a ministry of Adventures in Missions.
View Post
Believers Join Amazing Race Around World
Shannon Meador wanted more in her life. A passionate follower of Christ and lover of adventure, working a desk job in central Illinois just wasn’t cutting it, so she went in search of an exciting opportunity that would allow her to serve God.
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When entrepreneurship is only way forward
ANTIGUA, Guatemala — Javier Villatoro grew up without a mom and dad in Guatemala City. He dropped out of school in his late teens to learn to cut Guatemalan jade and other precious stones and to work silver with Argentinean jewelers.
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The 45 Most Powerful Photos Of 2012
Rosemary McDermott and her husband opened a safe containing a family genealogy in the Breezy Point section of Queens. They salvaged the safe from the basement of Rosemary’s mother’s home after Superstorm Sandy.
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The World Race is a unique missions trip that takes young adults into 11 countries in 11 months to serve while living in community. Brandon, our Catalyst Racer, has taken the challenge to abandon his worldly possessions (all except a backpack) and pursuit of the American Dream to experience how God is moving.
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11 months, 11 nations, 1 life-changing mission for Utahn
After earning her associate degree in American Sign Language at Salt Lake Community College in 2012, the graduate wanted to get out of the country, but couldn’t find any program that appealed to her.
View PostSimply put, missions is bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who don't know him as Lord and Savior.
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." -- Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. -- Acts 1:8 (NIV)
There are no limits in territory, people, places, or methods used to reach those who are lost; and God’s desire is that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9). God has a specific plan for us, a direct call and a clear will for every person.
God's call to each individual is unique and specific to them. He uses their upbringing, surrounding environment, and experiences and couples them with his vision, goals and desires, to shape them into a unique tool for His hands to mold and guide and use (Ephesians 2:10).
God's will is for each individual to love God and love people, the first and second greatest commandments (Matthew 22:36-40). The great commission, found in Matthew 28:18-20, is an expression of those commandments to love. Jesus also tells us he has empowered us with authority and his presence.
We go, plan, organize, implement, and lead mission trips as a response to God.
We go on missions:
Our ultimate hope is that your desire for God's kingdom to come here on earth will outgrow our programmatic capacity. Short-term missions is the vehicle through which we mobilize people onto life-long discipleship, long-term missions. Not only do we desire for your perspective to change but for your life to be transformed; to see a generation radical and sold out for God.
You can debate who was the first missionary from Job to Jesus. The truth is that when Adam and Eve fell, God's plan to redeem mankind to himself was put into action. Jesus is the greatest missionary of all; he paid the ultimate price to redeem man and reconcile him to God.
Missions was God's design and his heart from the beginning. We in the Church today have mistakenly thought of missions as a New Testament thing, a relatively new idea, but the truth is God has desired all peoples, nations, and tongues come to him from the beginning. God's covenant with Abraham was that he would bless nations.
God has set his sight on all the world to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus. That's his heart, his vision, his desire.
Seth Barnes - Executive Director
Gainesville, GA
James Rebbavarapu - Chairman
Overland Park, KS
Roger Sulhoff
Gainesville, GA
Mark Carlson
Chicago, IL
Kristina Smith-Newton
Atlanta, GA
Michelle Wynne
Holland, MI
Accountability for the resources that God has entrusted Adventures in Missions begins first of all with our awareness that those who share their time, money, and prayers with Adventures view us as stewards. We know that God sees and weighs the merits of our every action. The parable of the master and the wise steward applies to each of us. It is therefore our objective to listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in all that we do, particularly in the larger decisions that we make.
Given man's frailty and inherent corruptibility, checks and balances are necessary. We have put such mechanisms in place to make a statement that Adventures staff want to be above reproach in all that they do. Our own board of directors meets regularly to review the direction and performance of the ministry.
Executive Director Seth Barnes founded Adventures in Missions. He worked out of his garage to lead nearly 1,000 youth to the mission field over the next three years.
The demand for trips exploded and Seth moved Adventures from his home to a storefront office.
The Ambassador program began, offering students ages 14-18 the opportunity to go on 2-4 week trips.
The Gateway, the Adventures Mexico Base began reaching out to the people of Matamoros with food, clothing, diapers, and house construction.
Adventures expanded its programs beyond its original focus on youth groups, sending thousands of adults, families, and college students to minister around the world.
Adventures Eswatini Base opened its first Carepoint, a gathering place where orphans and vulnerable children are fed, educated, and discipled.
The World Race began as an idea that God gave Anna Marie Franken for young people to go on a pilgrimage around the world in order to understand and experience God personally, serve in communities in which they would have an impact, and leave behind a lasting contribution.
She shared the idea with Seth Barnes, who began exploring the possibilities of what he conceptually saw as a race that featured competitive components, leaving behind both substantial fruit through church planting and tangible objects for future Racers to find.
In January, the pilot World Race launched from Mexico and pioneered in regions all over the world, touching foot in over 20 countries. Partnered with South Africans, 22 Racers went on an 11-month experiment to figure out what it would look like to live out Luke 10. Literally knocking on doors and sleeping on streets, it was a raw adventure in faith. South African Anna Marie Franken traveled with the Racers while Seth Barnes, Andrew Shearmen, Gary Black, and Tom Davis taught and debriefed before and during the Race. Adventures Peru was also founded by church planting missionaries in Lima.
Three squads launched in 2008, which totaled 111 Racers beginning in one year. Shifts of significant growth began to occur as Racers from this year continued to pioneer in southern Africa, the UK, and Eastern Europe. Alumni started returning as squad leaders.
The World Race started launching squads focused on specific causes or people groups, e.g. Spanish-speaking route or Human Trafficking route.
Parent Ministry launched, giving the parents of Racers a place to connect with each other and with Adventures in Missions.
Parents began going on Parent Vision Trips, where they visit their Racer on the field in months 6-8 of their Race and serve alongside them. Adventures Guatemala base launched in February. Long term missionaries there dove deep into ministry and led short term teams in community outreach.
Adventures Philippines, along with long term partnership Wipe Every Tear, launched this fall and became a base for short term trips, alumni trips, Kingdom Journey trips, and Parent Vision Trips. The Center for Global Action (CGA) opened, an alumni program for discipleship, community, and activation. The Fellowship program began, a professional development program for World Race Alumni.
Kingdom Journeys sent out its first 6 month team. Gap Year launched, sending young adults ages 18-21 to three countries in 9 months. Adventures also celebrated 25 years in October.
Adventures Guatemala launched its first short term international team, sending a group of Americans and Guatemalans to Honduras. Seth’s dream of disciples making disciples is becoming a reality as our bases grow and expand. Adventures Mexico Base opened a trade school for 10 students from a local orphanage to learn welding and professional development.
The World Race celebrated 10 years by launching six squads in January, including the first World Race: Expedition. Adventures Cambodia and Adventures South Asia also opened at the beginning of the year. Long term missionaries moved to both locations and are focusing on the best way to impact their local communities in significant, relevant, and lasting ways.
At Adventures in Missions, we exist to mobilize a generation of radical Christ followers, discipling and training them to establish the Kingdom of God. We use the vehicle of short-term missions and other discipleship programs to accomplish this.
By sharing the stories of what Jesus is doing, we can further triumph over the enemy and bring freedom to others. Below is an overview of our guidelines to help you tell stories in a way that brings dignity and honor to the communities and people that you will serve all over the world.
We are confident our participants want to bring honor and respect as they share the Gospel around the world. These guidelines will assist in telling those stories with honor and dignity to all involved, and we expect participants to uphold these standards. We’re here to help: if any questions arise, the leadership teams will be available to help discern if the stories shared are honoring.
Download Dignity GuidelinesIf you’re a participant, you’ve recently said ‘yes’ to God’s invitation to bring the Gospel to the nations - maybe even to some of the most remote places on the earth. You’re about to witness some of God’s most beautiful creations. You’ll meet a diverse array of people, and you’ll learn and grow in ways you’ve never experienced before. You’ll have a unique opportunity to become advocates for people, places, and ministries. Sometimes, knowing what is culturally appropriate in each country can feel confusing. The following guidelines will help you create a safe and honoring environment wherever you are serving - whether the camera is out or not!
You are witnessing and partaking in an incredible story of God’s love and work here on earth - and it’s not for you to keep.
The truth is, many potential abuses can occur from media getting in the wrong hands. Seemingly innocent photos and videos of children and adults have put people in harm of sexual exploitation, abuse, and trauma of various kinds. Even with good intentions, you can accidentally dishonor and disrespect someone by posting a photo before understanding the cultural and societal norms.
Please hear our heart: we don’t share this information to scare you from taking pictures, but rather to provide some context and implications of understanding cultural norms. However, for the safety of those we meet, it is important to consider whether the story or image you are sharing is safe, dignifying, and honoring to that person.
Even if you have permission and follow all official guidelines, you are ultimately responsible for ensuring that the impact of your social media images are respectful to all people.
Please note: Adventures in Missions reserves the right to ask you to remove any public posting that might bring harm to the people, ministries, and communities visited during your mission trip.
Download Dignity Guidelines