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THE LIVE DEAD GO GUIDE FOR YOUTH

THANK YOU

Thank you for responding to God’s stirring in your heart for missions. This resource was created to help you sort out what He is saying to you. Perhaps you already know God wants you to serve Him overseas, or maybe God has nudged you about missions, but you have no idea what that means.

Wherever you find yourself in the journey, we believe this Go Guide will help you to take your next steps as you discover what God has for you in relation to reaching the unreached.

The Live Dead Advocacy Team

WHAT IS YOUR PASSION?

God puts a passion in each of us. This passion can help us narrow our missions focus and guide us to the place God is calling us.

To some their passion is obvious, while others require more prayer and thought. Some have a passion for a people or place. For example, every time you hear about a particular country, or you meet someone from a particular region of the world, you are overwhelmed with emotion. Others may encounter a problem that they cannot stop thinking about and their heart breaks—such as, the thought of those who have never once heard the gospel or the thought of an orphaned child.

Whatever your passion is, allow God to show you the direction He wants you to go and begin to pray for opportunities to present themselves.

A PERSONAL INVENTORY

We know that you have a part to play in reaching the unreached around the world. And while God may be stirring you to go overseas, He will also ask you to become more engaged in these ways:

PRAY MORE for the nations where people have no access to the gospel.

HELP SEND by living a life of generosity through sacrificial giving of your time and talents.

WELCOME people from other countries who live in your neighborhood or city by building a relationship with them and sharing your faith with them. (They might even become a missionary to their own people because you shared Jesus with them.)

With these in mind, take the first step with a personal inventory:

1. How am I doing in prayer, sending, and welcome right now?

2. What can I do to grow these areas?

DEVELOP, DISCOVER, DO, DEPLOY

From here, the path moves through four phases:

DEVELOP: Building character and community

DISCOVER: Deepening awareness by educating oneself about missions and finding one’s passion

DO: Engaging in prayer, giving, and bold proclamation of the gospel to those that live around you

DEPLOY: Going to the mission field

Though you might not go overseas until you’re an adult, God still has a purpose for you now. As you develop, discover, and do right now, God will be preparing you to deploy when the time is right.

Not sure what God is asking you to do? Taking a next step is the next good thing. Begin working through Develop and Discover. Lean into what God says and obey what He asks you to do.

Bottom line: Enjoy the journey. Serving God with our whole heart is the greatest joy in the world.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN...

IDENTIFY YOUR VITAL RELATIONSHIPS FOR MISSIONS SUCCESS.

We do not believe that anyone should go on this journey alone. Everyone needs a team of supporters standing alongside them. Connect with your church and those friends who believe in missions, believe in you, and want to help you fulfill the call that God has placed on your life.

Here is the support team we recommend:

GLOBAL ADVOCATE: A Global Advocate is a supportive individual who is willing to walk beside you through each stop of the journey. They help you process key phases and questions, and perhaps they will even challenge you to keep going. Ask a parent, current mentor, or lay leader in your life to walk through this process with you for encouragement and accountability.

GLOBAL SUPPORT TEAM: Your Global Support Team is a small group of close family and/or friends (6–8 people) who agree to encourage you, challenge you, and pray for you.

YOUR HOME CHURCH: Staying connected to your spiritual base is vitally important. You are not sent out alone, nor do you leave your church behind. You are an extension of your church and maintaining a healthy relationship will yield many benefits.

PHASE ONE

Read Live Dead Life, a devotional written by a missionary teen living in North Africa. Order the book from the Live Dead store (abidepublishers. com).

Start a Live Dead Pray Band. A Pray Band is a group of three or more people who commit to meet consistently and pray for a church planting team working overseas. A Pray Band journeys with their church planting team in communication and prayer so that the needs are constantly taken before our Father. Visit the Live Dead website to sign up (livedead.org/pray-band).

Join and faithfully serve at a church. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Challenge yourself to give to a missionary or participate in Speed The Light with your youth group.

If you are not already, find a way to serve the community God has placed you in now. Volunteer with your church, gather friends and serve at a local homeless shelter, or collect coats for winter. Start putting yourself in positions where God can use you to serve the people He loves.

Read a comic book biography on a classic missionary. Order the comic book from the Live Dead store (abidepublishers.com).

• Indomitable: The Story of Lillian Trasher

• Hunter and Hunted: The Story of Teddy Hodgson

• Cannibal Island: The Story of John Paton

Pick one or two organizations below and follow them on social media:

• Live Dead (livedead.org)

• Joshua Project (joshuaproject.net)

• The Traveling Team (thetravelingteam.org)

• Prayercast (prayercast.com)

• Operation World (operationworld.org)

Find a person to be your Global Advocate. Meet with them consistently to talk through the process.

PHASE TWO

Watch some videos on the concept of unreached people groups.

• Facing the Task Unfinished

(Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tyczztU-Ho)

• What Is an Unreached People Group?

(Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ8nnGenzhg)

• Sermon from Dick Brogden

(Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztX1Pz40vjU)

Start spending time with Jesus daily. We call this abiding or spending extravagant time with Jesus. This is the way we know Him and become more like Him. Try reading Live Dead Joy as part of your abiding time.

Interview a long-term missionary. Talk with your pastor to connect with a missionary that they know and/or that your church supports.

Build a relationship with an immigrant to America. Share your testimony and, if possible, invite them to a Bible study or youth group.

Meet with your Global Advocate.

PHASE THREE

If you have not been on a short-term trip, participate in a short-term trip to one of our Live Dead church planting teams. There is no better way to get an idea for what overseas life could look like than through a firsthand look. Talk to your pastor and parents to learn about opportunities to go. You can visit the Live Dead website to communicate with a person about opportunities for short-term trips. Prepare for your short-term trip with the Live Dead Pre-Trip Devotional (www.livedead.org/STDevo).

Engage with cross-cultural ministry where you are now and develop a cross-cultural friendship. Begin gospel proclamation now—you do not need to be overseas to do this.

Live simply and prioritize staying out of debt.

Solidify your Global Support Team. These are ones who agree to encourage you, challenge you, and pray for you.

Take the 30-Day Live Dead Challenge from The Live Dead Journal. Order the book from the Live Dead store (abidepublishers.com). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Connect with your Global Advocate.

d PHASE FOUR

This phase contains more detailed information on what it looks like to go, what your immediate next steps will be, and what you can expect to encounter along the way. This may not be an exhaustive list as every journey is unique, but it should help set some expectations for the Assemblies of God World Missions (AGWM) process. We realize that AGWM is not the only sending organization out there. We encourage you to connect with your pastor and mentors to determine the right covering for you as you step into this new season.

If you have not already, visit the Live Dead website (livedead.org/go) and fill out the form for the Live Dead area in which you wish to serve. A Live Dead representative from that area will reach out to you and schedule a video call.

Meet with the Live Dead representative.

Walk through the Live Dead Mobilization Devotional in preparation to go (livedead.org/mobil-devo).

Connect with a Live Dead team and read through the team guidelines.

Fill out the AGWM application. GO!

Gather commitments and supporters to partner with you in both finances and prayer. You will need a number of financial supporters including churches, family members, old friends, coworkers, neighbors, and others.

The reality is that the above is just the beginning. It’s a beginning in a new line of beginnings as you continue to journey with the Lord.

As you step into this next season the first of many new beginnings will likely be with a Live Dead Launch Team. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. g

LAUNCH TEAM

For many the first season in missions can be a lot with new culture, new language, new friends, new joys, and new challenges. Live Dead is committed to seeing gospel access brought to the most unreached places in the world, and that requires healthy teams of healthy people with the skills and support to give a lifetime to the work.

To that end, Live Dead has various Launch Team locations where new missionaries can develop the skills that will benefit their long-term service. The length of a season on a Launch Team will differ by location, anywhere from three months to a year. Another option that a Launch Team offers is a 4- to 8-week internship. No matter how long the season, the following priorities remain the same.

SEASON 1: Language and culture fluency in target population

• Learn to share the gospel and make friends in your new language.

• Become a competent and engaged team member.

• Deepen the spiritual formation of your life in Christ and in community.

SEASON 2: Gospel proclamation and discipleship tools

• Continue to grow in sharing the gospel.

• Learn the early tools of discipleship.

• Grow deeper in your understanding of the complex context of local partnership and worldviews of the unreached.

• Develop your skills in teamwork and life together.

When you reach the end of your time on a Launch Team, you depart in one of three ways:

1. Recognize that you feel burdened for the unreached but are not called to reach them. You finish your term of service and return home with stories, a robust prayer life, and a passion to share about the great need with those around you.

2. You join a church planting team. You have been equipped with the foundational tools to start your work among the unreached.

3. A team forms from among those who have been on the Launch Team together. You go out to a new, untouched part of the world and work among the unreached.

Navigating The Call - Youth Edition