Cory Trenda - After the Trip: Unpacking Your Crosscultural Experience

I talked with a recent returnee from his first short-term mission trip and once again heard the comment, It changed my life. Two thoughts came immediately to my mind: Praise God, and I wonder how much change and for how long. Millions of crosscultural travel veterans attest to the frustrating truth that it takes more than a profound experience, strong memories, and good intentions to change our lives. The pressure to revert to life-as-before creates daunting barriers to the kind of transformation for which many long.

Yet we know that neither the people who supported our trip nor those who hosted us did so only for it to be one more interesting experience in our lives. As I wrote in Short-Term Missions Workbook, we are sent on these trips to grow from being merely mission tourists to becoming global citizens.

Corys ministry and now this book provide vital insights to lead us into global citizenship. Cory summarized the challenge he seeks to overcome: You may be surprisedand disturbedto learn that studies have almost universally found no measurable long-term effect of these encounters on the lives of trip participants! It seems doubtful that many would want it to be this way, or that this would align with Gods will.

There is a passion and sense of urgency behind Corys writing. Hes driven by the concern that two million Americans have significant crosscultural travel experiences each year, yet, as he wrote to me, Its so discouraging to see not only wasted money and effort, but wasted opportunity.

To counter this, Cory develops a Christ-centered process for a lifelong journey that integrates the insights gained from crosscultural trips into our everyday lives. This book is a travel guide for the journey that begins once the trip is over. As we appropriate these insights, we can find wisdom to integrate seemingly incompatible life experiences into a radical love for God and all our neighborsthose who are next door, and those who live in remote and often precarious contexts, dangling over the abyss of poverty.

I have known Cory for almost thirty years, and during that time he has led hundreds of people on scores of vision tripscrosscultural mission trips that are carefully designed to expand our vision. Unlike most short-term mission trips, the focus is on what happens in our lives once we return home. The goal is that as a result of what and, more importantly, who we saw while traveling, we would see life, the world, people who are materially poor, God, ourselves, and maybe even our own vocations differently. Cory weaves together his vast experience from such trips with testimonies from participants, humility about his own foibles, humor, and engaging stories into this post-trip travel guide.

Cory opens us up to what I believe is Gods goal for our crosscultural mission trips: We ourselves become crosscultural. In so doing, we fall deeper in love with the world that God so loves. We are delivered from living in our own small hearts that are often painfully boundaried by fear, pride, and loneliness. We are transported further along on the journey of living in, from, and with the great heart of God.