The teams have just returned from their month long stays in countries like Peru, Panama, and Suriname. Students traveling all over the world with Awe Star Ministries are now safe at home, incredibly exhausted, and filled with the joy of what they witnessed over the past five weeks.

My family first came in contact with Awe Star back in 2009 when I - a brash and stubborn teen of 14 - traveled with the ministry to Mexico on a week long trip over Christmas Break. That trip, and those that followed, changed the direction of my life; I can honestly say that if it weren't for the impact Awe Star had, I wouldn't be the person I am today - in fact, I may not even have been here.

Founded in 1993 by Walker Moore, Oklahoma resident and writer for the Baptist Faith and Message, Awe Star Ministries was the child of two passions: 1) To see teens come into adulthood, firm in their faith and mature in their walk. 2) To reach the world with the message of Christ and his love. Since that time, Walker has seen hundreds of students walk through the doors of the small Tulsa office, and has watched as they grew into men and women of God, bold and brave. I am one of those hundreds, as are my two younger siblings (who, I might add, are currently crashed on our couch - still exhausted from their journeys in Peru).

Over the next several weeks, I will be speaking and working with several Awe Star Alumni to give you a better picture of just how much our experiences as student missionaries have impacted our lives. But for today, I want to give you a tiny glimpse of the key lessons learned by an Awe Star Missionary.

1. Be Willing

Doors open to the obedient. Awe Stars greatest teaching on this principle is as follows, "A Willing Witness + A Seeking Soul = A Divine Appointment". Students are taught daily that God writes beautiful stories if we are simply willing to follow where He is leading - regardless of whether or not we are certain of its outcome.

I have always struggled with opening up to people whom I don't know, with stepping out and speaking unless I am completely 100% sold on the thought that I can do this. But through the many months and weeks of travel with Awe Star, I have come to learn that God does not ask that I be perfectly prepared for the situations He sends my way. He only asks that I be willing to do what He asks.

2. Be Selfless

Everything an Awe Star student goes through on a trip is a lesson in selflessness. Electronics are put away, families and friends are left behind, pizza and ice cream are replaced with PB&J's every day. You learn to give up the only hot shower, to lose a little bit of sleep because your team mate desperately needs to speak to someone, to graciously forgive that one person who has been difficult all summer.

All of it is a lesson in being like Christ. Jesus, who got his hands dirty with dust and spit to heal a man born blind. Jesus, who washed the filth off of the feet of his followers - a task reserved for household servants. Jesus, who put his love for a lost and broken world above his self-preservation. In a society that preaches the Me, Myself, and I gospel, Awe Star is training young adults to put the needs of others before their own.

3. Be Bold

Our generational trade marks are indecisiveness, insecurity, inconsistency. But Awe Star teaches students to take a stand. Be bold in beliefs, in actions, and in confidence. Break through the opaque film that covers our culture and live a purposeful life. Students are taught through series of lessons who they are as men and women in Christ, giving them a security in their identity which bleeds out into every aspect of their lives.

An awkward, loud, and insecure 14 year old - after being told time and again that she was beautiful, a Princess, and a daughter of the King finally began to believe it. And this truth grew with such a brightness in her, that she was no longer daunted when the time came for her to share this truth with others. She spoke boldly to the crowd, to the mother on the street corner, to the woman in the gas station - because she had a Truth to share.

She was me. And as I have watched my younger siblings go and come from their own Awe Star trips, years after I put up my last pair of drama sneakers, I am blessed. They are learning to be willing, selfless, and bold. They are becoming like Christ and learning that the world is so much more than just the few square miles which they occupy here in their hometown. They are stepping beyond themselves, into something bigger, and coming home changed because of it.

For over 35 years Awe Star has been working with parents and students to bring teens into adulthood - and to reach the world with the message of Jesus. Lives have been changed, and leaders have been made. I hope you are encouraged, as I am, in seeing that the young are not letting their age hinder them. No, they are setting an example for all of us.