Around 60 students packed their bags, double-checked their passports, and boarded planes heading to Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Senegal, Atlanta, and Los Angeles this past May — something Crown College students have been doing for decades.
“We’ve been sending students on Destination Serve (DS) trips since around the 1960s,” says Martha Swift, Vice President of Student Development at Crown College. “Each year, we typically do four or six trips, with around 10 students per group. This year, we have two domestic trips to Atlanta and Los Angeles and four international trips to Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Japan, and Senegal.”
“It’s one of the best things we do at Crown,” says Pastor Max Moser, Director of Spiritual Formation and Campus Pastor. “DS trips allow our students to have a ‘faith in action’ opportunity, serve in a cross-cultural context, and practice one of our core values at Crown — kingdom diversity – exercising hospitality in a global perspective.”
“There’s a true paradigm shift for students,” continues Pastor Max. “They’re challenged and pushed out of their comfort zone. Many students go into it with certain expectations, thinking they’ll just complete a specific task, like building a house, but it’s much more than that. Students often find the trips are more about communication, learning, and building relationships. It’s a tremendous gift.”
Martha recalls, “When I accompanied a previous DS trip to Japan, many of our students were initially more reserved. But everything changed when they met the Japanese college students they’d be helping with English. The local students were so eager to connect. One of the most memorable moments was seeing them all go to karaoke together, bonding over American pop music. Back home, most of these students wouldn’t dream of doing that, but they absolutely loved it. I saw such a transformation in our students. They built true friendships that carried on well after the trip was over.”
Crown partners with Students International and nonprofit Envision, a part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, to make these trips possible. They collaborate with on-site coordinators to identify the greatest needs at each location and determine what the students will do when they arrive.
Pastor Max explains, “For our Senegal trip, students will be building wells. In Japan, our students will teach English to college students. In Guatemala, students live with families and can participate in a few opportunities, like working at a clinic or helping tutor at a day camp. In the Dominican Republic, we’ll be doing a volleyball camp, and for our domestic trips, we help serve the local community, from working with the elderly to local football camps.”
But the work for the students starts well before they head for the airport. “We have a pretty extensive selection process,” says Martha. “Each student needs to apply, submit a letter of reference, and interview with faculty. Once students are selected, then they need to fundraise. All of our trips for the last three years were 100% fundraised. This year, the students raised $112,000 in five months to fund their trips.”
“We’re so thankful for all the support we have,” says Pastor Max. “From our graduate intern of outreach ministries, Jaylyn Gardner, who put in hundreds of hours of logistical work, inputting data and tracking passports to our administration and billing office, professors, and fundraisers — they make these trips happen each year.”
After students return, many head back on another DS trip the following year in a leadership role or return to do their internships abroad at one of the site locations.
“We’d love to get up to eight trips a year and to do a spring break trip for our students,” Martha says. “We want our students to leave Crown with that kingdom diversity value and as people who seek out others who are different from them — respecting each other’s cultures and wanting to build those meaningful friendships and relationships.”