A Lifelong Calling

For many people, a short-term mission trip is a brief chapter of faith-focused service—a few weeks, or maybe a year, spent somewhere unfamiliar before returning home. Yet those first steps often shape discernment for cross-cultural ministry—whether that leads to serving locally or stepping into long-term mission work.

Change of Plans

Zachary King thought he’d already had a plan.

As a college student, he was preparing to spend a semester in Spain—an opportunity to immerse himself in language and culture. Everything was set. But just a week before his departure, a skiing accident left him with a badly broken leg. Instead of traveling, he spent months on crutches.

At the time, it felt like a setback. But looking back on that time today, he said, it was a redirection.

A few years later, while studying at Calvin Theological Seminary, King sought out another opportunity: a short-term mission trip to the Dominican Republic. Led by a seasoned missions professor, the trip brought him and a small group of students into communities that were rebuilding after a hurricane.

There, among the sugarcane plantations known as bateyes, something shifted.

In the bateyes, King encountered Haitian workers, who lived in difficult conditions and were often overlooked or marginalized in the surrounding Dominican society. What struck him wasn’t just their hardship, but the depth of faith he saw in them.

“They worked incredibly hard,” he reflected, “and yet they had this passion for Christ that made a deep impression on me. I think it affirmed and made concrete what had only been an idea to me before. Discernment can’t happen in a vacuum—you have to step into it.”

Soon afterward, King and his wife, Sharon, spent a summer in Puerto Rico, serving alongside a church plant. They lived within the rhythms of the local congregation—learning language, building relationships, and stepping into ministry in ways that stretched them, he said.

King then went on to serve for years in Haiti, eventually stepping into leadership as an executive director with Resonate Global Mission and now as general secretary of the CRCNA. Along the way, he hosted countless short-term teams, walking with others as they stepped into unfamiliar places for the first time—just as he once had done.

“When you take people out of their normal environment,” he said, “it strips away some of the comfort they rely on. And that’s often where God meets them in powerful ways.”

Short-term mission trips don’t have to answer every question. They aren’t meant to. But they help to create space to encounter God, to see the world differently, and to begin asking new questions about calling.

“The biggest thing,” said King, “is not what you do but what God is doing in you—and what you begin to see him doing in others.”

A Year that Never Ended 

For Sarah Aderemi, the path wasn’t planned at all, she said. She simply started with a desire to teach.

After graduating from Calvin University, Aderemi heard about a school in Sierra Leone through a professor and decided to fill a teaching position there for a year. She connected with Resonate as a way to raise support and to make the trip possible.

“I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” she said.

That first year was disorienting and stretching, she recalled. And by the time it ended, she felt as if she had only just begun to understand the culture and build relationships, so she stayed for another year.

During her time there, Aderemi said, she encountered the realities of development work—the tensions, inequities, and complexities within the education system. These experiences began to shape her perspective and approach to ministry.

Aderemi also built meaningful relationships with Nigerians while in Sierra Leone, and those connections would later shape her future.

Looking back, she added, it’s clear that God was at work all along, building relationships, forming resilience, and placing people in her life who would guide her next steps.

Today, Aderemi serves in Lagos, Nigeria, alongside her husband, Dami, where their work focuses on strengthening families and rebuilding faith in communities that have been hurt by the church. Through initiatives like her motherhood community, she creates spaces in which women are supported not only as mothers but also as disciple-makers. This community offers connection, encouragement, and practical formation, she said, helping women grow in their faith and confidence as they nurture their children. Aderemi is also working toward launching a nature-based community space in a built-up urban environment that will provide a much-needed place for children and families to play, connect, and encounter God. 

Looking back, she said, her advice is simple:

“Do it. Even a year can be so formative.”

To Uganda and Back

Kang Heo’s short-term trip to Uganda lasted only three weeks, but it continues to shape his ministry today, he said.

As a seminary student, said Heo, he joined a Timothy Leadership Training trip, expecting to observe and learn. Instead, he encountered a community marked by deep passion—worship rooted in reliance on the Holy Spirit and a hunger to grow in faith.

“I was deeply impressed by the community’s immense passion for God,” he said.

But the lessons weren’t only spiritual. Living in a different context meant adapting to unfamiliar food, climate, and rhythms, he explained. It was a reminder that mission work is not just about what you do but about how you live.

“Adapting to the local environment is crucial,” Heo reflected.

Perhaps most influential, he said, was watching long-term missionaries engage with their communities—not only through formal ministry but also in everyday relationships. Farming, baking, and conversations with neighbors became bridges for the gospel.

That vision stayed with him, he said.

Today, Heo serves as an assistant pastor at Sunlight Grace Church (a Korean church in Orlando, Fla.) creating spaces for young adults and for people outside the church to encounter faith in accessible ways. His short-term trip didn’t lead him overseas long-term, but it shaped how he lives on mission where he is, he said.

Opening the Door

Short-term mission trips don’t always produce immediate clarity. In fact, they often do the opposite. They disrupt assumptions, expose complexity, and raise new questions. But that’s where discernment begins—in moments when comfort fades and something deeper takes root.

For Zachary King, Sarah Aderemi, and Kang Heo, those first steps didn’t provide all the answers.

They simply opened the door.

And sometimes that’s all it takes.

Interested in taking a first step into mission? Check out opportunities to volunteer with Resonate at www.resonateglobalmission.org/serve.