The whole goal and purpose of these trips is to get students away out of their normal context to connect with God individually, learn how to make disciples, and discover their God given calling. They will learn tangible details of how to plant the gospel within their schools and have an absolute blast with friends in community.

Student Testimonial

Disciple Making Trips are designed to train the everyday student in how to live a life with Jesus and multiply their lives into others to share The Gospel and Make Disciples. It is primarily a training trip. While we love service and helping others, this trip doesn’t focus on that. Rather, it focuses on helping students find ways to serve and love and share The Gospel with their friends/peers in school.

For our domestic Disciple Making Trip we go to Gatlinburg Tennessee!

We have future plans for an international/global trip as well!

We stay in a cabin facility with bunkbeds, bathrooms, and showers at the Wafloy Mountain Village located in Gatlinburg Tennessee Wafloy Website

The age range is 14-18 years old.

The training material we use is called The Missionary Pathway. Everyday focuses on different elements of what Jesus laid out for us on how to be a Disciple who makes Disciples. There are 5 primary buckets from which the pathway covers. Prayer and Fasting, Living As A Missionary, Planting The Gospel, “Church” Emerges, and Multiplication. If you’d like to learn more check it out here: https://underground.thinkific.com/courses/the-missionary-pathway

These trips are open to anyone and everyone who is willing to learn the tangible details on how to live as a Disciple who makes Disciples in the places they live, learn, work, or play.

07:30am Wake Up

08:00am Devotional & Self Discovery Time

09:30am Breakfast at the base

10:30am Triad Mentorship and Reflection

11:30am Leave for daily activity/adventure

12:00am Lunch on the go

03:30pm Arrive back at the base/decompress/showers/free time

05:30pm Community Dinner at the base

07:00pm Worship/Teaching and open Q&A

08:00pm Examine & Exhort

09:00pm Free Time

11:00pm Lights Out

7 days total

A full packing list will be given to you at the first pre-trip meeting.

ABSOLUTELY! We believe that in order to truly see a movement of God in our city, it will require unity in ways we’ve never seen. Please reach out and we will get in touch ASAP. cory@zerohourministries.org 785-727-9212

We always maintain a ratio of 3 students to 1 adult leader/mentor. The trips can be anywhere between 5-30 students depending on demand. We usually always have other leaders who come to play worship, equip, cook, or be a part of this spiritual family.

Our Domestic trip to Gatlinburg Tennessee costs $800 total and covers:

-Meals during our stay at Wafloy

-Housing/Lodging

-Ground Transportation

-Training Material

-Orientation and Debrief Gatherings

-Daily Adventures (River Float, Mountain Hike, Zip Line, etc.)

-A Zero Hour Shirt

We completely understand everyone is coming from different places and we are happy to be The Church and find helpful and creative ways to provide scholarships, ways to fund raise, and potential work days as needed. Please just reach out and let us know!

In our informational pre-trip meeting we will give out all of the leaders cell phone numbers and acquire all students emergency contact information so that you as a parent will always know exactly what is going on if anything does happen.

We typically have a few leaders who return every year and help make the trips happen. Cory and Celicia McElvain, Cassie Dolinar, Storm Shaw, Alex Sons, Josh Jackaway and a few others are all a part of the Zero Hour Operations Team and all have worked with kids in youth ministry and/or are currently High School Teachers in the Kansas City area. With the other leaders and mentors that go on our trips, they all have to pass through a background check and be trusted individuals from a 1 Timothy 3:1–7 standard.

HAVE FUN! Commit to putting in the work, reading the material, communicating within your triad, loving others, and treating everyone with respect. We do not allow for Cell Phones to be brought on the trip. We have that in order for this trip to truly have the power and effect it’s intended for, that cell phones just become a distraction and unnecessary. If a student really needs to communicate with a parent or is struggling with missing home, we absolutely will find the best ways for a healthy communication between student and parent to occur.

Because we don’t allow students to have a cell phone, we will allow for a few times within the week for students to have a touch point with their parents if needed. We do want to emphasize that them being away and connecting with God alone is very important to the power behind these trips.

We hold a very high value on these types of trips not just being a mountain top experience with no connection or practicality back home. Because of that, every student get’s paired up with a leader/mentor/spiritual sherpa that commits to walking with them before the trip, during the trip, and ongoing until they graduate high school. We absolutely believe that these deep relationships are the key to helping students integrate their faith into real life. They will commit to meeting weekly or bi weekly with their small group (Triad) of 3-4 students and the leader.

The main goal is that these students will be leading a bible study within their schools with new students and multiplying their lives into others through The Gospel that eventually these become Micorchurches of a spiritual family on mission at their schools.

Outside of their Triad Times and Microchurches, we also have a once a month Equipping Gathering on the last Sunday of the month 7:00pm - 8:30pm for all students who have been trained on a trip or in a huddle to connect for prayer and worship, stories of mission, and equipping style teaching.

The goal and design of these trips are intended for a student to get training and go implement. Because of that it’s not designed for a student to go back through it as an attender. However, we do allow students to be jr sherpas alongside a leader/spiritual sherpa. They will have certain expectations of bringing 1-3 other new students and helping out during triad time on the trip as a leader.

As with everything if you have more questions around this, we would love to have a personal conversation with you so please reach out.

We absolutely believe we can equip students locally in Kansas City without going on a trip and we do that in our Disciple Making Huddles

We also have found through many trips and experiences with students that when we can get them to disconnect and focus in a concentrated time on God that they respond in powerful ways. There is something powerful and moving about a trip that students will remember for a lifetime as a pivotal moment in their faith.

Both hold a ton of value and we know your student will glean tons from both a Disciple Making Trip and a Disciple Making Huddle.

Our main options are to join a Disciple Making Trip, a Disciple Making Huddle, or our monthly Equipping Gathering. We always lead first with relationship above invitation to a gathering or an event so, please reach out and connect with us via email or cell phone and we would love to chat about next steps.

The Disciple Making Huddle is 1.5 hours a week once a week for 8 weeks. This training gives students the opportunity to actively implement what they learn week by week.