Andrea Kroeze is the Training and Curriculum Coordinator at Touch the World, a missions training organization based in Allendale, NJ, that “creates opportunities for youth to encounter God and engage their faith through missions… to live on mission every day, everywhere.” TTW launched the Discipleship & Missions Year (Christian gap year program) in Fall 2023, integrated with Anchor Christian University courses via the Eleven:6 network platform, and hosted at TTW’s Missions Center in PA.
We kick off the episode talking about Andrea’s personal journey, from youth missions trips to serving with Touch the World after college, to full time missions in Uganda, and back to the US to serve with Touch the World. We also explore the various aspects of Touch the World, including training and partnerships for short-term missions, the network and partnerships of Touch the World, missionaries and mission organizations utilizing Touch the World, and how the Discipleship & Missions Year fits within that ecosystem. And we touch on the early results (impact!) the TTW team is seeing from the program approach as the vision and curriculum design manifest in transformation for each unique student this year.
Braided throughout is Andrea’s unique perspective, formed through her deep experience across the full range of missions platforms and through her broad and deep study of best practices in the field, on the challenges and opportunities for training next gen leaders for effective gospel mission, wherever God takes them.