At the heart of iGo Global, we have Core Values. Everything that we do as an organization (from big picture strategy to the details of our training and mobilizing) comes from these defining values, which (by the way) come straight out of Scripture.

On the surface, these Core Values are there to help our students to engage the mission. They give us the right foundation, the right perspective, and the right approach.

Below the surface, however, these values are even more important. Embracing them and making them your own will shape you into the person God wants you to be. The person that lives on mission. The person that lives to make Him famous.

A little history lesson: Our first attempt to pick core values left us with seven. After a couple years and multiple Base Camps, we realized that was too many for our students to consistently remember. On top of that, we knew that choosing a smaller number would help us to really focus in on what is most important. So we narrowed the list down to 3.

And…we left one out. We didn’t know that at first, but we started seeing it as we moved down the road. Things looked good for a while. Students were really embracing the Bottom Line. They were pushing in and seeing Ancient Work and Joy of the Sower flesh out in all sorts of ways. But we slowly started seeing a problem.

Some iGo students were discounting the church. A growing number of iGo students seemed to identify as missional while not seeing the value of their home church. This was, without any doubt, a major problem.

At iGo, we still valued the church. Our staff are members of local churches, serving in a variety of roles in the Body. But our students weren’t seeing that from their vantage point. The importance of the church was fading while mission engagement was rising.

The truth is that in the Bible, you don’t see mission without the church. Instead, I would argue that if you disconnect from the church, you are also disconnecting from God’s mission. His mission will be carried out and accomplished through the local church and ONLY through the local church.

The result? We brought the list back up to four. Hope of the World was back in business, in more than just our teaching.

The core value, Hope of the World, emphasizes that God’s plan is to bring the message of HOPE to the world through the local church. And at iGo, we plan to embrace that truth in every way we can.

Which means that after 14 years of training and mobilizing, we are making some significant changes to our strategy. Our mission hasn’t changed. iGo is still training and mobilizing the next generation to make Him famous. But our strategy will now more adequately represent our values.

In the past we indirectly helped churches by helping students. The new focus of iGo is to truly come alongside churches directly helping them to become missional while we train and mobilize their students.

And we need your help! No, really. We do. Would you consider helping us in the following ways?

1. Tell your church leadership that iGo can help them. We can help you pull off an amazing youth group mission trip. We call them Group Treks. We have a brand new mission event called Launch Box. This is a pre-packed mission experience close to home (not expensive) that will launch your student ministry into the mission field of your home town. Please make sure your student minister knows what we are doing.

2. Give us some feedback. How did your experience with iGo impact your view of and your engagement in your local church? We want to hear from you on this one, and we plan to use your thoughts to help us spread the word.

So hit that comment button and give us some feedback. We love to hear from our fellow iGosians.