1. Read the Group planning guide & FAQ section to find out all the details. THEN:

2. Check availability & reserve a week at www.bigcreekmissions.com/register

.... Create your account .... Choose your location! (Big Creek Campus or Wheelwright Campus)

.... Reserve your week with an initial $50 per person deposit via ACH or credit / debit card

3. After you've reserved your week, tell your team members to complete their permission / release form at www.bigcreekmissions.com/go We hope your ENTIRE team has registered 30 days before your trip!

4. 30 days prior to your trip:

---Make sure your team members are registered

---Let us know the vehicles you're bringing (in the registration system)

---Pay your final balance online. We prefer online payments using ACH for final payments. You may login to your registration system to make these payments easily using a paper check (ACH) www.bigcreekmissions.com/go If you choose to use a credit card, we do add a 3% surcharge. **We encourage you to read our payment / refund policy. Because we're a ministry that's fully funded by your donations ("deposits and payments") - it's very hard for us to refund your money if you decide not to come. Just like your church uses tithes and offerings to pay your weekly bills, our mission uses your deposits and payments - as you pay them - to fund our ongoing outreaches! Your donations are more than a "camp fee" - they're what keep our mission open before, during, and after your stay!

Prepare for a Creative and Impactful Ministry!

While we handle the foundational details, we encourage your team to engage in some preparatory work before arriving.

Children’s Ministry: If part of your team will be involved in children’s ministry, we ask that you "adopt" an area of our kids' camps to plan and lead. Come prepared with ideas and supplies for games, crafts, and other activities. You can find starting ideas at www.bigcreekmissions.com/volunteerinfo (Password: kids2025).

Ideas for Kids Ministry:

• Sports Camps

• Cheer Camps

• STEM Activities

• Sewing Classes

• Music Lessons

• Art Classes

• Skills Workshops

• Fun Games

• Educational Opportunities

• And more!

Construction Ministry: Our construction projects vary weekly, typically focusing on floors (subfloor replacements), roofs (metal), and ramps (pressure-treated construction). While we provide the basic tools needed, your construction experts are welcome to bring their own tools or tool trailer. More information is available at www.bigcreekmissions.com/construction.

Pre-Trip Preparation: We recommend hosting a "pre-trip" training day. You might lead an activity day for children, work on someone’s home, mow lawns, wash cars, or tackle a simple service project. Use this day as a mini-mission trip to identify which students may need extra attention and ensure everyone is ready for the actual trip.

Team Readiness: If any participants are unable or unwilling to work, don’t follow instructions, or become a distraction, it might be best for them to consider attending next year. This is a legitimate mission trip where your team's actions will be observed closely by our local community. People are watching, listening, and making decisions based on how they see our mission teams act. Please prepare your team accordingly.

To keep our costs down, we don't offer any printed materials for shipping. You are encouraged to print, read, and distribute the applicable materials to your group.

Read our BIG CREEK CAMPUS planning guide

Read our WHEELWRIGHT CAMPUS planning guide

Read our General Ministry Expectations and Rules

View our Big Creek Campus on Google Maps

View our Wheelwright Campus on Google Maps

Download a Printable Brochure about Big Creek

View a printable "What to bring list" and "Adult information Handout" and "menu" at www.bigcreekmissions.com/go

Why Our Mission Costs Less

You might notice that our mission costs less than some other large organizations. Here’s why:

• Marketing: We depend on "word of mouth" marketing and our reputation, instead of a big marketing budget.

• Hands-On Approach: Our executive and administrative staff are actively involved in daily operations. You’ll see them cooking, cleaning, and serving alongside you.

• Efficient Use of Funds: We work hard to maximize every dollar and cut unnecessary costs. You won't see us investing a lot into "props" and shiny junk. We focus on ministry to the community

What Your Donation Covers

For Your Team:

• Meals: 2 hot meals daily plus 1 sack lunch each day.

• Lodging: Bunk-style accommodations with hot showers and cool sleeping rooms.

• Ministry Materials: Construction tools and other resources needed for your projects.

• Staffing & Worship: Includes our worship band at Big Creek and worship leader at Wheelwright.

• Planning & Follow-Up: Pre-project planning and post-project follow-up.

• Mission Store Credit: $10 credit per participant (conditions apply):

  1. If all team members register online 30 days prior to the trip.

  2. If all group payments are received on time (30 days prior to the trip).

  3. If all driver/vehicle information is provided 30 days prior to the trip.

For Our Community:

• Food Pantries: Your funds help operate our food pantries year-round.

• Home Repairs: Supports assessment and repair of homes even when groups aren’t on site.

• Community Services: Funds enable us to offer various services throughout the year.

• Facility Maintenance: Helps us maintain and operate our facilities in two counties.

Deposit and Payment Information

• Registration Deposit: $50 per person, due upon registration

• Final Payment: Due 30 days before your trip date

How to Make Payments:

• Initial Deposit: Pay online using ACH (check) or debit or credit card (no additional fee)

• Final Payment: Pay online using ACH (check - no fee) or credit card (3% credit card fee).

• You will login to the registration system to manage your group and make payments. Look for the "$" sign

Cancellation Policy Overview:

• Non-Refundable Deposits: Payments are generally considered donations and are non-refundable.

• Early Registrations: Refunds for early registrations are available until January 15.

• Overestimated Deposits: Can be applied to your final balance or refunded until January 15, or if your week is over capacity

• Over Capacity: We can refund payments only if your week is over capacity.

• We cannot refund for last minute cancellations or overbookings.

We understand our cancellation policy might seem strict. We use your funds to operate the mission year-round, not just for your trip. Think of your contributions as a donation to support our ongoing mission.

Since we are a nonprofit funded by donations, refunding money is challenging if plans change. Just like churches use tithes and offerings to cover weekly expenses, we use your deposits and payments to sustain our mission’s operations.

We aim to fill every spot this summer to serve as many neighbors as possible. Please estimate your numbers accurately and inform us of any changes as soon as possible so we can try to fill empty spots. If we can fill them, we will reimburse funds

All Ages and Group Types are Welcome!

Our mission center is open to everyone, regardless of age or group type. This isn’t just a “youth mission trip”—it’s an opportunity for people of all ages to serve together. Because our projects are often challenging, we need experienced leaders to ensure success.

Bringing a Group of Middle Schoolers? That’s fantastic, but consider the following:

• Supervision: Who will supervise the students?

• Support: Who will assist with tasks like roofing or leading day camps for high school students?

• THEREFORE: we have a minimum requirement of 1 adult per 3 middle school students if it is a "middle school group."

Our staff provides limited guidance, so your adults are crucial for the success of the mission.

We Encourage Diverse Groups:

• Families

• Groups of Families

• Adult Groups

• Senior Groups

• High School Student Groups: 1 adult per 4 students recommended

• Middle School Student Groups: 1 adult per 3 students (REQUIRED)

• College Groups

• Other Service Groups

Our environment is Christ-centered, exciting, and joyful! It’s ideal for all age groups as long as you’re willing to worship, work, and live with others.

Pre-Trip Preparation: We strongly advise pre-trip training for all participants. Host activities like:

• Mowing a lawn

• Painting a fence

• Cleaning a building

Teach leadership skills, work ethic, and prepare them for the mission. Participants who cannot pay attention, won’t work, are divisive, or are uninterested may not be suitable for this mission. Our community is paying attention to the Christian groups who serve with us, and your participants need to be prepared to set a good example for our mission center.

Families and Children: Families are encouraged to attend together. Note:

• Children Under Age 12: They will be assigned to a group with their parent, who will be responsible for their care.

• Children: Must be able to follow instructions and be willing to serve. Children under 12 need a parent or close relative to serve alongside them.

Again, we'd like to emphasize this: Participants who cannot pay attention, won’t work, are divisive, or are uninterested may not be suitable for this mission. Our community is paying attention to the Christian groups who serve with us, and your participants need to be prepared to set a good example for our mission center.

As the group leader, you will have the most control over your group's assignments. However, we recommend that you make the "important" distinctions of students who need to be paired with adults, and let our skilled and experienced staff put our teams together!!

Your group members will individually choose between one of four ministries! (Children's, Construction, Community, and teens). As group leader, you will be able to tell us who to "keep together" on your team.

Your team will be split according to the ministries they choose. Here's an example for a group of 15:

5 chose construction: They'll work together with an adult construction leader from your group. 5 chose community: They'll work together with an adult from your group.

5 chose childrens: They'll work together with an adult from your group.

It's likely that your team members will work with others from across the country! We have found this to be a very encouraging way for students and adults to grow.

Here are some benefits to letting your group divide & experience different things: **Even though it may seem that your group is “divided” through the week, they will have ample time throughout the week (both during the day AND during the evening group share time) to share their unique experiences from varying viewpoints and build unity within the group. **Allowing students to pick their own ministry and serve with other teams gives students an opportunity to lead and serve in a different group. They may be able to shed the social cliques and stereotypes that may exist within their own group. We’ve seen VERY positive results from this model!

Your vehicles are our primary source of transportation during the week. Your group and work team will be transported in YOUR vehicles. Plan for 1 EMPTY SEAT for every 5 participants. PLEASE DO NOT FILL EVERY VEHICLE TO CAPACITY! You'll need room to transport a STAFF MEMBER and CARGO!

Cars / Trucks: leave 1 empty seat Mini Vans: 1 -2 empty seats 15 passenger vans: 2-4 empty seats (for cargo AND 1 extra passenger) Again, please do NOT fill every vehicle to capacity! 30 days prior to the mission trip, you will tell us your vehicles and drivers using the registration system at www.bigcreekmissions.com/go - we can't assign groups until we know what size vehicles you're bringing, and who's driving each vehicle.

Tips: **Please keep your vehicle sizes 26 passengers or less **PLEASE BRING TRUCKS for construction! Not only are they great for transporting your luggage, but they're also extremely helpful on site to carry construction supplies through the week. If your construction adults are driving vans, you'll use those vans to haul tools and possibly lumber.

**Don't forget LUGGAGE: You can't put 15 people in a 15 passenger van and have room for luggage! Car trunks, trucks, and cargo vans are helpful for luggage.

These are the vehicles we recommend:

*Personal Cars & trucks are great.

*Mini-Vans are great. *Trucks for construction are extremely FANTASTICALLY wonderfully exceptionally great!!

*12-15 passenger vans: these are great if the drivers are trained and experienced.

*Mini-buses 26 passengers or less are acceptable. but are typically assigned to children's ministry (sometimes community)

*Did we mention TRUCKS for construction?

*Please consider having multiple drivers available & listed for each vehicle- even rental vehicles! Sometimes, we need a different driver for a vehicle so the primary driver can stay in their choice of ministry! 30 days before your trip, we ask that you provide vehicle types, vehicle primary drivers, and vehicle backup drivers so we can make group assignments.

Remember - PLEASE LEAVE ONE SEAT AVAILABLE IN EVERY VEHICLE! This way, we will have seats for our staff to ride along with our work groups

Lastly, keep in mind this is a mission trip - and just as your church vehicles are used to transport visitors & local kids during church events back at home, you may also be transporting local kids & team members to do mission work. If legalities and policies prohibit transporting anyone but "your" group, please inform us, as this will strictly limit where your group may serve.

Your participants will choose one of three ministries for the week. Each individual chooses their own ministry. As group leader, you'll be able to monitor their choices and "assign" them to work together at www.bigcreekmissions.com/go Example: if you bring 20 participants, 5 choose construction, 5 choose community, and 10 choose children's ministry: It's likely that the 5 construction will serve together, 5 community will serve together, an 10 children's will serve together. We strive to always have an adult representative from your church on each of your teams. Your groups will be blended with other teams.

Children's Ministry: We offer exciting daycamps for children in three counties. We offer Christ-centered elements, summer feeding, games, activities, sports, and other activities to improve the quality of life for our kids. In Leslie County - we even fund and operate our county pool. We love our kids and ask that you help us plan some exciting events for our local children.

At each children's ministry location, we also have teenagers who attend. If you love teenagers, let us know - as you may be able to help lead our teen ministry. These local students don't like "fluff" - but prefer relational leaders who truly care for their well-being.

Community Ministry: Our community teams work with many local organizations We visit nursing homes & the elderly. We offer food and clothing giveaways. We deliver meals to homes, provide yard work, and serve in a variety of ways. This is the most diverse ministry with the most options for interaction with people.

Construction Ministry: Our teams repair many homes in our community. We place priority on the people, not the project. If you have participants desiring to work in construction, it's important that you bring at least one skilled construction "crew chief" who can capably complete a project. Our summer staff have limited construction experience, so we hope you'll bring extra experience with you!

When you arrive Sunday between 3-4 pm EST, you'll be greeted by an eager and enthusiastic staff. They will lead you through a brief tour of the campus and and prepare you for the events of the week. Don't be late - you want to start your week prepared! (We are on Eastern time!)

We work for five full days. Wednesday night (4-10 pm) is your night to spend time in our community and eat out!

6:45 am: Wakeup Call 7:00:am: Breakfast 8:00 am: Morning Worship 9am-4pm: Serving in the community! 5:45 pm: Dinner 8:00 pm: Worship (BC Campus) 9:00 pm: Group time 10:45 pm: Lights Out! This basic schedule summarizes the day. Check out our Group Planning Guide for a detailed version of our schedule.

In short, no. We prefer individuals stick with their ministry choice for the entire week so you are able to build relationships with the people you serve.

For those wanting the most "variety" in ministries, we recommend the community ministry. It will offer you more opportunities for various programs (lawn care, elderly visits, food pantries, nursing homes)

Remember, your participants will choose their own ministry through our online registration at www.bigcreekmissions.com/go

NOTE: The group leader will have the ultimate choice of how your group is "kept together" or separated during the week. You'll communicate any pairings with us using the registration system after your participants register. If you don’t tell us who to “keep together” using the system, we will simply place your participants together in groups prior to your arrival. The registration system is located at: www.bigcreekmissions.com/go As your team members register, you can view their information at that link.

We have two campuses that are very different!

Big Creek Campus:

We can comfortably accommodate 180 people at Big Creek. Most of our weeks are typically at capacity during the summer.

This facility is wheelchair accessible with a private wheelchair accessible shower / restroom

This facility is secured by a perimeter fence and gate that is secured by a keycode. Our doors are also keypad controlled for extra security. We keep our gates closed at all times for the safety and security of our volunteers. (Please note - our staff live at both campus locations. We don't feel unsafe in our community... but we take extra precautions for YOUR safety!)

Bunkrooms 1-5: Boys (sleep 18 each) Bunkrooms 6-9: Girls (sleep 18 each) Bunkroom 10: Girls (sleeps 36)

All our rooms have: -3 level Bunkbeds -Air Conditioning -Ample carpeted floor space for meetings in each room

-Private dressing area Our new shower rooms were opened in June, 2017 and have: - 20 showers, 10 toilets, and 16 sinks - Lockable doors to all showers and toilets - plenty of sinks

Outside, we have a huge front lawn that has plenty of room for outdoor games, a pavilion, carpet ball, gau-gau pit, volleyball, and 9 square in the air.

You can view pictures of this facility at www.bigcreekmissions.com/facility

Wheelwright Campus:

This campus offers accommodations for 65 and we continue to grow:

2 bunkrooms sleeping 24 each (one for males, one for females)

3 family/couple rooms sleeping from 4-6 volunteers each.

3 adjacent shower rooms with 2-3 showers in each (with endless hot water)

2 level bunk beds

Air conditioning

Private Dressing Areas

Worship Center Game Room

Basketball & Playgrounds just a short walk up or down the road!

Commons areas

... and more to come!

You can view pictures of this location at www.bigcreekmissions.com/wheelwright

How many chaperones are required? AS MANY AS YOU CAN BRING!

New for 2026: If you're bringing a "distinctly" Middle School group: plan to recruit 1 chaperone for every 3 students (minimum) (this is required!) For High School groups: plan a 1:4, or 1:5 ratio.

This is not a "youth mission trip" - but is a mission center dedicated to serving our community. We need your team to provide skilled leaders to direct your team. Although we do have college age staff on site, they are only guides to help your team get started. Your adult leaders will guide the way after our staff get you started.

Without capable adult leadership, your team may struggle in the area of children's ministry and construction.

We hope you'll open this trip up to all age groups - not just students. You need quality adults to help lead and guide your students! Here are some examples of adults you should try to recruit:

**Adults who can lead a VBS (school teachers, discipleship group leaders, and parents are GREAT for leading kids!)

**Adults who know construction and can act as "crew chiefs" on site (handymen, jack of all trades, professional builders!)

**Adults who are willing to lead!

Our staff are merely guides - not the ones who know how to do everything!

If you bring a high school group, we recommend a 1:4 (adult/student) ratio If you bring a middle school group, we require a 1:3 (adult/student)ratio If you bring a pre-teen group, we recommend 1:2 (adult/student) ratio, and require a minimum 1:3 ratio.

Our worship services (both morning and evening) are simple, Christ-Centered, and Biblically based.

Since our churches have various theological perspectives, we are careful to teach Christ as our focus and the Bible as our source. Our leaders will select scripturally supported worship music that also points to the scriptural theme for the week. The devotions will be scripture based (with scripture supporting scripture) and applicable to all ages.

Please note, our worship services aren't showy, flashy, or "over the top." Rather, they're simple, focused, and centered on scripture. The scriptures may lead to discussions that can be difficult and sometimes divisive. We strive to handle these situations carefully with grace.

Our Big Creek location typically has a full worship band and speaker (typically a director). Messages are typically expository and very practical. You can expect some current and well-known worship songs as well as some lesser-known songs. We choose one book (or chunk) of the Bible to study each summer, and depending on the content, it may be both encouraging AND challenging as we expose participants to biblical truths.

At the Wheelwright location we will have a worship leader and speaker (typically the directors) We choose one centralized theme for the summer to study. We hope it is both encouraging AND stretching to leaders and younger folks alike.

We certainly hope that most of your team members have professed faith in Jesus.

However, we don't want to hinder the ministry that you may have with your students, as we know that each person grows and learns at a different pace. We ask that you prayerfully consider the maturity and abilities of that student to handle themselves in ministry situations. Please be aware that we have a high standard for ministry and will not tolerate behavior that distracts from our mission. All of that to say, we hope and pray to see God move both in and through the lives of those who serve and those we serve.

YES! Your donations are appreciated. We are a mission center that regularly distributes goods to our community. We have the capability to offload truckloads of donations at our main campus ... so we welcome any gifts!!

Here are four ways you can donate:

1) Your team can help collect children's ministry materials! You can find this list at www.bigcreekmissions.com/volunteerinfo (password kids2024) 2). You can also view our “wishlist” at: www.bigcreekmissions.com/wishlist

3) Connect us with corporate (truckloads) of donated goods. We appreciate ALL donations!

4) Cash and Gift Cards are welcomed! Cash, Lowe's and Walmart Gift Cards are ALWAYS welcome, as those are our two closest Big-Box stores.

Keeping Our Mission Trips Affordable

We strive to offer one of the lowest-priced full-service mission trips available. To maintain our quality local ministries and keep costs low, it’s crucial that we fill every spot each week. Our summer mission program is our primary source of year-round funding.

Important Guidelines:

1. Register Only for Confirmed Participants: Register only those who have paid their deposits. You can always adjust your group size as long as space is available. It’s perfectly fine to start with a small group. If some members don’t register by the deadline, you can still bring whoever has signed up.

2. Register Reasonably: Avoid overestimating your numbers. Start planning and communicating early to get an accurate count of attendees. You can add more spots through our registration system if space allows during your week.

3. Adjust Numbers Promptly: If participants drop out, please update your group numbers as soon as possible. We will refund overpayments if we can fill the vacant spots. However, if we cannot fill those spots in time, we cannot offer refunds.

4. Over Capacity Situations: If your week is over capacity and you need to reduce numbers, we will refund deposits until we reach "max capacity" This is first-come-first-serve

We have done our best to answer almost every question we can think of on the website, the FAQ's, and group planning guide. We hope you'll read these thoroughly as they will answer the vast majority of your questions. If you've checked these out, and still have questions, we are here to help you! The BEST way to contact us, with the fastest response, is by email. A Quick Note About Phone calls vs emails...

We do want to connect with you...but we’ve found that email works best for us, and here’s why:

1. Our staff team is small – everyone here plays multiple roles, and we don’t have dedicated office staff answering phones.

2. We host groups year-round, and when groups are on site, we want to give them our full attention and care.

3. Cell service in our mountains can be unpredictable – calls drop often, and messages don’t always come through reliably.

4. Most of our work happens away from the office – out serving, coordinating projects, or working alongside volunteers.

Email lets us respond thoughtfully and accurately — and ensures nothing gets missed. Thank you for understanding and helping us serve everyone well! We promise we're not avoiding you... but you'll understand our communications challenges when you arrive here!!

BOTH CAMPUS LOCATIONS:

Registration / numbers / financial questions: (Jordan) jordan@bigcreekmissions.com

BIG CREEK CAMPUS:

Construction ministry questions: construction@bigcreekmissions.com

Children's ministry questions: kids@Bigcreekmissions.com

General questions (Kevin) : info@bigcreekmissions.com

WHEELWRIGHT CAMPUS:

All Wheelwright Questions (construction, community, children's ministries):

Bubba or Tammy: bubba@bigcreekmissions.com tammy@bigcreekmissions.com

PHONE CALLS: If you really really need a phone call, please do the following before calling as a courtesy to our team: 1) Review the FAQ's and information above

2) Check out the group planning guide 3) Run your questions through the website AI helper! This helps us avoid reading the website to you on the phone!!

You can leave a message for our staff at 1-888-355-4055 We will return your call as soon as is practical!

Our Big Creek Facility is fully accessible and has NO steps. Our entire facility is one level.

We have just completed a private fully accessible bathroom complete with grab bars, roll in shower, ADA toilet and sink.

We do not have any specialized equipment (lifts, shower wheelchair) although we do have a shower chair located in the shower.

The Wheelwright Facility is somewhat accessible with a bit of assistance. The second floor dorm rooms are not accessible, however, accomodations can be made for first floor lodging and use of the first floor shower as needed. In time, we hope to improve the accessiblity of this facility as funds permit.

Typically, registration problems occur due to the trip code name!

For SUMMER mission trips, make sure the correct code name is selected when registering. Participants can click "edit" in their profile to correct their code name.

For SPRING and FALL trips, participants can select or correct their code name in the "My participant account" in the top right of the screen. Also, make sure you've signed up for the correct mission trip dates in step 2!