David R. Bains teaches the history of American Christianity at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.

Peter L. Benson and Eugene C. Roehlkepartain are co-directors of the Center for Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence in Minneapolis. Benson is investigator and co-director for Search Institute’s new Center for Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence. He wrote Sparks: How Parents Can Help Ignite the Hidden Strengths of Teenagers (2008) and has more than a dozen other publications.

Karen-Marie Yust is an associate professor of Christian education at Union Theological Seminary-Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Va. She is a minister in both the United Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ denominations and is the author of Real Kids, Real Faith: Practices for Nurturing Children’s Spiritual Lives.

Bob Ditter is a therapist and author who specializes in working with youth and their families. He is a consultant for the American Camping Association and has worked with summer camps since 1982.

Isaac Kramnick teaches government at Cornell University and co-authored The Godless Constitution: A Moral Defense of the Secular State (W.W. Norton, 2005). His 1996 American Prospect essay “Is God a Republican?” reflects on religious entanglement in partisan politics. Book co-author R. Laurence Moore teaches American studies at Cornell.

Read a May 17, 2013, article by the Orlando Sentinel about one women’s religious mission trips with youth groups.

See an October 2008 Barna Group survey about mission trips.

Global Awareness Through Experience offers immersion trips to invite individuals to explore solidarity and compassion through giving. It’s based in La Crosse, Wis.

Orval Gingerich is director of the Center for Global Education at Augsburg College in Minneapolis and has created and led experiential study abroad semesters as part of EMU’s Global Village Curriculum.