Please call Ashley Kendall, 404-358-6766, if you have any other questions!

 

How much does it cost to bring a team?

It’s $30 per person/ per day. This helps keep Tim and Ashley on the field, pays for liability insurance at the missions your team will serve at, photo galleries for each day’s adventures and at the end of the week you’ll receive a video with memories from the trip.

How many people can be on a team?

Your church can bring as few as 5 people and as many as 800.

 

Is there a minimum age?

No. We’ve worked with teams as young as 5 and 6 on service projects where we color bags of love and fill them with candy.

Our youngest team to serve at the missions as a group of fifth graders and they did AWESOME!

We love working with family teams as well. Everyone’s invited.

We’ve found that the little kids seem to be the best missionaries since they are so adventurous and have no fear.

Everyone is welcome!

 

Where should we lodge?

Whirlwind has partnerships with many churches in the surrounding area. We also send teams to Comfort Inn. Click on Lodging to find out more.

 

Can we only come for one day?

Yes! Whirlwind Missions is very flexible. We host many one day teams. That would include a briefing, prayer time, tour, lunch and serving at the missions from 2-4pm.

Some teams come for the weekend. That works out great too! If you come through Sunday we can worship together at Clarkston International Bible Church with our refugee friends from Burma.

Three days are fun too!

Four days are the best though. We’ll be able to visit all four of our safari points and have more time loving on the immigrant and refugee community!

 

Where should we eat?

Most teams eat a small breakfast at their church or hotel, then eat with us in the afternoons. We will try different foods from around the world including Mexican, Malaysian, French, Korean, Middle Eastern, and Indian. Please bring about $7-8 per person for meals. Make sure to let Ashley know if you’re eating out so she can make reservations.

You can also have packed lunches and eat back at First Baptist Doraville where we do our briefings each morning.

Dinners are your choice. You can cook at your host church, cater in from Pizza Patron, Chickfila, Subway… or eat out in the Village or at the Perimeter Mall food court.

** If you have gluten allergies or very picky eaters please pack a lunch just in case they don’t find something they can/want to eat.**

What Does the mission day look like?

Each morning we’ll start at 10 AM at First Baptist Doraville. We’ll have a briefing, prayer time and then go on safari in the International Village.

Lunch with us or packed around 12:30.

Missions start around 2-2:30 to 4 Your team will be broken up into groups for 10. Tim and Ashley will help get you to each mission location.

At the missions you’ll round up the kids, have a recreation time with balls, sidewalk chalk and games. Then tell a Bible Story you’ve prepared. Your team will create a craft with the children and then finish with a snack of cookies or gold fish pretzels…

Then from 4:15- 6:30 the groups will rotate to their next sites and repeat the round up, recreation, Bible Story, Craft and Snack.

***Spring Break teams will differ a little since the kids are in school. We’ll start at 10 with the briefing and prayer time, then tour and lunch, then complete a service project and then serve at the missions from 4:30-6:30. ***

 

What do we need to bring for the mission time?

Your team is responsible for bringing all the recreation gear such as balls (soccer and kickballs), bubbles, sidewalk chalk, jump ropes and preparing relay races. Please NO bats or noodles. These turn into weapons really quick!

We’ve also found that soccer balls and games bring out the older guys and nail polish brings out the older girls.

Prepare a Bible Story for each day. Yes, you can use the same VBS material you’ve used at your own summer camp.

Bring a craft for the children. Prepare for about 25-35 kids at each site. Check with us individually at  404-358-6766, about the site you’re going to. Some have more Muslims and we tend to stay away from lots of crucifix crafts here as it gets the kids in trouble with their parents.

Your team will also bring the snacks such as cookies, goldfish, pretzels, fruit rollups… and a cooler with water or flavor mix. We do have an ice machine at the church.

 

What if our team tells the same story as the team before?

No problem! We never know when the story will really “stick” with the child. Repeating the story guarantees that it will click and it allows students to feel smart when they know the answers.

The creation story and Jonah story are very popular you may want to stay away from those.

 

How should our team prepare?

Have everyone on the team visit this website!

Make sure everyone knows the Bible Story well enough that they don’t have to read from scripts.

Visit our Team Photo Gallery and pray for the people you’ll be serving.

Practice your Spanish. Most the people will speak English but it’s still fun to be able to talk to the Moms. Learning some Spanish songs would be a great bonus!

Download the Checklist and Schedules.

 

How do we respond to people of different cultures and religions?

With love! We’re in the business of LOVE. It’s all about building one on one relationships with people. We will teach you more in the briefings of what to say, but we are far from hitting people over the head with a big, black Bible going, “Are you saved yet?!”

We don’t dis Mother Mary or Mohammed, we build bridges not walls. We’ll talk more about this during out morning time with the teams.

 

What should we wear?

Dress for the climate. Springs tend to be cool so bring long pants and a jacket.

Also if your team is doing a service project bring clothes and shoes that can get dirty or paint on them.

Summer time is very warm. Shorts, flip flops, tennis shoes and t-shirts are perfect. Please no short shorts as we do visit some Muslim areas and they find this offensive.

Work out clothes are also comfortable to play around in.

We HIGHLY RECOMMEND the Yeah,Baby Team Whirlwind Tees!  

 

Is this area safe?

Totally! The International Village is like Spanish Mayberry. Everyone is very welcoming and kind. We still always stay as a team though and no one goes off alone. Tim would not allow his daughter to work anywhere that he felt was unsafe. Rest assured your team is in good hands.

Will the people speak english?

Most of the kids you’ll be working with will be bilingual since they’ve been in school. The new immigrants and refugees won’t speak English and neither will the Moms. There is always someone there who can help translate for you though. So go ahead and prepare your Bible Stories in English.

Learning some Spanish songs would be a great bonus!

 

Will we only be serving children?

No, in the mornings we go on cultural safaris, there we will interact with many adults. In our briefing time your team will learn how to greet and approach people for Jesus.

During the afternoons it will be mainly elementary and middle school students but there are always Moms and Dads that stand around and keep an eye on their children. We encourage the group leaders to strike up conversations with them!

 

What will my team get from coming on Missions?

The International Village is like no other place on the planet! The whole world has come to us and is living in the apartment complexes where your team will serve. In the mornings your team will feel as if they’ve been transported to another country like Japan, China, Vietnam, Algeria and the Middle East, India and South America! But most everyone will speak English so when you share the Word of God you know they’re understanding you. This is a great foreign mission field in your own backyard.

You will learn how to share your faith in an easy non-threatning way.

You’ll learn how to replicate the same backyard Bible club experience in your own hometown.

The Whirlwind Mission team is dedicated to growing your personal relationship with the Lord. Our morning prayer times are very powerful and spiritually refreshing.

We will call out people who we see have a heart for missions and strongly encourage them to continue this work back home and make a career out of serving the King!

Your team will learn how to greet people in Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Hindu, Swahili and Arabic.

You will see, taste, hear, feel things you’ve never felt before. We’ve got some amazing things in store from Ho Tuk Korean pancakes and Cobras in a jar to witnessing to people from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kenya to name a few.

This will be truly life changing for you and your group. Check out the Testimonials page to see what others have said.

 

Is the international village safe?

YES! Dad and I joke that the Village is like Spanish Mayberry.

My Dad would never place me in an area that was unsafe and we’ll take the same precautions for your team.

This area is NOT in downtown Atlanta. We are in the suburbs called Chamblee- Doraville and the International Village. It’s mostly families with young children. Many of the ethnic moms will participate in the Bible Club time, or at least stand on the sidelines.

Safety is not an issue. This is a very loving community and we will always be in groups and have adults around.

We’ve never had any safety issues in the twenty years we’ve worked in the Village.