STM Leaders - STM Network

Are you leading a Short-Term Mission trip and don't know where to go or how to start? Or, are you an experienced leader looking to improve your STM leadership skills? Whether you're leading your 1st or 10th trip, we have the tools to increase your capacity. Join now to access everything you need for your best Short-Term Mission leadership experience.

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Leading mission at your church?

Book a live presentation of the Best Prep Kit for a group of STM Team Leaders, on site at your church.

Send an email to [email protected] to book your Team Leader training today!

What's in the Best Prep Kit?

Our Best Prep Kit provides interactive and practical help as well as all of the tools you need to develop a great team. We entirely customize the process to the team leader’s ability through our face-to-face training over Skype. This brings leaders to the level that hosts are asking for.

This includes best practices for:

Administration and Trip Development – Best practices, administration and the legal stuff
STM Leader Development – Specific development for STM team leadership and support leaders
Team and Fieldwork – What are we going to do over there? Host and team relationships
Ministry Prep and Training – Coaching for 4-12 sessions depending on purpose/capacity of team
Debriefing and Re-entry – The number one place where returning team members often fail

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How this works:

The Best Prep Kit is live, one-on-one coaching for a team leader to prepare his or her team for incredible international success. If you have ever wondered why some teams seem to work better than others, this coaching will provide you with concrete tools that meet and exceed the best practices in Short-Term Mission.

You gain access to exclusive resources you can immediately use
You receive the forms, templates and tools you need to manage any STM trip
You meet with a dedicated STM Network trainer live (on Skype)
You are supported through all the phases of the trip (pre-departure, overseas and return)
You receive a personal plan and incredible training materials for all team sessions
You can ask and expect answers to your questions through email, text or a call

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Is this for me?

Ask any missionary and they will tell you (if they are feeling safe enough to tell the whole truth) that at times the most difficult leader to teach is someone who is successful. The truth is that international work is different than successful business or ministry back home. If you are willing, this process will stretch you.

Whether you are a new team leader, or you have been doing it for years, we all have something to learn. The best team leaders know that they can always learn more. If you want to grow your ability to lead teams, you need this resource.

To get started, click the Start Now button below. You will be taken to a form where you will fill out some simple contact information. We will arrange a time to chat and tell you a little more about our process. We will:

Answer your questions
Set up your coaching sessions
Tell you why you shouldn't pay a dime for this (and who should)

You'll have an STM Network coach available to answer your specific questions. We will make our expertise and experience available to you when you need it. We are an email, call or text away.

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What people are saying...

STM Team Leader Testimonials

The trip was amazing and everything went well: traveling, accommodations, food, Honduras, the missionaries, the children, the piece of our hearts left there and the piece we brought back! Once again thank you for your training weekend with us; it was invaluable, it was a pivotal moment for the team and for the trip. Our team gelled and grew at the same time. I would recommend STM Network to anyone!
Charles Swartwood - Lead Pastor Bethel Pentecostal, Stratford ON
The STM network training revealed many of our short comings in team prep for the field, as well as what we've been doing right. It's been a valuable resource for our next missions trip. Mark has a great way of not just helping people "do" missions better....he helps them "understand" missions more fully too! I would definitely recommend this program to other leaders!
Tania Thorne, STM Team Leader - Medicine Hat, AB
Being introduced to the STM Network with Mark Crocker as my trainer, has taken my confidence to a new level as I seek to serve as a team leader to Haiti Arise. My time spent with him in training has opened my mind to a greater understanding of foreign fields, team leading and development, communication, strategies, and so much more. Mark is quick to listen, patient in teaching you where you are at, and is a wealth of information. You are truly a great teacher Mark and your heart is certainly very apparent in what you do. Thank you for the privilege of working with you.....and for your patience in dealing with my many questions!!
Karen Donnan, Ontario Team Leader for Haiti Arise
In Spring I led a STM to Honduras, this wasn't my first time doing something like this but it was the first time that I had gone through the Best Prep Kit training. I wasn't a rookie, but I found the training to be really helpful and wished that I had the opportunity to do this ten years ago when I started leading STM trips. Everything was useful and valuable and I would highly recommend to anyone, no matter how experienced, that they avail themselves of this training. Mark Crocker was engaging, friendly and exceedingly helpful. I looked forward to my skype sessions with him. Keep up the good work.
Jamie Nelder, Pastor, Millbrook Christian Assembly - Millbrook, ON
At first, planning an STM trip to Haiti in 2013 was a frightening task. I had such little experience, as did virtually all of my team. Our host in Haiti recommended STM Network and it was by far the best decision we made for planning and training. There were so many "missions myths" debunked for us by our trainer and the Best Prep Kit. We ended up traveling and serving and simply loving the people with much greater confidence and understanding of what being missional is all about. I highly recommend STM Network and the Best Prep Kit, and will be using this resource for every STM trip our church runs.
Joseph Friedland, Associate Pastor at Evangel Pentecostal Church - Montreal, QC
Initially I was hesitant hiring the services of STM Network to help me plan my international missions trip. At the time, I was already working for 5 years as a full time youth worker and felt pressure that I was supposed to know how to lead a team of teenagers on a missions trip. Using the Best Prep Kit was a LIFESAVER! It not only shaved off dozens of hours off of prep work, but I felt my team was more prepared and ready to rock than when I created the materials myself. I especially enjoyed the fact that it just wasn’t more paper curriculum, but instead Mark and I Skyped every week which helped me feel support and better understand the material. I’d recommend this to any church leader who is planning on taking a team to an international missions destination!
Ken McIntyre, Youth Pastor at Beddington Church, Calgary, AB
The Best Prep Kit is an amazing training program that will help you grow in your ability to lead a team on a mission trip. You will grow in knowledge, confidence, and ability as you learn from a pile of resources and personal experiences that the STM Network has. If you are serious about maximizing the influence that a mission trip can have on your team - as well as on you - then the Best Prep Kit is something you need to invest in today!
Pastor Matthew Erickson, New Life Assembly, Killarney MB
I have struggled with a lack of self-confidence in teaching/leading. I have always thought that I didn’t know enough to be able to lead and loved to serve instead. I seemed to have always fumbled with words. You have showed me step by step instructions on how to start strong and end well. By working together and going through each section piece by piece, I gained confidence. I liked the one-on-one, face-to-face, sessions with you. You really challenged me to keep going and keep learning till it wasn’t so overwhelming. Thank you, Mark, for taking the time to work with me. It is truly amazing how the effects of this really are.
Nadine Colwell, Mission Leader at Family Worship Centre - Whitecourt, AB
My greatest concern about hiring the STM Network was regarding the practical side of leading STM teams. Theory is important but would they address and understand the practical side of things? As leaders we all have different strengths and needs and the STM Network has set up this course to address us as individual leaders. They found out and understood who I really am, and then equipped and encouraged my leadership growth. I highly recommend the STM Network to be part of any STM team preparation.
Mike Kozak, Vice President of Carrington Lighting - Calgary, AB
Huge thanks to Mark and the STM team for preparing us to be the best team our hosts have ever received. I can't imagine a better way to prepare for all that waits for you and your team on the field. Mark helped us think about and prepare for so many elements of global engagement that we would have missed. From choosing a global partner, to send thank you cards to your host once you have returned...STM will lead you step by step with skill, heart and expertise.
Andy Moore, Pastor of Adore - Victoria, BC