EM Executive Director Chris Clum flew to Scotland in January to assess needs there and to plan for 2009 trips to the region, and left confident Experience Mission could greatly benefit ongoing ministry efforts there.

“I went over to meet some key people and verify that there really was some potential for us to partner with leaders there and make a long-term commitment to working in Scotland,” Clum said.

Clum flew into Edinburgh and traveled north to the mountain town of Inverness, which sits near the fabled Loch Ness. There he attended “Deep Impact,” a monumental gathering of more than 300 Scottish youth leaders. Most were not full-time youth pastors.

“The majority of the churches in Scotland have fewer than 50 members,” Clum said. “It’s extremely rare for any church to have a full-time youth pastor.”

The conference was in support of a larger movement called Hope 2008, a nationwide effort to encourage British churches to work and participate more proactively in their communities. Clum also met with Marco Palmer and Rodd Christensen, former ministry partners of his who achieved nationwide notoriety in the United Kingdom as members of a touring group called Acts Drama Company. Christensen went on to star in the children’s TV series “Balamory.”

Palmer and Christensen will spearhead EM’s work there by establishing connections with key church leaders.

“The whole focus of what we’re doing is going to go in to work with inner city ministries supported by those efforts,” Clum said, adding that EM would later sponsor inner-city youth from Scotland to go on mission trips themselves.

Experience Mission is offering summer 2008 trips to Inverness. Visit www.experiencemission.org or call the EM office at (360) 554-8060 for more information.