A: We strategically chose mission contacts and locations based on relationships, strategic investment, and safety. 

1. Many of our contacts we have created long-term relationships with, meaning we send them teams year after year after year. We either know our contacts personally or have been connected to them by trusted sources. 

2. We also chose contacts who do sustainable Kingdom work, meaning our contacts have been planted in the nation or city long-term, have a good reputation with the local people, and have a sustainable ministry model. 

3. Finally, safety is our utmost priority. We work hard to ensure that our students have a safe place to stay, are well taken care of on the field, and are in safe ministry situations. 

Every trip has a PEAK ELEVATION, which illustrates the height of cultural immersion expected on the trip.

PEAK ONE = Minimal cross-cultural engagement; shorter travel time; predominantly English-speaking ministry; mostly American-style food. If this is your first mission trip, Peak 1 is a great fit.

PEAK TWO = Moderate cross-cultural engagement; moderate travel time; predominately non-English speaking ministry; mix of American and non-American styles of food. If you want to grow in cross-cultural comfortability, Peak 2 is perfect.

PEAK THREE = Complete cross-cultural immersion; lengthy travel time; significant language differences; mostly non-American style food. If you want to be stretched out of your comfort zone in every area, Peak 3 is it.

PEAK FOUR = Complete cross-cultural immersion; lengthy travel time; significant language differences; mostly non-American style food; harsher climate or more difficult living arrangements. If you are looking for a challenging experience, Peak 4 will grow you in every area.

You are placed on a team in November and begin attending Big Team Trainings January-April. We train the teams on spiritual authority, worship and prayer, kids ministry, youth ministry, how to share a testimony, evangelize, preach, culture, religions, safety, and contact investment. All of our Team Leaders undergo approximately 150 hours of training. 

Each student fundraises for their trip. Trip costs are based on length and duration. We encourage you to use this as an opportunity to trust the Lord’s provision, to ask people to partner with you, and to do creative fundraisers.

We ask that you send out 30 support letters in December when we host an event called “Stamp Party.” At the event, all the teams gather to stuff and seal their letters, then ORU Missions pays for the postage for both domestic and international addresses (ORU Missions will pay for the postage of 30 letters). We see that most funds come in from these letters!

Beyond that, you are encouraged to fundraise in creative ways. It is the responsibility of each individual to raise their funds. Some teams do fundraisers together, but this is not required or expected of the team or its leaders. 

The funds you raise go directly for the trip's costs, including flights, housing, food, in-country transportation, ministry supplies, administrative fees, visa costs (when applicable), training materials, and Ropes training week.  

All fundraised monies that come into the ORU Missions office go towards mission trips. While extra funds cannot be refunded to the donor for any reason due to our 501(c)(3) status, they will go towards other students’ trips. Extra funds cannot be saved for future years, cannot be given directly to you, or used for any purpose other than this year's mission trip costs. 

There are limited scholarships available that are allocated at the discretion of the Director. Scholarships are need-based and awarded only on financial deadline days. 

To help you meet your fundraising goals, we’ve created smaller deadlines to make the fundraising process more manageable. The 2025 deadlines days are: 

25% Due — January 22
50% Due — February 19
75% Due — March 26
100% — April 14

ORU Missions and Outreach is a 501(c)(3) organization, and monies donated cannot be refunded for any circumstances. If you experience an extenuating circumstance (a death in the family, a serious illness, etc.) and want your funds to be held for the next academic year, you must petition and be given permission by the Director.

ORU Missions will not cover the cost of a passport. Since passports require an extensive application and extend well beyond the length of the trip, ORU Missions cannot assist with the passport process. 

Passports are due physically due to our office on January 22 (the 25% financial deadline). If you do not turn your passport in on time, you will be moved to a domestic trip. We do this because all passports must be turned into our office before we can purchase flights and apply for visas. 

Yes, ORU Missions will do the paperwork and cover the cost of any necessary visas. You may take a visa photo (at no charge) and provide additional information or documentation for the visa paperwork, but you will not have to apply for or pay for the visa yourself.  

One of the unique parts of ORU Missions is that all our teams are student-led, meaning there is a student Team Leader and a student Assistant Team Leader. These two students receive copious amounts of extra training and support throughout the year to equip them for these roles. 

The whole team is composed solely of ORU students: a Team Leader, an Assistant Team Leader, and Mission Members. All are current ORU students, either undergraduate or graduate. 

We wish you could join ORU Missions but only currently enrolled students are eligible to join a trip. If you graduate in December, you are not able to be on a missions team unless you become a full-time graduate student in the Spring semester.

It is trip-dependent. When you fill out the application, you may see a trip that is Vaccination Required (VR).

This means each student is fully vaccinated, and the team will observe the requirements of the contact and the country they visit. 

Covid-19 is still a strong reality, especially in other parts of the world. Even if things are stable in America, they can still rapidly change in the nations we serve. We maintain a flexible attitude when adapting to new Covid restrictions, mask mandates, etc. Suppose a nation that previously did not require the vaccine suddenly changes its policy or requires quarantine upon arrival. In that case, we will reroute the members of the team who do not want to receive the vaccination. We never require you to receive the Covid-19 vaccine if you do not want to get it. 

Great question! Even if the government doesn’t mandate the vaccine, we consider other factors when assigning trips as VR. A significant factor is the request of our contacts; many work with at-risk populations (the elderly, impoverished, refugees, etc.) who need greater protection. Another contributing factor is accessibility to restaurants or other indoor spaces; some nations require a Mobility Pass proving a person has the vaccine to be allowed in public indoor areas. The final consideration is the testing requirements to enter the country (the type of test required, timeframe before the flight, cost, team size, etc.). 

It is trip-dependent. Many of our trips do not require specific vaccinations, but we always recommend that you are up-to-date on basic immunizations, such as Hepatitis A & B and tetanus. 

For some trips, we strongly recommend you receive the polio booster, typhoid, etc. A few trips have yellow fever or malaria requirements that are either mandated by the nation’s government or based upon our office’s assessment of what’s needed for individual safety.  Our office provides a list of required or recommended vaccines and monitors outbreaks and risks throughout the year.

The cost of immunizations and medications and the responsibility of getting them rests on you. If you are uncomfortable with the necessary vaccinations for your trip, you are always welcome to fill out the petition to be moved to a different team. You can click here to see our most up to date Immunization Info.

We encourage you to have medical insurance and carry your insurance card during the trip. We also purchase travel medical insurance for additional medical coverage on the field. 

You can petition to change teams by filling out a form in our office. Many factors go into placing you on a team, including length of trip, vaccination status, ministry interests, and capacity on the team. All of our teams have a capacity limit, meaning our contacts cannot physically host over a certain number of students. 

If you need to switch teams based on your trip availability, health, or vaccination concerns, you will be moved to an available team, although it cannot be guaranteed to be a specific trip. 

Ropes has been part of the ORU Missions experience for over thirty years, and it is an impactful and intense week of final training and preparation before the teams leave for the field. It is designed to grow individuals, unify the team, and create a space to encounter the Lord in a consecrated way before sharing the Gospel. For Summer 2025, the schedule is:

Ropes | May 4—9

Free Day (to pack and prepare; students are not allowed to leave Tulsa) | May 10

Departures | May 11

The Ropes experience is designed to be challenging, both physically and spiritually. You will stay in the dorms on campus but are off-campus at a nearby facility during the day. However, we have a team of Ropes Facilitators, trusted pastors and leaders from around the country who give up a week to train our teams year and after year. This team is handpicked and full of incredible pastors and leaders who challenge you but also keep you safe and in an environment where you can grow. If you have a physical disability or injury, we will work with you to ensure you can safely participate. 

All students must complete Ropes in order to go on their mission trip. If you cannot complete the entirety of Ropes for any reason, it is at the discretion of the Director if you can go on your trip.  If certain instances or behaviors are exhibited at Ropes, you may not be allowed to participate on your trip for your safety and/or for the safety of your team. 

Some instances that could prevent a student from going on their trip are: unhealthy mental state, suicidal ideation, self-harming, volatile anger, unwillingness to submit to authority (to their student leaders or ORU staff member), refusal to participate in Ropes activities, or unhealthy spiritual activity or behaviors deemed by the Director.  

You will be given your flight itinerary in late March. You are welcome to send your flight itinerary to any family member or designated guardian that would like to be notified or made aware of your travel details. 

The Parent Page will also hold your airline and flight numbers so family members can look them up.

Great question! After managing trips of young adults for many decades, we have found that it is best for the responsible, trained, and liable student leader to hold passports while the team is on the field. Our Team Leaders are trained extensively to carry and distribute passports responsibly. 

This is a non-negotiable decision made by the ORU Missions & Outreach Office. A student’s failure to submit their passport to the assigned Team Leader during the ORU Missions trip will result in the student being sent home. The ORU Missions & Outreach office is liable for the safety and protection of our students while traveling, and we consider the responsibility of the passports to be of our utmost priority.

Yes! You are welcome to have your phone and remain in contact with family during your trip. While we do not require that you have an international phone plan, you are welcome to purchase one if desired. Some trips have better WIFI or cell reception than others, depending on the city and nation. You’re encouraged to call your parents or guardian at least once per week to check in, share stories, and let them know how you are doing.

Our Director is Allie Mendoza, and she is available 24/7 for the teams and parents or guardians when the teams are out on the field. You can check this page for any on-call updates and phone numbers as the trip dates get closer. 

The ORU Missions Director on-call is a full-time staff member at Oral Roberts University and is available 24/7 to manage all situations that may arise.

We recognize that many of our teams are in nations where minor injuries, sickness from new foods, or colds can happen from climate change. We send every team with a medical kit to help with scrapes, cuts, fevers, or upset stomachs. 

If a severe injury or sickness occurs, the team will work with the contacts to ensure you are taken to the best medical clinic, doctor, or hospital in the area. Since every team stays in a different context, our contacts know best where to go. The trip insurance provided by ORU Missions is very comprehensive and is specifically designed for foreign travel. 

Suppose you have an illness or injury serious enough that you need to come home. In that case, we will have either the Team Leader or Assistant Team Leader (whichever leader is the same gender as you) travel back with you, so you are never alone. 

In the case of an emergency at home (sudden death in the family, etc.) , we ask that you or your parents or guardian notify us by calling the Director, who will work with you and take care of the administrative aspects (informing the Team Leader and contacts, arranging the flight changes, etc.). 

We enroll all students in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Plan (STEP). This free service allows U.S. citizens and nationals traveling abroad to register their trip with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. 

The Embassy would send any essential updates to us and be in communication in case of an emergency. Our office would work directly with them to ensure your safety, and we would also be in touch with the emergency contact you listed on your Emergency Contact Form. 

There are two trip lengths: 2 weeks and 3 weeks. The dates for Summer 2025 are:

2-Week Departure: May 11
2-Week Debrief: May 25 (released by 12PM)

3-Week Departure: May 11
3-Week Debrief: June 1 (released by 12PM)

Flights delays are all too common, so we work closely with our travel agent to ensure all teams have the best possible flight path. If there are delays, lost luggage, etc., we will be in constant communication with the Team Leader, and our first priority is that your team is taken care of.

If the team needs to spend the night in another city, we will book hotel rooms, ensure you get food, etc., with ORU Missions’ budget, and work with the airlines to get you back to Tulsa. 

We ask all our students to return to Tulsa for debriefing (see below to understand more about debriefing).

If you want to ask for a flight exception, you must petition for it by January.

Debriefing is an integral part of the ORU Missions experience. We believe debriefing is essential for students to be equipped with practical tools and strategies to deal with “reentry” or “reverse cultural shock.” We require all of our ORU Missions students to engage in the totality of debriefing. 

The day after all the teams return, we gather for a time to hear about everyone’s trip, share testimonies, and say goodbyes. It’s essential to share what the Lord has done, process the challenges the team faced, and have one last meal together. Once debriefing includes, you are released for the summer and are fully responsible for yourself, your belongings, and returning to your home city.