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When Glen Mar UMC in Ellicott City flew a youth mission team to Louisiana one year after Hurricane Katrina, adult leaders didn't realize that youth would soon take the reins. Five years later, Youth on a Mission (YOAM) has blossomed into a twice-yearly mission trip that youth plan and lead, as adult volunteers step back into supporting roles.

The idea was a direct response by youth to the overwhelming need they saw in 2006 in New Orleans. During that first trip to Slidell, La., to help repair homes, Epworth Project director Gale Kimball took Glen Mar youth on a tour of the hard-hit Lower Ninth Ward, said Mark Hardin, whose daughter Hannah was among the youth that went on that first Hurricane Katrina relief trip.

When the van pulled into the flood-ravaged community, youth were shocked, and didn't want to get out of the van.

"There was basically nothing left," Hannah Hardin recalled. "I thought, this is too painful to look at." Center director Kimball, she remembered, insisted that the youth get out of the van, look around, and take pictures.

That day, Hardin and five friends planned out the skeleton of what YOAM would look like: a non-denominational, youth-led mission ministry that would keep returning to help.

Soon, one mission trip a year was not enough, so in addition to the spring break high school trips, YOAM added a winter break trip for young adults home from college.

The team now considers itself a community program based at Glen Mar in partnership with youth from Bethany UMC and a handful of other churches.

About 50 youth join each week-long spring break mission trip; the youth are part of Glen Mar or one of five other area churches, or are friends from school.

Through the Epworth Project, teams typically work to repair houses damaged by Hurricane Katrina, though one year YOAM helped a school build a playground. Teams stay at a volunteer center at Aldersgate UMC in Slidell. Teens and young adults learn the basics of home construction, from dry-walling to roofing, and have the opportunity to selflessly work hard to help the recovery effort. And, since the spring break trip usually falls just before Easter, the youth plan a Maundy Thursday service among the faith components of the trip.

Hardin has seen fellow young adults and youth leave the trip feeling more connected to God and inspired to serve at home.

"God's been working through us the whole time," said Mark Hardin, who in addition to being Hannah's father is a lay mission coordinator at Glen Mar.

Each year, the youth mission team begins planning the summer before to ensure adequate fundraising and preparation. Youth do it all from deciding how to fundraise to the schedule, the logistics and more. "These kids work really hard to raise the money every year," Mark Hardin said.

Because the spring trip costs about $800 per person and the college trip about $700, fundraising starts early and continues through much of the year. Fund raisers have included bake sales, silent auctions, a kids' fun night with inflatable bounce activities, selling handmade items, selling fair trade coffee and more, all ideas that the youth put into action.

The youth-led aspect sometimes comes as a surprise to new adult volunteers. According to Hardin, "They realize we're all on the same level, that the youth can have a say in things, too."