Tag: missionary

Medical Preparation for Humanitarian Missions

~ MD Harris Institute ~ 1 Comment

Going on a mission trip or a humanitarian event to a developing country? Prepare yourself by doing this.

“Doctor, this will be a very long war if for every division I have facing the enemy, I must count on a second division in hospital with malaria and a third division convalescing from this debilitating disease.” General Douglas MacArthur to Colonel Paul F. Russell, US Army malaria consultant, May 1943.

Just like soldiers going to war, people on humanitarian missions anywhere in the world can fail to accomplish their mission due to illness or injury. Whether missionaries seeking to advance the gospel of Christ, secular humanitarians trying to dig a well and build a school in a rural African village, or a combination of both, medical problems can inactivate the best intentioned and most capable teams. This article is intended to help people medically prepare themselves to go overseas on humanitarian missions. You can also watch the video.

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A. Reid Jepson – Pastor, Missionary, Mentor

~ MD Harris Institute ~ 3 Comments

God gives us faithful men and women to lead us and shape us in our journey towards Christ. A. Reid Jepson was a mentor of mine. 

The classroom was empty, but I was sure it would soon be full. A junior at Biola University, I was excited about my developing relationship with God and expecting the gospel of Jesus Christ to reach the world in my lifetime.  A leader in the Student Missionary Union (SMU), I had arranged a prayer meeting to petition the Lord on some pressing missions concerns.  I had invited a dear friend, Reverend A. Reid Jepson, a long time pastor and missionary with the Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC) and the Slavic Gospel Association (SGA), to address the group.  Reid had traveled many times behind the Iron Curtain and had dozens of examples of the powerful work of God in his life to share.

I had invited all of the active members of the SMU and many personal friends, selected the time and place to coordinate with their schedules, and even used my meager college income to buy a few refreshments.   Reid had known my mother for years, had taught me many things about the Lord, and he was the most faithful Christian man I knew.  Always punctual, he arrived about 20 minutes before the prayer meeting was to begin.  I arranged and rearranged the chairs, the missions materials and the snacks, and we chatted as we waited.

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Paul’s Missionary Journeys

Saint Paul and a Group
~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

A brief summary of the missionary trips of the Apostle Paul.

By Mark D. Harris

As Christians read the New Testament, it is easy to forget how much time elapsed between Matthew and Revelation, almost 100 years.  Jesus died and rose again around 30 AD, and for two years the church grew, rapidly and in relative peace.  The persecution began about 32 AD, and Paul became a Christian in that year.  He spent years preaching in Damascus, and then spent quite a bit more time in Arabia before returning to his hometown in Tarsus, Asia Minor.  His first missionary journey did not begin until AD 47, covering many cities in Asia Minor and the eastern Mediterranean, including Cyprus, Perga, Iconium, Lystra, and others.  After a short return to Jerusalem in AD 49 to help with the Jerusalem Council, Paul left on his second missionary journey.  During this mission he wrote Galatians and probably Thessalonians.  He began in Asia Minor, but received the call to Macedonia and crossed over into Europe.  Paul and his companions ministered in Philippi, where he was imprisoned and beaten, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, where he spoke at the Aeropagus, and Corinth.  In 52 AD Paul returned to Syrian Antioch to complete his second journey.

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