Think Twice Before Going on a Mission Trip

Leading a Mission Team is one of my greatest joys. I love seeing the change that takes place in team members – their faith grows, their world view is transformed and they grow closer to gaining God’s perspective on the world. It is a rewarding thing to see happen.

I also love blessing the people we visit and serve. It is a joy to see them encouraged, healed and valued. Friendships are forged and the love of Christ transcends cultural barriers.

There also is a satisfaction in taking active steps to fulfill the mandate of Matthew 27:19 to “Go and make disciples of all nation…”

It good being a small part of the solution to the problems of this world.

Through my experiences in leading and being part of numerous missions teams, I have discovered that one wrong person on a team can make things really difficult for everyone. Every team leader should be alert to the following “red flags” of caution while evaluating applications in forming a team. If a team member is aware of their own struggle in any of these areas, they should be careful to address these issues with the team leader before leaving.

1. People who struggle with ethical financial management. People with a history of credit problems, people who pay bills late, who don’t tithe, etc. When a team member does not make financial deadlines or fails to communicate and follow through regarding payments towards their travel, a leader must not accommodate their irresponsibility. Whenever a leader allows this to continue, it usually ends up putting the church and the team in a precarious place financially. It is not worth it.
   
2. People with deep emotional or psychological challenges. Missions teams are emotionally challenging. They can be physically exhausting. Culture shock and re-entry can be difficult for people who are extremely healthy. Add these issues the potential for sickness and the effects of jet lag – all of these things can be the recipe for a break-down for someone who is already having a hard time managing their emotional or psychological health. When this happens during a mission trip it creates a very difficult scenario.
   
3. People who have trouble getting along with others. What more needs to be said? Abrasive and anti-social people tend to bring teams down.
   
4. People who are inflexible or stubborn. “Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be broken.” Missions requires flexibility. It requires adaptability and unshakable optimism.
   
5. People who constantly question authority. When going into another culture as an outsider it helps to be able to trust and to follow the directions of others. Extremely independent or somewhat rebellious people do not do well in these environments.
   
6. People who are not willing to work hard and serve others. This is not a vacation. Our own agendas must be set aside. Team members must be prepared to be uncomfortable and to work hard. A servant’s heart is an essential disposition for a team member.
   
7. People who are facing challenges within their immediate family. Marriage problems, problems with children, parents and other domestic crisis cannot be managed or resolved while out of the country. They tend to only get worse. If this happens while on a trip it disrupt everything that you are there to do. People should not go on a team knowing that these there are unresolved issues that should be tended to.
   
8. People who have an agenda. The only agenda for a mission team member is to serve the people we are visiting. Compliance and enthusiasm are great qualities to have.
   
9. People who harbor prejudice, ethnocentrism, or supra-nationalism. Philippians 2:3 must be applied “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”
   
10. People who don’t have a deep love for God. A passionate spirituality will bring depth to the mission experience. Furthermore it will keep a person from the distractions of temptations that can pull a person away from the purpose of a mission trip.

This isn't a mandate for perfectionism -- But it is a list of the primary cautions as well as the converse qualities that make for a great experience on a mission trip.

Tribute to Tucker

Tonight we had a shocking and sad interruption -- Tucker was hit by a car and killed. It happened suddenly and he died as Levi, Alicia and I pet him at the side of the road. He was about eight years old. It was one of those moments where we had people coming and going out of our house and he found his way out the door and into the street. I felt terrible for the lady who hit him. She and her daughter were in tears along with us.

He was a lot like family to us -- He was part of the litter of my brother's dog, Daisy. My parents have one of Tucker's brothers - Buster.

He was a great athlete -- enjoying trail runs and mountain climbs deep into the wilderness. Some people said he resembled a mountain goat!

He had a definite personality -- super energetic, friendly and an entertainer. He was a very popular dog with anyone that visited our house. He will be missed!

Tragic News Never Stops

Tragic news flashes bombard my life.

The Virginia Tech massacre is incomprehensible. I cannot fathom or begin to process the horror and the grief that is being felt as a result of that act.

Then today I come across a nondescript news flash about the death of a Peace Corps worker, Julia Campbell. I find myself identifying with the victim -- a person devoted to work in the Philippines, travelling in the very places that I frequent. A distance runner. A blogger. Photos of her standing where I have stood at the Taal volcano. A person making the world a better place. The news flash becomes personal as I read her blog.

Now these strangers are gone.

And I go about my work quickly while carrying the distant emotion of grief. It is like a dull, toxic stress. This experience seems to happen every week.

Do you ever feel this way? What we are experiencing is a dim reflection of God's heart. We see for a moment what He sees. We feel a tiny bit of what He feels. We are helpless to fix or to change the situation.

One of my favorite fictional works of all time is "For Whom the Bell Tolls", by Ernest Hemmingway. In reflection I often remember the quote that opens the book:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee." John Donne (1572-1631)

To be a Christian is to identify with God's heart for the world. It is to identify with the suffering. It is to realize that He is present with those who suffer.

I am challenged to keep my heart soft. To respond with prayer and care. To "mourn with those who mourn" (Romans 12:15). To look for proactive outcomes in my personal life as well as in the areas of influence that I possess.

A Good Friday Prayer

*****

I look at your dead body on the cross. The soldiers, who have broken the legs of the two men crucified with you, do not break your legs, but one of them pierces your side with a lance, and immediately blood and water flow out. Your heart is broken, the heart that did not know hatred, revenge, resentment, jealousy or envy but only love, love so deep and so wide that it embraces your Father in heaven as well as all humanity in time and space. Your broken heart is the source of my salvation, the foundation of my hope, the cause of my love. It is the sacred place where all that was, is and ever shall be is held in unity. There all suffering has been suffered, all anguish lived, all loneliness endured, all abandonment felt and all agony cried out. There, human and divine love have kissed, and there God and all men and women of history are reconciled. All the tears of the human race have been cried there, all pain understood and all despair touched. Together with all people of all times, I look up to you whom they have pierced, and I gradually come to know what it means to be part of your body and your blood, what it means to be human. -- HN
*****

Embarassed to be labeled a Christian

This morning I read a thought provoking commentary on current perceptions of Christianity here in the U.S. Click here to read the article in its entirety. I think he makes several good points:

Commentary: What would Jesus really do?

By Roland Martin, CNN Contributor

NEW YORK (CNN) -- When did it come to the point that being a Christian meant only caring about two issues,­ abortion and homosexuality?
Ask the nonreligious what being a Christian today means, and based on what we see and read, it's a good bet they will say that followers of Jesus Christ are preoccupied with those two points.
Poverty? Whatever. Homelessness? An afterthought. A widening gap between the have and have-nots? Immaterial. Divorce? The divorce rate of Christians mirrors the national average, so that's no big deal.
The point is that being a Christian should be about more than abortion and homosexuality, and it's high time that those not considered a part of the religious right expose the hypocrisy of our brothers and sisters in Christianity and take back the faith. And those on the left who believe they have a "get out of sin free" card must not be allowed to justify their actions.

As we celebrate Holy Week, our focus is on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But aren't we also to recommit ourselves to live more like Jesus? Did Jesus spend his time focusing on all that he didn't like, or did Jesus raise the consciousness of the people to understand love, compassion and teach them about following the will of God?
As a layman studying to receive a master's in Christian communications, and the husband of an ordained minister, it's troubling to listen to "Christian radio" and hear the kind of hate spewing out of the mouths of my brothers and sisters in the faith.
In fact, I've grown tired of people who pimp God. That's right; we have a litany of individuals today who are holy, holy, holy, sing hallelujah, talk about how they love the Lord, but when it's time to walk the walk, somehow the spirit evaporates...
I stand here today not as a Republican or a liberal. And don't bother calling me a Democrat or a conservative. I am a man,­ an African-American man ­who has professed that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that's to whom I bow down.
If you concur, it's time to stop allowing a chosen few to speak for the masses. Quit letting them define the agenda.
So put on the full armor of God because we have work to do.
What is your take on this commentary?

My feelings are that the perceptions that the writer is talking about are real perceptions, but they are not based on the majority of the actions and beliefs of Christians that I know. I hate being stereotyped by the unChristian behavior that is done in the name of God. All you and I can do to address these issues is to present a true expression of faith and God. One person at a time we can demonstrate what Christianity really looks like. It is a faith that is expressed through compassion, care, social justice, non-judgmentalism and approachability.