Book details

  • Genre:religion
  • Sub-genre:Christian Ministry / Missions
  • Language:English
  • Pages:268
  • eBook ISBN:9798317809829
  • Paperback ISBN:9798317809812

Can I Help?

A Short-Term Missionary's Move From Doubt to Diligence

By Larry A. Hembroff

Overview

Everything changed the moment Larry's OB/Gyn wife said, "Glen needs a doctor to lead the medical team for a two-week construction and medical mission trip to a hospital in rural Zambia. I want to go … but only if you go with me." As a survey research scientist, Larry's skills were clearly neither in medicine nor construction; he doubted he could be useful. But, since his wife wouldn't go without him, he reluctantly agreed to go with her. The snags in the carefully crafted plan for the trip showed up on day one—multiple challenges for both the medical and construction teams. Would ANY of them be useful? Had God not heard their prayers for the trip? The answers were both unexpected and transformative. The experience changed Larry's understanding of Christian missions and taught him vital lessons about himself and about God. He discovered that, if he trusted God and followed His lead, he could be helpful after all in ways he hadn't anticipated. Across five related trips to the same destination from 2005 to 2011, this memoir and its numerous photographs provide an intimate view of a short-term mission experience—the challenges, the successes, and the altered perspectives. With a substantial focus on construction projects, this book should appeal to seekers, established Christians, pastors and seminary students, those who've thought about participating on mission trips or were afraid to volunteer because they didn't feel "called" or didn't think they had useful skills to offer.
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Description

Everything changed the moment Larry's OB/Gyn wife said, "Glen needs a doctor to lead the medical team for a two-week construction and medical mission trip to a hospital in rural Zambia. I want to go … but only if you go with me." As a survey research scientist, Larry's skills were clearly neither in medicine nor construction; he doubted he could be useful. But, since his wife wouldn't go without him, he reluctantly agreed to go with her. The snags in the carefully crafted plan for the trip showed up on day one—multiple challenges for both the medical and construction teams. Would ANY of them be useful? Had God not heard their prayers for the trip? The answers were both unexpected and transformative. The experience changed Larry's understanding of Christian missions and taught him vital lessons about himself and about God. He discovered that, if he trusted God and followed His lead, he could be helpful after all in ways he hadn't anticipated. Across five related trips to the same destination from 2005 to 2011, this memoir and its numerous photographs provide an intimate view of a short-term mission experience—the challenges, the successes, and the altered perspectives. With a substantial focus on construction projects, this book should appeal to seekers, established Christians, pastors and seminary students, those who've thought about participating on mission trips or were afraid to volunteer because they didn't feel "called" or didn't think they had useful skills to offer.
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About The Author

Larry Hembroff, Ph.D., is a retired sociologist and University Distinguished Research Specialist from Michigan State University where he co-developed and then directed a survey research center for the university for more than two decades. He is a past president of the Association of Academic Survey Research Organizations. He has a lengthy record of research publications, reports, and public presentations. This book, Can I Help?, is his first foray into this type of non-fiction storytelling. For the past nine years, he has been an active participant in a small group of Christian writers (the Blue Water Writers Group) focused on encouraging their writing interests and improving their craft. Since 1996, Larry has been actively involved in the local Wesleyan churches in the communities in which he and his OB/Gyn wife Kari have lived, including serving on their boards of elders. He and his wife of more than 50 years currently reside in a suburb of Grand Rapids, Michigan, near five of their nine grandchildren. In addition to parts of Africa, he and Kari have traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada, several of the Caribbean islands, much of Europe and the United Kingdom, and parts of the Middle East. Photography has become Larry's newest pastime, after deciding in his 60's to discontinue playing ice hockey.
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