Thoughts from the GMHC

I spent much of last week in Louisville, KY at the Global Missions Health Conference (GMHC) where I was representing PIONEERS' medical missions initiative, which is called HealthNet. I've been officially part of the HealthNet team for about a year now, but this was still my baptism by fire, so to speak. The others on the team include a doctor from Australia who spent 12 years on the field, a doctor from the U.S. currently serving as a missionary in Cambodia and the director of our Australia sending base. Then there's me ... I, uh, well ... my Mom's a nurse! I have been to the doctor a few times too.

So why did I join this group? Well, they wanted someone based in the U.S. who could help with recruiting personnel, so I was a logical person. I also have an interest in this topic and a lot of respect for the others on the team. And, being quite honest, I thought maybe someday we'd be compelled to have a team meeting in Australia!

Leading up to this conference though I wasn't very excited about it. I could imagine myself leaving afterwards with a whole lot of names of people I couldn't very easily help, or names of people I could help, but that would take a lot of my already-limited time. I also had the distinct feeling that I was in over my head -- swimming amongst all these professionals who know way more about medical stuff than I do. And lastly, there was the thought, "why am I learning all of this when I plan to be leaving this position in two years?"

Well, I'll get back to that last line in a minute. But first ... the conference turned out to be pretty good. While it's true that almost all of the attendees knew more about medicine than I did, I knew more about missions than they did, so I was still able to offer helpful advice and timely consultation. The Lord also brought to my colleague and I several good candidates for PIONEERS -- people interested in both medical stuff AND church planting and who didn't mind being pioneering types with a bit of ambiguity in their early months on the field. We will be following up with these contacts over the next few weeks. So it was a good conference ... good contacts, I learned a thing or two and a couple of the speakers (John Patrick and Steve Saint) were particularly good.

Now, about that whole "leaving in two years thing". On my way to Kentucky I wondered to myself, "who is going to be the advocate for medical missions when I'm gone, because I won't be doing that when I'm in Europe (it isn't particularly strategic there)?" For that matter though, who is going to go to all the other conferences, help with establishing our field-based communications specialists and direct the phone team? Who is going to take my spot when I'm gone? I'm a little worried there won't be someone ready to take over for me and I'll be leaving the team here in the lurch.

So, for the first time ever, I started to second guess just a little our decision to return to Austria. I'm needed here, and this ministry is a perfect fit for who I am and what I do in God's economy. But alas, Naomi and I have never felt released from our call to Austria. Furthermore, I'm sure I can be well used in Europe too. But there also more fleshly reasons for going back: I often feel like a second class citizen as a "home-based missionary". In a million different ways, churches, supporters, missions conference organizers, educators, future missionaries and current ones have all contributed to that feeling. So I want to get back to being a "real missionary" and to having the kind of support again that I had when I was a "real one" the first time around.

God has two years still to sort out the right and wrong motivations in my heart, and two years still to prepare someone to take over for me. I guess that's something I ought to pray for ... not only that the Lord bring someone to take my place so I can return to the field with a clear conscience, but that He bring that person within the next year so I can actually train and mentor him before I go. That would be ideal. And on a broader scale, I want to pray that more people will answer a call from God to be one who stays here to help organize, coordinate, mobilize, educate and equip those whom He is raising up to reach the yet unreached. I believe with all my heart it is a noble thing to do.