Medicalmissions.com Podcast

Why are you heading overseas as a healthcare missionary? What's your ultimate long-term goal? Is your dream, for example, to vaccinate multiple thousands of children against preventable childhood diseases or ... do you dream of launching movements of missional-communities (churches) among a Muslim group who will share Christ with their entire people group ... AND vaccinate all their children, too? The Kingdom needs missionaries who will do both. This workshop will help you learn key aspects of what to look for when joining a team, and how to form and prepare a strategic team to go and do it together.

Serving the Sojourner in America's Most Diverse Square Mile

Parenting is challenging in any situation, but raising children while living overseas and serving cross-culturally adds new complexities. Gleaming lessons learned from 15 years of field missionary experience, and siting practical examples, the session will explore tips and tools for providing missionary kids with academic, social and spiritual success.

Characteristics of altruistic individuals, such as passion, dedication, and empathy, can under certain circumstances make them more vulnerable to experiencing psychological distress. In the last two decades, a significant body of psychiatric and psychological literature has looked at this issue. This presentation will draw from the presenter’s work with the diplomatic community and disaster relief workers to identify common stressors and stress responses among Christian workers in foreign environments. In addition, it will explain the notion of psychological resilience, describe the five resilience factors most likely to be protective against burnout and disillusionment, and will suggest ways that Christian health care workers can make use of these concepts to protect their own psychological health and well-being.

Theology is, simply put, our talk about God in Christ and his actions as shown to us in the Bible. Missions is all about witnessing in various ways to God in Christ and his actions in the world. In other words, theology and missions go hand-in-hand. Though we often think of "missions texts" - our go-to verses for supporting missions - missions is far more than a collection of verses but is part of a larger story of God's salvation and making that salvation known. In this session we will see how the Bible tells that story and how we are called not just to "know" but to take our place in that story and be Christ's witnesses in the world, no matter what gifts and opportunities God gives us.

This session is intended to help non-therapists or medical professionals provide therapeutic intervention for children with common motor disabilities. Mobility and play are important aspects in the development of young children. Autism, Down syndrome and Cerebral Palsy are common pediatric developmental disabilities that can have an negative impact on movement. In this practical session we will learn common motor and developmental impairments in children with these diagnoses and how to provide and teach parents low tech exercises and activities to address these impairments.

When we show Christ’s love in honor-shame cultures, often people first see merit making, proselytization and apostasy however pure our motivation may be. We will look at a worldview that is based on honor-shame, come to understand how they may interpret what we do and from there understand the risks and look at what practices may help us to show and share God’s love appropriately. The workshop will use observations from tsunami relief and urban poor work in SE Asia to illustrate these principles.

Health Environmental and Learning Program (H.E.L.P.) (www.missonforhelp.org) is a Christian development mission and non-profit organization registered in 1999 and founded by Tim and Lani Ackerman, an ecologist and medical doctor. The Ackermans served in the Himalayas for 8 years, and while there trained Nepali Christians to lead the organization, founding an NGO. Using the model of Jesus' ministry to meet both the physical and spiritual needs of the poor, HELP's focus is to equip the national church and assist them in developing their own community. In multiple areas, Christian Community Development works through literacy, animal husbandry, health, agriculture, income generation, environment preservation, an orphanage and sponsorship program we serve the poor of the Himalayas and see Christ transform. In a grass-roots approach, trainer of trainers methods, multi-tier discipleship, and close follow up, HELP partners with hundreds of Nepali believers and leaders, bringing non-formal education, health tr

Tuberculosis is an infection with global significant that takes on a whole new level of importance for those desiring to work internationally in underserved areas. Effective medicine in areas of high tuberculosis prevalence requires both an understanding of the current state of TB diagnosis and management globally as well as the current on-the-ground application of these principles in under-resourced settings. This session will discuss clinical updates in TB in both of these fronts.

We are all "Servants in Training", "Missionaries in Training" or both. What's the difference and how might God be preparing us? Dr. Dowell will be discussing the importance of each of those seasons in our development as yielded vessels "living sacrifices". We will learn the answers to those questions, find encouragement in times of difficulty, and be inspired to answer the call along the way as we glean wisdom, and learn a few guiding principles from the lives of biblical and historical servants who have been called and used of God in times past.

Dr. and Mrs. McDonald have served in international ministry with over 30 years of experience. Offered an international career with the UN and World Bank, they took the path less traveled, and it has made all the difference…for eternity! With work experience in over 50 countries, together they have helped set up or empower scores of development projects that continue today. These include hospitals, clinics, medical training, orphanages, community centers, schools from preschool to graduate level, businesses, farms, plantations, factories, safe houses, all providing products and services for the local community and export. Trial and error have revealed ten important principles foundational to success in social enterprise. One of them of particular interest in ministry is the issue of multiple “bottom lines.” Profit, the usual bottom line, cannot stand alone. Their core value is that any effort must produce spiritual results, at least in opening doors. Results are God ordained, not man driven.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken it’s toll on every family, from frustration with being stuck at home, to job loss, to loneliness and social deprivation. But for many families, those three factors have been the perfect combination to provide an environment ripe for trauma. For children, we see that trauma has an impact on the development of the brain that effects learning, relationships, and emotional regulation. This seminar will give you a greater understanding of the developmental impact of trauma and tools to help children and adults grow in resilience rather than destruction through hard circumstances.

Already, vaccines prevent millions of premature deaths and avoid bothersome days of sickness each year. Now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines have again risen to the level of headlines, conspiracy theories, and active research. During this session, we will discuss the mechanisms and means of appropriately vaccinating patients, review ethical and social concerns about vaccines, identify sources of appropriate vaccination information and administration for international travelers, and provide updated information about the development of COVID-19 vaccines.

Some mission experts estimate that up to 90% of young people who consider missions cease to pursue it because of various fears and obstacles, including the fear of fundraising. This session will help participants: 1. Identify various obstacles and fears relating to fundraising 2. Consider ways that God can help us overcome these barriers 3. Become aware of best resources and training materials used to help missionaries build and maintain a full and engaged prayer and financial support team 4. Know what questions to ask about support raising with possible mission agencies when evaluating where and how God will have you serve

This session focuses on women in mission and will highlight the role of women in missions, challenges faced, and some practical ways to overcome those challenges.

We tend to perceive our health by the physiological functionality of our bodies. The gospel message and the Kingdom perspective of the parables paint a wholistic picture of health that defines us as spiritual beings with specific roles to play in God’s Kingdom expansion around the world. The life-giving attributes of God’s Spirit seen in Jesus’s life and stories depict an intentionality worthy of deeper assessment so that we too can have a greater impact in and through our lives.

Advanced practice providers (APPs), such as nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, nurse practitioners, and physicians assistants, have and can continue to bridge gaps by increasing access and quality of health care in cost effective ways especially in underserved communities in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Interviews with APPs and other healthcare professionals, personal experience living and working as an APP in LMICs, and literature reviews reveal similar results: utilizing APPs provides cost-effective health care access, improves morbidity and mortality outcomes, and enhances patient satisfaction without compromising the quality of care given in underserved areas. Challenges to APPs in LMICs include lack of access and standardization of higher education programs, role and title variability, physician resistance, limited research, and inconsistent legislation and licensing restrictions. When these challenges are overcome, APPs improve health care access in difficult to reach locations, exhibit ada

When I arrived in Nigeria I thought my main role would be taking care of my 6-month-old daughter. When people asked before we left, “What are you going to do?” I almost apologetically said I would be a “homemaker.” Shortly after arriving I struggled to know my role as “an accompanying spouse.” I was not prepared for this undefined role and sometimes felt like a “second class missionary” because I was not in a specific ministry. It did not take long before the Lord opened up for me amazing opportunities for ministry, some in our home and others in our community. During this workshop I will share my journey, the many wonderful doors of significant opportunity God opened for me to serve using my past experiences, education and gifts to eventually serve many unreached women and children in our community and in Nigeria. We will also explore ways in which male “accompanying spouses” also got involved and had an impact in their own unique ways and the signi

Fear, in its various manifestations, is one of the Enemy's most effective means of limiting our obedience. The Bible offers practical strategies for overcoming fear with faith--many of which are demonstrated in an Old Testament story of sex trafficking, racial hatred, and genocide.

As a health care professional on the mission field, the task of language learning is both essential and complicated. We say that language learning is a high value and priority for ourselves as missionaries, and yet it often is the first thing to take a back seat in life and ministry. Why is that? How can we do better? With over 15 years of experience in educating, training, and coaching missionaries in language and culture learning, Dr. Mullen will cast a vision for what it takes to truly become “fluent” in your target host language. She will offer biblical, theoretical, and practical advice for missionaries and missions leaders alike on how to prepare, execute, and continually improve communicative competence in a second language and cross-cultural setting.