Summary Of Mack And Leeann's Guide To Short Term Missions

Mack and Leeann’s Guide to Short-Term Missions was a very interesting book and I learned a lot about short-term missions from it. I liked how they used their personal stories in order to help get the point they were making across and because of this I was able to follow along well and was able to apply my personal experience with short-term missions because I was able to better understand the points they were making. Chapter one of Mack and Leeann’s Guide to Short-Term Missions talks about how short-term missions is a risky adventure. No matter where we go for a mission trip and no matter how long, it is going to be risky; there is always a risk. I loved the story about Mack and his son Tristan in Tampa, Florida when they knock on the door …show more content…
Mack and Leeann talk about different mission mindsets we should have and the one that stuck out the most to me was, “A Mission Mindset Knows God Uses All People to Change the World – Even You” (Page 33). God wants us to be ourselves and he will use us no matter what. The story Mack and Leeann use to illustrate this point is about a guy named Mike who did not think he had anything to share with the people of Trapachito, but he was convinced to share a short sermon and even four years later people are asking about him. While I was in Alaska I did not think I could contribute much because this was my first time and the kids did not really know me, but there was a girl named Ciara that over the course of the week began to remind me of myself. Ciara was quiet and wanted to be at the VBS but did not want to do the silly dance moves and sing the songs; that was how I was growing up. I made it a point to always sit next to her and I would do the dances and eventually she got up and was doing them with me! It was so great to see her break out of her shell even for a little bit; I felt useless at first during this mission trip, but meeting Ciara made me see that God wanted me to be there and showed me Ciara so I could see how far I have come in my life with breaking out of my shell and that he is using my experiences. This is an …show more content…
Mack and Leeann explained how they use to discourage people from returning on the same mission trip; which they described as a short-term view of missions. Long-term view is people returning year after year. When people return on the same mission trip multiple times they might be doing the same work, but now they are able to build relationships with people and through these relationships really share the love of God! I had only gone to Alaska this one time, but I could see how the kids responded to everyone who had been coming for years; the kids were excited, hugs were exchanged, and it truly felt like we were visiting family. I have also been on the other side of things where I have been able to build relationships from my trips to Mexico every year. “The best thing about fostering short-term missions with a long-term view is to see God work over time” (Page 47). While in Alaska, I heard stories from people about past trips and how things change each time they come, I heard stories about people accepting the grace God has given them; these stories would not have been possible without the relationships built over time. I will use this going forward because if I am ever asked to lead a mission trip I will want to try and set it up as a trip that can be repeated every year, I do not want it to be a trip we go once and