Going Prepared
New Xulon Press book establishes a safety versus ministry equation
Learn How to Diminish Risk of Crises During Short-Term Mission Trips
New Xulon Press book establishes a safety versus ministry equation
2010-09-24
LONGWOOD, FL--Going Prepared: A Unique Church-Based Approach to Crisis Prevention for Short-Term Mission Teams ($14.99, paperback, 978-1-60957-520-5), a new title from co-authors Lee Jacobs and Steve Vereb, is the result of a journey that started in 2005 when a short-term mission team from their church was van-jacked in Kenya. They quickly learned that they were not prepared to deal with this major crisis. Needless to say, the incident was a wake-up call, and they could not avoid the sense that there must be well-established steps to take to both diminish the risk of a crisis developing during these short-term mission trips as well as to more appropriately deal with a crisis when it does happen. Within the pages of this book, readers will find an excellent crisis prevention and response program that establishes a "safety versus ministry" equation for each trip.
"Short-term mission teams are in most cases not prepared to prevent crises from happening, nor are they prepared to deal with problems once they develop," the co-authors say. "As a matter of fact, we believe teams are drastically underprepared and, as a result, may be put into high-risk situations by their sending churches."
Dr. Lee Jacobs is the former missions pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, Georgia, and an infectious disease and internal medicine physician. He has led healthcare and mission teams throughout the world in support of various field platforms, including unreached peoples and disaster responses. Steve Vereb is an executive director of Vereb, Hitt and Associates, which provides assistance to churches and organizations in short-term missions risk mitigation and church safety. He has led many short-term mission trips and is the chairman of his church's crisis management team.