FTC Team Leader Resources

Preparing For Medical Mission Trips

We are often asked about how to prepare for medical missions trips. Following are current resources FTC recommends, all of which can be accessed at: www.cmdahome.org

Dental Handbook for Short Term Missions

By Jack E. & Nardos Schuler

Nardos Shuler grew up as a missionary kid in Africa. This pamphlet has been prepared for the short-term missionary dentist. Although simple and brief, it is comprehensive. . . .Use this resource before, during, and after the trip so that the dental team may become familiar with general information for planning and carrying- on the project. Suggested personal items and necessary dental materials and supplies are listed in a "check-off" format. Guidelines for setting-up and running dental clinics can be applied to different physical situations.

Handbook of Medicine in Developing Countries ­ Second Edition

Downloadable version.

We now have it available on-line for those that want to place all the info on their Palm Pilots (mini computers). If any of your medical folks are interested in this version, have them click on the following link:

http://www.cmdahome.org/?CONTEXT=art&cat=16&art=22&BISKIT=2581452392

Jesus, M.D.

By Dr. David Stevens

Dr. Stevens was a missionary doctor in Kenya.

Mission Survival Kit

By Drs. David Stevens and Gene Rudd.

"We've been asked a million questions by folks planning to go on short-term mission trips: How do I get a passport? Should I get a typhoid immunization? What clothes should I take? What kind of electricity do they have?", says Dr. Rudd. . . .

Okay, we may not have actually had a million questions asked, but it must be getting close to that number! That's because we're seen as experts after participating in and leading dozens of teams overseas. Dave served on the mission field eleven years. Both of us, in our capacities as leaders at Samaritan's Purse and Christian Medical & Dental Associations, have sent thousands of individuals and teams on short-term experiences.

This resource will help not only medical personnel, but will equip anyone wishing to go on a short-term mission trip. The kit includes a four-hour tape series on:

"Getting There and Back Safely"; "Crucial Cross Cultural Communication"; "Successful Spiritual Ministry"; "Maximizing Medical/Dental Outreach"; "A personal packing list checklist"; "A handout on insect bite and malaria prophylaxis" and much more.

Great resources.

On Being a Missionary

By Thomas Hale, M.D.

"This book is written for everyone who has an interest in missions, from the praying and giving supporter back home to the missionary on the field or about to be. . . ."

It is hoped by reading this book many will be led to reconsider what role God would have them play in the missionary enterprise. . . .that some will be challenged to go, and that others will be challenged to send them. On Being a Missionary is not designed to be a theoretical textbook. It does not put forward new theses, new approaches to mission nor does it attempt to break new ground. Instead the author tries to absorb and then to present in a readable way the ideas, experiences, and insights of over a hundred missionary writers.

Drawing on his own years of experience, the author deals with problems, struggles, and failures of missionaries; because it is from these that we learn the most. The goal is to insure that when you get to the field you will be able to avoid many of the problems that have plagued others. Being a missionary is one of the most joyous and rewarding careers possible, and this book aims to make it ever more so. Paperback, 422 pages.

Sword & Scalpel

By Robert L Foster, MD.

"This book is for anyone who has ever considered missionary work, and for those who are missionaries. . . ."

Sword & Scalpel is the true story of Dr. Robert and Belva Foster--their lives, their work and their determination to serve God in Africa, even during the war-torn years of emerging independence. You will be hard-pressed to put this book down and will want to re-read it many times. It is exciting reading - God's faithfulness proven over and over.

Ten Fingers for God

By Dorothy Clarke Wilson

"What more can anyone ask of life than the knowledge that he was finger or thumb among other fingers, and that the hand he had was the hand of God?. . ."

Ten Fingers For God describes extraordinary servanthood--the life of Dr. Paul Brand, a medical St. Francis of Assisi, whose life and work have been a blessing to countless thousands of leprosy victims on five continents. Through surgeries (over 3,000 in India alone), the pioneering research he has conducted and inspired, and his empathy for the poor and forsaken, Dr. Brand has achieved fame in the medical world and the countries of the heart worldwide.

The Great Omission

By Steve Saint

"Our conventional thinking tells us that only great people accomplish great things."

However, God does great things with the common ordinary people. Learn how to play a significant role in God's plan to save the world. In this book the author tells how every believer has a place in Christ's Great Commission. "In the author. . . I see the same commitment to the Great Commission. . . as I saw in his Dad, Nate Saint. . . .This book challenges us to dedicated participation in this greatest of all enterprises." says Dr. Ave VanDerPuy, former President of the World Radio Missions Fellowship