Leading a STM Medical Team

Early Pre-Trip Tasks

Publicizing Trip

Once the trip dates, an approximate cost, and the trip objectives are known (reasonably well) the trip should be publicized to recruit team members. Personal calls by the leader, or by team members once they commit to the trip, are by far the best way to recruit volunteers. An enthusiastic personal invitation to join a team with an exciting objective is much more effective than a simple email announcement or bulletin insert, although these are excellent and should be utilized aas well. We want to see God's hand in the team selection and truly do view the team as His, not ours. But part of the leader's role is to be God's man (or woman) in presenting this Kingdom opportunity to people that he or she knows might be interested. We (you) can be used by God in nudging the right people to hear His voice and His call on their life.

The trip objectives might to some extent dictate the people you approach. The objectives define the skill sets required - MD, NP, RN, DDS, pharmacist, health educator, and non-medical. Occasionally, trip objectives are modified based on the skill sets of those hearing God's call for a particular trip. You should be on the lookout for a medical director, a nursing director, and someone to take charge of the pharmacy (as needed). These might be people with prior short-term mission experience or particular leadership qualifications.

Publicizing via local churches is also useful. Those of us in the south Bay Area use the Menlo Healthcare email list and place notices of trips in local church bulletins. Here is a link for a sample bulletin insert. Local churches such as Saratoga Federated, Peninsula Bible Church Palo Alto, Peninsula Bible Church Cupertino, and others have worked together many times. You might have a similar network of like-minded churches willing to draw team members from one another's congregations. This is, after all, God's Kingdom at work in the broader sense of the phrase!

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