Dr. Howard Murphy of the Anderson University School of Public Service and Administration spent a week in Sierra Leone as part of a medical team this past May that provided various kinds of medical treatment to more than 300 patients free of charge.
Concord Baptist Church, of which Dr. Murphy is a member, and Concord Community Church, along with members of other churches in the Anderson area, have been working with Rev. Samuel Menyongar and other pastors in the Freetown and Makeni areas of Sierra Leone for more than 15 years. Freetown, a city of more than 1.2 million people, is the capital of the nation and is located along the western coast of Africa. The local Anderson church members’ efforts have helped fund the building of churches, orphanages, Christian schools and two clinics.
Rev. Menyongar is a key teacher in Sierra Leone for Teach Every Nation, a global ministry founded by Dr. Bruce Wilkinson, a prominent American Christian Preacher and Speaker who is best known for his book, The Prayer of Jabez.
Partnering in the recent medical mission effort was Southeastern Medical International (SMI) of Florence, South Carolina, of whom Dr. Murphy is board chairman and cofounder. SMI recruits, trains, equips and sends short-term volunteer medical mission teams around the world. Through SMI it’s possible to send short-term medical volunteers to enter places missionaries are unable to access.
“We had nine members on the team—four nurses, a physician, an EMT, and I’m a paramedic and hospital administrator,” said Dr. Murphy, who is an associate professor and coordinator of Anderson University’s Emergency Services degree programs. “Clinic operations were Monday and Tuesday, then Wednesday we traveled two and a half hours from Freetown to Makeni, Sierra Leone, to Pastor Bambay’s church; He has a school named Concord School, because Concord Baptist and Concord community church members helped fund it. Pastor Bambay also has a new clinic close to the school.”
On a Sunday they were there, Dr. Murphy preached at Rev. Menyongar’s church, at his invitation. His interpreter, Isaiah, is a Liberian pastor in his late twenties who has started five churches. At the service, nine young people dedicated their lives to full-time Christian ministry or mission. During the medical mission team’s work in Sierra Leone, 39 people accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Reflecting on the trip to Sierra Leone, Dr. Murphy commented, “A question my son (Jack) asked me—and it’s probably the most important question there is, ‘What did you learn when you were there?’ I’ve been all over the world, worked with all kinds of people and in all kinds of places, and I told Jack with tears in my eyes, ‘I learned how much I really love them and how much they really love us.’”