Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Spring 2013 | Page 28

YoUR MUSt-ReAD foR Short-term Missions Debates over short-term mission trips are nothing new. But a theological argument that approves of teams spending a day at the beach? Coming from an anthropologist? for everyone who’s ever thought about a short-term mission trip, Dr. Brian Howell’s thought-provoking new book offers insights that may help shape the experience. by Jeremy Weber ’05 “Where have you traveled outside the United States?” Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology Dr. Brian Howell has long asked this question of students in his introductory anthropology classes. In St. Louis, where he taught before coming to Wheaton College in 2001, students would usually cite Caribbean cruises or family trips to Canada. But at Wheaton, students often mention countries such as Ghana, China, and Bulgaria—places American students don’t normally go on vacation. Groups of students travel to Honduras every year to help remote communities assemble gravity-fed water systems. 26     s p r i n g   2 0 1 3