Inspire, Spring 2008

14 spring 2008 John-Mark Sheppard ’05 hit the brakes and brought his motor bike to a stop. He surveyed the road — the two-track he was traveling was more West African mud than anything else — but he figured his Yahama motor bike was up to the challenge. Road conditions like these were typical of the interior of Liberia, and the missionary was already hours into his trip — no sense in turning back now. He put the bike in gear and slowly skidded, jerked, and pushed forward. John-Mark’s mission this day was to visit, encourage, and provide guidance for a handful of people in the Community Health Evangelism program, one of his many ministries to the people of Liberia. A missionary kid with four siblings (Melodie ’06, Nathan ’09, and a younger brother and sister still at home), John-Mark’s interest in Liberia was the result of his parents’ mission work there, which began in 1986 with their ministry to Liberian refugees in TO L iberia G od ’ s S tory by Mark Kakkuri ’93