Alexis Hurd-Shires Found Her Calling Helping Syrian Refugees

(From October 29, 2015) When Alexis Hurd-Shires decided to leave the United States and move to the Middle East, she didn’t know which country she would be going to or exactly what she would be doing. She only knew that she was going to try to make a positive impact.

The daughter of a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, she was accustomed to traveling. While working on a master’s degree in social work, and after graduation as well, she found short-term opportunities to work abroad. Still, she dreamed of finding something more permanent.

In 2013 the door opened for her to be part of a project sponsored by the Adventist church in Beirut, Lebanon, and Ms. Hurd-Shires jumped at the opportunity. But after she arrived, she found that the work she would be doing wasn’t clearly specified.

It was actually almost like someone handing you a blank check and saying, ‘Go imagine something and do it,’ ” she says. “Basically, the Adventist church here in the Middle East felt like their church was very inwardly focused and not really reaching out ... and they said to themselves ‘this is not healthy for any organization.’ ” (READ MORE at The Christian Science Monitor)