Missions volunteer brings message of God’s love to children

In mid-June, Heather Herschap leaves her South Texas home and heads back to India—her third journey to one of the most populous nations on earth and a trip that was more than two years in the planning.

But this time, the wheelchair-bound missionary takes with her three things she didn’t have on her first two visits—a certificate of ordination, a new book she wrote just for the children to whom she will minister and a dedicated group of three friends who’ll help her accomplish her mission.

Heather Herschap

The children’s book, My Friends and I, is meant to teach children, especially disabled children, that no matter who they are or where they’re from, they are entitled to the unqualified and never-ending love of God.

“I didn’t want to write it,” said Herschap, a graduate of Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary. “I wanted to go to India. But if it hadn’t taken two-and-a-half years to get the trip together, I wouldn’t have had time to write it or time to get ordained. That was all God’s plan.”

While she was in Laredo waiting to go to Laredo, Herschap had a conversation with a church friend about how she could be more purposeful.

“She said ‘You need to write something about the disabled community,” Herschap said.

That was the birth of her writing career.

Disabled by cerebral palsy, Herschap said she has a special love for all children, but because disabled children in India are shunned by both their families and society, she feels a special calling to teach those children they are entitled to God’s love.

In India, people “see disabled children as a curse on the family,” she said. She wants those special children to know they are loved and they are special.

One page in her book reads.

“Whether we are strong or weak,

My friends and I have dreams to seek.

With or without our disabilities,

There’s always room for possibilities.”

The book is written in simple rhymes and is easy for youngsters to read. It tells simple messages in powerful ways.

While Herschap noted her book is introspective, it is not about her childhood experience.

“I think a writer who writes seriously always thinks about their own life, … but I knew I was loved and wanted and supported from the get-go,” she said. “I do think the message that the book has is the message I’ve been called to preach.”

Herschap was ordained last October at Seventh and James Baptist Church in Waco, where she also was baptized and commissioned.

She says she chose Seventh and James because “I feel like that’s where I grew up from a baby Christian to a confident, strong woman of God. So, I chose Seventh and James to kind of complete the process. Not that I think God is finished with me, because I know he’s not,” Herschap said.

Published by Tate Publishing and Enterprises, it is available now only in English, but Herschap hopes that will change soon.

Herschap beams when she talks about India. And as to her writing career, she’s already started on her second book and plans a third in collaboration with one of her former professors.

My Friends and I currently is available from the publisher at www.tatepublishing.com or on Amazon.com.

Herschap also beams when she talks about one of the three friends who will serve with her in India—her boyfriend, who teaches at a university near where she lives.

For now, they are partners in missions and ministry. Asked about a more long-term partnership involving a wedding ring, Herschap responded: “We’ve talked about it. We’ve talked about it several times. We’ll see what God says.”