Jerry Aaker

Early in life my wife Judy and I both felt called to a life of service and missions. This brought us to a challenging career with Lutheran World Relief, Heifer International, Agros International and Church World Service. I responded to numerous humanitarian emergencies and helped establish sustainable development programs in many countries. In retirement I have had time to reflect on the meaning of this career and the faith that motivated it.

In retirement I have taken the time to dip into many journals written over the course of decades when I worked with faith-based programs. These were years when I had the opportunity to walk along side people living in poverty, facilitating projects of empowerment and self initiated development. The result of my recollections and reflections is the book, "A Spirituality of Service".

This book has been given several awards in 2013 as follows:

2013 Ben Franklin Silver Award, Inspiration Category -- from the Independent Book Publisher's Association, an association of several thousand publishers.

2013 Eric Hoffer Award, Montaigne Medal Finalist for the most thought-provoking books.

2013 Eric Hoffer Award, Spiritual Category Finalist

2013 Eric Hoffer Award, da Vinci Eye Metal Finalist for superior book cover design