The head of a Southern California-based medical missions group is being accused of mismanaging and grossly misrepresenting the aims of a September mission to China, a move that may jeopardize future missions work in the country.

Participants in the two-week mission claim that Mel Alexander, president of the 33-year-old Christian Medical Association (CMA), failed to deliver on promises to Chinese authorities that he would provide $3.5 million in medical supplies to two cities in southern China.

Members of the 89-person team report that much of the medical equipment was unusable or damaged beyond repair and that most of the medicine had passed its expiration date. CMA is unrelated to the Christian Medical and Dental Association.

Thomas Wu, president of the agency that arranged the mission's travel, said some of the boxes shipped by CMA contained "cooking magazines, old Encyclopedia Britannicas, and used clothing." James Ng, an Irvine, California, dentist, said three boxes contained "used prescription spectacles [that] no one in the United States would want to use."

"The Chinese had a lot of high expectations," says Calvin Howe, a physician's assistant. "They were absolutely irate. We didn't know if we were going to end up behind bars." Participants place the value of the goods at no more than $50,000.

Alexander denies he misrepresented the trip's aims. He asserts the trip was sabotaged from the start by power-hungry team members and nonevangelical participants who disagreed with the project's Christian emphasis. He is threatening a lawsuit against participants who ousted him from leadership two days into the trip.

"A kangaroo court, with no notice or permission, was conducted to expel the captain and assume unauthorized leadership ...