I used to wonder if I could have been a medical doctor. When I was in my 30s, I showed so much interest while on a medical mission’s trip that the surgeons on the trip encouraged me to go to med school. Those two weeks were the most time I had ever spent in a hospital, and I concluded that the hardest part about that field would not be the academics or the gore of surgery; that was fascinating. What would bother me the most was seeing so much physical suffering every day and seeing open wounds, but worst of all were the smells. Some of you could speak to this better than I. I hear that you get used to it, but I don’t know. 

I know I’m doing what God called me to do. I don’t wish that I had gone into medicine. But what does still attract me to this field are the doors that it can open for ministry in mission contexts locally, in North America, and around the world. I don’t have the skills to do that. But some of you do and you have followed God’s call into this field. I want to make you aware of an opportunity to learn how to leverage your skills for the sake of the kingdom in short-term and long-term opportunities.

MEDADVANCE 2022  is a three-day training led by our own IMB in late June. I know that some of you very much would like to use your gifts more directly in ministry, and this event will help to open your eyes to ways that you would do that you may have not considered. You can read more about this opportunity and register for the event from their website. If you want to attend as a member of Bethany Place, we can help to provide the funding for you to go. Just let me know about that need at gene.cornett@bethanyplace.com. 

Sunday, I’m beginning a message series called Making a Difference by Being the Difference. We will examine an incident where Jesus himself walked into the midst of people suffering from debilitating physical ailments. The passage has influenced the names of hospitals in the United States. From it, we will see how to follow Jesus into making a difference with hurting people, how to focus specifically to engage a reasonable span of care, and how to resist bitterness when people don’t respond as you had hoped they would. 

God calls his people to make a difference in the real needs of people around them. That happens by following him in partnership with a local church where we engage in ordinary means of grace like worship, small groups, personal Bible reading, and praying together and alone. These practices provoke our spiritual progress so that we can move into a hurting world provoked by the presence of Jesus within us and in the same way that he cared for people. Jesus did not only address the spiritual needs of people. Those were always primary, but he clearly demonstrated persistent concern for the physical well-being of people as well. We were never meant to look for comfort and ease; just working for the weekend, or retirement. Whatever our age or abilities, God calls each of us to make a difference by being the difference. We do this both on our own as we go about our daily lives and in planned ways collaborating together with church members and other ministry partners. 

In Christ,

Gene