Last weekend I was able to attend the Global Missions Health Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. The conference is on Christian missions-field medical and health care work, both nationally and internationally (although international medical missions is overwhelmingly represented). I attended the conference with one other person, Halley, a nursing student I am friends with who heard of the conference through the Nursing Christian Fellowship group. We left town together on Thursday night last week to be able to attend the whole day's sessions on Friday. Being a six-and-a-half hour drive from Columbia (seven and a half when factoring in the time I drove in the wrong direction), we arrived in Louisville at 3 a.m. central time. Louisville unfortunately is on eastern time.
After a two hour nap on Friday morning I awoke shortly after six to get over to the conference. The church that it is held at is so big you could fit my entire hometown's population inside the building (West Plains, MO has approximately 10 - 11,000 people now) with room to spare. I spent the day between main conference speakers and breakout sessions discussing where to find equipment for the medical field, leadership lessons, where to send students, inner city medical ministry, and much more. A highlight of the 15-hour day was hearing Steve Saint, son of martyr and companion to Jim Elliot on the trip they both were killed on, give a talk on God's will. Saturday featured a slightly shorter day that ended at 3 p.m. and featured a few more keynote and breakout session speakers (one I enjoyed immensely was a session on integrating academic medical research and training with ministry-based health care centers overseas).
Another feature of the conference was the missions-agency convention. This is held on two stories and is set up like a basic convention; each agency or organization has their own little booth, and people sit behind a table passing out information or answering questions. A few booths had their representatives practicing the "sales-pitch", standing in front of the booths just waiting to make eye contact with passers-by. My feelings regarding the convention are mixed; I believe it is a great opportunity for those earnestly seeking to find a place to serve to do so, but on the flip side some people representing organizations seem to be selling a product to a consumer-minded missionary.
So where does ministry and missions in the medical field find me? I would love to practice medicine as a ministry and do so representing a Christian organization. At this point though, I am not sure I feel that I am to do it full time year 'round. I was very encouraged however to hear many people speak about doing extended short-term mission work internationally, on the level of a few months overseas each year. Something of that nature could be feasible for, say, the summer months. That would be especially doable with a family, when children do not have school. In any case, it's a dream that is not likely to die soon. At this point, however, it is too overwhelming to simply choose an organization and sign my name to a commitment simply for commitment's sake. I want to pray and wait and pray and wait and pray again and wait until I hear a call from God, hopefully occuring somewhere away from the Christendome shopping mall. I want to be ready to plunge in and take the risk of answering that call when I feel it beckon.
I want to heal people. I don't want to lose the idealism that drove me towards medicine as a profession. I want to avoid cynicism and fatalistic thinking. I don't want to live simply to make a buck. I want to be reminded daily why I am valuable to the kingdom of heaven. I want to know that I am making a difference and that I am not beating the air with my fists. I want people to walk away feeling cared for and listened to, not just better off physically.
