Early Bird Breakout
Saturday, April 15 8am

Both the Old and New Testaments give amble insight about The Messiah's approach to physical and emotional suffering and disease. What would Jesus do about America's health disparities, addictions, or mental health crisis? What would he not do?

Rick Donlon grew up in New Orleans and graduated from TCU in 1986. He completed medical school at LSU-N.O., and a combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics residency at the University of Tennessee, Memphis. In 1995 he and three medical school classmates opened a primary-care health center for the poor in Memphis’s most medically underserved neighborhood. The work eventually grew to include eight health centers, five dental clinics, and a family medicine residency program providing over 170,000 patient visits annually.

Beginning in 2003, many of the medical and dental providers, including Dr. Donlon, moved into the underserved communities where they work. In those same low-income settings, they’ve planted over a dozen house churches. That house church network has subsequently sent dozens of long-term medical missionaries to North Africa, The Arabian Peninsula, Central Asia, and the Horn of Africa.

Physicians, dentists, and other healthcare workers who’ve trained with Dr. Donlon in Memphis have started or joined similar ministries in low-income communities across the US. Dr. Donlon, his wife Laurie, and their children live in the Binghampton neighborhood, where he serves as an elder in the house church network.

Undergraduates with aspirations of a career in healthcare face many opportunities and decisions. Join us for a panel discussion with healthcare professionals from several disciplines. They will share pro-tips for choosing your profession and successfully navigating the complex pathway from undergraduate student to your ultimate professional destination.

See About Breakout Leaders page to learn more about Scott Armistead, MD, Joey Bantseev, Natalie Bantseev, Emmanuel Clottey, DrPH, MPH, and Diedra Simpson, PharmD

The physical care we provide can open the door to also meeting the spiritual needs of our patients. How can we best address the spiritual needs of our patients with sensitivity and respect? The Christian Medical & Dental Associations has created a valuable resource for this purpose. Faith Prescriptions is a series of 25 videos, each about 15 minutes long, designed to help us provide truly holistic care for our patients. This session is an introduction to the series, and will include significant time for attendee participation.

Dr. William Griffin serves as the Vice President for Dental Ministries with the Christian Medical & Dental Associations. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Notre Dame and his DDS degree at Virginia Commonwealth University. His 38 years in private practice included regular international dental mission trips and involvement with various local efforts to help the dentally needy.

In addition, he has served with a Pregnancy Resource Center and a Classical Christian School. His greatest passion in life is communicating the love of Christ, in word and in deed, through healthcare. He and his wife Linda have been married since 1983.

How can we advance the kingdom of God in our families, churches, workplaces and communities? We'll discuss the concept of faith-work-family life integration and share several key practices that enable us to live in God-focused way in all areas of our lives.

- Cultivating a personal and growing faith

- Committing to a community of believers

- Intentional involvement in local community activities

- Doing as many things together as a family as possible.

- Seeking to share the gospel and disciple others at home, at church, at work and in the community.

- Befriending and mentoring new believers.

Key passages:

- Jeremiah 29:7- seeking the peace and prosperity of your community

- John 17:14-15 - being in the world but not of the world

- Matthew 28:19 - going and making disciples

Larry Mathers, a physician, and his wife Rachel, a nurse practitioner, have been happily married over 26 years.

They live, work and minister in Newport Tennessee, where their two wonderful children Laura, 17, and Eli, 14, were born and raised.

They view their medical work as a calling and since 2003 have worked with Rural Medical Services (RMS), an FQHC dedicated to caring for the underserved. Larry is chief medical officer of RMS and chief of staff at Tennova Newport Medical Center. He practices full spectrum family medicine with obstetrics, caring for adults, children and expectant mothers. Rachel works for RMS as a primary care nurse practitioner.

Larry and Rachel are committed to various ministries and leadership roles in their church and community. Larry serves as a deacon, an adult Sunday school teacher and has worked on various church committees. Rachel has served on the mission and personnel committees. Together with their children, they help lead worship each week. Larry has coached AYSO soccer for several years and Rachel has served as president of the community swim board and volunteers at their children's school in a variety of roles. In addition, they provide support to several overseas missionaries and Christian service organizations.

Charlie is an author and financial consultant. He grew up on a dairy farm in the small town of Newberry SC and has been married to Kathy for 47 years. They have two sons, John and Josh, a daughter in law, Suzanne, and grandsons, Linus and Norman. They met in college at Univ. of SC, married, and have experienced most every aspect of marriage from deep pain, perpetrated by the enemy and their own flesh, to the joy of the discovery of intimacy, led by the Holy Spirit through those decades. 

Charlie has an BA from USC, and a M.Div. from Columbia International University. He was a consultant and sales manager for several years, then served as a pastor in South Carolina and Arkansas, until 1986. He has spent the past 37 years guiding others as a financial and business consultant. His goal of 50/50 work/ministry was reached 7 years ago, and while he continues to serve 35 clients, he spends the rest of his time with family and in ministry, helping people find their heart and live out of their passions.

Katie has a passion to see American believers gain the knowledge and confidence to manage finances well and the humility to use the money under their control to build God's Kingdom instead of their own. She is an Accredited Financial Counselor.

In addition to speaking, she also provides one-on-one and couples financial counseling and coaching and teaches personal finance classes to teens and adults. She is married to Theron Stinar, D.O., C.E.O. of the Fredericksburg Christian Health Center. They live in the Fredericksburg, VA area with two of their three children.

The challenges of medical missions are exciting but stressful at the same time. Planning, much prayer, being in God's Word, and communication with the team on the field are important before and during one's time serving. Personal experience with burnout on the field have given Dr. Gayle a unique perspective. He will share what he has learned along with constructive suggestions on how to avoid burnout--whether at home in the US or overseas.

Dr. Gayle is a medical missionary with ABWE at Hopital Baptiste Biblique (HBB) in Togo, West Africa. He is a Family Medicine physician by training and had a private practice in West Virginia for 20 years before the Lord moved him to career missions in 2001. He has been a member of the HBB team since 2004. He’s now on Home Assignment as Ambassador for the HBB Vision Project, raising funds and recruiting for the expansion of the facilities, with an eye towards instituting a Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS) surgical Residency.

Often we think of missionaries serving in remote third world countries. In this session you will learn multiple ways to advance the Gospel through healthcare, whatever your work context. You will come away from this session with new ideas of what it means to be a missionary,” as well as practical tools on how to intentionally be an ambassador for Christ in ANY healthcare setting.

Dr. Stinar is a family physician who has been trying to live for Jesus since the 8th grade. He served on active duty in the Army for 7 years, to include directing a clinic in Germany and deploying for a year in Afghanistan. In 2013 his wife felt called to start her own ministry, and God led the family to Virginia where Dr. Stinar could work part time at the Fredericksburg Christian Health Center and spend more time with family. In 2016 he transitioned back to full time work, and in 2017 assumed leadership of the ministry.

Dr. Stinar has learned to live missionally beyond the scope of third world countries, but also while in uniform, or an exam room, or providing medical care to the homeless, or to those in a church, or in the crowd of a heavy metal concert.... wherever you find yourself you can reflect the Light of Christ.