Content Resources

Do you love hearing a good story? Jesus’ ability to connect a story to a person’s heart is one reason people flocked to hear his teaching. During this session, you will learn to use Bible stories to communicate the story of Jesus to others. You will participate in a story fellowship group to hear and learn a story, and to discuss the story in the context of a small group.

This detailed session will decribe 3 shorterm mission opportunities shared from experienced Physical Therapists who will speak first hand regarding short term trips( Global Health Outreach) , teaching opportunities ( Medical Education International) and foreign hospital service ( Tenwek Hospital).

Clear communication is essential in any effective healthcare environment. Working in another language adds a whole new layer of complexity to the communication process. Learning another language can seem like a daunting task, especially if you had a negative past experience with a foreign language, or it can be viewed as an exciting adventure. This session will focus on practical tips that engage your internal motivations leading to appropriate language proficiency for kingdom impact.

“Service is the sign of true love. Those who love know how to serve others. We learn this especially in the family, where we become servants out of love for one another. In the heart of the family, no one is rejected; all have the same value.” – Pope Francis   The money spent for missionary work to cover their costs of a mission trip to fly to Central America to repaint an orphanage would have been enough money to hire two local painters and two full time teachers and purchase new uniforms for every student in the school. When White Saviorism becomes more important than the people, what are we left with? On the flip side, there is a need, and we can all help. What can we do to make sure we are working responsibly and sustainably? Step 1: Knowing the context and identifying the key needs. Ensure the identified needs and assets of the community, as determined by a wide range of community members, are upheld and prioritized within the program aims and objectives. A host partner that defines the program, including the needs to be addressed and the teaching of volunteers Ongoing leadership of programs by nationals Driven by demand and built with synergistic partnerships Step 2: Defining your values and principles Respect for governance and legal and ethical standards Make local community members partners in the relationship and rely on local knowledge in all stages of developing, implementing, and evaluating the program/experience Reciprocity: promoting an environment in which the human rights, dignity, values, customs, and spiritual beliefs of the individual, family, and community are respected. Step 3: Enabling Sustainability Provide fair compensation for all direct and indirect costs associated with the program and its projects, such as transportation, housing, food, clean water, translators, and other staff, supplies, electricity, and fuel Symmetry of priorities and resources between visiting volunteers and host community members assisting them Step 4: Selecting the most suitable candidates References must be obtained and candidates must be evaluated in stressful, complex, and culturally diverse settings Candidates must value diversity of opinion, beliefs, culture, and perspectives Appropriate screening for qualifications, experience, and background checks Scenario based interview questions Step 5: Preparing them to serve Ensure that faculty, staff, or chaperones working with the programs are properly trained in working with host communities Ensure that the chaperones understand the social, economic, and cultural contexts of the project at hand and are prepared to help students navigate and reflect on the cultural, economic, social, and physical differences they encounter Orientation at every stage of the process Extensive orientation pre-deployment and in country Step 6: Evaluating and learning Develop an appropriate mechanism for evaluating outcomes and local impact Regularly evaluate and assess all partners to ensure that goals and responsibilities are being met Regular program evaluation for impact Monthly report for facility/medical volunteers End of service report with recommendations for program development Emphasis on extensive storytelling from those in the field/volunteers Training attendance sheet Volunteer satisfaction survey Let’s continue to work together to leave a legacy to God’s global family.     About Marcia Grand Ortega:  Marcia Grand Ortega has over 10 years of international experience working in project management, communications, and evaluation in the private, academic and not-for-profit sectors. Before joining CMMB HQ, she volunteered with their Peru programs. During that time in 2015, she had the opportunity to meet with beneficiary families both in Trujillo and Huancayo and work with the incredible community health workers, volunteers, and staff involved in providing healthcare services that truly changed lives. It was this experience that brought Marcia to New York in 2016, where she took on the role of manager for the international volunteer program. In the last 2 years, Marcia has relaunched the medical mission program for health professionals available to serve only for a short-term, and has coordinated medical teams visiting Haiti and Zambia, while recruiting and deploying another 30 clinical volunteers to the field for long term service.

Spotlight on fifteen of the world's most un-evangelized people groups.

A review of the lessons learned from surveys of mission hospitals in 7 developing countries to identify the key best practices that have been successful at improving the spiritual ministry of the hospital, involving staff more fully and improving effectiveness of evangelism with patients and families.

Living "incarnationally" (among a culture different from your own), especially among marginalized people (the poor, immigrants, etc.) is a proven way to face your own cultural biases, muster courage, learn greater dependence on the Holy Spirit, and develop meaningful relationships with people very different from yourself. Besides being good for your soul, it's ideal preparation for international healthcare missions. 

Are you in Medical School? Pre-Med? Mid-level Training? Come hear practical steps to make your dream of serving a reality. When you have a heart for God’s people and a passion for medicine, how do they connect? How do you prepare? This workshop is extremely practical when you know you want to use your medical vocation for Kingdom purposes.

This session will look at the reality of suffering in this world and how to reorient our hearts and minds to face it well.

About 25 years ago, while sharing an early morning cup of coffee with my dear friend and practice partner, family physician John Hartman, MD, he asked, “Walt, how come we don’t bring our faith to work with us more often?” It was a question the Lord used to convict me of the fact that although my personal relationship with God was the primary and most important relationship in my life, more often than not I tended to leave Him at the door when entering the hospital or medical office. The question was the catalyst for this talk: Spiritual Interventions in Patient Care. Research findings, a desire to provide high-quality care, and simple common sense, all underscore the need to integrate spirituality into patient care. It is highly ethical for healthcare professionals and healthcare systems to assess their patients’ spiritual health and needs and to provide indicated and desired spiritual interventions. Clinicians and health care systems should not deprive their patients of the spiritual support and comfort on which their hope, health, wellbeing, and longevity may hinge. Before you get started, I must share this caution from Stephen Post, PhD: “Professional problems can occur when well-meaning healthcare professionals ‘faith-push’ a patient opposed to discussing religion.” However, on the other side of the coin, “rather than ignoring faith completely with all patients, most of whom want to discuss it, we can explore which of our patients are interested and who are not.” Simply put, a spiritual assessment can help us do this with each patient we see. We can potentially gain the following from a spiritual assessment: The patient’s religious background, The role that religious or spiritual beliefs or practices play in coping with illness (or causing distress), Beliefs that may influence or conflict with decisions about medical care,  The patient’s level of participation in a spiritual community and whether the community is supportive, and ‹ Any spiritual needs that might be present. Several fairly-easy-to-use mnemonics have been designed to help health professionals, such as the “GOD” spiritual assessment I developed for CMDA’s Saline Solution: G = God: − May I ask your faith background? Do you have a spiritual or faith preference? Is God, spirituality, religion or spiritual faith important to you now, or has it been in the past? O = Others: − Do you now meet with others in religious or spiritual community, or have you in the past? If so, how often? How do you integrate with your faith community? D = Do: − What can I do to assist you in incorporating your spiritual or religious faith into your medical care? Or, is there anything I can do to encourage your faith? May I pray with or for you? However, this and other spiritual assessment tools fail to inquire about a critical item involving spiritual health: any religious struggles the patient may be having. A robust literature shows religious struggles can predict mortality, as there is an inverse association between faith and morbidity and mortality of various types. Sir William Osler, one of the founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital and frequently described as the “Father of Modern Medicine,” wrote, “Nothing in life is more wonderful than faith…the one great moving force which we can neither weigh in the balance nor test in the crucibIe - mysterious, indefinable, known only by its effects, faith pours out an unfailing stream of energy while abating neither jot nor tittle of its potence.” You can experience that driving force of faith when you apply these principles of spiritual assessment in your practice of healthcare, thereby allowing you to minister to your patients in ways you never imagined possible, while also increasing personal and professional satisfaction. One doctor recently shared with me, “Ministering in my practice has allowed God to bear fruit in and through me in new and wonderful ways. I can’t wait to see what He’s going to do in and through me each day. My practice and I have been transformed.”

Brain drain of healthcare workers is a huge challenge in low income countries, particularly in rural areas, and yet these locations represent arguably the greatest healthcare needs in the world. This session will discuss rural medical education as a potential solution to brain drain in raising up compassionate, competent healthcare workers in the local setting.