An Urban Missionary

An Urban Missionary

by | Oct 14, 2016 |

When we think about the mission field, our first thought is usually a destitute area in the developing world. The United States is not the first place that comes to mind. Because when we think about America, we picture bustling Times Square in New York City or a beautiful sunset over the Pacific Ocean. Yet the United States can be just as much a mission field as a remote part of Africa or Asia.

Alyssa Choo’s mission field is in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco. It is an area that is recognized as one of the most “broken” places in the United States. It’s a neighborhood that is trapped in the darkness of violence, drugs, prostitution, and hopelessness.

Yet in the midst of this darkness, there are small glimmers of light and hope. One of those is City Impact, an organization located in an unassuming brick building sandwiched between nightclubs and single resident housing projects. City Impact has an Urgent Care Walk-in Clinic that serves the 47,000 residents of the Tenderloin District providing medical and dental care, hot meals, and spiritual and practical encouragement. Their current list of specialties includes: Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Podiatry, Dermatology, Ophthalmology and Optometry, Dentistry, Diabetes, Pharmacy, Clinical Psychology and Pediatrics.

Alyssa works as a nurse with City Impact. She travels door-to-door providing compassionate nursing care to those in the Tenderloin. She is an inspiring example of a missionary in urban America and we look forward to hearing her speak at M3.

Stepping out of the boat

Stepping out of the boat

by | Dec 12, 2015 |

For many years I have had a desire and dream to host a global missions conference in Houston.  A conference designed for people interested in missions—local or global, people with hearts and hands that are ready and willing to serve. A conference that would gather people who have an interest in providing clean water, sanitation and hygiene, or an interest in orphan care or human trafficking. And a conference that would connect healthcare professionals who want to use their gifts, talents and training to help people in parts of the world with little or no access to healthcare.

Last year I spent 2 ½ months in Western Zambia near Angola. While there, one of the local physicians told me an incredible fact.  He said that I was the ONLY qualified surgeon in an area the SIZE OF LOUISIANA. A few weeks later, I landed in my home in Houston, Texas. Houston is home to the largest medical center in the world. There are 2500 physicians in ONE ZIP CODE in Houston.

In that moment, I felt like God spoke to my heart prompting me to step out of the boat in faith and make plans for the conference that He had placed on my heart long ago.  And so, with fear and trembling, I stepped out of my comfort zone to obey what I felt like God had placed in my heart. And then, some amazing things began to happen.  God brought an unbelievable team to help me—people like Will and Lori and Jen and Olivia and Jenn and Craig.  And for the last 9 months, they have worked so diligently. Many incredible churches have come alongside to help in this endeavor. Thirty-five people from around the world, men and women who are “in the trenches” doing missions have agreed to speak for us. Over fifty great missions organizations will participate in our exhibit hall.

And on February 19 and 20, the M3 Conference will be launched. I am so grateful for what God has done so far. And I believe that He has great things in store for us this February.

Please visit our website m3missions.com. I would love for you to be a part.

 

A bounding pulse and a thankful heart

A bounding pulse and a thankful heart

by | Sep 12, 2015 |

Yesterday I helped take care of a 15-year old who sustained a terrible fracture of his leg just above the knee. Under anesthesia the bones were pulled back into alignment but his foot became cold and pulseless. An ultrasound exam and Doppler confirmed an injury to the artery right behind his knee.  We took him immediately to surgery where I found the artery to be injured and clotted, perhaps from the sharp piece of shattered bone adjacent, perhaps from the stretch of the artery at the time of injury. I was able to locate the injury and repair the artery with a piece of vein from the other leg.  At the completion of the operation, he had bounding pulses in his now warm foot.
As I drove home last night on a little motorbike, with the cool nighttime breeze in my face and the immense moonless black sky above and the smell of the fires saturating the air, my heart was so full of thanksgiving and gratitude that we had been able to help this young man. So thankful that he didn’t lose his leg. So thankful that he will have good function and be able to work and provide for himself and his family.  And I am so thankful that many, many years ago, some very skilled surgeons and mentors taught me how to do vascular surgery. And because of their teaching and instruction and effort, a young man in remote Africa is reaping the benefits this cool, dark night.
So thanks to Dr. Kent Westbrook, Dr. Robert Barnes, Dr. Raymond Read, Dr. Fred Caldwell, Dr. John Cone, Dr. Steve Golladay, Dr. Hugh Burnett, Dr. Everett Tucker and many others who helped this young man and many others like him in this tiny little mission hospital in Africa.  
And thanks to all who are giving their lives to educate and train and invest in and believe in the next generation.
            We build on foundations we did not lay.
            We warm ourselves by fires we did not light.
            We sit in the shade of trees we did not plant.
            We drink from wells we did not dig.
 
            This is as it should be.
            Together we are more than any one person could be.
            Together we can build across the generations
            Together we can renew our hope and faith in the life that is yet to unfurl. 
            Together we can heed the call to a ministry of care and justice.
 
            We are ever bound in community.
            Many it always be so.
Changing Places

Changing Places

by | Aug 11, 2015 |

One of the things that helps me keep my ‘heart of compassion’ open to those around me who are suffering and in need—is to think about what it would be like for me to experience what they are experiencing, to be in their shoes, to experience life from their perspective—to ‘trade places’ with them.  What if I lived where they lived—far from clinics and hospitals and doctors and pharmacies?  What if I had no money for care?  What if I had no one to help me?  Nowhere to turn.  What if that was my son or daughter who needed help?  What if that was my mom or brother or sister who was so in need?  How would I want others to respond?  What would I want others to do for me?  How would I want others to treat me or care for me?

In the story of the Good Samaritan, at one point, after the wounds were bandaged and dressed, the injured man (who had been walking from Jerusalem to Jericho) was loaded onto the back of the donkey belonging to the caring and compassionate man from Samaria (who had ridden on the donkey on that same road).  In other words—they traded places.

When I constantly remind myself to simply ‘trade places’ with those suffering and in need around me, it helps keep my heart soft and open and compassionate, it helps keep my words kind and my hands gentle—whether I am in a small mission hospital in remote Africa or in my neighborhood in Houston.

 

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