Workshop #1

Rev. Doug Christgau, with his wife Christine, served as outreach pastor in three churches from 1985-2019. During his tenure these churches sent 40 long-term missionaries all over the world.  Doug has led over 100 short-term mission trips in various U.S. cities and 40+ countries.  “Making disciples” has been a key part of Doug’s impact in the context of sending long-term missionaries and leading short-term teams.  The churches Doug has served have also doubled or tripled their missions giving during his period of service.

Doug is now the Global Ambassador for MedSend (MedSend.org), an agency that gets long-term health care missionaries to the field by paying their educational debt and keeps them on the field through member care specific to health care professionals. Doug has spoken to student groups to present the unique Gospel opportunity of health care missions in 50 different schools.  Many have invited him to return after hearing him once.  Doug is supported by donors and visits campuses as a service of MedSend to students and health care professionals.

Contact info:  Doug@MedSend.org or 630/886-4005

Our current healthcare culture is deeply rooted in a mindset of performance that believes that excellence is produced by exemplary knowledge, diligence, decision-making, and skill execution. Unfortunately, this can produce a punitive and stressful culture where clinicians are made to bear the massive responsibility of health outcomes by almost constant analysis of their performance. Throughout our careers, our performance is constantly being reviewed and criticized, enforcing this belief that our value is inextricably linked to what we do.

 The gospel Jesus preached, however, is that our value is linked to our identity as sons and daughters of God. Who we are (unique, powerfully creative beings mirroring a Creator Father), who we are created to be (the special gifts we have to use), and who we belong to (to Christ versus to other counterfeit masters), are much more important factors influencing our value and the worth of our work. How can we, as believers of these truths, allow them to permeate and restore our thinking so fully that we begin to truly be the salt of the earth to our healthcare culture? What if our own thinking about our medical work was more influenced by our connection to the Holy Spirit and to those He brings us to love, than by the standard performance measures? Join this discussion to discover that the way to excellence in God’s Kingdom is connection and that everyday clinical work could feel radically different for a clinician who values connection and identity affirmation above performance.

Dr. Jennifer Kang is a board-certified Obstetrician-Gynecologist actively practicing in Redding, California, where she resides with her husband and four children. She received her B.S. in Neuroscience and M.D. at the University of Rochester, and then completed residency training in Ob/Gyn at Brown University/Women & Infants Hospital. She then served in the US Southwest Indian Health Service, where she began to discover the reality of her dual-realm authority, synergizing her medical and scientific training with spiritual lifestyle and supernatural healing in a way that more comprehensively meets the needs of individual patients, systems, and communities.

In 2013, she moved her family to Redding, California, and founded Selah Women’s Health, a private medical practice where partnership with Holy Spirit is boldly presented as central to healing and the practice of medicine. In addition, she founded Selah Health International, a non-profit that seeks to elevate the health and value of women and children. This non-profit organization also hosts the Restore Healthcare Project, which connects and inspires healthcare professionals who believe that healthcare can be a living manifestation of the gospel and power of Jesus Christ. Her weekly Restore Healthcare Project podcast gives voice to the innovators in healthcare who bring their brilliance because of a shared passion for Jesus and the living power of the Holy Spirit.

Surgery Access in Africa

Stephen Doane graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. After graduating from the UCLA School of Medicine, he served in the Department of Surgery, Temple University as a Hospital Resident in General Surgery. He followed his residency with a fellowship with the Department of Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. The specialty was Advanced Gastrointestinal/Minimally Invasive Surgery, with specific emphasis on foregut and pancreaticobiliary surgery. His current area of expertise is minimally invasive hernia repair, hiatal hernia and gastroesophageal reflux surgery, surgery for stomach and colorectal cancers, benign and malignant thyroid disorders, hepatobiliary and pancreatic diseases, splenectomy, adrenalectomy, and breast conservation therapy for breast cancer.

Poverty and health are intimately associated. The nations of poverty are also home to the lowest life expectancy, greatest child mortality, and highest number of preventable deaths. Three interventions are especially effective. First, we must promote economic development, for history demonstrates that as overall income increases so does health status. Second, we must stand against military conflict, for in nations so embattled over 90 percent of deaths are from hunger and infectious diseases. Third, we must advocate those specific interventions that have proven most effective against the leading diseases of poverty, such as the provision of safe drinking water and mosquito nets to prevent malaria, though these priorities may be inconsistent with the standard medical paradigm. 

Nicholas Comninellis is President and Professor of INMED, the Institute for International Medicine. He also practices emergency medicine. Over a two-year period Dr. Comninellis served inner-city citizens at Shanghai Charity Hospital. Over another two years, he led a healthcare ministry in the war-besieged nation of Angola in southern Africa. Dr. Comninellis next served for six years in the Kansas City public hospital before launching INMED in 2003.

He graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Medicine and Saint Louis University School of Public Health and was a family medicine resident at John Peter Smith Hospital. Dr. Comninellis also earned a professional diploma in tropical medicine from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and became board certified in both public health and family medicine. Among his authored books are Shanghai Doctor, Where Do I Go From Here, and INMED International Medicine & Public Health. Dr. Comninellis is a classical guitarist and faculty co-advisor for UMKC Cru. He was recognized as the 2009 United Nations Association of the United States World Citizen and the 2015 University of Missouri-Kansas City Alumni of the Year.

 For pre-med college students: Hear about the practical steps needed during the training years like discipleship, fellowship, mentoring through medical school &  intentionality during residency. 

Rick currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer at Christian Community Health Fellowship (CCHF) in Memphis, TN., and recently as the Interim Chief Medical Officer at Mercy Community Health Services in Franklin, TN. He also serves part-time as an emergency department physician at the Memphis Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Dr. Donlon earned his Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth TX, and his Doctor of Medicine from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans followed by a combined internship and residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. He is board-certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics and holds an active medical license in Tennessee. Dr. Donlon has co-founded several healthcare initiatives, including Resurrection Health and Christ Community Health Services, which focus on serving low-income populations in the Memphis area. His recent publications include contributions to book chapters on healthcare missions, emphasizing the importance of serving underserved populations. Dr. Donlon is an active member of various professional organizations and community boards, including the Community Advisory Board for the Assisi Foundation.

Jessie Thomas is the national Director of Student Programming at Christian Community Health Fellowship, working with students who are serious about their faith in Jesus.  She received her Master’s in religious education at Trinity International University and has worked in student ministry for over 25 years. She lives in rural Appalachia with her husband who is a physician in a community health center, focused on those experiencing poverty. When she is not engaging healthcare students, she has spiritual discussions with people through her podcast Being Brown & Bold and her connections in the culinary world @jessoulfood on Instagram.