It all started about two years ago when FAME Executive Director, Bill Warren came to visit my church, Kempsville Christian Church in Virginia. Bill gave an account of what FAME was about and where it was. My ears perked up when I heard “Indiana”, as that is where my father’s family is from and the state in which I was born. This was also the first medical mission my church had been involved with. As a Registered Nurse (RN) I had always dreamed of doing medical mission work, so I was very interested.

Later, after doing some research on medical mission trips and FAME, I realized at this time in my life I may not have the resources to pull off a mission trip out of the U.S., but I could get my feet wet by driving to Indiana to work in the medical warehouse. Fortunately, I was able to combine the trip with an upcoming family reunion in northern Indiana.

I loved the fact that we started each day there with a short devotional and prayer. I really felt like I belonged from the start and went right to work. My specialty as a nurse was in the O.R., so Barry Reed, FAME’s Director of Mission Resources, who oversees all the incoming and outgoing medical supplies and equipment, presented me with donated surgical instruments and had me identify and store them. I was impressed by the way other nurses had already organized the instruments, making my job a snap. Overall, the warehouse is very well organized, and it is amazing to me the amount and variety of supplies they have to support so many missions all over the world.

I was there for four days and each day was different and interesting. Wednesday I met a group from a local Indiana church who came and made short work of sorting, labeling and checking expiration dates on pallets of 100 cubic feet of supplies. It’s amazing what the Lord’s people can do when they work together!

Part of each day I was there was devoted to orthopedic supplies that had been donated. I sorted and cataloged splints and braces for about every part of the body. I sorted through enough wrist and finger splints for hundreds of broken bones. I was happy to have the job finished by Friday and now Barry will have a record of it all in the inventory system, making it easy to send what is needed to Africa, Mexico, Nepal, Honduras, Liberia, or Ukraine. These are just examples of the many countries my work with FAME might touch.

I almost hated to leave because I had not felt so appreciated for my talents and knowledge base as a nurse in a long time. Frequently, the day in – day out work in medicine can leave a nurse feeling under-appreciated and burned out. I would venture to say that a visit to FAME could do a lot to reverse that feeling in any other nurse or healthcare provider. I highly recommend it and I’m very glad I stepped out of my comfort zone to come here. I might even make that mission trip again in the next few years. Thank you, FAME Staff for having me.

Sincerely,

Debbie Gibson RN LT NCUSNR-R

 

“Everybody is somebody in Christ’s body,” is a motto I learned as a new Christian in 1999. It was drilled into my brain by my campus minister which simply reminded me that God has given me skills, abilities, and possessions which matter to kingdom service. Making a difference in this world for Christ does not just exist from a pulpit. Then, several years later I found myself at that same campus ministry in the role of a campus minister, chanting this motto again and again. This motto helped focus our ministry to take annual service trips with FAME. The experience helped our college students see how FAME leverages medical skills, education, and resources to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Hi, I’m Barry Reed, FAME’s newest staff member as Director of Mission Resources. After twelve years serving the kingdom as a Campus Minister at Western Illinois University, my family and I have relocated to Indiana to join the global impact of medical evangelism. Though Indiana has been a regular place of travel for our family, we have always lived in Illinois. I grew up just outside of Peoria, IL in the rural community of Farmington. Later, I attended WIU and completed a Bachelor of Accountancy. It was in those college years that God transformed my life and my career goals made a sudden change. Being a member of Campus Students for Christ (Christian Campus House of WIU), I was exposed to a variety of mission work, including church-planting. Following graduation, I was blessed with the opportunity to join a church-planting staff, specifically as Worship Minister. I began attending Lincoln Christian Seminary at this time, and later completed a Master of Leadership after transitioning to campus ministry.

My wife, Christi (Pim), and I have been married 15 years. We have three boys; Gavin, Cooper & Tucker. We have made Shelbyville, IN our new home where Christi serves in the elementary public school as a Behavioral and Life Skills Case Worker. We are huge St. Louis Cardinals fans. We spend a lot of time on the baseball field and basketball court. My favorite hobby is coaching my boys and their friends. However, as a family, we have also learned the beauty in sharing our home, and holidays with international students. God has brought some of our most special friends to us from across the ocean. From Russia to Brazil; China to Nigeria; there are homes we would find welcome to us because God has brought so many to us.

I will be happy to meet many who belong to the family of FAME, as volunteers in the warehouse, senders of medical supplies, or participants in a packing party, preparing medical supplies for a specific mission field. However you are connected to FAME, I’m honored to be joining you in this specific way as we all join together as somebodies in Christ’s body.

 

FAME has partnered with Del Corazon de JesuCristo in the city of El Catey, Dominican Republic since 2004.  Dr. Steve and Julie Dorsey are the Directors of the work there.

Recently, FAME took a team of 20 team participants, which included 15 associates who work at Hancock Regional hospital in Greenfield, IN, to partner with the Dorseys and with Dr. Leslie Valenzuela.  Dr. Leslie is on staff at Del Corazon and she sees patients at the Del Corazon clinic who are from El Catey and surrounding communities.

We were so blessed throughout the week to be able to serve through medical outreaches in locations that were chosen by two local Pastors.  These medical outreaches opened doors for evangelism long after our team left for home.

There are two medical outreach stations that I have always felt hold a special place in our medical ministry.  Our preventative “Health Education” station and our “Kids” station.  Why the “Kids” station you might ask?

The purpose of our “Health Education” station is to provide education on how to stay well and how we can prevent disease.  Simple handwashing is an example of how we can eliminate almost all diseases, but yet, this is not a common practice in many developing countries.

FAME’s Dominican team shared these topics when teaching at our “Health Education” station – how to treat a sore throat without the use of medications, treatment of diarrhea, and the importance of exercise and a proper diet.

What makes the “Kids” station so special?  The smiles, giggles, sounds of balloons popping, face-painting, rope jumping, chalk drawings, bubbles, games, nail painting, etc: all lead to the beginnings of a personal relationship with each child, albeit for a day.

It was this type of relationship between Dr. Steve Dorsey and a young Dominican boy that changed this boy’s life forever!

A few years back, our FAME team was headed home after serving a week with the Dorseys. We were at the airport in Santo Domingo when we heard one of the airport employee’s yell “Hey, I know you!”  When we turned around, he walked up to Dr. Dorsey and said, “You used to come to my town every year when I was a kid, and I remember you!”  This young man had not forgotten all the attention and love Steve and others poured into him so many years before.

This story has an even more amazing ending.  God’s plan all along was to call Steve to become a full-time missionary in the Dominican Republic.

Thank-you Dorseys, for allowing us to be a part of His plan for Del Corazon de JesuCristo!