On May 13, 2012 in the middle of Pastor Chanda’s Sunday School at the end of College Heights Baptist Church’s missions conference, God spoke independently but simultaneously into my and Brandi’s lives. At about 10:35 that morning, God stopped the world and silenced the ubiquitous background noise of our frenetic lives, so that we could perceive His clear, compelling, inexplicable but yet already understood impression in our spirits that we were to move to Kitwe, Zambia permanently in order to facilitate and bring to fruition a medical center at the Chande Orphanage.
In July 2008 I had traveled to Kitwe, Zambia on a two week medical mission trip. The team provided much needed medical care in a very poor neighborhood in Kitwe. On that short trip I was overwhelmed by the lack of medical care, the magnitude of sickness and the helplessness of poverty. But at that time I wasn’t prepared to do anything about that it. The images and memories and emotions never left me, but I busied myself with the medical calling back home. Honestly, I never expected to return to Africa.
However, in May 2012 I was clearly called to start a medical project at The Chande Baptist Orphanage in Kitwe which, ironically, is a only a few blocks from the neighborhood I had served initially. Now, I am convinced to make a lasting difference in the lives of Zambians, there must be a commitment to long term relationships; this means a permanent move to Africa with my family. I am committing my life and medical skills to this endeavor that will address the unmet physical and spiritual needs of orphans, widows and the underserved of Kitwe. In a nutshell, this is the vision of the Chande Medical Project. . . We have desired to adhere to Biblical standards as we developed the Project’s three value statements. 1) Every person is made in the image of God and therefore has infinite worth. 2) Death and disease are an inevitable part of the human condition, but each person’s life is eternal. 3) Every Christian has a Biblical mandate to love and obey God , and to love his neighbor, and to go and make disciples of all the nations. We believe these values will keep us anchored to the Word and keep us focused on our motives to love others and glorify our Lord. Likewise, we thought it prudent to identify goals for the Project. These goals will help encourage us to persevere and to clarify the purposes and measure the success of the Chande Medical Project. The Project’s goals are four-fold. 1) Provide palliative and acute medical car. 2) Encourage healthy lifestyle changes. 3) Provide for broad, longitudinal healthcare needs, 4) Develop long-term relationships and discipleship. Community Health Evangelism (CHE) is an evidence- based, gospel-centered approach to making lasting transformational changes in developing countries.
Recently, I (we) have been accepted and trained by Global Outreach International, a non-profit 501©(3) organization that equips and helps to send international missionaries all over the globe. Global Outreach is a 503(c)(3) corporation and a member of ECFA. All donations are tax-deductible; and 100% of funds go directly the missionary with no administrative fees. Please include our account numbers on any gifts: Day Account 3994 or Cuffman Account 3993. I encourage you to visit www.globaloutreach.org to learn more about Gobal and giving methods

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