AMEN 2015: CrossTraining

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Adventist Medical Evangelism Network (AMEN)

Plenary

Todd Guthrie

At the Crossroads: The Cross, the Healthcare Crisis, and Power for Lasting Change

Well, our topic this evening is at the crossroads.

The title of the conference, cross training.

The cross, the healthcare crisis and power for lasting change.

So quickly our outline, our goals for this, our objectives for this lecture, you get CME credit for this, by the way.

So, hopefully you'll learn something applicable in your medical practice or dental practice.

Outline the current challenge in obtaining lasting healthy behavioral change, discuss the recognition of this crying need by health care funding agencies, and explore how Dr.

Luke's view of the cross can impact motivation and identity for long-term lasting change.

You know, there are many websites that point out what the problems are.

Here's 1 aptly named healthcareproblems.org.

And the information that follows in the next 4 slides is collated on this website from other, I think, reliable sources.

So let's just touch on a few data points so we can grasp the magnitude of the uphill problem we face on the road to better health for our patients.

The United States is fast becoming 1 of the worst health care systems in the world.

We're the only industrialized nation that does not provide some form of universal health care to its citizens.

1 of the highest rates for health care expenditures now.

We're trying to remedy that, but Not always easy.

Well, health care expenditures, highest of any developed country.

Prescription prices still under patent protection, 35% to 55% higher.

1 of the biggest and most costly aspects of health care is the treatment of chronic disease.

It's hard to make insurance affordable without changing how chronic disease is treated.

75% of total healthcare spending in the United States in 2007 went toward the treatment of chronic disease.

Approximately half of all chronic diseases are linked to preventable problems, including smoking, obesity, physical activity, physical inactivity.

Numerous studies have shown that when patients with chronic diseases focus on their health and get involved in their own care, their health improves and health expenses decrease.

As I often tell my patients, I believe that no healthcare plan, be it Obamacare or whatever the next president's care or no healthcare plan can solve our unsustainable trajectory unless it addresses the underlying causes of disease at the level of individual responsibility.

Unfortunately for those who wrestle with such things, the solution is not so clear.

So much for the magnitude of the challenge we face.

Is there national recognition of the need for new creative approaches in healthcare?

The National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services, that's the alphabet soup up there, they're suggesting a road map of sorts where we might choose to explore some other options.

We know that the Bible validates true science.

Nedley, who you heard from earlier, has aptly called our attention in previous lectures that he's given to the data showing the need for comprehensive self-control.

So you look at the title of this funding opportunity, Translating Basic Behavioral and Social Science Discoveries into Interventions to improve health-related behaviors.

You can kind of read between the lines what they're looking for, right?

Here are some of the thoughts and where they are willing to invest their tax dollars and mine.

Behaviors such as Smoking, sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy dietary intake, alcohol or substance abuse or dependence, and poor adherence to medical and behavioral treatments are major contributors to cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and other chronic conditions.

For example, Combination of excess energy intake and lack of physical activity, read metabolic syndrome, right, in the U.S.

Population over the past several decades has produced a rapid rise in obesity that threatens to reverse recent gains in life expectancy.

All of these behaviors need to change, right?

And personal comprehensive self-control is probably the biggest bang for the research buck, if you can buy it.

At last estimate, 40% of premature deaths can be attributed to preventable behavioral factors and therefore, they quote this Arthur Schroeder in 2007, the single greatest opportunity to improve health and reduce premature deaths lies in personal behavior.

So far it seems we're unable to get the behavioral changes we're after.

Studies such as the trials of hypertension prevention, weight loss maintenance, and the diabetes prevention program have shown that behavioral interventions can improve behavior and prevent disease.

However, even the most successful behavior change interventions are limited in their ability to induce significant long-term behavioral changes in the majority of adults.

Often, change occurs only for the highly motivated and is limited to a single health behavior rather than multiple behaviors.

Furthermore, even individuals committed to behavioral change find it hard to maintain healthy behavioral patterns over time.

For example, most smoking studies show a pattern of relapse and cessation that may continue for years.

Exceptions to this pattern have been found in preventive interventions such as the nurse home visitation program that have shown lasting and long-term effects.

In addition, some prevention research suggests that the greatest gains can be made with those at most risk, but even these successes are not as common as they should be.

This points to the need for innovative, high-quality behavioral research, which is needed in both the prevention and intervention areas.

So this is the NIH wanting to throw money at research projects that will induce long-term change.

We need innovative, high-quality research.

So they go on to say, we use the analogy of drugs, surgical techniques, medical devices.

We need to also develop more powerful health-related behavioral interventions.

But these are dependent on our understanding of human behavior and then translating that knowledge into new and more effective interventions with enduring effects.

So then they go on to give some suggestions as to where areas of research that might be considered.

Following intended only as conceptual examples of the types of topics and approaches relevant to the proposed FOA.

And FOA stands for Funding Opportunity Announcement.

They make an announcement, here's where we can throw some money if you're willing to convince us that you could spend it wisely in your research.

Translate basic research on learning, cognition, information, processing, etc.

Encourage adherence to self-monitoring goal setting.

Find out what's actually going on in the brain physiologically.

Develop novel approaches to change behaviors based on that.

Make use of system science and modeling techniques, network analysis, etc.

Now if you read between the lines here, what are they looking for?

Brain level research, encouraging adherence, systems level, dare we say, whole person?

You know, the whole person system is what they're looking at.

They want us to translate laboratory or observational studies into new avenues for intervention or prevention by developing interventions that target executive functioning and behavioral control, emotional and behavioral self-regulation.

That's comprehensive self-control, right?

They're also looking for new paradigms of science.

Now the paradigms they suggest, I don't know, chaos theory, nonlinear models, well, I think we might have a nonlinear model, we'll talk about that in a bit.

To address the unpredictability of behavior, to construct interventions that foster motivation for behavioral change, and strategies that maximize chances for nonlinear, nonrational change.

And they give the idea of tipping points.

That sounds like something almost miraculous or a singularity of life, right, where things will change, motivation changes.

So the harmful things, diet, alcohol, substance consumption, developmental exposures, all of these things can affect the epigenetic regulation of the genetic blueprint.

So they were looking for basic research on epigenetic processes to develop interventions that change behavior and affect gene activity, perhaps from what, generation to generation?

Peter Landless

Learning to Carry the Cross

What a privilege it is to be with you this morning, and as we contemplate just a few moments on the cross, come to my mind the words that I'll never forget hearing the King's Herald sing so beautifully, just to think of the cross moves me now.

His nail-pierced hands, his bleeding brow, just to think of the cross moves me now.

Gracious Father, through your cross, through your love, through your grace, through your sacrifice and through your blood, we can be free.

Help us to be so bold as to say that we are free in You.

And we ask that You will be our instructor this morning, because you indeed showed what it means to carry the cross.

We thank you for your presence and pray that individuals and people will fade into insignificance, but that Jesus will be glorified, we ask in his name.

It came unexpectedly and out of the blue, although in warfare situations, 1 expects to hear explosions.

And I felt as if I were in a tumble dryer.

But I can only imagine, as I flew 100 feet, 30 meters through the air, and landed on my haunches, albeit that the world around me was now no longer in focus because I had been fairly dependent on my refracted need of spectacles ever since about the age of 11.

And in that process, they had been blown off my face.

And as I started to take in the scene around me, I realized that I had been in a landmine explosion.

I looked at my hand, And it was bleeding.

A portion of the tip of my right index finger had been amputated.

And I looked at this and I thought to myself, before I even took the scene in completely and fully, I had an anger which welled up in my heart and I said, Lord, my right hand, the hand that is committed to working for you, the hand that would hopefully continue to do surgery.

And as the dust began to settle and I looked around and I was in this self-pitting reverie, I looked over and saw my driver, a young man who was shattered.

Bilateral femoral fractures, bilateral tib fractures, fractured base of skull.

And I immediately was overwhelmed with the need to confess my selfish introspection and ask God's forgiveness and thank him for his saving grace in my own life.

And as I started to straighten and to do things with him, because it was way out in the middle of the boonies, I had gone that particular Sabbath, in fact, to see a very sick patient.

It was in the operational area in Namibia on the border of Angola.

And I'd promised to go back and see a very sick infant way back in the rural areas.

And despite counsel not to do that, a small group of us with 2 vehicles and minesweepers had gone along to see the patient.

And on the way back, this had taken place.

But there I looked at this young man and started to work on him and with him.

And 1 of the first things they said to me was, Doc, have you prayed with him?

Many evenings in my tent in the operational area, the medics would come in and we would have Bible studies together.

Some of those discussions were pivotal and related around the fact that as a Seventh-day Adventist, I didn't carry arms.

As a Seventh-day Adventist, we didn't do certain things on Sabbath.

But as Seventh-day Adventist Christians, we were willing to carry the cross.

And so their first opening gambit was, have you prayed with him?

It was a brief opportunity where he surfaced amidst the trauma of his shocked brain.

He lapsed into coma and died 11 days later.

1 of the most salutary experiences in life is to witness and be part of what may be termed by many survivor guilt.

Why should it be that 1 be spared and another not?

And that became so clear to me when I faced his parents.

I was recovering from my third surgery to my hand.

You know, this is a deformed hand in the eyes of some, but I find it a very beautiful hand because it reminds me that I've been saved to serve.

And as I looked into the face of his parents, I could read as if it was clearly written in letters that were legible, why him and not you?

And that also wrote indelibly into my mind and into my heart the fact that I am not my own, and I would posit to you today that nor are you.

We have been given opportunity, and we have that as a witness to those around us and those who we serve.

Having worked with him, the young man, my driver, We were evacuated to the nearest field hospital.

After the immediate first aid surgeries for both of us had been done, I was able to call my mother.

And as I called her, she said to me, she said, you've been in an accident.

I said, that's amazing, the military's already let you know that?

But at a quarter to 1 today, I was compelled to my knees to pray for you.

The landmines detonated at a quarter of 1 that Sabbath.

I then called my wife, who was in the mission area where we had been working before I was conscripted to go up for military service, and told her what had happened.

She said, you know, directly after the service today, there was a potluck, and the saint said, I think before we eat, we need to pray for Peter.

It was also a quarter of 1 on that Sabbath afternoon.

And I realized that as we carry our cross, we cannot carry it alone.

We are dependent on the prayers of those who love us.

And I'm so interested, as I listened last night to the excellent introduction to our meetings this week on the fast principle and the cross.

Luke, In chapter 22, if you look at the Gospels, and they were brought out so beautifully yesterday, when you look into it, sorry, in chapter 9, where Jesus writes and speaks and it's written and recorded, Then he said to them all, if anyone would come after me, he must do what?

But interestingly, Luke is the only 1 who goes a step further.

The other Gospels say, deny himself and take up his cross.

Luke, the physician, adds a word which I think is very, very significant.

It's not a one-time taking up the cross, It's daily taking up the cross.

And as I share with you what I was requested to share with you and which is a joy for me to share with you, I want you to understand and know that to God be the glory and to Him alone.

And this is a process which is done on a daily basis, a renewed basis, a basis which is refreshed on a daily basis.

That letter arrived as many others had come in the past.

1 of those typical letters, those of you who may have received from the military, I don't know what it's like here, but in the country where I grew up, it was a stark brown envelope.

And I would get 1 each year saying, we're reminding you that you are due to do military service, but because you are studying, we will wait for you to finish your course and then you will come in as a medical officer and do a year of national service.

And year after year, the letter would arrive.

Until we'd started our time in mission service and the letter arrived yet again.

And the letter stated you will serve for 12 months and you need to move on and get things sorted out and do that, and that's what I did.

And having arrived at boot camp, 2 things were made very clear.

And so it was an interesting saga that started.

A saga which reminded me in a fresh way every day of what it means to take up your cross daily.

Because as my Jewish colleagues, and there were many of them in the boot camp for physicians, would be taken each Sabbath morning to the synagogue where they could worship.

The seventh day Adventist was left in the barracks because, you see, it wasn't recognized that that was a day of rest for Christians.

Then came the next test, and that was the carrying of weapons.

There were all kinds of threats that were placed and saying, well, if you don't carry a weapon, you will not get your commission.

Don Mackintosh

The Cross: It’s Prophetic & Healing Significance

Well, let's pray again before we look here at the cross, its prophetic and practical significance.

We've been counseled a thoughtful hour a day, but we do ask that you'd Bless our 40 minutes we spend now, and we come in Christ's name, amen.

The news has been filled with those who have dedicated their life to medical missionary work, and interestingly enough, some are within our own denomination recently.

And even today I just pulled up a number of articles from the last 24 hours and almost every major network is talking about Seventh-day Adventists.

I read through a number of articles over the last couple weeks.

And these are the things that have been talked about in these articles.

The Bible and its authority, creation and evolution, salvation, prayer and the devotional life, the second coming, the Sabbath, the Mark of the Beast, the Sanctuary, 1844, William Miller, the state of the dead, hell, spirit of prophecy, separation of church and state, Catholicism, Islam, evangelicalism, Catholicism, Seventh-day Adventism, vegetarianism.

So how many of you recognize just from what I have shown you that really it's kind of crazy to think, well, I'm not going to talk about my faith because no one's ever heard of it.

You know, the easiest thing to do right now to witness is to say, so, have you heard of Dr.

Now, if you're a cardiologist, someone might have a heart attack.

Or someone might be calmed by that, I don't know.

But I'm telling you, in the last 72 hours even, I have had absolutely no problem talking to anyone about the tenets of Seventh-day Adventism.

Landless, even the New Star Program is easy to talk about.

Seventh-day Adventist Church, this is just this morning, is having a moment.

It's almost like we shouldn't be having this moment.

And then even more rebukes actually in the article.

The denomination is not well known, and neither are its teachings.

Church officials are hoping to change that by unveiling a new website.

Here's what Adventists believe in some of their beliefs.

And I've seen this in at least 30 articles, a discussion of the prophetic heritage of Adventism and William Miller.

Now this is fascinating to me, that it would be so easy to witness.

How many of you are collecting the newspapers right now?

So you can show people, did you see this?

And I want to talk about that prophecy, I want to talk about its practical implications.

My big message today is that we have been very successful as a church, although in some sectors this has even been under a less appreciated, we have been very successful in talking about the prophecies.

How many of you have ever heard a discussion of Bible prophecy?

Have you ever seen any slides with this on the slide?

Maybe not the 1844 part so much because sometimes they just kind of don't talk about that as much.

Of course, when I worked at an evangelism school and was in charge of the stable of evangelists, I'd say, you need to talk about that.

Since the time of my great-grandfather, who was a contemporary of Ellen White, and who worked with HMJ Richards, who was the founder of Voice of Prophecy, since that time, when evangelistic campaign was 9 months long, 5 nights a week, and I have all the notes to show it, since that time when an evangelistic campaign was to raise up a church, not to do bypass surgery on a church, Since that time until now, we have lost the practical application of prophecy, largely.

Last week I was asked to come and do some health things with someone doing a prophecy seminar.

And I said, sure, I'd be happy to do that.

I said, you know, your generosity is underwhelming.

And I realized that this individual and many others don't understand the power that we have with the right hand to open the door.

And if I don't get to say this, I'll say it now, we need a renewed paradigm of evangelism in the Adventist Church.

And it has to morph to where the medical missionary part actually leads.

In fact, we're told that there'll come a time when it will be the only work being done.

How many think we should be learning how to do that right now?

And I have to also say, if I don't say it any other time, that if you are led by the Lord to effectively reach people in meeting their physical needs, they will open up emotionally, they will then share their thoughts, so their physical needs are met, then they will emotionally begin to open up, and they will start to change their thoughts, and they will ask you about the spirituality.

In fact, I've had people during this last 10 days, Dr.

Nelly mentioned we were working in a depression recovery program, we had 20 or 22 folks in that.

And I had 5 of them ask me to be baptized or rebaptized.

I was talking to Alan here in the second row.

Alan was at breakfast with me and was it Jim?

This is Alan and Jim, they're from Canada.

We were talking about how he came into the church.

Jim does dental mission trips and they take people on mission trips.

Series

Plenary

The Cross: It’s Prophetic & Healing Significance

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

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Overcoming the World

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Growing Patience

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How Does the Gospel Redeem Wounded, Broken Hearts & Minds?

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Fresh Thoughts on the Sanctuary

The Adventist Theology of the Sanctuary Re-examined, Part 1

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What Jesus Said

19. Religion and Politics

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Unlocking the Mysteries of the Sanctuary

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