Principles & Practice of Health Evangelism
Preface to the First Edition
It was more than 10 years ago that I wrote “The Handbook of Health Evangelism.” Since then, I have had more experience doing health evangelism. My ideas have been refined and expanded.
I have developed new tools for evaluating health evangelism programs to see if they accurately meet the definition. I also foresee the impact health evangelism, rightly conducted, can have on church growth and retention of new members
The health concepts first delivered to the Seventh-day Adventist church more than 150 years ago have been verified by the Adventist Health Studies of the past 60 years. Larger studies of secular populations have expanded this knowledge of healthful living far beyond our investigative capabilities.
Gifted doctors and scientists have written books and developed health programs that have caught the interest of many in the public. Healthful living has become popular with millions, but these movements are most often not led by Seventh-day Adventists.
This book is a challenge to all Seventh-day Adventist health professionals, church administrators, and church members to take up the cause of health evangelism. Health evangelism brings new levels of health to individuals and creates a closer walk with God. Health evangelism brings people to the church and keeps them in the church.
Who am I to write this book? Listing my credentials seems like bragging and unchristian on the face of it. But here in Texas there is a saying that “It ain’t bragging if it is true.” So, here is a listing of my educational and life experiences that I bring to the writing of this book.
I was born a fifth-generation Seventh-day Adventist. (Admittedly, this has no merit with God). I was raised in a two-parent home of college educated parents who served as missionaries in Japan, Korea, and Jamaica and were employees of the church in one capacity or another their entire lives.
I attended Seventh-day Adventist elementary and secondary schools in the mission field. My senior high school year I attended and graduated from Andrews Academy in Berrien Springs, Michigan. My major field of study in college was chemistry. I graduated from Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Maryland.
My wife and I have been married over 50 years and have raised three daughters who are successful in their chosen professions.
My medical training was at Loma Linda University School of Medicine. I completed a general rotating internship at the Washington Adventist Hospital. I also completed a residency in internal medicine at the Loma Linda University Medical Center. I am board certified as a specialist in internal medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine and continue to participate in the Maintenance of Certification program of the Board.
I received a Master of Public Health degree from the Bloomberg School of Public Health of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore Maryland.
I served my country as a Lt. Commander in the U.S. Public Health Service during the Vietnam war. I was appointed the Medical Staff Director of the National Clearinghouse on Smoking and Health. It was my privilege to author, contribute to, and review many of the U.S. Surgeon General’s reports on the harmful effects of tobacco use in its various forms.
I have been employed by Adventist Hospitals. I have been affiliated with the self-supporting hospitals, and I have been in private medical practice. I have had or still have licenses to practice in California, Maryland, North Carolina, and Texas.
In the field of Public Health, I have served as Medical Director and Local Health Authority in multiple county jurisdictions. I have been certified multiple times as a specialist in HIV/AIDS by the American Academy of HIV Medicine.
Within the Seventh-day Adventist church structure, I have served as the Health Ministries Director at the conference level. For a period of three years, I was an Associate Health Director of the General Conference Department of Health Ministries.
In the local church, I have served as Sabbath School teacher, deacon, elder, grounds and maintenance worker, and Director of Health Ministries. More recently, I have been involved in the radio and television ministry of the Crowley Seventh-day Adventist church in Crowley, Texas.
Health evangelism has been a constant interest of mine throughout the decades. I created the Best Weigh nutrition and weight management program in 1974 and have conducted it hundreds of times in churches across this country. Best Weigh has received some international attention and has been conducted in Great Britain and Australia.
I have authored hundreds of articles, presentations, and several scientific publications in peer reviewed scientific journals. My larger books include, “Jesus Was Thin, So You Can Be Thin Too,” and “The Handbook of Health Evangelism.”
My single-minded focus has been church-based health evangelism. The local church is the Christian’s home. Too many health education programs contain useful scientific information but don’t lead people to Christ or fellowship in the local church.
People don’t have the power to change. God provides the power to change. This power is imparted by the Holy Spirit, through the merits of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Too often this is the missing element in health programming. Information, insight, education, and example are all too weak to change a sinner into a saint.
We must come to see that all things are possible through Jesus Christ who clearly stated that “Without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 (NKJV) Jesus saves your mind, soul, and body.
This book is written to focus your attention on how to conduct health evangelism in a soul winning way utilizing the resources in the local church. Read and with God’s help make it happen in your local church.
I have developed new tools for evaluating health evangelism programs to see if they accurately meet the definition. I also foresee the impact health evangelism, rightly conducted, can have on church growth and retention of new members
The health concepts first delivered to the Seventh-day Adventist church more than 150 years ago have been verified by the Adventist Health Studies of the past 60 years. Larger studies of secular populations have expanded this knowledge of healthful living far beyond our investigative capabilities.
Gifted doctors and scientists have written books and developed health programs that have caught the interest of many in the public. Healthful living has become popular with millions, but these movements are most often not led by Seventh-day Adventists.
This book is a challenge to all Seventh-day Adventist health professionals, church administrators, and church members to take up the cause of health evangelism. Health evangelism brings new levels of health to individuals and creates a closer walk with God. Health evangelism brings people to the church and keeps them in the church.
Who am I to write this book? Listing my credentials seems like bragging and unchristian on the face of it. But here in Texas there is a saying that “It ain’t bragging if it is true.” So, here is a listing of my educational and life experiences that I bring to the writing of this book.
I was born a fifth-generation Seventh-day Adventist. (Admittedly, this has no merit with God). I was raised in a two-parent home of college educated parents who served as missionaries in Japan, Korea, and Jamaica and were employees of the church in one capacity or another their entire lives.
I attended Seventh-day Adventist elementary and secondary schools in the mission field. My senior high school year I attended and graduated from Andrews Academy in Berrien Springs, Michigan. My major field of study in college was chemistry. I graduated from Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Maryland.
My wife and I have been married over 50 years and have raised three daughters who are successful in their chosen professions.
My medical training was at Loma Linda University School of Medicine. I completed a general rotating internship at the Washington Adventist Hospital. I also completed a residency in internal medicine at the Loma Linda University Medical Center. I am board certified as a specialist in internal medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine and continue to participate in the Maintenance of Certification program of the Board.
I received a Master of Public Health degree from the Bloomberg School of Public Health of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore Maryland.
I served my country as a Lt. Commander in the U.S. Public Health Service during the Vietnam war. I was appointed the Medical Staff Director of the National Clearinghouse on Smoking and Health. It was my privilege to author, contribute to, and review many of the U.S. Surgeon General’s reports on the harmful effects of tobacco use in its various forms.
I have been employed by Adventist Hospitals. I have been affiliated with the self-supporting hospitals, and I have been in private medical practice. I have had or still have licenses to practice in California, Maryland, North Carolina, and Texas.
In the field of Public Health, I have served as Medical Director and Local Health Authority in multiple county jurisdictions. I have been certified multiple times as a specialist in HIV/AIDS by the American Academy of HIV Medicine.
Within the Seventh-day Adventist church structure, I have served as the Health Ministries Director at the conference level. For a period of three years, I was an Associate Health Director of the General Conference Department of Health Ministries.
In the local church, I have served as Sabbath School teacher, deacon, elder, grounds and maintenance worker, and Director of Health Ministries. More recently, I have been involved in the radio and television ministry of the Crowley Seventh-day Adventist church in Crowley, Texas.
Health evangelism has been a constant interest of mine throughout the decades. I created the Best Weigh nutrition and weight management program in 1974 and have conducted it hundreds of times in churches across this country. Best Weigh has received some international attention and has been conducted in Great Britain and Australia.
I have authored hundreds of articles, presentations, and several scientific publications in peer reviewed scientific journals. My larger books include, “Jesus Was Thin, So You Can Be Thin Too,” and “The Handbook of Health Evangelism.”
My single-minded focus has been church-based health evangelism. The local church is the Christian’s home. Too many health education programs contain useful scientific information but don’t lead people to Christ or fellowship in the local church.
People don’t have the power to change. God provides the power to change. This power is imparted by the Holy Spirit, through the merits of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Too often this is the missing element in health programming. Information, insight, education, and example are all too weak to change a sinner into a saint.
We must come to see that all things are possible through Jesus Christ who clearly stated that “Without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 (NKJV) Jesus saves your mind, soul, and body.
This book is written to focus your attention on how to conduct health evangelism in a soul winning way utilizing the resources in the local church. Read and with God’s help make it happen in your local church.
Preface to the Second Edition
The first edition of this book was well received by many who are dedicated to the concepts of health evangelism.
Health evangelism is a sleeping giant in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The greatest opportunity before us today is a meaningful response to the global pandemic of obesity. Obesity is the root cause of dozens of diseases that result in disability and death.
There are many preventive approaches to the obesity crisis. There are dozens of new diet books every year. There are prescription medications, surgical approaches, commercial programs, special foods, and a variety of supplements. Nothing is working. Obesity is getting worse and worse in the United States and around the world.
Obese Sabbath keepers squeeze into pews from week to week with the assurance that they are worshiping on the right day, but at the same time abandoning the nutritional and exercise counsel given us 150 years ago. Something must change!
Do we have a God who can change us or not? Salvation is not just for the “soul.” The good news in health evangelism is that Jesus can work with you to successfully change you, not just for eternity but right now. We must show our neighbors that we have the key to long-term success. Come to our church. Join us who are struggling with you. We will show you how to eat and how to exercise. We will share precious promises from the Bible. We will pray with you and for you.
We will cry with you when you fail. We will pray for ourselves and for you that we may do better tomorrow. We will hold on to you.
Health evangelism can be applied to any of the ills that affect the public. There are dozens of health programs that need the evangelist modifications to make them what health evangelism should be.
Today we live in a data driven society. Health evangelism has no growth chart, no check list of milestones reached. It is buried in the titles of a thousand administrators who have a half dozen other titles as well. They have no budget, and no administrative staff to assist them. There is no definition of what kinds of data is needed and no system to collect and analyze the effectiveness of health evangelism. Perhaps it really is dead and not just sleeping.
In the past five years numerous suggestions for major and minor edits to this book have been suggested by my readers. This edition has been carefully copy edited by several friends but especially Dr. Eric Nelson of Hixson, TN.
May God use this tool to awaken, energize, and mobilize health evangelism in this sick and failing world. God will bless us if we do His work in His way.
Health evangelism is a sleeping giant in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The greatest opportunity before us today is a meaningful response to the global pandemic of obesity. Obesity is the root cause of dozens of diseases that result in disability and death.
There are many preventive approaches to the obesity crisis. There are dozens of new diet books every year. There are prescription medications, surgical approaches, commercial programs, special foods, and a variety of supplements. Nothing is working. Obesity is getting worse and worse in the United States and around the world.
Obese Sabbath keepers squeeze into pews from week to week with the assurance that they are worshiping on the right day, but at the same time abandoning the nutritional and exercise counsel given us 150 years ago. Something must change!
Do we have a God who can change us or not? Salvation is not just for the “soul.” The good news in health evangelism is that Jesus can work with you to successfully change you, not just for eternity but right now. We must show our neighbors that we have the key to long-term success. Come to our church. Join us who are struggling with you. We will show you how to eat and how to exercise. We will share precious promises from the Bible. We will pray with you and for you.
We will cry with you when you fail. We will pray for ourselves and for you that we may do better tomorrow. We will hold on to you.
Health evangelism can be applied to any of the ills that affect the public. There are dozens of health programs that need the evangelist modifications to make them what health evangelism should be.
Today we live in a data driven society. Health evangelism has no growth chart, no check list of milestones reached. It is buried in the titles of a thousand administrators who have a half dozen other titles as well. They have no budget, and no administrative staff to assist them. There is no definition of what kinds of data is needed and no system to collect and analyze the effectiveness of health evangelism. Perhaps it really is dead and not just sleeping.
In the past five years numerous suggestions for major and minor edits to this book have been suggested by my readers. This edition has been carefully copy edited by several friends but especially Dr. Eric Nelson of Hixson, TN.
May God use this tool to awaken, energize, and mobilize health evangelism in this sick and failing world. God will bless us if we do His work in His way.