Photo Credit: UChicago Medicine AdventHealth
Families were invited to attend for a weekend of faith, fellowship and learning about health. In preparation for the event, Lee Whitman, health director at the Indiana Conference, connected with Mark Bondarenko, executive director of mission integration at UChicago Medicine AdventHealth.
“The purpose of the event was to inspire our church communities in Indiana with innovative ways to do health ministry,” Bondarenko said. “The goal was to discuss how best to serve the needs of the church community. How do you recognize what your community needs and then help them find it? How can you be useful to your community?”
Speakers and facilitators at the summit included Jill Jennings, a naturopathic doctor and founder of Foundational Health, a biblically-based lifestyle medicine program; Sherwin R. Callwood, Sr., ThD, who has been a pastor for 36 years in Adventist Church conferences and is now chaplain manager at UChicago Medicine AdventHealth La Grange; Andres Flores, who was a church planting pastor and church planting coordinator for the Illinois Conference for 10 years; and Janette Rodriguez-Flores, a musician.
The summit overall focused on the 10 bricks that make up the foundation of health: faith, mindset, nutrition, movement, rest, finances, environment, community, stress management and purpose. However, Bondarenko said, there was a special focus on faith, nutrition and stress.
The faith emphasis of the summit was established from the beginning of the event, with an opening prayer and vespers services on Friday as well as a full Sabbath Service and night of worship and fellowship on Saturday. Stress management was covered in educational sessions and through encouraging participation in activities such as nature walks and music.
Perhaps the highlight of the weekend for many attendees was a two-hour cooking demonstration on how to prepare delicious whole-food, plant-based meals. “The nutrition section was very popular,” Bondarenko said. “It focused on what a whole-food, plant-based diet can do for your body and how that can help your mind and spirit.”
About 60 people, ranging in age from 14 to 80, attended the summit. Whitman said that about 40 of those were from the Indiana Conference, including 16 different churches, and the remainder were from the Illinois Conference.
The feedback from the attendees was overwhelmingly positive. “People loved it,” Whitman said. “It had a good, strong Bible base, and it was very relatable.”
Some comments submitted by attendees included:
“I’m totally happy with the whole experience. God is doing amazing work.”
“The presentation was awesome, and very spiritual and educational. Loved the food.”
“Thanks to the organizers. May God bless you and guide you for more of these seminars – and please invite me!”
Whitman hopes to have a health ministry summit every year, expanding on this one and emphasizing other aspects of health.
“This encourages people to be healthy and to share in community how to be healthy,” he said.
Julie Busch is associate vice president, marketing and communications for UChicago Medicine AdventHealth
