Chaplain Stories from BMC
IMB Church Planter Catalyst Bart Gibbs shares the following stories he heard from chaplains ministering to patients at BMC:
When I went to the chaplains for stories of those rescued from “deep spiritual darkness,” they began by affirming that examples of those who have responded to gospel presentations given to dying patients are beyond counting.
On top of that, Rev Adams Atanga shared of a time when a certain woman was diagnosed with a terminal illness by Dr. Hewitt. He asked Adams to come with him to see her in the isolation ward and share the Good News with her. But when they went, the patient was unconscious. So they spoke with the caregiver who was there, along with eight other patients and family members there in the ward. They all received Christ during that meeting, and it was later reported by area pastors that many of these joined their village churches upon returning home from the hospital. And the dying woman also prayed with Dr. Hewitt and Rev Adams to receive Christ, herself, during a later visit. A week after that she passed away.
Chaplain Victoria shared of a patient from last week who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and subsequently had one leg amputated. He was from a Muslim background, but he had grown tired and weakened by the Muslim facts he was forced to observe. So Chaplain Vicky shared with him the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man from the Bible as his Muslim brother sat beside them listening. She concluded by asking the man, “Do you wanted to go to heaven or to hell?” The man himself laughed and said he wanted to go to heaven…who doesn’t? But the brother was more resistant as they talked. Victoria said that salvation “was only available by following Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father but through following him.”
The man asked to be saved right there, and so she prayed and led him through the sinner’s prayer. She noticed that the brother was listening with growing interest as they prayed, too, but he made no decision.
The man with the terminal cancer and amputated leg now claims to be a Christian, but he says because of his leg he cannot get away from Muslims when they also come to pray for him. He has been discharged from the hospital for now.
We have also had a couple of occasions of unbelieving or doubting volunteer doctors who have come to faith in Christ due to a combination of the witness of other doctors and missionaries here and the whole experience of working here at the BMC.