Latest / Mission SONlight CHATT / Mission SONlight Chatt Season 4 Ep. 28 Richard Hickam - AdventHealth

Transcript

Mission SONlight Chatt Season 4 Ep. 28 Richard Hickam - AdventHealth · Mission SONlight CHATT

• 0:09
  Welcome to Network 7's Mission Sunlight Chat.
• 0:11
  Today we are at the General Conference Session
• 0:14
  2025 here in St. Louis, Missouri in the United
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  States. Wherever you are, wherever you may be
• 0:18
  watching or listening, welcome to the program
• 0:20
  and thank you for being a part of our audience.
• 0:22
  We are grateful to have you. Remember, you can
• 0:25
  connect with us at missionsunlight .org. 1 -423
• 0:28
  -855 -4877 is the number to text. And you can
• 0:32
  email us at hello at missionsunlight .org. We
• 0:35
  are grateful that you have come along today.
• 0:37
  I'm Christopher Beeson, your host. Jordan Wagner
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  over on the technical side of things as we take
• 0:41
  a look at the exhibit hall and the hundreds of
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  visitors and guests and exhibitors who are here.
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  It's been a real joy to enjoy and connect with
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  others who are working in ministry, especially
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  those from all around the world. And from way
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  down in central Florida, we have our friend Richard
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  Hickam. Richard, thank you for being here. Thank
• 1:01
  you, Christopher. What a pleasure. You are with
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  Advent Health, and I'm not going to try and remember
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  the whole title. I'm the Corporate Director of
• 1:11
  Music and the Arts in Mission and Ministry. Okay.
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  That would seem like it would be a busy, busy
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  work. Yeah. Most people just know me as the Orchestra
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  Director or the Music Guy. Okay. Well, that's
• 1:22
  what I would have said. Yeah. Richard the Music
• 1:23
  Guy, because you are all over. I would say all
• 1:26
  over the Southeast, but you really do cover the
• 1:29
  country and even sometimes the globe. As you
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  know, working for Christ is an amazing adventure.
• 1:37
  And things that you and I, when we were together
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  some 30 years ago in college, never envisioned
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  that these things would take place. You didn't
• 1:49
  have to say 30 years ago. We could have embellished.
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  It's pushing 30 years. I was just thinking that.
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  All right, brother. Would you have prayer as
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  we begin? Please. Gracious Father, we pause.
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  with the breath in our lungs, with the feelings
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  that we have, the mind that you've given us to
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  realize you're the creator God. You're here with
• 2:13
  us now, and you're here with each listener. Lord,
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  we pray a blessing over those and each situation.
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  that our hearts may be turned to you, your spirit
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  will speak through us today, and that we will
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  glorify you this day. In your name, amen. Amen.
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  Richard, thank you for that prayer. So, as you
• 2:33
  mentioned, we were together in college just a
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  few years ago, and so I knew you in that little
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  window of time we had. We worked together at
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  WSMC, the classical radio station on the campus
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  of Southern Adventist University. But before
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  that... Tell me about your youth and childhood
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  and how you connected with Jesus, because I don't
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  think I know that story, and certainly our listeners
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  and viewers may not. Yeah, so my family, I have
• 3:01
  one side. My mother's side of the family is Adventist,
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  you know, Loma Linda, you know, missionary, medical,
• 3:10
  education, all that thing. And my father's side
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  of the family. The Tennessee, the hillbillies,
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  the great, great folks, but not particularly
• 3:21
  of a strong faith background there. So growing
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  up, my father was not particularly religious.
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  My mother was the Adventist and Sabbath school
• 3:32
  teacher. And so they met when my mother had a
• 3:37
  spell of leaving the church. got married, and
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  then when she became pregnant with me, I'm the
• 3:43
  oldest of two boys, she renewed her faith in
• 3:47
  Christ and came back to the church. And so I
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  always had a unique experience growing up as
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  things that my family might do on Sabbath that
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  might not look like everybody else's, whether
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  it might be going to the library or things that...
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  We certainly like to spend time outside. My mother
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  certainly took us to church, but I had two different
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  sides of the family, very opposite, and I think
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  that helped me in a lot of ways understand a
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  lot of different types of people. So I grew up
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  in that environment. When I was 15, my mother
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  passed away from breast cancer, and so now I
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  was in a situation where my father wasn't a Christian.
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  And I kind of had a gentle drift away from the
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  church. I was attending Collegedale Academy.
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  I was actively engaged in music. I had played
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  some instruments. I started in the saxophone.
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  And my teacher, Mr. Bolton, he... It took a special
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  interest in me, and I was really partly raised
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  by that community. Some folks, they may leave
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  the community of faith, and they've had poor
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  experiences. Mine was the exact opposite. I was
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  nurtured by people who were looking after me.
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  And for me, I found music to be a way to connect
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  me to the church, to the community, and I was
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  given a lot of opportunities. But needless to
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  say, I... Played saxophone. I grew bored of the
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  instrument. Didn't have all the fun parts in
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  band, so I switched to trumpet. Trumpet had all
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  the high parts. I practiced hard for a year,
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  and I made it to first year trumpet. Then my
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  senior year at the academy, Orlo Gilbert came
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  across the street and told Mr. Bolton he was
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  looking to recruit a string bass player to play
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  in the orchestra. And so Mr. Bolton said, well,
• 5:48
  Richard's learned an instrument or two. And so
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  they took me over to Southern, and I sat in that
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  rehearsal room. I loved orchestra music, but
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  I hadn't had the opportunity to ever be in one.
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  And that's really when the lights turned on for
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  me. But from there, I dropped out of school,
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  continued down a road, moved to California, played
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  in bands, just left the church. And then a couple
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  years later, I turned 25, and I realized that
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  the things that I was seeking um wasn't getting
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  weren't getting me anywhere and i started to
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  um i was living in my grandparents basement in
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  loma linda i started to read steps to christ
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  which pointed me to scripture and then i started
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  to read the bible and i came to a point where
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  i felt that I was ready to make a decision and
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  a change. And so that's when I moved back to
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  Collegedale, came to Southern, and that's where
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  I met you. So I had just kind of gone through
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  a conversion experience. I was a music major
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  at Southern, and really from that point on...
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  Again, I was an older student, but once I'd made
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  that decision for myself, it's just been bam,
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  bam, bam, bam. God just has opened one door after
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  another. And again, I'll say it, what an adventure.
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  Amen. Wow. I didn't realize that when we met,
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  you had just really reconnected with Christ,
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  really had a conversion experience. When you
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  say you left the church, is it fair to say you
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  were really just stepping away from Christ at
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  that point? Oh, absolutely. Sometimes I don't
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  like to tell the whole story because some people
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  can exaggerate certain things, but I became a
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  bartender. I just lived a lifestyle of kind of
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  self -serving, really just trying to make my
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  way and all about me and good times. people I
• 7:50
  worked with they still knew my background and
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  and I and I would find myself even as a bartender
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  it was amazing the conversations you would have
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  because I learned a lot of skills in that place
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  about how to talk to people because a lot of
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  them there they there have their own reasons
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  but they love to to talk and tell stories and
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  they love to listen and learn and so um that
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  was a turning point for me. And one thing I just
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  want to say about that is sometimes when you
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  have that conversion experience initially, you
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  know, you put everything in this, that it's all
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  bad. It's all, it's all the dark. It's all, you
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  know, I've got to go over here and you really,
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  your pendulum really swings far. Right. And you
• 8:30
  probably need to, for a while you stay away from
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  things. But then I realized that they weren't
• 8:36
  all bad people. And, and that, I, over the course
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  of time, when Facebook eventually came along,
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  I renewed some of those relationships and I discovered
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  that some of those people had also then had conversion
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  experiences or wherever they might be. And so
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  things can not always be such a black and white
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  issue and more about relational and people in
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  God's own time let things happen. Amen. I want
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  to go back to something you said about Mr. Gilbert
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  and Mr. Bolton. We may not know. The impact we
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  have made on someone till eternity. Yes. And
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  I'm sure you knew both of those fellows later.
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  And so I'm sure you had an opportunity to say
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  how much their interaction with you and they
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  saw how much their interaction with you was meaningful.
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  As you know, I pastor churches for about 10 years.
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  And it's been interesting at convocations like
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  this to have somebody walk up to me and say,
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  Christopher or pastor, you remember X, Y and
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  Z. And I'm. No, I don't. And they said, well,
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  that was just meaningful to me. And that is so
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  special to have that happen. But I think the
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  important thing to note is we just don't know
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  the impact a little comment, a little, hey, why
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  don't you go do this, can make in the long -term
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  difference of people around us. I'm glad you
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  brought that up. There was an incident in my
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  young childhood. I was living in Wichita, Kansas.
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  And I remember going to Sabbath school, and I
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  must have been about eight or nine years old.
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  And I remember this Sabbath school teacher walking
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  over to me, a lady, and she kind of knelt down
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  to me and she said, Richard, you are a really
• 10:22
  good singer. And no one had ever said that to
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  me. And the truth being is that I'm not a great
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  singer, right? I'm not a soloist or whatever.
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  I eventually became a music major. What an encouraging
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  word. Exactly. And to your point, I have never
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  forgotten that woman. I don't know who she is,
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  and I can't wait to one day say, you don't know
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  what that little sentence did for my life when
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  I was down. I would remember her, among others,
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  you know, sometimes. And that's the thing that
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  God allows us to do. And so by just, again, being
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  cheerful. Sending a little word of encouragement
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  to somebody, we never know what's going to happen
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  there. Yeah. I want to say I'm sorry that you
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  lost your mom. Thank you. My older daughters,
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  you know, lost their mother at age 20 and 22.
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  Yep. And so I can empathize through them on your
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  behalf a little bit. What a terrible, terrible
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  challenge figuring out life and not having that.
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  one of those important people in your life that
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  you could talk to. Whether your relationship
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  with her was close or even distant, she was there.
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  There's something about knowing that if you want
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  to reach out to them, even if you take it for
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  granted, but when you can't reach anymore. So
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  I'm sorry for that. Well, thank you, and I'm
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  sorry for your loss as well. I followed on social
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  media, and what a beautiful woman she was, and
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  I love seeing the joy in your family, and I'm
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  happy for where you are now, too, that you found.
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  Thank you. God is good. One quick thing from
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  your family before we move on to AdventHealth.
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  You mentioned you have a brother. Yes. Just curious
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  where he is in life. Maybe he doesn't want you
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  to tell. He's still on his journey. And to my
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  point earlier, you know, Chris, we all in our
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  lives have people that we're praying for. And
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  I'm reminded of when I was in that period of
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  walking away of all the people who were praying
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  for me who told me later. And so now I find myself
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  in that position, praying for family members,
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  praying for friends who don't currently know
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  Christ. And you learn the patience, you know,
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  and the thing that I know is... All things are
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  going to work according to God's plan, and there
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  are things I can control, and there are things
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  that I can't. And that was a lesson I had to
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  learn as well. Again, when that pendulum first
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  swung, I was in the preaching mode, and I became
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  preaching to my family. And let me tell you,
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  that didn't go well. So there's a time, right?
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  There's a time to preach, but there's also a
• 13:00
  time to cut the grass and to mow the lawn and
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  to be a good neighbor. Excellent. Good points.
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  We want to talk about AdventHealth, but we're
• 13:08
  going to take a break just for a moment. But
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  thank you for sharing your personal story. Really
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  blessed by that testimony, Richard. You're welcome.
• 13:13
  We'll be back in a moment with more Mission Sunlight
• 13:15
  chat. at the heart of the planet. The intrepid
• 13:33
  spirit of a village and the vibe of a great metropolis.
• 13:36
  It means camera one and camera two. It means
• 13:41
  transforming a school, orphanage or hospital.
• 13:44
  It means fire, rain, ice and snow. It means gifts
• 13:50
  by the dollar and by the check. It means donations
• 13:54
  that roll and donations that fly. It's a movement
• 13:59
  on a trail or down a motorway. It means family.
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  All of us together. And individually. It's who
• 14:10
  you are or who you are becoming. And to her,
• 14:14
  it's a simple gesture that means hope. Whatever
• 14:17
  it means to you, being a media missionary means
• 14:21
  more than you might think. Welcome back to Mission
• 14:32
  Sunlight Chat. As we mentioned before, we are
• 14:34
  in the exhibit hall of the General Conference
• 14:35
  Session of the Seventh -day Adventist Church.
• 14:38
  What that means is the Seventh -day Adventist
• 14:39
  Church gets together every five years for a business
• 14:42
  meeting, and they invite exhibitors who come
• 14:44
  from all over the world, literally hundreds,
• 14:46
  if not... over a thousand exhibitors here in
• 14:51
  the exhibit hall. And so we're delighted to be
• 14:52
  one of those exhibitors and to be sharing our
• 14:54
  faith of what God is doing. And we have the opportunity
• 14:57
  to travel around the globe and see what God is
• 15:00
  doing in many, many different places and cases.
• 15:03
  So delighted to be here at the exhibit hall.
• 15:05
  I just want to mention to you, if you'd like
• 15:06
  to help support some of what we're doing with
• 15:08
  Mission Sunlight, all you have to do is go to
• 15:10
  missionsunlight .org and click the donate button.
• 15:14
  Opportunities for programs like this and many
• 15:15
  of our other mission stories. Our productions
• 15:18
  are available there. You can learn more about
• 15:20
  the Network 7 family, the organization that operates
• 15:24
  Mission Sunlight. So we'd love to have you connect
• 15:26
  with us there, missionsunlight .org. Thank you
• 15:29
  so much for doing that. Thanks for being a part
• 15:31
  of our audience today. And we have Richard Hickam
• 15:33
  from Advent Health. Hey, hey. Richard, you and
• 15:38
  I were in college together. Yes, sir. And from
• 15:40
  college, you ended up at Advent Health, but it
• 15:42
  wasn't a direct route. No, no. I got hired from
• 15:47
  Southern right there in College Hill Academy,
• 15:50
  and I was the director of instrumental music
• 15:52
  for 11 years, band, orchestra, jazz band. And
• 15:56
  my last year, I led a class in worship leading.
• 16:02
  And which then propelled me to my next, I got
• 16:05
  an invitation to become the full -time minister
• 16:08
  of music at Florida Hospital Church in Orlando,
• 16:10
  Florida. And I said, we have full -time ministers
• 16:13
  of music in our denomination? And we prayed about
• 16:16
  it, and God opened that door, and we took that
• 16:19
  opportunity. And then 11 years there, in the
• 16:23
  course of that time, Florida Hospital started
• 16:25
  asking me to pick up. to do events for them.
• 16:29
  Eventually, they offered me, I was split for
• 16:33
  a couple years, and then now things have gotten
• 16:35
  so good and big that I'm full -time doing that,
• 16:39
  and I volunteer at my church. Remind me of that
• 16:41
  title again, because there's something in that
• 16:43
  title I want to ask you about. Sure, Corporate
• 16:44
  Director of Music and the Arts. Okay, so I understand
• 16:47
  the music part, and I've seen a lot of that in
• 16:49
  your social media. What is the arts part? Sure.
• 16:54
  So I think you think of, even in music, it's
• 16:59
  under the umbrella of the arts. The arts, painting,
• 17:04
  drawing, visual arts, performing arts. And so
• 17:08
  when I deal, I work a lot with our employees.
• 17:13
  We're just over 100 ,000 employees now. And then
• 17:15
  also with some with patients, but we have music
• 17:18
  therapists, art therapists, people who are very
• 17:20
  specific to clinical work. But I have this unique
• 17:23
  opportunity to extend the healing ministry of
• 17:27
  Christ through the arts with folks. And so we
• 17:31
  have our annual art show where we feature, highlight
• 17:36
  works of art from nurses and doctors and clinicians
• 17:42
  and people in finance. And we have, if you come
• 17:49
  into AdventHealth facilities, you'll often see
• 17:53
  a bronze statue of Victor Isa, who has done a
• 17:58
  lot of Jesus healing miracles. And so we have
• 18:02
  these bronze sculptures. When you go into our
• 18:04
  facilities, one of the projects I'm working on
• 18:07
  right now, particularly in our outpatient places,
• 18:11
  is what is the look and feel? When you walk into
• 18:15
  a place, is it an environment for healing? And
• 18:18
  what does it say about who we are as a spiritual
• 18:22
  care for anyone that walks in the building? So
• 18:25
  when you walk into an urgent care, is there a
• 18:28
  TV on and maybe there's a law commercial? Or
• 18:31
  do you want to walk in and maybe there's gentle
• 18:34
  music playing? Maybe there's art and environment
• 18:36
  that informs you about the healing ministry of
• 18:40
  Christ. Yeah, I want to be in that more peaceful
• 18:43
  setting. So those are all the kinds of things
• 18:46
  that are involved in the arts. And so it's been
• 18:48
  great for me to stretch because, yeah, I'm a
• 18:50
  musician, specifically an instrumentalist and
• 18:53
  a conductor. And so to really get into the arts
• 18:57
  and to lead teams that are engaged with that,
• 18:59
  a lot of chaplains, helping them, creating best
• 19:02
  practices throughout our system, all of those
• 19:07
  kinds of initiatives around the arts. Wow. That's
• 19:11
  a broad, what do they say, a broad brush. Yeah.
• 19:15
  How heavy is that lifting? Do you have periods
• 19:19
  where things are really intense, or are you able
• 19:21
  to kind of pace that out? Yeah, so, you know...
• 19:26
  We serve the calendar in so many ways. Like this
• 19:28
  is the GC session. So I'm here and I'm bringing
• 19:31
  part of the Advent Health Orchestra, some of
• 19:34
  our Adventist string players that are going to
• 19:36
  be joining in the Sabbath big finale, Sabbath
• 19:39
  morning, Sabbath evening. And so this is one
• 19:42
  of those kind of, you know, events. And I have
• 19:44
  a lot of things around. I plunk on a guitar.
• 19:48
  Can I just join you guys? You know what? I think
• 19:50
  there's a corner right over there where they
• 19:52
  would love to have that happen. So, you know,
• 19:57
  at a large company like this, we have a lot of
• 20:00
  events, particularly mission related that spill
• 20:04
  into the weekend. And that's kind of how things
• 20:06
  started. So I have a lot of these pieces where.
• 20:09
  I'll need to lead worship music for a Friday
• 20:14
  evening, a Sabbath morning, Sabbath afternoon.
• 20:17
  It might be physicians gathering. It could be
• 20:19
  they've had special meetings and now they're
• 20:21
  going to worship. And so it's an incredible privilege
• 20:23
  now to lean into the things from the past and
• 20:28
  do a variety of types of music and arts. So one
• 20:31
  thing I'd like to just... tell you about is the
• 20:33
  Avent Health Orchestra really came out of the
• 20:37
  dark times of the pandemic. And when folks were
• 20:41
  really hurting, you know, in healthcare early
• 20:44
  on, people didn't know what was going on at all
• 20:47
  and trying to figure out how to move forward.
• 20:51
  And they witnessed a lot of death and they witnessed
• 20:53
  a lot of suffering. And out of that time, As
• 20:59
  the pandemic started to release a little bit,
• 21:00
  we're going to have a conference on mission.
• 21:02
  And so I thought, I know that there's a lot of
• 21:04
  string players around here. If I could get some
• 21:06
  of them together, I'd like to play a piece to
• 21:09
  honor all those who have passed away, both in
• 21:12
  our communities, in our company. And so we did
• 21:16
  the Barbara Adagio, a piece that's been known
• 21:18
  for national times of mourning. We recorded this
• 21:22
  and we played it online, as many things were.
• 21:27
  near the end of the pandemic. And it struck a
• 21:29
  chord with a lot of people. And so particularly
• 21:32
  our company CEO, and I asked him if I could have
• 21:35
  permission to grow this to a full symphony orchestra
• 21:38
  of healthcare workers. And he said yes. And so
• 21:42
  we have become now for three years, just this
• 21:46
  incredible group focused on... resilience among
• 21:50
  health care workers. We're the only health care
• 21:52
  system that has an orchestra. Because of who
• 21:57
  we are, we have all kinds of people that work
• 21:59
  for us. We have a number of Adventists, but we
• 22:01
  have other people of faith traditions. So it
• 22:03
  gives us an opportunity to work together for
• 22:05
  these common goals. And so some of them are here,
• 22:09
  but we had the opportunity to perform at the
• 22:11
  Kennedy Center in February and at a national
• 22:15
  festival. And it's a really unique opportunity
• 22:18
  to tell the story. Some of the things that you
• 22:21
  do, Chris, you know, creative ways that we can
• 22:24
  tell the story. And that's really what we're
• 22:27
  all about. How can we tell Christ's story through
• 22:30
  the arts? How can we tell it connected to spirituality
• 22:32
  and worship? And so all of these things are,
• 22:35
  God gives us this creative ability. And if we
• 22:40
  can be bold on this adventure and find the right
• 22:44
  partners, connect with them, what a beautiful,
• 22:47
  colorful story this is. Amen. What a great way
• 22:51
  to describe that. And that's your mission. That's
• 22:55
  what you're doing every day. I think you love
• 22:58
  what you do. God is good, my friend. You know,
• 23:02
  if I were to kind of wrap this up with some scripture,
• 23:04
  I would think about Matthew 6 and Jesus saying,
• 23:10
  you know, put the kingdom of heaven first, and
• 23:16
  all of these things will be added unto you. And
• 23:19
  so once I, again, going back to my story, once
• 23:22
  I finally found Christ, it's just one thing,
• 23:25
  one exciting adventure after the other, and I
• 23:29
  love to serve for the kingdom. And I just, I
• 23:33
  prayed this prayer that Derek Morris wrote that
• 23:36
  book about. It was, Lord, I'm praying for the
• 23:40
  things that I don't know how to pray for. I want
• 23:43
  to pray for the things that I can't see, but
• 23:45
  you can see, Lord. Fulfill that in my life that
• 23:47
  I can serve you. And man, what a great adventure.
• 23:51
  What a positive passage to remind us that things
• 23:54
  are out of our control and out of our sight,
• 23:55
  but God can see and control and lead in all those
• 23:59
  things. I want to come back with one final word
• 24:01
  from you, and I have just... A couple of brief
• 24:04
  questions to follow up with you on. Richard Hickman
• 24:07
  from Advent Health, thank you for being here.
• 24:09
  We'll be back in a moment with more Mission Sunlight
• 24:12
  Chat. Our salvation is a day -to -day matter,
• 24:23
  isn't it? The real principle of the Sabbath is
• 24:29
  reconnecting ourselves with the Creator. We must
• 24:36
  learn to abide in Jesus' name. We move ahead
• 24:39
  with our mission objectives, recognizing that
• 24:42
  we are serving together the Most High God. Welcome
• 24:58
  back to Mission Sunlight Chat here at the General
• 25:00
  Conference Session Exhibit Hall. What a blessing
• 25:02
  to be here with so many other exhibitors. One
• 25:04
  of those exhibitors who has a rather large display
• 25:07
  is Advent Health. Richard, you've been down there,
• 25:10
  and I know you said you're going to be here with
• 25:12
  the Advent Health Orchestra this Sabbath for
• 25:17
  kind of the concluding worship service of this
• 25:20
  over -a -week -long event in St. Louis, Missouri,
• 25:23
  here in the U .S. I'm just curious, how many
• 25:26
  orchestra members were you able to bring with
• 25:27
  you? We've got probably 15 or so orchestra members
• 25:31
  that are going to be here. Okay. And we've got
• 25:33
  an orchestra of about 70 people. Okay. And all
• 25:36
  together, those 15 will join another large group
• 25:40
  from around the world. Yes. of the group is from
• 25:44
  the montemorelos university orchestra in mexico
• 25:46
  okay and then they've got some of the all -stars
• 25:49
  in the denomination that are joining in and then
• 25:51
  we're probably the second largest group just
• 25:53
  bringing this uh group of health care string
• 25:56
  players so there's no judgment in this last sabbath
• 26:00
  the uh the group that was playing It was an eclectic
• 26:03
  group, and they had people wearing traditional
• 26:05
  garb from their countries. I saw that, yes. Loved
• 26:07
  that. But I got a kick out as the camera is craning
• 26:11
  over this group. I see this one lone guy in blue
• 26:15
  jeans and a T -shirt, and I'm like, now that
• 26:17
  is eclectic. That is our church. You've got well
• 26:20
  -refined dress, and you've got a guy who just
• 26:23
  came in and just what he had, and he's happy
• 26:26
  to offer his musical offering. That's what I
• 26:28
  love about our church is there's a place for
• 26:30
  everybody. There is. That speaks, I'm sorry,
• 26:32
  I wish we had another hour because I love to
• 26:34
  talk about culture and context. And, you know,
• 26:37
  we grew up, I grew up in Collegedale a lot, a
• 26:39
  very formal kind of a place. And I moved to central
• 26:41
  Florida, which is very informal. So the tie came
• 26:44
  off. It's hot. It's humid. And, you know, times
• 26:48
  have changed. And so to your point, yeah, it
• 26:50
  is what it is. But I love Jesus even more now
• 26:54
  than I did then. So it's not really about my
• 26:56
  tie. So you talk about Florida. You probably
• 26:59
  know I grew up in the panhandle of Florida. I
• 27:01
  was the music director. Not quite as big of a
• 27:03
  church, you know, a Methodist church. in northwest
• 27:07
  Florida. And I had to get used, I had to retrain
• 27:10
  my brain because out there on the beach. People
• 27:13
  came in flip -flops, shorts, and a t -shirt to
• 27:15
  church. That's right. And for a little while,
• 27:18
  I was a little judgy of them. But then it occurred
• 27:20
  to me, wait a second, they're at church. Yes.
• 27:23
  What a blessing. Amen. Amen. Thank you for sharing
• 27:26
  that. I mean, when you go on vacation, sometimes
• 27:27
  you kind of want to skip church. Here's some
• 27:29
  people who say, yeah, I want to go to church
• 27:30
  while I'm on vacation. Yeah, this is a good thing.
• 27:32
  Praise God. Yeah. Tell me, what's the difference
• 27:36
  between AdventHealth and AdventistHealth? Yeah,
• 27:38
  so our denomination has several different healthcare.
• 27:42
  systems. Now, we have one that is owned by the
• 27:47
  General Conference, and that's Loma Linda. But
• 27:49
  then we have, for instance, also in the West
• 27:51
  Coast, Adventist Health, which is the West Coast
• 27:55
  folks. And then we're in the Southeast, Advent
• 27:58
  Health. Then we have folks like Kettering, and
• 28:01
  there are several others. And so they all...
• 28:04
  were started separately. They're all different
• 28:07
  pieces. For us, we went through this big brand
• 28:10
  change. We were Florida Hospital and then we
• 28:13
  also owned other places. And so as we've become
• 28:16
  aware of branding, you know. This way you could
• 28:20
  go and you could leave your house in Florida
• 28:23
  and you're traveling into Georgia and you'd see
• 28:25
  another Advent Health. And so you know, okay,
• 28:28
  I can get this continuum of care. It's almost
• 28:29
  as awesome as seeing another Seventh -day Adventist
• 28:32
  church somewhere. Okay, home. I recognize that.
• 28:34
  Exactly. And so now they've done a great job
• 28:37
  of kind of bringing us together. But as you can
• 28:39
  tell here at the General Conference, we've partnered
• 28:41
  with all of these health care systems to bring
• 28:44
  forth our unified message of extending Christ's
• 28:47
  healing ministry. Amen. I just want to point
• 28:51
  out Network 7, our governing organization, is
• 28:54
  a supporting ministry of the Seventh -day Adventist
• 28:56
  Church. You hear me talk about my history as
• 28:57
  a pastor working for the church. Now I don't.
• 29:00
  I work for the supporting ministry of Network
• 29:02
  7. We support, we uphold the Seventh -day Adventist
• 29:04
  Church through the ministry that we do. Anybody
• 29:06
  who's watched us very long knows that we produce
• 29:08
  mission stories from all over the globe. And
• 29:11
  that's one of the quarterly features that we
• 29:13
  include in our podcast as well. Jordan and I
• 29:15
  host that program. I want to point out that institutions
• 29:20
  like Kettering and Loma Linda and some of the
• 29:24
  others started as very small little sanitariums,
• 29:27
  20, 30, 40 beds, hospitals helping people improve
• 29:31
  their lifestyle. That was just the basic. And
• 29:33
  then they grew. And I don't remember all the
• 29:36
  history of Florida Hospital becoming AdventHealth,
• 29:39
  but I do know that the heart of these health
• 29:43
  systems. Back to the very basic root is to help
• 29:46
  people live a better life in Jesus. Yes. Yeah.
• 29:49
  Do you remember the beginnings of Florida Hospital?
• 29:52
  Well, I... I know you weren't there. Yes. Yeah.
• 29:54
  But I can tell you a little bit because I did
• 29:58
  along this journey get a master's and a doctorate.
• 30:00
  My dissertation I wrote about the Florida Hospital
• 30:02
  Church because I ended up being there, which
• 30:04
  is a very multicultural context. And so I wrote
• 30:07
  about the music. But I wrote about the starting
• 30:08
  point, which was around 1908. And really it was,
• 30:13
  you know, in the U .S., these kind of medical
• 30:15
  missionaries that had this idea, we're going
• 30:17
  to go down there, we're going to start something.
• 30:19
  And so they started the sanitarium right on the—
• 30:23
  So Florida Hospital was started as a sanitarium.
• 30:25
  Absolutely. I wasn't sure about that, but that's
• 30:26
  great to know. Yeah, sure it was. It started
• 30:27
  as a sanitarium, and then on the back porch is
• 30:30
  where the church started. And that's how a lot
• 30:32
  of these institutions became places and grew
• 30:35
  eventually. Now, of course, there's a university
• 30:37
  there as well, and so it's a vibrant community.
• 30:40
  Amen. Well, thanks for sharing that bit of history.
• 30:42
  One last thing before we go. You have a family
• 30:45
  today. Yes. I think you have two or three daughters.
• 30:47
  Yeah, two daughters. Yes. I've got you outnumbered
• 30:50
  two to one. Oh, my goodness. Oh, yes, sir. You
• 30:54
  know the struggle is real. And so I get to be
• 30:58
  supporting dad and just love on my girls and
• 31:02
  my wife. And sometimes they go huddle up to talk
• 31:05
  about some things, and there's a lot of tears
• 31:07
  in the house at times. But I have an incredible
• 31:11
  family. And you go play your saxophone in the
• 31:13
  other room, right? Exactly, exactly. But, you
• 31:15
  know, my wife is the gifted singer in the family,
• 31:17
  and she passed that on to my daughters. So sometimes
• 31:19
  we sing and perform as a family. They're all
• 31:21
  great. close harmony singers. I treasure that.
• 31:24
  My girls are both in college now, and God is
• 31:28
  good. Amen. Richard, thanks for coming and sharing
• 31:30
  today. Thank you, Chris. Jordan, as we wrap up
• 31:32
  our program today, would you click that microphone
• 31:35
  on and let folks hear your voice and just give
• 31:37
  us a closing word of prayer? Heavenly Father,
• 31:39
  we thank you for this opportunity to hear about
• 31:41
  what Advent Health is doing in the many aspects
• 31:44
  that they reach people into people's lives and
• 31:46
  the many ways that they're changing people's
• 31:48
  lives. I thank you for the opportunity to hear,
• 31:50
  especially how music affects people and how Advent
• 31:54
  Health has used it coming out of the pandemic
• 31:56
  to touch people who were dealing with real loss.
• 32:00
  and how they've continued that to move forward
• 32:03
  and still work to impact people's lives in that
• 32:07
  way. I pray that we'll all look for ways that
• 32:09
  we can use things that aren't traditionally thought
• 32:12
  as ministry in ways to further your kingdom.
• 32:15
  I pray this in your name. Amen. Amen. Thank you.
• 32:17
  Richard, normally when we're in our home studio,
• 32:19
  Jordan is just down the line next to us keeping
• 32:21
  track of all the technology, so try to keep him
• 32:24
  connected there. Let's look at that exhibit hall
• 32:26
  one more time as we remind ourselves that we
• 32:28
  are... I hear some music in the background. background.
• 32:30
  You hear that? Yeah. So you folks at home, I
• 32:32
  don't know if it's coming through on the microphones,
• 32:34
  but we obviously have the hustle and bustle of
• 32:36
  a typical exhibit hall as people are sharing
• 32:39
  their stories about what's happening in ministry
• 32:40
  around the world. But we have musicians here
• 32:43
  and we have people selling accounting software
• 32:45
  for churches and sound system equipment, just
• 32:48
  all kinds of blessed ministry happening here
• 32:52
  at the General Conference session. So thank you,
• 32:55
  Richard, for joining us. Jordan, thanks for keeping
• 32:57
  the technology from being distracting. And thank
• 33:00
  you to our listeners and our viewers who are
• 33:01
  a part of the program today by joining us as
• 33:04
  our audience. We are blessed to have you. Please
• 33:06
  keep us in prayer and remember that we also are
• 33:09
  praying for you. Connect with us at missionsunlight
• 33:11
  .org. That's our program. This is Mission Sunlight
• 33:14
  Chat. This has been a Beeson Brook production
• 33:17
  in association with Network 7 Media Center. Executive
• 33:22
  Producers, Christopher and Rebecca Beeson. Roddy
• 33:25
  Scarborough, Dawn and Nancy Van Ornum, associate
• 33:29
  producers Jordan and Ashley Wagner, Gary and
• 33:32
  Dina Bartle Wagner, your host today, Christopher
• 33:35
  Beeson, director of production and audio engineer,
• 33:38
  Jordan Wagner. To suggest guests, topic questions,
• 33:42
  to pray with us, or to give, visit missionsunlight
• 33:45
  .org or text us at 423 -855 -4877. You may write
• 33:52
  to us at Network 7 Media Center, Box 25468, Chattanooga,
• 33:58
  Tennessee 37422. This has been a production of
• 34:02
  Network 7 Media Center.