I promise this will be the last thing I post regarding anything about New Orleans for the foreseeable future. I’m sure those of you who are in the unfortunate circumstance of not living here might get tired of all the doting and mushiness and PDA. 😉
I just want to point out an amazing ministry we have here which I believe ought to be replicated across the convention. The news itself about Baptist Community Heath Services (BCHS) is impressive but the ministry happening there is the most important thing going on.
This recent report to BCHS partners speaks for itself, but please, if you will be in Birmingham this week for #SBC19, take the time to drop by the BCHS booth in the expo hall and pray about God using you to replicate this ministry in your context. It really is amazing to have watched what has happened here. Kudos to our own NOBA Ex Director, Jack Hunter for birthing this vision, to Shawn Powers for carrying out the task of making the plan work and to Dr. Hannah Pounds (and the other doctors and staff) for caring for people in this tangible and meaningful way. May God duplicate this ministry around our country… and our world.
Dear SBC Partners,
Baptist Community Health Services, a ministry started in cooperation with the North American Mission Board and the New Orleans Baptist Association, was awarded a PERFECT SCORE during its recent three-day intensive onsite federal inspection conducted by the US Government’s Health Resources and Services Administration.
The PERFECT SCORE was determined by federal reviewers based on inspection of BCHS’ compliance with 91 federal elements, under 18 major categories. BCHS demonstrated full compliance in all aspects of the rigorous inspection, which included inspection of the multi-site health center’s practices, policies and patient outcomes involving the center’s high standards of clinical quality, administrative-financial leadership, and board governance. Many of the longest tenured and most mature community health centers in the nation do not achieve a 100% pass rate.
BCHS CEO, Shawn Powers, who is also a commissioned missionary, stated, “A perfect score is very rare and demonstrates God’s continued grace upon this ministry. We are thankful for the many SBC partners, including NAMB and NOBA, who invested in the vision of what is today a thriving Christ-exalting healthcare mission. We pray our many trusted partners and donors see this accomplishment as BCHS’ ongoing dedication to the stewardship of medical mission that has been entrusted to us.”
BCHS is the only federally qualified health center in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward, and the only community health center affiliated with an SBC association. While independently governed, all BCHS doctors and senior staff members are commissioned missionaries of the New Orleans Baptist Association.
In its five years of history, BCHS has shared the Gospel with its patients more than 20,000 times. In partnership with local SBC churches, BCHS strives to meet the medical, behavioral health and spiritual care needs of patients living in medically underserved communities. BCHS also provides 100% free medical care for SBC Pastors, SBC church staff members, as well as their respective families. BCHS provides this give-back as a local church strengthen tool, whereby BCHS believes, “Healthy pastors lead healthy churches and healthy churches help build healthy communities.”
Within the last 12 months, Baptist Community Health was named by the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission as a a Psalm 139 Center of Excellence.
Dr. Hannah Pounds, who is the BCHS Chief Medical Officer, a BCHS Internal Medicine Doctor and a commissioned missionary stated, “In my own local SBC church, First Baptist New Orleans, our pastor challenged us to ‘dare to love this city’ and to be ‘mighty in word and deed to share and show the love of Jesus with our neighbors.’ The vision for what BCHS has become was birthed in the local church, supported by our wonderful North American Mission Board and made possible through the dedication of the New Orleans Baptist Association. If any of those cooperative links had been removed, we would not be celebrating this milestone today and tens of thousands of people would have missed our Gospel witness.”
BCHS will exhibit at the SBC’s upcoming annual meeting in Birmingham, where it hopes to recruit volunteer mission teams to come to New Orleans and to cast vision to other SBC churches to help them launch evangelistic healthcare missions within their churches and respective mission fields.
Because of Christ,
Shawn Power
CEO & Missionary
Baptist Community Health Services
