Faculty members participate in Nairobi conference
Recent participants in a 10-day health convention for ministers, health workers, educational workers, youth leaders, and stewardship directors for East African Division of Seventh-day Adventists were LLU representatives D. Robert Johnson, MD, associate clinical professor of orthopaedic surgery; Harvey A. Elder, MD, professor of medicine; and James M. Crawford, DDS, executive associate dean for the School of Dentistry.
Coordinated by Paul Wangai, Jr., MD, MPH, a graduate of the School of Public Health, the conference was attended by about 500 individuals from 18 countries.
"The goal of this health convention in Nairobi, Kenya, was to bring together a closer working relationship with all segments of leadership in using health as an evangelistic tool," says Dr. Johnson.
"There were plenary sessions and special interest group sessions such as nursing, education, library, health and temperance leaders, dental, medical, stewardship, and ministerial," Dr. Elder states. "Nutrition and AIDS were two of the major topics discussed."
Walter Pearson, Jr., associate ministerial department director and speaker for the Breath of Life television program, was the devotional speaker for the convention and also the evangelist for a series of meetings held in Nairobi that were running concurrently with the health sessions.
In 1988, Dr. Wangai started a new church in the center of Nairobi. Pastor Calvin B. Rock, DMin, PhD, vice president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and chair of the Boards of Trustees for Loma Linda University and Medical Center, held an evangelistic effort with the result of 1,000 individuals being baptized.
One hundred individuals remained in this church, which was the beginning of a university-level church, while the others joined other churches in the Nairobi area.
Today, there are 3,500 members of the university church, 80 percent of whom are university graduates. Seventy percent of the members are between 17 and 32 years of age. Dr. Wangai is the first elder.
Dr. Wangai has been instrumental in bringing 600 people into the church in the past few years. The city blocks off the street when the church is dismissed because of the tremendous traffic jam.
"Dr. Wangai is acquainted with almost everyone who is of any importance in Nairobi," Dr. Elder points out. "He has introduced Christ to many of the leaders in Nairobi and throughout Kenya."
John A. Scharffenberg, MD, a former faculty member in the School of Public Health, spoke to approximately 14 community groups in the week prior to the health convention. During his stay in Nairobi, Dr. Scharffenberg spoke to the Young Presidents' Organization--a world club with a chapter in Kenya.
Members of this club are individuals who made their first million by 30 years of age, and each one is president or owner of a large company.
As a result of the convention and the evangelistic meetings, approximately 1,500 individuals indicated an interest in the Adventist church and healthy lifestyle.
"Convention goals of getting the ministry and health workers to work together in community outreach work, and to use health as the right arm of the message, were achieved," Dr. Johnson says.
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