Extending Christ’s Healing Ministry: An interview with Chaplain Jay Perez

Extending Christ’s Healing Ministry: An interview with Chaplain Jay Perez

Read how God uses a hospital chaplain who impacts lives and communities with the healing ministry of Christ.

Derek J. Morris, DMin, is editor of Ministry.

Editor’s note: Jay Perez is vice presi­dent for mission and ministry, Florida Hospital, Orlando, Florida, United States.

Derek Morris (DM): God is using you in remarkable ways to impact lives and communities with the healing ministry of Christ. Tell us how your ministry began.

Jay Perez (JP): I have been in min­istry for twenty-eight years. I come from a family of pastors. My grand­father was a missionary in Central America, and my father is a retired pastor. I spent my first thirteen years in ministry as a local church pastor in Texas and I have spent the last fifteen years in healthcare ministry.

DM: When did you first develop an interest in extending the healing ministry of Christ?

JP: During my last semester in seminary, I faced some health chal­lenges. My immune system had been severely compromised, and I ended up in the hospital. During my first hospital stay, I had some visits that were life changing. Several seminarians came to visit me. I’m sure that they had good intentions. One told me that we were living in the end times and that God knew that some would not be able to go through the troubles of the last days. Another told me that these trials would help me to be strong. A third reminded me that God could work good out of bad situations. Nobody talked about my fear, about my humanity. I just wanted to kick them out of my hospital room! When they left, I broke out in a cold sweat and began to shake. I realized that I had acted in a similar way when I visited church members in the hospital. Later that same evening, one more seminarian came to visit me. He apologized that it was so late. He told me that he was struggling whether to come or not because he didn’t know what to say. He just told me that he was praying for me and that he loved me. When he took my hand and stood silent beside my bed, I realized that God wasn’t going to leave me alone. Three months later, I spent another week in the hospital. A chaplain visited me every day. I was really struggling with issues of life and death for the first time in my life. I was only twenty-eight years old, married, and had two little boys.

Why was my future so uncertain? That hospital chaplain listened to me and I felt God’s presence through his ministry.

DM: How did those experiences impact your ministry?

 

JP: When I finally recovered from my sickness, I wanted to learn more about how to care for people in a hospital setting. That is when I began clinical pastoral education, and went on to become a CPE supervisor. Now I have dedicated my life to helping pastors extend the healing ministry of Christ.

DM: It’s remarkable how God used the visit of that one seminarian late at night and the ministry of that hospital chaplain to shape the course of your ministry. You have served at Florida Hospital in Orlando, Florida, for the past ten years. How has God led your ministry at Florida Hospital?

JP: The past ten years have been a time of continued growth. We have eight hospitals in the Orlando area, with another fifteen hospitals outside the Orlando area. We have about forty-five full-time hospital chaplains within our division who are trained and dedicated. We have another twenty to twenty-five volunteers who help on a daily basis. We also have a Clinical Pastoral Education program. We offer internships, residencies, and supervisory training. The pro­gram has six residencies and about thirty-five interns each year.

DM: How can a pastor learn more about your Clinical Pastoral Educa­tion program?

JP: Just visit our Web site at www .floridahospital.com and go to the Pastoral Care section.

 

DM: I’ve been impressed by the strong sense of mission at Florida Hospital. Talk to us about your mis­sion statement.

JP: Our mission statement is to extend the healing ministry of Christ. We desire to serve with compassion, care, and grace. Every Monday I speak to new employees who are joining our organization. We build trust with our employees and patients. Christ wanted people to know that they were safe and could trust Him. We want to do the same. Secondly, Christ wanted people to feel a sense of belonging. He treated them as if they were part of His family. We also want to treat people with dignity and respect as if they were part of our family. That’s what I experienced from that one seminarian and the hospital chaplain who visited me. They treated me as a person rather than a nameless patient. The third essential element is delivering hope into people’s hearts. Jesus offered hope for the present and for eternity. We want people to leave our hospitals with a sense of hope.

DM: This idea of extending the heal­ing ministry of Christ is part of our heritage as a Christian community.

JP: That’s right. Ellen White said, “Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confi­dence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me.’ ”1

Our employees get excited when they catch a glimpse of our mission. Recently, I spoke with a nurse who is joining our team at Florida Hospital. She came to me with tears. “I’ve been praying for twenty-one years that I could find a place where I could use my nursing skills to extend the healing ministry of Christ. Today I have found that place!”

DM: I understand that you have pas­tors from different parts of the world who come to Florida Hospital to learn about your program and also find a place where they can experience healing personally. Tell us about the resources that are available for pastors.

JP: We are developing a ministry here for pastors who can come for a week and experience both profes­sional development and personal healing. Our original intention was to speak about different skills needed for the healing ministry of Christ­ and those skills are important. But we discovered that pastors also experienced personal healing as they could talk about their needs, hopes, fears, and challenges of ministry in a safe environment. An article published by Paul Vitello in the New York Times on August 1, 2010, noted that pastors now suffer from obesity, hypertension, and depres­sion at higher rates than the general population.2 In the last decade, their use of antidepressants has risen, and their life expectancy has fallen. We’re hoping to offer a program at least twice a year to which pastors can come for professional development and personal healing.

If a pastor wasn’t able to par­ticipate in a program like the one at Florida Hospital, I would encourage them to call a hospital chaplain in their area. Find a safe place where you can feel a sense of belonging and hope.

DM: How are you extending the healing ministry of Christ beyond the boundaries of your hospital campuses?

JP: Recent publications like Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest by Dan Buettner confirm that we have an important health message to share.3 We have devel­oped a resource to help pastors accomplish that mission in their local communities called CREATION Health. We are continually train­ing pastors and lay volunteers to conduct CREATION Health seminars. We have also translated CREATION Health into Spanish and are currently preparing the seminar in Portuguese. You can learn more about CREATION Health at www.creationhealth.com.

We have also developed a Web site that contains other resources: www.healthy100churches.org. Our goal through the Web site is to provide a forum where pastors can share ideas, sermons, and other resources for extending the healing ministry of Christ.

We also host health ministries events. One such event called “Imagine a Healthy 100” will be conducted on November 4, 2011. This four-hour health ministry seminar will feature internationally known leaders, including Dick Tibbits, Debbie Macomber, Les Brown, Steve Arterburn, and Des Cummings Jr. The goal of this event is to inspire people to live long with power, passion, and purpose. Participants learn simple, proven principles for living long and feeling great. They will discover that health is more than the absence of sickness. They will also learn about the vital connection between body, mind, and spirit. Churches can visit www.healthy100churches.org to find out how to become a host for this broadcast or purchase DVDs.

From January 27–February 5, 2012, we will also participate in the NAD Health Summit in Orlando, Florida. Each evening, Mark Finley will be presenting the eight prin­ciples of CREATION Health. Those presentations will be broadcast live on DIRECTV 368 in the United States and worldwide on the Hope Channel.

We are encouraging pastors to take advantage of this resource to invite their congregations and communi­ties to learn more about experiencing life to the fullest.

Jesus wants us all to experience life to the fullest (John 10:10) and extend His healing ministry to others (Matt. 10:7, 8).

 


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Derek J. Morris, DMin, is editor of Ministry.

November 2011

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