Pictured above: IMB President Paul Chitwood addresses attendees during the opening session of MedAdvance at Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Florida. Chitwood challenged participants to let compassion guide their service, reminding them that medical skills and Gospel witness work go hand in hand to meet both physical and spiritual needs around the world. IMB Photo

LUTZ, Fla. – More than 300 health care professionals, students, church leaders, missionaries and volunteers gathered at Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Aug. 13-15 for MedAdvance 2026, a conference designed to help believers use their medical skills and professional expertise to advance the Gospel around the world.

From plenary sessions led by International Mission Board leaders to practical workshops covering various topics of health care missions and cross-cultural ministries, the three-day event challenged attendees to see medicine not simply as a profession, but as a platform for Christian compassion while addressing global lostness.

IMB President Paul Chitwood thanked participants during the opening session for investing their time, travel and resources to attend.

“Whether you’re here to learn how to use your training and skills for missions, or to deepen an existing partnership with the International Mission Board, we’re grateful you chose to spend those resources with us,” Chitwood said.

He reminded attendees that they are part of a much larger effort. “Today we speak on behalf of more than 3,500 adults and 3,000 children in missionary families, scattered across continents, in over 80 countries,” he said. “Those families rely on us to keep the line of communication open, the prayer support strong and the financial backing steady.”

The conference’s missions focus resonated with attendees who spent much of their time building relationships with missionaries serving around the world. According to Tom Hicks, IMB director of global health strategies, those personal interactions remain MedAdvance’s greatest strength.

“We are getting amazing engagement between our personnel and the people who come,” Hicks said. “People linger over the meal because they’re talking so much.”

Compassion at the center

The word “compassion” was clearly emphasized in Chitwood’s sermon from Acts 3, where Peter and John approached a lame man outside the temple. He described the apostles’ experience as a “divine interruption.”

“Compassion must color every decision we make,” Chitwood said. “It is the bridge between the skill set we bring and the hearts we seek to serve.”

Chitwood described MedAdvance as a potential turning point in the lives of those attending.

“My prayer is that this gathering will be more than a networking opportunity,” he said. “It will be a divine interruption, a place where God redirects our careers, our education, our vacations and our very dreams toward His kingdom work.”

He challenged attendees to consider how they respond when confronted with need.

“Life is full of busy intersections,” he said. “We can either drive past the person in need, assuming someone else will stop, or we can pull over, look them in the eye and ask, ‘What do you need?’”

Physical suffering remains critical, but Chitwood reminded attendees of the deeper purpose behind their service.

“Physical needs – hunger, disease, disaster – are urgent, but the greatest problem is spiritual brokenness, the loss of relationship with the Creator. The greatest hope is the Gospel, the message that Jesus paid the price for that brokenness.”

That message was echoed by Jacob Boss, IMB vice president of global engagement, who spoke on Matthew 9:35-37 in the Friday evening session and emphasized that medical care and Gospel ministry are not competing priorities.

“Health care can actually be such a powerful expression of the compassion of Christ because it often takes us closer to people at moments when they know they cannot save themselves,” Boss said.

Stories of transformation from MedAdvance attendees

For returning attendee Tanna Vayon, MedAdvance continues to be a source of encouragement and mentorship. She currently serves as a physician assistant in Fort Myers, Florida, and she has been involved in IMB volunteer missions as a result of coming to MedAdvance over the years.

“I love the people,” Vayon said about why she returns to MedAdvance. “Being around providers who have a heart for the Lord is very rare.”

She credits relationships formed through the conference with helping her learn how to integrate faith naturally into health care practice.

“It has taught me so much about how to share my faith in the workplace,” she said.

Vayon shared a testimony during the Friday evening session, describing how God used a short-term medical missions assignment to minister to a missionary family during a health care crisis.

“I’ll never forget the moment I realized why God had asked me to say ‘yes’ to this trip so many years ago,” she said.

Reflecting on the conference’s impact, Vayon said, “The Lord always works. Every year He will work in a way you never saw coming, or He’ll make a connection that you’ll think, ‘Only Him.’”

First-time attendee Cody Nelson, pastor of 7th & Main Church in Bonham, Texas, described how embracing missions transformed his congregation from 35 members in 2006 to nearly 500 regular attenders today. His church recently sent 55 volunteers to Honduras for a short-term health care mission trip.

At MedAdvance, Nelson discovered new opportunities for his church to engage in health care missions, even among members without medical backgrounds.

“You don’t have to have any medical background,” Nelson said. “The opportunities are there to come in and assist, to provide a resource, to provide another hand to help.”

Connecting calling and practice

One of the most popular themes throughout MedAdvance was the question of how health care workers can actively engage in missions.

In the breakout session “Being a Volunteer Missionary,” IMB staff members Anne Marie Decker and Peter Rush walked participants through the volunteer process, explaining how IMB connects field requests with qualified volunteers. Opportunities ranged from surgery, nursing and dentistry to disability ministry, mental health, public health, community development and education.

Both Decker and Rush emphasized that volunteers can be involved in a wide array of capacities. Whether serving as health care providers, translators, administrators, students or logistical support personnel, attendees learned that mission teams function best when individuals use their gifts to support a broader ministry strategy.

Another breakout session, “Being Effective as a Health care Volunteer,” challenged participants to think beyond clinical skills.

Speakers Rebecca Meyer, Lisa Bursch and Jeri Whitfield shared lessons learned from decades of service and approximately 60 short-term mission trips combined. Both Meyer and Bursch teach at California Baptist University, and Whitfield is an IMB missionary.

Their message was straightforward: effective volunteers arrive prepared, respect field workers, practice cultural humility and focus on people rather than tasks.

Participants were encouraged to learn local customs, understand cultural views of health and illness and remember they are guests in another culture. The speakers emphasized that successful health care strategies depend not only on medical competence but on relationship-building, flexibility and Christlike service.

Other breakout sessions were offered, including topics that covered engaging culture and other religions as well as varieties of nursing service and caring for global personnel.

Committing to support missions

MedAdvance concluded by asking participants to demonstrate how they will commit to supporting health care missions. At the front of the worship center lay a world map, and those in attendance went forward to place commitment cards on the map. The card indicated their commitment to praying, going on a short-term trip or exploring a personal call to mid-term and long-term missions.

Hicks shared that among those attending MedAdvance, 55 percent were first-time participants. He also reported that 48 medical students attended, and the IMB field personnel at MedAdvance represented 814 years of combined service.

For those interested in virtual content from MedAdvance, registration is still open. Click herefor the registration link and for access to content from the plenary sessions and special content recorded just for the virtual session.

For the hundreds who left Idlewild Baptist Church after three days of worship, training and fellowship, MedAdvance 2026 offered both a challenge and an invitation: use the gifts God has given, care for those who suffer and be ready when He calls to step into the lives of others with healing hands and open hearts.