Gordon* lay in the antiseptic, white world of the Veterans Affairs Hospital facing fears that his doctors could not calm. They had just removed his cancerous stomach and part of his esophagus.

At the same time, medical students Gemma Miranda and her partner for the day, Jessica Vanden Bosch, moved from room to room, practicing patient interaction and taking "spiritual histories"—a series of non-threatening questions giving patients an opportunity to explore their relationship with God.

When the pair got to Gordon, he freely revealed the fears and desperation that trailed his cancer diagnosis. When the spiritual-history questions led Gordon to examine his spiritual diagnosis, he told them he had no relationship with God. That changed when Gordon prayed with Gemma and Jessica, giving his life to Jesus. "I've never been a religious man," said Gordon, choking out his words while tears blurred his vision, "but I know God saved me for a purpose." The doctors had given him three years to live. God gave him eternity.

Gemma and Jessica had never helped anyone receive Christ before. That 's why they joined 26 other medical, nursing and pharmacy students on the Health Student Summer Mission Project, sponsored by the Medical Strategic Network, a Campus Crusade for Christ affiliate ministry. The students had come to Southern California from 14 states and two foreign countries to learn how to fuse their faith into their future medical practices.

"Doctors are so immersed in the medical model that they don 't think about the fact that their patients sometimes have more than physical problems," says
Dr.Stan Shu, a pediatric neurologist at Loma Linda University Medical Center and project faculty member. Dr. Shu and other mentors help the students broaden their views and give patients like Gordon a new dimension in treatment.
A new dimension for patients like Gordon who have terminal diseases, and for patients like Maria*, an angry woman who came to the VA to have a wart removed. Jessica engaged her with a spiritual-history questionnaire, and Maria also came away a new believer in Jesus.

Spiritual topics come naturally to Gemma. Her parents immersed her in both Christianity and medicine since her birth. Filipino immigrants and doctors (a pathologist and a radiologist),her parents named her after the first Filipino Miss Universe. They made sure their three children experienced Christianity through the family faith, Christian schools and church.

"I always just assumed that I would be a doctor," says Gemma. She came to the project to become more confident in sharing her faith —an objective quickly met after just a few experiences with patients and their spiritual histories. But the life-changing lessons came as an unexpected bonus.

	Learning Together | Project students received classroom instruction on both career and personal matters with Campus Crusade staff member Bob Mason.

As the students learned to give their patients "whole-person care," they also learned how to treat themselves as whole people —easy to forget, with the pressures of school and the demands of their future profession.

Mentors play a big role in modeling this. Dr. Harvey Elder, a specialist in treating infectious diseases, started seeing his patients as whole people after becoming involved with MSN. After attending his first Medical Evangelism Training and Strategies Conference 12 years ago, he heard Bill Bright, Campus Crusade 's founder, explain to the attendees how to become a Christian. Although Dr. Elder had been a church member for years, he was stunned when Bill told those making decisions to receive Christ, "You never have to do this again."

"Up until then, I had spent my whole life trying to make God like me," says Dr. Elder. That assurance revolutionized his walk with God, and the principles taught at the METS conference forever changed his medical practice. Freed to reach out instead of constantly working to make himself presentable to God, he began seeing his practice as a mission.

"I believe God has called each of you to medicine," Dr. Elder tells the summer-project students, "not so you can earn a quarter million dollars a year, but to advance the kingdom."

To help the students absorb that, the faculty led them through a concentrated four-week curriculum with 14-hour days of hard work and equally intense play. For four days each week students hear from doctors and Campus Crusade staff members in a classroom setting and small groups, on subjects like ethics, solitary times with God, and even how to have godly relationships with the opposite sex. The rest of the day they spend shadowing Christian doctors in their practices, or visiting patients to conduct spiritual histories. And one day a week they play, enjoying the local culture at the beaches in La Jolla, Calif., at Disneyland and at baseball games. Weekends are reserved for personal worship and church attendance.

The result for the students is a lifetime perspective shift from being a professional medical-care provider to being a missionary who happens to be a health-care provider —a subtle but profound difference. "I've made lifetime friends here," says Gemma, flashing her quick, broad smile, "and the format here, bringing up spiritual histories, made me feel so comfortable sharing my faith."

One of the biggest surprises of the project for the second-year student came as she learned how much the patients enjoyed and appreciated the questionnaires. Not all received Christ, but everyone willingly participated and not one became offended or angry. "In 12 years I've only had four people get mad," Dr. Elder says. "During the same time I've had more negative reaction to penicillin."

Opposition is much more likely to come from peers rather than patients like Gordon. So students receive both encouragement and instruction in protecting their own fellowship with God and in finding others at their school who share their passion. Each student is assigned to a small group with others from their area to make it easier to stay in touch and encourage each other when they return to school.

But school was far from Gemma and Jessica's thoughts as they left Gordon with a Bible. Looking past their studies and walking quickly to the next room, they prayed for the patient who lay waiting with needs beyond just medical care.

For more information on the Medical Strategic Network, call (909)881-2844 or visit www.gomets.org.

*Patient names have been changed to protect confidentiality.