Reaching the Unreached

David Ravdin may be the new doctor in town, but he’s made quick work in making a big impact on the communities of Denton County, and not just with his practice, Compassion Family Chiropractic. As a member of The Village Church, Dr. David was recently presented with the opportunity to travel to Kenya on a mission of reaching the unreached.

After three days of travel, Dr. David and his fellow health care providers arrived in Africa. Upon arrival, Dr. David spent four days spreading the love of Jesus through the team’s care ministry. “We set up four different camps in four different villages of the Digo tribe in Mombasa,” Dr. David said.

In these camps, so many different kinds of medical assistance were offered to the Digo people from general care, to wound care, to chiropractic care. “We spent four days taking care of people who have never had any sort of health care,” Dr. David added. “ Some of these people were coming in with huge wounds.”

Dr. David spent the first three days offering his chiropractic services to the Digo people and the results were truly unbelievable to the villagers. In fact, on the last day of Dr. David’s care mission something truly amazing happened.

When it came to the villagers receiving chiropractic care, there was a specific process that they had to go through. They would have to go through preliminary care, see a health care provider, and then the provider would send them to Dr. David with the correct paperwork that proved that they should be there. However, on this fourth day, things took an unexpected turn that ended up being a huge blessing. “Over the last few days, enough people had seen chiropractic care for the first time and had gotten awesome results that they went out and told their friends about it,” Dr. David said. “There was a line of people waiting for our care that had not been through the process. We basically built a referral-based practice.”

This last day really aided in the true mission and purpose of this care mission which was to help local followers of Jesus to reach the unreached and to open doors for the Digo people to learn more about Christ and the gospel. Dr. David and his fellow caregivers were able to do this by loving on them and providing so much better care than they had ever been able to receive. And through that, they were able to connect these villagers with local disciples of Jesus that could continue to pour into them after the care mission had ended.

“This trip wasn’t so much about sharing the word of God,” Dr. David added. “The local leaders have learned over time that the villagers in that area really aren’t receptive to quick sharing of the gospel. So we loved on them and put them in contact with local disciples who could share the love of Jesus over time.” This ultimate goal is what The Village church truly wants to achieve with these missions. They want to make sure that wherever they travel, the locals will continue to grow in the love of Christ after they are gone.

When it comes to spreading the good news of Jesus in a mission setting, there really is no limit to how people can serve. “Whatever your skill is, there’s always a way to get the word of God to those who don’t have access to it,” Dr. David added. These missions don’t always look like permanently moving overseas. Sometimes they look like Dr. David’s soul-touching trip to Africa. However, if you are feeling called to serve, there is always a way of reaching the unreached.

If you’d like more information on how you can serve, you can email Brian Walck at Bwalck@thevillagechurch.net