Mission Still a Priority for Adventist Health Systems

Five CEOs present united report on mission at GC Session.

July 29, 2025 | St. Louis, Missouri, United States | Jarrod Stackelroth

CEOs of the five Seventh-day Adventist health-care systems based in North America presented an unprecedented report as part of the Global Mission section on Saturday afternoon at the General Conference (GC) Session in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.

“It [was] an opportunity for the five of us to say, collectively, that we care about the mission of healing, the church connection, and reaching out and being part of the church community,” said Kerry L. Heinrich, president/CEO of Adventist Health, located on the West Coast and Hawaii.  “We want to make the point that we care about the mission of health for the church.”

This report is believed to be the first time the five systems have presented at a GC Session and collaborated in such a way.

“Mission drives us every single day,” said Garrett Caldwell, executive director of external communications for AdventHealth, based in Florida, who also presented during the report. “We know that, but we had never had a chance to share that story.”

Touchpoints

Representing more than 100 hospitals and treating more than 22 million patients per year, the five health-care systems are separate entities, whose boards are chaired by union leaders or the General Conference, in the case of Loma Linda University Health.

“We’re often the first touchpoint that anyone will have with Adventists if they’re not a member of our church or not in our schools,” said David Banks, AdventHealth president/CEO. “We see them in the community.”

While health has always been known as the right arm of the gospel in the Adventist Church, the CEOs were eager to remind the world church that mission is still an integral part of their role.

“[The report] gives a little bit of a sense to the church of the activities that are going on every day throughout Adventist hospitals across the country,” said Mike Gentry, president/CEO of Kettering Health, based in Ohio. “And if you’re not working at one, then you probably don’t understand the scope of services that are occurring and the impact on communities.”

“We are five separate organizations, but we’re very united in mission and what we’re hoping to do, so it’s important for us to be seen together,” said Banks.

Christ’s Method

Emphasizing Ellen G. White’s well-known quote of “Christ’s method alone,” the report described how the health systems work to heal disease, positively influence the community, and provide wholistic care.

“The mission of Seventh-day Adventist health care in North America is to be the hands, to be the feet, to extend the touch of Christ’s healing ministry,” said Caldwell.

“For everyone to see this part of Adventist health care is critically important,” said Richard Hart, president of Loma Linda University Health, Loma Linda, California.  “Our health systems are very mission-driven and will continue to be that way.”

“We’re part of the church,” said Hart. “Seeing we are pursuing the same objectives that the church has is critically important.”

Lives Restored

The report included several touching stories from people whose lives were impacted in Adventist hospitals.

“The weight of a long-term disease on people moves from emotional to spiritual at times, even for individuals who are secular,” said Gentry. “So it really gives us a platform just to reach people at a deeper level.”

The crowd applauded several times during the report, including during the story of Mattie, a baby born small and jaundiced, who was not developing properly. At a different system nobody diagnosed the problem: she needed a liver transplant. She fell into a coma, but was saved by the doctors at the Adventist hospital. Her father, during the video, claimed he “went in thinking of it as a hospital and not about the faith-based side. I walked out as a believer.”

“We always aim to deliver excellent care, but what makes us unique is our mission of simultaneously addressing physical, mental, and spiritual healing,” said John Sackett, president/CEO Adventist HealthCare, Gaithersburg, Maryland. “We want people to know that there is a loving God who promises eternal life for the asking.

“When you’re in the hospital,  those moments are sacred to people. Whether they are there for the birth of a baby or experiencing the passing of a loved one, or in other ways having to face the big issues of life, we want to be there to tell them that God loves them through thick and thin, and that there is a bright future.”

Community Impact

Patients are not the only ones impacted by the health systems. Adventist hospitals provide jobs, research, and mission.

“We’re often one of the largest employers in the communities where we operate, and so the [presentation] videos pretty accurately portray the sense of appreciation that people in the community have toward Adventist hospitals,” said Gentry.

“In AdventHealth, for example, 102,000 workers come to work every day under the mission of extending the healing ministry of Christ,” said Caldwell. “Some of them are Adventists, some of them are Christian, some of them are neither, but they still want to extend the healing ministry of Christ.”

“Only about 10 percent of our employees are Seventh-day Adventists,” said Sackett. “So we’re also trying to be a place where all our employees and physicians learn about the character of God.”Beyond Borders

The mission of the systems extends beyond the borders of North America.

“We’re also involved globally—literally all over the world,” said Hart. “With 50 some hospitals around the world, one of my challenges as president of Loma Linda is helping students and alumni to understand and endorse that mission. Engaging them with mission, engaging them with what we call ‘service learning,’ is a way to reach them. Not a lecture in the classroom, but getting involved personally. We have more than 1,000 people who go out on mission trips every year—students and faculty—and that engages  them. It creates what we call “teachable moments” for each one of them as  they step out of their culture and  move into another setting.”

According to Caldwell, the care provided by the five Adventist health-care systems is intentionally wholistic.

“We integrate mental health care into our clinical health care, and we’re working to integrate spiritual care into the clinical setting—we’ve been doing it for several years,” said Caldwell. “If you come into any of our clinical environments, you’re assessed spiritually as well as mentally and physically.  We’re trying to get better and better at it, but it’s very intentional.”

The Adventist health-care systems shared a combined booth in the exhibition hall during the session, and plan to continue increased mission-oriented collaboration  beyond GC Session.

“Part of what we do together is talk about how we can strengthen that work,” said Heinrich. “How can we make ourselves as health-care providers more connected with both our church and our communities?”

For the executive officers of the U.S.-based, Adventist-affiliated health systems, they are committed to show that mission is integral to their work and their lives.

“For me as a dedicated Seventh-day Adventist, I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing than being involved in both the business and ministry of health care, where I’m on the cutting edge of meeting people of all faiths to share not only my personal faith but the work of the Seventh-day Adventist Church,” said Sackett.