At the 2026 Prescription for Renewal conference in Orlando, nearly 1,000 attendees were encouraged to explore how God might use their medical gifts and skills around the world.
“I want you to be willing to try something that you may have never done before or go somewhere that you’ve never gone before, because God knows the plans He has for you,” said Samaritan’s Purse COO Edward Graham, encouraging attendees from Jeremiah 29:11 during opening remarks at the 35th annual Samaritan’s Purse Prescription for Renewal conference hosted by our World Medical Mission.
Edward Graham, COO of Samaritan’s Purse, encourages medical professionals to explore what God is calling them to do around the world in Jesus’ Name.
The Oct. 1-4 event, held at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld, was a time of refreshing, fellowship, and a call to obedience. More than 900 attendees, including 102 students from eight universities, enjoyed worship with guest artist Josh Havens, lectures from keynote speakers, specialty breakout sessions, and tours through various medical exhibits.
“Whatever your plans are and why God brought you here, I hope you’re willing to get uncomfortable and get outside your comfort zone,” Edward Graham said.
University students who attended the conference were able to connect with each other during the four-day event.
In the days following his bold charge, first-time attendees, seasoned missionaries, and those seeking to start their journey in medical missions heard inspiring testimonies from those who have lived out God’s plan in obedience.
A Family on Mission
Over the last five decades, World Medical Mission, the medical arm of Samaritan’s Purse, has organized more than 17,000 short-term volunteer medical trips and plans to send more than 700 people to serve around the globe this year.
Scott Hughett, director of World Medical Mission, encouraged attendees to consider how God wants to use their skills in medical missions around the world.
“We have all sorts of ways we serve mission hospitals, but at the core of it all are those folks that serve,” said Scott Hughett, director of the program. “The volunteers are the backbone of World Medical Mission.”
The Wilson family is among those who have answered the call to medical missions abroad.
“We were just sitting in your seats four years ago,” Dr. Brad Wilson said, addressing the audience alongside his wife, Dr. Nicole Wilson, and daughter, Reagan. “We didn’t know how to dip our toes in. We were very nervous.”
The couple attended Prescription for Renewal years ago after learning about the conference at an Operation Christmas Child event at their children’s school. After attending, they began to see how they could use their skills as doctors to share the hope of Jesus Christ with suffering people in a medical setting.
Dr. Brad Wilson and his wife, Dr. Nicole Wilson, and daughter, Reagan, talked about their experience serving together in Kenya at Kapsowar Mission Hospital.
“At that conference, we heard how medicine can be used to preach the Gospel to those who may never step foot in a church,” Dr. Brad said.
At first, he and his wife were not convinced they wanted to take their children abroad, but after several thoughtful and prayerful conversations with World Medical Mission volunteers, they decided to take a step of faith.
“His plans are always so much better than ours,” Dr. Nicole said. “So, in July 2023, we took our three kids with us. They were 12, 9, and 5.”
“We want to encourage you to reflect on your story, the experiences that have led you here, and how God might be calling you to serve.”
Over the last three summers, the Wilson family has returned to Kenya to serve at Kapsowar Mission Hospital.
“The more we go, the more we want to be a part of what God is doing,” Dr. Nicole said. She also urged attendees to consider taking a step of faith and ask God where He might be leading.
“We want to encourage you to reflect on your story, the experiences that have led you here, and how God might be calling you to serve,” she said. “Take steps of faith to renew your passion and calling. Bring your kids along for the ride, and see how, as a family, you can be part of the Kingdom work that’s happening across the globe at mission hospitals.”
A Testimony of Hope
Keynote speaker Dr. Ethan Helm, one of more than 200 World Medical Mission post-resident physicians, shared about his experience serving two years at Mbingo Baptist Hospital in Cameroon in our Post-Residency Program. Then the Lord called Dr. Helm and his family to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where he now serves as the senior vice director at Hebron Medical Center.
Dr. Ethan Helm was a World Medical Mission post-resident physician. He shared about his experience serving two years at Mbingo Baptist Hospital in Cameroon before the Lord called him and his family to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where he now serves as the senior vice director at Hebron Medical Center.
Dr. Helm received an enthusiastic round of applause after his powerful testimony of overcoming hardship, starting with his Stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis in high school. At the time, his prognosis gave him a 50% chance of survival.
“I was angry. I wrestled with God. My story is not that I had great faith during my affliction, but that Jesus Christ was faithful to me when I felt faithless,” he told his captivated audience. “Through the power of God, He transformed cancer into one of the biggest blessings of my life.”
It was a trip to Kenya with a professor from medical school that solidified Dr. Helm’s call to medical missions. Looking back, he said, he would give himself the high school superlative of “least likely to become a medical missionary.” But he said the Lord directed his steps, and, not long after, he quickly realized God was calling him to do just that.
“Medical missions gives us the privilege of caring for both the immediate suffering before us and the deeper spiritual need of every person to know Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.”
“At first, my motivation was to alleviate human suffering, but as I grew as a Christian, I realized that there is a disease much worse than cancer. Everybody has it, and it is sin,” he said. “Jesus is the only cure. Repenting of your sins and believing in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is the only medicine that brings eternal life.
“Medical missions gives us the privilege of caring for both the immediate suffering before us and the deeper spiritual need of every person to know Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.”
Neighbor Serving Neighbor
The conference included scores of educational breakout sessions covering topics such as infectious disease and outbreak response, dentistry, leading medical teams, and serving in difficult settings, along with a number of spiritual enrichment classes. Attendees could also browse exhibits, including our Community Medical Outreach (CMO) tent, a domestic program that launched in March 2025.
Various configurations of our mobile medical units were on display for attendees to learn how our teams work in the field.
Our CMO projects are hosted by local partnering churches where our medical teams provide free dental, vision, and medical care in underserved communities around the United States. During those outreach events, patients are also cared for and encouraged from God’s word by Billy Graham chaplains and ministry team members.
Attendees heard from Shaun and Greta Greeson, who work in missions at The Lamb’s Chapel in Burlington, North Carolina—a CMO partner church.
After sharing her inspiring testimony of living with spina bifida from a young age and eventually starting nursing school at age 40, Greta described her call to medical missions and her experience on the Disaster Assistance Response Team with Samaritan’s Purse. Her most recent deployment was to our field hospital in Venezuela after two back-to-back earthquakes struck the northern coast.
“I developed a strong desire to serve through medical missions, especially in places where people and children with disabilities are often overlooked,” she said. “I wanted to help people see that God created each of us with a purpose, and that every life has value in God’s eyes.”
Two years ago, during the 2024 Prescription for Renewal conference, the couple said they learned about the CMO clinic and felt compelled to get involved. They began to pray that God would open the door for their church to host an outreach event.
“I developed a strong desire to serve through medical missions, especially in places where people and children with disabilities are often overlooked.”
Shaun said that God answered those prayers.
“All we did was start praying and realized we wanted to touch the lives of people in our community,” Shaun said. “God just put all the steps together. Our church got behind it. People stepped forward.”
The Greesons encouraged not only health professionals but anyone with a willing heart to serve at a CMO.
“There’s something for everybody in this room,” Shaun said. “Whether you’re a doctor, a nurse, a dentist, an optometrist, or whether you can translate, there’s something for you to do at CMO. We want you to get involved.”
The Necessity of Hope Renewed
Bible teacher Anne Graham Lotz, president of AnGeL Ministries and daughter of Billy and Ruth Graham, shared three messages themed around her book The Vision of His Glory: Finding Hope Through the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Bible teacher Anne Graham Lotz encouraged attendees to look heavenward in difficulty and toward our future with Jesus Christ.
During the general session Friday morning, Lotz encouraged believers to face adversity and challenges with faith and courage. She urged them to look upward to Jesus, inward to what He sees within them, and forward with hope as they await eternity with Him.
“I want to share with you the necessity of having our hope renewed as we stay focused on Jesus in the midst of this crazy, corrupt world that’s filled with conflict, disasters, and disease,” she said.
She drew from the book of Revelation, reminding attendees of the time in which the Apostle John was writing. It was the first century, and Christians were being persecuted for refusing to worship the Roman Emperor Domitian.
“It was at that moment that God revealed to the Apostle John the vision of the glory of Jesus Christ for the whole purpose of giving hope to the hopeless and giving us a reason to get up in the morning and do what you do on the mission field and tell people about Jesus,” she said. “Because the book of Revelation gives us the end of the story.”
Anne Graham Lotz reminded listeners that God is in control and charged them to remember their “first love” (Revelation 2:4), no matter where He calls them.
“My prayer for you is that you would be renewed in your hope as you focus on Jesus, focus on Him through His Word, focus on Him through His worship,” she said. “One day we’re going to stand before Him and He’s going to make sense of all these things that we don’t understand today. We look forward to our heavenly home, and I want to take as many people with me as I can.”
The conference was a refreshing time of worship and learning.
