By Dr. Ralph Izard, Director of Baptist Medical Missions International

Editor’s Note: Dr. Izard began his medical mission journey while visiting Honduras to serve with Missionary Bobby Bowman. There he fell in love with missions and using his gifts to serve the Lord. When Bro. Bobby returned to the States and began Baptist Medical Missions International (BMMI), Dr. Izard felt led to be involved. Since its beginning, Dr. Izard served with BMMI while practicing as a doctor in Benton, Arkansas. In 2005, at the age of seventy, he retired from his practice, sold his family farm, and moved to Benton to devote his time to BMMI, where he has served as BMMI Director for 20 years. Dr. Izard is known and loved by missionaries all over the world. I recently sat down with him as he explained his love for BMMI, told incredible stories, and shared unique experiences.

The purpose of BMMI trips is to draw a crowd. The missionary can talk to the average person on the street, in their house, and in the community. Everyone is interested in their health, so we listen to conversations.

We go to support the missionary on the field to achieve whatever work he intends, like establishing a church, doing evangelism, or starting a clinic. When people come to clinics, they start in the medical area and before they get their medicine, they go through the evangelism station where someone from the local church shares the gospel with them.  We do this because our purpose is not really medicine, but to introduce them to the local church and to share with them the plan of salvation. We offer hope in Jesus as the best medicine.

Our team serves where we are invited. The missionary sets everything up for us to be there and our mission is to serve alongside them. We do not work independently. Before people see a doctor, they fill out a check-in form. This form contains contact information for each person attending the clinic. It gives the missionary a chance to follow up and let them know we care about them and their health.  When we leave, we know that the real work is just beginning for the pastors. They use the forms to follow up with those they met at the clinic, furthering the relationship between them and the church.  

BMMI has served in 80 different countries around the world bringing healing through the hope of Jesus Christ. We serve in places where we cannot share the gospel in clinics, but again, the pastors will use the forms to visit one-by-one with the people, sharing more about Jesus.

We have a long list of places we have gone on BMMI trips like Honduras, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Cambodia, Vietnam, Ghana, the Philippines, and many more. Many places have asked for BMMI trips multiple times. We did a lot of work in Cambodia and built two clinics there and went to Laos several times. 

BMMI’s biggest impact is doing things for people who have no way to repay you, going places where people have no access to any kind of health care. All my life, I’ve been fortunate because I’ve never done anything I disliked professionally. In my practice, there were doctors who counted the minutes before they got to leave the office. My original degree was in geophysics, but there wasn’t a demand for geologists. So, at the age of twenty-five, I took the MCAT test for medical school and passed it. The world today wants good wages, a house, perfect everything, but I really enjoy practicing medicine and seeing people get better and achieve the goal of good health.

Somebody asked me if doctors really care if people get better. I said, “Sure they do!” You like people to believe in your skills and have confidence that you know what you’re doing for them.

The following are snippets from some of Dr. Izard’s favorite stories:

During a BMMI trip to China, we visited a young man who was very sick in bed and couldn’t get up. He had arthritis in his joints and really bad psoriasis. The family had put him in a small, dark, concrete room in the back because he was a stigma to the family. But I told the family they needed to get the young man out in the sunshine and start him on prednisone. Later, when I went back with the medical team, we saw people at a pharmacy who told us I had a patient who wanted to see me. I couldn’t think of any patients I had in China but went with them anyway. Well, it was the young man I had cared for. He had walked to the medical center to thank me for healing him. 

The most unique place I’ve ever been is also China. First time we went there was back when Hong Kong was independent and you could only get in through customs. We were in this long line when we arrived at the border of China in Hong Kong and suddenly, soldiers came to my seat and told me to come with them. You read all these horror stories about China, but I went with them anyway and they took me through the diplomatic line without checking my baggage. I was waiting on the other side when the others saw me. They were just being respectful, which is very important in their culture.

One time, we were being bombed back when Bush was president. Jeff Franks was a missionary and we went to the country of Georgia to establish clinics in this little old town where they dropped mortars all night. But it was just a warning. The Georgian army wasn’t going to fight the Russian army. I thought we should leave earlier than we planned, so we went down to Tbilisi where a Russian bomb had hit the airport. You couldn’t fly out and the roads were blocked out of Georgia. We finally found a van to take us to Armenia on the border and next to Georgia. So, I called Asatur to help because I knew him. We’d been to Armenia many times. He got us a place to stay and took us out through the mountains. In Georgia, they make a great cheese bread that our driver bought to give to the Armenian guard as a bribe. When we got to the gate, he had been hitting the bottle pretty heavily, and we were way up the mountains when he decided he wanted us to eat bread and drink with him. Well, we weren’t going to drink, but he liked it, and we needed to get out of there. It took him forever to get those stamps in our passports, and the driver was getting madder and madder. But finally we got out and went to Armenia. 

Note from Angela Rice, Director of Short-term Missions: I’m so thankful to serve with Dr. Ralph. A great leader, mentor, and friend who loves life and our missionaries, it’s hard to keep up with him in the office and on the field. Passionate about sharing the gospel, he says it is the primary purpose of BMMI, and that the hope found in salvation through Jesus is better than any medicine.

Dr. Ralph has taught me to find joy in life’s struggles, laugh a lot because it’s good for the soul, and start the day with a good cup of coffee! I learned if you don’t know something, Google it, study it, and research it. He introduced me to mission fields around the world, met physical needs through medicine, and opened doors for missionaries to build relationships. He taught me what a great leader looks like and poured into his love for BMMI and Everlasting Smiles Shoeboxes. Thousands have heard the gospel through these ministries under his leadership, and thousands more will hear it through BMMI in the years to come.  Thank you, Doc, for investing in, encouraging, and praying for me and so many countless others.