New Staff Joins Luke Society
Kuiper is New Director of Ministry Development
I am very pleased to announce that Dr. Gregory Kuiper has joined the Luke Society central office team, leaving his medical practice in Luverne, Minnesota, to serve with the ministry of the Luke Society full time.
Thirty-three years ago, Greg Kuiper and I sat in the same high school chapel service listening to Dr. Peter Boelens talk about the Luke Society and mission work. Dr. Boelens described the call and vision he had for medical missions, and he challenged us to consider whether God might be calling us to mission work as well. As we look back on that first exposure to the Luke Society, we can see God’s hand in preparing us for work in this ministry. And we can see how He has continued to lead.
Greg was a high school sophomore at that time, and I was a senior. We didn’t know each other well then, and we followed different paths to college and medical school. But we ended up in the same Family Practice residency program where we became better acquainted and recognized a common bond we had in our Christian faith and interest in medical missions.
Subsequently, Greg became involved with the Luke Society in several different ways. Directly out of his residency he served in a Luke Society affiliated medical clinic in the Mississippi Delta. Then he served on the Luke Society Board of Directors, and more recently, he and his wife, Margaret, have been the Partnership Ministry Team for Dr. Susie Cayaon in the Philippines. Greg and Marg live in Luverne, Minnesota, and have three children, Christopher, Sonya and Janelle, who will all be college students this coming year.
Greg joins the Luke Society team bringing with him a passion for sharing the Gospel along with a long history of understanding and supporting the Luke Society vision for empowering indigenous Christian health professionals. This comes at a time when the Luke Society has experienced a large amount of growth, almost tripling the number of ministry partnerships in the last nine years. But even more exciting is the way God has positioned us to respond to more opportunities for developing ministry partnerships.
This past year, Dr. Julius Surjadi became the first Luke Society Regional Coordinator for Asia, Dr. Jose Luis Guerrero became Regional Coordinator for Central America, and Dr. Apolos Landa returned from sabbatical to serve as Regional Coordinator for South America. Dr. John Boateng continues to serve as Regional Coordinator for Africa and Dr. Pal Oroszi as Regional Coordinator for Europe. Our Regional Coordinators serve a crucial role in bridging the cultures to our existing ministry partners, but they also provide in-region representation, which dramatically increases our opportunities to find the high caliber Christian visionaries with whom we seek to partner. Dr. Kuiper’s role as Director of Ministry Development will prove invaluable as we seek to follow where God is leading.
Dr. Kuiper joined me just recently on a trip with Regional Coordinator Dr. Pal Oroszi to the ministry in Transcarpathia, Ukraine, and Rivne, Ukraine. Despite his familiarity with the Luke Society, this visit in his new role brought a different perspective. In light of the disasters in Myanmar and China (which occurred while we were on this trip), he was impressed with “the urgency and the opportunity” we have at a time when “the harvest is plentiful.” He spoke of the urgency with tens of thousands of people losing their lives in these tragedies without the saving knowledge of Christ. He also noted the opportunities for ministry that we now have in countries such as Ukraine, which were not available in years past. We witnessed and heard of so many people who are still lost and hurting. Almost 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the effect of that atheistic ideology persists. In Rivne, many young people are trying to fill the emptiness in their lives with drugs and alcohol. But we were again inspired by the marvelous hope which is available in Jesus Christ.
Greg also commented on the great privilege we have to play a part in God’s work through the Luke Society. It is a great privilege to work in His harvest field, to partner with His servants, and to bring physical comfort and the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ to those who are harassed and helpless. It is a privilege we all feel at the Luke Society, and we are thankful for your part in equipping us to carry out our calling.
Wrede Vogel, MD