Salesforce
MedSend National Scholars
Table of Contents
- Show evidence of a personal and growing relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, have experience communicating this relationship to others, and active involvement in a local church.
- Identify a calling to use your healthcare training to spread the gospel, with experience of and desire to serve among and for the under-served and poor.
- Reflect Biblical maturity in wise management of personal finances and debt, repaying student loans as soon as earnings begin during internship, residency, or practice; and avoiding interest accrual during any grace period.
- Commit to spend at least 50% of your time, and a minimum of 20 hours each week, in the practice of preventive and/or curative healthcare, which may include providing community/public health, health education, or training of Christian nationals seeking to serve the poor through healthcare evangelism.
- Confirm the support of your spouse (if married) and their willingness to complete a spouse application. If your spouse is also seeking a MedSend grant, they will instead complete a full grant application of their own.
- Agree to MedSend’s Statement of Belief
- US medical license, with at least some training and/or residency completed in the US. Immediately eligible professions include:
- Physicians (MD and DO)
- Dentists
- Nurses with at least a BSN (or equivalent) and two years of clinical experience*
- Veterinarians
- Physician assistants
- A bachelor’s degree, plus whatever additional academic study, professional training, and licensing are required to practice professionally in your medical field.
- Other healthcare professions are considered on a case-by-case basis, depending largely on Associate Sending Agency needs on the mission field. Grants have been approved for:
- Pharmacists
- Mental health professionals
- Optometrists
- Physical therapists
- Public health professionals (MPH)
- Hospital Administrators
- At present, chiropractors are not eligible to apply for a MedSend grant.
- Those who will complete their training and licensing within one year of application may apply, although grant payments will not begin until all requirements are complete.
- Loans must be held by a US lender at a reasonable rate of interest. Loans from foreign institutions for education in another country are not eligible.
- Loans must be current, with no delinquencies. MedSend will begin making student loan payments only when loans are current.
- Only educational debt for healthcare training will be eligible for repayment with a MedSend grant.
- Loans from parents, documented with a properly executed promissory note and carrying a reasonable rate of interest, may be considered for repayment with a MedSend grant. Loans in parents’ names, however, are not eligible.
- While MedSend does not limit the amount of educational debt eligible for a grant, the use of debt should reflect evidence of mature financial stewardship.
- MedSend grants are need-based. You may have better options with income-based repayment until you’re eligible for loan forgiveness. Based on missionary salary rates, an income-based payment may be as low as $0 a month!
If God has called you to be a healthcare missionary, you are about to experience one of the most satisfying and challenging careers in the world. You need a time of preparation– developing and reinforcing lifestyle disciplines that include daily Bible reading, prayer, fasting, serving others, and good money management.
- Missionaries buy what they need, not what they want — and they want what they have. Missionaries can’t afford everything they want, but they can afford what they need.
- Missionaries use things up, wear things out, make things do, or do without.
- Missionaries have a conserver mentality rather than a consumer mentality.
- Missionaries don’t shop. They buy with a list of needs and don’t buy anything on impulse. Shopping leads to buying things you don’t need.
- Missionaries always maintain the spiritual discipline of giving to God, but not with borrowed money. Sometimes they can only give by self-denial — giving up a necessity in order to give to God.
- Borrow with great care and for needs only with a budget in hand. Typically, a person with a restrained lifestyle can live on thousands less than lenders recommend.
- To minimize educational borrowing, consider attending the least expensive US school — usually your state university. A conscientious student can get an excellent education in any licensed, reputable program.
- Always think about repayment. Begin making loan payments even before required — as soon as you earn your first dollar if at all possible.
- Only use credit cards when necessary and never for long-term financing.
- Do not make financial investments while in debt, except for employer-paid pensions, IRAs, and other tax saving or deferring investments.
- Trust the Lord to provide at every junction along your path.
- Do not use borrowed money for short-term missions trips.
- Limit giving to a tithe of 10% to your local church
- Avoid giving to other ministries, charities, or missionaries
- Use any extra or unexpected resources to reduce educational debt. Always seek advice from experts knowledgeable in repayment options. Some federally funded repayment plans are based on earnings and not loan balances. These plans can save you thousands of dollars.
From seminars led by MedSend Co-Founder Dr. David Topazian
From seminars led by MedSend President Rick Allen
From seminars led by MedSend Co-Founder Dr. David Topazian
Thanks to the continued support of our generous community of donors, we have never turned away a qualified candidate due to a lack of funds.
Three times a year, MedSend’s Board of Directors awards four-year renewable grants to Christ-following healthcare professionals seeking to serve as healthcare missionaries in underserved areas of the world — including some communities within the US. Each grant funds four years of student loan payments while the missionary remains in the field, and MedSend makes payments directly to the lender.
- January 15 for March review
- May 1 for June review
- September 1 for October review
Applying for a MedSend grant involves several steps:
- Complete a short form to request approval to submit a Letter of Interest — Request an LOI Application. [Form PopUp or Static Form (Option)]
- Typically, a grant seeker has already established a relationship with a Sending Agency or has begun the agency’s application process. If you haven’t completed this step, this is a good time to begin.
- Upon approval of your initial LOI Application, you’ll receive a login to complete the full Letter of Interest, which asks for details about you, your education and training, and your plans for healthcare mission service. You’ll have 10 days to complete this step.
- Upon approval of your Letter of Interest, you’ll be invited to complete a full grant application. Building on responses you’ve already provided, the grant application:
- asks additional narrative questions
- seeks information about your family, your participation in your local church, and their support of your plans
- gathers details about your student loans and your general personal financial situation
- requests contact details for three references: personal, professional, and pastoral
- invites you to upload your CV and photos of yourself (and your family, if relevant)
- confirms your agreement with our Statement of Belief
- After review by MedSend staff, a phone interview will be scheduled with you to give us a chance to get to know each other better. Your grant application will then be available for evaluation by our staff and selected board members if needed.
- Your application and evaluations will be made available to the entire board at the meeting following your selected deadline, and you will be quickly informed of their decision.
- As your departure date nears and fundraising is complete for your grant, you’ll receive a Funding Letter — our formal offer and your acceptance of a MedSend grant. From time to time, fundraising fluctuations may cause a short delay in the funding of your grant.
- Loan payments generally begin when you join the staff of your Sending Agency, usually about a month before your departure. To equip their missionaries effectively, many agencies require a period of language and cultural training before departure, so your MedSend grant covers loan payments during this period as well.
Before your departure and while you are in the field, you may be required to participate in programs designed to support your professional, spiritual, and relational well-being. These programs, designed to help you prepare and thrive in long-term ministry, could include coach/mentoring, wellness assessment, and a biennial retreat. - Leave for the field!
- Each year at the anniversary of your grant funding, you’ll be asked to submit an annual report telling MedSend about your work, your experience in the field, and the difference you’re making in the community you serve.
- Toward the end of your fourth year, you’ll be invited to apply for a four-year renewal of your grant. Unless your assignment or financial situation has changed significantly, you can expect your grant to be renewed for successive terms. Should you need to return early from the mission field for health or other reasons, your grant would be terminated in most cases and you would resume responsibility for your student loan payments.
- MedSend grants are need-based. You may have better options with income-based repayment until you’re eligible for loan forgiveness. Based on missionary salary rates, an income-based payment may be as low as $0 a month!
Developing Spiritual Disciplines →
Don’t Forget Money Management
If God has called you to be a healthcare missionary, you are about to experience one of the most satisfying – and challenging – careers in the world. You will be a warrior for God in a hostile land. Like any soldier, you need a time of preparation – what the military refers to as “boot camp” – and that time should begin now, before you enter your mission field. An important goal of boot camp is to develop or reinforce lifestyle disciplines. As a healthcare missionary, those disciplines include daily Bible reading, prayer, fasting, serving others and financial stewardship or money management.
You may not have thought of financial stewardship as a spiritual discipline before, but it is an element of spiritual maturity that affects all aspects of Christian life. As a Christ follower, you should consider all your resources, including your very mind, to be owned by the Lord. He may allow you to possess or use material things, but ultimately all things belong to Him.
You should also realize that serving and giving can be hindered by financial debt. Debt of any kind commits you to another. Left unchecked, significant debt can influence or even control your career decisions instead of God. Yet you may be among the many healthcare professionals who must borrow significant amounts of money in order to complete their studies. If so, we want to encourage you to remain as debt-free as possible so you can serve God unencumbered.
Before taking any loans, we recommend that you develop and adhere to a financial control plan. Begin with a fairly accurate estimate of how much income you will have available from your student loan account, other income or savings. Then approximate how much it will cost you to live, based on your recent history adjusted to your current situation. Decide how you will disburse your income considering what percentages will go to tithing, taxes, debt repayment, living expenses and necessities, savings and lifestyle.
As you pursue your education, borrow the minimum amount necessary and only to meet your most basic needs. Although some may encourage you to live lavishly, if you believe God has called you to be a healthcare missionary, then you should begin developing a missionary mindset now.God wants you to learn to be content with what He has provided, not beholden to the things of this world.It won’t be easy. You will need great faith and trust to submit to God’s direction in managing your material resources. But be assured that when the Lord called you into healthcare ministry, He had already made a way for you to follow Him. For many healthcare missionaries, MedSend’s educational loan repayment grants are part of that plan. Whether or not MedSend is in your future, one thing is certain: the challenges of practicing financial stewardship as a spiritual discipline will be greatly outweighed by the freedom, joy and blessings that will result!
- by Rick Allen, President, MedSend
Start Living a Missionary Lifestyle
It is never too early to start living a “missionary lifestyle.” By that we mean:
- Missionaries buy what they need, not what they want. They want what they have. Missionaries can't afford what they want, but they can afford what they need.
- Missionaries can't afford what they want, but they can afford what they need.
- Missionaries use things up, wear things out, make things do, or do without.
- Missionaries have a conserver mentality rather than a consumer mentality.
- Missionaries don’t “shop.” They buy with a list of needs and don’t buy anything by impulse. Shopping leads to buying things you don’t really need.
- Missionaries always maintain the spiritual discipline of giving to God, but not with borrowed money. Sometimes they can only give by self-denial – giving up a necessity in order to give to God.
Demonstrate Financial Stewardship
The less you borrow, the easier it will be for you to enter full-time Christian service and lead a victorious Christian life. You will develop habits that insure a lifetime of financial success regardless of how much income you earn during your lifetime. Some tips:
- Borrow with great care and for needs only with a budget in hand. Typically, a person with a restrained lifestyle can live on thousands less than lenders recommend.
- To minimize educational borrowing, it often makes sense to attend the least expensive U.S. school you can, which is usually your state university. A conscientious student can get an excellent education in any licensed, reputable program.
- Always think about repayment. Begin making loan payments even before required – as soon as you earn your first dollar – if at all possible.
- Only use credit cards when absolutely necessary and never for long-term financing. Do not make financial investments while in debt, except for employer-paid pensions, IRAs and other tax saving or deferring investments.
- Trust the Lord to provide at every junction along your path.
- Do not use borrowed money for short-term missions trips.
- If you have educational debt, we recommend limiting tithing to 10% and that you do not support other missionaries. Focus instead on debt-reduction.
More Resources
- Missionary Boot Camp Audio content of a seminar by MedSend President Rick Allen
- Financial Preparation for Medical Missions & Students Audio content of a seminar by MedSend President Rick Allen
- Educational Loans do not have to Dictate the Terms of Your Medical Mission Service Audio content of a seminar by MedSend co-founder Dr. David Topazian
- How to be a Medical Missionary in spite of your Educational Loans Audio content of a seminar by MedSend co-founder Dr. David Topazian
How to Apply
Healthcare remains the only form of access to a Gospel witness in many countries.
Your gift helps activate the ministry of God's people in the field bringing access to healthcare and hope where it’s needed most. Are you ready to join the movement?
