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Dr. Mitch Duininck of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is one of those world-traveling, organization-leading, medicine-practicing people that makes anyone listening to his activities and achievements wonder when he finds the time to sleep.
Ready for the list? He’s the president and CEO of In His Image, Inc. and program director of In His Image’s residency program. He’s also CEO of Good Samaritan Health Services and In His Image International, both located in Tulsa, OK. He’s a family doctor, a father, grandfather, and a frequent medical missionary. He’s lived in Africa and the Middle East and done medical missions in over seventeen nations.
“What drives him?” you may ask.
We can sum it up in three words: the Great Commission.
The Great Commission
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 NLT
When it comes to fulfilling the Great Commission, Dr. Duininck very passionately says, “We all have a responsibility for the Great Commission…. The question is not ‘Should we be involved?’ but ‘How should we be involved?’”
For Dr. Duininck, going and making disciples often looks literally like going to the nations, but often it also looks like sending and multiplying.
But only as long as it has an eternal impact. Despite his commitment to going, sending, and multiplying, he’s emphatic that going and serving is not enough.
“[W]e are very committed not to just doing humanitarian work,” he says. “We really want to do good things, but then be open and honest and declarative about the truth of who Jesus is and about his love for them and the truth about the kingdom of heaven. Otherwise, we're just doing nice things for people. We feel good, but nothing eternal gets accomplished.”
Going: putting motion to the Gospel
By the excitement in his voice and the track record of continual going, it’s easy to see that Dr. Duininck’s passion is going and using his medical and leadership skills to help individuals and organizations.
Dr. Duininck has put feet to the Gospel by doing medical missions and crisis response trips all over the world. In addition, he and his family have lived in Ghana for two years, serving at a mission hospital, and one year in Afghanistan training physicians in a residency program.
Sending: be the helpful hands
In His Image International sends out students and medical professionals, often in a crisis response capacity. “There are times when I may not personally go, but we may send other folks and then we help them prepare and help them get ready and we facilitate them or we take care of the work.”
“If people don’t have the ability,” he adds, “the skillset, [or] the desire to go, then what we ought to do is help other people to it. And then it’s really a partnership.”
One thing Dr. Duininck points out is that when people give their financial resources to those who go, those resources usually come from working. “So, then you are giving your time and your energy and you’re pouring out your life.”
As anyone who has organized a mission trip knows, there is a lot of work that goes into getting a team ready. Even more so when it comes to crisis response teams, due to the urgency. It becomes an all-hands-on-deck scenario. But without the many hands, those who go would be unable to launch.
Multiplying: when you can’t go or help, give
At the end of the day, the currency through which givers, senders, and goers operate in is love.
“I’ve got friends who say, ‘I can’t go to Afghanistan, I can’t go to Africa, but I’ll help you go. And when you go, I go, because I love the people like you do.”
As a regular donor to Blessings’ Medicines for Nations fund, Dr. Duininck multiplies the work he can do because it helps numerous people take medicines in Jesus’ name.
“I think we are blessed with resources and resources beyond what we need for our both our own lives and for the lives of the ministries that were a part of. So, we feel very blessed and I think also very responsible to be generous, to be charitable, and to help others who are really doing significant work for the Kingdom of God. And I think with Blessings International, we've always felt there's a great deal of integrity there. There's a great deal of passion to serve, to care for the poor, to care for the needy. Those are very linked together.”
When people are wanting to further the Great Commission through financial gifts, givers help the goers, even as the goers help the givers by being a conduit through which resources bless others.
A Massive Mandate Made Possible
Dr. Mitch Duininck is an example of what many wish we could be and also the representative of many people doing similar work. We’re so thankful for his partnership, his passion to serve, and his heart for Jesus and the Great Commission.
Whether you’re going like Dr. Duininck and his family, sending like In His Image International, or multiplying like our faithful donors—or whether you’re doing a mixture of all three—your efforts are vital. Together, we work toward a mission far greater than ourselves, our organizations, and even the millions we serve together. The Great Commission is a massive mandate, and amazingly, God allows us to take part.
If you would like to multiply with us, helping those who send and go, please give at blessing.kindful.com.
"We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give."
-Winston Churchill
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