Missionary plants church at Texas Medical Center in Houston

Missionary Ben Hays planted a church at the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas, to reach the staff that helped save his son's life.

Church planter Ben Hays and volunteer Andrew Hill prepare for the Sunday morning worship service.

Volunteers Andrew Hill (left) and John Githinji (right) prepare to run sound and media for the worship service.

Ben and Kelly Hays came to Houston after their son, Landon, was diagnosed with pediatric liver disease searching for a cure. After much prayer, they decided to make Houston their home and start a church at the medical center.

“I was sent to find the American dream,” he said.

He eventually found his way to Houston and to a man named Ben Hays, who was in the process of relocating and launching a new church.

“My friends told me about Ben. He was thinking about starting a church,” said Githinji. “Every church I’ve been to, especially back home, I never felt comfortable. I felt like I would have to sit in the pew in a certain way. Sit up right. It was kind of awkward.”

For years Ben Hays and his wife, Kelly, served in local churches, but for many years “missions” had been a recurring thought. Though they “never knew the ‘where’ or the ‘when,’” Hays said.

Then their son, Landon, was born.

“He was this robust 10 pound, 10 ounce baby boy. Looked like the picture of health,” Hays said. “But on the second day of his life, we discovered that Landon was born with a pediatric liver disease.”

Like Githinji’s parents, the Hayses were confronted with the question of how to give their boy a better life through medical care.

“We said we don’t care where we go,” Hays said. “We just want to be seen. We want our son to be well.”

God sent them to the medical metropolis of the Texas Medical Center in Houston as “two extremely terrified young parents going through a really hard time dealing with this illness with our son.”

Multiple surgeries and procedures made the hospital a second home, but it also opened the eyes of these scared parents to the mission work to be done in the Houston medical community.

“God said a couple of things to us through that,” Hays said. “That I’d never belong long-term on the international mission field. And that you don’t have to go to the international mission field. You have one right here in front of you.”

While praying for his son’s health, Hays began praying for the doctors, nurses, technicians and students he passed while walking the medical center’s campus. He soon realized God was calling him to plant a church. The Hayses were appointed as church planter missionaries on April 1, 2008 by the North American Mission Board.

Ben and Kelly’s son, Landon, is doing well now and so is The Church in the Center, which launched in September and meets on the 8th floor at the Hilton Houston Plaza in the Texas Medical Center.

“We felt the need to put the church right in the heart of where the people are,” Hays said. “The chances of the very busy doctor, resident, intern or med student who doesn’t have a car making his way to a suburban church is very unlikely.”

The Church in the Center reaches people from all groups and walks of life. From California to places such as India, China and Africa, the medical center staff is an international community and mission field.

“Some grew up in church but have a huge spiritual vacuum. Others have never been exposed to the Gospel,” Hays said. “There’s a need that cries out for a church that is contextualized for this community.”

For people like John Githinji, The Church in the Center is just what the doctor ordered. The great physician, that is.

“I lit up. Like I was like ‘Wow. This is it. I just knew. It was like one of those moments where God and the Hallelujah choirs all behind you. And I knew that’s where I would be.”

To view a video about Hays and other missionary and chaplain ministries, visit www.namb.net and click on the "Missionary Focus" gallery.

Adam Miller is a writer for the North American Mission Board.

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