Pastor Park Do-won | President of Logos Mission
Many people advised that Logos Mission’s plan to establish a health screening center was not only inappropriate but also a very reckless idea. This was because the organization behind the initiative was not only not involved in medical ministry but was also a complete outsider to the medical field, lacking any experience in this area.
However, Logos Mission conceived this initiative for a very simple reason. Our organization operates the Christian Medical Mutual Aid Society, a medical expense-sharing ministry, to help build a world where Christians do not have to worry about medical bills. Among the programs offered, there is a plan that emphasizes the importance of early disease detection and requires members to undergo an annual health screening. Accordingly, over the past few years, we have arranged for members to receive screenings either in their local areas or in Korea. However, since undergoing health screenings in either the United States or South Korea presented various challenges, after careful consideration, we devised a plan to implement a one-stop health screening system in the U.S. similar to the one in South Korea.
At first, we thought it would be simple and planned to try setting it up on the first floor of our Chicago headquarters building, but the renovation required to convert the space into a medical facility was not only costly but also structurally challenging. We therefore considered building a new facility, but since that would also require an astronomical amount of funding, it was not a decision we could make lightly.
Nevertheless, even though no one had pressured me or made an urgent request, I decided to at least make a tentative attempt to move forward with the project. On a whim, I traveled to South Korea to tour health screening centers operating there and visited several of them. However, rather than gaining confidence after the visits, I actually felt a sense of frustration. Not only was the scale of these facilities overwhelming, but the enormous financial resources required, the need to secure medical staff, and the challenge of finding a suitable location—all of these factors left me on the verge of losing even the courage I’d mustered to push forward based on sheer enthusiasm alone, and I returned home. Nevertheless, in a bid to find even a glimmer of hope, I met with local medical professionals to discuss the matter, but with a few exceptions, they all offered nothing but negative advice.
However, these theories were by no means wrong. Given the situation—where various concerns were raised regarding finances, securing medical staff with U.S. licenses, assembling a management team of experienced professionals, and securing an appropriate location and building, among other things—it was only natural that no one would offer positive advice on my fanciful ideas when not a single aspect had been properly prepared. After that, I had no choice but to offer exclamatory prayers such as, “What should I do?”, “What must I do?”, “Should I move forward?”, and “May Your will be done.”
However, unexpected events began to unfold. The issues that had been causing me worry and frustration began to resolve themselves, one by one. Although it happened suddenly, God sent us a fellow worker we had never anticipated. In connection with this, we signed an MOU with Seoul National University Bundang Hospital—something we could never have foreseen—and were also connected with a California medical license holder. As a result, last November, we were able to purchase a large 180,000-square-foot building in Cerritos, California.
Not only that, but while everyone we spoke with initially reacted negatively, we are now receiving requests for collaboration from various sources, and recently, many organizations have expressed interest. Finally, on April 24, a signing ceremony for the “Consulting Agreement for the Establishment of the LA Health Screening Center” was held at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, attended by the president of Seoul National University Hospital, the president of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, and others, with our association’s representative also present. Since then, teams of specialists from Seoul National University Hospital have been visiting the Logos Tower in Cerritos about once a month to expedite preparations for the facility.
We are now in a situation where we cannot—and will not—back down. We cannot simply dismiss all these facts as mere coincidence. This is because we cannot deny that the God in whom we believe is guiding us. Above all, our goal and hope is that the SL Preventive Medical Center—which, in partnership with Seoul National University Hospital, the pride of South Korea, aims to be the salt and light of the world—will stand tall like a lighthouse in California, where the largest number of Korean expatriates reside, so that the Lord’s work in this era may be made known.
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