Dr. Ming Wang: My life story, from darkness to light spiritually, has really taught me that science and faith work together. Science is tools, and faith in Jesus Christ is the purpose work, what we are going to use the tools for.

Healing Hearts: The Impact of Compassionate Service with Dr. Ming Wang & Raeanne Newquist – Episode 423

Narrator: Welcome to the Jesus Calling Podcast. This week, we explore stories of service from two guests who have made it their life’s work to help others. Dr. Ming Wang is a renowned, cutting-edge laser eye surgeon who grew up with a dad in medicine, so it was ingrained in him from an early age to help people. Dr. Wang shares his incredible life experiences—including how he narrowly escaped a life of hard labor while living in China—how his atheist worldview was shaken while in medical school, and how he now helps people living in darkness see light for the first time. 

Raeanne Newquist works in marketing for Mercy Ships, an international charity which consists of two state-of-the-art hospital ships that bring hope and healing to the people of Africa who lack access to safe and reliable healthcare. Raeanne shares the transformations she’s seen in patients not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. 

Let’s begin with Dr. Wang’s story.  

Dr. Ming Wang: I’m Dr. Ming Wang, I’m a laser eye surgeon here in Nashville, Tennessee. I run an eye center called Wang Vision Institute on West End Avenue here. And also, I have a sight nonprofit foundation. Its mission is to help blind, orphaned children from around the world. 

I grew up in China in the 1960s, in a city called Hangzhou, near Shanghai, China. And I encountered what they called the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. For ten years, the government shut down all universities and colleges in all of China and forcefully deported some of the poorest part of the country, and condemned each one of the high school graduates to a lifetime of poverty and hard labor. I was caught up in that. In 1974, I was fourteen. I finished my junior high. I was a good student, I was looking forward to attending high school and beyond when the deportation order came down to me as well, just like twenty million others. I was going to be sent away to a labor camp for hard labor for life.

In order to avoid this devastating fate of being sent away for life for hard labor, I picked up a Chinese violin and learned how to dance. Because if I could play a music instrument like that, or if I could dance, I could get into the government song and dance troupe to therefore possibly avoid being sent away. That did not work.

Then I got lucky. 1976 came along and the Cultural Revolution ended, and I had the chance to apply for college. But I had to practically jump three years ahead overnight, having never attended high school, you know, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth [grade]. I tried to compete against other high school graduates for the one percent chance of getting to college. Fortunately, my parents helped me.

So in 1977, I got into the University of Science and Technology of China—which is like the MIT of China—to study laser physics. Then in 1982, with $50 borrowed from a visiting American professor, with a Chinese English dictionary, I came to America, even though I did not know the language, and even though I did not know anyone, even though I was very poor. But I was happy because I was free. 

“In 1982, with $50 borrowed from a visiting American professor, with a Chinese English dictionary, I came to America, even though I did not know the language, and even though I did not know anyone, even though I was very poor. But I was happy because I was free.” – Dr. Ming Wang 

The Creator Behind Our Vision

After I came to America, I first got enrolled in a PhD program in laser physics at the University of Maryland. I got a PhD degree in laser physics and did a post-OP at MIT. So I was a laser physicist. Then, my childhood dream of wanting to become a doctor reemerged, following my father’s footsteps.

My father was an internist in family practice, so he took care of lots of families and patients. So from a very young age, I was imprinted [with] the attitude of working hard, studying hard for knowledge, and also the heart to help others. 

“From a very young age, I was imprinted [with] the attitude of working hard, studying hard for knowledge, and also the heart to help others.” – Dr. Ming Wang  

I actually studied very hard for medical school. Actually, I was racially discriminated against during that process, but fortunately, I did not give up. I studied even harder. I got into Harvard and MIT, joined a MD program, and in 1991, I finished that. So that was my second doctor degree. First one was a PhD in laser physics, and the second one was a MD from Harvard and MIT.  

I was an atheist before I came to America, as most Chinese are still today in China. I believed only in science because I fought so hard to have freedom, to have the opportunity to study science. And I was not interested in having anything else distract me.

It was at the Harvard Medical School where my atheist worldview got fundamentally shaken, because I was studying the structure of the eye. And I realized that the eye is so complicated. There’s so many neuron cells that it is just simply not possible that it could evolve and form out of randomness.  

So I kept on asking a professor this question, because my atheist worldview could not answer such a basic question: “How can the complicated structure of the human eye form so nearly perfectly most of the time?” Because most of us are born with sight. 

So, the professor eventually took me out to lunch. He, as it turned out, was a Christian. He said, “Ming, what’s across the street?” I said, “That’s a car.” He said, “What’s the difference between a car and a human eye?” I said, “Human eyes are more complicated.” He said, “Okay. Can you imagine a pile of random pieces of metal on the street forming into a car?” I said, “No way.” He said, “How about the human eye?” So right there, he opened the window in my life, making me realize that the reason the human eye is so complicated, but can form nearly flawlessly most of the time, was because it did not form out of randomness as atheists believe. The eyes form with a purpose, with a design, and the purpose is for vision. So I realize that there’s a Creator behind it all.

Bringing People Out of Darkness into Light

After I became a Christian, my life has fundamentally changed, because I realize that science is still important, necessary, but not sufficient. I realize there’s science giving me the tools. But a faith in Christ gives me a purpose for what I’m going to use the tools for. 

“I realize that science is still important, necessary, but not sufficient. I realize there’s science giving me the tools. But a faith in Christ gives me a purpose for what I’m going to use the tools for.” – Dr. Ming Wang 

In my first year at Harvard Medical School in Boston, the professor at Harvard Medical School brought us medical students together to meet up and talk to some patients just to help us understand the life of our patients. And one such patient was a blind lady in her fifties. So we all sat together, medical students around this patient, and we were asking her questions. I said, “So you have never seen?” She said, “Correct, I was born blind.” And I say, “So what does red mean to you?” And she paused for a moment and she said, “Red means something warm and fluffy to me, and blue, cold and slippery.”

At that moment, I realized that the human sense of vision is so indispensable and important. I realized that if as a human being, we walk through life never being able to see, we’ll miss a big part of our experience as human beings. And therefore, I decided I’m going to be an eye doctor because I want to be involved in bringing people out of darkness into light.

I Once Was Blind, But Now I See

It took me thirty-one years to finish all the schooling. So after thirty-one years of studying, I prayed to Christ one night and said, “God, what is it you want me to do, to use my long, hard-earned medical skill and laser skill for?” It was in my prayer that I felt God was giving me an answer, to use my long, hard-earned medical skill to help those who need the most help. 

So I became committed. My lifelong mission is to help regular people to improve their eyesight using laser vision corrections. Anybody between the ages of eighteen and 107, I could help to correct their nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, presbyopia, reading difficulty, and cataracts. But not only that. Part of my life has been committed to helping those people who need the most help. Those are blind, orphaned children. I felt that as a Christian, the biggest difference is God gives us a Christ-centric purpose. God wants us to do something beyond what we normally do for Him to glorify Him. Then that fulfills a purpose that He has given to each of us. The courage and determination of these kids have also helped me, their eye doctor, to come from my own darkness to light, spiritually.

In closing, I would like to read an excerpt from Sarah Young’s book Jesus Listens, December 22nd:

Compassionate Jesus,

You came into the world as a Light so that no one who believes in You would stay in darkness. You didn’t just bring Light into the world; You are the Light that shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it. Nothing can extinguish this illumination because You are infinite and all-powerful!

When I believed in You, I became a child of Light. Your brightness entered into my inner being, enabling me to see from Your perspective—things in the world and things in my heart. When Your Spirit illumines the contents of my heart and shows me things that are displeasing to You, help me to repent and walk in Your ways. This is the road to freedom.

In Your bright, illuminating Name, 

Amen

Narrator: Be sure to stream the movie based on Dr. Wang’s life, called Sight, available at www.angel.com/sight. 

Stay tuned to Raeanne Newquist’s story after a brief message.

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Our next guest is Raeanne Newquist with Mercy Ships, an international charity that operates the largest non-governmental hospital ships in the world. By providing care for those in the greatest need, the team on the Mercy Ships helps restore their bodies with state-of-the-art medical care, as well as their souls, helping people feel valued and worthy of care and attention.  

Raeanne Newquist: My name is Raeanne Newquist, and I am the mother of three children. I have been married for twenty years next month and I have the privilege of working with Mercy Ships. I get to host and produce their podcast. I also do all the radio voiceover work for our Mercy Minute, and have a lot of fun working in the marketing department.  

Mercy Ships: Floating Cities of Healing

Mercy Ships has been around for about forty-five years. In 1978, it was founded by Don and Deyon Stephens. Don grew up in rural Colorado, a little landlocked town, so having a vision or a dream of hospital ships is really kind of outrageous. But that’s what God put on his heart as a teenager, really. And so Don bought his first ship, The Anastasis, and began the mission of Mercy Ships many years ago.

The reality is over fifty percent of the world’s population lives near a coastline. And most of those people are living in developing nations where they have little to no access to medical care. Globally, there’s about five billion people that lack access to safe surgery. And without access to safe and timely medical care, people are actually dying from treatable diseases, which is a tragedy.  

And today, we have the world’s largest civilian hospital ships, where we perform free, life-changing, and in many cases, life-saving surgeries for poor people in sub-Saharan Africa. The ships are pretty incredible. Now we have two ships, The Africa Mercy, and then we also have our newer ship, which is The Global Mercy. The hospitals are equipped with excellent, state-of-the-art equipment. But when you step foot on board the vessels, we have a receptionist that greets everyone and there’s a cafe where people can grab coffees. There’s a cafeteria, there’s cabins where people sleep, there’s offices where people work. One of our whole decks is a hospital, and that’s where all our patients are. There’s decks outside. You’ll find there’s a swimming pool up on the top deck, and there’s just all sorts of neat activities. But it’s really a floating city. Each one of our ships has a fully accredited academy on board for all the children that come to serve with their parents. And we have teachers from all over the world that teach our children. It’s really an extraordinary community to be a part of because our crew come from all over the world. At any given time, there’s over fifty nations represented on board our vessels. So it is this multicultural, Jesus-loving community that all come together with one purpose, and that is to bring hope and healing to the world’s forgotten poor. 

“It’s really an extraordinary community to be a part of because our crew come from all over the world. At any given time, there’s over fifty nations represented on board our vessels. So it is this multicultural, Jesus-loving community that all come together with one purpose, and that is to bring hope and healing to the world’s forgotten poor.” – Raeanne Newquist

Another part of what we do that is so special—and maybe even the most important—is that we have a strong desire to train and equip local health care professionals in the countries where we serve. We have an education, training, and advocacy department that really wants to bolster the health care systems where these countries are, because we’d love to work ourselves out of a job if these people could care for their own and have the skills and training in order to do the surgeries that the people most need in these regions, then there would be no need for us. And that really is our heart’s desire. 

Following the Call to Serve with Mercy Ships

We had actually never heard of Mercy Ships as a family until one of our good friends, who is a kindergarten teacher, was going to volunteer on board The Africa Mercy as a teacher. We were living in Southern California, and my husband was a sergeant with the California Highway Patrol, so he was a law enforcement first responder, and he was nearing the age of being eligible to retire. Now, prior to that, he’s an ordained pastor. He decided he really wanted to get back into full time ministry after he retired from law enforcement. And so we began kind of exploring different options. And he looked at Mercy Ships, and Mercy Ships was hiring a chaplain for two years. And he knew that God was calling him to go serve, and calling our family.  

We got on board in 2019 with a two year commitment. God just said, “I don’t want you to have a plan B, and I want you to trust me completely with this. Are you willing to leave everything behind and go?” And we said, “Yes.” We did end up selling our house, giving away our cars, getting rid of our furniture. We pretty much got rid of everything. And I can honestly tell you I have no regrets in doing that. 

I was so excited to serve alongside my husband when there was really a lot of need for our crew, and that is what we were called to as a family. We were called to come and minister to the crew, who in turn ministered to our patients, and really the Africans in the country where we were serving, which was Senegal. And so we took that very seriously. I led Bible studies on board and did a lot of discipling.  

Obviously, come March of 2020, everything drastically changed and our plans did as well. I was moved over into chaplaincy, which is really my background. When the ship was shutting down and we had to discharge patients in a very rapid manner, there was just a lot of stress and concern on board. A lot of our medical teams were desiring to leave and go back to their home countries as soon as possible so that they could take care of their own countries. And we were left shorthanded, and it was just a very difficult time with a lot of stress and some trauma as well. We were kind of having these 911 calls all the time of, “Okay, the airport in Dakar is about to shut down. If anyone wants to leave, this is the last flight out. Are you going to go?” And the U.S. embassy said to us, “Okay, we have thirty-five seats on a plane that is leaving back to the United States. Who wants it?” And you have to decide right now. And it was just this stressful thing. And I remember my husband looking at me saying, “God called us here for such a time as this, and we are not leaving.” And I just felt complete peace in that moment. Like, I don’t know what is happening in the world with this pandemic, but we do know that our God called us here for such a time as this, to minister to these people that are really having a hard time in making decisions. And so my husband and I had the privilege of offering debriefing to all of our medical teams, to our nurses and our doctors. And we had the privilege to sit in small groups each day for several hours and go through the critical incident debriefing that my husband had been trained in. And it just felt like, God, if for no other reason, you brought us here for this moment because you knew what was going to be needed on board, and you knew that my husband was trained in this specifically. As much as we were so sad to not get to walk out our full commitment with Mercy Ships and continue to live the adventure on board with our family that was so incredible, we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God brought us there to help during a very traumatic time for our crew. And that was a gift that I will never forget.

Bringing Healing to the Far Reaches

With little to no access to medical care, people are oftentimes left to seek out local medical help, and that might be through a witch doctor. That might be through a traditional healer that gives them a bunch of herbs or different rituals to do. These people are often left as outcasts, and they’re just shunned in their communities because people fear that they’re cursed and they’re afraid that they’re going to catch what that they might have. And it’s really a sad thing.  

We do cataract surgery. We do cleft lip and palate surgery. We do plastic reconstructive surgery and also for burn contractures in developing nations. A lot of people are cooking over open fires, and children or even adults will fall into those fires, or part of their clothing will catch fire when they walk by, and they’re left with these horrible burns and maybe hands that are contracted, or arms and legs that they are not able to use because of the burn contractures. And so we release those and have physical therapy for them. And then orthopedic surgery for children with windswept legs or severely bowed legs due to malnutrition or maybe a misplaced vaccine.

Because we are hospital ships, most people think that we’re just a bunch of doctors and nurses and surgeons, and we do have those for sure on board. But really, it takes every kind of skill and talent to operate our vessels. The people that work in the dining room that prepare meals not only for the crew, but also meals for the patients, they’re bringing hope and healing to our patients just as much as the surgeons performing the surgeries are. Our housekeepers that go in and not only clean the ship, but they clean the hospitals, they get to interact with the patients when they’re mopping under their beds and changing their sheets. They have the opportunity to look them in the eye and love on them as well. So it’s not just our medical staff that gets to transform the lives of patients, but every single person on board plays a part. I think the healing oftentimes comes through the surgery, but it also comes through the emotional healing that these people who’ve been outcasts receive when we look them in the eye and we hug them and touch them and tell them they’re valuable and they’re worthy.  

“I think the healing oftentimes comes through the surgery, but it also comes through the emotional healing that these people who’ve been outcasts receive when we look them in the eye and we hug them and touch them and tell them they’re valuable and they’re worthy.” – Raeanne Newquist  

We had one woman named Rugy, and she had been suffering with a fistula for over ten years. She had been abandoned by her husband and her community and her village. And so Rugy went out to live alone in the bush. And every night she would take off her wet dress, and she would wash it and lay it out to dry so that in the morning she could put on a dry dress, but it would only be wet again in a couple of days. And she did this for over ten years, never having contact with another person. Our screening teams go out into the remote villages to find patients that we can care for. And one of our teams found Rugy, and when they brought her on board, it was the most life-changing thing, not only for her, but really for everyone that got to witness her transformation. To watch this woman have her hand held by one of our nurses, Kelly from Australia… Rugy would not let go. She just wanted to hold her hand always, because she had just hungered and craved physical touch so much. And, I mean, we just see it time and time again in all the patients that come on board and really, every single person that comes on board. Their life is never the same again once they stepped foot on one of our vessels.  

Prayers for Patients and Crew

We encourage people to pray for us and to pray for our patients and to pray for our crew. He has gifted each and every one of us uniquely to do great things for our good and for His glory.

This is from Jesus Listens, July 28th: 

Compassionate Jesus, 

I come to You, feeling weak and weary, seeking to rest in Your refreshing Presence. I know that You are always by my side, but sometimes I’m forgetful of Your nearness. I confess that I’m easily distracted by the expectations of other people. If their demands on me are too numerous and weighty, eventually I feel as if I’m carrying a crushing load. 

Today I find myself sinking under heavy burdens, so I’m coming to You for help. I ask You to lift the weights from my shoulders and carry them for me. As I talk with You about the matters that concern me, please shine the Light of Your Presence on each one—showing me the way forward. May this same Light that illuminates my path soak into the depths of my being, soothing and strengthening me. 

Lord, I open my heart to Your healing, holy Presence. I lift up my hands in joyful adoration, eager for Your abundance to flow freely into me. 

I desire You above all else, for My soul finds rest in You alone. I’m grateful that You give strength to Your people and bless Your people with Peace. 

In Your peaceful, holy Name, 

Amen

Narrator: To learn more about Mercy Ships and how you can get involved, please visit www.mercyships.org. 

If you’d like to hear more stories about serving one another with love, check out our interview with Andy Dooley. 

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Next week: Michael Hingson

Next time on the Jesus Calling Podcast, we’ll hear from blind 9/11 survivor Michael Hingson, who walks us through the events of that tragic day, how his service dog Roselle helped save his life, and how he now helps equip people to navigate fear in a healthy way. 

Michael Hingson: The plane hit the tower and then the fuel in the aircraft exploded. And we all agreed we must have been hit by an airplane, but no one knew what was going on because nobody could see what had happened. I immediately heard in my mind a voice that said—as clearly as you’re hearing me now—“Don’t worry about what you can’t control. Focus on running with Roselle and the rest will take care of itself.”