A Missional Renaissance: an Interview with Ty Gibson

Interview with Tye Gibson by Ben Riggs

In early 2025, Kettering Health (KH) revisited its Seventh-day Adventist heritage to emerge with a new mission statement.

They brought author, pastor, and speaker Ty Gibson onto their team to lead an assessment and inform the process of ensuring all KH employees could connect to and adopt this new mission statement as their own.

Mission and Identity

Question: You’ve helped guide KH through a significant shift in its mission. What does “Live God’s love by promoting and restoring health” mean to you—and how do you see it shaping the organization’s future?

Answer:  For me, it means KH is eager to embrace it’s Seventh-day Adventist Christian identity as a healthcare system, and that means grounding the whole operation in the love of God, as the mission statement forthrightly indicates. The reception of this new mission statement has been nothing but positive. It was unanimously approved by the KH board of directors and has been eagerly embraced by leadership at all levels of the organization. We now have a clear vision of why we exist as a hospital system and can shape everything we do in that direction.

Q: How did you approach the challenge of aligning the mission with both Adventist theology and the practical realities of modern healthcare?

A: The connection between Adventist theology and the practical realities of healthcare is pretty seamless. The biblical doctrines held by the Adventist Church correspond to practical principles of life in general, with special relevance to operating a healthcare system.

For example, we believe in what the church calls “the doctrine of God,” and to believe in God from a biblical perspective is to believe that “God is love” (1 John 4:16). We believe in the doctrine of Creation, which corresponds to the principle of stewardship, which means presiding over one’s talents and areas of responsibility with integrity and a growth mindset. We believe in the doctrine of Sabbath, which means we acknowledge God as Creator and Savior by resting from our work on the Sabbath day. We believe in the doctrine of the Judgment, which corresponds to transparency and honesty in all our dealings. And we believe in the Second Advent of Christ, which corresponds to the hope of a new heavens and a new earth in which there will be no sickness, pain, or death. Every act of medical healing foretells the Second Coming of Jesus.

All these doctrines, and others, point to specific relational dynamics that make all relationships better, including professional relationships in healthcare. Not everyone who works at KH is an Adventist, but everyone who works at KH can subscribe to and operate by the beautiful and powerful relational principles that lie at the foundation of Adventist theology.

Values and Vision

Q: In your view, what does it look like when an Adventist health system truly embodies its values in day-to-day operations?

A: It looks like remembering that healthcare is historically rooted in Christ and treating patients the way He did. The story of KH begins with Jesus Christ, who launched a love revolution by teaching that we are to relate to all people as children of one heavenly Father. The love He modeled was not mere sentiment. It was concrete, manifested in the tangible work of healing the sick. He became known as the Great Physician. Following His teachings and example, His followers reserved beds in their homes to care for the sick without discrimination.

It was a movement of radical hospitality, from which we get the word hospital. The first hospitals in history were founded by Christians caring for the sick. The whole movement was based on the radical moral ethic of unconditional love exemplified by Jesus. KH’s new mission statement reflects the character of Jesus.

Spritual and Cultural Integration

Q: As someone outside the healthcare field, what surprised you most about the culture of a faith-based hospital system?

A: I have been most surprised by the freedom with which KH staff openly speak of their faith with one another and with patients, as well as pray with one another.

The atmosphere is one in which it is simply assumed that this hospital system belongs to God and that we need His wisdom and power to operate at our best.

Q: What role do you believe Adventist heritage should play in shaping the culture and priorities of KH today?

A: An extremely vital role! Of the five Adventist hospital systems in North America, KH is unique because it was not founded directly by the church. It was founded by the Kettering family, and this benevolent and visionary family voluntarily placed their hospital under the stewardship of the Adventist Church.

But why? Well, because Eugene and Virginia Kettering volunteered at an Adventist hospital during the polio epidemic and witnessed a unique quality of healthcare they wanted to replicate in their home state of Ohio. Basically, what they witnessed was the principles of Adventist theology applied to the realm of healthcare. Today that approach is called “whole person care,” which has been embedded in Adventist healthcare from its beginnings.

Leadership and Influence

Q: What advice would you give to leaders trying to keep mission and values front and center amid operational pressures?

A: Repetition deepens impression and practice makes perfect! As a leader, teach the mission and values to others and soon you’ll find it all to be natural.