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Oklahoma Living Magazine
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All God’s Creatures
Oklahoma Rancher Founds Veterinary Mission Program
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By Anna Politano
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Oklahoma Electric member Mark McBride is a man who believes in God’s mysterious ways.
“I never thought that God would give me the gift to be able to give shots to cows and use it as a ministry to reach others,” he said.
Like many other Oklahomans, McBride was raised on a family ranch, where he spent much of his boyhood tending to his family’s cattle and horses in central Oklahoma. When he left home, McBride farmed in Harmon County and spent most of his life involved in agriculture. In 2003, his experience earned him a spot on a mission trip to Nicaragua, where he helped provide medical care for livestock while other members of his missionary team treated patients of the two-legged variety.
He was startled with the deprived conditions of the farm animals in the villages the mission team visited. From his observations, McBride concluded the most common problems striking farm animals in Nicaragua were internal and external parasites. He saw a need for providing ranchers with vaccines and preventive care for the animals that are used as their plows, transportation and livelihood.
“ On the way back home I had this idea to get donations of veterinary supplies through mission organizations and distribute them to farmers in third-world countries,” McBride said.
After introducing the idea to his wife, Alana, and his longtime friend, J. P. Fox, Thousand Hills Mission was formed.
Since its foundation, Thousand Hills has donated veterinary supplies to Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti, North Korea, Vietnam and several African nations.
The organization also takes mission groups to Nicaragua every year, and thousands of cattle, horses, mules, sheep, pigs and dogs have been treated for infectious diseases and vaccinated.
But Thousand Hills does much more than provide veterinary care. The organization brings the message of Jesus Christ to the villagers, preaching the Gospel to farmers and their families. McBride said that before the mission team starts applying vaccinations each day in the field, they have translators who help them share the Gospel.
“Most men are always working in the fields, while the women go to church,” McBride said. “We are reaching some men who wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to the Gospel. We work right beside them, and they realize that we truly care for them. There are some five-year-old boys who come to help their dads. They learn to work early; they do not have Nintendos or even electricity in some cases.”
Thousand Hills takes a group of approximately four to seven individuals who have farming or veterinary backgrounds to spend a week in the mountains of Nicaragua.
McBride said that they have created a partnership with Dr. Luz Luna, a veterinarian from El Sauce, Nicaragua. Dr. Luna works with the group providing veterinary care to the animals. McBride said a Nicaraguan medical doctor is hired to follow the group and care for children who have skin and breathing problems.
As a native of Nicaragua and a professed Christian, Dr. Luna says the ministry of Thousand Hills has impacted many lives.
“Animals that have never been treated before now enjoy much more resistance and endurance for their day-to-day labor,” she said. “The ranchers have noticed that their horses are more productive,” Dr. Luna said. “But of all the aid this group provides, the most important is to save lives by introducing Jesus Christ as the Savior who gives eternal life.”
Thousand Hills’ most recent trip to Nicaragua was in the beginning of August to the village of Piedra de Agua. They took two veterinary students from Colorado State University with them and treated hundreds of farm animals.
McBride said that Thousand Hills is planning to take a group of Oklahoma State University veterinary students for a trip during next year’s spring break. McBride desires the ministry of Thousand Hills to grow and produce more fruits. As a next step to this mission, McBride envisions a veterinary clinic built to serve the rural communities of Nicaragua.
Thousand Hills is comprised of an advisory board, officers, and a project coordinator. Among the board members is former U.S. Representative Wes Watkins, who has gone to Nicaragua on two different occasions and has been personally rewarded by the experience.
“Your rejoicing comes from the experience of seeing the faces of the people and their expressions,” Watkins said.
“The fact that someone cares enough to take care of their animals means so much to them. Most of us who have an agricultural background understand the great benefit that this provides.”
The organization is constantly looking for new individuals who would like to be involved in their mission.
“I would like to have more input from local veterinarians and more support for veterinary students,” McBride said.
As a non-profit organization, Thousand Hills relies on donations to carry on its ministry. Anyone willing to donate funds or supplies may contact Mark McBride at mark.mcbride@thousandhillsmission.org or visit www.thousandhillsmission.org. |
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The Daily Oklahoman
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PAIR REACH PEOPLE THROUGH ANIMALS
BY CARLA HINTON, RELIGION EDITOR |
| MARK McBride watched hope and joy transform the faces of indigent people in Nicaragua during a mission trip last year. |
| As other mission team members brought food and other needed supplies to the impoverished villagers of Dulce Nombre, McBride saw another opportunity for ministry unfold. |
| The Moore resident said he was struck by the poor conditions of the cattle, horses, dogs and other animals in the Central American villages. |
| “They had saddle sores, open wounds and bat bites,” he said. “Many of them were covered in ticks.” Others were plagued by swarms of huge flies. |
| Vaccines for such ills as rabies and tetanus, which many American pet owners can gain access to quite easily, are nonexistent in areas where the people struggle just to eat and live off their small farms, he said. |
| His concern for the creatures led him to start Thousand Hills Ministry, a mission of his church, First Baptist of Moore. Thousand Hills’ aim is to make these animals healthier while sowing the seeds of God’s message in their owners’ hearts. |
| Partnering with longtime friend J.P. Fox, McBride has worked to gather veterinary medicines and supplies to improve the health of cattle, dogs, horses, chickens, pigs, sheep and goats in impoverished villages in places such as Central America. |
| The ministry is also rounding up money to buy necessary supplies, cover shipping costs and pay for moving veterinary equipment to mission sites. For instance, wormer, either injectable or pour-on, is needed for cattle, along with vaccine for black leg, anthrax and lepto. Wormer is also in demand for dogs, along with solution for flea and tick control and rabies vaccine. McBride said vaccinating dogs is most important due to their contact with people. |
| For horses and mules, tetanus vaccine and fly and tick spray are needed, along with wound dressings. |
| ANIMAL KINGDOM |
| Thousand Hills Ministry is designed to partner with mission teams that are attempting to give aid to animal owners in impoverished countries, McBride said. |
| He said the ministry received a donation of several thousand syringes and needles last week. Many of these were sent to mission teams leaving from Mississippi and Tennessee. |
| During his most recent mission trip, he worked with nonprofit Baptist Medical and Dental Mission International’s veterinary medicine component that served the needs of animals owned by farmers and ranchers in one Central America village. |
| “The economy of the rural villages where our teams have worked is based largely on the small farm operations,” said the Rev. Glen Howell, a pastor who worked with the mission’s veterinary medicine unit. “The lack of mechanical equipment makes horses and mules a necessity.” |
| Howell said the opportunities for Christian outreach to the village people were numerous as word spread of the veterinary help available. |
| “The more prominent men in the community are much more likely to seek out veterinary services for their animals than they are to see a doctor for their own personal medical care,” Howell said. “Therefore, the veterinary clinic has the opportunity to share the message of Christ with a segment of the population who would not otherwise get involved with the mission outreach efforts.” |
| McBride said people who administer the vaccine and other aid to animals get to share their message of hope with animals’ owners. For many of the owners, their animals’ health is directly tied to their livelihood. |
| “I saw how it (the mission veterinary clinic) reached the influential men of those villages,” McBride said. “After they came bringing their animals, they started coming to church by the end of the week.” |
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Cow-Calf Weekly
A Publication of BEEF Magazine
June 11, 2004 |
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ASSISTING CATTLE FARMERS IN THIRD-WORLD COUNTRIES
BY CLINT PECK |
| Over the past nine months, Thousand Hills Mission, Inc., has provided about $100,000 in veterinary supplies and services to ppor and subsistence cattle farmers – primarily in Honduras and Nicaragua. This fall, the upstart organization plans to expand its aid overseas to Bosnia. |
| Mark McBride, Oklahoma City, OK, says the faith-based effort is funded mainly by U.S. pharmaceutical companies, veterinarians and individuals. McBride works with several religious groups representing various denominations to help ferry vet supplies into remote villages and work with vets and local leaders in distributing and administering vaccines and parasite control products, as well as performing treatment and even minor surgery. Most of the recipient farmers have less than 20-30 head of livestock and lack even a rudimentary awareness of veterinary science. |
| "Usually, when you think of ag assistance programs, you think of crop production," he points out. "But, we understand the importance of maintaining healthy animals in subsistence agriculture." |
| Working with an advisory board that includes a former U.S. congressman from Oklahoma, McBride, a former rancher and construction worker, puts together veterinary teams that focus on areas where veterinary services are otherwise lacking or non-existent. |
| "Of course, Thouand Hills targets the poor people," he says. "If it concerns huger, we'll help." |
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Nicaragua News
From Baptist Medical & Dental Missions International (BMDMI) October 2004
[Excerpt] |
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| Greetings from Managua, Nicaragua |
| Here it is October and almost time to return to the United States for a short while. We hope to fly out November 1st. We will arrive in Hattiesburg for the Baptist Medical Dental Mission Int’l, National Mission’s Conference, Thursday, November 4th. This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of BMDMI ministry. It should be our best conference ever. We hope to see many of you there. If you’ve never been to the Conference before, this would be a great year to begin! |
| We have almost completed another very busy year. Seventeen teams have come and gone, several construction projects are finished, four modules have been completed in our Bible Institute, plus, the graduation, numerous events at the school in San Gregorio, five ladies’ retreats, etc. (Cathey has one more lady’s retreat this weekend for wives of pastors and we have a Seminar on Spiritual Gifts in the Church this next week through the Bible Institute.) There were times in the middle of the year when it seemed we would never reach October but now it is about to fly by. Cathey will be returning to Nicaragua for graduation at Colegio Monte de Los Olivos, San Gregorio, the day after Thanksgiving staying only for a few days. |
| Seven-hundred, seventy-two short-term North American missionaries served this year in Nicaragua on medical-dental-evangelistic teams. Nine of these teams also had veterinary teams and they treated more than five-thousand, six-hundred and sixty animals. (This number included one rabbit treated by Dr. Ed Gilsleider from Claremore, Oklahoma.) Many of these animals’ owners came to Christ as they heard the Gospel right there in the corrals. I praise God for the growth of this aspect of the Team Ministry. Thousand Hills Ministry out of Moore, Oklahoma has played a big role in this growth by providing veterinary supplies, medicines and vaccines. |
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To read the complete article, contact BMDMI.
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