Timeline

History of CCHF

• 1978 - H Spees and Lance Loberg, MD meet. They voice concerns they have heard from hundreds of health professionals across the country, including isolation, medical socialization, the lack of a viable Christian community health care and development model, and the loss of vision that occurs during medical training. They begin to develop the idea of a network and newsletter.
• 1979 - Loberg returns to New Hebron and along with John Perkins and H Spees they formulate the name Christian Community Health Fellowship to reflect the importance of an approach that embraces church, community and health. They begin work on a newsletter they call Health & Development to express the linking of health with the development of the community.
• 1979-1980 - First issue of Health & Development published.
• 1981 - First CCHF "pre-Board" meeting held. Ray Downing, John McGill, J.D. Miller, H Spees, John Umhau, Sam Weir and Stephen Crane, attending a meeting of clinics receiving US Rural Health Initiative funding meet in H Spees’ hotel room. They discuss their various visions for what CCHF should be as an organization.
• 1981 - Second "pre-Board” meeting in Evarts, Kentucky. Members propose to hold first national conference.
• 1982 - First CCHF National Conference, "Commitment to Health Care with the Poor," is held February 26-28 at Luther Place Memorial Church in inner city Washington, DC. Speakers include Janelle Goetcheus, David Larson, John Perkins, William Peterson and H Spees.
• 1982 - Board of Directors meets in Evans, Kentucky. H Spees and Lance Loberg resign as co-directors and become Board members. Ray Downing is Chair; Lance Loberg is Vice-Chair and Barbara Whitnah is Secretary.
• 1982 - CCHF formally incorporated in Jackson, Mississippi.
• 1983 - First CCHF Preceptorship Directory published.
• 1985 - CCHF moves headquarters office from Mississippi to Philadelphia. Ted Hewson becomes Executive Director.
• 1987 - David Caes named Executive Director.
• 1990 - First of several CCHF-sponsored workshops, ”Community-based Health Care,” held in Cary, Mississippi.
• 1992 - Caring for the Least of These: Serving Christ among the Poor, edited by David Caes, published.
• 1993 - Upholding the Vision: Serving the Poor in Training and Beyond, edited by David Caes, published.
• 1998 - Jerry Stromberg becomes Executive Director and headquarters office moves to Chicago.
• 2002 - CCHF Best Practices Project published.
• 2003-2006 - Over 400 people attend "Nuts-and-Bolts" workshops, 10 health clinics attain FQHC or FQHC-LA status, and $2M+ was given as sub-grants to 47 organizations in 25 states.
• 2004 - CCHF's 25th anniversary party held in Atlanta.
• 2007 - Steve Noblett becomes Executive Director.
• 2008 - CCHF headquarters moves to Memphis.
• 2012 - CCHF 's annual conference had more than 650 in attendance from 34 states.
• 2016 - Upholding the Vision, third edition was published featuring new chapters by men and women who have lived out the gospel through healthcare wrestling with pressures that blur our vision of Christ-honoring missional medicine.
• 2017 - CCHF's annual conference found a new location in Covington, KY (Cincinnati area) that will allow growth for the future.