Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), John Casillas
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000045S
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00:01 Have you ever met a Corporate Executive Missionary that's on
00:03 fire for God? Well, stay tuned to do just that 00:07 My name is Yvonne Lewis and you're watching Urban Report 00:32 Hello, and welcome to Urban Report... 00:34 My guest today is John Casillas, Senior Vice President of 00:38 HIMSS... listed by Treasury and Risk Magazine as one 00:42 of the top 100 Global Thought Leaders in Finance 00:46 and Fellow for the World Bank. Welcome to Urban Report... John 00:51 Thank you Yvonne, it's great to be here... 00:53 It's so great to have you here, you know, 00:55 in private... we've talked and I've told you, 00:58 You're a "Dare to Dream Walk-in" 01:00 I mean, really, the things that 01:02 God has blessed you to do, have been so incredible... 01:06 tell us a little bit about your background... 01:09 Where do you come from? I hail from Bucks County, 01:12 Pennsylvania... I have eight siblings... family of ten... 01:18 and we lived in Thompsonville, Pennsylvania.. not too far away 01:22 from the Amish country... Ah... OK, OK... 01:26 What was your childhood like? Well, when you have eight kids, 01:32 it's always trying to figure out where to sleep... 01:36 what to eat... So did you come from 01:39 impoverished situation... We actually, we waited in 01:44 Welfare lines... even at that time it was tough 01:49 for a long time for our family, my dad worked all the time, 01:54 my mom worked... even so we had a rough time... 01:57 I remember his take-home pay was like $86 a week at that time, 02:01 my mom would come out with this little budget book and she would 02:05 you know, make sure that we had all the expenses met. 02:10 That has to be so difficult, as you were growing up 02:15 did you know that you were poor or did you feel like you had 02:19 everything that you needed? I had no idea I was poor, 02:22 and I had no idea that I was Puerto Rican... and I was both, 02:28 But I just... it just didn't occur to me 02:35 and, you know, mom was very good at making sure that we had 02:40 everything... and we had a very supportive family structure 02:45 That's great... what was the spiritual environment like 02:50 as you were growing up? Dad was not a member of the 02:54 Church... and he was prone to stay out and do things like that 03:03 mom was our spiritual rock, and she was a praying woman, 03:11 I loved her dearly but she... she prayed a lot and she prayed 03:20 dad into the Church. Wow! after how many years? 03:23 Oh, that was... probably around 20 years of praying... 03:30 Isn't it interesting how... when we have an issue like that 03:36 to pray for, we should pray without ceasing. 03:40 Don't give up because that answer still can come 03:43 after 5 years, 10 years, twenty years, 03:46 so your mom hung in there... and prayed your dad... 03:51 into the Church... It's amazing how, when we talk 03:55 amongst the brothers and sisters how much of our memory 03:59 is locked into watching mom pray Tell us, tell me something 04:04 about that... Well, I mean, she would pray 04:09 a lot and I remember going past their bedroom... which 04:13 we never were permitted really to go into the bedroom, 04:18 but looking through the door and seeing mom pray, 04:22 she also got eight kids ready in the morning 04:31 and the way that she woke us up was that she would put 04:33 the King's Heralds on... in the morning... 04:37 Oh... So keep your eyes upon the 04:40 eastern skies... you know, and we are there listening to 04:43 this stuff, you know, when we were kids... 04:44 and we grew up that way. Every Sabbath morning, we'd hear 04:49 the record play... and we knew that it was time 04:55 to get up and go to Church... and she would drive us for 04:58 45 minutes... sometimes an hour, sometimes longer... 05:02 depending on the traffic... to get to the Bucks County 05:05 Seventh-day Adventist Church. She was very dedicated... 05:09 Was your dad supportive at that time of your religious 05:13 affiliation? Was he supportive even though he wasn't going? 05:17 I would say he was... he didn't really stop it 05:22 he didn't join it but it became a lot easier, of course, 05:27 when dad had his conversion experience. 05:29 Right... He lost his mother and I think 05:32 he began to think a little bit more... seriously about what 05:37 was happening and I remember... 05:40 I remember I broke the news to mom. I said, 05:43 "Mom, did you know that dad was reading the Bible?" 05:47 and she's like, "What?... " You knew before she did. 05:51 Oh yeah... I remember, you know, because I would walk past again 05:55 walking past the bedroom and dad... when he reads in English, 06:00 he lips it, you know, so tip,tip,tip,tip... 06:02 you know, he's doing that... and I was like, 06:05 "Well, that's really cool," and then I just, for some reason 06:08 I thought I'd tell mom about it and she was shocked... 06:13 Look at the example of your Godly mother that won your 06:17 father... not so much necessarily by what she said 06:21 but by what she did... as the Bible tells us... that 06:25 that, you know, converted spouse can actually win the other one. 06:30 Well, as a matter of fact, that's what happened. 06:37 More recently, we had a... it was September of 2009 06:42 and my mom went in for a routine gall bladder operation 06:48 and she never came back out of the hospital. 06:51 There was a surgical error, it's in the medical records, 06:55 as the cause of death, and 07:00 there are a lot of dimensions to that... 07:04 when you lose your mom it's a foundational cornerstone 07:10 and all of a sudden, for me, it was a loss of identity 07:15 and also a crisis of faith. I could not believe that God was 07:20 in that same operating room where the surgeon committed 07:26 that error for a woman who dedicated her life 07:30 so fearlessly towards the cause of God... in our family 07:34 and all over... she was well respected in the community 07:39 in Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, so, again, a lot of dimensions 07:44 to that but... to the point... dad goes to church 07:50 as fearlessly as prompted, you know, he's 07:56 he's at that Church all the time and that's where he gains 08:00 his strength and energy and he's totally... 08:02 So, you know, in the Bible it says, 08:06 "Blessed are those who die in the Spirit... at that time, 08:10 their works follow them," and you see the outworking of 08:13 her life all over... in witnesses, in Puerto Rico, 08:16 in America, in the family, We see it in you... 08:18 We see it in you... and what you are doing 08:22 for the cause of Christ. I want to go back for a second 08:25 because I think that we need to unpack this a little bit more. 08:30 When your mom died on that operating table, 08:35 and it became a crisis of faith for you, 08:40 so many people don't understand, we don't understand 08:44 why things happen, I lost my mom at 19 so I really 08:47 do understand the whole scenario of losing a parent, 08:52 and your mom was your spiritual foundation at that point 08:57 so, to lose her meant to lose some of your identity 09:02 where were you with God after that? 09:05 Because there are some people that are going through that 09:07 right now... where were you with God after you lost your mom? 09:11 This is where the spiritual rubber meets 09:15 the road of experience... in other words, 09:20 I was sorely tested... Hmm, hmm... 09:28 and you come to a point in life where you really... 09:35 you're forced to believe what you really think you believe... 09:41 Ah... OK... OK? You are raised with all 09:44 this information, you are raised with all those beliefs, 09:47 but when, you know, things like that happen, 09:51 it really tests whether or not you believe what you believe 09:56 and in that case, my mom and I were very 10:00 close we were very good friends, she would come up from 10:03 Puerto Rico and stay with me 5 or 6 months at a time, 10:06 and she used to chase me around the house 10:10 and we'd laugh, we went to Church together, 10:14 we did all kinds of things together... and she was a lovely 10:18 person so I had to really internalize 10:26 that notion that God would allow something like that to happen, 10:31 I think, and if I can turn to the Bible, because that's where 10:36 I always turn to... Please... 10:38 I read about John the Baptist, John the Baptist was blessed 10:43 among men, you know, he was considered by Christ, 10:46 he was called one of the greatest men, right? 10:48 Hmm, hmm... ... and he gave everything, 10:53 for the cause of the Lord, I mean, he lived in the desert 10:57 he didn't go into town to get a bite to eat, 11:00 ...he ate locust and honey... all right... 11:05 and he followed the will of God faithfully, 11:10 all the way to prison... and then from the prison 11:17 to some feast where the King said... you know.. 11:21 "OK, you can put his head on a plate. " 11:24 You know, that was his fate... and you know, 11:29 for some people... and I've had that struggle 11:35 with that.. I've said, "Why did God allow that to happen?" 11:38 and I'm a big believer of Christianity... 11:42 and the writings of Ellen G. White... 11:43 I believe that she was a prophetess 11:45 and I read about that in The Desire of Ages, 11:48 and it impacts me even more so, now that I lost my mom 11:51 because for us, she was our John the Baptist. 11:54 hmmmmmmmmm... So how could God allow the 11:57 surgeon to cut her portal vein and have her essentially 12:00 bleed to death? Hmmmmmmm... 12:02 How could that happen to a servant of God? 12:07 and I came, you know, around... and, and, 12:13 I didn't revolt against God or anything like that, 12:16 It just... those questions haunt me... 12:18 and some of those things are still unresolved... 12:20 you know, but I know that with mom... 12:27 everything pointed to God... if mom were alive today... 12:32 if she... if I would have walked away from God, 12:34 that would have been the worst case scenario, 12:37 hmmmm, hmmmmm So that's one thing... 12:41 I want to honor my mom, Yes, yes, yes, yes... 12:45 But secondly, I want to bring honor to my God... 12:49 and if my God had to take my mom then, that's just the way, 12:57 that's just His will... that working of His will... 13:02 and, you know, we can't, we don't see the 13:09 beginning from the end, we just have to have faith, 13:12 and walk it... That is exactly what 13:17 this is about, isn't it? A faith walk... is it not, 13:22 you know, faith is not just believing that everything 13:26 is going to be OK... faith is holding on... 13:29 when things aren't OK... That's, that's... 13:34 Since I've given my life to the Lord, that has been 13:39 the story of my life... hmmm, hmmm, hmmm... 13:43 in fact, it's more so... that... there are times when you are 13:48 spiritually just rejuvenated... and you feel God in everything 13:54 you see Him... you know He's there... 13:57 but there are many times when it's dark... 13:59 and you have nothing to go on, except your belief 14:04 and your faith, and that... 14:07 that was one of those dark moments for me. 14:09 That... you know... I so appreciate your transparency 14:13 here because so many people are dealing with... 14:17 these are basic existential issues... you know, what do I do 14:22 when I am in the midst of my wilderness experience... 14:26 and I can't... I can't reason my way out of it, 14:30 I don't understand it, but I have to trust 14:35 in a sovereign God who did not cause this, 14:39 in His sovereignty, He allowed it to happen, 14:45 but I have to trust Him that whatever happened... 14:50 happened for a reason... and that's where your 14:54 faith comes in and the Bible says, "For without faith, it is 14:56 impossible to please Him... " so, you know, your desire 15:01 to hang in there with God... even in the midst of this 15:05 dark experience... is... it's a blessing... 15:09 it's a blessing for those who are going through that 15:13 same kind of experience right now... 15:16 What would you tell somebody who is... 15:19 look into that camera... this one right here... 15:22 and tell someone who is going through a dark time... 15:26 speak to that person... about what they should do 15:32 during that time... Well, first thing, 15:37 I've been there and I think we all have over here... 15:45 I would tell you this... that life is hard, 15:53 and I'm not telling you anything new... I want to identify with 16:00 what you're going through... life is hard, 16:04 and it's not fair... there are times when you just 16:12 want to give up... I felt that... 16:15 there were times when I just wanted to give up... 16:21 and somehow this God that we always talk about, 16:27 was able to reach me in my darkness and He was able 16:36 to, after 18 years of walking away from Him, 16:41 He was able to reach down and pick me up 16:44 and give me life again... I really... really was a 16:49 walking dead man... before I gave my life 16:53 back to Christ... I had left the Church for 18 years, 16:56 Was this after your mom died? This was before my mom died... 16:59 Okay... I know, 17:01 I'm mixing things a little bit, but, I realize that 17:09 all the things that the world was saying was success, 17:13 simply weren't... that, you know, the nice car, 17:18 the money in the bank, the nice house, 17:20 all those things that the world sort of pulls you towards 17:25 in all of their advertising and the magazines... 17:28 everything... is all geared towards this false reality... 17:33 and you have this "still small voice" 17:37 God saying, "You know, it's not about that" 17:41 it's about Him, it's about Him, it's about Jesus, 17:48 I remember when I realized that, I was lying on my couch, 17:54 and I basically said to the Lord ... at that time... 18:00 and I was not talking to the Lord... at that time, 18:02 actually I was talking to "three gods"... One was real... 18:07 the other two weren't... and I was being induced into 18:13 the spiritual realms... there are a lot... 18:15 there are some stories around that... 18:18 but I basically just said, "Lord, if you want this heap 18:22 of junk lying on this couch... you can have it... " 18:25 That was it... that's how I gave my life 18:30 to the Lord... then, right after I said that, 18:34 I had been having trouble breathing... 18:36 and I had to go to the hospital, but I was ignoring it, 18:39 because I knew it was bad... but I just didn't want to... 18:44 I just didn't care at that time, so, I basically said, 18:50 as an afterthought... but, if you are going to take me 18:55 heal me... and the next day I woke up 18:59 and I could breath... which didn't happen... 19:04 I mean, I had trouble breathing when I woke up in the morning, 19:07 Right... I breathed in deeply... 19:09 This morning was totally different from 19:11 the other mornings... It was completely different... 19:13 and I realized that the Lord heard me and then I 19:17 really got on my knees and I gave my life to God. 19:22 it's the best decision I ever made. 19:24 Absolutely... When was this? How long? 19:26 It was October of 1996. And you've never looked back? 19:30 Never looked back. Never looked back. 19:32 I'll tell you what though... Since that time, 19:35 it hasn't been rosy... I had to deal with things like 19:40 the loss of my sister, the loss of my mom, 19:43 I've had to deal with things like-what do I do for a living? 19:47 How do I make my next rent check? 19:50 you know... or my next mortgage payment... 19:53 all those things, you know. It has not been easy. 19:57 But look at where God has taken you from 20:01 to where you are now, you know, I mean, as one of the 20:06 top 100 Global Thinkers on Finance, you know, as the 20:11 Senior Vice President of HIMSS as a Fellow of the World Bank, 20:17 you know, and yet, what you're telling us is that.. 20:21 your road has not been an easy one and yet God has led you 20:28 all the way... It's amazing... 20:31 How is it juggling your Christianity... 20:35 your Seventh-day Adventist Christianity with your career, 20:40 how do you do that? How do you negotiate that? 20:43 First of all, I am so, 20:46 so thankful, that I am a Seventh-day Adventist 20:49 Come on, come on... You know, I just... 20:52 I love the truths that we hold dear to our hearts... 20:58 I love that we're in the Movement that started in 1844... 21:02 that we are a part of... I love the three angels' messages 21:06 and I love that message... to give to the world... 21:09 I was just in Costa Rica at "It is Written" event... 21:12 I was one of 10 pastors and we had 20 baptisms in our Church 21:16 the Church that I was pastoring, there were about over a hundred 21:19 baptisms all together... So you're pastoring as well? 21:21 Yes... See, you know what? 21:23 I didn't even see that in your bio, I didn't even know, 21:26 I knew that you had attended seminary but I had no idea 21:28 that you were a pastor! So let's just add that to your 21:30 list of many accomplishments! There are "Professional Pastors" 21:34 and there are "Lay Pastors" I fit in the latter category, 21:36 OK... that's still, I mean, that's still awesome... 21:40 But I absolutely embrace our message and I love 21:43 to teach it and to preach it wherever I can. 21:47 But, you know, to the people that are out there 21:53 that are struggling, all I can say is, 21:55 those struggles are there for a reason, 21:58 Hmmm, they were there, for reasons, 22:00 that as I look back, and look at how I dealt with those struggles 22:05 I understand that God is working in me to develop love, joy, 22:10 peace, patience, humility, self-control, you know, 22:16 all those things, that really bring value, 22:19 and goodness and gentleness, to life... right? 22:23 hmmm, hmmmm ... all those things... 22:25 that's what God's doing, and what I do, 22:29 is almost irrelevant... you know I know it sounds impressive 22:37 Global Health IT Fellow for the World Bank, 22:40 and Senior, Vice President, HIMSS, 22:42 actually God gave me that, hmmm... 22:45 you know, it's nothing that I did, 22:48 hmmmm, God gave me an idea, 22:52 back in 1996... 22:55 with those ideas that He gives us, there are some 22:59 responsibilities... What was the idea? 23:01 Tell our viewers what the idea was... 23:03 The idea that crystallized in my mind, in my professional life, 23:11 was Medical Banking... What is that? 23:15 What is medical banking? So Medical Banking... and I 23:18 visited with 125 banks' CEOs, not necessarily trying to find 23:26 the idea but that's what happened as a result of it, 23:31 I began to identify much more with how a bank looks 23:35 at the community... and one of the key anchor points 23:38 in any community is the health care... 23:40 the health care side, the hospital... the doctors, 23:43 it is very important... in the community... 23:46 those relationships... and for a banker... 23:49 to finance those relationships... 23:51 it's just very important too... A lot of times you will see a 23:55 banker on the hospital board, you know, and that's why... 23:59 because the bank wants to maintain tight relationships 24:03 and really... to enhance the quality of the community, 24:06 so I started to look at that through the lens of a banker 24:10 and with my healthcare background... I began to see 24:15 how banks can use their resources to take healthcare 24:20 from where it's at today, to leapfrog many problems 24:26 and challenges that we have, for instance, 24:29 we spend between, depending on who you read, 24:32 10 to 30% of healthcare dollars on the paper-chasing healthcare 24:37 the administrative side of healthcare, 24:40 with banks... we are able to save at least 35 billion dollars 24:44 annually using their technology and their resources, 24:49 So, what I did was, I helped to bring together 24:53 the healthcare side and the banking side 24:56 and to bring those technologies together... 24:59 to create a whole new portfolio, 25:02 of medical banking services, that are offered by the largest 25:05 banks in the world today. That's tremendous... 25:09 that is tremendous... that's why... you're one of the 25:13 100 top guys... and globally... that's tremendous... 25:18 That think tank that was formed in Franklin, Tennessee was 25:22 eventually sold to a global Health-IT Association 25:26 called the HIMSS and the Health Information Management 25:29 System Society or HIMSS, and HIMSS now is... 25:37 when I came in, I was able to broker a relationship with the 25:42 World Bank that is spending money on Health Information 25:46 Technology... Hmmmm,... 25:47 I was thinking more like a banker, so my language... 25:51 they could understand... so I became the first Fellow 25:55 in the World Bank to help them with their policy 26:00 around investment and health information technology... 26:03 in developing countries around the world... 26:05 That's tremendous... and then you see... 26:07 when you go to these developing countries... like I got a couple 26:10 of e-mails from you... like you were over in Vietnam... 26:13 you got to preach or something, it's like you are taking 26:15 the gospel with you... on these trips... 26:18 Well, the coolest thing in the world is... 26:20 is that wherever you go... there's an Adventist Church 26:22 right around the corner... and if you do the 26:24 Sabbath School Quarterly, you don't have to 26:26 worry about going in cold... so... I love it, you know, 26:31 when I travel, I love going to our Churches... 26:34 I love to encourage people... I love praying with them... 26:36 I love our Socials... it's awesome... 26:39 and I do that in New Zealand, I was in New Zealand at a 26:43 Church there... the church in New Zealand is on fire... 26:47 Auckland, New Zealand... I love that place... 26:50 I was in Australia and visited Avondale College... 26:52 they were so kind and gracious to me... 26:54 they gave me a place to sleep, why wouldn't you love 26:57 this Church... I was able to see Sunnyside... 27:03 the Ellen G. White's estate there... 27:05 and then from there... I went to the Philippines... 27:08 I had been supporting a mission there... 27:12 Danny Hanson from Tennessee started a mission 27:15 in the Philippines... so we talked there... 27:18 and from there... I went to Vietnam... 27:20 Now in Vietnam... I just want to share a little story... 27:23 OK... we got 30 seconds... OK... we got 30 seconds... 27:27 So essentially, I went to Vietnam with the World Bank 27:30 to talk and I had a... there was a plenary session... 27:33 which means that everybody... 850 Health Care Executives... 27:36 were there... I gave that talk in 4 minutes... 27:39 I became the number one speaker of that entire event... 27:44 out of all 75 speakers... Wow!... 27:46 ...and I basically told the story of how my mom 27:48 lost her life... Yes... 27:50 I wish we had more time... I can't believe... 27:52 our time has slipped away... Thank you so much John... 27:55 will you come back again? Absolutely... 27:57 Because you are... Dare to Dream... 27:59 Join us next time... It just wouldn't be the same... 28:02 without you... |
Revised 2024-12-24