Home Court Advantage
Reflections on OWIP BC June 2025
What is Home Court Advantage?
When teams play in their own stadium (home court), their chances of winning increase significantly. For example, in the NBA, teams win about 30 - 40% of away games. But the percentage increases to sometimes over 60% when teams play in their own stadium (home games).
In sports, this is called: Home court advantage.
From familiarity with the court, players feeling more rested, inspirational team slogans, supportive flags, and thousands of cheering fans, the reasons for home court advantage are obvious.
My central take-away from the first One Week in Paradise in British Columbia in June 2025
OWIP gives Adventists
Home Court Advantage
In her seminal work on health titled The Ministry of Healing, Ellen White describes the spiritual calling of the Adventist health professional:
“The physician should educate the people to look from the human to the divine…We should ever remember that the object of medical missionary work is to point sin-sick men and women to the Man of Calvary… We are to encourage the sick and suffering to look to Jesus and live.”
But in Canada this is not easy to do.
A Christian working in a secular hospital or clinic finds it extremely difficult to do the most important thing a Christian ought to do: Point the sick to Jesus.
An Adventist working in a non-Adventist healthcare setting is limited in their most important calling: Sharing the Three Angels’ messages.
Yet this is the situation that the majority of Adventist healthcare professionals in Canada find themselves in today. This puts the health ministry of Canadian Seventh-day Adventists generally, and of the Canadian Adventist health professional specifically, at a serious disadvantage.
I experienced this myself in the various secular healthcare settings I’ve worked at in the past. The barriers to evangelism are very real.
To go back to our sports reference: Our athletes are always playing away games. They don’t have a stadium of their own. They never get the opportunity to experience home court advantage.
That changed with OWIP.
OWIP provides Adventists, particularly Adventist health professionals, the setting (the stadium) they need to be who God actually called them to be: medical MISSIONARIES.
The recent OWIP in British Columbia reminded me that OWIP provides Adventists Home Court Advantage.
This is because, the team at BC continued the OWIP culture of being unapologetically Christian and Adventist.
Whether it was doctors openly quoting scripture during lectures, clinicians offering prayer to patients, staff singing hymns during evening vespers, having GLOW tracts and the Desire of Ages in waiting areas, and even inviting the patients (including non-adventists) to sabbath divine service, it was evident that Adventists felt comfortable being Adventist at OWIP.
Dr Drouin talking about rest from a biblical perspective
Pastor Mike's devotionals were attended by most patients, including non-adventists
Books for guests to read while waiting
Patients were invited to join for sabbath services. All patients, including the non-adventists joined.
Love is Medicine talks openly referenced biblical themes and quoted scripture
Prayer during divine service