Barry Ewy:
In 1981, Dr. Harold Harter, who's a pharmacologist with the medical school at Oral Roberts University, went on a medical mission trip to Guatemala. He went with the medical college at ORU. And with his role as a pharmacologist, he was given the responsibility of gathering medicine for the medical missions trip. What he recognized pretty early into that process was that it was really hard to get medicines.
From manufacturers or from others. And so as he was on the trip to Guatemala and in prayer, it was really placed on his heart to try to fix that problem so that others who were going to be going on medical mission trips wherever they were going would have a much easier opportunity to have medicines available. So in 1981, he moved forward with creating a new organization called Blessings International. And over the next thirty to forty years, Blessings International has grown. And it's all a result of the work that was originally done with Dr. Harter while he was on that medical missions trip to Guatemala.
So now as we sit here over forty years later, we are developing something new for Blessings International, which is the Blessings Broadcast. “Surely blessing, I will bless thee.” And that's what we want to continue to do. We want to continue to bless the people. In this case, those of you that are listening, we want to continue to bless you through the work that we're doing with the Blessings Broadcast.
Laura Berry:
Yeah, it's a great verse, Barry. You know, it's a great reminder to us that, you know, that's God's oath. That's God's promise to us, that he blesses us and he wants us to be part of multiplying for his people. And that's guaranteed. That's the beauty of the verse is to just understand that God's going before us, but he really wants to bless his people. And this is just one way in which he touches lives. It's through access to medicines and what they need to be healed physically and ultimately, spiritually.
Barry Ewy:
Absolutely. So, Blessings International, on our website, has a section of resources and tools.
Laura Berry:
Yeah, it's a great section. You know, it's so neat to see how it grows. So we really do just encourage you all to go to our website. Some of these tools include training videos for going out into the mission field, how to prepare for that mission trip, practical aspects that you may not be aware of that are going to be part of your mission trip. And then how to gracefully re-enter to your home when you're coming back from the mission field. You've seen a lot, you've heard a lot. And so how to gracefully come back in. But other tools that are out there and you know, and again I won't name them all, but there's tools on hey, what do I need to bring on my mission trip? So we've created these various formularies for short-term missions, teams that are going into disaster. What are some of the things that I can bring with me so that I immediately have them at hand? We also have publications and books. And we have just a lot of other tools that you will find useful, you just download. They're all just free resources for you. So please take advantage of them.
Barry Ewy:
Yeah. And that's what we want the Blessings Broadcast to be, is just another resource and tool to the people that are working with Blessings International. And we're working in a lot of different areas. That's some of the things that we'll cover here on the Blessings Broadcast. We work in places like the US or pregnancy resource centers and just clinics here in the US.
Laura Berry:
Right, right. So while we were founded providing medicines for those going on short term medical missions. You know, since 1981, we sure have grown, you know, and it's just be by God's grace, we've been able to equip those in our own backyard, you know. So we have vulnerable patients that really need access to medicines through US charitable clinics. We serve those folks. We serve folks at pregnancy resource centers. You know, we forget that those folks are on the front line of life and they need our help as well.
Barry Ewy:
Yeah, and we're working internationally. We do a lot of work with permanent clinics and permanent hospitals in developing nations throughout the world. Every year, our medicine goes to between a 100 and 110 different nations.
Laura Berry:
That's crazy, Barry. It's crazy.
Barry Ewy:
That's with the idea originally of Guatemala and how to help there. It's grown to over a hundred nations every year.
Laura Berry:
It's amazing. How many lives do you think that's impact in the last year?
Barry Ewy:
Annually we're impacting around ten million. Last year for us it was over twelve million, but we continue to grow and every year, it's in that ten million range, which is just amazing.
Laura Berry:
What are some of the things that you think we'll cover in this podcast in terms of just some of the subjects we can share with our audience that they can look forward to hearing about?
Barry Ewy:
Some of them are those things like pregnancy resource centers. We will have some people talking about pregnancy resource centers and how the work that they're doing there is working. We'll hope to talk about things like donor relations and how we can help organizations that are looking to increase their donations and work with that. Probably things like leadership. Really, in my mind, I think we'll be talking about anything that we think would impact those that we're working with. And we work with about 3,000 different groups each year. Again, here in the US, short-term missions, permanent hospitals and clinics. So there's just a wide variety of organizations that we're working with. So I think the topics are going to be pretty wide too, but they're all going to relate back to medical missions and those that we're serving.
Laura Berry:
One of the things I'd like to hear you talk about is just how it's so very important for us to understand that what we send out is pure, safe, and effective. So I'm looking forward to some of those important topics that maybe isn't discussed in medical mission circles. It's really important to understand sort of the nuts and bolts of where the medicine started and where the medicine's going. And I'm also excited about us talking about best practices in the mission field. What does that look like? In addition to some of the training videos we've talked about, there's also other ways to ensure that when we're going out on a mission trip that we are bringing our very best to implement those procedures and those policies that we do right here in the U.S.
Barry Ewy:
And I think it's gonna be fun just to l get to listen to the different guests that we're gonna have. And the encouragement ultimately that those guests will bring to those that are serving. Because that's really what we want to do. We want this to be an encouragement because we know that serving isn't always easy. And so we want to encourage you who are listening to just continue to serve and continue to find new ways to serve. And then in that, how we can help serve in the end through doing the Blessings Broadcast.
Laura Berry:
Absolutely. And I think one of the other areas that might be fun to just explore is, you know, our listeners are going to want to go on mission and they're going to want to ask us, “If I want to plug in, where do I go?” So maybe even just providing some of those resources. You have a heart to go to a particular area of the world. Let us help you. Let us connect you to a partner who already is going to that part of the world. Or maybe they're here in in our city or in another city and they want to know how can I serve the most vulnerable in my city? And so hopefully we'll be able to engage our audience with those particular partners that are already in that space.
Barry Ewy:
And some of them will hopefully be guests. And we'll talk about the work they're doing and why their work is important and in the end, why they need people to come alongside them.
Laura Berry:
Yeah, so that's the hope is just to multiply the folks that are going out and multiply the folks that are serving in our own backyard. I mean, that's just gonna be a ton of fun to watch.
Barry Ewy:
So Laura, that's why we're here. That's what we're gonna do. Why don't you tell everyone a little bit about you?
Laura Berry:
Great. You sure you wanna start with me?
Barry Ewy:
Sure.
Laura Berry:
Excellent. Well, thanks. I appreciate that. So for me, Barry, you know, when people think of pharmaceutical distribution, they usually think of spreadsheets and warehouses. But for me, it's always been about relationships and providing access to medicines for the most vulnerable patient population. I've spent over thirty years in this industry and you know, while I've had the luxury of managing some pretty big numbers, you know, it really for me to get out of bed and do this work, it's really about the people behind it.
Barry Ewy:
Numbers are numbers, right?
Laura Berry:
Numbers are numbers, you know, they're fun.
Barry Ewy:
They're not lives.
Laura Berry:
But they're not lives. You know, when you mentioned over 10 million people impacted each year. First of all, like wow, you know, that's a big number, but you know, by God's grace, we're able to do this work. So it's really what at least motivates me and I'm sure us to just do this this work. So just love the challenge of stepping into this space and trying to figure out creative ways for us to get that access to medicines to places that are remote, places that are right in our own backyard, as we we've said.
So, you know, my background is really thirty-plus years in the pharmaceutical distribution industry, having the opportunity to work with various partners, customers, manufacturers, distributors, and trying to connect them all together so that, at the end of the day, we can put the medicine in the right hands for that person who didn't expect to receive that gift.
Barry Ewy:
And you joined Blessings International in 2016, right?
Laura Berry:
Yeah, I've been here for over ten years and it's been a true joy to just, you know, watch God at work and allow me to grow and see how, gosh, he's so much bigger than I imagined you know, thirty-plus years ago. So yes, about ten years ago.
Barry Ewy:
That's fantastic. What's an impactful Bible verse for you? That's gonna be one of the things that—at least one of my goals and part of the encouragement—is that every guest that we have on, I want to hear from them what's an encouraging or impactful Bible verse for them.
We know what Blessings’ is. It's Hebrews 6:14. “Surely blessing I will bless thee.”
Barry Ewy:
I love that. That promise is so central to everything that we do and it really gives us the freedom to move in faith, you know. Just when you have that as your guiding verse, it's great. And if anything else is just wonderful.
Yeah, so for me it's, you know, it's first Corinthians 12:12-27. I'm not gonna read the whole thing, but I just, the way I look at Blessings and the way that I see God working is it's really a collection of individuals coming together using their God-given gifts. And so, you know, just to start it off, it's, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one spirit, we're all baptized in one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, all were made to drink of one spirit. For the body does not consist of one member, but of many.”
And so you get the idea. And you know, listeners, you can read the rest. But what it really means is here abroad, again, in our own backyard, not just at Blessings, but across missions, US, domestic missions, world missions, that he needs all of us working together. And he needs us working in a space that he has given us these various skills, so that I may have one role, Barry, you may have one role, but the body of Christ has individual members that are working together, one body, many parts, each having a role to play. So that to me is just a fun way to look at missions in general. He wants to use us all and impact lives.
Barry Ewy:
And I love that Bible passage because it really goes back to the heart of what we're trying to do here at Blessings, and really what we're trying to do with this broadcast as well, which is plug different people into different areas, wherever their heart is and whatever matters to them, because in the end, it's what matters to each of us individually that collectively is where we bring people to Christ. And so some of the listeners may be working in short-term missions and maybe they're a physician or maybe they're someone at the registration desk. Or maybe they're working in the pharmacy. It doesn't matter what their role is. Every single one of those roles is needed and they're all equally important in the end. And no one role or no one area of missions is more important than another. Some people are super interested in a pregnancy resource center. That is just as important as someone who is wanting to work in the 10:40 window. They're all important. But they're different. And that's okay. Because if we were all the eye, we'd see a lot, but nothing else would happen. And if we were all working in PRCs, the women that are being treated there and their patients would be treated well, but nothing would happen in the 10:40 window.
Laura Berry:
Definitely. Yes. Very well said. How about you, Barry? So what is one verse or a few verses that means a lot to you in this for the space and you know, not only for our organization, for just the way you look at missions.
Barry Ewy:
I think for me, it's Matthew 20:19. And that's the sending verse. “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.”
I love that verse, but what I also I think my favorite book of the Bible is Acts. Because it's just— I know they're all important and there's you know, that's why we have sixty-six books of the Bible, because they're all important, right? And then almost all of them, there are miracles that take place, especially in the Old Testament. But it's the miracles that are taking place and just the story through Acts that I love. And what I was teaching in my Sunday school class a couple of weeks ago, and it just hit me as I was telling them about, you know, me personally and what my favorite Bible verse and book was, is that it's the last verse of Matthew. And then of course, there's the other gospels before you get to Acts, but you go straight from that to Acts and to where the work is happening and to where the gospel is starting to be spread just as Jesus commanded.
Laura Berry:
Yeah. What I love about the book of Acts is that it's an and, right? It's not or. And I bring that up because the disciples were going out, but they were also ministering where they were at. And we see that in the very beginning of the book of Acts. And I think that really speaks to missions and just how we want to just encourage our audience, you can serve in your own backyard. Or you can serve abroad. And that's kind of what the disciples were doing. And we see that in the very beginning of the book of Acts. And I, you know, we want to be encouraging wherever God is leading you. So it's an and, not an or.
Barry Ewy:
Yeah, and it may not even be medical missions. It may be serving as a door greeter at your church. Wherever it is, service is important. Our focus obviously is medical missions because that's what we do. All service is important.
Laura Berry:
Right. You're bringing up something that I I'd been thinking about lately about you know, we may be amongst those who are participating in medical missions, but so very often for us we have teams or groups or organizations that are coming to us and saying, “Listen, I don't work in medical missions, I work in a non-medical context. How can we work together?” And so, you know, we want to, as you're saying, just encourage those folks that God has them doing a very specific role. And so they come to us and maybe, you know, they're working on a building project outside the US. Maybe they're doing discipleship, maybe they're doing VBS here or abroad. You know, they want encouragement or they want a partner and they want to just see that, like you said, we were talking about earlier, that collective work of the body of Christ. And so sometimes we can partner alongside those folks and we can encourage them and we can pray for them.
Barry Ewy:
And hopefully here with the Blessings Broadcast, they'll find those topics that that topic that will be important to them. If they're trying to do a building project, maybe they'll get something, hopefully, out of a discussion about donor relations. About how to approach a foundation or what's important or what's not important with that. So a lot of different topics.
Laura Berry:
Yeah, and I think and yeah, to your point, you know, maybe they're doing a vacation Bible school in another country. And one of the things they recognize is, my gosh, we're working amongst these kids who really need help with their nutrition and maybe we've discussed something on our podcast that has to do with food insecurity or getting a vitamin that that may be useful for them. And we've discussed sort of, you know, what does it look like when you're working amongst these children who have a need and we're able to discuss and plug a group that has an opportunity to come alongside them and really meet that physical need while they're already ministering to their spiritual need.
Barry Ewy:
Absolutely. Yep.
So you shared a little bit about you, a little bit about me.
Laura Berry:
Yeah, please.
Barry Ewy:
So I've been at Blessings since 2013. I've been the CEO since that time. My background is pharmacy and law. So you talked earlier about numbers. When I was young, I was chasing numbers. And thankfully, God kind of course-corrected me as I went along. So I went to pharmacy school at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock.
Laura Berry:
Go hogs.
Barry Ewy:
And go hogs, absolutely. And I ended up with my PharmD degree, so doctor of pharmacy. And I did that because I thought, well, as a pharmacist, I'm gonna do well. I'm gonna make a lot of money. But my first year of pharmacy school, there was a pharmacy lawyer teaching our class who was wearing a nice suit with suspenders. And I thought, Well, that dude's probably making more money than I would make as a pharmacist, so I think I'm gonna go to law school. So I ended up going to law school after I finished pharmacy school. Ended up getting my JD, working for a little bit as a an attorney. Really didn't like it because, you know, as we're talking about today, the work that we're doing, the work as the work I was doing as an attorney didn't fit my personality real well. So I came back to healthcare, but when I came back to healthcare as a pharmacist, one of the things I recognized in the hospital I was working in was that the CEO of the hospital made more money than I did. So I thought, well heck, I need to get my master's in healthcare administration so I can go do that.
Laura Berry:
Sounds like somebody was chasing some degrees too.
Barry Ewy:
Numbers. Numbers. All about the numbers. Well in the end, I was serving as the CEO of a small hospital. And again, numbers. I needed a larger number of beds that I was running in order to make more money. God didn't bring me that. I thought, well, God, you've got to be— Surely you've got a hospital somewhere for me because you've set me up to do this. And that was my prayer: “God, show me that hospital.” Well, he wasn't showing me the hospital. And finally I changed the prayer and said, “God, show me where you want me to be.”
And about two weeks later, this job here at Blessings International opened up and popped up and came into my search that I was doing. And it all fell into place over about a six-month period. And I ended up back here in Tulsa. So we're located in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area. I grew up in Arkansas, but I'd lived in Tulsa for about fifteen years and then came back to Tulsa. My actual home was less than a mile from the office that we're sitting in and where we come to work every day.
So it's really neat the way God orchestrated all that. And I really believe it was a God thing to get me back here to Blessings International, because it has been so much fun to get to serve in the way we get to serve and get to even see the staff that we're working with and see them grow in their faith maturity day after day and they get to hear the stories that we get to hear. Kids who are impacted by vitamins or people who are impacted internationally through the medicine that we send out. It's just it's a real joy to get to do what we do each day.
Laura Berry:
Yeah, well I know we really appreciate that you're here and we really appreciate your leadership. And I gotta say, we love your unicorn background. So, you know, for us it's a lot of fun to hear your story, but to know that God was preparing a way. So, you know, I wanna encourage you that each one of those degrees, while you know, they may have been a little difficult at times, we use them day to day. And so, it's really great for us. So yeah, we're so thankful to have you leading us and truly all the different experiences we've had collectively we're able to use for God's glory. That's our that's our hope. That's our prayer.
Barry Ewy:
We absolutely are. And the work that we're doing here took all three backgrounds. And so it's been a fantastic journey and that journey's continuing and we're starting a new journey with the Blessings Broadcast. And so some of the things that we will be discussing on the podcast, we'll have questions and comments and just points from various different groups that we'll be talking to. That'll be part of is just talking to them and getting an understanding from them about the work that they're doing and how it relates back to our listeners.
Laura Berry:
Yeah. And our you know our hope is just to have that wisdom, you know, imparted on all of us. I mean, we're gonna learn so much along the way. I mean, I'm looking forward to just gleaning what I can from our various guests. And so, you know, bringing those folks that are working in a particular space, kind of going back to that, to that 1 Corinthians, you know, we have a collective voice, right? It takes each one of us to impart wisdom in the space that they're working, knowing that God's giving them those abilities to have them carrying out his mission.
So, you know, the different guests are going to teach both us and our listeners.
Barry Ewy:
Yeah. And one of the things that that we hope to do is come up with a problem that we're hearing about. And so if our guests have questions or problems as things move along and they want to share those with us, we'd love to hear that. Because if there's a problem that's not being addressed, we want to help with that. We want to find a way to talk about the problem, discuss the problem, find somebody who is hopefully an expert in that area of that problem. And then maybe find some solutions for that problem.
Laura Berry:
Yeah. And I think we want to hear from you, listeners. We want to know what are you encountering in the field, both like we've been talking about, both here in the US and abroad. We want to hear some of the problems you're encountering. So, you know, please feel free to let us know: what would you like us to cover? Because, you know, again, it's our goal to bring that wisdom into the space for those that are working and can speak to that problem and share a little bit about those solutions.
Barry Ewy:
And if we don't know what's wanting to be heard, then it's hard to be an encouragement.
Laura Berry:
Right, right. This podcast is about all of us talking together and sharing what we know and having that opportunity for us to all grow together.
Barry Ewy:
And so that's what our goal is. That's us, that's Laura, and that's Barry, and that's the Blessings Broadcast.
