Churchwide Speech

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I am Peter Olson, Pastor from the Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod. I speak in favor of the substitution.

I would like to share briefly a bit of my own story. My wife, Ashley, has Type 1 Diabetes and is considered a brittle diabetic. In the first year of our marriage, Ashley was brought to the hospital over 50 times.

I spent more nights in the hospital sleeping on a couch in her room or else home alone than I spent with her at home. She was told she would never have children and would be on dialysis by the age of 30. We were devastated.

Two years later, she gave birth to our first of now three boys.

Our eldest son, Luke, was also diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 3. He is now 10 years old. Last year, the flu caused his diabetes to run rampant and sent him into the hospital for a week.

Despite only a 5% chance of passing the type 1 on to our children. Our eldest son, Luke, was also diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 3. He is now 10 years old. Last year, the flu caused his diabetes to run rampant and sent him into the hospital for a week.

Today, I give thanks that new medical technology in the form of insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors means my family at home is largely healthy. I rejoice for each healthy day that we have because they are never a guarantee.

Medical bills and prescription co-pays are a way of life for us. But the Gold+ benefits that we receive from the generous congregations that I serve help make it possible for us to stay afloat financially.

Without that support, I do not know how I could continue doing the ministry that I feel so deeply called to do and still make sure my family survives financially.

Therefore, I cannot in good conscience vote for a lesser healthcare for our churchwide both because I am fearful for how this may influence congregations in the upcoming years, in a way that may directly impact families like my own.

But even more importantly because just as you did not know my story, I do not know the stories of the people who serve as our Churchwide now and certainly don’t know the stories of those who will serve there in the future.

Call for a change in the medical system and prescription costs, yes. Please! Advocate for that.

But please do not downgrade the care offered to the servants in this church. Please do not set this example. I hope we do not begin down this potentially very slippery slope.

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