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IRVING—All believers know that Jesus died on the cross, but most don’t know the actual medical causes of his death. David Ball, a medical doctor, and bi-vocational member of the Conference of Southern Baptists Evangelists, will offer his presentation of the crucifixion from a medical standpoint at the afternoon session of the SBTC Empower Evangelism Conference on Monday, March 4 at 1:30 p.m.
“Since Dr. Ball is a practicing M.D. who does the work of an evangelist, I felt he would be a wonderful example of the theme ‘Do the Work of an Evangelist,’ not just because he is a medical doctor, but because of his medical study of the crucifixion,” explained Charles Massegee, president of the Conference of Texas Baptist Evangelists. “He will be sharing medical facts relative to the suffering of Christ that many of us have never thought of before.”
For Ball, the seeds of his ministry were planted years ago during his service in 1969-1970 as a flight surgeon with the Air Force in Vietnam. While there he read “A Doctor at Calvary” by Pierre Barbet, M.D., but at the time the book had little impact on him. Upon reading a 1986 landmark article by Edwards, Gabel, and Hosmer on the crucifixion in The Journal of the American Medical Association, the seeds planted by Barbet’s book began to grow.
Although the article concluded that Jesus died of suffocation and the complications thereof, Ball believed that Jesus died of a ruptured heart. This disagreement led him to publish a rebuttal article with his explanation of the cause of Jesus’ death in 1989 in The Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association.
Ball’s rebuttal article was the beginning of his evangelism ministry. He began receiving invitations to speak in churches about the crucifixion, usually during the Easter season. Eventually Ball and his wife developed a multimedia presentation with music, slides, video and theatrical lighting, as well as a resurrection scene with Jesus appearing in the clouds. This production has been presented in about 150 churches in 17 states.
Since beginning his crucifixion presentations, Ball has further documented his conclusions, authoring a scientific study of the medical aspects of the crucifixion which was published in the 2008 edition of The Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association. In 2009, he published a book entitled, “The Crucifixion and Death of a Man Called Jesus.” He has also participated in a documentary about the crucifixion for The History Channel and recently finished filming another TV documentary on the crucifixion produced by The Discovery Channel which will air during the 2013 Easter season.
For more information on this year’s Empower Evangelism Conference go to sbtexas.com/empower-evangelism-conference.
