Christ Community Health Services Jobs and Profile

Our History

Christ Community was once merely a vision shared by four physicians— Dr. Richard Donlon, Dr. David Pepperman, Dr. Karen Miller, and Dr. Steven Besh. All studying different aspects of medicine at Louisiana State University in the late 1980s, the four became friends and established a shared vision to integrate their medical training with their desire to faithfully serve God—by serving the medically underprivileged.

In 1990, they graduated and went their separate ways to complete their residency training. During this time, they researched the South to determine the most appropriate location for fulfilling their vision and decided upon Memphis. The city was appealing because of the staggering need: there was not even one primary care physician for more than 50,000 area residents of southwest Memphis.

After completing their residency training in 1993, the four physicians moved to Memphis and began communicating their vision to anyone who would listen. For the next two years, they struggled to make ends meet, making presentations to banks, civic groups, and other institutions.

Through faith, prayer, and determination, they secured a grant from Baptist Memorial Health Care Foundation for $200,000 and found a location in Southwest Memphis on Third Street that could be renovated. With the help of construction companies who donated labor and supplies and banks who allowed them to secure loans, the health center opened its doors, and the first patient was served in September 1995.