Transformation Church Erasesโฃ Medical Debt for Escambia County Residents
Transformation Churchโข in Pensacola,Florida,has partnered โคwith the non-profit institution Undue Medical Debt to eliminate medical debt for individuals and households in Escambia County. The initiative aims to provide reliefโข to those earning four โขtimes belowโค the federal poverty level or whose medical debt constitutes 5% or more of their annual income.
Theโ church, with โขapproximately 1,700 members, allocated funds from its annualโ tithe โ- โค10% of all donations receivedโค – to purchase and forgive the debt. โ”This is justโ something we do,” explained Pastor Justin Oswald, executive pastor at Transformation Church. “We don’t โstand up there and take โup a special offering. We teach our church that we โall tithe,but we tithe as a church as well.”
the project was inspired by a videoโฃ Pastor Oswald saw featuring another church utilizing Undue Medical Debt’s services. Church leaders determine project allocations and funding levels at the beginning of โคeach year.
Local businessman and church โmember, David Livingston, and his wife Ashley, wereโข particularly moved to โฃsupport the โฃinitiative dueโ to their personal โexperience with the financial โburden of medical bills. Their 5-year-old son, Jabyn, passed away in 2018 after aโ 3 ยฝ yearโค battle with a disease requiringโ frequent hospitalizations. “He had been in and out of hospitals forโ 3 1/2โข years,” Livingston shared. “So, on a personal level, we know what it feels like โคto have a medical debt hanging over your head,โ so when Justin brought the idea to me it almost was an instant yes โฃfor me.โ We just needed to figure out how and what we could do.”
Undueโ Medical Debt, founded in 2014โฃ by former โฃdebt collection executives, โwas โฃborn from inspiration drawn from medical debt elimination efforts duringโค the 2011 Occupyโข Wall Street movement. Theโฃ organization purchases bundled โmedical debt, often for pennies on the dollar, and then forgivesโ it. To date,Undueโ Medical Debt has reportedly relieved over $22 billion in medical debt for more than โ14 million people,working with partners like Transformation Church.
Livingstonโ emphasized โฃthe generosity of the church’s congregation as key to the success of theโข project.”God has called usโค to steward the โgenerosity of our churchโค and so โขwe don’t take that lightly,” he said.โฃ “We always wantโค to look for the maximum return on investment.”
Due โto privacy โregulations, Transformation Church will not be able to identify individuals whose debt has been erased unlessโฃ those individuals choose to come forward. “We don’t even know if anyone โฃin our โคchurchโ will be affected or not,” Oswald โstated. “we would love โthat, but this is for the community.”
Transformation Church is located at 6800 Mobile Highwayโค andโข is opening a new campus in โฃGulf Breeze this โmonth.
