John 3:16 opens first medical clinic at camp

By Andrea Bruner

Placing a medical clinic at John 3:16 Ministries might seem like an obvious choice, but it actually took 20 years – and having women at the camp – to make it happen.

Director Bryan Tuggle said the camp has always needed medical and mental health care, but they didn’t really realize it. The camp opened in 2002 with just men, and Tuggle joked that men rarely offer to seek medical attention for themselves.

On Wednesday, Nov. 12, John 3:16, Arcare, and the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce officially cut the ribbon to open the Chad Rampley Medical Clinic.

“It’s always been about the men here. Whatever John 3:16 has done, it always had the motive of whatever’s best for the men. And then a little over two years ago, when we started the women’s ministry, that just doubled,” Tuggle said, adding that with the women’s ministry, there are more children at the camp for visitation. But it made the team realize there were families on-site, and the medical care came to the forefront.

“Over the years, there’s been a lot of graduates that would have benefited greatly by the medical attention and mental health care. For a long time, we said, ‘Well, if you teach Jesus, that’s enough.’ And that is enough, but Jesus uses people. If you’re going to teach that, you’ve got to plug into the people he’s using to help others.”

Tuggle said they had been thinking about building a medical clinic for a while but didn’t know how to get it done. So he talked to one of the ministry’s supporters, former state Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, whose grandson graduated from John 3:16, and the dream soon became a reality.

Williams said this clinic only came together because of “a group of people who have a heart for Jesus, who want to make a difference. Long after you’re gone, somebody will walk in this office and they’ll find out they’ve got something wrong with them. If untreated, it could very well take their life. You’re a part of that.”

Tuggle looked out at the sea of red shirts and said John 3:16 would ensure men at the camp visit the clinic – and for some, that might be the first time in a long time that they’re seeing a medical professional.

“You know, they haven’t been living right. They haven’t been going to Sunday school every week,” Tuggle said. “We’re going to insist that they get blood work before they graduate this camp, and, guaranteed, it’s going to be something’s going to be too high or too low, and they have no idea (that they have health issues).”

Tuggle said he is thankful John 3:16 has partnered with Arcare, which will be able to continue medical care after the men graduate and leave the camp.

Since Oct. 20, the clinic has already seen 30 patients.

Tuggle said the clinic is named in memory of Chad Rampley, a graduate who died a year ago.

Rampley’s parents, Tony and Vicki Rampley of Jonesboro, and 9-year-old son Christian were among those in attendance.

Tony Rampley said about 20 years ago, he and his wife, Vicki, went to the Holy Land on a tour with Mike Huckabee. Vicki said it was a trip that changed her outlook.

“When you’re sitting in the upper room, it’s very small, very old, and very dank. Something changed within me. … God found a way to at least plant something,” Vicki said, explaining they went back to their “normal life”, as they did not yet know what to do about the change within.

She realized God was trying to get their attention, and when Chad started having struggles, Vicki said it was time to look at getting him help.

“Back in 2012, when you leave your son or your daughter, and you’re driving away and you think, ‘Are they going to love them as much as I do?’ Because Chad was hard to love, hard, but he gave love hard back. And when he found Jesus, when he was in his element and not in the addiction, there was no other man I knew on the face of this earth that loved his savior more than Chad,” Vicki said.

But addiction is hard to fight, and she worried Chad would not get into John 3:16 because he was so angry at the time. “This place was given to us because Jesus knew that if we were going to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, this is where we find it because God had delivered this place,” Vicki said.

Chad died Oct. 1, 2024, and Vicki said they’ve had a year of mourning, kicking herself and being mad at God at times, but seeing this clinic helps mend their hearts, knowing that other graduates will be getting vital medical and mental health care before they go back into the world.

“Our testimony today and every day is what God has done for John 3, and if you just go to the campus one time, you feel it,” Vicki said.

Christian and Tony Rampley

Vicki and Tony had adopted Chad when he was five weeks old from a children’s home in Nashville, Tennessee, where Tony himself had been a resident and also was adopted from.

As Vicki said, Chad was “the love of our life.”

Vicki said she wanted to have lots of children, and after Chad joined the family, they ended up adopting 12 young men from South Sudan called the “Lost Boys of Sudan” who moved to Jonesboro as well.

And since Chad’s arrival at John 3:16, they’ve “adopted” the residents there as well. “So we got more than we bargained for.”

She said they did not know his medical history or anything about his past, but his death they’ve been in contact with his biological family and learned that there is a history of alcohol addiction, and they understand more about his struggles. But since around age 16, he started dabbling in marijuana with friends, and that grew into more.

Chad came to John 3:16 in 2013 and after graduating, he started the New Creations Ministry in Jonesboro.

Tony said Chad was in a serious motorcycle accident that resulted in a 2 ½ week stay at The Med in Memphis, and Chad had “white spots” on his brain indicating a traumatic brain injury. This can lead to cognitive and neurological problems.

“People forget to eat and drink,” Tony said, and Chad wasn’t taking care of his health, even though he was sober at the time.

Tuggle said if the medical clinic had been a part of the ministry when Chad first came to Charlotte, things might have turned out differently. Chad struggled after graduating, and he was one who needed follow-up care.

“But for him and many others who have gone to be with Jesus, we weren’t going to wait another day,” Tuggle said. “We had Chad in mind and so many others when we built it.”

Tuggle also introduced Dr. Stephen Collier, CEO for Arcare. Collier said that last year, Arcare partnered with the White County Sheriff’s Office to start a transition program to try to improve healthcare access and social support services for jail inmates.

“This has been a one-year adventure,” Collier said, noting that the program is designed to give inmates the tools and resources they need to get on the right track to having good health and stable jobs.

“We have a saying: ‘Partner, partner, partner,’” he said. In some cases, he added, they may not know who the partners are until they get there. “You’ve got to let go and go by faith.”

Tuggle agreed.

John 3:16 Ministries’ Bryan Tuggle addresses the crowd.

“When we were talking about this at the lodge, I saw it in Mr. Collier’s eyes and that was the ‘yes.’ I just knew that the Holy Spirit was going to move on his heart to see the need, because we do the same thing with these men and women. We believe in them before they believe in themselves,” Tuggle said.

“And they are also who you’ve always taken care of – the last, the least and the lost. When we heard that (phrase), that y’all go after the last, the least, and the lost, we knew John 3:16 was going to be part of that – because that’s who Jesus goes after – the last, the least, and the lost. Thank you for that.

“Thank you to the ones who’ve helped over this as well as the Rampley family,” Tuggle said.

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John 3:16 celebrated its 22nd anniversary this year helping men struggling with drug and alcohol addiction; a women’s ministry was added in 2023. For more information, call 870-799-2525, visit john316thecure.com, or follow the ministry on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Images provided by John 3:16 Ministries