00:00I was talking to somebody about my videos recently and they told me you need to look at the
00:06relationship between the Christ Health Center and the Church of the Highlands. I was told that their
00:13church was not actually about Jesus Christ. It was about Puntang, amassing wealth and power
00:22domination. I really didn't have an awareness about this subject. Looked into this and wow,
00:28now everything that I had dealt with personally, it all made sense. Now the Church of the Highlands
00:36is a mega church in the Birmingham, Alabama area. The address of the main Grants Mill campus is
00:464700 Highlands Way, Irondale, Alabama 35210. Founded by Pastor Chris Hodges in 2001, this expanded to
00:5826 campuses in Alabama and Georgia and an average weekly attendance of 60,000 people. They estimated
01:08a net worth of Church of the Highlands $500 million and $700 million U.S. Now it turns out that
01:18the
01:18church leadership was and is incredibly irresponsible. In the late 2000s, this became obvious. There were
01:27many allegations of misconduct of various types by the administrative staff and then following this,
01:36there was a period where a recruit after recruit was invited on board to serve as leadership in the
01:45church and these individuals were not thoroughly vetted and their backgrounds investigated. Even more
01:52scandals became apparent. Back in the mid to late 2000s, Church of the Highlands and Chris Hodges made a lot
02:02of
02:02investments. This website, Christian Community Health Fellowship, cchf.org, has a story about the founding
02:10of Christ Health Center. Post dated 2009 written by Christy Tarrant. In November of 2007, the leadership
02:20of Christ Health Center found itself at a crossroads. The Jefferson County Department of Public Health
02:26announced that it was closing its Eastern Health Center, a facility that had served the residents of
02:35the Woodlawn neighborhood for over 50 years. While the building was dated and the county complained that
02:43it had outgrown the 16,600 square foot site, there was clear potential in the established community health
02:52resource. Dr. Robert Record, founder of Christ Health Center, Dr. John Fisher, busily operating the
03:00Bessemer facility and Dr. Barry Sims, long-time mentor and friend to the ministry, saw the tremendous
03:09opportunity to expand the scope of their efforts. After a period of prayer and fasting, they each committed
03:18to mortgage their homes in an attempt to raise the funds for the impending auction of the building.
03:26Before submitting a bid, Dr. Record approached Chris Hodges, his pastor at Church of the Highlands,
03:35to seek his counsel in covering in this major life and ministry decision. As he shared his vision for
03:43community-based, Christ-centered, comprehensive health care in one of Birmingham's most desperate
03:51and marginalized neighborhoods. He struck a chord in Pastor Chris's heart. Both men had a burning
04:00passion to see the church reclaim its rightful role in pouring out unprecedented levels of compassion
04:11to the poor, the sick, the hungry, the hurting, and the desperate neighbors who shared their city.
04:19Pastor Chris's only question was, how much? How much would it cost to acquire and renovate the building?
04:29Though Dr. Record protested and assured his pastor that this was not a plea for capital, he eventually
04:38relented and hypothesized that the project would require a $500,000 investment. Through its careful and
04:47consistent stewardship with cash already on hand, Church of the Highlands was able to acquire not only the
04:57health center, but an adjacent abandoned firehouse. Despite its standing on the National Historic Register,
05:06had fallen into serious disrepair. Together the two facilities would comprise the campus of the
05:14Birmingham Dream Center and would become the
05:17nerve center for Church of the Highlands community development and reneighboring efforts in the
05:24Woodlawn community. One unanswered question from the Highlands-CHC partnership. What did the church
05:33and Chris Hodges get back and Chris Hodges get back in return from their several hundred thousand
05:39dollar investment? Their partnership continues through the present day, September 2026.
05:48My rundown of issues with Christ Health Center, Birmingham, Alabama. I believe I received no
05:54measurable level of service in my visit. I was charged the same amount of money, $110, to see the doctor
06:04and MD as the nurse, a nurse practitioner. Other medical practices around Birmingham, I paid roughly half of
06:15that price. Christ Health is partners with Ascension, St. Vincent's Hospital and it looks like either Christ
06:23Health decided to ignore my injury or were ordered to ignore my injury and I believe this is to protect
06:30the reputations and million dollar salaries of the quote professionals unquote involved. I also believe
06:38it may have been patient-dupped and that's a violation of EMTALA, E-M-T-A-L-A,
06:43in the course of my seeking treatment. I was a self-paid patient. I had no insurance and I could
06:49provide no
06:50stated source of income. Dr. Terry Daniel Smith, MD, outright refused to grant me a referral for an MRI.
06:59Just a few days later, I got that MRI. I had to pay cash out of pocket and broken bone
07:05surrounded by
07:06my infection shows up in that scan. Broken bone also shows up in the CT scan. He claims in his
07:15notes in my medical chart to have reviewed in detail. I was billed $50 for a hemoglobin blood
07:22test and electrocardiogram. I never received. And yeah, I think taking money from people who don't
07:29have anything such as myself is obscene. Nurse Musgraves wrote in her report that she suspected
07:37psych etiology to explain my symptomology. And this is absolutely wrong. Broken skull bone is visible
07:45in the MRI, CT and x-ray that I've had done. Nurse practitioner Anna Musgraves agreed to give
07:51a referral when I secured my MRI. So I had to go out and find another medical practice
08:00with the equipment who could do the scan. I was given three avenues of financial assistance to pursue.
08:08And all three of these led to dead ends. I did not qualify. This is for Ascension
08:14Access to Care, Cooper Green Hospital and UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. After I paid $500
08:21cash out of pocket for an MRI at American Health Imaging in downtown Birmingham on the
08:29south side, the diagnostic center staff told me that they needed a medical referral. I informed
08:38them to call Christ Health Center in Woodlawn. They were put on hold 15 minutes. And then someone,
08:45we don't know who, at Christ Health Center hung up the telephone. They backed out on giving that
08:52referral. I believe somebody didn't want me to get this MRI scan because it would show the truth of an
08:58injury that I was told I did not have. A medical doctor I had no interaction with, also strangely edited,
09:07and signed off on my records and chart days following that visit. This was shortly after
09:15I lodged my first official complaint for lack of service from Christ Health. This doctor was
09:23Beverly Vanderpool. I put all my records from this visit in several hours worth of video on YouTube
09:31channel, My Medical Nightmare. You can go there and see my side of this story. Debra Pickens also tells me
09:40that a letter with a statement was going to be put in the mail to me after that August 2023
09:48meeting.
09:48And what I can say is, I have not yet received this promise letter. One year later, they know my
09:56address too because they sent me those bills for those medical services that weren't performed on me.
10:02So people out there looking at health care options in the Birmingham, Alabama area, please take my
10:09experience to heart. And I would advise that you look elsewhere when seeking medical treatment from a
10:16doctor or a nurse.
