Barefoot Blog

By:Scott Tompkins

Dr. Karl Watts, who took a year out of medical school to do a YWAM Discipleship Training School in Kona, was recently honored by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) as its 2010 Family Physician of the Year. The award annually recognizes an outstanding American family physician “who serves as a role model to other health professionals.”

Dr. Watts lives now in Boise, Idaho, where he is president and co-founder of Genesis World Mission, a non-denominational Christian organization that works to meet the physical, medical, and spiritual needs of the less fortunate in Idaho and around the world. His DTS in 1986-87 took him on outreach to the Philippines, and he has since done medical missions to Kenya, India, Haiti, Honduras and Guatemala.

“My mom and my academic advisor weren’t pleased when I took that year off to do DTS,” he recalled. “But it was a God-ordained time in my life. It set the foundation for my relationship with Christ.”

He said he still has all his notes from DTS and often refers to them. “The teaching, fellowship, intercession and field work from that experience are the energy behind my work today.”

When the only free clinic in the Boise area closed its doors in 2002, Dr. Watts led Genesis to open up the Garden City Community Clinic. He regularly volunteers at the clinic and recruits other medical professionals to help at there and on overseas missions. In 2007 he was appointed to the Idaho Governor’s Select Commission for Health Care and the following year he was recognized as the state’s Family Physician of the Year.

Dr. Watts said he’s honored by this attention, but says he’s just doing what the Lord led him to do. “God has orchestrated it all.”

For more on his work go to: www.genesisworldmission.org