Walking with God in Broken Places  •  Chapter 11  •  HEC-011

Learning to Harmonize
with God’s Orchestration

1969–1974  —  Nashville, Tennessee • Abilene & Canadian, Texas • Tucson, Arizona

Dossier HEC-011
Date 1969–1974
Location Tucson, Arizona
Status Review
Executive Summary

An Obsolete Bus Becomes a Reservation Clinic

Between approximately 1969 and 1974, a piece of equipment passed through five institutional owners and three operational uses to become a mobile medical clinic serving an Indian Reservation in southern Arizona. Built in 1969 by the Baptist Sunday School Board (BSSB) as a mobile classroom inside a converted mobile library bus, the unit became obsolete within a few years and was purchased by Dr. John LaNoue for $6,000 — funded through prayer in about a month via the Amigos Internacionales checking account, with Amigos President James E. Wren Jr. authorizing the designation. A chance conference encounter with C.J. Humphrey, President of Texas Baptist Men, connected the project to the men’s group of First Baptist Church of Canadian, Texas, who built, delivered, and outfitted the clinic — even buying a new Suburban for the receiving missionary in Tucson.

The unit was staffed by the University of Arizona College of Medicine to serve a nearby Indian Reservation, predating the University’s own formally founded Mobile Health Program (October 1976) by one to two years. Throughout, Amigos Internacionales operated only in the background — as banking ledger and permission-granter, never as front-of-stage operator — and LaNoue himself stepped out of the operation entirely at the moment of handoff in Oklahoma City.

5 yrs Project Span, 1969–1974
$6,000 Unit Purchase Price from BSSB
≈1 mo. Time to Raise $6,000+ in Faith Funding
175 Days/Year LaNoue’s BSSB Job Required Travel
1–2 yrs Precedence over UA Mobile Health Program (Oct. 1976)

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 11 documents the institutional moment when the Amigos Internacionales operating pattern crystallized into a reproducible methodology: identify a need that no single institution can solve alone, route resources through whichever institutional structures can move fastest, and remain unattached to credit for the outcome. The five-year arc from BSSB classroom (1969) to operating clinic at the Indian Reservation (1974) demonstrates how four denominational and one academic institution — BSSB, Amigos, Texas Baptist Men, First Baptist Canadian, and the University of Arizona College of Medicine — coordinated to repurpose obsolete equipment into life-serving infrastructure, with Amigos providing the legal, banking, and authorization spine in the background.

The chapter is also the institutional record of one of the earliest Tucson-area mobile-clinic operations to serve an Indian Reservation, predating the University of Arizona Mobile Health Program by one to two years and operating in the same Southwest mobile-healthcare-innovation context as the NASA/IHS/Tohono O’odham STARPAHC telemedicine project then under way.

Historical Timeline

Sequence of Events

  • 1969 BSSB constructs a mobile classroom inside a converted mobile library bus, equipped with a generator, restroom, water supply, public address system, projectors, screens, and sound system, to train church staff across state Baptist Conventions.
  • 1969 The unit travels to BGCT headquarters in Dallas. Dr. John LaNoue, then on BGCT staff, tours it and mentally notes its mobile-clinic potential.
  • 1972 (Thanksgiving) LaNoue transitions from BGCT to BSSB in Nashville (HEC-009).
  • 1973 LaNoue, now a BSSB employee, spots the same mobile classroom parked behind a BSSB storage building, now obsolete due to newer educational electronics.
  • Early 1974 LaNoue approaches the BSSB Executive office about purchase; after several weeks of consideration, the office agrees to strip the teaching equipment and sell the unit for $6,000.
  • Early 1974 LaNoue calls James E. Wren Jr., President of Amigos Internacionales, who authorizes designating the unit an Amigos clinic and starting a Tennessee-based building fund.
  • ≈1 month later, 1974 Slightly over $6,000 is received in the Amigos checking account through faith-given contributions. LaNoue purchases the unit, transports it home, and drafts modification plans.
  • 1974 LaNoue travels to Abilene, Texas for a BSSB conference assignment, where C.J. Humphrey — TBM President 1971–1974 — is also a speaker. Humphrey recognizes LaNoue in the audience and asks to speak afterward.
  • 1974 Humphrey explains he is scheduled to speak the following week to the men’s group at First Baptist Church of Canadian, Texas, seeking a project; LaNoue writes up the clinic project for Humphrey to present.
  • 1974 The Canadian men respond with a plan: LaNoue packs the unit with parts and plans and drives it to Oklahoma City, where a private aircraft delivers a driver and returns LaNoue to Nashville. LaNoue experiences a "crisis of belief" over relinquishing ownership, prays, and accepts the handoff.
  • 1974 The men of First Baptist Church Canadian build the mobile clinic — improving on LaNoue’s modifications — then drive the completed unit to Tucson, Arizona and deliver it to an unnamed NAMB/HMB missionary serving the Indian Reservation.
  • 1974 Observing the missionary’s old, dented Chevrolet Suburban, the Canadian men call their church, which purchases him a brand-new Suburban from the church treasury.
  • 1974+ The completed clinic, staffed by the University of Arizona College of Medicine, begins serving the Indian Reservation’s remote areas.
  • October 1976 The University of Arizona formally founds its Mobile Health Program at the Pascua Yaqui village under Dr. Augusto Ortiz — one to two years after the HEC-011 unit had already begun service.
Key People

Principals in the Record

Dr. John LaNoue — Project originator; purchased and modified the unit; the Abilene conference attendee; surrendered the unit at the Oklahoma City handoff and stepped out of the operation.

James E. Wren Jr. (1929–2012) — Founding President of Amigos Internacionales, 1969–2000 (31 years); based in Athens, Texas; authorized by phone the project’s designation as an Amigos clinic and the Tennessee building-fund account. LaNoue later officiated his 2012 memorial service at Harris Creek Baptist Church in Waco.

C.J. Humphrey (d. 1994) — Attorney at First Baptist Church Amarillo; co-incorporator of the Panhandle Baptist Foundation (1958); instrumental founder of Texas Baptist Men (1967); TBM President 1971–1974. Recognized LaNoue at the Abilene conference and brokered the First Baptist Canadian workforce.

Ophelia Humphrey — Wife of C.J. Humphrey; President of WMU of Texas, 1964–1968; extends the WMU-Amigos institutional chain begun with Eula Mae Henderson (HEC-006/007).

Carl E. Bates — Pastor of First Baptist Church Amarillo at the 1958 Panhandle Baptist Foundation incorporation; later SBC President, 1971–72, contemporary with Humphrey’s TBM presidency.

Unnamed NAMB/HMB missionary in Tucson, Arizona — Recipient of the completed clinic; arranged University of Arizona College of Medicine staffing; identification pending further archival research.

Men of First Baptist Church of Canadian, Texas — The construction and delivery workforce; built, improved, and transported the clinic from Oklahoma City to Tucson and purchased the replacement Suburban for the missionary. Individual identification pending FBC Canadian archival research.

Primary Sources

Source Record

Voice 2 — Primary Narrative Source

  • LaNoue, J.L. Sr. Walking with God in Broken Places. WestBow Press, 2010, Chapter 11: “Learning to Harmonize with God’s Orchestration.” First-person eyewitness account.

External Corroboration