Participants: John Shin
Series Code: 16ASIC
Program Code: 16ASIC000005A
|
04:57 Hello, ASI.
05:01 Are you encouraged? 05:03 Are you inspired? 05:06 Okay, we are... Oh, yes, I'm supposed to be here. 05:11 Okay, I don't play the violin so that's the wrong place. 05:13 Okay, so I have with me 05:15 Pastor Sam and Pastor Scott Griswold, 05:19 and they have a ministry that I think is amazing 05:22 and that everyone in this auditorium 05:25 can be a part of. 05:26 And so, Pastor Sam, you are from where? 05:29 I am from Burma. 05:31 Okay, Myanmar now, right? Now Myanmar. 05:33 Okay, yeah, now Myanmar. 05:35 Now you came to America to be... 05:37 to go to the seminary. 05:39 Yes, at Andrews University. Okay. 05:40 So you wanted to be a pastor, 05:42 but before that what were you doing? 05:43 I was a missionary before that. And before that? 05:46 Before that, I was in the business study field, yes. 05:50 So you were an ASI member? I wish I was. 05:53 Yes, okay, but you could have been an ASI member, 05:56 and like many of these people, you had your own business 05:59 and then you decided to go into God's work. 06:01 Now at the seminary, 06:04 as you were studying to be a minister 06:06 you saw a great need, what was that? 06:08 I saw multitudes of refugees coming from all over the world, 06:11 especially from countries 06:13 like Iraq, and Afghanistan, and Somalia, 06:15 countries where it's very difficult or impossible 06:18 to share the gospel. 06:19 Yes, and we want to send missionaries 06:22 to those countries to reach them 06:24 and here the people are coming right into our backyards. 06:28 And I felt strong impression inside of me 06:31 that there needs to be someone. 06:33 Maybe I'm the one that should be. 06:35 So finally, I saw the need 06:37 and I felt the Holy Spirit working inside of me 06:39 to work with them. 06:41 You know, lot of people see the needs. 06:43 Yes. 06:44 But sometimes or many times that need goes unfulfilled 06:48 because we don't know what to do, okay, 06:51 but you knew what to do and what was that? 06:53 To surrender everything to God. 06:56 Okay, and how did you fill this need? 06:59 I spent time in fasting and prayer 07:02 and God impressed upon my heart 07:05 which group of people to work with. 07:07 Okay, now fasting and prayer 07:10 is what we all need to do to begin our ministry, 07:13 but sometimes when we start our ministry, 07:15 we want to be a big grand ministry. 07:18 But how did you start? I started from scratch. 07:21 I did not have a car and the refugees, 07:24 if I want to reach out to, 07:25 like two hours or three hours drive away from where I was. 07:28 So many times, I had to leave on Friday afternoon 07:31 to Indianapolis or to Chicago, 07:33 and on Tuesday I would be praying for a vehicle, 07:37 for God to provide me someone to give me a ride. 07:41 And if there would be no transportation or vehicle 07:43 that would be provided to me by Wednesday, 07:45 on Thursday I would fast and pray. 07:47 And then what would happen? Okay. 07:50 Almost all the time by Thursday afternoon as I end my fast, 07:56 God would impress upon my heart very strongly and said, 07:59 "My son, your logistic is taken care of." 08:00 And he would give me that peace of mind 08:02 that no human being can take away from me. 08:04 And so you would have a car 08:06 and you would go to these people 08:07 and what would you do once you reach them? 08:10 Once I reach them, I help them apply for jobs. 08:13 These are refugees that like to work, 08:15 they enjoy working hard, and they are good workers. 08:18 So I help them with job applications, 08:20 I help them with job interviews, 08:22 I even help them at job orientation. 08:24 Okay, so, now these people when they come, 08:27 they get government assistance but for how long? 08:29 Most of the time it's three months and... 08:31 Three months. 08:32 And the government expect them to find jobs 08:34 and be able to stand on their own feet 08:36 in three months time as possible. 08:37 So after that they're on their own. 08:38 They're on their own. 08:40 But they don't know the language. 08:41 They don't know the language. Yes. 08:42 Okay, and they don't know 08:44 how the American workplace works. 08:45 That's right. 08:46 And also how the government works. 08:48 Yes, and that's the result they're very stressful. 08:51 And they're always looking for genuine friends 08:53 that would love them, that would support them, 08:55 that would encourage them, 08:56 that would let them feel that 08:58 this is a country that welcomed them. 08:59 Okay, so you fill that need 09:02 and then how does that translate 09:04 into sharing your gospel? 09:07 When I helped them with their needs, 09:10 you know, whether it'd be going to the doctor appointments, 09:12 whether it'd be going to help them get driver license. 09:16 By showing them Christ's love, and grace, and compassion, 09:20 and helping them with their 09:21 day-to-day challenges and needs, 09:23 we begin to bond together. 09:24 There's this deep level of friendship and trust 09:26 that they have, 09:28 and as a result they begin to ask me 09:30 who I am? 09:31 And what I believe? And why? 09:33 Is it that I am as a full time student 09:35 would be helping them. 09:37 Okay, so, Pastor Scott, you are the part of ASAP, 09:41 and what does that stand for? 09:42 ASAP ministry stands for 09:44 Advocates for Southeast Asians and the Persecuted, 09:47 and we are simply trying to encourage and support 09:50 work among Southeast Asians overseas 09:52 but also here and also for those 09:55 who have come from countries 09:56 where there is war or persecution. 09:57 So Pastor Sam is a part of your ministry. 10:00 Amen. Okay. 10:02 Now you shared 10:03 a very interesting testimony with me. 10:06 Yes. 10:08 And I would like you to share them with them. 10:12 At the end of my studies at the seminary, 10:14 I asked God to show me where He wants me to work. 10:17 And as I was fasting and praying on a Sunday, 10:20 God impressed upon me very strongly 10:21 that I need to work with the refugees 10:23 and I asked Him, "Lord, which refugees' group? 10:25 The one in Chicago, in Lansing, in Battle Creek, 10:27 in Grand Rapids, or in Indianapolis." 10:29 And God said, "Indianapolis." 10:31 So my next question is, 10:32 "Okay, I need to go and work in Indianapolis 10:33 but I don't have a car. 10:35 And I need gas money, and I need to rent an apartment 10:39 and I don't have money for apartment, there's no one. 10:41 No organization that would be supporting me 10:43 but how will I go and reach out to them?" 10:46 And as I was fasting and praying, 10:48 as the sun was setting down, 10:50 God impressed upon my heart and said, 10:51 "My son, how many years were you at the seminary?" 10:54 I said, "Four years." 10:55 "Do you owe any money? 10:57 A single cent to Andrews University 10:59 or any one organization?" 11:01 I said, "Lord, no one." 11:03 And the Lord impressed upon my heart and said, 11:05 "As I have taken care of your needs for four years 11:08 without anyone sponsoring you, I will take care of your needs. 11:11 Go to Indianapolis." 11:13 Okay, so now God did send you to Indianapolis 11:16 and you had amazing experiences there 11:20 and what is the result? 11:22 What was the end result? 11:23 I understand you planted a church. 11:25 Yes, the end result is that 11:27 at the beginning we started about 11:28 seven or eight people, 11:30 with that, with God's blessing 11:32 we have about 65 baptized members 11:34 in the church plant. 11:36 Amen. 11:37 Now ASI members, you can reach 11:40 the refugee community in your city, 11:43 and in your community and how do they do that, 11:46 Pastor Scott? 11:47 There are a whole lot of ways he shared with you, 11:49 many other ways that you can just care for people 11:51 as they first arrived 11:53 as they're trying to get used to the things here. 11:55 But to just summarize in the time we have, 11:58 I would encourage people to go to the website 12:00 reachtheworldnextdoor.com 12:02 or stop by and pick up a kit 12:04 that we have prepared at ASAP ministries booth there. 12:07 And what number is your booth? It's number 408. 12:10 Okay, 408. 12:12 You know, we're looking to go into mission field, 12:14 sometimes we can't go to lot of these countries 12:16 but you have these people right in your backyards 12:19 that you can work with. 12:20 So thank you so much. Thank you. 12:22 Okay, next we have our gentleman 12:25 that has a amazing ministry. 12:29 And his name is Shawn D'Abreu. 12:32 Now, Shawn, I met him last year, last year, 12:38 and as soon as I met him, 12:39 I knew he needed to be involved in the ASI officer core. 12:43 And so we twisted his arm and everything else 12:47 and he is our Mid-America ASI 12:51 Vice President for Membership and Recruitment. 12:53 So, now I would like you to share 12:56 just a very short testimony. 12:59 God has been so good to me. 13:01 My very short testimony in this context. 13:04 When I was 17 years old, 13:06 I suffered a spinal cord injury. 13:08 Seventh-day Adventist going to and not in our mission school. 13:11 And there was a school shooting where I was, 13:14 and I was paralyzed, 13:16 but God is so good as a Seventh-day Adventist. 13:20 And so I understood the great controversy. 13:23 I understood that God although He is ultimately in control, 13:27 He is loving and kind, 13:29 He protected me from further injury. 13:31 And He gives me opportunity to witness and to serve Him, 13:34 so that's a brief touch on my testimony. 13:36 So as a result of this shooting, 13:38 you became a paraplegic, 13:40 but you didn't let that slow you down. 13:42 No, God is too good for that, 13:45 and so He allow me to go on and graduate from high school, 13:48 graduate from college, go to graduate school 13:51 and then to begin a professional life from there. 13:53 Yes, and your profession is a lobbyist 13:56 and I've never actually met a real lobbyist before. 13:59 So tell us what you're lobbying for? 14:03 I've lobbied for a few different community groups, 14:09 and nonprofits, 14:11 and centering around the issues of health care, 14:13 community based services, civil liberties, 14:17 variety of different other subjects as well. 14:23 Okay, so in addition to your lobbying activity 14:26 as part of your living, 14:28 you have a ministry and what is that ministry? 14:31 It's the Midwest Center for Civil and Religious Liberty. 14:34 We are a nonprofit organization that's dedicated to protecting 14:40 and advancing the issues of religious liberty 14:43 and civil liberties within our society 14:46 at the local, and state level, and regional level. 14:49 So as part of your ministry, 14:51 you monitor legislative activities in some states, 14:56 Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas right now, right? 14:58 Yes. 15:00 But you would like to expand to where? 15:02 Other areas within the Mid-America Union, 15:04 and also the Midwest if possible. 15:07 We are headquartered in Missouri, 15:10 so that's where the majority 15:12 of our legislative advocacy takes place. 15:14 Okay, now you also train members and churches, 15:18 and how they can get involved and how do you do that? 15:21 That's really the thrust of our concern 15:24 because there's a lot of information out there 15:27 and, so we don't suffer from a lack of information. 15:31 But we do need to be able to follow 15:34 through on the knowledge that we've been blessed 15:36 for as Seventh-day Adventist, 15:38 and so our real burden is to help lay people 15:42 and others who may not be involved in religious liberty. 15:47 You know, there may be policy makers 15:49 or attorneys to get involved, 15:51 to understand what the issues are to be able to communicate 15:54 with legislatives and policy makers 15:56 and to form relationships really for the primary basis 16:00 of trying to help people to understand 16:02 the Three Angels' message but also to influence policy. 16:05 Right. 16:06 Now, we want to influence policy 16:07 because we know the great controversy, 16:09 and we know the Bible prophecy, 16:11 and we know what's coming down the road. 16:13 Yes. And so why do you do this work? 16:17 There is a moral purpose to prophecy, 16:20 and so it's not just for us to know what's going to happen. 16:23 I mean, just kind of sit back passively 16:25 and allow things to happen is for us 16:28 to be able to get involved as the Lord leads us, 16:32 to perhaps help to hold back the winds a little longer 16:34 so the gospel can be preached and lived in relative peace. 16:38 And so that's kind of our burden 16:40 at the local and state level 16:42 because many of the various things 16:44 that threaten us, 16:45 civil liberties or religious liberties. 16:47 They happen more at the state level 16:49 more than at the federal level. 16:51 At the federal level there is a lot of wheel lock 16:52 at this point of time as you all may be well aware. 16:55 So there are a lot of things that pass 16:57 through state legislatures 16:59 that, you know, they sound good 17:00 but, you know, they may not be very good. 17:03 There's a very good example 17:04 that you told me about that just passed through 17:07 or almost passed through the Missouri state legislature. 17:10 Can you share with us what that was? 17:11 Sure. 17:12 It was called Senate Joint Resolution 39 17:16 and it was an amendment to the Missouri Constitution, 17:20 which would have essentially established religion. 17:22 Now, it sounded good, it was marketed very well 17:26 in a manner that many conservative Christians 17:28 would have agree with. 17:30 Oftentimes we hear things like religious liberty, 17:33 we often times, 17:34 you know, say, yeah, I'm for that. 17:35 However, when you look at the proposal 17:37 and look at the bill itself, 17:39 it actually established 17:41 a particular religious point of view 17:43 within the Missouri Constitution. 17:45 Now whether or not we agree with a particular policy, 17:48 or particular piece of theology is really not the point. 17:53 The point is we really believe 17:54 in separation of church and state. 17:55 Amen. 17:57 And therefore we want to avoid the situation 18:00 where there is within constitutions, 18:02 within statutes 18:03 particular theological viewpoints 18:05 even if we agree with them 18:07 that would then be enforced by law 18:10 because even on this one hand is maybe something 18:12 that some people would agree with. 18:14 What happens next 18:15 when there's something that we don't agree 18:17 with whether it's a Sunday Law or some of the aspect 18:19 that would affect our religious liberty. 18:22 And so SJR 39 was, looked like it was a freight train, 18:26 it went straight through the senate, 18:28 it was like who's not going to be stopped 18:30 but God is good, we talk with legislators, 18:33 we did some public affairs work 18:36 we did some other things in coordination 18:38 with other partners 18:40 and it failed in committee by one vote. 18:43 Just one vote. 18:45 And so, the way this is applicable to you, 18:48 you may not live in Missouri, 18:50 but as I say proposals like this go 18:52 through state legislatures all the time 18:55 and so we have to be vigilant. 18:56 Yes. 18:58 Thank you so much 18:59 and, you know, we're going to be praying for you, 19:01 and I think this is something 19:02 that we all should be interested in. 19:04 So thank you so much for sharing. 19:07 Okay, next we have someone that many of you already know, 19:10 Moses Primo. 19:12 He is the... 19:16 Moses, where are you? 19:17 I'm director of broadcasting and engineering for 3ABN. 19:21 Yes, he is the director for broadcasting for 3ABN. 19:24 So we have... 19:27 How long have you been there? 19:29 Almost 25 years. 19:31 Twenty-five years, okay, 19:33 and so you're very involved with that and very busy, 19:38 but now you started another ministry? 19:40 Yes. 19:42 The Lord has impressed me that, 19:44 you know, I was really privileged to be 19:46 in the generation like this 19:49 that goes from a six to eight foot satellite dishes 19:54 to a small internet connection with set top boxes. 19:58 And I saw other companies like they're Roku, 20:02 and there are some other companies. 20:04 The Sky Angel. 20:05 The Sky Angel doing a lot of channels 20:08 that are not good for your family. 20:11 So the Lord impressed me to create something 20:14 that would be Seventh-day Adventist content. 20:17 Not only for the Seventh-day, 20:19 but the content would be only Seventh-day Adventist. 20:23 Okay, so because you weren't busy enough, 20:25 you decided to start another ministry. 20:27 Okay, and what's the name of that ministry? 20:30 It's mySDAtv. 20:33 The reason is I want everybody to have, 20:36 this is my SDA content. 20:39 Okay, so this network is strictly Adventist programming. 20:44 Yes, it is strictly Adventist programming 20:47 but not only for Adventists. 20:49 Right, and who provides this programming? 20:52 They are all the channels, 20:54 the Seventh-day Adventist channels like 3ABN, 20:57 and we have eight channels for 3ABN, 20:59 and they're all high definition in the box. 21:03 There is Amazing Discoveries, Amazing Facts, LLBN, 21:07 and one other factor 21:08 that I wanted to emphasize in this box is 21:11 we have a lot of different languages. 21:14 It is my goal to be a... the center of 21:18 all the Seventh-day Adventist portal 21:21 for many different languages 21:23 to be able to connected to that 21:25 and be blessed with the material that we have. 21:28 Amen. 21:29 Now this is your wife Adima, and she is on your staff? 21:33 Yes. 21:35 So this is your ministry but she does all the work. 21:38 Always. And what do you do? 21:41 I'm the treasurer, and I do the shipping, 21:44 and I help answer the phone. 21:46 Okay, very good. 21:48 Yeah, she prays with some people, 21:49 especially elderly people that call and tell 21:52 that their lives have been changed 21:55 and then there is a hope 21:56 because now they have the content available on the TV 21:59 with all the message that gives them a hope of living. 22:03 Now, how do you accept content from media, people, sources? 22:09 As long as with the 28 22:11 fundamental beliefs of this SDA church, 22:15 we just provided that ability, it's free for the networks, 22:21 all the channels and not only TV 22:22 but the radio also. 22:24 And we wanna invite, you know, all the ASI lay organizations 22:28 that have media content to be on the box. 22:32 We have three different boxes. 22:34 Okay, let's see that. We want to show them. 22:36 This is the smallest one. 22:39 I was telling you, 22:40 we went from a 10 foot satellite dishes 22:44 to smaller than the business card. 22:48 You just connect this little one into the internet 22:51 and you connect it to your TV set, 22:53 and you can get a high definition quality, 22:56 and not only that you put on your pocket, 22:58 you can travel with it or you can... 23:01 We have a lot of people that are using as a ministry tool, 23:05 and they buy in quantities to give out 23:08 and to ministry to other people. 23:10 Okay, so you have three different sizes 23:13 that people can use to play the content 23:17 for any kind of venues like public evangelistic meetings, 23:22 for home meetings, for all that. 23:24 And then you also have the part 23:26 where people can send in content? 23:29 Right, we have also one very important factor 23:32 that we made sure to have is the video on demand. 23:35 Today, nobody has time to watch 23:37 what they want at the time that the networks want, 23:41 so we keep in the memory of the box 23:44 30 days of 24 hours of programming. 23:47 So if you are coming to ASI, 23:49 you see something you like here, 23:50 you go back home, you can watch it again 23:52 or share with your friends or families. 23:56 The box has a USB on the back that you can put a USB stick 24:02 and you can download and share with the friends. 24:06 Okay. Now how do people send in their contents? 24:09 We received a URL from the ministries 24:14 and we just propagated that distribution through the box. 24:18 Okay, we just have a few seconds left. 24:19 Do you have a testimony 24:21 that you can share with us of somebody 24:23 that used the box and changed their lives? 24:25 Well, thank you for asking that 24:27 because we don't have a lot of time 24:28 and I was worried about it. 24:30 But I will make a quick testimony of one lady 24:34 that called us, actually Adima talked to her. 24:37 She purchased the box, and she was watching 24:41 because she was enjoying, she was Seventh-day Adventist, 24:44 but she was worried about her son, 24:46 her teenager son that was out of the church. 24:49 And every night she turned off the box and went to bed 24:53 and the next morning the box was on. 24:55 So she was wondering, 24:58 but one night that she got up 25:00 and she saw her son watching 3ABN 25:03 and they were watching Doug Batchelor. 25:05 After a series of weeks and days, 25:09 she came to talk to the son and the son said, 25:11 "Mom, I surrender my life to Jesus, 25:15 and I wanted to go to Andrews to do a theology program, 25:19 and I want to become a pastor." 25:21 Amen. So how can they contact you? 25:24 We're gonna put up the website, it's very easy. 25:27 It's mySDAtv.org, 25:31 and also we have in that website 25:34 we have the three models and how you can acquire. 25:37 There is a lot of instructions 25:39 that we're upgrading the website. 25:41 We wanted that website to be a portal 25:43 for all the media content that is Seventh-day Adventist. 25:47 Amen. 25:48 ASI, I hope that you've heard something tonight 25:50 that you can take home and get involved in 25:53 because that's why you're here, right? 25:56 Amen. So let's get to work. Thank you. 26:01 Good evening, ASI. 26:04 And we end our evening 26:05 with our exciting offering in action. 26:09 So I'm real happy to bring three projects to you tonight. 26:13 The first of which is GYC, 26:16 and standing with me is Moise Ratsara. 26:18 He's the president of GYC currently 26:20 and, Taylor Hinkle, who is the general vice president. 26:23 And, Moise, tell us what does GYC stand for, 26:25 and tell us a little about the organization? 26:28 Okay, very good question, Debbie. 26:30 So GYC stands for Generation Youth Christ. 26:34 And we're a moment that seeks to have Bible based revival 26:40 where every attendee is a missionary. 26:44 The one thing that we desire is 26:47 to finish the work in this generation. 26:49 That is our biggest desire 26:52 and that is what we seek to do by God's grace. 26:54 Now your target is young people. 26:57 So what ages are we talking about when we talk young folk? 27:00 Okay, we talk from the age of about 17 to 35. 27:04 So millennials and the new generation 27:07 that is rising up, 27:08 we don't have a name for them yet, 27:10 but millennials and the new generation. 27:13 Now the project that we're looking at 27:15 for the offering this year 27:17 has to do with what's coming up. 27:19 One of the events that you typically plan every year. 27:22 Tell us a little bit about the focus of that project? 27:24 Okay, so in December 28, in Houston, Texas, 27:29 so this year we're planning to pass out 27:32 about a million glow tracks throughout the city of Houston. 27:36 We're also planning to generate Bible studies last year 27:39 when were in Beeville, 27:41 we had about 2000 plus Bible study interests 27:44 through our Friday outreach. 27:46 So we're trying to saturate the town of Houston 27:49 with the gospel and to prepare them 27:51 for what's about to happen. 27:53 And this is a typical methodology 27:56 if you will that GYC follows when you have your convention, 27:59 it's not coming and sitting, it's coming and working. 28:03 Yes, we believe in service. 28:05 We believe in service 28:07 and doing something about the gospel. 28:10 And so, now that we understand, 28:14 we're reminded what GYC is all about. 28:16 I'm interested to know 28:17 what some of the challenges are 28:19 that you might face as leadership, 28:22 leaders in this organization 28:23 to engage young people in this kind of activity. 28:27 Does everybody come with a burning desire and fire 28:31 to serve Jesus? 28:32 I'll let my good friend Taylor talk about that. 28:35 Well, I can definitely say not everyone comes 28:37 with a great burning desire to share Jesus. 28:40 I remember the first time I went to GYC, it was in 2007, 28:43 and I walked into GYC 28:45 and thought everyone else is a little bit odd 28:47 because of their zeal to share the gospel. 28:49 And I remember I was raised in Adventist home, 28:51 gone through Adventist education, 28:52 and all these things. 28:53 But these people were so excited about 28:55 what they believed 28:56 and it seemed a little bit weird to me, 28:57 but I remember going home and thinking, 28:59 "Man, they had something that 29:00 they were actually living for and they had a purpose." 29:03 And at that time I realized all my friends 29:04 were leaving the church 29:06 and most of them except for three 29:07 are either dead, in prison, or still on drugs. 29:10 And I wondered what is it 29:12 that's gonna give me a burden for the church, 29:13 and I realized that it's understanding 29:14 the true Seventh-day Adventist message 29:16 and what the Bible really teaches. 29:18 So I remember going back in 2008, 29:20 going to GYC still not fully on board 29:22 with what they were talking about. 29:24 But I was excited about what I was hearing. 29:26 You know, for the very first time 29:27 I heard preachers 29:28 who were really calling us to a higher standard. 29:30 Sure, we heard that in our churches, 29:31 and we heard that in the academy, 29:32 and all these different things. 29:34 But here it was a high pressure time, 29:35 all these young people of my age around 29:38 there wanting to do the same thing, 29:40 and for the first time I didn't feel like 29:41 I was out of place for wanting to serve the Lord, 29:44 but I felt like I was out of place 29:45 not wanting to do God's will. 29:47 And so at those appeals, I remember going forward 29:49 and surrendering my life to Jesus Christ 29:51 and making a decided effort 29:53 that I was going to serve the Lord. 29:54 And I think it's because of GYC's call 29:57 and appeal to fully surrender the lives, 29:59 radical submission, 30:01 being embracing the Seventh-day Adventist message, 30:03 supporting the church in their work. 30:05 It helped me to realize that the church 30:06 is not something I wanted to leave 30:07 but really to be engaged in. 30:09 So and that's the culture 30:11 that you're trying to change this idea 30:13 that where you were coming from 30:15 to where you were wanting to go to, 30:17 and not even realizing that's where you wanted to go, 30:19 but witnessing that all around, 30:20 you're trying to change a culture 30:22 that you've experienced? 30:24 Amen. 30:25 Yeah, we're tired of just being consumers. 30:28 And by God's grace we want to see producers. 30:30 We want to be part of heralding in 30:32 and ushering the coming of Jesus 30:34 instead of sit back and watching everyone else 30:36 and just being spectators. 30:37 But now it's what can we do to see 30:39 Jesus come back in our generation. 30:41 I think it's possible for Jesus to come back very soon. 30:44 I think it's possible for the gospel 30:46 to go to the whole world. 30:47 But it's going to come with the radical desire 30:49 to do whatever it takes for it to happen. 30:51 Amen. 30:52 Thank you very much, Moise and Taylor, 30:54 for sharing with us. 30:57 Isn't that wonderful to have our young people 30:59 so on fire for the Lord. 31:00 We need to hold up their hands 31:02 through our gifts and offerings. 31:04 Coming to the podium now is Jeremiah Weeks, 31:07 he is the director of Share Him and Luis Leonor, 31:12 good long term friend of mine 31:14 and who is the trip manager for Share Him. 31:16 Jeremiah, I want you to share with us. 31:19 When I think about Share Him, 31:20 I know that it was the brainchild 31:22 of Elder Robert Folkenberg Sr. 31:25 And remind us of the mission 31:26 that he so passionately believed in 31:29 through this ministry. 31:30 Yeah. That's right, Debbie. 31:31 Some of you may remember last year in fact 31:33 when we had Bob up on the big screen. 31:36 And he was able to be with us. 31:38 As most of you probably know, 31:39 we were very sad to lose Bob to the sleep of death 31:43 here in December. 31:45 But we are seeking to move forward in our mission, 31:48 our focus is the same 31:50 as what was Bob's desire and passion. 31:52 And that is to encourage everybody, members, pastors, 31:56 young people, old people 31:58 to be more involved each and every day 32:00 in sharing the hope they have in Jesus Christ. 32:04 That's what we're about. 32:05 So we have those pictures that are kind of showing 32:08 a little about the young people 32:09 that are involved with Share Him. 32:11 Right, and there are few things that we do providing materials, 32:15 resources, mentoring. 32:17 But one of the things we do is Share Him trips. 32:19 These aren't so much mission trips. 32:21 The places we go are being very gracious 32:24 to allow us to come. 32:26 What we do is we bring lay people, 32:28 often young people teens, 32:30 young adults to be involved as evangelistic speakers 32:34 for a 9-day or 16-day evangelistic series. 32:38 And as those young people study the message, 32:41 prepare and present, visit, 32:46 not only is there an impact in the place where they go, 32:49 but there's certainly an impact on them. 32:53 And we've seen it time and time again by God's grace. 32:56 So, Luis, as the trip manager, 32:58 I know that recently you organized 33:01 and helped to manage the trip 33:03 for young people from New York State 33:05 and from North Carolina from the States 33:08 and it's previously been a lot of young people 33:10 maybe from other countries. 33:12 Tell us what kind of impact 33:14 those trips had on those young people? 33:16 Yes. 33:17 Well, seeing all Share Him trips, 33:21 we have seen lives transformed and both on the host country 33:28 and also on the group of teenagers 33:31 that were visiting and preaching in that place. 33:36 Today, since 2000 years, 33:39 we have already trained about 13,000 people 33:45 that have been traveling in Share Him trips. 33:51 There are thousands of stories that can be, you know, 33:58 it's amazing to see of the lives 34:01 that has been transformed. 34:04 And let me share with you the story of Emily. 34:10 Emily went with us from New York 34:15 to preach in Philippines. 34:18 On the day before the campaign start, 34:24 we appealed to what we call the orientation day. 34:27 We appeal to the students to preach with enthusiasm, 34:31 not just to go and read the sermon. 34:34 And we told them to preach with enthusiasm. 34:39 You have first to be in good connection 34:42 with the Lord. 34:43 Second, you have to understand what you are preaching. 34:48 And third, you have to believe what you're preaching. 34:52 So they started, Emily preached her 19 sermons, 34:58 doctrinal sermons. 35:00 At the end of the campaign, Emily asked to be baptized. 35:05 Amen. 35:06 For my surprise I said, Emily, 35:08 I thought you were a church member. 35:10 And she said, well, pastor, I come from an Adventist family 35:14 but I never accepted to be baptized 35:17 because I did not believe in the Spirit of Prophecy. 35:21 But now like I preach it, 35:23 I understood it and now I believe it, 35:26 I'm ready to be baptized. 35:28 And she was baptized on that Sabbath 35:31 with 150 more people. 35:33 Amen. Very good. Very good. 35:36 Jeremiah, just finish off for us 35:38 and tell us what is the plan 35:39 with regard to this project for this year. 35:42 What your plans are for Share Him? 35:44 Well, we are just very thankful to ASI members and friends 35:48 for your ongoing prayers and support. 35:50 We are planning for 2017, our largest young adult project 35:55 so far. 35:57 We are particularly focusing on Atlantic Canada and Quebec 36:00 as well as the Atlantic Union and involving young people 36:02 from those areas 36:03 but also from the rest of North America. 36:06 And we're working on that now. 36:09 And just again thankful that you all help make it possible. 36:12 Thank you very much 36:14 for what you're doing for our young people to expose them, 36:16 and give them an experience of sharing Christ 36:18 that is really needed for this time. 36:20 Thank you. Thank you. 36:23 So now I'd like to have James Hartley 36:28 and Vaughan Sparrow come out. 36:30 James Hartley is the director for LIGHT. 36:34 I'm going to let him tell... Where did you go? 36:36 Okay. All right. 36:37 Okay. That's all right. 36:39 So LIGHT and then Vaughan Sparrow, 36:40 who is the president for Wildwood. 36:42 Now, they didn't get mixed up, 36:44 I mean, these are their respective shirts 36:49 with their logos on them 36:51 and there's a reason so stick with us on this one. 36:53 But, James, tell us first. 36:55 Give us a little recap of LIGHT and sort of things. 36:58 So let's walk through some of those pictures pretty quickly 37:00 that you have for us. 37:01 Sure. 37:02 And for those that are not aware, 37:04 LIGHT stands for Lay Institute for Global Health Training. 37:06 And we provide health evangelism training 37:08 around the world. 37:10 We want to see every Seventh-day Adventist 37:11 have access to some, 37:13 to training because we want TMI, 37:15 Total Member Involvement and we're teaching churches 37:17 how to get active in the health message. 37:19 With ASI support we're sponsoring 37:21 over 50 missionaries that are full time. 37:23 We work with another 100 volunteer missionaries 37:26 that are conducting courses. 37:27 We've trained over 17,000 lay members and pastors 37:30 in 85 different countries. 37:32 And we've just seen especially of recent, 37:34 the last few years a great increase of a need 37:37 and interest in the health message. 37:39 And so we're getting invitations 37:41 from around the world 37:42 and just we could report on a lot. 37:44 But let me just share really quickly, 37:46 we're increasing some work 37:48 in the North Africa Middle East Union, MENA. 37:52 And I've got a two pictures here 37:53 from a country in North Africa 37:55 where just a couple months ago, three months ago, 37:57 we accomplished a health expo, 38:00 and the following picture shows a stop smoking seminar. 38:03 We had tremendous interest there, 38:05 meeting some great Muslim folks. 38:06 And they were interested, 38:08 there was five particular individuals 38:09 very interested in our message. 38:11 I also wanted to share. 38:13 We really believe it's important 38:15 that lay members of our church unite work together 38:17 with church leaders. 38:18 I've got a testimony here, 38:20 you just saw a picture from Rio de Janeiro, 38:22 and this was a union that had some difficulty 38:25 working with lay ministries just of recent. 38:28 But Dr. Peter Landless from the General Conference 38:31 recommended to the health director 38:33 in that union to work with laity. 38:35 He called us and I went down, we met with him at the office. 38:38 And recently we had a meeting 38:39 and I've got one more picture here. 38:41 That union has nine conferences and every health director 38:45 from that conference 38:46 met at our new lifestyle center and mission training school 38:49 there in the Rio de Janeiro Union, 38:51 and we made a strategy and a plan 38:53 for doing lay courses 38:54 in every conference of that union. 38:57 And since we first visited 38:58 they've already accomplished 300 health expos, 39:01 and the whole union is just really on fire 39:03 with this health message. 39:04 So we're excited about it, 39:06 and the Lord is just doing a lot and, you know, 39:09 we believe this is all preparation 39:10 for the Lord's second coming. 39:12 Very good. Very good. 39:13 So tell me, so does LIGHT 39:14 just focus their attention on adults? 39:16 No, in fact, we also, 39:18 we believe that we need to start young 39:20 and so very soon we'll be releasing 39:22 a LIGHT course for kids. 39:23 We're going to begin with 9 to 12 year olds. 39:26 We'll highlight the eight laws of health for fun activities 39:29 and fun like cooking school things for kids 39:31 and so, see that will be coming soon, 39:33 we'll have that in multiple languages as well. 39:35 And that's the focus for this year's project 39:36 for the offering them. 39:38 Yes, that and also the support of the missions overseas. 39:40 Wonderful. Wonderful. 39:41 Now tell us, 39:43 what is your relationship to Wildwood? 39:44 Well, it's very close. 39:46 We are on the campus of Wildwood. 39:47 I've worked at Wildwood for 17 years now. 39:50 And I was really birth out of the education department 39:53 from Wildwood, this is where... 39:55 I was, it started there anyway and... 39:58 So, yeah, it's a good relationship. 40:00 We're like the launching pad 40:02 for the college of health at Wildwood, 40:03 it's called health evangelism. 40:05 We have the opportunities 40:06 for the students right when they graduate. 40:08 There's lots of opportunities 40:09 and they hear about it all the time. 40:10 So let's understand a little bit 40:12 more then about Wildwood 40:13 and how that spawns other ministries. 40:14 Vaughan, tell us a little bit about the lifestyle, 40:19 the community center, 40:21 that's the project for this time 40:22 and why that's a specific need for Wildwood? 40:26 Okay, as we do that, there's a picture 40:27 that we want to show you of our campus coming up 40:30 and where that is situated. 40:33 Since the closure of a hospital, 40:36 we've felt the need to try and meet people where they are 40:39 instead of trying to bring them on to our campus. 40:41 We have a church 40:43 right at the entrance of our campus 40:46 and for some people it's a little prohibitive, 40:48 it closes them off 40:49 where they wonder what's behind the church. 40:51 And so, we want to try and put them right on, 40:55 put ourselves where they are and draw them in. 40:59 And it started with a project that was student led. 41:04 Out of our ministry management course, 41:07 it was one of their project called Health Made Simple. 41:10 And that started growing 41:14 and we encouraged people to come on to our campus, 41:18 gain membership into this Health Made Simple organization 41:22 where we provided discount at our stores. 41:25 And then also gave them benefits, 41:29 spa treatments, massage, etcetera. 41:32 And that will be based in this community center. 41:36 Currently we have over a 160 members 41:39 in this Health Made Simple project. 41:43 And we continue to run cooking schools 41:47 that is actually drawing 30 people into our student cafe 41:53 for our cooking school once a month. 41:55 And we've also spawned 41:57 small group cooking schools that have, 42:01 meet every two weeks now 42:02 and are continuing to grow in that way. 42:07 So we're hoping that this center 42:09 is going to really meet people where they are, 42:12 have seminars there, 42:14 also have other meetings and events, 42:17 medical seminar, natural remedies, 42:20 and so it will be a blessing to the community at large. 42:23 So tell me, I'm curious, 42:24 how many ministries have been spawned 42:26 from the Wildwood experience in training? 42:30 Well, it's... 42:31 We can probably trace at least 50 42:35 from people that have been trained at Wildwood, 42:38 gone out, and Wildwood also actually being involved 42:41 in starting some of those ministries. 42:43 Amen. 42:44 And this year is our 75th anniversary 42:46 that we are celebrating 42:48 and I'm sure many will be joining us 42:52 and we invite everyone to... 42:54 can make it to come and join us this next weekend. 42:57 Next Sabbath, hope everybody can come, yeah. 42:59 Next Sabbath? 43:00 So also just want to say 43:01 that community center is right off a prominent exit, 43:04 you know, Wildwood is right 43:05 outside of Chattanooga eight miles. 43:07 And so I think there's a lot of traffic there 43:09 and the property that we own 43:10 is right next to the gas station 43:12 so it'll be... 43:13 That community center will be visible 43:15 right from the gas station, you get a lot of traffic. 43:17 It'll be a perfect laboratory 43:18 for our students to get experience, 43:19 to get them out in the community 43:21 and so, yeah, 43:22 because we're preparing them 43:23 to spread the same thing elsewhere. 43:25 Well, this is a perfect example of what collaborative ministry 43:29 can accomplish when you're working together. 43:31 So thank you very much for everything 43:33 that LIGHT is doing with Wildwood 43:34 and Wildwood with LIGHT, 43:36 and all the young ministries that are coming from within. 43:38 Thank you. 43:39 Thank you, Debbie. Thank you. 44:08 Lord whose love in humble service 44:13 Bore the weight of human need 44:17 Who upon the cross, forsaken 44:22 Worked Your mercy's perfect deed 44:27 We, Your servants, bring the worship 44:31 Not of voice alone, but heart 44:36 Consecrating to Your purpose 44:41 Every gift which You impart 44:59 Still Your children wander homeless 45:04 Still the hungry cry for bread 45:09 Still the captives long for freedom 45:14 Still in grief we mourn our dead 45:18 As you, Lord, in deep compassion 45:23 Healed the sick and freed the soul 45:27 By Your Spirit send Your power 45:32 To our world to make it whole 45:39 Lord, whose love in humble service 45:43 Bore the weight of human need 45:48 Who upon the cross, forsaken 45:52 Worked Your mercy's perfect deed 45:57 We, Your servants, bring the worship 46:01 Not of voice alone, but heart 46:06 Consecrating to Your purpose 46:10 Every gift which You impart 46:29 As we worship, grant us vision 46:34 Till your love's revealing light 46:38 In its height and depth and greatness 46:43 Dawns upon our quickened sight 46:47 Reaching Lord I need to know you 46:51 When our burdens are darkens 46:56 Stirring us to ardent service 47:01 Your abundant life to share 47:07 I'd invite you to stand 47:09 as we sing the last verse together. 47:16 Lord whose love in humble service 47:21 Bore the weight of human need 47:25 Who upon the cross, forsaken 47:30 Worked Your mercy's perfect deed 47:34 We, Your servants, bring the worship 47:38 Not of voice alone, but heart 47:43 Consecrating to Your purpose 47:47 Every gift which You impart |
Revised 2017-08-20