Participants: Frank & Janet Fournier, James Hartley, Melody Mason, Duane McKey & Ranela Kaligithi, Chester Clark III, Michael Tuazon, Randy Bivens
Series Code: 17ASIC
Program Code: 17ASIC000006A
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00:20 We'd like to welcome you all to our ASI convention. I've 00:25 received a wonderful blessing and I know that you have as well 00:29 We're looking forward to even more this weekend and so we 00:35 praise the Lord for being here. 00:38 Shall we bow. Heavenly Father, it's been a tremendous blessing 00:43 and we want to thank you with all of our hearts for the 00:45 inspiration that we're gaining here. But we want even more than 00:50 inspiration; we want a change of heart. We're putting ourselves 00:53 in your hands this morning asking that you would touch us 00:56 in such a way that when we leave this place we are better than 01:00 when we came and we'll be reaching out to all the folks 01:04 that we meet. Bless us. Bless the continuing of this 01:08 convention We thank you for it, in Jesus' name, amen. 01:12 Amen. 01:16 ♪In the morning when I rise In the morning when I rise♪ 01:29 ♪In the morning when I rise/ Give me Jesus. ♪ 01:43 ♪Give me Jesus, Give me Jesus You may have all this world♪ 02:01 ♪but give me Jesus. Oh, and when I am alone,♪ 02:15 Oh, and when I am alone, Oh, and when I am alone,♪ 02:25 ♪Give me Jesus. Give me Jesus Give me Jesus. ♪ 02:40 ♪You may have all this world, but give me Jesus. ♪ 02:55 ♪And when I come to die, Oh, and when I come to die. ♪ 03:09 ♪Oh, and when I come to die Give me Jesus. ♪ 03:20 ♪Give me Jesus, Give me Jesus You may have all this world♪ 03:39 ♪But give me Jesus. You may have all this world♪ 03:50 ♪But give me Jesus. ♪ Amen. 04:02 Good morning, ASI. We're glad to bring you another Offering In 04:09 Action segment, an interview with James Hartley, who is the 04:15 president of LIGHT, L-I-G-H-T, and James for those who might 04:20 possible not know what LIGHT is please explain what that acronym 04:26 is and a little bit about the ministry. 04:28 Sure, happy to. LIGHT stands for the Lay Institute for Global 04:29 Health Training. We're located in North Georgia on the campus 04:33 of Wildwood Lifestyle Center and our mission is to provide health 04:37 evangelism training to every church member worldwide. We want 04:40 training to be available in everyone's country and in their 04:43 language. So, we have a standardized curriculum that 04:46 we mainly use as a one-month intensive course. It's 125 hours 04:50 in length. We have that curriculum translated in 12 04:52 languages now. We're supporting 50 missionaries full time that 04:57 are overseas continually running these programs year 05:01 round on every continent. So in the past, ASI has been a 05:03 great support for us the past 10 years. We started in 2008. 05:07 This is kind of our 10th year. By God's grace we've seen well 05:11 over 20,000 church members trained through that program in 05:14 these years, 05:15 and we've seen tremendous impact that it's made in local churches 05:20 around the world in using health as an entering wedge for the 05:25 gospel. Now I remember talking with you 05:26 some time ago, James, and I was just amazed to hear how 05:29 God continues 05:31 to provide even when you don't know where it's coming from and 05:34 how it's going to happen. To see that you've been in existence 05:38 for 10 years and God has provided, many times through ASI 05:41 it's just remarkable. You talked 05:43 about impact. So what kind of impact have you see as a result 05:47 of LIGHT? 05:48 Well let me share a couple. One I 05:50 want to start in Brazil. You know there are more Seventh-day 05:52 Adventists living in Brazil than any other country. So, we've 05:55 worked very hard there. We've run dozens of LIGHT courses in 05:59 Brazil and we've really seen a lot of great fruits of recent... 06:02 Just two weeks ago we finished a one-month training course, and 06:06 this is a great story here. This family in the middle, husband 06:09 and wife and a couple children, were all baptized. They were not 06:13 Seventh-day Adventists when they came into our program. In fact, 06:17 we had five baptisms just out of that one one-month course. This 06:20 year there's been seven in Brazil. So it's kind of an 06:24 interesting take that we didn't really expect but sometime we 06:26 bring in people who are not Seventh-day Adventists into our 06:29 courses and they get amazed by the wholeness of the message. We 06:32 give them Bible Studies in the evening and they see the health 06:36 and the gospel working together and their health has improved, 06:39 their lives have changed and they're even joining the church. 06:42 Also in Brazil at around the same time we had a small 06:46 convention of graduates that we've had over recent years. 06:50 And it's interesting. The person that organized the convention 06:54 was not myself. It was the Union health director, the Rio 06:57 Dejenero Health director. So we've got a great relationship 07:00 with the church down there. They thought we needed to get 07:02 together, so they organized kind of a supporting ministry 07:05 themselves It was fantastic. There were 80 people there, 07:09 there were 15 ministries. And I think that out of the 15 all but 07:13 probably three were really as a result of LIGHT graduates that 07:17 had started these projects. So in the past year in Brazil there 07:20 have been over 300 health expos. It has really spread very broad. 07:24 So there's ministry starting up, there's church activity. That's 07:27 one of the examples of action results. 07:30 So you've had tremendous collaboration, sometimes without 07:33 even asking for it or looking for it. 07:34 Yeah, that's true. Let me share one other collaboration that 07:39 we've had is with MENAU, the Middle East North Africa Union. 07:42 We really have an interest, not only to work the areas like 07:46 Brazil where there is a bee hive of activity of Adventism but in 07:51 the Middle East there's not many We thought for a long time 07:53 what can we do? 07:56 This past year God helped us to raise some money to purchase a 07:59 home just across the Turkey border that would be used as a 08:03 training center for missionaries that would work throughout the 08:06 Middle East and North Africa. I've got a picture of the house 08:10 here. This is a simple structure but we've just had a graduation 08:14 of a six-month training course. We had 12 graduates there and 08:18 they are now working in Turkey kind of undercover, covertly, 08:23 because you can't outwardly preach the gospel or anything. 08:27 But we just finished a health expo. There's another slide of a 08:31 health expo here that was in Turkey with our graduates. Had a 08:35 tremendous turnout. Over 200 people came through. We see 08:39 health as a very effective tool in reaching the Muslim world. 08:43 So we're really excited about that. As well as yesterday 08:46 Svetlana shared a report from Kazachstan. We're also 08:49 also supporting them. This would be the first ever health 08:52 lifestyle center and mission training school in all of 08:54 central Asia as well as a very Muslim area. So we're studying 08:58 the health, we're studying the gospel and we're studying how to 09:01 reach Muslims with the right arm of the message. So just a few 09:04 testimonies from the field. 09:06 Excellent, excellent. So zero in on the specific details for this 09:11 particular project that's in the offing for this year. 09:13 Sure. So offering money will go toward supporting our 09:16 missionaries that are in the field. So it is more wide spread 09:19 that way, but the specifically we have a few really, really 09:24 fresh projects. One is working in China and we're just about 09:27 80 to 90 percent finished with our Chinese Mandarin translation 09:31 This is our manual now, if you can read that that. This is 09:34 Chinese Mandarin. We've got a couple Chinese right now at 09:39 Wildwood recording classes. So we have plans to establish a 09:43 small, covert, health school in southern China as well recording 09:47 an on-line school because with on-line we can make our training 09:51 available to any Adventist via the web. And especially in China 09:54 we think is going to be very useful. So we're working with 09:57 the Chinese Union Mission. Pastor Falkenburg and I have had 10:00 great conversations this ASI talking about this; how to use 10:03 our on-line training, how to use the manual and he sees great 10:06 potential for that, so we're really excited for the work in 10:09 China. Let me continue. There's also... for years I have to 10:15 admit we forgot about the children. Now I have a little 10:19 daughter and so my heart's been softened so now we produced 10:23 LIGHT for Kids. Maybe you can show a picture. This is our new 10:26 training manual. Okay. It is Light 4 Kids. It is going to 10:29 teach the eight laws of health and also the importance of 10:32 service and giving into the communities. So this will be a 10:35 couple examples of what it looks like. There'll be a lot of 10:38 activities. We'll go through the eight laws of health. There will 10:40 passive activities and workbook type things that they'll go 10:44 through. So this is going to be printed and distributed in 10:47 countries around the world. We're in the translation process 10:51 We're planning on using it with Pathfinders, we're going to use 10:54 it with vacation Bible schools, with evangelistic efforts, in 10:58 Adventist schools around the world, getting them started when 11:02 they're young. Lastly, I've got one other thing. This is a door- 11:07 to-door project. I've got a picture of a little booklet 11:10 that we've put together called Light Up Your Life!. It's 11:12 adopting a new health habit every week. It's a seven-week 11:16 program. So our door-to-door workers will go through and 11:19 introduce a new health habit each week and they will keep 11:23 track of their results. So this is on meal planning day. They 11:25 score themselves whether they ate a good breakfast that day 11:29 and they get a weekly score and the next week we'll talk about 11:33 sleep and water and so forth and we'll go through and using the 11:36 right arm of the gospel is about developing relationships. This 11:40 is how Christ worked. He won their confidence through 11:44 ministry to them. So we want to have a little time. So with our 11:48 health programs our health expos we're teaching follow-up 11:51 programs; the health clubs or you can develop the relationship. Through this 11:54 door-to-door program over seven weeks you'll be developing that 11:57 relationship and then transitioning it into more 12:00 spiritual programs, Bible studies and so forth. 12:03 Well James I'm excited to see how LIGHT is expanding all over 12:07 the world and in different areas, different arenas, moving 12:11 into children's programs and door-to-door. I look forward 12:14 to what God is going to do to our offering so that we can make 12:17 that happen. 12:18 Thank you, we appreciate the support. Let me just say if 12:20 anyone wanted to learn more of our ministry, we're in aisle 300 12:23 and our website is lightingtheworld. org. 12:27 Excellent. Thank you. 12:28 You know, God has called us all to be part of his body and there 12:34 are many members, part of the body of Christ. And one of the 12:40 most important reasons in my mind to be part of ASI is 12:43 because it's all of us coming together. And we're working 12:46 together. We're doing different things. The hand does different 12:49 things but those different things. We all have different 12:53 aspects but being part of ASI is exciting because we're moving 12:57 together as one body in unity to fulfill the mission that the 13:03 gospel can be proclaimed and we can go home. TMI - Total Member 13:08 Involvement is just a powerful thing that I see taking over the 13:14 church. It's not just about giving an evangelistic series, 13:18 not just an event, it's about a lifestyle, a lifestyle of 13:22 reaching out to those around you because we each have a witness, 13:25 we each have a circle of influence others don't have. We 13:28 And so we each need to be part of total member involvement. 13:32 The vision that God is calling us to fulfill is impossible in 13:36 our strength. But through his power we're told in Mark 10:27 13:39 things that are impossible with men are possible with God. So 13:43 through his power what we're praying for is going to be 13:47 accomplished. 13:51 Amen. Well we just heard on the video, Melody talked about total 13:55 member involvement and with me to my left is Elder Duane McKey 14:00 from the General Conference, President of Adventist World 14:02 Radio and you also happen to be the director of the total member 14:05 involvement initiative. That's right Kyle. 14:07 And someone's next to you. 14:08 Yes, Ranelle and she's my associate in the same department 14:12 I'm very blessed. Yeah, thank you, Kyle. I noticed that too. 14:17 Yes, I have very much so. So Elder McKey can you tell us why 14:20 total member involvement is so exciting and what is this... 14:24 Oh it's thrilling because I believe, I know Elder Wilson 14:27 believes with all his heart that the work will never be finished 14:30 Jesus will never come until all the members, because we're told 14:33 this, inspiration tells us that till all of us get involved 14:36 working together to finish the work so Jesus can come. That's 14:38 why I'm so excited about it. 14:41 And that's really the mission of ASI. All of our church 14:44 members get involved in sharing the gospel. Tell us, I think you 14:48 have some stories. 14:50 I have a story. We just came back from the Island of Mindoro. 14:52 We went there to prepare for a very special event because we 14:56 brought Japanese pastors and lay people from Japan, 52 of them, 14:59 to preach the first evangelistic meetings in their lives. One 15:03 conference president said, I have never even been to an 15:05 evangelistic meeting. Well, he said, I remember back when I was 15:08 a kid I went to one. So here he is preaching, these pastors 15:11 are preaching because next year we want to go to Japan and get 15:13 them excited, get them involved with total member involvement, 15:16 preparing for a series of meetings there as well. 15:19 So in the Philippines in Mendoro they all preached their first 15:23 meeting. To prepare for the meetings the lay people got 15:25 involved all across the island. We had nine radio stations, four 15:29 lay people who had never been broadcasting before, never been 15:32 at a radio station before, four of them at each of the stations 15:36 did all of the work, they broadcast daily 1-3 hours, nine 15:40 radio stations Perfecto. He's up in the mountains in Mendoro 15:44 He listens to one radio station every day and on that radio 15:48 station all of a sudden there's different programing. It's our 15:51 programing, AWR, and he's listening to it. He says this is 15:54 different. He got his kids on it and they all listened. They got 15:57 the question of the day, a special question that went out 15:59 the day before. Then if they got it right then they could get a 16:02 special gift. So people came from the radio station, lay 16:05 people, went up in the mountains, started giving him 16:08 Bible studies. Perfecto was a pagan, never been to church 16:15 before in his life. I baptized him three weeks ago with 120 16:17 of his villagers because all the lay people of the island were 16:20 actively involved. They sponsored it themselves. 16:22 That wouldn't have happened if the lay people hadn't gotten 16:25 involved. That's right. It was their 16:27 project. They did it. 16:28 How about here in America? Do we see that happening here in 16:30 America. Absolutely, we sure do. 16:32 It's thrilling and exciting as we all get involved in our 16:35 churches and again, Jesus won't come until that happens. 16:39 So, Elder McKey, you have next to you... 16:42 Ranela. Yes, she believes in TMI, Total Member Involvement 16:45 Something special is going to happen this afternoon. What time 16:49 was that? I forgot. 16:50 Yes, we're having a seminar on Total Member Involvement from 16:54 2- 3:15 p. m. It's actually not during any other seminar time. 16:59 It's just after lunch, so we hope to see everyone there. 17:02 Wait, wait, wait. You said not during any other seminar time. 17:06 That means there's no excuse. There's no excuse. We should see 17:08 everyone there. 17:10 Who's coming to the TMI seminar this afternoon. 17:11 Amen, amen. 17:13 Elder Wilson's going to be with us and others. 17:16 Yes, Elder Wilson will be there. You'll be there. Ranela will be 17:19 there. Our friend Mike Tuazon is going to be there speaking. 17:22 Ranela, I just want to know why you are so passionate about 17:25 Total Member Involvement? What drives you for this? 17:29 Well 12 years ago when I was 15 I preached my first evangelistic 17:33 series in Africa. And I have grown up 7th-day Adventist my 17:37 whole life. My dad was a pastor. But it really hadn't become my 17:40 own. And when I started preaching, I started sharing the 17:43 message that we have, my eyes were opened and a light bulb 17:46 went off and I realized, wow, I really want people to know 17:49 about the message we have, and since then for the last 12 years 17:53 I've dedicated my life to seeing church members, young people, 17:56 alike, everyone to be able to have that moment where they 17:59 realize the real meaning of life the real joy in life is service 18:04 and hastening Jesus's coming. 18:06 Do you see why I just hired Ranela and Adventist World 18:12 Radio to be one of our associates. 18:13 Don't worry, I see why, and I'm glad you did. This way she's 18:18 closer to me. But Elder McKey, so we want everyone to come this 18:20 afternoon to the Total Member Involvement Seminar. 18:24 What time was that. Two p. m. in room 360F. Third 18:28 level and up there somewhere. 18:30 Now for those that are watching online or on 3ABN, how can they 18:32 get involved in the Total Member Involvement initiative? 18:35 Oh absolutely. You know on the website, they can look there. 18:37 On Facebook, I think Ranela is just putting some things up on 18:40 Facebook for you. Talk to your pastor. Talk to your church 18:43 leaders and say we want to do something. We have to have a 18:46 plan in our church to help finish the work in our community 18:50 because even though the work may be finished in Africa, Jesus 18:53 won't come until it's finished in Scotland, until it's finished 18:56 in America, et cetera. 18:57 Well thank you. God bless you Elder McKey, Ranela. God bless 19:01 you and the Total Member Involvement initiative will 19:05 continue to grow and strengthen and we'll see you at 2 o'clock. 19:09 All right. Amen. Wonderful. Well next up we have a very 19:13 special friend of mine, Randy Bates. 19:16 Good morning Kyle. 19:17 It's good to see you Randy. Thanks for joining me here at 19:21 ASI. How many of you have seen those little signs that say 70 19:25 on them here at the convention? Because it is our 70th 19:30 anniversary, right? Well I learned last night that one of 19:34 our member ministries of ASI, the Quiet Hour, is actually 19:38 celebrating 80 years. So you beat us by 10 years. 19:43 I wasn't there when it began though, just to clarify. 19:47 OK. So Randy you're the director and present CEO of Quiet Hour. 19:50 That's correct. Tell us a little bit about the 19:52 history of Quiet Hour and what the mission of this organization 19:55 is. Thank you Kyle. The History of 19:57 Quiet Hour began July 7, 1937 when J. L. Tucker, a pastor in 20:01 the Portland area, was given the opportunity, the unexpected 20:05 opportunity, to do a radio broadcast because of leftover 20:08 time from an evangelistic series J.L. says that when he did that 20:13 first live broadcast his knees were applauding under the table. 20:17 He was so nervous. That broadcast grew into a twice- 20:21 a- day broadcast. Twelve years later Quiet Hour pioneered 20:25 Adventist television in the Oakland area with a television 20:30 program on KGO, again broadcast live. None of this edit and 20:34 reedit and fix it up. So that's how Quiet Hour began. We are now 20:40 located in Redlands, California where we do international 20:43 mission trips helping the lay people become involved in 20:47 international evangelism. And Quiet Hour's mission trips are 20:50 unique in that we don't just do church construction, we don't 20:53 just do children's programming or medical clinics or 20:56 evangelism meetings. We do all four of those. We think that's 21:00 important because that's really Jesus' method of evangelism, 21:04 right? He mingled with the people, he met their needs and 21:07 then he shared a message with them. That's Quiet Hour's method 21:11 as well. We mingle with the people and meet their needs 21:14 through medical clinics and dental and optical clinics. We 21:16 also do children's programming and church construction and then 21:20 we share with them that all- important message of how much 21:23 Jesus loves them and how much he cares for them. That's the heart 21:26 and soul of Quiet Hour Ministries. 21:28 Amen. So Randy that sounds really exciting and do you have 21:32 any stories that you could share with us today. I mean, you've 21:35 tons of stories. 21:37 We do. Now Kyle you should actually have some stories 21:39 yourself. You were on a Quiet Hour mission trip and actually 21:42 led a Quiet Hour mission trip as well. 21:44 That's really true. Actually I can personally say that the 21:47 Quiet Hour mission trip, I've gone on two of them or three of 21:50 them. They were very, very influential in my life. 21:51 First when I was a speaker and then when I was able to lead my 21:55 church to go on a Quiet Hour trip. I can tell you, seeing 21:58 people get involved in mission, total member involvement, 22:01 seeing the church members helping preach or helping run 22:05 VBS or helping run a medical clinic, it is so inspiring to 22:09 see them get on fire for missions. Because really they 22:12 come home and they're more energized to do the work. 22:15 Absolutely. Quiet Hour is such a blessing. 22:17 I want to thank you for the ministry you guys do. 22:18 Thank you for your help. We couldn't do it without 22:20 volunteers like Kyle and you guys. You're welcome to come 22:22 and join us too. I do want to tell you a couple of stories. 22:26 The first story has to do with why I am so passionate about 22:30 evangelism. It was in 2009. It was in Cusco, Peru and I was 22:34 preaching my first series. My first sermon. Part of the New 22:38 Beginning series sponsored by ASI and I was preaching the 22:42 series the sermon about how we have an advocate in the court 22:44 Series the sermon about how we have an advocate in the court of 22:46 heaven, a friend in the court of heaven, how Jesus is our 22:50 advocate there. And in the audience was a lady who was 22:54 weeping and I could tell that her weeping was not just 22:58 external but it came from a deep place inside her. She was 23:02 weeping because she came from a Christian faith where the 23:06 judgment was something to be feared, not something to embrace 23:09 not something to be excited and enthusiastic about. As she wept 23:13 my heart was touched because I realized I had watched a miracle 23:18 happen right in front of my eyes God had changed a life, changed 23:22 a heart right in front of me and I got to be part of that. What 23:26 an exciting moment and it has changed my life since. I now 23:30 am absolutely committed to helping others have that same 23:33 experience because, it does, it changes your life forever. My 23:37 second story has to do with that kind of thing as well. One of 23:41 our team members came on a mission trip with us to San 23:44 Vicente, Columbia. Now this team member did not want to be there. 23:50 She was 16. She came because her parents had decided they 23:54 needed to do something other than vacations with their time 23:57 off. And so they wanted to do a mission trip. She did not want 24:01 to be there and it was very obvious. Any of you who are 24:04 familiar with 16 year olds know that when they're not happy it's 24:08 pretty apparent, right? You could tell by her posture, by 24:11 her demeanor, by her facial expressions. She did not want 24:15 to be there. But she had come and she engaged and participated 24:19 She actually was part of the children's programing doing the 24:23 VBS for the the kids in San Vicente. That experience 24:28 changed her so much that by the end of the week that we were 24:32 there, she was on stage in front of 400 people giving her 24:35 testimony about how God had changed her life through that 24:39 mission trip. She spoke Spanish and English but she was so 24:43 emotionally involved in the story that she wanted to tell 24:48 it in English which meant that her father translated that 24:51 message into Spanish to the audience. Can you imagine being 24:55 parent and translating your child's testimony that happened 25:00 in the last week. Oh what an inspiring moment. And that's 25:04 why we do mission trips because it does change people. 25:08 It changes those who go and it changes those who hear the 25:12 message. Amen, that is so powerful Randy. 25:14 I can definitely tell you that I have seen that same experience 25:18 I've watched persons who go on those trips and seen their lives 25:21 changed by being involved in evangelism. Now as we look 25:25 to the future, Quiet Hour is 80 years in now and by God's grace 25:29 we're very close to the soon coming of the Lord. But what is 25:33 ahead just in the future for Quiet Hour? 25:35 What's ahead in the future for Quiet Hour is we want to 25:38 continue this legacy that God has blessed us with. In the last 25:41 10 years Quiet Hour has been in every single division of the 25:44 World Church. We've been in 88 countries. We've had more than 25:48 5000 team members go out, more that 2200 evangelistic series 25:52 have been presented and more than 90,000 people have been 25:56 Baptized. Amen. We are so excited to see that continue. 26:00 We're starting with a new sermon series called My Friend Jesus. 26:03 Helping people to build that relationship with Jesus that is 26:07 so important, so important. So if you have a school, your 26:10 church, anybody that would be interested in going on a mission 26:14 trip, please contact Quiet Hour Ministries. We would love to 26:17 help you do that. We can be reached at 26:19 QHMinistries. org; that's our web site. There's our phone 26:23 number, everything else that you could need to contact us. 26:26 And you have a booth here at the exhibit hall? 26:28 We do not have a booth this year It's just me. So find me, I'll 26:32 be happy to talk to you. I love to tell stories. 26:34 Thank you Randy, God bless you. And may God continue to bless 26:36 and expand the work at Quiet Hour. 26:38 Thank you so much Kyle. Thank you ASI. 26:39 The main reason I do who I do is because I'm really just tired. 26:50 Every time I hear the news, every time I look around me, I 26:54 see the world is just a mess. Horrible stories coming in from 26:59 overseas. You look at the news paper, or you just look around 27:03 the neighborhood and you see people in pain and misery. 27:06 Whether that's in society or whether it's just somebody over 27:11 here whose marriage is falling apart, some kid who's lonely. 27:15 All these horrible things that are going on in the world. You 27:19 got some people, it seems like they wake up in the morning 27:23 trying to figure out how to make the world more miserable, 27:28 more painful. And I just decided that enough is enough and I 27:32 just figured if there are going to be people out there in the 27:36 trying to make the world a miserable place, I for one was 27:39 going to be one person who was pushing back and going the other 27:43 way. I wanted to make sure that there was at least somebody 27:47 standing up for the truth, somebody standing up for what 27:50 was right, standing up to help somebody who was hurting. I 27:54 might not be able to change the world but that drives me. I am 27:59 so angry at all the stuff that goes on in the world and my 28:03 revenge is to something good, my revenge is to do something 28:09 right. My revenge when people are hurting is to help. 28:16 We have another offering in action segment for you. This is 28:22 a project report. Chester Clark is a board member of Ouachita 28:26 Hills in Amity, Arkansas. Tell us what was the project and how 28:31 was the money used? 28:33 Well you know we really appreciate ASI because there's 28:36 a vision not just help our self-supporting institutions 28:39 but also to help them help themselves. And through your 28:42 generous funding we were able to build a warehouse to house 28:46 our literature evangelism books. Now what this does for us is 28:50 several things. But importantly it helps us to buy books in 28:53 larger quantities so that our students, when they go out and 28:57 sell them can have more profit, the school can have more profit 29:00 and we can continue to do this work and bless others. 29:06 Now beyond the students at Ouachita Hills Academy and 29:10 college, there are other benefits that other schools were 29:14 able to benefit from this, right? 29:16 That is because we are able to buy in such larger quantities. 29:19 For example, the different organizations, schools, unions 29:23 publishing departments, had gotten together to try to buy a 29:26 printing together to get the price down. They were hoping to 29:29 get the price down about 25 percent, but with the larger 29:32 warehouse and inventory we're able to have we made a larger 29:35 order and we were able to get the price down 37 percent 29:38 from what we usually would pay for them and that helped all of 29:42 us, all the different schools and publishing workers around 29:46 the North American Division. 29:47 So it really is a phenomenal collaboration to get the word 29:52 our through literature evangelism. 29:54 And I think it's also perhaps one of the largest, if not the 29:58 largest one day structure that we've built so far. It's a 30:00 beautiful warehouse. You'll see more about that in a minute. 30:03 OK, so we can go ahead and roll that video now. All right. 30:10 Canvassing is part of our curriculum. It helps the school, 30:15 it helps the students, and most importantly it helps us as a 30:20 army of youth to fulfill the gospel commission. We distribute 30:25 over 71,000 books a year. But what if other schools and 30:32 churches or families want to do the same, but they don't have 30:36 the volume to get the discounted prices. With the in mind, ASI 30:40 supported Ouachita Hills Warehouse project and in October 30:45 2016, 65 students, the canvassers themselves and 30:49 volunteers came together to build the first one-day 30:54 warehouse. What's exciting is just knowing 31:03 that the books that are going to be housed in this building 31:06 won't stay here long, but they're going to be going out 31:10 around the world. God is going to use this to make a_ 31:13 for the work. It's exciting to see all the students working 31:15 together. It's just like Nehemiah's day when all hands 31:19 were on deck seeing the work done in a quick, timely fashion. 31:23 It's been an amazing experience watching the exterior phase. 31:26 So exciting I can't wait to see it fully up. 31:29 Today in Amity, Arkansas we have a center where small 31:34 institutions, churches and individuals can order canvassing 31:38 books at a discounted price thanks to the vision and 31:41 generosity of ASI members. 31:44 I've never seen God's promises so real as I have in canvassing. 31:49 This work has changed my life. This could be your experience in 31:53 your church, in your school and in your own life. Thank you ASI 31:58 for your faithful commitment to finishing the work. 32:06 That's incredible, Chester. Very remarkable. 32:10 We're just very grateful for ASI for their vision, for their 32:13 assistance and we just pray that these books will be a blessing 32:16 to many. I was reading in Publishing Ministry recently 32:20 about latent baptisms, and that is that people are reading 32:23 truths that as the end events happen, the Holy Spirit is going 32:27 give power to what they've been reading and many are going to be 32:29 converted to the truth by the books that are already out there 32:32 And the many that are still to be sold. So thank you ASI. 32:37 Thank you very much, Chester. 32:38 Our next interview I'd like to introduce by way of video. 32:41 Let's watch. 32:58 So I'm an energy advisor. I specialize advising individuals 33:04 with their solar needs as well as air conditioning, any 33:09 electric or gas questions they have. My job is to make sure 33:12 that their home is more energy efficient which helps the 33:16 environment out, which also helps the community out, helps 33:19 the customers out save money so it's a win/win. It's a great 33:23 way to help provide for me family God has blessed me with. 33:26 When I first met this 33:27 guy my friend that introduced me to. He gave me all the 33:30 answers straight from the Bible and that's what I respected 33:35 about Adventist faith, answers came directly from the Bible and 33:38 it wasn't man's opinion or man's understanding. So I was very 33:42 blessed by that. Today my wife and I are Seventh-day Adventists 33:45 We've been blessed by the church more importantly by our Savior 33:49 Jesus Christ. It's just actually a blessing to have him in our 33:52 lives to save our marriage. Today he's blessed us with a 33:55 good family, two wonderful kids, a son and daughter, and just 34:00 absolutely blessed. So we're very appreciative of our friends 34:04 and those who led us to Christ and we feel that it's our 34:09 desire to lead others to Christ as well. The thing is in our 34:13 community, our neighborhood, there's not as many Adventists 34:17 however, there's an Adventist right below us. Since they moved 34:20 in about three months ago we started thinking OK how can we 34:24 evangelize our little area together. So we started inviting 34:27 our neighbors, family members and friends, non-Adventists to 34:30 come over and study. So it's been an absolute blessing. We've 34:33 reached out to some of our neighbors by just simply 34:35 inviting them out Friday nights. Sometimes it might be a little 34:38 challenging for them. But the secret is keep being persistent 34:41 and they eventually come. They may not come every night but 34:45 at least they seize upon it. It's absolutely amazing to see 34:49 people who are hungering for the truth. They want to study and 34:53 they're anxious to study and here we have the truth and the 34:57 only way to get out there is by making the effort, taking action 34:58 and going out there and wanting to study with people. It's just 35:02 really good to know the Bible, because if you know that you 35:06 know the Bible people will bring people to you. That's exactly 35:09 what happened to this guy named Alfonzo here. His daughter 35:12 brought him to me and we began studying the Bible and before 35:16 you know it the daughter studies the Bible and the father gets 35:19 baptized, the daughter does profession of faith, her friend 35:22 Greg gets baptized and now her two brothers, I believe, are 35:25 baptized. One is a deacon in the church. I believe even the mom 35:31 is now doing Bible studies. So absolutely amazing. So Alfonzo, 35:36 he loves the Lord, I can tell. It's just amazing to see his 35:41 whole family and households come together in Christ. 35:47 Excellent. Michael Tuazon is a director for ISHARE and for 35:54 Souls West. You kind of wear a couple of hats. Tell us so I saw 35:57 that at the end of the Total Member Involvement but what does 36:00 ISHARE have to do with it? 36:03 ISHARE is an acronym. It's a ministry of the Pacific Union 36:06 Conference and it stands for I Seek To Help Advance Revival 36:09 and Evangelism. When the General Conference was coming up with 36:12 this initiative of Total Member Involvement they realized that 36:15 in the West Coast, Souls West and Glow and ISHARE we were 36:21 were doing this already. We were getting young people and laity 36:24 involved and so they asked us to make some videos to feature 36:28 all of these people who now are Seventh-day Adventists and are 36:33 winning others to Christ. So we made these small videos and we 36:38 want them to go viral basically. 36:40 So what do you hope to accomplish by using these 36:43 vignettes. What we want to do is we realize 36:45 that there are many people who are doing evangelism and a lot 36:48 of times we don't know it. We're in a local church and maybe we 36:51 feel alone, maybe we feel like we're the only ones doing 36:54 it and so we thought that one way we can do this is feature 36:58 stories from all over the Pacific Union, where I'm from, 37:02 and hopefully inspire others, church members and others, and 37:05 it can go viral. They can share it via social media, they can 37:09 share it at their church. I hope you saw this and I hope you're 37:11 inspired to share this at your church now. And that's what we 37:15 really want. We want people to go out and reach others for 37:18 Jesus. Well it's interesting you say 37:20 that because that's exactly what I thought. I said I could get my 37:22 hands on that video and share it with my church members. So 37:27 if the people here would are interested in getting a hold of 37:30 these, then how can they get more information? 37:32 Well this just hot off the press We've just made these. One way 37:36 is we have the Total Member Involvement seminar tomorrow. 37:39 Myself, Ted Wilson, Ranela, Duane McKey. We're going to be 37:41 talking about more methods and we're going to show more videos 37:44 just like these, but we're going to be putting them on the 37:47 website. They'll be on the General Conference Total Member 37:49 Involvement website and you can also check out our 37:53 ishareconference. org and we're going to have them up there in 37:54 the future. OK. Excellent. Michael thank 37:57 you so much for this brainstorm and for giving me more 38:00 information about ISHARE. 38:01 Thank you for having me Debbie. You're Welcome. 38:03 And now coming to join me is Randy Bivens. Randy Bivens is 38:09 the chief operating officer for Weimar located just outside of 38:15 Sacramento in California. 38:16 Yeah, just north of Sacramento up in the foothills. 38:19 OK. Now Weimar has the blessing of being in the offering as well 38:23 as one of the recipients of the overflow that we are praying for 38:27 for tomorrow. So tell us a little bit about what's going 38:29 on. There are lots of things going on at Weimar. 38:32 Well I don't even know where to begin but I'll tell you where I 38:35 really want to begin is something that's really 38:37 happened just in the last year to a year and a half. When I 38:41 started there four years ago we started engaging our NEWSTART 38:45 leadership team and we really realized that people come to us 38:48 with health conditions, but we realize they're fighting a 38:52 spiritual battle. And we created a team that would provide 38:56 spiritual support for those patients so that they could 39:00 actually be more successful in their health choices. And I have 39:03 to tell you, Debbie, you know the numbers already but we're 39:06 on track for this year, and mind you, these people are paying to 39:10 allow us to evangelize them, we're on track to baptize over 39:15 65 people this year out of NEWSTART. And that's just 39:20 NEWSTART. We just started a depression recovery and anxiety 39:22 program, a residential program, today and that program is 39:26 probably going to get us up to 100. 39:28 It probably baptizes about another 35. 39:31 We have baptized probably more out of depression recovery but 39:34 there are fewer sessions than we have in NEWSTART. So over 39:38 a hundred patients are getting baptized now every year and 39:42 we're not paying for the evangelism. They're paying us 39:45 to allow us to evangelize them. What kind of paradigm is that? 39:49 That is a great program and that's exciting that we're doing 39:53 and God is really blessing it. 39:55 Now there's something else that's really close to my heart 39:59 that's happening as far as the clinic. 40:01 Yeah absolutely. Again about three years ago we had the 40:05 vision of creating a clinic on campus. We had a clinic building 40:09 but the clinic was basically seeing our NEWSTART guests and 40:13 maybe a few clinic people, five a week or something like that. 40:17 But we had an idea. Because we're in a demographic in 40:19 California where there are a lot of Medi-Cal, which is Medicaid, 40:23 Medi-Cal patients and they weren't getting the adequate 40:27 care. So we had the plan of recruiting young, aggressive, 40:31 like-minded physicians and creating a rural health clinic 40:35 which is a federal designation so that you can treat those 40:39 Medi-Cal patients and actually get reimbursed your cost rather 40:43 than their regressive tax of $30 per contact visit or something 40:47 like that. The team successfully got rural health clinic status 40:52 and shortly after that, we also remodeled a large part of the 40:56 administration building and put in actually a six-room dental 41:00 clinic, which also qualifies under rural health clinic and 41:05 and I've told you the numbers already, but we're now seeing 41:09 1000 patients a month. 41:11 That's incredible. Now tell us about the nursing program. 41:14 The nursing program is really amazing. When I started there 41:18 four years ago I really thought that the nursing program was a 41:21 total waste of money. I'll just be honest. I was wrong. I've 41:25 been wrong in other things. I was wrong there. We realized it 41:30 was going to take about two million dollars to get the 41:33 nursing program off the ground because the State of California 41:36 the BRN the Board of Registered Nurses have standards that you 41:39 have to achieve. For example we need a skills lab. We used to 41:43 have mannequins and mannequins are probably a hundred bucks. 41:46 Well the mannequins are not $100 they're $70,000. We needed about 41:52 $400,000 just in our skills lab. We needed hospital beds and 41:58 those are probably $10,000 apiece. Actually Adventist 42:02 Health, I contacted them and I said do you have any hospital 42:05 beds. He called me like the next day and he says Randy we have 42:09 eight of them. And I said, I only need six. And he said, no 42:13 you didn't hear me, I have eight come get them all or don't take 42:16 any. So we got eight hospital beds free from Adventist Health 42:19 but we were applying for accreditation and actually I 42:23 thought it was really an uphill battle. I wasn't sure that it 42:27 was going to happen. And we went down to Irvine, California. 42:31 Elder Wilson's sister, Shirley Anderson, was our head of our 42:35 head of our nursing program at the time. She was there, there 42:38 were three of us and we were at this meeting where they were 42:42 going to decide if we could get approval and the program just 42:46 before us was actually put on probation because their skills 42:51 training was about 30 miles away from the school. Now we had 42:56 places in Loma Linda and Glendale, we had them all over 42:58 the state and I'm thinking they're going to crucify us. 43:01 We got up there and they said what are you going to do about 43:04 the students traveling all those miles. And Dr. Anderson said 43:08 well I was just talking to Dr. Bivens and I think we're 43:11 probably going to go ahead and pay for them, we're going to 43:14 transport them ourselves. And he looked right at me and he goes 43:16 is that right? And I go well you got me on the spot. Yeah that's 43:19 right. We'll do that. And he goes fine. Why didn't that other 43:22 school do that? And they gave us full approval. I went up and 43:24 talked to him afterward and I said we just want to thank you. 43:27 And he said I know you Adventists. He goes I had an 43:30 uncle who was at Oakwood College God had gone before us and we 43:35 just graduated our first cohort of nurses. All but one of them 43:39 have actually taken their NCLEX exam and 100 percent of them 43:44 have passed their examination. So praise God. 43:47 Amen. So you're offering can help to build the infrastructure 43:51 to be able to support all of these ministries that are going 43:55 on at Weimar. Thank you so much. 43:57 Typically people don't like to pay for infrastruction. The 44:00 offering is going to build some staff and student housing. But 44:03 without that infrastructure the baptisms can't occur, the 44:08 graduations can't occur. We can't be sending these 44:10 missionaries into all the world. 44:11 Well thank you very much. 44:14 And thank you ASI for the generous offering. |
Revised 2022-07-12