Participants:
Series Code: AVMN
Program Code: AVMN000002
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00:27 Welcome to ASI Video Magazine,
00:30 I'm Dan Houghton. ASI is a made up 00:33 of a wide variety of members, businesses, 00:35 supporting ministries and individual professionals. 00:39 Each and every one of them is sharing 00:40 Christ in the market place. Telling the world 00:43 about the soon coming of our savior. 00:46 Today we are going to meet two very different 00:49 ASI members, one is active here in the United States 00:53 and the other benefits children thousands 00:56 of miles away. Global Vessels is an ASI member 01:00 organization from the State of Maryland, 01:03 but its mission is serving orphans in Africa. 01:06 When it began, Global Vessels was constructing 01:09 clinics, churches and other buildings. 01:11 That work brought them face-to-face with many 01:14 thousands of orphans in Africa. It was then that 01:18 Global Vessels decided to focus solely 01:21 on serving these precious kids. 01:24 We had a couple that heard about what 01:27 we were doing from Oregon. 01:29 They just got married, listen this story, 01:31 this is amazing to me. They just got married, 01:32 okay, in October of last year, 2007. 01:38 They decided they wanted to go and do 01:40 a mission trip, so they decided to rent his house, 01:43 sell her car, newly weds. They're married ten days, 01:46 got on a plane, flew to Africa with backpack, 01:50 backpacks on, looking for a place to work 01:53 in an orphanage, which is unbelievable to me. 01:57 They, we are there and we need somebody to help us. 02:03 Max Church sends them to us, our friend there, 02:05 would have them, Max sends them down to us, 02:07 saying Frasier, these guys might be able to help you. 02:09 They come down here, and they are so on target, 02:13 on point for getting things done. 02:15 So instead of staying a month they stayed 02:17 an entire year. They're newly weds, 02:20 for an entire year, so they've been there 02:22 working and working and I just got back about 02:25 two weeks ago. We had a couple from Germany, 02:27 who saw what we were doing and they decided 02:31 they wanna come, Tom and Evelyn. 02:34 Evelyn is an Architect, Tom is an Engineer. 02:38 Listen to this, the couple that were there before 02:40 Ned and Emily. Emily is an Architect, 02:43 Ned is an Engineer. I mean God is orchestrating 02:46 this thing, he is just taking, he's taken 02:48 me totally out of it. I am out of this thing. 02:52 This is God's orphanage, this is God's project 02:54 and God keeps putting people 02:56 in place to get the job done. 02:58 I have often said how are we gonna do this Lord. 03:04 Because, I am, I believe the balance for my husband. 03:08 He has a vision that I respect and love. 03:13 He never sees obstacles, so it seems 03:17 and I probably see too many obstacles, 03:21 but I don't regret it, no I think this is 03:24 what God wanted me to do. 03:25 It was a faith building experience, 03:28 because when we started out we didn't have 03:29 any money and we were going to go build 03:31 this church and we rallied the forces together here 03:33 to go and do it and then the Lord just beginning 03:36 to touch individuals hearts when they began to lay 03:38 the moneys down, so we could actually 03:39 do the project. So I said wow, is that what 03:42 God would do. I mean he places in our hearts 03:45 to do it and then he provided the means for us 03:47 to get it done. So from that one church we were 03:51 there, we said you know what lets do it again. 03:53 They all had to work hard to get their funds together. 03:56 One gentleman took his wife and two children with him. 04:02 Just so they could have that experience. 04:05 And, when we're there building a church 04:06 and we were passing and we saw, 04:08 this is a boarding academy by the way. 04:10 We saw the students in the cafeteria, 04:13 in the classrooms late at night with a 04:15 kerosene lantern, studying. I said what's wrong, 04:19 they don't have a library. Why do they all live 04:22 at a place. They said well let me show you a library. 04:24 I mean they took me to the library there at the 04:28 secondary school and when I arrived there 04:31 I have more books in my own personal library 04:34 than they had for the entire school and so I said 04:37 you know what that's the project for next year. 04:39 Oh I know Mrs. Mathis and her husband Frazier 04:42 had gone on this trip for quite a while I heard 04:44 about them and ever since I came to TA since 04:47 I heard about these mission trips and even when 04:49 I was in college I heard about them. 04:50 I wanted to go on one. So, they gave me the 04:53 opportunity to go with them and I jumped at it, 04:55 I've never been to Africa and I just wanted to 04:59 get that feeling that I've seem people from back 05:02 who have gone on mission trips and served others 05:05 and buildings something and helping others. 05:07 So we came back to this church with 05:08 Emmanuel Brinklow, we start touting, 05:10 this is what you're going to do next year, 05:11 so we're going to go, we're going to build a library. 05:13 A member in our church knew someone who knew 05:15 someone and they were able to get us computers 05:17 from the library of Congress. Used computers, 05:19 so not only did we built a library, 05:21 but we did an extension on to the library 05:23 and did a computer lab. So when we would go back 05:27 we were able to see these children there studying 05:30 in this library. Now surely I've got works, 05:32 we started out, didn't have any money to do 05:34 the library, and my wife was saying you know what, 05:37 we need to call this off. We don't have much money, 05:39 you know, we don't make sense to go. 05:41 I said no, lets go, I mean Lord's gonna make a way. 05:44 So a week before it was time for us to leave, 05:46 one of the members in this Church here I wrote him 05:48 on a list of what we need. I said I need 35 for this, 05:51 I need 5 for this and I sent it to him, 05:54 I gave it to him that sabbath. About the middle 05:56 of the week, I was there at work, my wife 05:58 called me and said she said, he wants you to come 05:59 to his office. I said oh, okay. So I go over there 06:03 and I am thinking wow, this guy, he's going to write me 06:05 a check about $2500 you know that'll be a little bit. 06:08 So I get there expecting that he is going to write us 06:10 a check for about $2500. He says Frazier you know 06:13 what he says I really believe 06:15 in what you're doing. He said I can really see 06:17 you making a difference there. 06:18 He says listen go next door. He says my accountant 06:21 is gonna write you a check for $10,000 06:23 and from that initial of $10,000 to me it just 06:28 submitted in my heart, there was nothing 06:31 impossible for God to do and from that time 06:34 on I've always told individuals it's not about 06:37 the money. It has nothing to do with money. 06:39 It has to do with you being faithful 06:41 and you being dedicated and you trusting God. 06:44 I've come to the conclusion that you do what you can 06:50 and that's all God asks of you and he does the rest. 06:54 It's like you're planting the seed and he makes it grow. 06:59 So, when we came back after working there 07:02 in Tanzania, when we were able to go there 07:04 the first year and do an extension onto this clinic 07:08 And the clinic was for individuals who had Aids 07:10 and also maternity, but in the process of doing 07:13 the clinic we passed this little orphanage 07:16 on the side of the road. And we go into this orphanage 07:19 okay and we, this old gentleman going into 07:23 the town of Arusha and gathering these children 07:26 who've been abandoned on the streets. He brings 07:29 the children back and they had a little 07:30 two bedroom house. We go there and there are about 07:33 42 children there in this little bitty house. 07:36 And he is taking care of him and a couple more 07:38 guys to the best and the ladies to the best 07:40 of their ability. So we leave this project where 07:44 we're doing the extension onto the clinic and we go 07:47 and we pass the hat, we said listen we got to help 07:51 these children, so we passed the hat there right 07:53 on the work site. We got enough money to buy 07:56 some clothes, some flip-flaps, so we got these 07:59 huge 55 gallon drums, filled them with water 08:02 put them in the back of a pick-up truck. 08:03 In the back of a wagon rather and drove them near 08:06 to the orphanage that this guy was manning. 08:09 We heated up the water and we gathered 08:13 the clothes and we start bathing these children. 08:16 Bathing them, combing their hair, putting on the 08:18 new clothes and I mean it's just, everybody is crying 08:21 you know because they're touching, 08:23 these children need a little touch, 08:25 so they're touching these children and the children 08:26 are just lighting up from the touch. 08:29 So we came back here to this church again, 08:31 rallied a couple of people together, 08:33 I got an architect and an engineer 08:35 and then our Pastor, Pastor Marcellus Robinson, 08:37 and we flew back to Tanzania and we walked 08:42 the site where we were gonna actually build 08:44 these ten houses and lo and behold we were able 08:47 to rally a group of folks together again 08:49 and we were able to go back and start this 08:51 fabulous children's village which consist 08:54 of ten houses. We have four houses right now. 08:58 We have two totally completed. 09:00 We have 20 children whose parents have deceased 09:03 because of Aids or who have been abandoned, 09:05 living in their homes right now. 09:07 The kids were great, I mean when we first 09:10 drove up to the orphanage they just were waving 09:15 at us and we just talked through the window. 09:17 It was like, it kind of put something in your heart 09:20 you know like that good feeling that you're doing 09:23 this for the kids and stuff, and its just a good 09:27 experience and like, you get to play with them, 09:29 and when I was on a break or like whenever 09:33 where the job was done for the day, 09:35 you know we just play with them, play ball, 09:37 sports and you know live with their little toys 09:41 and everything and read books to them 09:42 and have worship with them. 09:44 It was really good. The kids were awesome. 09:47 And I see students working pretty hard doing 09:49 school work, they're pretty serious usually 09:51 about their work, but over there they seem 09:54 to have a sense of accomplishment. 09:57 I think most of them had never done this kind 10:00 of physical work before and I know most of them 10:02 have never worked that hard, but when they got 10:04 in the line and they were transporting the block 10:06 and learning how to lay the block and then later 10:10 did some painting and just helping carry things 10:14 and helping organize. I think they were learning 10:17 some skills that they had never done before 10:18 and I think those kinds of skills are as 10:20 important as any part of your education. 10:22 We were building the orphanage, we made cement 10:27 we shoveled gravel and rocks into wheel barrels 10:32 to move things around, because we had to carry 10:34 everything everywhere. 10:35 There wasn't any machinery or anything. 10:38 I remember that most of us picked up a child 10:40 that we would bond with and I don't know if that 10:44 was part of the project, but we just did it anyway, 10:47 so I had a little boy named Usini and I don't know 10:50 we just bonded and he would talk to me in Swahili 10:53 and I'll talk to him in Spanish. And we would 10:55 sort of pick up like little words and 10:56 I learned a couple of Swahili words. 10:58 After working all day long we were so exhausted 11:02 and tired, but just to see the smile 11:04 on the kids face made, it just all went away. 11:07 Words can't define how much this trip meant 11:11 to me and how it impacted me. 11:13 All I can say is that it was great. 11:15 Especially when we first started out we would never 11:17 go without taking young people. We would directly 11:21 go to individuals in our church and say can 11:24 you pay for two young people to go, just two. 11:27 Okay, let me tell you about ASI okay. 11:30 ASI is about four or five members in this church 11:33 are members of ASI and every year I come back 11:36 from a mission trip and they would tell me 11:38 you need to be a member of ASI, yeah. 11:40 You need to be a member of ASI, no, I don't know 11:43 this ASI, it's already I said, you need to be a 11:45 member of ASI, so every year I come back 11:47 and they would be, they get on me you need 11:49 to be a member, you need to be a member, 11:50 but finally when we all came back, its okay 11:52 I am going to ASI. I am going to see what 11:53 this is all about, you know, so I go, alright 11:58 and I walk in the meaning I am just blown away. 12:00 You know there are so many people doing 12:03 so many different ministry that means we need to get, 12:05 somebody needs to get a big blow horn 12:07 and just blow this horn throughout all of the world 12:10 and let people know that what ASI is doing. 12:13 There are individuals that are ministering 12:14 to individuals, so to me that's what ASI did for me, 12:18 it connected me with like minded individuals. 12:21 Individuals who wanted to see Christ in the 12:23 market place, so to me it has made a difference 12:26 in the ministry of Global Vessels. You know, 12:28 and not that and to top it off, one year they gave us 12:31 a little stipend, they gave us a little money to go 12:33 and do a project, so you know I'm excited about it 12:35 now for sure you know. They not only talked 12:37 the talk, but they walked the walk. 12:39 So ASI is home base for the holy spirit, you know, 12:44 it's where he tabernacles and he lights people up 12:47 and then he sends them out, you know in the darkness, 12:49 to, to, to eliminate other individuals and that's what 12:52 happened to me, so to me I am trying to stretch 12:55 and do everything I possibly can. I want see 12:57 what you can do guys. You got to do this, 12:59 you know do this, build ten houses and he's got 13:02 four up already and we know the rest are going to come. 13:04 I already know, I'm thinking about another 13:06 project, 'cause I know this one is done. 13:08 You know I don't know, is anything to hard for God. 13:12 I want to see what he can do and to me he has been 13:15 proving himself over and over again and that thing 13:18 was really heart warming to me, I said, 13:20 this is life changing for the individuals that go. 13:25 What an inspiring story of compassion 13:28 and caring service. Jesus welcomed the little children 13:31 and it's so important that we, as the body of Christ, 13:35 look after the little ones. For more information 13:38 about Global Vessels call 301-596-0945 13:44 or visit www.globalvessels.org. 13:49 ASI is an organization of approximately 13:52 1000 Seventh-day Adventist lay organizations 13:55 who believe that while they may not be pastors 13:58 by profession, they can still be active in ministry. 14:01 ASI members are a diverse group. 14:03 We range from business owners to individual 14:06 professionals to self supporting ministries, 14:08 but we are united by one goal and that is sharing 14:12 Christ in the market price and ASI members 14:15 are firmly committed to the Adventist 14:17 Church and its mission. 14:20 ASI is a great opportunity for anyone to 14:23 meet people. And you have an opportunity 14:24 to network with individuals 14:26 It's a great opportunity for them to learn 14:27 from each other. Rubbing shoulders 14:29 and hanging out with people that are committed 14:32 to the Lord's soon coming. 14:33 I have developed a wonderful network. 14:35 It's been absolutely invaluable, 14:37 the contacts we've made through ASI. 14:50 We often think that witnessing in 14:53 North America isn't too challenging, 14:55 the hard part is just getting out of our comfort 14:58 zone but that's not always the case. 15:00 Dene Sue Ross owns a contract technical writing 15:04 firm in Idaho and she's encounters serious 15:07 obstacles in sharing Christ in her market place 15:09 but through these challenges God has 15:12 brought some wonderful blessings. 15:14 Move your little orange guy, wow that 15:18 was a big one. Okay here is one, now I am going 15:20 to stump you guys. Okay this is question number 63, 15:24 question number 63 in cast you want to look it up, 15:26 from what Mountain did Jesus ascend 15:29 into heaven. Oh, this is a hard question. 15:33 I was born and raised Minneapolis, Minnesota. 15:37 But moved to the Silicon Valley and began a career 15:41 as a technical writer, worked there for about 15:43 15 years before family circumstances brought 15:47 me back to Idaho and I thought well this an area 15:50 that's right to have a company like this 15:52 and so I started Write Way up. We started out 15:55 as just a straight technical writing firm 15:57 back in 1986, we were incorporated, 16:00 we write technical documentation, 16:03 computer manuals, we create training programs, 16:07 curriculums for a lot of large companies 16:10 here in the Treasure Valley, the largest single 16:14 contract that we have ever had is with the 16:16 State of Idaho, I have now 16 technical communicators 16:22 down their full time and although my offices 16:26 are in Eagle, Idaho, which is about 15, 20 miles 16:31 west of Boise, I am on site everyday at the Capital 16:36 Mall in Downtown Boise to oversee this project. 16:39 It was while we had this contract that we began 16:43 our relationship with ASI and I have to tell 16:47 you it was frightening at first to use my livelihood 16:52 as a vehicle to witness for Christ. 16:55 And I had a longing to do it, but I just believed 16:59 that it's a big step for us to go out on a limb 17:03 and do that. When I began Write Way in 1986 17:09 I was not a Christian I was not a 17:11 Seventh-Day Adventist. The main purpose that 17:14 I started the company was to create a living 17:17 for myself and other people who work 17:19 for my company. Dan and I attended a series 17:23 in Caldwell, Idaho in 1996 and we were baptized, 17:27 but in 1999 Dan and I were invited to a regional 17:31 ASI conference by friends of ours who had 17:34 attended a national conference. 17:36 They were so moved and so inspired by what 17:40 they have seen, quite honestly they just wouldn't 17:42 take no for an answer, we very reluctantly went 17:45 because like so many other business people 17:47 we were really too busy to tie it into our schedule. 17:51 But we went and we discovered things 17:55 that we have never heard before, it was truly a life 17:59 changing event for both of us. I began to look 18:02 at my business completely differently than 18:05 I ever had before. ASI has educated, 18:10 it has motivated and it has facilitated me to be able 18:15 to use my company and what I do to make a living, 18:18 in order to reach out to the people around me 18:21 and share Christ with them. Well, I work on a floor 18:26 where there were a lot of 30 something computer 18:31 software developers and many of them came 18:33 into the office very early in the morning 18:35 and as they would go my cube, they would 18:38 of course see me sitting in my office at 18:40 5 O'clock in the morning. And it appeared that I was 18:42 writing something and I had my Bible propped up. 18:46 While their curiosity simply got the best of them, 18:48 in one morning a young man stopped by office 18:51 and he asked me what I was doing, 18:53 so I was able to share with him that I was just 18:55 doing some personal Bible study and he says here 18:57 at work and I said yes, I said it really gets my day 19:03 off to a great start when I spent some time 19:05 in the word, gives me an opportunity to pray 19:08 and really seek God's will for me. I think he was 19:12 really pretty surprised that I would talk so 19:14 candidly with him about my personal Bible study 19:18 habits. I made a little joke and I said you know 19:21 you should really try it; it's a great way to start 19:24 your day. So the next morning I looked up 19:26 and he was standing in my cube doorway 19:31 and he had a small piece of paper with him 19:33 and I said, good morning Phil, what can I do for you, 19:36 and he says, I've got one for you this morning 19:39 and I said you got one what? And he says 19:41 well I've got a question about the Bible. 19:44 And so I said well what is it, let's give it a try 19:46 and he says and he held the card up and read off 19:50 of it and he says can you tell me what was the name 19:54 of Moses' mother? Well, as it turned out 19:58 I had just finished writing the story about the 20:02 birth of Moses and how his mother had replaced 20:05 him in the little basket made out of willows, 20:10 and so I just happen to remember and I looked at him 20:13 and I said I believed that his mother's name 20:15 was Jochebed and I tell you he was so surprised 20:21 that I would know the answer to that question, 20:24 he says, wow, I'm really impressed and I said 20:28 well you see it really pays to study your Bible 20:30 and I offered up a little prayer of Thanksgiving 20:32 that knew the answer to that question. Well, 20:35 the next morning he brought two or three cards, 20:38 well within a week or two they were 5 maybe 6, 7 20:43 young people coming into my office every morning, 20:47 it got to be a pretty regular thing between 20:49 about 5:30 and 6 O'clock and we set up the board game, 20:53 we actually, I think we went through about 20:56 5 versions worth of a Bible story questions 21:01 and we would play Bible trivia for about 30 minutes 21:04 and as those questions were asked I had 21:07 unbelievable opportunities to share about what 21:10 Seventh-Day Adventists believed. 21:13 One morning I was sitting at my desk and I was 21:15 actually doing my Bible study, this was probably 21:21 about 7:30 in the morning and I noticed the shadow 21:27 in my doorway and I looked up and there were 21:30 two Capital Mall security gentlemen standing 21:35 there and it was a little bit intimidating, 21:40 I stood up, I went with the security guards 21:43 they told that they were taking me to a conference 21:46 room there on the floor. By now pretty much 21:50 everyone on the floor was aware of the fact 21:53 that security had come to my cube that they were 21:57 asking to see me and everyone was standing up 22:00 looking over their cube walls and I really sent up 22:05 a prayer. Well they took me into a conference room 22:10 and it really was an unbelievable scenario, 22:13 they were probably a half dozen attorneys. 22:16 They closed the door and they proceeded 22:19 to tell me that one of the Federal Auditors 22:23 that had been visiting the building where my office 22:26 is had filed a formal complaint about me 22:31 and I said a formal complaint about what? 22:35 And they said, well he walked down the hall 22:39 and glanced into your office and saw a book on 22:44 your bookcase, the name of Christ was the 22:48 on the book and the name of Christ is very offensive 22:50 to him. It was unbelievable to me because you have 22:55 to understand the environment that you 22:58 have in a State office building, I would describe 23:01 it as being tolerant of virtually every, 23:05 every persuasion except for Christianity. 23:11 So needless to say, I was pretty shocked 23:14 and very intimidated. After they went through 23:19 and told me the exact nature of the charges 23:22 and what my options were, they said to me of course 23:28 you have the right to counter-sue and I said 23:31 well I would not be interested in counter-suing 23:35 and the attorneys were baffled at that, 23:38 they said that you mean to tell me that you're going 23:41 to just stand here while somebody files 23:45 this formal complaint against you which will 23:47 become a permanent part of your professional 23:51 record with the State of Idaho and you're not going 23:54 to counter-sue and I said no, I'm not. They said, 23:58 we strongly recommended that you to talk an attorney 24:00 first and I said well I said I am convicted about 24:04 something, I believe in religious liberty, 24:06 I believe in religious freedom and I said 24:09 if I believe it in for myself then I have to believe 24:12 it in for everyone and I said the man who has filed 24:16 this complaint because he's offended by the 24:18 name of Christ, I want him to have the freedom 24:21 to be able to do that. And I said 24:24 if I counter-sued him, I am chipping away 24:28 at the freedom that I think our country is founded on. 24:32 Well the people in the room were, they couldn't believe 24:38 that somebody would have that attitude, 24:40 they asked me a lot of questions about well do 24:46 you believe in this or do you believe in that, 24:48 you're not offended by the crystals that are on 24:50 this floor, you're not offended by Jews 24:53 who don't believe in the Christ that you serve 24:55 and I said no, I said Christ died to give me choice, 24:59 I feel like we should all have that choice. 25:02 Well, it was an opportunity for me to really witness 25:05 to them that day about what I believe 25:08 and probably every single person who works on 25:10 that floor came to my office for 5 minutes 25:16 or an hour to talk about what had happened 25:19 and so I was able to witness to each one of them 25:21 on an individual basis and the entire situation 25:25 was rectified by my moving my bookcase to 25:29 another wall, so that the book Steps to Christ 25:33 could not be seen from the doorway and I'll tell you 25:38 the biggest miracle of all, there was probably 25:43 a 100 books in my office and there are always there. 25:48 Bibles study guides, leaflets, posters, tracks, 25:55 my office is full of material that I use to 25:58 share Christ in my market place, and it was as 26:01 if they didn't see it, I wasn't asked to remove 26:05 any of it. I didn't have to take it home, 26:08 the Lord just really protected me. 26:12 We slit a bookcase to another wall and the entire 26:15 incident was over and I had had the opportunity 26:17 to witness to probably 80 people in the course 26:22 of a week's time. It's incumbent upon us to 26:26 make sure that we're always conducting ourselves 26:29 like Christ's disciples, because no matter 26:32 what we do in the workplace, it's more 26:34 important how we act and treat people, 26:36 sometimes the simplest things, 26:38 I've had people come up to me that I never had 26:41 any business dealings with who perhaps work 26:43 in the same door, and they say you know you just 26:47 always seem happy or you're always friendly 26:50 to everyone, I don't think we realize sometimes 26:53 how much we're being watched and what 26:55 an important witnessing tool. But the Lord 26:57 has blessed us tremendously, the company has grown 27:00 tremendously in the last 13 years that we have been 27:04 down here and it's really been a blessing. 27:07 I am happy, very happy to be known by the people 27:12 who work down there as a really dedicated 27:14 Seventh-Day Adventist business women 27:16 and I owe that to ASI. 27:21 God can use each one of us to reach people 27:23 right where we are and ASI is made of people 27:27 just like Dene Sue who are excited about active 27:30 outrage and about sharing Christ in the market place. 27:34 For more information about ASI and becoming 27:36 a member call 301-680-6450 or visit 27:42 www.asiministries.org. You've being watching 27:47 ASI Video Magazine, I am Dan Houghton, 27:51 join me next time for more stories of ASI 27:54 members sharing Christ in the market place. Bye. |
Revised 2014-12-17