Participants: Gary Krause (Host), Joe Watts, Delbert Pearman
Series Code: GMS
Program Code: GMS000033
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00:01 West Africa, India, Global Mission Pioneers
00:04 and much, much more, coming up next 00:06 on "Global Mission Snapshots" 00:19 Just before He went up to heaven, 00:22 Jesus gave us a command. 00:25 He gave us a mission. 00:27 Jesus said, go. 00:30 Go unto all the world, telling them of His love. 00:35 This is our mission. 00:37 This is our "Global Mission." 00:44 Hello and welcome to Global Mission Snapshots. 00:46 I'm Gary Krause. 00:48 Today we will be talking with Joe Watts, 00:50 Disaster Response Coordinator for Adventist Community Services 00:54 in North America. 00:56 We will be talking about how the Adventist church 00:58 helps when people's lives are disrupted by disaster. 01:02 And we will talk with Delbert Pearman, 01:04 Pioneering Director for Global Mission 01:06 about Global Mission Pioneers. 01:09 Pastor Pearman knows firsthand 01:11 about the challenges of mission after serving as a missionary 01:14 in Asia, Africa and the Middle-East. 01:17 But first up, let's visit a school in West Africa 01:21 and find out what happened 01:23 when they were hit by a surprise storm. 01:31 Not far from the main street in Divo a small city 01:34 in the country of Côte d'Ivoire, 01:36 students are studying hard in their classroom 01:38 in a Seventh-day Adventist school. 01:41 The school was started 50 years ago 01:43 by a Seventh-day Adventist who had a dream 01:45 about what Adventist education could do for people 01:48 in this West African country. 01:50 Today, the school has grown to more than 450 students, 01:54 most of them will never forget what happened 01:56 nearly a year ago. 02:01 School day seem like any other day that April. 02:04 The morning had passed quietly, and teachers and students 02:07 at the Divo Adventist School 02:08 had finished lunch and were settling back into classes. 02:13 Every thing started in April 2008, 02:16 it was 2 in the afternoon when the rain started. 02:22 There was only one classroom that was full of students 02:25 and when it started the children came out and ran 02:27 to take refugee somewhere. 02:29 The wind was blowing so much that everyone was afraid. 02:32 Unfortunately for us, the front two classrooms 02:34 were empty. 02:36 That afternoon a mighty storm whirled across 02:39 the campus ripping the roof from a couple of the classrooms. 02:45 Students and staff at the school 02:47 praise God that the two classrooms that were damaged, 02:49 the most were empty at the time. 02:52 They look forward to the day when the roof will be repaired 02:54 and they can use the classrooms once again. 02:58 Thank you for supporting Adventist education 03:01 and thank you for supporting the mission offerings. 03:07 My guest is Pastor Joe Watts who heads up disaster response 03:11 for the North American Region 03:13 of the Seventh-day Adventist church. 03:15 Thanks for joining us Joe. 03:16 Hey, it's my pleasure. 03:17 Now, disaster response, when we think of disasters 03:20 we think of floods, hurricanes, they are the sort of things 03:22 you are dealing with? 03:23 Well, those and lot of other things, 03:25 anything human beings are not able to take care 03:29 and sustain themselves 03:31 and that's really considered disaster. 03:32 So, it can be a lot of different things. 03:36 For example in Newtown we had that terrible tragedy 03:40 with the young children that were killed. 03:43 That's a tremendous disaster, 03:45 it was not a flood, it's not a tornado, 03:47 it's not a hurricane. 03:48 But, it's a tremendous disaster 03:50 and we've been able to help with that. 03:53 And this is when people are at their most vulnerable, 03:56 they are looking for help and the Christian church 03:59 sometimes turns a blind eye. 04:00 Yes and we need to reach out because after all ACS is 04:05 a ministry of compassion. 04:07 That's Adventist Community Services 04:09 Right, yeah, I use acronyms. 04:11 And Adventist Community Services is a ministry of compassion. 04:14 And that's what we as-- as church members 04:17 should be thinking about and doing in our communities 04:20 of how can we help people that are hurting in our communities. 04:26 We don't have to wait for a disaster to happen, 04:30 to look for needs and people that need help in our community. 04:34 Can you give me some examples 04:35 of some of the people's lives 04:37 that you have been able to help in recent times? 04:40 Well, I think about a year or so ago, 04:43 we had a tornado on Woodward, Oklahoma. 04:46 And we had a couple there they had been studying 04:50 with the local pastor 04:52 and I think they had just been baptized 04:57 and they went back to their tornado ravaged house 05:00 and you know as it was-- most things were blown away, 05:04 one thing they found were some pages of their Bible study 05:08 and they were so thrilled to find their Bible study pages 05:12 because it meant so much to them. 05:14 And it's kind of an interesting thing. 05:18 Another one was in Hurricane Sandy, 05:22 one thing that we did there or our people did 05:24 and I'm so proud of our laity, of our volunteers, 05:29 because Adventist Community Service 05:31 is a volunteer organization. 05:33 It's manned by volunteers, it's mainly volunteers 05:38 and laity making a difference in people's lives 05:42 and they went out and did mobile distribution, 05:47 took things in trailers and trucks 05:49 and went out to the people 05:51 and the problem was public transportation was down 05:55 and so they didn't have, couldn't have the ability 05:58 to go and again a lot of the organizations 06:00 were setting up good distribution centers 06:02 with lot of good things but people couldn't get there, 06:05 and so it was very interesting or very good. 06:10 I know one man was a-- had a little grocery cart, 06:12 one of the little well, a pull cart, 06:14 not a grocery cart, but a little, 06:16 a little two wheel cart that he would take 06:18 to the store to get his grocery. 06:20 And he said, you know, he said, I just-- I can't go 06:23 two or three miles to where they are giving out stuff. 06:26 He said I have heard there is a lot of good stuff 06:28 being given out. 06:29 But I can't get there and if-- if I could, you know, 06:34 and he said but you brought it to me. 06:35 And so that's and so we did that a lot, 06:39 our people, our young people did a lot of running upstairs 06:42 with water to get water and food to the people 06:45 in high-rise buildings, with the elevators without, 06:47 with electricity out and they dug sand 06:52 out of basements and just all kinds of things. 06:55 Are there any particular areas 06:57 that Adventist Community Services specializes in. 07:01 Are there any areas that you particularly good at? 07:05 Well, disaster response of course is the big one 07:10 just because disasters are increasing. 07:13 But we have some other ministries that are really, 07:16 really excellent in tutoring and mentoring. 07:19 Where we take and help young children 07:21 mainly in the area of fourth and fifth grade that age group. 07:25 Andrews University wrote a curriculum, 07:27 it's a tremendous curriculum to help those young people 07:31 as you work with those young people 07:32 on a regular basis and tutor them and mentor them. 07:36 Its makes a real difference in their lives. 07:40 Crisis Care, one of the newer ministries 07:43 where we are training our pastors 07:45 and other professionals how to-- 07:46 how to help people after a tragedy or a disaster. 07:50 We have a... 07:55 elder care is one of our newest ministries 07:58 also where we are thinking about senior citizens 08:01 and the senior citizens not only this 08:05 the senior citizens but also the caregiver 08:07 and helping that caregiver and helping them 08:10 find ways to help and also to make through 08:13 with their own thinking and their own feelings. 08:17 We have, let me see, I have talked about then 08:21 community development which is urban ministries 08:24 and your food pantry comes under there, 08:27 your all time Dorcas comes under there 08:29 and we haven't forgot Dorcas. 08:31 For our viewers who have never heard 08:32 of Dorcas, what is that? 08:33 Well, Dorcas was a kind of a term 08:35 that we use because of the Dorcas 08:37 in the Bible that helped other people 08:39 and we kind of that became a term 08:40 that we use to describe our ministry 08:44 to the churches ministry where may be they 08:46 had a place where they were clothing 08:50 and may be food and it was you know, 08:52 and we learned an awful lot 08:53 from our grandmas that taught us about Dorcas and caring. 08:57 And then the last area is youth in power to serve. 09:00 You know, we need to make sure that our youth 09:03 understand service. 09:06 And if youth understand service at the very beginning 09:09 of their lives when they are young. 09:10 Statistics and studies have shown 09:13 that they will continue to do service throughout their lives 09:17 and so that makes a tremendous impact 09:21 and we've got a good young man down in Florida, 09:26 that Justin Wilbert that's leading that out 09:28 and doing a terrific job. 09:31 Wonderful. 09:32 Now, how many Adventist community service centers 09:35 are there in North America? 09:37 I think there is about 1,250 service community centers, 09:41 you know, every church should have one, 09:43 but they don't. 09:45 And but we-- from the big to the small, 09:47 we've got some huge centers but also just the food pantry 09:51 may be in the church. 09:53 Now, if people want to find out more information 09:55 about ACS can they go to the web? 09:57 They can go to the web Adventist, 09:58 I mean communityservices.org with an 's' make sure 10:03 you put an 's' on the community services. 10:05 Fantastic. 10:06 Joe, thank so much for joining us today. 10:07 It's my pleasure, it's great. 10:09 Viewers at home, perhaps you might find someway 10:12 that you can be involved in community services. 10:15 If you want to find out more information, 10:17 don't forget that you can go to the web. 10:18 Go to communityservices.org may be there is a place 10:22 for you to be able to connect with people in the community 10:25 to help them, perhaps when they are most in need. 11:16 I'm delighted to welcome my colleague 11:18 Pastor Delbert Pearman, who is going to talk to us 11:21 about Global Mission Pioneers. 11:23 Delbert, for me it's always a privilege to meet 11:26 a pioneer in the field because I see sacrifice, 11:30 I see dedication and it's usually a wakeup call 11:33 or a reminder to me about, you know, where are my values. 11:36 Tell us about Global Mission Pioneers, 11:38 who are they? 11:39 Well, Global Mission Pioneers are workers 11:42 who people who work among their own people group 11:46 and they are some advantages to that. 11:48 Number one, they don't have to learn a new culture 11:51 like traditional missionaries, they don't have to leave home, 11:55 they don't have to learn a new language 11:57 and they are all ready well known in the community 11:59 and so as a result they can reach 12:03 their people very quickly and through support from the-- 12:07 through the church structure they are able to witness 12:10 and raise up a church. 12:12 And the work of the Global Mission Pioneer 12:14 is to plant a church 12:16 among a people group within their own community 12:19 that probably did not have access 12:21 to Christianity or to the Adventist message 12:25 before that. 12:26 Now when you say they don't have to leave their own home, 12:28 you mean like their own cultural group. 12:30 But they may have to travel someway to. 12:32 Yes, that's correct. 12:33 Yeah, they-- yes, they might have to travel some distance 12:36 but they're already established 12:38 among that people group. 12:40 Yeah. 12:41 Now, Delbert, these people, these are trained 12:44 for four years in a theological seminary 12:46 before they're sent out? 12:47 No, that's the beauty of the Pioneer program 12:52 is that you don't have to have any academic training, 12:56 theological training, you just have to have 12:58 a love for the Lord, a passion for reaching 13:01 the people target group and once you have that, 13:04 you have the support of the organized church 13:07 with resources to help you to get started. 13:10 So, most Global Mission Pioneers will go through 13:13 a basic training course. 13:15 Covering the fundamentals of witnessing 13:18 what to do when they are going to the community etc. 13:20 But it's not like a 12 month course or anything. 13:23 No, that's correct, that's correct. 13:25 And through this program, with the support 13:30 of a local church they are able to do 13:33 so much more because they are 13:36 as it can be considered. 13:38 They don't come as a threat coming from outside 13:41 of the people group but they are already there. 13:44 Now, Delbert, you have met many pioneers. 13:47 Tell me a story about a pioneer? 13:49 Well, there is one pioneer working in a particular country, 13:54 a very difficult country who is a physiotherapist 13:58 and he decided that he wanted to dedicate 14:02 his physiotherapy practice to not only reaching the people 14:06 within their community but also to win them 14:10 to Christ and to help them through their problems. 14:15 This part of the world is known for war 14:17 and there are lot of people who are stressed 14:20 and so he practices, he has won the confidence 14:24 of this community and there where he has opportunity 14:27 he shares with them health principles 14:30 which further leads them to further questions 14:32 and then he is ready and prepared to share 14:35 even about Jesus and his love for them. 14:38 And so that's one that has excited me. 14:41 Another example is in a country in Inter-America, 14:47 and here they have purchased the boat 14:50 and the local church organized by this Global Mission Pioneer 14:55 would take tracks, food supplies 14:59 and he travels up and down this river on this boat 15:02 and they to all the villages along the river. 15:05 He would stop witness to this community, 15:08 help them in their needs 15:09 and even helps them with their children who are illiterate. 15:13 Many times he would take them, 15:15 have like little vacation Bible school programs for them 15:20 on that particular day and this is another project 15:23 that we are happy to support and there are several projects 15:26 like that. 15:29 We are even working among in one particular country 15:33 where the commercial sex trade is very popular, 15:37 that we have a Global Mission Pioneer 15:40 working among these men and women 15:42 and we have a group that's just recently graduated 15:47 with the discovery Bible lessons 15:49 and there are others in other brothels are saying 15:53 come over and teach us. 15:55 And so we reach people in so many different ways. 15:59 Most of our church planting comes through, 16:02 most of our Global Mission Pioneers are 16:05 involved in church planting. 16:06 And they will go about in the community offering 16:09 Bible studies, giving prayers in their home 16:13 and also for visiting them, 16:16 when they are sick offering small remedies 16:19 to help and winning confidence and as a result 16:22 are very successful in that area. 16:25 They always remind me of Jesus' incarnational ministry 16:29 that He came and He lived among the people, 16:31 He didn't just come and visit and then leave. 16:35 He actually stayed there and that's what the pioneers do, 16:38 they will stay there for years, they will become part 16:39 of the community though. 16:41 Work in the fields with the people, 16:43 they will play soccer with the kids, 16:45 they mingle and as you said they win confidence. 16:48 Yes, you know, the book Evangelism says 16:51 that 3,000 will be converted in a day 16:54 and this is making reference to the time of Pentecost 16:58 which will be repeated in these final days of 17:00 this world's history. 17:02 And today the Adventist church 17:05 baptizes over 3,000 in every day 17:10 of the year and we baptize over 1.1 million 17:14 people annually and we have been doing 17:16 that for the last 7, 8 years. 17:19 Many of those baptisms can be traced back 17:22 to the work of our Global Mission Pioneers. 17:25 Their activity is contributed significantly 17:28 to the number of people who are being baptized 17:32 into the Adventist church. 17:33 Now you witness that firsthand, 17:35 when you were a missionary. 17:37 Yes, in two countries I served as secretary 17:42 as well as treasurer. 17:43 Acting secretary and treasurer 17:45 and one was as a secretary. 17:47 And I was responsible for keeping track 17:49 of the membership and also the baptisms 17:52 and discovered that in both of the countries 17:57 the majority of the baptisms are coming 17:59 through our Global Mission Pioneers. 18:01 And so that's a testimony to the work 18:05 of our Global Mission Pioneers. 18:06 Wonderful. 18:07 Delbert, thank you so much for sharing 18:09 with us today. 18:10 I really appreciate it. 18:13 And to our viewers at home, please continue to pray 18:16 for Global Mission Pioneers, 18:18 they are doing a wonderful work. 18:19 They are doing at a sacrificial level, 18:21 they are only receiving a basic living stipend 18:24 enough to rent a small room, 18:27 enough to feed their family, 18:30 enough to have a few materials, 18:32 a few resources to use 18:33 and so they are sacrificial church planters, 18:37 usually young people, always lay people usually young people. 18:41 Thank you for your continuing support for them. 19:03 From my childhood, I have felt very close to God. 19:24 Sobana is a lay evangelist working in India. 19:28 While her husband is in class at the Adventist seminary, 19:32 she travels to homes in remote villages 19:34 to hold Bible studies. 19:36 One day this small group invited a man named 19:39 Kishore to their meeting. 19:41 Kishore was a respected priest in several temples 19:43 in the city, so the Bible study group was new to him. 19:47 Kishore had many questions to ask. 19:52 I asked, "I've read in our holy books 19:54 about a holy man who was highly praised. 19:57 He was referred to as a man 19:59 who was inflicted with five wounds. 20:02 Who is this person? 20:07 As Kishore learned more about Jesus, 20:10 with time and study he became convinced 20:12 of the truth of what he was learning from the Bible. 20:18 Without failure I continued to have Bible studies with him. 20:24 Eventually Kishore decided to be baptized. 20:27 But it was a difficult decision. 20:29 When he left the priesthood in the temple, 20:31 his wife left him and took their daughter with her. 20:35 The rest of his family disowned him. 20:37 Old friends no longer speak to him. 20:41 Kishore finds strength in sharing 20:43 the love of Jesus with others. 20:45 Now, because of Kishore, nine others have 20:48 chosen to be baptized. 20:51 Please continue to pray for Kishore and Sobana 20:54 as they share Jesus with those around them. 20:58 Because of your financial support of the world budget 21:01 in mission offerings, people like Sobana 21:04 are reaching people like Kishore and starting new groups 21:08 of believers in India. 21:11 Thank you for your support of the mission 21:13 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 21:15 To find out more, please visit AdventistMission.org. 21:27 I grew up hearing stories and praying 21:29 for missionaries, serving in the islands 21:31 of the South Pacific. 21:33 And I think it's so important to teach 21:35 our children to look beyond themselves 21:37 to a world in need. 21:39 Here at Adventist mission, 21:40 we have created missionary cards for kids. 21:43 They feature pictures of children 21:45 from around the world. 21:47 They are specifically designed for Sabbath school 21:49 teachers to give to each child to take home. 21:52 If you like to see a sample set of these cards, 21:55 just call us or visit our website 21:57 and ask for mission cards for kids 22:00 or you can ask for offer number 302. 22:03 Please remember to clearly state your name, 22:05 your mailing address and be sure to mention 22:08 mission cards for kids or offer 302. 22:13 Well, that's about it for today's program. 22:15 And I hope you've been challenged, 22:16 I hope you've been inspired by what you've seen and heard. 22:20 We will leave you with this music video. 22:22 For Adventist Mission, I am Gary Krause 22:24 and I hope you can join me next time 22:26 here on Global Mission Snapshots. 22:29 [Singing in Foreign language] |
Revised 2014-12-17