Ted Wilson, General Conference
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of Seventh-day
Adventist president,
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a Global Mission
Pioneer in Thailand,
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a church planter
in the United Sates,
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and a writer who
has traveled the globe
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gathering the best
mission stories all that
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and more coming up next
on Global Mission Snapshots.
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Just before He went up to
heaven Jesus gave us a command.
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He gave us a mission.
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Jesus said "Go, go
unto all the world,
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telling them of His love."
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This is our Mission.
This is our Global Mission.
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Hello, and welcome to
Global Mission Snapshots
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where we take
you around the world
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to visit frontline mission.
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Every Saturday or
Sabbath, Seventh-day Adventist
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around the
world focus on mission
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and they give mission offerings.
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And every three months
the Church focuses on special
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initiatives called 13th
Sabbath Offering Projects.
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But they're really just a
small fraction of the breadth
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of the Adventist mission work
taking place around the world.
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There are so many
exciting things happening
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and if it won't such people
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giving their mission
offerings faithfully each week,
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we wouldn't be able to
see the wonderful things
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happening in education,
in hospitals, clinics, media,
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church planting
and so much more.
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And so today we
want to share with you
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an exciting story
about urban mission.
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The mission
challenge of the cities
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is growing fast every day.
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Today the vast majority
of people live in cities.
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And we as Christians
have traditionally attended
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the focus more on rural
areas in villages, on islands.
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But now as we
focus on the cities
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we need to find more
and fresh and creative ways
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with which we can touch
people's lives for Jesus
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through a comprehensive
approach to evangelism.
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So let's visit a
pastor in North America
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and see how he is touching
lives by following Christ method
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by mingling, by
showing sympathy,
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ministering to
needs, by winning confidence
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and then bidding
people to follow Jesus.
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I was asked to come
in the city of Cleveland
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and plant a
church and I was told
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that you need to
live in the community
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if you are gonna plant a church.
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Many pastors don't
even live in communities
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where their churches are.
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So I live less than
a mile from this place.
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I live in the community,
I shop and walk the streets
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and get engaged
in this community.
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People know me.
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And what we do here won't
work everywhere, I know that.
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You can't take and
replicate this in New York City
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or in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Most of the people
that I minister to here
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would not fit in a
traditional, rural,
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small town Adventist church.
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These people are low
education, low income,
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been on social
services all their lives
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and you are not gonna
turn them into a middle class,
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educated Seventh-day Adventist.
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The people that I'm
ministering to don't get it
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and they won't get it
just because I come in
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and give a health seminar
or an evangelist campaign.
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They need me to
walk along side of them.
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But I think that
what we're doing here,
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at least in Cleveland
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and in the area
that I'm familiar with,
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is reproducible
and it is effective.
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Now as far as
baptisms and all of that,
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this is a long term ministry.
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Have we gotten
baptisms? Absolutely.
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I've gotten over the
last four years of doing this,
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about a dozen baptisms, that
where people have come to me
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and said I want
to be a part of this.
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I need to take them through.
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Eric is a great
example of a person
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who came in off the streets.
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A person who was an alcoholic,
a destitute, who was homeless
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and he was
impacted by our compassion,
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not by our theological acumen.
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And today he is just an amazing
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example of what can
happen if you spend some time
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and you care about these people.
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I remember when I
asked Kevin to baptize me.
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Then with, I mean, I
don't know first time
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I shook Kevin's hand it
was- there was something more,
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there was
something about this place
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that kept
wanting me to come back.
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And I'm glad that I did.
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Like they said it, you know,
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I didn't give- I
don't take any credit
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for my sobriety its all God.
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If it wasn't for me
letting God in and doing for me
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what I can't do for myself
I wouldn't be sober today.
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I was in church one
day during the week,
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working on some
things and I noticed,
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it was in the winter,
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there were some people
out front at the bus stop.
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And I asked them if they wanted
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to come in for a
hot drink and a pastry
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because I had
some leftover pastries,
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and that's how the
breakfast ministry started about
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two and a half years ago.
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Was just simply inviting
some cold people at the bus stop
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to come in for some hot drink.
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From that we ended up
with our breakfast ministry
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which is now four days a week.
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We want to make it five.
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We get from 10 to- today
we had 35 people show up.
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Coming in we serve
them a hot breakfast.
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We try to serve a
healthy breakfast.
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Saturdays we still
serve a community meal.
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On average we have about
a thousand community members
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who walk through the door
of our church every month.
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Do people have
a dependency on us
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because of our services?
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Yes, to some extent.
But they know us by name.
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When people come in
today for the food pantry
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and I'm walking around,
people are calling me reverend,
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or father or
pastor, or whatever.
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They know who I am
and they know what we are.
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They know the name
Seventh-day Adventist.
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They are not turned off by
it. They are not offended by it.
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They frequently
take our literature.
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We give away cases
of literature a month
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because at our foyer we
have this literature rack
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of all kinds of Seventh-day
Adventist literature.
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We give away all kinds of
signs of the times magazines.
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People know us.
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They connect the
logo and the name
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and they're
reading our materials.
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People are taking it
because they want it,
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not because we
send it to their door
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and they throw it away.
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They're coming in
and reading our material.
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And the reason
they're doing that
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is because they've
got a relationship.
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They put a face
and flesh and bones
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to a name
Seventh-day Adventists.
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We have great reputation.
We will be moving downstairs.
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I have a flyer up here in
case any of you are interested.
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We're starting Bible studies
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on Wednesday
mornings after breakfast.
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It's open to everybody.
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So we like to
invite you to grab a flyer.
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You are not gonna
break into those communities,
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do a big event and
then just drive out.
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And if you've got a
lot of people driving in,
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coming to that
church, you will never make
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the connections
in the communities
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that we have done by being here,
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this ministry of presence.
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And that's the mentality
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or the message of
ministry of healing.
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You know Jesus' method alone
is that you have to walk along
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and some of them for
quite a while, side these people
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to build trust, confidence,
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so that they can listen
to what you have to share.
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It's my pleasure
to introduce our guest
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Pastor Ted Wilson president
of the General Conference
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of Seventh-day Adventist.
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Pastor Wilson,
thank you, for joining us.
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Great to be here.
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Medical evangelism,
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why is this an important
aspect of Adventist mission?
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Well,
comprehensive health ministry
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is something that
Jesus participated
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in a very dynamic way,
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when He was dealing with people.
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The Lord was
able to touch people
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in many
different aspects of life.
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In fact, it was a full or
whole approach to the person
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physically, mentally,
socially and spiritually.
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That's why Seventh-day
Adventist are so interested
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in all those
areas and are interested
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in helping people
to grow educationally
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trying to help them
in physical wellbeing
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and to be well
adjusted people socially
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and certainly Spiritually
connected with the Lord.
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So we want to use those
approaches as Jesus did.
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And in the Scripture you know
a little tiny book of 3 John,
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there is only one
chapter in that book.
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In the second verse it's says
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"Beloved, I
wish above all things
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that thou mayest
prosper and be in health,
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just or even as
thy soul prospereth."
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So there is a
real connection between
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being physically
healthy and spiritually healthy.
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And I think as we
view the world today
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there are so many challenges
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that people are
facing and much of it
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as you observe people
has to do with way they live,
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the stress they're
under, the fast pace of life,
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the food that they
eat, what they drink.
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All of that has to do
with how they will react
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in a productive
manner for their life
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and how they relate to
others and how physically
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they are able to
actually exist as human beings.
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Because our mind
is part of our body
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and there is a very
sympathetic connection.
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If your body is not in
the best condition possible
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then your mind is
also going to in someway
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be affected by that inhibition
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that the body is producing.
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So that's why
Seventh-day Adventists
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are so interested in good health
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because we want
to have a clear mind,
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we want to have healthy bodies
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so that we can live life
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and we can live
it to the fullest.
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You know, the Lord
came to give us life
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and give it more abundantly.
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So in terms of
trying to help people
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especially in big cities
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and areas where there is a
lot of pressure on their lives
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in order to try and help them
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we want to use
comprehensive health ministry
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as part of
comprehensive urban evangelism,
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an evangelism anywhere
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whether it's in a
rural area or in the city.
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Health is a huge component,
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that helps people to
be able to function better
00:11:01.65\00:11:05.60
and to live
better and we're told
00:11:05.63\00:11:07.97
that the health message,
comprehensive health ministry
00:11:08.00\00:11:13.11
is really the
right arm to the gospel.
00:11:13.14\00:11:15.96
It's not the
gospel because the gospel
00:11:15.99\00:11:18.15
is salvation in
Christ through His grace
00:11:18.18\00:11:21.61
and His shed blood for us
and what He is doing for us
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in the most Holy
place in advocating for us
00:11:25.28\00:11:28.90
as our attorney so to speak.
00:11:28.93\00:11:31.65
But the health message is a
way in which to reach people
00:11:31.68\00:11:35.46
and help them to think
clear and in a more positive way
00:11:35.49\00:11:40.39
to be able to live life
and to live it more abundantly.
00:11:40.42\00:11:43.56
So that's why we're giving
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such a
tremendous emphasis to that.
00:11:44.97\00:11:47.19
And people all over the world
00:11:47.22\00:11:48.41
are very
interested in better health.
00:11:48.44\00:11:52.06
In fact, in some places
you have people moving faster
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and further I had then
many Seventh-day Adventist
00:11:56.75\00:12:00.29
who know this precious
understanding of good health.
00:12:00.32\00:12:04.59
Other people
are moving way ahead
00:12:04.62\00:12:07.03
and but they're not quite
sure why they're doing it.
00:12:07.06\00:12:10.16
And certainly good health is
something which can provide us
00:12:10.19\00:12:14.82
with clear minds in order
to be in contact with Jesus.
00:12:14.85\00:12:19.16
Elder Wilson, what
plans does the church have
00:12:19.19\00:12:23.12
to put this in the practice.
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I know, we
already have hospitals
00:12:24.46\00:12:25.87
and clinics and
health ministries
00:12:25.90\00:12:27.26
but how are we gonna do
it in a comprehensive way?
00:12:27.29\00:12:29.49
What plans are in place?
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Well, there are
lots of interesting plant
00:12:30.92\00:12:33.07
that are being
developed to try to reach people
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and provide programs that
will enhance their living,
00:12:38.61\00:12:45.44
stress reduction programs,
programs that will help them
00:12:45.47\00:12:49.97
to stay away from
tobacco and other addictions.
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Cooking classes that
will help them to eat better,
00:12:55.14\00:12:59.26
family oriented
activities that will help them
00:12:59.29\00:13:04.04
to be placed in a
better frame of mind,
00:13:04.07\00:13:07.09
know how to relate
to each other better.
00:13:07.12\00:13:09.73
All kinds of different
programs but one of the ways
00:13:09.76\00:13:13.76
in which we're hoping to
pull those programs together
00:13:13.79\00:13:18.22
is to make every local
Seventh-day Adventist Church
00:13:18.25\00:13:22.16
a health center
for the community.
00:13:22.19\00:13:25.22
A place where people can say
00:13:25.25\00:13:26.95
oh, you want to know
about how to live better?
00:13:26.98\00:13:30.05
Well, go talk to those people
00:13:30.08\00:13:31.72
down their and on
such and such street,
00:13:31.75\00:13:33.78
they know exactly
what they're talking about
00:13:33.81\00:13:35.79
and they can really help you.
00:13:35.82\00:13:37.10
Now those Seventh-day Adventist
have a lot of good information
00:13:37.13\00:13:41.13
and they're
very friendly people,
00:13:41.16\00:13:42.56
they're good people.
00:13:42.59\00:13:44.23
So we're hoping
to be able to provide
00:13:44.26\00:13:47.30
a lot of practical information
00:13:47.33\00:13:50.56
that church members can use.
00:13:50.59\00:13:52.62
Yes, we want pastors
and health professionals
00:13:52.65\00:13:55.62
working together
in a blended ministry
00:13:55.65\00:13:58.31
as we're told in
the Spirit of Prophecy.
00:13:58.34\00:14:00.51
That's very important
but the ultimate importance
00:14:00.54\00:14:04.44
is to have every
church member involved
00:14:04.47\00:14:07.00
in some kind of practical
health outreach to people
00:14:07.03\00:14:11.90
because everyone can
share with their neighbor,
00:14:11.93\00:14:16.39
how much better they feel
00:14:16.42\00:14:17.89
if they walk to two
or three miles a day.
00:14:17.92\00:14:19.98
If they drink
you know five, six,
00:14:20.01\00:14:22.11
seven glasses of water
a day or eight glasses.
00:14:22.14\00:14:25.97
You don't have to
prescribe any thing,
00:14:26.00\00:14:27.84
you don't have to be
health professional to that.
00:14:27.87\00:14:30.39
Its simple health intervention
00:14:30.42\00:14:33.75
just in a
friendly, neighborly way.
00:14:33.78\00:14:37.01
You know there
is, we're told that
00:14:37.04\00:14:38.40
there is more religion in a loaf
of bread than you might think.
00:14:38.43\00:14:44.41
It's not only the act of
making good whole some bread,
00:14:44.44\00:14:47.95
it's the act of
giving it to someone.
00:14:47.98\00:14:50.43
And then that
bond is established
00:14:50.46\00:14:52.90
with the friend or a neighbor
00:14:52.93\00:14:55.00
and you know that bread
just, that whole wheat bread
00:14:55.03\00:14:59.71
may actually lead
someone to understand
00:14:59.74\00:15:03.19
that they need the
real bread of life.
00:15:03.22\00:15:06.57
So it's all mixed in together
because it's Christ method.
00:15:06.60\00:15:09.96
Fantastic.
00:15:09.99\00:15:11.02
Elder Wilson, thanks so
much for sharing with us today.
00:15:11.05\00:15:13.49
Great privilege.
00:15:13.52\00:15:14.55