Participants: Gary Krause (Host), Benjamin Baker, Sudhakar Kempaiah, Doug Venn
Series Code: GMS
Program Code: GMS000066A
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00:01 A young Indian woman embraced Adventist teachings
00:03 and was baptized despite her father's threats to kill her. 00:08 This happened more than a hundred years ago 00:10 and this young woman 00:11 was one of the first Adventist baptized in India. 00:15 Today there are more than one and a half million 00:17 Seventh-day Adventists on the Indian subcontinent. 00:20 Her amazing story and much more 00:23 coming up next on "Global Mission Snapshots." 00:33 Just before He went up to heaven, 00:35 Jesus gave us a command. 00:38 He gave us a mission. Jesus said, go. 00:43 Go unto all the world, telling them of His love. 00:48 This is our mission. This is our "Global Mission." 00:58 Hello, I'm Gary Krause 00:59 and welcome to Global Mission Snapshots. 01:02 Today we travel to Arizona in the United States 01:05 to meet an Adventist couple who built a center of influence 01:09 for the Navajo people. 01:11 Find out how a road collapse 01:12 is creating challenges to their mission. 01:16 Also after a devastating flood in Bangkok, Thailand, 01:20 local Adventists responded with food, water 01:23 and a loving helping hand. 01:25 Here are firsthand account of the response 01:28 from Sudhakar who led a group of volunteers 01:31 in touching the lives of people in need. 01:33 But first, let's travel to Arizona. 01:42 Yes, it does get cold in Northern Arizona. 01:47 Here in Northern Arizona, there are beautiful rivers, 01:50 rock formations, and people with beautiful hearts. 01:57 Meet Allen and Kelley Fowler. 02:00 Several years ago, Allen who is Navajo 02:02 returned to his home near Page, Arizona, 02:04 with his wife Kelley. 02:06 They settled here with their family and found a mission 02:08 to bring hope in Jesus to the Navajo people. 02:12 It started out somewhat as a family ministry. 02:15 My husband being Navajo felt the call 02:18 to come back to be here for his people 02:21 and to teach them about Jesus. 02:23 They started a small community center 02:25 near their home, but they had a dream 02:27 of having a church in Page, the closest city. 02:31 In 2011, the Adventists around the world 02:34 helped their dream move a step closer to reality 02:37 when their project was chosen to receive 02:39 part of the 13th Sabbath offering. 02:42 Thanks to that offering, 02:43 today there is a Seventh-day Adventist church in Page. 02:47 But the church is still facing challenges. 02:51 There's a lot of opposition against us 02:53 and I think a lot of it is from Satan, 02:55 like the road falling in. 02:57 That just totally cut half of our membership 03:01 for our little church up at the community center. 03:04 Thanks to Allen and Kelley, some Bible workers, 03:07 and mission trips, a small group was forming. 03:10 That's when part of the main highway collapsed, 03:14 separating people from their new community center. 03:17 There's a cliff, it's called echo cliffs, 03:20 and there's a road that goes up that cliff 03:23 and the road fell in there. 03:24 And most of the people that used to come 03:27 just like five minute drive up to the community center, 03:29 now it's pretty far for them, so... 03:33 On the other side of the collapsed road 03:35 is a small community where Freddy and Sammie live. 03:38 They used to participate in the small group 03:40 and the children enjoyed attending 03:42 the Vacation Bible School. 03:44 But now it's difficult to get to the center 03:46 or to the church in Page. 03:48 My kids got along with their kids 03:50 and we just started going to church. 03:51 Yeah they came as a result of VBS, 03:54 so all these little outreaches that we do, 03:56 they so really reached the people. 04:00 When Allan and Kelley found out that Sammie and Freddy 04:02 needed a better way to heat their house, 04:04 they helped them get a stove. 04:07 They came by and it was surprising, 04:11 they said, they had a nice stove that needs to be used. 04:15 And I was like, I don't mind a stove, 04:18 it'd be nice, you know. 04:20 I thought it's going to be a small stove. 04:24 It's pretty long, it's big stove, and it's nice too. 04:29 Freddy studied the scriptures with the Bible worker. 04:31 He used to come by and we do like a verse. 04:37 We do verse and then I'd come to church 04:40 like you know, I come Saturday and then he's speaking 04:44 the same thing that we had it on conversation 04:48 and everything through here, and he'd be like, 04:51 does anybody know that, and I stick up my hand, 04:54 you know, and then I say, "yeah." 04:57 And he's like, you remember that. 05:00 But then the road collapse changed all that. 05:03 Instead of it being ten minutes 05:05 to come to the community center it's 150 miles, 05:08 I know that sounds crazy but if you look on the map 05:11 you'll see that N-20 05:13 is the closest that they can come now. 05:16 And it's, it's far. 05:18 I wish we had more church, like closer to home. 05:25 The fact that Allen is Navajo makes a difference 05:27 to the people they are trying to reach. 05:30 One of the thing about being able to speak 05:35 in the native tongue is you reach a lot more people 05:39 and then you, they understand it more 05:42 because you dissect the word better. 05:46 In Navajo, they can really relate to the words 05:51 in the Navajo language. 05:53 Every time you speak in Navajo, 05:56 it's entirely different thing, 05:59 it's not the same as the white. 06:01 You don't hurry up and put the words 06:04 to go together and go, go, go, go. 06:07 No, you have to stop and think 06:11 that the Navajo word means a lot. 06:17 The Navajo way of taking time to think 06:19 and absorb the words means 06:21 that progress here will take time. 06:25 That's what I used to tell the pastor 06:28 that used to be here. 06:30 I told him that, I said, you're spreading the word, 06:37 but they're not going to respond to it very well, 06:40 not too fast, I said, they're not going to 06:43 jump into it because God gave them that language, 06:48 and He gave them a culture. 06:51 They say that on the Navajo reservation, 06:54 you will not have made an impact 06:56 until you've been there for 20 years. 06:58 I only know of the few people that have made that commitment. 07:01 Allen and Kelley are ready to be here for the long haul 07:04 and many people have come on mission trips to help them. 07:07 A group from Pacific Union College 07:09 has come from Northern California to help. 07:11 The students join the small group for church, 07:14 and learn about a Navajo shoe game on Saturday night. 07:17 But the next day they are hard at work 07:19 using tires to build a retaining wall. 07:22 We have now the ability to be somewhat self-sustainable 07:26 in our mission capacity because we're receiving 07:29 two 60 x 30 foot commercial greenhouses 07:33 from Laurelwood Academy in Washington State 07:36 and they will be here April 1st to put them in. 07:41 So now at this point PUC is here, 07:44 and Pacific Union College is here 07:45 to lay the groundwork for this. 07:48 Allen and Kelley say that more help is needed. 07:51 If you have a heart to come and join us here 07:53 on the Navajo reservation, pray about it, 07:55 contact us and we'll see what the Lord does. 07:59 Thank you. 08:01 Please pray for all those like Kelley and Allen 08:05 who are involved in Native American mission work, 08:08 and thank you for supporting mission. 08:11 Thank you so much for all that you gave 08:14 and all that you did in all your prayers 08:16 to make this a possibility 08:17 because this is really a mission church. 08:29 Next we travel to Bangkok, Thailand 08:31 with Pastor Doug Venn, the Adventist mission coordinator 08:35 for the Southern Asia Pacific region of the world 08:37 is talking with Sudhakar a global mission pioneer. 08:42 I'm here today in Bangkok with a good friend of mine, 08:45 Pastor Sudhakar Kempaiah and he is 08:47 the church planting pastor 08:49 supported through your generous global mission offerings. 08:54 And Sudhakar, I'm just so happy to be here again with you. 08:57 And tell us where is this church planting project, 09:02 where is this project located in Bangkok? 09:05 It's located very close to our Mission Hospital 09:09 from 15 minute journey. 09:12 The place is known as Bangkok Noi. 09:13 Okay. 09:14 And what does Bangkok Noi mean in Thai. 09:17 It's like a small Bangkok, something. 09:19 Okay. All right. Very good. 09:20 So you're part of-- you are in that segment 09:23 of town called little Bangkok. 09:24 Yeah, little Bangkok, yeah. 09:25 Okay, so what-- when you first started in 2009. 09:32 That's right. 09:33 In 2009, what was it like as you were just starting 09:38 this new church plant? 09:40 What was that community like? 09:42 Yeah, that community was not friendly 09:44 and they were not happy with me. 09:47 They looked at me like I'm an alien here 09:50 but as the time passed by, you know, things went well. 09:54 Yeah, first the committee never invited us, 09:57 they're looking us strangely but slowly as the time passed by 10:01 they became friendly and we were able 10:03 to share the love of God. 10:05 Why did they treat you like an alien? 10:08 Yeah, I didn't know, because maybe 10:11 they thought that we are here to trouble them. 10:15 The reason behind that I have no idea 10:17 but suddenly some people had a plan 10:20 on the property where we are ministering at. 10:24 So but slowly when they came to know 10:26 that we're here to help their community in language, 10:31 in their health and they liked it 10:35 and slowly they appreciate and they invite us. 10:39 So now when we walk around, they are very much concern, 10:43 they ask us how are you doing, 10:44 how's your daughter and I feel happy to be there. 10:47 Right. 10:48 Sudhakar, what are some other things 10:50 that you are doing as a Global Mission Pioneer 10:52 church planting in your community? 10:55 We give Bible study and we teach English 10:58 and we also have some health and counseling 11:03 and we visit them. 11:05 What are you doing practically in your community 11:07 like during the flood that happened in Bangkok? 11:11 What was practical way that you with your church plant 11:14 were able to meet some of the community needs? 11:17 In the flood time I think all the church plants 11:20 we're involve in helping their own community. 11:23 So, in our community the roads and everything 11:28 was blocked and just flooding, 11:30 so we were thinking what to do. 11:32 So, then the church community leader 11:36 came to me and he said to us, well, Pastor Sudhakar, 11:40 you have a good place here, can I have a permission 11:43 to make some EM that is known as Effective Microorganism? 11:47 So he said, when there is a... 11:49 And what do they do with this Effective Microorganisms? 11:52 I mean, he explained to me that this will stop 11:55 the outbreak of any plague from waterborne diseases. 12:00 I said Van, that's very good and I said, yeah, 12:02 we as a church planter, we will help-- 12:04 we would like to join hands in helping the community. 12:08 And he brought a big tank of, almost like 500,000 liters, 12:14 we fill the water and we did this effective EM, 12:19 known as EM Micro Organism water. 12:22 And we allowed the navy to carry this water 12:25 and pour it around the community 12:29 so that any waterborne disease will not break out. 12:33 Can you tell us what is the story 12:36 of Mister Happy and this airline pilot? 12:40 How did you meet him? 12:42 Yeah, I met him at Bangkok Adventist church 12:46 before I was working as a church planter. 12:50 So Kun Happy, I think he has seen 12:53 some of our Adventists Television channel 12:57 and he came to know our Adventist Sabbath truth 13:01 and all our vegetarianism. 13:04 So he was-- he liked Adventism 13:08 and that's how he came to be at church and meet him there. 13:11 And what was his profession? He was a pilot. 13:15 All right, so he was a commercial airline pilot? 13:17 Yeah, commercial airline. 13:18 And so what was-- what was it like 13:21 to give Bible studies to him? 13:24 He has a lot of questions. 13:26 Even when he goes back home he will be texting 13:30 message, only questions. 13:32 Pastor, what does this mean, what does that mean? 13:34 He has lot of questions. Right. 13:36 And so like what kind of questions 13:38 that did Brother Happy ask? 13:41 He most probably he will asking about Sabbath 13:43 and he used to ask, what is about-- 13:46 how we have to be in the end times we as Christians 13:49 and how I have to-- I mean keep the Sabbath day holy. 13:53 So, even the minute, very sensitive things also, 13:57 he used to ask so many things. 13:58 Right, so then that way you were able then 14:00 to open God's word and help with those relationships in his life? 14:05 Yes. Well, that's thrilling. 14:06 So what happened after you study the Bible with-- 14:10 what happen? 14:11 Within, you know, he took me to Acts Chapter. 14:14 I think Acts 8 where this-- Phillip baptizing 14:18 that one of the Ethiopian. 14:22 He said, see, pastor, here he was baptized very soon. 14:25 So after one month of Bible study, 14:27 one and half month, he said he want to be baptized 14:30 with his whole family. 14:32 And he was baptized and he was a very 14:37 strong supporter and he used to be regularly. 14:40 Even the lesson study, if one day Kun Happy 14:43 is not there, they used to miss him 14:45 because he's the one who used to ask a lot of questions 14:48 and he's to-- they enjoy reasoning out 14:52 and explaining to him and he was nice, nice person. 14:57 Well, I know that Pastor Sudhakar, 14:59 as you were on the front line helping people 15:03 like Mr. Happy to meet Jesus and opening 15:06 God's precious word and teaching them. 15:09 What a joy that is that you have to see the people, 15:13 their lives being changed, their families being changed 15:16 like you just shared. 15:18 And so thank you so much for your service. 15:20 Thank you Pastor Sudhakar for sharing 15:22 how your local church plant as a Global Mission Pioneer 15:26 is making a practical difference in your community. 15:29 Gary, now back to you. 15:31 Don't go away, we'll be back right after a short break. |
Revised 2014-12-17