Participants: Gary Krause (Host), Dan Jackson, Delber Pearman
Series Code: GMS
Program Code: GMS000103A
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00:03 Most people don't think of North America
00:05 as being a mission field 00:06 but with rapidly growing cities the rise of secularism 00:10 many, many people in this area of the world 00:13 need to learn about Jesus Christ. 00:15 We will be learning more about that 00:16 and much more coming up next on this program. 00:23 Just before He went up to heaven, 00:26 Jesus gave us a command. 00:29 He gave us a mission. 00:32 Jesus said, "Go, go unto all the world, 00:36 telling them of His love." 00:39 This is our mission. This is our Global Mission. 00:49 Hello, I'm Gary Krause 00:50 and welcome to Global Mission Snapshots. 00:52 And on today's program you will meet many people 00:55 who are living their life 00:56 with purpose and with integrity. 00:58 They may never be written up in the history text books, 01:01 but they are special in the heart of God, 01:04 because they're following His command 01:05 to go ye into all the world 01:07 and they're making a difference in the lives of people, 01:09 not only now but for eternity. 01:12 First up, let's traveled to Alaska 01:14 and we'll meet a group of young people 01:16 who are making a big difference in the lives of children there. 01:23 I honestly think that Camp Polaris 01:25 in the location of Camp Polaris 01:27 is the church is sitting on 01:28 one of the most beautiful pieces 01:30 of real estate in the world. 01:32 It's amazing for kids to get come out in nature 01:35 where literally it's almost two hours 01:38 to the nearest civilization. 01:40 For instance the scenery right now is mountains, 01:43 a lake, it's amazing. 01:45 I think I come to camp to see the kids. 01:48 The kids are great, they're always energetic. 01:51 Camp gives them hope. 01:52 A lot of these kids have hard lives. 01:55 These kids live in a village, 01:58 they don't have any way to get out really. 02:00 The only way to get here 02:01 is by boat or plane, you can't drive. 02:03 They're in a small fishing village, 02:05 it's not a lot outside, 02:07 you are providing a home for them, 02:10 sort of a family and a home 02:11 where somewhere they are safe 02:13 and they can just have fun, and be kid for a week. 02:16 Gives them a week of this meeting adults and-- 02:20 I only have a-- a lot even our college kids 02:22 that are staff here, and when we got people 02:24 they are gonna be mechanical engineers, 02:25 we got electrical engineers, 02:29 the music majors all kinds of things 02:31 that are in our academy kids just 02:32 that are fairly established people 02:35 who get to rub shoulders as well as talk to them 02:38 and they get to see people that love them 02:40 and care about them that are, 02:41 that are not you know doing alcohol 02:43 or drugs or other things. 02:45 They are seeing people that are smiling 02:46 having a good time without causing trouble. 02:49 They deal with a lot of their suicide drugs, 02:52 alcoholism is big, 02:54 they grow up in alcoholic families 02:56 and they have broken that cycle. 02:58 It's hard, you know, for these kids that grow up 03:00 and doing ham and stay in doing ham 03:03 and never leave doing ham 03:04 and there's not of lot progression going on there. 03:07 And we're only one week a year, 03:09 you know so we got to really make a big impact 03:11 to have a lasting on the other 51 weeks. 03:14 Jesus! 03:19 When the school starts, they're singing 03:20 these songs throughout the year. 03:22 It's giving them a lot of enjoyment, 03:25 they're singing about God and they are hoping Him, 03:28 learn things about Him 03:29 and its also just giving them something 03:31 that they can then go home and teach others. 03:37 My favorite thing is a water sports 03:40 like kneeboarding, tubing. 03:43 Just learning about God and meeting friends. 03:46 I just came to have fun 03:48 and see if I can make new friends and visit. 03:52 My favorite thing about camp 03:55 is learning about God and Jesus, 03:57 because God is the one that made the world 04:01 and He's the one that helps us everyday. 04:08 A lot of these kids don't even know, 04:12 they don't know Bible stories, they don't-- 04:14 lot of not Christian so this is their-- 04:19 this is their experience with God. 04:35 Just being it is so warm up is a big thing and I hear, 04:37 because when you're in the water 04:38 and you get real cold real fast. 04:40 When they come out of the water, 04:41 they don't have a place to rinse off 04:44 and then they get what's called swimmers edge 04:46 or they call them duck mites, 04:48 a shower house would be a place where they could rinse off 04:51 so that they would be able to avoid having that happen. 04:54 I haven't gotten anything free, 04:55 I've scrubbed up really well in our makai 04:59 which is our-- our version of a shower, 05:02 it's basically is warehouse. 05:07 If you run in there and get hot and then run into the lake 05:11 and soap up and then run back into warm up again. 05:16 Okay, well, the sleeping conditions out here 05:18 is basically if you have a piece of cardboard, 05:20 you're the lucky winner, if you don't have a cardboard 05:22 you just sleep on 05:23 what's available with is nothing. 05:25 So we do hold cardboards out here 05:27 becomes a prime commodity. 05:29 Like all the camp stuff here's 05:31 about 50 years old probably, it's all falling apart. 05:37 The doors have big gaps 05:41 underneath them and above them. 05:43 The wind comes through so the kids are often cooled. 05:46 There's no more cabin space, if we'd have more kids. 05:48 We just need a facility that can accommodate, 05:52 but if we can improve those buildings 05:54 and the facility, 05:56 I think the mission could be broadened 05:58 and we could use it more 05:59 than just one week out of the year. 06:02 For the past 50 years, 06:04 camp Polaris has offered out houses only, 06:07 but with your assistance they planned to build 06:09 bath houses and rest rooms for the camp. 06:12 Government regulation has changed 06:14 and camp could happen for more weeks 06:16 if conditions were improved. 06:18 A portion of your 13th Sabbath Offering this quarter 06:21 will go to Camp Polaris. 06:23 Please pray for this wonderful ministry 06:26 that is connecting people in the remote areas 06:28 of Alaska to the God of hope. 06:38 My guest is Pastor Dan Jackson, 06:39 who is the president 06:40 of the Seventh-day Adventist church 06:42 in the North American region. 06:44 Pastor Jackson, thanks for joining us. 06:45 Thank you for having us. 06:47 We're looking a mission in your territory, 06:49 where does your territory actually extent to, 06:51 I'm thinking of north-- 06:52 I'm thinking of United States and Canada 06:55 but it's more than that right? 06:56 Yeah, it extends from Bermuda in the east, 07:01 to Guam and Micronesia in the west. 07:04 From the North Pole in the north 07:06 to the Florida Keys. 07:08 Okay. So it's a huge territory. 07:10 How many people are living in this territory? 07:14 You mean in the population? 07:16 I believe somewhere in the area 07:17 of about 330 to 350 million people. 07:21 Okay, now when many Adventist talk about mission 07:25 and they're talking about the mission field, 07:26 you know they're not thinking about North America, 07:28 they're thinking about overseas, 07:30 they're thinking of Africa or Asia et cetera, et cetera. 07:33 Why should we consider 07:35 North America on a mission field? 07:37 Well, America is a huge mission field. 07:40 I have said to many people and I continue to say it. 07:44 It is true that General Conference 07:46 is focusing on the 10/40 Window, 07:48 but for the North American Division 07:50 the 10/40 Window just moved in next door. 07:53 The huge immigration into these lands 07:56 as well as the indigenous populations 07:58 of the land, of the lands, 08:02 creates a great challenge to the church. 08:05 Not only is there the multi ethnic, 08:07 multi cultural issues 08:09 but there's also the issues of secularism 08:12 and postmodernism et cetera, et cetera, 08:14 that really, really make this a huge mission field. 08:19 Yeah, and you know I think its become a bit of a cliché 08:22 but North American now well, the United States 08:25 is no longer a Christian country. 08:27 Canada, the church attendance is right down low 08:30 and so we are noticing not on in rural but in cities, 08:36 whole groups of people who never even go to church, 08:40 who wouldn't claim to have any connection. 08:44 In the City of Vancouver for instance 08:46 in British Columbia and Vancouver 08:49 is somewhat similar to Seattle 08:50 in terms of its demographics and so on. 08:53 But in the city of Vancouver eight percent of the people 08:59 claim to have any Christian background at all. 09:03 So there-- we're talking in Canada, 09:05 it's a-- it is not a Christian society, 09:10 it is a secular, multicultural society, 09:15 a pluralistic society. 09:20 Usually the United States leads Canada 09:23 in a variety of different ways but in this regards 09:27 Canada really is a head of the United States. 09:29 Many of the things that have taken place in Canada 09:31 I see now happening in the United States. 09:34 What are some of the exciting, encouraging things you see 09:39 in mission here in North America? 09:41 Well, you know how long you have? 09:44 I have about four minutes. 09:46 Well, then you know number one in the general sense, 09:51 what I'm seeing as I travel around this division 09:55 is a great urgency among many people 09:58 to do exploits for God. 10:02 I was at a camp meeting 10:03 in Central California two years ago, 10:05 when a young woman got up her name was Lila Louis 10:09 and she gave this description of 10:12 what she wanted to do for the bay area 10:15 of San Francisco in Oakland. 10:18 I have to be honest as I listened to her, 10:21 I said to myself, 10:24 well, was she thinking strange thoughts, 10:28 but then a few months ago in the bridges project 10:32 in San Francisco and Oakland 10:35 and the Oakland Bay area 500 medical professions 10:42 assisted over 4,000 people 10:46 with four million dollars of free medical care 10:51 and not only did that 10:52 but they were involved with them, 10:55 there were people singing to them, 10:57 there was counseling, there was physiotherapy, 11:00 there was dentistry, 11:02 and what this is reaching out to a community 11:05 with the hands and feet of Jesus. 11:07 So that's very exciting. 11:09 Now that's kind of a movement that 11:11 and it is now, like a movement in North America, 11:14 because similar project are planed for Spokane 11:17 and San Antonio prior to the General Conference. 11:20 But that is one area, 11:23 another area where I was very excited was-- 11:27 I had the privilege of attending 11:29 the North American Division 11:30 Women's Ministries Convention in Orlando. 11:32 As a special invitee? I was a special invitee. 11:36 Somebody actually asked me how did you get here? 11:38 I just passed the estrogen test. 11:41 However what I saw 800 women do 11:46 for a day and a half or for a day rather in Orlando 11:49 that is you going into areas of the city, 11:54 assisting people with food, with clothing, 11:56 giving them massages, doing all kinds of things that were-- 12:01 a positive statement for the Christian faith. 12:04 Then of course, we have our traditional things 12:06 that are going on 12:07 of great evangelistic out reach programs. 12:10 Not so long going Seattle 12:12 we had 100 evangelistic meetings 12:15 taking place at the same time. 12:18 Recently in Oklahoma, there were about 30 12:23 of the same kinds of meetings, in Guam and Micronesia 12:27 we have about 40 women 12:29 who went out to preach the gospel 12:31 or rather 20 plus women pardon me, 12:34 and in one of those, one of those meetings 12:36 they baptized 43 people. 12:38 So you know it just depends which way you want to look. 12:42 I believe that the North American division 12:48 is a sleeping giant, but the giant is waking up 12:52 and God is gonna bless and prosper, 12:55 the efforts of His people because there are people 12:58 and this is what's exciting to me. 13:00 There are people through out our division 13:02 who are catching the vision, who are saying 13:05 we can do something for God, 13:07 we don't have to be a Mark Finley, 13:10 we don't have to be a great evangelist or a great doctor, 13:14 but we can take simple remedies, 13:16 we can take all-- 13:17 you know the comprehensive heath message, 13:20 we can reach out to our cities. 13:22 We can do it variety of ways 13:25 and they're actually buying into this. 13:27 So I'm praising God. 13:28 Fantastic and I'll join you in that. 13:31 Pastor Jackson, thank you so much for joining us today 13:33 and on behalf of the world church 13:35 I want to thank you 13:36 for what the North American division is doing, 13:38 not just here but in supporting mission all around the world, 13:41 because basically viewers at home, 13:43 mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church 13:45 around the world has been carried on the shoulders 13:47 on the North American division 13:49 that continuous to generously support 13:52 the world filled with its mission offerings. 13:53 Thank you so much. Thank you. 13:55 And we'll be right back straight after this break. |
Revised 2015-02-12