I am standing on
the prime meridian line,
00:00:13.11\00:00:14.94
where zero degrees
and 360 degrees longitude
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are exactly the same.
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On today's program mission
east and west, coming up next.
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Just before He
went up to heaven,
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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 the program
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coming to you
from London, England.
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On Greenwich
just outside of London
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and along here is
the prime meridian line
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where literally the east
begins and the west begins.
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It's along here
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the Greenwich
meantime is calculated.
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It's a still
point in a moving world
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and it reminds
me of Jesus Christ
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the same
yesterday, today and tomorrow.
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Jesus who is the
One, who is the only way,
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the only truth, the only life.
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On today's program,
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we'll be taking
you east and west.
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We will be taking
you around the world
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to see mission in action.
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But first up
let's go to, Mongolia.
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Winters in Mongolia are
some of the toughest on earth.
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The snow, the ice, and the winds
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create a brutally
cold living environment.
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People huddle
inside their ger houses,
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where it's warm and cozy.
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The Mongolian people endure cold
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for many months of the year,
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but eventually
the seasons change.
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The summer brings
life and activity.
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Construction
continues, doors open,
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and horses graze on
the blanket of grass
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covering the ground.
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For the
children, this warmth means
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they can play outside.
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I will sing of the
mercies of the Lord forever
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I will sing of the
mercies of the Lord
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Each year, children from
the capital city of Ulaanbaatar
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gather together for summer camp.
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They spend hours having fun
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and spending
time with each other.
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There are lots of activities
that help the children
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learn about Jesus.
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The younger kids
are making lions.
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While they work,
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the teachers tell the story
of Daniel in the lion's den.
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Some of these children
have never heard stories
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like this before.
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Imagine the excitement of
hearing these Bible stories
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for the first time.
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Just a few years
ago, Gabriel's family
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moved to Mongolia
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from South America
to be missionaries.
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Life in Mongolia is very
different from South America.
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The weather is different,
the food is different,
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and they came here
not knowing anybody.
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Living on the other side
of the world can be hard,
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but Gabriel has
adjusted to living here
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and has made some new friends.
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This year they are joining
the summer camp in a beautiful,
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remote location.
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One thing
Gabriel and his friends
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love to do is play soccer.
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They can play for
hours in the summer
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and it makes
Mongolia feel a little more
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like home for Gabriel.
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After their game,
the team sits and talks.
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Gabriel's friends
don't speak Spanish,
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so they communicate in English,
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and Gabriel is even
learning the Mongolian language.
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They are very
grateful for the summer camp.
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This group of
friends stops to thank Jesus
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for this special opportunity.
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Not all the kids are
Christian but some are curious
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about Jesus because of
Gabriel and his friends.
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Although Gabriel
is far from home,
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he knows that God has
a special plan for him.
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Please pray for Gabriel
and other missionary kids
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around the world.
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Pray that they can share
Jesus with others around them.
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My guest is Pastor
Ian Sweeney who heads up
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the Seventh-day
Adventist church in Britain.
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Thanks for joining
us, Pastor Sweeney.
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You have a tremendous
territory here describe it.
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We're trying to
reach 66 million people
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across Scotland,
Ireland, Wales, England
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and the other places
beside such as, Isle of Man,
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Guernsey, the Scilly Isles.
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So we have got a
tremendous territory,
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a lot of people to reach.
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And a very
diverse territory is it?
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Very diverse.
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Diverse amongst the
indigenous population,
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diverse in the
context of the composition
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of the members of
the Seventh-day Adventist
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Church in the British Isles.
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Yeah.
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Now, you know, we are here
on the outskirts of London.
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I mean, I know that there are
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many Adventist
churches spread around
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but what are the
sorts of challenges
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you're facing here?
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The challenges we
face for example, London,
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it's something like
as I remember the census
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over nine
million people to reach.
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We have tens of
thousands of Adventist in London
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but still there's so many,
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many, people to meet and impact.
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And part of what
we are trying to do
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and how the church
be in United Kingdom
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is the church that
really makes an effective change
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in the lives of the communities
where those congregations meet.
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Yeah, so what you're
trying to move away from
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is just having commuted
churches where people come in
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on Sabbath morning and
leave in the afternoons
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and don't make any impact.
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Most definitely and in fact,
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one our emphasis
which we have when we called
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all of our
pastoral team together.
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Last year was that
we entitled the meeting,
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Salt and Light and
particularly focusing on salt.
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Our emphasis is
that salt is so effective
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and when it
touches, when it mingles,
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when it interacts,
salt can bring out taste,
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salt can preserve, salt can
do so many wonderful things.
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And what which
challenged our pastors to do
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with their congregations
is to try to ensure
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that they are salt
within their communities.
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Because the mandate of Christ
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is that we are
salt of the earth.
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So we're not just to
be there as a presence
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we are to be there interacting,
changing, touching life's.
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Wonderful.
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Can you give me an example
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of how that
starting to happen now?
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Okay, yeah. Sure.
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I mean, so many examples.
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May be I'll come to where I live
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which is again little
bit further out from London.
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But in Elsmore community
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we have a
wonderful church pastor
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there happened by
the name of Simon Martin.
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And his church
they have intentionally,
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they are intentional
salt with in their community.
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The community is not
economically prosperous
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or anything like
that it has its challenges
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but they have been so
effective in being salt
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amongst their community
in the town of Dunstable
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I should say, that the
police have actually gone
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to the pastor and
have said look, you know,
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whatever you're
doing keep on doing it
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because you've
actually changed the community.
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They have interacted
for example with the,
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with the children, you know,
teenage delinquency in crime.
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That church has made
a significant difference
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that crime has dropped.
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Wonderful.
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Now is it just pastors
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who are leading
out in mission here?
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No, it is members as well
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and we have some
really great lay led
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member led
evangelist initiatives
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where they are being salt.
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There is a little
town out in a Essex Way,
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again just a little
way out of London, where--
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and Rivendell where the
people have just come and have--
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it's a village of
at all means 900 people
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and they have gone there
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and they have made
a significant impact.
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The people are so
engaged with what we are doing
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and they have
recognized that the people want,
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for example
friendship and company.
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All right.
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And that's what they have done
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and they're again making
the tremendous impact that way.
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Now, I heard you
telling your own personal story
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of how you made a
commitment to mingle
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in your own community,
briefly tell us that story.
00:08:09.98\00:08:13.42
Yeah, I've decided, I decided
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to join an angling club.
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I have no interest in
catching fish but, but you know,
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Christ has called us
to be fishers of men.
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I thought well, you know,
what, let me become an angler.
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Now the problem with it I have
to admit is well two things.
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Well, I can't take the cold
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and these guys were
sitting in the cold all night.
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But the other problem as
well is that that you know,
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anglers actually are very--
they are very private people
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and part of what angling
is, is to get away from the home
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where I would say in the UK.
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You get away from the misses,
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you hold your rod
and nobody troubles you.
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So my plan is a
little floored that way.
00:08:54.83\00:08:57.80
Having said that, having
said that I am now on the clock
00:08:57.83\00:09:01.50
as you know the angling wicker
so that's the way it goes.
00:09:01.54\00:09:04.91
Yeah, so each
of us needs to make
00:09:04.94\00:09:07.51
a personal commitment to
put Christ method into practice.
00:09:07.54\00:09:11.01
Oh, without a
doubt. Without a doubt.
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We all have to take to ourselves
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that Christ has
called us to be salt.
00:09:15.12\00:09:18.15
And the more you say just
salt and salt changes lives.
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It makes things better
and once we take that on
00:09:22.66\00:09:27.10
we will see the opportunities
that God presents for us
00:09:27.13\00:09:29.93
to make positive
changes in people lives.
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Yes.
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Now what are your hopes
for the church here in Britain?
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My hope is that every single
congregation and what all--
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let me say every
believer makes positive changes
00:09:40.81\00:09:45.18
wherever they are.
00:09:45.21\00:09:46.65
And we can't just see the
churches being the building
00:09:46.68\00:09:49.28
or a place where we meet
00:09:49.32\00:09:51.02
but what wherever I am
as salt makes a change.
00:09:51.05\00:09:54.82
So there's an
intentionality behind my living
00:09:54.86\00:09:58.33
that I change
lives for the better
00:09:58.36\00:10:00.80
and I would love to see
that across every congregation.
00:10:00.83\00:10:03.50
Yeah, what are
biggest challenges you face?
00:10:03.53\00:10:07.24
The one--
00:10:07.27\00:10:08.60
Some of the biggest
challenges is really that,
00:10:08.64\00:10:10.71
you know, people's
lives are so busy and so--
00:10:10.74\00:10:13.58
I'm talking
about the member's life
00:10:13.61\00:10:15.08
as well as who they
are trying to reach.
00:10:15.11\00:10:17.21
But what I believe
that if-- am a true believer
00:10:17.25\00:10:20.05
that if we see
ourselves is not just,
00:10:20.08\00:10:23.15
not just having to
be in a place to do,
00:10:23.18\00:10:26.25
to reach people's
life's but wherever I am,
00:10:26.29\00:10:29.49
we are social
beings, in my work place,
00:10:29.52\00:10:32.09
in my place of education
I can be salt those times
00:10:32.13\00:10:36.80
and it's about waking up
every morning and saying God,
00:10:36.83\00:10:41.34
use me to be something
00:10:41.37\00:10:43.81
in somebody's life to
touch them, that is life.
00:10:43.84\00:10:45.97
Fantastic.
00:10:46.01\00:10:47.48
We only had a short time
00:10:47.51\00:10:48.84
but thank you so
much for sharing with us
00:10:48.88\00:10:50.25
and God bless you in
your important ministry.
00:10:50.28\00:10:52.05
Thank you very much.
00:10:52.08\00:10:53.42
Please pray for Britain,
pray for Pastor Sweeney,
00:10:53.45\00:10:55.92
other leaders,
tremendous challenge
00:10:55.95\00:10:57.52
but wonderful
things happening here.
00:10:57.55\00:10:59.35
We'll right back right
straight after this break.
00:10:59.39\00:11:01.12