Welcome back.
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My guest is Pastor Mark
Finley, a public evangelist
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known to many
all around the world
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and also special assistant
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to the General
Conference president
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of Seventh-day Adventist.
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Mark, thanks so
much for joining us.
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Thank you, Gary.
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And we have a
building in progress here.
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Describe what's happening?
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This is the Living Hope
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Seventh-day
Adventist Community Church,
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The Life Hope Community Center
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in the Northern
Virginia School of Evangelism.
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Now that's kind of a--
that's a mouthful, Gary.
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Yes, it's wonderful.
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But here's what
our intention is.
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First the Life Hope Center.
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We want to reach
out to our community.
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We're living in a
community of about 20,000 people
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that are extremely
affluent up-market.
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The Life Hope
Center will be a facility
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in which we reach out
with wellness seminar,
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stress management seminars,
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natural
lifestyle cooking schools,
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depression recovery,
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we will do family life seminars.
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A whole array of
community set seminars
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that help people
come into the building.
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In addition to that
in our Life Hope Center
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we will have a
Christian bookstore
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where people can
come in and buy books,
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they'll be-- they can
buy whole grains and foods.
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There will be a
prayer and meditation room.
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People get off the street
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and they just want
to sit in quietness.
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There's a reading room.
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So the Life Hope
Center is designed,
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specifically designed
tailor-made for this community.
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The School of Evangelism
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will be designed for
pastors and laypeople
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to come to learn
the art of reaching out
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in the cultural
context of their communities
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to share Christ,
the biblical message
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of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church.
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We will run about
six sessions a year,
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one week per session.
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Some sessions will be intense
of four days in that sessions
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that's the school of evangelism.
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We will also house a church
of about 250 to 300 members.
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There is no church in
this immediate community.
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We're working
with a smaller church
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about 25 minutes away,
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the Warrenton
Seventh-day Adventist Church.
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That small group will join us
and we're growing very rapidly.
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And so we're excited
about what's happening here,
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designed for the community
to make an impact for Christ.
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And that's the key I
think that of course you want
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the church
members to be comfortable
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but that's not the
main purpose of the building
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is for the community.
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How did you get to
understand the community?
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How do you know what
needs there are here?
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Well, through some
providences of God,
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Teenie and I moved
into this community.
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Gary, about six
years ago I was thinking,
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notice emphasis on
thinking about retiring
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and we were gonna
retire in Adventist center
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like many people do
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and Teenie and
I talked about it,
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my wife and we said
"Let's go to a place
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where there are no
Seventh-day Adventists."
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About an hour from Washington,
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we are 30 minutes
from Dallas Airport.
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So we moved into the community.
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For the first couple of years
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we were members
of this community,
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kind of
absorbing community life.
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My wife is a
persistent woman of prayer
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and she began walking
by a piece of property
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not far from this
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that she kept
praying and praying
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and she came to me
and said "Mark, I believe
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God wants us to plant a
church in this community.
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I believe He wants us to develop
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a health
evangelistic outreach center."
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And I said look,
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by that time I was
67-years-old I'm 70 now.
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It's three years ago.
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I said "Teenie,
that's not possible.
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I mean, look at us.
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I mean I may have
still had some wisdom
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but my energy is
quite a bit less."
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And, you know,
she just kept going
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praying on the
community and she prayed enough
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and the Lord convinced me
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and so we then eventually
acquired this property
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and began building this dream.
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Wonderful, now what happens
when the 250 seats are filled,
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what's the plan then?
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Our plan then is there
is a little overflow room
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that we could
probably go to 300.
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But our plan is
to replant a church.
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We do not see this
as a great mega-church.
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We really want to help pastors
of churches 50 to 100 members
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to take them to the next level.
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But we want to plant a
church in the next community
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over in Warrenton
where we're living.
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Now I want to go
back and plant there.
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When that church gets filled,
we want to plant another one.
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And so if the Lord
gives me the age of, you know,
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120 like Noah I've
got 50 more years you see.
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Fantastic.
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Now how are you going
to start this facility?
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I mean, you're
gonna have bookshops,
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you're gonna have seminar.
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I mean, you can't do it all.
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No, we are
training staff right now.
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We will have a lot
of volunteer staff.
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And so initially
we'll have volunteer staff.
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As the program grows,
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we will then begin
to hire part-time staff
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and eventually full-time staff.
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We believe in the
principle in Mark Chapter 4
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where Jesus said,
"First there is a seed,
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then the blade, then the ear,
then the full corn in the ear."
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One of the
principles of church growth
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that I have found is
you start where you are.
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You never--
there are some people
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that dream and dream and
dream about what they want to do
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but they don't do very much.
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You start where you are.
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When we started here,
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frankly we had a dream
in our hearts and no money
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and God has
brought funding to us,
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we still need some.
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But God has
brought funding to us.
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So we're gonna
start where we are.
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If we can only open
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a few days a week
to start, we will.
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We'll train volunteer
staff which we're doing now.
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We have a media center here,
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we're training
media center staff.
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Here's what
I've also discovered.
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When you have a
dream in your heart
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and God begins to do something,
God brings people to you
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that you never thought you have.
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In this little congregation,
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we have a guy who is
top quality in internet.
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So he has helped us
start out our internet.
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We have another guy
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who is a
professional photographer.
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He's helped us with--
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he will help us
with our media center.
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We have people that
God has already sent
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and He is sending to us.
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So when you have a
dream in your heart
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and you pursue that
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God indeed will
supply your needs.
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Wonderful, now this
is a center of influence,
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what is your dream?
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I mean, once
it's up and running,
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what is your hope?
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My hope I think
is two things, Gary.
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One is that this will be truly
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a center of
influence for this community.
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The people in
this community will say
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if you want help
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with a marriage
that's in trouble,
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go to the Life Hope Center.
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If you want hope
because you've just lost a wife
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because of grieving
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and you just need
somebody in your grieving
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and you just need
somebody to listen to,
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you lost your
wife because of cancer
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and you are grieving,
come to the Life Hope Center.
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If you want to lose weight,
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if you want to get
on a vegetarian diet
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we want this to be a
place where the community says,
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"These people
care and they love."
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And we feel that they will
meet the needs that we have,
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that's first.
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Second we have a
larger vision for this.
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We would like God
to use this as a model
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not to be replicated exactly
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because parts of
the world are different.
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But we want people to
come and catch a vision
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because we don't believe
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that you, that you replicate
an exact model or method
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but what you
replicate is the vision.
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And we want to inspire people
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as they come to
the General Conference
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and around from around the world
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that, that God can give
them a vision for their culture,
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for their area to do something
significant for Christ.
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Wonderful.
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Mark, thanks so much
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and may God continue to
bless this amazing ministry.
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Thank you, Gary.
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Next up, we travel to
South America to Paraguay.
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Hi, my name is Peter.
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My friends call me Pedrito
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and I am from a
native family in Paraguay.
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The native or
indigenous people here
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occupy a number
of distant villages
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in the northern
part of the country.
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Life is not easy.
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Many communities
still don't have access
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to clean drinking water,
electricity or basic education.
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Because of these challenges,
my grandpa told my family
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that they should send
me to a boarding school
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and that's
where my story begins.
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The school is located
not too far from my house.
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It is the
Seventh-day Adventist Primary
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or Escuela
Adventista de Caaguazu.
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By car, it's only an hour
away from our humble home.
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At the Adventist Escuela,
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I felt as if I was
part of one big family.
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I learned how to read
and write, do arithmetic
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and even more importantly
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I learned about a
God who deeply loves me.
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I also learned Christian habits
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such as praying
before each meal.
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During my first school break,
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I got to go home
and I was excited
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to share my new
experiences with the family.
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As we sat down to eat dinner,
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I noticed that
everyone just started eating.
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I felt somewhat awkward
and although I was only seven,
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I decided to pray.
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So I bowed my head and
offered a silent prayer
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of thanks for the food.
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Why are you doing that?
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My father yelled
from across the table.
00:08:44.59\00:08:47.66
We don't do that.
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If you want to
pray, you take your food
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go outside and eat alone.
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So I quietly took my food
and went outside of our home.
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I sat on a log
and started eating.
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Before long, my
grandfather came by and asked.
00:09:00.30\00:09:03.54
Pedrito, why are
you eating outside?
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My dad doesn't want
me to pray for the food,
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so I was sent
out here I answered.
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I could see anger
rising in my grandpa's face
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as he rushed inside to
confront his son, my dad.
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Why are you
doing this to your son?
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You should be happy
that he wants to pray.
00:09:22.29\00:09:24.69
He has changed a lot
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and you should be
thankful for that.
00:09:26.16\00:09:28.30
I'm going to visit
that school tomorrow
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and I will ask them
to come to our community
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and teach us the
things Pedrito has learned.
00:09:32.30\00:09:34.87
So my grandpa traveled
to the Adventist school
00:09:36.24\00:09:39.31
and explained how happy
he was with my behavior.
00:09:39.34\00:09:42.68
He asked the school principal
00:09:42.71\00:09:44.55
if he would be willing to
send someone to our community
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to teach us more
about good behavior.
00:09:47.65\00:09:50.02
The principal agreed
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and the school sent a
pastor to our community.
00:09:51.89\00:09:55.02
The pastor spent
time with the people
00:09:55.06\00:09:57.33
and he taught us from
the Bible for three months.
00:09:57.36\00:10:00.53
Then my grandpa, mom
00:10:00.56\00:10:02.33
and 17 other
people from the community
00:10:02.36\00:10:04.73
decided to get baptized.
00:10:04.77\00:10:07.10
And as time passed,
more baptisms took place.
00:10:07.14\00:10:11.07
Now more than 40
people are baptized members
00:10:15.21\00:10:17.91
of the new
Seventh-day Adventist Church
00:10:17.95\00:10:19.68
in our community.
00:10:19.71\00:10:21.05
On Sabbaths we sing
hymns, hear Bible stories
00:10:21.08\00:10:23.89
and praise God after
each inspiring sermon.
00:10:23.92\00:10:26.99
Many friends from
our community also come
00:10:27.02\00:10:29.62
and we pray for the day
00:10:29.66\00:10:30.99
that everyone will become
a part of God's big family.
00:10:31.03\00:10:34.76
You may be asking yourself,
00:10:34.80\00:10:36.67
"How could a church be planted
by young unchurched boy?"
00:10:36.70\00:10:40.10
The answer is simple,
00:10:40.14\00:10:41.80
God can use every one
00:10:41.84\00:10:43.27
who decides to do what is right.
00:10:43.30\00:10:45.17
Well, that's about
it for today's program.
00:10:49.58\00:10:51.18
I hope that you've been inspired
00:10:51.21\00:10:52.55
by what you've seen and heard.
00:10:52.58\00:10:55.08
Around the world today,
men and women, boys and girls
00:10:55.12\00:10:58.15
are sharing the
love of Jesus Christ
00:10:58.19\00:11:00.19
in a very practical,
in a very contagious ways
00:11:00.22\00:11:04.43
showing the reality
that Jesus can make in lives
00:11:04.46\00:11:07.40
and people as vastly
separated the South America
00:11:07.43\00:11:10.87
to North America.
00:11:10.90\00:11:12.23
Please continue to pray
00:11:12.27\00:11:13.60
for people involved in mission.
00:11:13.64\00:11:15.44
Pray for missionaries,
00:11:15.47\00:11:16.81
pray for Global
Mission pioneers,
00:11:16.84\00:11:18.77
pray for people
involved in centers of influence
00:11:18.81\00:11:21.54
in urban areas
reaching out to people
00:11:21.58\00:11:24.31
in densely populated areas
00:11:24.35\00:11:26.61
who need to know
about Jesus Christ.
00:11:26.65\00:11:28.85
Before we go, I'd like
to offer you a free gift
00:11:28.88\00:11:31.72
from Adventist Mission,
00:11:31.75\00:11:33.09
it is an Adventist
Mission luggage tag
00:11:33.12\00:11:36.46
and on the back
it has the Adventist,
00:11:36.49\00:11:37.99
Adventist Mission website.
00:11:38.03\00:11:40.20
This is something
that will travel with you
00:11:40.23\00:11:41.76
wherever you go
around the world.
00:11:41.80\00:11:44.97
Well, for Adventist
Mission I'm Gary Krause
00:11:45.00\00:11:47.67
and I hope you
can join me next time
00:11:47.70\00:11:49.64
right here on
Global Mission Snapshots.
00:11:49.67\00:11:52.41