Participants: Gary Krause (Host)
Series Code: GMS
Program Code: GMS001003A
|
00:13 Mission in rural areas
00:14 and in the increasingly challenging mission field 00:18 of the cities of the world 00:19 such as Vancouver, coming up next. 00:27 Just before he went up to heaven, 00:30 Jesus gave us a command. 00:33 He gave us a mission. 00:36 Jesus said go. 00:38 Go unto, all the world telling them of his love. 00:43 This is our mission, this is our global mission. 00:59 Hello, and welcome to today's program. 01:01 Coming to you from the beautiful city 01:04 of Vancouver, in Canada. 01:06 Vancouver is the city of many beautiful parks. 01:09 It has wonderful water font. 01:10 It has people from all over the world 01:12 settling here, very diverse cultures. 01:15 It's also a tremendous mission field, 01:17 with many secular people, many people who have 01:20 never even heard the name of Jesus. 01:21 And we'll be talking with Pastor Kumar Dixit, 01:24 about an exciting plan in 2016, 01:28 to reach out in a Holistic Ministry 01:30 to the people of this city. 01:32 On today's program, we'll also be talking 01:34 about 13th Sabbath Offerings. 01:36 These are offerings that go to support 01:38 special mission projects around the world. 01:41 And we visit one of those projects in Uruguay, 01:44 the center of influence 01:45 right in the heart of the capital city. 01:47 But first up, let's see your mission offerings at work 01:51 in the city of Manaus in Brazil. 01:59 Brazil is the largest country in South America, 02:02 with great ethnic diversity and modern cities 02:05 with populations in the millions. 02:08 City such as Sao Paulo, 02:10 the third largest in the world continue to grow, 02:12 stretching its limits. 02:14 Much of Brazil however is less developed 02:17 and less affluent than in the cities. 02:19 This is especially true of the Amazon 02:21 in the northwest region of Brazil. 02:24 Here, tribes and other un-reached people groups 02:26 have lived along the river 02:28 and in the Amazon jungle for centuries. 02:33 In this remote area of the country, 02:35 the Seventh-day Adventist Church has established 02:37 many types of outreach programs 02:39 to connect with locals and bless their lives. 02:42 One such institution 02:43 is the Agro-Industrial Adventist school or IAAI 02:47 as it's more commonly known. 02:49 In recent years, IAAI has undergone a transformation 02:53 and has become well-known in the community. 02:55 Only students willing to abide by the school's 02:58 strong Adventists values, including spiritual lifestyle, 03:01 social and academic standards are accepted. 03:05 As a result, enrollment at the academy has skyrocketed, 03:08 growing from 100 to more than 400 students 03:11 in just three years. 03:14 Hubert studies at IAAI. 03:16 Thanks to this school, his life turned 180 degrees. 03:20 Hubert faced some serious challenges 03:22 and nearly had to leave IAAI because of his poor behavior. 03:29 Would spend a night awake, causing troubles, 03:31 playing pranks on dormitory students, 03:33 slamming the doors to keep people awake. 03:36 We turn over trash cans 03:37 and give the dean a hard time at school. 03:40 I used to cheat, I didn't like studying at all. 03:43 At the end of the year, Hubert did not reach 03:45 the average grade he needed. 03:47 But as the academic committee looked over deficient students, 03:50 they voted to give him a chance. 03:53 And the school leadership pleaded with him 03:54 to accept Jesus, 03:56 so his life would be turned around. 03:59 The school board was separating the wheat from the tares. 04:03 And I was a tare, but thanks to God, 04:06 I passed as wheat. 04:08 I remember that at the time I decided to pray and ask God, 04:12 that if I passed, I would turn around 04:15 and give him my life. 04:22 Hubert accepted the challenge to find Christ. 04:24 He began to fill his time with reading, 04:26 studying and teaching others 04:28 about the God he was discovering. 04:30 He repaired mistakes he made and helped others 04:33 overcome challenges similar to the ones he once faced. 04:38 Today, Hubert takes active part 04:40 in meeting the needs of Seven Church Plants. 04:43 These churches have been started 04:44 by IAAI students over the years. 04:47 On Sabbaths, the students split up 04:49 and travel to different villages 04:51 where they have a chance to sing, preach, 04:54 and encourage others with their faith. 04:57 The local villagers appreciate this ministry very much. 05:01 The students at IAAI are happy with the opportunity 05:04 to establish and maintain new churches. 05:06 But they also hope to one day have a church of their own. 05:10 Currently they worship in a hall 05:12 used for school activities. 05:13 But their hearts long for a church sanctuary 05:16 set aside for time with God and where they can invite 05:18 friends from the community. 05:21 This quarter, your 13th Sabbath Offering will help 05:24 build a chapel for the avid church planters in IAAI. 05:27 Please pray for this new building, 05:29 and for the many mission activities 05:31 undertaken at this Adventist school. 05:33 Thank you for supporting mission offerings 05:36 and projects like IAAI's church. 05:43 My guest is Pastor Kumar Dixit, 05:45 who is the senior pastor of the 05:46 Oakridge Seventh-day Adventist Church, in Vancouver. 05:49 And he's also the minstrel secretary 05:51 for the conference. 05:52 Kumar, thanks for joining us. Thank you. 05:54 Now, you have a button here that says, 05:56 "Ask me about: let's move Vancouver." 05:59 I want to ask you about let's move Vancouver. 06:03 Let's move Vancouver is a new, new initiative 06:05 that we're doing in 2016. 06:07 And, all of the pastors and churches 06:09 in the Greater Vancouver area are committed to doing 06:12 an entire year of evangelism 06:14 to reach un-church people of the city. 06:15 Now, when you say, 06:17 "All of the churches and all of the pastors" 06:20 that would be highly unusual, 06:21 wouldn't it to try to get every pastor 06:23 and every church on board 06:25 to a combined initiative, is that possible? 06:28 Well, this is proof that this is only a miracle of God. 06:31 To get all of the area churches, 06:33 ethnic churches, pastors from different 06:35 ideological background or theological backgrounds, 06:38 every one of them are committed to reaching 06:41 un-church people for Jesus. 06:42 And so, we've been able to put away our differences 06:45 and say, "Okay, we're going to focus on one thing, 06:47 and that is reaching people, lost people for Jesus." 06:50 Fantastic, so what's the plan? 06:52 What's going to happen in 2016? 06:54 Well, the plan is this, 06:56 we are committed to doing an entire year of evangelism. 06:59 So, instead of doing a 10 night series, 07:01 or a 21 night reaping series. 07:03 We're going to do over 150 programs 07:06 throughout the entire year. 07:07 So, every church is going to choose about 10 to 12 07:11 great outreach programs, 07:13 evangelist meetings that they're used to doing. 07:15 And, it's all going to be package under, 07:16 Let's Move Vancouver. 07:18 Letsmovevancouver.com is going to be a way 07:20 that anybody in the city is going to be 07:22 able to hear about it and see it. 07:24 And then, we're gonna invite people 07:25 to come to outreach activities, Bible studies, 07:28 service opportunities, 07:29 whatever people are interested in doing, 07:31 it's gonna be under the umbrella of Let's Move. 07:34 So, it's coordinated, it's focused, 07:36 it's doing it together, what's different 07:38 about this approach? 07:39 I mean every church does have its own evangelistic problems, 07:42 what's different about this? 07:43 Gary, people in Vancouver are actually 07:46 very antagonistic towards Christians. 07:49 They do not like Christians at all. 07:51 And so, if we were to say, "We want you to come 07:53 to a Revelation series about Jesus." 07:55 First of all they don't even know who Jesus is? 07:57 So, Revelation is not even relevant to them. 07:59 But the one common denominator 08:01 that the Seventh-day Adventist Church has 08:03 with the City of Vancouver is our health message. 08:06 Vancouver is one of the healthiest cities in the world. 08:09 I like to call them the granola crowd. 08:11 They eat very healthy, they love going on hikes, 08:13 they love doing exercise. 08:15 And so, Let's Move Vancouver is really based on 08:18 getting people physically moving as well as, 08:20 as well as moving them towards the cross. 08:23 And so, that idea of getting people 08:26 based on the health message, that's really 08:28 what we're going to be focusing on during 2016. 08:31 So, what sort of health message programming will there be? 08:35 Oh man, there's going to be so many things. 08:36 In fact, in, in the spring of 2016, 08:41 we're going to be having a huge health expo. 08:46 And we're hoping to have about 7,000 to 10,000 people 08:48 come to the health expo. 08:49 And we're gonna be sharing lifestyle messages, 08:52 our relationship issues, exercise, stretching, 08:56 the whole gamut on healthy living 08:58 based on what Ellen G. White says, about, 09:00 "If you focus on health ministries, 09:02 people will come to know Jesus Christ." 09:04 What is your local church, Oakridge, 09:08 planning for next year? 09:09 Oh, man, we are, we are so super pumped. 09:12 Yeah, we're power planning small group ministries, 09:15 what we got, in fact just starting 09:17 a exercise program for seniors, 09:18 there's quite a bit of seniors 09:20 that are living in our local community. 09:21 We're going to be reaching our young adults or youth 09:25 who are at risk and having 09:27 table tennis matches and reaching them. 09:29 We're also gonna be doing a lot of outdoors activities. 09:32 But, really what we really want to focus on 09:34 is also biblical teaching. 09:36 And so, the way that we're going to do that 09:38 is based on answering important questions. 09:40 For example, lot of marriages are in trouble. 09:43 And so, we're going to be doing teaching series on, 09:45 on marriages and finances, offering financial seminars 09:49 as well as helping people 09:50 have relevant help in their life. 09:53 Kumar, you've had many years as a local church pastor. 09:57 How do you involve church members in ministry? 10:01 I mean, I don't know, in your church, 10:03 is it just a few who are involved? 10:04 How do you get people involved? 10:07 I usually tell people, I say, 10:09 "I want you to raise your right hand." 10:11 Go ahead and raise your right hand. 10:12 And I say, "Gary, I now deputize you, 10:16 to do ministry on behalf of the church." 10:18 And it's that simple, the, the most important thing 10:21 is to get people into ministry as quick as possible. 10:25 Don't wait for the end of the year, 10:26 when nominating committee rolls around. 10:28 As soon as people are starting to come in 10:29 and be involved in your church, 10:32 you want to get them involved in serving ministry, 10:34 because that's part of discipleship for them 10:35 to actually start serving 10:37 and getting to know who Jesus is. 10:38 So, I really, really 10:40 encourage people to start serving in order for them 10:42 to understand what the message 10:44 and the mission of the churches. 10:46 Yeah, wonderful. 10:47 Now, if people want to find out more information about, 10:49 Let's Move Vancouver, how do they do that? 10:51 Well they can go to letsmovevancouver.com. 10:55 And, on that page will be more information about 10:59 what the entire year is about. 11:01 And, if they want to donate to this evangelistic cause, 11:05 they can always just contact the British Columbia Conference 11:08 of Seventh-day Adventists and can get in touch with them. 11:11 What's your greatest hope 11:12 that will result from this initiative? 11:15 Our greatest hope is for people to know Jesus Christ. 11:18 I believe that Jesus is coming so soon. 11:20 In fact, I'm hoping that Jesus is going to be here 11:23 within the next year. 11:24 And, I want to see more people come to know Jesus Christ, 11:27 so our hope for Let's Move Vancouver, 11:29 is to have 500 baptisms on top of what we normally 11:32 have and to sow 5,000 seeds. 11:35 You know, people are coming to know Jesus 11:37 in a 21 night series like they did 50-years ago. 11:40 But, our hope and goal is that people, 11:42 the seeds will be planted, and then over the years 11:45 after 2016, we're going to see 11:47 hundreds of more baptisms. 11:48 And, lost people who now know the love of Jesus. 11:52 Kumar, just tell me quickly. 11:54 Have you any doubt, sort of any fears 11:59 about this coming year? 12:01 I have absolutely no fears, and let me tell you why? 12:05 Our, our budget is $1.6 million. 12:10 And guess how much money we've raised so far? 12:13 Half a million. 12:14 $125,000. 12:16 Okay, here we go. We're well on the way. 12:18 Okay, so I have a lot, to go, right? 12:21 Not just budget, but volunteers, 12:23 get churches excited. 12:24 And, I have one verse that keeps me going 12:26 and that is, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart 12:29 and lean not on your own understanding, 12:31 but acknowledge him, and he will lead your paths." 12:34 I'm not doing it for me, 12:35 I'm not trying to get all the credit. 12:37 I'm doing it for Jesus 12:38 and if Jesus is going to bless it, 12:40 that it's his business to bless this ministry. 12:42 Wonderful. Thanks so much for sharing, Kumar. 12:44 I appreciate it very much. Thank you so much. 12:45 And we'll be right back after this break. |
Revised 2016-02-18