Participants:
Series Code: GMS
Program Code: GMS001101A
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00:16 The Grace Foundation, taking care of the needy
00:19 and marginalized in New Zealand, 00:21 a Center of Influence in the heart of New York City, 00:24 and Mission Challenge around the world 00:26 coming up next. 00:51 Hello, and welcome to the program 00:53 coming to you today from New York City. 00:56 Directly behind me on the corner here 00:59 is a building known as The Windemere. 01:01 And in 1901, 01:04 Pastor Stephen Haskell and his wife Hetty 01:08 moved into this apartment building. 01:10 This was quite the building back then in 1901. 01:13 In fact, it was very popular 01:15 for the new class of single young women 01:17 who were starting to work out in businesses. 01:21 And the Haskells arrived here and they were quite taken 01:24 by the fact that there was an elevator, 01:26 they were quite taken by the fact 01:27 that there was a very multicultural area 01:30 and it's fascinating that in that year 01:33 when it was the first crash on Wall Street, 01:35 when in the summer people were suiciding 01:38 because of the terrible heat wave, at that time, 01:42 the Haskells came as missionaries 01:44 into the heart of New York City. 01:46 Well, on today's program 01:48 we have a lot of mission stories, 01:50 but first up, let's travel to New Zealand 01:52 and see what's happening with the Grace Foundation. 02:05 As more people flock to the cities, 02:07 the need for Jesus in the urban areas grows. 02:11 Big cities encourage busy lifestyles 02:14 with little or no time to even think about religion. 02:17 But in many people's hearts 02:19 there is a need for something more, 02:22 a need for Jesus. 02:24 Many are just waiting for someone 02:26 to reach out to them, 02:28 to care for them and to share the message of hope with them. 02:33 The city of Auckland, New Zealand, 02:34 is one of the largest cities in the South Pacific. 02:37 A group of Adventists in Auckland 02:40 wanted to reach out to those in need of God's love. 02:43 Church members started Grace Foundation 02:46 and took on the challenge of unconditionally loving 02:49 the people of Auckland 02:50 despite their past or current situation. 02:59 It's a big experience itself, you know, 03:02 to me these beautiful people 03:04 that just love anyone, you know, 03:06 doesn't really matter 03:07 what crime you have done in your life, 03:09 you know, because, I guess, you know, 03:12 that's the way of Jesus. 03:14 He loves everyone and anyone. 03:17 And everyone can be forgiven. 03:22 Tomoty's life hasn't been easy. 03:25 Grace Foundation strives to show 03:27 the love of Jesus to people like Tomoty. 03:30 It's the kind of people that God sends into our care 03:35 from homeless, mental health, 03:38 and also mainly from corrections. 03:41 Grace Foundation offers a range of holistic services 03:44 to marginalized members of the community. 03:46 An important aspect of their ministry 03:48 is developing one on one relationships with people 03:52 who want to turn their lives around 03:54 or just need an opportunity to succeed. 03:57 Just the people, you know, 03:59 the staff members are really loving 04:03 and they love everyone, 04:06 you know, it doesn't matter what you have done 04:07 in your life. 04:09 As the love of Christ is shown to these people, 04:12 they see and understand 04:14 that God truly accepts and forgives. 04:17 This weekend, people are attending 04:20 a relationship retreat. 04:21 Couples learn from the Bible 04:23 what it means to love selflessly 04:26 and put God first. 04:27 They attend seminars, small group discussions, 04:31 and learn practical skills 04:32 about how to participate in a healthy relationship. 04:39 It's Saturday evening and a bus pulls up to church 04:41 with another group of people. 04:43 This Grace Foundation operated bus 04:46 picks up members in marginalized communities 04:48 to bring them to church. 04:50 The vibrant worship ignites peoples' passion 04:53 to grow closer to God. 04:55 As the pastor calls for people to come up 04:58 and leave their burdens before God, 05:00 people's hearts are touched 05:02 and they come to the front to pray. 05:05 Many of these people have felt judged 05:07 in society's eyes, but here they feel at home. 05:12 Jesus has changed my life. 05:14 You know, before I gained the Holy Spirit, 05:16 I always thought that I was guilty, 05:22 but once I gained the Holy Spirit, 05:25 I felt the true power of innocence 05:29 from our Lord Jesus 05:33 and the Holy Spirit has all the directions. 05:37 Please pray as church members in New Zealand 05:40 continue to be a light in this dark world. 05:43 Pray that Grace Foundation can touch the lives 05:46 of the marginalized people of Auckland. 05:48 Thank you for your support of missions. 06:04 My guest is Pastor Bledi Leno 06:06 who is the director of Multicultural Ministries 06:10 here for the Greater New York Conference 06:12 of Seventh-day Adventists. 06:13 Pastor Bledi, thanks for joining us. 06:15 Thank you for having me, Gary. 06:17 Now we're in a church-owned building here 06:19 in the center of Manhattan, describe the neighborhood. 06:22 What's outside here? 06:24 Well, this is midtown Manhattan. 06:27 We're right across from some landmarks 06:30 of New York City. 06:32 We're right across the public library 06:34 and Bryant Park, 06:35 only two blocks from Times Square, 06:39 and right at the corner of 5th Avenue and 40th Street. 06:42 So, right in the center and in the heart of it all. 06:45 This place is just amazingly busy. 06:48 You come here on a summer's day 06:50 and the park is packed full of activity, right? 06:54 Yes, you have things such as musicals 06:57 and theater in the park, movies in the park, 07:01 yoga and exercise in the park throughout the summer, 07:05 year round, really. 07:06 Right, so now we have thousands of people 07:10 passing past here every day. 07:12 What is happening here at the moment? 07:15 We have a great opportunity 07:17 to connect with so many people here. 07:19 In this building, 07:21 that the church has owned for a few decades now, 07:23 we have a bookstore 07:25 that has been active for all those years, 07:28 and as of recently we've implemented 07:30 and started some activities as a Life Op Center, 07:35 as a Center of Influence. 07:36 So some of the things that we do here 07:39 is lunch seminars and happy hour talks. 07:42 We like to explore those two windows within the day 07:46 that are the two windows where people of our community 07:49 are available to maybe sit down and listen to a seminar, 07:53 to a talk or a workshop, 07:55 while they savor some healthy, vegetarian food. 07:59 And we've been able to provide that for our community here. 08:02 Wonderful, and you had one of those events today. 08:06 Describe what happened at lunchtime today? 08:08 We did. 08:10 We had about 20 people here who took their lunch break 08:16 and decided to spend it here with us. 08:18 We had a nice seminar given by a counselor and a therapist, 08:22 a family and marriage therapist, 08:24 so he was talking about relationships 08:26 and how to identify challenges within relationships. 08:31 It was beautiful. 08:33 People came in here, some of them, most of them, 08:37 only have maybe 20, 30 minutes as a lunch break, 08:40 so they were able to come and savor some of our food, 08:44 that we were featuring here and while they were listening 08:47 and being interactive in this workshop. 08:49 So it was a great opportunity. 08:52 As we go around, 08:54 we see that the majority of these people are attendees, 08:59 people who are part of our community. 09:02 They work here, most of them commute 09:04 as everybody in this surroundings, 09:06 they commute to the city to work, 09:09 and it's a great opportunity to be able to expose 09:13 most of them to Christian values 09:15 when it comes to relationships 09:16 and talking about Valentines and love and romance. 09:21 So you're connecting with things 09:24 that are needs in the community 09:27 and you've actually done a study, 09:29 a demographic study of this community, 09:31 so you understand the people who live here and work here. 09:34 Yes, that is actually vital to do 09:37 in order to connect with the community. 09:39 First of all, we need to understand the community. 09:42 And not just being around here, which is very important to do, 09:46 rubbing shoulders with them, 09:48 but also from a demographic study point of view. 09:51 So, yes, we've conducted a number of those studies 09:54 in order to be able to understand 09:55 the community better, 09:57 so that we can serve the community better. 09:59 We're surrounded by business people, 10:02 people who work in these high-rise commercial buildings 10:07 who work for investment banks and big buck companies, 10:13 and they require quality programs 10:17 and we try our best to provide that in order to connect 10:22 with them as best we can. 10:24 And to provide a bit more context, 10:26 I understand right next to us here, 10:28 a new apartment building is going up, 10:31 and how much would it cost me to buy a one bedroom apartment? 10:35 Well, our neighbors here are selling 10:37 the one bedroom apartments for $2.5 million. 10:41 $2.5 million? 10:43 Okay, I'll think that one through carefully. 10:45 Just briefly, can you tell me somebody 10:48 whose life has been touched already through this center? 10:51 Yes, we've been here working since 2013 10:54 with these types of events. 10:56 We have a number of them. 10:58 And we like to channel some of the people 11:00 who come through these events to the other things 11:02 that we're featuring here. 11:04 We have counseling. 11:05 We have spirituality groups 11:08 that meet here and study the Bible together. 11:12 We have after-school programs 11:15 and different kinds of workshops 11:17 and seminars that we provide. 11:19 One of them is Julie. 11:21 Julie started attending here a couple of our events 11:25 and she felt that she needed to get engaged more 11:29 and she asked whether any of the other programs 11:32 would be fitting for her. 11:33 So I introduced her to Eric, 11:35 one of our leaders of the groups, study groups, 11:39 that we have here throughout the week, 11:41 and Julie connected with Eric 11:43 and they've been studying together 11:45 the Bible in this group. 11:47 We have about 15 to 18 young adults 11:51 who work around here, are professionals, 11:54 and in their busy weeks and busy day to day, 11:58 they can't find necessarily the time to connect 12:01 with a spiritual group or with someone 12:04 who can help them in their spiritual journey. 12:07 We were happy to provide that for Julie, 12:10 so we still see her every Wednesday, 12:13 every Thursday when they come here for their studies 12:15 and she's a very active person 12:18 and she's actually brought many of her friends 12:21 over to be with them. 12:23 Fantastic, fantastic. 12:24 Bledi, thanks so much for sharing with us. 12:26 Thank you for being here. Thank you. 12:28 And viewers at home, 12:29 please remember to pray for Centers of Influence 12:33 in urban areas all around the world. 12:35 They're multiplying, they're growing 12:37 and they're proving to be a platform 12:39 to put Christ's method into practice. 12:41 We'll be right back after this break. |
Revised 2016-08-29