Up close and personal ministry,
understanding the Jewish faith,
00:00:18.81\00:00:23.28
transformational
stories, inspirational music,
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and much more coming up next.
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Just before He went up to
heaven, 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.
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This is our global mission.
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Hello, and
welcome to the program.
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I'm Gary Krause. Today's program
is coming to you from the city
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of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.
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Of course, Philadelphia
means brotherly love;
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a beautiful name for a city.
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And there's another city of
Philadelphia referred to in the
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book of Revelation.
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And the angel commends the
church there for being faithful
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to God's Word, and
for not denying His name.
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Behind me is the
original love statue.
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A statue, the idea has caught
on and has been multiplied,
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and you'll find this statue
in cities all over the world.
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And there's something about
love; it multiplies, it grows.
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And on today's program we'll
be seeing people in this city
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who are sharing God's
love in very practical ways.
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But first up, let's
travel to the South Pacific,
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to the islands of Fiji to
see one of the projects that has
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benefited from your
Thirteenth Sabbath Offerings.
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Each quarter Seventh-day
Adventist members around the
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world give to a special
mission offering called the
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Thirteenth Sabbath Offering.
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This offering is an
opportunity to support mission,
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and touch the hearts of
people around the globe.
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And through
this quarterly giving
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countless lives
have been changed.
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Mission projects have
been funded in virtually every
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region of the world.
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Education is a
major focus of the
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Seventh-day Adventist Church.
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Instilling Christian
values through quality education
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is top priority
in Adventist schools.
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In 2009 your Thirteenth Sabbath
Offerings went to help relocate
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Fulton College on the island of
Fiji to a much needed new campus
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across the island.
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The new campus is everything
this school needed to grow,
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and continue to
deliver quality education.
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Jonah is a
theology student who will be
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graduating from Fulton soon.
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His experience at
Fulton transformed his life.
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Jonah was on his own from a
young age, struggling to survive
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in a small village.
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Because of negative
influences, he started drinking.
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Despite the struggle, God was
always tugging at Jonah's heart.
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He began to worry about his
future, and called out to God.
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God opened the doors for
Jonah to attend Fulton College,
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so he went there with
no money, and complete
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uncertainty about his future.
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Now Jonah has a deep connection
with God, and his spiritual life
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is continuously growing.
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Other students at Fulton
have also experienced spiritual
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growth because of
the campuses atmosphere.
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Jonah and other students
are grateful for the Adventist
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education they have
received at Fulton College.
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The students and faculty
at Fulton College thank you
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for your devoted support
of the mission offerings.
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This beautiful campus is just
one example of the many projects
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that are made possible,
thanks to your support.
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My guest is Tara Vancross, who
is the lead pastor, and director
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of Reach Columbia Union
School of Urban Evangelism.
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And thanks so
much for joining us.
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And this is the building where
you're doing it at the moment.
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It is, yes. Tara I would
like to have a guided tour.
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Can you show me
what's happening here? Sure.
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Now we're in the
suburbs of Philadelphia, right?
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We're in Philadelphia.
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This is a neighborhood called
West Oak Lane, Philadelphia.
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Good, after you. Thank you.
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And here are the students.
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Here are the students sitting.
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And right here in this
building, we actually use it for
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so many different things.
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We change over this room and
it becomes a tutoring center.
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It's a classroom. It's
our worship space on Sabbath.
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And it's the place
where we have grocery
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give-away Saturday morning.
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And it's a place where kids
come and encounter story time,
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and have all sorts of
great arts and crafts,
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and activities that
are taking place here, too.
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So we change over
this room all the time.
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And I know the
students are always this
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quiet and well behaved.
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Always! I'm impressed.
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And is Pastor Dwight Nelson
studying here at the moment?
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Yes, we have
great guest teachers.
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And so we're just gifted
with these incredible people
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to get to come and
share with our students.
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Wonderful! What are the
sort of things they're learning?
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Oh, so much! We have about half
of their time is in academic
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instruction, because
they do get academic credit,
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university credit
for what they're doing,
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and the other half is
in the practical ministry.
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So they're
engaged in the community.
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They're thinking up
ideas for needs that they meet
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when they're doing
community assessments,
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and then they're getting
to implement those ideas.
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So it's really cool, because
some of the curriculum they've
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designed themselves,
because they think through,
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and they think of
ideas that are needed,
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and then they
get to lead it, too.
00:07:05.39\00:07:06.72
So I'm incredibly proud
of this group right here,
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and how God is using them.
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Fantastic! Now it's an
urban evangelism school.
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How would that differ from just
a straight evangelism school?
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Well, they're
were the people are.
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They're right here in this
city of six million people.
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It's the fifth largest
city in the United States.
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No better place to engage
in sharing the good news about
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Jesus Christ than
where people live.
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And they get a chance
to be able to learn how to
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do that right here.
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Everything from personal Bible
studies, to meeting real needs;
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they're bringing it all together
right here in this place.
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Right. Now, as you mentioned,
this is also a worship center
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on Sabbath, but it's basically
a center of influence to the
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community as well.
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What sort of
activities do you run here?
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Everything is run
right out of this place.
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So on Saturday mornings,
actually on Sabbath, before we
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ever gather and worship, right
here families are getting food.
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We have donors, like Trader
Joe's that donates their food.
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When it's just
barely off the shelves,
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we get a chance to receive it.
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And people line up outside
the doors to be able to come
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in and to be able to gain
that assistance in helping to
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feed their families.
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Then we go into
worship on Sabbath.
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Other things that take place
here is tutoring from K through
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8th grade in
reading and mathematics.
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We have students here learning.
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Education is a huge problem here
in our city of Philadelphia,
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so they're able to
increase their grades,
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and increase their competence.
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And it's fantastic to
see how it changes for them.
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Terrific. What's through
this door here? employees only?
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Yes, come on in. Thank you.
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Right back here we have kind
of a hub of activity going on.
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We have so many different people
that are engaging in making
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sure that
ministry happens well here.
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Crystal, Tanya, Jason,
who are part of the church,
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the Reach Philadelphia Church
staff, as well as Reach Columbia
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Union staff, and really helping
to create organization behind
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all that's happening in
the Center of Influence.
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Yeah, I now you also have,
upstairs I know you have like
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a children's room, etc,
but you're pretty cramped here.
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Yes, this space, I mean we
could easily use four of these
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with the amount of
changes we do in this room,
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and all that has to take
place right in this building.
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So we are going to move
from here to another building.
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What's the other
building we're going to?
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So we purchased an
old bar and nightclub.
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And this has a history
of being a bar and nightclub
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for six decades, and so we
have changed it completely.
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We've actually taken out
everything that was inside,
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and now it's going to become
six thousand square feet of
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ministry influence for
our community. Wonderful!
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So we have four
different levels.
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I'll show you all of
that when we get over there,
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but we can't wait to get in.
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I'm sure you can't!
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After seeing what we're working
with, you know that that's true.
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Wonderful! Well, let's
go to the next building
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and see what we can see.
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So, Tara, here we
are in the new ministry
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center being renovated.
00:10:01.33\00:10:02.66
Describe what we're seeing here.
00:10:02.73\00:10:04.43
So this is six
thousand square feet,
00:10:04.50\00:10:06.84
as opposed to what you just saw.
00:10:06.87\00:10:08.24
That's the most
significant difference for us.
00:10:08.27\00:10:10.61
It was a bar and nightclub;
and long time bar and nightclub
00:10:10.64\00:10:14.78
in our neighborhood.
00:10:14.81\00:10:16.14
So there was so much
that happened here that is
00:10:16.18\00:10:18.11
the opposite of what's
going to be happening here now.
00:10:18.15\00:10:21.15
We have the basement, we
have next level, next level,
00:10:21.18\00:10:23.99
all the way up: four
levels where ministry will be
00:10:24.02\00:10:26.79
happening on every level.
00:10:26.82\00:10:28.46
And the church all
pitched in together.
00:10:28.49\00:10:30.13
We have a predominately
youth, and young adult church,
00:10:30.16\00:10:32.96
so a lot of young professionals.
00:10:32.99\00:10:34.50
We did the demolition together,
and we got a chance to remove
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that which was old; the old
lifestyle from the building,
00:10:38.40\00:10:41.90
and being able to see
what new was going to take
00:10:41.94\00:10:45.04
place in the
building. Wonderful.
00:10:45.07\00:10:46.54
So one of our young
professionals was saying,
00:10:46.57\00:10:48.74
as we were busting
through these windows,
00:10:48.78\00:10:50.85
because the building had
no windows, and it was painted
00:10:50.88\00:10:53.45
all black inside, and we're
busting through to get windows
00:10:53.48\00:10:57.29
and light was flooding in, and
he said this building used to
00:10:57.32\00:11:00.26
have darkness permeating
it, and the people's lives were
00:11:00.29\00:11:03.02
filled with darkness, and
now there's light flooding in
00:11:03.06\00:11:05.53
just like there will be
light flooding into their lives
00:11:05.56\00:11:07.96
when they encounter
Jesus Christ here. Wonderful.
00:11:08.00\00:11:10.10
And I think that sums up
what we hope for, and wish for
00:11:10.13\00:11:13.40
with things happening here.
00:11:13.44\00:11:15.30
Wonderful. Now when
you talk about the church,
00:11:15.34\00:11:17.61
there is a church that had
been planted in this area. Yes.
00:11:17.67\00:11:21.14
And you're caring for that
church, but it's very ministry
00:11:21.18\00:11:23.91
focused, trying to reach
out to the community, right?
00:11:23.95\00:11:26.68
Definitely. So
it's four years old.
00:11:26.72\00:11:28.78
The church is
pretty young. Wonderful.
00:11:28.82\00:11:30.82
And the average age is
twenty-seven years old.
00:11:30.85\00:11:33.42
So it's young in
more ways than one. Yeah.
00:11:33.46\00:11:35.92
And it's been the dream
of this young congregation to
00:11:35.96\00:11:39.93
be able to see God
continuing to use us.
00:11:39.96\00:11:43.13
We believe that every single
person has something to bring
00:11:43.16\00:11:46.13
to the table, so even the first
time guest ends up saying to us,
00:11:46.17\00:11:50.04
Like can I get involved in that?
00:11:50.07\00:11:51.41
And so there's this focus
on how can we all be a part
00:11:51.44\00:11:54.94
of what's happening?
00:11:54.98\00:11:56.31
So definitely that
engagement is huge for us.
00:11:56.34\00:11:58.68
So there'll be space now
to worship on Sabbath? Yes.
00:11:58.71\00:12:02.22
But this is not a
Sabbath morning center,
00:12:02.25\00:12:04.65
this is a Seventh-day Center.
00:12:04.72\00:12:06.05
It is, definitely yes.
00:12:06.09\00:12:07.79
So right now we're on the floor
where we're going to have the
00:12:07.82\00:12:10.79
Urban Evangelism School; so much
more space to be able to teach,
00:12:10.83\00:12:15.33
and have students
learning academically,
00:12:15.36\00:12:17.63
and applying it practically.
00:12:17.67\00:12:19.20
Downstairs in the lower level
we have the tutoring center
00:12:19.23\00:12:22.37
where students will be learning
again, in reading and math.
00:12:22.40\00:12:25.47
And we also have workout classes
that will take place there.
00:12:25.51\00:12:28.54
We added in a sound studio,
so that we can record music,
00:12:28.58\00:12:33.18
pod casts, testimonies.
00:12:33.21\00:12:34.72
And then some of the neighbors
want, elders want to share
00:12:34.75\00:12:37.49
their stories, too, so
it's a good outreach. Yeah.
00:12:37.52\00:12:40.49
Then we also
have the vegan cafe,
00:12:40.52\00:12:42.79
which is a dream of this church.
00:12:42.82\00:12:45.06
So on the same level
as where we will worship,
00:12:45.09\00:12:47.66
on the other six days of
the week, there's going to be a
00:12:47.70\00:12:50.90
place for people to
gather in community,
00:12:50.93\00:12:52.93
to eat wholesome food, to
be able to learn about how
00:12:52.97\00:12:56.40
we believe holistically we
are called to live. Fantastic!
00:12:56.44\00:13:00.28
So we're pretty
excited about it.
00:13:00.31\00:13:01.64
Yeah, wonderful. Now we're
on a busy street corner here.
00:13:01.68\00:13:04.68
Just describe the
neighborhood that surrounds us.
00:13:04.71\00:13:07.12
So we're in the
neighborhood of West Oak Lane.
00:13:07.18\00:13:09.48
And one of the reasons God
led us here, first of all, is
00:13:09.55\00:13:12.75
there's not an Adventist
church in this neighborhood,
00:13:12.79\00:13:16.09
and there's a lot of young
adults in this neighborhood.
00:13:16.12\00:13:20.20
So the demographics also
really match for our church.
00:13:20.23\00:13:23.97
And we find that is a great
meaningful connection between
00:13:24.00\00:13:27.70
our church members,
and the neighborhood, too.
00:13:27.74\00:13:29.87
But we're right up a
really popular area center.
00:13:29.90\00:13:34.24
Visible. Very visible.
00:13:34.28\00:13:35.91
So this wall that we're
actually looking out the window,
00:13:35.94\00:13:38.05
is going to be our mural wall,
so we have it all painted white,
00:13:38.08\00:13:41.58
and it's incredibly visible
to all of those driving by,
00:13:41.62\00:13:44.69
and walking by, and taking
the bus, that they can look up,
00:13:44.72\00:13:47.69
and be able to see this future
mural we're going to create
00:13:47.72\00:13:50.69
together as a
church and community.
00:13:50.73\00:13:52.63
Fantastic. Tara thanks
so much for sharing with us.
00:13:52.66\00:13:55.83
Thanks for coming.
00:13:55.86\00:13:57.20
Wonderful. And viewers at home,
please pray for this initiative,
00:13:57.23\00:14:00.94
this worship center, this church
that is focused on putting
00:14:00.97\00:14:06.74
Christ's method of ministry
into practice, to connect with
00:14:06.78\00:14:09.94
the community to
share God's love.
00:14:10.01\00:14:11.91
We'll be right
back after this break.
00:14:11.95\00:14:13.85