Participants: Greg & Jill Morikone (Host)
Series Code: ISITE
Program Code: ISITE180001A
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00:06 Hello and welcome to iSITE Review.
00:08 We're here in Phoenix, Arizona! 00:10 And Arizona's supposed to be warm, and Jill and I are trying 00:13 not to shiver and shake. It's a little cool. 00:16 It is actually, but we're so happy to be joining you here. 00:19 This is actually the very first iSITE Review 00:22 as we're talking about the exciting Pathway to Life 00:26 here in Phoenix, Arizona... the evangelistic series 3ABN 00:29 is so excited to be partnering with the Arizona conference. 00:33 We are. iSITE Review we always want to bring you 00:36 stories and testimonies and what goes on not only 00:38 behind the scenes with each one of the evangelistic series 00:42 but also testimonies from the people at the local sites. 00:46 And we are so excited. This is our kick-off evening 00:49 but we are actually... We came in a few days early 00:51 and we're just getting ready here. We had a group prayer 00:55 just now and just joining together. 00:57 There are five simultaneous evangelistic meetings going on 01:00 here in the greater Phoenix area. 01:02 And where we are standing we are actually in the church 01:04 parking lot of the Paradise Valley SDA church. 01:08 And Pr. John Lomacang is going to be doing this series here 01:11 with Pr. Jim Hakes and his won- derful team here at this church. 01:15 It's been just incredible. Jill and I were around earlier 01:18 this week looking at some of the children's meetings 01:20 that they're prepping for. There's like this really neat 01:22 cave that they're building inside of a Sabbath School room! 01:25 It's incredible! They're talking about 01:26 I think they said creation. They have some dinosaurs 01:28 and different things in another classroom. 01:30 It's really exciting to see the participation 01:32 of the local churches - amen - and the conference here in 01:35 Arizona. And speaking of the conference, we have 01:37 the conference secretary here with us this evening: 01:40 Elder Jose Marin is right over here. You want to come join us 01:43 Elder Marin. Hello Greg and Jill. We've very excited that 01:46 3ABN is here with us in this beautiful state of Arizona 01:49 here in Phoenix to be able to partner together 01:52 and to reach beautiful people here 01:54 who are thirsty like a desert for the Living Water 01:58 that is our God. You know, we were talking about 02:00 cold just a little bit earlier. 02:02 I said: "Make you want to shiver just a little bit. " 02:04 This is not normal! This is not normal weather. It isn't? 02:05 No. Usually around this time we are like in the 70's 02:09 so hopefully... I think we brought Illinois weather 02:11 to Arizona maybe 'cause I'm telling you, we're looking 02:13 at a cactus right over here 02:15 and you might be able to see this palm tree 02:17 that's right behind us... so it's supposed to be warm. 02:19 But we're talking about evangelism and you know, 02:21 people's hearts can be cold 02:23 just because they don't know the Lord Jesus Christ. 02:25 Correct. So what a blessing that we can actually warm 02:27 their hearts with the gospel. Yes, and I think... You know, 02:30 God has a timing for everything. True. 02:32 You know, I think that 3ABN coming here to Phoenix 02:36 this was the best time to come. 02:38 We have a lot of people who come from up north. 02:41 And we just finished a major initiative to reach out 02:45 in a medical clinic at the con- vention center back in December. 02:49 Yes. And powerful stories of people who were touched 02:52 and they said: "I love this church already" - amen - 02:56 "because of what you're doing. " So we're hoping that some of 02:58 these beautiful people who came out to Pathways 03:01 will come out to the meetings as well. 03:03 Yes. We're excited about that 03:05 because you already almost as it were "laid some groundwork. " 03:08 People came through to get free medical care. 03:12 Free healthcare. And then now that groundwork is laid. 03:15 What else are you doing as far as laying groundwork 03:17 for the upcoming evangelistic series? 03:18 Well one of the things that happened: after we finished 03:20 the Pathway we served close to 7,000 people. 03:24 Close to 7,000 people. 03:25 That's an incredible number when you think about it! 03:27 Just a few days' time, too! 03:29 Over 500 people said: "I want to study the Bible. " 03:32 And so basically... Wait... say that one more time. 03:34 How many? Over 500 people said... Isn't that incredible? 03:37 "We want to study the Bible. " That is amazing! 03:39 Yeah, that's people that actually said "I want to! " 03:41 These we're giving five meetings. 03:44 Actually the five meetings for 3ABN is 300 meetings. 03:47 These were the churches that were also part of the... 03:49 as medical information where people came to pick up their 03:53 lab results and things like that. 03:55 So they had... Some of the churches had 03:57 Diabetes Undone. Something on depression 04:01 and medical clinics. And so then in April 04:06 we're having another event which is for families 04:08 with Faith for Today. So we're just blessed 04:11 to have your team here, be part... Together 04:15 to be able to preach the gospel. 04:16 Yes. Yeah, I tell you: what a blessing it is 04:19 to be participating, to work together. 04:21 I think that's what God wants all of us to do 04:23 is to work together as a team. Yes. 04:24 You know, and so we have these live events 04:27 here, 3ABN working with the conference, the local churches. 04:30 Do you have a work for someone at home? Because they could be 04:32 at their local church and say: "You know what? 04:34 In my area there's cold... there's nothing going on. " 04:36 What would you say to them at home how they can participate 04:39 in their local area with just evangelism? 04:41 What would you do to encourage them? 04:42 Well first of all I'm sure that some of the churches 04:45 that maybe some people who are not here at Phoenix 04:48 but are going to be watching through the television 04:50 we want to ask you: you invite friends 04:53 to come over to your house - there you go - or to your church 04:55 and watch these meetings. And at the same time 04:58 we want to ask you for your prayers. Amen. 05:01 Because I believe that your prayers will make a difference 05:03 in these meetings. So I think even though they're wherever 05:06 they are: in Chicago or around the world 05:08 you can still participate. Invite a friend. 05:11 You'll be amazed. If you invite people, 05:13 somebody will say "Yes. " 05:15 Amen. I love that about the Arizona conference: 05:17 your passion for evangelism. You know, passion to spread 05:20 the gospel of Jesus Christ in your community. 05:23 And you know, we have a 3ABN you could say "affiliate" 05:26 with Good News TV and the Skeltons and their team. 05:30 And they've been doing adver- tising leading up for it too. 05:32 Yes, and that's another beautiful thing 05:34 that we have through our Good News Television in English 05:37 and Spanish. We have it now throughout the major cities of 05:41 our state. And so 3ABN is one of the channels that we 05:45 get to partner with you to be able... So there's a lot 05:48 of people who maybe have not come to the churches 05:51 but already see the ministry of 3ABN. 05:53 And we have come... Sabbath after Sabbath 05:56 people come and walk into the churches 05:58 and they say: "I'm here because of 3ABN 06:02 or Good News Television. I want to be part of the church. " 06:04 Amen! We've had those stories, story after story. 06:08 So we just want to thank you at home because we 06:11 know your prayers and support of the ministry of 3ABN 06:13 some I know Good News... it's changing souls 06:17 for eternity. It's not temporal but it's for eternity. 06:20 What a blessing! And pray for the series 06:21 as we just get ready to launch here. Pray for the people 06:24 who will come to a knowledge of Jesus. 06:26 Before we go we just had this group time of prayer 06:30 and I know that we have the speakers - the 5 different 06:33 speakers who are here. That would be Shelley Quinn, 06:35 Pastor John Lomacang, Pastor. C. A. Murray, 06:38 Pastor Kenny Shelton, and John Dinzey is preaching 06:41 in Spanish. So each one of them will be speaking with 06:44 their pastor and you'll have a chance to meet them. 06:47 But before we go to them would you have a prayer for us 06:49 Elder Marin as we kick off this evangelistic series? 06:52 Sure. Let me... let's pray. 06:55 Gracious heavenly Father, at this time 07:00 we ask that You would give Your Spirit in an unmeasurable way 07:04 for the residents of the city of Phoenix 07:09 and throughout the world. You are eager to come back. 07:12 You want to come back for Your children. 07:15 But we realize, God, that we are partnering with You 07:18 in this mission to save people. 07:20 So in a very special way we have done our human part 07:24 and we're going to trust You to do the impossible 07:27 and to change people's lives. Amen! 07:29 We pray for each one of the sites. 07:31 We pray for all the different people who are watching 3ABN 07:34 through their television. We ask a special blessing 07:36 for them as well. And Lord, when You come back again 07:39 in the clouds of heaven 07:41 and we have a reunion with You 07:43 may we meet all the people that came to You - yes - 07:47 because of these meetings. 07:49 We pray this and we thank you for what You are doing already 07:52 in Jesus' name, Amen. Amen! 07:54 Thank you so much Elder Marin. We appreciate again your 07:57 support. Thank you... thank you for coming. 07:58 What a blessing. Probably next week will be better weather. 08:02 Over our shoulder you've probably just seen some groups 08:05 of people. That's been the pastors with their pastors, 08:07 the leadership in their churches getting some interviews. 08:09 So we're going to go to those right now. 08:13 I'm here with Pastor Jim Hakes 08:14 of the Paradise Valley Seventh-day Adventist church 08:17 as we begin to kick off fifteen nights 08:22 of Bible-centered, Christ-centered preaching. 08:25 Pastor, it's so good to be able to have you 08:27 as one of our host churches. And thank you so much 08:29 for opening your doors and your heart 08:31 to invite 3ABN to come in. 08:32 Tell us a little bit about the Paradise Valley SDA church. 08:36 Ah, Paradise Valley church is a church that's right here 08:39 in central Phoenix. We're happy to be trying 08:42 to represent the Word, the message of God, here 08:45 in our valley and to be active in the community. 08:49 The Paradise Valley church is just thrilled 08:52 and has been praying for this fifteen nights 08:56 coming up for several months. 08:57 And we are looking forward to inviting the community 09:00 and to having a good meeting and sharing the love of Jesus 09:04 Christ with the people that come to hear you present 09:07 the message each night. Praise the Lord! 09:08 Tell us how important evangelism is to the closing work 09:11 of the kingdom message. 09:14 Well I believe evangelism is not only 09:18 important but it is essential. It is THE work. 09:20 Evangelism is sharing the message of Jesus Christ. 09:23 It is sharing who Jesus Christ is 09:26 in a last-day setting 09:28 and it is trying to share with our community - 09:32 people in the community - that Jesus Christ is coming 09:35 soon and that there is good news because 09:38 the pain and suffering and the difficulties that people have 09:42 in a world of sin is coming to an end 09:43 when Jesus steps in to make a perfect world 09:48 and to re-make us perfect as well. 09:51 And we think that's what church is for 09:53 is to be sharing that message. 09:54 What can we expect for the next 15 nights? 09:57 Well, we look forward to expecting truth-filled message 10:01 about what Jesus is like each night. 10:03 We're looking forward to that from you. 10:05 We can look forward to a bunch of friendly people - 10:10 that's right - that will say "Hello and welcome" each night. 10:13 And we'll be looking forward to sitting by people each night. 10:16 Praying with them if they have a prayer request. 10:20 We look forward to being in a position whereas 10:23 people are hearing this message maybe for the first time 10:26 that the people in the pew can be sharing with them. 10:30 "Well, here's how we do that" or what that means 10:32 or "Yes, you can do that. " So our hope is 10:35 that as you are the evangelist speaking the message 10:38 in the front that the members of the church 10:40 can be evangelists in the pew right by the folks that come in. 10:43 Amen. And what kind of feeling did you get from the 10:47 members when you said: "Well 3ABN is coming 10:50 to Phoenix to partner with the Arizona conference 10:52 and our church is one of the host churches? " 10:55 I think it was basically unanimous 10:58 our people saying: "Praise God and what can we do to partner 11:02 and to help make this a blessing 11:04 in our community and make it a memorable occasion 11:07 after these 15 nights are finished? " Amen! 11:10 And you know here at 3ABN we believe that 11:13 evangelism is the only reason why we are here. 11:16 To tell people not only about the trues of God's Word 11:19 but about Christ Himself. 11:21 Each of the messages, pastor - Amen - we have taken the time 11:24 to design them by God's Word to be Christ centered. 11:28 Because I believe firmly that if Jesus is not a part 11:30 of the message then the message is intellectual. 11:33 But when Jesus is the center of the message 11:36 it is transformational. 11:37 And so pray for us here in Phoenix 11:40 and for Pastor Jim Hakes 11:41 and his church, the Paradise Valley SDA church. 11:44 And we will give you updates periodically through the 11:47 meetings as to how the Lord is doing His work 11:50 through us as willing vessels, the pastor here 11:52 and also me, John Lomacang, 11:55 the preacher for the series of meetings. 11:57 And we know that when the work is done 11:59 the kingdom will be furnished with precious lives. 12:02 Lives that are not only people that received the message 12:06 and received Christ but people that will get ready 12:09 and share the message with others 12:11 getting them ready for Jesus' soon coming. 12:12 Amen! That's what we're here for. 12:14 Thank you so much Pr. Jim. 12:16 Yes, we're here in Phoenix, AZ. We're excited. 12:19 We've landed and we are here to preach the everlasting gospel. 12:24 We praise the Lord for the opportunity to work 12:27 with the Phoenix... Not the Phoenix, the Arizona conference. 12:32 And we're praising the Lord for the enthusiasm that we found 12:34 here. This is Pastor Antulio Espinoza. 12:37 And Pastor Antulio, can you please tell us 12:40 a little bit about the church, 12:43 the Central Valley Spanish Church 12:44 and where it's located. 12:52 Sure, the Central Valley Spanish church is located 12:56 in the west side of the city. 12:59 And can you please tell us about the church? 13:03 What kind of preparation has the church done 13:05 for this evangelistic campaign? 13:49 Well... he said a lot! I'm going to try to give you 13:51 a summary of what he said. 13:53 He said the church is a very enthusiastic church. 13:55 They're very excited about the evangelistic campaign. 13:57 And as a matter of fact, they have small groups in the church 14:00 that are working very well. And this church is visited 14:03 by many people, and they just finished doing a health seminar 14:07 that has brought in a lot of people. 14:09 The church is a church that is very active in the community. 14:14 Finally, pastor, I would like to ask you 14:16 what... what would you ask our viewers... 14:20 What type of prayer request do you have for our viewers 14:23 for this evangelistic campaign? 15:05 Well, he said that this church 15:10 is a very active church but we really need your prayers 15:13 because already the Holy Spirit is working. 15:16 He received a call this morning from somebody 15:18 that had been watching the announcements and they are 15:23 asking information about the evangelistic campaign. 15:26 So we really need your prayers, he said, 15:28 because we want the Lord to bless in a mighty way. 15:30 And we really thank you. 15:32 And so this is all we can share with you for now. 15:35 Please remember to pray for each and every evangelist. 15:38 We are asking God to do a great and mighty thing 15:40 to His honor and glory. 15:43 What a blessing to get to meet some of the leadership team. 15:46 Some of the pastors and elders - yes - who are leading out 15:49 in these local churches... so I loved hearing that. 15:51 And right now we're going to go to a couple more 15:54 pastors and the speakers and learn just a little bit 15:56 about their church and their preparation for this 15:59 evangelistic series. 16:03 I'm here with Pr. Steve Gibson who is the pastor of my host 16:07 church which is the Desert Cove SDA Church. 16:11 Pastor, it's good to be in your city. 16:13 We welcome you; we're thankful you were willing to come. 16:17 We are very very excited about the meetings, 16:19 the prospect of souls being added to the kingdom of God. 16:23 Your right-hand man is Elder Randy Fields. 16:26 He and Cathy have worked very very hard. 16:28 You're fairly new to this church, aren't you? 16:30 Yes, I've just been at Desert Cove Church about 8 months 16:34 but the church has been there for about 3-1/2 years. 16:37 And we praise the Lord for the work that the church is doing 16:40 in the community. Tell us a little bit about the 16:42 preparations that have been going on 16:44 in preparation for the meetings. 16:46 Well, since Pathway to Health was held over the holiday season 16:51 we've had a Diabetes Undone program. 16:54 And after the Diabetes Undone seminar 16:58 then we had a bridging event: a series from the book of Daniel. 17:02 And now we're looking forward to continuing 17:05 with the series that starts this Friday. 17:07 We are so very very excited! 17:09 All five churches are excited and all five speakers 17:12 from 3ABN I know are very very excited. 17:14 Your church is in what part of the city? 17:19 We're on the west side of the city in the area of El Mirage 17:24 south of Surprise. I think we've got the city 17:27 covered north, south, east, and west. I think we're 17:29 just about pretty much encompassing the entire town. 17:32 We are happy to work with the Arizona Conference, 17:34 pastors like Pastor Steve, and the members of the church. 17:38 What is the general feeing in the church as you assess 17:40 the church in readiness and the general mood of the church? 17:44 Desert Cove Church is an evangelistic church. 17:46 They're excited to have meetings. 17:49 They're in the habit of having meetings, 17:51 and we're thankful you're willing to come 17:53 and share in that spirit. 17:55 We are indeed willing, ready, and more than able 17:59 under the power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 18:01 We're going to have a good time at Desert Cove 18:03 and I dare say that all five churches will be blessed of the 18:06 Lord during these meetings over the next several days. 18:11 Amen! It's always exciting, isn't it? to get to learn more 18:14 about the pastors and the local churches, what's going on here. 18:17 I also want to say before we head to a couple of more 18:19 introductions - if you want to say that - 18:22 a thank you to the 3ABN crew: those that drove out here. 18:24 There were some long hours, many miles. 18:26 Those that flew out here. There's a lot of behind 18:28 the scenes stuff of course that goes on. 18:30 So I thank the 3ABN crew. 18:31 But let's right now go to a couple of more 18:34 interviews/introductions of our churches and their 18:37 pastors and our pastors that have come out here 18:38 for this evangelistic series. 18:41 And we are so excited to be here in Phoenix 18:44 for the Pathway to Life evangelism series. 18:48 And I have with me the pastor of the Phoenix Central SDA church 18:54 Pastor Myles Reiner. Pastor, it is so good to be here 18:58 and at your church. It's good to have you here with us! 19:01 You all have done quite a bit in the Phoenix area 19:05 the Arizona Conference. Tell us a little about 19:08 all the preparation and the different things that you've 19:12 been doing. It was an exciting... an exciting year. 19:15 In December 25 for Christmas, 26 and 27 we held 19:19 a Pathway to Health at the civic center. 19:21 Free medical care for anyone who came. 19:24 And it was awesome! We had a lot of people 19:27 and touched a lot of lives. 19:31 And following the Pathway to Health we held at our church 19:35 Depression Recovery by Nedley and Diabetes Undone 19:39 all of January. 19:41 And have met a lot of wonderful people, interacted with them 19:44 and they've come to be, a couple of them, 19:47 part of our church family. 19:49 Wonderful! Wonderful! Well what we're going to do now 19:52 you've had all this emphasis on health. 19:54 But now we're turning to the scriptures to understand 19:59 the love of God, the grace of God, 20:02 and to talk about Jesus and His second coming. 20:07 And I'm very excited to get this opportunity. 20:10 I always love to teach from the Bible. 20:13 Tell me a little about your church, 20:16 the personality of the Phoenix Central SDA church. 20:21 We are quite eclectic. We have great diversity. 20:24 We have black, white, Hispanic. 20:28 We have people from the Congo and we have Karen refugees 20:32 from the Laotian border/ Burma area. 20:37 So we are quite unique. 20:39 And is this an active church? 20:42 It is... it is. It's an older church 20:44 but we are active and growing. 20:47 I've heard from one of your members that this 20:50 church was kind of the mother church in the area 20:53 and you've spawned off many others. 20:55 Yes it was for... In the 80's, 90's it was 21:00 probably the premier church in the valley for a lot 21:03 of years and they've done a lot of good things. 21:06 And how many years have you been pastoring? 21:08 I've been the pastor at Central for two years now. 21:11 OK. Well we're just really excited 21:14 and we hope that you will come join us. 21:16 We are going to learn so much 21:20 letting the scriptures talk to us to know 21:23 of the grace of God. Please come see us. 21:28 Hi, I'm Kenny Shelton. We're here in the Chandler 21:31 Phoenix, Arizona area here having a series of meetings 21:34 and we're very grateful and thankful for what God has 21:37 been doing. You know, God works through people. 21:39 People just like you and this couple of gentlemen that we 21:42 have here and the whole church. 21:44 So we're behind the scenes to get acquainted 21:47 with these gentlemen and some of the work that's been going on. 21:50 And so I'm glad to have here with me here at this time 21:52 is Bro. Danny. We're glad you're here. Elder Danny. 21:55 And also we have Pastor Ingram with us. 21:58 And so we'll start with Pastor Ingram. 22:00 What have you folks been doing in preparation 22:02 for these meetings? So we're really excited 22:06 at the Chandler Seventh-day Adventist church. 22:08 We've been doing a whole lot of work behind the scenes. 22:11 We've definitely been advertising. We had a 3-pronged 22:15 advertising campaign. We've sent out 20,000 flyers 22:20 to the Chandler downtown area. 22:22 And we've also mobilized our Pathfinder Club 22:25 to also pass out 1,000 flyers in the community. 22:28 And of course we've also mobilized our membership 22:31 as well to pass out flyers in the area. 22:34 But most importantly probably is that we have mobilized 22:38 our prayer ministry team to make sure that 22:40 this evangelistic effort is baptized and bathed with 22:44 prayer every single day. 22:46 Amen! How wonderful that was when you were telling us. 22:50 He said: "While the meetings are going on... " 22:52 This is something for all of us... 22:54 "there'll be a group that will be praying for these meetings. " 22:56 This is where the power is at in meetings is the power 22:59 of prayer. We know you've been busy too. 23:01 We know you've been praying; we know you've been thinking 23:03 about these meetings. Is there a little something 23:04 you have on your heart that you just want to share? 23:07 I'm just very thankful at the time right now because 23:09 of the time we're living in and I'm so grateful for 23:11 3ABN to come in at this time in this earth's history 23:15 that you've come and help shine a light to those that 23:18 are in dark corners of Chandler, Arizona, 23:20 and bring light to them through our pastor here 23:24 and being able to come and help us 23:29 enlighten the Word of God thru the love of Jesus Christ. 23:32 Amen! How about an address? 23:34 We have an address because we want to make sure the people 23:36 will know where these meetings are being held 23:38 and so on. The address is: 23:47 So we're looking forward to a wonderful set of meetings. 23:50 Several weeks together. 23:51 And we know that God is going to bless in a mighty special way 23:54 because preparation. You know, we need to be prepared. 23:57 As we have prepared by reading and studying the Word, 24:00 making the phone calls inviting people to come, 24:02 I believe that God will bring whom He will. 24:05 So we're praying. The church is going to be ready, 24:07 I mean really ready and on fire 24:09 because we know that Jesus is coming 24:11 and we need to be ready for that day. 24:12 Is there anything else that we can think about 24:14 that we need to be doing? 24:16 Praying and studying - isn't that right? and inviting: 24:19 and doing all that we can for the cause of Christ. 24:22 God bless each and every one. Keep praying for these meetings. 24:26 You know, the 3ABN production crew has been working so very 24:29 hard and it's - man - so encouraging to see them 24:31 working as they do with a heart for Jesus Christ, 24:34 a smile on their face because some of the hours 24:36 are very long. So we wanted to show you 24:38 a little of what we say a montage of some of the set-up. 24:40 It's going to be a little fun. But we also have a special guest 24:43 that's come from 3ABN as well 24:44 and they're really fast with their fingers. 24:46 We do! That would be Tim Parton. 24:49 He flew over with us here to Phoenix. He did. 24:51 We just love Tim. He's a wonderful brother in the Lord 24:53 and general manager of our Praise Him! network. 24:56 And he's here to do music for the series. 24:58 And we'll have him do a little music underneath this upcoming 25:01 montage. So I just want to say we have the best crew 25:03 in the world - I agree - so take a look at them in action. 27:09 We're just so thankful for our wonderful crew 27:11 and for what they do for the Lord Jesus Christ. 27:14 And because of your support this evangelistic series 27:16 is possible. So right now Greg and I are so ready to go 27:19 inside and get warm. This series is just about ready to start. 27:23 You can see the people in there. So let's go in and hear the 27:26 message from Pr. John Lomacang the first night. 27:29 Amen! |
Revised 2018-04-19