Participants: Pr. Doug Venn
Series Code: IWTC
Program Code: IWTC000003A
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00:08 And over the past 60 years there's been a massive decline
00:11 in foreign missions. 00:15 I'm sharing the gospel through Church Planting. 00:19 In the 1930's if somebody gave $10.00 in tithe 00:22 they'd give an additional $6.00 in foreign missions; 00:24 today just 28 cents. 00:27 We're doing the best we can with what we have, 00:29 but I'm still not satisfied. 00:35 God's crazy in love with the Thai people, 00:38 and I sense His spirit hovering over the city. 00:41 I've come to Bangkok, Thailand to discover the truth 00:43 about foreign missions. 00:45 Come with me as I follow my good friend, Pastor Doug Venn, 00:48 in his everyday life of a front line missionary. 00:50 I prayed for God's biggest dream, and He gave me this 00:53 city of 12 million. 00:57 Welcome to my world. 01:11 We're here at the Nonthoburi Church Plant. 01:13 And I'm just talking to one of the neighbors here, 01:15 because yesterday on the third floor there was a fire. 01:18 I was going to ask permission to see if we 01:20 can go check it out. 01:33 The water from the Fire Department is 01:34 still coming down, so... 01:44 These are the ovens that they use for the painting of the 01:46 different parts for the motorcycles. 01:48 You can see the fire caught and melted... 02:02 So our friends here are making the different motorcycle parts, 02:06 and I'm going to go upstairs here. 02:09 So I need... Oh, here's what could have started the fire. 02:23 So there was a fan and the paint thinner caught on fire, 02:29 and so that's why yesterday they had kind of like... 02:33 They had a shelter over these two areas, and it's now burned. 02:42 Did the fan have like an electrical short or something? 02:45 Electrical short. You can see, the next two over? 02:47 That is where the Church Plant is. 02:52 The Lord protected us. 02:53 I can't believe this, that no one was hurt; 02:56 it didn't continue. 03:01 Nothing; I mean our Church Plant is right next door! 03:05 Oh, this is the paint thinner. 03:06 I need, I need... Oh, this is what started the fire. 03:11 But it was open. Oh, and so that's what caught on fire. 03:18 And of all of these paint thinner cans, 03:19 they're right on the other side of this door, 03:21 and if they'd caught fire this could have burned down 03:23 on the other side? Yes. Right. 03:27 Oh, so they've already taken two trucks load of the rubble away. 03:32 Do you have insurance? No. 03:37 So if it would have gone down the whole building would have 03:41 exploded, because you see underneath; you saw on the 03:44 stairway there with all of the cans of paint thinner, 03:47 there's one thing that had 200 liters of this paint thinner. 03:52 And so this was just one gallon. 03:54 I'm going to share with him that I see that this is God's 03:57 hand protecting them. 03:59 And so then that way to show His love and grace to them. 04:03 So that's what I'm going to try to say in Thai, 04:05 whether that comes across or not, that's another story. 04:38 Now we're heading to the Church Plant. 04:40 It's housed in a three story building with apartments 04:42 upstairs for the full time staff. 04:44 This is our Church Planting team, and I was just asking them 04:47 what happened yesterday, and what time. 04:49 So _, what time did it happen yesterday? 04:53 Around 9 o'clock. 04:55 In the morning? 04:56 In the morning. 04:57 And so what did you guys do? 04:59 Run! We just runned. 05:01 I saw the fire. I came out. 05:04 Oh, something's wrong over there. 05:06 I just go run; get my things. 05:08 And he say, I don't know what I'm doing. 05:13 Got to take my things. Your stuff? 05:17 Can you tell me how long has it been since this Church Plant 05:22 has been in this community? 05:24 I have been for five years already. 05:37 But Ajun Myo; and so Ajun Myo is now a 05:40 missionary at the hospital. 05:41 So he is now serving there. 05:44 But Ajun Myo, what was it like when you first came here? 06:24 What is the background of these people? 06:29 What is their faith background? 06:46 So what was it like for you, as I know you were the first 06:50 Church Planting pioneer here. 06:52 And so what was it like for you to live Christ, 06:55 and to experience God's grace, but then to start, you know, 06:59 over time start sharing that with your English students? 07:55 How did you see God work not only in your life, 07:58 but in the lives of some of these? 07:59 Can you tell us the story? 09:06 The program's about to start, but I wanted... 09:09 There's so many other stories of how God has been working 09:11 in the lives of these men and women. 09:14 And some of them are still in the valley of decision. 09:17 One last question before we go and start the program Ajun Myo. 09:20 What... If this Church Plant wasn't here, would these people 09:27 have a chance to know Jesus Christ? 09:44 So I was asking Miss Gyn, whom is a Buddhist, 09:48 that five years ago, when the center just started, 09:53 and she came to hear, to study English; had you ever 09:56 heard of Jesus Christ before? 09:58 And her answer to me was no. 10:00 She'd never heard the story about Jesus before. 10:43 Okay, so she was forty years old. 11:23 But what language is 3ABN in, or Hope channel? 11:30 But right now what language is it in? 11:34 Some of these women are house wives or business women 11:38 in the community here. 11:40 They have been seeing how God has been igniting one of their 11:45 friends, and how God has been changing their life, 11:47 and marriage, and their family. 11:49 And then the others are like they're starting to feel that 11:53 fire warming their hearts. 11:54 And so to me that is why, over the last five years, to see that 12:01 spark ignite one, and then starting to ignite another, 12:05 and that gives me such... 12:07 But I've been only viewing through your eyes, 12:10 over your shoulders as you've been here in the field. 12:13 Ajun Myo has been an inspiration for me to see how God has been 12:18 working, not only in his life, through him, but also in the 12:21 lives of these men and women's. 12:23 So the program's going to start now, 12:24 so we don't want to be late. Yeah. 12:40 Right now we're singing Oh Come All Ye Faithful, but as I look 12:43 around many of these people, they don't know this song, 12:47 because this could be the first time they're singing it today. 12:50 Oh come let us adore Him... 12:55 Silent Night, Holy Night. 12:58 Ah no, A. Silent... 13:05 Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is light. 13:28 Right now we're singing different beautiful songs, 13:32 but the background on these songs and the language is 13:36 something that we have give explanation, because... 13:41 We're praying now, and Dr. __ is telling the story 13:44 of what's the real story about Christmas to help the audience 13:51 know he's giving an overview of Who is God? 13:55 He's... God is the Creator. 13:57 And why did He come to this Earth, and what's going on? 14:01 Because many of these people, they have no background at all 14:06 in the Christian stories, or the Christian perspective, 14:13 or even the words that we use. 14:14 And so that's one thing that in our Church Planting work 14:17 we have to give explanation in ways that the 14:21 people can understand. 14:23 And you can't just come in and say, you know, 14:27 like right now, Who's Satan? 14:31 Who is that? He's just saying that the Thai's, 14:34 they don't know this. 14:35 But yet you see the game Internet Shop. 14:38 Today the Thai kids get to see all kinds of evil, 14:44 and where, where does that evil come from? 14:46 And so we have to teach the kids that there's good 14:49 and there's evil, and this great controversy, 14:52 and there's God, and there's Satan. 14:55 And we have to teach our kids, you need to choose 14:59 the good and not the evil. 15:03 Dr. _ right now is talking about how... 15:06 Where did these religions come from? 15:09 This is a misconception that many Thai's have is that 15:12 Christianity is a foreign religion. 15:15 And so that's why Dr. _ right now is reminding them 15:19 with the map that Christianity, it's roots are actually ancient. 15:26 And so whenever I ask that question, 15:29 Where does Christianity come from? many Thai's are surprised 15:34 that it is actually an Asian religion. 15:51 This Church Plant is based in the community, 15:54 and we were able to get a good deal on the rent. 15:58 But we're in a light industrial park. 16:00 But over the last five years God has blessed. 16:04 And despite the noise pollution, the air pollution, 16:09 and you saw our neighbors with their painting, 16:14 and fixing motorcycles. 16:16 On a typical day here you'll hear the lumber mill cutting 16:22 wood over there, or the printing press printing. 16:26 So it's just, it's a light industrial park. 16:29 But God has just used us in this place to share the gospel, 16:34 and God's word is going out in mighty ways. 16:39 One lady who you talked to today, she, when the team first 16:45 opened the Bible she just got in their face and said, 16:49 Why are we studying that? 16:54 And so for five years the team has been faithfully sowing God's 17:00 seed, God's word into the lives of these men and women. 17:05 And over time, now they can sit through a 17:09 sermon and understand. 17:11 It's also a reminder of how much more we have to go, 17:16 because these men and women would never have heard 17:21 the gospel had we not come to this community. 17:25 And there's thousands more little side streets like this 17:29 across the city that I'm just overwhelmed that 17:32 we have to go forward. 17:37 But this last week was a rude reminder that our funding is 17:43 not enough, the staff aren't enough. 17:51 And so it just, from a human perspective, 17:54 it's like impossible, impossible. 17:59 _ we have to go now. 18:01 I just want to say Thank you so much for your sacrifice, 18:04 and for letting Christ be uplifted. God bless you man. 18:08 I'm so proud of what you're doing here, 18:09 so keep up the good work. Yeah. 18:14 Let's cross over to the other side of the city to another 18:17 Church Plant that doesn't have a permanent location yet, 18:20 because again, of a lack of funds. 18:25 Welcome to the Khlong Toei District that includes Bangkok's 18:28 largest slum of about 80,000 people. 18:37 This is a daily wages working community that's trying to fight 18:40 its way out of poverty. 18:49 The children born here don't have much hope for improving 18:52 their lives as this neighborhood is becoming more and more 18:54 crowded, domestic and gang violence is commonplace, 18:57 and child abuse is rampant. 19:00 Many of the men go to work in the nearby river port for their 19:03 daily survival, or develop simple skills, like this young 19:06 artisan making little fishing cowboy candy monkey's, 19:09 as he was taught by his father. 19:15 Bringing hope to places like this is the 19:18 essence of Christianity. 19:19 Jesus said, I have been anointed to preach 19:22 the gospel to the poor. 19:23 So you would expect to find a lot of Seventh-day Adventists 19:26 here, or at the very least a lot of support for those that 19:29 are doing this work. 19:40 This is the Community Health Center, and it's the only public 19:43 meeting place in this entire neighborhood. 19:47 We've been granted free access to use it, but as you can 19:50 imagine, it's often being used for other functions. 19:53 We really need a place of our own. 20:02 You may ask yourself, Can I make a difference with 20:05 my mission offerings? 20:06 When we don't give there are real costs: lives are lost; 20:11 lives like the lives of these kids, and millions like them 20:16 all around the world. 20:42 What is your name? 20:43 What is my name? My name is 20:51 What's your name? 20:53 My name is _. 20:55 _, nice to meet you 20:57 And your name? 21:15 We're next to one of Bangkok's largest slums, and our team... 21:19 There's other groups who've been working here for decades trying 21:23 to share the gospel in practical ways. 21:26 But we've been here now for four years, 21:29 and God's opened great doors. 21:33 We've been working with the community leader. 21:34 And when we do activities, or have camps, and stuff like that, 21:39 we invite the community leader along. 21:43 We've done health education, Diabetes education, 21:48 we've done natural remedies, all kinds of different health things 21:52 in this community, and the Lord has just 21:55 opened incredible doors. 21:57 We're starting to do small groups here, now that we've been 22:00 able to tear down some of the prejudice. 22:03 And just this year the community leaders of this... 22:08 There's ten housing developments, housing complexes 22:12 here, and their government, or their kind of, I'm not quite 22:18 sure how to describe it _. 22:21 So that's like the community committee who kind of rules, 22:26 or oversees this political district. 22:32 They tell me there's around 10,000 adults, and that's not 22:36 counting the kids who live in these housing developments. 22:40 So we're right next to that, the slum area. 22:42 But they met together, this community committee, 22:45 and they said to us, I was there at the meeting, they said, 22:49 Please, we want you to be here full time, because, Thank you 22:53 so much for teaching English, thank you so much for doing 22:56 health programs, and thank you so much for doing all of these 22:59 other ways to serve in the community, 23:02 but we'd like you to be here full time. 23:04 And we said, Great! 23:07 What a great opportunity! 23:08 So they took us to the place where they said, Yeah, you can, 23:12 on this first floor you can prepare this 23:14 space to be your church. 23:16 And, please, we want you to teach your religion as well. 23:21 And I just was rejoicing, but it's been what, ten months, 23:25 eleven months since that meeting and our leaders, they were here 23:32 just this last week, and they were saying it's too expensive. 23:37 We can't build the facility here. 23:41 The community leaders have asked us to be here, 23:44 but our church leaders say it's too expensive. 23:47 And so in my heart I rejoice that we've got... 23:51 Well, I don't know, I didn't count the kids. 23:53 We've got sixty kids here for this Christmas activity, 23:57 and this place is just jam packed with people who are 24:00 longing to meet someone that you and I know very dearly, 24:07 and that's Jesus Christ. 24:09 And we've got this open door, but instead of an open door, 24:13 we just see the dollars. 24:18 So, anyway, it's a day of rejoicing, 24:22 but in my heart I'm also sad. 24:33 The Church Planting pastor has got some blueprints 24:42 from a builder, and it looks like it will be about a million 24:47 _, and in U.S. dollars today that's around $30,000. 24:52 So I know that may not seem like a lot of money to you 24:57 and to me, but that's... 25:02 You can just describe it in 7 million _. 25:05 It's like a million dollars. 25:07 Why would $30,000 seem like such a lot of money? 25:10 If your local church were building a fellowship hall, 25:12 it would be no problem raising that amount. 25:15 But the fact is that that's two thirds of the Thailand 25:18 Adventist Mission's entire yearly budget for the whole 25:21 country of 65 million people: for all outreach, evangelism, 25:25 publishing, personal ministries, etc. 25:28 And this is in a country that is less than one percent Christian. 25:32 How could this be? How could a country that has so much need of 25:36 hearing the gospel have so little resources 25:38 with which to share it? 25:40 In 1933 the average Adventist in North America gave about $311.00 25:45 a year in tithe in today's money, and an additional $193.00 25:49 through the church toward foreign missions. 25:51 In 2006 the average Adventist gave about $820.00 per year in 25:56 tithe, which is more than two and a half times 25:58 what it was in 1933. 26:00 But when it comes to foreign missions, 26:02 today the average Adventist will give only about $21.00, 26:06 which is 89% less than before. 26:10 This drop in giving didn't exactly happen suddenly. 26:13 It's been a long, slow, gradual decline to where we are today. 26:17 And as you can see, our mission program is 26:20 statistically nearly extinct. 26:22 The truth is we spend eight times more on pets, 26:25 and seventeen times more on our local church budget. 26:28 How do you think this makes the missionaries feel? 26:33 We've been here for four years serving the people, 26:36 and boys and girls, and the families. 26:40 Our lack of giving tells our missionaries and leaders 26:43 in other countries that we don't care about the people that 26:45 they're trying to reach. 26:47 It sends a strong signal to them that says, Don't expand, 26:50 don't do more soul winning, don't reach out to the poor. 26:53 We are telling them, and the universe, that we don't care 26:57 about the lost souls for whom Christ died, so why should they? 27:01 We're saying that our money is more important to us than those 27:04 people are, and we've been telling them this for decades. 27:11 And these are the working class; people who the government 27:15 is trying to get them out of poverty and to who are 27:18 looking for education. 27:20 Their community leaders asked us to teach IT, to teach computers, 27:26 to teach media to help them get out of this cycle of poverty. 27:31 And via our own closed eyes, we don't see that this is Jesus 27:42 Christ... Let's stop now. 28:15 The mission challenge that we face today is greater 28:18 than ever before, yet for the last seventy years our mission 28:23 offerings have been dropping. 28:26 But we can change that. 28:27 If every Adventist in North America would simply give $1.00 28:31 a week for mission offerings, it would double the amount 28:35 that is now being given. 28:37 Will you join me in that commitment to make a 28:41 difference for Jesus Christ? 28:43 Check it out: AdventistMission.org. 28:46 Every person matters to God, and every dollar that you give 28:49 for mission helps us to reach one more person. 28:52 And I'm so grateful to everyone who's sacrificed for mission. 28:56 One day soon you'll be able to meet the people who found 28:59 Jesus because you gave. |
Revised 2018-01-11