Welcome back to Layman Ministries Studio. 00:00:30.32\00:00:32.81 We have Pastor Johnson with us here from India. 00:00:32.84\00:00:36.00 And this is actually part two of a two part series 00:00:36.03\00:00:39.06 of an interview with Pastor Johnson. 00:00:39.09\00:00:41.18 In our last interview, we talked about 00:00:41.21\00:00:43.81 the new television studio that was recently built 00:00:43.84\00:00:46.73 and the dedication took place 00:00:46.76\00:00:48.01 there and also some of the other things surrounding evangelism 00:00:48.04\00:00:51.68 and outreach and some of the new plans that we have. 00:00:51.71\00:00:53.83 You definitely want to get program 00:00:53.86\00:00:56.05 one and this program, program two. 00:00:56.08\00:00:58.30 Contact our ministry at the address 00:00:58.33\00:01:00.37 or the website email at the end and request the DVDs. 00:01:00.40\00:01:04.62 But, Pastor Johnson, we had a lot of exciting things 00:01:04.65\00:01:08.02 that we were talking about in our last program. 00:01:08.05\00:01:09.63 You are right, yeah. Way more than we can even show 00:01:09.66\00:01:11.94 and two or three, four, five interviewers, 00:01:11.97\00:01:14.40 but one of the things that was really, 00:01:14.43\00:01:17.03 to me is really intriguing is since we've been working 00:01:17.06\00:01:20.08 together for almost 18 years-- Laymen Ministries 00:01:20.11\00:01:22.56 have been 18 years now in India. 00:01:22.59\00:01:24.96 And you've been working with Pastor Shadrach 00:01:24.99\00:01:28.17 and for a number of years 00:01:28.20\00:01:30.71 there and so we've been there quite a while. 00:01:30.74\00:01:32.63 And how many churches have we established 00:01:32.66\00:01:36.38 or been involved with helping to establish 00:01:36.41\00:01:38.35 you think over the years. 00:01:38.38\00:01:39.95 Do you have a rough idea? 00:01:39.98\00:01:41.25 More than 60 churches. 6-0? 00:01:41.28\00:01:45.15 Yeah. 60 churches? You're right. 00:01:45.18\00:01:46.51 Wow, it's a really amazing thing 00:01:46.54\00:01:48.20 how God has blessed in that way. 00:01:48.23\00:01:49.74 You're right. 00:01:49.77\00:01:50.84 Because the work it is hard fully, 00:01:50.87\00:01:55.00 I mean very systematically we did so far. 00:01:55.03\00:01:58.32 So that's a main reason. 00:01:58.35\00:02:00.91 And there are many people supported these people 00:02:00.94\00:02:04.29 who are praying for us and also, it's our evangelism. 00:02:04.32\00:02:10.56 It's a complete package kind of door-to-door 00:02:10.59\00:02:15.42 and printing material and website evangelism 00:02:15.45\00:02:20.81 and evangelistic meetings, revival meetings. 00:02:20.84\00:02:24.93 Then baptisms and then church planting and. 00:02:24.96\00:02:29.11 Yes. So in the very onset 00:02:29.14\00:02:30.63 you said one of the first things 00:02:30.66\00:02:32.16 that we're involved with us is television ministry. 00:02:32.19\00:02:34.22 And we're currently producing nine programs per week. 00:02:34.25\00:02:37.78 This television ministry kind of sets 00:02:37.81\00:02:39.71 a credibility precedence in a sense. 00:02:39.74\00:02:42.43 And so then you start 00:02:42.46\00:02:43.63 targeting areas with Bible workers. 00:02:43.66\00:02:45.73 Is that how it works? Yes. 00:02:45.76\00:02:46.79 Yeah, Bible workers. 00:02:46.82\00:02:47.85 Because we see how our response in various areas 00:02:47.88\00:02:52.53 then we will send our Bible workers, 00:02:52.56\00:02:55.55 the Bible workers will go, they stay like a four months 00:02:55.58\00:02:59.94 and the first month there is a kind 00:02:59.97\00:03:01.76 of a ground work, friendship. 00:03:01.79\00:03:04.88 The second month is a group Bible study, 00:03:04.91\00:03:07.70 farming group Bible study. 00:03:07.73\00:03:09.48 The third month is evangelistic meeting. 00:03:09.51\00:03:11.52 The fourth month, identify the church place, 00:03:11.55\00:03:15.82 how kind of house church and all that. 00:03:15.85\00:03:19.35 I'm smiling a little bit because we have 23-24 00:03:19.38\00:03:23.90 Bible workers and two pastors that oversee two teams 00:03:23.93\00:03:26.94 like 12 in each team. 00:03:26.97\00:03:28.63 And the reason I'm smiling is every year 00:03:28.66\00:03:30.67 when I go to India, I meet with the Bible workers. 00:03:30.70\00:03:33.30 So now-- so then after the Bible workers 00:03:33.33\00:03:36.72 go and establish Bible studies in an area, 00:03:36.75\00:03:38.87 what's the next step? 00:03:38.90\00:03:40.07 Then after that we will--what we will do. 00:03:40.10\00:03:43.38 We will plant a church in that-- we search a place kind of, 00:03:43.41\00:03:48.02 we'll put a temporary shed, 00:03:48.05\00:03:49.85 so that people can come and worship. 00:03:49.88\00:03:52.56 Sometimes these are on top of a house or-- 00:03:52.59\00:03:54.51 You're right. And then after that? 00:03:54.54\00:03:56.69 Then we will appoint Bible workers 00:03:56.72\00:03:59.95 to take care of the church. 00:03:59.98\00:04:01.89 Then after one or two months 00:04:01.92\00:04:03.69 then we will inform to the conference, 00:04:03.72\00:04:05.89 then the conference president they will come, 00:04:05.92\00:04:08.03 see the church member, then they will take 00:04:08.06\00:04:10.69 a responsibility, they will appoint a pastor. 00:04:10.72\00:04:14.09 So like that it's a kind of systematic one. 00:04:14.12\00:04:17.59 And also there are some failures we had experience. 00:04:17.62\00:04:22.48 In some places, we did a ground work 00:04:22.51\00:04:26.00 and started a church and everything, 00:04:26.03\00:04:28.36 but finally most of the baptism members became backsliding 00:04:28.39\00:04:33.20 and some members gone, then what we do, 00:04:33.23\00:04:35.77 we again send the Bible workers there 00:04:35.80\00:04:38.04 and do a ground work again for months. 00:04:38.07\00:04:40.10 And meet some of the same people over again? 00:04:40.13\00:04:42.23 You are right. So we won't leave 00:04:42.26\00:04:44.81 kind of--kind of people say, okay they give baptism. 00:04:44.84\00:04:48.62 No, we will fall-- we will find a way. 00:04:48.65\00:04:52.83 I see what you're saying. 00:04:52.86\00:04:54.07 So often times then I've seen 00:04:54.10\00:04:55.43 this in this quick evangelistic methods 00:04:55.46\00:04:57.68 where they baptized people, people joined the church 00:04:57.71\00:05:00.24 and then boom, there is no more support 00:05:00.27\00:05:02.14 the people backslide and some places 00:05:02.17\00:05:04.41 it's probably a highest 60-70%. 00:05:04.44\00:05:06.98 And how does evangelism play 00:05:07.01\00:05:08.41 into this as far as one of the steps? 00:05:08.44\00:05:10.22 And what is your relationship with Pastor Shadrach Samuel 00:05:10.25\00:05:13.89 as far as, you know, like organizing evangelism 00:05:13.92\00:05:16.42 as follow up in regard to what the Bible workers are doing? 00:05:16.45\00:05:19.26 What we will do is in all the places sometime 00:05:19.29\00:05:23.96 we may not hold the evangelistic meeting because to hold 00:05:23.99\00:05:27.44 the evangelistic meeting, it is expensive. 00:05:27.47\00:05:30.93 Sometime it cost money. 00:05:30.96\00:05:33.59 But for our evangelistic meeting, 00:05:33.62\00:05:36.05 we spend like, 1,500 to 1,800 or 2,000 US dollar. 00:05:36.08\00:05:42.40 But still sometime we may not have money. 00:05:42.43\00:05:44.45 So what we will do, some places we will hire 00:05:44.48\00:05:48.43 a marriage hall because in the month of January, 00:05:48.46\00:05:52.02 in the month of July, August, in the month of November, 00:05:52.05\00:05:55.87 no marriage will happen in the months. 00:05:55.90\00:05:59.17 And this has to do with a little bit 00:05:59.20\00:06:00.63 of the superstitions of people thinking 00:06:00.66\00:06:02.58 its bad luck to get married in those months. 00:06:02.61\00:06:04.16 You are right. You are right. 00:06:04.19\00:06:05.22 So what a better place to have an evangelistic meeting 00:06:05.25\00:06:08.34 than in a marriage hall and introduce people 00:06:08.37\00:06:10.57 to the--to the bride of Christ in the church, 00:06:10.60\00:06:14.66 yeah, to get married, married to Christ. 00:06:14.69\00:06:17.54 That's wonderful. 00:06:17.57\00:06:19.02 So in 2012, how many baptisms have taken place? 00:06:19.05\00:06:23.73 In 2012, we given through our ministry 00:06:23.76\00:06:29.48 there are 624 baptisms. 624 baptisms. 00:06:29.51\00:06:35.07 When I was there, just a couple weeks ago 00:06:35.10\00:06:36.86 with you in India, you had some baptisms. 00:06:36.89\00:06:39.32 In fact, wasn't plan to anything 00:06:39.35\00:06:41.36 because I was there it was like, 00:06:41.39\00:06:42.76 you were even surprised like, 00:06:42.79\00:06:44.13 "Oh, these people can baptize this week, this Sabbath. 00:06:44.16\00:06:46.95 I didn't know that. 00:06:46.98\00:06:48.03 What was the situation with them 00:06:48.06\00:06:49.73 and how many people were baptized? 00:06:49.76\00:06:51.12 Nine people were taken baptism that day because usually 00:06:51.15\00:06:55.52 we will tell our Bible workers, at the end of the month, 00:06:55.55\00:06:59.90 the last week, the fourth week we usually 00:06:59.93\00:07:03.73 have the baptism because we encourage the Bible workers 00:07:03.76\00:07:07.28 before they come for giving the report 00:07:07.31\00:07:10.62 or getting the salary, they have to finish 00:07:10.65\00:07:13.55 that month work, giving Bible study 00:07:13.58\00:07:16.44 and all the target they have to, because they have assignment. 00:07:16.47\00:07:19.58 It is not a compulsory, but it is assignment 00:07:19.61\00:07:22.79 we have given to each Bible workers. 00:07:22.82\00:07:26.19 It is not simply they cannot-- we cannot do because 00:07:26.22\00:07:29.74 our God is a God of law and order. 00:07:29.77\00:07:34.13 So we have given, okay every month you'll have this target, 00:07:34.16\00:07:37.88 this house-- this many house and-- 00:07:37.91\00:07:40.62 So it's almost what I've noticed is certain things 00:07:40.65\00:07:42.33 happened certain months. You're right. 00:07:42.36\00:07:44.00 Evangelism happens certain month because of the marriage halls 00:07:44.03\00:07:47.07 being available or sometimes evangelism 00:07:47.10\00:07:50.19 happens maybe in different situations, too. 00:07:50.22\00:07:53.09 And then baptisms happen certain months. 00:07:53.12\00:07:55.29 So far in 2013, how many people 00:07:55.32\00:07:58.13 have been baptized so far this year? 00:07:58.16\00:07:59.59 And this is like we're in April right now. 00:07:59.62\00:08:01.75 So how many people have been baptized so far? 00:08:01.78\00:08:03.66 Very, 38 baptisms we did. 00:08:03.69\00:08:05.36 38 baptisms. And it's really important 00:08:05.39\00:08:07.69 for our viewers to understand that as you caught 00:08:07.72\00:08:10.91 what Pastor Johnson want to saying is these people 00:08:10.94\00:08:12.65 were not the kind of people that could baptized 00:08:12.68\00:08:14.69 then through the cracks, these are people 00:08:14.72\00:08:16.41 who are grounded and understanding Bible truth. 00:08:16.44\00:08:19.40 In connection with what we're talking about 00:08:19.43\00:08:21.09 we had an interesting evangelistic series 00:08:21.12\00:08:23.10 that happened in Vellore, India. 00:08:23.13\00:08:25.09 And Vellore, India of course of anybody 00:08:25.12\00:08:27.09 has been in South Indians knows that this is a kind of like 00:08:27.12\00:08:29.92 a place where Christian missionary years ago 00:08:29.95\00:08:31.69 established a medical college. 00:08:31.72\00:08:35.07 And so there is a hospital there and there is lot 00:08:35.10\00:08:37.37 of professional people, nurses and doctors and such. 00:08:37.40\00:08:39.88 And there was a particular doctor there that had an idea 00:08:39.91\00:08:43.64 whose longtime friends with Pastor Shadrach. 00:08:43.67\00:08:45.92 What did you and Pastor Shadrach and these medical professionals 00:08:45.95\00:08:48.92 do in Vellore here just a few months ago? 00:08:48.95\00:08:51.32 Generally Pastor Shadrach and myself 00:08:51.35\00:08:54.41 we have a different strategy. 00:08:54.44\00:08:58.02 For the northern part of Chennai, 00:08:58.05\00:08:59.59 we have a different strategy, for southern part of Chennai 00:08:59.62\00:09:02.14 we have different strategy. 00:09:02.17\00:09:03.36 When you say different strategy you mean you're still agree 00:09:03.39\00:09:05.60 with each other, but you have different 00:09:05.63\00:09:07.34 way of implanting what you do? 00:09:07.37\00:09:08.72 Yes, implanting the work. 00:09:08.75\00:09:10.52 I got you. Yeah, implementation 00:09:10.55\00:09:12.24 because we cannot work in the northern part of Chennai 00:09:12.27\00:09:17.63 same like southern part of Chennai. 00:09:17.66\00:09:20.32 And the reason for that? 00:09:20.35\00:09:21.72 It's for the people because 00:09:21.75\00:09:23.90 northern part is working class. 00:09:23.93\00:09:26.54 Like, fisherman. Fisherman. 00:09:26.57\00:09:27.90 And builders and maybe kind of a little 00:09:27.93\00:09:29.66 rougher town part of town, right? 00:09:29.69\00:09:31.22 Town. And the southern part, it is a middle class 00:09:31.25\00:09:34.24 and the IT people and all that. 00:09:34.27\00:09:36.54 Well, professional people. 00:09:36.57\00:09:38.77 So we have a strategy to implement each place. 00:09:38.80\00:09:43.02 So on that one, last year 2012 and 2011, 00:09:43.05\00:09:48.51 Pastor Shadrach is one of the powerful preacher 00:09:48.54\00:09:52.51 and he always invited by many people 00:09:52.54\00:09:56.95 around India and abroad also. 00:09:56.98\00:09:59.66 So Vellore is unique place. 00:09:59.69\00:10:03.31 All our Adventist doctors, they gathered and the students, 00:10:03.34\00:10:11.10 their passion to reach the non-Adventist. 00:10:11.13\00:10:16.25 Because there we don't need a Bible study 00:10:16.28\00:10:19.59 because everybody knows Jesus and all that. 00:10:19.62\00:10:23.67 So here Dr. Anand and his team member's goal 00:10:23.70\00:10:29.32 is to share the Three Angels Message also the Sabbath truth. 00:10:29.35\00:10:35.90 So then Dr. Anand called me, what's your schedule? 00:10:35.93\00:10:40.12 Then we discussed, Pastor Shadrach and myself, 00:10:40.15\00:10:43.03 then we had a discussion with them. 00:10:43.06\00:10:45.35 So they told their passion is to reach 00:10:45.38\00:10:50.52 the non-Adventist with the Sabbath truth. 00:10:50.55\00:10:55.40 So what they decided to do is have a series of meetings 00:10:55.43\00:10:59.14 that Pastor Shadrach every evening would speak 00:10:59.17\00:11:02.58 just upon the principles of the Sabbath. 00:11:02.61\00:11:04.74 And then in the afternoon he was holding meetings 00:11:04.77\00:11:07.12 on the Book of Daniel or something 00:11:07.15\00:11:08.68 like that in the mornings. 00:11:08.71\00:11:10.04 How many people actually attended these meetings 00:11:10.07\00:11:12.09 knowing that there was going to be about 00:11:12.12\00:11:13.65 the Seventh-day Sabbath? 00:11:13.68\00:11:14.96 Usually they--usually when we have the meeting like that, 00:11:14.99\00:11:19.29 people the attendance will be kind of less, 00:11:19.32\00:11:22.18 but because of this ground work they hired a marriage hall. 00:11:22.21\00:11:27.08 The marriage house-- hall was full, overflow. 00:11:27.11\00:11:30.58 It is almost like, 350 people. 00:11:30.61\00:11:34.23 Yeah, Dr. Anand was talking about people 00:11:34.26\00:11:36.72 were on the sides of the walls and in the back. 00:11:36.75\00:11:39.27 And there was quite a number of people 00:11:39.30\00:11:41.28 and these are all non-Seventh-day Adventist 00:11:41.31\00:11:43.54 people that signed like, information cards, 00:11:43.57\00:11:46.51 showing that they had an interest. 00:11:46.54\00:11:47.85 How many people signed cards? 00:11:47.88\00:11:49.09 It is the 75 people they were-- 00:11:49.12\00:11:52.32 75 people? 75 people. 00:11:52.35\00:11:54.25 And also they have a baptism and are the few very good people 00:11:54.28\00:12:00.50 they gave their hugs to Jesus. 00:12:00.53\00:12:03.34 And there are few people that you also met them 00:12:03.37\00:12:06.69 and they are on the way of decision 00:12:06.72\00:12:08.88 to take a baptism soon. 00:12:08.91\00:12:10.51 Let's really quickly just take our viewing audience 00:12:10.54\00:12:12.69 to Vellore and meet Dr. Anand. 00:12:12.72\00:12:14.95 And let's go there really quick. 00:12:14.98\00:12:18.10 So how did this meeting start? 00:12:18.13\00:12:20.51 I was invited by Dr. Anand for meeting here to speak, 00:12:20.54\00:12:27.25 this is from Laymen Ministries. 00:12:27.28\00:12:29.33 And Pastor Dr. Anand and many of his friends, 00:12:29.36\00:12:32.71 the Vivek and several others from the church here, 00:12:32.74\00:12:36.33 they planned for this meeting. 00:12:36.36\00:12:38.13 So you said you're gonna try 00:12:38.16\00:12:39.24 a different approach with these meetings. 00:12:39.27\00:12:40.57 What was that approach? 00:12:40.60\00:12:41.86 Yeah, normally we have--we try to present 00:12:41.89\00:12:45.97 many of our doctrines in the second meeting. 00:12:46.00\00:12:48.25 We talk about State of the Dead, we talk about Second Coming, 00:12:48.28\00:12:50.79 we talk about Millennium and by doing, 00:12:50.82\00:12:53.74 then we present Sabbath. 00:12:53.77\00:12:55.00 We don't have enough time to present one topic fully. 00:12:55.03\00:12:58.05 So then we thought we'll have a bit different approach. 00:12:58.08\00:13:00.27 We thought we-- we had meetings for five days 00:13:00.30\00:13:02.84 and we thought we would present Sabbath around five days. 00:13:02.87\00:13:05.61 So we were able to cover the topic 00:13:05.64\00:13:07.95 in this entire day as much as possible. 00:13:07.98\00:13:10.36 So you had the meetings for five nights 00:13:10.39\00:13:12.29 and you were gonna focus just on the Sabbath in the evenings. 00:13:12.32\00:13:14.71 And we are doing any meetings then during the day or two or-- 00:13:14.74\00:13:17.55 Yes, we had Bible study during the day time. 00:13:17.58\00:13:21.21 Not many people could come because people go to work, 00:13:21.24\00:13:24.59 but quite a few people came. 00:13:24.62\00:13:26.33 And so in the evening meetings 00:13:26.36\00:13:27.48 how many people show that? 00:13:27.51\00:13:28.56 Evening meeting around 300 and some times more. 00:13:28.59\00:13:31.96 The hall was full. 00:13:31.99\00:13:33.63 I mean, the capacity was only around 250. 00:13:33.66\00:13:36.33 When I went to invite my friends for these meetings, 00:13:36.36\00:13:39.68 people were very intrigued by the title 00:13:39.71\00:13:42.38 because the title was, "what the Bible says." 00:13:42.41\00:13:46.58 It was in Tamil, of course. 00:13:46.61\00:13:49.12 So there were kind of intrigued 00:13:49.15\00:13:50.99 does to what the Bible really says. 00:13:51.02\00:13:54.12 And the topics when I just handout--handed out this flyer 00:13:54.15\00:13:59.04 and handed out to one of my friends, 00:13:59.07\00:14:00.92 the first title was "God's Love Letter." 00:14:00.95\00:14:04.04 And he was kind of taken away. 00:14:04.07\00:14:05.45 What is this love letter from God? 00:14:05.48\00:14:07.28 I want to just come to, listen to that 00:14:07.31\00:14:09.30 talk--that's that talk, but through-- 00:14:09.33\00:14:14.23 Even though the predominant theme was Sabbath, 00:14:14.26\00:14:16.77 but it was so beautifully kind of incorporated 00:14:16.80\00:14:21.14 into other beautiful truths of the Bible 00:14:21.17\00:14:24.85 that people just came in to find out 00:14:24.88\00:14:28.32 what the one of God really has to say. 00:14:28.35\00:14:31.10 And that's my bit that I put in, nothing much. 00:14:31.13\00:14:36.34 Yeah, before pastor started out with this Bible topic, 00:14:36.37\00:14:39.54 we gave a short health talk which is applicable 00:14:39.57\00:14:43.84 for our people here in the local area. 00:14:43.87\00:14:46.02 Talked about balanced diet and kind of nutrition, 00:14:46.05\00:14:49.20 how to take care of joint pains and things like that. 00:14:49.23\00:14:54.32 So everyday we had a short talk about for half an hour. 00:14:54.35\00:14:57.61 So can I ask you a question? 00:14:57.64\00:14:59.57 Do you believe in Jesus Christ? 00:14:59.60\00:15:01.48 Yeah, definitely. 00:15:01.51\00:15:02.66 Do you believe in the Sabbath? 00:15:02.69\00:15:04.03 Yeah. Do you believe 00:15:04.06\00:15:05.09 that He's gonna come very soon? 00:15:05.12\00:15:06.46 Yeah, definitely. 00:15:06.49\00:15:07.63 So you're an Adventist, you just don't know. 00:15:07.66\00:15:10.60 Because one thing-- 00:15:10.63\00:15:13.38 You know, I find it really exciting 00:15:13.41\00:15:14.78 when I hear about lay people 00:15:14.81\00:15:16.18 getting involved with church work. 00:15:16.21\00:15:17.77 You know, it's like, a lot of times 00:15:17.80\00:15:18.97 we have this mentality 00:15:19.00\00:15:20.03 that the pastors, the one that's got to go out 00:15:20.06\00:15:21.74 and do the ministry, but really the responsibility 00:15:21.77\00:15:23.97 for ministry rests upon the laity of the church. 00:15:24.00\00:15:26.43 And when I hear about lay people 00:15:26.46\00:15:27.63 like yourself getting involved, teaming up with someone 00:15:27.66\00:15:29.66 who's an evangelist like, Pastor Shadrach 00:15:29.69\00:15:31.61 special thing for me is a real 00:15:31.64\00:15:34.57 blessing to hear about that. 00:15:34.60\00:15:36.54 When I met with these people I was just so excited because 00:15:36.57\00:15:40.03 it filled my heart to see that these people are not pastors, 00:15:40.06\00:15:43.85 these people were just lay people, 00:15:43.88\00:15:45.40 just lay people in the church that had a burden 00:15:45.43\00:15:48.81 on their heart to do evangelism, using lay people and connection 00:15:48.84\00:15:52.69 with some pastors doing visitation, 00:15:52.72\00:15:55.03 going out-- doing like the work 00:15:55.06\00:15:56.11 of the Bible workers and then holding 00:15:56.14\00:15:57.93 the special kind of meetings that reminded me of a statement 00:15:57.96\00:16:01.83 by our Former General Conference President 00:16:01.86\00:16:03.79 at the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 00:16:03.82\00:16:05.09 I'd like to read it to you really quickly. 00:16:05.12\00:16:06.70 Good. It's taken from 1912 in March 00:16:06.73\00:16:09.43 at the Ministry Institute Los Angeles, California. 00:16:09.46\00:16:12.35 A. G. Daniells who was then the General Conference President 00:16:12.38\00:16:15.31 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church made this assessment 00:16:15.34\00:16:18.05 between the work of the laity and the clergy in Adventism. 00:16:18.08\00:16:21.76 This is what he says. 00:16:21.79\00:16:22.86 "We have not settled ministers over our churches 00:16:22.89\00:16:25.59 as pastors to any large extent. 00:16:25.62\00:16:27.50 In some of the very large churches 00:16:27.53\00:16:29.14 we have elected pastors, but as a rule 00:16:29.17\00:16:31.19 we have held ourselves ready 00:16:31.22\00:16:32.80 for field service, evangelistic work, 00:16:32.83\00:16:35.38 and our brethren and sisters have held themselves 00:16:35.41\00:16:38.18 ready to maintain their church services and carry forward 00:16:38.21\00:16:40.75 their church work without settled pastors." 00:16:40.78\00:16:43.47 So he is saying that the pastors basically 00:16:43.50\00:16:45.69 and the church leaders were out doing evangelism 00:16:45.72\00:16:48.05 and doing visitation and things like that and the lay people 00:16:48.08\00:16:50.98 were running the church 00:16:51.01\00:16:52.04 and taking care of the Bible studies. 00:16:52.07\00:16:54.02 And then he goes on to say this. 00:16:54.05\00:16:57.32 "And I hope this will never cease to be the order of affairs 00:16:57.35\00:17:00.13 in this denomination, for when we cease 00:17:00.16\00:17:02.84 our forward movement and begin to settle over 00:17:02.87\00:17:05.76 our churches, to stay by them." 00:17:05.79\00:17:07.98 And he is talking about the pastors. 00:17:08.01\00:17:09.53 "To stay by them, settle over the churches, 00:17:09.56\00:17:12.17 do their thinking and their praying and their work 00:17:12.20\00:17:14.20 that is to be done, then the churches 00:17:14.23\00:17:16.23 will begin to weaken, and to lose 00:17:16.26\00:17:18.28 their life and spirit, and become paralyzed 00:17:18.31\00:17:21.41 and fossilized and our work will be on the retreat." 00:17:21.44\00:17:24.89 And I thought what a prophetic statement. 00:17:24.92\00:17:27.01 You know, when the pastor assumed 00:17:27.04\00:17:28.71 all the responsibilities of the church and the lay people 00:17:28.74\00:17:31.09 just sit back and do nothing, put some money in offering plate 00:17:31.12\00:17:33.63 and complaining about whether the pastor preached 00:17:33.66\00:17:35.74 a good sermon or not, just like that whole view distorted. 00:17:35.77\00:17:38.68 And what we've initiated as Laymen Ministries 00:17:38.71\00:17:40.55 in India is to change that whole principle 00:17:40.58\00:17:43.80 to get the lay people involved with evangelism. 00:17:43.83\00:17:46.46 And also for your information, they're all doctors there, 00:17:46.49\00:17:50.06 Vellore Christian Medical Hospital and College. 00:17:50.09\00:17:55.10 It is a very huge system. 00:17:55.13\00:17:58.44 They have hundreds of beds 00:17:58.47\00:18:00.72 and it's a-- The patient come throughout India. 00:18:00.75\00:18:04.38 So the point is, the doctors are very busy, 00:18:04.41\00:18:07.24 but in spite of that they have taken a time. 00:18:07.27\00:18:10.62 And now for your information this coming summer 00:18:10.65\00:18:14.30 they are planning for English congregation 00:18:14.33\00:18:18.08 to reach the English speaking people. 00:18:18.11\00:18:20.95 Like the English speaking educated 00:18:20.98\00:18:22.83 people in that area there? 00:18:22.86\00:18:24.20 Right. Right. So our ministry 00:18:24.23\00:18:25.71 is kind of two-fold. 00:18:25.74\00:18:27.08 We work in some areas with the poor and uneducated 00:18:27.11\00:18:30.36 and then in other areas we're working 00:18:30.39\00:18:32.23 with very professional people, very educated people 00:18:32.26\00:18:35.72 which is really a big blessing to be able to have such spectrum 00:18:35.75\00:18:39.57 of different people to be working with. 00:18:39.60\00:18:41.40 While I was there, there was a interesting 00:18:41.43\00:18:44.50 situation took place with an arise, 00:18:44.53\00:18:46.78 shine kind of like, your Revival Evangelistic Series 00:18:46.81\00:18:50.70 took place by that Chennai International Airport. 00:18:50.73\00:18:54.04 And tell us a little bit about how did that little group 00:18:54.07\00:18:57.51 get established there, visually like a year or two ago 00:18:57.54\00:18:59.92 and how the lay people got involved and how Shadrach 00:18:59.95\00:19:02.51 was preaching there doing evangelism. 00:19:02.54\00:19:04.61 In the year 2007, we had evangelistic meeting, 00:19:04.64\00:19:09.53 very close to that airport. 00:19:09.56\00:19:11.87 Due to some reason we were not able to conduct a church 00:19:11.90\00:19:18.64 in that place because the local people 00:19:18.67\00:19:21.47 were kind of, they are not giving 00:19:21.50\00:19:22.96 the place to hold a worship service. 00:19:22.99\00:19:26.48 So we decided in spite of that very close to the airport, 00:19:26.51\00:19:32.25 we wanted to move a little bit away. 00:19:32.28\00:19:34.66 So we moved away and did a ground work four months. 00:19:34.69\00:19:40.16 With Bible workers? With our Bible workers. 00:19:40.19\00:19:42.00 And as I said earlier, in this place 00:19:42.03\00:19:45.49 we didn't have any evangelistic meeting. 00:19:45.52\00:19:47.36 At the end of the fourth month, 00:19:47.39\00:19:49.44 we hired a place, and in that meeting hall 00:19:49.47\00:19:54.28 we arranged a meeting and at the end, 00:19:54.31\00:19:58.34 people almost 32 people took baptism. 00:19:58.37\00:20:01.87 Wow, as they established kind of like a small company, 00:20:01.90\00:20:04.63 there a small new church. 00:20:04.66\00:20:06.32 And so these people then just after they were baptized 00:20:06.35\00:20:10.49 and such became bored and set around, 00:20:10.52\00:20:12.35 twiddle their thumbs and didn't do anything? 00:20:12.38\00:20:14.08 No. What happened is, the two things I want to share. 00:20:14.11\00:20:18.71 Number one, that small church 00:20:18.74\00:20:21.01 now the offering is every month it is $400, US dollar. 00:20:21.04\00:20:26.99 For India, that's a lot. 00:20:27.02\00:20:28.10 That's a huge dollar. 00:20:28.13\00:20:29.16 So these people became active. 00:20:29.19\00:20:30.66 Yes. And so what was the next point? 00:20:30.69\00:20:32.23 The next point is when you came, 00:20:32.26\00:20:34.91 they want to have a honor the Laymen Ministry 00:20:34.94\00:20:39.09 and also they want to witness their neighbors, what a Sabbath. 00:20:39.12\00:20:45.05 So in spite of that meeting in the church, 00:20:45.08\00:20:48.94 the one layman who took a baptism recently 00:20:48.97\00:20:53.59 through our evangelist meeting and the Bible worker visitation, 00:20:53.62\00:20:58.50 he spend his own money, put a shed, 00:20:58.53\00:21:03.04 arranged the food for the Sabbath, 00:21:03.07\00:21:05.47 potluck lunch kind of like that. 00:21:05.50\00:21:08.24 He arranged everything at his own expense. 00:21:08.27\00:21:12.08 And it was a wonderful experience. 00:21:12.11\00:21:14.96 And I know the time is very short, 00:21:14.99\00:21:17.40 otherwise I can share a story. 00:21:17.43\00:21:19.43 His name is Raman. 00:21:19.46\00:21:22.12 Raman is a Hindu God. 00:21:22.15\00:21:24.02 And he and his wife and they have two children, 00:21:24.05\00:21:27.12 but his two children are not easy, 00:21:27.15\00:21:31.22 they're like a dada's. 00:21:31.25\00:21:34.51 Now they're kind of gangsters. 00:21:34.54\00:21:35.80 Gangsters, you're right. 00:21:35.83\00:21:36.86 You said-- I think I met them. 00:21:36.89\00:21:38.30 Actually they're bodybuilders. 00:21:38.33\00:21:39.84 Very good strong guys. 00:21:39.87\00:21:41.57 Yeah, very strong guys. 00:21:41.60\00:21:42.63 And one fine day, when Mrs. Raman 00:21:42.66\00:21:48.10 is on the market, they met our Bible workers 00:21:48.13\00:21:51.62 and the Bible workers went to their home 00:21:51.65\00:21:54.46 and they prayed and when they went next time, 00:21:54.49\00:21:57.60 the youngest son took a drug. 00:21:57.63\00:22:01.40 He's taking drugs and drinking alcohol? 00:22:01.43\00:22:03.40 Alcohol and lying on the ground. 00:22:03.43\00:22:05.65 And our Bible workers they're kind of fear and crossing him 00:22:05.68\00:22:11.63 and stepping over him and entering into the home. 00:22:11.66\00:22:16.05 Then "Who is that entering into my home?" 00:22:16.08\00:22:19.36 He woke up. Woke up. 00:22:19.39\00:22:20.73 And shouted, "Get lost." We don't--" 00:22:20.76\00:22:24.35 He actually threatened to kill the Bible worker. 00:22:24.38\00:22:26.21 Bible workers. "We don't need a prayer. 00:22:26.24\00:22:28.50 We don't want anything. 00:22:28.53\00:22:30.55 Just go out." Then our Bible worker got scared. 00:22:30.58\00:22:35.55 They slowly came. Then Mrs. Raman 00:22:35.58\00:22:39.28 will call our Bible workers. 00:22:39.31\00:22:40.84 "Oh, my son is not here. 00:22:40.87\00:22:42.87 So please come." 00:22:42.90\00:22:44.40 Then our Bible workers will go then they go, 00:22:44.43\00:22:48.18 then they were giving Bible study, 00:22:48.21\00:22:49.45 this fellow will come, all with the full alcohol and drug. 00:22:49.48\00:22:54.60 And threatening again. 00:22:54.63\00:22:55.66 Threatening again. 00:22:55.69\00:22:56.83 One day our pastor, the supervisor 00:22:56.86\00:22:59.02 he saw his younger son and ran. 00:22:59.05\00:23:04.53 And finally it is because of the Bible workers' 00:23:04.56\00:23:08.04 prayed honestly, they took a fasting 00:23:08.07\00:23:10.50 and prayed then they got released from the jail. 00:23:10.53\00:23:16.01 And now they're very happy and sons 00:23:16.04\00:23:19.45 were studying in our school. 00:23:19.48\00:23:20.58 They started Bible studies with the Bible workers. 00:23:20.61\00:23:22.41 You're right. And when I was there 00:23:22.44\00:23:23.89 I met the one older brother and he and his wife 00:23:23.92\00:23:27.18 they told us in fact like to cut away to that really quick 00:23:27.21\00:23:30.75 just now and we just share with you what he said. 00:23:30.78\00:23:33.51 So our Bible workers just showed up 00:23:33.54\00:23:35.47 and these are the two Bible workers that actually 00:23:35.50\00:23:37.09 came to the house here and visited them. 00:23:37.12\00:23:39.06 Was it like two years ago now? 00:23:39.09\00:23:40.87 Three years ago? Two years. 00:23:40.90\00:23:42.63 Two years ago. And Pastor Johnson, 00:23:42.66\00:23:46.28 tell us about these Bible workers here and-- 00:23:46.31\00:23:49.11 Her name is Saundary and her name is Rosemary. 00:23:49.14\00:23:53.14 Rosemary. This both Bible workers 00:23:53.17\00:23:55.96 met Mrs. Sarah in the market. 00:23:55.99\00:23:59.75 "Shall we come to your home?" 00:23:59.78\00:24:01.83 Then they came to the home. 00:24:01.86\00:24:05.33 Why does she ask them to come to the home? 00:24:05.36\00:24:07.53 Because of the challenges in the home. 00:24:07.56\00:24:10.00 If you pray, God will take away everything. 00:24:10.03\00:24:13.00 When your Bible workers came to the home, 00:24:13.03\00:24:15.35 we well received by the whole family? 00:24:15.38\00:24:17.88 No. It is because everyday whenever they come, 00:24:17.91\00:24:24.33 they come with the fear because but-- 00:24:24.36\00:24:28.65 Why did they have a fear? 00:24:28.68\00:24:29.97 And the fear is brother in those days 00:24:30.00\00:24:33.23 he was-- He and his younger brother addicted 00:24:33.26\00:24:37.36 to lot of alcohol and other things. 00:24:37.39\00:24:39.44 And you said they were bodybuilders and-- 00:24:39.47\00:24:41.06 And they were bodybuilder, very strong personality. 00:24:41.09\00:24:43.84 So that's way they were kind of fear. 00:24:43.87\00:24:46.24 And Pastor Joseph is the one 00:24:46.27\00:24:48.55 that leads out our team here, right? 00:24:48.58\00:24:50.20 Coordinating, yeah. 00:24:50.23\00:24:51.75 And so we have two teams of Bible workers. 00:24:51.78\00:24:54.06 This is Team B they call it, right? 00:24:54.09\00:24:56.57 Laymen Ministries Bible worker Team B. 00:24:56.60\00:24:58.83 You're right. Oh, good. That's a blessing. 00:24:58.86\00:25:03.34 And when I heard what he was sharing about 00:25:03.37\00:25:05.48 how they're happy now and everything. 00:25:05.51\00:25:07.09 You could see how Christ changed their lives. 00:25:07.12\00:25:09.95 Really quickly, we only have just a little bit more time, 00:25:09.98\00:25:12.23 but let's talk about literature. 00:25:12.26\00:25:14.03 Because literature is a really part of our ministry 00:25:14.06\00:25:16.32 there with our new center we're gonna be able to have 00:25:16.35\00:25:19.15 a place now to consolidate all of our literature, 00:25:19.18\00:25:21.44 pack it and box it and ship it out 00:25:21.47\00:25:23.45 to all of the different contacts like, 00:25:23.48\00:25:25.55 call the ministry regards to the television programs 00:25:25.58\00:25:28.31 and the needs of the Bible workers. 00:25:28.34\00:25:30.38 What do we currently have available in the Tamil language 00:25:30.41\00:25:34.01 and what kind of things do we need to print? 00:25:34.04\00:25:35.87 And how important is this literature to our work there? 00:25:35.90\00:25:38.44 I feel publishing work is very important because 00:25:38.47\00:25:44.30 the print material will be in the home. 00:25:44.33\00:25:48.36 When they're kind of trouble, they will take and read it. 00:25:48.39\00:25:52.22 So kind of example. 00:25:52.25\00:25:53.79 Great Controversy, Desire of Ages, 00:25:53.82\00:25:55.70 Steps to Christ and our ministry is a first one 00:25:55.73\00:26:00.62 who initiated to print in Tamil language. 00:26:00.65\00:26:03.95 And now we have out of stock. 00:26:03.98\00:26:06.96 So right now we need to reprint 00:26:06.99\00:26:09.17 some of these little-- some of these books 00:26:09.20\00:26:11.05 and you have I've talked about printing 00:26:11.08\00:26:12.62 the Desire of Ages like in a series of smaller books 00:26:12.65\00:26:15.46 and Great Controversy in a series of smaller books 00:26:15.49\00:26:18.28 and we've printed Steps to Christ, 00:26:18.31\00:26:20.29 I think two maybe three times 00:26:20.32\00:26:22.12 now in the last 10, 12 years. You're right. 00:26:22.15\00:26:24.52 These books need to be reprint. 00:26:24.55\00:26:25.66 They're valuable. 00:26:25.69\00:26:26.72 Aren't they for our work there? 00:26:26.75\00:26:27.83 Yes, very important because for the TV viewers, 00:26:27.86\00:26:30.31 for the door-to-door evangelisms for our evangelistic meeting 00:26:30.34\00:26:33.62 and also we are sending books to Sri Lanka, 00:26:33.65\00:26:37.16 France, Italy Middle East. 00:26:37.19\00:26:39.87 There's Tamil speaking people 00:26:39.90\00:26:41.54 all over the world, and in Malaysia. 00:26:41.57\00:26:43.89 Malaysia, Australia. We need books. 00:26:43.92\00:26:46.03 And to print Great Controversy, kind of a great hope. 00:26:46.06\00:26:52.32 It cost a 40 cent for each book. 00:26:52.35\00:26:55.64 And we are planning for a 5,000. 00:26:55.67\00:26:59.30 And so this will be 5,000 each little small books. 00:26:59.33\00:27:02.46 Small books. So the Great Controversy 00:27:02.49\00:27:04.56 we broken up like five parts probably. 00:27:04.59\00:27:06.54 You're right. So how much would 00:27:06.57\00:27:07.98 that cost altogether to? 00:27:08.01\00:27:09.60 Together maybe like 10,000 US dollars. 00:27:09.63\00:27:11.78 10,000 US dollars and same for Desire of Ages. 00:27:11.81\00:27:13.57 Yeah, same thing like that. 00:27:13.60\00:27:14.63 And Steps to Christ is an invaluable book. 00:27:14.66\00:27:16.39 I mean, we really need that. 00:27:16.42\00:27:17.54 How much would it cost to do 5,000 00:27:17.57\00:27:19.08 small great Steps to Christ? 00:27:19.11\00:27:21.47 That is 5,000 US dollar. 00:27:21.50\00:27:24.36 Our time is up. Pastor Johnson, 00:27:24.39\00:27:25.54 it's always great to have you here with us. 00:27:25.57\00:27:27.13 And if you want to get this whole two part series on a DVD, 00:27:27.16\00:27:30.15 you can contact to our ministry at Laymen Ministries, 00:27:30.18\00:27:32.39 414 Zapada Rd., Saint Maries, Idaho 83861 00:27:32.42\00:27:37.49 or you can all us at our toll free number 00:27:37.52\00:27:39.70 in that states at 1-800-245-1844, 00:27:39.73\00:27:42.91 or get us on web at, www.lmn.org. 00:27:42.94\00:27:48.40