The history of Adventist mission
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and urban center of influence
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in the heart of
Jakarta, Indonesia,
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and Pastor Dwight
Nelson coming up next.
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Hello, and
welcome to the program.
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I'm standing in
front of the Liberty Bell,
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here in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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And this bell here
is an iconic symbol
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of American independence
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and engraved on it are
the words from Leviticus,
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proclaimed freedom
throughout the land.
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On today's program,
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we'll be looking at an
urban center of influence
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in Jakarta, Indonesia.
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We'll be talking with Pastor
Dwight Nelson, but first up,
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let's look at another aspect
of Adventist mission history.
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Over 40,000 kilometers around,
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24,901 miles in circumference,
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the earth is big, and
you want to send a message,
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what do you do?
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A long, long time ago
the options were limited,
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you might have
send up smoke signals,
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blown a ram's horn,
built a fire beacon,
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or sounded the drums.
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With a written
word hand delivered mail
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became an option.
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Later carrier
pigeons became popular.
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In the 15th century
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sailors started using
maritime flag semaphores.
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In the 18th
century optical telegraph,
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then the electric
telegraph, signal lamps,
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and acoustic phonograph.
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Finally in 1876 the
telephone was invented.
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In a few years,
wireless telegraphy
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and radio would follow.
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Television hit in
1927, and as early as 1946,
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there were limited
capacity mobile phones in cars.
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Transatlantic
telephone cable followed,
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then commercial
satellites and fiber optics.
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By 1969, computers were
networking with each other.
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Ship to shore satellite
communications gave way
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to the first
cellular phone network
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and finally the internet.
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Now, if you want
to send a message
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to the other side of the planet,
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you can email, text,
call, Skype, face time,
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or voice over IP
telephone if you want.
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40,000 kilometers
around, the world is very small.
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Ellen White had this to say,
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"The vineyard
includes the whole world,
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and every part of
it is to be worked.
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The whole earth
is to be illuminated
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with the glory of God's truth.
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The light is to shine to
all lands and all peoples.
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Our burden for the regions
beyond can never be laid down
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until the whole
earth shall be lightened
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with the glory of the Lord."
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Was the church up to
that kind of challenge?
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Buckle up for a high
speed history lesson.
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The first half
of the 20th century
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was filled with thirst
for the Adventist church.
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The first church in
Bangladesh, church in Indonesia,
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missionaries in Malaysia,
tent meetings in Palestine,
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church in the
Bahamas, church in Ecuador,
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evangelistic meeting in Jordan,
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indigenous church in Egypt,
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mission on the
Island of Guadeloupe,
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converts in Puerto
Rico, school in Hawaii,
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converts in Iran,
trainee school in India,
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Adventists entered Sicily,
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church in Dominican Republic,
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academy in the Philippines,
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missionary school in Finland,
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Brazilian minister ordained,
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teachers institute in China,
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public meetings in Cambodia,
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church in Colombia,
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convert baptisms
and church in Iraq,
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mission in
Burundi, clinic in Malaysia,
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missionaries arrive in Liberia,
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mission among
Guatemalan Indians,
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church on Island of Martinique,
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church in Cameron,
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evangelism in
Guam and Micronesia,
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baptisms in Madeira Island,
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radio evangelism
in Argentina and Cuba,
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missionary to Cape Verde,
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sanitarium in Korea,
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post secondary
school in Lebanon,
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house to house
evangelism in French Guiana,
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radio evangelism in Brazil,
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summer camp in Puerto
Rico, school in Ethiopia,
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church in Taipei, Taiwan,
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television
broadcast of faith for today,
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at the turn of the 20th century
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the church was
operating foreign missions
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like smoke signals
and carrier pigeons,
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but then the countries
that have received missionaries
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started sending out
missionaries on their own.
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And then they send out
missionaries on their own.
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It's a small world after all.
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Between the end of
1910 and the end 1950,
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over 650,000 new Adventists
joined the world church.
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And that's not all,
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we skimmed over one of
the best parts of the story.
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Things got really
exciting right around the start
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of a great depression.
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Our guest is
Pastor Dwight Nelson,
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who is a senior pastor of
the Pioneer Memorial Church
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in Berrien Springs, Michigan.
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It's almost as cold
in Michigan here, Dwight?
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Right today, Gary, it is.
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We're here in
Philadelphia and, you know,
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you pastor a large
church, you're a busy man,
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but you've come to spend a week
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in this location with
like 20 or 30 young people,
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what's happening?
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Yeah, well, we're
passing by this storefront here
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and that's all
it is a storefront.
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You drive by you'll say, man,
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there is a big
school of evangelism here
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but it's a Columbia Union's
Reach School of Evangelism
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and your friend and mine,
Tara VinCross is a pastor.
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They put her in
charge of running this school
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and what we've got
are 13 young adults
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between 19 and 30 just turned on
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to become
immersed in evangelism.
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Give me the scales,
teach me the principles,
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and so Tara says,
hey, Dwight, come on over,
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let's talk to
them about preaching,
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let's just say, hey,
you gonna have to get up
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in front of a
group at some point.
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Here's how you do it and
so we're spending the week
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just think and preaching
and it's just a treat for me.
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Wonderful sir, you're working
with kids at the grassroots
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who are enthusiastic.
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They're really.
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What are you telling them?
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I'm telling them, hey, guys,
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it doesn't matter what
career you are going into,
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you're gonna have to
communicate publicly,
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because the whole deal
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with the gospel
commission is you got to talk.
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They'll see it in your face,
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they'll see it in your lifestyle
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but at some point
the mouth must open
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and declare that Jesus is Lord,
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isn't that right
as long they stand.
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So you gonna have to
talk, let's find out how to be
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the most effective
communicators we can be.
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You can get up in
front of 20 people
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and teach the Bible.
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Get up in front of
little congregation
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or big congregation here's how,
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and it's just been a,
it's been a treat for me
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because I teach seminarians.
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Okay, so these are the pros,
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these guys that are
there do this for a living
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but these kids
are total volunteers
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taking you out
of their young lives
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to immerse themselves
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and learn how to be the
best we can be for Jesus.
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Fantastic. Yeah.
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Now this school has
a specific urban focus,
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it's located in
an urban community.
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In fact this is
basically a center of influence
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for this community.
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Why is urban mission
particularly important today?
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For me, look it, I
live in a little village
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out in the middle
of nowhere in Michigan,
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right, Andrews University,
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but it's absolutely clear,
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the world has
moved to urban centers,
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everywhere, every
continent, every country.
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So if the Adventist
church is serious about
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its mission to
reach every kindred,
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tribe, tongue and people,
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we have got to be
moving in the cities,
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we have to move in the cities.
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Philadelphia,
fourth largest city
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in the United States,
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but we got Chicago near us,
we got LA, of course New York,
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so there you are, the top four.
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We've got to be in those cities.
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We can't sit on the outskirts
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and just once in a while
make this triumphant riding on
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and the charge of the cavalry
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do a little bit of
evangelism and leave,
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we've got to penetrate,
we've got to incarnate,
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that's the whole
incarnation ministry of Jesus.
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We've got to go in, so
this is the perfect place
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to be teaching evangelism,
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and urban evangelism is
the future of the church.
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If we only do rural evangelism,
this church will just slowly,
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slowly diminish and disappear.
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We have to do urban evangelism.
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You've convinced me.
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I was hoping I would do.
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Now, I know that
you've recently took the book
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"It's Time" and you read
through that with your staff.
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Why did you choose that book?
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Well, number one it was free,
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I got it in San Antonio.
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Number two, I went home
in July and I read the book,
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and when I read
the book, I said, man,
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every senior leader on
our team needs to read this.
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So the staff went through it,
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it's for our worships this fall,
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this last fall at Pioneer,
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we just last two
Monday nights ago
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handed out 40
copies to the church board,
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because this idea
of center of influence
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even at Andrews University,
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Pioneer has to be a
center of influence.
00:09:08.31\00:09:10.55
We've got to do
what the book is saying,
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you got a Jesus'
method, Ministry of Healing 143,
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mingle among men and women.
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Find out what their needs
are and go into those needs,
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and so we got to do it there,
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we're gonna have to do
it everywhere on earth.
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And the book is just a...
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If I could push the book,
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I would just push it to the max,
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because it will
inspire your soul.
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Thirteen
different places on earth
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that are actually
setting up centers of influence,
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and it's saying, you can
do it, you can really do this.
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Yeah, fantastic.
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Yeah.
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Now, Dwight, you
mentioned your church,
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you said it's
in a little village
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but it's very
influential church,
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and you've got a lot of people,
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how do you balance the costs,
00:09:46.95\00:09:50.45
the time for
ministry in your local area.
00:09:50.49\00:09:54.32
What the needs of
the world field as well,
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how do you balance
local and foreign mission?
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My conviction is this,
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Jesus said this,
you ought to have done,
00:10:01.50\00:10:03.37
and not to leave
the other undone.
00:10:03.40\00:10:04.73
We're not talking
about an either or.
00:10:04.77\00:10:06.40
The moment we get
into an either and or,
00:10:06.43\00:10:08.44
something goes down.
00:10:08.47\00:10:10.11
And in fact that
little five foot three inch
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lady name Ellen White once said,
00:10:12.71\00:10:14.74
the reciprocal
kickback is so huge
00:10:14.78\00:10:17.91
when you invest in the global,
00:10:17.95\00:10:19.98
it will a rising
tide lifts all ships,
00:10:20.02\00:10:21.98
she didn't say that,
but that's the point.
00:10:22.02\00:10:24.79
The local parish just rises
as its vision expands globally.
00:10:24.82\00:10:30.76
It cannot be either or,
in fact it has to be both.
00:10:30.79\00:10:34.00
You've got to
have that, so you know,
00:10:34.03\00:10:36.06
at Pioneer we do
the global stuff,
00:10:36.10\00:10:37.87
we send kids all over the world,
00:10:37.90\00:10:40.00
but we have to be
invested in the local
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and the city is
where the future is,
00:10:43.61\00:10:45.71
it's the only future we have.
00:10:45.74\00:10:47.68
Fantastic, Dwight, thank so much
00:10:47.71\00:10:49.51
for sharing with us today.
00:10:49.54\00:10:50.88
God bless you.
00:10:50.91\00:10:52.25
Some of the enthusiasm for
mission and I appreciate it.
00:10:52.28\00:10:53.82
Yeah.
00:10:53.85\00:10:55.18
And viewers at
home, please remember,
00:10:55.22\00:10:57.39
the challenge of the
cities, the urban areas
00:10:57.42\00:10:59.65
and as dozens of new
centers of influence are being
00:10:59.69\00:11:02.52
established around the world.
00:11:02.56\00:11:04.19
Pray for them, get
involved with them,
00:11:04.23\00:11:05.89
and remember the young people
00:11:05.93\00:11:07.33
who are training
for urban mission.
00:11:07.36\00:11:10.00
Remember them in your prayers
00:11:10.03\00:11:11.37
because it's
wonderful to see 20, 30 here
00:11:11.40\00:11:13.57
we need hundreds more.
00:11:13.60\00:11:15.30
Don't go away, we'll be
right back after this break.
00:11:15.34\00:11:17.64