Participants:
Series Code: MTS
Program Code: MTS001202A
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00:15 The history of Adventist mission
00:17 and urban center of influence 00:19 in the heart of Jakarta, Indonesia, 00:21 and Pastor Dwight Nelson coming up next. 00:49 Hello, and welcome to the program. 00:50 I'm standing in front of the Liberty Bell, 00:52 here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 00:55 And this bell here is an iconic symbol 00:58 of American independence 01:00 and engraved on it are the words from Leviticus, 01:03 proclaimed freedom throughout the land. 01:06 On today's program, 01:08 we'll be looking at an urban center of influence 01:09 in Jakarta, Indonesia. 01:11 We'll be talking with Pastor Dwight Nelson, but first up, 01:15 let's look at another aspect of Adventist mission history. 01:20 Over 40,000 kilometers around, 01:23 24,901 miles in circumference, 01:27 the earth is big, and you want to send a message, 01:31 what do you do? 01:33 A long, long time ago the options were limited, 01:35 you might have send up smoke signals, 01:36 blown a ram's horn, built a fire beacon, 01:39 or sounded the drums. 01:41 With a written word hand delivered mail 01:43 became an option. 01:44 Later carrier pigeons became popular. 01:46 In the 15th century 01:48 sailors started using maritime flag semaphores. 01:51 In the 18th century optical telegraph, 01:54 then the electric telegraph, signal lamps, 01:56 and acoustic phonograph. 01:58 Finally in 1876 the telephone was invented. 02:01 In a few years, wireless telegraphy 02:03 and radio would follow. 02:05 Television hit in 1927, and as early as 1946, 02:09 there were limited capacity mobile phones in cars. 02:12 Transatlantic telephone cable followed, 02:15 then commercial satellites and fiber optics. 02:17 By 1969, computers were networking with each other. 02:21 Ship to shore satellite communications gave way 02:23 to the first cellular phone network 02:25 and finally the internet. 02:28 Now, if you want to send a message 02:30 to the other side of the planet, 02:31 you can email, text, call, Skype, face time, 02:35 or voice over IP telephone if you want. 02:38 40,000 kilometers around, the world is very small. 02:42 Ellen White had this to say, 02:44 "The vineyard includes the whole world, 02:46 and every part of it is to be worked. 02:49 The whole earth is to be illuminated 02:50 with the glory of God's truth. 02:53 The light is to shine to all lands and all peoples. 02:57 Our burden for the regions beyond can never be laid down 03:00 until the whole earth shall be lightened 03:02 with the glory of the Lord." 03:04 Was the church up to that kind of challenge? 03:06 Buckle up for a high speed history lesson. 03:09 The first half of the 20th century 03:11 was filled with thirst for the Adventist church. 03:14 The first church in Bangladesh, church in Indonesia, 03:17 missionaries in Malaysia, tent meetings in Palestine, 03:20 church in the Bahamas, church in Ecuador, 03:22 evangelistic meeting in Jordan, 03:24 indigenous church in Egypt, 03:26 mission on the Island of Guadeloupe, 03:28 converts in Puerto Rico, school in Hawaii, 03:31 converts in Iran, trainee school in India, 03:33 Adventists entered Sicily, 03:35 church in Dominican Republic, 03:37 academy in the Philippines, 03:38 missionary school in Finland, 03:39 Brazilian minister ordained, 03:41 teachers institute in China, 03:44 public meetings in Cambodia, 03:45 church in Colombia, 03:47 convert baptisms and church in Iraq, 03:49 mission in Burundi, clinic in Malaysia, 03:52 missionaries arrive in Liberia, 03:53 mission among Guatemalan Indians, 03:55 church on Island of Martinique, 03:57 church in Cameron, 03:58 evangelism in Guam and Micronesia, 04:00 baptisms in Madeira Island, 04:02 radio evangelism in Argentina and Cuba, 04:05 missionary to Cape Verde, 04:07 sanitarium in Korea, 04:09 post secondary school in Lebanon, 04:11 house to house evangelism in French Guiana, 04:13 radio evangelism in Brazil, 04:15 summer camp in Puerto Rico, school in Ethiopia, 04:18 church in Taipei, Taiwan, 04:19 television broadcast of faith for today, 04:22 at the turn of the 20th century 04:24 the church was operating foreign missions 04:26 like smoke signals and carrier pigeons, 04:28 but then the countries that have received missionaries 04:30 started sending out missionaries on their own. 04:33 And then they send out missionaries on their own. 04:36 It's a small world after all. 04:38 Between the end of 1910 and the end 1950, 04:41 over 650,000 new Adventists joined the world church. 04:47 And that's not all, 04:48 we skimmed over one of the best parts of the story. 04:51 Things got really exciting right around the start 04:53 of a great depression. 05:04 Our guest is Pastor Dwight Nelson, 05:06 who is a senior pastor of the Pioneer Memorial Church 05:09 in Berrien Springs, Michigan. 05:12 It's almost as cold in Michigan here, Dwight? 05:14 Right today, Gary, it is. 05:15 We're here in Philadelphia and, you know, 05:18 you pastor a large church, you're a busy man, 05:21 but you've come to spend a week 05:24 in this location with like 20 or 30 young people, 05:27 what's happening? 05:28 Yeah, well, we're passing by this storefront here 05:31 and that's all it is a storefront. 05:33 You drive by you'll say, man, 05:34 there is a big school of evangelism here 05:36 but it's a Columbia Union's Reach School of Evangelism 05:39 and your friend and mine, Tara VinCross is a pastor. 05:42 They put her in charge of running this school 05:46 and what we've got are 13 young adults 05:48 between 19 and 30 just turned on 05:51 to become immersed in evangelism. 05:54 Give me the scales, teach me the principles, 05:59 and so Tara says, hey, Dwight, come on over, 06:01 let's talk to them about preaching, 06:03 let's just say, hey, you gonna have to get up 06:04 in front of a group at some point. 06:06 Here's how you do it and so we're spending the week 06:08 just think and preaching and it's just a treat for me. 06:12 Wonderful sir, you're working with kids at the grassroots 06:17 who are enthusiastic. 06:18 They're really. 06:20 What are you telling them? 06:21 I'm telling them, hey, guys, 06:24 it doesn't matter what career you are going into, 06:26 you're gonna have to communicate publicly, 06:29 because the whole deal 06:31 with the gospel commission is you got to talk. 06:33 They'll see it in your face, 06:35 they'll see it in your lifestyle 06:36 but at some point the mouth must open 06:37 and declare that Jesus is Lord, 06:39 isn't that right as long they stand. 06:41 So you gonna have to talk, let's find out how to be 06:45 the most effective communicators we can be. 06:48 You can get up in front of 20 people 06:50 and teach the Bible. 06:53 Get up in front of little congregation 06:55 or big congregation here's how, 06:57 and it's just been a, it's been a treat for me 07:00 because I teach seminarians. 07:02 Okay, so these are the pros, 07:03 these guys that are there do this for a living 07:04 but these kids are total volunteers 07:06 taking you out of their young lives 07:08 to immerse themselves 07:10 and learn how to be the best we can be for Jesus. 07:12 Fantastic. Yeah. 07:14 Now this school has a specific urban focus, 07:17 it's located in an urban community. 07:19 In fact this is basically a center of influence 07:21 for this community. 07:22 Why is urban mission particularly important today? 07:27 For me, look it, I live in a little village 07:30 out in the middle of nowhere in Michigan, 07:31 right, Andrews University, 07:33 but it's absolutely clear, 07:35 the world has moved to urban centers, 07:39 everywhere, every continent, every country. 07:42 So if the Adventist church is serious about 07:44 its mission to reach every kindred, 07:47 tribe, tongue and people, 07:48 we have got to be moving in the cities, 07:50 we have to move in the cities. 07:51 Philadelphia, fourth largest city 07:53 in the United States, 07:54 but we got Chicago near us, we got LA, of course New York, 07:57 so there you are, the top four. 07:59 We've got to be in those cities. 08:00 We can't sit on the outskirts 08:02 and just once in a while make this triumphant riding on 08:05 and the charge of the cavalry 08:08 do a little bit of evangelism and leave, 08:10 we've got to penetrate, we've got to incarnate, 08:13 that's the whole incarnation ministry of Jesus. 08:14 We've got to go in, so this is the perfect place 08:18 to be teaching evangelism, 08:21 and urban evangelism is the future of the church. 08:24 If we only do rural evangelism, this church will just slowly, 08:27 slowly diminish and disappear. 08:29 We have to do urban evangelism. 08:32 You've convinced me. 08:33 I was hoping I would do. 08:35 Now, I know that you've recently took the book 08:38 "It's Time" and you read through that with your staff. 08:40 Why did you choose that book? 08:42 Well, number one it was free, 08:45 I got it in San Antonio. 08:46 Number two, I went home in July and I read the book, 08:50 and when I read the book, I said, man, 08:52 every senior leader on our team needs to read this. 08:55 So the staff went through it, 08:56 it's for our worships this fall, 08:58 this last fall at Pioneer, 08:59 we just last two Monday nights ago 09:02 handed out 40 copies to the church board, 09:04 because this idea of center of influence 09:06 even at Andrews University, 09:08 Pioneer has to be a center of influence. 09:10 We've got to do what the book is saying, 09:11 you got a Jesus' method, Ministry of Healing 143, 09:14 mingle among men and women. 09:17 Find out what their needs are and go into those needs, 09:20 and so we got to do it there, 09:22 we're gonna have to do it everywhere on earth. 09:24 And the book is just a... 09:25 If I could push the book, 09:27 I would just push it to the max, 09:28 because it will inspire your soul. 09:30 Thirteen different places on earth 09:32 that are actually setting up centers of influence, 09:34 and it's saying, you can do it, you can really do this. 09:38 Yeah, fantastic. 09:39 Yeah. 09:40 Now, Dwight, you mentioned your church, 09:42 you said it's in a little village 09:43 but it's very influential church, 09:45 and you've got a lot of people, 09:46 how do you balance the costs, 09:50 the time for ministry in your local area. 09:54 What the needs of the world field as well, 09:56 how do you balance local and foreign mission? 09:59 My conviction is this, 10:01 Jesus said this, you ought to have done, 10:03 and not to leave the other undone. 10:04 We're not talking about an either or. 10:06 The moment we get into an either and or, 10:08 something goes down. 10:10 And in fact that little five foot three inch 10:12 lady name Ellen White once said, 10:14 the reciprocal kickback is so huge 10:17 when you invest in the global, 10:20 it will a rising tide lifts all ships, 10:22 she didn't say that, but that's the point. 10:24 The local parish just rises as its vision expands globally. 10:30 It cannot be either or, in fact it has to be both. 10:34 You've got to have that, so you know, 10:36 at Pioneer we do the global stuff, 10:37 we send kids all over the world, 10:40 but we have to be invested in the local 10:43 and the city is where the future is, 10:45 it's the only future we have. 10:47 Fantastic, Dwight, thank so much 10:49 for sharing with us today. 10:50 God bless you. 10:52 Some of the enthusiasm for mission and I appreciate it. 10:53 Yeah. 10:55 And viewers at home, please remember, 10:57 the challenge of the cities, the urban areas 10:59 and as dozens of new centers of influence are being 11:02 established around the world. 11:04 Pray for them, get involved with them, 11:05 and remember the young people 11:07 who are training for urban mission. 11:10 Remember them in your prayers 11:11 because it's wonderful to see 20, 30 here 11:13 we need hundreds more. 11:15 Don't go away, we'll be right back after this break. |
Revised 2016-08-22