Participants:
Series Code: MTS
Program Code: MTS002402A
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00:06 A center of influence helps children in Trinidad,
00:09 a prayer map that looks like a subway map, 00:12 and the beginnings of Adventist work in the city 00:15 of San Francisco, coming up next. 00:51 Hello and welcome to Mission 360. 00:53 I'm Gary Krause. 00:55 Today's program is coming to you from the city 00:57 of San Francisco in California. 01:00 And I'm standing on Market Street, 01:02 which is one of the busy thoroughfares of the city. 01:06 Now Market Street is a fascinating hub 01:09 for the city. 01:10 And I'd like to take you back in time, 01:12 back to 1906 to April, 14. 01:16 And here you can see that it was a very different 01:18 world back then. 01:20 And in the early 1900s, and the late 1800s, 01:24 the Seventh-day Adventist Church 01:26 ran several urban centers 01:28 of influence right here in San Francisco. 01:30 In fact, a couple of them are right here on Market Street, 01:34 a restaurant called the Vegetarian that was opened 01:37 in 1899, 01:39 and also a branch of St. Helena Sanitarium, 01:43 urban centers of influence are centers 01:45 that put into practice Christ's method of ministry. 01:48 And around the world today, we need many, 01:51 many more to show the love of Jesus. 01:53 We're going to be looking at mission around the world today. 01:56 But first up, let's travel to Trinidad 01:59 and there we will see a center of influence in action. 02:04 A ray of hope beams in the Brickfieldcommunity 02:07 on the island of Trinidad. 02:09 Through a Life Hope Center, 02:11 people's lives are changed in an incredible way. 02:14 One of the largest Hindu temples in the country 02:17 is just a few short blocks from this center. 02:21 As visitors passed by on the street, 02:23 their curiosity is piqued by this sign, 02:26 and they go in to see what is happening. 02:29 Many people who come inside find a variety of services 02:33 aimed at meeting the needs of this community. 02:36 At the Life Hope Center, before we started any course, 02:39 we did a needs assessment. 02:41 And we found out that the children here 02:43 are not good readers. 02:45 And so we targeted the children, 02:48 and we also targeted the parents 02:50 because the children will come soon with them. 02:52 So we have the math class, we have homework class, 02:55 and we have pre-school going here every week. 02:58 And then we had people who were sick and needed 03:01 a new lifestyle, and we started a health-fitness class. 03:04 So basically every day, 03:07 four times of the week we are here 03:09 with all those classes that I just mentioned. 03:12 Some children in this community are not able 03:14 to attend public schools 03:16 because they don't have the proper documentation. 03:19 For them, the Life Hope Center is their only hope 03:22 to receive something similar to a formal education. 03:26 Children, ages 6 to 15, 03:28 come to learn to read and write, 03:30 to develop math skills, 03:31 and to receive physical and spiritual training. 03:34 For adults, fitness and healthy living classes 03:37 are offered to increase longevity 03:39 and to fight off disease. 03:41 Many have benefited from the courses. 03:43 And as they leave, 03:44 they display a new and positive outlook on life. 03:47 I was feeling sick, 03:49 and with exercise and the control of the diet, 03:52 I stopped my tablet, 03:54 and I am feeling happy to do things 03:55 I couldn't do before, I am doing now. 03:57 You know, at the age of 55. 03:59 I thought it was impossible. 04:02 And I want to say thanks to all the members 04:03 of the Life Hope Center for this opportunity 04:06 because I have learned a lot. 04:08 I have learned to become a nicer person too. 04:11 I have a lot more patience, which I didn't have before. 04:14 It helped me in more ways than I know. 04:17 In addition to intellectual and physical training, 04:20 some people have found hope in Jesus 04:22 at the Brickfield Life Hope Center. 04:25 Now it's quite normal for the staff 04:26 to receive requests for spiritual counseling 04:29 and Bible lessons. 04:31 In this community, 04:32 the center's holistic approach has proven priceless. 04:36 And we believe in mingling with the people mixing 04:38 with them, befriending them by offering different courses, 04:43 things that they need. 04:45 Well, some of the changes I have seen is that 04:48 some of these people who are here, 04:50 they ask us to pray for them. 04:53 We are having Bible studies with them. 04:56 And we even raised a church because of this center. 04:59 We now have 25 people. 05:01 Please pray for the Brickfield Life Hope Center 05:04 in Trinidad as they work to befriend, serve, 05:07 and win the confidence of people in the region. 05:17 My guest here in Oakland, California is Chef Chew. 05:21 And, Chef Chew, thank you for joining us. 05:23 Absolutely. 05:24 And we're on your territory here. 05:25 Behind us is the Veg Hub. 05:27 What is the Veg Hub? 05:28 Oh, the Veg Hub is actually a vegan restaurant. 05:31 We actually are urban sort of influence right at Oakland. 05:34 Wonderful. 05:35 Where we do amazing, delicious vegan food. 05:37 And we also do a lot of community education, 05:39 cooking classes. 05:40 And most importantly, we are an example for Christ. 05:42 Fantastic. You know, it's there. 05:43 Yeah. So describe where we are. 05:45 We're on a street here. Where are we? 05:47 Well, this is a center area to Oakland. 05:50 It's actually called MacArthur Boulevard, 05:51 it's actually pretty much one of the original streets 05:53 in Oakland. 05:55 It's actually in the heart of Oakland 05:56 where you have more rural, 05:58 I guess the more affluent areas of Oakland, 06:00 as well as you can say, 06:02 the more low-income neighborhoods as well. 06:03 So right in the mix of both neighborhood 06:05 or economical groups. 06:08 And so we're actually the place where it's very diverse, 06:11 very many different types of ethnic groups out here, 06:14 a lot of millennials also live close by as well. 06:16 So it's a very great location in Oakland, 06:19 where we can serve great food. 06:20 Terrific. 06:21 Well, why don't you show us into the restaurant? 06:23 Absolutely. Yeah. 06:24 Thank you. 06:25 So I love the design of the Veg Hub. 06:27 Yeah. 06:28 Very nice. 06:30 Well, this is, 06:31 we like to say become a style of restaurant. 06:33 Our first thing that we always say is, 06:35 welcome family. 06:36 Okay. 06:37 We have an open kitchen, which we believe is almost like 06:39 eating at your kitchen in home, you know? 06:40 At the kitchen table. 06:41 And so we come here, 06:43 we got a really amazing chalkboard wall. 06:45 You can notice here, 06:47 we have a local artist that came in here 06:48 and actually gave a vision what we want to do in the city. 06:51 Right here we have something called Bridges 2 Oakland, 06:54 and Bridges 2 Oakland is really why we're here. 06:56 We wanted to set up a model. 06:57 We can really be a bridge to the community 06:59 through using healthy food, 07:00 education in the love of Christ. 07:02 And so, that was our mission and obviously the Veg Hub 07:05 and it's kind of the bridge of Oakland 07:07 is going right to the heart of Oakland to the community. 07:09 And it's really cool because right in the midst of it, 07:11 we kind of have our ultimate vision is right here. 07:13 It's a little small cross, it truly represents a church, 07:18 which in our vision is to use the Veg Hub as a pretty much 07:22 the beginning of a church plan. 07:23 Wonderful. 07:25 So that's kind of our ultimate aim that we're seeking to do 07:26 with this mission. 07:28 So I see that there's gonna be hub church here one day, huh? 07:30 That hub church, man. 07:32 That's exactly right, the hub church. 07:33 That's the vision. 07:34 Starting right here, we're going to be starting 07:36 small groups, 07:37 pretty much gonna be started in about a month or two. 07:39 We're going to be having Friday night social events, 07:41 and then all community service projects, 07:43 and we're going to build community, 07:45 and we're hoping for a launch in 2020. 07:47 Fantastic. That's the goal. 07:48 Yeah. Fantastic. 07:49 And the menu? Yeah, we got the menu here. 07:51 Delicious menu. 07:52 We got our gourmet sandwiches, 07:54 we make everything from scratch. 07:55 We have our different types of breads, 07:57 but then we feature some meats that I actually 07:59 manufacture myself called the better chew proteins. 08:02 So we like to actually have Phillycheese steaks, 08:05 so it looks like steak, tastes like steak, 08:07 but guess what, it ain't steak. 08:09 We got our chicken melts, spinach mushroom melts, 08:12 different flavors, delicious, you know, 08:14 simple things like French fries. 08:15 We got our cheese fries, cheese steak fries. 08:18 And in the evening time, we have our silken plates, 08:20 where we have our vegan fried chicken. 08:22 It's really amazing, great texture, great taste, 08:25 mac and cheese, three cheese mac and cheese. 08:27 People love the mac and cheese. 08:29 And then we have some other simple stuff. 08:30 And we also have doughnuts. 08:32 One of the things people really love and come to get 08:34 is our vegan doughnuts. 08:35 You can kind of see them here. 08:37 We got different flavors that we kind of do. 08:39 And so, it's really, really delicious products, man, 08:41 just comfort foods. 08:43 Many people will come back over and over again. 08:44 We have customers that come here every day. 08:45 I mean, they love it so much. 08:47 Right, so you can be vegan, but you don't have to suffer. 08:49 You don't have to suffer. No. 08:51 You don't want to be vegan that suffers now. 08:52 It can be delicious 08:54 and nutritious and at the same time. 08:56 You know, all of our products made with non-GMO ingredients, 08:58 you know, whole food ingredients, 08:59 everything ingredient you can pronounce. 09:01 So, you know, we try to make a very delicious thing 09:03 that people are transitioning into eating plant-based. 09:06 Our products are perfect for people 09:07 that are flexitarians, 09:09 eating vegan for the first time. 09:11 A lot of my friends who are, maybe not, you know, 09:13 who wanted to eat vegan for the first time that comes 09:15 to this restaurant, 09:17 and they recommend their friends 09:18 to come here as well because the flavors are amazing, 09:20 the taste is really good. 09:21 Terrific. 09:22 Now I noticed over on this board here, 09:24 you're advertising cooking classes. 09:25 What's this? Absolutely. 09:27 We believe that the key to change is education. 09:28 Right. 09:29 So we have a room where we do our cooking classes 09:31 on a regular basis. 09:32 So we do classes myself and one of our team members. 09:35 We have classes for kids. 09:37 So we have the Auntie Sarah's cooking class, 09:39 she does classes for, you know, kids, 09:42 young people in elementary school 09:43 and middle school. 09:45 But then we also do classes for adults the Chop 09:47 and Chewclasses. 09:48 And back here, you can kind of see 09:49 our production area/classroom. 09:52 So we actually have a classroom 09:54 that we actually do cooking classes 09:56 as well for the community. 09:58 And you know, sometimes you see us with 8 or 10 kids 10:01 in here, doing hands-on instruction. 10:03 You know, we had this whole room filled up 10:04 with kids or adults and teach them 10:06 how to eat healthy and cook healthy. 10:08 Fantastic. 10:09 Yeah, and this is, you know, the cooking classes 10:10 is amazing because it really 10:12 helps us to build relationships. 10:13 It kind of goes deeper into this food 10:15 because now they see that we care about them. 10:17 So we're more than just a restaurant, you know, 10:19 we are a restaurant that actually educates 10:21 and loves them as well. 10:22 So it makes a big difference. Terrific. 10:23 Now, obviously, you got nutrition, 10:26 you've got more healthful living, 10:28 you're building connections. 10:30 I heard you mentioned once that 10:32 this is also a social justice issue 10:34 for particularly inner-city neighborhoods. 10:36 Can you tell us a little bit about that? 10:38 Absolutely. 10:39 You know, we're super close right here, 10:40 we're not too far from a place called East Oakland, 10:42 and then you have Deep East Oakland 10:43 about three miles from Deep East Oakland. 10:45 It's pretty much a food desert. 10:47 And a food desert, something call it food swamps, 10:49 it's pretty much an area where you don't have 10:51 a lot of access to healthy foods. 10:53 So pretty much anything, 10:54 but obviously vegan would be nonexistent, 10:56 but definitely it's a high concentration 10:58 of everything from liquor stores 10:59 to convenience stores to hot fatty foods, 11:02 fast food restaurants. 11:03 And then, you know, the foods when you go 11:05 into places where you eat at, 11:07 typically they're barred up, you know, 11:10 people think they're going to have a lot of theft. 11:11 And so it's not a really good place 11:13 that you just want to go eat. 11:14 Right. 11:15 And so sadly in those environments, 11:17 you don't have a lot of these healthy options. 11:18 And so a lot of our mission as a company, 11:20 as the Veg Hub, 11:22 is really is to democratize the access to healthy foods, 11:25 to really create a product that's healthy, 11:27 that's nutritious, but also affordable. 11:29 You know, I read a long ago, you know, 11:30 when Ellen White wrote about in the restaurant work, 11:33 she mentioned that the health food should be 11:34 affordable for all people so that all people 11:36 in any neighborhood, 11:37 in any community can actually be able 11:39 to afford the foods. 11:40 So we want to be able to make our products affordable 11:42 and also educate, you know, 11:44 groups that simply don't have access 11:45 to these products, and they can do it themselves. 11:48 They can actually, you know, eat healthy, 11:49 and it can be affordable and nutritious. 11:51 Fantastic. Yeah. 11:52 So there's a real deep issue of, you know, 11:53 these communities are suffering, 11:55 high rates of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, 11:58 all these things are running rampant in these communities. 12:01 And so unless we have solutions, I mean, 12:03 the consistency of seeing early premature death 12:06 is what we're gonna see on a regular basis 12:07 in these communities. 12:09 So, yes, we have a real big passion 12:10 and a heart for able to help solve some of those issues 12:13 in our community. 12:14 So because of where you're located, 12:16 you're getting quite a diverse clientele. 12:17 Absolutely. Yeah. 12:19 I mean, again, you know, 12:20 we get many different nationalities, 12:22 obviously, blacks and whites, 12:24 we get Hispanics, we get Indians, 12:25 we have a big Indian population because a lot of them 12:27 are actually don't eat beef and things like that. 12:29 So they look for vegetarian options. 12:31 We also get a lot of millennials 12:33 of all different nationalities, which is pretty amazing. 12:37 We also get different socioeconomic classes. 12:39 And again, since we're like into segue 12:40 between the more fluent community 12:42 and also more of, you know, lower economical communities, 12:46 we actually get both groups 12:47 that come inside this restaurant, 12:49 which is pretty amazing. 12:50 Because typically, vegan restaurants 12:51 are not located in a more, 12:53 you know, low-income neighborhoods. 12:54 So we're kind of right between the two. 12:56 So we get both groups 12:57 that come faithfully and support us. 12:59 So it's really, really a blessing. 13:00 Fantastic. 13:02 What are your hopes for the future? 13:03 You know, my vision, man, I want to see 13:05 the Adventist vegan franchise, you know? 13:09 Ellen White wrote in 1902 that we should have restaurants, 13:12 you know, in different cities as urban centers. 13:14 Including Oakland. Including Oakland. 13:16 She mentioned my name in San Francisco and Oakland. 13:18 So I like to say we're living the page. 13:20 We've been filling the prophecy. 13:21 And so I just feel like at certain times I believe God 13:24 is calling us to see this work go forward, 13:27 but not in a way this to make money, 13:29 but really in a way that can give Him all the glory. 13:31 I believe that the time is now, 13:33 we've never seen a time where veganism 13:35 has grown 600% in the last few years. 13:37 You find basketball stars 13:40 and sports stars are becoming vegan, you know? 13:42 You know, Hollywood stars are becoming vegan. 13:45 So it's becoming very prominent. 13:47 But it's something that we've known for over 100 years. 13:49 And I believe that we have to reclaim the message, 13:51 bring it to the communities, and I want to say revival. 13:55 So young people actually working in these restaurants, 13:57 creating jobs, creating employment, 13:59 giving back to the community, 14:00 solving some of the social justice issues 14:02 that we're finding in our communities, 14:03 I think we have a voice is like, 14:05 you know, it's like John the Baptist, 14:06 the voice in the wilderness crying out, 14:08 let people know there's something better. 14:10 You know, we don't have to keep dying prematurely. 14:11 We can be healthy, we can eat good, 14:13 it can taste delicious. 14:14 And so I dream in 10 years to see this model 14:16 come together become a reality. 14:18 And I think this is the foundation, 14:20 I think there's people all around the country, 14:21 all around the world, 14:22 who's getting excited about seeing 14:24 a restaurant in their community, 14:25 and I just want to be a part of it. 14:27 I like to say if I get to heaven, 14:28 I don't mind being a janitor in heaven. 14:30 All I could do is sweep the floors in heaven, 14:33 I hope to make some of the meals 14:34 and some of the food in heaven, but hey, 14:35 if I could just be the janitor, I'm happy, man. 14:37 So, you know, restaurant is a lot of work, you know, 14:39 but it's a lot of heart and it's really rewarding 14:41 when you see the smiles on the customers' faces. 14:43 You know, somebody's thankful, God has been really good to us. 14:46 Fantastic. 14:47 Thanks for sharing with us today, Chef Chew. 14:48 Yeah, absolutely. It's a pleasure. 14:50 Appreciate it. God bless you. 14:51 Yes, sir. 14:52 Viewers at home, I believe that God 14:54 wants to see hundreds of urban centers 14:56 of influence like Veg Hub around the world, 14:58 in urban areas, making a difference, 15:00 putting Christ method into practice. 15:02 Please pray for Chef Chew and his team and their vision. 15:06 We'll be right back after this break. |
Revised 2020-04-02