Warming hearts with
ice in Trinidad and Tobago,
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the amazing story
00:00:11.57\00:00:12.91
of pioneer
missionary David Babcock
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and when God appeared on
television in New Zealand,
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all that and much
more coming up next.
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Hello and
welcome to Mission 360.
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I'm Gary Krause.
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Today's program is coming to you
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from San
Francisco, in California.
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But I'm actually
just across the bridge
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in Oakland, California.
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And here you can
see the harbor area
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where in 1890, September 1890,
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some 1,500
Adventists gathered together
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for something pretty exciting.
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And it was the
launch of the Pitcairn boat.
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What an amazing
event that must have been.
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I wish I could have been there
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as church members came together
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to celebrate the
sacrifice of church members,
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including children
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to put their
mission offerings together
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to launch a boat to go
into the South Pacific.
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And it traveled to
Pitcairn, to Fiji, other islands
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and open up work in
that area of the world.
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On today's program,
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we're going to be looking
at mission around the world
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here in San Francisco.
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And, first of all,
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we're going to travel
to Trinidad and Tobago.
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I'm a snow cone vendor,
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and I've been selling
this since the age of 13,
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and now I'm just about to be 40.
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It's a sugary liquid
on ice and with milk.
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It's the best
thing in the Caribbean.
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Meet Wesley, a snow cone
vendor in Trinidad and Tobago.
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Each day except Saturday,
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he wakes up early to grind
ice before leaving for work.
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Then he slowly pedals his cart
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through the quiet
streets of Felicity
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to sell his icy fare.
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However, Wesley isn't a
regular snow cone vendor,
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he also ministers
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to people's
physical and spiritual needs.
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Because that is
what I really deem it
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as a privilege to be to
bring hope to the hopeless,
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giving encouragement to
those that are discouraged,
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to bring fulfillment
to those that are empty,
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and also to bring life to those
who are dying without Christ.
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Felicity is a rural sugarcane
and rice plantation community.
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But even in this peaceful
town are painful stories.
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Young children
with little food to eat,
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men afflicted by illness,
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and, families
struggling to stay together.
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Wesley helps
provide food, clothing
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and other basic
necessities for those in need.
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He also offers counseling
to the families he meets.
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On one occasion,
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Wesley spent two days
handing out free snow cones
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to 400 children in the area.
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He does all this to
serve a greater purpose.
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Sometimes people will
stop me on the street,
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we will pray right there.
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We will enter their
home, read the scripture.
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And I give them
words of encouragement
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and then invite them to church.
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He's the best person
at giving moral support,
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we love him.
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I tell you,
he's the best person.
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Because everybody has
some string attached to it,
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and he does this without any.
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When talking to
him, I feel different.
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Even though this neighborhood
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is made up of people
from other world religions,
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Wesley has earned the
respect of the community.
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Today he offers
physical and spiritual support
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to more than 30 families.
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Through this snow cone ministry,
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the local Adventist Church
has had many new visitors.
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Please pray for
Wesley's ministry
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that God continues
to use him and others
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in Trinidad and
Tobago for His work.
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I want to say
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this job that I
have is the best job,
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I can even say in the world
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because it helps
me to meet people
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and to tell people
about the love of Jesus.
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Thank you for
supporting mission.
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My guest here in San
Francisco is Dr. Urbina,
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who's heading up a unique
type of center of influence
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in the Central California area.
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Dr. Urbina, thank you
so much for joining us.
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Happy to be here.
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Now, what are you doing
exactly in your ministry now?
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You know, I'm the Director
for Life Hope Centers Ministry
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as a humanitarian service
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that provides
practical and relevant services
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to the community.
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We provide free dental care,
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free vision care
and medical screening,
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along with other health
related sources or resources
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that the local
church has available.
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Now in the office
of Adventist Mission,
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we're very interested in
urban centers of influence,
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but what you are describing
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is a mobile center of influence.
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Tell me exactly how it works?
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You know, one of our focus is
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the essence of Life
Hope Centers Ministry
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is relationship building.
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And in order to
build relationship,
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it takes intentionality.
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When we follow Christ's method,
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He mingled as one who
sought good in others.
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That's mingling
with intentionality.
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So when we prepare for
Life Hope Centers program,
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we will meet
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long before the
anticipated date of the program
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to prepare our church,
finding their resources,
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understanding the
needs of the community,
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and serving as a
source of matching
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need with resources.
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And so we've worked
with the local churches
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and preparing them,
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also to prepare them for
the actual day of service.
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And then, most importantly,
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is really having an
evangelistic strategy
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of relationship building
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that ultimately
leads to introducing them
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to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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During that process,
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we're actually demonstrating
his acts of service,
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which are demonstrations
of what the gospel message is.
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And so when individuals
begin to hear it in Word,
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then they begin
to reflect and match
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the actions with the words,
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and then it makes
perfect sense to them.
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Terrific.
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Now, I called it a
mobile center of influence.
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What exactly is the center
that you have traveling around?
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You know, what we find
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as a health
crisis in our country
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has become an
evangelistic opportunity.
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And so because
dental and vision care
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are much, too
much needed services
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that are often elective services
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and people's insurance,
health insurance portfolio.
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What we do is
that we go to churches,
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and we purposely set up
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our programs in the local church
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to help brand the services
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that we're reaching
out to the community
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with the local church.
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And so we will, we will
set up our mobile clinic as one
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that we have a 27 foot trailer,
and it's mobile, portable,
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so that the equipment
that we have in our trailer,
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we unload,
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and we adapt it to the needs
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of the available
space in the churches.
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And so we'll set
up our dental clinic,
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we'll set up our vision clinic,
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and our medical
screening clinic there.
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Now you are a pastor,
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but you in a former
life were also a dentist.
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How do you combine
these two together?
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How did this happen?
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You know, I practiced
dentistry for 37 years
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and God took me
through the torturous route
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of learning that profession.
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But He had other
plans, unbeknownst to me.
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And so His call to ministry
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was one that left me
a bit puzzled initially,
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because why would God call
me at this point of my life,
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where I practiced
dentistry for 37 years
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and to come into ministry.
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And so, when our
Central California Conference
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initiated the program
for Life Hope Centers,
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and they called me to
help develop the program.
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It was so
exciting to realize it.
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Here God had been
preparing me all along,
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for combining ministry
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with the practice of
health and dentistry.
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That's wonderful.
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Now, you also mentioned
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there's a vision
component as well,
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who cares for
that side of things?
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You know, we have
dedicated volunteers.
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You know, we have
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over half a million
dollars worth of equipment,
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but the most important
and essential component
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of our Life
Hope Centers Ministry
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are the volunteers.
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And so we depend,
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very importantly,
on our volunteers,
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we have a team of
dedicated volunteer
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optometrists and
vision team to join us.
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We are also very intentional
in terms of incorporating
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about one-third
of our volunteers
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as non-Adventists.
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Wonderful.
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We'd like to
have the opportunity
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that provides
us mixing shoulders
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with
non-Adventist professionals.
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We had one instance
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where we had a
program in a local community,
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we've had served over
300 individuals that day.
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And at the end of the day,
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we had a lounge set
up for our volunteers
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and I was, you know,
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eating and conversing
with two fellow colleagues
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who I presumed were Adventist
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until one of them asked me,
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"You know, I'm just impressed
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by the logistics
of Life Hope Centers,
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you know, what is it?
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What is it about this that
you're so passionate about?"
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And then his colleagues said,
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"Well, all I know about
Seventh-day Adventist is that
00:10:00.86\00:10:03.87
it's a cult."
00:10:03.90\00:10:05.63
And then he came
back and commented,
00:10:05.67\00:10:07.40
"You know, all I've heard
about Seventh-day Adventists
00:10:07.44\00:10:09.84
is what you don't eat."
00:10:09.87\00:10:11.21
What?
00:10:11.24\00:10:12.57
And before I had an
opportunity to respond,
00:10:12.61\00:10:15.51
he came around
and the other partner
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or colleague had commented,
00:10:17.78\00:10:19.68
"What is it about
Seventh-day Adventists
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that you believe.
00:10:22.38\00:10:23.72
What do Adventists believe?"
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And so therein came the
opportunity to talk to them
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about Jesus.
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And I would venture to say that
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we'd be hard pressed finding
two individuals like this
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walking into our churches
and asking that question.
00:10:33.63\00:10:35.66
Exactly.
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And yet it was in this setting
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that Spirit of
God move their hearts
00:10:38.43\00:10:40.17
and open them to inquire.
00:10:40.20\00:10:42.44
So not only you
touching the lives of people
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you're serving,
00:10:44.94\00:10:46.27
but the people who
are serving with you.
00:10:46.31\00:10:47.98
Exactly, exactly.
00:10:48.01\00:10:49.58
So you're very intentional
00:10:49.61\00:10:51.31
and intentional
in not only caring
00:10:51.35\00:10:53.38
for the
physical needs of people,
00:10:53.42\00:10:54.75
but also their spiritual needs.
00:10:54.78\00:10:56.12
Yes, yes.
00:10:56.15\00:10:57.49
We know that when we
follow Christ's method,
00:10:57.52\00:11:00.76
Christ's method alone is
the most successful method
00:11:00.79\00:11:03.63
for reaching others.
00:11:03.66\00:11:05.03
And He mingled with
a desire to seek those,
00:11:05.06\00:11:08.00
so it was mingling
with intentionality.
00:11:08.03\00:11:10.40
And He sympathized.
00:11:10.43\00:11:11.77
You can't sympathize with people
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without being in
the midst of them
00:11:13.17\00:11:15.10
and understanding their needs.
00:11:15.14\00:11:16.97
And then He was able
to serve and treat them.
00:11:17.01\00:11:20.38
And as a result of
accomplishing that,
00:11:20.41\00:11:23.38
then He bid them to follow.
00:11:23.41\00:11:25.38
And so Life Hope
Centers is in essence
00:11:25.41\00:11:28.48
fulfilling that model
of Christ method alone.
00:11:28.52\00:11:31.79
Fantastic.
00:11:31.82\00:11:33.15
Dr. Urbina, thank you so
much sharing with us today.
00:11:33.19\00:11:34.59
My pleasure. You're welcome.
00:11:34.62\00:11:36.12
And viewers at home,
00:11:36.16\00:11:37.49
what a marvelous
initiative this is.
00:11:37.53\00:11:39.79
And there may be
some variation of this
00:11:39.83\00:11:42.23
that you can try in
your urban communities
00:11:42.26\00:11:44.40
where you live,
00:11:44.43\00:11:45.77
but please pray for this
tremendous mission challenge
00:11:45.80\00:11:48.70
here in Central California.
00:11:48.74\00:11:50.67
You know, we understand
that through the Bay Area,
00:11:50.71\00:11:53.17
we have between
8-10 million people.
00:11:53.21\00:11:55.81
It's a mission field in itself.
00:11:55.84\00:11:57.31
We'll be right
back after this break.
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