Participants:
Series Code: MTS
Program Code: MTS002502B
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00:07 Welcome back to the city of Chicago.
00:09 And behind me you'll see a sculpture by Anish Kapoor, 00:13 which is called Cloud Gate 00:15 but it's more popularly known as The Bean. 00:18 And it's like a magnet drawing tourists 00:21 to take pictures and do funny poses 00:23 and see themselves reflected in this sculpture. 00:31 Hi, there. 00:32 I'm so happy to have you with us today. 00:34 My name is Kleber Goncalves, 00:36 and I'm here in the streets of Madrid 00:38 to introduce you to a friend in an urban missionary. 00:41 This is Jonathan Contero. 00:43 And, Johnny, you mentioned to us 00:44 that a dream brought you to this city. 00:48 Can you share with us a little bit about this dream? 00:50 Yes, when I was raised in church, 00:54 I was feeling that we were unable to reach 00:57 secular people. 00:58 And in 21st century, we still in Spain, 01:04 we don't reach secular and postmodern people, 01:07 and my dream was to plant a church, 01:10 able to reach this kind of people. 01:12 We communicate, that could communicate 01:14 with the secular and postmodern mind. 01:16 Yeah, we have to connect with them. 01:17 What brought you to Madrid? Any specific reason? 01:21 Well, Madrid is the capital of Spain, 01:23 is the largest city, 01:25 actually, 3 million people are living here. 01:27 How large is the country, the whole country? 01:29 The county is like 47 million people. 01:33 In Madrid? 01:34 In Madrid, 3 million living here. 01:36 So it's quite big city to share the gospel. 01:40 And for how long have you been in Madrid 01:42 with this specific project? 01:43 It's for three years now, yeah. 01:46 And during these three years, 01:48 could you share with us some of the challenges 01:51 that you have faced in order to really... 01:53 Yeah, the challenge in the postmodern society, 01:56 they reject organized religion. 02:00 They even reject the idea of God. 02:02 They don't like, yeah, religion and churches, 02:07 they reject all this idea. 02:10 And what are some of the steps that you and your team 02:13 have developed to make friendship with them. 02:17 So build bridges with the community around you? 02:20 While the first step is impact the community 02:23 to live what we preach 02:25 is just impacting the community around us, 02:29 and we invite them to join us 02:32 working for the community for homeless people. 02:34 We go to the hospital, 02:36 we do very hard push into the impact to community. 02:41 When I hear you mentioning that you guys 02:43 go to hospitals 02:44 to do a specific work with children there. 02:47 If I'm not wrong, 02:49 can you go a little bit more specific 02:50 with what you do in the hospital 02:52 in order to really reach out 02:53 to these children and their families? 02:55 In the hospital, we stay with them, 02:58 we play with them, and we spend time with them. 03:02 At the end, I guess people need time, 03:05 quality time and to develop trust 03:09 and we try to spend time, quality time with them. 03:13 What are some of the results 03:14 that are coming out of these community initiatives 03:17 that you have been developing? 03:19 Well, we do a summer camp with sick kids, 03:24 cancer, epilepsy, 03:25 and two girls, 03:27 two of the participants of the summer come, 03:30 two young ladies of 15 years old. 03:33 They are coming to church very often 03:34 because of the summer camp we do. 03:36 That's wonderful. 03:38 And through all these years 03:39 that you've been leading this specific project, 03:41 what are some of the lessons, 03:43 Jonathan, that you have learned that you could share with us? 03:48 Yeah, first lesson is to develop trust 03:51 before the invitation. 03:52 I mean, people need to trust you 03:55 before they go the way you do 03:58 and before going the place you go. 04:02 The second is patience. 04:04 We need to be patient because we are in a rush, 04:07 we're stressed to just to make people 04:11 do a commitment with Jesus very fast, 04:13 and several people need time to make that commitment. 04:17 And throughout this whole wonderful experience 04:22 that you guys are having, 04:23 I heard that many people have been transformed. 04:26 Could you kind of mention 04:29 a situation or a story of somebody? 04:31 Yeah, a guy comes to my mind. 04:33 He's actor and he started with us 04:36 with the project, is step one. 04:38 He did step two, is a small groups. 04:40 He came to my house 04:42 and we studied Bible every week, 04:44 we pray together. 04:45 And the third step, he came to church. 04:47 He was ready to came to church. 04:49 And now he is disciple. 04:51 This been really... 04:54 So he's part of the community? Yeah, yeah. 04:57 What kind of steps are you guys taking to build 05:00 this family kind of attitudes in the community? 05:05 Yeah, we try to teach, 05:08 to pass it on the idea of discipleship. 05:12 We are a family and community, 05:14 we are a family and we work for God. 05:17 We work to one another. We help us one another. 05:20 And we try to change the world. 05:22 So if I hear you correctly, 05:24 church for you guys is not a building 05:26 or four walls in which you meet once a week? 05:28 Not at all. 05:30 Church, we are church, the persons, 05:32 every one of us is church together 05:35 when we are together. 05:36 So your goal is to build the church in the community? 05:38 Yeah, yeah, no matter the building, 05:40 the church is every one of us and what we do. 05:44 So yeah, 05:45 the idea is to kind of bring this vision, 05:47 this dream to other young people, 05:49 other pastors that could take this 05:51 to maybe other cities in Spain? 05:53 Yeah, hopefully. Or maybe out of Spain? 05:55 Yeah, hopefully it will be a great miracle 05:58 and a great challenge as well. 06:00 It is our sincere prayer that, Jonathan, 06:02 that Lord will continue to bless you, your team, 06:05 the community that you are building 06:07 such a way that you're going to be 06:09 powerful instruments in His hands. 06:12 Thank you so much for joining us. 06:14 And thank you for having us in your home. 06:16 And we just pray that you also understand 06:18 that God has appealed to you, 06:20 that you also has a part to fulfill in His mission. 06:23 All the best. God bless you. 06:25 Next up, we travel to Thailand, 06:27 and we visit a unique mission project. 06:30 It's a climbing wall. 06:49 The thing that I really like is seeing people 06:52 do something that they think they can't do 06:55 or trying something, 06:56 coming, facing a challenge 06:58 and then pushing through and continuing to try. 07:06 To me, it gives me courage to see that people 07:08 can be willing to do something. 07:10 We see people who have never climbed before. 07:11 They're terrified of it. They're scared of heights. 07:14 And we say, "No, you can do," and we give them encouragement 07:16 and we try to help 07:17 give them some kind of motivation. 07:19 And they go for it, and they do it. 07:20 And at the end, 07:22 they're so excited that they did it. 07:23 You know 07:24 that's just really fulfilling to me. 07:31 My wife Jessica and I 07:32 most recently lived in Washington State in the USA. 07:35 And we just felt like God was calling us 07:37 somewhere else and we prayed about it 07:38 and through prayer and study, God brought us to this place. 07:45 Bangkok is a giant city. 07:48 I think there's like 12 million people 07:50 that live here. 07:51 They say there's 2 million 07:52 that commute into work every day. 07:54 It's very modern. 07:55 It's got a lot of high tech stuff. 07:57 Neither one of us really likes urban settings or the city. 08:00 We much more prefer nature and being outdoors. 08:03 But sometimes you have to give up your desires 08:05 and your wants for what God has. 08:06 So, yeah, He brought us here and it wasn't, 08:08 wouldn't have been our first choice, 08:09 but it's His choice. 08:11 And so that's what we wanted to. 08:16 So F5 Challenge Center 08:17 is a health focused Center of influence 08:20 in Bangkok, Thailand, 08:22 where we're trying to connect with people 08:24 and minister to felt needs 08:27 through the avenue of health and fitness. 08:29 F5 is actually an acronym or there's five F's rather, 08:32 it's faith, fellowship, fitness, fortitude, and fun. 08:35 And those correlate 08:37 with the five aspects of health, the spiritual, 08:39 the mental, the physical, the emotional, and the social. 08:42 It's kind of a holistic, encompassing message of health 08:46 to try and connect with every aspect. 08:47 Depression and suicide rates are really high. 08:50 And so meeting those social and those emotional needs 08:52 are also really important. 08:55 Climbing is very good thing for that. 08:56 Climbing has been shown in studies 08:58 to help with depression in different times, 08:59 things like that. 09:01 We have the climbing gym here where people can come 09:02 and they can try out climbing. 09:04 But also during the times where the weather is good, 09:06 we lead weekly outdoor trips. 09:08 We take people out of this giant city 09:09 where they can go and climb on real rock. 09:11 You know, to be able to see God's creation, 09:13 to be able to see and interact with them in nature. 09:16 And then basically, you're spending eight hours 09:18 with a group of people. 09:19 And it really gives opportunities 09:21 in a social setting, 09:22 just to interact with each other, 09:23 to learn about one another 09:25 and truly build those connections 09:26 that build trust. 09:27 When you're hanging off the side of a cliff, 09:29 26 meters up in the air. 09:30 And the only thing keeping you from falling to death 09:32 is the person below holding on to the rope. 09:33 It really builds trust and community. 09:35 And so, then when they come back down, 09:37 and they're so excited, 09:38 and you know, they're really pumped up, 09:39 you give them a high five, so that was great, 09:41 you know, and then they sit down there 09:42 while they wait for the next few people. 09:43 And you get to talk and interact with them. 09:45 And so you're building that relationship 09:46 in a social setting. 09:48 We've had people talk to us about very personal challenges 09:51 that they're facing, 09:52 maybe when they come into the gym, 09:53 and they're just kind of one on one, 09:55 then they say, you know, 09:56 this is something that's going on. 09:57 And so we found that it really helps build 09:59 a solid relationship rather than something where, 10:02 you know, you see them every once in a while. 10:09 The majority of people are living in cities. 10:11 And often, 10:12 you know, when we first were thinking 10:14 about becoming missionaries, 10:15 we were thinking about on the jungle adventures, 10:16 we were reading Eric B. Hare stories, 10:18 you know, and fighting tigers 10:19 and rogue elephants. 10:20 And then when God called us to Bangkok, 10:22 was like, that's not really a mission field, 10:24 you know, that's a city. 10:25 But yeah, as we thought about it, 10:26 it's like this is a huge mission field. 10:28 And it's where people you know, they don't know, 10:30 and often times they don't care. 10:31 They don't really feel a need. 10:33 They don't feel like they need anything physical. 10:35 But what they fail to understand is that 10:37 they do have emotional needs, they do have social needs, 10:39 they have these things. 10:41 And often times, you don't even know. 10:42 You feel like, "Well, I've got an Audi 10:44 and I got a nice house and I got a girlfriend, 10:46 I don't need anything else." 10:47 But when we connect with them, we're able to share with them 10:49 and build those relationships, you come to understand that 10:52 and you can help you know share 10:53 that there is a need that you have, 10:55 you think that you're filling it 10:56 with all of these things that you have, 10:58 but it's not actually filling it 10:59 and that hole that you feel is actually, 11:01 can be filled with God, 11:03 and He's seeking you 11:04 and actively looking to connect with you there. 11:07 But yeah, working with a group that's, that has everything. 11:11 It takes right more 11:12 so the heart that work towards the heart. 11:45 Well, thank you so much for joining me 11:46 today on Mission 360°. 11:48 And I hope that you've enjoyed 11:50 our 360 degree view of mission around the world. 11:54 But we see so many different creative 11:55 and dedicated ways 11:57 to share the gospel around the world. 11:58 And I want to thank you so much 12:00 for being part of our Adventist Mission Team, 12:03 because whether you pray, 12:04 whether you go, 12:06 whether you give, whatever you do, 12:08 you are part of our Adventist Mission family 12:10 supporting mission. 12:12 I want you to continue to pray 12:14 for our front-line mission workers. 12:16 Well, for Adventist Mission, I'm Gary Krause. 12:18 And I hope you can join me next time 12:20 right here on Mission 360°. |
Revised 2020-04-29