Participants:
Series Code: MTS
Program Code: MTS002505A
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00:08 A Global Mission pioneer in Lesotho finds a wife
00:12 in an unexpected way. 00:14 Another pioneer opens bridges to the community using water 00:18 and the sights and sounds of Portland, Maine. 00:21 All this and much more coming up next. 00:57 Hello and welcome to Mission 360. 00:59 I'm Gary Krause. 01:00 Today's program is coming to you 01:01 from the City of Portland, Maine in the United States. 01:06 This is a city that is rich in history 01:08 and culture and beauty. 01:10 But it's also very important 01:12 for the Seventh-day Adventist Church 01:14 because it's rich in Adventist history. 01:16 This, of course, is the place where Ellen White 01:18 went to school when she was a child. 01:20 This is the place where she was baptized 01:22 as a young person. 01:24 On today's program, 01:25 we're going to be looking at mission around the world 01:27 but first up, let's travel to the country of Lesotho 01:30 to meet a Global Mission pioneer 01:32 who had met his wife, but he just didn't realize it. 01:37 Lefa had found his wife, he just didn't know it yet. 01:40 As a Global Mission pioneer in Lesotho, 01:43 a small country in southern Africa, 01:45 he frequently went house to house 01:46 getting to know the people in his community, 01:48 praying with them, 01:50 and studying the Bible together. 01:54 Each morning I pray for the work 01:55 I will do that day. 01:57 Then I prepare for the lessons. 02:00 The first thing I do is to make friendship 02:02 with the people in the village. 02:04 Then I request permission to study the Word of God. 02:08 Some agreed to start the lessons immediately. 02:10 When I leave them, 02:12 I leave praying that God will convict their hearts 02:14 that the information I brought them 02:15 is very important information. 02:18 I'm happy when I see life transformation 02:19 in the people. 02:21 When I see the hopeless find hope. 02:24 Mathato was one of those people. 02:26 She wanted to learn more about God. 02:28 So they studied His Word together. 02:29 She even wanted to go with Lefa 02:31 and share God's Word with others too. 02:33 As time went by, 02:35 the two began to consider marriage. 02:37 They prayed about the possibility 02:38 trusting that if it was God's will, 02:41 He would allow it to happen. 02:44 My fear was that people will think 02:45 that I just converted this lady for myself. 02:50 I was praying very hard at the time. 02:54 But I had a conviction that she was the one 02:55 because I met her while doing God's work. 03:01 Soon they were married. 03:06 She's now my wife 03:08 and she supports me in a very special way. 03:11 Sometimes you become discouraged. 03:15 When I'm discouraged, she tells me, 03:17 we are going to do God's work. 03:20 Lefa and Mathato now spread the gospel together, 03:24 they continue to visit and study the Bible 03:26 with families in their homes. 03:28 Lefa and Mathato hold health expos, 03:31 particularly in light of the drug abuse 03:33 that is common in their community. 03:35 When a family's loved one dies, 03:37 Lefa and Mathato even help with funeral preparations. 03:41 Together, they do all they can 03:43 to show Jesus' love to their community. 03:46 Thank you for your prayers and selfless gifts. 03:50 Your support helps Global Mission pioneers 03:52 like Lefa reach the unreached throughout Southern Africa. 04:00 My guest is Pastor Tony Cuffori who is pastoring here in Maine. 04:04 Thanks for joining us, Tony. Yeah, you're welcome. 04:06 So describe for me 04:08 what you're doing here in this part of Maine? 04:10 Well, I've always brought up in... 04:12 been brought up in Maine. 04:13 And, you know, I moved up this area 04:16 'cause I wanted to kind of experience 04:19 a little bit of moving away from the family 04:21 just to kind of grow with my wife and myself, 04:23 but I got drawn to this place because of... 04:26 pretty much God called me here. 04:28 Good. 04:29 So you're pastoring a couple of churches? 04:31 Yeah. 04:32 And one of them is a church plant. 04:34 How did this church plant start? 04:36 Yeah, the church plant, it was really... 04:38 before I was here, there was another pastor 04:40 by the name of Pastor Rick, who... 04:43 God really put out on his heart that there's no church 04:45 in one of the big cities of Maine. 04:47 So they put a center of influence 04:49 a while back, a couple years ago, 04:51 and we wanted to do a church plant in this area 04:54 where we could reach the people of the community. 04:56 Terrific. And what happened? 04:58 Well, you know, God is good. 04:59 I mean, between the center of influence 05:01 and the church plant, 05:03 you know, we really believe that we need to spread 05:05 the model of the Great Commission, 05:08 we need to go. 05:09 And it's just been a total blessing. 05:13 We've had a lot of people come in from the classes 05:15 that we have in the evenings 05:17 that have been coming to the Sabbath school, 05:19 and it's just been a total blessing. 05:21 So the... 05:23 You're talking about these classes 05:24 that's part of the Ark Ministries, 05:26 is that correct? 05:27 That is correct. 05:29 So describe for me what that ministry is? 05:30 Sure. 05:31 So we recognize that, 05:34 you know, we can't just go to everyone 05:35 and just talk Jesus, 05:37 you know, we have to, we have to meet them at a... 05:40 on their turf, if you will. 05:41 So we have different classes 05:43 that the community has signed up 05:45 for that sparks an interest 05:46 where they would actually want to come. 05:48 So we have things from like hydro, 05:51 hydro classes with water, 05:52 we have things with cooking classes, 05:55 we've had massage therapy classes, 05:57 but we have all this different type 05:59 of health ministry 06:00 where we can bring people in, 06:02 build trusting relationships with them, 06:04 where we can, you know, when that trust is built, 06:06 we can share 06:07 the everlasting gospel with them. 06:08 Wonderful. 06:10 Now, we're in the city of Lewiston, 06:11 which I believe is the second largest city in Maine. 06:13 Yeah. 06:15 It used to be a mill town, 06:17 it's gone through its economic struggles. 06:19 And then you've also, 06:22 in recent years had a lot of immigration. 06:25 How have you reached out to the immigrants 06:27 who have come to the community? 06:28 Well, you know, God is great. 06:30 I mean, He's really blessed the whole situation, 06:33 because one thing that He did 06:34 was there was a couple 06:36 that we actually just got introduced 06:38 through one of the health seminars. 06:40 That was, I'm trying to remember 06:43 what race they were, 06:44 but anyway, they, they ended up knowing a bunch of people. 06:48 So when we started ministering to them, 06:50 they went out and kind of like, 06:52 it was like, God did the work for us. 06:53 But what it took was us to go out to the people, 06:56 reach people and we met that one individual 06:58 that could bring in an army of people. 07:00 Wonderful. 07:01 So it was, you know, it's just absolutely amazing. 07:03 So how many people 07:05 do you have worshiping in this church plant now? 07:07 Right now, well, we started with just about 14 people, 07:10 and we're on average about 55, sometimes up to 75. 07:14 Wonderful, you're growing out of your space. 07:16 Absolutely. 07:17 And that's one of the major blessings 07:19 that we've had. 07:20 So we're currently looking right now 07:22 to see where God's gonna lead next. 07:24 So how important do you think Christ method of ministry is? 07:28 How have you found that in your experience? 07:31 Extremely important, 07:32 I mean, I think the biggest thing... 07:34 I want to be careful how I word this is, 07:36 you know, we have the Great Commission to follow. 07:38 And I really, 07:40 this has really been something that God's put on my heart 07:42 is a lot of times 07:44 the first word of the Great Commission is go. 07:46 And a lot of times people are just kind of sitting 07:48 and I think God's really creating 07:50 a sense of urgency. 07:52 That's why it's with a loud voice, 07:53 the third angels' message, 07:55 to go out to the community and reach people. 07:58 So, Tony, you did not come 07:59 from a Seventh-day Adventist background, 08:01 how did you become an Adventist 08:02 and how did you become a pastor? 08:04 Well, we'll just say 08:06 God has a great sense of humor. 08:07 You know, I never saw this coming at all. 08:10 And I was kind of church hopping 08:12 for quite a while 08:13 going through a bunch of different denominations. 08:16 And, you know, the real big thing 08:18 that happened was somebody invited me 08:19 to a prophecy seminar. 08:21 And long story short, 08:22 once I went through that seminar, 08:24 I just... I never looked back. 08:27 It was just absolutely amazing 08:28 how we were taught the principle 08:30 where you can allow the Bible to interpret itself. 08:32 Because before that, 08:34 that's what I wasn't being taught 08:35 at other places. 08:36 So you were sick of hearing. 08:39 Well, this is my opinion, this is your opinion and... 08:42 Yeah, I mean, there was one point 08:43 where I did a Bible study with a group of people. 08:46 And I actually was more confused 08:48 at the end of the Bible study than at the beginning of it, 08:52 but when I came to the seminar, 08:53 it just made things crystal clear and it was, 08:55 it was awesome. 08:57 So you pastor an established church nearby. 09:01 Why is planting churches important? 09:04 Well, planting churches is huge 09:06 because a lot of people are uncomfortable 09:08 walking in a church setting. 09:10 And the beautiful thing with a church plant 09:12 is you're creating an environment 09:13 that's going to be friendly for, for people 09:15 that might not walk into a sanctuary. 09:18 And, you know, that's where you get 09:19 real true relationships that will build 09:21 is when you have these center of influences 09:23 'cause right now, 09:25 you know, I've told you in the past 09:26 that we're at an old Pizza Hut, 09:29 which is just a safe ground, but we've converted it 09:32 into a nice friendly environment 09:34 where we can meet with other people. 09:35 So it's not threatening for somebody 09:37 to come through those doors. 09:39 No, not at all. Not at all. 09:41 Can you give me an example of somebody who's been touched 09:44 through the ministry of this church plant? 09:47 Whoo! Wow, that's a loaded question. 09:49 I mean, not just, not just myself 09:51 and all the workers that have been there but, 09:54 I mean, we've had it at a minimum 09:55 just in the last couple of years, 09:57 probably 10 to 12 people who have joined the church 10:00 from, from the center of influence. 10:03 Wonderful. 10:04 What a blessing. Absolutely. 10:06 Well, Tony, thanks for so much for sharing with us 10:08 a little bit of what's happening here. 10:09 Sure. Thank you. 10:11 I know that Maine, 10:13 I mean, not that there's any easy areas 10:14 but this is a very secular area of the world. 10:17 It's very post Christian. 10:18 I think the statistic is about 60%. 10:21 Yeah, so it's a... It's a mission field. 10:22 It is a challenging mission field. 10:24 Yeah. Yeah, God bless you. 10:25 Well, thank you very much. God bless you. 10:27 And viewers at home, here we are in Lewiston, Maine. 10:31 One would think 10:32 this would be a very Christian society. 10:34 But in fact, there are many challenges here. 10:36 Many people are living their lives 10:37 apart from God. 10:39 Pray for the church plant, pray for the Ark Ministries. 10:43 Pray for Pastor Tony 10:44 and others involved in the team. 10:45 This will grow 10:47 that there'll be many more groups started 10:49 for the glory of the kingdom of God. 10:50 We'll be right back after this break. |
Revised 2020-04-29