A young missionary embarks
on a long-awaited mission.
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The sights and
sounds of Lyon, France,
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an Adventist
Mission in West Africa,
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all this and much
more coming up next
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on Mission 360.
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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 the city of Lyon in France.
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This is an ancient city
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stretching back
some 2,000 years.
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This is the place
where for several centuries,
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it served as the silk
producing capital of the world.
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Even today, it's
Europe's major producer of silk.
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It's also the
birthplace of cinema
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where the
Lumiere brothers in 1895
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created the
first motion picture.
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It's also the home of Interpol,
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the international
crime fighting organization,
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but all these
achievements fade into nothing
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when we compare it to
the topic of this program,
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which is mission.
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And we look at mission
all over the world today,
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but first up, let's
travel to West Africa.
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These ruins used to
be a beautiful church.
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Now this place has
been claimed by plants.
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But hope is not gone.
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Just like these plants,
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the Seventh-day Adventist Church
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took root in this country
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nearly 100 years ago.
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In 1926, the first
Adventist missionaries
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to Liberia,
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R. Helbig and
E. Flammer arrived.
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A year later,
these German missionaries
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established Liberia's
first Adventist Church.
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I started going to
church here in 1989
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with my late father
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who was once a
deacon of the church.
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He used to carry me to church
when I was a little child.
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They built a school
here and would encourage us,
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the young
children from the church,
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to come here and go to school.
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There I was in a
school, and then he talked to me
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to join the
baptismal class in the church.
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So at that time,
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I used to come to
church with my dad,
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but I was not too regular.
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But from his efforts, I
was able to be convinced
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and became a
member of the church.
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After Elder Maye was baptized,
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the first
Liberian civil war erupted.
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Political and military conflict
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forced many
church members to flee.
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During the war, both
the church and the school
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were burnt down by rebels.
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So those who were left
behind gave us information that
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"Your church is broken down.
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It's been burnt."
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A place which
was once a blessing
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and a source of joy
was now reduced to ruins,
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but after the conflict subsided,
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a faithful group
worshiped in the only area
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that survived the destruction.
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To this day, they
joyfully worship together
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and are confident that
if the place is rebuilt,
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the congregation can be restored
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to what it once was.
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But sadly, this
small group's funds
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are limited.
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It would take a
miracle for them to reconstruct
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even a portion of the building.
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If I had money, I
would do it on my own.
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With the
congregation that we have here,
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we are not able to
even fix one structure here.
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So my anticipation
is for the world church
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to come to our aid
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so that this
place can be rebuilt.
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Your 13th Sabbath Offering
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will help rebuild the birthplace
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of the Seventh-day
Adventist Church in Liberia,
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where a place of
worship and a school
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can be established again.
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Please pray for
God's people in Liberia
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so that this dream
can become a reality.
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Thank you for your support
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of the 13th Sabbath
Offering this quarter.
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My guest here
in Lyon is Marianne
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who is the
communication director
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for the South France Conference.
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Marianne, thank you
so much for joining us.
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Thank you.
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Could you describe the
territory of the conference
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where we're located here?
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Okay, well,
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France has two
conferences north and south.
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So you draw a line
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between La
Rochelle and above Geneva
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'cause maybe
people know Geneva more.
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Yes. Yes.
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And everything
which is below that.
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There are about 5,000 members.
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The territory also
includes Corsica...
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Oh. And Monaco.
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Okay.
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And as there are
lots of students,
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big towns in the
biggest cities of France,
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we've got Lyon and Marseille.
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And, but where the
conferences is Montpellier,
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that's another city town
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as student town
and Bordeaux as well.
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All right, so...
So lots of students.
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Yeah.
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So we're in Lyon
which is a large city.
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What are the challenges
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you face in mission
here in this conference?
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One of the
biggest challenges I think
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is getting to...
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Bring people to our churches,
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for instance, things
are very simple here.
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We have to take
things very simple here
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because I think
people are very wary
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about religion
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as in a general way.
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And over the past 15 years
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small groups has
been something big
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in this conference
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because we see the necessity
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to really start
bonding with people
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through simple
relationships, just friendship.
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And that's the way
we get into contact.
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Yeah.
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So how does the
small groups operate?
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Well, the small groups, it's...
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There's the mother church.
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Yes. Yeah.
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Sometimes it's been
interesting coincidences
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because all churches
don't have their own building.
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And since we share the building,
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sometimes and
sometimes it's been,
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we wouldn't have
the building available.
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So they would say, for instance,
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once a month, you won't
be able to use the building.
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So that was a great
opportunity for us to say,
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"Well, let's start."
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And so people go home
and started inviting people.
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And I can tell you one story,
which was quite interesting
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'cause when we think that
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we've got a
mission for something.
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First, we're
tempted to think that
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we know what Jesus
is asking us to do.
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And so for instance,
for a small group, you say,
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"I'm gonna have a
small group at my house."
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And then you think, "Oh,
I'm going to ask this neighbor,
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this one and this one.
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I know we've
spoken a lot about this,
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and they'll be interested."
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And then you
realize that Jesus didn't,
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maybe one day they'll come,
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but he's the one that decides
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who is going to
send to your small group.
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And that's humbling
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because we're just here
as servants, simple servants
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and through the way we
act through what we share.
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People are
attracted to that or not,
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but we're not
the ones that decide
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who will be attracted or not.
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And for instance, there
in quite a few small groups
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there have been lots
of children activities,
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and we go outside,
we share things outside,
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then people see the
children playing together
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and say, "Oh,
come, I could come.
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And then what
are you doing here?
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Can we come next week?"
And that's how it all starts.
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So the small
groups you're describing
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are actual Sabbath morning.
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They're worshiping homes
rather than a church building.
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Yes.
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And you have found
that in many environments
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that's much more
attractive to people
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who would find it hard
coming to a church building.
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Definitely.
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And for instance, I
belong to a small group myself.
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And in our small
group, we've also got people
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that had left the
church at one time,
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and then since we'd
never completely lost contact,
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it was a way to say,
"Might you just come here.
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You must be
missing something to share
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about the way
you live your faith
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because you still
believe in Jesus."
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And so they come and they say,
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"Yes, this is a place
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where I could actually
bring my friends as well
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because I'm missing
this whole church dimension."
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Yes. Wonderful.
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Now this morning,
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you were also showing me
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your magazine that you're using,
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which helps build
connection with church members.
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Tell us about that?
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Well, the magazine,
really we wanted to find a way
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for church members
within the conference
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to communicate directly.
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There are several
parts in the magazine.
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The first part is
always a way for the conference
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to be able to
share with church members
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on what's going on.
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So for instance, all projects
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we're going to
communicate about that a lot.
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That's going to be
the president writing
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or different board members,
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and then there'll be parts,
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for instance,
there's a different church,
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which will be
presented in each magazine
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with always the
same three questions.
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It's a free presentation,
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and then what's
your spiritual choice
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and what could we pray for you?
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So there's every week
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we send off a
little calendar of prayer,
00:10:06.94\00:10:09.30
about 500 people subscribe
to this little on WhatsApp.
00:10:09.34\00:10:13.84
And so we know
who we're praying for.
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Good.
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The intention is
really for church members
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to have direct
access to the information
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and to feel part
of this big family.
00:10:25.75\00:10:28.42
So, Marianne, this
morning, we visited a site
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where a new center of
influence will be started.
00:10:31.69\00:10:34.20
Why is the conference starting
the center of influence?
00:10:34.23\00:10:37.00
So you said we'll
start with the why.
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Why are we here?
00:10:39.20\00:10:40.77
What's our
mission is to share Jesus,
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is to participate in
making people's lives better
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as Jesus who
made our lives better.
00:10:46.61\00:10:48.81
And so we believe that
00:10:48.84\00:10:50.18
with this
dynamics of small groups,
00:10:50.21\00:10:52.35
which is already something
00:10:52.38\00:10:53.72
which is very
presence in our conference,
00:10:53.75\00:10:55.98
it's going to be
a normal continuity
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of being able in
different little groups
00:11:00.49\00:11:02.79
to be able to share
services with the community.
00:11:02.82\00:11:06.70
Thanks so much for
sharing with us, Marianne.
00:11:06.73\00:11:08.93
And viewers at home
00:11:08.96\00:11:10.30
what a tremendous opportunity
they have here in Lyon
00:11:10.33\00:11:12.80
to start a new
center of influence.
00:11:12.83\00:11:15.00
We'll be right
back after this break.
00:11:15.04\00:11:16.81