Spreading
Sabbath Offering projects
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in West Africa,
children's ministries turns 25
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and mission here in Paris.
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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 from Paris,
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the capital of France.
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And behind me, of course,
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you can see the
iconic Eiffel Tower.
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It was built in
1889 for the World's Fair
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and funnily enough, many
Parisians didn't like it.
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Was considered ugly
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and they wanted
to get rid of it.
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But, of course, since then,
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the Eiffel Tower has been
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one of the many
attractions of Paris
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that have brought
millions and millions
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of tourists to this city,
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which of course was
founded many years ago.
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In fact, it's been
the capital of France
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for more than 1000 years.
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Well, we're going to
be looking more about
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mission here in France.
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But first up, let's
travel to West Africa
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to see your 13th
Sabbath Offerings at work.
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There was a silent
killer in Yoryina's home.
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Our family was eventually dying
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because of our kitchen.
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Because what was produced
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from the kitchen was
not healthy to the body.
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It was slowly sapping the
life and health of his family.
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Yoryina and his wife got sick.
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Yoryina was
feeling worse every day.
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He felt so sick that he thought
about committing suicide.
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That was until he
discovered the silent killer
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that was slowly
taking away their health.
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The type of food we were
using was already damaged food,
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overcooked and all that.
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When I came across one
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Seventh-day
Adventist evangelist,
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and I read through
some of his literatures,
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I discovered that I was
living a very wrong life.
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A ray of hope came when Yoryina
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learned of a health
seminar organized by
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the nearby Adventist Church.
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He asked his wife to go
since he was feeling very sick.
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After the meeting Yoryina's wife
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came home equipped
with newfound knowledge.
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As she met me feeling bad.
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She started applying
water therapy on me straight.
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What she learned there
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she never knew had
idea about that ever.
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She applied the water therapy,
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cold or hot water
on me, covering me.
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And before you
know, I was sweating,
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we started
having a new lifestyle.
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The lessons from
the health seminar
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had a tremendous impact
on Yoryina and his wife.
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Their yard which was once
full of chickens is now empty.
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In its place, Yoryina planted
different types of medicinal
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and health giving plants
like Moringa and Aloe vera.
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The plants are all
around their house.
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They also take advantage
of fresh fruits and vegetables
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which are abundant in Nigeria.
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Yoryina is now living
a healthy and happy life.
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He and his wife are ambassadors
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of the health message
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teaching what they
learned to anyone they can.
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They started
building a small space
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in front of their house
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where they can teach people
about health and the Bible.
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They've also used this space
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to start a small
Bible study group.
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But Yoryina is just one man
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and the city of Abuja has
more than 3 million people,
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people who would benefit
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a lot from hearing
the health message.
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This quarter, your
13th Sabbath Offering
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will help build a
medical center there.
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This center will
help treat illnesses
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and show people a
better way to live.
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I look forward
to a medical center
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that people will say that
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there's a health facility
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when you go there,
all you see is love
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within the health workers there.
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There's a health
facility that when you go there,
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there's
something else you receive
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apart from the routine things,
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routine services you see
in other health facilities.
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Please pray for the development
of this health center
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and for the other
projects this quarter.
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Thank you for supporting
the 13th Sabbath Offering.
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My guest is
Pastor Ruben De Abreu,
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who is the president
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of the
Franco-Belgian Conference.
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And I'm glad that you
can join us today, Ruben.
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Can you describe for our viewers
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the territories of your union?
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So very large
territory here in Europe
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because it has
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all the Continental France
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and then Belgium and Luxembourg.
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And for the moment we are around
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18,000 members
in this territory.
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Now, traditionally,
in our past history
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Europe has been
a sending territory
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where you have sent
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missionaries all over the world.
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But I think it's fair to say
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that your territory
is now a mission field.
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Can you describe
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some of the
challenges that you face?
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It's everything that reverse.
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Now in our times,
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we are receiving the
people from all over the world,
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especially if I think
about Paris and Brussels.
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We have people from
all corners of this world
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and it creates us
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very difficult
challenge, the diversity.
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Yes.
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Diversity of language,
culture, even theology.
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And we...
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Our challenge is to
put everything in common
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and bring
everything to the feet of God.
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Yes.
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Now you are facing a culture
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that has basically
almost forgotten about God.
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Describe for people,
for example, here in Paris,
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your average Parisian,
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what would their view
be on religious things?
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Yeah, it's very
peculiar because it's different
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than the secularism in
America or in other parts
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because here, it's not
only the ignorance about God,
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but it's an attitude against God
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and everything
that is religious.
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And also with the
later events that we had here
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with the terrorism attacks
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and all of that
related to religion problem,
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people react
very, very strongly.
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And everything that is spiritual
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or religious is understood
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in this territory and
particularly here in Paris
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as an individual thing.
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Yes.
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It's not something
that I can do publicly,
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like in other parts and
we need to do our mission
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respecting the wishes of people.
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Yes.
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So in a place like
Paris, so say for example,
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you took an Adventist
method of public evangelism,
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you would attract
people who perhaps come
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from immigrant communities,
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but you would not attract
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a native Parisian,
generally speaking?
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Yeah.
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We are facing that challenge
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because a lot of people
that are already here in
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and in some churches
they work with people
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that they come
from the same community.
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Yes.
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So, what we are remarking
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is that the
relationship evangelism,
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it's sorted as the
most powerful effect,
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because people can put
and question your own faith
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and your own witness,
or your own convictions
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and everything that you do
on relationship with other.
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It's the simple method,
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but it's also the one
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that it's more
efficient from the basis.
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And it's also the
method that Jesus Himself used.
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Yes, and it's also
becoming to the root.
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Yes.
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So, Ruben, tell me
about some of the good things
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that are happening here?
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We are in a peculiar situation
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because here in Paris,
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we need more places
for people to worship.
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And we opened a worship place
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and three months after it's,
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it's already full
with people that they come
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from all over the city.
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So it's one of the big
things that are happening here.
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But we are also
developing a lot of communities,
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ethnical
communities, the last one,
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it was Korean, South Korean
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community that was organized it
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and we had this
last year in Paris
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and around the North
Conference outreach campaign.
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And we are
having now the baptisms
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and all the people that
convert after that effort.
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Wonderful.
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And what's happening
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with the Bible
Correspondence School?
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Yeah, it's a very
interesting challenge
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because it's a shift of paradigm
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because from other times,
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it was on written
on paper, hard paper.
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Now people are
asking more for the web.
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And the challenge we
are having now is that
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when we ask for
address and contacts, people,
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they get behind the web.
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And we are trying
to develop this project
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to give Bible studies by Skype
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or this kind of
communication technologies
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that are
available and it's cheap
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and we are having
now an increase of people
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that have answered to
the Bible courses more
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on the web than
with the hard paper.
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Wonderful.
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Well, I know that
you have many challenges,
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but I know that
there are many good things
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happening here.
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I know you've got a
strong youth emphasis,
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church planting emphasis,
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and thank you for
all that you're doing.
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And God bless you
and thanks for sharing.
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Viewers at home, please pray
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for the mission
field here in Europe.
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Wonderful things happening,
many challenges remaining.
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We'll be right
back after this break.
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