Young people revive church
life in an old city of Norway.
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A delicious recipe
from the Mission 360
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International
kitchen, and the sights
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and sounds of Amsterdam.
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All this 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 the city of
Amsterdam, in the Netherlands.
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And this city is the
most bicycle friendly city
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in the world.
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It's estimated that there
are some 1 million bicycles.
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And when you are
walking through the streets,
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you have to be very
careful that you look both ways
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to make sure that no bicycle
is going to run you over.
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It can be a little bit tricky
when you've got so many canals
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in this city as well.
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And it's estimated
that some 30,000 cyclists,
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at least their
bikes end up in the canals
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in inadvertent mishaps.
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Well, we're gonna be
looking at mission here
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in the Netherlands
and around the world.
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But first up,
let's travel to Cyprus.
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We want to make
Jesus famous here.
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Jesus is our goal.
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We want the
people to see this place
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as a place of refuge, as a place
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where they can find a family,
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as a place where
they can find Jesus
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or a peace in the
midst of their storm.
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See you.
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Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
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Elias and Melina left
their home in Argentina
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and moved to the
Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
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They became Adventist volunteers
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and now manage a global mission
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urban center of
influence called Meeting Point.
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When you are in Christ,
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you are born as a
missionary as well.
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So that's why we
decided to take this challenge
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of being a missionary,
we are trying to give
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all we have
learn to serve others.
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I think it's important
to have the same method
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that Jesus had.
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First, He related to the person,
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saw their needs
and then preached.
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It's basically
what we're trying to do,
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use this method.
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Following Christ's
method of ministry,
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Elias and Melina go
door to door to find out
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what kind of programs
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their neighbors
are interested in.
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Then they can tailor their work
to the needs of the community.
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After just a few
months in Cyprus,
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the volunteers have started
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a variety of
programs at Meeting Point.
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I give nutrition
advice, therapeutic massages,
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facial treatments
and things to help me
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grow a little
closer to the people.
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These health
programs give Elias and Melina
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the opportunity to
connect with people
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who otherwise probably wouldn't
walk into an Adventist Church.
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Although many people on
the island speak English,
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Greek is even
more widely spoken.
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The greatest
challenge here is the language.
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That's why we are
looking forward to learn Greek
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as quickly as possible
in order to communicate
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better with the people.
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They found
creative ways to communicate
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with the Greek
speaking visitors,
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like using
translation apps on their phones
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or learning
common Greek phrases.
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When someone
comes to Meeting Point,
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they are greeted
by a warm atmosphere,
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refreshments and books
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as they wait for
their health assessment.
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After the assessment,
visitors receive an evaluation
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with lifestyle suggestions
and are encouraged to visit
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again to follow
up on their progress.
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Meeting Point is
also a place kids love.
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Elias and Melina host
a fun activity each week
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and plan to expand the programs.
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There will be a program for kids
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where they will make crafts.
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We will make craft,
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follow recipes
and playing games.
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There's a fun part in a
part where they learn something.
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Today's activity
involves painting
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positive messages onto stones.
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The kids love
doing crafts like this.
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But the real fun comes
when they give their creations
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away to strangers on the street.
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People love
receiving these precious gifts.
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The kids go home
knowing that they've spread
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some joy in the community.
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But we are sure that God
is blessing this activity
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because we see the
happiness in their faces.
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And we are sure that with
time, and patience, and love,
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and trying to
show Jesus to them,
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we will see many results,
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many people
saved by this activity.
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So this is something
that makes us really happy.
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Each Sabbath Elias and
Melina lead the worship service
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for the church plant
that gathers in Meeting Point.
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Some of the people
here attend regularly,
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while others are just visiting.
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Your prayers and
mission offerings
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have played a key
role in making this happen.
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I want to give our gratitude
to the worldwide church,
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because by your support,
by your help, by your tithes,
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by your offerings,
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we are making
the difference here.
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Thank you for supporting
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the Seventh-day
Adventist Church,
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and helping Adventist volunteers
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like Elias and Melina spread
the love of Jesus to the world.
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My guests are two
church planters here
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in the Netherlands,
who helped plant a church
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in Lelystad
called Speranza Hope.
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Thanks for
joining me, gentlemen.
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And when did you...
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When did you start?
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I started in
2012, in the church,
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the Moederkerk in
Almere in the city.
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And then I
started doing a radio show
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every Monday,
so once every week.
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And it was especially
for the Antillean people
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that live in and around Almere.
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And then I got inspired
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when the radio show start,
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which was done in Papiamento.
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Then I said, "I want to
start with all the people
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we've spoken to
throughout the years."
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It's definitely
possible to get in contact
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with these people by
starting a church plant.
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And that's how we got
started in around 2012.
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We have a
service once every month
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in nearly every Sabbath evening
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after the Sabbath.
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We had a small study
group with three or four people.
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And that's how we grew
to become a larger group.
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Wonderful.
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Now, Casper, why did you decide
that you would be involved
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in starting a new group?
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Well, it went as such,
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I slowly started
getting involved.
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And they asked
me if I also wanted
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to join the group,
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which for me was a
pretty big challenge.
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But it felt amazing to
be included in the group.
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Now, Fabian, how did
you find time to do this?
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You I'm sure are a busy man.
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How could you find
time to plant a church?
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Okay.
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If I understand correctly,
you're talking about time
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and how I found time to do this.
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For me, working for
the Lord is my passion.
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And after my work at
the job that I now have.
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I get ready
together with my wife
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and then I go to Lelystad.
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It's about a 50
minute drive to get there.
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And then
together with the others,
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we grew up into a
really beautiful group
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that later became a church.
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I find it really
special to be able to work
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for the Lord,
because there are so many
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people that live
there who need Him.
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Okay, Casper, how did
you start the new group?
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What method did you
use to start the new group?
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At first it was a real challenge
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to get people to
come to the church.
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So then we had to think about
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what are we good at?
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And our wives, not
us are good at cooking.
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So we started
doing an open house.
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It's a monthly open house
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that we do on the
last Sabbath of the month.
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And people come and eat with us.
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Plus, it's free, and
everything is vegetarian.
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So people can't
make a fuss like,
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"Oh, I can't eat this food."
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It's all really good food.
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And people enjoy
themselves when they're there.
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People stick around to
help with the dishes afterwards.
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Other times people come
and help with a cooking.
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And really, it's
like a big family
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coming together every time.
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And the people
that come are inspired
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to go to the church.
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Wonderful. Thank you.
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Tell me, Fabian, can you give me
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just a brief experience, a
short experience of somebody
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who came to know
Jesus through this group?
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We had the intention of
going further with the church,
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with people from my culture,
probably men's Caribbean.
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And we had a hard
time getting through
00:11:48.54\00:11:52.84
to the Caribbean people.
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And what Casper
was just talking about
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the open house where
people come eat with us,
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people from the Caribbean,
people from the Antilles,
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they don't come to
these events at all.
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So they never
experienced what we do.
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So we got to talking and then...
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He told us it
was better to focus
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on other nationalities.
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We started focusing
on changing our program,
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because the service
was in Papiamento in Dutch.
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We then stopped using
Papiamento all together.
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And only did the
service in Dutch.
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And then the people
in the surrounding area,
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the Dutch speaking people,
no matter their background,
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Indonesians,
Surinamers, Antilleans,
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Dutch or Muslims,
it doesn't matter.
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All these people
come to the church,
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this motivated people.
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They were so happy
of what we were doing
00:13:00.64\00:13:03.55
because the open house
makes people feel at home.
00:13:03.58\00:13:09.98
People started
coming in slowly, first,
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through the open
house and eventually
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coming to
services on other days.
00:13:16.86\00:13:20.26
After that, people
received Bible study
00:13:20.30\00:13:23.73
and once they learned about it,
00:13:23.77\00:13:26.40
they give their
lives over to Jesus Christ,
00:13:26.43\00:13:29.90
and they get baptized.
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Wonderful.
00:13:32.51\00:13:34.01
Gentlemen, thank
you so much for sharing
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and congratulations
on what you have done
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unto God's blessing.
00:13:37.75\00:13:39.25
Thank you.
00:13:39.28\00:13:40.62
Viewers at home, a
church growing right here
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in the Netherlands
in this terrifically
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challenging
area, God has blessed
00:13:45.29\00:13:47.59
and He will continue to
bless as lay people and pastors
00:13:47.62\00:13:50.66
work together with a
focus on building God's kingdom
00:13:50.69\00:13:54.03
by starting new groups.
00:13:54.06\00:13:55.50
We'll be right
back after this break.
00:13:55.53\00:13:57.07