We are standing on the shores of the main island here in Palawan 00:01:08.93\00:01:13.36 My mind drifts back in time when Jesus called His disciples 00:01:13.39\00:01:17.82 to become fishers of men. Mark chapter 1 verse 17 says 00:01:17.85\00:01:23.78 Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. 00:01:25.09\00:01:28.99 On the island of Palawan here there is a good portion of the 00:01:29.02\00:01:32.51 population that survives off of fishing. 00:01:32.54\00:01:35.12 The rest is agricultural. 00:01:35.15\00:01:36.42 So when we are talking about seed sowing and fishing, 00:01:36.45\00:01:39.44 the people know exactly what we are talking about. 00:01:39.47\00:01:42.22 and it means something to them. So when we come here, and we 00:01:42.25\00:01:47.63 share the verse that Jesus said in Mark chapter 1 verse 17 00:01:47.66\00:01:51.52 He says, come follow me and I will make you fishers of men. 00:01:51.55\00:01:54.61 it resonates with them. 00:01:54.64\00:01:56.33 You know it is important to lead souls to Christ, 00:01:56.43\00:01:59.46 but it is also important to let them know, that there are others 00:01:59.49\00:02:03.25 out there, who love them, in fact the only way to lead a soul 00:02:03.28\00:02:06.12 to Christ is by letting them know that there are others 00:02:06.15\00:02:09.18 that care. That surrendering to Jesus Christ isn't something 00:02:09.21\00:02:13.62 that's just about theology, or about learning the Bible. 00:02:13.65\00:02:17.64 Anybody can learn verses in the Bible, but to show 00:02:17.74\00:02:23.58 the love of Christ, that is where the rubber meets the road. 00:02:23.61\00:02:26.59 That is what really means something to everyone everywhere 00:02:26.62\00:02:30.02 So here at Adventist World Aviation we've come down 00:02:30.05\00:02:33.12 here to Palawan to show them the love of Christ. 00:02:33.15\00:02:35.64 Adventist World Aviation does it in a variety of different ways 00:02:35.67\00:02:38.78 We do it through medical services, delivering goods 00:02:38.81\00:02:42.44 products, medical supplies, air dropping things in 00:02:42.47\00:02:47.01 that are needed on a daily basis 00:02:47.04\00:02:50.34 But the thing that the people come away with, they watch us 00:02:50.37\00:02:53.88 and they say, wow why would you want to help us? 00:02:53.91\00:02:56.64 The answer to that question is that because we love you, 00:02:56.67\00:02:59.34 because you are a son or a daughter of Jesus Christ. 00:02:59.37\00:03:02.14 That's what we are doing here right now. 00:03:02.17\00:03:04.17 Adventist World Aviation was invited to Palawan 00:03:04.20\00:03:07.68 by our mission president here not too long ago and asked us 00:03:07.71\00:03:11.10 if we would consider doing evangelistic efforts here. 00:03:11.13\00:03:14.10 The idea was to reach the unreached. 00:03:14.13\00:03:16.24 Not everybody in our team is an evangelist, but there are 00:03:16.27\00:03:19.09 those of us, that have done that and we are willing to share 00:03:19.12\00:03:23.01 the work experience that we have with the folks in Palawan. 00:03:23.04\00:03:27.27 Adventist World Aviation typically is a vehicle to get 00:03:27.30\00:03:31.04 the evangelists there. But we are also willing to do the work 00:03:31.07\00:03:34.54 of an evangelist as Paul told Timothy. 00:03:34.57\00:03:36.89 So we come in, we work, we love people, we share the gospel 00:03:36.92\00:03:41.85 message with them. We go into areas that under normal 00:03:41.88\00:03:45.30 circumstances you just couldn't reach. 00:03:45.33\00:03:47.60 Adventist World Aviation's primary focus is to reach the 00:03:47.81\00:03:51.62 unreached in this world with the love of God 00:03:51.65\00:03:54.80 and the gospel message. 00:03:54.83\00:03:56.98 One of the many ways they do this is by holding evangelistic 00:03:57.01\00:04:00.45 meetings, both domestically and internationally. 00:04:00.48\00:04:04.40 On today's episode of Off the Grid, we travel with an AWA 00:04:04.43\00:04:10.64 evangelistic team to the Philippine island of Palawan. 00:04:10.67\00:04:14.32 My name is Delmar Austin. I am ministerial director 00:04:26.12\00:04:29.38 for the Illinois conference. I got a call from Ric Swaningson 00:04:29.41\00:04:33.33 to come and participate in this. I was just really pleased. 00:04:33.36\00:04:37.97 I felt that God was giving me a call and an opportunity to come 00:04:38.00\00:04:42.69 and be active in the great harvest, that is taking place. 00:04:42.72\00:04:46.32 For the next 2 weeks, this team of 7 evangelists will spread out 00:04:46.35\00:04:51.88 each hold meetings every night all across the area of Narra. 00:04:51.91\00:04:56.19 Each nights, there will be 7 meetings held simultaneously. 00:04:56.22\00:05:00.22 We have the privilege of working with the Narra church, 00:05:00.25\00:05:04.47 the church that is downtown in the town of Narra. 00:05:04.50\00:05:08.34 We had good attendance from church members 00:05:08.37\00:05:12.18 and interest alike. 00:05:12.21\00:05:13.75 We probably had 70 to 80 people that were coming 00:05:13.78\00:05:17.39 on a regular basis, to our meetings - and probably 20 to 25 00:05:17.42\00:05:23.45 interest, or visitors, that were part of that group. 00:05:23.48\00:05:27.07 The people seem to be very open and responsive to the preaching 00:05:27.10\00:05:34.38 of each Bible presentation. 00:05:34.41\00:05:35.98 The laymen in the church of Narra just did an outstanding 00:05:37.28\00:05:41.69 job, a spectacular job of working with the people there, 00:05:41.72\00:05:46.70 but also in the programming, the music every night 00:05:46.73\00:05:50.14 was well coordinated. The prayers, the introductions 00:05:50.17\00:05:55.44 just seem to be a really good part of the service 00:05:55.47\00:06:00.33 and it kept the whole program flowing very well. 00:06:00.36\00:06:02.93 I was really blessed to be in the Narra Church. 00:06:02.96\00:06:06.68 Evangelism and soul winning is the focus of each of the 00:06:07.18\00:06:10.54 Adventist World Aviation Evangelists. 00:06:10.57\00:06:12.91 They have each been called here to be "Fishers of Men" 00:06:13.82\00:06:17.54 just as Jesus instructed us in the Bible. 00:06:17.57\00:06:21.33 Pastor Delmar is been in ministry for many years now. 00:06:22.14\00:06:26.51 He is a seasoned evangelist and is continually looking for 00:06:26.54\00:06:30.59 opportunities where he can use his gifts of evangelism. 00:06:30.62\00:06:34.80 I was drawn here by the fact to because it gave me 00:06:35.10\00:06:41.07 an opportunity to personally do some evangelism. 00:06:41.10\00:06:45.81 Many of my duties have to do with working with pastors 00:06:45.84\00:06:50.28 and working with churches. Sometimes I don't have a lot 00:06:50.31\00:06:54.04 of time to do more personal direct work with people. 00:06:54.07\00:06:57.52 So that gave me an opportunity again to get my feet wet 00:06:57.55\00:07:03.26 doing public evangelism and also doing personal work with people, 00:07:03.29\00:07:08.13 which is required in making connections. 00:07:08.16\00:07:11.97 That's the work that God called us to, 00:07:12.00\00:07:14.36 to try to reach others and to tell them of the goodness of God 00:07:14.39\00:07:19.06 And so we do evangelism in many different ways. 00:07:19.09\00:07:23.17 The evangelism of course is not just public evangelism 00:07:23.20\00:07:26.67 Evangelism is witnessing to people around us. 00:07:26.70\00:07:29.92 It's showing them God's love. It's ministering to the needs 00:07:29.95\00:07:34.66 of people, then it's taking the opportunity 00:07:34.69\00:07:39.13 to bid them to follow Jesus Christ. 00:07:39.16\00:07:42.36 We do that when we preach and teach the word of God. 00:07:42.39\00:07:46.50 Here in Palawan we had the opportunity of doing evangelism, 00:07:46.53\00:07:51.57 public evangelism. We had the opportunity every night 00:07:51.60\00:07:56.13 of preaching Biblical messages and making calls 00:07:56.16\00:07:59.87 and seeing people respond to the bidding of the Holy Spirit. 00:07:59.90\00:08:04.64 We've been very pleased with the results that we've 00:08:04.67\00:08:08.18 seen from that. But evangelism has to do with the whole way 00:08:08.21\00:08:12.57 that we live. It has to do with the way that we relate to people 00:08:12.60\00:08:16.95 We need to have the Spirit of Jesus in everything that we do. 00:08:16.98\00:08:21.11 We need to be concerned about the world and about reaching 00:08:21.14\00:08:24.47 out to them and connecting with them 00:08:24.50\00:08:27.44 in practical and helpful ways. 00:08:27.47\00:08:30.27 Each of the AWA evangelists is partnered 00:08:30.30\00:08:33.65 with a local Bible worker. 00:08:33.68\00:08:35.49 The local pastors and Bible workers have been working 00:08:35.52\00:08:39.32 diligently for the past few months 00:08:39.35\00:08:42.04 preparing these Evangelistic meetings. 00:08:42.07\00:08:44.29 Pastor Delmar is partnered up with Mar and they will both be 00:08:44.32\00:08:49.84 working in the Narra church. They unite their efforts and 00:08:49.87\00:08:54.02 work well together to reach the people of Narra. 00:08:54.05\00:08:57.58 Evangelism is not just preaching certain doctrines. 00:08:57.61\00:09:01.47 It is coming close to people, relating to people, caring about 00:09:01.50\00:09:07.22 their needs. Understanding them. And by doing that, having the 00:09:07.25\00:09:12.50 opportunity of leading them to Jesus. 00:09:12.53\00:09:14.82 Showing them what Jesus is like. I think we had the chance 00:09:14.85\00:09:19.89 to do that we've taken time almost every day. 00:09:19.92\00:09:23.94 To go out to someone's home and to sit down with them, 00:09:23.97\00:09:29.01 talk with them and open the Bible with them. 00:09:29.04\00:09:31.90 And of course pray with them. Just these short times that we 00:09:31.93\00:09:36.77 had together with them has helped to create 00:09:36.80\00:09:39.52 a very important bond. 00:09:39.55\00:09:40.98 It's quite clear that evangelism is Pastor Delmar's passion, 00:09:41.01\00:09:44.98 and he whole heartedly devotes himself to soul winning 00:09:45.01\00:09:49.02 here on the Palawan Island. 00:09:49.05\00:09:51.95 Pastor Delmar's ministry is not limited to his nightly meetings. 00:09:51.98\00:09:55.90 In fact, he dedicates the entire day to evangelism 00:09:55.93\00:10:00.22 while he is here on the Palawan Island. 00:10:00.25\00:10:03.82 His interactions with the native people extend far beyond the 00:10:03.85\00:10:07.96 evening church meetings. Pastor Delmar and Mar 00:10:07.99\00:10:11.47 schedule daily home visitations to reach people that might 00:10:11.50\00:10:14.99 need some special ministry. 00:10:15.02\00:10:17.04 We are doing home visits because we want to 00:10:17.07\00:10:20.22 get to know the people the we are preaching to every night. 00:10:20.25\00:10:22.98 If we want to get to know them better, we want to 00:10:23.01\00:10:24.74 get to know them on a personal basis. We want to sort of 00:10:24.77\00:10:28.05 evaluate where they are in their spiritual life. 00:10:28.08\00:10:30.66 What kind of level of interest that they have 00:10:30.69\00:10:34.11 in following Christ. And where they are in their understanding 00:10:34.14\00:10:38.45 of Bible truths. Because then we can be more helpful to them 00:10:38.48\00:10:42.06 We can know where to share certain truth with them. 00:10:42.09\00:10:46.70 But also we can connect better with them. 00:10:46.73\00:10:50.56 One of the things that we were trying to do, in our visitation 00:10:50.59\00:10:54.94 was to visit church members, that had not attended 00:10:54.97\00:10:59.05 church for some time. And we got the name of a couple 00:10:59.08\00:11:04.40 the wife was a church member, but has not been to church 00:11:04.43\00:11:08.77 in several months. Her husband is an agnostic, 00:11:08.80\00:11:13.28 doesn't believe in God. And that always creates 00:11:13.31\00:11:17.92 a lot of difficulty for a believer to be living 00:11:17.95\00:11:21.40 in that kind of environment. 00:11:21.43\00:11:23.19 It's easy to become discouraged spiritually in your own life. 00:11:23.22\00:11:26.12 But we wanted to go by and encourage her and if possible 00:11:26.15\00:11:30.69 have the opportunity of talking with her husband. 00:11:30.72\00:11:33.64 So we stopped by one day and asked to visit 00:11:33.67\00:11:38.17 and meet her husband. So she graciously let us come 00:11:38.20\00:11:42.50 into her home. We talked for a while 00:11:42.53\00:11:45.54 and then her husband joined us. And we talked with him 00:11:45.57\00:11:50.55 and asked a little bit about his interest. 00:11:50.58\00:11:53.25 Well interestingly enough he had some interest in Bible prophecy. 00:11:53.65\00:11:58.14 And that actually opened the opportunity for us than to give 00:11:58.17\00:12:02.64 a full presentation about Bible prophecy. 00:12:02.67\00:12:06.00 So we took our projector and computer along and were able to 00:12:06.03\00:12:10.71 open up one of the presentations that we have given 00:12:10.74\00:12:13.20 at the meetings, and go through this study about Bible prophecy. 00:12:13.23\00:12:20.39 A Biblical perspective of why Bible prophecy 00:12:20.42\00:12:24.98 is important and necessary. 00:12:25.01\00:12:26.65 The gentlemen, his name is Bob, was very intelligent man 00:12:26.68\00:12:32.27 quite knowledgeable about many different topics. 00:12:32.30\00:12:35.43 He had read a lot in Bible prophecy. 00:12:35.46\00:12:37.93 So he had a lot of questions. He was coming from a perspective 00:12:38.14\00:12:44.62 of not being a believer, but believing that there must be 00:12:44.65\00:12:48.18 some truth in what he is reading So mainly what we wanted to do 00:12:48.21\00:12:54.10 was to give him some confidence and assurance in the Word of God 00:12:54.13\00:12:58.82 We wanted to help him to understand that Bible prophecy 00:12:58.85\00:13:03.26 does tell us about, not only about the future, 00:13:03.29\00:13:07.82 but there is a reason behind Bible prophecy, that helps to 00:13:07.85\00:13:12.75 remind us of the importance of knowing God and living for Him. 00:13:12.78\00:13:16.53 Bob had several questions about current world events 00:13:16.56\00:13:21.01 and how they fit into the picture. 00:13:21.04\00:13:22.64 And we had some good discussion about how that goes along with 00:13:22.67\00:13:27.46 what Jesus has said about the last days. 00:13:27.49\00:13:30.64 At the end of his 2 week outreach in the Narra area, 00:13:30.67\00:13:34.11 Pastor Delmar makes a call for baptism. 00:13:34.14\00:13:37.01 The church comes alive and people stand to their feet and 00:13:37.04\00:13:41.31 choose to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. 00:13:41.34\00:13:44.65 It is very clear that these meetings here in Narra 00:13:44.68\00:13:48.54 have had an eternal impact. 00:13:48.57\00:13:51.21 This area, this church and these people are changed forever. 00:13:51.24\00:13:57.21 Reaching the unreached is the Adventist World Aviation's 00:13:57.24\00:14:00.90 primary goal; to deliver hope and love to those on this planet 00:14:00.93\00:14:05.58 that are not easily reached for Jesus. 00:14:05.61\00:14:08.69 I feel that we had in a special way, an opportunity to come 00:14:08.72\00:14:14.02 and be fishers of man here in Palawan. And to be part 00:14:14.05\00:14:18.20 of the harvest that is taking place. We had the opportunity 00:14:18.23\00:14:22.81 visiting men and women. We had the opportunity of talking 00:14:22.84\00:14:26.19 to them about Jesus. We had the opportunity of giving them 00:14:26.22\00:14:31.15 calls to surrender their lives to Christ and to be baptized. 00:14:31.18\00:14:35.44 And we've just rejoiced at the numbers that have responded. 00:14:35.47\00:14:43.35 and of the large harvest that we see that is taking place. 00:14:43.38\00:14:47.26 So we just praise the Lord that God called us here to Palawan. 00:14:47.29\00:14:51.23 To be a part of this work. We are just excited about 00:14:51.26\00:14:54.21 being a part of this effort. And I want to thank Adventist World 00:14:54.24\00:14:58.31 Aviation for planning this project and making it possible 00:14:58.34\00:15:03.92 to bring all these people together for this event. 00:15:03.95\00:15:07.35 We're down here now sharing the gospel message of Jesus Christ. 00:15:14.53\00:15:18.45 Making people not only drawing fish in, and drawing them closer 00:15:18.48\00:15:23.69 to the throne of Christ, but the idea is also that once we 00:15:23.72\00:15:26.93 baptized them, led them to the throne of grace, than also 00:15:26.96\00:15:30.42 teaching them too, to become fishers of men. 00:15:30.45\00:15:34.22 It was once said that you do not have to be an expert to 00:15:34.25\00:15:36.99 show the love of Jesus Christ. You just have to be kind 00:15:37.02\00:15:39.93 and loving and know that Jesus died on the cross for us. 00:15:39.96\00:15:42.91 Really that's all it takes, that's all it's necessary. 00:15:42.94\00:15:46.08 If you show the love of Christ sincerely to somebody, 00:15:46.11\00:15:49.38 they can see it, they can see it in your eyes, 00:15:49.41\00:15:51.73 and in the sparkle of your smile 00:15:51.76\00:15:53.63 And so we are here to share the love of Christ in our smile, 00:15:53.66\00:15:57.53 in our friendliness, in our kindness 00:15:57.56\00:15:59.96 and in the generosity of folks at home, who made this possible. 00:15:59.99\00:16:04.69 We've invited laymen, professional evangelists, 00:16:04.72\00:16:07.69 ministerial directors. People of all shapes, sizes, intellect. 00:16:07.72\00:16:13.47 And we are doing just what the Bible commission says 00:16:13.50\00:16:16.46 Come, I will make you fishers of men. 00:16:16.49\00:16:19.32 Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20 said 00:16:19.35\00:16:22.36 Go ye therefore into all the world, teaching them, baptizing 00:16:22.39\00:16:27.07 them in the name of the Father Son and the Holy Spirit. 00:16:27.10\00:16:29.24 and teaching them to observe all things. 00:16:29.27\00:16:31.81 So we go, we teach, we baptize and then we teach them 00:16:31.84\00:16:35.12 to observe all things. The idea is to lead souls to Christ. 00:16:35.15\00:16:39.03 Reach the unreached and we are doing that today. 00:16:39.06\00:16:43.33 The Adventist World Aviation evangelistic team came 00:16:43.36\00:16:46.42 to Palawan to reach the unreached; 00:16:46.45\00:16:48.39 To be fishers of men. 00:16:48.42\00:16:50.74 However not everyone can be reached the same way. 00:16:50.77\00:16:54.92 People are in different walks of life, and therefore must be 00:16:55.13\00:16:59.11 approached by different methods. 00:16:59.14\00:17:01.22 Pastor Ric Swaningson president of Adventist World Aviation 00:17:02.32\00:17:06.71 is one of the evangelists conducting meetings 00:17:06.74\00:17:09.97 here in Palawan. 00:17:10.00\00:17:11.26 However his evangelistic meetings are somewhat 00:17:11.29\00:17:14.91 more none traditional than the rest of the teams. 00:17:14.94\00:17:18.14 The local church leaders and AWA board members agreed 00:17:18.17\00:17:22.92 to hold meetings that were geared towards the influential, 00:17:22.95\00:17:27.07 the leaders of the community. 00:17:27.10\00:17:29.32 Pastor Ric agreed to focus his meetings on what the Filipino's 00:17:29.35\00:17:34.69 refer to as "type A" people: 00:17:34.72\00:17:37.40 The leaders, the professionals of the community. 00:17:37.43\00:17:41.08 In Puerto Princesa we are going to be holding 00:17:41.11\00:17:44.02 a little bit of different type of meetings. 00:17:44.05\00:17:46.44 I don't think I have ever done a series of meetings 00:17:46.47\00:17:48.91 quite like this before. 00:17:48.94\00:17:50.52 Dr. Marvie and Namy are board of directors as well 00:17:50.55\00:17:55.15 as pastor Bautista approached me along with 00:17:55.18\00:17:58.11 the mission president, elder Melobad asked if I would 00:17:58.14\00:18:01.83 consider doing something a little bit unusual. 00:18:01.86\00:18:04.51 That unusual series of meetings would include what Dr. Marvie 00:18:04.54\00:18:10.74 calls type A interests. The idea is to attract the professional. 00:18:10.77\00:18:16.94 I was a little bit reticent at first to accept such a calling. 00:18:16.97\00:18:21.07 I have never really have done anything quite like it before. 00:18:21.10\00:18:23.26 Of course in our ministry we've baptized many doctors, and 00:18:23.29\00:18:27.39 lawyers and engineers throughout the years 00:18:27.42\00:18:29.70 in traditional evangelism, but I got to thinking, you know 00:18:29.73\00:18:33.28 she is right. It doesn't attract them on a mass scale. 00:18:33.31\00:18:38.53 If we can get 25 professionals out to listen to the Word of God 00:18:38.56\00:18:43.58 and present it in such a way, that they will be attracted 00:18:43.61\00:18:49.33 to the intellectual intelligents of the Word of God 00:18:49.36\00:18:52.21 And so interestingly enough as I started out the meetings 00:18:52.24\00:18:55.41 I stated out the meetings with the genius of God's Word 00:18:55.44\00:18:58.04 as not in it's complexities, but in it's simplicity. 00:18:58.07\00:19:02.05 That statement alone intrigued the ears of the listener. 00:19:02.08\00:19:06.65 The goal of pastor Ric's meetings is to present 00:19:06.68\00:19:09.68 the word of God to the leaders of society and in turn helping 00:19:09.71\00:19:14.78 transform the communities in which they govern. 00:19:14.81\00:19:17.45 I am here with our board chair Namy Marcelo. Namy tell us what 00:19:17.85\00:19:23.21 You had a vision, this is different here. 00:19:23.24\00:19:25.80 You had a vision for something different. Now our Adventist 00:19:25.83\00:19:28.99 World Aviation team came down here. We have a team of 6 or 7 00:19:29.02\00:19:33.10 other evangelists that are here working in the town of Narra 00:19:33.13\00:19:37.63 We are holding traditional evangelism down here 00:19:37.66\00:19:40.89 This is something different. 00:19:40.92\00:19:41.95 Tell us what your vision was here. 00:19:41.98\00:19:43.28 There have been several crusades done by westerners, 00:19:44.29\00:19:51.68 who come over to Philippines and there are less and less baptisms 00:19:51.71\00:19:56.45 But the problem is, we are not able to reach the upper class. 00:19:56.48\00:20:01.38 There is a chapter in "Ministry of Healing" that says 00:20:02.39\00:20:06.71 "Ministry to the Rich" and it's an opportunity 00:20:06.74\00:20:10.73 and lot's of people, who are here tonight are thankful. 00:20:10.76\00:20:14.61 for this opportunity to hear the gospel in a different way. 00:20:14.64\00:20:20.30 This rich segment of the population of Puerto Princesa. 00:20:20.33\00:20:24.77 And we are so happy that they responded. 00:20:24.80\00:20:28.12 Curious intellectual minds came to listen as they weighed the 00:20:28.15\00:20:33.16 messages coming from Pastor Ric. 00:20:33.19\00:20:35.52 Night after night, he unpacks the mysteries of the Bible. 00:20:35.55\00:20:39.94 The audience consists of doctors, lawyers, ministers, 00:20:39.97\00:20:45.45 and local government leaders. 00:20:45.48\00:20:47.68 Unarguably, everyone is equal in the eyes of God, 00:20:47.71\00:20:52.10 the rich or poor, master or servant. 00:20:52.13\00:20:56.20 The goal of these meetings isn't to elevate one group of people, 00:20:56.23\00:21:00.48 above another, but instead to reach a group 00:21:00.51\00:21:03.63 that is traditionally not attracted 00:21:03.66\00:21:05.94 by traditional style evangelistic meetings. 00:21:05.97\00:21:08.76 By holding these meetings geared towards professionals, 00:21:09.77\00:21:13.73 Adventist World Aviation hopes to greatly influence 00:21:13.76\00:21:16.81 this community by reaching the decision makers, the leaders; 00:21:16.84\00:21:21.54 then it's more likely, there will be change. 00:21:21.57\00:21:25.31 The idea for these meetings stemmed from the AWA 00:21:25.72\00:21:29.15 Philippine Board members. 00:21:29.18\00:21:30.59 They saw a great need for change in their society 00:21:30.62\00:21:34.92 and focused their efforts on reaching the catalyst for change 00:21:34.95\00:21:38.86 the leaders. 00:21:38.89\00:21:41.40 Dr. Marvie is on the AWA board here in Palawan. 00:21:41.43\00:21:46.08 She is a dentist using her dental chair 00:21:46.11\00:21:49.92 as a ministry platform. 00:21:49.95\00:21:51.93 It was while she was working in her office, that the vision of 00:21:51.96\00:21:56.50 reaching the "type A" people of the Filipino society 00:21:56.53\00:22:00.71 came to her. 00:22:00.74\00:22:01.77 In my practice I have a lot of patients. Most of them belong 00:22:01.80\00:22:07.92 to the "type A" in the society. I am thinking of how to give 00:22:07.95\00:22:15.68 them, or to disseminate to them the good news of salvation. 00:22:15.71\00:22:18.91 So first I though of giving them the Desire of Ages, 00:22:18.94\00:22:23.12 the Great Controversy and the rest of the religious books 00:22:23.15\00:22:27.53 written by E. G. White and that is where I started. 00:22:27.56\00:22:30.40 The goal of all Adventist World Aviation projects is 00:22:30.43\00:22:34.62 build the kingdom of God in the hearts of the people. 00:22:34.65\00:22:38.36 Sometimes this is done in partnership 00:22:38.39\00:22:41.38 with other organizations. 00:22:41.41\00:22:42.93 Adventist World Aviation is a strong supporter 00:22:42.96\00:22:46.90 of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church. 00:22:46.93\00:22:50.25 Here in the Philippines, it is no different. 00:22:50.28\00:22:53.37 Adventist World Aviation works closely with the local Palawan 00:22:53.40\00:22:57.34 church leaders. 00:22:57.37\00:22:58.44 The Palawan Mission President and Pastor Ric partnered 00:22:58.47\00:23:03.10 to bring these meetings to a reality. 00:23:03.13\00:23:05.51 Adventist World Aviation, we are a self supporting ministry. 00:23:05.54\00:23:09.33 but we are not an independent ministry. We are not here 00:23:09.36\00:23:11.74 to serve the desires of our board of directors. 00:23:11.77\00:23:14.84 We are here to serve the Lord and our church 00:23:14.87\00:23:16.67 that we love so dearly. And we are very happy to be part 00:23:16.70\00:23:22.03 of Luzon and of course Palawan here specifically where our 00:23:22.06\00:23:27.99 airbase is here. We are happy to be part of that 00:23:28.02\00:23:30.96 and we appreciate you inviting us to work with you. 00:23:30.99\00:23:34.50 Yes, that is the reason why we extended our invitation to you. 00:23:34.53\00:23:39.21 because we want to work hand in hand with you. 00:23:39.24\00:23:44.24 We know that you have lots of committed Christians, 00:23:44.27\00:23:50.11 Adventist Christians in your area, who are very much willing 00:23:50.14\00:23:54.32 to come and help to support the work especially 00:23:54.35\00:23:57.78 in the soul winning program of the mission here. 00:23:57.81\00:24:01.05 Thank you so much and we appreciate that! 00:24:01.08\00:24:03.73 For 2 weeks, Pastor Ric shared the treasures of God's word. 00:24:04.93\00:24:08.63 Night after night, professionals with many different 00:24:08.66\00:24:12.18 belief systems came to listen. 00:24:12.21\00:24:14.22 Pastors from other denominations came regularly. 00:24:14.25\00:24:18.40 and listened attentively. 00:24:18.43\00:24:20.37 It was very evident that Pastor Ric was sharing a message 00:24:20.98\00:24:25.25 that most of them had never heard before. 00:24:25.28\00:24:28.26 Even the hotel service staff stopped and listened 00:24:28.76\00:24:32.69 to the message being presented. 00:24:32.72\00:24:34.67 All seemed captivated by the biblical truths being shared. 00:24:34.70\00:24:40.58 One of the audience was a pastor of another denomination. 00:24:41.60\00:24:45.01 After attending these meetings, his heart was convicted 00:24:46.02\00:24:49.46 of the Sabbath truth. 00:24:49.49\00:24:51.86 He declared that from here on, he would keep the Sabbath 00:24:51.89\00:24:55.98 and teach his congregation to do the same. 00:24:56.01\00:24:59.45 These meetings were a huge success. And we praise God! 00:24:59.48\00:25:05.89 Jesus said, Go ye therefore into all the world. Amen? 00:25:05.92\00:25:11.62 So He says go into all the world and teach about Jesus Christ. 00:25:11.66\00:25:15.81 By reaching the leaders, entire communities, 00:25:16.82\00:25:19.21 churches and regions will be changed. 00:25:19.24\00:25:21.49 The commission to be fishers of men was lived out 00:25:21.52\00:25:25.37 here in Palawan. By all team members called to fish. 00:25:25.40\00:25:30.29 As a result of 7 evangelistic meetings held simultaneously 00:25:30.32\00:25:35.50 in Palawan, more than 150 people gave their lives to Jesus Christ 00:25:35.53\00:25:41.86 Although the meeting styles were different the message 00:25:42.87\00:25:46.88 of the Bible touched people, young and old; rich and poor. 00:25:46.91\00:25:50.96 At the foot of the cross, everyone is the same; 00:25:50.99\00:25:55.57 A loved child of God. This is the goal of Adventist 00:25:55.60\00:26:01.20 World Aviation: to help reach those not yet reached 00:26:01.23\00:26:05.15 by the gospel message and bring them 00:26:05.18\00:26:07.98 to know and love Jesus Christ as Savior. 00:26:08.01\00:26:12.16 Jesus told us, come I will make you fishers of men. 00:26:19.63\00:26:22.73 Jesus wants us to understand that He gives us a food 00:26:22.76\00:26:26.78 that will cause us to live for ever. 00:26:26.81\00:26:28.78 And so by following Jesus' directive, we are enabling 00:26:28.81\00:26:34.01 life eternal. 00:26:34.04\00:26:35.81 John chapter 3:16 is probably the world's most famous verse. 00:26:36.82\00:26:41.79 In John chapter 3 verse 16 the Bible says, 00:26:41.82\00:26:44.48 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son 00:26:44.51\00:26:48.26 that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, 00:26:48.29\00:26:50.88 but have everlasting life." 00:26:50.91\00:26:53.28 In that one verse there is a declarative statement that 00:26:53.31\00:26:58.00 Jesus is our life giver, He is our sustainer. 00:26:58.03\00:27:00.68 And as fisherman they understand the need for sustenance. 00:27:00.71\00:27:04.49 So Christ wants to sustain us for all eternity. 00:27:04.52\00:27:08.46 But the commission is given, not only in Mark, but it's also 00:27:08.49\00:27:12.78 given in Matthew 28:19-20, where Jesus says: 00:27:12.81\00:27:15.38 Go ye therefore, into all the world 00:27:15.41\00:27:17.35 So here we're at the Philippines right now, today, leading souls 00:27:17.38\00:27:22.86 to Jesus. Teaching them about Jesus, baptizing them 00:27:22.89\00:27:27.29 in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 00:27:27.32\00:27:30.23 Then our job is to teach them to observe all things, 00:27:30.26\00:27:34.39 which includes the great Gospel commission. 00:27:34.42\00:27:37.08 Won't you join us in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ! 00:27:37.11\00:27:41.33 Won't you join us in prayer in helping us get this message out! 00:27:41.36\00:27:46.46 There are some 7 billion people that live on planet earth. 00:27:46.49\00:27:50.59 Really, of those 7 billion people, two billion of them, 00:27:50.62\00:27:54.67 have never heard of Jesus before. 00:27:54.70\00:27:56.81 Somehow we have to get to those 2 billion. 00:27:56.84\00:28:00.27 It's easy enough to say we'll go out and reach men 00:28:00.58\00:28:03.91 but there are people, who we can't reach under normal means. 00:28:03.94\00:28:07.79 800 million of them can only be reached by means of 00:28:07.82\00:28:10.55 either boat or aviation. 00:28:10.58\00:28:12.29 Aviation is the most efficient way to reach them. 00:28:12.32\00:28:15.19 And we need to reach these people. If we don't reach out 00:28:15.81\00:28:20.08 to all the people throughout all the world. 00:28:20.11\00:28:23.09 Reaching the seemingly unreachable. 00:28:23.12\00:28:26.89 How can Jesus come? How could you as a parent leave 00:28:26.92\00:28:31.70 for vacation knowing that one of your children is missing. 00:28:31.73\00:28:35.62 How could you leave anywhere knowing that your child is lost. 00:28:35.65\00:28:40.25 When Jesus and our Father, Who is in Heaven 00:28:40.28\00:28:42.72 and He wants to save every one of us. 00:28:42.75\00:28:45.61 We recognize that not everyone will accept His salvation. 00:28:45.64\00:28:48.67 But we need to get the message out to those, 00:28:48.70\00:28:50.89 who are willing to listen. So we here at Adventist World Aviation 00:28:50.92\00:28:54.00 we're doing just that. 00:28:54.03\00:28:55.38 We ask you to come and join us, help us reach the unreached. 00:28:55.41\00:29:00.01 If you like more information about joining us 00:29:00.04\00:29:02.37 at Adventist World Aviation call your local 00:29:02.40\00:29:04.93 3 Angels Broadcasting Network. Call this station, 00:29:04.96\00:29:08.05 call your local station. Ask - how can I get involved 00:29:08.08\00:29:10.68 with Adventist World Aviation? 00:29:10.71\00:29:14.08