Good evening ASI. Good evening. 00:01:01.92\00:01:04.00 My first guest is Edith Tokich, 00:01:04.95\00:01:07.19 and you're from right here in Orlando right. 00:01:08.75\00:01:10.88 Yeah, I'm here from Central Florida. 00:01:11.55\00:01:12.68 Alright, so you didn't have a long commute 00:01:13.21\00:01:15.59 to get here. No, I really appreciate the fact 00:01:15.62\00:01:18.83 that we have the meetings here. 00:01:18.86\00:01:21.04 Now, now Edith, back in 2002, there was a movie 00:01:22.19\00:01:28.96 called "The Passion of Christ" correct, yes. 00:01:28.99\00:01:31.35 And, many of you are familiar with that movie 00:01:31.38\00:01:33.63 and the response that Seventh-Day Adventist Church 00:01:33.66\00:01:36.01 had to it. Your church took the opportunity to order 00:01:36.04\00:01:40.15 5000 books to share, right. So what happened, 00:01:40.18\00:01:43.60 tell me a little more about that. 00:01:43.63\00:01:44.80 Well, we had plans to handout 00:01:46.02\00:01:48.24 The Passion Of The Ages 5000 of them at a beer 00:01:48.27\00:01:52.27 festival that is held yearly in Umatilla. 00:01:52.30\00:01:55.32 And, we kind of, when they had and ordered books 00:01:56.48\00:02:02.76 before we made the final arrangements, 00:02:02.79\00:02:04.99 and as it turns out after lengthy negotiations 00:02:05.83\00:02:08.52 I was told that they will not allow us to handout 00:02:08.55\00:02:12.83 any books, they will not allow to have any religious 00:02:12.86\00:02:16.55 material at the beer festival. 00:02:16.58\00:02:18.69 So what did you do with those 5000 books? 00:02:18.72\00:02:20.96 Well, at first I panicked, and then I started 00:02:21.81\00:02:25.73 praying I was walking and praying and driving 00:02:25.76\00:02:29.75 and praying and just constantly praying 00:02:29.78\00:02:32.23 for wisdom for the Lord to show what we could do 00:02:32.26\00:02:35.50 with those books. So you took these to a 00:02:35.53\00:02:38.14 farmers market, and tell us about that. 00:02:38.17\00:02:41.38 Well, one of these times when I was praying 00:02:42.37\00:02:44.95 and asking for wisdom, the Lord kind of 00:02:44.98\00:02:47.17 impressed me to, to try to hand them out 00:02:47.20\00:02:50.11 at the farmers market as soon as he did that, 00:02:50.14\00:02:53.20 we jumped into action and rented a spot at our 00:02:53.23\00:02:57.35 local farmers market and setup a table and 00:02:57.38\00:03:02.38 I made banners and signs, and we featured the 00:03:02.75\00:03:08.09 Passion Of The Ages book, but we also had some 00:03:08.12\00:03:10.59 other books along setup and so I did handing 00:03:10.62\00:03:14.84 them out. So, many of those books that you pass 00:03:14.87\00:03:17.89 out are directly from ASI. Now, how do you 00:03:17.92\00:03:21.64 get the people to take the books that you're trying 00:03:21.67\00:03:24.46 to give them? Well, what's wonderful about witnessing 00:03:24.49\00:03:28.83 this way is that people come to your table, 00:03:28.86\00:03:31.58 they are curious, they want to see what you have, 00:03:31.61\00:03:34.29 they look at it, they start talking and visiting 00:03:35.13\00:03:37.43 and we do not approach anybody. 00:03:38.36\00:03:40.10 People come to us, and it's their choice to take 00:03:40.95\00:03:45.76 the material, and because of that I believe that 00:03:45.79\00:03:49.06 these books are used more than if we were to 00:03:49.09\00:03:53.14 lets say go door to door and hand them out 00:03:53.17\00:03:55.77 to everybody. Now, do most people just take one 00:03:55.80\00:03:58.54 book or do you have some people that take 00:03:58.57\00:03:59.96 a lot of books, what do they do with those books? 00:03:59.99\00:04:02.22 A lot of, a lot of people take more than one book 00:04:03.31\00:04:06.72 and usually they read them, and then come back, 00:04:07.32\00:04:10.88 and they look at the table, you can see their eyes just 00:04:10.91\00:04:15.24 wondering and they just point to different books 00:04:15.27\00:04:18.30 and they say, I have this one, 00:04:18.33\00:04:20.05 I read that one and I like to take the other one, 00:04:20.08\00:04:23.24 also and they come, and they eventually end up 00:04:23.97\00:04:28.64 with the whole collection. We also have people who, 00:04:28.67\00:04:32.34 when they see the books even at the first 00:04:33.85\00:04:35.88 time of returning they ask you know could 00:04:35.91\00:04:39.36 I take another copy of this or that, 00:04:39.39\00:04:41.26 because I would like to send it to, or 00:04:41.95\00:04:43.50 give it to my daughter or son or friend or coworker, 00:04:43.53\00:04:48.68 and we are not only witnessing to the people 00:04:49.40\00:04:52.33 who actually come to the table, but they are in 00:04:52.36\00:04:55.39 turn doing the witnessing for us as well, amen. 00:04:55.42\00:04:59.13 Wow! That's incredible. So, you have an individual 00:04:59.16\00:05:03.71 that's taking these books and sending them overseas. 00:05:03.74\00:05:07.03 Where are they sending them to? We had a couple, 00:05:07.06\00:05:10.32 we have a couple that comes regularly to our table 00:05:10.35\00:05:13.92 and they were taking quite a few you know always 00:05:14.60\00:05:17.69 a handful of books sometimes a dozen, 00:05:17.72\00:05:19.43 and didn't say much they were just taking them and 00:05:19.46\00:05:22.50 then finally one time we started visiting with them 00:05:22.53\00:05:25.70 and they shared, what they doing is they 00:05:25.73\00:05:28.95 aren't involved with the anysoldiers.com ministry 00:05:28.98\00:05:35.36 where they sending care packages to the 00:05:35.39\00:05:38.39 soldiers overseas, and they decided to send 00:05:38.42\00:05:41.95 out books and I like to tell you that these people 00:05:41.98\00:05:44.90 are not Adventists, but they like their material 00:05:44.93\00:05:47.63 so much that they decided to send our material 00:05:47.66\00:05:51.18 to the soldiers. Can you say amen? Amen. 00:05:51.21\00:05:54.03 That's exciting. Now, there's an individual that, 00:05:55.22\00:05:58.20 that is sharing the books in his library. 00:05:59.20\00:06:03.17 Tell us about that. That was on the street first. 00:06:03.20\00:06:06.00 We also have other outreach programs, a dozen 00:06:07.18\00:06:09.84 of other things that we do and on the street 00:06:09.87\00:06:13.43 first we do pretty much the same thing and 00:06:13.46\00:06:15.91 there was one gentleman who came and again 00:06:15.94\00:06:18.21 he did the same thing, he took one or two here 00:06:18.24\00:06:20.50 and there and then eventually we ended up 00:06:20.53\00:06:23.61 visiting with him as well and he has shared 00:06:23.64\00:06:25.67 that he was taking the books to a library that 00:06:25.70\00:06:30.78 is in his subdivision and he was putting the books 00:06:30.81\00:06:33.54 into the library. Now we have some photos 00:06:33.57\00:06:36.35 right here of your ministry in action. 00:06:36.38\00:06:38.61 So you're not only just going to the farmers market 00:06:40.83\00:06:44.46 you're also going to, you have your, 00:06:44.49\00:06:47.70 your path finders going to a Christmas fair 00:06:49.08\00:06:51.38 and various events. Yeah, our path finders are very, 00:06:52.13\00:06:54.42 very busy and witnessing, we have a fair in Eustis 00:06:55.49\00:07:00.49 every year, they setup a booth and you're gonna 00:07:01.79\00:07:04.65 see a picture in a minute and they are, personal 00:07:04.68\00:07:07.03 ministries is giving them the books and they 00:07:07.06\00:07:10.82 handout the books at the fair, 00:07:10.85\00:07:13.74 they also do Christmas in the park and do the same 00:07:14.37\00:07:16.69 thing and we pretty much use every opportunity 00:07:16.72\00:07:20.40 that we have to share our material. 00:07:20.43\00:07:23.44 In closing, do you have any words of inspiration 00:07:24.49\00:07:26.96 for the people here to encourage them to do 00:07:26.99\00:07:29.93 the same thing? Well, I feel very strongly that 00:07:29.96\00:07:36.50 everyone of us has a work to do that the Lord 00:07:36.53\00:07:40.21 has assigned us to do, and we need to pray and 00:07:40.24\00:07:43.59 ask the Lord for wisdom to show us what that is, 00:07:43.62\00:07:47.71 and we ask, we need to pray and ask the Lord 00:07:47.74\00:07:49.85 to give us wisdom and direction in actually 00:07:49.88\00:07:53.55 doing the work. Now Edith has a website if you would 00:07:53.58\00:07:56.24 like to contact her, it's www.hastenhiscoming.com 00:07:56.27\00:08:00.83 thank you Edith, thank you. 00:08:00.86\00:08:02.19 My next guest is Tom Ish. Many of you know Tom, 00:08:07.11\00:08:10.19 he's with Creation Illustrated Magazine. 00:08:10.22\00:08:12.30 I've known Tom for probably 20 years now. 00:08:12.33\00:08:15.13 First, at Vemar college, years ago. 00:08:15.97\00:08:18.59 Now, Tom has a magazine that has touched my heart 00:08:19.92\00:08:22.61 personally. I have a cousin that had gone away 00:08:22.64\00:08:26.44 from the Lord, one day he picked up the magazine 00:08:26.47\00:08:29.34 Creation Illustrated, and there was an article 00:08:29.37\00:08:32.38 in there that touched his heart and he came 00:08:32.41\00:08:34.81 to Christ from that article, praise God. 00:08:34.84\00:08:37.06 Chip that's, that's a direct answer to prayer. 00:08:37.09\00:08:39.78 You know we had two prayers when we started this 00:08:39.81\00:08:41.47 publication, number one that would be top quality, 00:08:41.50\00:08:43.75 so the professionals would feel comfortable about 00:08:43.78\00:08:46.57 sharing it with people in their market place, 00:08:46.60\00:08:49.25 but also number two that it cut across to nominational 00:08:49.89\00:08:52.92 lines and I'm happy to report that in our 18 years, 00:08:52.95\00:08:56.27 we now have 55 percent Non-Adventist leadership, 00:08:56.88\00:08:59.75 can you say amen, amen. And, this is, 00:08:59.78\00:09:02.55 oh can we see, a show of hands how many of you 00:09:03.52\00:09:05.26 are familiar with Creation Illustrated? 00:09:05.29\00:09:06.72 How many of you are currently subscribed? 00:09:07.77\00:09:09.27 And how many are sharing it in your market place? 00:09:10.27\00:09:12.39 That's what I was afraid of; we're gonna change 00:09:13.14\00:09:14.62 that in just a few minutes here. We have a slide to 00:09:14.65\00:09:17.62 share with you just so you can get a little bit more 00:09:17.65\00:09:19.80 familiar with Creation Illustrated and what is it, 00:09:19.83\00:09:22.42 it's a quarterly publication and as I say we've been 00:09:22.45\00:09:24.99 going for 18 years and it's in all 50 states 00:09:25.02\00:09:28.30 and 30 foreign countries, and readers called it 00:09:28.33\00:09:31.93 the Christian answer to national geographic, 00:09:31.96\00:09:34.06 and we'll hold the other slides for just a second 00:09:34.09\00:09:38.69 but, the Christian answer to national geographic 00:09:38.72\00:09:41.20 and I didn't tell you this before Chip, but I 00:09:41.23\00:09:42.89 got my degree in Geography from UC Berkeley, real 00:09:42.92\00:09:45.98 conservative institution on the West Coast, 00:09:46.01\00:09:48.46 and I had a dream, I had a dream to write for 00:09:48.49\00:09:52.20 National Geographic. Now, I had to tell you that God 00:09:52.23\00:09:56.25 had another plan, amen. And, so we have an 00:09:56.28\00:10:01.02 obligation to share the First Angels Message, 00:10:01.05\00:10:03.47 not to, and Revelation 14:7 says, 00:10:03.50\00:10:07.22 worship the creator of heaven and earth, 00:10:07.25\00:10:09.23 not to prove that He's the creator of heaven 00:10:09.26\00:10:12.03 and earth. That's right, and so, also the first 00:10:12.06\00:10:15.07 angel's message is there, and its sequential, 00:10:15.10\00:10:17.61 we've got to get the first angel's message right, 00:10:18.27\00:10:20.29 before we go onto the second and third 00:10:21.44\00:10:22.87 angel's message amen. Amen. And I 00:10:22.90\00:10:24.61 have to say we've slipped a little bit in that, 00:10:24.64\00:10:27.20 and we have some work to do. 00:10:27.23\00:10:28.96 We're suffering and we want to help, 00:10:29.60\00:10:31.03 as best we can. Now in the other slides that 00:10:31.64\00:10:33.73 were up there, the Creation Illustrated in nature 00:10:33.76\00:10:38.75 has the animal features, the outdoor adventures, 00:10:39.43\00:10:42.25 things like that, then the scripture section has 00:10:42.90\00:10:45.53 of the creation week, one day at a time, 00:10:45.56\00:10:47.82 a little bit deeper into the creation story then in 00:10:47.85\00:10:50.67 the living section you'll find gardening features, 00:10:50.70\00:10:53.78 getting people outdoors, helping kids unplug, 00:10:54.40\00:10:56.90 youth photo contest and a favorite among the women, 00:10:57.56\00:11:01.30 Genesis Cuisine Recipes or vegan. And so, 00:11:01.33\00:11:04.17 Genesis 1:29 is where you'll find the source for 00:11:04.94\00:11:08.50 that and so, it's really been a blessing to see 00:11:08.53\00:11:15.10 how it's working, and this is really Christ method 00:11:15.13\00:11:18.45 of reaching the masses is through the things he made, 00:11:18.48\00:11:21.00 and Tom is this approach working? 00:11:21.03\00:11:23.06 It really is working Chip, as we read in Hebrews 00:11:23.09\00:11:26.92 without a parable spake he not unto Him, and 00:11:26.95\00:11:29.62 I'll just share with you a couple of brief letters 00:11:29.65\00:11:32.30 to show that it is working, somebody from 00:11:32.33\00:11:35.12 Madagascar Raphael Picard says that thank you 00:11:35.15\00:11:39.46 for your good magazine, it's a blessing to us. 00:11:39.49\00:11:41.41 We use some articles as sermons in our ministry 00:11:41.97\00:11:44.55 and our missionary programs, in the village, 00:11:44.58\00:11:47.24 it is wonderful. Then a woman in 00:11:47.27\00:11:50.42 Southern California writes, five years we've been 00:11:50.45\00:11:53.43 enjoying your publication, when our granddaughter 00:11:53.46\00:11:56.26 asked her little two-year-old what shall we 00:11:56.29\00:11:59.53 read today, she runs and gets Creation Illustrated. 00:11:59.56\00:12:02.77 Alright. Now, an elderly person in England, my 00:12:02.80\00:12:06.24 elderly parents have enjoyed Creation Illustrated 00:12:06.77\00:12:10.21 for sometime, your purpose is not so much to prove 00:12:10.24\00:12:14.41 as praise, your objective in selecting content 00:12:14.44\00:12:17.43 is more devotional. Thank you for this different 00:12:17.46\00:12:19.92 approach sharing creation. So, yes, it is working 00:12:19.95\00:12:23.65 and I have to say that partnering with the 00:12:23.68\00:12:26.48 North American Division Education Department, 00:12:26.51\00:12:28.79 we raise about $95,000 a year to send 6000 00:12:29.40\00:12:33.72 subscriptions to every Adventist teacher in school 00:12:33.75\00:12:36.72 in North America, amen, and Larry Blackmer writes, 00:12:36.75\00:12:41.81 creation is becoming a large issue in the church, 00:12:41.84\00:12:44.45 and here is a proactive step you can take in promoting 00:12:45.07\00:12:49.59 the Adventist view and one teacher writes 00:12:49.62\00:12:51.84 we've already used it in staff worship and expect to 00:12:51.87\00:12:55.45 use it in student worships and science classes. 00:12:55.48\00:12:58.73 So, is evolution creeping into the church at all. 00:12:59.74\00:13:03.45 It really is, you know we have a real challenge here 00:13:03.48\00:13:06.67 and we need to show our young people that 00:13:06.70\00:13:10.35 we are the greatest evidence of a creator. 00:13:10.38\00:13:13.39 You know we have creation science in the publication, 00:13:13.42\00:13:16.66 but we need to show that God is still the creator, 00:13:17.25\00:13:21.14 He can creating in us a new heart and He's going 00:13:21.17\00:13:24.11 to recreate this earth and He's not gonna to take 00:13:24.14\00:13:26.69 billions of years to do it, amen, amen. 00:13:26.72\00:13:28.87 And so we have to share this opportunity with 00:13:29.50\00:13:34.58 people and this isn't just show and tell, 00:13:34.61\00:13:37.92 on my last slide here, we're gonna to show 00:13:37.95\00:13:40.32 you a what this Pen of inspiration tell us, 00:13:40.35\00:13:44.31 and it says that we need to be, 00:13:44.34\00:13:47.45 that this is the most effective way to reach 00:13:48.48\00:13:51.00 non believers, who know not God is through 00:13:51.03\00:13:53.71 His words. In this way far more than 00:13:53.74\00:13:56.49 any other method, she doesn't just say 00:13:56.52\00:13:59.17 that it's a good method or one method, 00:13:59.20\00:14:01.22 it's far better than any other method, 00:14:01.25\00:14:03.35 they can be made to worship the true God, 00:14:03.38\00:14:06.41 the maker of heaven and earth. 00:14:06.44\00:14:08.13 So, we have an obligation to share the first 00:14:08.68\00:14:11.97 angel's message in this church and we need to work 00:14:12.00\00:14:16.12 together to purge the apostasy out of our schools, 00:14:16.15\00:14:20.62 and our churches and if Pantheism and Kellogg 00:14:20.65\00:14:25.61 were the first alpha apostrophe evolution 00:14:25.64\00:14:29.90 creeping into our church, in our schools 00:14:29.93\00:14:31.65 is the Omega Apostasy. So, we do need to fight 00:14:31.68\00:14:35.44 back and we need to join and work together. 00:14:35.47\00:14:41.83 Some of our goals are to create a DVD and have 00:14:41.86\00:14:47.00 a six day conversion program, 00:14:47.03\00:14:49.05 a six day conversion program. 00:14:49.08\00:14:51.04 One pastor said to me, if it took the Lord, 00:14:51.52\00:14:53.37 six days to create the earth, 00:14:53.40\00:14:55.35 why should it take us 28 days to make 00:14:55.38\00:14:57.00 an Adventist, amen. So we want to work together 00:14:57.03\00:14:59.19 with people who believe in the creation message 00:14:59.22\00:15:01.26 and have a six day conversion program, 00:15:01.29\00:15:04.32 a DVD that can go all over the world. 00:15:04.35\00:15:06.51 So, if you want to help with that, see me, 00:15:07.13\00:15:10.18 go on our website creationillustrated.com, 00:15:10.21\00:15:12.92 and we could work together. 00:15:12.95\00:15:15.02 Now, we want to see a conviction of people 00:15:15.05\00:15:18.37 and if you don't contact me I'll contact you, 00:15:18.40\00:15:22.50 and if you say times are tough, I'll say time is 00:15:23.17\00:15:26.17 short, if you says I can't afford it, 00:15:26.20\00:15:28.05 I say we can't afford not to, 00:15:28.08\00:15:30.10 if you say maybe later I said I'll tell you 00:15:30.13\00:15:33.39 that's never been this late before as my friend 00:15:33.42\00:15:36.32 Herb Douglas says, it's never been this late 00:15:36.35\00:15:38.53 before friends. And if you have too many projects 00:15:38.56\00:15:40.96 you're involved in. You're gonna to be called 00:15:40.99\00:15:44.50 to be involved in one more, 00:15:44.53\00:15:45.91 thank you Tom, thank you, Thanks. 00:15:45.94\00:15:50.14 My next guest is Ed Williams. 00:15:51.45\00:15:53.83 Ed, where are you from? Silver Spring, Maryland. 00:15:57.13\00:16:00.12 Now Ed, have you always been a 00:16:01.43\00:16:04.14 Seventh-Day Adventist? No, I started off as 00:16:04.17\00:16:07.79 Seventh-Day Adventist and during my teen years 00:16:07.82\00:16:10.72 I made some very poor choices and I drifted 00:16:10.75\00:16:12.69 away, okay. How long where you gone? 42 years, 00:16:12.72\00:16:15.85 42 years. Well, so what brought you back, 00:16:16.73\00:16:19.32 what's your testimony? Well, 00:16:19.35\00:16:21.08 I fast forward from then to 1992. 00:16:21.11\00:16:24.09 In 1992, my youngest sister was diagnosed with 00:16:25.12\00:16:28.35 Mesothelioma, asbestos related cancer. 00:16:28.38\00:16:31.24 She had a lung taken out, heavy chemotherapy, 00:16:34.20\00:16:36.47 heavy radiation, but she made it through. 00:16:36.50\00:16:39.51 About three years later, her husband went 00:16:40.88\00:16:42.83 through his midlife crisis. And, they were gone, 00:16:42.86\00:16:46.10 he was gone for almost five years, 00:16:46.13\00:16:48.06 during that period of time Charlotte's job 00:16:48.09\00:16:52.86 was eliminated, because the company she worked for 00:16:52.89\00:16:55.13 was sold, she was in poor health, she was alone. 00:16:55.16\00:16:59.30 So my wife and who had been through divorces 00:17:00.36\00:17:02.81 knew what it was like to be lonesome so we decided 00:17:02.84\00:17:05.47 we would take her under our wing. 00:17:05.50\00:17:06.87 A little did we know that God was putting us 00:17:07.96\00:17:09.62 under her wing. Wow! We would to have dinner 00:17:09.65\00:17:13.11 once a week, we vacationed together, 00:17:13.14\00:17:15.74 she never complained, she was just a good 00:17:16.92\00:17:19.28 Adventist Christian. Well, but five years later 00:17:19.31\00:17:23.76 her husband came back and asked to be reinstated 00:17:24.59\00:17:27.92 and she accepted, and I thought it was a bad idea, 00:17:28.64\00:17:30.66 but it worked. Well, in 2003 the cancer came back, 00:17:30.92\00:17:36.49 a week-and-half after it was diagnosed 00:17:38.16\00:17:40.38 she was gone, wow! That just brought this alternate 00:17:40.41\00:17:48.53 period of time, my wife kept on saying you know, 00:17:48.56\00:17:51.76 I like to be more like Charlotte, 00:17:52.74\00:17:53.87 I like to be more like to Charlotte. 00:17:54.74\00:17:55.81 Well, after she was gone, Carol says, you know, 00:17:57.50\00:18:00.58 we should go to church, I said well if we do there 00:18:01.51\00:18:04.70 is one we're going to, amen. And she said why, 00:18:04.73\00:18:07.49 I said it's the only one that just preaches 00:18:07.52\00:18:10.08 the Adventist tell me the real truth of the Bible. 00:18:10.81\00:18:12.97 So, we started going to church, and she's went 00:18:14.46\00:18:19.29 into Bible studies because she was never an Adventist, 00:18:19.32\00:18:21.43 and that's when I knew I was in deep trouble, 00:18:22.32\00:18:24.13 because although I had given up cigarettes 00:18:24.99\00:18:26.47 back in '87. I was a heavy drinker; 00:18:26.50\00:18:29.04 I was drinking between 40 and 50 drinks a week. 00:18:29.07\00:18:31.21 That's quite a bit, and I knew that I was not 00:18:31.24\00:18:34.81 going to be able to stop this on my own. 00:18:34.84\00:18:36.36 So I was praying about it, the day that the pastor 00:18:37.19\00:18:40.24 left on the final Bible study I said well, 00:18:40.27\00:18:44.25 are we gonna to do this, she said yes. 00:18:44.28\00:18:46.74 So I took 25 of the 30 pack and I gave it 00:18:48.09\00:18:50.58 away at the camp ground, I should have thrown 00:18:50.61\00:18:51.70 it away but I didn't. And, you know, 00:18:51.73\00:18:55.64 the good Lord took it from me and I haven't 00:18:55.67\00:18:57.25 even had the urge since that day. 00:18:57.28\00:18:59.32 Wow! So this must of have triggered an idea 00:19:00.21\00:19:08.39 in your mind that you could have a special 00:19:08.42\00:19:10.76 ministry for people just like you. 00:19:10.79\00:19:12.72 Well, I knew that the Lord wanted me to do 00:19:12.75\00:19:15.05 something I didn't know what it was yet. 00:19:15.08\00:19:16.53 So I started studying and trying to catch up 00:19:16.56\00:19:18.69 or there's 42 years of not being in the truth. 00:19:18.72\00:19:23.61 And then I donned on it who better to go after 00:19:24.54\00:19:26.11 those that are drifted away but somebody 00:19:26.14\00:19:28.30 that's been there, that's right. 00:19:28.33\00:19:29.72 So we started developing our ministry at that time, 00:19:29.75\00:19:33.72 okay. So what is that ministry? 00:19:34.78\00:19:36.49 What do you doing now? We have FARM, 00:19:36.52\00:19:38.98 which is Former Adventist Recovery Ministries. 00:19:39.01\00:19:40.99 We have developed a program that we go out 00:19:42.22\00:19:44.75 to the churches and try to generate interest and 00:19:44.78\00:19:47.20 reclaiming their people, giving them a study 00:19:47.23\00:19:50.81 on the prodigal son's brother to prepare them 00:19:50.84\00:19:55.71 for the right attitude for reclaiming, 00:19:55.74\00:19:57.85 we provide information on how to and 00:19:58.66\00:20:01.45 what not to do, like did any of you would stop 00:20:01.48\00:20:04.85 and think that the one time you don't want 00:20:04.88\00:20:06.95 to go and do that is on Sabbath afternoon, 00:20:06.98\00:20:09.32 because if you catch them in doing something 00:20:10.95\00:20:13.01 that they shouldn't be doing that's a got you 00:20:13.04\00:20:14.86 and it's gonna cause resentment. 00:20:14.89\00:20:16.61 Any other time, and we try to answer the questions 00:20:17.61\00:20:21.86 on what to do and what not to do, to go in love, 00:20:21.89\00:20:24.80 take the material and so forth. 00:20:24.83\00:20:26.92 And, we also ask everyone of them to write down 00:20:27.78\00:20:32.52 the names and the address of everybody that 00:20:32.55\00:20:34.80 they know that has dropped away from the church, 00:20:34.83\00:20:37.09 because even though I'm located in Silver Spring, 00:20:37.74\00:20:40.44 if I get the name in California, 00:20:41.80\00:20:43.35 I'll call a pastor that lives close to there, 00:20:44.22\00:20:46.24 our shipping materials with instructions and 00:20:47.00\00:20:49.34 so forth to help him and let him take the materials 00:20:49.37\00:20:52.40 to them saying that he's from Former 00:20:52.43\00:20:55.06 Adventist Recovery Ministry, somebody that 00:20:55.09\00:20:57.05 truly loves them has put him in contact with us, 00:20:57.08\00:21:00.45 they want you back, God wants you back. 00:21:00.48\00:21:02.53 Well, now something I want to mention about Ed 00:21:03.75\00:21:07.25 is this isn't a full time job for him. 00:21:09.76\00:21:11.61 He actually has a company, it's a home inspection 00:21:11.64\00:21:14.46 company. So, this is the ASI model right here, 00:21:14.49\00:21:18.10 members in action, working in their market place 00:21:19.15\00:21:21.44 and hopefully you can take this to a full time 00:21:21.47\00:21:24.84 where this is all you do, because we know, 00:21:25.43\00:21:27.01 we all know, and let's see have a raise of hands, 00:21:27.04\00:21:30.43 do you know anybody that you went to school with, 00:21:30.46\00:21:33.48 a family member, do you know anybody 00:21:33.51\00:21:36.14 that's left the church? Well look at that, 00:21:36.17\00:21:39.63 every hand is raised and the Welshmen Baltimore 00:21:39.66\00:21:43.23 Area where I live, it's estimated between 00:21:43.26\00:21:45.21 a 100 and 150 thousand, if you stipulate that 00:21:45.24\00:21:48.84 out to the nationwide it's got to be well over a 00:21:48.87\00:21:50.63 million. It's a big job, we need your help. 00:21:50.66\00:21:54.30 Okay so, what tools do you have that we can 00:21:55.30\00:21:58.16 tell them about right now that they can go to. 00:21:58.19\00:22:00.82 If you stop by our booth at 629, 00:22:00.85\00:22:04.59 I can show you what we have to offer. 00:22:04.62\00:22:06.50 The materials and so forth and if you want 00:22:07.52\00:22:09.86 to do it at your church, we'll get you the materials 00:22:09.89\00:22:12.94 just let us know. Okay, so this man is coming to you. 00:22:12.97\00:22:17.26 He has a booth here. He has a solution, 00:22:17.83\00:22:20.10 you have a problem. We all have this problem. 00:22:20.13\00:22:23.28 We need to bring our friends and family back 00:22:23.31\00:22:25.09 to the church, back to God. 00:22:25.12\00:22:26.52 And so, I really want you to go and visit with this 00:22:27.40\00:22:30.54 man at booth 629 Ed Williams. 00:22:30.57\00:22:32.93 And you also have a website and for those 00:22:32.96\00:22:34.99 of you on television you might wanna write 00:22:35.02\00:22:37.04 this down and go visit it. www.adventistfarm.com 00:22:37.07\00:22:41.46 thank you Ed, thank you and we need 00:22:42.09\00:22:44.33 your prayers most of all, amen. 00:22:44.36\00:22:46.36 Good evening, good evening. 00:23:00.72\00:23:02.52 I would like for you to meet my friends Pastor 00:23:02.55\00:23:06.29 Jay Lo and Panyia Vang Lo, amen. 00:23:06.32\00:23:10.80 We are so happy to be here, 00:23:11.92\00:23:14.13 to share with you the amazing way God is leading 00:23:14.16\00:23:17.61 the Lo family. Can you tell us, 00:23:17.64\00:23:19.86 where are you from? We are from Laos, 00:23:19.89\00:23:23.59 but we are Hmong from the mountain of Laos. 00:23:24.67\00:23:29.02 So, you're Hmong from the mountains of Laos, yes. 00:23:30.26\00:23:34.84 How many of you have ever heard of Hmong people, 00:23:34.87\00:23:38.58 will you raise your hand, oh quite a few, 00:23:38.61\00:23:40.73 truly these are unreached people. 00:23:41.40\00:23:43.56 Can you tell us some more about the Hmong people? 00:23:43.59\00:23:46.33 The Hmong people originally from South end China. 00:23:47.06\00:23:50.66 The southern province of China are Hmong country, 00:23:51.53\00:23:54.95 but in early 1900 or 19 century the Chinese took 00:23:55.67\00:24:04.09 over the Hmong country so they migrated to 00:24:04.12\00:24:06.91 Southern China to Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, 00:24:06.94\00:24:11.93 Burma and during 1975 after Vietnam war, 00:24:12.64\00:24:17.77 the Hmong migrate again to the United States, 00:24:17.80\00:24:21.22 Canada, Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand, 00:24:21.25\00:24:27.37 Argentina and French Guiana. 00:24:27.40\00:24:30.17 What religion are the Hmong people? 00:24:31.01\00:24:33.24 The Hmong believe and says the worship Animism 00:24:35.51\00:24:41.39 and Buddhism. And so you grow up in a 00:24:41.42\00:24:45.18 Hmong Village and your family was what religion? 00:24:45.21\00:24:49.02 My family believe the Ancestor and Animism. 00:24:50.11\00:24:53.49 Can you tell us how you became a Christian? 00:24:53.91\00:24:56.54 Well after the Vietnam war, we become a refugee 00:24:57.11\00:25:01.15 and I came to the refugee camp in Thailand 00:25:01.18\00:25:05.06 and were the refugee was divide by, 00:25:06.23\00:25:09.36 divided into two section, one section is the 00:25:10.11\00:25:13.96 non-christian and the other is a christian. 00:25:13.99\00:25:16.23 So, I saw there the love of God calling from all the 00:25:17.10\00:25:24.78 Christian around the war to the Christians site 00:25:24.81\00:25:28.07 and one day my cousin invited me to stay 00:25:28.10\00:25:33.94 with them. So they teach me some Bible, hymn, 00:25:33.97\00:25:39.73 sing a song and then they also help me to find 00:25:39.76\00:25:43.08 to sponsor, to sponsor, a Christian family 00:25:43.11\00:25:45.88 to sponsor me to come to this country. 00:25:45.91\00:25:47.99 So, we don't have time to share all the 00:25:49.28\00:25:51.44 wonderful interesting story tonight, 00:25:51.47\00:25:53.89 but you could come by the ASAP exhibit and hear 00:25:53.92\00:25:57.04 more from Pastor Jay and Mrs. Panyia 00:25:57.07\00:26:00.52 and they will tell you more of their story. 00:26:01.24\00:26:03.87 Let's fast forward to the United States, 00:26:05.05\00:26:09.05 when they were both had come to the United States 00:26:09.08\00:26:12.06 and fast forward to when Pastor Jay was a 00:26:12.74\00:26:17.29 seminary teacher at the Lutheran Seminary 00:26:18.20\00:26:21.67 in Saint Paul Minnesota. He also was Pastoring 00:26:21.70\00:26:25.45 a church among them the Hmong people, 00:26:25.48\00:26:28.04 during that time, there was a lot of problems 00:26:29.48\00:26:33.82 in persecution. Can you tell us about that? 00:26:33.85\00:26:37.06 Sure, when Jay decided to become a pastor, 00:26:37.98\00:26:41.62 we actually were disowned by our family, 00:26:42.69\00:26:45.84 our relatives, our friends and the Hmong community 00:26:46.70\00:26:50.09 leaders, because we always involved in the community 00:26:50.12\00:26:53.51 and they believed that we had betrayed our 00:26:53.54\00:26:56.88 own people, our own culture and our own religion. 00:26:56.91\00:27:01.40 So, someone actually drove an old car, 00:27:03.18\00:27:08.34 full of gasoline and parked behind our garage 00:27:09.58\00:27:14.12 and tried to burn our house down. 00:27:14.15\00:27:16.09 They also wrote many, many, 00:27:17.69\00:27:20.22 many messages on our garage that you would 00:27:20.25\00:27:24.56 not want to read. They actually tried to shoot 00:27:24.59\00:27:29.64 down his professor at the time was the Hmong 00:27:29.67\00:27:33.32 coordinator for the Lutheran Church at that time. 00:27:33.35\00:27:36.67 And they missed him; they hit him on his shoulder. 00:27:37.49\00:27:41.42 They actually bombed his garage, but he wasn't home, 00:27:42.08\00:27:45.23 and also every time that we have a mission trip 00:27:46.58\00:27:51.29 to Southeast Asia. We would have phone calls 00:27:51.32\00:27:54.67 and threats from people that we will not come 00:27:54.70\00:27:58.14 back if we take these trips, but you know what, 00:27:58.17\00:28:00.91 God guided us through all this and He protected all 00:28:02.24\00:28:06.10 of us through that time, because He knew that 00:28:06.13\00:28:08.67 we were doing His work for Him reaching out to 00:28:08.70\00:28:11.32 the Hmong people. And you were not discouraged 00:28:11.35\00:28:14.96 and afraid at that time. No, actually our faith 00:28:14.99\00:28:18.87 grew stronger, and we did not stop, 00:28:18.90\00:28:21.96 we continued doing God's reaching out to the 00:28:21.99\00:28:25.02 Hmong people. And for 16 years you served God 00:28:25.05\00:28:28.77 with the Lutheran Church, did many kinds of missions, 00:28:28.80\00:28:32.25 training, training students to be missionaries, 00:28:32.28\00:28:35.33 and how is it that you became interested 00:28:36.16\00:28:39.53 in the Adventist message? Well, one day I 00:28:39.56\00:28:44.40 discovered the Sabbath by myself, 00:28:45.98\00:28:49.54 and then I questioning the supervisor, 00:28:50.29\00:28:53.65 why Lutheran doesn't provide this, 00:28:55.14\00:28:58.01 as what we teach and preach by keeping 00:28:59.00\00:29:01.56 the Sabbath. So he turn around and he say 00:29:01.59\00:29:04.62 are you questioning the senate or our doctrine, 00:29:04.65\00:29:09.86 church doctrine then three months later I received 00:29:09.89\00:29:13.16 a letter saying that you'll be no longer have 00:29:13.19\00:29:18.57 funds to support your mission and 00:29:18.60\00:29:20.83 you are now free to leave. You were a seeker 00:29:20.86\00:29:25.66 for truth and the Lord says when He the 00:29:26.23\00:29:28.21 spirit of truth has come He will lead you to all truth 00:29:28.24\00:29:31.82 and so what happened at that time when you 00:29:32.55\00:29:35.99 are released from your Pastoring job 00:29:36.02\00:29:38.36 and from your work and teaching at the seminary. 00:29:38.39\00:29:41.65 What did you do after that? After that, 00:29:42.30\00:29:45.00 my cousin from Thailand came to visit and then 00:29:46.56\00:29:50.09 he said well I have a brother-in-law, 00:29:50.72\00:29:53.36 who is a Hmong pastor married to a missionary 00:29:54.12\00:29:57.25 also live in the twin city of Minnesota. 00:29:58.02\00:30:00.46 I want you to meet, maybe you can work with him, 00:30:01.09\00:30:03.52 then I ask him for to give me his phone number, 00:30:04.89\00:30:08.38 he gave me his phone number, 00:30:08.91\00:30:09.98 I call him and he's Pastor Ko and Terry Saelee, 00:30:10.69\00:30:15.34 they under Hmong Adventist pastor in St. Paul 00:30:16.33\00:30:20.31 and that's how I get to know him and get into 00:30:20.98\00:30:24.12 the Seventh-day Adventist. And he shared the 00:30:24.15\00:30:27.12 good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 00:30:27.79\00:30:30.86 the truth of the Sabbath many things, 00:30:30.89\00:30:33.33 he gave you books and then you began 00:30:33.36\00:30:36.04 translating the Hmong Bible and why is it important to 00:30:36.77\00:30:40.21 translate the Hmong Bible. It is important because, 00:30:40.24\00:30:46.15 the first couple Hmong Bible about is out there 00:30:46.18\00:30:51.25 right now is translated from the living Bible 00:30:51.28\00:30:54.48 and the word of God and it's very, 00:30:54.51\00:30:57.80 it's a paraphrase and not accurate. 00:30:58.48\00:31:01.31 So after learning Greek and Hebrew and many 00:31:02.29\00:31:07.95 other languages, I decided that God's calling me to 00:31:07.98\00:31:12.24 translate the Bible into the Hmong according 00:31:12.27\00:31:16.47 to the original language. And what have you been 00:31:16.50\00:31:19.71 doing for the past year. For past year, 00:31:19.74\00:31:23.44 I was sponsored by Minnesota Conference 00:31:23.47\00:31:26.07 to study at Andrews Seminary and I was at 00:31:26.10\00:31:31.23 the same time I also translate Bible into the 00:31:31.26\00:31:34.64 Hmong language as a part time. 00:31:34.67\00:31:37.41 What is your vision for God's work in the future? 00:31:38.32\00:31:42.00 Our vision is to share the gospel, 00:31:42.83\00:31:46.81 the true gospel to all the Hmong people around 00:31:47.50\00:31:50.96 the world and to continue to translate the Bible 00:31:50.99\00:31:56.10 until it is finished and then become a missionary 00:31:56.77\00:32:03.30 to serve the Hmong people around the world. 00:32:03.33\00:32:05.33 And Panyia, do you support him in this vision? 00:32:05.84\00:32:08.82 Absolutely, I always supported him, 00:32:09.39\00:32:12.72 God has planted this seed in our hearts 00:32:14.02\00:32:15.55 even before we were married. 00:32:15.58\00:32:16.94 And we've always been partners in serving God 00:32:18.30\00:32:21.78 willing soul especially the Hmong soul for God's 00:32:21.81\00:32:24.95 Kingdom. I will always support him with God's 00:32:25.52\00:32:28.71 grace and willing. I pray that we will continue 00:32:28.74\00:32:31.94 to do that, but you know we don't have 00:32:31.97\00:32:35.94 all the resources to do that and we don't have 00:32:35.97\00:32:38.58 the funding to do that. And so, I ask that you 00:32:38.61\00:32:42.68 pray for us and pray with us that God would 00:32:42.71\00:32:47.72 touch people's heart to support us with any 00:32:47.75\00:32:52.16 resources financial or what have you, 00:32:52.19\00:32:54.97 so that we can continue to translate this Bible, 00:32:55.50\00:32:59.69 Hmong Bible and share it to the 15 million Hmong 00:33:00.24\00:33:06.41 around the world. And also that, 00:33:07.03\00:33:09.67 please pray that God would touch people's heart 00:33:11.15\00:33:13.56 and find a sponsor for Jay to continue his Greek 00:33:14.16\00:33:16.29 and Hebrew at Andrews University so that 00:33:16.32\00:33:19.27 he can understand the Bible more from its original 00:33:19.92\00:33:22.97 language and able to translated more accurately 00:33:23.00\00:33:26.21 into the Hmong language, amen. 00:33:26.24\00:33:28.60 Some of the teachers at Andrews University 00:33:29.46\00:33:32.54 have encouraged him to continue studying, 00:33:32.57\00:33:34.66 but ASAP is committed to pray for them 00:33:35.32\00:33:42.25 and do everything possible to help them to continue 00:33:42.95\00:33:48.44 reaching the Hmong people throughout the world 00:33:48.47\00:33:51.01 with the everlasting gospel and we solicit 00:33:51.04\00:33:54.17 your prayers, God bless you, thank you. 00:33:54.20\00:33:57.25 ASI family, I would like to introduce you to my 00:34:04.31\00:34:06.21 friend Joe Cirigliano. Joe trained to be a 00:34:06.24\00:34:10.43 physical therapist. He would probably be an 00:34:10.46\00:34:13.33 ASI member today if he continued that career 00:34:13.36\00:34:15.28 and followed into it's maturity we have lots 00:34:15.31\00:34:19.60 of medical people here, but Joe has become a 00:34:19.63\00:34:23.03 Seventh-Day Adventist minister specializing 00:34:24.46\00:34:26.41 in mentoring people to witness effectively. 00:34:26.44\00:34:29.56 So Joe I don't want to waste your time asking 00:34:30.29\00:34:33.02 questions but I want to ask you one favor, 00:34:33.05\00:34:36.03 tell us the story of how ordinary people, 00:34:36.06\00:34:40.04 small people can do wonderful things when 00:34:41.20\00:34:43.80 they have a big God. Amen, thank you very much. 00:34:43.83\00:34:46.60 The Bible tells us in Isaiah 55:11, 00:34:47.19\00:34:49.84 that the word of the Lord will never return 00:34:49.87\00:34:52.57 backward, do you believe that? Amen. 00:34:52.60\00:34:54.83 I think we've heard a lot of stories tonight 00:34:54.86\00:34:56.31 of how the efforts of little people, 00:34:56.34\00:34:59.06 regular people like you and I can make difference 00:34:59.09\00:35:01.41 to change lives. Now, I'm a paid professional 00:35:01.44\00:35:04.02 pastor and evangelist, but I want to tell you 00:35:04.05\00:35:06.96 this story of how my family received the 00:35:06.99\00:35:10.00 advent hope. Way back in the 1970s in 00:35:10.03\00:35:13.34 New York City, a lot of very strange things 00:35:13.37\00:35:15.26 were happening, and people started to leave 00:35:15.29\00:35:17.66 New York city and move to the suburbs and my 00:35:17.69\00:35:20.72 family move to Long Island and when they were 00:35:20.75\00:35:23.36 out there, my uncle Tony was a mailman. 00:35:23.39\00:35:27.09 Now when you're born in an Italian family 00:35:27.12\00:35:28.70 they flip a coin, a head you're Tony and tails 00:35:28.73\00:35:32.62 you're Joe. I got Joe and with the name like 00:35:32.65\00:35:38.26 Joe Cirigliano when people see me they often think 00:35:38.29\00:35:40.65 I'm in the mafia and I've been asked that 00:35:40.68\00:35:42.05 many times but, I tell people I don't work 00:35:42.08\00:35:44.67 for the Godfather I work for the God the Father. 00:35:44.70\00:35:46.90 But in the 1970s my uncle Tony was a mailman, 00:35:50.34\00:35:53.09 who was working his route one day and a local 00:35:53.12\00:35:55.56 church secretary named Sandy Newman was mailing 00:35:55.59\00:35:59.20 out a magazine called these times now, 00:35:59.23\00:36:02.13 Signs Of The Times and they came across my 00:36:02.16\00:36:04.94 uncle's mail route. Now if you ever wonder if the 00:36:04.97\00:36:08.03 mailman reads your mail he does and my uncle 00:36:08.06\00:36:13.67 read that magazine and began to learn even more 00:36:13.70\00:36:17.35 he been studying with my Aunt Maryanne 00:36:17.38\00:36:19.42 from quite a while and the Lord grabbed a hold 00:36:19.45\00:36:21.95 of him, changed his life. Now word had gotten 00:36:21.98\00:36:24.96 around to the family that my uncle Tony had become 00:36:24.99\00:36:27.69 a Seventh-Day Adventurer. No one had ever really 00:36:27.72\00:36:34.00 heard of that before and a little bit of worrying 00:36:34.03\00:36:35.94 and concern and so my mother decided to go 00:36:35.97\00:36:39.76 and study with them, she had been searching 00:36:39.79\00:36:41.85 and seeking for the Lord and they had a Bible 00:36:41.88\00:36:44.72 study one night and she brought over a 00:36:44.75\00:36:46.32 pepperoni pizza. And it's while my uncle picked 00:36:46.35\00:36:51.40 the pepperoni off the pizza that their Bible study 00:36:51.43\00:36:53.63 continued to move even further and my Aunt 00:36:53.66\00:36:56.40 Maryanne said she was shocked a few weeks later, 00:36:56.43\00:36:58.88 when my mother called and said can I go 00:36:59.77\00:37:01.49 to church with you next Sabbath, amen, 00:37:01.52\00:37:05.20 wow! And things changed, and things happened, before 00:37:05.23\00:37:07.87 long my uncle just in time to share the good 00:37:08.94\00:37:13.04 news with my mother, my uncle went to Southern 00:37:13.07\00:37:15.71 College became an Adventist pastor. 00:37:15.74\00:37:18.08 My mother became a literature evangelist, 00:37:19.12\00:37:21.26 who went and worked to put my sister and I 00:37:22.01\00:37:24.37 through Adventist school as a part time mother, 00:37:24.40\00:37:27.47 she was a second selling literature evangelist 00:37:27.50\00:37:30.61 in the Atlantic union as a young boy. 00:37:30.64\00:37:32.34 Thousands of lives were change because of my 00:37:34.48\00:37:37.07 uncle's ministry and his training many of you 00:37:37.10\00:37:39.65 have heard of his gospel workers, program 00:37:39.68\00:37:41.59 or some of his good news Bible study series 00:37:41.62\00:37:43.74 and my mother I told you about but, 00:37:43.77\00:37:45.94 for the last 16 years I've been serving the 00:37:46.70\00:37:48.68 Seventh-day Adventist Church in a variety 00:37:48.71\00:37:50.25 of positions. For the last more than a decade been 00:37:50.28\00:37:53.82 working in Atlanta, Georgia as a pastor and 00:37:53.85\00:37:57.31 conference evangelist, there God blessed us to do 00:37:57.34\00:38:00.35 evangelist meetings more than three dozen 00:38:00.38\00:38:02.81 of them, plant a few new churches, 00:38:02.84\00:38:04.41 and every time someone came to the evangelistic 00:38:05.03\00:38:07.15 meeting at least half the nights, I would send them 00:38:07.18\00:38:10.97 Signs of the Times magazine subscription 00:38:11.00\00:38:13.18 for a year. And at one point we had quite a 00:38:13.21\00:38:16.40 few people, dozens of families hearing 00:38:16.43\00:38:18.70 the good news. Now working as an evangelist 00:38:18.73\00:38:22.14 and a coordinator and a pastor through the years, 00:38:22.17\00:38:25.01 I've kind of lost count, but I can tell you that through 00:38:25.04\00:38:28.43 color press that our ministry we have mailed 00:38:28.46\00:38:31.49 millions of Bible study cards and handbills to homes. 00:38:31.52\00:38:35.53 Millions of homes have had the opportunity 00:38:35.56\00:38:39.22 to hear good news because one local church 00:38:40.15\00:38:44.49 secretary decided to send a magazine. 00:38:44.52\00:38:47.81 You know the amazing part, is that she didn't even 00:38:48.68\00:38:51.47 mean the magazine for my uncle. 00:38:51.50\00:38:53.39 She didn't mean the magazine for my mother. 00:38:54.28\00:38:56.82 She didn't mean the magazine for me 00:38:57.60\00:38:59.99 and she didn't mean the magazine for the many of 00:39:00.85\00:39:02.56 lives that were touched. Friends, 00:39:02.59\00:39:05.33 I can tell you that if you are willing to do 00:39:05.36\00:39:08.57 small things for a big God, then he will amaze you, 00:39:08.60\00:39:13.41 amen, because we have that promise 00:39:14.07\00:39:16.23 we can claim that His word never returns void. 00:39:16.26\00:39:21.25 It never returns void, and if you've heard it said 00:39:21.28\00:39:25.03 before that people are not interested trust me 00:39:25.06\00:39:26.99 friends people are interested in truth today 00:39:27.02\00:39:29.54 like never before, amen. This summer we started 00:39:29.57\00:39:34.24 our Atlanta Center for training and soul winning 00:39:34.27\00:39:36.52 and we had a lot of students staying with us 00:39:36.55\00:39:38.44 and we partnered with SEYC, and with the 00:39:38.47\00:39:41.28 Southern Union Publishing mega book program, 00:39:41.31\00:39:43.61 and the students went door to door in the heat, 00:39:44.57\00:39:46.34 I don't know if you were in general conference 00:39:46.37\00:39:47.94 and how many of you were GC in Atlanta? 00:39:47.97\00:39:49.85 How many of you ever said while you were there 00:39:50.86\00:39:52.67 standing outside that you were cold. 00:39:53.57\00:39:54.99 They call it hot Atlanta for a reason, it was hot, 00:39:57.27\00:40:00.08 but the students walked the streets and they 00:40:00.74\00:40:03.51 sold more than $230,000 worth of our message books. 00:40:03.54\00:40:08.43 More than 20,000 pieces of literature were 00:40:10.01\00:40:12.48 distributed and sold and lives were changed, 00:40:12.51\00:40:16.51 like the leaves of autumn our message went out 00:40:16.54\00:40:18.65 through the publishing program, and people 00:40:18.68\00:40:21.28 were trained, lay people were trained. 00:40:21.31\00:40:22.75 There were 15 evangelistic meetings held in 00:40:22.78\00:40:25.69 Atlanta leading up to the General Conference 00:40:25.72\00:40:28.08 with a four night reaping event the Pastor 00:40:28.11\00:40:31.06 Mark Finley at the Georgia World Congress Center. 00:40:31.09\00:40:33.98 So for many weeks our church, the Atlanta North 00:40:34.70\00:40:37.05 Church was the headquarters for a lot of training 00:40:37.08\00:40:39.51 of not just professional preachers, 00:40:39.54\00:40:41.71 not just the professional pastors, 00:40:41.74\00:40:43.81 but regular people like you and I, 00:40:43.84\00:40:46.09 who were trained to give Bible studies, 00:40:47.04\00:40:48.84 to hold evangelistic meetings, to 00:40:48.87\00:40:50.41 preach and do visitation and to meet objections 00:40:50.44\00:40:53.43 and to win people to Jesus. 00:40:53.46\00:40:55.45 And so friends, the proof continues that people 00:40:56.45\00:40:59.02 are willing to hear, the multitudes are in the 00:40:59.05\00:41:02.17 valued decision. The harvest is great, 00:41:02.20\00:41:05.04 but the laborers are few. As we saw thousands 00:41:05.77\00:41:09.69 of lives touched and we saw many lives changed. 00:41:09.72\00:41:12.24 It came true to me again as I thought about one 00:41:13.70\00:41:16.72 local church secretary that did so much. 00:41:16.75\00:41:20.00 She thought it was little, but little things for 00:41:22.36\00:41:26.06 a big God changed my destiny forever. 00:41:26.09\00:41:29.88 And friends your little efforts for a big God 00:41:31.52\00:41:34.30 can change many destinies forever, 00:41:35.31\00:41:37.36 because of one woman mailing one magazine, 00:41:38.36\00:41:40.88 millions of lives have been changed, 00:41:42.08\00:41:44.18 about three years ago, my uncle Tony passed away. 00:41:45.38\00:41:49.00 He knows a little bit about what I've done in 00:41:50.76\00:41:52.91 ministry, what the Lord used, used me to do, 00:41:52.94\00:41:56.19 but he doesn't know my life's work yet. 00:41:57.44\00:41:59.02 About 10 years ago, that local church secretary 00:42:00.93\00:42:04.18 passed away. She doesn't know I'm a pastor 00:42:04.21\00:42:07.80 and evangelist. She doesn't know about the 00:42:09.17\00:42:11.72 millions of homes, all she knows as before she 00:42:11.75\00:42:17.24 closed her eyes and fell asleep that she decided 00:42:17.27\00:42:21.32 to do some small things for a big God. 00:42:21.35\00:42:25.31 I can't wait to see her; I can't wait to tell her 00:42:26.60\00:42:29.86 what her little efforts did through a big God 00:42:31.38\00:42:34.13 and changed my destiny and the destiny of my 00:42:35.03\00:42:38.16 family forever. Let's pray Father God in heaven, 00:42:38.19\00:42:43.23 all of us here today, ASI is about equipping and 00:42:46.54\00:42:49.11 inspiring the average person to do something, 00:42:49.14\00:42:51.64 small things for a big God, I praise you Father for 00:42:52.88\00:42:56.63 what you did for my uncle, for my mother, 00:42:56.66\00:42:58.40 for my family, because of the efforts of one 00:42:58.43\00:43:02.25 local church secretary. Praise you Father, 00:43:02.28\00:43:05.41 for the hope I have in the Adventist message 00:43:06.10\00:43:08.59 and thank you for bringing good news 00:43:09.23\00:43:11.52 to my heart, I pray in Jesus name, amen. 00:43:12.38\00:43:16.04 "We are gathered here as a family sharing love, 00:43:53.79\00:44:02.48 sharing peace and pardon; but outside this holy 00:44:02.51\00:44:11.76 place are so many lost in sin. 00:44:11.79\00:44:18.69 If we keep our love inside these walls, 00:44:19.27\00:44:25.55 how will they ever know, that the words 00:44:25.58\00:44:33.97 we say are true, that the God we serve is real? 00:44:34.00\00:44:45.83 Share your faith, share the peace and joy you know, 00:44:46.83\00:44:52.22 share the light in a world of darkness, 00:44:53.08\00:44:59.23 share the truth that can set all people free; 00:44:59.26\00:45:05.67 be the love of Christ, let him live in you and me. 00:45:06.31\00:45:17.63 As the ones who've gone before us 00:45:27.07\00:45:32.61 walked in faith, may we boldly follow, trusting 00:45:33.25\00:45:40.54 in our eternal God, Who is with us still today? 00:45:41.12\00:45:52.64 Joining hands and hearts and lives as one 00:45:53.21\00:45:58.68 to make the message known, 00:45:58.71\00:46:05.90 that the words we say are true, 00:46:06.53\00:46:09.76 that the God we serve is real. 00:46:10.41\00:46:20.05 Share your faith, share the peace and joy you know, 00:46:21.03\00:46:27.04 share the light in a world of darkness, 00:46:27.54\00:46:33.83 share the truth that can set all people free; 00:46:33.86\00:46:40.18 be the love of Christ, let him live in you and me. 00:46:40.67\00:46:51.88 Share your faith, share the peace and joy 00:46:54.32\00:46:58.83 you know, share the light in a world of darkness, 00:46:58.86\00:47:06.58 share the truth that can set all people free; 00:47:06.61\00:47:12.80 be the love of Christ, let him live in you and me. 00:47:13.59\00:47:26.19 Be the love of Christ, let him live in you and me." 00:47:29.89\00:47:47.93