Participants: Danny Shelton (Host), Andy & Naomi Weaver
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY015090A
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Removing pain 00:23 Lord, let my words 00:29 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:45 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:06 Hello and welcome to another 3ABN Today program. 01:09 Thank you for joining us. 01:11 And Dr. Yvonne Lewis, thank you, for joining. 01:13 Thank you for having me. This program. 01:14 This is gonna be a great program today. 01:16 I know I'm excited. 01:17 And-- absolutely. I'm excited. 01:19 Jesus said, "Go ye unto all the world." 01:21 And while we sometimes think about and we should, 01:24 going overseas and going you know, 01:26 to Russia and all these different countries 01:28 which we've, 3ABN has done and to New Guinea, 01:31 to Philippines and, you know, around the world 01:33 and going to Europe and all these places. 01:35 Sometimes we need to think about home too, right. 01:37 Absolutely. 01:38 And there is a lot of people around us 01:41 that need to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ 01:44 and about His saving power. 01:46 Yes. 01:47 And today, we have some folk that are in ministry 01:50 and we're gonna talk to these folk 01:52 and see where they're from. 01:54 Are you excited? I'm excited. 01:55 I'm too. I'm ready. 01:56 I have a feeling you have some questions 01:58 for the young lady, right? 01:59 I do, I do. Okay, all right. 02:01 We have Andy and Naomi Weaver, right? 02:04 All right. It's so good to have you here. 02:06 Thank you for inviting us. It's a pleasure. 02:08 And, now you all, where are you from? 02:11 I'm from North Central Ohio. Okay. 02:14 Now if I didn't know any better, 02:16 I would think they were Amish 02:17 because I have a little background 02:20 with the Amish when I was a young kid. 02:22 My family, my Uncle Olands they had a lot of kids 02:25 and had a lot of kids 02:26 and my grandma and grandpa Shelton, 02:28 we would go up in Northern Indiana 02:30 and the summer times, and we would pick tomatoes. 02:33 So we lived with the Amish, either in Amish houses 02:36 and with no running water and electricity and, Yvonne, 02:39 we even lived in a barn for time or two 02:41 and we'd put cardboard between us 02:43 to partition off the families. 02:45 And so we know a little bit about Amish lifestyle 02:48 and I have some Amish friends. 02:50 Now, but you guys, 02:51 almost dressed and look like Amish. 02:54 Are we just seeing things or are you... 02:56 No. 02:57 Or you just you just very, you dressed very conservative. 03:00 No, we are Amish. We grew up Amish. 03:02 We grew up like this. 03:03 Oh, okay. Very much like this. 03:05 We just, well, we are Seventh-day Adventist now. 03:08 But I guess we consider ourselves 03:10 Amish Seventh-day Adventists. 03:11 Okay. 03:13 Is-- I'm under impression that the Amish, 03:16 that it's a religion, right? 03:19 Is it a religion, 03:20 is it a culture, like what is it? 03:22 I believe it started out as a culture. 03:24 But it has definitely become a religion. 03:26 Because they will shun you if you don't hold the culture 03:30 and you know, if shunning is, 03:32 I mean, shunning shouldn't be, have anything 03:34 to do with culture only. 03:36 So it's obviously a religion by now. 03:39 Okay, all right. 03:40 What do the Amish believe in? 03:42 What are some of the tenants of the Amish faith? 03:45 Well, their main, I mean, 03:48 they believe they are Christians. 03:49 I mean, they believe in Jesus. 03:51 But they very much believe that is, Jesus plus Amish. 03:54 If you are-- Jesus plus however you are brought up, 03:57 because if you read in 2 Timothy 3:14 04:01 I think, might be 3:16. 04:04 Paul told-- wrote to Timothy and he said 04:07 that he told him to keep all-- 04:08 keep the things that he was taught from his youth. 04:11 And that is their gospel. 04:12 I mean, that is their Bible. Okay. Okay. 04:15 That's how they control their people you see. 04:16 Well, may be the Seventh-day it's the Sabbath 04:18 but you are not taught like that 04:19 and Paul teaches that. 04:22 If you were not brought up like that, you cannot change. 04:25 Oh, wow. 04:26 That's how they-- That is their whole big-- 04:28 So if you talk to the Amish, if you show them truth, 04:31 that's what-- that's going to be their response. 04:33 Well, you were not brought up like that 04:34 and that's what they are referring to. 04:36 I was always surprised 04:37 because I do some dealing with the Amish here, 04:41 you know, we're in a farming community 04:43 and South Illinois, it's a lot of country 04:45 but I'm surprised how much they really have changed 04:49 since I was a kid 04:51 and lived in Northern Indiana on the summers. 04:54 Portland area and Redkey, little areas up there, 04:57 how much they've changed 04:58 while they still seem very, very conservative. 05:01 We use the term backwards. 05:03 But you know, it doesn't mean anything 05:04 except it's not like where we are. 05:06 They live like you think 150 years ago or 200 years ago. 05:10 I'm surprised that a lot of them use batteries, 05:13 they some of them can use diesel engines like. 05:19 People that I know, they actually use diesel 05:21 to run their machines to do leather 05:24 and all kinds of stuff. 05:25 And I say, "Is that okay?" 05:26 And they say, "Well, yeah, it's okay." 05:28 And I say, well, do you-- I ask them now. 05:31 They say, "We are going to Wisconsin 05:32 to see our relatives." 05:34 And I say, "Oh, in this weather, 05:35 that's probably tough with your horse and buggy." 05:38 You know what I mean, and they'd say, 05:39 "Well, we don't use horse and buggy." 05:40 I say, "Well, how do you get to there?" 05:43 And they say, "Well, we rent a car 05:44 and we have somebody take us." 05:45 So I gave them a hard time and I don't do this on purpose 05:48 but then we are friends. 05:49 So I say, "Well, let's see, you can rent a car 05:51 but you just can't own one or you can't drive one? 05:54 "Well, yeah." So I say, "Well, how come?" 05:58 "That's just the way it is." 05:59 And that's the answer. So it's very interesting. 06:01 They just say, that's the way it is. 06:03 So it's really deep in tradition. 06:05 And we're gonna find out a lot about that 06:07 and we're gonna find out 06:08 how you guys became Seventh-day Adventists. 06:11 And the work that you are doing now is most amazing. 06:14 And so it's gonna be a great time. 06:16 It's gonna be a fun time, a learning time 06:18 and realize that we have people right here 06:21 in our communities all around us, 06:23 not only those who are Amish 06:24 but people who don't know the Lord 06:26 that we should be witnessing to. 06:27 But different people have different gifts. 06:30 They are in different situations 06:32 where you can minister to other people, 06:36 maybe better than someone else. 06:38 That's right. So that's your gift. 06:39 Right now, speaking of gifts, we have Pastor C.A. Murray. 06:42 And Pastor C.A. Murray has many gifts. 06:44 He not only preaches, but he sings. 06:46 And so he's gonna be singing for us right now. 07:07 My faith has found a resting place 07:12 Not in a man-made creed 07:17 I trust the ever-living One 07:23 That He for me will plead 07:28 I need no other evidence 07:33 I need no other plea 07:39 It is enough that Jesus died 07:44 And rose again for me 07:57 Enough for me that Jesus saves 08:02 This ends my fear and doubt 08:07 A sinful soul I come to Him 08:12 He will not cast me out 08:18 I need no other evidence 08:23 I need no other plea 08:28 It is enough that Jesus died 08:33 And rose again for me 08:41 The great Physician heals the sick 08:46 The lost He came to save 08:52 For me His precious blood He shed 08:57 For me His life He gave 09:02 I need no other evidence 09:07 I need no other plea 09:12 It is enough that Jesus died 09:18 And rose again for me 09:33 My soul is resting on His word 09:38 The living word of God 09:43 Salvation in my Savior's name 09:49 Salvation through His blood 09:54 I need no other evidence 09:59 I need no other plea 10:05 It is enough that Jesus died 10:11 And rose again 10:15 For me 10:33 Amen. Thank you, Pastor C.A. huh. 10:35 Oh, yeah, amen. 10:36 What a great song too. 10:38 Pastor C.A. 10:39 All right, well, we're here 10:41 talking to Andy and Naomi Weaver. 10:43 And y'all from Ohio, 10:45 which is known as Amish country. 10:47 That's right. 10:48 A lot of Amish folk there in Ohio and Indiana, 10:52 I know Southern Illinois and I guess 10:54 many places around the country, 10:56 Wisconsin and so, if you're just joining us, 11:01 these folk, born and raised Amish, 11:04 someone gave them the message, 11:08 well, the Bible message and Seventh-day Adventist. 11:11 We're gonna find out about that. 11:12 And so you all become 11:14 Seventh-day Adventist Christians. 11:15 Amen. 11:17 And now you've been exposed to a lot of the preachers 11:19 and teachers and... 11:20 That's right. Now 3ABN. 11:21 Yeah. 11:23 And on your phone you can get it now 11:24 with the app you know, 11:25 so, we're looking forward to see how all this goes. 11:28 We want to talk to you about, 11:30 okay, give us a little bit about your backgrounds. 11:32 Now you were born and raised Amish 11:34 and you are too, right? 11:36 Yes. 11:37 Okay, were you from the same areas? 11:39 Yes, we were not born in the same neighborhood. 11:41 But-- Okay. 11:42 Both of our parents moved to an Amish community 11:45 that we ended up being neighbors 11:46 and we went to school together. 11:47 Okay. 11:49 And there was nothing romantic about it. 11:50 I had no idea what was gonna happen. 11:51 But after we grew up, we eventually got married. 11:55 And my dad was a bishop 11:57 and her dad was a deacon in the church. 11:59 Okay. 12:01 So in the Amish, do they help pick the wives and husbands 12:06 or do they allow the Amish young people to pick their own? 12:10 No, you can choose your own 12:11 as long as you stay within the denomination 12:14 'cause there is a lot of different Amish denominations 12:15 that it's like Old Order, New Order 12:17 and Swartzentruber and so on. 12:19 So as long as you stay within your circle, 12:21 you can choose your own pretty much. 12:22 Now if you get a really, you find a real bad girl 12:25 and then your parents might do their very best 12:28 just like anybody else would say, she's terrible. 12:31 But they won't stop, literally stop you. 12:33 You can choose. Okay. 12:35 You are giving us a real glimpse 12:37 into the Amish lifestyle which you know, 12:41 which I know our viewers would be really interested 12:43 in sharing and finding out. 12:48 When you are growing up, is it, 12:52 you're very insular, right, you're very-- 12:55 you stay within your own culture 12:57 for everything. 12:58 That's right. 13:00 So there's not much interaction outside of that culture. 13:03 Well, you certainly have your own culture. 13:06 You have your own little world. 13:07 You have your own education system, 13:09 you have your own church, 13:10 you have your own dry goods stores and everything. 13:13 And so that's one of the things that makes it really difficult 13:15 to break away from it. 13:17 Because you are really losing everything 13:18 and everything is at stake. 13:21 Although, we did interact with non-Amish a lot 13:23 just like you know local Amish, I mean. 13:25 Sure. 13:27 I mean, that's basically how the Amish make their living 13:29 as to the non-Amish people. 13:30 How do you feel about, as Amish, 13:35 someone like me comes into your wood, 13:36 you do wood working. 13:38 I come into your shop and I'll buy you something, 13:40 how do you look at me? 13:41 Do you look at this person, because we're not Amish, 13:44 obviously, do you say, wow, these people are way out there. 13:47 They don't know the Lord 13:49 or they should dress and act like us. 13:51 They should be Amish. 13:52 How do you-- how do you grown up, 13:54 how do Amish people look at us? 13:56 There is no one rule. 13:58 Some Amish are very distant 14:00 from what we know as English people. 14:03 When I talk about English, that means non-Amish. 14:06 So some Amish are very uncomfortable 14:08 with English people 14:09 and then some of them are obviously very comfortable 14:11 with English people and believe 14:13 that they are gonna be in the kingdom, 14:15 as long as you stay where you are brought up, 14:17 as Paul told Timothy. 14:19 Okay. 14:20 Keep the things that you were told-- 14:22 Stay the way you were brought up. 14:23 So which is a distortion of the Bible. 14:26 But even the leaders, they don't know, 14:27 they don't honor 14:28 they really think that's what that is saying. 14:30 So basically, they believe if you are brought up English, 14:32 then you should remain there, you should be a Christian, 14:34 you should go to church. 14:36 If you were brought up Amish, and then you should stay there. 14:38 Although, they do allow English people 14:40 to come into the Amish church 14:41 if they agree to keep all the rules. 14:43 But that seldom happens, 14:44 especially, among the conservative Amish. 14:46 Now among some of them are liberal Amish 14:48 where they have less rules 14:50 and they have a lot more grey areas and then 14:52 well, sometimes what happens, you get an English boy 14:56 that finds an Amish girl at a restaurant, 14:58 that works at a restaurant and he just can't help it. 15:00 I got to become Amish 15:02 'cause I want this girl and that happens. 15:04 I just met a situation like that 15:05 here a couple of months ago. 15:07 Oh, really. I'm like, well, you're gonna-- 15:08 You're getting into yourself into something. 15:11 You have no idea what you're getting in, you know. 15:14 That's right. So now you all have children. 15:16 Yes, we have seven children. 15:18 Seven children? 15:19 Seven and one on the way? Yeah. I think... 15:24 Oh, here we go. Look at this. 15:25 There is pictures of it. 15:27 Yeah. Look at that. 15:28 The oldest one is... 15:30 She is Mary and she's ten years old. 15:31 Ten years old. Wow. 15:34 Yeah, we have a beautiful family. 15:35 Nothing like them, huh? 15:36 No, nothing like them. Yeah, we have seven. 15:39 Looks like we're gonna have eight. 15:41 My grandmother on my mother's side, 15:42 she had 17 children in less than 18 years. 15:45 Oh, my, my. 15:46 So I tell Naomi, we're half way now. 15:48 Yeah. 15:51 Easy for him to say. Yeah. 15:53 Yeah, easy for him to say. My Aunt Milder had 12. 15:57 My grandmother had, I think she birthed 14. 15:59 Yes. So that's quite a few. 16:01 Wow. We weren't even Amish. 16:03 Yeah. 16:04 That's a lot of them. 16:06 Yeah. Well, go ahead. 16:07 I was gonna ask you, Naomi, 16:09 what was it like growing up as an Amish female? 16:12 Are the-- what role do women play in Amish culture? 16:18 They help in the house with house work 16:22 and they also help some on the farm 16:24 depends on if they are enough boys there. 16:27 If there are plenty of boys then women don't help as much. 16:31 But they do help other people quite a lot. 16:37 If-- like if my neighbor had a baby, 16:40 they would come to my mom and ask her 16:42 for one of her girls to help as a hired girl 16:46 till the baby is about, 16:47 well, that depends from three to six weeks or so. 16:52 So we did that a lot. 16:54 I never did as much 16:56 because I was one of the youngest. 16:58 And I guess the oldest ones would say I was spoiled. 17:02 I could stay home. 17:04 But yeah, that's just kind of-- 17:05 they help out and they teach school a lot. 17:08 So the young girls help with the raising the children? 17:13 They even help the neighbors in raising the children. 17:14 They help out, yeah. 17:16 Up until they are 21 years old. Yeah. 17:20 Because in the English world, when they turn 18, 17:22 they're kind of on their own. 17:24 In our circle it was 21. 17:25 So we could, like if we had a baby, 17:27 we could go to an Amish family that had girls 17:30 and say can we hire one of your girls 17:31 and we can hire a girl for $18 or $20 a week. 17:35 And so it's just... Oh, okay. 17:37 Yeah. Wow. 17:38 So rules are very... 17:41 Defined. Defined. 17:43 That's the word I was looking for, thank you. 17:44 Rules are very defined within the Amish community. 17:48 So I would imagine now, this is a really, 17:52 probably a provocative question, 17:54 but divorce is probably very low. 17:56 No, it's unheard of. 17:58 No, it just really does not happen. 18:00 Yeah, it's totally not allowed in the Amish. 18:01 Those are very strong family structure 18:05 within the community, isn't it? 18:06 It doesn't mean that all the-- all the marriages are strong. 18:09 They are not sometimes. But you got to endure it. 18:11 You promised, you are enduring it. 18:12 Yeah, the most. 18:14 And in some cases what happens, 18:15 one of the spouses would just leave and not be Amish. 18:18 And then of course, the other one can't, 18:19 you can't do anything about that 18:21 but she would never get remarried. 18:23 They never go to a divorce case. 18:26 They would not sign a divorce or anything period, 18:29 under any circumstances. 18:31 Wow. 18:32 Wow, that's amazing. It is. 18:33 So in the women, would you say, the women have equal rights, 18:39 like, are they-- do church services, 18:42 there're all men, do the men do all the church services? 18:45 Do the men make the decisions 18:47 as far as the community is concerned 18:49 as to if we are liberal, if we are conservative 18:52 or do women have input in those, you know? 18:56 I would say the men have the lead on that. 18:59 By far. 19:01 Yeah, by far. Okay. 19:03 You know, you never hear an Amish woman preaching. 19:06 'Cause they think that is pretty far out.. 19:10 Yeah, they'll be preaching about ourselves. 19:14 Well, they do preach sometimes but not in church. 19:17 Things don't go well. 19:19 Yeah, things don't go well if they can preach, huh. 19:21 So the policies and things are made by men. 19:25 Are women, and the men, is education stressed 19:29 within the Amish community? 19:31 That depends a whole lot on the community. 19:33 Some communities are very much about education. 19:36 But usually more conservative Amish cultures, 19:38 or Amish denominations, if you want to call that, 19:42 education is not as much stressed, not at all. 19:45 But, you know, the Amish, where we came up, 19:47 it's not like the, it's not like the guys, 19:49 well, I guess, I should let her say that. 19:51 But it's not like some people get the impression, 19:53 well, the ladies, they just have to sit back 19:55 and shut up and the guys, the men do everything. 19:58 But it's not really the case. Is that the case? 20:00 No, no, we get our chance too. 20:02 Now they, the Amish totally believe that, 20:04 you know, a woman should, you know, 20:06 the man is the head of the house, 20:08 he has final decision 20:09 and he doesn't always understand that, 20:11 you know, there's always guys 20:13 that will take advantage of that position. 20:15 But they do believe, they do teach that, 20:17 you know, the lady has sometimes, 20:19 many times she has a good opinion 20:21 and then that it should be-- they should be listened to. 20:24 Okay, all right. 20:26 That's great. What do you think? 20:27 Did that help you? 20:29 It did. To find that a little bit. 20:30 It did. Okay. 20:31 You can really become Amish now. 20:33 No. 20:34 Just the dress, we get her, 20:36 there is no way she's gonna dress that way, right. 20:39 I couldn't see her dressing like that way 20:41 and probably a lot of our folk around here. 20:43 But it's all in what you get used to. 20:45 Exactly, exactly. 20:47 And so, you know, what somebody looks as very good 20:51 and very nice. 20:53 We used say our son to go meet in cloths, 20:55 it all is in the eyes of the beholder. 20:57 That's right. Right. 20:58 Now it's Sabbath, go meet in cloths 21:00 but it's all in the eyes of the beholder. 21:02 That's right. 21:03 Well, we want to a little bit, 21:05 because since I had a lot of connections 21:07 with the Amish over the years 21:08 as far as reaching them with the gospel, 21:11 they are not usually open to that, 21:14 like I know some who've told me, 21:15 well, I'm not allowed to read, you know, anything, I think. 21:19 But the Bible and the literature 21:21 that that are put out by their church. 21:24 So we can't watch anything, of course, on television. 21:28 We don't have televisions or radios. 21:30 And I said, well, what about YouTube 21:31 'cause I noticed sometimes friends would come over 21:34 and they'd watch YouTube stuff. 21:36 But they said, well, we can't own it, we don't do it. 21:38 But I talked to some of them, of course, about the Lord, 21:41 I was surprised to find out that I figured 21:44 that the religion part played a lot bigger role 21:48 as far as the Bible goes. 21:51 But I've found out some of the folks that I know, 21:53 know hardly any scriptures in the Bible, 21:55 when I quoted John 3:16 21:57 to a very wonderful Amish friend of mine 22:00 and he just looked at me. 22:01 I said, of course, you know John 3:16 22:03 and he's like well, we kind of leave that up 22:05 to the elders and we go to church. 22:07 Now something is very interesting. 22:09 I don't know if you are aware of this, 22:10 most Amish have what, you and I might call an accent 22:15 though they are born and raised here in America. 22:17 And he probably can tell us why. 22:20 Because they don't just speak English. 22:22 That's right. 22:23 Yes, I mean, our primary language is, 22:25 our main language is Pennsylvanian Dutch. 22:28 Yeah. 22:30 And then, of course, we go to school 22:31 to learn the English language 22:33 and also the German language 'cause our Bibles 22:35 are the Martin Luther German Bibles. 22:38 And the Amish would strictly read the German Bibles. 22:40 Now I say strictly, 22:42 and there is the modern liberals, 22:44 they would allow you to read there 22:45 like the English versions also, 22:47 especially, the King James Version. 22:49 And then so yeah, 22:51 if you talk to an Amish person in English, 22:54 you would notice that his accent is different 22:56 and that is because 22:58 it's not his primary language. 22:59 I mean, it's kind of a bend over from-- 23:01 if you want to see it that way from the Pennsylvanian Dutch. 23:06 So they are raised speaking Dutch in the house, right? 23:09 That's right. And in church. 23:10 That's right. Preaching in Dutch. 23:12 It's German. 23:14 German, I'm sorry, 23:15 and then the children learn the language... 23:18 Dutch. Basically Dutch. 23:21 Yeah, and English comes second? 23:23 Yes, probably second and then that 23:26 and German kind of comes together 23:27 'cause they go, they, yeah, English would be first 23:30 because it's in the later grades 23:32 that they learn the German language for the-- 23:33 because of the Bible. 23:35 So that happens and I noticed 23:37 that like on some of these friends, 23:38 I told one of them, they had several babies 23:41 since they get older so there's little one 23:43 and I said, I said that a cute little girl 23:45 and they said, that's a boy. 23:47 And I said, but he's wearing a dress. 23:48 I said, the boy is wearing a dress. 23:49 And they said, yes, 23:51 they wear dresses the first year. 23:53 So what's-- Is there a reason behind that? 23:55 Yes, there is. 23:56 You know, we, that's very interesting. 23:57 We were in Battle Creek, Michigan, here a few weeks ago 24:00 and they were showing when taking us 24:02 through the Ellen White house 24:03 and they said, and they pointed that out. 24:05 They said, for some reason back then, they-- 24:08 the little boys wore dresses 24:09 until they were about two years old. 24:11 "But it's a mystery?" "Why?" 24:12 And I said, "Well, we know why because we still do it." 24:15 It's just because it makes it easier 24:16 to change the diapers and everything. 24:18 Oh. 24:21 But if you know it, the boys, they, 24:25 the girls wear head coverings and the boys don't. 24:29 So that's one way you can decide 24:31 if it's a boy or a girl. 24:33 And also, the boys have their hairs cut 24:35 and the girls don't. 24:36 But sometimes if they don't have a lot of hair, 24:38 then it doesn't really show up. 24:39 Yeah. Yeah. 24:41 So let me ask you, 24:42 so when you have these different, 24:44 you've mentioned liberal, more liberal Amish 24:48 and more conservative, 24:50 does everybody co-exist 24:52 or do you have a liberal sect over here in one state 24:55 and a more conservative 24:58 or are you all together in one place? 25:01 The Amish try, for the most part 25:03 they try to have, you know, they have a one, 25:06 they call it settlement. 25:07 One settlement of-- they are more liberal like, 25:09 they might be New Order or Old Order 25:12 and then the Swartzentrubers, 25:15 I mean, if they want to settle in that general area, 25:17 they will stay away of a certain amount of miles 25:19 and they have like a highway that will divide their ware. 25:23 But what happens frequently in the Amish 25:25 is the church will split 25:27 because there's just like any other church, 25:29 there's always conservatives and liberals 25:31 that we see in every church. 25:33 And so sometimes and this happens quite often 25:36 anymore is they split and then you have 25:40 the two different denominations within the settlement. 25:42 And in our situation, 25:43 it's three different denominations. 25:45 And so you end up with more and more, 25:47 you go to a what is known as Amish country in Ohio, 25:49 it might have 12 different denominations 25:51 or many different denominations. 25:53 But we really can't control that. 25:55 And usually there's a lot of tension when that-- 25:57 tremendous amount of tension. 25:58 I went through that twice growing up 26:00 with my dad being a bishop. 26:01 And there's a lot of tension 26:05 but that eventually kind of dies down 26:06 and they continue having schooled. 26:08 They have the schools together and everything. 26:10 But they wouldn't, you know, 26:12 they cannot share church like any-- 26:14 what goes on in a church or church rules and stuff. 26:15 Good. 26:17 What we want to ask you, 26:18 we really want to center in on this, 26:20 you, of course, being born and raised, 26:23 never changing, you know, tradition. 26:28 But some how someone reached you. 26:30 That's right. 26:31 If your mind because a lot of other folk I know, 26:34 they are not open. 26:35 Apparently, your mind was open why something reached you. 26:39 Tell us somebody came into your shop, 26:42 you met somebody in the community 26:45 that was able to become friends with you, 26:47 was able to present you with what they feel 26:50 was Bible truth and you accepted. 26:53 Why? Well, that's a good question. 26:56 I would say that I was not open at one time 26:59 because I totally believed the Amish religion. 27:01 I totally believed everything and I was-- 27:03 I didn't and I believed that if you left it, 27:07 you're gonna be tortured for eternity. 27:09 And you just don't dare even think about leaving. 27:12 But the one thing that I could 27:14 I will have to say about myself 27:15 is I wanted to do what's right. 27:17 I wanted what's right and God knew that. 27:18 Sure. 27:20 And I-- as a result, I heard about the Dark Ages 27:25 and people being martyred for their faith 27:27 and so I went and I bought myself a book. 27:30 It's called the Martyr the "Martyrs Mirror." 27:32 It's like, kind of like the "Foxe's Book of Martyrs." 27:34 And I read it and it just shattered 27:37 the whole foundation out of under me, 27:39 as far as being the Amish religion. 27:41 Really? Why? 27:43 Because the same arguments they had. 27:45 'Cause some of the were the same arguments that we, 27:47 the things that we told people that left our church, 27:50 the Catholic church 27:52 told the people that left their church. 27:53 Like we had a controversy over brown shoes, 27:56 they shouldn't be brown, they got be black. 27:58 I found the same argument in the "Martyrs Mirror." 28:01 And I found all these seem, like we had the big argument, 28:04 you should not use your everyday language at-- 28:06 in church services. 28:07 German is known in the Amish community 28:10 as a sacred language. 28:12 That should be in church services, 28:14 that should be a different language 28:15 because it's sacred. 28:17 And so that was also going on in the Dark Ages 28:20 and those that who had left that we admired, 28:24 had the same argument. 28:25 They said, no you should have your everyday language. 28:27 So that the people can understand the gospel. 28:30 And so it just-- I just-- I couldn't believe it 28:32 and I thought wow, this is, this is bad news. 28:35 Something, something is wrong so my big, I just-- 28:38 I just started talking to my dad, 28:39 which was the senior bishop of this certain denomination. 28:42 And I told him and I said, you know, 28:44 we need to really step up the plate. 28:45 We need to make possible 28:47 for our young folks to understand the gospel. 28:49 I said, we don't even know, our young folks 28:51 don't even know why Jesus died. 28:53 They don't, it's just like a fairy tale. 28:55 And he was obviously very upset about that. 28:58 He thought, well, you're just way out there 29:00 and there is no way we can talk in our own everyday language. 29:05 That's natural minded. 29:06 And the other thing that I saw in the-- in our culture 29:10 we had to confess our if we-- our sins, 29:13 if we want to call it sins, 29:14 keeping the church rules, we had to confess it 29:17 to the preachers and the bishop or the layman, sorry deacon 29:20 and then they will tell the whole church 29:22 and then, yeah, and then the church will decide 29:24 whether you are forgiven or not. 29:26 Oh. Wow. 29:27 Well, guess what, I came across that in the "Martyrs Mirror." 29:30 Yeah, you did. 29:31 People were very, they were very opposed to that 29:34 and all of this just, I was so confused. 29:36 It wasn't funny. 29:38 So I started following a ministry, 29:40 a Baptist ministry out at Tennessee 29:42 and it was a lot more light. 29:43 I was sure I found the truth. 29:45 I thought, well, I just gonna bring this into the Amish 29:49 and just show the Amish more light and will-- 29:51 And my big thing was we need to reform. 29:56 I just, I did not have 29:58 any intensions to leave the Amish church. 29:59 I just want to bring light in and reform it and-- 30:02 But the devil was against me. It was quite obvious. 30:05 But... Naomi, how about you? 30:07 How did you feel about him? 30:09 He's kind of a renegade, I mean, 30:10 you know, we use that term. 30:12 He's out there a little bit, I mean, 30:14 did this-- your family or did you say, 30:17 you know, hey, hey, 30:19 Andy, we got a-- you know, you need to relax. 30:24 Actually, I think I kind of mentioned that to him, 30:27 why don't we just kind of slow down and take it easy. 30:30 I had the impression-- Right, I thought she might-- 30:32 I had to impress for sure, whether she said it or not. 30:35 Well, I wasn't so much of a reader that he was. 30:38 Okay. 30:40 And I didn't have the time to read because of all the kids. 30:43 Okay. 30:44 And-- but he read most of the time 30:46 and kind of told me what he is reading 30:48 and what it is talking about. 30:50 And it made sense to me 30:53 but I tried to ignore it as far as I could. 30:56 I knew this is gonna be a big... 30:59 Big problem in the church. 31:03 Eventually I couldn't do anything except just follow it 31:07 and accept it in whatever Christ has for us. 31:09 Okay, wonderful. 31:11 So you've received the Baptist, 31:13 you started reading some of their literature. 31:15 That's right. 31:16 Then at some point you must have said, okay, I'm open. 31:18 The Lord knew that. So who did He send you away? 31:21 Well, he sent a person that moved in our community. 31:24 He was a Seventh-day Adventist. 31:26 And the one thing that I was very interested 31:28 was the mark of the beast. 31:29 I was desperate. 31:31 I wanted to know what that mark is because 31:32 I was just beside myself, 31:33 what if one of my children turns sick 31:35 and we end up in the hospital 31:37 and they inject this computer chip 31:40 an she'll be tortured for all eternity for it. 31:43 And without our control and I was a seeker. 31:46 And so I bought this commentary from this Baptist person 31:50 on the Book of Revelation 'cause I wanted to know 31:53 and then as I came to the end of-- 31:55 I went straight to Revelation 13. 31:57 And it was a mystery. He didn't know what it was. 32:00 He believed it was some political and literal figure 32:02 and it was-- and I thought wow, 32:05 I guess that we just don't know. 32:07 But then my Adventist friend shared literature with me 32:10 from White Horse Media, which is a little book 32:13 from Steve Wohlberg. 32:14 Yes. 32:15 Which it says, I think it's 32:17 decoding the mark of the beast or something, 666. 32:19 Okay, all right. 32:20 And that little booklet is great. 32:22 Every Amish family in the world needs that booklet 32:24 because the Amish are very, they are very worried 32:28 and concerned about the mark of the beast. 32:29 And the thing was that it's a little booklet, 32:31 it's not a big book. 32:32 You can sit and-- you can read it in one sitting 32:35 and you know it, whether you like it or not, 32:37 you just know it. 32:38 It's right out of the Bible and so I read that and also, 32:43 like a commentary on Daniel and Revelation 32:45 from Amazing Facts. 32:48 And then he gave me the "Spirit of Prophecy" books 32:50 as well, of course. 32:51 And I mean, there was no question in my mind, 32:54 we found the truth. 32:56 But this kind of took on for a while and eventually. 32:58 And who was this? How did you meet this person? 33:01 He moved in, this person moved in a home that an atheist 33:06 used to live that I used to work for growing up. 33:08 Okay. 33:10 And that's where I got hung up with coffee 33:11 and all kinds of bad habits. 33:14 And he moved in and I heard he was vegan 33:16 and I thought well, that is strange to be vegan 33:18 and do any work. 33:21 And you got to have that protein 33:23 and so I met him and I couldn't believe it. 33:26 He looked so healthy. I was just awestruck. 33:28 What's his name? 33:29 Phil Haykin. His name is Phil Haykin. 33:30 Okay, all right. 33:32 And so he shared some literature with us 33:36 and after a while, 33:39 we realized that this is gonna cost way too much. 33:42 We have, I mean, in order to follow this 33:44 and we knew for a fact, I mean, who else believes that 33:47 "all scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reprove, 33:51 for correction and instruction in righteousness." 33:53 That is a big mouthful from Paul. 33:55 From Genesis to Revelation, nobody else believes it. 33:57 We tried every religion, 33:59 I mean, we didn't want to be Sabbath, 34:01 Saturday keepers, that's strange. 34:03 That's awkward. 34:04 We wanted to be Sunday keepers. 34:06 We wanted to be politically correct. 34:07 But we had no choice and who else believes that, 34:10 you know, we should go into all the world, 34:12 everybody, but to teach, everybody to observe, 34:16 everything that Jesus taught us, nobody. 34:18 And it was, I'm not saying that in an unkind way 34:20 but that was it just-- it's just a fact 34:24 and so eventually, 34:27 we just took all our books 34:28 and we burned them at the weekend. 34:30 Oh, really? 34:31 Yeah, because we can't give, you know, 34:32 everything is at stake, our education, 34:34 our every-- our whole world is at stake. 34:37 And-- but we couldn't rest. 34:39 I mean, we were, we were miserable. 34:42 And eventually we just decided. 34:48 Well, one day I was so miserable. 34:50 I couldn't work. 34:51 I was in my workshop and I got this book, 34:54 "Great Controversy" and I started reading 34:56 and it was talking about-- 34:59 and this book by the way, was thrown away in the barn 35:02 and I forgot that it was there and I remembered it that day 35:05 when I needed it and it was all the answers, 35:06 all the questions that I had, the answers were right there. 35:08 It was like God talking to me. 35:10 And I just made up my mind 35:11 and I'm gonna follow the truth, life or death. 35:13 If my wife wants to follow it, she can follow it. 35:15 If not, I will follow it because... 35:17 I think we're hearing somebody come in. 35:19 I think you got one of the babies here. 35:22 He wants to see momma, I think we should bring momma. 35:25 Bring him over here to see momma. 35:26 Oh, that's great. 35:27 Come over here, let's see momma. 35:29 He's supposed to be sleeping but... 35:30 Yeah, that's all right. 35:32 You know, this is family time. 35:33 You want to get there. 35:34 He's gonna go right over to momma. 35:36 Now where is my mommy? 35:37 There you go buddy... 35:39 There you go. 35:41 You see, he stopped crying. 35:43 Yeah, there you go. 35:44 Well, he has an unlimited amount of energy. 35:48 It's a good thing, I say, it's a good thing 35:49 we own 54 acres. 35:54 Absolutely, well, he woke up, and was wanted to see momma. 35:57 So anyway, we go back to your story. 36:00 So you burned the other, the literature. 36:03 You felt like when you read this, 36:05 you didn't really want to be a Seventh-day Adventist, 36:08 but you felt you had to be. 36:09 Yeah, I wanted the truth 'cause I always admired the people 36:14 in the Bible like Elijah stood up for, 36:16 I mean, it was so politically incorrect, 36:18 it wasn't funny, they just stood up for God 36:20 and I always wanted to be like that. 36:23 And I knew I found it and so it just cost so much 36:25 more than I thought it would. 36:27 What was your dad's reaction as a bishop? 36:30 What was his reaction when you told him 36:32 about the truth that you were seeking? 36:34 He was very much humiliated and I felt sorry for him 36:37 because in his position, that was very humiliating 36:39 'cause I had a very good relationship with my dada. 36:42 His name is, he is Andy Weaver Sr. 36:43 and I'm Andy Weaver Jr. 36:45 And we had a good relationship and yeah, 36:48 he was very upset about it but he's come a long ways. 36:51 Wow, okay. 36:53 So he is more accepting of you now as the time goes. 36:57 Yes, we went and saw him this last, 36:59 this couple of days ago on Thanksgiving. 37:02 It was incredible. 37:03 It was better than we ever thought. 37:04 It was incredible. Really? 37:06 Yeah, they made popcorn for us but they went, 37:07 they got coconut oil to make it instead of lard and... 37:10 Oh, really? It was incredible. 37:12 Yeah, my dad was so happy to see me 37:14 and we were praising God, 37:16 I mean, it was good, 'cause we never thought, 37:18 we thought we'll lose our family forever. 37:20 And lard is a big thing 'cause they raise their own, 37:22 you know, the pigs and hogs and-- 37:25 a lot and so you eat the pork 37:27 and you eat the-- 'cause that's part of it. 37:30 They raise it all so it's... 37:31 That's right. 37:32 That was neat that they were willing to get the coconut oil 37:35 instead of the lard for you. 37:36 It was so wonderful. 37:38 It's amazing testimony. 37:39 Now your burden now, both of you, 37:41 your burden is to reach other Amish, other folk. 37:45 That's right. 37:46 And you are doing something about it. 37:47 You have a ministry. That's right. 37:49 So we want to know what the ministry is. 37:50 It's the West Salem Ministry. 37:51 But we want you to tell us about it 37:53 and we've got folk at home 37:55 that I think are gonna want to help. 37:56 Absolutely. Don't you? 37:57 Absolutely. 37:59 So, tell us about West Salem mission, 38:01 how it started, why it started and where it is right now. 38:05 Yes, well, let me just start to say by say that you know, 38:09 we were baptized and we became members 38:11 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in August of 2013. 38:15 And at that time we felt so defeated. 38:17 I mean, we had gone through so much. 38:20 We didn't expect anything in life 38:21 but accept the cross. 38:23 I just wanted afterlife and I had given up in life. 38:27 But the Lord was not done with us. 38:29 Okay. It was quite obvious. 38:30 And right after that, some Adventists started coming 38:33 seeing us on Sabbath. 38:35 And they spent time with us 38:36 and we had this one couple came by. 38:40 He was just converted from the Catholic faith 38:44 about three years ago. 38:45 And he was quite well off financially and he said, 38:48 come on, we need to do something here. 38:51 And so we kind of looked around and to kind of in a nutshell 38:56 we bought this fireworks property that was, 38:59 that I used to work for when I was growing up. 39:01 Okay. 39:02 I never had an idea that we would have church services 39:04 there but anyways we bought this fireworks property 39:07 and there was a-- there was a newer 39:11 like an office building on it that was kind of 39:13 like a ranch type home and we took a wall out 39:17 and we build a small sanctuary where we could 39:19 get together in Sabbaths, at least you know, we tried to, 39:21 tried to have a new normal and reach our people 39:26 and one of the things that was such a great relief for us, 39:28 is once we just, one of the things that made it so hard 39:32 for us to step out and become Seventh-day Adventist 39:33 because we thought, well, we're not gonna have 39:35 horse and buggy anymore. 39:36 Everything is gonna be different. 39:38 And so finally we realized, Naomi told me one day, 39:40 she said, you know, we can be Amish 39:42 and be Seventh-day Adventist. 39:44 I just thought that's right. We could do that. 39:46 And then it became a no-brainer. 39:48 Of course, we would do that. 39:50 You know in order to reach the Amish, 39:51 in order to honor our parents, why would we dishonor 39:55 our parents to keep the Sabbath. 39:56 That makes no sense. 39:57 We were, part of that was because we were living 40:00 with my mom at the time. 40:01 That's right. 40:03 And I could not see to her, 40:07 from my part I couldn't use her like 40:09 that because I knew she's gonna think it's horrible. 40:13 Even more horrible if we go out and take it 40:16 and change cloths and get car and... 40:19 Okay, all right. 40:21 So anyways, then we had this other Amish man 40:25 who stopped at my house and he said, you know, 40:27 I was in church, this Amish-- in the Amish church 40:29 here lately and he said, 40:31 they were saying some stuff about you, Andy. 40:34 And he said, they were saying, you know, 40:37 Andy Weaver says that two churches are gonna preach 40:41 the gospel into all the world. 40:42 Whereas the Amish don't believe in evangelism 40:45 and I think there were some other things 40:47 and it was gossip. 40:48 But he was standing there and he's like well, I get that. 40:51 That makes sense. 40:53 So they lost his family over gossip. 40:56 He came and saw me and he thought well, 40:59 the Sabbath makes sense to me and I'm gonna embrace it so, 41:02 and his wife was not ready. 41:03 And so the Amish took his wife and his children away 41:07 and they ran him out of the house. 41:09 Oh, my. 41:10 And actually they took him to a counseling center 41:11 and trying to put him on drugs 'cause they thought 41:13 he was crazy in his head and stuff. 41:15 But drugs are something new. They should not use new stuff. 41:19 You got to remind them they are Amish. 41:20 Yeah, you got to do what you got to do. 41:22 You keep people from going crazy. 41:25 So in a nutshell... 41:27 They thought he was crazy. 41:28 Yes. Okay. 41:29 She's converted today, and they are taking 41:31 Bible studies and they are planning to be baptized. 41:34 Oh, that's wonderful. 41:35 Absolutely. That's incredible. 41:37 So you have this place, facility, 41:40 and you are meeting on Sabbath. 41:41 That's right. Right? 41:43 Yeah. 41:44 And we have a school there. Okay, here we go. 41:45 All right. 41:47 Are these some of the folk who come there? 41:48 Yes, that's my family in the front row and then yeah, 41:53 we can hold about 60 people 41:54 but this last Sabbath, it was crowded. 41:57 Because most of them are not were not Amish, 41:59 but you know the Amish, like you shared earlier, 42:02 it's very difficult to reach them. 42:03 But we know they are gonna be reached 42:05 because they are part of the tribe, 42:07 I mean, they will be reached. 42:09 And one of the great ways to reach them is literature, 42:12 through like mail, that way they are comfortable. 42:16 So that's what we are working for. 42:18 We hope to work with different Adventist ministries, 42:21 you know, to get mail and it has also, 42:23 there's already a ministry known 42:26 as Plain People's Ministry out at North Carolina 42:29 that you can send all your, 42:30 if you have Amish friends or neighbors or anybody, 42:33 you can send your addresses and he will mail them 42:35 all the Adventist literature, all the doctrines. 42:37 He's been doing for 30 years. Wonderful. 42:40 The Amish are those-- there's a number of Amish 42:41 that are waking up. 42:43 They are really starting to consider the Sabbath 42:45 but the devil fights it. 42:46 I mean, he fights it really hard. 42:48 Yeah. 42:49 But anyways we had about eight children 42:52 and we felt that we need to get a school started 42:54 so we started a school 42:56 and we have a widowed lady that teach in school. 42:58 And she was actually, 43:00 her husband was a was a evangelist for, 43:05 a Bible worker for Amazing Facts for Joe Crews. 43:07 Okay. All right. good. 43:09 And so she moved in and she is our school teacher 43:12 and her daughter attends the school there. 43:15 So we have this, we have everything-- 43:17 She lives in this little building, 43:19 we have church there and we have school there. 43:22 Multipurpose. It's Multipurpose. 43:23 It's a multipurpose. Yes. 43:25 And it's working out, but that's all. 43:27 I mean, yeah, it's very tough, it's very hard. 43:29 It's very crowded. 43:30 Yeah, but there's other buildings there, 43:33 we're working, we're gonna start renovation 43:35 and renovation on another building there 43:37 that was used to make firecrackers, 43:40 that's gonna be our school building. 43:42 And then we're working on getting... 43:46 on fund raising to build a multipurpose building, 43:49 bigger building where we can have, 43:51 where we can worship and have, like, cooking classes, 43:55 and all kind of, because people around there don't know 43:57 anything about Adventists 43:58 and you don't want everybody out to tell 44:00 everybody what they think about Adventists, you want to, 44:02 kind of, keep ahead of the game there. 44:04 Yeah, that's right. 44:06 Are you finding that there are 44:07 a lot of people who are seeing truth, 44:09 that they're really hungering for the truth? 44:12 Yes. 44:13 Within that community? Yes. 44:15 There's a lot of Amish that are hungering for truth, 44:16 especially younger folks, and it's devastating, 44:18 the old folks are devastated, they think the young folks, 44:21 they believe, they truly believe it's the great falling 44:23 away that Paul prophesied about. 44:25 And so it creates a lot of heartache 44:27 and there's nothing funny about. 44:28 I mean, to them it's terrible. 44:29 My parents, I mean, my mother, 44:31 she literally got health problems, 44:33 I believe, over me leaving the church, 44:35 'cause there's nothing, it's very intense, 44:37 it's very, I mean I feel... 44:38 But you're able to sit down and talk to them? 44:41 It was pretty rocky for a while, I just kind of, 44:43 I did once in a great while, but it... 44:46 Just once in a great while because it was pretty intense, 44:50 but... 44:52 You tell her that it doesn't change your love for her. 44:54 Yes. And she knows that by now. 44:56 I mean, things they have gotten, 44:57 the Holy Spirit has gotten, so we pray for them 45:01 all day, every day. 45:02 In the middle of the night when I wake up, 45:04 first thing I do, I pray for my parents. 45:06 Oh, that's great. 45:07 Because I know they're grieved 45:08 and there's nothing funny about that. 45:10 I mean, that's terrible. 45:11 Yeah, that's very serious. It's very serious. 45:13 Because they feel as though your soul is in jeopardy. 45:16 That's right. 45:18 They are sure that we're gonna be tortured for all eternity, 45:20 and how could you bear that. 45:21 Yeah. 45:22 And but from our visit 45:24 with my parents on Thanksgiving, 45:26 I am fairly... 45:29 I'm thinking... 45:30 I'm fairly confident that they're getting 45:31 to the point where they believe, 45:33 may be Andy and Naomi will not be lost. 45:35 One thing they like is that we believe in law. 45:39 They think they believe in the law, 45:40 but to them it's more, 45:42 they believe Amish law, that's right. 45:45 They believe that you should not eat horse 45:47 because their hooves are not split, 45:49 you can't eat horse it's unclean, 45:51 but it's alright to eat pork, and you're weird 45:53 if you don't eat pork, 'cause that's the old covenant. 45:55 And you know, it's a very inconsistent, 45:57 but, you know, if nobody challenges it, 45:59 nobody thinks about it. 46:01 Questions it. That's right. 46:02 Now everybody thinking and it's creating 46:04 a lot of chaos, so we just try to, you know, 46:07 do everything we can to keep everything 46:08 quiet and normal and... 46:10 'Cause we love these people. 46:12 All I want is them-- 46:13 I want them in the kingdom, I'm not looking for them 46:15 to all swarm to this church and worship, 46:17 I just want them in the kingdom when we get there. 46:19 Absolutely. 46:21 See, from my perspective from that this is really 46:24 remarkable because people don't even know to be open 46:28 because they're afraid to be open, 46:30 because I don't want to be that person to be 46:33 because you're so within this closed community 46:37 that if you do anything you're pretty well outcasts, 46:40 so you can't even hardly have thoughts of doing anything. 46:45 And your mind's not there, but when you do business 46:47 with the English or you do business 46:50 and somebody comes and you start saying, 46:52 well, these people aren't so bad, you know, 46:54 and then they start teaching, you know, the Word of God, 46:58 but how much more effective, you know, is Andy and Naomi 47:03 because they still have the Amish lifestyle 47:07 and so it's not just the English that's out here, 47:10 but hey, they're born and raised Amish, 47:12 wonder what's after the gossip's over 47:14 and shock is over? 47:16 I think it comes down to, 47:18 well, they're still wonderful people, 47:19 we see them, 47:21 they're raising in the family, they love people, 47:23 they haven't really changed that much, 47:25 so what is it that... 47:27 Why did they do what they have done? 47:29 That's right. 47:30 And I think it will get their minds. 47:32 Now they have a church and who knows, 47:33 someone may venture their start 47:35 and you have one family already. 47:37 We've been a lot-- we've been so much trouble 47:39 without the Holy Spirit, you know, 47:40 it's all up to the Holy Spirit. 47:42 But God wants us to-- 47:43 God just wants us to be instruments, you know, 47:46 to get people to think, you know, 47:47 get people to question and, you know to demonstrate, 47:50 I mean, that's just part of God's love is to use 47:53 His sinful people to work for Him. 47:56 And who better than from within. 47:59 That's right. 48:00 Like Danny was saying, it's a much better witness 48:03 from within than somebody from outside saying, 48:06 whatever you guys have that culture already 48:10 and you're maintaining that lifestyle and yet, 48:14 you have reached out to the Word of God and you're really, 48:18 You've really accepted the word of God, not tradition. 48:21 That's right, yup. 48:22 And they understand that I actually had an Amish bishop 48:25 come and tell me, he said, you know, Andy? 48:28 I want you to move off of this property, 48:31 'cause I'm in the center of the community 48:33 of over 300 families. 48:34 I want you to move off of this property, 48:37 I want you to cut your hair, 48:38 I want you to change your clothes 48:40 and I want you to move to the West Coast 48:42 and I want you to take that smile off that face. 48:45 Do not act like you're happy, 'cause you're condemned. 48:49 And I felt, wow, it's working. 48:54 Wow. 48:55 No, I don't want to be a threat to the Amish community, 48:56 I love the Amish. I don't want to be a-- 48:58 I want to be a blessing to them and I don't know why God-- 49:02 How God is going to reach these people, 49:03 but I know for a fact that He will reach these people. 49:06 And I believe He will be through mailing a lot. 49:10 The ball will start rolling. 49:11 It's gonna be... It's gonna be through you all, of course. 49:13 Now what can we do, our viewers are watching, 49:16 you're saying financially you're doing fund raising, 49:18 what particular is this for literature? 49:20 So that you can mail literature money for that? 49:23 Is it for their... 49:24 Your buildings, for the remodeling, 49:26 the expanding? 49:27 What is that our viewers can do? 49:29 Tell us what the needs are. 49:30 Well, let me first say, thank everybody that, 49:34 that contributed to the ministry, 49:36 even in just prayer. 49:37 I mean, somebody has obviously been praying hard 49:39 because things have been really moving on fast. 49:42 And we have gotten a lot of financial gifts 49:45 which are very much appreciated. 49:47 And we want to thank you these people, 49:48 we greatly appreciate those, 49:50 all those financial helps that we have gotten. 49:54 And there's one specific church that has helped us a whole lot, 49:59 Smith Mountain Lake Seventh-day Adventist Church 50:01 in Virginia, they have been such a great blessing. 50:04 I mean, they help us with our, things we need for communion 50:07 and Pastor Danny Poff came up and he preached 50:10 and they were at the work be, and that church, 50:14 they have done so much for us and we want to thank them. 50:17 Okay, what can they do? 50:19 We're gonna put up an address in a little bit, 50:22 so your biggest needs right now are what? 50:24 Yes, our biggest need right now is some financial help 50:27 because we are out of room and we want to build 50:30 a multipurpose building for our... 50:34 for the mission, to kind of get our feet under us. 50:36 And then we're just looking for open doors 50:40 as far as who can we work with, 50:42 as far as getting literature to the Amish, 50:45 you know, start working with the Amish. 50:47 'Cause we do want to tell people that is 50:49 part of our group there is 30 years, 50:52 he's been a co-partner for 30 years 50:55 and mostly among the Amish, 50:57 so, you know, he's got a lot of contacts. 50:58 Okay. 51:00 And we don't know where this is all is going, 51:01 but we know-- 51:03 there is no question that God has a ministry for us. 51:05 Amen. 51:06 So you need volunteers to disseminate literature? 51:09 Or... is that what you're saying? 51:11 I think for the most part, what works best 51:15 is if we can work through somebody, 51:16 through ministries or whether we will be that, 51:18 you know, the center of it? 51:20 We hope what we can do is, 51:21 we want to reach all the Amish plain communities 51:23 and of course, we want to reach souls, 51:25 and we are not just out for Amish anybody-- 51:27 but we're gonna be geared toward to plain people. 51:29 And so want to kind of be there like the headquarters 51:33 of that, you know, to help other people in other areas. 51:36 And but... 51:37 But ministries like 51:38 Steve Wohlberg's and Amazing Facts... 51:40 Amazing Facts, how we can work with them to, you know? 51:43 'Cause we have over, we have like 15,000 or 18,000 51:46 Amish addresses through plain people's ministry. 51:49 So what one person has, and I forget the name 51:52 of this ministry, but they were just working on that now, 51:55 they're adopting all of those addresses and they're planning 51:59 to send "Steps to Christ" to every one of those homes. 52:01 Wonderful. 52:03 So that is an example what we want do and it's just-- 52:06 It remains a mystery of how will this all play out. 52:10 Well, what is gonna turn out is gonna play out good. 52:13 Gonna be for the good. 52:14 All things work together for good, right? 52:16 God had called us according to His purpose. 52:19 What we'd like to do is, we want to put 52:21 your address up on the screen. 52:22 So we want you to pray and ask the Holy Spirit 52:25 what He would have you to do 52:27 and support our West Salem Mission. 52:33 If you'd like to contact Andy then you can write 52:35 to West Salem Mission, 52:37 14700 Rickel Road, West Salem, Ohio 44287. 52:44 That's West Salem Mission, 52:46 14700 R-I-C-K-E-L Road, 52:51 West Salem, Ohio 44287. 52:54 You can call 567-334-1080, 52:58 that's 567-334-1080. 53:02 Or you can send an email to westsalemmission@gmail.com. 53:08 It's all one word, westsalemmission@gmail.com |
Revised 2016-01-01