Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), Arleen Stubs, Henry Stubbs, Pastor Luis Amador, Pastor Samuel Lores
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY016056A
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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 00:19 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:35 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people. 01:07 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn, 01:09 and we welcome you to 3ABN Today. 01:11 We are so thankful 01:13 that you're joining us, and boy, I'll tell you what? 01:16 We have a group with us today that I first met 01:19 when we were at the General Conference 01:21 and I interviewed them for just a short period of time 01:24 and said, you've got to come and tell this amazing story 01:28 and what God is doing through your group in Cuba. 01:32 And this is a story I think 01:35 that's going to excite you to action. 01:39 It's a great story. 01:41 Let me give you the scripture 01:42 that is the banner over their ministry, 01:44 which Isaiah 42:12 which says, 01:49 "Let them give glory to the Lord, 01:51 and declare his praise in the coastlands." 01:55 So allow me to introduce you, we just go around, 01:59 sitting in the co-host seat today is one of our guest 02:02 and this is Henry Stubbs, who is the President 02:05 for the World Youth Group Incorporated. 02:09 Henry, so glad that you are here. 02:11 Thank you so much, Shelly, it's good to be here. 02:13 And boy, you've got a story 02:14 that we're gonna get into very exciting. 02:17 Now to my right, we have his lovely wife Arleen. 02:21 Arleen, you are the Vice President 02:23 for the World Youth Group, right? 02:25 Yes. Praise the Lord. 02:26 And it's something that we are going to find out 02:28 that the two of you God... 02:30 kind of gave you the same idea at the same time, 02:32 so that's just amazing. 02:34 Then we have Pastor Luis Amador. 02:37 And Luis, you are the Vice Director 02:41 for the Adventist Theological Seminary of Cuba. 02:45 Cuba. 02:47 Yeah, and how long have you been 02:48 with the World Youth Group? 02:50 We have been working with them for almost 10 years. 02:53 Ten years, wonderful, wonderful. 02:56 And then last but not least is Pastor Samuel Lores. 03:00 And, Samuel, you are the Spirit of Prophecy coordinator 03:05 for the Cuban Union, right? 03:08 Yes. 03:09 And you've been with this group since December of 2015, 03:13 is that correct? 03:14 Yup. Wonderful, wonderful. 03:16 Well, we are just excited to have. 03:18 So glad you all could come, because we want to hear more. 03:21 I was just, it was such a thrilling thing 03:27 to hear your story when we were at GC, 03:31 but today we're going to get 03:32 into some of the meat of their story. 03:35 First however, we know how much you love music 03:38 and we have one of the favorites, 03:40 actually a native Cuban and you said Luis, 03:42 that this gentleman is from your own hometown 03:45 in Cuba, correct? 03:46 Santa Clara City. 03:48 Santa Clara City, and this is one of, 03:51 he seems to be a 3ABN favorite. 03:53 He's certainly a wonderful man, his name is Jaime Jorge, 03:57 incredible violinist 03:59 and he is going to do a selection for us called, 04:02 "Have Thine Own Way, Lord". 08:17 That is just beautiful and we so appreciate Jaime 08:21 and that he has dedicated his talent 08:24 to the glory of the Lord. 08:26 Well, if you just joined us today, 08:27 we are talking with the World Youth 08:30 Group Incorporated people, 08:32 and let's just jump right off 08:34 and tell us what is World Youth Group? 08:38 World Youth Group, Shelley, is a group of youth 08:41 that wanted to make a difference for Jesus. 08:44 And the Lord has led us into the sharing 08:48 of the practical gospel, 08:49 trying to make a difference in people's lives, 08:52 which leads them to a desire to know why, 08:55 and ultimately the opportunity 08:57 to be able to share Jesus Christ. 08:59 Amen. And this is transpiring where? 09:03 Well, our work is exclusively Cuba. 09:06 Okay, now that's the part we wanted to get to, 09:09 because you've been there 19 years. 09:10 That's right. 09:12 We've been working there 19 years. 09:13 That's amazing to me, because you'll find out 09:15 why it's so amazing. 09:17 It wasn't always the friendliest thing. 09:19 Tell us, Arleen, 09:21 how the two of you came up with this thought. 09:27 How did God impressed you to begin the World Youth Group? 09:32 Well, the Lord impressed Henry and I both on the same weekend 09:36 to get involved with missions. 09:38 And so we didn't know how to do that. 09:42 We'd never been on a mission trip 09:44 and didn't know anything about it. 09:45 So we got involved with our local conference, 09:48 we went to Chile twice, 09:51 and then while we were giving our report 09:53 about our experience in the mission field 09:56 at our local church, 09:57 there was a lady in the audience and she said, 10:00 please bring the same youth 10:01 and come to my country and we said, 10:03 but what's your country and she said Cuba. 10:05 We said Cuba, how would you go to Cuba? 10:08 And she said, if I can get you there, 10:10 will you come? 10:12 And we said yes, Lord willing, 10:14 we'll bring the same youth and go to Cuba. 10:16 Now, Arleen, at the time did you know 10:17 that it was actually rather dangerous 10:19 or risky to go to Cuba? 10:21 Oh, yeah, we did, it was a real struggle 10:26 and even for myself the first year 10:29 was kind of exciting and, you know, 10:32 you get caught up in that in the faith of seeing 10:35 how God was moving mountains 10:37 and then the second or third year, 10:38 I had to really pray about it. 10:40 Lord, do you really want me to go there, you know, 10:42 what if I get stuck in prison and don't get out. 10:45 There have been groups 10:46 that had been incarcerated, right? 10:47 Yes, and not too many years before we started going down, 10:51 and those thoughts were in my mind 10:54 and then I also read some books 10:56 with some pretty horrific accounts of what, you know, 10:59 happens in communist countries, and I just I prayed about it 11:04 but the Lord has been leading all along and He still is. 11:07 So here you are, two, you are in the corporate world. 11:11 What were you doing in the corporate world? 11:14 Nursing. You were nursing. 11:16 I'm a nurse. 11:17 Director of nursing 11:18 from very large hospital complex, right? 11:22 For a good size hospital in South Carolina. 11:24 All right. 11:26 And so, here you are, the two of you, 11:28 you start going on mission trips, 11:30 you get really brave. 11:33 You go to Cuba for some years and, Luis, 11:37 how did the Adventist Theological Seminary of Cuba. 11:42 How did you get involved in this? 11:45 How did you hear about this people? 11:48 Well, as I told you before I started working with them 11:53 in 2006, almost 10 years ago. 11:57 And in 2010 I was pastoring in the Central Conference, 12:02 and I was called to work at the seminary. 12:05 At the same time I was appointed 12:07 as Spirit of Prophecy leader for a Cuba Union 12:11 what Pastor Samuel Lores is doing now. 12:14 And by that time we were designing our ascetic plan 12:19 for the next five years and it was great. 12:24 They were working there for such a long in Cuba, 12:27 we were working together, 12:29 they were focus mainly on the Central Conference 12:32 and then we thought well, 12:34 why not doing in the whole island, 12:37 what we have been doing in this Central Conference so far, 12:41 and that was the way God used to spread 12:44 World Youth Group all over the island of Cuba. 12:46 Okay, so when we are talking about this, 12:49 it's what were you doing? 12:51 You were going down there with missionary groups, 12:53 what were they doing with this youth down there? 12:57 They were going to preach, 13:00 mainly evangelistic series in un-entered areas. 13:04 Either small towns or big cities 13:08 and they were focused on evangelism, only evangelism. 13:12 But 2009 was a make a difference 13:18 in their ministry because from that point on, 13:21 this ministry incorporated 13:23 another interesting tool we will be talking about. 13:26 All right, so that was 13:27 when you began training students, 13:30 tell us about that because first you go down 13:32 and you are doing evangelistic series 13:34 trying to introduce Jesus 13:36 to the Cuban people and there is many, 13:39 because it is a communistic country. 13:42 There are many areas 13:44 that have been un-entered by the gospel, 13:46 but you actually began 13:48 a training school for Cuban youth, 13:51 tell us a little bit about that, Arleen? 13:53 Well, it started when our son went to Wildwood 13:57 and then I got interested in it 13:58 and I went to Wildwood and got trained. 14:00 And what was at Wildwood, what did you get interested in? 14:03 The live curriculum as an ASI curriculum and... 14:07 And explain that for our viewers 14:08 that may not know what is, 14:10 what type of curriculum is this? 14:11 Okay, the live curriculum is to train those 14:14 to be involved in medical missionary work. 14:17 And it gets you out quickly, 14:18 so you don't have to spend many years on studying 14:21 and getting a degree 14:22 and you can get out there 14:24 after six months of training or even a month of training. 14:27 They have two different courses and even more than that, 14:29 but anyway, it's an awesome program 14:33 and then what we were able to do with this curriculum 14:38 is train the Cubans themselves to be medical missionaries 14:42 and now instead of us coming down 14:44 with the handful of youth every year, 14:46 there are a team of young people 14:49 out there working year around 14:52 in places where we couldn't even probably go. 14:55 And they are helping people 14:57 and they're ministering to them, 14:58 with the training that they got it's partly training with, 15:03 helping with healing and things like that... 15:06 What kinds of things? 15:07 Like with hydrotherapy and massage 15:09 and using charcoal and natural remedies 15:13 and when you know, where you are far out 15:16 and you don't have a car, 15:17 you have no way to get to help 15:19 and you have it a medical emergency, 15:21 it's nice to be able to have some of those simple remedies 15:24 to help relief suffering 15:26 and then also not only they trained 15:29 any simple medical missionary type of healing classes, 15:34 also in spiritual classes, 15:36 and so then they are equipped to share the gospel 15:40 and once you have helped them 15:44 and with a ailment 15:45 then you can bring in the gospel 15:47 and even lead them to Christ 15:49 and that's the ultimate soul winning. 15:50 That will be great 15:52 showing the viewers some pictures. 15:53 Oh, yes. About this work. 15:54 Let's do, we do, I think we got a picture here... 15:56 Yeah, that's the picture from the island of Cuba, 15:58 nature people, old cars, but the other picture 16:03 it's about what Arleen was saying in training, 16:05 next picture, yeah. 16:08 That's one of the classrooms of the seminary in Cuba, 16:12 because World Youth Group has been working together 16:14 with the seminary in Cuba, 16:16 that's the place where they have been training. 16:17 Wonderful. 16:18 That's a cafeteria, there having the... 16:21 So were doing hydrotherapy... 16:23 And you know, this is something 16:25 I don't think that people realize, 16:26 I just, I'm not gonna go into it 16:28 but recently I actually told my doctor, 16:32 there is something that I had been doing 16:34 for the last two years, he'd given me medication for it 16:38 that wasn't working and so I come back 16:40 and I have medical results from test two years ago 16:44 and a test now, 16:45 purely natural and totally cured 16:48 and he is going. 16:49 When I said, I wasn't taking your medication, he said, 16:51 what were you doing? 16:53 And I told him about it, purely natural 16:55 and now he is very excited about wanting to share it 16:58 with his people so natural remedies. 17:01 Charcoal is just one of the most 17:03 amazing things that God has ever given us. 17:05 Yes. 17:07 And we hear stories all the time 17:08 with people who had blood poisoning, 17:10 they put a charcoal poultice on it. 17:12 So missionaries had known about, you know, 17:16 how a charcoal, I should finish that thought, 17:18 the charcoal poultice would actually 17:20 draw out the infection. 17:22 Missionaries had been using 17:23 some of the these natural remedies 17:25 for quite some time, but tell us about 17:29 how do you train them up for 30 days 17:32 and now you are getting ready to start a six month program, 17:35 then how do you go above once they're trained, Luis. 17:39 How do you go about sending them out to... 17:42 Sure. 17:43 That's our second pillar sending them. 17:46 They spent almost four weeks 17:49 getting that training in our seminary facilities 17:54 and during the course, we encourage them, 17:58 we show them the needs of the mission field in Cuba. 18:03 And some of the students, they apply us a Bible workers 18:10 to be sent as Bible workers 18:12 to those un-entered areas in Cuba. 18:16 That's a challenge because we have lot of municipalities 18:19 in Cuba who doesn't have any Adventist presence. 18:24 While they are taking the course, 18:26 they are encouraged and there is a moment 18:30 when we call the conference leaders, 18:33 and we interview the students with a conference leaders 18:37 and we select, 18:40 who is going to go to each town. 18:43 I want to show you some more pictures. 18:46 You can see there two of the guys 18:49 who are being sent there, they go on fire. 18:53 One more picture please. And these are Cubans... 18:55 Yes. 18:56 And they are going to places 18:57 that we've never had an Adventist presence. 19:00 I mean, that's really important to say 19:01 and not only that as Luis mentioned, 19:04 they are going out leaving family, 19:07 leaving home, they be leaving college... 19:09 One year or two years. Wonderful. 19:12 So it's exciting and they live in that community, 19:15 they become part of that community, 19:17 become part of the fabric of that community, 19:20 and we send them into the most impoverished areas 19:24 where they can find the most disenfranchised people 19:27 and try to make a difference in their lives. 19:29 They basic people, they try to help them in their needs 19:34 as Jesus did, they mingle with people, 19:37 they make friends and sometime later 19:41 they share the word of God with them. 19:43 And that's what we are quite familiar 19:46 if you may not have heard this, if you are new viewer to 3ABN, 19:49 but we believe very strongly 19:52 that the medical work is the right arm of the gospel. 19:55 Jesus went out 19:56 and He healed them physically first, 19:59 He touched them, met their physical needs 20:02 and then people when they are no longer suffering, 20:06 they are then ready to understand, 20:09 I mean open up to hear the gospel. 20:12 But now, this is some thing that's interesting, 20:15 all of these are Cubans, right? 20:17 These are Cuban youth that you are training up. 20:20 Now Pastor Samuel, 20:23 when people see these youth 20:28 coming into their villages, poor villages, 20:33 how did they react, 20:34 are they surprised that these people are not, 20:38 I mean they are doing it for basically nothing 20:40 so how did the people react to this? 20:44 Yeah, the people in the communities, 20:49 when the youth people arrived to their communities 20:53 with their message and health message 20:56 to helping to receive and many thing. 21:00 They are very happy 21:02 and when we have any campaign in this area, 21:08 we can see that the people come 21:13 and they to us about the help, 21:19 charcoal and everything. 21:22 No only interested 21:23 in the Bible, 21:29 they are interested too in to have a better help 21:33 and we combine together both work. 21:40 We have health expos. 21:43 Okay, so you know you showed that picture of the youth 21:46 that was out and touching 21:51 and probably massaging or treating this man's legs 21:54 and I'm just thinking, 21:55 do you pay these youth a stipend, 21:57 if they are taking off a year, how do you support the youth. 22:03 We give them a stipend of $25 a month 22:08 and we in the past 22:10 when we were only doing evangelism, we would find, 22:13 we would check with the conference 22:14 and try to find Bible workers 22:16 and we would pay them $25 a month for three months 22:19 to go and help prepare a place for evangelism. 22:22 But it's such a difference now, 22:24 because these individuals have $25 a month, 22:27 go live full time in that community and... 22:31 Where they can really relate with the people, 22:34 have develop a rapport and I'm sure then the culture, 22:40 I mean the people began to really appreciate them 22:43 and what, they listen to them. 22:45 Yes. Is that right? 22:47 Exactly, it's made a huge difference 22:49 and ultimately as Luis mentioned the goal 22:54 is that people would get to know their savior. 22:56 Amen. 22:57 And so we praise the Lord that's the ultimate goal 23:01 and that's ultimately what's happening. 23:03 So sometimes at the training, we used to tell them 23:07 you are not here to become vegetarians. 23:11 We are here to be... 23:12 To become vegetarians... Vegetarians. 23:14 We are not a factor of vegetarians, 23:17 we are soul winners. 23:19 Amen. Amen. 23:21 And that's wonderful to work together 23:22 with the seminary 23:23 and to also incorporate the health expo 23:29 with the seminary, 23:30 that's part of their training at the seminary as pastors 23:33 to be pastors as they learn how to give a health expo 23:37 and it's such a ministry to the neighborhood 23:40 and to the communities 23:41 and anyway it's a blessing 23:44 to work together with the seminary. 23:46 This is something that God has just put all the right people 23:50 in the right places at the same time 23:52 to make up the component. 23:54 It's a precious work to win Cuba for Christ. 23:56 Amen. So now... 23:57 Let God be God. 23:58 Before at the seminary 24:00 when you graduated from the seminary, 24:01 did you have to go out 24:02 and do evangelistic series somewhere 24:05 or how did that work? 24:07 Because now I understand that now you actually have 24:10 this seminary students coming to help you, 24:14 support the evangelism, is that correct? 24:16 That's correct. 24:18 Luis, maybe you want to show a couple of the photos 24:21 on evangelism. 24:25 I'll jump in here, this is a picture of youth 24:28 that are coming down from North America, 24:31 this ministry started with a Sabbath school class 24:33 in North American Youth 24:35 and we want to always keep that emphasis, 24:37 it's very important in our opinion 24:39 that youth in America have an opportunity 24:42 to get outside of their world 24:45 and to see a little bit more of the rest of the world, 24:49 and to share their faith. 24:50 So we have taken a number of academies down 24:54 and then number of youth down and they go into the town, 24:57 where the Cuban youth had been working six months, 24:59 twelve months or longer and have developed an interest 25:04 and have a Bible study group, 25:07 and in that town they share the gospel. 25:10 They let do that an evangelistic series. 25:12 They do a harvest evangelistic series. 25:14 They do a vacation Bible school. 25:15 They do the preaching. They do. 25:17 Wonderful All the preaching. 25:18 On the same time. 25:20 And so it's youth working in the town, 25:24 having had a one month medical missionary course, 25:27 being able to share practical things 25:29 and then it's youth from North America 25:31 joining youth in Cuba 25:33 and ultimately sharing the gospel, 25:37 having a call to commitment to Christ. 25:40 These people in the town have already been exposed, 25:42 they have already been studying, 25:44 sometimes having Bible studies but now this is a call, 25:47 this is a harvest series. 25:49 A call to give your life to Jesus. 25:51 Amen. 25:52 At the beginning it was different. 25:54 They only had 25:55 an evangelistic series each year 25:57 but 2014 they had three a year 26:02 and 2015 they had like 10 that year 26:07 and this year 2016, 24. 26:12 Wow, so you have gone from doing just one a year, 26:18 how many... you obviously get baptisms. 26:21 I think we've got a couple of more pictures here, 26:23 this is one of your harvesting events 26:26 where you have sent people down 26:28 and isn't that you Pastor Samuel, 26:32 is that you in baptistery? 26:34 Yes. You are baptizing there. 26:36 so these are the people who are part or the youth 26:42 that are part of your group, 26:44 working with the youth from America, 26:46 they're seeing these people baptized, 26:49 but now did I not understand you 26:52 to say that also now 26:55 the seminary students who are being trained go out, 26:58 and is this how you've increased 27:01 from 1 to 24 series, is that part of the increase. 27:05 Yes, it is part of the increase about mainly our youth 27:10 that are taken from America to Cuba 27:12 plus the Bible workers, 27:14 medical missionaries working there, 27:16 now the seminary students are sent, 27:21 those who are taking the public evangelism class, 27:25 they are sent to those un-entered areas 27:29 where World Youth Group is working 27:32 and they help running those evangelistic series as well. 27:36 Okay, so are those seminary students 27:38 the ones giving it or is it still the youth? 27:42 The youth hold those evangelistic series 27:46 but their seminary students, they help in another towns 27:52 because they have reached 27:54 over 20 different municipalities in Cuba. 27:58 They are planting many churches, 28:00 I mean, World Youth Group and the seminary students go 28:03 and support that work. 28:05 That's amazing. 28:07 Now I wanted to mention this about Pastor Samuel 28:11 because I thought this was amazing. 28:13 You were ministering as a pastor for 18 years 28:17 and how many churches did you plant? 28:20 Eighteen. 28:21 Eighteen churches. Eighteen churches. 28:24 It shows that there is such a heart the people there, 28:28 if you can plant 18 churches in 18 years, 28:31 people are hungry 28:33 to hear the truth about the Lord. 28:36 When you've been brought up 28:37 in a communist country where it's, 28:42 you know, often they, at least 28:44 what we've seen in communist areas 28:46 is that they believe in evolution. 28:49 They believe, they don't know where they're from, 28:51 they don't know where they are going 28:52 and when they hear about the love of God, 28:56 it's life, it's transforming, isn't it? 29:00 How many churches or how many Adventist churches 29:04 are there in Cuba? 29:09 Do you know how many churches you have, church buildings? 29:12 Yeah. Near to 400. 29:14 Four hundred churches, but isn't it true 29:18 that it is against the law there 29:20 to build new churches? 29:24 Permission is not been granted at this time really 29:26 to any denomination for a new church. 29:28 All right, so then you're baptizing 29:30 all of these people. 29:32 What did you do with them? Okay. 29:33 It's a challenge. Good question. 29:35 That last picture that was up there 29:37 which was a picture of Samuel baptizing. 29:40 He was baptizing a man named Ungel. 29:43 Ungel was 81 years old, his daughter came to us, 29:48 heard that we were having evangelistic series in her town 29:50 and says would you come to see my father, 29:53 he has cancer and he is gonna die 29:57 and he is very afraid to die. 29:59 She said none of us in our home are Christians 30:01 but he had a brother that also had cancer 30:05 and as also died and before he died 30:08 somebody shared Christ with him and he died peacefully, 30:12 and I want my daddy to die peacefully. 30:15 Can he come to your meetings? 30:17 So we went and met him 30:19 and brought him to the meetings, 30:20 we provided transportation, he said I can still see him 30:24 sitting in there just drinking it and, and, 30:28 and ultimately he was baptized. 30:31 He made a decision for Jesus 30:33 and you're right there without a place 30:36 in that town to worship. 30:39 Without a place in any of the towns 30:41 where we're doing evangelism, 30:43 you just cannot hang on to the flock. 30:46 Right. 30:47 There is no place to get together, 30:49 you are not supposed to be gathering together 30:51 in houses anyway, it takes a little time 30:53 and little challenging to get permission 30:55 to worship from the government. 30:58 But ultimately we are, because you can't build a church, 31:02 we are buying houses for worship houses. 31:05 Houses for churches 31:06 and the Lord has really blessed, 31:07 we were doing one per year... 31:10 Now do you have to have permission from the... 31:12 I mean, this isn't something that is underground. 31:15 Do you gain permission from the Cuban government 31:18 to use these houses as center of support? 31:21 Yes, we do, it's a process though, 31:22 it takes, it's not, we just go down 31:24 and apply for permission and we get it. 31:26 But they have to kind of watch us 31:28 and see how we are doing and see that we are safe 31:31 and that we're not doing anything illegal and so forth, 31:35 and overtime they'll give us permission to worship. 31:37 First it should be a prayer house. 31:40 Okay. 31:41 For a prayer house you don't need any permission, 31:43 10 to 12 people, 31:45 but when it turns into a small church, 31:49 a company, then you need to apply for the permission. 31:52 After that point on 31:53 then the conference leaders would deal with authorities. 31:58 But the medical missionary work has opened up that arms, 32:02 so that by the time we get to the authorities, 32:04 they know us. 32:05 That's wonderful. 32:07 And they appreciate what's been happening 32:08 and we've actually been brought before the highest leaders 32:11 and the health palace in Cienfuegos 32:13 and another places saying, you know, 32:16 we really appreciate what you're doing. 32:19 You've made a difference 32:21 and in our community we've been asked 32:24 to be on the communist radio station 32:26 with a 15 minute spot every week, some of our youth, 32:29 our medical missionaries sharing what they are doing 32:32 and we've been asked to provide the same training 32:36 that we are doing the health expos 32:39 to all the doctors and nurses 32:40 and some of the hospitals in Cuba. 32:42 And as a result of this work, 32:45 they're having a lot of health expos 32:48 all over the island 32:50 and really the authorities are really impressed with that 32:53 because one of the pillars of Cuba is health and education 32:59 and we are giving people what they need, 33:02 you know, training them and helping them 33:05 with their health even. 33:07 For example, the seminary students 33:09 they get a class about lifestyle 33:13 and they run health expos every year 33:16 in the park of the city 33:18 where the seminary is Santiago de las Vegas. 33:20 And a lot of people when they get out of buses, 33:23 they go to the park 33:25 and they see what are they doing here 33:26 and all the seminary students are wearing white T-shirts 33:31 and physicians are helping them there 33:34 and it's amazing. 33:35 That's fabulous, 33:37 so when you see everybody is I mean, 33:40 it's amazing how God is opening the doors here 33:43 but what I want to ask you about 33:45 is you see these youth from Cuba, 33:49 are they all coming out of the Adventist families, 33:52 the youth group that's coming to, 33:54 are they all Adventist families or the kids that 33:56 maybe they're just learning about Jesus himself. 34:00 Yeah, we have a lot of kids that have been kind of 34:03 very loosely connect with the church. 34:04 Okay. 34:05 And so I would say 34:07 that has been one of the differences, 34:11 you know, we have not kind of searched for the cream 34:13 of the crop Adventist kids from our best schools 34:19 where they have grown up with both parents 34:21 in the church or something like that, 34:23 and that's been one of the blessings 34:25 because mission work just knits people together. 34:31 It's a bond. It draws them to the Lord. 34:33 It creates a bond 34:35 and it's an unforgettable experience. 34:37 So you're seeing lives changed right here 34:40 in the World Youth Group themselves 34:43 but then like the people who come down 34:46 are laying what kind of effect does this have 34:49 when you bring people, the youth 34:51 from the United States just to go down 34:53 and do an evangelistic series. 34:56 That gives them a different focus 34:58 than on themselves of course 35:00 and it gives them a purpose and it touches their hearts too 35:06 when you are out there speaking about your savior 35:09 and you are actually preaching, it changes you. 35:12 And we've had several youth went lay away their cigarettes 35:19 and say okay, I'm done with these, 35:21 and we've had baptisms from North American youth, 35:24 also we've had bonds 35:28 that are still not broken till this day, 35:31 and they're still corresponding with friends 35:33 that they made in Cuba 35:35 and it's been a beautiful experience 35:38 for us to watch the youth, 35:39 and then to see how they've grown 35:42 and some of them to become missionaries 35:44 and a lot them 35:45 are working around the world as missionaries now. 35:47 Praise God. 35:48 So how many in the World Youth Group, 35:51 how many do you have now, who you are paying a stipend 35:55 to keep them as medical missionaries. 35:58 I mean, about, you know about what you have right now? 36:02 We do. 36:03 Right now, we've trained 384 youth in Cuba 36:07 to be medical missionaries. 36:09 Of those we have interviewed 36:11 along together with the conferences, 36:13 World Youth Group in the conferences and hired. 36:15 We have approximately 60 full time workers in Cuba... 36:21 And you've had some who've done it 36:23 going on after a year or so. 36:24 That's true. 36:25 Yeah, as a matter of fact it's kind of a breeding ground 36:29 if I could say for the seminary and a number of our youth 36:34 that have come to work 36:35 for World Youth Group for a year, 36:37 I don't know many, Pastor Luis. 36:40 Like 12 or 15, that is impressive. 36:42 Many times where I'm teaching in the classroom 36:44 and I see those faces there, wow. 36:47 They were at the live school some years ago 36:49 and now they are being trained to be pastors, 36:52 that is something awesome. 36:54 Amen. 36:55 And they get, they come into the seminary 36:58 when they apply as an entity that's known 37:01 because they have been out on the town, 37:03 Shelley, working alone. 37:05 I mean, we sent two at a time, 37:07 and in some cites we've sent four 37:09 at a time into a city. 37:11 But they have been out there, you know, without a pastor, 37:14 without family, without a church, 37:16 without a church support and they are looking for, 37:20 okay, who can I reach out to. 37:22 Two guys went to a town 37:24 and they said, okay Lord, how do we do this. 37:27 We've had one month training, we know how to give, you know, 37:31 hot foot baths and we know how to, we know how to... 37:36 you know, make some charcoal or whatever but what do we do? 37:40 Well, they prayed about it and then he said, I know, 37:43 in this city there is no ambulance 37:46 and my grandmother has an old bicycle 37:49 that we could turn into a bicycle ambulance, 37:53 ABC taxi ambulance kind of thing. 37:55 And we won't charge anybody. 37:57 And we'll just take him to the hospital, 37:59 we'll take him to the clinic and so that was their ministry. 38:01 You know, everybody does it different. 38:03 And would you know that the CEO of which we had a picture of it 38:07 but the CEO of the hospital was baptized. 38:10 He was so impressed, that whole town, 38:12 everybody knew those boys. 38:14 Everybody tried to pay him a couple of pesos and you know, 38:17 what are you doing this for? 38:19 Thank you so much and they just wouldn't accept it, you know, 38:22 and it's never had there been Adventist in this city. 38:28 And now that's a very strong church in that city. 38:31 So these 60, about how many cities 38:34 are they in now? 38:35 They are in 21 cities. In 21 cities. 38:37 Praise the Lord. 38:38 And how many of the homes have you purchased 38:41 to be the church gathering spots? 38:45 Well, close to 30 all together, but it was one a year 38:49 for a lot of years 38:51 and then it was three in one year, 38:54 last year was eight. 38:56 And what is a home cost? 38:58 About 15,000 on average. Really? 39:00 And I think don't you have some pictures of... 39:03 I do. 39:04 This is a picture of house in the town of Calumet. 39:07 And again this is a new area 39:10 with no history of Adventist presence. 39:13 Heritage Academy just came down 39:14 and did an evangelistic campaign 39:16 with World Youth Group and with the youth in that town 39:19 that started that work 39:21 and they had a precious harvest of souls 39:23 that are now worshiping in this house. 39:25 This is just in the last few months. 39:27 Well, that was in March. 39:29 So we're very grateful for what the Lord is doing, 39:32 but now, Shelley, we are building 39:34 a full time mission campus... 39:37 That's what we are seeing here. 39:38 The seminary. And we have... 39:42 God has provided a beautiful farm. 39:45 We are starting the production of vegetables and so forth. 39:48 We've built a girl's dorm and we're building classrooms, 39:51 a library, by Gods grace through faith, 39:55 that God is going to continue to provide. 39:58 We're building an entire campus 40:00 to be able to train young people 40:02 to finish the gospel. 40:03 I would like to emphasize something. 40:06 We've been talking about training youth 40:09 but our viewers 40:11 they could have been thinking well, 40:13 it is only lay people, well not. 40:16 We are planning to train physicians, 40:19 Cuba physicians and nurses. 40:21 Glory. Yeah. 40:23 We're planning to train 40:24 all the pastors of our Cuban Union, 40:28 with this medical missionary tool. 40:30 We're planning to train also the seminary students. 40:34 It means that this medical missionary work 40:39 is turning to be one of the most 40:42 effective evangelistic tools in the island of Cuba. 40:45 And so it just goes to prove that to what Ellen White wrote 40:49 so many years ago 40:50 that the medical work is going to be 40:54 the right arm of the gospel. 40:55 That's how you get people's attention. 40:58 So as vice director 41:00 for the Adventist theological seminary of Cuba, 41:03 that means you're kind of like number two in charge, right? 41:06 Yeah. 41:08 Yeah, you're the second guy there, okay. 41:09 And now you are taking this program 41:13 because you've seen the World Youth Group 41:15 has been so successful. 41:17 Now you gonna start training the professionals to do this 41:21 as well as the youth because it is so good. 41:23 That, I mean, you see the perfect how God, 41:26 the confluence of all of these things 41:28 at how God touches 41:30 two hearts of a couple just in Sabbath school, 41:35 and you meet the lady who says please send these people to my 41:38 or bringing this missionary group 41:40 to my country Cuba. 41:42 It's amazing. 41:43 Yeah, because you've never been to Cuba, had no... 41:46 and you had no contacts there, 41:47 but then he connects you with people like Pastor Luis, 41:51 Pastor Samuel with the... 41:54 not only with the seminary and the union, 41:57 but he just now keeps exploding things, 42:00 isn't it God... 42:01 Yes. 42:03 No, I had...I keep, you know, I get so excited 42:05 as I'm thinking about all of this, 42:07 and I keep getting ahead of myself. 42:09 What... 42:11 how do you support yourselves, that's what I wanted to ask 42:14 because you've been building these 42:17 churches or houses, buying these homes, 42:20 you're building this new... 42:23 since you've been going out in the seminary, 42:25 you're building all of this new thing. 42:27 How do you support yourself? 42:29 You know, it's just a miracle of the Lord. 42:32 We have not had time, Shelley, to build the infrastructure 42:36 that most ministries have... 42:38 Now, let me just stop you right there for a second. 42:40 Why haven't you had time? 42:42 You've been working full time in the corporate world 42:47 for how many years? 42:48 For 36 years. 42:50 And how recently did the Lord call you 42:53 and say hey, that's enough of that, 42:56 you've got something, 42:57 I've got you do here what the World Youth Group, 42:59 even though this has been ongoing ministry for 19 years. 43:03 When did you make the commitment to God, 43:06 to now go full time? 43:07 Shelley, about eight months ago, 43:11 the Lord gave a very clear call to us that now is the time. 43:15 We've been praying for 10 years, 43:16 when do we do this? 43:18 But eight months ago the Lord spoke to both my wife 43:22 and I and said, dedicate all of your time to me. 43:28 And we've been willing by the grace of God to follow, 43:32 and it's been the most precious experience, 43:34 we've had eight months, we're babes in this. 43:36 Yes, but well, 19 years of experience, 43:39 eight months full time so, but you are babes as far as, 43:43 you know, this is something that 43:44 when people step out in faith, 43:46 it's so amazing because you quit your job, 43:50 they are working full time, 43:51 they don't take a penny from the ministry. 43:54 Everything that goes into your ministry 43:57 is going directly to support the ministry. 43:59 So you're not being paid, no ones getting paid 44:02 except for the Bible workers in the medical missionaries 44:06 that you send out that you give the stipend. 44:08 So that comes back to the question then how... 44:12 I know, God has been supporting you for 19 years, 44:15 how does the support come? 44:17 How does God do it, it's just a miracle. 44:21 You know, it's widows giving $5 a month 44:24 but they're consistent and they've been doing it. 44:27 We have some that have been doing it for 19 years. 44:29 Praise God. 44:30 Twenty five dollars a month 44:32 and that supports one Bible worker. 44:34 And, you know, we want to go to a 100 Bible workers 44:36 and then when it started coming to the establishing part, 44:39 Lord we need houses, we need houses to worship, 44:41 we're getting flocks and new congregations, 44:44 what do we do? 44:45 And I remember the first house we've built was for $8,000. 44:50 Lord where will we ever get $8,000, and God provided, 44:54 and then last year eight new houses at $15,000. 44:58 That's amazing. 44:59 And these houses are the worship centers. 45:02 We want to make sure 45:03 if somebody has just tuned in late 45:05 that they didn't hear that part. 45:07 So now tell me a little bit about 45:08 your typical year calendar. 45:10 What does a calendar year look like for you? 45:14 It looks really busy, but we do, 45:16 in January we're doing a one month school. 45:19 And then we come to the spring and we do evangelistic series 45:24 with youth from North America. 45:25 And then we come 45:27 to the late spring early summer, 45:28 we do evangelistic series with the seminary students 45:31 helping the youth. 45:32 And then we come to the medical missionary convention. 45:39 We have a national medical missionary convention 45:41 which we have more than 500 people 45:43 coming to now in Havana. 45:45 It's become a very popular thing 45:47 and kind of the only camp meeting in Cuba, 45:49 a little bit like ASI. 45:51 And then we do fall evangelism. 45:54 We'll be going down again soon for a fall evangelism 45:58 in six cities, six new cities. 46:01 That's 24 campaigns per year 46:04 and then we start at the end of the year 46:07 preparing for the new one month school. 46:11 One month school 46:13 and then you gonna have a six months school, right? 46:14 Yeah, starting soon. 46:16 Starting soon, and it's just, it amazes me how you see, 46:21 how God can use to, he uses 46:25 all of us are just simple people 46:26 that He uses. 46:28 Amazes me He uses me. 46:30 But He can just wake you up one day 46:33 and say follow Me, and when you do, 46:36 God does amazing things. 46:38 The World Youth Group International is a 501c3 46:43 non-profit organization. 46:45 And if the Lord is touching your heart, 46:48 if you want to see the gospel explode in Cuba 46:52 and God's touching your heart that he wants you to support 46:56 perhaps one of these medical missionaries 46:59 or maybe you would like to go down and be part of it, 47:02 that comes down as an evangelist 47:04 or even I'm sure you can use other doctors 47:07 as you're doing your health expos. 47:09 You can contact them and find out, 47:12 get their calendar, find out what's going on. 47:15 Find out how to support them, or how you can participate 47:19 because every time you send a youth on a mission trip, 47:23 it is life changing and they get connected to God. 47:26 Here is how you can get in touch 47:28 with the World Youth Group. 47:33 World Youth Group inspires, trains and supports workers 47:36 in ministering the healing love and salvation of Christ 47:39 to advance the kingdom of God on earth. 47:41 If you would like to contact or support this ministry 47:43 write to World Youth Group Incorporated, 47:46 PO Box 1454, Westminster, South Carolina 29693. 47:52 That's World Youth Group Incorporated, PO Box 1454, 47:56 Westminster, South Carolina 29693. 48:00 You can call 864-723-6442. 48:03 That's 864-723-6442. 48:07 You can also visit them online at www.WorldYouthGroup.com 48:12 or email henry.stubbs@gmail.com. 48:19 They were just telling me while the address was rolling 48:22 that there is over 500 cities in Cuba 48:26 that had still not been reached with the gospel. 48:29 That's amazing to me, but we have to remember Luis, 48:32 you grew up in... it's a communist country, 48:36 it still is a communist country. 48:38 Now, just a quick question, were your parents Adventist? 48:42 Did you grow up in an Adventist church? 48:44 No. They were not. 48:45 Yes, a year ago after being member of the SDA church 48:51 for 20 years, I had the privilege 48:53 of baptizing my mother. 48:55 It was my birthday, I was getting 40 years old 48:59 and I baptized her that day 49:02 after 20 years of being a member of the church. 49:05 Praise the Lord. 49:07 Well, we're going to go to our second song right now 49:09 and then we're gonna come back with a final thought 49:11 but it's just so exciting to me, 49:14 and how appropriate that Jaime Jorge 49:16 is the one that fellow Cuban, who is going to do the song 49:22 and you all know the words to the song "He Leadeth Me". |
Revised 2016-09-06