Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY018096A
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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 word 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:11 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn, 01:12 and we welcome you once again to 3ABN Today, 01:15 The Mending Broken People Network. 01:18 And we just want to take this opportunity 01:20 to thank you so much for your prayers 01:23 and your love and your financial support. 01:26 And I'm very excited 01:27 because we have a very special guest today. 01:31 And this is going to be 01:33 an inspiring and challenging interview. 01:38 Before I introduce him and what we're doing, 01:41 let me read you a scripture. 01:43 This is something... 01:44 It's a story you know but you may not know... 01:49 You'll recognize the story, you may not remember the name, 01:52 and that is Mephibosheth. 01:54 And Mephibosheth was the grandson of Saul, 01:58 he was the son of Jonathan whom David loved so much. 02:03 Mephi... 02:05 I can't even say his name. 02:06 Mephibosheth was made lame when he was five years old. 02:12 His nurse was fleeing from the Philistines, 02:15 carrying him, she fell, he was crippled, 02:18 and he had a life that was just filled with disasters 02:22 and disappointments and anxieties. 02:25 But when King David, after he took over after Saul, 02:29 got all of his affairs settled. 02:32 He began looking to see 02:34 if there were any of Saul's relatives 02:38 who were still left 02:39 because he wanted to do 02:41 something good for the house of Saul 02:44 just because of his great brotherly love for Jonathan. 02:51 And he sends them out and they find Mephibosheth. 02:55 And listen to what 2 Samuel 11, 03:00 excuse me, 2 Samuel 9:11 says, 03:04 "Then Ziba said to the king,' 03:06 According to all that my lord, the king, 03:10 has commanded his servant, 03:12 so your servant will do.'" 03:14 King David had commanded him to take care of Mephibosheth. 03:20 "As for Mephibosheth,' said the king, 03:24 'he shall eat at my table 03:29 like one of the king's sons.'" 03:31 David reached out to become passionate, 03:37 to show love for someone who had special needs, 03:42 and that's what we're going to be talking about today. 03:45 Let me introduce our special guest, Dr. Larry Evans, 03:49 who is the Assistant 03:51 to the General Conference President 03:54 for Special Needs Ministries. 03:57 And, Doctor, I don't know whether I should call you Larry 04:00 or I don't know if I should call you doctor 04:01 or if I should call you pastor, what should I call you? 04:05 I'm used to Larry. 04:06 Larry, it will be that. Okay. Great. 04:08 We're so excited that you're here. 04:10 Great. Yeah. 04:11 And we're excited about this ministry. 04:15 We're going to, first, have a song and come back. 04:20 And Larry's very passionate about what he's doing, 04:23 but we'll get to know a little bit 04:24 about his personal life 04:27 and then how God has translated all of that love and concern 04:31 into a special ministry. 04:33 First, though we know how much you love music 04:36 and we have a precious soul with us, Pam Lister. 04:39 She will sing "Written in Red." 04:54 In letters of crimson, 05:00 God wrote His love 05:04 On the hillside 05:06 So long, long ago 05:12 For you and for me 05:17 Jesus died 05:22 And love's greatest story 05:26 Was told 05:33 I love you 05:43 That's what 05:45 Calvary said 05:52 I love you 06:07 Written in red 06:21 Down through the ages 06:25 God wrote His love 06:30 With the same hands 06:32 That suffered and bled 06:39 Giving all 06:44 That He had to give 06:48 A message 06:50 So easily read 06:57 I love you 07:07 That's what 07:09 Calvary said 07:16 I love you 07:33 Oh, precious 07:37 Is the flow 07:42 That makes me 07:46 White as snow 07:52 No other 07:55 Fount I know 08:01 Nothing but the blood 08:03 The blood of Jesus 08:09 I love you 08:18 That's what 08:20 Calvary said 08:27 I love you 08:41 Written 08:48 In red 09:11 I love that song, and we thank Pam Lister for doing that. 09:15 You know, Romans 5:8, Paul said 09:17 that God demonstrated His own love in this way 09:22 is that He sent His Son to die for us 09:25 while we were yet sinners. 09:26 So certainly, the event of Calvary was just 09:32 God saying to us, I love you. 09:35 Well, if you're joining us just a moment later, 09:37 our special guest today is Dr. Larry Evans. 09:40 And he is an Assistant 09:43 to the General Conference President 09:46 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church 09:48 for Special Needs Ministries. 09:50 And, Larry, before we get rocking and rolling here 09:54 about this exciting ministry, 09:57 we'd like to get to know you a little bit better. 10:00 Could you tell us, 10:01 did you grow up in an Adventist Christian home? 10:04 What were your formative years like? 10:07 Well, that's an interesting story. 10:10 I grew up with a mother who was a very devoted 10:12 Seventh-day Adventist, 10:14 who deeply loved the Lord. 10:17 My father was a good person, 10:20 but my father did not always appreciate 10:24 the Christian lifestyle, 10:26 the Christian message that we had. 10:30 But you know, we grew up with that. 10:33 Most of my early years were in public school. 10:36 During those years, 10:38 my mother would take us to church 10:40 some of the time and we would go. 10:44 And I was very influenced by the Christian example 10:49 of the people that I saw in my Sabbath school. 10:51 That was really good. 10:53 Growing up was a very interesting time 10:55 because my father progressively... 10:58 I did not understand at first but he progressively grew 11:01 into more of a mental illness 11:03 that really set the stage for much of 11:08 what was to take place at home. 11:11 I saw verbal abuse, some physical abuse. 11:16 I was distraught. 11:19 It got so bad at one point that I ran away from home 11:22 for a few days only to come back 11:25 to face the challenges that were there. 11:29 But I didn't understand all the implications 11:33 of what a mental illness was. 11:35 I just knew I was living 11:36 with something that wasn't good. 11:39 I remember, later in college, going to speak to a professor 11:42 who explained to me 11:45 that the problem my dad had would probably just get worse. 11:49 I said, "What?" 11:50 He said, "Yeah, it'll get worse, 11:52 knowing the way this kind of problem left." 11:56 At that time, I think he was diagnosed 11:58 with schizophrenia, but... 12:03 And the paranoia that kind of went along with it. 12:06 So he was fearful 12:08 and yet he would hear these voices. 12:09 I remember him telling me, "Do you hear those voices?" 12:13 Of course, I did not hear those voices. 12:15 But all of that created 12:17 a sense of uncertainty and some fear. 12:23 I don't know how my mother lived with it at the time. 12:26 But I have since grown to understand 12:28 that it was an illness 12:30 and sometimes the stigma of mental illness 12:33 can create a problem 12:34 so that we can't really understand the person, 12:36 we just see the symptoms of what's being exhibited. 12:40 And... And we feel so helpless. 12:42 Oh, we feel helpless. Yeah. 12:44 That's what happened. 12:45 And then there's a sense of embarrassment too 12:48 because some of that is acted out in a public way. 12:51 Oh, I resonate with it so much 12:53 because my mother was diagnosed... 12:56 I think it was more difficult before she was diagnosed, 12:58 but my mother was diagnosed with bipolar when I was 16. 13:02 And then once she went on medication, 13:05 life was beginning to become normal 13:08 except that she went through cycles every 18 months 13:11 which she went off at. 13:13 So I do understand. 13:15 I mean there were times that things were so bad that... 13:19 I remember, once I shook my fist 13:21 in the face of the Lord 13:22 because He didn't heal her and I was mad at God. 13:26 So I know what you're talking about. 13:28 Well, I don't normally admit this 13:29 but I remember carrying a knife once 13:31 that if I saw my father one more time hurt my mother, 13:35 then I was going to take action into my hand. 13:37 Fortunately, I didn't do that. 13:40 But now that I can look back at things from a distance, 13:46 I understand who he was and what he was going through. 13:49 I had a brother who also went through a similar thing. 13:52 And during the last several months of his life, 13:56 he was very consistent with his medicine, 13:59 and he was a brother like I never knew before. 14:01 Very kind, very gentle, a very wholesome brother. 14:05 I made a special trip, 14:07 and actually I even moved to be closer to him. 14:09 Praise God. 14:11 And he gave his heart to the Lord again. 14:15 And we had many moments of prayer every time 14:17 he would see me. 14:18 He said, "Larry, would you please pray for me?" 14:20 Those are very cherished moments for me. 14:22 Amen. 14:23 But they weren't always that way. 14:26 And so I'm very sympathetic 14:29 or very understanding for those individuals 14:31 who go through these very traumatic things. 14:34 It's interesting, you said 16, 14:35 for me, it was around 16-17 when things 14:38 really kind of peaked a little bit for us. 14:41 It's a very difficult time in your life. 14:42 But how did God get a hold of you 14:47 because you went to school, 14:49 you got your doctorate in divinity of our ministry. 14:54 So how did God get you? 14:57 When did it become real, 14:58 that connection with you and God? 15:00 Well, it was rather... 15:02 That's a long story actually. 15:03 But different girls that I dated 15:07 introduced me in a new way. 15:11 They saw eventually some of the underlining 15:13 that I was doing in some books 15:16 after I had kind of given my life to God, 15:19 they saw what I had underlined. 15:20 And one particular girl that I was dating said, 15:24 "Well, have you ever thought of being a pastor?" 15:26 But what she didn't know 15:28 was that I once shook my fist at God 15:29 and said, after I was flunking Bible class, 15:32 I said, "The last thing I'll ever be 15:34 is a preacher or a teacher." 15:36 I had no idea how prophetic those words were 15:39 because it is the love of my life. 15:42 And I look back at some of the things 15:44 I went through early on in my home, 15:47 not realizing at that moment, 15:49 of course, what a benefit it would be to me 15:52 later on with what I do today 15:54 because it opens my door for understanding. 15:58 But it's not only mental illness, 15:59 there's a whole range of special needs 16:02 that is so critical for us to understand 16:05 and to have some kind of empathy 16:08 for what the people go through, 16:09 but not only the people themselves, 16:12 but the caregivers of those people. 16:14 Absolutely. Okay. 16:15 So let me just kind of divert back just a second. 16:19 You had conference experience, you had GC experience, 16:24 you were getting ready to retire, 16:27 and the very program that you have framed here 16:32 is the only reason you haven't retired. 16:34 So tell us how this program... 16:37 You know, the mission of our church 16:40 is to reach the unreached. 16:43 And there is a huge people group, 16:46 a number of people groups that have been unreached. 16:50 And you don't call this a ministry of disability, 16:55 but a ministry of possibility. 16:58 Tell us how the Special Needs Ministries was framed 17:03 and what you're doing. 17:04 Well, this idea of Special Needs Ministries came 17:08 when I was basically retiring at a previous 17:12 what we call a General Conference Session. 17:14 And I had seen our President Elder Wilson, 17:18 and he asked me how things were going. 17:20 At that moment, I had some challenges 17:24 but I refused to talk about them 17:26 and I said, "Well, they're just doing just fine. 17:27 But by the way..." 17:30 'Cause at that time, 17:31 I had been working with the deaf work 17:32 and God had really blessed that. 17:34 I said, "But there are other groups 17:36 that we need to be addressing." 17:38 And I said, "I do have a suggested strategy 17:41 that you might want to try. 17:43 He said, "Well, send it to me. 17:44 Let's talk about it." 17:46 So I sent it to him 17:47 and I went to his office to talk to him about it 17:49 thinking I was leaving, 17:50 and he said, "Well, now, Larry, I would like you to do this." 17:53 And so that's what I'm doing. 17:55 I've extended my time of service 17:58 until we can get this ministry established. 18:01 But now Special Needs Ministries, 18:04 which I prefer to call Possibilities. 18:07 There's nothing wrong with the word disability, 18:09 and for those who wish to call it Disability Ministries, 18:11 that's fine, I understand it. 18:13 But for the purpose of the work that we're doing, 18:16 I say Possibility Ministries, 18:18 who wants to be known for what they cannot do. 18:23 Amen. 18:24 So I want to emphasize what their possibilities are. 18:27 Absolutely. 18:28 So we look at people through the eyes 18:30 of what are the possibilities. 18:32 Then maybe, sometimes, 18:34 when we had to deal with some right issues, 18:35 we had to correct some political problems 18:38 that there may be in our society 18:40 or whatever, I don't deny that, 18:41 sometimes, we have to address that. 18:44 And the word disability 18:45 is certainly an inappropriate word at times for them, 18:48 but we want to move beyond that. 18:50 So on behalf of the world church, 18:53 I am giving the emphasis of saying, 18:57 let's look at what that person might be able to do. 19:00 If they were on their medicine, 19:02 if they had the right kind of physical facilities 19:05 in the church or home, what can they do? 19:07 Okay, talk about the seven people groups 19:10 that make up what we call Special Needs Ministries? 19:14 Well, this kind of grew... 19:16 It started off with just the deaf 19:18 and then the next obvious one is the blind. 19:21 How many deaf people are there in the world? 19:23 In the world... That's hard. 19:25 If you were to say the deaf and hard of hearing, 19:29 seriously hard of hearing, there would be, 19:31 what the World Health Organization calls, 19:33 360 million people. 19:35 Oh, my... 19:36 Of the actual deaf, 19:38 and I spell deaf in this regard with a capital D 19:41 because we're talking about deaf as a cultural group. 19:45 There is a difference between the deaf as a cultural group 19:49 and people like me who are losing their hearing with time. 19:54 They are a culture. 19:56 They are a small linguistic group 20:00 because they have their own language. 20:02 The deaf of this group do not consider themselves 20:06 as having a disability. 20:08 They resent actually being grouped with others 20:12 who have some kind of physical disability 20:15 because their identity is not in some kind of impairment 20:21 but rather the kind of culture that they have established. 20:25 So as I travel around the world, 20:27 it's the same. 20:28 In fact, I have... 20:30 more than in one occasion, I said, "How many of you, 20:32 if I had a magic wand and I could wave it over you, 20:35 how many of you would like to be hearing?" 20:39 Less than 50%. 20:40 That's interesting. 20:42 Yeah. Because why? 20:43 'Cause they would be giving up their community. 20:45 They don't want to give up that community. 20:46 And that has forced me to see the deaf in a different way. 20:51 Is that a large community of people or... 20:54 Well, the deaf themselves 20:55 probably if we were to is between... 20:58 It's over 100 million in the world. 21:01 And what percentage are Christians? 21:04 Out of the actual deaf community, only 2%. 21:10 Oh, that's amazing. 21:12 So this becomes a real concern. 21:14 Surely. 21:15 But as we began talking about these, 21:17 thinking about all these different ministries, 21:20 I thought of a statement that the... 21:22 Before we continue 'cause we've got the deaf... 21:25 You had seven people groups... 21:27 We got seven groups, I'm gonna name here. 21:29 And that came about 21:31 because I read a statement by a writer, 21:34 by the name of Ellen White, 21:37 one of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 21:39 and she made this statement, 21:41 "I saw that it is in the providence of God 21:45 that widows and orphans," 21:47 there's two groups, "the blind and the deaf," 21:49 there's four, "the lame and persons afflicted 21:54 in a variety of ways have been placed 21:56 in close Christian relationship to His church." 21:59 And then she makes a statement that bothered me. 22:03 "It is to prove his people 22:06 and develop their true character." 22:09 All of a sudden, I am no longer the teacher, 22:12 I am the learner from these people. 22:15 Amen. 22:16 This is a whole different paradigm, 22:17 a whole different way of thinking 22:19 because there is a condescending tendency 22:23 for those of us who don't have a visible impairment 22:26 to think that we will help these poor people. 22:30 When in reality, we need to be the learners. 22:34 They have something to teach us. 22:36 So in brief, to answer your question, 22:38 the seven areas that my ministry 22:40 or the General Conference Ministry, 22:43 what we call, Special Needs, 22:44 that whole umbrella covers the deaf, the blind, 22:48 those who are physically disabled, 22:51 those who have a mental impairment, 22:54 and that would include all the way from, 22:56 like I mentioned earlier, schizophrenia, bipolar, autism, 23:01 that whole range of challenges that are there, 23:05 depression, of course, 23:07 is the biggest one that we face around the world. 23:10 It's the most common everywhere. 23:12 It's very serious. 23:13 It can wreak havoc on families and individuals of course 23:19 to some very serious angst including suicide, 23:22 and we have to address those issues today. 23:25 But in addition to those are widows, I mean... 23:28 Well, widows and widowers, 23:31 what happens when a person loses a spouse? 23:35 It's tragic. Yes. 23:36 Oftentimes, their identity is made up as a couple. 23:40 They are no longer a couple. 23:42 Where do they find collegiality? 23:48 Where do they find their identity 23:50 that they once lost as a couple? 23:52 So we're concerned about that. 23:55 And then we're also concerned about orphans 23:57 and vulnerable children. 24:00 Orphans, children by themselves, 24:04 children with just one parent, we look at the whole realm. 24:10 But that's not enough because of my own experience, 24:14 my own growing up experience, 24:16 I said, "We need to add another group here, 24:18 and that is caregivers." 24:20 Amen. 24:21 Those people who are taking care of those 24:24 who have some kind of impairment 24:26 or some kind of disability, 24:28 how do we support them? 24:30 I have a son who is a hospice nurse. 24:33 He can tell you stories about individuals 24:37 who are trying to take care of their loved ones 24:40 who are dying, for example. 24:43 How do we help them? 24:44 How do we give them support through this? 24:47 Well, I'm certainly not trained in all seven areas. 24:52 So what I've done is I've taken 24:54 each of those seven areas and built, 24:56 what we call, a task force group made up of specialists, 24:59 people who have gone through this, 25:01 people who have trained in that particular area. 25:05 How have you kept this ministry under wraps? 25:08 I haven't heard about... 25:09 I knew about the deaf ministry. 25:10 Well, this is interesting, 25:12 that the president of Loma Linda University, 25:14 Dr. Hart heard about what we were doing at, 25:16 what we call, our Annual Council. 25:18 He said, "Larry, I'd like you to come." 25:20 And I went to Loma Linda, and I met with the deans 25:23 of each of the schools of medicine that they have, 25:27 the different categories. 25:29 And then I met with them as a group. 25:31 No one in that group had heard about this either. 25:34 Once they heard about it, 25:36 they became very supportive and very excited. 25:38 Amen. 25:40 But right now something very exciting... 25:42 I do get excited. 25:44 Get excited. 25:46 Because this is not a program, 25:48 I don't want this to ever become a program. 25:51 I want this to be a spontaneous grassroots movement. 25:55 But who's going to carry that through? 25:57 I mean I am going to retire one of these days, 25:58 I do need to spend some time with my grandchildren, 26:01 and my dear wife, and my sons, and my other family members, 26:05 I do want to do that. 26:07 But I can't leave this ministry 26:09 until there is a foundation put in place. 26:12 So I ask myself, "How can we get this started?" 26:15 For eight years, 26:16 I was the Undersecretary of the World Church. 26:18 That meant I had to know the policies, 26:20 that meant I had to understand how the program was working, 26:23 how the organization was working, 26:25 and all of those intricate things. 26:29 But why in the world was I put in that position? 26:32 Well, I have to say, though, 26:33 at least a major reason is so that this work 26:37 that I'm doing now could have a running start. 26:40 Amen. 26:41 And so right now 26:42 in all 13 divisions of the World Church, 26:45 we have a representative that works in that field 26:49 and there he works with the unions 26:51 and the conferences and the local churches. 26:53 So we now have, in place, 26:55 a very fine tuned organization so that it can go, 27:00 and it is going very well in most divisions. 27:04 And every division has some form of this work going, 27:08 maybe not in all seven areas but they are beginning. 27:13 I mean it takes a while to get this going. 27:16 And so I do nothing but this. 27:18 Many of these people on these other divisions are doing this, 27:22 plus there are other responsibilities, 27:24 but it is going there, there is a representation. 27:27 So my responsibility is to get this going 27:30 where organization is one thing, 27:32 but how do you create a cause? 27:34 How do you get a cause going 27:36 so that people who are carrying it 27:39 and saying, "It's time we speak for these marginalized people?" 27:43 1.1 billion in the world have a serious disability 27:48 or over 10% of the world population. 27:52 We're all going to be there if we live long enough. 27:55 So how do we put in place 27:57 something that will carry its weight? 28:00 Well, I like to refer to it as the Canadians do, 28:04 a ministry of compassion. 28:05 Amen. 28:07 See, we're not stuck on a name, but we are stuck on a ministry. 28:11 And so what I'm doing now... 28:12 I just came from visiting 28:14 four colleges, universities in India. 28:17 I'm on my way soon to visit our university in Italy. 28:23 From there, I'll go to England, the UK. 28:26 Next year, we're talking about a major university, 28:31 Babcock University. 28:34 And the idea is young adults will understand this need. 28:40 Speak up for those people who cannot speak. 28:43 And that is one of the biggest challenges we face. 28:46 And so I'm thinking that we need to carry out 28:51 what the Bible says. 28:52 It says in Proverbs 31:8, 28:55 "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, 28:59 for the rights of the destitute." 29:02 And you're right that the young people of our church 29:05 because I think the secular world... 29:08 Actually I mean these... 29:10 A lot of these issues have almost become politicized, 29:13 but it seems like the world in general 29:16 is more aware of these special needs. 29:21 Unfortunately, in many cases, the church... 29:26 And I'm speaking of the body of Christ around the world, 29:28 no special denomination, 29:30 but the church at large has pretty much 29:36 put these people on a shelf in many instances. 29:39 Well, that is true in many instances, 29:42 and part of it has to do, 29:43 if I may just be specific for a moment, 29:46 part of it has to do 29:48 with a misunderstanding of prepositions. 29:50 Let me explain. 29:52 The lowest form of service 29:55 or ministry that we can do for anyone is to you. 29:58 "I would do this to you." 30:01 So it becomes very impersonal and it's very condescending. 30:04 "It is something I do to you." 30:06 And no one likes that. 30:09 If you're going to try to help me, 30:11 don't do to me. 30:13 The next preposition, 30:15 that is a little bit better than that is 30:18 "I will do something for you." 30:20 "Oh, that's nice. 30:21 I'm glad you will do something for me." 30:25 But if we really want to do something 30:28 that's going to make a difference, 30:30 we would do it with them. 30:32 That is good. 30:33 "I will do this with you." 30:35 "I need you to help me do something for someone else." 30:40 Amen. 30:41 So it's a whole different way of thinking. 30:43 So I need to recognize 30:45 that I need to include these people in this ministry. 30:49 They come and they become part of my ministry 30:54 and I am part of their ministry. 30:56 Amen. 30:57 I think of Camellia, 30:58 for example, a lady that I met 31:01 in a Special Needs camp meeting in Romania. 31:04 Now, Camellia is blind. 31:10 Now I had talked about the blind 31:12 and I've done a lot of talking about blind, 31:14 but I had never really spent 31:16 a whole lot of time with a blind person. 31:18 So one day we were out at a retreat setting, 31:23 and I went to her and I said, "Could we go for a walk?" 31:26 Now I had read all the things 31:28 that you're supposed to do to help, 31:29 and we do seminars about... 31:31 But I said... 31:32 So I put her hand on my arm and we went for a walk. 31:35 And she said, "You know, I notice 31:37 there is something around here. 31:39 What is this around here?" 31:41 And she said... 31:42 And I said, "There are some very large mountains." 31:45 She could sense the mountains. 31:47 Yes. 31:49 And I took her hand 31:50 and I put it way up to the top of the mountain, 31:53 and I told her how far away that was. 31:56 She said, "Wow! That's a big one." 31:58 I said, "It is." 32:00 She says, "Well, what color is the sky, and I laughed. 32:03 I said, "You're blind, 32:05 what would you know about color of the sky?" 32:07 She says, "Tell it to me in tones of sound." 32:11 I said, "What do you mean?" 32:13 She says, "With treble would be a light color. 32:17 If it's base, it would be more of a dark color." 32:22 And so I began to describe the colors of the sky 32:28 by the sounds that we could both hear. 32:31 How interesting. 32:32 I began thinking about that. 32:34 And then she says, "Take me over to a tree, 32:36 I want to see what it smells like." 32:39 Well, I don't know how many trees I've walked by 32:40 but I never thought to stop and smell a tree, 32:43 I will smell flowers, but a tree? 32:45 And so I took her over there 32:47 and she reached up and grabbed hold of... 32:49 and broke some needles and began to smell. 32:51 She said, "This one doesn't have much smell." 32:53 She's obviously smelled these before. 32:55 I took her to a different tree. 32:57 "Oh! 32:58 Smell this. Doesn't this smell different?" 33:01 And then what was taking place is what Stephen Covey says, 33:05 "Seek first to understand, then to be understood." 33:11 Yes. 33:12 Before I could expect her to understand what I'm about, 33:16 I needed to first understand her. 33:19 That's precious. 33:21 Later on, when we got back to where the main hotel was 33:27 where we were staying, 33:29 she came to me and she said, 33:31 "Larry, I would like to be part of your ministry. 33:35 What can I do?" 33:37 I said, "What do you mean?" 33:39 No, no, no, she wasn't being asked to be treated, 33:44 she was being asked to be involved, to be included. 33:48 To be useful, to have a purpose. 33:50 So inclusion is a big, big word in my ministry. 33:53 How do we include these people, 33:56 not just do something to them or for them, 34:00 but rather how can we do it with them? 34:03 She was Romanian and I asked her, 34:08 "You speak very good English and you speak Romanian too, 34:14 would it be possible for you 34:16 to translate something in English, 34:19 that's written in English, 34:21 into Romanian to help the deaf?" 34:25 She said, "I would love to do that." 34:27 Praise God. 34:28 And I gave her this manuscript in English 34:31 and she translated it, 34:33 and it will soon be in Romanian to help the deaf. 34:36 So here we have a blind person helping a deaf group of people. 34:43 And she's growing, 34:45 I mean she's spreading the word, 34:48 she's personally growing, 34:50 and she's certainly taught you something. 34:52 So tell us this strategy of your ministry. 34:55 You have three A's. 34:57 Well, yes, we want to make it simple. 35:00 How do we make a ministry 35:03 so that it can be involved at the local church, 35:06 the local conference, or wherever it may be? 35:11 I was in a meeting 35:12 and I was being asked to share a strategy 35:15 and I said, "Lord, please, 35:17 I need to come up with something." 35:19 And so we came up with, what we call, 35:21 a three A strategy. 35:23 Simply put is this, then I'll explain it. 35:26 We need to create a sense of awareness. 35:29 Okay. 35:30 What are the needs? 35:32 What's there? 35:33 The second part is somewhat 35:36 similar to what I just shared was we need to be accepting. 35:40 So awareness, accepting. 35:44 How do we learn to be accepting of these people 35:48 and we being acceptable to them? 35:51 It's a two-way street. 35:53 And then the third A is action. 35:56 What kind of action plan do we need to develop 36:02 by which we can create a wider net, 36:05 a wider sense of inclusion? 36:08 So if a person has a mental illness, 36:11 someone who is autistic, 36:14 for example, how do we involve them? 36:19 They have, by nature, 36:21 a strange way of relating in relationships, 36:26 but they have a very deep concern, 36:30 they care very deeply, they just have a very hard time 36:34 expressing it in societal acceptable ways. 36:40 They feel rejected. 36:41 They know they're different but they feel it deep inside. 36:46 My grandson has deep feelings inside. 36:50 And so what I have discovered, just real briefly, 36:54 in the area of acceptance from a biblical perspective 36:57 because this ministry has to be built 37:00 on a biblical foundation. 37:02 I think of the time 37:04 when Jesus was walking to Jericho 37:06 and He found a blind man 37:07 sitting by the roadside begging. 37:10 The disciples told him to be quiet, "Be quiet. 37:14 You're bothering the Master. 37:15 He's got other big things to do." 37:19 Jesus turned to the man and He accepted him. 37:25 I got ahead of myself, 37:26 the awareness one is the first one. 37:28 And Jesus told the disciples, "Look out there, 37:31 the fields are white with harvest." 37:32 Yes. 37:35 I've got so many stories to tell. 37:37 We just don't realize it. 37:39 I just came from Rwanda and Kenya. 37:41 Rwanda, they were walking on crutches 37:44 after they were recognized, 37:46 walking with crutches into the water to be baptized. 37:49 Praise God. 37:51 Other people would be carrying into the water. 37:53 And I'm standing up there watching this take place 37:56 and I'm thinking to myself, 37:58 "God, these people have been here all along, 38:01 we just haven't seen them." 38:03 Amen. 38:04 The harvest has been white, we just haven't seen them. 38:08 And tears filled my eyes 38:10 because these people were ready all along, 38:13 we were the slow ones, they were ready. 38:16 And these are the people that Christ was reaching out 38:19 throughout His ministry. 38:20 There is no way, Shelley, 38:22 that Jesus will come 38:23 until these people have a chance. 38:25 Amen. 38:26 And so then after that comes this idea of acceptance 38:29 and this story that I was beginning 38:30 to tell about this man who was blind and by Jericho. 38:34 And Jesus said, "This man, 38:40 let me listen to him." 38:43 And He did. 38:45 After He did that and He healed the man. 38:49 The Bible says in Luke 18:43, 38:53 "The people saw it and they praised God." 38:56 You see, when we take care of those 39:00 whom the world calls "disabled" 39:02 but whom we see having great possibilities, 39:06 the people praise God, not us, 39:08 not Larry Evans, not the General Conference, 39:10 not the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 39:12 they praise God 39:14 because these people have not been neglected. 39:17 And that shines 39:18 a whole new light on this ministry, doesn't it? 39:20 It does. 39:21 When you think of possibilities, 39:23 you don't think of what's holding them back, 39:26 you think of what they can go forward 39:28 and become and do for God. 39:30 And in the process, God gets the glory, 39:33 God gets the credit. 39:35 Amen. It changes. 39:36 I can't tell you, Shelley, 39:38 how much this ministry is changing me. 39:40 You know, I want to get to that one but I'm just... 39:44 I mentioned this on 3ABN before, 39:47 I'm so excited though to hear you say about 39:51 trying to reach the young people 39:53 to become involved in this. 39:55 When we had picked somebody up who was come... 39:58 We had been at GYC, 40:00 and we were giving somebody a ride back from the airport. 40:03 And I was just so enthused after GYC, 40:06 and I turned around, 40:08 she's in the backseat and I said, 40:10 "How do we keep the young people involved in the church?" 40:13 She didn't blink, 40:14 she didn't take a breath, she just said... 40:17 I said, "How do we keep them from leaving the church?" 40:20 And she said, "Get us involved." 40:23 See, what you just said... 40:27 When we bring people in, these unreached people groups, 40:31 giving the blind woman the opportunity to minister, 40:35 getting people involved 40:38 is what does develop their character for Christ. 40:42 This is why... 40:43 Your quote earlier, 40:44 that this is how we develop character 40:47 is when we're ministering to others, 40:49 but we've got to give them that opportunity. 40:52 And it's exciting to me 40:54 that you're seeing the possibility 40:56 of what all these people can do, 40:58 but it's also exciting that you are kind of 41:01 got your sights on the young people 41:04 to get them involved in doing. 41:07 Well, we haven't actually hold seminars, Shelley, 41:09 we're talking about how people can get involved. 41:11 But you'd mention young people, 41:13 for example, they are some of the fastest ones 41:15 to learn how to do sign language. 41:17 Amen. 41:18 So we have... 41:20 Unless people know how to communicate, 41:23 it's going to be very difficult. 41:24 But simple conversational signing is possible. 41:29 They can even go on the Internet and find that. 41:32 And I have discovered, 41:34 even though I don't sign very fluently, 41:35 I know the alphabet and a few signs, 41:38 when I meet with a group of deaf young people 41:41 and they know that I know how to sign my name, 41:43 for example... 41:45 I have my own sign for my name that the deaf have given to me. 41:50 And when we begin to communicate, 41:52 there is a spontaneity of spark and joy 41:56 because there is someone trying, 41:58 even if you can't do it. 41:59 And if they find a blind person, 42:01 for example, take him for a walk and say, 42:05 "What can I do for you?" 42:09 Another illustration from the same person, 42:10 walked out of a Special Needs camp meeting, 42:12 she says, "What can I do?" 42:14 She did this on her own. 42:15 And she ran into... 42:17 I don't know if she actually ran into him, 42:18 but she found a person in a wheelchair. 42:21 Now a person who was disabled could not walk 42:24 and she said to him, "Could I take you for a walk?" 42:28 Oh, glory to God. 42:30 So here is this blind person 42:31 who cannot see where they're going, 42:34 but she's pushing the wheelchair 42:35 and he guides it. 42:37 Now they're both benefiting 42:39 from the ministry of each other. 42:41 Amen. Amen. 42:42 So it's that kind of thing. 42:43 Tell us real quickly 42:45 cause, boy, we're getting down here to the time. 42:47 Oh, yeah. Tell us about... 42:49 You shared a story in the green room, 42:51 about the deaf boy who went to church. 42:55 Tell that story? 42:56 This story is one that is very sobering to me. 43:02 And it happened early on. 43:04 I'm convinced that it is something 43:06 that God brought into my pathway. 43:10 I was traveling into South Africa 43:13 and in a small country landlocked 43:16 country called Lesotho. 43:18 And I phoned ahead and said, 43:20 "Listen, if it would be possible, 43:22 could I visit some deaf while we're down there?" 43:26 At that time, I was responsible for the deaf. 43:28 I had another job as well, 43:30 but I was responsible for the deaf around the world. 43:33 And they said, "Well, we'll see what we can find." 43:36 Well, they discovered that we had 43:37 no Seventh-day Adventist deaf there. 43:40 And so they made arrangements for me 43:46 to go to a vocational school. 43:48 This was a government school, not a Christian school. 43:51 And while I was there, I walked in there, just walked around, 43:56 I just wanted to see the layout of the place. 43:59 And then I said, "While I'm here, 44:01 I'll go talk to the administrator." 44:02 I walked in, a woman, 44:04 a young lady as an administrator 44:07 there in a wheelchair, very fitting. 44:09 And we talked, had a nice conversation, 44:12 then she said, "You know, we better go 44:13 because they're expecting you to come and visit... 44:16 talk to them." 44:17 I said, "I wasn't planning on talking. 44:19 I was just... 44:20 I wasn't expecting that." 44:22 And so I went there. It wasn't a large school. 44:27 Maybe there were only 40 or so. 44:29 And as I began talking... 44:34 I tried to introduce myself, I said, "Hello. Hello." 44:37 And everything just garbled. 44:39 I was trying to avoid anything 44:41 with a Christian influence because... 44:43 Because you're used to the United States. 44:44 I'm used to United States, 44:46 it was a government place and all this. 44:47 And finally, I just gave up, I said, "Hello. 44:50 My name is Larry Evans. 44:52 I've come here to tell you that even if you're blind, 44:55 even if you can't see, you can't talk, you can't hear, 44:59 you can't walk, you can't do those things, 45:02 I still believe, 45:03 and I've come here to tell you 45:05 that you are still created in the image of God." 45:09 There was just silence, 45:11 just an absolute silence over the group. 45:13 And they looked stunned. 45:16 I wasn't sure why at that moment. 45:17 Of course, you're using an interpreter. 45:20 Some of them were deaf and some of them weren't. 45:23 So it was a mixed group, but, yeah, there were a number. 45:27 And at this time, a young boy raised his hand. 45:32 He was deaf, and he spoke to me through his interpreter. 45:36 He says, "You'll be happy to know 45:39 that I went to church this last Sunday 45:41 for the first time in my life." 45:43 I said, "Wow! That's exciting." 45:46 And I said, "Well, how did it go?" 45:50 And he then kind of looked down, 45:52 he said, "Well, they told me 45:53 they didn't have anything for me." 45:56 I said, "What? Just a minute. 45:58 You went to church this last Sunday 46:01 for the first time 46:02 and you were told that 46:03 they didn't have anything for you. 46:05 You went to learn about Jesus 46:06 and they said they didn't have anything for you." 46:12 And I can't tell you how much that troubled me later on. 46:15 But soon afterwards, a young girl who could speak 46:19 and could hear, I don't know what her "disability" was, 46:22 but she said, "We want to thank you," 46:24 and she couldn't even finish saying 46:26 how much she appreciated me coming there. 46:29 But it was the message that we had that was so important 46:33 that she wanted to hear. 46:35 And she then said... 46:38 She couldn't even finish. 46:41 And on the way out, 46:42 I talked with the administrator. 46:44 And she said, "You know, before you came, 46:46 we decided we probably wouldn't let anyone else come." 46:51 And I said, "So you almost didn't let me come?" 46:54 And she said, "That's right." 46:56 I said, "I hope I didn't say anything wrong." 46:58 "No, no, no, don't worry about that. 47:00 But the last religious group that was here came 47:04 because they believe that anyone who had a disability," 47:07 any of those seven that I named in our ministry, 47:11 "if they had a disability, 47:13 then they believe that you had a demon." 47:16 Oh, that's so horrible. 47:17 And so they came to... 47:19 They went to cast the demon out. 47:20 I went because of my understanding of creation. 47:24 I went to tell them 47:25 that they were created in the image of Lord 47:28 even though if they couldn't hear. 47:29 Glory to God. Amen and amen. 47:31 Ah, our time has just gone away so quickly. 47:35 Okay. 47:36 There is awareness, 47:37 there is acceptance, and action. 47:40 Tell us how. 47:42 Are you creating materials? 47:43 I mean there are personal ministries, 47:45 directors at churches, 47:47 there are people who are watching this, 47:50 pastors, maybe Conference presidents, 47:53 people who are at home that have been saying, 47:55 "I want a ministry, Lord. 47:58 How can You use me?" 48:00 How can people become involved? 48:01 Well, this is very important. 48:03 And, of course, like I said at the beginning, 48:05 at every division level, we have a person 48:08 who is responsible for that whole division, 48:11 multiple countries. 48:13 I travel all the time far too much, 48:16 traveling to different countries, 48:17 different divisions, speaking, doing seminars. 48:20 I now have a part-time associate, 48:24 I get him for 30 days a year. 48:27 I'm hoping to change that full time. 48:29 But right now, I get 30 days a year from Pastor Jeff Jordan. 48:33 When I was a Conference President, 48:35 he was one of my pastors. 48:36 Jeff is a deaf person. 48:40 He's the only Adventist deaf pastor in the world church 48:43 with a Master of Divinity. 48:44 Imagine studying Greek and Hebrew 48:48 and not being able to hear. 48:50 That's amazing. 48:51 His wife is his interpreter. 48:52 Wow! 48:54 So he works with me a lot with the deaf, 48:55 but we've got a whole range of individuals who can help. 48:59 They can write to me 49:01 at my General Conference office. 49:04 And we'll put all that information 49:06 up in here in a minute. 49:07 Okay. But do you have... 49:09 Are you developing training tools? 49:13 Are there any training seminars? 49:14 We have ministries. 49:18 This is still a new ministry but we do have materials 49:21 that we can send that would give some acquaintance, 49:24 especially in the area of deaf ministry, 49:26 we have some of that. 49:27 We're developing Special Needs Ministries, yes. 49:30 But large, a lot of it has to do with creating awareness 49:35 and then developing action plans from that. 49:38 The most important thing is people can befriend people, 49:42 let them know that they have a sense. 49:44 See, inclusion by itself could mean 49:46 just having somebody on a list, 49:48 but we want them to have a sense of belonging. 49:51 So inclusions got to be more than my name on a list, 49:56 but they will be included. 49:58 We want their feet 49:59 under the table of the planning of the church. 50:02 We want them in our pathways. 50:04 We want them in our pathways, we want them on our planning, 50:07 we want them in our church offices, 50:09 we want them to be active, 50:10 we need to give them an opportunity. 50:12 Don't we have Pathfinders Club? 50:14 Oh, you got to hear about this one, real quick. 50:16 In South Africa, I was just there speaking... 50:18 doing a devotional... 50:20 We have one Adventist there who fills... 50:24 She is an interpreter for the deaf 50:26 and she knew that there were many deaf there 50:28 in that particular government school as well as some blind 50:32 and other kinds of disabilities, 50:34 so she volunteered her time. 50:36 She's a nurse by training, 50:37 but she went there just to volunteer 50:39 her time to help with the teachers. 50:43 And so I ended up going there 50:45 as a devotional speaker for the students, 50:48 and it was really great 50:49 to be able to speak with students again. 50:52 Well, I learned, about the time I left, 50:57 that they had established a Pathfinder Club, 51:00 100% of all the pathfinders in that club... 51:03 That's kind of like boy scouts... 51:05 Yeah, that's right. 51:07 That's like boy scouts, girl scouts, 51:08 100% of those were not from our church. 51:11 Whoa! They're all non-Adventists? 51:13 None of them were members 51:15 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 51:16 Led through all the learning mechanisms involved 51:20 and learning how to be a good citizen, 51:22 a good Christian from an Adventists perspective 51:27 but they were welcomed regardless of their faith. 51:29 Tell us what your motto is? 51:33 Well, behind this whole theme 51:36 is the idea, all are gifted, 51:41 all are needed, all are treasured. 51:44 If I believe that you have a gift, 51:47 that means I would work to expose that gift, 51:51 to help it grow and blossom. 51:54 That's this ministry. 51:55 That's why it's a possibility ministry. 51:57 And we are all needed. 51:59 Not only do you need me, but I need you. 52:03 And then we want everyone to know that they are loved. 52:06 Instead of using the old cliche loved, 52:08 we can use the word treasured. 52:09 It is something that we will not let go. 52:12 Praise God. 52:13 I like that because sometimes, I think people can use the word 52:16 love too easily, 52:17 but if somebody is been treasured. 52:18 That's why we used a different one. 52:20 Amen. 52:21 We are going to take just a moment 52:24 to put your address on the screen. 52:27 And this is something... 52:29 Please get involved. 52:32 There is somebody at your church, 52:34 many people at your church 52:36 who can get involved and reach the unreached. 52:39 Here's how you can get in touch with Dr. Larry. 52:44 The General Conference Special Needs Ministries 52:47 encompasses ministry for and with the deaf, the blind, 52:51 those with physical, mental health, 52:53 and emotional wellness challenges, 52:55 as well as orphans. 52:57 Their ministry is built around the concept 52:59 that all are gifted, needed, and treasured. 53:02 If you would like to invite Dr. Larry Evans to your church, 53:06 please call, area code, 301-680-6628. 53:11 You may also email him 53:13 at SpecialNeeds@GC.Adventist.org. 53:18 Or write to Special Needs Ministries, 53:20 12501, Old Columbia Pike, 53:23 Silver Spring, Maryland 20904. |
Revised 2018-12-11