Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY018097A
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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 00:30 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 01:10 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn, and we welcome you 01:11 once again to 3ABN today. 01:14 This is the mending broken people network. 01:17 And, boy, have we got an interview for you today. 01:21 It is so inspiring. 01:23 If you want to know how the church 01:27 will be able to finish the work so that Jesus can return. 01:30 Please stay tuned because this to me 01:34 is the most exciting project that is going on 01:37 in the church today. 01:38 Now with that little teaser, let me give you 01:40 one of my favorite scriptures. 01:42 It's Lamentations, 3:22 and 23, and it says, 01:46 "Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed 01:49 because His compassions fail not, 01:53 they are new every morning. 01:57 Great is Your faithfulness, O Lord." 02:00 God is the God of new beginnings. 02:03 And there are so many hopeless people in the world today, 02:08 right here in the United States, 02:10 all around the world who don't know 02:12 about the love of God. 02:14 But there is a wonderful program 02:18 that is telling them about it. 02:20 Let me introduce you to our special guest, 02:22 a dear friend, Barbara Taylor, 02:24 who is the ASI New Beginnings coordinator. 02:29 Barbara, thank you for being here today. 02:32 Well, thank you, Shelley, for having me. 02:33 It's just a blessing to be with you. 02:35 And I am so excited, 02:38 been trying to get this all pulled together 02:40 with your schedule and ours to get you here. 02:42 We're very excited to tell you about this project. 02:46 But first, we have a very special music 02:51 and when I say very special, Jaime Jorge is, hands down, 02:58 my favorite violinist, 03:01 and he is going to play a song for us 03:05 in only the style in the anointing that he can, 03:09 "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus." 06:17 Isn't that special? 06:18 He just transports you there, and we just are so appreciative 06:21 of Jaime's ministry. 06:23 If you're joining us just a moment later, 06:25 our special guest today is Barbara Taylor, 06:28 and she is the New Beginnings coordinator for ASI, 06:32 which is Adventist Laymen's Services Industry. 06:39 That's always a hard one for me but, Barbara, 06:42 before we talk about this special project, 06:46 and I can't emphasize that special with a capital S. 06:51 Before we do, 06:53 let's get to know you just a little bit. 06:55 Did you grow up in a Christian home? 06:57 No, Shelley. 06:58 I actually when I was a little child my... 07:02 When I was four years old, my parents separated 07:04 and I was put into a series of homes. 07:06 I refer to them as foster homes. 07:09 And later, I became a workaholic, 07:11 and overachiever, and a perfectionist. 07:14 I was so determined not to let anything hurt me, 07:17 because I was terrified, constantly being picked up 07:20 and put in one home and picked up 07:21 and put in another home. 07:23 I was terrified of being abandoned 07:24 and rejected in past if I wasn't loved, 07:27 and I went on to become very successful 07:29 in the business world. 07:30 I was the first female director of sales and marketing 07:33 for a major hotel chain. 07:35 And then I taught a course at the University of Colorado 07:37 and professional women in sales and marketing. 07:40 Now brace yourself. 07:41 I was the first female director of club relations 07:44 and general manager for Playboy international. 07:48 I know. 07:49 Most people say what? Yeah. 07:52 I explained that sadly, I became involved 07:55 in the lifestyle of the rich and famous 07:56 because I was up there with A crowd 07:58 and I tried to excuse my lifestyle 08:01 because everything I did, I said, 08:03 "Oh, I'm up here with the A crowd." 08:04 But in reality I was no different. 08:07 I became involved in all the lifestyle 08:10 and sadly became involved in drinking and drugs, 08:14 and all of those things. 08:16 After three and a half years, I was totally burned out. 08:18 I went to work for a company called Lord Jeff of Amherst 08:22 that was owned by General Mills, 08:24 which is a cereal company as you know, 08:27 but they had bought five different companies, 08:29 one of which was Lord Jeff and after three years, 08:32 I was the number one sales rep. 08:34 The fourth year myself and four other gentleman 08:36 bought the company from General Mills. 08:38 We took it from a $9 million company 08:40 to a $43 million company, 08:43 and we were the largest domestic sweater manufacturers 08:46 in the United States. 08:47 Sadly, the man that own 51% of the company, 08:51 he and I became involved. 08:53 As soon as he heard about my celebrity friends 08:55 and all of the people, 08:57 he wanted to meet them and so sadly, 09:00 we got involved right back into working all week, 09:04 partying all weekend. 09:06 On most weekends, I would fly every other week 09:10 from Denver to Manhattan. 09:11 I'd have a limousine pick me up and take me to my office 09:14 at 5 East 51st Avenue. 09:16 But to make a long story short, at the end of eight years, 09:20 he had an affair and the little child in me 09:23 who was terrified of being abandoned 09:24 and rejected in past if I wasn't loved. 09:27 All of that came into reality. 09:29 I went from being a multi-multimillionaire 09:32 to almost facing bankruptcy. 09:35 And all I can remember as a little child, 09:38 somebody had taught me a song, Jesus loves me, this I know, 09:43 couldn't remember the rest of the words, 09:45 couldn't remember the rest of the song, 09:47 but I would cry and I would cry, 09:49 and I would hold on to the steering wheel, 09:51 and I would say over and over, "Jesus loves me, this I know." 09:56 And I decided, I had my father's side 09:58 of the family had been Seventh-day Adventist 10:00 and they, my two aunts always prayed for me. 10:04 And they always said, "We love you. 10:05 And we're praying for you." 10:07 And I decided to go to church. And I will make it very short. 10:10 But later, I became 10:12 a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. 10:14 Praise God. 10:15 The very first thing that I did 10:17 as soon as I became a Christian, praise the Lord. 10:20 I had two wonderful people. 10:23 Dr. and Mrs. Hohner who took me under their wings 10:26 and they said, "Come on, 10:27 we're going to get you involved in ASI. 10:30 We're going to get you involved in It Is Written partnership, 10:32 and we're going to get you involved in Maranatha." 10:35 Praise God. 10:36 And because of that, 10:37 I got involved with ASI ministries. 10:41 From the day I first went, I fell in love 10:44 with all of the ASI ministries. 10:46 That's the wonderful thing about ASI 10:49 is they are laymen and women who have a passion 10:52 for sharing Christ. 10:54 And that's what ASI is all about. 10:56 It's all laymen and women and self-supporting ministries. 11:01 3ABN is a self supporting ministry. 11:04 It Is Written, all of our ministries 11:06 they're getting through donations 11:09 those are involved in ASI. 11:12 And so when I joined ASI, I became involved 11:16 as on the national board 11:19 and then I became involved as president, 11:21 and then after that this last year ASI asked me 11:26 to spearhead this new program of home Bible studies 11:31 in our North American Division. 11:35 Now ASI started the ministry in 2000, 11:40 but one of the things that we discovered 11:42 after research and studies... 11:44 Let's back up for just a second, 11:46 the ministry of developing small groups. 11:50 This is called a New Beginnings. 11:52 Give us just a little outline 11:54 of what is this New Beginnings Ministry? 11:59 This New Beginnings 12:01 is one of the most successful inspiring, 12:06 training programs that we have around the world 12:09 in winning souls to God's kingdom. 12:11 Now, when we first started, we realized through research 12:14 and studies that if an evangelist went out 12:18 and they had evangelistic meetings 12:20 and they, let's just say they baptized 1000 people. 12:24 The study showed that after one year, 12:27 90% of those people had left the church. 12:30 Once the evangelist had left the series of meetings, 12:34 the people that were baptized had lost all their connection, 12:38 they were not nurtured, they were not put involved 12:41 in other evangelistic outreaches. 12:44 So because of that, they lost connection 12:47 and they became, they no longer became 12:50 part of the church. 12:51 The one thing that ASI New Beginnings 12:54 is so successful with is we form small groups. 12:59 And once we form those small groups, 13:02 the people that are brought into the ministry, 13:05 they are nurtured. 13:06 They are loved. 13:08 They are encouraged to get involved in ministry. 13:11 They are part of a family. 13:14 So they realize that this is why they want 13:16 to be a part of ASI Ministry. 13:18 Okay, so New Beginnings is like a Bible study 13:23 evangelistic series for a home, is that...? 13:26 Correct. Correct? Okay. 13:27 So Mark Finley was very involved in this. 13:30 Exactly. 13:32 In 2000 ASI joined with Mark Finley, 13:35 who at that time was involved in as speaker/director 13:38 of It Is Written, 13:40 and they formed a committee of people 13:44 that produced the New Beginnings 13:46 PowerPoint Bible lessons. 13:49 And when they formed this group, 13:51 they started the series and the very first place 13:55 that they started the series and began the series 13:58 was in the country of Moldova. 14:01 Now, Moldova at that time, that weekend, 14:06 they had a Siberian clipper that came through 14:09 and it was minus 36 degrees Celsius. 14:14 And they said, "There's no way that anyone's going to show up 14:18 because so many of the people had to come 14:20 from a very far distance 14:22 and so many people had to walk." 14:24 And they thought there isn't anybody 14:26 that's going to show up. 14:28 Well, in reality that Sabbath morning, 14:31 over 1,200 people showed up in the church. 14:35 And everybody said just amazing how dedicated 14:40 and how willing they were up to that point. 14:42 Moldova annually had a 4% baptismal rate. 14:48 After they did the training, they had a 12% baptismal rate. 14:53 All right, so let's talk about how this is structured 14:57 because we've said it's a small groups, 14:58 it's happening in people's homes, 15:01 and it's basically like having a little Bible training 15:05 evangelistic series right in your home. 15:07 But what I so appreciate about this is you're not asking 15:12 or structuring this 15:14 where one person's doing it all. 15:16 Tell us about the structure because I think that's part 15:19 of the reason for this great success. 15:21 It is the reason for the great success. 15:23 What we do is we encourage people 15:26 to have a team leader 15:29 and then they have three other people, 15:30 they have a team leader, 15:32 they have an assistant team leader, 15:35 a technician, and a host or hostess. 15:38 Now the team leader is the main speaker, 15:41 the assistant again, 15:43 they will practice and they will memorize, 15:46 and they will learn the lessons right along 15:48 with the team leader. 15:49 And then the technician will advance the slides 15:53 and or the videos as they're speaking 15:56 so that they follow along with the script. 15:58 And the hostess or the host of the home, 16:02 they're the ones that as soon as the people 16:04 come into the homes, 16:06 they make sure that all the magazines 16:08 and newspapers are taken off the coffee table. 16:10 And they make sure that they tell the people 16:12 where the restroom is. 16:14 So they don't interrupt the meeting. 16:15 But once the meetings began, after about 10 minutes, 16:19 they spend time socializing together to get acquainted 16:22 and get to know one another. 16:23 But after that, once the meetings began, 16:26 they go on for approximately an hour, 16:29 after that they send them home because they want them 16:32 to remember what was spoken up during the lessons. 16:37 The next time that they have the meetings, 16:39 they never mentioned to them, 16:40 we're going to have 25 meetings. 16:42 They always say, "We'll look forward 16:44 to having you come back the next day 16:46 or whatever the meetings might be." 16:49 But it's very, very important to form teams. 16:52 The reason it's important to form a team, 16:55 we pray together, we study together, 16:59 we encourage one another. 17:00 And it's not overwhelming. 17:02 It's not overwhelming. 17:03 And the very first week what we do 17:06 is we get together and we make a list of 10 names. 17:10 Now let's just say, I have a family member, 17:13 I have a work associate, 17:15 I have somebody in my community, 17:18 I have somebody that is really, really been close 17:20 to my heart that I want. 17:22 I have a burden to try to bring them to know Jesus. 17:26 So the very first week we pray, we pray, 17:30 we pray over those 10 names. 17:32 Then all of us get together, and we exchange those names, 17:36 and now we have 40 names. 17:39 And after we exchange those names, again, 17:42 we pray earnestly pray that the Holy Spirit 17:46 will touch those people's hearts. 17:49 That's when we invite them at the end of the second week, 17:52 or even if we want to go longer, 17:54 but we try to say after the end of the second week 17:58 that we pray about those people 18:00 and we may be ask them individually, 18:03 we may send them an invitation, 18:05 but it's much more personal to ask them individually. 18:09 And we asked them to come to the host 18:12 or hostesses' home. 18:14 And we might mention something about, 18:16 have you noticed the chaos that is in the world today? 18:20 Everywhere we look, there's constant chaos. 18:24 There's constant conflict. 18:25 There's constant tragedies all over the world. 18:27 To the point that a lot of people 18:29 are suffering compassion fatigue, 18:33 because it's just one emergency, 18:36 one urgency after another. 18:38 Exactly. 18:40 And that's why, 18:41 that's why more than any other time, 18:45 it's so urgent that we start these small group 18:48 home Bible studies in North America. 18:51 We have been so successful around the world 18:53 of doing small group home Bible studies. 18:56 Most of the people around the world 18:58 are so excited about these small group 19:00 home Bible studies, 19:02 but now we're urgently trying to encourage people 19:05 here in North America to do that, 19:07 because we know the time is short. 19:10 Well, I know we want to get in a few more stories here. 19:13 But first I just want to say that 19:15 what I appreciate that Barbara shared with me. 19:18 I've just been so excited about this. 19:20 I've been telling everybody, what was it, six months? 19:24 Oh, no, I guess it was last ASI whenever we... 19:27 Yes, it was just something that struck me, 19:32 what they do is here you've got 19:34 the four people together. 19:36 So somebody might say in your church, 19:39 I don't mind being the host. 19:41 You can use my home, but you don't have 19:43 to know anything about running the DVD player 19:46 or anything. 19:48 You've got one person in that comes in 19:50 as part of the team 19:51 who's going to handle that responsibility, 19:53 somebody who knows about those kinds of things. 19:57 Then you've got a speaker and co-speaker as it were 20:00 but you're praying as a group. 20:02 So the team is getting really, 20:04 you're depending on the Lord getting cohesive, 20:07 but as you take them through this, 20:10 and I don't want to steal her thunder, 20:12 there's been a great baptismal rate. 20:16 As people go through, 20:17 they come into this comfortable environment, 20:20 people that may not come to church, 20:22 they're bonding as a group. 20:25 But then, once they're baptized, 20:28 you turn around and get them involved 20:30 in a team of four people. 20:33 Exactly. 20:34 To me, it's brilliant 20:35 because we learn to teach, but we teach to learn. 20:39 And so whatever people have learned 20:42 through that series, now they get involved 20:45 and that's really cementing everything they learned. 20:50 It's beautiful. It's so true. 20:52 And you know the other thing that's so vital, 20:54 as soon as people are baptized, they're on fire for the Lord. 20:57 Amen. Amen. 20:59 You know, I had a young couple 21:00 that was baptized down in South America. 21:04 Six months after they were baptized, 21:07 they had 14 people 21:09 in their small group home Bible study. 21:12 Fourteen. 21:13 Now, here again, they were newly baptized, 21:15 and yet they were so on fire and so excited, 21:18 they couldn't wait to share with their friends. 21:20 They couldn't wait to share with their family, 21:21 all their work associates. 21:23 I was amazed at how quickly they got involved. 21:27 And, you know, 21:28 once you're involved in the small groups, 21:31 you become more cemented in the truth. 21:34 You become more solid. Absolute. 21:36 And knowing the prophecies 21:40 and all the information in the Bible. 21:41 So it's so vital that they become involved 21:44 and once they're involved, 21:45 they have shown through studies 21:47 and through actual studies that after five years, 21:52 85 to 89% of those people are still in the church. 21:56 Glory to God. Because they are part of it. 21:58 So we've seen how excited they were in Moldova. 22:03 But you actually 22:04 when you were training in Cambodia, 22:07 you had a couple of visitors. 22:08 Tell us that story? 22:10 We had a couple of young men 22:11 that snuck across the border from Vietnam. 22:14 When they snuck across the border, 22:16 back in that time, 22:17 if they would have been evangelizing 22:20 they could have been imprisoned, 22:22 they could have been beaten, 22:23 or even worse, they could have been killed. 22:26 And these young men snuck across the border, 22:28 went through the training, snuck back into Vietnam, 22:32 and at the end, they trained to people 22:36 to have small group home Bible studies. 22:38 Once they did this, 22:40 they were having their very first meeting 22:43 and all of a sudden, as soon as they started, 22:46 there was a bang, bang, bang on the door. 22:49 Oh my! It was dead silence again. 22:52 Bang, bang, bang on the door. 22:55 The young man went to the door and he opened the door slowly 22:58 and just to see he opened the door 23:00 there this man was that was the chief of police. 23:04 And he said, "What's going on in here?" 23:07 And the young man opened the door wider. 23:09 And there was a picture of Jesus 23:11 with His arms outstretched. 23:13 And the young man said, 23:14 "Would you like to come in and see?" 23:16 Well, we know the end. 23:18 He came in, he sat down, he went through the meetings, 23:21 and he went through the next meeting 23:22 and the next meeting, and he was baptized. 23:25 Glory to God. 23:26 And then he said, 23:29 we're going to hold the meetings 23:30 in my house next time 23:32 because nobody will bother us in my house. 23:34 Glory. 23:36 And so here, the chief of police 23:37 of that little village was baptized. 23:39 And he started holding meetings in his home. 23:42 It's just one story after another. 23:44 The truth will set you free, won't it? 23:45 I could tell you stories of testimony 23:48 after testimony after testimony. 23:50 We went to El Salvador. 23:52 When we went to El Salvador, 23:54 we were training down there and there was a young boy, 23:57 he was 14 years old, and he was taking notes, 24:01 and he was listening to everything we were saying. 24:04 And at the end of the meeting, he said, 24:06 "Oh, please, please, could I just please 24:08 have a DVD player and a DVD disc 24:11 and the lessons." 24:12 He said, "I want to hold evangelistic meetings." 24:15 Well, he was so precious. 24:16 And he was so excited and so motivated. 24:18 We said, "Okay, we'll be happy to do that." 24:21 Well, he went home 24:23 and he had the very first meeting, 24:25 he had six people that came and all six were baptized. 24:29 Glory to God. Now, two years later... 24:32 Now, wait a minute. 24:33 Let me hit the pause button just a second. 24:35 Because what you just highlighted without us 24:40 and I don't want to just skip over it. 24:42 Is these studies, 24:44 these lesson plans are all scripted? 24:49 All scripted. A 10 year old could do it. 24:51 If you can read, you could do it, right? 24:52 Exactly. 24:54 And so it is something 24:55 that you don't have to be intimidated by, 24:58 like, well, I don't know what to say 25:00 because you've got everything right at your fingertips. 25:04 And a 14 year old holds a study 25:07 and baptizes all six members that are visitors. 25:11 And we have had as young as 12 and as old as 90. 25:15 Praise God. 25:16 So you never have to say, I'm too old or I'm too young. 25:19 You're never too old or too young 25:21 to give the Bible studies. 25:22 They're all there available for you. 25:24 Amen. Amen. 25:25 So we just praise the Lord but after two years, 25:29 we went back and we saw the young man 25:31 and we said, "Hi, how are you? 25:35 How's everything going with your study 25:37 with your evangelistic meetings?" 25:40 I don't do that anymore. 25:42 What? 25:44 What happened?" 25:45 He said, "I train the other young people 25:49 to give evangelistic meetings." 25:51 And he literally was training younger people than himself 25:55 to give the home Bible studies. 25:58 And he had so many souls that he had won to God's kingdom. 26:01 And you know, this is the thing that's amazing. 26:04 Young people as well as older people 26:07 are on fire for understanding. 26:09 The sharing of God's word is so vital in our time today. 26:13 And this is why we just love doing what we're doing. 26:16 You've had amazing results in South America. 26:21 Amazing. 26:22 Now, I don't want to say guess. 26:24 But I'll tell you, you will never guess, 26:27 in South America, 26:29 there are 76,000 small group home Bible studies. 26:35 As Danny would say, that's a two hander, 76,000. 26:40 Seventy six thousand. 26:42 They understand 26:44 the importance of small group home Bible studies 26:47 from the top of the conference 26:49 all the way down to the people in the churches. 26:52 When I go and I give... 26:53 When I give this small group home Bible study training, 26:57 the New Beginnings training in South America, 27:00 the conference president shows up, 27:03 the personal ministry shows up, 27:06 all the conference people are right there 27:09 going all the way through the training. 27:11 That's how involved they are. 27:13 And they have banners, they have T-shirts, 27:16 they have flags, they have everything. 27:18 They know why small group home Bible studies 27:23 has been so successful. 27:25 The New Beginnings program 27:27 is the most outstanding soul winning program 27:30 around the world. 27:31 And that's why you're seeing 27:33 such an explosive growth of the church in South America. 27:36 Exactly, exactly. That's amazing. 27:40 They love having us come and do training down there. 27:43 So I just, that's one of my passions 27:45 is to go to South America. 27:46 Okay, so tell us about Bolivia. 27:49 What happened there? 27:51 And then we're going to get to what you're doing today? 27:53 We went to... 27:54 I went down to Bolivia and we did training, 27:57 we had over 1,500 people 28:00 that we trained in Cochabamba, Bolivia. 28:03 When we went down there, there was a general 28:05 that was giving his testimony. 28:07 Two years earlier, 28:09 through small group home Bible studies, 28:12 his wife and three daughters had been baptized, 28:16 and every Sabbath they would pray and pray and pray 28:19 and ask their papa, they call him papa. 28:22 Papa, please, please come, 28:25 please come and come to church with us. 28:27 And he'd say, "Nope!" 28:29 And he march off and he go to work. 28:31 Well, again, every Sabbath, every week, 28:33 they would pray and pray and pray. 28:35 After two years, the smallest little daughter, 28:39 she said to her, papa, 28:41 "Oh, Papa, please won't you come to church with us?" 28:45 Okay. 28:47 So of course, he went to church and after a series of meetings, 28:50 he became baptized. 28:52 Now his testimony was that 28:54 he was holding evangelistic meetings in his home... 28:58 The New Beginnings that is. 28:59 The New Beginnings, and 32 people were baptized. 29:02 And he was inviting all the top government officials. 29:07 He was the top general of Bolivia. 29:09 And he was inviting all the top generals 29:11 and all the top officials of the government 29:15 to come to the meetings. 29:16 And he said, "Next year, I'm going to have 29:18 three evangelistic small group home Bible studies 29:23 in my home next year. 29:24 And I continue to ask 29:26 all of the top people in the government to come. 29:29 You know what's so powerful about that 29:31 if, you know, and I do evangelistic series, 29:35 and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. 29:38 A lot of times, if the church 29:40 don't personally invite people and bring them, 29:43 you can do a lot of advertising, 29:45 and there's not always that big of a turnout, 29:47 but it's good for the church. 29:49 It helps cement them, 29:51 they may see things in a new way. 29:53 And, you know, it's affective, 29:55 I believe in evangelism in all my heart, 29:58 but as you said there are, you know, 30:01 the evangelists people 30:04 will bond with you as the evangelist, 30:06 you leave town, 30:07 if they're not really well supported, 30:10 get bond to the church, 30:12 they can begin to kind of drop off there just here, 30:16 but just think about this for just a second. 30:19 How many of these top government officials 30:24 do you think if you invited to church would say, 30:26 "Oh, sure, we'll come to church with you?" 30:29 Probably that many. 30:34 But by having this in the home, you know, 30:39 and there his co-workers, 30:42 people that he is associated with, 30:46 they felt comfortable to come to his home. 30:49 Now they're hearing the truth, and they're becoming baptized. 30:54 To me this is the most exciting project 30:59 that is going on in our church, 31:01 because this is the only way we're going to reach people 31:05 that they can't get to come to your church. 31:08 And just the way it's structured 31:10 where you don't have to worry about 31:12 whether or not you know anything. 31:14 You've got the script to do it. 31:16 You've got a team for that 31:19 our prayer partners that are prayed up 31:23 over the ones you're going to invite, 31:25 that you've got somebody that can focus on being a host, 31:28 there's somebody that can focus on the media. 31:32 I mean, everything about this is just amazing. 31:35 Exactly. 31:37 It's amazing and we need it here in the United States. 31:40 And I know you have been doing this for some time. 31:43 And let me tell you something, 31:45 when they're volunteering for ASI doing this. 31:49 You even have to cover 31:51 your own travel costs, don't you? 31:52 Yes. 31:53 And you've been just recently to Paris and down to, 31:57 where were you? 31:59 And the last 30 days I've been to Paris 32:01 where I trained Friday night, all day, Saturday and Sunday. 32:04 I came back and then I turned around a week, two weeks later. 32:07 And I went to Brazil to Recife, Brazil and we trained there... 32:11 That's where you got that little pink sun tan, isn't it? 32:14 Nine hundred people. 32:15 And then I came back, 32:17 and then I just came back Sunday from Houston. 32:19 We trained over the weekend down in Houston. 32:22 And so it's just been, 32:24 we're starting to go to North America more often. 32:28 All right. So that's what we want to... 32:29 I want to bring this around. 32:31 A lot of you who are watching may be familiar with this, 32:34 if you're outside the States, unfortunately, 32:38 we need it most here. 32:40 I mean, this is a wonderful mission field 32:42 right here in the United States. 32:44 There's so many people 32:46 who are no longer a part of church. 32:49 You know, we used to consider ourself a Christian nation, 32:53 but I don't know anymore. 32:55 So tell us what's going on in the States 32:58 because you are ready to say, 33:00 okay, I've done this long enough, 33:01 I'm about to retire. 33:03 As I said, she has to pay all of her own expenses 33:06 and often buy her own tools, right? 33:09 Amen. Yes, we do. 33:10 But you know, the one thing 33:12 and I just want to show this real quickly here, 33:14 if they can... 33:16 Yeah, USB drive. This is a flash drive. 33:18 And on this flash drive is all of the lessons, 33:22 all of the PowerPoint presentations. 33:25 We also have health lectures on there. 33:28 So this is a tool that we use 33:31 to be able to give to the attendees 33:34 that are involved in the small groups. 33:36 So they have everything right here in their fingertips, 33:40 and we encourage... 33:41 The biggest problem we have 33:43 is we have to pay for everything. 33:44 We had 200 of these at our last training 33:48 and it's close to $1,000 by the time 33:51 they load the lessons 33:52 and put on all the PowerPoint presentation. 33:55 So yes, it is expensive 33:57 and but we're doing this in other countries 34:00 that don't have projectors or don't have DVD players 34:03 and things like that, but you know, 34:05 I want to tell you one more quick story. 34:07 Sure. 34:09 Right here in North America, a lady in Wisconsin, 34:12 she was 84 years old. 34:14 Her husband was 90. 34:17 Her husband took her to church every single Sabbath, 34:19 but he would never come in. 34:22 Well, she went through the training 34:23 and she asked her husband, she said, 34:26 "Honey, I would like to have training in our home." 34:29 Smart woman. 34:30 She said, "Would you please let me have the training?" 34:33 And he said, "No, no, no, no. 34:34 I don't want anybody coming into our home." 34:36 She said, "Oh, honey, please." 34:38 "Well, okay. Okay." 34:41 Well, then she said to her husband. 34:43 "You know, honey, 34:45 I don't know anything about all this electrical equipment 34:48 and the technology of how to advance the slides 34:51 and the DVD, all that stuff." 34:53 She said, "Would you please, please help me, just please?" 34:57 Okay. 34:59 Well, of course, we know what happened. 35:00 He had to read the script, 35:02 he had to follow along with the lessons, 35:04 he had to listen to the speaker. 35:07 And, of course, at the end of the series at 90 years old, 35:10 he was baptized. 35:11 Glory to God. 35:12 Now this is right here in North America. 35:14 You know, the joy that people feel 35:18 when they know the good news of the gospel is something 35:21 that we can never describe. 35:23 There's an inner joy, and inner passion, 35:26 and inner love that we have when we're first baptized. 35:29 I wish we could hold on to it forever. 35:32 But the blessing of baptism is the most wonderful reward 35:36 of these small group home Bible studies. 35:38 Amen. 35:40 And I just praise the Lord for the people 35:42 who are willing to say to themselves, you know, 35:46 I want to be a part 35:48 of saving souls in God's kingdom 35:50 because time is running out. 35:52 You know, Sister White tells us small group home Bible studies 35:58 are going to be the most important thing 36:01 to help finish the work in the last days. 36:03 There will come a time 36:05 because of political correctness, 36:06 that we won't be able to share the gospel openly. 36:10 So we're going to have to have small groups. 36:12 We're going to have to have 36:14 those small group home Bible studies. 36:16 When we do that, it's very, very vital 36:19 that we're given the necessary tools 36:21 and the necessary equipment. 36:23 And this is what ASI is willing to do. 36:26 They're willing to give us 36:27 the tools, the equipment and all the things 36:30 that are necessary for us 36:32 to share the gospel with others. 36:34 And this is a proven program. 36:37 So far, how many places have you really just kind of... 36:42 This is the year you're kicking this off here in the States. 36:45 How many places have you gone in United States to share this? 36:49 I personally have only gone to Houston. 36:51 Okay. 36:52 Now, this is something that I regret 36:54 because I've been all over the world 36:56 with the New Beginnings training. 36:58 I have been everywhere. 36:59 I've been in, over in the Philippines, 37:02 I've been over in Europe, 37:03 I've been in everywhere around the world. 37:06 But the burden that we have now 37:09 is to do the small groups in our churches. 37:12 The lady that was trained in Wisconsin 37:15 was another group that was training. 37:17 There has been training in Portland, Maine. 37:19 Okay. 37:21 So the different ASI Chapters, 37:22 are they overseeing this training? 37:24 What we're going to be doing, 37:26 and this is what I was just doing in Houston. 37:28 As we were training, 37:29 I trained the Southwest Chapter in Houston, 37:33 to give the training for this New Beginnings. 37:36 I also had the general vice president 37:40 for Mid-America who flew down, 37:41 and he came down to learn the training. 37:45 So we're just starting with our Chapters 37:47 here in North America 37:49 to learn to give the training to our churches. 37:52 Now it's very impossible for me to travel everywhere, 37:56 but with training people 37:58 to do the training in the church 38:00 and also in conference halls. 38:04 In some places 38:05 we literally trained in auditoriums 38:08 because we have so many people, 38:10 especially like in South America, 38:12 we'll have 2,000 people 38:14 sometimes they will train and they are so dedicated. 38:17 You know, when I was down in South America, 38:20 they had people that got on a bus, 38:22 went 24 hours to come to the training, 38:26 went to the training all day long 38:28 from 8 o'clock in the morning until 6 o'clock at night, 38:31 got back on a bus, went 24 hours back home 38:35 and went to work the next day. 38:37 Now, you know, 38:39 South America is one country 38:41 that's on fire for this program. 38:44 North America, we have too many people that say, 38:48 "Oh, I work all week, I'm too tired. 38:50 I can't give, you know, 38:51 I can't give small group home Bible studies." 38:54 Now, I simply say to them, 38:56 what are you doing Friday night? 38:58 What happens Friday night? Yes. 39:01 That's a good time to give a small group. 39:03 What are you doing Sabbath afternoon 39:04 or Sabbath evening? 39:06 You can give a small group home Bible study over the weekend. 39:09 People in other countries makes no difference, 39:13 they'll work hard all day, and they'll still give 39:15 their small group home Bible studies every night. 39:18 In North America, we're telling people, 39:21 start Friday nights 39:22 and see how it goes in your home. 39:25 I always tell people, never be discouraged. 39:27 God knows those people who need to know the gospel, 39:32 and He's going to bring those people to you. 39:34 Amen. You just have to believe. 39:36 You have to pray. 39:38 You have to earnestly seek the Lord and say, 39:41 Lord, you know those people. 39:42 I can't tell you how many testimonies 39:44 I have of people that I meet 39:46 that I just share a snippet of my 39:48 not only my personal testimony, 39:50 but I share a snippet of the prophecies 39:52 and then I say to them, 39:54 would you like to study more about the Bible? 39:56 And I know there are people out there who are frightened, 40:00 they are scared 40:01 because they don't know what's happening. 40:03 They see the chaos in the world. 40:05 And they know that there's uncertainty. 40:07 And I tell them, if you want to have certainty, 40:10 hope, and promise for the future, 40:13 you know, you can have that when you study the Bible. 40:16 Glory to God. 40:17 What a wonderful way to go about it. 40:19 Yes. And that's what we need to do. 40:21 And I know that this program in North America 40:24 is going to be a program many, many people I believe 40:28 will understand the urgency and the importance 40:30 of the times we're living in, 40:32 and they want to start this program. 40:34 Amen. 40:35 So people, if you are going into a conference, 40:41 and the conference is just a group of churches in an area, 40:46 this is just part of the way 40:47 the Seventh-day Adventist Church is organized 40:50 so that we call that a conference. 40:53 So if you were going into the conference to train, 40:57 you're just training people... 40:58 How long is the training? 41:00 Let's say that I want to do these classes 41:04 or these home group meetings. 41:06 How long is the training usually? 41:08 Well, what we normally do is we start on Sabbath 41:12 from 9 o'clock in the morning until 4:30 or 5 o'clock. 41:15 Now in Houston, we started at 9:30, 41:18 and we went till almost 6 o'clock. 41:21 But the people are just energized 41:23 and excited about it. 41:24 So they're willing to stay. 41:26 And, of course, we have fellowship lunch 41:28 during the lunch hour, but we normally go... 41:32 In Paris, I started Friday night, 41:35 went all day Sabbath until from 9 o'clock in the morning 41:38 until 4:30 in the afternoon. 41:40 So it generally is one day so... 41:42 And when people finish with that one day training, 41:45 they've gotten some ideas 41:48 of what will make their small group 41:51 very successful. 41:52 How long does it usually take people 41:54 once they go through training before they actually go out 41:57 and get their team put together 41:59 and start praying over the names? 42:01 What we recommend is we tell everybody 42:04 that comes to the meetings, 42:06 the training, they are the team leader. 42:09 So as an example, if you came to the meeting, 42:11 Shelley, I would say, 42:12 "Now, Shelley, you're the team leader. 42:14 You go back and you find three other people 42:17 to be on your team." 42:19 And generally, that's how it happens. 42:21 Those are the team leaders. 42:23 Then after that, we, as I said before, 42:28 we recommend that you make a list 42:29 of your names, the 10 names, 42:31 and then the 40 names that we pray over. 42:33 So each one of the team is putting 10 names in the pot? 42:37 Exactly. 42:39 Now, as an example, we went to Guatemala, 42:41 in January, they had 123 baptisms. 42:45 And, now this is in the northern division in Guatemala. 42:49 They had 123 baptisms. 42:51 In February, they had like 148 baptisms. 42:55 We went down February 8th and 9th 42:58 and we trained February 8th and 9th, 43:01 they went home. 43:02 They formed their small groups. 43:04 They started? their Bible lessons. 43:05 In April, they had 848 baptisms as a result... 43:11 That gave me chills. 43:12 Of the training and the small groups, 43:15 you see the difference. 43:16 Glory to God. This is so exciting. 43:18 When we do the small groups, 43:20 when we set up these small groups, 43:23 the increase is because the people are connected, 43:27 the people are nurtured, the people are involved. 43:29 Amen. 43:31 And it's because you're getting people 43:32 to come to your home that you could probably 43:34 never get to an auditorium or a church. 43:36 Exactly, exactly. 43:38 And this is so vital that we just remember 43:41 that this is a project that I believe God 43:45 is going to continue to bless and increase 43:47 as we go and do the training. 43:50 We encourage if we're going to have training, 43:52 we encourage that four or five churches 43:55 as an example in Houston. 43:57 They invited all the local churches 43:59 to come together for the training. 44:02 So we encourage, 44:03 if you're going to have the training 44:04 that you have it all the area churches 44:07 come together for the training 44:09 because it is very, very intensive, 44:11 the very, it's energizing, it's motivating, it's exciting. 44:16 The ministries are just wonderful. 44:19 We always start out 44:20 with the New Beginnings experiences. 44:22 And then we talk about why, why evangelism? 44:25 Why is evangelism so vital to each one of us? 44:29 If our ministry is going to grow 44:30 and our relationship with God is going to grow, 44:33 we need to be involved in outreach. 44:36 We need to be involved 44:37 in some type of ministry and sharing, 44:40 but then we go into all the important aspect 44:44 of forming the small groups, 44:47 having the importance of taking those groups 44:50 and going into visitation. 44:54 It's so vital that once we start the groups 44:56 that we visit with the people. 44:58 You know, we had another young man, 45:01 he went through all the meetings, 45:02 and he was so interested 45:05 and so excited about everything. 45:07 And then we got down to the final appeal 45:10 of being baptized and he wasn't there anymore. 45:15 We thought what happened? 45:18 Well, of course, went out to visit him. 45:20 Knocked on the door. 45:21 We could hear that somebody was inside 45:23 but he didn't come to the door. 45:25 Well, we kept knocking. 45:27 Well, finally he came to the door 45:28 and we said, "Well, Peter, what's the matter?" 45:33 And he sat down and he said, 45:36 "I was almost drowned when I was a little boy, 45:40 I don't want to be baptized because I'll drown." 45:43 Now, you know, this is why 45:44 it's vital that we visit and spend time 45:47 because once we visit and we spend time with people 45:49 and get them to make a commitment to the Lord. 45:52 Well, of course, we showed him 45:53 all the simpleness of the baptism 45:56 and the fact that we would guarantee 45:58 he's going to be just fine. 45:59 He was baptized, so. Praise God. 46:01 You know, everybody, 46:03 it's so vital we spend time together 46:05 and we visit together, we spend time understanding. 46:09 Let me see your USB. 46:10 So once somebody has gone through the training, 46:14 you give them this little flash drive. 46:16 Correct. 46:17 And this can either plug into your TV, or to a computer, 46:20 or you can hook your computer to your TV. 46:22 And everything's here? Everything is here. 46:24 So how much does this cost? 46:26 Depending on the quantities. 46:28 Now, we're starting out, this one, particular one? 46:31 because of the fact that we only had 200 flash drives. 46:35 This one was a little more expensive, 46:37 but we can get the cost down to about $4 a flash drive. 46:41 When you were saying expensive, I was, 100 bucks, you know. 46:45 Well, when we have to do projectors, 46:47 well, in some countries 46:49 we have done projectors in the States. 46:51 Right now let's focus on States 46:53 because if ever there is a Laodicean attitude, 46:59 you heard what she said 47:00 that there's so many people here 47:01 and we're all guilty of it. 47:04 You know, because we've been talking, 47:05 my husband and I've been talking about 47:07 starting a small group but it's like, 47:09 "Oh, we travel all the time. Oh, we work so hard." 47:12 But, you know, 47:14 it's something that all of us just need to do a heart check. 47:19 If we don't love people enough to share the gospel with them, 47:23 we need to do a heart check. 47:25 So if in the United States, 47:28 then they go through the training. 47:30 Now, let's say right now that there's people 47:32 who are watching and saying, 47:34 "I don't know if I can get a bunch of churches." 47:36 Can they go online and get some training 47:39 if they can't get to a training? 47:42 What can they do? Absolutely. 47:43 All they have to do is go to ASIMinistries.org. 47:48 Go to New Beginnings. 47:49 They can download in 32 different languages 47:53 they can download the lessons, 47:57 the PowerPoint presentation 48:00 and in some languages, even the health lectures. 48:04 So we encourage people when they have the lessons 48:06 to give just like a five minute health lecture 48:09 before they should begin the lessons, 48:11 but I can go to ASIMinistries.org 48:15 and I can download all of the information 48:18 that I need to have 48:20 these small group home Bible studies in my home. 48:22 So all these languages we're trying to update, 48:25 so we'll have more languages 48:27 and we're going to have new graphics, 48:30 but right now you can go to ASIministries.org 48:33 and download New Beginnings. 48:35 And then download the information 48:38 that you need to have the lessons. 48:39 Okay, we're going to put all that information out 48:41 for our viewers in just a second. 48:44 If people can get a number of churches together in, 48:49 is there somebody like you 48:51 that can come out to do a training? 48:53 I can either come out 48:55 or we're going to start having our Chapters. 48:57 Our Chapter officers come out to do the training. 49:00 We have people from all over from ASI 49:03 that are willing to do the training, 49:06 including our executive secretary, 49:08 our new executive secretary for ASI. 49:10 He went with me 49:12 to learn the training down in Brazil. 49:13 And Denzil McNeilus went with me. 49:15 Praise God. 49:17 And so we have many people 49:18 that have done the training over the years, 49:21 and they're willing to do the training. 49:23 As I keep saying, 49:24 and I mean this with all of my heart. 49:26 This is not hyperbole. 49:29 I believe this is the most exciting project 49:32 that is going on in our church today 49:34 because right here is the truth, 49:39 God's truth straight from the Bible 49:42 that can change people's lives for eternity. 49:46 Amen. 49:47 And, you know, I know Barbara has everybody 49:50 that's traveling with ASI, they're not getting paid. 49:52 Actually, they're even paying their own travel expenses, 49:55 and in many instances 49:57 she's had to make a donation to cover the cost 50:00 of the tools outside of the United States. 50:03 So my thought is twofold. 50:06 Number one, ah, you need to get three other people together 50:12 and say, we can do this. 50:13 Let's give it a whirl. 50:15 Let's get this information, 50:16 get a training or go online for training. 50:20 But also, you may feel 50:22 that the Holy Spirit is impressing you to help 50:25 with the cost of materials 50:27 for other countries around the world that may not, 50:30 you know, we, I scoff at $4 but they may not. 50:35 I mean, it may not be possible for them to buy. 50:38 So we just want to put the address up 50:40 for the ASI New Beginning Bible study 50:44 and Evangelistic Training Center, 50:46 and here's how you can get in touch with them. 50:49 ASI New Beginnings seeks to encourage evangelism 50:53 and empower lay people to share their faith. 50:56 They need your prayers and financial support 50:58 to provide training, thumb drives 51:00 with the complete New Beginning series, 51:03 sermon notes, the Voice of Prophecy, 51:05 Discover Bible lessons, and much, much more. 51:08 To invite Barbara to come for a training session, 51:11 please visit their website, ASINewBeginnings.org. 51:15 That's ASINewBeginnings.org. 51:18 Or call them at 443-391-7235. 51:23 You may also write to ASI New Beginnings, 51:26 9705 Patuxent Woods Drive, 51:29 Columbia, Maryland 21046. |
Revised 2019-02-04