Participants:
Series Code: TDYL
Program Code: TDYL200036A
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00:01 As you're well aware,
00:03 we're living in unprecedented times. 00:05 Join us now for today's special program. 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Mending broken people 00:23 I want to spend my life 00:29 Removing pain 00:34 Lord, let my words 00:39 Heal a heart that hurts 00:44 I want to spend my life 00:50 Mending broken people 00:55 I want to spend my life 01:01 Mending broken people. 01:15 Hello and welcome to another 3ABN Today Live. 01:19 I'm so glad that you decided 01:20 to spend time with us this evening 01:22 as you do each and every week. 01:24 I'm Jason Bradley and my co-host this evening 01:27 is Pastor John Lomacang. 01:30 Good to be on the ship with you. 01:31 Oh, it's great to have you. 01:33 Yes, yes. 01:34 Pastor of the Thompsonville Seventh-Day Adventist Church. 01:37 And then we have Eric Camarillo, 01:39 President of SALT Outreach Incorporated. 01:42 Eric, you're no stranger to 3ABN. 01:44 Not a stranger. No. 01:46 Thank you, guys, for having me again. 01:47 It's great to have you here. 01:48 And I'm glad 01:50 that you could be here in person. 01:51 This has been a very interesting year, 01:53 to say the least. 01:54 Yes, no, I'm glad I could be here, too. 01:56 Yes. 01:57 So I don't want to spend a whole lot of time 01:59 previewing what we're going to be discussing 02:02 and what we're going to be talking about, 02:04 because we have some music to go to. 02:06 Oh, we do, we have. 02:07 And, you know, this is going to be 02:09 interesting program SALT. 02:10 We'll find out what that means in a moment. 02:12 But we know that the Bible says the SALT loses 02:17 its usefulness when it loses its savor. 02:20 And we have been watching Eric's ministry growing. 02:24 We'll talk about the ministry and what it all entails. 02:26 But going strong, it hasn't lost its savor. 02:29 And it's still flavoring the lives 02:31 of many, many individuals. 02:33 And there are many more people that are going to be flavored 02:35 by this ministry. 02:36 And tonight, Jason, I'm excited, 02:38 it's going to give us a chance to introduce it 02:40 to maybe some new audience members, 02:42 some new family members of 3ABN 02:44 or maybe somebody that has never tuned in before. 02:46 So do stay tuned. 02:48 But as you mentioned, we do have music. 02:49 Absolutely. 02:50 And I think we also going to let 02:52 our audience know we're going to be taking 02:53 questions and comments in the second hour. 02:57 Because you cannot have a program 02:59 as detailed as yours without questions. 03:02 So if you want to send in questions, 03:03 one of the first things 03:04 we like to encourage people to do is text. 03:09 That's been the immediate right hand 03:10 or left hand of everybody. 03:12 And to send those questions by text is (618) 627... 03:18 Oh, that's the calling number. 03:19 You want to text (618) 228-3975. 03:23 There you go. 03:25 (618) 228-3975 03:27 or they can call (618) 627-4651. 03:31 Follow the prompts to the call center. 03:34 They're waiting to talk to you, 03:35 waiting to take your questions and all of that 03:37 or you can send an email to Live@3abn.tv. 03:43 That's right. That's right. 03:44 So who's going to bless us in song? 03:45 Well, we have a young man 03:47 that is no stranger to this ministry. 03:48 His name is Layke Jones. 03:51 And I think the song is very appropriate, 03:52 "How deep the Father's love for us." 03:55 After that, we'll be right back. 04:11 How deep the Father's love for us 04:17 How vast beyond all measure 04:23 That He should give His only Son 04:29 To make a wretch His treasure 04:35 How great the pain of searing loss 04:41 The Father turns His face away 04:47 As wounds which mar the Chosen One 04:53 Bring many sons to glory 05:06 Behold the man upon a cross 05:12 My sin upon His shoulders 05:17 Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice 05:23 Call out among the scoffers 05:29 It was my sin that held Him there 05:34 Until it was accomplished 05:40 His dying breath has brought me life 05:46 I know that it is finished 06:01 I will not boast in anything 06:07 No gifts, no power, no wisdom 06:12 But I will boast in Jesus Christ 06:18 His death and resurrection 06:23 Why should I gain from His reward? 06:29 I cannot give an answer 06:36 But this I know 06:39 With all my heart 06:43 His wounds have paid my ransom 06:50 Why should I gain from His reward? 06:57 I cannot give an answer 07:03 But this I know 07:06 With all my heart 07:13 His wounds have paid 07:17 My ransom 07:35 Thank you so much, Layke and Tim Parton, 07:38 for accompanying him. 07:39 What a combination. 07:41 That's a song that really catapults 07:42 the program into the direction of what SALT is all about. 07:46 The Father's love is so deep that He sent us 07:48 to be the salt of the earth. 07:50 Amen. 07:51 And we're so glad that Eric is here tonight. 07:54 Eric Camarillo, trying to be all flavorful. 07:57 That's right. 07:59 Yes, a lot of flavor coming from you. 08:00 I feel it. 08:02 Good. Yeah, that's good. 08:03 Yeah, that's right. 08:04 And this ministry, we want to first talk about 08:08 because we have viewers and listeners. 08:10 I have to remember my wife works for radio, 08:12 she always says don't just say thank you for watching, 08:14 we say thank you for listening. 08:16 But, Eric, start out by telling us 08:17 what does SALT mean? 08:20 And then where did you get the inspiration 08:22 to just get something going that is, 08:24 we'll talk about when it started. 08:25 But just what is SALT? 08:27 And where did the inspiration to get it started come from? 08:28 Yeah, so SALT is an acronym for Service and Love Together. 08:34 I had become an Adventist in 2010. 08:36 I was baptized 08:38 in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 08:40 And about a year later, 08:42 you know, as I'm looking around in the area, 08:44 I'm seeing that, 08:45 that churches aren't really working 08:47 closely together. 08:49 I noticed that young adults 08:51 were not very, were leaving the church. 08:54 And there wasn't really like a strong community 08:57 of young adults in the area at that time. 08:59 And so, I believed at that time 09:03 that part of that reason, major reason 09:05 was because they might have felt 09:06 like the church was not doing consistent, 09:08 impactful, 09:10 you know, outreach that 09:12 that produces measurable incomes, 09:14 you know, and outcomes. 09:16 And so we came up with the idea, 09:20 you know, me and two friends, we prayed all night, 09:22 and we came up with the name SALT, 09:24 Matthew 5:13. 09:25 It exemplified perfectly what we are trying to do, 09:28 as well as the acronym Service and Love Together, 09:30 you know. 09:32 A lot of the time, you know, there are churches 09:34 that do once a year outreach, once a quarter, 09:37 but we need to be consistent 09:38 because we need to create relationships 09:40 because that is what leads people to Christ, 09:42 you know, so that's kind of what I guess helped inspire 09:45 in the beginning. 09:47 Amen. 09:48 You know, what I love about SALT 09:49 is you're not just out there saying, 09:51 "Hey, you know, I'll pray for you, 09:53 go stay warm, or I'll pray for you, 09:56 hopefully you get a meal, or I'll pray for you alone." 09:59 Your actions are behind those prayers. 10:02 So you're praying for them, 10:03 and you're acting on it 10:05 with the practical Christianity of, 10:06 "Hey, I'm going to pray for you that you can stay warm. 10:09 Here's a coat. 10:10 'I'm going to pray for you 10:11 that you have something in your stomach. 10:13 Here's some food." 10:15 You know, so all of those things. 10:16 I love the Ministry of SALT. 10:19 And something you mentioned that I want our audience 10:21 to not miss. 10:22 He said about a year after you got baptized. 10:26 So you didn't sit and allow spider webs to grow on you. 10:30 It's like the Lord had this vision. 10:33 Jeremiah 29:11. 10:34 He knew the plans He had for you 10:36 and He brought you into a community 10:37 that needed that spark to get that going. 10:40 So just becoming an Adventist Christian, 10:43 looking at a situation and saying, 10:44 "Okay, Lord, here I am send me." 10:47 And what year was that, you said 2011? 10:49 That was in 2010 when I was baptized. 10:51 I was baptized in May of 2010. 10:53 And SALT, 10:55 the idea for SALT didn't really start 10:57 until August of 2011. 11:00 And then in September 2011, when we had our first event, 11:02 kind of pitching the idea 11:04 to the young adults in the community, 11:05 and just going from there, you know. 11:08 You know, the whole when you mentioned 11:09 that I didn't sit 11:11 and let cobwebs kind of form on me. 11:13 I actually and I felt like I did, 11:16 you know, I felt like, 11:17 you know, I was slowly 11:20 because I didn't feel like 11:21 I was really fulfilling my purpose, 11:23 or doing, or working 11:26 to the maximum potential for God. 11:27 I kind of did feel like there were some cobwebs 11:30 kind of building up. 11:32 And so, SALT was just something that really, you know, 11:37 instead of, 11:38 there's so many people that will sit around and say, 11:40 oh, the church needs to do this, 11:41 the church needs to do that. 11:42 But you know, God had spoken to me, 11:45 you know, through His Word and was like, 11:46 Eric, you, you can't just sit around, 11:49 do something, you know, 11:51 and, and that's, yeah, that's what happened, so. 11:55 So you saw that need, 11:57 and you decided 11:58 that you were going to fill that need? 12:00 Right, exactly. 12:01 And that's, we should all, should all do that. 12:04 You know, I think we've started to become spectators 12:08 a lot of the time. 12:10 And really, God wants to use us as instruments 12:13 for change within our church. 12:15 Yes. 12:16 So, you know, that's, that's what I think. 12:19 Now having a vision 12:20 and actually doing something with that vision 12:23 is not the same thing 12:24 because you felt and 12:25 I like that how you brought that in, 12:27 because sitting, 12:28 for some people sitting around for one year 12:29 is not a long time. 12:31 Some people can sit around for 15 years or 20 years 12:33 still saying, 12:34 "When is the church 12:36 or when is the conference going to do this and that." 12:38 But Danny wasn't one. 12:39 That's why we're sitting here tonight. 12:41 And he realized that God had a vision. 12:43 He said, "Here I am, send me." 12:44 And you did the same thing. 12:46 So talking to the young people, then looking at the next step, 12:51 because getting started, 12:53 starting an organization starting a 501 C3, 12:56 and recognizing that, 12:58 as Danny said, there are resources, 12:59 but how do we get access to those resources? 13:02 How do we define our goal? 13:04 How do we calibrate our mission? 13:06 And what was the first thing you did? 13:08 If you could remember that first outreach, 13:10 that kind of scared you 13:12 but confirmed that God was leading you? 13:14 You know, it was an outreach, it was even, 13:17 it was right before SALT started, 13:19 actually helped inspire SALT. 13:20 Okay. 13:22 Where we would go out in downtown Orlando, 13:24 me and three friends of mine. 13:25 And literally, we would, 13:27 we went out like maybe 10 at night. 13:29 And we would just see where God, 13:33 who God has called us to talk to, 13:34 and we just walk around there and there'd be, 13:36 you know, people, you know, like, 13:39 you know, the nightlife, right, in the town. 13:42 But we would see someone crying. 13:44 So me and my friend would go and sit next to her 13:46 and kind of ask, you know, hey, what's wrong, you know, 13:49 and then she shared her spiritual life, 13:51 that she was an agnostic, 13:52 and we pray and we asked if we could pray for her. 13:55 And she said, yes. 13:56 And like, just kind of plant seeds, 13:58 you know, and it was that night that God confirmed to me, 14:02 Eric, I need you to do something. 14:05 And, you know, 14:07 because that was just 14:08 that outreach is not an easy outreach to do. 14:11 No, no, it's not a perfect night. 14:12 Yeah, yeah. 14:14 We didn't end that night till like three in the morning, 14:15 I think, you know. 14:17 There was, there was, 14:18 I remember that night so vividly. 14:19 There was a pastor son out there. 14:22 And we just were going around and he was really friendly. 14:26 We start talking to him, and he started crying. 14:28 He's like, "Guys, I shouldn't be out here. 14:30 You know, my dad's a pastor. 14:33 And, you know, I just came up for my birthday, 14:35 but I shouldn't have come like, look what I'm doing." 14:38 And, you know, it's just, it's crazy. 14:41 You know, just moments like that 14:42 that happened. 14:43 And then a homeless woman really was the thing 14:45 that kind of, 14:48 where that God used to speak through me 14:50 or speak to me, I'm sorry. 14:52 And so, 14:53 and then the rest is history after that, 14:55 you know, then SALT 14:56 the idea sparked shortly after so. 14:58 Wow. 15:00 So after the idea sparked, 15:02 and you said you presented it to young people, 15:04 did they catch the vision? 15:07 Or was it like, 15:08 did you have to keep approaching them 15:10 or did they catch it right then? 15:12 They caught it. 15:13 They were all, they were all wanting it. 15:14 You know, they all want it to be involved. 15:16 They all want it. 15:17 It was something young adults are organic. 15:19 It was grassroots. 15:21 We had our first event September, 15:23 had like 150 young adults come. 15:25 The next one was in November, had about 250. 15:28 We did it a year, our one-year anniversary, 15:30 we had 850 young adults come fill up a... 15:34 It's Patmos Chapel. 15:36 Yeah, I know Patmos. 15:37 You know Patmos? Oh, yeah. 15:39 It was packed with young adults. 15:40 And just people in general, not just young adults. 15:43 So many people that that just wanted to learn 15:46 about what SALT had done in that past year 15:48 and what SALT's looking to do. 15:50 So the vision just kept, kept catching on, you know. 15:53 And that's, that's the beautiful thing. 15:56 I mean, God used so many people to get SALT to where it is now. 16:02 And it's exciting to see all that come together. 16:04 Yes. 16:05 Yeah, just before we show the video 16:07 that kind of gives us an overview of SALT in action, 16:10 just name a few things 16:11 and we'll go into more detail later on in the program 16:14 of what we might see in this video 16:15 that to kind of helps people 16:18 because there's some people that are listening, 16:20 and we want to be able to identify 16:22 with those who may be driving their cars, 16:23 what we're about to watch? 16:25 Yeah, so the video was made in May of this year. 16:29 We had just created a relationship, 16:32 partnership with the city of Orlando, 16:34 where they were, 16:35 they basically helped to 16:37 when the pandemic hit in mid-March in Florida. 16:41 The homeless organizations, the shelters, the food shares 16:44 where hundreds of people experiencing homelessness 16:47 would go and get food, they shut down. 16:49 So those experiencing homelessness, 16:51 they didn't really have anywhere to go, 16:54 they have anyone to look to or they were lost, 16:57 you know, those that had just gotten jobs 16:58 got laid off, 17:00 those that were looking for jobs 17:01 had to stop, 17:02 the businesses were closing. 17:04 So we had a relationship with the city of Orlando, 17:07 and you know, her name is Lisa, she called me and she's like, 17:10 Eric, you guys are outside. 17:13 You guys can keep going. 17:14 We were operating once a week at that, 17:16 during that time. 17:17 It's like let's, let the city help fund you 17:19 to operate more often. 17:21 So we started operating three days a week, 17:23 we hired staff. 17:24 I mean, it was an amazing, 17:26 just an amazing testimony to see God grow the ministry 17:29 just like that in just one instance. 17:32 Unfortunately, 17:33 it was an unfortunate circumstance 17:35 that led to that. 17:36 But, you know, God was setting us up 17:39 for that moment 17:40 to help those people 17:41 that were literally in a black hole 17:43 during that time. 17:44 So this video was made 17:46 right about two months of us operating during the pandemic. 17:50 Okay, well, let's go to that video right now 17:51 and check it out. 18:01 My name is Eric Camarillo. 18:03 I'm the President of SALT Outreach. 18:05 So our homeless outreach started 18:06 actually with two young women, 18:08 they would cook food in their individual homes, 18:11 and then they would go and offer that food 18:12 to those experiencing homelessness. 18:14 We fundraised for a clothing trailer 18:16 which we call Change. 18:17 There were some homeless individuals 18:19 that were actively looking for work 18:21 that hadn't showered and up to three months. 18:23 Living in Florida 18:25 with the kind of heat that we live in, 18:26 that's not acceptable. 18:28 How can you want to even feel 18:30 like you want to better yourself 18:32 if you feel dirty, if you feel rejected? 18:35 They are a wonderful group of people. 18:37 And, you know, they help us, they give us resources. 18:41 They don't leave us out. 18:43 Get you a hot shower. It feel good. 18:45 We fundraised about $40,000 for a shower trailer 18:48 that we launched at the end of 2018. 18:51 Free showers are available in downtown Orlando. 18:53 This mobile shower trailer 18:55 is part of the latest effort now 18:57 to help the homeless. 18:58 I'm the Homeless Outreach Director 18:59 so that you know entails a lot of things. 19:01 One of the things is we have our shower trailer 19:04 just making sure that we have the supplies 19:05 that we need. 19:06 Just the shower alone 19:08 could put a whole brand-new perspective 19:11 on what your day is going to look like. 19:13 When you come out of that, 19:14 you can know that your hair is shampooed 19:17 and conditioned well. 19:19 You know what I'm saying 19:20 like you actually have some time 19:22 to really need everything in there 19:23 and let it marinate your hair. 19:25 Brand new man or woman. 19:27 I heard about the shower, 19:28 got involved with SALT 19:29 and then got me off the streets. 19:31 Now I'm no longer homeless. 19:33 Today I pretty much take care of the shower, 19:37 me and my partner Oscar. 19:39 We put people in the shower and then we sterilize 19:43 and clean it real good for the next person. 19:46 And sometimes you in the amongst into a group 19:49 need to see you as homeless 19:50 and mentioned different issues and different 19:53 but, you know, and then being on here 19:54 and giving me opportunity to volunteer. 19:57 You know people able to see more of 19:59 you know what I am as a person what they just wanted to be. 20:03 The start of 2020, OUC, 20:05 the Orlando Utilities Commission 20:06 donated solar panels 20:08 to put on top of our shower trailer. 20:10 So we can be completely mobile with our shower trailer. 20:12 We don't need to plug in anywhere. 20:14 We can fill our water tank 20:15 and literally do showers at any location. 20:18 When this COVID-19 pandemic broke out, 20:20 we went ahead and hired 20:22 two more additional people. 20:24 And thanks to the city of Orlando, 20:26 they have hired us to be able to provide 20:28 these emergency services. 20:30 We've gone from operating three times a month 20:33 to operating three times a week 20:35 to be able to provide services 20:38 that are supposed to curb the spread. 20:40 We are needing things like gloves, hand sanitizers, 20:44 especially the hand sanitizer 20:45 so we can give to our homeless friends. 20:47 So after they take a shower, 20:48 they can take that with them 20:50 and still maintain that, that hygiene. 20:52 I believe we're just at the beginning stages 20:55 of where God wants us to be. 20:56 We have a big vision, 20:58 we want to duplicate this in every major city. 21:01 We're going to have to partner with those in the community 21:03 to actually make this a reality. 21:05 I was homeless myself. 21:07 When I look back at that experience, 21:08 I believe that's what drives me. 21:09 That's what gives me the passion 21:11 and desire to do 21:12 what we're doing here with SALT. 21:14 When you get a feeling out of someone 21:16 what somebody's doing 21:17 you get a good feeling like that. 21:18 That's called love. 21:20 And that's what SALT brings to the table. 21:31 Wow! What an inspiring video. 21:33 You know, you don't realize the things 21:35 that we take for granted on the daily basis, 21:38 showers transforming people's lives 21:40 like making their day that much better. 21:44 The gentleman was talking about shampooing 21:46 and conditioning his hair. 21:49 And that made his day like 21:50 but the things that we take for granted. 21:53 Tell us about your beginnings, Eric? 21:54 Yeah. 21:56 So my beginnings as... 21:58 When you are facing that homelessness? 22:00 I didn't even know that you were homeless before. 22:02 Yeah. 22:03 So I actually, it was when I was 20 years old, 22:06 it was BC, Before Christ, 22:08 you know, and my whole mindset was all about, 22:11 like making money, 22:13 and how can I make the most money? 22:14 And what do I need to do? 22:15 And I remember I went to Chicago 22:17 to try and start a business. 22:19 And it, I had enough money, 22:23 I totally underestimated the amount of time 22:26 that I would need to be out there, right? 22:28 So I had enough money for hotel for two weeks. 22:31 But I was out there for six months. 22:32 So I ended up living in my car 22:36 for about five months. 22:38 You know, once in a while 22:40 I'd be able to get 22:41 into a friend's house and shower 22:43 or someone that I was meeting 22:44 or it was just weird kind of instances 22:47 where I'd be able to get shower, 22:48 but a lot of the time I go to the gas station, 22:51 go into the bathroom, try and clean myself up. 22:54 And I'd still put on a suit and tie 22:56 and go into Panera and have my meetings 22:58 and try and get this business going. 23:01 I was a... 23:03 Yeah, I was a little crazy. 23:04 But I remember eating, to eat, 23:07 I would go into a Mexican restaurant. 23:09 And you know how they give those chips in the beginning? 23:12 I'd eat the chips. 23:13 And I just, I wait a little bit, 23:15 you know, look around, 23:16 had to walk out after I eat the chips. 23:18 If I had $1, I get a piece of bread at Panera, 23:21 I'd rip it in half. 23:22 And that'd be my breakfast and my dinner. 23:25 It was rough, it was rough. 23:27 And I was stubborn. 23:30 You know, looking back if I, if I had known God back then, 23:33 I would have known 23:34 that God would not have wanted me 23:35 to go that route. 23:37 I really would have known that. 23:38 But I remember though, though, 23:40 during those times of feeling that 23:43 that loneliness, you know, that emptiness, 23:46 you know, I wasn't succeeding. 23:49 I remember reaching out to something. 23:51 And I didn't know what it was, I didn't know. 23:54 You know, I didn't know God at that time. 23:55 But I would just scream out to something, you know. 23:59 And I think that, that might have even been 24:00 the beginnings 24:01 of when I maybe started to be 24:03 a little more less reliant on myself 24:08 and more thinking about other things. 24:11 You know what I mean, 24:13 and kind of opening my mind a little bit. 24:15 But yeah, I was, 24:17 it was a really interesting experience, yeah. 24:20 Yeah, that's powerful. 24:22 But look what God did with that experience. 24:24 So, you know, that's an important lesson 24:28 for people at home. 24:29 You know, whatever you might be going through 24:32 at this moment 24:33 doesn't mean that that has to be your tomorrow. 24:36 And, you know, whatever struggle 24:38 you're dealing with could end up 24:40 being somebody else's blessing tomorrow. 24:43 I mean, think about the lives that SALT has touched. 24:46 You know, you went through that process, 24:48 but now you're giving back 24:49 and you're helping the homeless community 24:52 and all of that stuff. 24:53 It's really helped me to understand 24:55 where they're coming from, 24:56 you know, can't find a job, you can't shower. 24:59 You know, I tried to make it work. 25:00 But I mean, they, the gas stations in Orlando, 25:02 they won't even, 25:03 they won't let someone come in there and clean up. 25:06 You know what I mean? 25:07 They're rarely any bathroom especially now in COVID, 25:10 rarely any bathrooms they could go in to try 25:12 and prepare themselves for an interview. 25:14 I was talking about one of our volunteers today. 25:16 She said that someone came on Tuesday, 25:19 said they were looking for a job, need to shower, 25:21 needed some clothes. 25:23 He came back today, Thursday, this morning. 25:26 And he said, "I got a job." 25:28 He's going to be working at SeaWorld now. 25:30 And we're going to try and help him 25:32 to maintain that job. 25:33 But just seeing 25:34 just within a few days of having access to that, 25:37 how that could change someone's life, you know, so... 25:42 Providing them with resources. 25:44 Right. 25:45 You know, I think about that, when... 25:47 Now, I know when you look at that video 25:48 and see people getting a shower, 25:51 does it ever take you back? 25:53 And you think, well, if they will say, 25:55 well, if there was something like this, 25:56 I would have known where to go every day to get a shower 25:58 while I was going through my difficulty. 26:00 So you're actually reaching back to, Eric, 26:02 and saying there are a lot of guys out there 26:04 like me that have value 26:06 that are not just another statistic 26:07 on the street. 26:09 And I want to talk, will you talk to that, 26:10 because a lot of times people 26:11 you know, Jason, we live in a world 26:13 where people see people that are down and out. 26:15 I was listening recently to a statistic 26:17 that is true in Silicon Valley. 26:20 There's many of the guys that are out there 26:21 smoking crack and doing drugs 26:24 were formerly making six figure incomes. 26:28 And the demand on programming these video games 26:31 and computer programming, 26:33 the demand was so great 26:34 that the companies didn't even mind for them 26:36 to smoke it 26:37 because they don't want them to sleep within 24 hours 26:39 because the deadlines 26:41 of getting that videogame out there 26:42 was more important than their sleep 26:44 and their health. 26:45 So they knew they were doing crack on the job, 26:47 but they did it so much that they lost their job 26:50 and you have this debt, 26:51 they have this whole community of people living in tents 26:53 and on mattresses and in boxes. 26:57 And I saw that video 26:59 and there was one guy they showed him 27:01 and he introduced himself and he told what he has. 27:03 I got a master's degree in this, 27:05 in computer engineering and all, 27:06 and I worked for, 27:07 he mentioned the company and I lost it 27:09 because of crack and they followed his story. 27:12 And at the end of that, 27:13 he went to a place got little shower 27:16 and was in shower but got a shower, 27:20 got as clean as he could and he got hired. 27:23 And he said, "I start on Monday 27:25 and might get back to my six-figure income." 27:29 So this is something more and I want you to 27:30 those who are listening, watching. 27:32 I want you to think 27:33 that when you see people on the street, 27:35 they may be a statistic to you. 27:37 That's somebody's son or somebody's daughter, 27:40 who may be just in a valley of their lives 27:42 that is on their way 27:44 to the ministry to change lives. 27:47 So here we are. 27:48 SALT began in 2011. 27:51 And take us 27:52 through some of those grand moments 27:54 because we talked about that shower truck. 27:57 I want to, I want our audience to kind of, 27:59 we want to catapult here 28:00 and go on to some of the pictures. 28:02 Because one truck, 28:04 I don't want to go to that what you are now 28:06 or one trailer, 28:07 but let's walk us through that? 28:09 Give us some more of that background? 28:10 Yeah, yeah. 28:12 So in, in, really, we started with food, 28:15 you know, and that was just kind of the main thing 28:19 that was needed at that time, 28:21 a certain day of the week. 28:23 So we fill that gap. 28:24 We're feeding, 28:26 started to feed about 200-300 individuals, 28:28 you know, with hundreds of different volunteers 28:31 that come through and help. 28:32 In 2016 is when we fundraised for a clothing trailer. 28:37 And the clothing trailer was something 28:39 that we used to hand our clothing. 28:42 You know, we would hand our hygiene products 28:43 from that trailer. 28:45 2018 was the shower trailer. 28:47 Now, I want to say 28:48 that 3ABN viewers and listeners, 28:51 you have been a part of this impact, 28:53 because they paid for half of that trailer. 28:57 You know, we came on here two years ago, 29:00 three years ago 29:01 and we mentioned the vision of that shower trailer. 29:05 And 3ABN viewers responded, 29:07 you know, some and some of them $25 checks, $50 checks. 29:11 It added up, you know, one person gave over 10,000. 29:16 You know, it was just a huge, huge blessing. 29:19 So that was monumental for us. 29:21 And that's when we really started to realize 29:23 that we were becoming this mobile service center 29:27 for the homeless, 29:29 you know, because we had haircuts too. 29:30 So showers, clothes, haircuts, hygiene product, food. 29:34 And then in 2020, 29:37 you know, we started operating three days a week, 29:41 you know, 29:43 and things have just been continuing to grow. 29:45 We got some new things on the horizon 29:47 that we're excited about. 29:48 We'll talk about that later. Yeah, yeah, but... 29:50 Now, how do you pick your locations? 29:52 And then I've got a question that just came in. 29:54 So I'll ask you that in just a minute 29:56 and we want to remind our viewers and listeners 29:59 to send in your questions. 30:01 We're going to be answering questions 30:03 pertaining to the Ministry of SALT. 30:05 You can text them to (618) 228-3975 30:10 or call and speak to someone in our call center 30:13 at (618) 627-4651 30:16 or if you want to get on the computer, 30:17 you can email us at Live@3abn.tv. 30:22 So how do you pick your locations, Eric? 30:25 So we started in 2018-2019, rotating locations. 30:31 Some of them, the main element that we needed 30:34 was a place where we can hook up to water, 30:37 we used to have to hook up the power, 30:39 but that's changed this year, which we'll go into later. 30:42 But, and then also a place where we can dump black water, 30:45 you know, place that the city allows us 30:47 to dump black water. 30:49 Just so happened that 30:50 two of those places were Adventist churches, 30:52 which was perfect. 30:54 And then the other two places where other churches 30:58 that we could just rotate out and go to. 31:00 Right now we're at a singular location, 31:03 especially during COVID, 31:04 we want to make sure that everyone knows exactly 31:06 where we are. 31:08 And then the site we're working at right now, 31:09 which is the Christian Service Center 31:11 has been so supportive of this ministry, 31:14 and has helped in so many other ways, 31:15 which, you know, I can go into later as well. 31:18 But, but yes, so right now 31:19 we're just at that one location. 31:21 That's awesome. 31:22 Let me ask you this question here. 31:25 It says, "How can my teens 31:27 and I get involved with SALT in the Seattle area? 31:32 Okay, so... 31:36 So we're only operating in Orlando right now. 31:39 For people that are remote in other areas, 31:43 we have done remote leadership positions, 31:46 depending if there's special skills 31:48 in certain areas 31:49 that can assist with the outreach. 31:52 And then the obvious also is, 31:55 is to support the organization financially as well. 31:58 becoming a monthly donor. 32:00 You know, those are kind of the main, 32:02 two main things that kind of pop out 32:04 as ways for people to get involved that are so, 32:06 I mean, that's the opposite side 32:07 of the country. 32:09 But who knows Seattle, 32:10 maybe we'll be there soon, you know. 32:13 What if somebody wanted to do what you're doing and said, 32:16 "Okay, I want to partner with you 32:17 under your name, 32:19 but make that another chapter, 32:20 and raise funds to get a shower truck... 32:24 Change trailer. 32:26 Change trailer, clothing 32:28 and then that'll be a chapter 32:29 that comes all under that 501 C3. 32:32 I think you mentioned, 32:33 you'd like to maybe ought to stretch than you already, 32:35 because you said earlier, 32:37 I like to start operating in different locations. 32:40 And God is calling on you right now. 32:42 But I think there's somebody you could follow up on 32:44 and just maybe. 32:45 Yeah, for sure. 32:47 Yeah, I would say go on our website, 32:48 go on the contact us and ask, you know, whatever questions, 32:51 I'll make sure to email back me or my, my assistant. 32:55 Sounds good. Sounds good. 32:57 So, okay, so we've got how you pick your locations. 33:02 What have you been hearing from people, 33:05 you know, when they come to the trailers? 33:07 Like what are some of the things 33:08 that you've been hearing about, let's say the change trailer? 33:11 Yeah. 33:12 So you mean, when someone comes to get services from us? 33:14 Yes, yes. 33:15 What are some things that they say? 33:16 Yes. 33:18 So, you know, we actually have a person that, 33:22 that came to us, and they were, 33:26 they were almost in tears, 33:27 you know, and they came up to us and, 33:29 and said, "Hey, 33:31 everything I'm wearing right now 33:32 is from you guys. 33:34 And I'm not here to get served, 33:35 you know, but because of you guys, 33:39 I've been able to get a job and get off the street." 33:41 So we hear things like that, you know. 33:45 We recently heard from someone 33:47 that was able to get moving into housing 33:50 after services with us and stuff. 33:52 That that we are, 33:56 the talk on the street about us is that we care which is huge. 34:02 They're like, you know, we come to you guys 34:04 because we know that you care about us. 34:05 Not saying 34:07 that the other organizations don't care 34:09 but for that to stand out to them is, 34:12 was huge for us 34:14 because that's what we want to show, you know. 34:16 This is service and love together 34:18 with the salt of the earth, you know. 34:19 We want them to know that we love them, 34:22 that we care about them, you know. 34:24 So that's been exciting to hear some of those things you know. 34:28 Absolutely. 34:30 I think we should check out some pictures, 34:31 what do you think? 34:32 I think we should and as we go through those 34:34 describe it 34:35 and so that those who are not watching 34:36 could understand what it is. 34:38 Walk through some of those 34:39 because this ministry is amazing. 34:40 We had so many way, 34:42 we had to kind of narrow it down 34:43 but what an amazing thing 34:45 that people could find out more about it. 34:46 Let's bring one of those pictures here. 34:47 Yeah, so basically the concept 34:49 is three vehicles and three trailers. 34:52 Each vehicle pulling a trailer, you have the van, 34:55 the 15-passenger van which we also use for shuttling 34:58 that can pull our clothing trailer. 34:59 A truck that can pull the shower trailer. 35:02 And then we'd have a laundry trailer 35:04 that can get pulled by a box truck 35:05 or another truck as well, 35:08 the box truck being used for storage services. 35:11 So that's the concept. 35:12 And those are the services that we would, 35:15 we aim to provide through these vehicles, right? 35:18 So you have the showers, 35:20 the haircuts, the clothes, food, hygiene product, 35:24 you have laundry storage, 35:26 you have shuttle services, mail services, 35:29 they don't have an address. 35:30 So we got a PO Box 35:31 so that they can get their stuff mailed to us. 35:33 And we bring it to them whenever we get it. 35:36 And then diversion services. 35:38 So that's basically case management services, 35:40 you know, because we don't want to just end it at, 35:44 you know, here's some services, see you later. 35:46 We want to be able to connect them 35:48 with the other organizations 35:49 that could take them on to that next step 35:51 to end their homelessness. 35:54 Wait, how did you grab that? 35:56 Because that's, the two things that just shocked me was, okay, 35:59 you allow people that don't have an address 36:02 to use your PO Box, so they could get corresponded. 36:05 So you become the mail service also. 36:07 Right, right. 36:08 And the other part, reiterate that, 36:12 getting people connected to resources. 36:13 Yeah, it's case management. 36:15 So basically, when someone comes to us, 36:18 they might get a shower, might get clothes, 36:20 might get a haircut, 36:22 but they might need something more, 36:23 like, for example, that guy that came on Tuesday, 36:25 was looking for a job, got showered, got the clothes, 36:28 got the job. 36:30 Now is going to be working with our case manager 36:32 to help them maintain that job. 36:33 Do they need transportation? 36:35 Maybe they need a bus ticket. 36:37 You know, there's other people 36:38 that just don't know the services out there. 36:40 Maybe they need identification. 36:42 We can, our case manager can refer them, 36:44 warm transfer them in, 36:46 you can say to that organization 36:48 that can help them with those. 36:50 There's an organization that's starting up 36:51 right next to us called First Steps, 36:53 which helps those 36:55 that are experiencing homelessness, 36:56 find employment and break those barriers 36:58 that prevent them from being employed. 37:00 So that case manager is key in helping to connect us 37:05 and the people we serve to the next level 37:09 to get them to where they need to be. 37:11 So do you organize the case manager 37:13 to be at the locations, you synchronize their service? 37:16 We do. 37:17 We just hired our first case manager 37:20 in November, 37:21 hiring another one in January. 37:23 And we have four social work interns 37:25 starting with us in January as well. 37:27 So we'll have six case managers on site. 37:29 This is literally, I mean, I'm just excited 37:32 because you are changing lives on wheels. 37:35 You're not even in a building. 37:36 And how appropriate is that, Jason, 37:38 in this COVID environment where people say, 37:40 let's get social distance. 37:42 We don't want to go on the inside. 37:43 Even if they close the inside down, 37:45 SALT is still open. 37:47 We can still operate, yep. Yes. 37:48 And that's huge. 37:50 Because you're dealing with every facet, right? 37:53 So tell us about the other part of the evangelism effort, 37:58 like do you have church services? 37:59 Yes. 38:01 So we do have a mobile church 38:06 that comes out to us. 38:08 And it's actually Lighthouse Seventh-day Adventist Church. 38:11 So SALT and Light, 38:12 you know, kind of funny how that works out. 38:14 It didn't put, we didn't plan it that way, 38:15 it just stood out that way. 38:17 Yeah, God planned that. Yes. 38:19 So they actually got a box truck, right? 38:21 They cut out the side of the box truck, 38:23 so it can come down and be like a stage. 38:26 So they actually come to the outreach 38:28 in that box truck 38:29 and they do service 38:31 for those experiencing homelessness once a month. 38:33 They can't, most of them 38:34 can't even get into a church right now. 38:37 So being able to bring service to them outside 38:39 is a way that we can help 38:40 kind of bring that spiritual element to them. 38:44 So we are looking to hire Bible worker too next year 38:48 to help really foster that growth. 38:50 There is one thing I want to mention 38:52 and, you know, we've come to realize 38:55 that when someone is experiencing homelessness, 38:59 it's hard for them to be consistent 39:01 in that spiritual walk, 39:02 you know, they fear for their safety every day, 39:05 you know, and so how can they be consistent 39:08 in studying the Bible and getting 39:09 but in the video, you know, we mentioned Pat 39:12 who was homeless, who we hired. 39:14 Yes. 39:15 Once he got, when we hired him, 39:17 we also moved him into a shelter 39:19 into a place where he has a bed, nice bed, 39:21 roof over his head. 39:22 And that's when 39:23 he started doing daily devotions. 39:25 You look to his Facebook now, 39:26 you can see all his daily devotions 39:28 on his Facebook, 39:29 of all the things he's studying and learning, 39:30 that's when he had sheltered that's when it really took off. 39:34 So we're really kind of working on focusing 39:37 that evangelistic effort 39:39 to kind of, you know, plant that, 39:41 sow seeds in the beginning, 39:42 you know, through a mobile service prayer, 39:44 through a Bible worker kind of coming out 39:46 doing group studies or whatever. 39:48 And then when they move into housing 39:50 really taking it to that next level, 39:52 that's kind of the thought process 39:53 behind it. 39:55 Yeah, that's huge. 39:56 One plants another waters, but God gives the increase. 39:59 Amen. That's right. 40:00 SALT, I mean, that's just powerful. 40:02 Do you see Christ method being implemented there? 40:05 Go to the people. That's right. 40:06 Take care of their needs. 40:07 People are more willing to believe what you teach, 40:10 when they see 40:11 that you're more than just what you say. 40:13 I like that we care. 40:15 Let's go, do some more pictures, 40:16 just kind of get a flavor 40:18 of what is going on with this ministry. 40:20 Yeah, that's just a picture of us 40:21 handing some water and some snack bags 40:23 out of the clothing trailer there. 40:26 We got, some of our volunteers on the left 40:28 is one of our staff members 40:30 cleaning the shower after someone used it. 40:34 So this right here is a blueprint 40:35 of our laundry trailer. 40:37 Oh, wow. 40:38 So this is, it was actually a lot more expensive 40:40 than the shower trailer. 40:41 But this is coming in January, 40:43 we still need to raise an additional 8,000 40:45 to really kind of break even with this purchase, 40:48 but we're still working on it, 40:49 still got some time before we get it. 40:52 But it is planned to be delivered 40:54 at the end of this month, beginning of next month. 40:55 It'll have six washers and dryers 40:57 that can be accessed from the outside. 41:00 Were those experiencing homelessness, 41:02 you know, what happens 41:03 is they get clothing donations, right? 41:06 And when their clothes get dirty, 41:07 what are they going to do? 41:08 You know, they can't wash them. 41:10 So what they end up doing is throwing out their clothes. 41:13 Having laundry services 41:15 will enable that clothing donation 41:16 to go even farther. 41:18 And then for us, 41:20 being able to wash the towels that we give them, 41:22 you know, it'll help us save on underwear and socks if 41:25 they're able to wash their underwear and socks, 41:28 you know, because we actually give 41:30 a pair of underwear and socks, 41:31 at least to every person that takes a shower 41:33 at the bare minimum. 41:34 But with this laundry trailer, 41:36 it could really help kind of curb 41:39 that expense a little bit, so. 41:42 Wow, wow. I'm blown away. 41:44 I mean, we could end the program right there. 41:45 Let's do a fundraiser right here. 41:47 Yeah. God has been so good to us. 41:50 It's amazing. It's crazy. 41:52 It can only be God 41:53 to see this kind of exponential growth 41:54 this year. 41:56 It's been amazing. 41:57 Let me just plug some in here right now 41:58 because then we have some more pictures. 42:00 But I know that people are watching this program 42:01 and probably saying, am I hearing right? 42:03 This young man who was once homeless 42:05 on the streets of Chicago, God said, "Get out of Chicago. 42:10 Go come on down to Orlando. 42:11 You're going to be homeless, 42:13 at least get some warm weather." 42:15 But God had deep provision for you. 42:17 I mean, think about it. 42:18 First of all the change, what was the first truck? 42:21 The change trailer with the clothing and hygiene. 42:24 Then we got the shower trailer. 42:26 Shower trailer, next one. 42:27 Next is going to be the laundry trailer. 42:29 Okay. That is huge. 42:31 I mean, can you imagine? 42:32 I have never seen, I have never seen that, 42:35 but the world now, 42:36 you're metamorphosizing with the world. 42:38 You're saying, "Okay, 42:39 since you can't go into the laundromat, 42:41 bring the laundromat to the streets." 42:42 Absolutely. There's a song years ago. 42:45 I know, we were in opposite world, 42:46 so this is in the back of my mind, 42:48 taking it to the streets. 42:49 You know, this little, before your time, Jason, 42:51 I don't want to make you feel too young 42:53 but it was a song years ago 42:54 by group we're taking it to the streets, 42:56 and you're taking it to the streets. 42:58 This is not about denomination. 43:00 So you're a Seventh-day Adventist Christian 43:02 and a lot of your volunteers 43:03 but there are other people 43:05 that are volunteering that are not. 43:06 They're just people that care about people. 43:07 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. 43:09 We have people 43:10 that don't identify with the faith at all. 43:11 But they love, they love people, 43:13 you know, they love people. 43:14 And they love helping. 43:17 They have this, this heart, 43:18 especially the younger the younger people. 43:20 I mean, we're talking, I'm, I guess I'm still young, 43:22 I guess too. 43:24 I hope 'cause you're really close 43:25 to my age. 43:27 I'm really hoping you consider yourself young. 43:29 Yeah, I want... 43:31 You still have black hair so you're good. 43:32 Okay, cool. 43:34 Getting a few white hairs now here and then. 43:36 But, you know, 43:37 the younger people like 20 years old, 43:39 21 years old, they're volunteering, 43:41 they're coming out. 43:42 And you see that, 43:43 that genuine heart they have for people. 43:45 And I believe that's, 43:46 that's the Spirit working through them 43:47 to have that desire 43:49 to want to impact people's lives, you know, 43:52 and so, so yeah, 43:54 we have people that don't identify 43:55 with the faith at all, 43:56 people of all denominations 43:58 that come and volunteer with us. 43:59 Yeah, it's been, it's been cool 44:01 to see that kind of come together you know. 44:03 You know, I'm glad that you mentioned that 44:05 because you're talking about 44:06 how they want to impact other people's lives. 44:08 They want to help other people. 44:09 How has SALT impacted your life? 44:15 You know, I, when I think about it, 44:20 if God did not give me this idea, 44:26 give this idea to me, 44:27 if He did not work through me to help this to grow 44:30 and if He did not continue to motivate me 44:33 to continue going, 44:34 even when things were getting really rough and tough, 44:39 I don't know where I'd be. 44:40 SALT helps me to be able to use 44:47 the potential basically to use, 44:51 God can use me to my fullest capacity 44:53 through SALT. 44:55 And because of that, 44:57 it's helping me to stay you know, just on that path. 45:03 You know, I think with anybody, if you're in the church, right? 45:06 And you're studying the Bible and you're praying, 45:09 but you're not serving, right? 45:11 You're not practicing what you preach. 45:14 Then, you know, as the Bible says, 45:16 "Faith without works is dead." 45:18 So if you're not doing those works, 45:21 then your faith slowly starts to die. 45:24 And I think, I think my faith would be dead. 45:26 I think I'd be a pew warmer at a church not doing anything. 45:31 And I don't know where I'd be to be honest. 45:34 SALT is like your oxygen. 45:36 Yeah, yeah, it does so. 45:38 And I think, I think with anybody, 45:39 you know, whatever anyone does, whatever their skills are, 45:42 whatever their desires are to do, 45:46 God has something for them, 45:47 you know, and it could look different for everybody. 45:50 But it's important for us to answer that call 45:52 and to do it 45:53 to our fullest potential, you know, 45:55 because God will work through us 45:57 to make that a reality, you know. 46:00 Amen. 46:01 Speak a little bit to the consistency in service. 46:05 How important is consistency? 46:10 Without consistency, 46:12 I believe you can't bring anyone 46:15 into the kingdom. 46:16 And when I say that, 46:18 I say that because without consistency, 46:21 you can't create relationship. 46:24 Without relationship, 46:25 how are you going to win souls to the kingdom. 46:28 And that's a key element in service. 46:32 You know, I know that a lot of time, 46:34 we like to do these, 46:35 you know, once a year things, once every quarter. 46:37 And that's, that's our service. 46:39 I remember, I saw post, I saw a post on Facebook, 46:42 I don't know who it was, but they were like, 46:46 oh, did Thanksgiving dinner. 46:49 Did my service for the year. 46:51 For the year? Yeah, yeah. 46:53 And, but that's how, that's how we think nowadays, 46:58 you know, like, I did my, I did my good deed, I'm good. 47:02 You know, it's like, it's almost like a little meter 47:05 you have to fill, right? 47:07 And, oh, let me do it in January, 47:08 and then I'm good for the rest of the year. 47:10 I mean, I don't know, 47:11 you know, but that thinking is there, 47:13 you know, and consistency is important 47:16 to win people to the kingdom. 47:18 Otherwise, you know, 47:20 I believe that maybe people can be won temporarily. 47:23 But if there's no, 47:24 you know, you hear all the time people getting baptized. 47:26 Where's the person that brought them 47:29 into the church? 47:30 You know, are they gone? 47:31 It was that just they call baptism, 47:33 and then they disappear. 47:34 You know, so relationship and consistency 47:36 is important in service. 47:38 And what do you think helps to inspire 47:41 that consistency 47:43 or motivate you to be consistent? 47:48 It's, I mean, 47:50 when you know that God has called you 47:53 to do something, 47:55 and you know it for a fact, 47:56 and He's confirmed it to you time after time after time, 48:00 then it just becomes a part of you. 48:03 You know, it really does. 48:04 And when you look at, yeah, 48:10 it just, yeah, I mean, that's 48:12 and then when you see people's lives change, 48:15 when you see people come to Christ, 48:16 when you see someone get baptized 48:18 because of God using you in their life, 48:24 how can you stop? 48:25 How can you give up? 48:27 You know, Peter, 48:28 I remember in John Chapter 6, right? 48:32 Jesus talked about eating the, 48:36 His flesh and drinking His blood, 48:38 and they were misinterpreting 48:40 and, you know, a bunch of people left Him 48:42 and then Peter said, or Jesus said, 48:45 "Are you going to go too?" 48:46 And Peter's like, "Well, where else are we going to go? 48:48 You have the words of eternal life." 48:50 You know, it's, 48:52 once you experience that, you know, I mean. 48:55 So to break that down, 48:57 God's love is the motivating factor. 48:59 Yes, amen. 49:01 Yeah, that's the umbrella. 49:03 Everything falls under that. That's right. 49:05 Let's go to a few more pictures 49:06 before the end of this first hour 49:08 and just because we have some tremendous more material 49:11 to cover in the second hour. 49:12 And then we also going to talk 49:13 about some of your future projects. 49:16 We're going to also give you some amazing statistics 49:18 about how the Lord really expanded this ministry 49:22 between last year and this year. 49:25 But let's leave that for a second hour. 49:26 Let's go to some more pictures here 49:27 and explain to our viewers and listeners. 49:30 So God did something here. 49:34 Okay, 'cause... 49:35 This is a bus, huh? This is a bus. 49:37 Okay. 49:38 So I, it was one night, 49:41 and I saw an article, news article, 49:43 and it said, this electric bus company 49:46 is coming to Orlando, 49:47 and they're going to start transitioning 49:50 all their buses to electric by 2030. 49:52 And God just put it on my mind, message that bus company. 49:55 I said, okay. I went on there. 49:57 I went on their website, 49:59 and I went on their contact us page. 50:01 Hey, guys, this is what we do. 50:04 We'd love if you have a bus just laying around. 50:07 If you would like to donate that to us, 50:09 we would like to use it for storage services 50:11 for the homeless, the homeless, they don't, they don't have, 50:15 if they go to work, 50:17 they don't have a place to store their stuff. 50:18 So they have to hide it 50:20 and what happens a lot of times their stuff gets stolen. 50:22 Some people 50:23 just don't want to leave their stuff. 50:24 So it's hard for them to go to an interview 50:26 because they have all their stuff on their back. 50:29 So then I got an email back like two or three days later. 50:32 Yeah, let's talk. 50:34 We had a meeting, 50:35 they passed it through their executives. 50:38 We're good, that's the design for the new bus 50:40 that we're going to get in the beginning of next year, 50:42 and we're going to retrofit it with lockers 50:43 and provide storage services for the homeless. 50:45 Wow. 50:47 Well, I wish you would draw it. 50:48 For those of you 50:49 that are listening to the program, 50:51 you should see Jason's face right now. 50:52 I mean, really, that's amazing. 50:54 That's an act of faith. 50:56 What I'm loving about what I'm hearing, Eric, 50:58 is, I'm going to say this, again, 50:59 you are not allowing the dusts 51:01 to gather under your foot, 51:03 you're looking at opportunities, 51:04 God is flashing things before you 51:06 and He's giving you. 51:08 And I think it was Paul, who said this to King Agrippa. 51:12 I have not been untrue to the heavenly vision. 51:16 That's powerful to be true to the heavenly vision. 51:19 So you actually getting a bus. 51:21 These buses are about 35 to 40 feet long, 51:24 some of them. 51:25 Yeah, yeah. 51:26 So we would, it would be stationary 51:30 at a site that we're at. 51:31 But, you know, the site that we're 51:33 at the Christian service center, 51:34 they actually have been so supportive, 51:36 they're giving us a lot of space to operate. 51:40 So there shouldn't be an issue with space 51:42 to provide the service to the homeless. 51:44 It's needed. 51:45 There's no place in downtown Orlando 51:48 that provides storage services 51:50 for those experiencing homelessness, 51:51 on a level like that. 51:52 Yeah, I mean, that's huge. 51:55 The mobility aspect, as you brought out earlier, 51:57 is crucial, 51:59 especially for a time such as this. 52:01 I mean, that's that is huge. 52:03 And you're affecting every single aspect, 52:06 storage, shower, changing, job, 52:09 you guys help with resume building, too, 52:11 don't you? 52:12 So we, we have an organization 52:13 that's going to be right next to us 52:15 that's going to help with all those things, 52:16 but all the job, all the job barriers 52:18 that that need to be broken down there, 52:20 they're going to be there to help with all of that, 52:22 literally, in the next building, 52:24 like a few feet away from us, so. 52:25 Yes. 52:26 You know, there's another text that came to my mind 52:28 as the preacher hear, 52:29 go into the highways and hedges 52:31 and compel all men to come, 52:33 all things are now ready. 52:35 You literally, if you were ever, 52:37 and I know you're doing this, 52:38 now you have church services intermittently, 52:40 or on a consistent basis. 52:41 These are people that would say, 52:43 "Hey, you know, I believe in SALT. 52:45 They're changing my life. 52:47 I didn't know what life, 52:48 I didn't know that life could be this good." 52:51 And when, as James says, 52:52 If you see a person hungry and destitute 52:54 and you just do one thing and don't do the other, 52:57 but if you take care of their needs, 52:59 then they're open to the gospel. 53:00 You've seen that happened. 53:01 There was a video we showed earlier. 53:03 And I want to just go back to that. 53:05 If those of you are watching, 53:07 there was a gentleman 53:08 that was in charge of the hoses. 53:09 And he said I help now with the hoses 53:11 just give us an overview of his life. 53:13 Tall, Caucasian gentleman wore one of your SALT shirts. 53:16 Yeah, yeah, he was, when Coronavirus hit, 53:20 He was already someone volunteering with us. 53:23 I mean, he was homeless himself. 53:26 But when he would, he would come and get a shower. 53:28 He was so grateful that he wanted to give back 53:30 by cleaning the shower 53:32 after each other person that showered. 53:34 And so he was just volunteering with us, right? 53:35 And we're once a month, 53:37 you know, every other week in 2019, 53:41 once a month in 2018, then once a week in 2020. 53:44 And so when we, when Coronavirus hit, 53:46 the city wanted to partner with us. 53:48 We decided to hire him 53:49 as one of our people 53:50 to help keep the shower trailer clean and sanitized. 53:54 And as soon as we hired him, 53:57 we also moved him into shelter 53:58 through a partnership with the Hilton Orlando. 54:00 Got him into a hotel for about three and a half months. 54:04 Really nice hotel, $100 a night. 54:06 And what we're planning to do... 54:09 Did they donate that? 54:10 They donated it, yeah. 54:11 They donated over $100,000 in rooms to SALT. 54:15 Yeah, it's crazy. 54:17 Do you see how God is moving through this organization, 54:20 through SALT? 54:21 I mean, where He, where He calls you, 54:23 where He leads He provides. 54:25 That's right. 54:27 That was another late in, 54:28 my wife and I were just sitting on the couch late at night 54:31 and just got message the Hilton. 54:34 Okay. 54:36 We wanted to have a safe place where staff can go 54:38 and shower and get cleaned up 54:40 before they go home 54:41 so they don't bring anything back 54:43 to their families. 54:44 Just so happened 54:45 that same hotel we reached out to 54:47 was the same hotel that was housing 54:48 the National Guard doing testing, 54:49 perfect, the perfect hotel. 54:51 I didn't reach out to any other hotels. 54:53 It was that hotel. 54:56 And so I just, I know 54:57 God was definitely leading in that, so. 55:00 Wow, wow. 55:02 This is an exciting program that I'm listening to here. 55:05 Let's hit about a couple more pictures 55:06 and see what we could do before the first hour is done. 55:08 And by the way, Jason, very quickly 55:10 remind our audience 55:11 about how they could send questions in. 55:13 Because there may be somebody 55:14 that's going to take you up on that offer 55:15 to start a ministry 55:17 in a different chapter of the nation. 55:18 That's right. 55:19 We have a couple ways you can text your questions, 55:21 we recommend this way, 55:22 text your questions to (618) 228-3975 55:27 or email Live@3abn.tv. 55:30 Or feel free to call and speak to a live person 55:34 at (618) 627-4651. 55:38 Okay. 55:39 And this is the last picture in this section here. 55:43 Let's bring that up. 55:44 Oh, no, it's third, the last. 55:46 So that's our staff. 55:48 Some of our staff that I just want to show 55:50 who's on the front lines. 55:51 Go to the next picture there. 55:53 It's another picture of our, 55:54 of another one of our staff members 55:56 included there. 55:57 Next picture. 55:59 So this right here is the impact. 56:01 Now this is just, we actually went through, 56:03 it took some sleepless nights, 56:06 I went through each individual 56:07 that's got served with us from mid-March, 56:10 when the pandemic started to the end of September. 56:13 We found out that 17% of the people 56:16 that got services from us 56:17 after services got moved into shelter housing. 56:20 We found out that 30% took the next step 56:23 to end their homelessness after services with us. 56:26 Now that's getting ID, getting health care, 56:28 getting case management, 56:30 you know, whatever that next step 56:31 was for them, they took it. 56:33 We're able to confirm that through a system 56:35 that the city of Orlando has that we could look at. 56:38 And so, and then we also found 56:40 that one in five people that came to us for services 56:43 were new to homelessness. 56:46 And it's, with the pandemic happening, 56:48 businesses shutting down. 56:50 I mean, it's become a reality for a lot of people. 56:53 So this, I anticipate that what we are doing 56:56 is going to be more and more needed 56:57 as time progresses, 56:59 because the eviction at least in Florida, 57:02 the eviction notices 57:03 that can't be postponed anymore. 57:04 People are starting to get evicted, so. 57:06 Yeah, yeah. 57:08 I've been seeing a lot of that. 57:09 Yeah, I mean, it's huge what's taking place 57:12 because some people just need help. 57:14 Not everybody is homeless due to horrible choices. 57:17 Sometimes it's circumstances that you know, 57:20 lead to that homelessness. 57:22 And so that's really, really good. 57:24 Well, the first hour has gone real fast, Jason. 57:26 Take us down to the zero for the next hour 57:28 what could we look forward to? 57:29 Oh, we've got an exciting second hour. 57:31 We're going to learn 57:32 more about the Ministry of SALT, 57:33 answer some wonderful questions, 57:36 and talks for more about Pat as well. 57:38 We will be right back. 57:40 Don't go anywhere. |
Revised 2021-01-22