Participants:
Series Code: TDYL
Program Code: TDYL250008B
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00:10 Welcome back to 3ABN Today Live, and we have some new
00:15 guests with us. 00:16 We have, first of all, Dylan has been with us in the first 00:19 hour, and now we have Andre, Pershing, and Amy Pershing, and 00:27 Samantha, all Gideon Rescue Company team members. 00:33 Welcome. 00:33 Thank you. 00:35 Thank you. 00:37 Tell us what you've been doing with Gideon, and how you got 00:41 involved. 00:41 Let's start with Andre. 00:43 Well, it has a lot to do with, actually, my wife. 00:47 She was spearheading this. 00:49 Okay. 00:50 I was just behind following her. 00:53 Just, honestly speaking, you know, I could see, you know, 00:57 how husbands are sanctified through their wives. 00:59 You know, I wasn't like the one that would jump into these deep 01:02 waters. 01:03 And so, but I believe that God blessed me with the wife that 01:09 has very tender heart and sympathy toward those who need 01:13 them in suffering. 01:15 And so, God put it on her heart. 01:17 Just, we started visiting places that were hit with 01:20 tornadoes. 01:21 And so, we did that already before. 01:23 But then we heard about Gideon Rescue. 01:27 And I didn't know anything about Gideon Rescue at that 01:30 point. 01:31 But I got strongly impressed, Amy. 01:33 And she was following them, just one event after another, 01:38 their trips. 01:39 And I was trying to make a sense of, like, what is this 01:42 company that's so captivating for her? 01:45 And so, as the picture was, you know, getting more and more 01:50 clear to me, I was really amazed at what these people 01:54 were doing. 01:57 that? 01:58 Yeah. 02:02 work, you know, lifestyle center, bring the person there 02:05 and teach them. 02:07 But this is a little different. 02:09 This is where we actually go to where they are and where we're 02:13 trying to, you know, evaluate their need and to help them 02:17 with the physical, spiritual, and as was said in the previous 02:20 hour, to demonstrate them. 02:23 And I thought, wow, this is like, you know, elite force, so 02:27 to say, you know, go through a lot of deprivations. 02:32 You have to, you know, deny and sacrifice a lot of things to go 02:35 there. 02:37 And so, this is how, you know, step by step we were brought to 02:40 the knowledge about this Indian rescue. 02:46 So, Amy was the one who spearheaded this. 02:51 Okay, so how did you find out about it, Amy? 02:55 Honestly, through Facebook, I don't know if maybe some of the 03:00 viewers, maybe you, there's a Facebook page called Evangelion 03:05 Living. 03:11 administrator of it, just to help facilitate it. 03:14 And so, I saw a post from Corey, one of the founders, and 03:21 so when I saw that, I was immediately hooked and was 03:23 amazed. 03:25 And so, because of the fact, like my husband said, I had 03:28 already done some of that work, I love it, and so it's just a 03:32 part of my heart. 03:35 And what about you, Samantha? 03:37 Well, for me, I've grown up going on disaster responses, or 03:42 since I was really young, I would go with my friends and my 03:44 mom, and we would go to the different tornadoes that hit in 03:48 our area, and also different hurricanes that hit around 03:52 where we live. 03:54 So yeah, it's always just sort of been in my blood, I guess, 03:56 and so now that we've actually gotten to join an official 04:01 disaster response company, it's just super cool for me, because 04:05 it's something I've been doing so long, and so then I just get 04:10 to do it officially now. 04:11 How old are you? 04:12 Fifteen. 04:13 Fifteen. 04:15 When did you start? 04:16 Start disaster response? 04:18 How old was I? 04:18 Maybe eight. 04:19 Or maybe around eight. 04:20 Okay. 04:21 So yeah, it's in your blood now, right? 04:23 Yeah. 04:25 So tell us about the last disaster that you guys were 04:31 involved in ministering in. 04:33 What happened? 04:34 Yes. 04:39 We were one week in Florida, and then went straight to North 04:43 Carolina for another week. 04:45 Now, you and Dylan, have you guys been working together, or 04:48 is this a separate team? 04:50 I was in Africa while they were in Florida, and then I think 04:55 when they went to North Carolina, I went to Florida. 04:58 So like, our paths have crossed, but we've never worked 05:02 together. 05:03 Okay. 05:04 Because there's so many disasters happening that 05:07 there's people, we have team members going all over the 05:09 place. 05:10 That's amazing. 05:11 So tell us about this last one in Florida. 05:14 So it was after Hurricane Helene, a very devastating 05:18 hurricane for so many, and we went to Florida on faith. 05:26 All these disasters are going on faith. 05:28 So you don't plan either? 05:29 No. 05:31 I heard from Dylan and Carrie, they don't plan. 05:33 It's impossible to plan. 05:35 You just have to be willing, and you think, Okay, I can go 05:41 on this one. 05:42 I'm available, so I'm going to go. 05:44 And we went. 05:46 We went to Perry, Florida, and the Adventist Church there 05:51 allowed us to stay, and their recreation room on the floor. 05:55 You just bring your mats and your sleeping bag. 05:58 And the first night for us, there was no electricity, so it 06:01 was really hot. 06:02 But actually, I think in the middle of the night, the 06:04 electricity came on, so I was thankful for that. 06:07 We were all just huddled by the window. 06:08 Yes, so fresh air. 06:10 The Lord knows how much you can handle, so we didn't have to 06:13 endure that humidity for too long. 06:20 So like Dylan said, you don't really know exactly what you're 06:23 going to do when you go in. 06:25 So we already had a point of contact there. 06:28 One of the team members had already gone ahead of us. 06:30 Before the hurricane hit, I was amazed by that, that they go in 06:34 before the hurricane hits, and they hunker down. 06:37 To be there when the hurricane hits. 06:39 Yes, they hunker down, and that way, they can easily have 06:44 points of contact, because it's harder to get in if you go 06:48 afterwards. 06:50 So they want to be there beforehand. 06:53 So he was already making some connections, and the amazing 06:57 thing is that he made connection with a nonprofit 07:03 organization, and it provides supplies for pods, which are 07:12 points of distribution. 07:14 And this is a very large one, a very large organization that 07:17 does this. 07:23 supplies. 07:24 And what's in the supplies? 07:25 So it could be anywhere from hygiene products to non 07:29 -perishable food, and toiletries and cleaning 07:35 supplies, and of course, water. 07:40 Energy drinks? 07:41 Yes, energy drinks, yes. 07:44 All kinds of things. 07:46 She's probably thinking of Gatorade or something like 07:49 that. 07:49 Flashlights. 07:51 Well, of course. 07:57 This particular pod, the cars line up, and they go through, 08:02 and there's a person at each station, and then you're 08:05 distributing to them through the window of their car. 08:09 But what's wonderful is that this organization allowed us to 08:12 also give books with it. 08:15 And the people in this time, they're very hungry and open. 08:20 This is a perfect time. 08:22 If you have fear of giving out literature, like when you go to 08:24 the store or just some random person, you go to the disaster 08:29 zone, you'll have no problem. 08:31 This is the point where you can become very fulfilled in giving 08:34 out literature because they're asking for more. 08:37 Oh, can I have more copies? 08:38 I need to give it to my family members, my friends. 08:42 And there's thousands of cars going through, and so you have 08:45 this opportunity to give out that much literature. 08:48 It's amazing. 08:49 Oh, that's beautiful. 08:50 Yes. 08:53 They are. 08:54 They want something. 08:56 They have to get fed. 08:58 Yes, definitely, definitely. 09:00 And we did more than that, but we have so much more to share. 09:05 So yeah, however you want to, whichever stories you want to 09:11 listen to. 09:14 We love it. 09:18 then we can move on to the other parts. 09:21 So this was George and Sabrina. 09:23 So we went into a coastal city about 45 minutes away from 09:29 Perry, Florida called Steenhatchee. 09:33 What was it? 09:35 Steenhatchee. 09:38 Okay. 09:42 that came in from the ocean. 09:45 And we were having to go to the community center there so we 09:50 could retrieve names of people that needed help. 09:56 And there's an amazing story, really, of how we were able to 09:59 receive George's name, because we were having a hard time 10:03 actually, but the Lord is so amazing. 10:05 Even though you're having a hard time, He has reasons. 10:08 So even the first people that we went to, even it didn't work 10:11 out. 10:15 rescue team. 10:19 literature and they were very open to receiving it. 10:21 And even though we didn't do anything at that house. 10:24 And then we saw a small pod and we saw a lady there that we had 10:30 met from the first pod. 10:31 And she saw us and she said, oh, come, come, because help us 10:36 to hand out the food. 10:37 We said, okay, because we honestly, you go there, you 10:40 don't know what to do. 10:41 You have to be led by the Spirit. 10:42 You have to be constantly praying and in tune and saying, 10:45 Lord, tell us where do you want us to go? 10:47 Where do you want us to be? 10:49 And He makes these amazing connections, you know, and 10:51 they're not happen chance. 10:52 They're not coincidence. 10:54 Right. 10:57 this pod was an amazing connection because we were 11:01 wondering how can we really give out more literature? 11:03 And when you're handing out food, you easily can hand out 11:06 books. 11:09 And the woman that was running that pod, she was the main 11:14 woman with more names of people that we could help because we 11:18 were kind of hitting a wall at the community center. 11:21 And so we were wondering, you know, how can we get the names? 11:25 We want to get into the homes. 11:26 We want to get connect with the people. 11:28 And so we were amazed that this woman was there and she was our 11:32 connection. 11:33 And we told her, well, we want we're here. 11:34 We're here to help people. 11:36 Okay. 11:40 And when we called him, he said, yes, please come and help 11:44 us. 11:50 with water up to six feet. 11:52 And yes. 11:58 right above me. 11:59 So, yes, which I know they'll eventually bring it up. 12:02 Yeah. 12:02 Pull that picture. 12:03 Yes. 12:04 And yes, there it is. 12:05 That's in his house. 12:06 Wow. 12:07 Yes. 12:08 So he was having to clear out everything. 12:10 They were having to clear out everything from their house 12:12 because it's covered the water from the ocean. 12:16 It's surge water, but it's mixed with sewer water. 12:19 So it's just contaminated. 12:21 So they were working by themselves and they're an 12:23 elderly couple and they were tiring out and they needed to 12:28 get it out as fast as they can because they still wanted to 12:30 save their house before the mold was set in. 12:33 And so as they were leaving, his wife said they were just 12:37 going somewhere and they're going to come back. 12:39 But in the car, his wife said to him, George, we're not young 12:43 anymore. 12:47 And 40 seconds later, someone from our team called. 12:51 And that was when we got the name name from that woman at 12:54 the pot that we were praying to God. 12:56 Lord, where do you want us to go? 12:58 We need to. 13:02 She gave us the name. 13:03 So the timing of everything was incredible. 13:06 So even going to the few houses ahead of time, that was kind of 13:10 a dead end where we couldn't help. 13:12 God was still using that, that timing, because for us to make 13:16 that phone call at the right time before they call, I will 13:21 answer. 13:21 Yes. 13:22 Right. 13:23 The same thing that happened with Dylan. 13:26 Yes, exactly. 13:28 So then we, my teammate and I stayed at the pod and then the 13:32 teenagers, the young people. 13:34 So we had two teenagers, two 15 year olds and two young adults 13:38 that went to help clean out the house. 13:43 And you can share if you want. 13:45 What was your impression of that? 13:46 And I can share the rest about what George. 13:49 Yeah, tell us what happened when you went there. 13:52 Well, yeah, definitely at first it was hard because it's not 13:55 the most pleasant job. 13:56 You know, you're there and you're waiting through all that 13:58 gunk and it doesn't smell. 14:01 Yeah, we had gloves. 14:02 Yes, we had gloves. 14:03 But it doesn't smell very good. 14:05 And you know, at first it's like, but after that, believe 14:10 it or not, as I began to work, I actually began to enjoy it 14:14 because like even as I was there just covered in that 14:17 gunk. 14:19 I don't know, it was just it was just one of the most 14:21 fulfilling things that I've ever done, honestly, because 14:23 just seeing how appreciative the people were and being able 14:26 to help them out like that was just amazing. 14:28 And Mr. George, the man, he said that every time he saw me 14:33 and my friends smiling as we worked, it restored his faith 14:37 in God. 14:42 a simple smile can make such a huge impact in someone's life. 14:46 And now I'm aiming every day to put a smile on my face, even 14:51 when it's hard. 14:52 And the couple also told us that we're considered family to 14:56 them now. 14:58 That's so beautiful. 14:59 You made some permanent friends. 15:01 We did. 15:03 So when you so you went in, you and your friend went in and you 15:08 were cleaning like the water. 15:11 What were you doing? 15:12 Yeah, so we were just trying because they had a lot of 15:15 furniture in their house because they actually owned a 15:17 thrift store inside their house. 15:18 So they had tons of clothes, tons of furniture, all just 15:23 gone. 15:23 Oh, yeah. 15:24 And that was really hard for them because it's like they put 15:27 a lot of work into it. 15:28 They had a really nice shop. 15:29 The neighbors were saying it was one of the prettiest little 15:31 shops they've ever seen. 15:33 And so all of that stuff just got piled onto each other in 15:35 like an almost untangible, untangling, like, you know, 15:38 really tangled mess. 15:39 Yeah. 15:43 it on the road and also clean out all of the gunk and the 15:48 water and sewer water and stuff and try to sweep it out of 15:51 their house. 15:54 Right. 15:57 So this is their house? 15:59 This is their house, yes. 16:00 And pulling everything out. 16:01 So you can see it goes on the side of the road. 16:04 And then this big dumpster with this big arm has to pick it up. 16:10 So they have to start all over again. 16:12 They do. 16:14 But they said that their faith was restored, you know, not 16:18 only in God, but in humanity. 16:19 Because George even said that, he said, when these young 16:22 people came, he said, I thought that when they would come in 16:25 the house, because the smell was really bad, I thought that 16:28 they would come in and go right out. 16:31 But he couldn't believe that they stayed to the very end. 16:34 And they were there for a day and a half, helping them to the 16:37 very end. 16:38 Wow. 16:39 So, and we went back, actually not us, friends of ours went 16:43 back to revisit them, people that had worked. 16:47 And they shared how blessed they were and how impacted. 16:51 They couldn't stop talking about that experience and how 16:54 much it blessed them. 16:55 And there's actually a video of George he's sharing. 16:59 Oh. 16:59 We can see him. 17:00 Yeah, let's take a look. 17:02 It's a video. 17:08 people coming to help you? 17:10 The grace of God. 17:11 The grace of God. 17:14 Grace, grace, grace. 17:18 And without that, nothing else matters. 17:22 With God's grace, what little you have is a lot. 17:25 Without God's grace, no matter what you have. 17:27 Amen. 17:28 You see what a day can mean. 17:30 You see what an hour can mean. 17:33 I mean, without His protection, we need people like you, all of 17:41 you. 17:43 Without the grace of God, where would any of us be without His 17:48 grace? 17:49 Amen. 17:53 What happened is, as we mentioned before, I was taking 17:57 part in helping previously with disasters that were not 18:02 associated with Gideon Rescue. 18:03 You may say me as a late fruit. 18:05 Look at me as a late fruit. 18:06 A late fruit. 18:06 I was kind of fruition. 18:10 And it was a gradual process. 18:14 I've been with Gideon Rescue when we visited Winder in 18:22 Georgia with the shooting that we talked about a little 18:26 earlier, and we did the recording, so there will be a 18:28 program dedicated just to that. 18:31 But these particular disasters, I wasn't there with them. 18:35 So, as I said, I would be an example of somebody who joins 18:40 at the 11th hour. 18:42 But He sent us with His support, His full support, and 18:46 I'm very thankful for that, and His prayers. 18:48 That's so important. 18:49 So, tell us some more. 18:50 Tell us some more stories. 18:52 More stories. 18:53 Well, I know Dylan has something. 18:56 We have one that goes kind of with what they're talking 18:58 about. 18:59 Almost the same. 19:00 We have a theme with our stories, and you want to share 19:04 that theme, Dylan? 19:05 You can share the theme. 19:06 Okay. 19:12 it's not necessarily giving a cooking class or a hydrotherapy 19:16 demonstration, but we're going to the people, and like Jesus 19:21 said, we're binding up broken hearts, and a merry heart doeth 19:28 good like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bone. 19:31 So, we're bringing joy to people's heart again, and we're 19:35 bringing them hope again, and courage again, and restoring 19:38 faith. 19:39 So, that all affects the immune system. 19:41 So, that's all a part of medical missionary work. 19:44 So, this is our theme in these stories that we're sharing, so 19:47 people can see that they, too, can be a medical missionary. 19:50 Anybody can be a medical missionary. 19:52 My daughter was a medical missionary by putting a smile 19:55 on that man's face and restoring his faith in God. 19:58 Yes, yes. 20:00 You are actually the hands of Christ. 20:03 Yes. 20:03 You're doing what He did. 20:05 Yes. 20:06 And so, people are seeing Christ in you, and that's so 20:09 important. 20:11 So, I actually don't have any pictures of this. 20:13 I was just reminded of the story when she was sharing, and 20:17 this was, we were in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, when 20:22 it got hit by a big tornado, and we were at this one house, 20:26 and we had tried multiple times to help them, and they were 20:29 very cold and very rude and didn't want any help, even 20:33 though their house was a disaster, and they needed help, 20:38 but they wouldn't accept it. 20:41 Was it because you were Christian? 20:43 No, I think they just didn't want it. 20:47 They may have thought that maybe we were trying to do it 20:49 for money or things like this, but they were atheists, very 20:54 atheists. 20:55 Okay. 20:56 And of course, when we first meet them, we try to give them 20:59 some books as well, and they didn't want anything to do with 21:01 it, but we were persistent, because we recognized their 21:04 need was so great, both spiritually and physically, and 21:09 we continually went back, and I think probably like the fifth 21:11 or sixth time we went back, they finally let us in, and we 21:16 brought in a group of kids, and we cleaned out their house, 21:20 moved, because the tree had fallen, split their house in 21:23 half, and it was just full of water, and everything was 21:25 ruined, so we cleared out a whole bunch of stuff, and 21:28 worked on cutting the tree out, and this took like two days 21:32 with everybody, and by the end, we were praying with them, and 21:38 they actually were in like we were in their yard and they 21:41 were just in tears praying with us and they said we have never 21:46 considered looking at God in any way but we said what we've 21:51 seen in you is we see God and that's that's something that we 21:54 want and after this whole experience we leave to go to 21:58 the neighbor's house and they were outside raking their yard 22:02 when they saw this and every house in the neighborhood was 22:06 fine except for those people's house and they told us that 22:09 those people had been struggling with cancer and 22:13 disease and sickness that they didn't have set like they had 22:16 had a time on I think the wife only had a couple of months to 22:20 live and they had lost a family and then this tornado hits 22:24 their house only and they've been so discouraged and she's 22:28 the the owner of the neighbor the neighbor's house they said 22:31 we have been praying for that family for so long And she 22:35 said, and then she just broke down crying, and she said, we 22:38 never thought of going over there to see if we could help. 22:42 She said, what your demonstration that you 22:45 persistently came back and you eventually broke down the walls 22:49 of we don't want any help to now they were in their yard, we 22:54 were singing them a song and they were crying, we were 22:57 praying together. 22:58 She said, I could have done that. 23:00 And she was just in tears with regret that she didn't act on 23:05 that. 23:08 time. 23:09 They're still your neighbors. 23:11 We're leaving today. 23:12 And she said, I'm going to go over there tomorrow and bring 23:15 them some food. 23:16 And we just activated her neighbor. 23:18 Their neighbor can now be ministering to them. 23:21 And it just reminded me that when she was talking about that 23:26 that restored their faith, they told us the same thing, that 23:29 now they truly want a relationship with God and they 23:32 want to know the God that we serve. 23:35 That is so beautiful. 23:37 Dylan, you have a verse that goes with that. 23:39 Isaiah 60, are you there? 23:42 I'm not. 23:42 It's okay. 23:43 You can read it if you want. 23:44 Are you sure? 23:45 Yes, I'm sure. 23:46 Dylan, he really loves this verse. 23:49 Isaiah 60, verse one. 23:52 I'm there. 23:53 Yay. 23:54 It says, arise and shine for your light has come and the 23:58 glory of the Lord has risen upon you. 24:00 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and the deep 24:02 darkness, the people, but the Lord will rise over you and his 24:06 glory will be seen upon you. 24:07 The Gentiles shall come to your light and the kings to the 24:10 brightness of your rising. 24:12 Lift up your eyes all around and see they all gathered 24:15 together. 24:16 They come to you. 24:18 And it's not to us. 24:20 It's not anything to get in rescue company or to any one of 24:24 us, but they're coming to the light of Christ. 24:26 That's right. 24:32 18, 1. 24:33 This is what is going to happen. 24:35 And we need to start doing that now. 24:37 We need to start letting the Holy Spirit in and change our 24:40 lives that everywhere we turn, no matter the crisis, no matter 24:44 how dark the situation, the Christ light is shining through 24:48 us. 24:49 That's beautiful. 24:50 I think about how when so much is going on and people are so 24:59 secular minded and they don't have any interest in God and 25:05 the Lord has a way of getting your attention. 25:09 And so it's interesting because all the other houses were okay, 25:13 but this one. 25:15 I needed to get their attention. 25:16 He needed to get their attention and he got it. 25:19 And then you guys went in and showed God's love to them. 25:24 They didn't even want to deal with you at first. 25:27 They were pushing you away. 25:29 They were like, no, we're not interested. 25:31 We don't want this, but the persistence and the Holy Spirit 25:36 does that with us. 25:39 He continues to work on us, right? 25:42 He continues to do whatever is needed to get us either back on 25:48 track. 25:51 someplace else or to get us on track, period. 25:56 Like these atheists. 25:57 And they saw the love of Jesus in you and they want what you 26:01 have because it's different. 26:05 It is so different. 26:05 That's beautiful. 26:06 I love that story. 26:07 Amen, it is a beautiful story. 26:10 So what happened finally with George? 26:13 Did George come to a place of... 26:16 Well, he was already a Christian, right? 26:18 Yes, definitely. 26:19 He was already close to God and he was trusting him through 26:22 this whole disaster. 26:23 Good. 26:24 What did this do for you, for your faith and your 26:28 relationship with Jesus? 26:30 Well, definitely seeing how somebody could lose literally 26:35 everything and still have a smile on their face and 26:40 actually say that because they were able to meet us and that 26:45 we were able to help them and that we restored their faith in 26:49 God he said that he has joy in all of this and that he's even 26:56 grateful almost that this has happened to him just because he 27:00 was able to have his faith strengthened and actually see 27:03 that there is still hope left for this world. 27:05 So that really impacted my life because I'm like, I don't know 27:09 how I would act in that kind of situation where I lost 27:12 literally everything I owned. 27:14 And so that just really helped me to see that no matter what, 27:17 you can still really trust God and know that all things were 27:20 together for good. 27:21 That's so good. 27:22 That's so good. 27:23 It's true. 27:25 I was amazed when he said, I have joy and his wife kind of 27:29 tried to him. 27:30 Yeah, she's like, George! 27:32 When he said, I'm glad this happened because I got to meet 27:35 you. 27:39 you. 27:40 Oh, that's so beautiful. 27:41 And you know, the thing is, is we know who we are. 27:44 We know where we've come from. 27:46 We know the struggles we have. 27:47 We know all the un-Christ likeness that we've had to go 27:51 through and go to the feet of Jesus and overcome. 27:55 And for people to say that, it's like, that is definitely 27:58 Jesus because we know our hearts. 28:00 Our hearts are not like that at all. 28:03 People say, oh, you're so nice. 28:04 And I say, you know what? 28:05 You don't live with me. 28:10 Isn't it funny how the closer you draw to Jesus, the more you 28:15 see how unworthy you are, but how worthy he is. 28:22 Exactly. 28:23 Right? 28:27 You know, I think about the verse that says, all have 28:29 sinned and fall short, not have fallen, but fall. 28:34 Fall short, yeah. 28:35 It's a present tense. 28:37 We all fall short. 28:38 That's right. 28:39 But his righteousness is what we look for. 28:41 Exactly. 28:45 shine and people are coming to Jesus as a result of what 28:49 you're doing. 28:49 Yes, yes. 28:50 Yeah. 28:51 So tell us some more about this last disaster. 28:54 So the other story that we have is from North Carolina. 28:59 We went there and right after Florida. 29:04 And in fact, North Carolina was not even planned. 29:06 North Carolina was, right when we got home from Florida, we 29:10 said, you know, we need to go to North Carolina too. 29:12 And we had a ride. 29:14 So we hopped on, Samantha and I, and Lucas. 29:18 And we arrived in North Carolina and we had amazing 29:22 experiences there. 29:23 I met so many precious people. 29:26 They didn't know where we were going to stay or what we were 29:29 going to do, but we were able to stay in a fire station. 29:32 So what'd you do when you first got there? 29:36 We arrived at night and we had to stop somewhere to like, and 29:41 find an inn. 29:44 Who would take us in to the inn? 29:47 And we stopped at one fire station and they directed us to 29:51 another fire station. 29:52 And this fire station was the most amazing fire station that, 29:56 I mean, I've never stayed in a fire station, but if you want 29:59 to meet a very hospitable fire station with some beautiful 30:02 people, go to the Frank fire station. 30:05 They are incredible. 30:07 And they let us stay there. 30:08 And it was, we arrived, I think it was after nine and it was 30:13 time for those ladies to go home and they were in the 30:15 kitchen and they were tired. 30:18 And, but they still with a smile on their face took us in. 30:21 I mean, this was like in the old days, you know, people 30:23 willing to take people in who just come on, show up on their 30:27 front door, right? 30:27 You don't see this anymore. 30:29 But in a disaster, you know, with the community officials 30:35 like the fireplace and I guess even the small town fire 30:39 station, this is their mentality because it is a very 30:43 small town in the mountains in the country. 30:45 And they call themselves mountain people. 30:48 And this is the way mountain people treat others, you know, 30:50 the hospitality, they're the Appalachians. 30:54 Oh, okay. 30:57 knew about. 30:58 A lot of poverty. 30:59 Yes, yes, but it's so hospitable. 31:01 So with all the electricity down and everything, for the 31:05 most part, thankfully in the fire station, it wasn't, but 31:08 there, the volunteers there, the ladies that cooked in the 31:12 kitchen, they would say, yeah, it's still down at my house. 31:14 And so every day we would, someone would come in, all the 31:17 electricity's up in my house and everybody would celebrate. 31:20 And that was, yeah, so we got to celebrate with them. 31:22 Yeah, yeah. 31:23 So you didn't go in with the plan. 31:26 No. 31:26 Either you just... 31:27 We just went with God. 31:28 And when you do that, I'm telling you, God leads in the 31:31 most adventurous ways. 31:32 And that's why teenagers are so attracted to this ministry. 31:35 It has made such a transformation on teenagers. 31:38 I mean, it made a transformation on Dylan's life 31:40 from when he was a teenager. 31:42 And then now on our teenagers, we can see it's impacting them 31:46 so much. 31:47 That's so... 31:47 Yes, yes. 31:49 That's so correct. 31:54 young people, their teenagers on. 31:55 How long have you been with Gideon? 31:58 Well, I would say officially, I mean, the first disaster was in 32:03 September of last year. 32:05 So, and then I guess we became a core members. 32:12 Since September, they've been, she, it's amazing. 32:16 She does all of our, like we'll send her papers to edit. 32:19 Like she does our newsletter for us. 32:21 Like I'm horrible with a computer. 32:23 So I'll send her like a voice testimony and she'll like 32:26 convert it to like words and put it in, she works very hard. 32:31 Oh, that's beautiful. 32:33 I wouldn't, yeah. 32:35 I have tools that are very helpful. 32:38 That's so beautiful. 32:39 Yes. 32:44 going on a mission trip? 32:47 Would you recommend that they join the Gideon Rescue Company? 32:52 Or what would you recommend to them? 32:55 Definitely, I would very much recommend. 32:57 Our teenagers need this so much and it's really good to do as a 33:01 family. 33:02 Teenagers are very adventurous and they have a lot of energy 33:05 and it needs to be used in the right direction. 33:10 And so when we take them on trips like this and they don't 33:13 know what's gonna happen and everything is so new, every day 33:17 is different, they like variety, you know. 33:19 They very much like the stimulation, a lot of different 33:24 activity. 33:30 wonderful, right? 33:31 It's adventurous. 33:33 It's exciting. 33:34 It's exciting. 33:34 Exciting, yes. 33:35 If you wanna work for God, then that is the greatest adventure 33:42 you could ever go on. 33:44 You know, I've talked to lots of people that wanna join the 33:47 military or do like something with a bunch of adrenaline and 33:53 excitement and a lot of times, they end up chasing that goal 33:58 and that idea. 33:59 But when you work for God, he'll take you on these amazing 34:02 adventures of like riding in helicopters or on tanks. 34:05 Yes. 34:11 the people that he wants you to give a great controversy to 34:13 that are like Kaczynski or Trump or Biden, all of these 34:18 places got his place just for the purpose of putting that 34:21 book into their hand. 34:22 You know, and the excitement and the adrenaline that you get 34:27 from reaching somebody for eternity is so much greater 34:31 than anything you could ever imagine. 34:34 That is so true. 34:35 I mean, for me to hear from my daughter's mouth that when she 34:37 was covered in all of that gunk, that that was the most 34:41 fulfilling thing she's ever done. 34:43 Can you imagine the shock it was for me? 34:45 But it filled my mother's heart to the full and I said, Lord, 34:50 you're amazing. 34:51 Yes. 34:55 really love targeting the young people because they have 34:59 Fountainview and Castle Valley join them and they're always 35:03 looking, you know, for the young people that come and to 35:06 see what God has in store. 35:08 Yes, yes. 35:09 Absolutely. 35:13 this? 35:14 What do you need, skills? 35:15 You don't need any skills. 35:17 You have a desire to share the gospel and to be the hands and 35:22 feet of Jesus. 35:23 If you have a desire to let your light shine, that's what 35:28 we care about. 35:32 with God. 35:33 Is your relationship with God solid that when God says, go, 35:37 you go. 35:38 When he says, talk to this person, you talk to this 35:40 person. 35:41 When he says, hand out this literature, you do it. 35:43 Even when you don't, when it seems like, why would I hand 35:45 this out? 35:47 But you listen and God opens the door. 35:51 And that's the qualification we look for. 35:52 You have two hands, or even one hand, or no hands, if you have 35:55 a smile. 35:56 Can you smile? 35:57 You're down to just a smile, right? 35:59 You're down to just a smile. 36:01 The tools, Dylan, different tools. 36:04 Yeah, singing, like can you sing? 36:07 You know, in the disaster zone, song is one of the greatest 36:10 weapons that we use. 36:12 We'll bring a Ouachita Hills Academy or Castle Valley or 36:15 Fountain View in with us. 36:17 And we'll just sing. 36:18 Like in Los Angeles, I think there's a picture in Los 36:21 Angeles of a group of us. 36:23 We were standing outside a Red Cross Center after the fires 36:26 this last year. 36:27 Yeah. 36:28 And we're singing songs. 36:31 Wow. 36:34 We're just singing hymns. 36:36 And the amazing story behind this is we went there 36:39 faithfully. 36:41 we weren't allowed to sing inside. 36:43 And we faithfully sung outside for six nights. 36:46 And on the seventh night, they finally came out and said, 36:50 okay, we love what you're doing. 36:51 Will you please come in and sing inside? 36:53 And it was like the walls of Jericho. 36:56 We faithfully, outside, all hours of the night, singing 37:00 songs, and eventually they let us in and we sung inside. 37:05 Dylan, tell the story of the woman when you were singing, 37:07 the woman who lost her children. 37:09 While we were singing, there was a woman that came up. 37:11 She's actually in the picture right at the front. 37:13 And she had lost her three-year -old daughter in the fire. 37:18 Oh, the woman in the front there? 37:20 Right there in the front. 37:21 And she was struggling. 37:23 And she had so many questions. 37:26 And we don't have the answers for her, but we know who does. 37:30 And we were able to point her in that direction. 37:32 We were able to give her the resources and the comfort that 37:35 she needed. 37:36 And she was so grateful for just the songs that we were 37:39 singing. 37:42 She just needed that. 37:45 And it was an amazing, amazing opportunity. 37:49 I mean, some of our other resources, I mean, we do prayer 37:53 tracks. 37:54 If we can hand out food and water. 37:56 There's actually a picture of standing next to a food truck 37:59 there in Los Angeles and right there. 38:03 And we didn't really know what we were going to do. 38:06 We just wanted to reach all the, like the checkpoints going 38:09 into the burned areas. 38:11 So we went to the food truck and we asked him, Hey, would 38:14 you be willing to give us a bunch of food to take to all 38:17 the soldiers and cops that are manning the checkpoints? 38:20 And he said, yes. 38:22 He's like, how many do you need? 38:23 I was like 50. 38:25 And he's like, I'll give you 80. 38:27 So eventually we had, we started with 30 meals and the 38:30 next day we had 80 meals that we were going every checkpoint 38:35 and giving out meals and great controversies. 38:39 And they were so excited. 38:41 There was still, there was this one story where we were handing 38:45 out meals and went to hand a guy a meal. 38:46 And he's like, I'm not hungry. 38:48 He's like, but did somebody give you that book? 38:50 He's like, my friends got this book yesterday and I really 38:53 want one. 38:54 I was like, you can have one. 38:56 He was so excited for that book. 38:59 But the owner of the food truck, he's actually 39:01 Palestinian. 39:03 And I went on a Gideon rescue response to Israel where we 39:08 handed out AWR's God pods. 39:11 And we were doing that on the front lines there in Israel 39:15 with just like two years ago. 39:19 And we told this guy, we talked to this guy next to the food 39:22 truck. 39:23 He asked us our view on it, on the situation. 39:26 We said, hey, we can't choose sides. 39:28 Said, we stand for people and God cares for people. 39:33 Our goal is to reach everyone with the news that Jesus is 39:38 coming soon. 39:39 And he said, I've never seen anybody, everybody thinks that 39:43 what's going on in Israel is prophecy. 39:46 And I said, no, none of it. 39:49 The only thing that's prophetic is wars and rumors of wars. 39:52 And he said, man, I agree with you. 39:54 And he's Muslim. 39:56 And he said, I actually pulled out, I have this really, I call 40:01 it my scroll timeline of all the time prophecies of the 40:06 Bible. 40:08 And I pulled this out and I show him. 40:11 And I said, these are the prophecies that have happened. 40:14 This is where we're at today. 40:16 And I gave him a track that said America in Bible prophecy. 40:21 And it's an amazing facts magazine. 40:24 And he looked at it and he just looked at me and he said, every 40:28 day, every morning for the last month, this exact topic has 40:32 been laid on my mind. 40:34 And he said, he took the magazine and he looked at me 40:36 and he said, what do you think America plays at all of this? 40:39 And I said, well, I truly believe America is not what the 40:44 world thinks that it is. 40:46 And he said, I believe that America is gonna usher in the 40:49 antichrist. 40:51 And we had this amazing conversation for 10 minutes. 40:55 And he's like, I wanna do what you guys are doing. 40:59 He's like, this is amazing. 41:00 He said, can we pray? 41:02 And we prayed. 41:03 And it was just an amazing opportunity because he 41:07 recognized that the systems of man are broken, that the world 41:11 is falling apart and that there's something more. 41:15 And that topic had been laid on his heart for a reason. 41:19 And the fact that I carried this magazine around my pocket 41:22 all day for that reason, was for him. 41:27 Isn't that something, you know, it's really interesting to me 41:30 how the Lord is manifesting himself in those countries, 41:36 heavily Muslim countries, Hindu countries where people are 41:41 getting dreams about Jesus. 41:44 Jesus is coming to them in dreams. 41:47 And it's amazing to me because you can't openly proselytize in 41:52 some of these countries. 41:53 But the Lord is... 41:54 We have a friend in Damascus that was telling us these 41:58 stories when we were there that there's people in Gaza just 42:01 before all the Hamas and Israel stuff happened that were 42:03 getting dreams of Jesus. 42:06 Yes. 42:11 Yes. 42:12 The world is waking up. 42:14 Because the Holy Spirit is drawing people. 42:18 I mean, we are in the last days. 42:22 I'm so convinced of that. 42:24 And that's why God is opening up all of these opportunities 42:28 all over the world. 42:29 And there's so many people here in America who don't know about 42:33 Jesus. 42:35 They don't know, or they have a distorted view of who he is. 42:38 They do. 42:43 situations, it's just so, it's so much what Jesus would do. 42:50 It's so much of who he is. 42:53 And we are his hands and feet. 42:56 We are. 42:56 Praise the Lord. 42:57 So tell us another story. 42:58 We love stories. 42:59 We love. 43:01 Okay, so this is from North Carolina. 43:06 We were helping also with clearing debris. 43:09 Part of our team was using the chainsaw. 43:12 And we went to a woman's house. 43:15 And when we arrived, I looked and her house was still intact 43:19 and everything looked really good. 43:20 In fact, there wasn't that much debris. 43:22 It was up on this embankment. 43:23 There was a lot of debris, but it wasn't affecting anything 43:26 around her house. 43:27 And I thought, why are we here? 43:30 She doesn't really need anything, but you just go. 43:33 That's where God sent you. 43:34 So I worked with her in clearing the debris and learned 43:38 that she's a homeschooling mom and I homeschool my daughter. 43:41 So her son was there. 43:43 So you were able to play with her son while we cleared the 43:46 debris. 43:47 Was he a toddler? 43:48 No, he was like maybe seven, eight. 43:52 He had quite the imagination for sure, but so do I, so it 43:54 worked out. 43:55 And that really made her happy. 43:57 That really made her happy. 43:58 I love children. 44:00 And also with us was the group from Union College. 44:04 They have a disaster response program there called... 44:09 International Rescue and Relief. 44:11 International. 44:12 So they were there working too. 44:14 And so one of our team members, the night before he had a 44:23 worship with the Union College students. 44:26 And he told them in your personal devotions tomorrow 44:30 morning, you find a verse that you really like and whoever you 44:35 go out to help, I want you to find the opportunity to share 44:39 that verse with somebody. 44:40 And so this stuck actually with two men who came from 44:47 Connecticut and they are not Adventists, but they're friends 44:51 of our team member. 44:57 And so, and actually one of them that came, one of the 45:00 friends would consider himself atheist. 45:02 And the other one is a Christian. 45:04 So they came and they were there with us helping this 45:08 woman at the house. 45:11 And that morning, Matt, who is a Christian, but not an 45:19 Adventist came with Garrett's friend. 45:22 He had prayed to the Lord. 45:25 He had this strong burden for the public school children 45:28 because they were out of school and they were gonna be out of 45:30 school for a while. 45:31 And he felt so bad for them because he's like, what's gonna 45:35 be done for them for their education? 45:37 Because you know, what can be done? 45:38 The parents are working. 45:40 You know, what are they gonna do with themselves? 45:42 And we know, you know, during COVID, there was a lot of 45:44 issues with children staying home and even a lot of abuse 45:47 and things like that because of just not having anything to do. 45:51 And so he even cried to the Lord in his prayer and he 45:55 actually homeschools his children, his wife does. 45:58 And so, so then, so he prayed, but left it with God. 46:02 We went to this woman's house and after we helped her, we all 46:07 got around and we were talking with her and Matt did as 46:11 Garrett had instructed, had encouraged him to do. 46:14 And he said, you know, I have a verse that I want to share with 46:17 you. 46:20 Spirit and that, you know, asking God for things and that 46:23 he would give the Holy Spirit. 46:25 And the woman was very, very touched. 46:27 And then Matt shared his burden with her that he had from that 46:31 morning about the public school children and just wondering 46:36 what could be done. 46:37 And she said, this is amazing that you're sharing this with 46:40 me because not that long ago, the Lord put the burden on my 46:43 heart to get together with other homeschooling moms and do 46:47 something for these children. 46:48 But I actually ignored it because, you know, what can I 46:53 do? 46:54 And now here you are bringing this and then you're also 46:57 sharing this verse with me, this verse. 47:00 And so, and Garrett's other friend who claims to be an 47:05 atheist is watching all of this and he's watching everything 47:08 too, all of us being there. 47:11 And so she made the decision to do something and to fulfill 47:17 Matt's prayer. 47:18 And then the other amazing thing is someone who is a good 47:23 friend of Gideon Rescue that helps them called another team 47:28 member and because he has money and he wants to help and he was 47:35 telling this team member, you know, who can I help? 47:37 And he called this team member right at the time when she was 47:40 expressing her concern about, well, I don't know exactly how 47:43 to go about it. 47:45 And this man that wants to help said, okay, I'm gonna help her 47:48 financially. 47:49 I'm gonna provide. 47:50 So that phone call came right at that time. 47:53 And so everything just fell into place. 47:55 So, and so then the atheist at the end of the trip, he said to 48:01 another team member, he said, a Christian and an atheist came 48:09 on this trip and two missionaries went home. 48:13 So meaning that he considered himself a missionary now and it 48:17 made an impact on him. 48:19 So it was just, yes, it was very beautiful, yes. 48:24 It's so inspiring to see how God works and how people are 48:29 impacted by, you know, by what you're doing. 48:34 And again, you don't take credit for it. 48:37 It's all the Lord, all, you know, bringing glory to him. 48:41 How beautiful is that? 48:42 It was a blessing. 48:44 Yes, for sure. 48:45 So we're winding down now and I'd love to get some closing 48:50 thoughts from you. 48:51 Take a couple of minutes and just share whatever's on your 48:54 heart about working with people and sharing God's love with 49:00 people. 49:02 And take your time. 49:03 We've got a few minutes, but we're gonna start with you, 49:06 Samantha. 49:07 Oh, okay. 49:08 Well, I would definitely say personally for myself, working 49:16 with people and seeing how much just going and being with them, 49:25 like for, I'm taking, for example, the school shooting 49:28 that we responded to and how none of us have any like 49:34 skills, like real like skills that you would think that you 49:37 would need for disaster. 49:39 All we really have is just the willingness to share a 49:44 comforting word, pray with them, give them something 49:47 encouraging, like some piece of literature that's encouraging 49:51 or just even have a shoulder to cry on. 49:55 And that really is actually what makes an impact on them 49:58 most. 50:02 me as a youth and as a teenager, I can still help 50:06 people and still make an impact on their lives and show them 50:12 God's love. 50:12 That's beautiful. 50:13 I wanna kind of digress for just a minute cause you said 50:16 you were part of the school shooting. 50:17 I mean, you were helpful during that. 50:20 What happened with that? 50:22 So like I was sharing before in our other program that we 50:27 recorded. 50:29 So pretty much we just went there and it was our first one. 50:32 We didn't really know like where we were going, even like 50:35 where we were gonna go when we got there. 50:37 Where was this? 50:40 In Winder, Georgia. 50:41 Winder. 50:41 Winder, Georgia. 50:42 Yes, it was a school shooting there. 50:44 Oh yeah. 50:45 Very sad situation for sure. 50:46 But we went there and just wanted to just be an 50:50 encouragement to the people and just be there to help show 50:55 support. 50:58 and pay our respects and show support to them, like that just 51:03 opened the doors. 51:07 we came four hours and to just share a comforting word with 51:12 you and that sometimes they would just break down crying 51:14 and they were just, they were so touched. 51:16 To know someone cares like that, to come all that distance 51:21 and to share the love of God with them is beautiful. 51:25 Thank you. 51:26 What about you, Amy? 51:28 Closing thoughts from you. 51:29 I wanted to add actually to the rest of that story that then I 51:33 understood why we arrived at that woman's house. 51:36 Remember I said, why are we here? 51:37 And even the woman said, I told my pastor, cause he had a list 51:42 of the church members that needed help that I wanted to be 51:44 at the bottom of the list. 51:46 But God brought her to the forefront for those school 51:50 children and because she was dealing with what's called 51:53 survivor's guilt. 51:54 All around her, her neighbors, she sees devastation, but why? 52:00 Why did God spare her? 52:01 And she felt so guilty. 52:02 But then that day she realized why God spared her for a 52:07 purpose. 52:12 And so, you know, that's... 52:15 Just to add onto what Dylan had shared from Isaiah verse 60, 52:19 Isaiah 58 is so beautiful in verse 10. 52:23 If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfy the 52:26 afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy 52:32 darkness be as the noon day. 52:35 And that obscurity is darkness. 52:39 And what's that darkness about? 52:40 The character of God, you know, and the healing that needs to 52:44 come. 52:49 behold, the darkness shall cover the earth. 52:51 The same word is obscurity. 52:53 Darkness and obscurity are interchangeable and grows 52:57 darkness, the people. 52:59 And so we want to remove that obscurity of God's character so 53:04 that they can come to Him. 53:05 So the light can shine through us, right? 53:07 And so we can bring them the healing to their hearts. 53:12 That's part of being a medical missionary, bringing the 53:15 healing to their hearts. 53:16 Because most diseases start in the mind, in the heart, because 53:20 when the heart is downcast and when it's depressed, of course 53:23 it's going to end up in physical manifestations of 53:27 diseases. 53:31 health, you know, physical health and spiritual health and 53:34 emotional health. 53:39 you are depressed, when you're angry or when you're 53:42 frustrated. 53:43 All of these physiological things happen. 53:46 They're all interconnected. 53:48 So when you bring joy to someone and a smile to someone, 53:53 and when someone can forgive, there are actual physiological 53:58 changes that happen in the body as a result of that. 54:02 And it also talks about the Gentiles too. 54:04 And the Gentile shall come to thy light. 54:07 So we're thinking of the stories, you know, from this 54:09 man with cancer and even with the man that called him an 54:14 atheist. 54:15 It's in Isaiah 60, verse three. 54:17 So when we're doing these things, God is drawing even 54:20 unbelievers to him through all of that work. 54:24 And so that's what he wants to do. 54:26 And so it's thrilling. 54:29 Amen. 54:29 Amen. 54:30 Thank you. 54:31 Andre, quick, we've got one minute and a minute. 54:34 So basically when we go to places like this, we meet a lot 54:38 of people that ask a very fundamental question, why it 54:42 happened to me and where is God? 54:44 And so when people like Gideon Rescue, they go to those areas, 54:48 they help to answer that question because then they see 54:51 through the love that they show, the hope, the 54:56 encouragement that yes, God is with them. 55:00 And I think that's very important. 55:03 Amen. 55:04 Thank you. 55:05 Dylan, take a minute and tell us. 55:08 I just wanna encourage anybody that is contemplating joining 55:14 us on a response or maybe even going on their own like they 55:18 did to the Winder school shooting that God is with you. 55:23 And if God is with you, no one can be against you. 55:26 And if you have the faith to say, Lord, use me, you make 55:29 yourself available and you say, Lord, I'm going, I don't know 55:31 what I'm gonna do. 55:34 trusting that your light will shine through me and he will 55:39 lead you right to the people that need that. 55:41 So I would just encourage all of you to find a Jonathan or a 55:46 Caleb and attack the Philistines and go across the 55:51 Jordan. 55:52 Do you have a website or how can... 55:54 Yes, so if people wanna contact or even donate to our 55:58 organization, you can go to GideonRescue.org and you can 56:05 contact us on there or you can contact me directly for more 56:08 information with my phone number, if you would like. 56:12 Well, we won't give you a personal phone number. 56:15 That could be a big problem. 56:16 They've done it before. 56:17 We've done it before. 56:18 But through the website, they can reach you through the 56:20 website. 56:21 That's great. 56:25 Thank you. 56:27 And we just, it's such a blessing to meet people who are 56:32 on the battlefield for the Lord. 56:36 There's a scripture here that I'd like to read. 56:38 It's found in Psalms 34 22 and it is the Lord redeems the soul 56:45 of his servants and none of those who trust in him shall be 56:50 condemned. 56:55 So he will rescue you. 56:58 God bless you. 56:59 Thank you for joining us. 57:00 We hope to see you again next time. 57:02 Take care and God bless. 57:08 Yeah. 57:09 Yeah. 57:10 Yeah. 57:11 Yeah. 57:12 Yeah. |
Revised 2025-03-07