Participants: Pr. Marquis Johns (Host), Tate Kimura
Series Code: TNJ
Program Code: TNJ000026
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00:10 Welcome to the New Journey, a program about real-life
00:13 people with real-life testimonies doing real-life 00:16 ministry for Jesus Christ. I'm your host, Pastor Marquis Johns. 00:18 Join us on the New Journey. 00:22 ¤ ¤ 00:52 The only testimonies aren't testimonies where you've gone 00:56 out into the world and done a whole bunch of terrible things. 00:59 There are some testimonies where you have just a slight brush and 01:04 realize you need to stay on the straight and narrow. Tate has a 01:08 testimony similar to that one. Tate, how you doing today? 01:11 I'm doing good. Fantastic, fantastic. So tell us 01:14 your name and where you're from. 01:15 My name is Tate Kimura from Tacoma Park, Maryland, 01:18 originally. 01:19 OK, OK. I pastored over in Hyattsville, Maryland. 01:22 Oh yeah? Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. 01:24 So did you go to TA? Yeah, I'm actually a TA grad. 01:28 So for those who don't know 01:29 TA is Tacoma Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist academy in 01:32 Maryland. So OK Tate, So you grow up in a good home, good 01:37 Christian home, good Adventist home if you will. Graduate from 01:41 Tacoma. Take us through what happened after you graduated TA. 01:45 OK, I want to say this first of all. Even though I went to 01:50 Christian schools and everything you know I just really wasn't 01:54 really spiritually minded. I mean I was one that you know 01:56 I went through the motions of going to the Bible classes and 02:05 just basically had like a form of godliness, just kind of going 02:10 through the motions. But I really wasn't into it like that. 02:16 The whole Jesus thing, that just wasn't me. 02:18 OK, so then you go through the motions of academy life, good 02:23 Adventist upbringing, you graduated TA. So tell us what 02:28 happened after that. 02:30 Well actually it was before I graduated that I actually 02:34 started getting into drinking alcohol with some friends. We 02:39 would just hang out, get drunk, get high. It wasn't too long 02:43 after that I actually got a motorcycle because of the fact 02:48 that I was getting in so much trouble with my car. My car kept 02:52 breaking down. I started asking myself, why is this all 02:55 happening to me? I saw my friends, everything was going 02:59 nice, had nice clean cars. Me, I was just kind of struggling 03:04 and I was asking God why is this stuff happening to me. Just was 03:12 asking myself, am I cursed or something. So because I couldn't 03:17 keep a car going and it kept breaking down on me eventually 03:23 I started riding a bicycle to work. Those were some really low 03:29 moments in my life. 03:31 They were low moments because you were riding a bicycle or 03:32 because people looked at you and said that's Tate on a bicycle. 03:35 Yeah. I mean, that's probably it. I mean, I see my friends 03:40 driving by me, I'm here riding a bicycle to work. Then eventually 03:47 I got a motorcycle. Kind of the way I would get enjoyment would 03:54 be getting drunk, getting high, and riding a motorcycle through 03:59 D.C. and Maryland area, going to clubs and going to a friend's 04:03 house. It was just kind of a dangerous lifestyle and I was 04:06 just really confused about life and discouraged by life. 04:11 OK, so why didn't you go off, like most kids do that go 04:15 through the motions even and go through the academy life. Why 04:19 didn't you go off to one of the Adventist colleges, Adventist 04:23 institutions? Well it was because of financial 04:27 reasons. So I was going to have to work. I went to some 04:31 community colleges while I was working. But it's always a lot 04:36 harder to do it that way and that was the reason why I didn't 04:41 do that. OK, Ok, so now you're just in 04:42 and around D.C., partying, drinking, smoking. From about 04:51 18 to, how old are you now? 04:54 Right now 34. So from 18 to about... 04:57 Walk us through from about 18 to about 25. 04:59 What's Tate's life looking like? 05:03 Well I moved out in my own apartment it was when, I 05:07 believe about 20. And things were kind of getting worse. 05:11 But that was like the peak of it because once I had my own place 05:15 I started inviting friends over. You know it was just getting out 05:18 of hand. People are there you don't even know. You wake up in 05:22 the morning; you're walking over people that are passed out, 05:25 people with hangovers, people vomiting in your bathroom and 05:30 it was just getting out of hand. What happened was we were 05:35 having a party one night and it was around this time when things 05:38 were just really getting out of hand and we just started all 05:41 types of people coming. 05:42 I mean, it was one thing just getting drunk a couple times a 05:45 week but it was becoming almost an everyday thing. There was 05:49 one night when there were some friends over and my next door 05:53 neighbors who I had somewhat befriended they actually got 05:56 into it and he killed my room mate's friend. He actually ended 06:01 up stabbing him in front of my apartment. 06:04 So you have some friends over, you guys are partying, it was 06:09 late into the night, whatever. For some reason someone who was 06:13 attending a party at your house gets into an altercation with a 06:17 neighbor? Yeah. And my neighbor actually 06:21 ended up pulling a knife on him, stabbing him in the chest. And 06:24 we thought he was going to go to the hospital and everyone would 06:27 be OK but it didn't turn out like that. He actually passed. 06:32 What, how old were you when this happened? 06:34 I was about 21 I believe. 06:35 What were you thinking? What was going on in Tate's mind? Now 06:39 Tate, Adventist upbringing. Now even though you weren't doing 06:42 the Jesus thing and you were kind of just going through the 06:44 motions, what are you thinking as you're rushing a friend to 06:48 the hospital with the stab wound to his chest who passes 06:50 that night? What are you thinking? What's going through 06:53 your head? I mean, I don't know what's 06:55 going to happen next. I mean, I just couldn't believe this was 07:00 happening and it happened right in front of my house. I was just 07:05 kind of overwhelmed with the whole situation. I wasn't sure 07:08 should we tell, should we act like we don't know. Because that 07:10 was the first thing that we did was act like we didn't know 07:14 because the first reaction was I don't want to be involved. 07:18 But we ended up telling and that's why I... 07:23 Wait, wait, wait, pause right there. So you ended up telling 07:28 the authorities that you're neighbor had stabbed your 07:33 friend. So what reaction did your neighbor have to you 07:38 telling that he stabbed somebody? 07:39 Well he was on the run now because they're after him. But 07:43 I'll say my reaction is OK you know I just told on this guy, I 07:48 shot his gun before and he's now probably going to come after me. 07:52 He's my next door neighbor and I was still staying at my 07:55 apartment for a few nights and I know he was still at large. 07:59 So that was probably some of the most scariest moments in my life 08:03 was just the fact my next door neighbor, I just told on him for 08:07 killing somebody. And he's probably after me. He probably 08:09 that we told. And I was kind of nervous and 08:12 I actually did talk to God, I had some conversations with God 08:15 I was like if you get me out of this one, I'm going to serve you 08:18 That didn't happen though. 08:20 OK, OK, so tell us what happened Since that didn't happen, what 08:23 happened? Well I had just started a 08:27 relationship just a few months before that occurrence and it 08:31 started getting more serious over the phone, long distance 08:35 relationship. I knew someone in Indiana. I lived with my parents 08:38 because we actually both left the apartment and we actually 08:42 both me and my roommate moved back into our parents' homes. 08:45 Both of us were Adventist, raised in the Adventist church 08:49 and stuff, but just not doing the right thing. So ended up 08:54 moving to Indiana. Actually I didn't move with her immediately 08:59 but I was out here pretty much by myself. Her father actually 09:03 helped me kind of get back on my feet once I came out here. 09:08 Because I just left with nothing pretty much, just four boxes of 09:10 of stuff and came out to Indianapolis and started over 09:15 like a new life. But I pretty much met the same type of 09:20 people. I started working at a job and basically met the same 09:26 type of people. Started drinking and smoking and stuff with 09:31 people I didn't know so well but they were still almost the 09:34 same type of people that I was hanging out with before. 09:39 So, you leave Maryland because you don't want to face the 09:44 potential consequences of this life style which has erupted 09:49 into a murder that you are a witness to with the assailant 09:54 still at large possibly with a vendetta against you. So you're 09:58 like hey I'm getting out of here I'm going to Indiana where 10:02 there's this young lady that her and I have been having a 10:06 friendship. That was the first serious 10:09 relationship and I could kind of see in the future that this 10:12 would be a serious relationship. I hadn't had any real serious 10:16 relationships, just short relations. So it was a 10:20 combination of those two things that brought me out to Indiana, 10:23 but when I started working at this job I actually met a young 10:29 brother that was kind of coming out of the world himself and he 10:32 encouraged me. For the first time I met someone around my age 10:36 level that actually was into God. 10:39 OK. So how do you run into him while still hanging with the 10:43 same kinds of people that you were hanging with in your life 10:47 in Maryland? Where do those paths intersect? 10:51 Well, I'll say this that though I was hanging out... I mean you 10:55 know how it is. You have this friend and hang out with them 10:58 during the day. You do that and you have this type of friend. 11:02 He kind of was into more positive things and that's how 11:04 he was. He wasn't all the way out of the world yet. He had 11:07 started coming out, but he was the first one to actually talk 11:11 about God that I could relate to. He actually went to a non 11:15 denominational church and he actually invited me to his 11:18 church and I actually started going there for several months. 11:25 Now previous to that I had been kind of expressing some of my 11:29 problems in my relationship and just different problems I had in 11:34 life through visual arts. I was very much into graphic design 11:40 and I kind of like hip hop urban graffiti art and I 11:45 would express my views on life and just the problems of society 11:50 through visual arts. 11:52 OK so you meet this guy who's a little bit more on the 11:55 positive side than the other guys. You start attending his 12:01 church. Now how did you reconcile that with your 12:06 Adventist upbringing? Now you're going to a non-denominational 12:10 church, obviously on a different day from what you've learned 12:14 growing up. How are you reconciling these two that OK 12:19 I'm no longer practicing, or if you were, I don't know, I'm not 12:23 practicing Adventism as I was taught it, as I was brought up 12:26 under, and now going to this non-denominational church. How 12:30 are you reconciling this? 12:32 Yeah, that's what came up eventually, but at first I'm 12:35 just like you know this is the first time I'm really seeking 12:38 God. Going back to what I as doing with my art, as I was 12:43 illustrating on paper some of the problems I as having, 12:47 looking for an answer, solutions to life's problems and for the 12:52 first time as I met him I started to realize that God is 12:54 the actual solution to relationship problems, to drug 12:57 addiction, to materialism and just all the things that people 13:00 are going after. I started to realize that God is solution. 13:04 He's the answer. He's the source of peace and happiness and I'm 13:08 not even thinking about what denomination, I'm just thinking 13:12 about this is amazing. I'm actually into reading the Bible 13:16 and for the first time I'm actually reading the Bible, not 13:20 because someone tells me because it feels like where I'm supposed 13:22 to do, but I'm actually reading it to find understanding, 13:26 reading it to find solutions to what I'm going through. 13:30 OK, OK, so you so that for several months. Do you start 13:34 distancing yourself from those other friends? 13:38 Yeah, slowly distancing and just not feeling some of the things 13:41 they're into. Encouraging them to kind of see life a different 13:44 way. I wasn't one to just cut them off entirely but just kind 13:47 of talking like I'm just not into that anymore. Why do you 13:52 want to get drunk, man. It just confuses your mind, makes it 13:56 harder for you to better your life. 13:59 So as you're going to church for these several months, you get 14:03 off the alcohol, you get off the drugs. You're saying I don't 14:07 want any more of that. I'm dry. The Bible says dry nigh to God 14:11 and he will draw near to you. So you're drawing nigh to God, God 14:15 is drawing nearer to you and those things that you once were 14:19 into, they just don't hold sway over you anymore. So then you 14:22 begin to distance yourself from your friends, you're becoming 14:28 more, allow me to say, spiritual When do you start to back track 14:33 to the things that you learned from a child? 14:35 Well it was my grandmother. See she was one that always during 14:39 the whole time, in my childhood, always gave me little books. 14:43 She lived far away from us in another state and she would 14:47 always send little books and tracts and stuff and most of 14:49 the time I didn't read it. Because one time she sent me one 14:52 that had money inside the pages for my birthday and I was oh man 14:59 I don't want this. Then later on I can't believe I actually 15:01 looked through it, but I looked through it several weeks later 15:05 and found it was $20 through the book. But my grandma, she was 15:11 one that always tried to plant a seed in me and my parents as well, 15:14 but she sent me this tract that was called Let's Talk About the 15:23 Sabbath, and that tract was just amazing to me at that point 15:25 in time. If I had read it previous to that I probably 15:27 wouldn't have cared about it. But this tract just asked 15:29 questions and then it answered the question with a scripture. 15:34 And it was just showing the importance of if you're going to 15:37 keep some of the commandments that doesn't make any sense. 15:42 It's either all or none. Now I was interested in the Bible and 15:47 I started reading that. As I read through that tract, I was 15:51 convicted. Immediately almost after I read that tract to 15:54 actually take a stand for the Sabbath. So I went to this 15:58 pastor of this nondenominational church and I started asking some 16:03 questions. How come you don't keep the seventh day Sabbath? 16:05 according to the fourth commandment, Exodus 20 verses 16:07 8-11 and he was like, does it really matter. That was the type 16:12 of response that he gave me. According to the Bible, I mean, 16:15 the commandment's written on stone and you know the Bible 16:19 says that Christ did not come to destroy the law or the prophets 16:22 and he says that not one dot or one tittle will be taken away 16:26 from the law. So according to the word it wasn't about what I 16:29 felt or what I thought or what he felt or what anybody thinks 16:32 it's about what does the Bible say. So I was convicted on it 16:36 and even though seeing that he didn't take any action on it I 16:40 was like well I don't know how much I can feel his preaching 16:43 anymore. I mean, it was like his sermons were powerful before 16:46 that but afterwards I just wasn't feeling it so much 16:50 because of the fact that I knew there was a commandment, there 16:54 was a teaching that I knew was biblical that he didn't seem 16:57 like it was important to him. 16:58 OK so let's paint the picture: Good kid, Adventist upbringing, 17:03 Christian education whole life, goes to TA and graduates TA. 17:08 Gets into some things while he's there, begins to live a 17:13 party lifestyle, doesn't go to jail, never been incarcerated, 17:19 no drug bust, none of those things. But this brush, if you 17:24 will with the law by way of your neighbor killing a friend of 17:30 yours starts the process of waking you up. A relationship 17:35 that's on the horizon, these two things joined together cause 17:40 you to relocate. You get out to Indiana, Indianapolis, you find 17:45 yourself in the same rut. God begins to reveal himself to you 17:49 through your visual arts and this friend who's going to a 17:53 non-denominational church. Grandma who's always on you 17:58 sends you a tract and the tract is about the Sabbath, a Sabbath 18:01 that you've grown up going to church on, a Sabbath that you 18:05 probably heard about in Bible class, a Sabbath that you heard 18:09 mom and dad talk about. She sends you this tract, you read 18:12 it, boom, you're convicted. You go to the pastor. Hey man what's 18:17 going on. With this new zeal and this new fervor, hey want's 18:21 going on? He says hey you know it doesn't matter. You're 18:25 thinking hey it does matter because this is what the 18:29 commandments say. You can't feel his preaching anymore. Up to 18:32 that point something about that church service and that time of 18:35 your life has you delving deeper into the Bible. You're finally 18:38 getting to a deeper relationship with Christ. But after you 18:42 realize this guy is not preaching the biblical Sabbath 18:45 you don't want anything to do with this. So where do you go? 18:47 What do you do? 18:49 Well there was an Adventist Church, a Seventh-day Adventist 18:52 church that was actually almost walking distance from my 18:56 apartment. In actually my mind I say OK I'm going start 19:00 attending both churches. But that really didn't last very 19:03 long because like I said his preaching wasn't that powerful 19:07 anymore because of the fact that he overlooked that 19:09 commandment. So I started going to this Sabbath-keeping church, 19:13 it was a Seventh-day Adventist church and around that time I 19:18 believe I was living with my girlfriend and the Lord started 19:22 to convict my conscious. Because I would tell my friend that 19:26 invited me to his non denominational church that you 19:29 don't keep the Sabbath. Well he would tell me well you need to 19:32 stop fornicating. I was like wait a minute. There was a two 19:36 edged sword. So I started feeling kind of guilty for that 19:39 for the first time and I started studying up on that and I made 19:43 a decision. I was like this is the last time. So she moved out 19:47 and I was just living by myself. Eventually I got baptized, fully 19:51 committed my life to Christ in the year 2000. 19:53 So what have you 19:55 been doing since the year 2000. Well, since the year 2000 I've 20:00 just kind of grown in my understanding and knowledge of 20:04 Christ. I was influenced by different pastors like Pastor 20:08 Doug Batchelor and some other pastors. To start it off, I 20:12 really admired how Doug Batchelor could quote the 20:15 scriptures and I started memorizing texts; while I was 20:17 working I was kind of memorizing texts. I didn't know why I was 20:20 doing it. I just wanted to have the ammunition to whenever 20:25 somebody asked me about my faith I would know where to take them. 20:28 So I was like memorizing texts and just drawing closer to God, 20:32 trying to stay away from women and keep my focus on Christ. And 20:36 eventually it was 2001, September 11, that the World 20:45 Trade Center. I mean that just changed my entire world. I mean 20:48 because I'm here trying to get closer to God and all of a 20:54 sudden this crisis happens such as I've never experienced since 20:58 I've been on this planet in this country and when that terrorist 21:02 attack happened I mean I'm like man the end is coming in a 21:06 matter of weeks and months. I actually started praying to God. 21:09 Like Lord just let me know when you want me to quit this job. 21:12 I was working a full time job, I was getting paid pretty well. 21:15 And I asked God, Lord whenever you want me to quit this job 21:18 I don't care. I'm just going to go out there on the street and 21:22 talk to everybody I know about Jesus. Well I was always doing 21:24 that after work. You know, I would spend a few moments going 21:28 out handing out some National Sunday Laws, Steps to Christ. 21:32 Just trying to spread the knowledge that I was getting 21:34 But it was around 2005 when they were really hitting us with 21:39 over time and interfering with ... I started preaching actually 21:44 in 2001. Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. In 2000 you get convicted, get 21:48 baptized, 2001 you start preaching. 21:51 Yeah, it was at a 21:52 little house church. When I was going to that church a lady 21:57 asked me to speak; first time I ever preached. I didn't sleep 22:03 very well that night, the night before I spoke but it turned out 22:08 pretty well. So I started preaching and preaching 22:12 occasions there and then I was invited like at this other 22:14 church just to speak occasionally as well. 22:16 It was a couple years after that I started getting involved in 22:20 prison ministry in Indianapolis as well. 22:23 OK so what causes you to want to go into prison ministry? 22:30 Why not go to Southern? Why not go to PUC? Why not go to Union? 22:35 Why not go to CUC? Why not go to school and become a pastor? Why 22:39 go into the prison? 22:41 Well I just had a burden for people that were really at their 22:46 lowest point. And really it's the same way now. 22:49 When you look at the ministry of 22:52 Christ. He sought to seek to save that which was lost, part 23:01 of Luke 19:10. He would minister to those that were at their 23:06 lowest point. I mean, really anybody. But if you focus on 23:11 those that were really going through hard time, had sickness, 23:16 disease demon possession. That was just something 23:19 that I just had a 23:26 burden on my heart for was for outreach to the people that are 23:31 behind bars. But also just people on the street, I mean, 23:32 that look like they're going through some things you know 23:34 depressed and just confused, like how I was. I was very 23:39 confused. I didn't really go into that too much but my party 23:44 life was 18 to like 22. There were some high moments but 23:47 most of it were low moments, whenever I 23:49 was not drunk I was very depressed at times and just 23:54 kind of confused about what life was all about. I really didn't 23:56 have much of a purpose. 23:58 And so now you found a purpose? 23:59 Yeah I definitely found a purpose. Around 2005 I was 24:03 saying earlier how the job was going mandatory overtime and 24:08 I had a burden to do more for Christ and it was interfering 24:15 the ministry that I was doing and I just made a decision. 24:18 I went full time in ministry and I quit my job not intending 24:23 to go full time ministry but someone suggested why don't you 24:28 try colporteur work? And I was like what's that? So he told me 24:31 about Colporteur Ministry. I started reading this book and 24:34 after I did that I was convicted on it and I went out there in 24:37 self-supporting colporteur work. This was right before because 24:41 I actually got married in 2003. I have two beautiful little 24:45 girls and my wife. I'm very much in love with her as well. God 24:48 has blessed me. But right around that time I found out she was 24:51 pregnant. Once I go full time in ministry and start the 24:59 colporteur work, found out my wife's pregnant that's when you 25:02 need that green stuff after that Yeah, I don't even know if I 25:05 would have done it, I don't know if I would have had the faith to 25:10 so it if it happened after that. That's when I found out she's 25:14 pregnant. Yeah, I'm out there, self-supporting colporteur work 25:18 started out going, just knocking on doors but I realized I was 25:21 more effective going into the parking lots, Walmart parking 25:25 lot, an area where there's a lot of people. On a nice day just 25:29 approaching people. 25:30 Let me interrupt because I get the story, I get it. There was a 25:36 reformation, there was a revival and now you realize that God had 25:41 ...I'm sure you realize God has always had a call on your life 25:45 and you were just running away to some degree from that call. 25:49 What I need you to do right now is over my shoulder there's a 25:53 camera and what I want you to do, I want you to talk to a 25:58 specific person the young person that's going through Adventist 26:02 schooling who's getting into stuff they know they have no 26:05 business getting into who has a call on their life. I want you 26:08 take the next minute, Tate, look in this camera directly over my 26:12 shoulder and talk to Tate, going through TA, God has a call on 26:15 your life. You don't realize it. You're disenchanted with the 26:18 church, it's all you've ever known, but there's a calling on 26:21 your life. Talk about that. 26:23 OK. Well the Bible tells us to be hot or cold, not lukewarm. 26:28 There's a lot of enticing things out here. You may be one that 26:33 you've been raised to believe the Adventist message, that this 26:37 is the truth, but maybe you're not all the way into it kind of 26:42 like how I was. But if you commit your life fully to Christ 26:46 that you'll find true joy and true happiness. It's when you 26:50 stay in between that confusion comes in. That's not what 26:54 is that its actually be better to be cold than actually remain 26:58 in a lukewarm condition. So I encourage someone who's in the 27:02 the Adventist schools or any Christian schools that because 27:06 you've been raised to do things and you haven't really 27:11 experimented with the world think that there's something out 27:13 there that's holding you back from making a full commitment to 27:16 Christ I encourage you to make a full commitment to Christ today. 27:19 Because he's the solution to all of our problems whether it be 27:23 financial problems, depression, health problems, and ultimately 27:26 the sin problem. You may not have any of those problems but 27:29 the sin problem is what we all have and if you want eternal 27:33 life I encourage you to commit your life to Christ. But also I 27:37 just want to encourage you too that don't procrastinate. Things 27:40 are wrapping up. We've got wars and rumors of wars, they got 27:44 tensions in the Middle East and all types of crazy things are 27:47 happening, natural disasters. You know this world is coming to 27:50 an end and now is the time to seek Jesus. 27:52 Amen. We see on today's show that even though you're a born 27:57 and bred Adventist, God can still come into your life and 28:02 take you on a New Journey. Dare to dream. God bless you. |
Revised 2017-08-29