Are you answering the call?
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Well, stay tuned to meet
a couple that is answering
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God's call in two unique ways.
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My name is Jason Bradley,
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and you're
watching Urban Report.
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Hello and
welcome to Urban Report,
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my guests today are
Eric and Marilyn Durant.
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Eric is a Broadcast Engineer
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and Marilyn is the
Manager of 3ABN's Call Center.
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Welcome to Urban
Report, Eric and Marilyn.
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It's our pleasure
to be here, Jason.
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I feel like you guys
are far away so I'll wave,
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but it's great to
have you guys here,
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you're no
stranger to us here at 3ABN
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and probably
with our viewers too,
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because you, Eric,
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played Mullick on
Workin' the Dream.
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And you guys have also been
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on 3ABN's
Family Worship as well.
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So I want to introduce
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the Dare to Dream
viewers to you, you guys
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and get a little
bit of your background.
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Where were you raised, Eric?
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Well, I was raised
in Brooklyn, New York.
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Okay.
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We left Brooklyn when I
was eight or nine years old,
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and we moved to Queens.
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Okay.
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My father was an
engineer for IBM,
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and my mother worked
for the postal system.
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Okay.
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And they were both Catholics,
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right up until probably
my fourth or fifth birthday
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when things
change, we started going
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to Baptist Church at that point.
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Okay. Okay.
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And what about you, Marilyn?
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I was born and
raised in Pueblo, Colorado.
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And my mother worked
for a local bank there,
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and my father worked
for a local steel mill.
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Okay.
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And raised in
the Baptist Church.
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Okay, so, so both of
you were raised Baptist.
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But now you're Adventist.
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Now we're Adventist.
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We're gonna get to
that part of the story,
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the conversion story
and all of that stuff.
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It's a praise the Lord moment.
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Yes, yes.
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And how did you
guys meet each other?
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We met in Denver, Colorado.
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Might just got
out of the military
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maybe six months earlier.
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Okay.
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And getting to Colorado
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when you first got out
the military as a Christian
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is challenging when you're
in the dating environment.
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It's hard to find
genuine Christians.
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You know, as a young
man, I was in my early 30s.
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And I was looking around
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and I just couldn't find anybody
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that matched my
values, my Christian values.
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It's the values
that I just learned
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as being an Adventist
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because I got baptized and
then I got honorably discharged
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from the
military six months later,
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so I was a brand new Adventist.
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I had the Adventist
heart, the Adventist mind.
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And finding a Christian
female that shared those,
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that philosophy was difficult.
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Now unpack that, you
said the Adventist heart,
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the Adventist mind,
what do you mean by that?
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It is a
dedication for the truth.
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Okay.
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It's living that
dedication for the truth.
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It's staying
away from the things
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that pollute your
heart, pollute your mind.
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And I found that a lot
of the people that I dated,
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they were, they
were marginal Christians.
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They were cultural Christians.
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And at that point in my
life, I was beyond that,
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I didn't want a
marginal, cultural,
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I needed someone that
was dedicated as I was
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because I knew that
I'd be leaning on her.
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And she'd be leaning on
me as we move towards Jesus.
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Nice. Nice. Yeah.
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So in other words, when
you say the marginal Christian,
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you mean like one
that's conveniently Christian,
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or, you know,
fitting Christianity
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around their
personal lifestyle preferences
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and all of that stuff.
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That's right.
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I wanted the Christian
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who their life revolved
around their Christianity.
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And at the time everybody I met,
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basically, their
Christianity was out on the...
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Far out in orbit somewhere
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and their heart
revolved around their music
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or revolved around their career.
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They had idols that
I didn't agree with,
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as far as media people,
entertainers, things like that.
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Okay.
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And I don't know if I
should tell this story,
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but it's an interesting one.
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Finally, really settled my mind
on going the route that I went,
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which was, I went to
an online dating service.
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Okay.
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And what made me do that
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was the final person I
went out on the date with,
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and she brought a doll with her.
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And she said that
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I said, it's kinda
odd, this doll sitting here.
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I said, "What's this doll."
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And she said that,
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she used this doll
prior for a few days
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prior to our date.
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And it was her way of bonding
with her dates before the date.
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And it turned out that
she was a voodoo Christian
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mix sort of thing.
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Wait a minute, she used
a doll to bond with her...?
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Dates.
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Dates, before she
went out with her dates.
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That's right.
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And then she
brought the doll along
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and turned out
talking to her later on
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that she was some strange mix
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between voodoo and Christianity.
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And I said to myself,
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it's time to try another method.
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And I went to an online service
where I put in certain things,
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Christian and
certain things, and...
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And where did
you meet her again?
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In Denver.
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In Denver, just like,
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you just kind of
ran into her and...
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Yeah, is actually
it was a supermarket.
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Wow!
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Yeah, it was a supermarket
and we just started talking,
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and we swap numbers
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and we agreed to
meet at a restaurant.
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Okay.
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And in a few days, you
know, that's where we met.
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Wow, I'm glad you ended
up with Marilyn as your bride
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by your side.
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Praise the Lord.
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Now, I hope that lady is out
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of what she was
practicing before for,
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you know, the sake of
her soul and all that stuff.
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But I'm glad that
Marilyn is your bride.
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Amen. Yes, yes.
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So, Marilyn, during this
time, prior to meeting online,
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where were you at in your life?
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I was living in
Denver and going to college
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and just working
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and at the time my
stepfather had passed away.
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And so I was going
back and forth to Pueblo
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to be with my mom
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and my
girlfriend and her husband
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at the time felt like you
need somebody in your life.
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And her husband heard about
this online dating service.
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And I didn't want to do it.
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So my excuse was,
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I'm going to see my
mom and I can't do it.
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And finally, one
weekend, I made the mistake.
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Well, now, looking
back, it's not a mistake.
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But I said, she
asked, "What was I doing?"
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And I told her, I said,
"Oh, I'll be here this weekend.
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Did you want to do
something?" "Oh, great.
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Now you can come and fill out
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this questionnaire
for the online dating."
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And I thought, "Ah, I messed up"
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'cause, you know, I
didn't want to go that route.
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But I did and
praise the Lord that I did,
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because I met my husband.
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Amen.
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And the interesting
thing is, I was the first,
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she was the first person
that came up in the list.
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Yeah.
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And I ended up marrying
her, there was nobody else.
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Wow.
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And he was the first
one that I responded to.
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So it was providential.
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So like, what,
what did that look like?
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Like, okay, so you have
the online dating thing,
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you met online.
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She was the
first one that came up,
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and then you reached out to her
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and send her a note
and just said, like,
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you know, let's get
married or how, what happened?
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What happened there?
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If I remember,
right, it was, um,
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we commerce text message
wise, through the service,
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and then went back
and forth for a few weeks.
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Yes.
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And I had to convince
her to go out with me.
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Okay.
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So it took a bit of convincing.
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Okay.
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I basically begged and
eventually she said yes.
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And we had our first date.
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Nice, nice.
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How long have you
guys been married?
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We've been married
since March 18 of 2006.
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Wow, wow. Praise the Lord.
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So what's the,
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you know, for those
couples that are out there
00:08:44.99\00:08:47.56
that are
considering getting married,
00:08:47.59\00:08:49.39
and all of those things.
00:08:49.42\00:08:50.76
What has been the glue in
your marriage, so to speak,
00:08:50.83\00:08:55.50
what has helped you
guys to make it this far?
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I have to
insist that it's Jesus.
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Amen.
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In any relationship,
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you have to have open
lines of communication.
00:09:05.51\00:09:08.44
And I look at marriage
as a three way marriage,
00:09:08.48\00:09:12.25
it's you, Jesus and your wife,
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and you're all
communicating together.
00:09:15.62\00:09:17.65
And when that
communication stops,
00:09:17.69\00:09:19.79
such as prayer,
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or communicating
with your spouse,
00:09:21.96\00:09:23.89
when that stops,
things start to decay.
00:09:23.96\00:09:26.83
So we make sure
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that we always keep the
lines of communication open.
00:09:28.20\00:09:31.27
We pray to Jesus and we
talk and we we pray together.
00:09:31.30\00:09:35.77
And that's the secret.
00:09:35.80\00:09:37.97
So in other words, like
as you draw closer to Christ,
00:09:38.01\00:09:41.61
you guys draw
closer to each other.
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Absolutely. Yes.
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Absolutely. Yes, nice.
00:09:45.45\00:09:47.52
Now, Eric, you
were in the military.
00:09:47.55\00:09:50.19
And when you got
out of the military,
00:09:50.22\00:09:51.92
what did you do for work?
00:09:51.95\00:09:54.32
Well, I went into
the military as...
00:09:54.36\00:09:56.93
When I joined, I
was a commercial pilot,
00:09:56.96\00:09:59.16
and I spent 12 years active duty
00:09:59.19\00:10:03.67
and during that
time in the service,
00:10:03.73\00:10:05.37
I was involved in
research and development
00:10:05.40\00:10:07.50
and flight test.
00:10:07.54\00:10:08.87
Okay.
00:10:08.90\00:10:10.24
And that led to my career
after the military in 2002,
00:10:10.27\00:10:15.01
when I moved to Denver.
00:10:15.04\00:10:16.41
I started working
with Boeing as an engineer.
00:10:16.44\00:10:19.05
Okay.
00:10:19.08\00:10:20.42
Yeah, and we worked a lot
of missile defense programs
00:10:20.48\00:10:22.35
and things like that.
00:10:22.38\00:10:23.75
Wow.
00:10:23.79\00:10:25.12
So my education
and my experience
00:10:25.15\00:10:26.49
through the military led
to my career with Boeing,
00:10:26.52\00:10:29.99
which was completely a blessing.
00:10:30.03\00:10:33.66
I never
interviewed for that job.
00:10:33.70\00:10:36.90
And there's a lot
of companies out there.
00:10:36.93\00:10:39.73
And I always,
since I was a child,
00:10:39.77\00:10:41.37
I always wanted
to work for Boeing,
00:10:41.40\00:10:42.74
because they're the big name.
00:10:42.77\00:10:44.14
Yes.
00:10:44.17\00:10:45.51
And so when I got to Colorado,
00:10:45.54\00:10:47.44
someone just
spotted me and they said,
00:10:47.51\00:10:51.05
"We see you working, we
know of your performance,
00:10:51.08\00:10:54.45
would you like to work
for the Boeing Company?"
00:10:54.48\00:10:56.62
And they knew my track record
from the military and so forth.
00:10:56.65\00:10:59.85
And I said absolutely.
00:10:59.89\00:11:02.02
And it was as easy as that.
00:11:02.06\00:11:04.13
And how was it
00:11:04.16\00:11:06.03
as a Seventh-day
Adventist Christian,
00:11:06.06\00:11:08.63
how was that working there
00:11:08.66\00:11:10.73
like how did you
keep the Sabbath,
00:11:10.77\00:11:12.90
how did that work?
00:11:12.93\00:11:14.70
Keeping the Sabbath
for me was mandatory,
00:11:14.74\00:11:17.71
and one of the nice
things about the job
00:11:17.74\00:11:19.44
that I had was um...
00:11:19.47\00:11:21.08
We only worked five days a week,
00:11:21.11\00:11:24.05
we didn't work weekends.
00:11:24.11\00:11:26.15
There are a lot of careers.
00:11:26.18\00:11:27.52
One of the reasons
00:11:27.58\00:11:28.92
why I never went
the airline pilot route
00:11:28.95\00:11:30.85
is because the airline
pilots don't have the option,
00:11:30.89\00:11:33.86
they have to fly
seven days a week.
00:11:33.92\00:11:35.62
Got you.
00:11:35.66\00:11:36.99
So I stopped that,
00:11:37.03\00:11:38.36
I went into engineering
00:11:38.39\00:11:39.73
and because generally you can
set your schedule a lot better.
00:11:39.76\00:11:44.97
And, Marilyn, what about you,
what were you doing work wise?
00:11:45.00\00:11:49.94
I was an account reconciler
for a company named First Data.
00:11:49.97\00:11:54.64
Okay.
00:11:54.68\00:11:56.01
And I...
00:11:56.04\00:11:58.25
That's what I was
doing during that time.
00:11:58.28\00:12:00.12
Nice.
00:12:00.15\00:12:01.48
And so what
brought you guys to 3ABN?
00:12:01.52\00:12:04.29
Well,
00:12:04.32\00:12:06.19
throughout my whole life,
00:12:06.22\00:12:08.59
God's been talking to me,
00:12:08.62\00:12:10.63
you know, I started
out as a gang member,
00:12:10.66\00:12:16.23
believe it or not.
00:12:16.26\00:12:17.70
And even during
that period of time,
00:12:17.73\00:12:21.20
I always had a spirit
of caring about people.
00:12:21.24\00:12:27.44
You know, I never robbed anyone.
00:12:27.48\00:12:29.41
I never dealt drugs.
00:12:29.44\00:12:31.35
I never tried to
physically hurt people.
00:12:31.38\00:12:34.65
And I always wondered why,
00:12:37.75\00:12:39.35
you know, I was
always, they used to call me,
00:12:39.39\00:12:41.16
they'd call me quite
a few different names.
00:12:41.19\00:12:43.19
One of the names that
they call me was preacher.
00:12:43.22\00:12:45.53
Okay.
00:12:45.56\00:12:46.90
My doctrine wasn't there.
00:12:46.96\00:12:48.26
I didn't know anything about
Seventh-day Adventist theology,
00:12:48.30\00:12:49.93
but I was always
preaching to people.
00:12:50.00\00:12:51.43
So I always had that spirit.
00:12:51.47\00:12:53.57
And, of course, you
get sidetracked in life.
00:12:53.60\00:12:56.44
And eventually,
we had a life event
00:12:56.47\00:12:59.94
in 2005, 2006.
00:13:00.08\00:13:03.95
Marilyn got a phone
call one night, and...
00:13:07.02\00:13:11.79
No, she didn't
actually get a phone call.
00:13:11.82\00:13:13.96
She called her mother.
00:13:13.99\00:13:15.32
Okay.
00:13:15.36\00:13:16.73
And no one picked up
00:13:16.76\00:13:18.69
and Marilyn
started to get upset.
00:13:18.73\00:13:21.46
And I said, "No,
everything's fine."
00:13:21.50\00:13:22.93
Well, it turned out, her
mother passed away in her sleep.
00:13:22.96\00:13:26.90
And month and a
half later, after that,
00:13:26.94\00:13:30.17
both of my parents died,
00:13:30.21\00:13:32.54
they died a week apart.
00:13:32.57\00:13:34.24
Both of your parents?
00:13:34.28\00:13:36.44
They both passed away.
00:13:36.48\00:13:37.81
So in the span of
a month and a half,
00:13:37.85\00:13:39.68
we had three close
family members die.
00:13:39.71\00:13:42.85
And when that happens, you
start asking questions like
00:13:42.88\00:13:45.22
what's going on, you
know, it's very, very traumatic.
00:13:45.25\00:13:49.12
And during that time,
00:13:49.16\00:13:51.59
I was working for
Boeing in Seattle.
00:13:51.63\00:13:54.36
And I started hearing this...
00:13:54.40\00:13:57.20
I wouldn't say was a voice
00:13:57.23\00:13:58.57
but was a very
strong impression.
00:13:58.60\00:13:59.93
And it kept saying, it's
time, it's time, it's time.
00:14:00.04\00:14:04.31
And I'm sitting in meetings,
00:14:04.34\00:14:05.67
board meetings
and things like that
00:14:05.71\00:14:07.04
and I'm hearing it's time.
00:14:07.08\00:14:08.54
Eventually, I got frustrated
00:14:08.58\00:14:10.18
after about the week
and a half of hearing this.
00:14:10.25\00:14:11.91
I said, "What's going on,
Lord, you know, what is this?
00:14:11.95\00:14:15.15
What is this
impression that I'm getting?"
00:14:15.18\00:14:17.29
And it was late at
night when I said that prayer.
00:14:17.32\00:14:20.86
And the next morning,
there was an email from 3ABN
00:14:20.89\00:14:24.23
to come and work for 3ABN.
00:14:24.26\00:14:26.70
Wow!
00:14:26.73\00:14:28.26
And we came out,
we didn't interview,
00:14:28.30\00:14:31.77
and we decided that
it really wasn't for us.
00:14:31.80\00:14:35.97
And I prayed another prayer,
00:14:36.00\00:14:37.47
I said, "Lord,
00:14:37.51\00:14:38.84
you know, if this is
really what You want,
00:14:38.87\00:14:40.34
Your will be done
above anything else."
00:14:40.38\00:14:43.95
And right after that prayer...
00:14:44.01\00:14:46.31
And this prayer was may
be a week and half later,
00:14:46.35\00:14:48.72
right after this prayer,
00:14:48.75\00:14:50.65
Moses Primo who is my boss
now, he called on the phone.
00:14:50.69\00:14:54.66
And so, I said,
"Okay, we'll think about it."
00:14:54.69\00:15:00.13
In another week or two past,
00:15:00.16\00:15:01.90
and I'm struggling
00:15:01.93\00:15:03.26
because right then we
were planning on retiring
00:15:03.30\00:15:05.13
and semi retiring
and moving down to Texas.
00:15:05.17\00:15:08.64
And I said another prayer,
00:15:08.67\00:15:10.01
I'm fighting
inside and I said, "Lord,
00:15:10.04\00:15:11.81
you know, if this is
really what You want,
00:15:11.84\00:15:14.91
I'll do whatever You want."
00:15:14.94\00:15:17.18
And right after that
prayer, Moses calls again.
00:15:17.25\00:15:20.22
Wow!
00:15:20.25\00:15:21.58
And I always
remembered when I was a kid,
00:15:21.62\00:15:25.75
I read a story in the
Bible of the rich, young ruler.
00:15:25.79\00:15:30.46
And I always
remember saying to myself,
00:15:30.53\00:15:32.56
I'm a teenager, in the gangs.
00:15:32.59\00:15:35.40
My mother gave a Bible,
00:15:35.43\00:15:37.03
and that's one
of the first verses
00:15:37.07\00:15:40.50
that I've read and I
remember saying to myself,
00:15:40.54\00:15:42.54
I will never do that.
00:15:42.57\00:15:44.01
How could you turn your
back on Christ for the world?
00:15:44.07\00:15:47.84
And so when I started deciding
00:15:47.88\00:15:51.95
that we weren't coming to 3ABN,
00:15:51.98\00:15:54.82
the rooster started crowing.
00:15:54.85\00:15:57.79
Wow!
00:15:57.82\00:15:59.15
And as very convicted
00:15:59.19\00:16:01.36
and so it turned
after the third phone call,
00:16:01.39\00:16:04.36
we decided that we
were gonna stop our move,
00:16:04.39\00:16:06.36
we were mid-way
through our moving,
00:16:06.39\00:16:08.46
to our Cinco Ranch, Texas.
00:16:08.50\00:16:10.90
We decided to stop
and come to work for 3ABN
00:16:10.97\00:16:14.64
because it's what
the Lord wanted us to do.
00:16:14.67\00:16:17.04
Yeah, so your answered the call.
00:16:17.11\00:16:19.21
The call was quite persistent
from what it sounds like.
00:16:19.24\00:16:24.25
Yes.
00:16:24.28\00:16:25.61
And I'm sure you were praying
as well, I would imagine.
00:16:25.65\00:16:28.05
Yes.
00:16:28.08\00:16:30.09
So what position did
you take on, Marilyn,
00:16:30.12\00:16:33.89
when you came to 3ABN?
00:16:33.96\00:16:36.56
Well, when we first got here,
00:16:36.59\00:16:38.83
I had no intentions on working.
I was just coming for Eric.
00:16:38.86\00:16:43.10
And three months
later, Mollie called and said,
00:16:43.13\00:16:47.04
"What are your plans?"
00:16:47.10\00:16:48.77
And I said, "Well, I don't know,
00:16:48.80\00:16:50.37
I'm just here waiting
for Eric to get home."
00:16:50.41\00:16:52.84
And she said,
"Would you like a job?"
00:16:52.87\00:16:54.64
And I said, "Sure!"
00:16:54.68\00:16:56.41
And so I came here
00:16:56.44\00:16:57.78
as the assistant
call center manager
00:16:57.81\00:17:00.98
and here I am today.
00:17:01.02\00:17:03.42
And now you are the
manager of the call center.
00:17:03.45\00:17:07.09
And what does a
typical day look like for you,
00:17:07.12\00:17:09.92
if there is a typical day?
00:17:09.96\00:17:12.19
There is not a typical day.
00:17:12.23\00:17:14.83
There's a lot of...
00:17:14.86\00:17:17.37
We deal with
shipping and receiving,
00:17:17.40\00:17:19.13
I deal with vendors
when they need product,
00:17:19.17\00:17:22.57
and ordering products for 3ABN.
00:17:22.60\00:17:25.61
And so there is no typical day.
00:17:25.64\00:17:30.35
It's kind of random,
00:17:30.38\00:17:32.38
whatever happens that
day, you have to deal with.
00:17:32.41\00:17:35.22
You guys get to interact
00:17:35.25\00:17:36.58
with all the
viewers that call in.
00:17:36.62\00:17:37.95
The viewers, we get
people that walk in,
00:17:37.99\00:17:41.82
you deal with walk-ins,
00:17:41.86\00:17:43.93
and I also have to
deal with our shipping
00:17:43.96\00:17:47.96
like, FedEx
00:17:48.00\00:17:49.33
and things like
that USPS and so, yeah.
00:17:49.36\00:17:53.44
In other words,
you're very busy over there.
00:17:53.50\00:17:55.10
We are very busy.
00:17:55.14\00:17:56.47
Yes. Yes. Absolutely.
00:17:56.50\00:17:58.91
And, Eric, what's a...
00:17:58.94\00:18:00.41
First off, what does
a broadcast engineer do?
00:18:00.44\00:18:04.31
And then, what's
your day look like?
00:18:04.35\00:18:08.82
Well, a
broadcast engineer at 3ABN,
00:18:08.85\00:18:10.72
our basic responsibility,
00:18:10.75\00:18:12.19
really our
primary responsibility
00:18:12.22\00:18:14.52
is keeping 3ABN on
the air 24 hours a day,
00:18:14.56\00:18:17.89
and seven days a week.
00:18:17.93\00:18:19.46
That means,
00:18:19.49\00:18:20.83
our internet
streams keeping those up.
00:18:20.86\00:18:22.40
It's a huge task.
00:18:22.43\00:18:23.77
Our satellite
streams, keeping those up,
00:18:23.80\00:18:26.74
over the air from our
uplinks, keeping those up,
00:18:26.77\00:18:29.57
so people can put
the rabbit ears up
00:18:29.60\00:18:31.14
and get us over on
their television sets.
00:18:31.17\00:18:33.91
So that's our main role.
00:18:33.98\00:18:35.54
There's a lot of
systems involved in doing that.
00:18:35.58\00:18:37.68
There's a lot of fiber optics.
00:18:37.71\00:18:39.58
Our job is to
keep those running.
00:18:39.61\00:18:42.35
And just like your
car, your automobile,
00:18:42.38\00:18:44.69
sometime it wants to run,
00:18:44.72\00:18:46.32
sometimes it
doesn't want to run.
00:18:46.35\00:18:48.39
And our job is to make it run.
00:18:48.42\00:18:50.13
Wow!
00:18:50.16\00:18:51.49
Yeah, and we keep you guys
pretty busy in that department.
00:18:51.53\00:18:55.26
We stay very,
very busy. Absolutely.
00:18:55.30\00:18:57.83
Yeah, my typical
day is usually...
00:18:57.87\00:19:00.60
We have projects. Okay.
00:19:00.67\00:19:02.40
And we have a central project,
00:19:02.44\00:19:04.54
let's say,
00:19:04.57\00:19:05.91
I need to repair a device
00:19:05.94\00:19:07.98
or spectrum
analyzer or stuff like that,
00:19:08.01\00:19:09.71
and I've been working
on that couple of days,
00:19:09.74\00:19:11.08
that's my project for the time.
00:19:11.11\00:19:12.88
But we also have
other things that happen,
00:19:12.91\00:19:14.25
we have emergencies.
00:19:14.28\00:19:15.62
Sometimes a
channel goes off the air.
00:19:15.65\00:19:17.52
Sometimes
someone's equipments breaks,
00:19:17.55\00:19:19.62
their computer breaks
or something like that.
00:19:19.65\00:19:21.92
So my day
revolved around my project.
00:19:21.96\00:19:25.76
We have, like I said,
00:19:25.79\00:19:27.13
emergencies that
we have to tackle.
00:19:27.13\00:19:29.43
Also I'm working on the...
00:19:29.46\00:19:31.73
I'm the primary
software engineer
00:19:31.77\00:19:34.24
for the mySDAtv.
00:19:34.27\00:19:35.60
Tell us about the mySDAtv box.
00:19:35.64\00:19:37.14
What is the mySDAtv
box for those viewers
00:19:37.21\00:19:40.61
that don't know?
00:19:40.68\00:19:42.01
Okay. Moses
Primo is the manager.
00:19:42.04\00:19:45.71
We had an
engineer few years back
00:19:45.75\00:19:48.18
and he worked on the
mySDAtv 1, it's the black box.
00:19:48.22\00:19:53.09
He ended up leaving,
going to another ministry
00:19:53.12\00:19:55.72
and I decided...
00:19:55.76\00:19:57.23
I felt impressed to
volunteer to step in
00:19:57.26\00:20:00.40
and develop the mySDA
2 which is the blue box.
00:20:00.43\00:20:06.20
So that
involves a lot of coding,
00:20:06.23\00:20:07.90
a lot of work, a
lot of maintenance.
00:20:07.94\00:20:10.17
But it's a volunteer effort,
it's a work of the heart.
00:20:10.21\00:20:13.04
I think it's very
important for 3ABN
00:20:13.07\00:20:15.31
to spread around the world.
00:20:15.34\00:20:17.11
I know that IP
internet is the new medium,
00:20:17.15\00:20:20.92
the primary medium
for sharing media content.
00:20:20.95\00:20:24.65
And I knew that this is
what the Lord wanted me to do,
00:20:24.69\00:20:27.92
so I started on the
box about two years ago.
00:20:27.96\00:20:30.89
And Moses Primo
has been very happy
00:20:30.93\00:20:33.56
and impressed with the product.
00:20:33.60\00:20:35.43
And every time he says
that I praise the Lord,
00:20:35.46\00:20:37.40
because I know
people are being blessed by,
00:20:37.43\00:20:39.63
which is why I did it.
00:20:39.67\00:20:41.00
So basically the mySDAtv
box is a streaming device,
00:20:41.04\00:20:44.64
in which people can access 3ABN
00:20:44.67\00:20:48.24
as well as some
other ministries...
00:20:48.28\00:20:50.58
They're gonna access 3ABN,
Dare to Dream, 3ABN Latino,
00:20:50.61\00:20:54.65
all of the 3ABN networks.
00:20:54.68\00:20:57.32
Right now, there's 25 channels.
00:20:57.35\00:20:59.52
Okay.
00:20:59.55\00:21:00.96
And there are 25
Adventist channels
00:21:00.99\00:21:03.22
from different ministries.
00:21:03.26\00:21:04.79
Nice, okay.
00:21:04.83\00:21:06.26
The big ministries are,
you know, Amazing Facts,
00:21:06.29\00:21:09.40
Amazing
Discoveries, Mission TV, Sum TV,
00:21:09.43\00:21:12.83
Stephen Bohr, a lot of content
on there for any Christian.
00:21:12.87\00:21:17.07
And that's why I
thought impressed to step in,
00:21:17.11\00:21:20.24
and to help Moses get
this product to the people.
00:21:20.28\00:21:24.41
A lot of wholesome content.
00:21:24.45\00:21:26.82
How do you guys
now, you know, of course,
00:21:26.88\00:21:29.45
we work in a ministry, so
guys involved in everything,
00:21:29.48\00:21:32.19
but how do you incorporate
God in the workplace?
00:21:32.22\00:21:37.09
Marilyn, we'll start with you.
00:21:37.13\00:21:39.43
Well, each day we start
our day with morning worship,
00:21:39.46\00:21:44.20
that's important,
00:21:44.23\00:21:45.57
because you have to
have a foundation, the start.
00:21:45.60\00:21:49.67
It can be stressful,
00:21:49.70\00:21:51.17
you can have a stressful day
and to start your day in Jesus,
00:21:51.21\00:21:55.38
just builds for
the rest of the day.
00:21:55.41\00:22:00.62
And then we have prayer.
00:22:00.65\00:22:02.38
So that's how we incorporate
and we always try to strive
00:22:02.42\00:22:07.79
to be Christ like in our manner,
00:22:07.82\00:22:10.43
when we're
communicating with the customers
00:22:10.46\00:22:13.50
and whoever we
come in contact with.
00:22:13.53\00:22:16.63
Nice, nice.
00:22:16.67\00:22:18.07
What about you, Eric?
00:22:18.10\00:22:19.43
Yeah, ministry is a marriage.
00:22:19.47\00:22:21.64
It's a marriage between you
and the ministry and Christ.
00:22:21.67\00:22:24.81
Once again it's
that three way marriage.
00:22:24.84\00:22:28.21
You have to start
every morning with prayer,
00:22:28.24\00:22:31.21
just like in a
marriage with my wife, Marilyn.
00:22:31.25\00:22:33.78
You have to start
the morning with prayer.
00:22:33.82\00:22:37.72
Ministry is a labor of love.
00:22:37.75\00:22:40.12
You're not
expecting to get rewards,
00:22:40.16\00:22:42.66
financial gain,
things like that.
00:22:42.69\00:22:45.99
And it's a relationship
00:22:46.03\00:22:48.40
and so every
relationship prayer,
00:22:48.43\00:22:53.17
friendship, communication.
00:22:53.20\00:22:54.77
That's my motto, prayer,
friendship and communication.
00:22:54.80\00:22:58.31
Nice. Nice. Yeah.
00:22:58.34\00:23:00.21
And how long have
you been with 3ABN?
00:23:00.28\00:23:02.54
We've been with
3ABN, five years.
00:23:02.58\00:23:04.91
Five years? Five years.
00:23:04.95\00:23:06.31
Wow!
00:23:06.35\00:23:07.68
Time flies when
you're having fun.
00:23:07.72\00:23:09.05
That's right.
00:23:09.08\00:23:10.42
It's the same,
00:23:10.49\00:23:12.12
I've been here
for five years too.
00:23:12.15\00:23:17.13
Okay, so now I
walk into your office,
00:23:17.16\00:23:20.10
and I see you coding,
and then I see you working,
00:23:20.13\00:23:22.40
you have this
workstation over here,
00:23:22.43\00:23:25.33
all of these
things, so it seems like,
00:23:25.37\00:23:28.40
prayer really helps to
get you through your day
00:23:28.44\00:23:30.91
from what I'm hearing from here
00:23:30.94\00:23:33.01
and I go to the call center
00:23:33.04\00:23:35.74
and I see all these
orders getting ready to go out.
00:23:35.78\00:23:38.35
I hear the
phones, phones ringing.
00:23:38.38\00:23:40.78
I see the warehouse
and all of these things
00:23:40.82\00:23:44.89
like keeping up
00:23:44.92\00:23:47.12
with what you guys do
here in this ministry,
00:23:47.16\00:23:52.76
it's amazing.
00:23:52.79\00:23:54.73
You guys are a
blessing to this ministry,
00:23:54.73\00:23:57.63
and I'm glad
00:23:57.67\00:23:59.00
that both of you
answered the two unique callings
00:23:59.03\00:24:03.91
that were placed
on both of your lives.
00:24:03.94\00:24:05.81
Amen. Amen.
00:24:05.84\00:24:07.48
You know, and it's good to see
that you're incorporating God
00:24:07.51\00:24:12.68
in the workplace
because even in ministry,
00:24:12.71\00:24:14.45
you know,
sometimes people will...
00:24:14.48\00:24:17.39
It's like you get so
caught up in the act of doing
00:24:17.42\00:24:21.29
that you sometimes lose
sight of that relationship.
00:24:21.32\00:24:24.59
You have to incorporate God
when you're in the ministry.
00:24:24.63\00:24:28.50
And I'll give
you a quick example.
00:24:28.53\00:24:30.93
I'm not a software programmer.
00:24:30.97\00:24:32.87
My background is
electrical engineering.
00:24:32.90\00:24:35.94
When I was in the
military, I did flight test.
00:24:35.97\00:24:39.04
No programming involved.
00:24:39.07\00:24:40.84
When I took on the
mySDAtv 2 for example,
00:24:40.88\00:24:45.05
I didn't know how to
program in the language
00:24:45.08\00:24:47.48
that the mySDAtv
had to be written in.
00:24:47.52\00:24:50.19
I did a lot of praying.
00:24:50.25\00:24:52.32
And there's a number of
times where the Lord stepped in
00:24:52.35\00:24:55.12
to help me continue forward.
00:24:55.16\00:24:57.73
One quick example, I
was stuck on one problem,
00:24:57.76\00:25:01.66
and I couldn't move
any further forward,
00:25:01.70\00:25:03.23
I was stuck on this
problem for almost three weeks.
00:25:03.26\00:25:06.74
And I pray the Lord and I said,
00:25:06.77\00:25:08.74
"You know,
Lord, this is for you.
00:25:08.77\00:25:10.94
I'm not getting paid
for this particular thing.
00:25:10.97\00:25:12.67
I'm volunteering my effort.
00:25:12.71\00:25:14.51
You need to help me out."
00:25:14.54\00:25:16.31
It's one of
those sincere prayers,
00:25:16.34\00:25:17.68
because when you work
on something that long,
00:25:17.71\00:25:19.05
you get
frustrated after a while.
00:25:19.08\00:25:21.58
The next day, a young
man from Africa walks in,
00:25:21.62\00:25:24.95
his name is Joseph.
00:25:24.99\00:25:26.89
And he says, "Can you help
me, I'm an engineer from..."
00:25:26.96\00:25:30.86
I think it was Angola.
00:25:30.93\00:25:32.66
He said, "Can you help me
with lighting and showing me,
00:25:32.69\00:25:35.40
how to work the cameras,
00:25:35.43\00:25:36.77
I want to start
00:25:36.83\00:25:38.17
my own little
ministry in Africa."
00:25:38.20\00:25:41.30
And he looks over at
my computer, he says,
00:25:41.34\00:25:42.70
"Oh, you program in Java."
00:25:42.74\00:25:46.34
As soon as I heard that, I said,
00:25:46.37\00:25:47.71
"How did you know
I'm programming in Java?"
00:25:47.74\00:25:49.84
He says, "Well, I've
been a Java programmer
00:25:49.88\00:25:51.71
for the last nine years."
00:25:51.75\00:25:53.11
Wow!
00:25:53.15\00:25:54.88
Right after I
prayed that night before.
00:25:54.92\00:25:57.49
So it took me 10 minutes
to explain the problem to him,
00:25:57.55\00:26:01.66
it took him three
minutes to fix it.
00:26:01.69\00:26:04.26
And I move forward.
00:26:04.29\00:26:05.86
Praise the Lord. Wow!
00:26:05.89\00:26:07.23
Okay, so you
prayed, you met Joseph,
00:26:07.23\00:26:11.00
nice biblical
name too by the way.
00:26:11.03\00:26:12.80
He walked in the door...
00:26:12.83\00:26:14.17
Walked in the door, he saw,
00:26:14.24\00:26:16.91
you know, the
coding and you know,
00:26:16.94\00:26:18.31
I walked by your office,
00:26:18.34\00:26:19.67
and I joke with you
all the time about the code
00:26:19.71\00:26:21.14
and all that stuff,
00:26:21.18\00:26:22.51
but he saw the
code and then he said,
00:26:22.54\00:26:25.95
okay you're programming Java,
00:26:25.98\00:26:28.05
you explain the
situation, took 10 minutes...
00:26:28.08\00:26:30.09
Took 10 minutes.
00:26:30.12\00:26:31.45
To explain it, but it took
him three minutes to fix it.
00:26:31.49\00:26:33.09
It took him three
minutes to fix it.
00:26:33.12\00:26:34.59
He said, you do
this, this and that,
00:26:34.62\00:26:36.42
and I was on my way,
right after I prayed.
00:26:36.46\00:26:38.33
Wow!
00:26:38.36\00:26:39.69
And then we helped him out
00:26:39.73\00:26:41.03
with the cameras
and the lighting.
00:26:41.06\00:26:42.40
Wow!
00:26:42.43\00:26:43.77
That's why I had to
pray my way through this,
00:26:43.83\00:26:45.17
and the ministry like
that is a product of prayer.
00:26:45.20\00:26:49.04
We have to pray our
way through the ministry.
00:26:49.07\00:26:51.17
Absolutely. We face
challenges every day.
00:26:51.21\00:26:52.87
Absolutely.
00:26:52.91\00:26:54.24
And it's through
prayer and the love of Christ
00:26:54.28\00:26:56.28
that we get to
where we're going.
00:26:56.31\00:26:57.95
Yes, you know what?
00:26:57.98\00:26:59.31
This is actually
the year of prayer
00:26:59.35\00:27:01.58
here at 3ABN and,
00:27:01.62\00:27:05.02
you know, we're gonna
be doing a lot of praying
00:27:05.05\00:27:08.36
and all those things.
00:27:08.39\00:27:09.72
We want the gospel
to go around the world
00:27:09.76\00:27:12.79
and that definitely
takes prayer for sure.
00:27:12.83\00:27:16.87
And thank you for everything
00:27:16.90\00:27:18.60
that you're
doing in this ministry
00:27:18.63\00:27:20.54
to make sure that things
stay afloat by God's grace,
00:27:20.57\00:27:24.41
you know, with
getting the signal out
00:27:24.44\00:27:27.58
and working on the streams,
00:27:27.61\00:27:29.28
the IP streams
and all these things.
00:27:29.31\00:27:31.58
I don't even know everything,
00:27:31.61\00:27:33.08
I don't even think you covered
every single thing that you do.
00:27:33.11\00:27:36.89
But we're
grateful for both of you
00:27:36.92\00:27:39.19
and what you do
for this ministry.
00:27:39.22\00:27:40.56
Thank you. Amen.
00:27:40.59\00:27:41.92
You're welcome.
It's my pleasure.
00:27:41.96\00:27:43.29
I can't believe our
time is, it's pretty much up.
00:27:43.32\00:27:46.16
You know, this
interview went by so fast.
00:27:46.19\00:27:49.40
Well, we've reached
the end of another program.
00:27:49.43\00:27:52.77
Ask God, what He
has for your life?
00:27:52.80\00:27:55.30
How you can get
involved in ministry?
00:27:55.34\00:27:58.11
Remember to incorporate
Him in everything that you do.
00:27:58.14\00:28:01.91
Thanks for tuning in.
00:28:01.94\00:28:03.28
Join us next time and remember,
00:28:03.31\00:28:04.65
it just wouldn't be
the same without you.
00:28:04.68\00:28:06.31