Stay tuned to meet a man
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who's focused on the mission
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to make a
difference in his community.
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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 guest today is
Pastor Taurus Montgomery,
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senior pastor of
the Harbor of Hope
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Seventh-day Adventist Church,
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located in
Benton Harbor, Michigan.
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Welcome to Urban
Report, Pastor Taurus.
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Thank you so much
for having me, man.
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I really appreciate it, Jason,
for the opportunity to share.
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It's great to have you here.
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And I'm excited
for you to share.
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So let's start with this.
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What is the
mission of Harbor of Hope?
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At Harbor of Hope,
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we exist to empower
young people to rise
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and lead through Christ.
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We land on that
mission statement
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over a series of over the course
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rather of several
months, I'll even say years.
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But within the past six months,
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we've kind of
been on this journey
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of really praying and
seeking God for clarity
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as to what is our unique mission
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here in this community.
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And we are unapologetically
for young people,
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impacting young
people, serving young people.
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We believe that
that's the call that God
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has placed on us
as a congregation.
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Amen.
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And so the whole congregation
is on board with this?
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Absolutely. Absolutely.
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I tell people all the
time, you know, we have,
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we even have a target age
is ages five to 25 years old.
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That's where we
focus our resources,
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our time, our power,
manpower and womanpower.
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And, and we say, you know,
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that doesn't mean that
if you are above that age,
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then you can't be a
member at Harbor of Hope.
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If that was true,
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then I wouldn't be
able to be a member,
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I'm above, you know.
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But you know, we
just believe in this,
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this intentionality, right?
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Yes.
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Those who are
above 25 years old,
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God has given you a story,
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God has given you
experiences in life
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for you to be able to pour back
into that particular age group.
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And so we just want
to be intentional about,
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you know, this call
that God has placed on us
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to serve in this community.
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Amen, and that's so important.
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You know, each community
has its own set of challenges.
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So what are some
of the challenges
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that Benton
Harbor is faced with?
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Man, um, you know,
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a city that has
been impacted by poverty.
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You know, poverty
breeds all kinds of issues.
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And one of the things
that's really on people's heart
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right now is gun violence.
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You know, we've had
our hand a handful of that,
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too much to be honest with you,
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any amount of
violence must be dealt,
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you know, the
truth of the matter.
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In fact, I have a news clip
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that I share kind
of the same thing,
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that if we can
pull that out right now,
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I think it speaks to it.
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Absolutely.
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Let's take a look
at that right now.
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Pastor Taurus
Montgomery, himself,
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thank you for taking the time.
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Sir, good to see you.
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First off, what's your
reaction when you heard about
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another deadly
shooting in Benton Township
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not far from
your church overnight?
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The victims just
18 and 20 years old,
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what did you make of it?
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Well, you know, I was
hurt, Brian, I was hurt.
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You know, I couldn't
help but think about the fact
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that these are
young, young people,
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18 years old, 20
years old, you know,
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whole life ahead
of them, but now,
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not able to live that life.
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Because they've been taken,
you know, at such an early age.
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My heart goes out to the family,
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and loved ones
who are now mourning,
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yet again another death
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of a young
person in our community.
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It happens all too
often, no doubt about that.
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But your church,
the Harbor of Hope,
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has a new mission
to help young people
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make more positive choices.
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What led you and
your parishioners
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down that path?
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Well, what led us down
that path is the reality
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that in communities
that are underserved,
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communities of poverty,
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young people are
oftentimes going to experience
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what they call ACES,
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or that stands for
adverse childhood experiences,
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and the more of
those that people have,
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then the more likely
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they're going to
struggle in life.
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In addition to the fact that,
as you played in the video,
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just down the
street from our church,
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we had a young man last summer
who was killed, 19 years old.
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So these things,
you know, we're saying,
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"Hey, we can sit back
and complain about it,
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or we can do something."
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And so that's, that's
what took us down this path.
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So tell our viewers
about the Final Play
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that basketball
tournament fundraiser
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and community
wide event next week,
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what's the
overall goal with this?
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Listen, our Final Play is
a four day community event
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that uses basketball,
to bring people together,
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to bring the community together.
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And our overall
goal is to kick off
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a positive,
peaceful, productive summer
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and a summer where
we can, we want to,
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we want to expose young people
to opportunities and programs
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that are available in the city
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for them to tap
into for the summer.
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How can people
support your mission
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and all those nonprofits trying
to make a difference there
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in Benton Harbor
and Benton Township?
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Are you asking
people to get involved?
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Oh, sure, absolutely.
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Well, the first thing
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they can do is
go to the website,
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onefinalplay.com.
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That's the
number one spelled out.
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Onefinalplay.com and
learn more about the event
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and other things
that we have happening.
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The second thing
they can do is volunteer.
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They'll find it on
the website as well.
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And we're also
accepting donations
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to take funds to make
these kinds of things happen.
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And so they can make a
donation on there as well.
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And lastly, they can attend,
you know, show up, be present,
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be amongst young people
be that positive influence
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when they come around as well.
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And so those are ways
that people can get involved.
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Pastor Taurus Montgomery
at the Harbor of Hope Church
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of Benton Harbor, thank
you for all you're doing
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to make this a
safer, less violence summer.
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We certainly
appreciate your efforts.
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Thank you, Brian.
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All right.
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Wow, that's incredible.
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I'm so glad that ABC
57 chose to highlight
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what was going
on in the community.
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Your church is
doing incredible things,
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Pastor Taurus, and thankful
for your leadership there.
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You know, a lot of times
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we see problems
within a community.
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But we don't
address those problems.
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We don't do anything, we
tend to complain about them,
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but we don't do
anything about them.
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So you're doing
something about it.
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But what is your church
doing to address those problems?
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Well, a couple of things.
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Man, you know, one of the things
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that you know, as you are saying
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what you just
said there, you know,
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it's important to scratch people
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where they're itchy, right?
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If you, if I'm...
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If my back is itching,
but you're scratching my head,
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then I'm looking at
you, "What's wrong with you?"
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You know, it's not, you're,
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what you're doing is not
relevant to what my need is.
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Yes.
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And so just find it
necessary for the church
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to listen to the community,
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because the
community will tell you
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exactly what their
issue is, what the problem is.
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And I believe that God has
blessed His church so much,
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with so many gifts
and so many talents
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and so many resources.
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And I'm not just
talking about my church,
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I'm talking about the
Adventist Church period
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to be able to address
any problem or any issue
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that we find in our community.
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And so what we, in
addition to, you know,
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trying to address this gun,
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this gun violence
issue, we created programs.
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So for young man,
we have a men's group
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where we want to provide,
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where we provide
mentorship for young men.
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For young ladies,
there's a women's group,
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we turned our Sabbath school
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into what we call
Now Rise Up School
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to be in line and in
harmony with our mission
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to empower young
people to rise and lead.
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And so we're teaching the
Word, you know, of course,
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during that time and giving them
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that firm foundation
that's going to help them
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to make it out of poverty,
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and also be able to
walk on the streets of gold.
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And so, those are some of
the things that we're doing.
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We have a life
skills program, you know,
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what we're talking
about how to change a tire,
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you know, how
to change your oil,
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how to tie a tie, you know,
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we've got them
actually to get them involved
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in to be able to serve.
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We have a community garden
to teach them agriculture.
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Just a number of
things that that are practical
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and hands-on for young
people to be able to partake in.
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Main attraction is basketball.
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You know,
basketball is something
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that this
community gravitates to.
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A lot of them, you talk to them,
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they don't call
it Benton Harbor,
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they call it Ball Harbor,
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and that's for
their love for the game,
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their love for sports.
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And so those are
some of the things
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that we're doing.
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And so that they
call it Ball Harbor,
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that must mean they have skills,
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that they must have
some skills on the court.
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If you're, they do,
let me just say that.
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Benton Harbor is
a basketball city
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and which is why everybody
loves the game here to see.
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Nice, nice.
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We actually have some
pictures of some people
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that have you know,
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attended and played out
there and all that stuff.
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Why don't you tell us
a little bit about that?
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Sure, sure.
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So this, this
was the first event
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at our grand opening
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that we did where we had
about 200 people come out,
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you know, it was a...
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This I know
basketball, you know,
00:10:01.60\00:10:02.93
basketball is a big deal.
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It was a last
minute kind of thrown
00:10:04.33\00:10:07.24
together type of thing,
00:10:07.27\00:10:08.60
because we were
trying to respond as quickly
00:10:08.64\00:10:09.97
as we could to, you know,
00:10:10.01\00:10:12.51
the issues that was
happening last summer, right?
00:10:12.54\00:10:15.44
And so, man, people showed
up with little advertising,
00:10:15.48\00:10:18.81
we had a great time.
00:10:18.85\00:10:20.62
Here's some young
boys right here, you know,
00:10:20.65\00:10:22.82
coming out and
participating and playing.
00:10:22.85\00:10:25.39
And, you know,
it's an attraction,
00:10:25.42\00:10:27.72
a lot, what a lot
of people don't know.
00:10:27.76\00:10:30.09
And I learned this, you
know, over the course of time,
00:10:30.13\00:10:33.16
is that even the origin
of the game of basketball,
00:10:33.19\00:10:36.23
it was created to
help keep young people,
00:10:36.26\00:10:38.63
young men in
particular off the streets.
00:10:38.67\00:10:41.57
The guy who created,
00:10:41.60\00:10:42.94
his name was Dr. James Naismith.
00:10:42.97\00:10:45.34
And he was a gym
teacher, he was a minister,
00:10:45.37\00:10:48.28
he was a physician,
00:10:48.31\00:10:49.74
and the director
of the Boys and Girls,
00:10:49.78\00:10:52.61
not the Boys and Girls Club,
00:10:52.65\00:10:53.98
the YMCA at the time
came to him and said,
00:10:54.02\00:10:56.28
Hey, we need to do something
to keep these young men
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off the streets
during the wintertime,
00:10:59.22\00:11:01.72
and that's the origin
of the game of basketball.
00:11:01.76\00:11:04.96
And in fact, in fact,
in his prayer journal,
00:11:04.99\00:11:08.20
it was written in
his prayer journal,
00:11:08.23\00:11:10.57
he said, you know,
"God, give me a game
00:11:10.60\00:11:13.23
to win men to the Master."
00:11:13.27\00:11:15.84
And that is the origin
of the game of basketball.
00:11:15.87\00:11:19.57
So I tell people,
it's the holy sport.
00:11:19.61\00:11:22.34
You taught me something new.
00:11:22.38\00:11:23.88
You just taught me
something new on that.
00:11:23.91\00:11:25.61
So how do you use
basketball to spread the gospel?
00:11:25.65\00:11:30.92
So here's a couple of things.
00:11:30.95\00:11:35.19
The first thing
is that, you know,
00:11:35.22\00:11:37.26
embedded within the game
00:11:37.29\00:11:39.09
is the ability to
mingle with people, right?
00:11:39.13\00:11:43.47
Whenever there's
a basketball game,
00:11:43.50\00:11:45.00
you're on a team with somebody,
you just kind of out there.
00:11:45.03\00:11:47.24
So we, as we have these events,
00:11:47.27\00:11:49.74
you know, we're
intentional about
00:11:49.77\00:11:51.11
mingling with young
men and young ladies.
00:11:51.14\00:11:54.11
Right now, as we speak,
00:11:54.14\00:11:56.08
we have a program
out in the community,
00:11:56.11\00:11:59.11
where we're going to places
00:11:59.15\00:12:01.75
that have
basketball courts already,
00:12:01.78\00:12:03.52
and we're mingling,
we're playing ball with them.
00:12:03.55\00:12:06.29
Last, the first night, we
had about 50 people show up.
00:12:06.32\00:12:10.59
The second day, we had
about 70 people show up.
00:12:10.63\00:12:13.53
And so tonight, when we go
back out there to play ball,
00:12:13.56\00:12:17.13
I'm suspecting that
it'll d be even more.
00:12:17.17\00:12:19.07
But after playing
basketball with them, or rather,
00:12:19.10\00:12:21.30
before we play with
them, we share the Word.
00:12:21.34\00:12:25.27
And so even so
when I told you tonight,
00:12:25.31\00:12:27.68
that I have a presentation,
I'm going out there,
00:12:27.71\00:12:30.18
we have the TV,
we take the TV out,
00:12:30.21\00:12:31.81
so I'm using PowerPoint,
the young people gather around,
00:12:31.85\00:12:35.28
and they're watching, you know,
the Scripture's on the screen.
00:12:35.32\00:12:39.15
And so we're preaching the Word,
00:12:39.19\00:12:41.12
sharing the gospel,
we're playing basketball,
00:12:41.16\00:12:43.63
we have some fun
and games, you know,
00:12:43.66\00:12:46.33
we play stuff like
capture the flag with them.
00:12:46.36\00:12:49.46
Adults get involved,
teenagers get involved,
00:12:49.50\00:12:51.77
kids get involved.
00:12:51.80\00:12:53.44
And we're just
having a great time.
00:12:53.47\00:12:54.80
After that, we
sit down together,
00:12:54.84\00:12:56.17
we eat some food.
00:12:56.20\00:12:57.61
But you know what?
00:12:57.64\00:12:59.14
You know, once I'm
preaching the Word,
00:12:59.17\00:13:01.64
I'm also making
appeals, I'm appeals.
00:13:01.68\00:13:03.28
I'm making appeals for
giving your life to Christ.
00:13:03.31\00:13:05.28
I'm making
appeals for Bible study.
00:13:05.31\00:13:07.92
You know, I'm making appeals
for come join us, you know,
00:13:07.95\00:13:11.72
go to church
with us this Sabbath.
00:13:11.75\00:13:13.62
You know, it's
holistic approach, man,
00:13:13.66\00:13:16.32
where it's almost like
00:13:16.36\00:13:18.76
we're doing a week of
prayer in the community on site,
00:13:18.79\00:13:22.80
using the game of basketball
to be able to pull it off.
00:13:22.83\00:13:25.87
Yeah. Amen. Amen.
00:13:25.90\00:13:27.24
That's, that's a
very unique approach.
00:13:27.27\00:13:29.57
How did the grand
opening of the court,
00:13:29.60\00:13:32.21
how did all of that come about?
00:13:32.24\00:13:33.58
Man, you know, well,
you know, I have a...
00:13:35.14\00:13:37.31
I have a love for
the game, you know,
00:13:37.35\00:13:38.85
basketball, I play basketball.
00:13:38.88\00:13:41.25
As a young man,
I had hoop dreams,
00:13:41.28\00:13:44.59
wanted to go to the NBA
00:13:44.62\00:13:45.99
and all that kind
of stuff, you know.
00:13:46.02\00:13:47.62
And so I had this, this
connection with the game
00:13:47.66\00:13:52.09
and I began to see
that basketball was a tool.
00:13:52.13\00:13:55.83
You know, I'll be
honest with you, man,
00:13:55.86\00:13:57.20
I wrestle with it,
00:13:57.23\00:13:58.57
because of the competition
part, you know I'm saying.
00:13:58.60\00:14:01.34
Sometimes, you
know, I would allow it
00:14:01.37\00:14:04.07
to get the best
of me and, you know,
00:14:04.11\00:14:06.04
it turned into something
that it shouldn't turn into,
00:14:06.07\00:14:08.61
but the Lord began to show me
00:14:08.64\00:14:12.28
that if I would allow
Him to be in control of me,
00:14:12.31\00:14:15.65
you know, and surrender myself
as I'm even playing the game.
00:14:15.68\00:14:19.32
Then He, and He
helped me with that, right?
00:14:19.35\00:14:21.16
And so then I began to
realize that you know what?
00:14:21.19\00:14:22.86
This is a tool.
00:14:22.89\00:14:24.43
This is a tool.
00:14:24.46\00:14:25.79
Young people love it.
00:14:25.83\00:14:27.36
And I began to ask myself,
00:14:27.40\00:14:28.73
what if we put
a basketball court
00:14:28.76\00:14:32.63
on the church lawn, right?
00:14:32.67\00:14:34.67
And to be honest with you, man,
00:14:34.70\00:14:36.20
I wanted to put something small,
00:14:36.24\00:14:38.01
something simple,
just one little hoop up.
00:14:38.04\00:14:40.91
And when I began to share
00:14:40.94\00:14:42.28
that vision with
the church board,
00:14:42.31\00:14:44.55
they were like, "Well, pastor,
00:14:44.58\00:14:45.91
I think we should
probably put it in the center
00:14:45.95\00:14:48.05
and make it a real
deal basketball court."
00:14:48.08\00:14:51.85
And I said,
well praise the Lord.
00:14:51.89\00:14:54.26
Right? Amen.
00:14:54.29\00:14:57.13
We ended up
getting some donations.
00:14:57.16\00:15:00.40
You know, some
people blessed us,
00:15:00.43\00:15:01.76
you know, the Lord blessed
us through these individuals,
00:15:01.80\00:15:04.67
we were able to get the
funding and the court went up,
00:15:04.70\00:15:07.60
and the community came out.
00:15:07.64\00:15:09.37
That's, that's huge.
00:15:09.40\00:15:11.07
Tell us about the Final Play?
00:15:11.11\00:15:14.31
Man, the Final Play.
00:15:14.34\00:15:16.04
The Final Play.
00:15:16.08\00:15:17.71
It was, it just
happened in June.
00:15:17.75\00:15:20.78
It was a four day event
that involved a basketball,
00:15:20.82\00:15:25.52
we had a stage
play, we had resources,
00:15:25.55\00:15:30.03
and food, of course, right?
00:15:30.06\00:15:31.89
In fact, I think we
have some shots right here.
00:15:31.93\00:15:34.03
Some pictures of the,
00:15:34.06\00:15:36.80
the resource booths that we had,
00:15:36.83\00:15:38.87
were again, you know,
we're using basketball, it may,
00:15:38.90\00:15:42.97
it drew the community out.
00:15:43.00\00:15:44.37
And with the community came out,
00:15:44.41\00:15:46.11
we had these about 20
different organizations.
00:15:46.14\00:15:48.74
Here you have
Spectrum Health Lakeland,
00:15:48.78\00:15:50.65
which is the local hospital,
and health care system here.
00:15:50.68\00:15:54.38
You had Express,
which is a hiring agency
00:15:54.42\00:15:58.65
in the community
where individuals were able
00:15:58.69\00:16:00.99
to go around and visit
these different booths.
00:16:01.02\00:16:04.33
We had the army recruiters.
00:16:04.36\00:16:06.39
They came out, and
they began to share,
00:16:06.43\00:16:09.03
you know, recruit young
men to come join the army.
00:16:09.06\00:16:13.47
Another cool thing
about it was, you know,
00:16:13.50\00:16:15.80
we were able to raise some funds
00:16:15.84\00:16:17.81
to get to provide assistance
for other organizations
00:16:17.84\00:16:21.14
that are serving young people.
00:16:21.18\00:16:22.91
And here,
organization called 400 Men,
00:16:22.94\00:16:26.11
and they were, you know,
00:16:26.15\00:16:27.98
catering to mentoring young boys
00:16:28.02\00:16:29.98
between the ages of
10 and 17 years old.
00:16:30.02\00:16:32.75
And so we were
able to bless them
00:16:32.79\00:16:34.16
with some funding
to be able to do that,
00:16:34.19\00:16:36.52
with the funds that we
raise from local supporters,
00:16:36.56\00:16:39.63
you know, who were giving.
00:16:39.66\00:16:41.30
And then the last
one that you saw there
00:16:41.33\00:16:43.73
was a check for $2500
00:16:43.77\00:16:45.57
for another organization
called Peace for Life,
00:16:45.60\00:16:48.14
which started as an
anti bullying organization.
00:16:48.17\00:16:52.67
You know, at the end
of every school year,
00:16:52.71\00:16:55.31
there used to be fights.
00:16:55.34\00:16:56.75
It was just kind of
a part of the culture
00:16:56.78\00:16:58.15
at the end of the
last day of school,
00:16:58.18\00:17:00.22
there's gonna be a fight.
00:17:00.25\00:17:01.78
And so this organization
formed to combat that, right?
00:17:01.82\00:17:05.82
And so they will
do peace marches.
00:17:05.85\00:17:07.26
And we, we've
been a part of those
00:17:07.29\00:17:09.19
before as well.
00:17:09.22\00:17:10.56
They were rallies at
the park and, you know,
00:17:10.59\00:17:13.76
trying to do
things that are just,
00:17:13.80\00:17:15.13
you know,
positive and productive
00:17:15.16\00:17:17.07
to some kind of, you know,
00:17:17.10\00:17:19.03
peaceful transition
into the summertime.
00:17:19.07\00:17:21.57
And so being able to, you know,
00:17:21.60\00:17:23.10
be a blessing to
those organizations.
00:17:23.14\00:17:26.61
And listen, again,
00:17:26.64\00:17:28.24
it was all a tie
to basketball, right?
00:17:28.28\00:17:31.61
So the teams
were the organizations
00:17:31.65\00:17:35.75
where the, that
you just saw there,
00:17:35.78\00:17:38.62
a part of them
being able to apply
00:17:38.65\00:17:42.22
for and
participate to be able to,
00:17:42.26\00:17:44.86
to get the, what we call
the community impact grant,
00:17:44.89\00:17:48.70
was they had to, you know,
00:17:48.73\00:17:50.33
there was a
requirements or whatnot.
00:17:50.37\00:17:52.10
But the teams that were
playing in the tournament
00:17:52.13\00:17:55.17
were represented
or they represented
00:17:55.20\00:17:58.51
one of the organizations.
00:17:58.54\00:18:00.21
And so the organization
team that won was the team
00:18:00.24\00:18:05.35
would determine
what prize they got.
00:18:05.38\00:18:07.72
So in other words,
00:18:07.75\00:18:09.08
the players got a chance to play
00:18:09.12\00:18:10.59
for something bigger
than just winning a game.
00:18:10.62\00:18:13.09
I got you.
00:18:13.12\00:18:15.46
Playing for charity.
00:18:15.49\00:18:16.83
And so, they think it's pride,
00:18:16.86\00:18:18.63
a sense of like giving back
and supporting my community,
00:18:18.66\00:18:22.70
as a result of the
work we try to, you know,
00:18:22.73\00:18:26.03
interweave, you know,
the charities into the game.
00:18:26.07\00:18:30.11
So it all worked out.
00:18:30.14\00:18:31.81
Yes, yes.
00:18:31.84\00:18:33.17
That's huge.
00:18:33.21\00:18:34.54
So what happens
after this four day event?
00:18:34.58\00:18:39.11
So you know, that was a...
00:18:39.15\00:18:41.78
That's a good question
00:18:41.82\00:18:43.15
because I was
telling my church that,
00:18:43.18\00:18:45.39
hey, guys, you know,
00:18:45.42\00:18:46.76
we've been planning
this event for seven months,
00:18:46.79\00:18:50.49
praise God, it went well.
00:18:50.53\00:18:53.36
But it's over.
00:18:53.40\00:18:54.73
And it's just four days.
00:18:54.76\00:18:56.10
And guess what?
00:18:56.13\00:18:57.47
The devil is still busy,
00:18:57.50\00:18:58.83
he's still gonna be attacking
young people in our community,
00:18:58.87\00:19:01.60
he's still going to
be causing arguments,
00:19:01.64\00:19:05.27
causing fights.
00:19:05.31\00:19:06.64
And, you know, we
hope nobody else dies
00:19:06.68\00:19:09.48
from violence or whatever.
00:19:09.51\00:19:10.85
But we live in a sin sick world.
00:19:10.88\00:19:13.65
And so, just because the
event is over, that doesn't mean
00:19:13.68\00:19:17.12
that we have to stop now, right?
00:19:17.15\00:19:18.82
There's still
more work to be done.
00:19:18.85\00:19:20.39
So what we decided to do was,
00:19:20.42\00:19:22.39
we looked out
into our communities
00:19:22.42\00:19:23.76
and we say, okay,
well, what complexes,
00:19:23.79\00:19:27.00
what housing project areas,
00:19:27.03\00:19:29.83
what apartment complexes
00:19:29.86\00:19:31.73
already have a
basketball hoop, right?
00:19:31.77\00:19:35.40
Already have a basketball court.
00:19:35.44\00:19:37.41
And we found out that
there were four of them,
00:19:37.44\00:19:40.88
now two of them,
00:19:40.91\00:19:43.04
the basketball hoops
was actually missing.
00:19:43.08\00:19:46.15
So then we had
to try to, you know,
00:19:46.18\00:19:48.32
fundraise to be
able to buy some hoops
00:19:48.35\00:19:50.75
to be able to put the
hoops up on those locations.
00:19:50.79\00:19:53.86
And then we said, you know what?
00:19:53.89\00:19:55.22
We're gonna go to
each one of these locations
00:19:55.26\00:19:57.83
for one week, and this
00:19:57.86\00:19:59.29
is what I was
referring to earlier,
00:19:59.33\00:20:01.06
and we're doing what we call
00:20:01.10\00:20:02.43
a community non
violence initiative.
00:20:02.46\00:20:04.47
Wow!
00:20:04.50\00:20:05.83
And we're going out.
00:20:05.87\00:20:07.47
And I'm talking about
the story of Cain and Abel
00:20:07.50\00:20:09.64
and how these two brothers,
00:20:09.67\00:20:11.81
one brother
killed the other brother,
00:20:11.84\00:20:13.68
and just kind of using that
as a springboard to talk about,
00:20:13.71\00:20:17.15
you know, love God,
00:20:17.18\00:20:18.81
love people and
essentially preach
00:20:18.85\00:20:21.35
the gospel from that, right?
00:20:21.38\00:20:23.99
And so, so we're spending
one week in one location.
00:20:24.02\00:20:28.62
And then after that,
00:20:28.66\00:20:29.99
we spend another
week in the next location.
00:20:30.03\00:20:31.83
We do a basketball tournament,
00:20:31.86\00:20:33.19
we'll do food, we'll
do fund, we'll do games.
00:20:33.23\00:20:36.06
But we're definitely
going to preach the gospel,
00:20:36.10\00:20:37.83
call people to make
decisions for baptism,
00:20:37.87\00:20:40.84
people to make decisions
to study the Word of God,
00:20:40.87\00:20:43.41
people to make
decisions for Christ,
00:20:43.44\00:20:45.34
and so on and so forth.
00:20:45.37\00:20:46.71
And so for the next four
weeks, that's what's going on.
00:20:46.74\00:20:50.65
That's where I'm
preaching at tonight.
00:20:50.68\00:20:52.18
And I'm looking
forward to making
00:20:52.21\00:20:53.58
that happen tonight again.
00:20:53.62\00:20:54.95
Yeah, that is, that is awesome.
00:20:54.98\00:20:56.69
So tell me, what
has been the result
00:20:56.72\00:21:00.72
of your basketball ministry?
00:21:00.76\00:21:03.46
Man, the Lord has
been blessing, man.
00:21:03.49\00:21:05.13
The Lord has been
blessing in so many ways.
00:21:05.16\00:21:08.93
I'll tell you, I'll tell
you two different stories.
00:21:08.96\00:21:10.90
The first one is
when I first started
00:21:10.93\00:21:13.54
doing basketball ministry, um,
00:21:13.57\00:21:16.87
I was connecting with,
again, young men, you know,
00:21:16.91\00:21:19.61
young men love to play ball.
00:21:19.64\00:21:21.14
And it led to
them coming to church.
00:21:21.18\00:21:24.61
It led them to come
into the Sabbath School,
00:21:24.65\00:21:26.82
it led them to
doing Bible studies,
00:21:26.85\00:21:29.85
it led them to getting baptized.
00:21:29.88\00:21:32.55
In fact, we had four young,
four young men to get baptized,
00:21:32.59\00:21:38.19
I'm sorry, it was,
it was two young men
00:21:38.23\00:21:39.56
that got baptized.
00:21:39.59\00:21:40.93
Three young men
that got baptized,
00:21:40.96\00:21:42.30
and three young ladies.
00:21:42.33\00:21:43.77
And then
eventually we took these,
00:21:43.80\00:21:46.23
this small group of young people
00:21:46.27\00:21:48.04
who have never
flown in an airplane
00:21:48.07\00:21:50.44
ever in their lives,
00:21:50.47\00:21:52.11
who never really traveled
out of the state of Michigan.
00:21:52.14\00:21:54.91
We actually took them
00:21:54.94\00:21:56.28
on a mission trip to
Guyana, South America.
00:21:56.31\00:21:59.81
And while there, we
partnered with the organization
00:21:59.85\00:22:01.88
that I was a part of,
that I'm sure you guys
00:22:01.92\00:22:04.09
are familiar with, called NAPS,
00:22:04.12\00:22:05.95
The National
Association for the Prevention,
00:22:05.99\00:22:09.12
which is really
where I got my foundation
00:22:09.16\00:22:10.93
for outreach and
community ministry from, right?
00:22:10.96\00:22:14.26
And so we took these kids, man,
00:22:14.30\00:22:17.43
you know, to
Guyana, South America,
00:22:17.47\00:22:19.33
while there, we did
an evangelistic effort.
00:22:19.37\00:22:22.70
While there, we
also built the home
00:22:22.74\00:22:24.81
for this widow and
her small children.
00:22:24.84\00:22:29.58
And so they got a
chance to, you know,
00:22:29.61\00:22:31.75
go beyond the norm
for their lives, you know.
00:22:31.78\00:22:37.09
You know, they didn't even
know what a passport was, right?
00:22:37.12\00:22:40.92
And so, so that's,
00:22:40.96\00:22:42.29
that's the
first blessing, right?
00:22:42.32\00:22:43.66
Yes.
00:22:43.69\00:22:45.03
And they were sort of
the firstfruits, right?
00:22:45.06\00:22:46.43
And then, just recently, man,
00:22:46.46\00:22:48.76
I got a phone call
last week, Thursday.
00:22:48.80\00:22:53.20
We're doing,
00:22:53.23\00:22:54.57
we're doing this 40
days of prayer and fasting.
00:22:54.60\00:22:56.67
And on Thursdays,
is our day of fasting.
00:22:56.71\00:23:01.64
And so, there was a young
man call me, it's like 9:30.
00:23:01.68\00:23:05.98
And I'm sitting
down at the table,
00:23:06.01\00:23:07.55
just kind of like, you know,
00:23:07.58\00:23:10.85
looking forward
to eating something,
00:23:10.89\00:23:12.89
and I get a phone call.
00:23:12.92\00:23:14.62
And the phone call
00:23:14.66\00:23:15.99
is from one of
my Bible counselors,
00:23:16.02\00:23:18.36
Bible workers.
00:23:18.39\00:23:19.73
And they're saying,
"Hey, Pastor, you know,
00:23:19.76\00:23:21.10
the young man that
I've been working with,
00:23:21.13\00:23:23.60
I've been working
with him for some time now.
00:23:23.63\00:23:24.97
He's been coming out to
the basketball ministry.
00:23:25.00\00:23:27.30
He's been coming to church.
00:23:27.34\00:23:29.20
He told me that he's
ready to get baptized."
00:23:29.24\00:23:31.94
And I said, "Okay, well, great.
00:23:31.97\00:23:35.18
You know, we're having a
baptism this coming Sabbath.
00:23:35.21\00:23:37.31
He could be a
part of that baptism."
00:23:37.35\00:23:39.48
And she said, well pastor.
00:23:39.51\00:23:41.45
He said, "He wanted to
get baptized right now."
00:23:41.48\00:23:45.15
I said, "Right now?"
00:23:45.19\00:23:47.29
Wow.
00:23:47.32\00:23:48.66
See, well, I got it. Okay.
00:23:48.69\00:23:50.03
Well, I got to go to the
church and turn the water on.
00:23:50.06\00:23:54.90
And it's gonna take about
40 minutes to fill the pool up,
00:23:54.93\00:23:57.77
and then it's gonna take a while
00:23:57.80\00:23:59.40
for the water to get warm.
00:23:59.43\00:24:01.97
He said, Okay,
it's 9:30 PM, okay.
00:24:02.00\00:24:06.47
Wow.
00:24:06.51\00:24:07.84
And then he says.
00:24:07.88\00:24:09.68
So I've come over to the church.
00:24:09.71\00:24:11.88
And for whatever reason,
00:24:11.91\00:24:13.78
the baptismal
pool is not working.
00:24:13.82\00:24:16.48
And later I found
out that I didn't know
00:24:16.52\00:24:18.19
what I was doing.
00:24:18.22\00:24:21.69
But I didn't know, I didn't know
00:24:21.72\00:24:25.23
how to turn it on.
00:24:25.26\00:24:26.59
Yeah. So I called him back.
00:24:26.63\00:24:27.96
I called him back and I said,
00:24:28.00\00:24:29.76
"Hey, man, you
know, is not working.
00:24:29.80\00:24:32.07
So the only option
00:24:32.10\00:24:33.50
we have is to go
to Lake Michigan."
00:24:33.54\00:24:36.20
Now Lake Michigan,
Silver Beach is just, you know,
00:24:36.24\00:24:39.34
seven minutes away
from the church, right?
00:24:39.37\00:24:41.48
Uh-huh.
00:24:41.51\00:24:42.84
So, he said, "Okay."
00:24:42.88\00:24:46.38
And man, I grabbed a
couple of my other young guys
00:24:46.41\00:24:49.75
who here you know,
serving as counselors.
00:24:49.78\00:24:53.99
And man we got in the
van and we drove to the beach
00:24:54.02\00:24:58.09
and we got out there.
00:24:58.13\00:24:59.86
We met him out there.
00:24:59.89\00:25:01.23
In fact, we have a picture.
00:25:01.26\00:25:02.60
I think I have a picture here.
00:25:02.63\00:25:04.10
So you know what
happened when we got there.
00:25:04.13\00:25:05.77
So that's what's
there on Lake Michigan.
00:25:05.80\00:25:08.77
It's 9:30, 9:45 by now.
00:25:08.80\00:25:11.64
And we were
praying and you know,
00:25:11.67\00:25:15.31
asking the Lord to
be with him and with us.
00:25:15.34\00:25:18.71
And then from there,
00:25:18.75\00:25:20.08
we walk out into the
water him and myself.
00:25:20.12\00:25:22.38
And I raise my right
hand, in the name of the Father,
00:25:22.42\00:25:25.65
in name of the Son, in
name of the Holy Ghost,
00:25:25.69\00:25:28.52
we baptize this young
man, his name is Milan.
00:25:28.56\00:25:31.16
And he's on fire
for the Lord, man, so.
00:25:31.19\00:25:33.06
Yes. Yes.
00:25:33.09\00:25:35.40
God is showing us
that this thing works.
00:25:35.43\00:25:37.53
This thing is for
this community especially,
00:25:37.57\00:25:42.04
and thank you for
how the Lord has moved.
00:25:42.07\00:25:44.64
Amen. Amen.
00:25:44.67\00:25:46.01
And hopefully our viewers
and listeners will keep Milan
00:25:46.04\00:25:48.38
in prayer as he continues
his walk with the Lord.
00:25:48.41\00:25:51.25
Real quick, I want to
put up your contact page
00:25:51.28\00:25:54.32
and if you would
just read that to us
00:25:54.35\00:25:56.99
so that people know how
to get in touch with you
00:25:57.02\00:25:59.42
and if they want to
support what you're doing,
00:25:59.45\00:26:02.06
they know how to do so.
00:26:02.09\00:26:04.03
So absolutely.
00:26:04.06\00:26:05.39
We are Harbor of Hope
Seventh-day Adventist Church,
00:26:05.43\00:26:08.63
769 Pipestone Street.
00:26:08.66\00:26:11.47
Benton Harbor, Michigan 49022.
00:26:11.50\00:26:15.60
Our website is
HarborOfHopePMC.org
00:26:15.64\00:26:20.91
HarborOfHopePMC.org
00:26:20.94\00:26:23.31
And you can
check us out on there.
00:26:23.35\00:26:25.01
You can donate
from on there as well
00:26:25.05\00:26:26.88
if you want to support
anything that we have going on.
00:26:26.92\00:26:29.28
Wonderful.
00:26:29.32\00:26:30.65
And what are some
of the current needs?
00:26:30.69\00:26:32.02
We're running low on time,
00:26:32.05\00:26:33.39
but what are some of
the current needs that you,
00:26:33.42\00:26:36.22
that your church has?
00:26:36.26\00:26:38.56
Man, we need transportation.
00:26:38.59\00:26:41.16
We need, we're
looking to purchase
00:26:41.20\00:26:43.47
two 12 passenger vans.
00:26:43.50\00:26:47.84
Because to keep up,
00:26:47.87\00:26:49.20
transportation
ministry is a key component
00:26:49.24\00:26:51.57
of our work going out
to pick up young people
00:26:51.61\00:26:54.61
who don't have cars,
who don't have vehicles.
00:26:54.64\00:26:57.81
It's a vital part
of what we're doing.
00:26:57.85\00:27:00.62
And so if you're
willing and able,
00:27:00.65\00:27:04.45
please prayerfully
consider donating to help us
00:27:04.49\00:27:07.69
to purchase some
12 passenger vans
00:27:07.72\00:27:12.53
that will help our
ministry out in a major way
00:27:12.56\00:27:15.26
to be able to go
pick up young people
00:27:15.30\00:27:17.37
and bring them to church,
00:27:17.40\00:27:18.80
to be able to
nurture them and grow them
00:27:18.83\00:27:20.80
to becoming all that
God created them to be.
00:27:20.84\00:27:23.30
Amen. Amen.
00:27:23.34\00:27:25.37
You've been extremely busy.
00:27:25.41\00:27:27.38
I remember, you know,
00:27:27.41\00:27:28.74
I've been able to talk to you
00:27:28.78\00:27:30.11
during different
stages of this project.
00:27:30.15\00:27:33.38
And I'm just amazed
00:27:33.42\00:27:35.82
at what God is
doing through you,
00:27:35.85\00:27:38.15
and what God is
doing through your church
00:27:38.19\00:27:40.16
and what God is doing
within your community.
00:27:40.19\00:27:44.03
And I hope to be
able to come out there
00:27:44.06\00:27:45.73
and visit some time.
00:27:45.76\00:27:47.10
I want to thank
you for coming on
00:27:47.13\00:27:49.46
and sharing with us
00:27:49.50\00:27:50.83
and sharing with our
viewers what is taking place,
00:27:50.87\00:27:53.10
inspiring them to get involved.
00:27:53.13\00:27:55.90
Whatever you have in your hand,
00:27:55.94\00:27:57.37
make sure you use
it to the glory of God.
00:27:57.41\00:27:59.57
Until next time, God bless.
00:27:59.61\00:28:01.11