Participants:
Series Code: ASIC
Program Code: ASIC000014A
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00:21 Good afternoon and welcome to the Sabbath afternoon program at 00:25 the 70th ASI. We're delighted that you're here this afternoon. 00:29 This afternoon's program will be one in which we're going to 00:34 focus on the history of ASI and lay movements throughout history 00:39 that have impacted the world and impacted the Seventh-day 00:44 Adventist church. We'll talk about where ASI has come from 00:49 where we are going in the future and where we are today. So 00:55 Teenie pray for us. 00:57 Shall we bow our heads in prayer Our wonderful, most loving, kind 01:05 heavenly Father: We thank you first of all for who you are. 01:10 Such a great and awesome, loving and unselfish God. You've 01:16 done so much for each of us and we thank you for that. We thank 01:21 you for the way that you have loved us and cared for us and 01:25 guided us. And so we thank you for everything that you have 01:30 done. And now Father I pray that you would bless this meeting 01:34 this afternoon and each participant, each one I pray you 01:38 will give your power and Holy Spirit to. And Father we ask for 01:43 your presence here. We know that the Holy Spirit has been here 01:48 and is here this afternoon but we pray again for the outpouring 01:53 of your Spirit. So Father we will give you the glory and the 01:59 praise for everything also that ASI has done. We thank you for 02:05 the ministries of ASI. We know that it takes more than one 02:11 ministry, more than one person. It takes all of us working 02:16 together to really be unified to finish your work. So we pray 02:22 that you'd give us wisdom and power and your presence as we 02:26 worship again this afternoon with you. So thank you. We 02:30 praise you, we honor you, we love you and we look forward 02:35 to that great day when you will come again in the clouds of 02:39 heaven. Keep us faithful to that end, we pray in Jesus' precious 02:44 name, Amen. 02:46 This year is the 70th anniversary of ASI and 02:55 the 500th year celebrating the reformation. It was in 1517 that 03:03 Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses on the castle church wall 03:10 in Wittenberg. What do those two events have in common? What does 08:47 things that ASI has in common but there is one that I'd like 08:48 to focus on. The truth that dawned on the minds of many 08:49 during the reformation is found in 1 Peter chapter 3 or chapter 08:51 2 rather. Certainly the reformation focused on 08:52 salvation by grace, justification. Certainly it 08:53 focused on the authority of the scripture as above the 08:55 authority of priests and prelates and popes. 08:56 Certainly it focused on faith. But there was another aspect of 08:57 the reformation that dawned upon the minds of men and women, 08:59 another aspect that burst upon their consciousness and we find 09:00 that in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9. The Bible says: But you 09:02 are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his 09:03 own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who 09:04 called you out of darkness into this marvelous light. The great 09:06 truth of the reformation was that priests and prelates and 09:07 popes were not the custodians of the gospel but that God had 09:08 blessed average men and women with the knowledge of his grace 09:10 and the marvels of his love and that every Christian was to be a 09:11 witness. Every Christian was to be a priest of God. Every 09:13 Christian was to be an ambasador for Christ. 09:14 Witnessing is not a spiritual gift. Witness is the calling of 09:15 every Christian who God equips with spiritual gifts to witness. 09:17 God has blessed down through the generations and centuries lay 09:18 people. Matthew was a tax collector called by God who 09:19 chronicled the gospel. Peter and John were fishermen called by 09:21 God. And think of Peter's great sermon in Acts chapter 2 where 09:22 3000 were baptized after that prophetic sermon showing that 09:23 Christ was the Messiah. Peter was a lay person. Luke was a 09:25 physician, a lay person, called by God and joined Paul. Paul was 09:26 the first ASI member because when you look back you remember 09:28 in Acts chapter 18 verse 3 that the apostle Paul was a tent 09:29 maker in Corinth. Why was Paul a tent maker in Corinth 09:30 incidentally? Why did he join Aquilla and Priscilla there. 09:32 They were expelled from Rome when the Jewish persecution came 09:33 They were tent makers. Why did they go to Corinth. It was 51 AD 09:34 The ispanian games were coming in 52 AD. They had no hotels to 09:36 stay in. So Paul entrepreneurial tent maker began making tents 09:37 for the thousands that would come to the games so he could 09:39 make some money to support his ministry. Paul was an ASI member 09:40 an entrepreneur and he lit the world with the gospel. Thank God 09:41 for ASI members who like Willian Carey. You remember what 09:43 William Carey said? He said I cobble shoes to pay expenses 09:44 but soul winning is my business. The true spirit of ASI is one 09:45 who indeed set him self- supporting to do mission 09:47 for Christ. Time went on. Church and state united. The dark ages 09:48 came and the church had a different philosophy. It's 09:49 philosophy was this: Lay people are to simply pray, they are to 09:51 pay and they are to obey. But then the light of the gospel 09:52 broke through in the middle ages and as it did Martin Luther and 09:54 other reformers began to share the glorious truth of the 09:55 priesthood of the believers. Lay people again rose to preach the 09:56 gospel and out of that reformation as heirs of the 09:58 reformation the Adventist church grew and those early Adventists 09:59 often were lay people. William Miller, not an ordained preacher 10:00 but called by God as a godly lay person rose to preach the 10:02 gospel. Think of for example the Joseph Bates, a sea captain, 10:03 called of God. God has been calling men and women down 10:05 through the ages who are lay people, touching them with the 10:06 spirit of the gospel, changing their lives. Mission is part of 10:07 the DNA of lay people in the Seventh-day Adventist church. 10:09 Mission identifies who we are and mission was part of a lay 10:10 movement in our early history and young people propelled by 10:11 mission went forward to preach the gospel Charles. 10:13 That's right Elder Finley. Mission has been the very 10:14 driving force behind our church and we have found that in the 10:15 early portion of our church it was very intentional. It wasn't 10:17 accidental, it was very intentional what our leaders did 10:18 What do you mean it was not accidental but intentional? 10:20 They very much infused their young people with a sense of 10:21 mission. The fact that they were on earth for a purpose and 10:22 that purpose was to share Christ and his soon coming 10:24 with the world. 10:25 And that's the spirit of ASI. 10:26 That's exactly the spirit of ASI ASI is patterned after that very 10:28 attitude and that attitude was probably best embodied and 10:29 exemplified in the person of E.A. Sutherland. Who was E.A. 10:30 Sutherland. Why don't you tell us a little bit about that man 10:32 that was so fundamental, so basic in the foundation of ASI. 10:33 It will be my pleasure to do that. Thanks for letting me 10:35 share. E.A. Sutherland grew up in rural Iowa not far from the 10:36 Minnesota border and he learned hard work at a very early age. 10:37 You see even when he was a very, very young man, he and his 10:39 sister herded cows for an entire summer for a total of 35 cents. 10:40 He managed to hang on to that 35 cents over the winter and 10:41 with his father's encouragement he invested that 35 cents in 10:43 some onion sets and he tended those onions through the year, 10:44 sold them for a tidy profit at the end of the year and that was 10:46 his first, if you would, ASI business venture. You see, the 10:47 year after he graduated from high school he took a job 10:48 teaching in a nearby school house. He rode his pony Mouse 10:50 back and forth throughout the winter. In addition to teaching 10:51 many lessons, he learned one lesson that was critically 10:52 important and that critically important lesson was that God 10:54 called him to reach young people for Jesus through education. He 10:55 felt that he was poorly equipped however and he determined to go 10:56 and get additional college training to remedy that short 10:58 coming. Now his family, his father in particular, did not 10:59 agree with his college aspirations and he offered him 11:01 no support. So Ed Sutherland sold his pony Mouse so that he 11:05 would be able to make the trip to Battle Creek. He went there 11:09 to live with a couple of Aunts and he wasn't immediately ready 11:14 to enter college and so he spent a year studying rhetoric and 11:18 English with Professor Goodloe Bell. Professor Bell had some 11:22 rather different ideas about education. For example, 11:25 Professor Bell thought that the Bible should be the foundation 11:31 of all the principles that we communicate. He also felt that 11:36 in addition to head learning that we should be learning 11:42 practical things. So he and Ed spent half of each day out in 11:46 physical labor. Now in spite of his family's disapproval of his 11:51 pursuit of college, Ed determined that he should go 11:54 home and help his father on the farm the first summer after he 11:58 was in college. His muscles were soft, the work was hard and his 12:02 father was harder. Against the protests of his mother and the 12:06 rest of the crew, his father put him in the toughest job in the 12:10 harvest. It was called the straw monkey. But Ed sang and prayed 12:14 his way that harvest season without any complaint. The next 12:19 summer Edward spent colporteuring. He went to 12:21 Minnesota and he stayed in the home of Josephine Gotzian. 12:24 Josephine Gotzian put colporteurs up in her home 12:29 and some of the young men that had been there didn't have a 12:32 really good experience. Ed determined that he was going to 12:36 have a better experience with his benefactoress and so he went 12:40 out of his way to take care of her home and her carriage horse. 12:43 And he wouldn't know what benefits this friendship would 12:48 have in the future. Now when Ed returned to Battle Creek it was 12:52 for his junior year in 1888 and he met a new friend there. The 12:56 new arrival was Percy Magan. Percy Magan arrived from 13:01 Ireland and he had been invited to live in the home of the now 13:05 widowed Ellen White. Ed began spending more time with the boys 13:09 excuse me with Percy in Ellen White's home. Ellen White 13:14 referred to Ed and Percy as the boys. Ed and Percy referred to 13:19 Ellen White as Mother White as a term of endearment that they 13:23 used throughout their lives and it was no accident that placed 13:29 Ed Sutherland, Percy Magan and Ellen White together in 1888 13:35 This, as you recall, is when there was a renewed emphasis in 13:40 our church on righteousness by faith, what Mother White 13:45 referred to as the third angel's message in verity. Though 13:50 younger than Edward Percy had a number of things that he was 13:54 going to teach him. One of those things was the religious 14:00 experience that he enjoyed. Little by little Percy led 14:04 Edward into the same close walk with Jesus that Percy had 14:08 already enjoyed. The visits with Mother White and the long talks 14:14 with Percy brought Ed into that same relationship and Ed and 14:20 Percy were rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ. Through that 14:25 winter the boys also observed Mother White closely. They 14:30 learned to value the marvelous gift to the remnant that the 14:35 gift of prophecy bestowed by God on this gentle woman was and 14:39 they came to the conviction that those revelations were direct 14:43 from God and they needed to follow that guidance. They did 14:48 through the rest of their lives. In addition to his studies Percy 14:54 took a job in the college bakery He was soon the head baker and 14:58 in his spare time he went over to the machine shop to learn how 15:03 to use the tools that were found there. Ed, on the other hand, in 15:09 his spare time, played football and baseball. When Ed attempted 15:13 to recruit Percy to the baseball team Percy responded, I can't 15:18 regard any activity as recreation suitable for me 15:21 unless it confers benefit on someone else. Ed pondered his 15:26 friend's position and eventually he came to believe the same as 15:32 his friend. Around this time Ed noticed also a certain young 15:37 lady. Her name was Sally Gruillard. She was from Iowa 15:41 also. She was talented. She was educated in languages. She was 15:45 artistic. She had sterling character and they both wanted 15:49 to teach. The faculty gave their permission so that they could 15:53 date and at the end of the following summer they were 15:57 married. Ed and Sally took a call to Minnesota. Percy was 16:02 asked to interrupt his studies because the college had a 16:06 desperate need for a history teacher. Then they connected at 16:10 the end of that next school year at a conference, an 16:13 educational conference that was being held in Harbor Springs, 16:16 Michigan. The Seventh-day Adventist church educators were 16:19 getting together to finally consider the counsels that 16:23 Mother White had been sending on education. While they were 16:28 there Ed suggested they go fishing. Percy responded 16:33 vegetarian and before the day was over Ed and Sally were 16:39 vegetarian as well. Also while in Harbor Springs Ed was asked 16:44 to teach history, but this time at Battle Creek College. Before 16:48 he could even start teaching they changed the subject on him. 16:51 They gave him Old Testament Bible and he figured the best 16:55 place to start Old Testament Bible is in Genesis. You now you 16:59 don't have to go to far in that book and you start finding out 17:02 what the original diet was and soon the students were asking 17:06 for a vegetarian option in the cafeteria. It wasn't two years 17:11 later and Battle Creek was a vegetarian campus. After only 17:16 one year at Battle Creek Ed was asked to go and be the principal 17:21 of a new college. It's a place out in Washington State called 17:25 Walla Walla. The president for the college lived in Michigan so 17:28 for practical purposes it was up to Ed the get the school year 17:32 started. In his first five months he needed to attend camp 17:36 meeting in Seattle, create a curriculum for the college, 17:40 produce a catalogue, find and hire qualified teachers, recruit 17:44 some students, oversee the construction workers so that the 17:47 building got built and on December 7, 1892 they opened 17:53 school with 91 students, 10 teachers. By the end of the 17:58 school year enrollment was over 160. Now by contrast I want you 18:02 to understand: The University of Washington had already been 18:09 in operation for 30 years but only had 42 students. Things 18:14 were a bit rough however. The building wasn't finished when 18:18 school opened. Construction only progressed as funds were 18:22 available. Ed was insistent that they not be going into debt. The 18:26 only heat in the building was two stoves; one was a pot 18:30 bellied stove in the chapel and the other was a borrowed range 18:33 in the kitchen, which it turned out did not work when they first 18:38 tried to fire it. There was only one bathroom and one tub in 18:43 each dormitory. The staff wrote to the General Conference 18:47 describing the situation and asking for help. The reply that 18:51 came back was a set of detailed instructions on how you could 18:56 take a bath in a basin of water. The school promptly purchased 19:01 basins for the new dormitory. Ed was very intentional about 19:05 educating his staff. He held staff retreats where they would 19:10 study the testimonies that were coming from Mother White in 19:14 Australia where she was starting Avondale. The testimonies were 19:18 a constant topic of conversation on campus. The fundamental 19:21 question with every new letter of counsel was what is this 19:25 going to look like on our campus How will we implement this 19:31 principle. The second year Ed was given the title of president 19:36 and there was also a new staff member that came. Bessie 19:39 DeGraw interrupted her studies at Battle Creek very much 19:42 like Percy had done and traveled to the Walla Walla to help out. 19:47 She proved to be a dynamo. She wound up working with Ed 19:53 Sutherland for the rest of her life. That winter Ed presented a 20:00 report of what was happening at Walla Walla to the General 20:02 Conference. The conference also heard reports from Battle Creek, 20:05 which was struggling at the time with a debt of about 90,000 20:09 dollars. In today's currency, that would be about 2.6 million. 20:14 Clearly God had been able to bless Ed's leadership at Walla 20:18 Walla and so the General Conference voted to move that 20:22 leadership to Battle Creek, to the flagship educational 20:26 institution. At the age of 32, Ed with Sally and Bessie joined 20:31 Percy back at Battle Creek. Now Battle Creek was located on only 20:35 seven acres of property in the middle of the city. Ed and Percy 20:40 desperately wanted to move the college out into the country to 20:44 be in compliance with Mother White's counsel, but her 20:48 personal counsel to the boys was wait, the time is not yet right. 20:54 So they did. They waited but they weren't idle. While they 20:58 were waiting Percy started a debt relief organization. Ed 21:02 wrote a sizable book on educational history. Ed and 21:06 Percy went out and plowed up the tennis courts and the 21:09 baseball field to provide garden space. There was a great deal of 21:14 opposition to the reforms among the students, but there was a 21:19 great deal of support and a revival swept through the 21:22 college. Ed was getting letters from several churches requesting 21:28 teachers for children. He went to the chapel meeting with the 21:32 students with three letters of request and he asked if there 21:35 might be any students williing to interrupt their studies to go 21:41 and help these churches. No one replied. So the next day he made 21:47 the same inquiry and first one and then two more young ladies 21:53 stood up. By Christmas there were seven schools in operation 21:58 with students that volunteered to lead out. By March there were 22:03 13. During the next year 57 schools were organized. By the 22:09 fall of 1900, just two years later, almost 150 church schools 22:14 were in operation. In 1900, Mother White also unexpectedly 22:19 announced her return from Australia. She determined that 22:24 she would attend the February 1901 General Conference meeting 22:27 in part because of things revealed to her about problems 22:31 that needed to be met very firmly here in America. She 22:34 addressed that conference on several subjects and among them 22:38 was the relocation of Battle Creek. After her comments on 22:42 that subject the General Conference committee voted to 22:45 purchase rural property so that they could move the college. Now 22:49 Ed and Sally and Percy, they'd already been scouting out 22:52 properties and they knew just where they wanted to go. The 22:56 next year school started in a new location, a place called 23:00 Berrien Springs, Michigan and the new location called for a 23:05 new name, Emmanuel Missionary College. Since there were only a 23:08 few small buildings on the new campus classes that first year 23:12 were held in the recently vacated court house and jail. 23:18 Percy's wife gave her entire inheritance to help start the 23:23 construction on campus. Progress on the campus was obvious and 23:28 rapid but opposition to educational reform was also 23:32 strong. Percy's wife Ida had always been rather frail and 23:36 she took ill, in part from the stress over the criticism that 23:41 her husband was receiving. She dies during the union conference 23:45 meetings that May of 1904 leaving Percy with two small 23:51 children. Percy and Ed had had enough. They tendered their 23:57 resignations and they headed south. Ed met Mother White on 24:03 Edson White's paddle wheel boat called the Morning Star. They 24:07 started up river to pick up Percy but they had mechanical 24:10 problems along the way. Ed recognized the place. It was 24:14 Neemly's Bend near Larkin Springs not far from Nashville. 24:17 Mother White wished to see a farm that was nearby. Ed had 24:22 already seen it. He was not interested, but he agreed to 24:25 accompany Mother White. The place looked worse than Ed had 24:29 remembered. Mother White seemed enamored with it. It looks like 24:34 a place I've seen in vision and Ed's heart sank. No sooner had 24:39 they picked up Percy than Mother White called Ed and Percy to her 24:43 cabin. Well Brother Magan I saw your farm today and I walked all 24:47 around it. I am convinced God wants you and Ed Sutherland to 24:51 have that place. It's the kind of place that's been shown to me 24:56 in vision. What do you think of it? I think of it as little as I 25:01 can. It's too big. It's all run down. We don't have the money. 25:06 Well I'm sorry because it seems to me the Lord intends you to 25:12 have that place. A few days later Ed and Percy did return to 25:17 the farm. Ed shared with Percy Oh I wish we had some honorable 25:21 and Christian way to get out of the whole thing without showing 25:25 a lack of faith in the testimonies. They wrestled with 25:29 their decision for the rest of the day. But before the day was 25:35 out Percy summed it up like this Ed, we're in it and we're in it 25:41 voluntarily. Mrs. White is with us, God is leading us and he 25:47 will show us the way. They shared their decision with 25:51 Mother White and she showed great pleasure. She said, I'll 25:55 do anything I can to help you. You tell your story to the 25:59 people and they will help and I will recommend your work and if 26:05 you wish I'll come on your board Now that last statement bore 26:11 great significance. It was the only board that Ellen White ever 26:17 served on and she served on it until the year before she died. 26:22 Right away Ed went north to consult with his aunt Nell. 26:26 Nellie Druillard was know by most as Mother D. She was a 26:29 firey red head but more importantly she was a keen 26:31 business woman. They took the next train that they could back 26:35 to Nashville. A welcoming party met them at the train station 26:40 and that included Mother White. When Ed and Mother D heard that 26:44 the price had been raised on the farm by another thousand dollars 26:48 Mother D said well I'm glad we're not going to take it. 26:53 Glad, glad said Mother White, do you think I'd let the devil beat 26:58 me out of a place for a thousand dollars. It's cheap enough. She 27:04 then turned to Mother D. Nell, you think that you're old enough 27:09 to retire, but if you'll cast your lot in with these boys, if 27:13 you'll look after them and guide them and support them in what 27:18 the Lord wants them to do, the Lord will renew your strength 27:22 and you'll accomplish more in the future than you've done in 27:27 the past. Mother D immediately provided the down payment. 27:33 The signatures for the property were obtained that day, a fete 27:37 about which Mother White later would tell the boys, You will 27:43 never know how many angels it took. The owners didn't vacate 27:47 the property immediately. People had to stay wherever they 27:52 could find. The servant's quarters above the carriage 27:54 house were dubbed probation hall If you could endure it's riggers 28:00 you could handle anything Madison was going to give you. 28:04 Until the Fergusons left the downstairs household servant's 28:09 quarters held mules and horses and smoked hams and mice and 28:14 rats and flies and other vermon. The place was cleaned up and 28:18 over time all of the pioneers took their turns living in the 28:23 upstairs bedroom. The incoming students also frequently spent 28:29 time in there. The faculty voted themselves a stipend of 13 28:35 dollars per month. Ten years later they would go on record to 28:40 say that they had been richly blessed to still be getting 13 28:45 dollars a month even though that 13 dollars had depreciated in 28:50 value by about 20 percent. Following the pattern of what 28:54 had been done in Michigan by 1909 Madison sent out scores of 28:58 students into the south to propagate the education and 29:01 health outreach that had been begun on that campus. It was 29:05 decided to invite representatives 29:06 from each of what they called units to come to Madison and 29:09 share in the work that was going on there. It was such a success 29:12 that they resolved to continue to do that practice. By 1910 29:16 they had survived the worst of it. Ed and Percy went back to 29:20 school to get their medical degrees and then Percy was 29:24 called to the College of Medical Evangelists. Ed said this is 29:28 like tearing asunder bone and marrow, but as Percy was leaving 29:33 Lida Funk Scott joined the Madison family. For more of the 29:37 stories of God's providence I would love to be able to share 29:41 them now but our time is running out and what you can do is you 29:45 can get the book Madison, God's Beautiful Farm. For those of you 29:48 who are here at the conference it's available in the exhibit 29:52 hall at the ASI booth or at the Madison or the EASea 29:56 booths. No one wants to be the bearer of bad news but I'm 29:59 afraid I have to just as an amateur historian set the record 30:02 straight. While technically correct this is the 70th 30:05 anniversary of ASI, but since 1909 the units have been meeting 30:11 every year to encourage each other in service and this marks 30:18 the 119th gathering of ASI. ASI was formally organized in 1947 30:25 and was expanded and renamed to include the individually 30:30 operated ministries and businesses and Elder Finley 30:35 the units are still getting together as is evidenced right 30:40 here by ASI. 30:41 Thank you so much. You know one of the things that has deeply 30:48 impressed me about ASI is the sacrifice and the commitment 30:53 that ASI members have made as they travel the world to witness 30:58 for Christ. You know a number of years ago I was on one of our 31:01 self-supporting campuses and there were a number of broken 31:05 down cars there. So I was complaining a little bit to the 31:09 administer, look at all these broken down cars on your campus. 31:12 And he got this big smile and he said we like it that way. I said 31:15 what do you mean? He said when our students go out to the 31:18 mission field they're going to need to learn how to repair 31:21 broken down cars. That's right, yeah. 31:23 And you know it's that spirit of sacrifice and commitment that 31:27 has always impressed me. When you think of the thousands and 31:31 thousands of workers that have gone out to the ends of the 31:34 earth, heaven is going to be a wonderful testimony of that 31:37 sacrifice. That's absolutely right and 31:42 self-supporting workers, those who have in some way learned how 31:46 to supply their own means and the Lord has blessed, they have 31:50 been instrumental in bringing literally thousands of people 31:54 into this precious advent message. It's amazing how ASI 31:58 has spread all over the world. Just next month I'll be in ASI 32:03 Europe for their convention in Novosad in Serbia. I mean it's 32:09 a movement that is absolutely heaven born. 32:12 You have the fascinating background with ASI particularly 32:17 with Madison. Would you like to share that with us? It's a 32:21 fascinating story and I'll try and do it in the six minutes 32:24 that I have. If we can show the first slide. I want to talk to 32:31 you about William Henry Wilson and Isabella Scott Wilson. Now 32:37 like many people in the United States their origins were in 32:43 Ireland. In fact, they came from Donegal County. They immigrated 32:48 to the United States, got married in North America and 32:54 found their way ultimately out to the northern California area. 33:00 William was not a Seventh-day Adventist but Isabella, my great 33:07 grandmother, and great grandfather, of course, 33:09 Isabella became an Adventist and I want to tell you probably why. 33:15 She became very closely connected and so did William 33:19 with a wealthy dairy farming couple. Emilene and Nathaniel 33:29 Hurlbutt. They were visited in 1908 by Ellen White, that's the 33:38 Hurlbutts who were quite wealthy. They were visited in 33:43 1908 by Ellen White, Willie White, E.A. Sutherland, Sarah 33:48 Mclntefer, the secretary of Ellen White and another 33:51 individual and they were urged to move from California to 33:56 Georgia and to start a self- supporting institution. This 34:02 burned in the hearts of the Hurlbutts and they enlisted the 34:07 help of certainly my great grandparents but my great 34:13 grandparents' children. The had four sons. The Hurlbutts were 34:20 very instrumental in the Wilson family and in fact Mrs. Hurlbutt 34:26 was called Grandma Hurlbutt. They eventually moved to Georgia 34:32 Interesting the very place that they moved was in Reeves, 34:38 Georgia. Reeves has now become basically Calhoun, Georgia. The 34:43 property that the Hurlbutts started their special farm, 34:51 Hurlbutt Farm and Institute was patterned after Madison as were 34:55 many of those institutions in the south of the United States. 35:00 My oldest great uncle who was the senior brother of my 35:06 grandfather, Nathaniel Carter Wilson. In fact, Nathaniel 35:12 Carter Wilson, the first N.C. My father, my grandfather and I all 35:17 have these initials but different names. Nathaniel 35:20 Carter was named for Nathaniel Hurlbutt and Emilene Carter 35:26 Hurlbutt. These people had profound influence and certainly 35:32 an interested was generated in a great way in our family. Now the 35:36 picture that you just saw, if we can go back to that picture 35:42 is my grandfather Nathaniel Carter Wilson who with his new 35:48 bride Hannah, my grandmother, went on their wedding night on 35:55 a train to Reeves, Georgia to join his older brother in the 36:02 work. In reality he was following up on what his 36:08 older brother had done because his older brother died of 36:11 tuberculosis. So there they were working in the self-supporting 36:16 institution in Reeves, Georgia for probably about 10 months or 36:20 so. Family matters called them back to Lodi, California where 36:26 my great grandmother was living. From there in 1922 the two of 36:33 them went to Madison College along with my father and with 36:41 my aunt. There they spent about three years at Madison College. 36:47 My grandfather was the Bible teacher, he was the church 36:52 pastor and he was ordained as a gospel minister at Madison 36:58 College. They left for Africa after that and then on to India 37:03 and to a great extent Madison put its huge imprint on the 37:08 Wilson family. If we go now and jump a few years, when they came 37:15 back from mission service at that point, because they went 37:18 back again... If we can show the next slide. This is a picture of 37:24 my grandfather approximately at the time when he became 37:29 president of the North American Division. In fact, my father has 37:32 served in that capacity. My grandfather has served in that 37:35 capacity. At that time, he was elected in 1946, in 1947 or just 37:42 before that, I should say, he was elected also as the board 37:49 chair of Madison College. So he came full circle. He was then 37:55 the chair of that particular institution that was 180 38:01 patients strong, 500 students, food factory, farm, etc., etc. 38:06 The next year in 1947, March 4-5 in Cincinnati, Ohio 50 38:14 representatives and leaders from self-supporting instutitions 38:19 gathered and they forged greater ties to work together. Out of 38:25 that, 25 institutions formed the first Association of Self- 38:30 Supporting Institutions under the leadership of my grandfather 38:35 who had been so influenced by Madison College. My grandfather 38:41 is quoted as saying, it is a great day in the history of the 38:46 church, the Association of Seventh-day Adventist 38:49 Self-Supporting Institutions. Two years later in 1949, as I 38:55 have it, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Dr. E.A. Sutherland 39:00 was elected president of ASI and Dr. J. Wayne McFarland 39:04 who many of us know as the cofounder of the 5-day plan to 39:09 stop smoking was elected as the secretary. ASI's history is 39:14 rooted in Madison College and in so much of the outgrowth of that 39:19 incredible institution. Of course, in 1979, it was renamed 39:24 Adventist Laymen's Services and Industries, expanding it's 39:28 activity. I'd like to show you the next picture and it's a 39:33 picture of my grandparents in their later years. 39:36 My grandfather was the presedent of the Georgia-Cumberland 39:42 Conference in the early 1960s and just the change of that 39:47 decade and in 1959 while he was president of that conference 39:51 they had a session at the camp meeting that empowered the 39:55 Conference to work out details for the purchase of the Hurlbutt 40:00 farm from the Laymen's Foundation and that later became 40:05 the Georgia-Cumberland Adventist Academy. So my grandfather was 40:11 so involved in so much of this that was all founded in Madison. 40:18 You know Elder Wilson, as we look back at our backgrounds 40:22 these early experiences shape our lives. They help to shape 40:26 who we are in ministry. They help to shape us in who we are 40:31 in Christ and in witness. In a sentence or two how did this 40:35 background shape your life? 40:37 Madison College, the connections my great uncles working there. 40:42 Another wonderful person within our family, Billy Wilson, some 40:47 of you may know him. These individuals have helped to 40:53 create in my life a very profound understanding as to 40:58 what ASI and Madison College can do. I'll show you the next 41:03 picture of my parents and many of you will remember my parents. 41:07 They were tremendously influenced by ASI and Madison 41:14 College. This heritage will live in the hearts of people and in 41:20 the mission outreach until Jesus comes. 41:24 You know, just as you have been somewhat influenced by ASI, 41:29 self-supporting institutions early in my ministry I had a 41:34 great influence in that area. 41:35 In fact, I'm not the only one with a story, Mark, because you 41:40 have been so influenced by this connection with especially 41:44 Wildwood. Tell us what happened. 41:47 Well in the late 1960s I was a ministerial intern. I had been 41:52 in ministry for two years and I met Elder W.D. Frazee who was 41:57 the president of Wildwood at the time. My wife was teaching 42:01 elementary school in Hartford, Connecticut, I was a young 42:05 ministerial intern in Hartford and Elder Frazee came to have a 42:10 series of meetings on the sanctuary, the Lamb of God in 42:14 the Sanctuary, the Lamb who dies the priest who lives. Jesus' 42:18 ministry in the sanctuary. And I remember we were going through 42:23 that series and I was deeply impressed by the spirituality 42:28 of his meetings. Elder Frazee was not a preacher that was 42:34 bombastic or fascinating. When he got up to speak you sensed 42:40 that the Spirit of God was speaking through him. I had 42:43 never been in meetings before that I walked in and I sensed 42:47 that the lives of people were being changed. People were being 42:51 touched by the Spirit. As a young preacher I was really 42:54 impressed by that. I thought to myself, I don't want my messages 42:58 simply to entertain people. I don't want to be a fascinating 43:01 preacher. I want the Spirit of God to come down. I want some 43:04 heart to be touched, some life to be changed, somebody be 43:09 moved upon by the Spirit. I remember it was in February and 43:13 the snow was coming and I said to Elder Frazee and to our 43:16 senior pastor O.J. Mills, I don't know if we should have the 43:19 meeting tonight because every report is that it's going to 43:24 snow and snow and snow. And that Godly man simply said, my 43:28 brother let us pray. God is the God of the weather. And you know 43:32 there are some things that are indelibly etched on the 43:36 consciousness of your mine forever. Elder Frazee and Elder 43:40 Mills and I got down and he prayed. He prayed a simple 43:43 prayer. Dear Lord, you know those people and they need to 43:46 hear this message tonight and I pray you'd put your hand over 43:51 this city. It snowed that night all around us and it did not 43:56 snow in Hartford, Connecticut. All around us the roads were 44:01 icy. I said to myself here is a man that knows God and I 44:06 remembered what Dwight L Moody said when he said, the world has 44:10 yet to see what God will do in and through and by and for and 44:15 with a man that is consecrated to him. I want to be that man. 44:19 A number of months later Elder Frazee gave me an invitation to 44:24 become his associate. He said to me if you come to Wildwood I can 44:28 offer you nothing. I can't offer you a salary because we don't 44:32 have one. I can't offer you housing because I don't know 44:34 where you're going to live at this point; we'll have something 44:37 when you come. I can't offer you prestige but what I can offer 44:41 you is myself. I will share with you everything I know in 44:44 ministry. So I came to Wildwood as a young preacher. I watched 44:48 him make an appeal and I learned how to make them. I watched him 44:52 with testimony meetings and I saw the power of God change 44:55 people's lives and I learned how to have testimony meetings. I 44:58 watched him as he prayed with people after the meetings and 45:01 it was indelibly written upon my mind. One day, it was October 22 45:07 and Elder Frazee said to me... We often preached together. 45:10 He said, Mark you preach the first 20 minutes of the sermon 45:14 and whenever you finish I'll get up and I'll take up where 45:18 you left off and I'll preach the rest of the sermon. So I would 45:22 preach 20 minutes and he would preach 20 minutes. We'd choose 45:25 the topic together. He said Mark I want you to preach, it's 45:28 October 22, I want you to preach on the sanctuary. You preach on 45:33 the fact that of the 70 weeks, you nail down the facts of 27 45:38 AD, 31 AD - Christ's crucifixion you deal with the 69 weeks and 45:43 so forth. Now I was a young preacher and I thought about 45:47 that and thought about that. He said after you preach on the 45:50 sanctuary and you show that after 1844 Jesus want into the 45:54 Most Holy Place, then I will get up and say what is Jesus 45:57 doing now and I'll explain his ministry up there. Well the more 46:00 I thought about it the more I thought I've only got 20 minutes 46:04 to do that, I'm going to get confused. So I went to Elder 46:06 Frazee and said I don't think I can do this. You know that old 46:12 preacher at the time repected this young preacher. He said 46:15 Mark if your uncomfortable with it this is what I want you to do 46:17 I went to him on a Friday morning. We were supposed to 46:19 preach Friday night. He said, this is what I want you to do. 46:23 I want you to take your Bible and you go out today under the 46:27 trees and you pray all day and let God give you a message. I'm 46:32 going to do the same thing and you meet me tonight at 6:30 here 46:35 Our meeting starts at seven. We'll compare our notes. We 46:37 won't preach on the 2300 days but you go pray all day, I'll 46:40 pray all day. We'll come back. So I go out and pray all day. 46:43 About half way through the day I look at Philippians 2 and I 46:46 said, hey, I'm going to preach on Philippians 2. Came back to 46:51 Elder Frazee. It was about 6:30 at night and I look at him and I 46:56 say Elder, I'm going to preach on Philippians 2, the humility 47:01 of Christ. He said, Go over your sermon notes. I went over my 47:06 sermon notes. He sat there like this, praise God, praise God, 47:10 praise God. He handed me his sermon notes. We hadn't talked 47:14 all day and he had developed a sermon starting where my sermon 47:19 ended on Philippians the 2nd chapter. We knelt and prayed 47:24 together and that night the Spirit of God came down. 47:27 Incidentally if you want to hear that sermon it's called There's 47:30 Room at the Top and you can get it from Wildwood Recordings 47:34 today. I preached the first 20 minutes, he preaches the second. 47:37 Elder Wilson, what impressed me early in my ministry in my time 47:41 at Wildwood was that I needed to be a man of God. I could not 47:45 waste people's time in preaching In associating with Elder Frazee 47:49 listening to him make strong appeals for Christ changed my 47:53 life. Amen, and you know what really 47:56 marks the incredible aspect of the imprint from self-supporting 48:02 institutions and Madison College is sacrifice, sacrifice for 48:07 Jesus. That same sacrifice is going to be manifested at the 48:12 very end of time. 48:13 It is and there are plenty other stories as well that are so 48:18 similar to your story and to my story. Elder Wilson, I think 48:23 Charles had some other stories for us. 48:26 There are several stories that I think would be helpful for our 48:29 ASI family but we only have time for a few. The first I want to 48:34 share with you is about Elmer Brink. Now when the team began 48:38 to assemble on the old Ferguson farm, the program was far from 48:43 being a large and well-oiled program. In addition to a few 48:46 students there were only a few dedicated faces one of which I 48:50 cannot even show you and that one, mostly unknown, but 48:54 critically important is Elmer Brink. You see everyone had 48:59 their task to do on the place to get it up and running. Mother 49:03 D ran the skillet and the broom. Percy ran the farm. Ed ran the 49:08 butter churn. Bessie took the butter into town and sold it to 49:12 get a little bit of cash. But if it wasn't for Elmer taking 49:17 care of the cows that produced the milk that made the butter 49:22 that produced the cash they may not have made it through that 49:27 first year. What we know of now as Madison may never have come 49:32 to be. Elmer represents a multitude of dedicated skilled 49:36 workers that each sacrificially plyed their gifts and their 49:40 talents that God has given in whatever place of ministry God 49:44 has placed them. Undeterred by challenges that might arise they 49:49 faithfully do day by day the things that bring success to 49:53 ministry. Usually allowing others to step into the 49:57 spotlight, they're content to know that they've been faithful 50:02 in their place and that God has led them. This likely describes 50:08 the majority of ASI, whether an individual or an institutional 50:13 ministry. And you might remember that Ed Sutherland met Josephine 50:17 Gotzian when he was in her home canvassing. Well after spending 50:21 some time in California helping Ellen White to get the medical 50:25 work off the ground there, including helping to fund the 50:28 original purchase of the Paradise Valley Sanitarium 50:31 she made donations to the College of Medical Evangelists 50:35 and then she moved east to Tennessee. Her home was made 50:39 there at Madison and her house also housed the first sanitarium 50:44 patients. She provided the means for the contruction of some of 50:48 campus buildings and lived there at Madison until her death. 50:53 Aunt Nellie Druillard was a keen business woman and she did look 50:58 after the boys. She did not only dedicate the rest of her life to 51:03 the development of this God inspired school but she comitted 51:07 her personal financial resources to the down payment and to the 51:10 infrastructure of the place. Lida Funk Scott that we only 51:14 briefly mentioned earlier was an heiress to the Funk and Wagnalls 51:18 Encyclopedia fortune. After spending some time at Battle 51:21 Creek she thought she'd go south to see a school that she'd heard 51:25 about down there and she liked what she saw at Madison and 51:29 decided to stay. Though a wealthy woman she adopted the 51:32 very simple life style of Madison. She poured her 51:36 inheritance into the development of ministries like Madison and 51:40 Loma Linda and her personal outreach was encouraging the 51:44 units that were springing up from Madison by lending her 51:49 presence and her advice and her means. In 1927, she invested her 51:55 resources to establish the Layman Foundation to carry on 51:59 that mission and the Layman Foundation in turn launched the 52:05 E.A. Sutherland Education Association. It started in 2002 52:10 and it continues much of that work of encouragement and 52:15 support of the lay operated educational units. Now if you 52:19 were to try and measure in today's currency each one of 52:24 these ladies contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars 52:28 toward the establishment of Seventh-day Adventist 52:32 denominational and lay operated ministries and I believe these 52:38 ladies represent those here in ASI who contribute or manage the 52:44 resources that God has provided and that are critically 52:49 necessary to establish and to move ministry forward. |
Revised 2018-03-29