Participants:
Series Code: ASIC
Program Code: ASIC190005S
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00:19 Well, Pastor Mercado,
00:21 this is a much bigger crowd than 00:23 we see at our spring fellowship in the Lake Union. 00:27 Oh, it sure is. 00:28 But I tell you this, I feel a lift being here. 00:31 I just praise the Lord for the privilege 00:33 we have to be here today because we know God is here. 00:35 What do you say? 00:37 Amen. Amen. 00:38 So we praise the Lord for that. 00:40 Praise the Lord. Amen. 00:41 And the crowd looks big, but it looks very friendly. 00:43 I don't see the ladies with those contemporary hat on, 00:46 but I'm so glad that they're all here 00:48 and I'm going to ask them to stand as we join with you 00:53 for the opening prayer for this beautiful session. 00:56 Can you stand, please, as we offer the opening prayer? 01:02 Our Father, we're so grateful and thankful 01:04 we have to be here. 01:06 We're so grateful for the privilege 01:07 we have to be here today. 01:09 And this special occasion, Lord, 01:10 we have another session of ASI National. 01:13 We just pray for Your Holy Spirit to be with us, 01:15 to guide us. 01:17 We may feel Your spirit as we hear the stories 01:20 and we hear the miracles that You are working. 01:22 Amen. That they be... 01:23 This event and this meeting today 01:26 will affirm to us the reality that our God lives, 01:30 our God is real, and our God loves. 01:31 Amen. 01:33 So we're thankful for Your grace. 01:34 And we pray, Lord, 01:36 for Your Holy Spirit to be with us 01:37 in all that we say and do, 01:39 this we ask in Your precious and wonderful name, Amen. 01:41 Amen. 01:43 Thank you so much. You may be seated. 01:50 I wonder what James White would think about 01:53 the Adventist Review today. 01:56 And I ask that because the more I learn about James White, 01:59 the more I realize 02:01 this young man was an innovator, 02:04 a disrupter to the extreme. 02:08 And he had to have that courage to look for new technologies, 02:12 new ways to get this message, that he fell in love with, 02:17 out to the world. 02:19 And so we ask that question sometimes 02:22 of are we doing perhaps what James White 02:25 would be thinking on that bleeding edge 02:27 of technology and ideas. 02:30 And so some of the ways in which we're doing that, 02:32 one of them you'll see on the screen now, 02:34 is a virtual reality experience of David and Goliath. 02:39 We're excited to be sharing it with some of you 02:42 if you come by our booth here at ASI. 02:44 But we're really excited to share 02:46 it with the Pathfinders next weekend 02:48 starting in Oshkosh. 02:50 But that's not the only thing we're up to. 02:52 We're also up to on-demand video content. 02:56 We've got nearly 1,000 pieces of content, 02:59 Adventist valued content on an on-demand video platform 03:04 that we invite you to check out on any of the app stores. 03:06 We have a weekly show that has just come out 03:08 with Cliff Goldstein and Dwain Esmond talking about 03:11 issues that are current and relevant to us today. 03:16 And last but not least, we're working on some exciting 03:18 podcasts to continue to reach people 03:21 in the most effective way 03:22 that they would like to consume content. 03:25 But the thing that we've been up to for 170 years, 03:29 I'm gonna ask Costin to share it with you. 03:31 And you might not associate this with Adventist Review, 03:34 but it is news. 03:36 One way that we're living up to the vision of James White 03:39 is that for 170 years, 03:41 we have been the primary distributor 03:44 of Adventist news around the world. 03:46 In fact, last year, we wrote and distributed over 03:50 700 news stories covering 101 countries. 03:55 So we are really thrilled to invite you to join us 04:00 to continue finding out 04:01 what's happening around the world. 04:04 And we sometimes tackle some challenging subjects. 04:07 We just wrote a story coming out 04:09 of the Third Lifestyle and Health Global Conference 04:13 in Loma Linda called "Adventists still live longer, 04:18 but not all Adventists are the same," right? 04:22 So some Adventists fall into the category 04:24 of living longer, unfortunately, some don't. 04:26 So we tackle that subject. 04:28 So we invite you to join us on this journey 04:31 to discover more about Adventists around the world. 04:34 And together, 04:35 with the General Conference Office of Communication, 04:37 we hope very much to unveil very soon 04:40 a global infrastructure that will allow us 04:43 to distribute news around the world 04:46 in a collaborative fashion much faster 04:48 than we've done in the past and in multiple languages 04:52 all around the world. 04:54 So that's coming. 04:55 Join us on AdventistReview.org, 04:56 AdventistWorld.org for more news 04:59 from around the world. 05:02 For many of you, 05:03 Adventist Review and now Adventist World, 05:06 for the last 14 years have been a big part of your life. 05:11 But we realize as communicators that you have to make 05:14 your messages clear, direct, 05:16 and simple if they're going to be understood 05:18 in a very confused media environment. 05:20 And so we made a decision earlier this year 05:23 that across all our platforms, Adventist World, 05:26 Adventist Review, KidsView, podcasts, television on demand, 05:32 all of our print resources, 05:34 all of those are going to focus on a single theme each month. 05:38 That theme The Church I Want to Belong to Is, 05:42 and every month, 05:43 a descriptive word will be in there. 05:45 July's was The Church I Want to Belong to Is Healthy, 05:48 and it focused on both personal health 05:51 and congregational health. 05:53 August, the copy that you see in your delegate bag here, 05:58 The Church I Want to Belong to Is Courageous. 06:00 What does it mean to be a courageous church 06:03 in the 21st century? 06:05 And when you come to September, 06:06 The Church I Want to Belong to Is Safe. 06:10 What is the safe church? 06:13 I convened a group of top General Conference 06:16 departmental directors six weeks ago 06:19 for a video conversation. 06:20 You're gonna find on our site and you'll find that article 06:23 featured in our print editions as well. 06:26 Listening to persons from family ministries, 06:28 health ministries, ministerial, and Adventist Review, 06:32 and legal talking about 06:34 how do we create safe church environments. 06:37 Not just physically safe but safe for the individual 06:40 who's broken, the person who needs help. 06:43 We're in a dynamic environment that we invite you to join us 06:46 on as we continued to be both the oldest thing 06:50 and the newest thing in Adventism. 06:55 Christiane is joining me tonight. 06:57 Christiane, where do you come from? 07:00 I'm living in Switzerland. 07:01 Switzerland. 07:03 So Christiane is the president for ASI Europe. 07:05 Thank you for joining us tonight. 07:06 We're kind of doing a follow-up report on something 07:08 we did last year. 07:10 We invited our ASI family to go and participate 07:13 in evangelism in where? 07:15 In France. 07:17 France... 07:18 I can't get that accent exactly right, 07:20 but that's beautiful. 07:22 In France. 07:23 What city? 07:25 Around Paris. 07:27 Probably one of the most secular cities 07:29 in the entire world there. 07:31 Christiane, your goal was to go in as ASI Europe 07:35 and do some evangelism. 07:36 How many series of meetings were you able to do? 07:40 We were able to contribute... 07:43 We work closely together with the Federation. 07:45 Yes. 07:46 And we supported the Federation 07:47 that they went beyond their plans. 07:50 They planned 20 sites and, by our support, 07:54 they decided to go beyond, almost to 100, to 97 sites. 08:00 Ninety-seven different places where evangelism 08:03 was being proclaimed near the city of Paris. 08:05 That's amazing. 08:07 In Paris and around Paris, 08:08 a diameter of approximately 120 miles. 08:12 Wow! That is amazing. 08:14 So tell us, Christiane, 08:15 what was the result of this effort there? 08:18 Does evangelism still work 08:21 and what tools were you using to get this done? 08:25 We were using, for instance, 08:27 the New Beginnings material in order to prepare the ground. 08:31 We had Barbara Taylor coming to train people. 08:33 Amen. 08:35 The results, 500 souls getting and got baptized. 08:39 Amen. 08:41 Hallelujah. 08:42 Can you say Amen? 08:43 Five hundred souls baptized in these series of meetings, 08:48 almost hundred series of meetings all around 08:50 the area of Paris, France. 08:53 Thank you for your leadership, Christiane. 08:55 May God be praised for the results 08:58 of this evangelism effort 09:01 in the very secular country of Europe. 09:03 Thank you so much. 09:04 Thank you. All right. 09:08 You know, sometimes we make the mistake of actually 09:10 believing we know where we're heading 09:13 without seeking after the proper advice. 09:15 Come join at Think Tank with a purpose, a mission. 09:18 You may actually find some clarity. 09:20 I'll see you there. 09:34 O the deep 09:37 deep love of Jesus 09:43 Vast, unmeasured 09:48 Boundless, free 09:52 Rolling 09:53 As a mighty ocean 10:00 In its fullness 10:05 Over me 10:11 Underneath me 10:15 All around me 10:19 He is the current 10:23 Of His love 10:27 Leading onward 10:32 Leading homeward 10:36 To thy glorious 10:40 Rest above 11:04 O the deep 11:07 Deep love of Jesus 11:12 'Tis heaven 11:17 Of heavens to me 11:21 And it lifts me 11:25 Up to glory 11:29 For it lifts me 11:34 Up to thee 11:40 O the deep 11:43 Deep love of Jesus 11:49 Spread His praise from shore 11:54 To shore 11:58 How he loveth 12:02 Ever loveth 12:06 Changeth never 12:11 Nevermore 12:22 Good evening, ASI. 12:25 We're happy to be here this evening. 12:26 Good evening, everyone. 12:28 We're glad that you've come out. 12:30 We're glad that you're here to hear 12:32 how people are sharing Christ 12:34 and different ministry opportunities that we have. 12:37 So we have three people that are gonna 12:38 share this evening. 12:40 We're glad that you've joined us, 12:41 each of you. 12:43 Thank you very much. 12:44 We have Johnny, we have Jesse, 12:45 and we have Jim Burr as well with us. 12:47 So thank you so much for being here this evening. 12:50 And we'd like to get right into it 12:52 and talk to Johnny Suarez a little bit about Pan De Vida. 12:57 So could you tell us a little bit about 12:59 what the ministry is all about? 13:00 Sure. 13:02 I've been a member of ASI for 11 years, 2008. 13:05 This is the first time I share a little bit about what we do. 13:09 We started a little group called GYC. 13:11 Some of you may be acquainted with that in 2002. 13:14 And that's kind of 13:15 how I became familiarized with ASI. 13:19 And we started a multimedia company 13:21 called Pan De Vida Productions, 13:22 where we would license material 13:23 from a variety of Adventist speakers, 13:26 Pastor David Asscherick, Henry Wright, 13:28 and also Alejandro BullA n. 13:30 And that's how we began producing multimedia materials 13:33 in audio, and video, and print. 13:34 And then from there, 13:36 we started doing some distribution elsewhere. 13:37 Wonderful. 13:38 So were you connected with ASI right in the very beginning 13:40 of your ministry when you started? 13:42 Not initially. 13:43 It wasn't until 2008 that we started seeing 13:45 the possibilities of networking with other organizations 13:47 that were doing similar things. 13:49 And we thought, "Well, let's go ahead and join them 13:51 and figure out how we can communicate 13:53 the gospel of Jesus Christ through multimedia." 13:55 And that's kind of how we began. 13:57 Wonderful. 13:58 Okay, so you made a connection with ASI and GYC as well 14:01 and kind of even helping to start that organization. 14:04 That's right. 14:05 So tell us a little bit because my understanding 14:07 is that people seem to be reading a little bit less, 14:10 there may be also... 14:11 There's so many media choices out there today 14:13 that it's sometimes hard for people to know, how to, 14:16 what to choose. 14:17 How did you find your niche? 14:19 Yeah, so it's very interesting. 14:20 You know, people are reading a lot less like you said, 14:23 you have Hulu, you have Netflix, you have, 14:25 you know, YouTube. 14:26 So we thought to ourselves, "What can we do to perhaps 14:29 stay along the same line of what we're already doing 14:31 but maybe make it differently?" 14:33 And so the idea was, why don't we take them 14:35 to the very places that the preachers talk about? 14:38 So maybe we can go over to Rome if we talk about the Romans, 14:41 maybe we can go over to the area of the Waldensians. 14:44 So we decided to create these faith based excursions, 14:47 and tours, and travel. 14:49 And we thought to ourselves, "How nice would it be?" 14:51 For example, we go to Rome and we go to the Catacombs 14:54 and we'll also visit the Mamertine Prison. 14:56 So we'll go down into the dungeon cell 14:57 and we'll imagine what it would have been like 14:59 for Paul to have his hands tied, his feet shackled, 15:02 the stench of human waste all around him. 15:04 And a Roman guard standing at attention waiting 15:06 for the call to take him out and cut off his head. 15:09 And yet he's writing to the people in Ephesus 15:11 and he says things like, 15:13 "We are seated in heavenly places with God." 15:16 How can a man say 15:17 that he's seated in heavenly places 15:19 with God when he's about to lose his head? 15:21 Well, he had hope in something bigger, 15:23 and better, and bolder, 15:25 and more beautiful that God had in store with him. 15:27 So taking people to these sites makes them re-experience 15:30 those things in a way that perhaps 15:32 they've never done before. 15:33 So that's very interesting. 15:34 So at the beginning, you were kind of saying 15:36 that you're doing productions here, 15:37 but now you're mentioning the fact 15:39 that you're actually bringing people to these sites. 15:41 So how did that all come about? 15:43 And what are you... 15:44 How does that actually play into your ministry now? 15:46 That's a great question. 15:48 So many of the people that come with us are not 15:50 Seventh-day Adventist Christians, right? 15:52 Okay. 15:53 So we have some people that are coming 15:54 that are Baptists, that are Methodists. 15:56 A couple months ago, we have a registration form 15:58 and we received the register form for two people 16:00 that wanted to go on our tours. 16:02 And they put in, they're atheists 16:04 and then the spouse said Buddhist. 16:06 And we thought to ourselves, "What? 16:08 This is really strange." 16:09 Normally, people spend money trying 16:12 to have evangelistic crusades and paying thousands of dollars 16:15 to try to bring people to church. 16:16 But here are two people who are giving us the funds 16:19 for two weeks for us to preach them the gospel 16:22 and tell them about Jesus Christ. 16:23 We thought, "Wow! 16:24 This is an amazing opportunity to tell people 16:27 about the story of Christianity in a winsome way." 16:29 And this is because friends, families, and even neighbors. 16:32 We've met Seventh-day Adventists 16:34 who bring their neighbors who are not Christians and say, 16:37 "I don't want to go to your church, 16:38 I don't want Bible studies, 16:39 but I would love to go to Europe. 16:41 And I'll go with you because you seem like 16:42 a nice guy." 16:44 And there's an opportunity for soul winning, 16:45 for evangelism, and for sharing the gospel. 16:47 Absolutely. 16:48 And when people invest in something they value 16:50 what they've invested in as well, 16:51 so that makes an impact on them spiritually. 16:54 That's wonderful. Absolutely. 16:55 What about millennials? 16:57 We've heard that millennials actually are more interested 17:02 in the experiences that they can have rather than 17:05 maybe being so interested in material things. 17:07 Tell us a little bit more about that phenomenon 17:11 and how your ministry reaches out to that need. 17:15 Great question. 17:16 So there's this thing, some of you may have heard, 17:17 it's called FOMO, fear of missing out. 17:21 And they're finding all this interesting statistics 17:23 where young people are more interested 17:25 in experiences than actual material goods. 17:28 And that seems a little strange and counterintuitive 17:30 to what we think millennials want. 17:33 But we're finding that it is better for them 17:35 and they're happier when they go to the places 17:38 that you talk about as opposed to just giving them 17:40 material possessions. 17:42 So one of the things that we're doing at Pan De Vida 17:43 is we're creating tours and excursions 17:46 for people to go, particularly our young people 17:48 to become familiarized and acquainted 17:51 with the truth of the Bible. 17:52 And all of our tours, we use the Bible 17:54 and the Spirit of Prophecy, 17:55 the first 12 chapters of the book, 17:56 Great Controversy, for them to visit those sites. 17:59 And now be able to forge an identity with who they are 18:02 as Seventh-day Adventist Christians 18:04 and who they are as Bible believing 18:06 followers of Jesus Christ. 18:08 Wonderful. 18:09 So how can people get involved in helping your ministry 18:12 or in collaborating with your ministry? 18:15 So there's a few things you can do. 18:16 Number one, you can swing by our booth, 18:18 we're in booth 735. 18:19 So if you're over there by the booth area, 18:21 please feel free to swing by. 18:23 Number two, you can pray for us. 18:25 Keep us in your prayers. 18:26 Number three, we have many adults, 18:29 some that are a little bit better off financially, 18:32 who sponsor young people. 18:33 We're offering matching funds from Pan De Vida 18:36 to keep those costs at a very reasonable amount. 18:38 And they can invite those friends 18:40 and particularly those young people, 18:42 those millennials that perhaps otherwise wouldn't go 18:44 to be able to join us on these trips. 18:46 We invite you to come, we're in booth 735, 18:49 and we hope that you can be a part of that as well. 18:51 Okay. Wonderful. 18:53 Thank you so much for sharing. 18:54 We appreciate you being here with us this evening. 18:57 So I am very excited that you're here, Jim Burr, 19:01 because I actually went to school with your son 19:03 here back in Oklahoma Academy, a long time ago. 19:06 Wow. 19:07 And so it's nice to be with you here on the stage 19:10 and to be able to share 19:11 some of the ways that you've reached out. 19:14 And I think what's really exciting about 19:17 meeting with you and discussing with you 19:19 is how you look for all kinds of different ways 19:21 to share the gospel, 19:22 share science from a creation perspective 19:26 with people that you meet. 19:28 Yes, I try to pray before I get on an airplane. 19:30 Lord, is there somebody here you want me to visit with? 19:33 I was traveling to Atlanta, that's three hours. 19:35 And the lady next to me is a doctor. 19:37 And I've got my telescope, 19:38 my computer out with astronomy pictures, 19:40 and people will pick up on that, 19:41 and she starts commenting or questioning 19:43 and what's this about. 19:45 And I started sharing little tidbits of God, 19:47 and the heaven's with her, and then she says, 19:49 "You know, I haven't been a good mother. 19:51 I did not teach my two sons about God." 19:54 And I said to her, "Well, you know what? 19:56 I've got this little Bible study 19:57 from United Prison Ministries. 20:00 There are 25 Bible lessons you can teach your sons here." 20:04 And I gave her a video on Daniel 2 20:06 and I gave her 4 programs on astronomy, 20:08 half-hour programs. 20:09 This lady said, 20:11 "I think God wanted me sit next to you on the plane." 20:13 That's thrilling. Yes. 20:14 And then I took my car in for service 20:16 at the Grease Monkey, man, to get an oil change. 20:18 And he comes by, he gives me the keys. 20:20 "Your car is ready to go, 20:21 but I like your reading material." 20:23 So, folks... 20:24 Where did he find your reading material? 20:25 Well, I had reading... 20:27 So when you take your car for a service, 20:28 leave some reading materials there. 20:29 There you go. 20:31 God may do something with that. 20:32 That has touched. 20:34 We can count 200 lives that's touched. 20:35 Wow. 20:36 I said at the Grease, if that's the case, 20:38 I've got two videos that go along with 20:39 what you're reading there. 20:40 So I take him to... 20:42 My office is just half a mile away. 20:44 I take him two videos. 20:45 Every time I go I take him a video, 20:46 my wife takes him a video. 20:48 And after about 10 videos, he says, 20:49 "I have watched everything you've given me. 20:51 There's nothing on television, but let me tell you, 20:54 you gave me a video on Daniel 2 and Hitler." 20:58 He says, "I gave that to an atheist friend. 21:00 He has watched it over and over and over again." 21:03 I said, "If that's the case, I got two more videos. 21:06 He has got to see David Asscherick, 21:08 Pascal's Wager and What Wondrous Love." 21:11 Today, the Grease Monkey man, if you visit his car, 21:14 he has on his reading rack these Bible study guides, 21:18 Take Me Home it says on the front 21:19 the passage is on the back. 21:21 So leaving them in your car was contagious, 21:22 now he's doing the same thing. 21:24 He's having them in his shop and people can pick them up 21:27 as they come and visit and get their car serviced. 21:29 This story has been... This is almost two years old. 21:32 This year, I said, I'm gonna count how many... 21:33 I don't have no idea. 21:35 Lord only knows how many he gave away 21:36 this year. 21:37 He's already given them 90 of these this week. 21:39 And the pastor's on the back, 21:40 you need a prayer from the pastor, 21:42 if you need an answer from the pastor. 21:43 And so that's just exciting stuff. 21:45 Wonderful. 21:46 Why don't you tell us about when you had the opportunity 21:48 to be the keynote speaker of ASI over in Russia 21:52 and tell us about an experience you had on a plane there? 21:54 About a year and a half ago, 21:56 I was speaking as a keynote speaker at ASI. 21:57 We did 10 one-hour shows at ASI Russia. 22:00 3ABN was aired and recorded, broadcast. 22:01 They said 300 million Russians can watch that. 22:05 Well, coming home from Russia, I am on a plane. 22:07 Now the Lord, you know, I mean, 22:09 Delta tells who you're gonna sit by, 22:11 but I think the Lord overrules. 22:12 He overrules. 22:14 Turns out, I'm sitting by this high fashion model. 22:16 She's like high. 22:18 Before we even get to move, barely get our seatbelts on, 22:21 she says, "How old are you?" 22:23 And I go, like in perfect English, 22:25 "How old are you?" 22:26 I said, "I'm 80 years old." 22:27 She goes like, "What are you doing in Russia?" 22:29 I said, "Well, I'm here talking about astronomy in the Bible." 22:31 Then next words out of her mouth. 22:33 She says, 22:35 "I just wasn't gonna last 50 years." 22:37 And we start going through last day events, 22:39 we go through Matthew 24. 22:41 And I gave her the Bible study guide, 22:45 I gave her the DVD on astronomy, 22:49 and I have this video on Hitler and Daniel 2. 22:54 And I explained to her that... 22:56 This happened in Hitler's army with his pastor Hazo. 22:59 And she said, "Oh, us Russians, 23:02 we just love learning about Hitler. 23:04 I want to give you a kiss," 23:06 and she smacked a kiss on my cheek. 23:07 It's that fast. 23:09 Now imagine an 80-year-old guy 23:10 getting a kiss on an airplane, you know? 23:12 And she was so excited to get this video. 23:15 And she says, 23:16 "I don't think your wife's gonna be jealous." 23:17 Well, you know, 23:19 that's a fascinating story for sure. 23:21 And there was another one that really fascinated me. 23:23 And that's when you had the opportunity 23:25 to explain to a science teacher about a cell 23:28 and how much information God has packed into the cell. 23:31 Tell us a little bit about that. 23:32 So I'm coming out of SeaTac, Seattle-Tacoma. 23:35 And I've got my computer out. 23:36 And the guy next to me goes like, 23:37 "Oh, you're doing a seminar. What's the seminar on?" 23:39 I say, "Well, astronomy in the Bible." 23:41 He goes like, 23:42 "How do you put the Bible with astronomy?" 23:44 And I say, "Do you believe in God?" 23:46 And he goes, like, "Yeah, you know?" 23:48 And I said, 23:49 "Well, let me show you the farthest galaxy. 23:51 Can you comprehend that 13 billion light years away? 23:54 Can you comprehend that? 23:55 Because the Bible in Psalm 103 starting verse 10 says 23:58 that as high as the heavens are, 23:59 but that's how great God's mercy is. 24:01 You cannot comprehend how great God's mercy." 24:03 And we do... It's a three-hour flight. 24:05 We do an hour and a half on astronomy. 24:06 And then I said, "Let me teach you biology." 24:10 I mean, he teaches this stuff from a biblical perspective. 24:11 Okay. Right. 24:12 And I have this pencil with a pin on. 24:14 There's this pin on top, the head of the pin. 24:17 I said, "You realize when you were conceived 24:18 you could fit on the head of that pin? 24:20 And you realize that 24:22 that little cell can copy your DNA? 24:24 In your DNA, 24:25 we have 6 billion letter codes at a keyboard 50 years. 24:28 At a keyboard for you to type out 24:30 the information in every cell is a whole lifetime, 24:32 but this cell can do it in 30 hours. 24:34 Do you see God in that? 24:35 And will you be making mistakes?" 24:37 You know, yes. 24:38 "Well, your cell does too 24:39 because we live in a polluted world, 24:41 because of free radicals, carcinogens, 24:42 you didn't sleep good, you didn't get enough exercise, 24:43 didn't had water for those reasons 24:46 your cell will make up to a million mistakes, 24:48 about 100,000 to a million mistakes, 24:50 but you got a proofreader. 24:52 Just like your computer. 24:54 You put in a wrong letter, it fixes it. 24:55 The proof is there and it's gone, 24:57 it's there and it's gone. 24:58 You forget to put a comma in it, 25:00 you see it and it's gone, right? 25:02 You got the same thing in your DNA. 25:03 Wow! Absolutely same thing. 25:05 And you have 50 genes 25:07 that are there to fix the problem, 25:08 50 genes. 25:10 And so I said to the guy, 25:11 "You realize that we got 30 hours, 25:12 but 3 things have to happen. 25:14 The cell has to copy your DNA, 25:15 the spellchecker has to go through millions of pages 25:18 to find any mistakes, 25:20 the army comes in to fix it. 25:21 When they get done, one in a billion get through. 25:23 And so in 30 hours, we have to copy it, 25:27 we have to find the problem, we have to fix the problem. 25:29 And it took your scientists 25:31 13 years with 5,000 supercomputers 25:34 to sequence the human genome, 25:35 took thousands of scientists 25:37 13 years of 5,000 supercomputers." 25:39 And this guy was like so blown away. 25:41 He knew this stuff, 25:42 he teaches this stuff, and he goes like, 25:43 "Man, I never thought about that." 25:45 Yes, amazing. 25:47 You know, you had a very interesting visit recently. 25:49 I'd like you to just close with this because, 25:52 you know, all of our children went to the Ark Encounter today 25:56 and they had a wonderful time. 25:58 The biggest wood structure in the world. 26:01 And you had the opportunity of meeting with the founder, 26:05 the one that had this idea Ken Ham. 26:07 Ken Ham. 26:09 Tell us a little bit about that, just very briefly. 26:10 Yesterday 9 o'clock, I had appointment with Ken Ham. 26:13 Two of his staff people have been calling my office 26:15 saying we're interested in the starlight work 26:17 you've done on starlight and time. 26:19 And Danny Faulkner, the chief astronomer, 26:21 at Answers in Genesis called me up. 26:23 He says, "I knew about JMI Telescope for decades. 26:26 I didn't know you're a creationist." 26:27 I said, "Not only that, I'm gonna be there Wednesday. 26:30 Well, I want to give you a tour. 26:31 You text me when you get to the gate. 26:33 I want to take you and give you a free tour of the museum." 26:35 And I said, "Text back, can I meet with Ken Ham?" 26:39 And he says, 26:40 "Nine o'clock you got an appointment with Ken." 26:42 Yesterday morning at 9 o'clock, 26:43 we spent about, 26:44 almost not quite 15 minutes with Ken Ham. 26:47 And I gave him... 26:49 And I got to shorten this, 26:50 but do you know 26:51 Ellen White has the only answer for dinosaurs? 26:54 Creationists have no answers, evolutionists have no answers. 26:57 So many questions, so many problems. 26:59 I said to Ken Ham... 27:01 The Bible says in Acts 2 and Genesis 2, 27:04 in the last days he's gonna have prophets. 27:06 I said, "Ken, look at what I found. 27:08 This little book written 133 years ago." 27:11 And I read to him what she says. 27:14 Basically, the dinosaurs were hybrids. 27:19 You know, we know what GMO is. Hybrids were GMOed. 27:23 They were genetically modified. 27:24 Lizards, alligators, ostriches, chickens, and birds, 27:27 and we can see that. 27:28 And she has the answer. 27:30 They were not in the Garden of Eden. 27:31 They were not on the Ark. 27:32 And we have a video out there in... 27:38 Brought 400 with Feed my Lambs. 27:40 We've got a video... 27:42 If you want a video on Ellen White 27:43 and the dinosaurs, you have 10 bucks, 27:44 and we got a whole box of book there. 27:46 Thank you so much for sharing. We really appreciate that. 27:48 And you'll be in our prayers as you continue to share. 27:50 Thank you. Thank you. 27:52 Jesse, we're so happy you're here this evening. 27:53 Thank you. 27:55 Jesse Zwiker is here with us. 27:57 And he has a project that's called Ellen4all. 28:01 I like that name. 28:02 In fact, that kind of give us an idea 28:03 of maybe what it's all about. 28:06 And in fact, why don't you tell us 28:07 just briefly and then we'll roll some slides 28:09 and talk about it. 28:11 So Ellen4all, the name says it, 28:14 it's Ellen White for all kindreds, tongues, 28:19 tribes, and people. 28:20 So the project is about crowd-translating, 28:26 kind of like crowd funding, 28:28 you know, where everybody can contribute 28:30 a little bit and it starts to really build up, 28:32 but crowd-translating, 28:34 so everybody contributes to translate 28:37 Ellen White's writings into their native tongue. 28:40 Well, that sounds like a very innovative way 28:42 to be able to get more of the Spirit of Prophecy 28:44 translated into many languages. 28:46 Well, you know, Ellen White, 28:48 I believe was one of the most innovative people in her time. 28:53 And so I believe that 28:55 this is part of what we're called to do 28:58 is to do stuff like that. 29:00 And I think that to get into 55 languages, 29:05 which is our goal now in partnership 29:08 with the White Estate to do that is really, 29:12 you know, it's a lot of languages. 29:14 And if we do this in a traditional way, 29:16 it's gonna be very slow to get there. Right. 29:20 Yes, exactly. 29:21 So why don't we look at some of the slides 29:23 that you want to show us that tell us 29:24 a little bit more about the project, 29:26 and you can explain to us a little bit more in depth. 29:30 Yeah. So on the... 29:34 Yes, the slide that you can see, 29:36 you can really see that the most translated language 29:40 is actually Spanish and Portuguese 29:43 that we have for Ellen White's writings. 29:45 And you just realize 29:46 that even though that represents about 100 books 29:50 that they've translated, 29:51 it's still only about 25% of everything 29:55 that Ellen White has written. 29:58 So really... 30:03 For me the worst part of the whole statistic 30:06 is that over 700 languages have less than 1% translated. 30:11 They've got maybe one book or a few books, 30:14 you know, and none of the stuff that, 30:19 for me, was really important in like 30:21 getting into the work of ASI and Madison, 30:24 and self-supporting, and any of that, 30:26 you know, lay involvement and total member involvement, 30:29 a lot of these things are not translated, 30:32 so it obviously impacts the church. 30:34 And so this was really my burden. 30:36 My background is in translation. 30:39 We have a translation ministry, Crosslingo. 30:41 And so we were like, 30:43 "Hey, why don't we translate this 30:45 with the way we translate everything else?" 30:47 You know, we translate books 30:48 for other ministries and so forth, 30:50 but we realized this will cost 30:52 millions and millions of dollars 30:54 to translate all of this content 30:56 into 55, let alone, 30:58 you know, 700 languages. 31:00 So we're like we need a new approach. 31:02 Okay. 31:04 And so this is where we can't figure it out. 31:05 Okay, well, 31:07 let's learn from the crowd technology 31:10 that's out there. 31:11 And we just use a process, 31:15 you know, to really help monitor 31:18 the translators that get on there 31:20 to really improve the quality as they go 31:22 and we get some to translate here 31:25 as you can see on the picture. 31:27 You know, some they translate it 31:31 and then we have professionals that review it, 31:33 and then we have, finally, 31:34 you know, proofreaders from approved entities, 31:39 you know, like publishing houses 31:40 and White Estate to approve it for them to be uploaded 31:43 on the Ellen White... 31:45 At least make it available online, 31:47 you know, to the people. 31:48 And so anyway, 31:50 it's really exciting to be able to figure out 31:54 how to use these things in a much... 31:57 To be able to move much faster 31:59 and at the same time to really 32:02 use the technology that's available 32:04 and also to improve the quality, right, 32:08 because suddenly you get multiple people 32:11 looking over each paragraph and approving each paragraph, 32:14 so it really gets up into the, you know... 32:17 Okay, so you'll have people that translate, 32:19 but then because the whole crowd is involved, 32:22 then people can review other's work 32:24 and it can improve the quality of the translation. 32:26 Exactly. 32:28 In some languages, 32:29 we actually are using some artificial intelligence 32:31 to do initial translations or at least to make suggestions 32:36 or make auto suggestions. 32:38 And then translators can use those 32:40 or not use those depending. 32:42 Some languages have really good artificial intelligence, 32:45 machine translations, 32:46 others are really bad, 32:48 you know, like Google Translate 32:50 or something like that, you know? 32:51 But we don't use that, 32:53 so it really helps also to move the process forward. 32:57 But then we have, 32:58 you know, really, professionals also 33:00 to review those things. 33:02 Most of the people really that come are, 33:04 you know, really, 33:06 linguists and they're into translation, 33:08 you know, not everybody does translation in their free time. 33:10 And they have a burden and a passion 33:11 to be able to get these messages out 33:13 to their language group for sure. 33:15 Yes. Wonderful. 33:17 Can you tell us some stories 33:18 of how this project has impacted people? 33:21 Yeah, we have a number of people. 33:23 Actually, in a few months, 33:25 suddenly we got a few hundred people 33:27 translating on a weekly basis, translating stuff into German. 33:31 We were just doing German and Swahili. 33:34 And so they were getting in there 33:36 and starting to translate. 33:37 They started translating a few books. 33:41 They're still in the review process. 33:42 So it's some work. 33:45 We have young people, 33:47 but then we also have a lot of pastors, 33:49 retired pastors. 33:51 One pastor, he actually sent us a video, 33:56 you know, sharing his testimony. 33:57 He was just like, 33:58 "I am just so amazed about this thing. 34:01 I thought I was gonna do them a favor 34:03 and start translating." 34:05 And he started translating his stuff and he's just like... 34:07 He just opened his mind. 34:09 And so now he's actually translating all of these things 34:12 in his morning devotions. 34:14 And he's doing it like for half an hour every day, 34:17 you know, translating and then writing sermons 34:20 based on the text that he is translating 34:23 for the platform so that it can be, 34:26 you know, put on the public. 34:28 So it was just powerful to see how this really transforms 34:32 even young people's lives and also older people's lives 34:36 and retired pastors 34:38 and so forth that want to contribute, 34:40 lot of them are really excited that 34:42 they can really contribute now to the work. 34:44 Well, thank you so much for sharing, Jesse. 34:47 And I want to thank each of you 34:48 because we're gonna watch a video 34:50 that you prepared for us, Jesse. 34:52 But I want to thank each of you 34:53 for participating this evening and for being here. 34:56 May God bless each of you 34:58 in your ministry as you continue. 34:59 I just want to say, 35:01 please come on Ellen4All. 35:03 This is the last slide there, Ellen4All.org. 35:06 And you can sign up and start translating. 35:09 And we're just making available the possibility 35:12 for even some of the people that don't speak two languages 35:17 to go in and actually work on just the English text 35:20 to look at what are... 35:23 You know, to make comments on 35:24 Okay, this Ellen White here actually was saying, 35:28 you know, in that culture, 35:29 in that time it meant this and so forth, 35:31 so to really improve the quality of the translation. 35:34 And obviously pray for us and, 35:38 you know, support, sponsor, 35:40 you know, so we can really move the translations forward 35:44 quickly into all of these 55 languages. 35:47 Thank you so much to each of you. 37:08 Tonight, we have with us some exciting people, 37:11 some exciting stories. 37:13 We'll start with you. 37:14 We have Mike Wells with us from Print Bibles 4 Cuba. 37:19 And, Mike, tell us what is Print Bibles 4 Cuba? 37:23 Print Bibles 4 Cuba is a project. 37:25 It's not a ministry and it's not a business, 37:27 but it's a project that started, 37:30 May, the beginning of May, last year or so, 37:33 what's that, 18 months or whatever? 37:34 That's right. 37:36 So the purpose of Print Bibles 4 Cuba 37:39 is to upgrade the existing publishing house, 37:42 increase their productivity so that they can produce Bibles 37:46 and books and tracts, like leaves of autumn. 37:50 Wow, that's awesome. 37:51 And who's involved 37:53 and how did you get involved, Mike? 37:55 There are two of us that are co-founders. 37:58 You'll see Russell's picture up here later. 38:00 But I got involved 38:03 or the back story for me is that, years ago, 38:10 I saw four pieces of junk printing equipment 38:13 at a government auction. 38:14 Wow. 38:15 And we were down on our last dollar, 38:17 but being a printer, 38:19 I thought this had some hope. 38:21 So without telling my wife, I went and bought 38:23 that equipment, not a good thing. 38:24 Without telling your wife. 38:26 But I started seeing how God was working 38:28 because out of those four pieces of junk, 38:31 after repairing them and selling them 38:32 and trading and repairing, 38:34 and after a while, 38:35 I had a print shop with no money, 38:37 to speak of anyway, invested into print shop. 38:40 Wow. 38:42 And this idea hit me that 38:45 if we can set up a simple print shop that cheap, 38:48 why wouldn't it be possible to have print shops 38:50 and publishing houses in many of these small remote places 38:54 in the world? 38:55 Right. 38:56 Well, as time went on, 38:58 I was at an ASI Convention in Dallas. 39:00 Don't even remember how many years ago it was. 39:03 But Garwin McNeilus was telling about the situation in Cuba 39:08 with their printing presses. 39:10 And you may have heard they were using used motor oil 39:14 and letterpress. 39:15 And my heart just cried. 39:16 Being a press mechanic, I couldn't stand it. 39:19 But I couldn't do anything about it, 39:20 so it laid dormant for many years. 39:23 So that was actually the back story of how things got started 39:26 and then they just continued from there. 39:28 But that was when I really felt 39:29 the Lord's call to do something. 39:31 Wow. That's incredible. 39:33 And I understand you took a recent trip to Cuba 39:35 to investigate, tell us about it. 39:37 Probably, I didn't introduce Russ first. 39:40 Russ is the other partner in this, co-founder. 39:44 And as a youth, 39:46 now this is before I even got the call, 39:48 but as a youth, 39:50 he was growing up in southern Korea. 39:56 There we go. Thank you. All right. 39:58 Southern Korea 39:59 and observing the effective communism 40:01 on the church both in North Korea and in Cuba 40:06 and in China. 40:08 And he determined in his heart at that time 40:10 that he needed to do something to be a part of spreading 40:13 the gospel in communist countries, 40:15 and that being publishing. 40:19 That's awesome. 40:20 So then you and Russ collaborated together 40:23 and established... 40:25 Yes, Russ and I actually worked together for several years 40:27 at Christian Record Services, so we already knew each other. 40:30 About three years ago, 40:32 I started hearing the word Cuba, Cuba, 40:34 Cuba ringing in my head 40:36 and I tried everything I could to find out 40:38 who the contacts were. 40:40 I even emailed Jamie George, 40:42 and he sent me a picture of an old letterpress. 40:44 It just... 40:46 So I decided we had to go over and investigate, 40:48 so I asked Russ if he could go over with me 40:50 and help size it up. 40:51 And what do you find out 40:53 when you went over to investigate? 40:54 We found out that their production department 40:56 was really in great need. 40:58 It wasn't because the people were bad. 40:59 It was the equipment was wrong for what they were doing. 41:01 They were printing Sabbath School quarterlies 41:03 on an 8.5x11 sheet, 41:06 collating them all together and then folding them 41:08 and then... 41:09 So we knew we had to do something. 41:10 So we made a two-part proposal to them. 41:13 Part one of the proposal was that 41:14 we increase their productivity 41:16 so that they could eventually print Bibles. 41:19 Stage two is where we would help them 41:24 actually print the Bibles 41:25 and train them to that point. 41:28 So the progress report right now is that phase one 41:32 actually is very close to completion. 41:34 We have the equipment in my print shop 41:37 in Auburn, Nebraska, 41:38 being cleaned up and repaired. 41:40 One piece is in Florida, that's the bookbinder. 41:44 But otherwise we've got everything for that. 41:47 Phase two is where we're still asking the Lord 41:50 how He is going to lead us 41:52 'cause phase two requires 41:55 a press much bigger than any of us have. 41:57 And by the way, 41:59 the Lord provided that press 10 years ago. 42:01 Ten years ago, I had a huge book printing press 42:05 dropped in my lap as it were. 42:07 And it's in storage now, it has been for about 10 years. 42:09 Wow. 42:11 And I know the Lord was encouraging me 42:13 to move on it, but it's been sitting. 42:16 And I cried out to the Lord, 42:17 "Lord, what do you want to do with this press?" 42:19 And I believe that, here at this ASI, 42:21 we are going to find the answer to that question. 42:23 Amen. 42:25 Well, you know, I believe 42:26 we're gonna find the answer too. 42:27 And that's what I want to ask you, 42:29 as we kind of close this time together, 42:31 is what can ASI do to help? 42:35 What I'm asking of ASI 42:37 is that anybody who has a burden for publishing 42:43 and maybe hasn't realized their dream yet 42:45 because you don't have equipment 42:46 or don't know how to start, 42:48 we are going to be having a meeting tomorrow 42:49 between 2 o'clock and 3 o'clock, 42:51 where we just like to brainstorm 42:53 a multitude of counselors as it is. 42:56 And see where we go from here because I believe that 42:58 this might be how the Lord answers that question. 43:01 By the way, I forgot to tell you that web press, 43:03 that book press can print a million Bible pages an hour. 43:06 A million? 43:07 A million Bible pages an hour. Wow. 43:09 And that would equate to about 1,000 Bibles an hour. 43:12 Now naturally, you still have to do the collating 43:15 and everything, 43:16 but it's a very productive press 43:17 that was going to scrap iron. 43:19 And I salvaged it basically from scrap iron. 43:22 So if you're out there 43:24 and you have an interest in publishing 43:27 and you want to see how this model 43:29 of publishing works that I'm proposing, 43:32 we'd really like to just brainstorm together. 43:35 Two ways to get a hold of us 43:36 is we're kind of hanging out at the HeReturns booth that's... 43:42 I don't remember what booth, but HeReturns... 43:45 It's on the screen. 43:47 Okay. World Youth Group. 43:48 There you go. 43:49 World Youth Group will be... 43:51 They will also be able to give you information 43:53 or you could email or just call. 43:57 And we'd like to see... 43:59 We'd like to get your input tomorrow on this. 44:02 Thank you so much, Mike. 44:03 May the Lord continue to richly bless your ministry. 44:05 Thank you. 44:06 And it's been such an honor to share this at ASI. 44:09 Amen. Amen. 44:10 And now we have Craig, 44:13 who is from Riverside Farms. 44:17 And, Craig, what's new at Riverside Farms? 44:21 We're fans of Riverside Farms here at ASI. 44:23 What's new? Tell us. 44:24 Okay. 44:26 So most of you know we grow bananas, 44:27 have a school, have a wellness center. 44:29 But today, I want to share a little bit about 44:31 what it is that drives us to be there. 44:34 An author recently said none of us deserve to hear 44:37 the gospel for a second time, 44:39 while some of us have never heard it for the first time. 44:41 And that's something that, you know, resonates with me. 44:44 And serving in a country with a million people, 44:47 the question is begged, 44:48 what are you doing for the people who've never heard? 44:50 And so I began to think what can we do. 44:52 And so we have an evangelism school there 44:54 and I talked with our evangelism teacher. 44:56 And I said about a year and a half ago, 44:58 "Why don't we try something different? 44:59 Why don't we take our students? 45:01 And instead of taking them to the local church 45:03 where they can lean on a pastor or an elder or a deacon, 45:06 let's take them to a village that's unreached." 45:09 And there was some nervousness among students and faculty, 45:13 but we went ahead and did it. 45:15 We went to a place where there's never been 45:17 a Protestant effort, 45:18 let alone an Adventist effort in 100 years. 45:20 And we saw the Lord bless, 45:23 more than 70 souls were baptized. 45:25 Wow. A one-day church was built. 45:27 Amen. 45:29 A student was brought back and trained in evangelism 45:31 and is now fostering that church there. 45:33 And so we continue to do that. 45:35 And so we've done that now in five locations. 45:38 There's now five churches that have been planted by students 45:41 around Zambia in villages where there's been nothing. 45:45 And it's amazing because students who go to that place, 45:50 they can't lean on anyone. 45:52 So when they come back, they don't have a question, 45:55 "Can God use me to win souls for the Lord Jesus?" 45:59 They know. 46:00 And for the rest of their life, 46:02 they don't have to wonder the question, 46:04 "Can God do it for me," because they've seen it. 46:07 Wow. 46:08 How old are these students, Craig? 46:09 Students from anywhere from about 18... 46:11 Wow. And up. 46:13 Wow. Going out and doing that. 46:14 That's amazing. 46:15 You know, you recently had an experience 46:17 kind of in the jungle there in Zambia. 46:20 Tell us about it. Sure. 46:21 So the latest crusade we did in southern part of Zambia. 46:26 Our students went out, began to work. 46:27 And they noticed, when they first got to this village, 46:30 that, you know, they put up posters. 46:32 And usually in the village, you know, 46:33 kids come along and have all kinds of things 46:35 to do with posters, 46:36 but none of the posters were gone. 46:38 And so in Zambia, 46:39 you have a couple of different forms of leadership. 46:41 You have a chief, 46:43 who is a bit like a king, you know, 46:44 it comes along a bloodline. 46:46 But you have village headman 46:48 and there they're in leadership in a village 46:51 because they have leadership skills. 46:52 Wow. 46:53 And so this man was a leader in that village 46:56 and they began to get to know him 46:58 and the thing that was interesting 47:01 is they found out that he had had 17 wives. 47:04 Wow. 47:06 Is that even possible? 47:07 Beyond that, 47:10 he was feared even by chiefs in the region 47:12 because when he worked in the villages 47:15 that he was the headman over, 47:16 if someone was misbehaving and it was severe, 47:21 he would go home, he would write a note, 47:23 he would hold it up, 47:25 and a bird would come down, 47:26 take the note out of his hand, 47:28 go and fly to that person's house. 47:30 And when the bird arrived, that person would die. 47:33 And... Wow! 47:35 Yeah, he was feared 'cause he not only had 17 wives, 47:38 he ran the villages tightly, but he was dangerous. 47:41 Another time arguing with the one of the local headman 47:45 who was disagreeing with him where their boundaries fell, 47:47 and he says, looks, 47:49 "And we'll see about where this boundary lies." 47:50 And that night lightning cut right 47:53 through the place where he was. 47:55 He was there. 47:56 And we think, you know, we're in the West, 47:57 we don't believe in some of this stuff. 47:59 Let me tell you, in Africa, these things are real. 48:01 Yes, these things are real. 48:03 And so it seemed like a very unlikely place 48:05 for the gospel to have an easy place to go. 48:07 Right. 48:09 But as time went on, the man began to have dreams 48:12 that were a lot like the stories in Daniel. 48:16 And when we arrived, he had gotten himself 48:18 down to 1 wife from 17. 48:20 Amen. 48:22 And when he heard this message, he responded. 48:26 And so today, 48:28 there's a church in that village, 48:30 60 people were baptized into the church. 48:33 And the headman said, "I don't care 48:34 who is here in my area, they're gonna come 48:37 and they're gonna help put up the walls 48:38 and finish that one-day church in the area." 48:41 And so we're looking forward to training a Bible worker 48:43 and sending them back. 48:44 Amen. Amen. 48:47 What a wonderful testimony to the transforming power of God. 48:50 So tell me how can we get involved. 48:52 What can we do to help? 48:54 Sure. There's a couple ways. 48:55 You can go to OutpostCenters.org 48:56 and look for Riverside Farm 48:58 and you'll see a number of ways you can get involved. 49:00 One of the things that's very impactful 49:02 there in Zambia is the one-day church project. 49:04 So if you're here 49:05 and you're supporting the one-day church project, 49:07 it's a huge benefit there in Zambia. 49:11 You can also go to RiversideFarm.org 49:13 and learn more about what we do. 49:15 Thank you so much, Craig. Thank you. 49:19 In Sub-Saharan Africa, 49:21 one in three children is severely malnourished. 49:26 People are suffering from diseases 49:28 that they can prevent with simple habits 49:31 and healthy food. 49:33 They don't know about sanitation. 49:38 Education is a necessity. 49:41 Kids have no hope of a better future. 49:53 But Jesus came to this world so we can have life 49:57 and have it more abundantly. 50:00 FARM STEW is a recipe for abundant life 50:04 that includes ingredients that prevent hunger, 50:07 disease, and poverty. 50:09 Our mission is to improve the health 50:11 and wellbeing of poor families 50:13 and vulnerable people throughout the world. 50:16 Drawing on biblical wisdom and sound science, 50:19 our African Christian trainers equipped families 50:22 by conducting hands-on classes, 50:24 freely sharing practical skills so people can help themselves. 50:29 Thanks to the FARM STEW training, 50:31 people learn to live abundantly 50:33 with fresh homegrown food, clean water, tidy homes, 50:36 savings clubs, and strong community ties. 50:40 FARM STEW also supports girls to stay in school 50:43 by giving them washable pads and confidence. 50:47 Your gifts equip desperately poor families 50:50 and vulnerable people so they can help themselves. 51:01 Will you give for abundant life today? 51:07 FARM STEW, a recipe for abundant life. 51:11 So I'm so excited to be able to have FARM STEW with us today. 51:15 And I really experienced FARM STEW 51:17 to when I was in Kenya. 51:19 My wife and I were General Conference missionaries 51:22 in Kenya, and Joy Kauffman, 51:24 your fearless leader came 51:25 and she taught us how to make soy milk from scratch. 51:29 And that was really a fun experience. 51:31 And so I'm so excited to have Susan 51:33 and Edwin with us tonight. 51:34 And, Susan, tell us 51:36 where is FARM STEW having 51:38 the most important impact for success. 51:42 Thank you very much. 51:43 As you can see, from the video, 51:45 that FARM STEW is having a big impact with the poor 51:46 and vulnerable people in Africa. 51:49 And we are currently in three countries. 51:51 We're in South Sudan. 51:52 We're partnering in Zimbabwe, 51:53 and we're in Uganda. 51:55 And the reason that we're in those areas 51:56 is because that is where the hungry are. 51:58 One in three children are severely malnourished. 52:02 And a shocking statistic that five children 52:04 under the age of five die every minute 52:08 if you just think about that for a second. 52:09 That's amazing. 52:11 But the reason FARM STEW is successful 52:12 is because we partner 52:14 with the local Seventh-day Adventist churches there, 52:16 which is wonderful because it helps to train 52:20 and help our own brothers and sisters in Christ. 52:22 And then also it gives us a door 52:24 into the local community. 52:25 And so we train skilled African trainers 52:29 and our FARM STEW ingredients, which are biblically based, 52:32 and they go out into churches, the local community, 52:36 they go to mosques, we're in prisons, 52:38 we're in orphanages, schools, universities. 52:41 And since we began, 3.5 years ago, 52:43 we have conducted approximately 3,000 hands-on 52:49 participatory classes impacting 56,000 lives. 52:52 Three thousand? Wow. 52:53 Yes. 52:55 That is incredible. Yes. 52:56 Praise the Lord. 52:57 What does FARM STEW stand for again? 52:59 FARM STEW and... 53:00 We'll see it on the board, 53:01 on the screen here in just a minute. 53:03 But FARM STEW is an acronym 53:04 and you can see the eight ingredients there. 53:06 Farming, attitude, rest, meal, 53:08 sanitation, temperance, enterprise, and water. 53:10 Awesome. Awesome. 53:12 And we heard that FARM STEW 53:13 has something new that you'd like to share. 53:15 Share with us. Yes. 53:17 Actually, we're very, very excited. 53:18 We are rolling out here at ASI, 53:20 what's called our FARM STEW Basic, 53:22 and it's an educational program. 53:24 You can find it on our website at www.FarmStew.org. 53:29 And it's free, 53:30 and it's a course that you can take. 53:32 That is awesome. That is awesome. 53:34 And as you share these FARM STEW principles, 53:37 how are you able to share Jesus? 53:40 Well, you know, it's a real blessing to us 53:41 to be able to share the love of God, 53:43 and that God wants each of us to have an abundant life, 53:45 everyone to have an abundant life. 53:48 And so our curriculum team has worked really hard, 53:50 actually with ASI leadership, 53:52 to make sure that our curriculum works 53:55 hand-in-hand with the ASI Picture Rolls. 53:57 And so we're hoping to use those in South Sudan. 53:59 We're very grateful to ASI for all of their support. 54:03 You know, I've actually used one of those ASI Picture Rolls 54:05 with the Maasai people in Kenya. 54:07 They're pretty awesome. 54:08 So I'm grateful for that. 54:10 And so, Edwin, 54:12 you have much experience in Africa, 54:15 and what caused you to get involved in FARM STEW? 54:19 You know, many of our church members in Africa 54:23 are caught in poverty 54:25 and these are our brothers and sisters. 54:27 That's right. 54:28 And, you know, 54:30 I've attended church with people 54:32 who were living in cardboard 54:34 and stick shacks because of war. 54:36 Wow. 54:37 And recently, I was attending church with a lady, 54:41 a widow, who was trying to support her two daughters, 54:46 working as an agriculture day labor. 54:48 It's very tough. 54:49 Yeah. 54:51 And we have information skills, 54:54 low-cost technologies 54:56 that can make a tremendous difference to these people. 54:59 And I've had a dream of being able to share with our members 55:04 things like this and FARM STEW is doing that. 55:07 And I'm just really excited about it. 55:09 That is fantastic. 55:10 And what do you think has been the greatest impact 55:13 of FARM STEW in actually transforming 55:15 the lives of people? 55:17 You know, we're giving people improved seeds. 55:21 We're introducing nutrient-dense varieties. 55:25 We're introducing simple techniques 55:29 that can help to boost production 55:31 so that the whole communities and villages benefit. 55:37 People who never grew vegetables people 55:40 who had never grown soybeans before are growing them, 55:44 and using them in their home, making soy milk and tofu. 55:48 And, you know, they're just doing really well. 55:54 And starving children are thriving. 56:01 And that soy milk is really good. 56:02 I have to say. It is. 56:04 Can you give an example of how FARM STEW 56:06 has actually benefited our brothers and sisters 56:10 and the churches over there? 56:11 Yes. 56:12 Just recently, one of our teams was working 56:14 in the village of Nambale, Uganda. 56:17 And they were working with the local church, 56:22 and they were introduced to one of our church members 56:26 and her daughter, little Sahuba. 56:31 Sahuba was a year and a half old, 56:34 and she weighed less than nine pounds. 56:37 Wow. 56:39 And the thing is that the mother 56:43 and the community thought that this was because 56:48 she had eaten a lot of lemons when she was pregnant. 56:51 Wow. 56:52 So you can see we're dealing with a lot of ignorance 56:55 and misinformation. 56:56 And misinformation. 56:58 And simple things. 56:59 Yeah. Yeah. 57:01 And we have solutions for that. 57:03 And so the FARM STEW team introduced, 57:05 you know, took her to the local health center. 57:09 And then they helped her to start breastfeeding 57:13 in a better way that was more effective. 57:16 And they started giving her a locally available porridge 57:22 made out of grains and legumes. 57:24 And in 1 week, she gained 2.2 pounds. 57:28 Wow! 57:30 And the next week, she got malaria, 57:33 which is not unusual, 57:34 but she did not lose any weight. 57:38 And that was amazing. 57:40 So the community 57:42 and our church members there are seeing that children 57:49 can be saved through the principles 57:51 that we're sharing with them. 57:52 Awesome. 57:54 Susan, in 10 seconds, 57:55 what parting words do you want to leave with us? 57:58 Well, I, first of all, would just like to say 57:59 thank you so much again to ASI for their support. 58:01 We'd like to invite everyone to come by our booth. 58:04 It's number 106. 58:05 And if you would like to sign up for our newsletter, 58:07 we would love to be able to share more information 58:10 with you about this incredible program 58:11 that's changing lives every day. 58:14 And more stories. And more stories. 58:16 Thank you. Thank you so much. 58:18 God bless you. |
Revised 2020-01-08