Participants: Karen Thomas (Host), Java Mattison
Series Code: IAADD
Program Code: IAADD000003A
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00:28 Welcome to Issues and Answers. Today we're going to be talking 00:31 about the publishing work, dead or alive. Our guest today is 00:35 Java Madison. He's a publishing director for South Central 00:38 Conference. He's a graduate of Oakwood University and Andrews 00:41 University with a Masters of Divinity. Welcome to the program 00:45 today Java. Thank you so much Karen. 00:48 So the publishing work, dead or alive? 00:50 Wow. The publishing work is very much alive. This ministry is 00:55 surrounding the nature of the word of God. When you think 00:59 about how the word of God is communicated, how it is 01:03 translated. It is the very nature of this work and the word 01:07 of God, the Bible says, is quick the Bible says that it is 01:10 powerful, it is sharper than any two-edged sword. This ministry 01:14 is very much alive because it is linked with the very life of 01:18 Christ itself. So I understand that there has 01:21 been some restructuring in the publishing ministry within the 01:24 Seventh-day Adventist Church. Is it still a viable vocation? Can 01:27 people still become literature evangelists? 01:29 Yes, I'm glad that you asked that question because we would 01:33 like to invite people to become literature evangelists like 01:38 never before. Really? This is an urgent call. We're trying to 01:43 position ourselves to be used by God in the best possible way. 01:48 By restructuring we are becoming more nimble. We're becoming more 01:53 capable to meet the demands of our communities, to give a 01:58 relevant word for the issues that they face. When you think 02:03 about the very nature of this ministry, the Bible says that 02:08 Moses was called into a mountain to speak to God. When he was 02:13 called into the mountain, you know, he had face-to-face 02:16 communion with God like no one had ever had until that time. 02:21 And God did a few things; he spoke, the Bible says, and after 02:26 having spoken and having this authentic intimacy with Moses, 02:30 to recap the experience, God said, all right I'm going to 02:35 write down what I just explained to you and God in his own way 02:40 with his own finger wrote down the very 10 commandments. Then 02:46 this is what God did. He gave them to Moses to give to the 02:52 people. Bam, Publishing. 02:54 Publishing. That's how we got it. 02:56 Wow! So in these time you know so many things are going on 03:01 right now, what's the best way to get the word out? 03:03 Wow, you know there's so many different ways to communicate 03:05 now. I mean the internet is just one of those prime examples and 03:10 technology, media. So many outlets to actually reach people 03:15 to communicate to them that God actually loves them, that he's 03:19 desirous to be intimate with them. But undergirding all 03:24 levels of communication is the one form of media that we cannot 03:30 dispense with and that is the written word of God. This is our 03:35 main safeguard from temptation, our main safeguard from the 03:40 attacks of the enemy. 03:41 Mmm, wow. So now looking back in history, things of importance 03:46 have been written down. 03:47 Have always been written down. I mean, one of the reasons why we 03:52 do publishing is because I can audibly speak my sermon to a 03:57 congregation and then after the service people will say that was 04:01 a good sermon. Then you ask them exactly what it was that I 04:05 actually spoke about and very few people, I have found, can 04:09 actually tell me my points. Which would mean either one that 04:13 memory is bad or I'm just a horrible communicator. 04:18 So writing down the revelation, the word of God, is important so 04:22 people can go back and they can read it. So the point would be 04:27 this: The written word of God endures and lasts throughout 04:31 time. So that's why we need the written word of God. 04:35 So therefore we need everybody to share in the publishing 04:39 ministry, not just to sell books but also to share books and this 04:47 is why the call to the publishing ministry is so urgent 04:51 because we need more people sharing the word of God, 04:56 distributing literature, leaflets, tracts, small 05:00 pamphlets. Then we need a few people selling the word of God. 05:06 So therefore everybody can get involved. Everybody can be a 05:12 literature evangelist. 05:13 I was going to ask you that. So everyone no matter whether or 05:15 not they're directly coming under a particular group, a 05:19 conference or a ministry, selling the books or actually 05:23 going online and buying books or actually picking up books 05:28 from a store, you're saying we all are literature evangelists. 05:32 We all are literature evangelists. Think about it in 05:35 this way. Literature evangelists a lot of people use the word LE. 05:40 But Paul said it in this way in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 05:45 He said ye are living epistles and then he said you 05:52 are read by all men. In other words, Paul took this idea of 05:58 literature evangelism to a whole other level where he says you 06:03 are the very book, your life is the very book that people are 06:07 reading. Before they even read a piece of literature that I could 06:12 share with them, they've already read about who Jesus is in the 06:16 life that I've lived. So in that way everybody is involved. 06:21 Nobody can be an innocent bystander or a spectator. Your 06:25 life is a book. People may never read the Bible, but they've read 06:30 your acts of kindness, they've read you acts of love, they've 06:34 read the kind words that you've spoken. So this concept of 06:38 literature evangelism is far deeper than we actually have 06:42 made it and God is calling for everybody to take an active role 06:45 You may not be able to preach, you may not be able to pray, but 06:49 you can share a piece of literature. But make sure that 06:52 your lifestyle is lining up with it. 06:54 So, you know, some people look and say I need a reason to know 06:58 that this really is a calling of God. Is there anything that 07:02 we've had that's been written or can let us know that this really 07:07 is an important work? 07:08 I'm glad that you asked that because in the Colporteur 07:13 Ministry, which is a kind of a book that's been written about 07:16 why we should do this ministry umm... 07:18 How long ago was that written? 07:20 Well this book was written about 100 years ago, you know. 07:24 It still is viable today because some of the principles that are 07:29 instilled there still apply. But it's Ellen White. She wrote the 07:35 book. She suggests that when the church realizes her call to 07:40 share the word of God through our publications, she says that 07:47 our church will rise and will to forth and shine as bright as 07:52 the sun. She says our power as a church has a lot to do with 07:57 our publishing ministry and therefore everybody has to take 08:02 an active part, whether you are in your grocery stores, whether 08:07 you're at the gas station, whether you're at you day cares 08:10 where you drop your children off or your schools. Wherever you 08:15 find yourself at, there you can leave a leaflet, a pamphlet 08:20 encouraging somebody along the way. 08:22 Let me ask you, because you know, cities or out in the 08:27 country or wherever people are living, how are people receiving 08:31 you? The people today are they willing to take a pamphlet or a 08:35 booklet from a perfect stranger? 08:37 You know what, I've found it to be amazing. There are so many 08:42 beautiful people in the world today and people are lonely. 08:47 People are hurting. People have been cut off from society in so 08:53 many ways and that's what I've found technology has done. While 08:58 it has brought the world closer together. It also in so many 09:03 ways has separated. For example, in my home, my daughters and my 09:08 son along with my wife and myself we all have either an 09:13 I- pad or and I-phone and we're all at several times of the day 09:18 on these devices. We can all be in the same room but we are 09:24 so far apart. So technology too has a way of separating us. 09:29 And so there is an ability to have high touch meeting. You can 09:35 reach a lot of people. How so? Through technology. But this 09:40 high tech reality has also separated people from the 09:46 opportunity to actually have a personal contact; just to hear 09:50 somebody say you know what, God is with you. You know God 09:53 loves you. And that's what a literature evangelist can do. 09:57 So when I go to a home and I knock on a door, it's almost 10:02 in Revelation 3 when the Bible says Jesus knocks on the door 10:07 he says behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man, any 10:12 woman, hears my voice and opens up I'll come in and sup. That 10:17 to say I'll come and have dinner with you. Eating with people is 10:21 one of the most intimate expressions that we have in 10:26 humanity. It sure is. To eat with someone, to treat them to 10:30 a meal is intimate. So what God is really wanting to do through 10:34 literature evangelism is to bring people into intimacy with 10:37 people who have actually met Jesus. 10:39 So Java, tell me, what kinds of things are being planned to get 10:43 the word out? Well I'm glad you asked. In the 10:46 concept mass distribution, total church involvement. One of the 10:51 things that we're looking for is in the area that we live in what 10:55 big events are happening? Whether there are sporting 11:00 events in a city that has some kind of sports team where large 11:04 crowds gather. You know this is an opportunity to go as a church 11:08 community to share the word of God. So in mass distributing you 11:12 want to reach as many people as possible. Here's the principle. 11:16 In the book Colporteur Ministry she says that the literature can 11:20 go places where the living preacher cannot go and the 11:24 reality is there are some people who would never come into our 11:28 churches and I think we kind of need to recognize that and 11:33 accept that fact. So we have to go where they are whether it's 11:37 at grocery stores. Individuals can share the word of God, the 11:41 literature. One of the things that we are doing here in the 11:45 Southern Union, we are catering books to sporting events. 11:50 So this book, Let's Win, it pictures Jesus as your life 11:55 coach. Everybody wants their team to win in whatever sport 12:00 you're playing. But bigger than sports is what some people 12:05 have termed the game of life and that's a game that you don't 12:11 want to lose in. So this book, Let's Win, helps you to hear 12:16 from the master coach, Jesus, as he coaches you through every 12:19 stage of your life. This is a book that has been put together 12:24 in large quantities. Over 250,000 of these have been put 12:28 in print just within the last few months. This is a book that 12:33 people can share to anybody who may have an interest in sports 12:37 and so you can choose an event like that. This is one example 12:41 where you can distribute this piece of literature to mass 12:45 quantities of people. Anywhere in the Southern Union you can 12:49 find this book. I also have here with me what we call GLOW tracts 12:55 Now these GLOW tracts have different topics. This topic 13:00 says why do I go to church on Saturday? You may not ever be 13:04 able to explain to someone why you attend church on Saturday 13:09 but this little leaflet is something that can actually 13:14 convince people, share with people why you go to church on 13:20 Saturday. Also... Simple to read Simple to read. Also here is 13:25 another topic. A lot of people want to know is the world coming 13:31 to an end. Yes. Evolution is another topic. You know the 13:35 story of evolution goes directly against the story that we have a 13:41 loving creator. Right. People need to know that there's a God 13:46 that loves them. These are different methods and ways of 13:50 people can actually share their faith. 13:53 Making Sense of Natural Disasters 13:55 Natural disasters; this is something that affects people 14:00 in so many ways. This is a way that you can share. I have a few 14:04 more, Breaking Addictions. So many people... well may be it's 14:08 a smoking addiction, eating addiction, maybe it's the 14:12 addiction of hate. That's true. Where's God When I'm Hurting? 14:17 So many people are hurting. They find it hard to believe that 14:21 there is a God because of the pain they feel in their own life 14:25 Right. Yeah, I like the way that you just pull this out of your 14:29 lapel pocket. So you go some place, what do you do? You just 14:33 put the tract down? 14:35 Well you know it's exciting to actually see it unfold. 14:38 For example, 14:40 one time I was in Orlando and I was at a Wal-Mart and I was 14:45 going up and down the aisle and I was looking for a piece for my 14:49 computer. In there, I don't know it just grabbed me. I wasn't 14:54 looking for but it was book called Ministry of Healing. 14:58 It just said, Java, and all of a sudden I looked and there the 15:03 book was. I picked it up and I knew that that was a literature 15:07 evangelist who 15:09 just left it there. You know, this is one thing that really 15:12 excites me about this ministry. It is a ministry where there are 15:18 unseen agencies always at work. The reason why I know that book 15:23 grabbed my attention because Ellen White talks about how God 15:29 positions angels at every piece of literature that is placed for 15:35 someone to actually read. God is jealous for this ministry. 15:40 For example, the Bible says my word shall not return unto me 15:45 void but it shall accomplish the thing in which I sent it. So God 15:49 will, when you place literature, whether it's at a bowling alley, 15:54 whether it's at a gas station, whether it's at a gas pump. 15:59 I've placed them at gas pumps right by the place where you put 16:03 your credit card. I position a tract right there. You can leave 16:08 it anywhere and you can rest assured that God will send 16:12 someone there where it will arrest their attention. 16:16 Wow. So I can leave it with my hair stylist, getting my nails 16:20 done. Wow, at the health club. Just wherever I'm going. You're 16:25 saying that as I'm leaving this I am leaving a request to God 16:29 to send an angel to accompany this literature? 16:32 Yes, yes. Because the word of God is quick, it is powerful, 16:37 it's sharper than any two-edge sword. The word will arrest the 16:41 attention of the people and that's one of the reasons why 16:45 we're instructed for this ministry to be placed in print 16:49 because it arrests the attention of people. I was thinking about 16:56 another example when I was just today at a Pilot gas station and 17:03 in the restroom, I saw a piece of literature there that was 17:07 randomly placed there on the counter and it grabbed my 17:11 attention. I didn't touch it because I knew God had placed 17:15 it there for someone else. But that's a perfect example of how 17:19 we can be a light for God. Can I just share a scripture with you? 17:23 Sure, please. The Bible says in Isaiah arise 17:27 and shine for thy light has come Gross darkness shall cover the 17:32 people but my light shall shine on you. The reason why this 17:38 tract is called GLOW is because Jesus wants us to let our light 17:43 shine. Let it shine everywhere. No matter where you go allow 17:48 the light of God's glory to shine. Allow the truth of God's 17:52 word to be shared. Wherever you are that light should shine. 17:56 It should burst forth where people around can know that God 18:02 loves them, God cares and he so desperately wants to be with us 18:06 again face to face. I don't know about you but as I look at the 18:10 times that we are living in, so much pain, so much suffering 18:16 Yeah, a lot of things going on. Controversy, community unrest, 18:21 differences. How can the publishing ministry help people 18:26 through these times? 18:27 Well it is a direct word of the Lord for them to that issue, 18:33 which is why there are so many varieties of topics that the 18:38 word of God has been written to meet the specific needs of 18:43 people. Wow. So I kind of want to go 18:46 back to something. Is it possible that this beautiful 18:50 publishing ministry can be of benefit to individual families, 18:55 to people who are out of work perhaps or trying to come up 18:59 with ways to pay for their schooling, their education? 19:03 You know what there are so many young people across the world 19:08 right now who actually take this to another level. In that level 19:13 they have decided to share the word of God and when they leave 19:17 this literature with individuals they actually leave a donation 19:20 and this donation has helped young people to stay in school. 19:25 This donation has paid for tuition. There's so much that 19:29 can be done through this ministry. God will provide for 19:33 your needs in this ministry. I've seen it done for me in my 19:37 personal life. As a matter of fact, when I left Oakwood 19:41 University they wrote me a check for $6000 because I was a 19:46 literature evangelist. Wow! So yes there are ways that people 19:50 who want to do this as a ministry that it can subsidize 19:55 their ministry desire. 19:57 Now how about for the person who just loves the internet? 20:00 We talked about tablets, we talked about this mass 20:02 distribution. What are some ideas for an individual to be 20:06 able to use maybe their Facebook or Instagram or some of these 20:09 other ways to get the word out? 20:11 You know, a lot of times in your personal devotion as you read 20:16 the word of God, the word of God has an impact on you and what 20:21 I do a lot of times is I take an excerpt and I'll post that 20:25 excerpt from what I read in my devotional from what I read on 20:29 my Facebook, on my Instagram. That's one way that so many 20:32 people are sharing the word of God today. We have a website 20:36 youthexcel. info. People can go there. They can receive the 20:40 literature and they can purchase it to give out, to share it with 20:44 their family members, to give as gifts. I mean anything you can 20:48 think of or any reason you can think of to give someone the 20:51 word of God we should do it because ultimately we know it's 20:54 the word of God that saves our soul. 20:56 So how accessible is it you know for a person maybe that's not 21:00 living in the south or they're living in another part of the 21:04 world, to get these nice little pamphlets to be able to pass out 21:08 to their neighbors, friends or other people? Is there a website 21:12 I mean what's the best way for a person to get started. Just a 21:16 person, I mean not necessarily a minister or maybe young or old? 21:20 What's the best way for them to get started? 21:22 Well I tell you. If you are a member of the Seventh-day 21:24 Adventist church I would suggest that you first start with your 21:29 local publishing ministries director. The GLOW ministry the 21:33 Lord has blessed to become global and worldwide. Many 21:37 publishing ministries are now carrying the GLOW literature 21:42 that was birthed by a God in Central California by Nelson 21:46 Erts. They have placed this literature in so many places. 21:50 I'm talking about multimillion of copies have gone across the 21:55 world. I would suggest you start there. If your ministries leader 21:59 doesn't have these literatures available, you're more than 22:03 welcome to visit our website and again that website is 22:07 youthexcel.info. There there's a link where you can go to GLOW 22:12 literature and you can purchase this literature for a very 22:16 minimal fee of just five dollars for a pack of 100. So a small 22:21 investment of just five dollars you can reach 100 people to let 22:26 them know Where is God When You're Hurting. 22:28 So let's say I'm at my church and I'm listening to Java 22:31 Madison and I'm all gung ho and I'm all excited you know, 22:35 forward ever, backward never. I've heard that at literature 22:38 evangelists. Forward ever, backward never. I'm like yeah, 22:41 yeah I want to go. How do I get started? 22:43 What's the best way to organize at my church, maybe just a 22:48 committee of one or how would you suggest it? 22:51 Well definitely, I'm glad you asked. If you go to our website 22:55 youthexcel.info there again there is a process. The GLOW 22:59 ministry has a process in which you can start in your own local 23:05 Okay, now let me ask you something just for clarification 23:08 about the GLOW ministry. Is this something that all the 23:11 publishing directors and all that are involved in all the 23:14 conferences, they're all kind of working together on this? 23:16 Yes. The GLOW ministry is a new initiative that breaks down the 23:21 barrier that we have placed up almost unknowingly to keep 23:26 people from this ministry. What do you mean? Well the idea of 23:31 selling the literature has made so many people in our church 23:35 feel like that ministry isn't for me. 23:39 Okay. So unless they signed up and became a formal literature 23:43 evangelist then people just kind of stayed away from it. That is 23:47 for the LE's but not for me. 23:48 Yes because of the fear or the desire to not want to sell the 23:53 literature. But when everybody can share the literature, it 23:58 makes it possible for everybody to get involved. So what does it 24:01 take for you to get involved? Find a friend. Gather 24:05 individuals in your church who want to reach people with the 24:09 word of God. That's the only criteria that you need to be a 24:13 literature evangelist. Then you equip yourself with the 24:18 literature. That means God is calling for sacrifice. That is 24:23 to say you set aside funds that you are going to use to 24:28 sacrifice to purchase inexpensive literature 24:31 in bulk quantities. 24:35 Okay, okay, so like large numbers, bulk quantities. 24:39 Maybe I'm going to say we're going to target... Is this based 24:42 upon a goal maybe that our group would have. Say we get out 5000 24:46 pieces of literature. 24:47 Yes. Set your goal high because one of the mandates is to spread 24:52 the gospel through the written word of God like the leaves of 24:56 autumn. And if you've ever seen a beautiful autumn setting it's 25:00 so many leaves that if you had to pick them all up it would 25:04 just drive you insane. But not only like the leaves of autumn 25:08 but also like never before. Whatever you have prior 25:12 experience in terms of the success of the publishing 25:15 ministry, God is saying in the last days, which we're in, this 25:19 word will go forth like never before. She said like clear 25:24 streams of light beaming around the world. Like never before. 25:29 So set your goals high. I was in a community of 40,000; then I 25:33 would be saying I need 40,000 pieces of literature. What would 25:36 it take for me to order 40,000 pieces of literature. I would 25:40 organize myself; I would get sponsors, I would get donors, I 25:44 would make the sacrifice first if I were doing it. Maybe for 25:48 you it would be $1,000. For some $10,000. I've had individuals 25:52 write large sum checks and they distributed in some cities by 25:56 themselves, a single individual, over 200,000 pieces of 26:00 literature. They distributed it in different churches. They set 26:05 up stations and one individual had impacted a whole city. I 26:08 want to be that kind of impact player for Jesus. I don't know 26:12 about you but I'm just excited about the thought that I can 26:16 let my light shine. It's time if I were in a locker room to go 26:20 hard or go home. We're either going to be disciples of Jesus 26:24 or we're not. And because I know everyone wants to be a disciple 26:28 of Jesus, then I'm saying let's go hard for Jesus. 26:30 Would you mind offering prayer for those of us who are asking 26:34 to become a part of this ministry? 26:38 Yes, thank you so much. Dear heavenly Father we are again 26:42 indeed grateful that you love us. We're glad that this love 26:47 has sprung up in our hearts to fountains of living water that 26:52 never run dry. We've asking as we set our minds to join hands 26:57 to share the word of God with as many people as possible like the 27:02 leaves of autumn, like never before, that you bless our 27:06 efforts. Move upon the hearts of people right now who may be 27:10 looking at this show today and bless their efforts. Impress 27:15 upon their hearts to make a sacrifice to tell somebody that 27:20 Jesus is soon to come. Not only bless our efforts but we're 27:24 praying now a blessing upon the books. Send your angels, send 27:27 your Holy Spirit that as people come in contact with this 27:31 literature, that they meet Jesus This is our hope, this is our 27:35 desire. And we know they need him. To know him is eternal life 27:39 We love, we bless you in Jesus' name. Amen. 27:44 Amen. Thank you so much for coming and thank you for joining 27:47 us today in Issues and Answers. We hope that you've learned now 27:50 that we all are literature evangelists. |
Revised 2016-03-30