Participants: Jon & Natalie Wood
Series Code: JFAN
Program Code: JFAN000001A
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00:21 Hi, and welcome to Jesus for Asia Now.
00:23 We want to spend a little time today 00:25 just sharing with you what Jesus for Asia is, 00:29 who we are and what we do. 00:30 Hi, Dear. 00:31 Hi, Darling, how are you doing? 00:33 Doing fine. 00:34 What is Jesus For Asia? 00:35 Oh, why don't you tell me? 00:37 Okay. 00:38 Well, Jesus For Asia is made up of people 00:41 that desire to see God's work go forward 00:43 and that involves two visions. 00:46 It's a twofold vision. 00:47 One is to reach the unreached, 00:49 of which there are still a lot of people out there 00:51 that have no access to the gospel. 00:53 It is like almost 7,000 languages of the gospel 00:56 in the world today. 00:57 And our church even though, 00:58 it's in almost every country of the world, 01:00 still it's only a 900 languages, 01:03 924 was the last count. 01:05 And so there's almost 6,000 languages still left. 01:08 But 6,000 languages doesn't seem like that 01:11 a larger amount when you think of our church 01:13 having 17 million people. 01:15 So it's something that's possible... 01:16 We should be able to do something. 01:17 Yes, but the thing is that, 01:19 I think that a lot of times we're not as engaged 01:22 as we could be with the great commission. 01:24 And so our vision is to bring people 01:27 into the great commission. 01:28 And so, that's the twofold vision. 01:30 Bringing the gospel to the unreached, 01:32 but reengaging North America with missions because we... 01:36 over the last 70 years, 01:38 kind of like had a little falling away 01:40 from doing missions. 01:41 Okay, so the mission of Jesus for Asia 01:43 then is encapsulated in that twofold vision? 01:46 Right. 01:47 We first started out in India with the idea of... 01:51 Instead of us going as missionaries, 01:53 'cause I really would like to go in as missionary. 01:55 But I figured that we could be more effective 01:58 if we enable the local missionary in India, 02:01 'cause just for a plane ticket for me is like $1,500. 02:05 And so you bring our whole family involved 02:07 and that's $6,000 just going. 02:09 And we don't know the language, and we don't know the culture, 02:11 and we probably offend people left and right. 02:14 Exactly. 02:15 But if we hire somebody local, that's $60 a month. 02:20 And so our plane ticket for our family going over 02:22 would sponsor one person to work for God 02:25 for almost 10 years. 02:27 And so, we figured that we would be more effective 02:30 in enabling them to do the work. 02:32 And so, now we have about 220 Bible workers, 02:36 national Bible workers in India. 02:38 Okay. Yeah. 02:39 So we want to talk about the projects, 02:41 but we also want to say that we've expanded beyond India 02:45 and we'll share that as we go. 02:47 But also the fact that 02:50 there are so many unreached people, 02:52 and there are so many languages that have no work in them yet. 02:55 And even languages that have no portion of the scripture. 02:58 There's nearly 2,000 that have no witness, 03:01 no portion of the scripture... 03:02 No missionary, no Christian. Yeah. 03:05 So the need for work overseas is huge. 03:08 It's huge, the need far outweighs the resources, 03:11 far outstrips the resources. 03:13 So there is a huge need, 03:15 probably 40 percent of the world 03:17 still has no access to the gospel, 03:19 which is representing about 2.5 to 3 billion people 03:24 depending on how you measure that, 03:26 but those are the unreached. 03:28 Some countries in the world that we consider reached, 03:31 North America. 03:32 Yeah, not everyone's a Christian, 03:34 there's still more work to do, 03:35 still lot more witnessing to do. 03:37 But everybody pretty much has access if they wanted to. 03:41 They drive past churches, they go to a bookstore. 03:43 You can get a Bible in a Dollar Store now. 03:46 They are available. 03:47 We've got how many satellite programs and channel 03:49 that are Christian? 03:50 You can go to a hotel and find a Gideon Bible 03:52 in your language. 03:53 But there's a lot of languages, lot of people groups 03:56 that don't have any of that. 03:57 Anything. 03:58 That's where our burden is 03:59 because Jesus says in Revelation 04:01 that this gospel will be preached to all nations, 04:04 kindred, tongue and people. 04:05 In fact, He talks about every nation, kindred, tongue 04:08 and people having a representative in heaven. 04:10 And so right now that's tongue. 04:13 Okay, just even tongues of 7,000 languages, 04:16 we're still only in 924, 6,000 left. 04:20 And lot of those last languages are very difficult 04:23 because it's hard geographically, 04:25 politically, culturally, maybe physically, 04:28 lot of those are up in the mountains. 04:30 Let's say for instance, Western Papua New Guinea. 04:33 The island of New Guinea, 04:34 which is used to be called Irian Jaya. 04:36 It's like 500 languages just there. 04:39 We had no work in 511 of them. 04:42 Last summer, one more was reached. 04:44 So now we have no work in 510 of them. 04:48 It sounds like a huge challenge. 04:49 Yeah. Well, let's go on to our project overview. 04:52 And, you know, some of these projects, 04:54 we're direct project managers so to speak of. 04:57 Yes. 04:58 And we provide financial support. 05:00 We're the only source in America 05:01 for advertising these projects 05:03 or trying to seek to share the need 05:06 for these different projects, some of them. 05:08 And then others, we're just like a financial support. 05:11 They have other people that are project managers, 05:14 they do their advertising, 05:15 they do whatever trying to share... 05:16 Awareness raising. 05:17 Awareness raising, that's the word 05:18 I was looking for. 05:19 And we provide the financial services for them. 05:21 Yeah, so we take the funds from the donors 05:23 and pass them through. 05:24 Because Jesus For Asia's 501c3. 05:27 So people can donate 05:28 and get their tax deductible receipt and... 05:30 Right. 05:31 So, but we don't charge these projects overhead from those. 05:33 Right. No. 05:35 You know, any actual straight bank fee 05:38 that comes and goes against that, 05:40 but otherwise we don't charge anything. 05:42 Right. 05:43 Which the Lord is taking care of us 05:44 and He has blessed. 05:45 There's a lot of need and we can't go forward 05:47 in some of the other areas. 05:49 Right. Yeah. So, anyway. 05:50 So like for instance, we were into originally 05:52 a sending organization. 05:53 Right. 05:54 But people have come to us and said we want to go. 05:57 What does it take? Yeah. 05:58 We've been rejected by this organization 06:00 or we've been told we're too old or, 06:02 you know, how do we go? 06:04 Or some of them were our friends 06:06 that were working with us in some of our camp meetings 06:09 that got inspired and they just said, we want to go. 06:11 What does it take to go? 06:12 And we're like, okay, well, plane ticket. 06:15 Yeah. 06:16 Some of them went on a vision trip 06:18 and never, never could live in America again. 06:21 Right. 06:22 So let's start with the Bible workers in India. 06:23 Okay. 06:25 Our major ministry in India is we have over 200 Bible workers. 06:28 They are national Bible workers that already know the language, 06:31 already know the culture. 06:33 And for $60 a month, 06:35 you can sponsor a fulltime Bible worker. 06:37 And they are very effective, 06:39 they are very efficient and they are lovely. 06:41 And we're gonna do a whole show 06:43 on just how they work and how they function. 06:44 Okay. We also have four evening schools. 06:47 Yes, for $7 a month, you can sponsor a child 06:51 that will give them a free meal, 06:54 nutritious meal and education. 06:56 And this includes... 06:58 And they have a worship time. Yes. 07:00 And they learn memory verse and everything. 07:01 Yeah, that's exciting. 07:03 And since this started, 07:05 we have probably served over 250, 000 meals. 07:08 And this combats the two biggest problems 07:11 with young people in India, 07:13 that is malnutrition and education. 07:16 And it also provides them a opportunity for growth 07:19 and it's just a beautiful thing. 07:21 I love our evening schools. Yeah. 07:22 And then we have an orphanage that is in process of moving 07:26 to a new location that the board provided. 07:28 Out in the country. 07:29 We've had 11 children there. Yeah. 07:31 And now we're going to have 13 07:33 because we're adopting two more into the orphanage. 07:35 And there's room for more 07:36 as it grows with this new facility. 07:37 As of Lord leads. 07:39 We've also worked a little bit. 07:41 Our director there has worked a little bit with media. 07:43 Media is so powerful in India. 07:46 Everybody has a television. 07:47 Even the last government that was voted in, 07:49 in southern India, they said, if you vote for us, 07:52 we will give you a free TV. 07:53 So now almost everyone has a TV. 07:55 He did a guest appearance on a TV show 07:59 and he had like 80 people call 08:02 asking for prayer on the phone 08:04 as a result of that one show, 08:05 half hour show, Sunday morning it's like 6.30. 08:08 So there's so many opportunities there. 08:10 We haven't been able to take advantage of them 08:12 because of a lack of funds, 08:13 but what a powerful ministry that could be. 08:16 Yeah, there's another 08:17 couple of projects there in India 08:19 and one is Health and Life for India 08:21 with Carlton and Scott which is a pseudonym. 08:23 Not their real names because they are in an area 08:25 that's little bit hostile to what they are doing. 08:27 They just move there. Right. 08:28 They have already done some Bible worker training, 08:30 which is a beginning. 08:31 Yeah, they do Bible worker training 08:32 as Bible study. 08:33 They also do medical missionary training. 08:35 Yes. 08:36 Some to these, so that it's a complete package 08:38 that they are giving to the workers. 08:39 Right. 08:40 Then we also have the young lady, 08:42 we're calling Anne. 08:43 While she was visiting there in India, 08:45 one of our evening schools, 08:46 she realized the need for widows. 08:47 Yes. 08:48 So she actually started a widow sewing school as well. 08:51 Because these widows, they don't have 08:53 very many options. 08:54 They can never get remarried and they end up like begging, 08:57 'cause very few of them have any kind of education. 09:01 So some people sponsored 09:03 the purchase of some sewing machines 09:05 and there's somebody there that's training them 09:07 how to sew, 09:08 so that they can support themselves and their children. 09:10 Yeah. 09:11 So that's kind of an encapsulation 09:13 very brief of India. 09:15 Yes. And then we have... 09:16 In Thailand, we have a number of projects. 09:18 Yes. 09:19 One of them is our All Asia Studio Team. 09:21 Yes. 09:22 Because in Thailand, it's another country in Asia 09:26 that has a tremendous capacity for watching television. 09:31 They don't read much, 09:32 but they watch a lot of television. 09:34 And so, we've got a team there that's translating videos 09:38 and DVDs and stuff into the local languages, 09:41 so that they can get fed in the medium 09:43 that they are used to. 09:44 That's a powerful team, wonderful team. 09:46 Yeah, and working there with them right now 09:47 and directing them is Daniel and Tesha Bair. 09:50 Yes. So that's the neat project. 09:52 Yeah. 09:53 Overall they are working together. 09:54 They got four people working there 09:56 that are providing the salaries for... 09:57 Stipends for, yeah. 09:58 In Thai, Karen and Hmong languages, 10:01 those three languages that we're targeting first. 10:04 There is like 78 languages in Thailand, 10:06 but we're starting out with these four. 10:08 So that's exciting. Yeah. 10:10 So we're doing media in Thailand a bit, 10:12 and then we also have a burden for publishing in Thailand. 10:15 Yes. 10:16 Right now, we're trying to raise funds for which book? 10:18 The Desire of Ages. Okay. 10:20 It cost about $50,000 to relay out and publish 10:25 10,000 copies of The Desire of Ages, 10:27 it's a big thick book. 10:29 This book has been out of print in the Thai language 10:31 which for almost 20 years. 10:33 Can you imagine being without The Desire of Ages 10:36 in your church? 10:37 Even your pastor doesn't have The Desire of Ages. 10:39 What a concept? That's a huge need. 10:41 And the division has provided some funding, 10:44 the union has provided some funding, 10:46 and the local mission has provided some funding, 10:48 but they are very short funded 10:49 because of the decline in giving 10:51 to foreign missions over the last 70 years. 10:53 And the decline is so much that they can't keep up. 10:56 Okay. Then we have the Sharon Family Project. 10:59 Sharon family's, they have four boys. 11:02 The parents are in Northwest Thailand 11:05 and they are working with the Karen people group 11:07 that are up in the mountains there. 11:09 Some of them are coming over from Burma 11:11 because of the Civil War 11:12 that's been going on for 60 years, 11:13 that's letting up now, so that's really good. 11:15 But they are doing a training school 11:17 and they are in the jungle. 11:18 They have to get there by boat or motorbike 11:21 across the difficult dirt roads and mud roads. 11:23 And then hike through the jungle. 11:24 So they are in the jungle and they built their own house 11:26 out of bamboo, 11:27 and they are setting up a training school, 11:29 where young people would come and learn 11:30 what it means to walk with Christ. 11:32 They are also teaching English and Maths 11:34 and some of those other things there. 11:36 Yeah, and their youngest son 11:37 is in the south western part of highland, 11:40 and he's doing a school also, 11:42 teaching English and teaching the Bible study 11:44 and all these kinds of things. 11:45 How to walk with Christ? 11:46 Another son of course is over in Cambodia. 11:49 And the fourth son, which is the oldest 11:51 is actually in Burma. 11:53 And he's been studying there. 11:54 Studying there at one of the seminaries. 11:55 Yeah, and then we have a young lady working with them, 11:58 that's been working in Cambodia, Sarah Van. 12:01 He recently moved to work with the Sharon. 12:03 So she's teaching there in their school. 12:05 Yeah. That's the Sharon family. 12:06 So you can go to sharonfamily.org. 12:08 You can also find them on our website, 12:10 jesusforasia.org. 12:12 And you can look under Thailand... 12:14 Under Thailand, you will see a list of different projects. 12:15 Right. 12:16 Then we have a family, actually three families 12:19 that run a couple of different projects. 12:21 One of them is the Children's Home. 12:23 Yes. And that's Adam's family. 12:25 Paul and Lena Adams and their children. 12:27 Yeah, wonderful ministry, beautiful ministry. 12:29 They got the orphanage in their own home. 12:31 They are taking care of children 12:32 that they basically adopted for life. 12:34 They have also headed up a ministry called 12:36 Karen Outreach, 12:37 which now there's more families working with them, 12:41 the Steck Family, Harvey and Brenda 12:43 and their girls and then also the Meyer family, 12:46 Kelly and Denise Meyer 12:48 are working there with them now. 12:49 And they have a school there and a training school and... 12:54 Yeah, it's a trade school. 12:55 They have got about 250 kids there. 12:57 It's a day and a boarding school elementary, 13:00 they are trying to move into academy. 13:03 Okay, then we have Gayle Haberkam. 13:04 Yeah, she's in her 60s 13:06 and she's up in the mountain villages 13:08 and she hikes in there. 13:09 I think at one time, she had to hike two hours 13:11 to get to a place where she could call out 13:13 on her cell phone. 13:14 Yeah. 13:15 And she went there temporary 13:17 and she fell in love with the people 13:19 and now she's opened a clinic that services up to 50 villages 13:22 up in the mountains that have no access 13:24 or very difficult access to medical care. 13:26 Yeah. Good care. Yeah. 13:28 So and they also are teaching them about Jesus 13:30 and praying with them. 13:31 Yeah. It's beautiful. 13:32 We also are working with Bible workers in Thailand. 13:35 And then we have couple of different projects in Bangkok 13:38 and that's called Bangkok Outreach. 13:39 Bangkok Outreach is a group of people, 13:41 friends that have gone over there, 13:43 inspired by the need in Bangkok. 13:45 You know, 51 percent of the people in the world 13:47 live in cities. 13:48 Yeah, so Brian and Jessica Atwell 13:50 recently went with their young son Asher. 13:52 Yes. He's a cutie pie. 13:54 Anyway, they also had shared 13:56 the need with a couple of friends of theirs, 13:58 who were also Bible workers in the northwest. 14:00 And they actually went first 14:03 and got there before the Atwell's. 14:04 So they are all working there in Bangkok and studying Thai 14:08 and trying to learn their way 14:09 around the culture and everything. 14:10 Yes. 14:11 So, also we have another project in Thailand, 14:14 Love and Care Project... 14:16 Yes. With Rodney and Phimpha. 14:17 Yes. And they are located... 14:19 They are east of Bangkok, located in the country. 14:22 And they take care of anyone that has a need. 14:26 And so they have like 17 kids living at, 14:28 what they call a Timothy House. 14:30 And they take care of those kids. 14:31 They like adopt them. 14:33 And these kids have been abused, 14:35 they have really amazing stories, 14:37 but they bring them here and then Phimpha and Rodney, 14:40 they just love them, take them as their own kids. 14:42 Make sure Jesus is with them. 14:43 And they have a lot of people around the country 14:45 that they help as well. 14:46 It's a wonderful ministry that we are associated with. 14:49 And then in the Philippines, moving to the Philippines now. 14:51 Yes 14:52 We have a couple of different things going on, 14:54 one is GoBeDo Missions. 14:55 Where is that located? 14:56 That's in the Southern Island of Mindanao. 14:59 And this is the guy that, in one of our camp meetings 15:03 and the theme for that camp meeting was 15:05 ''Claim your Inheritance'' 15:06 and that was based on Isaiah 54:3 that says, 15:08 'Thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles.' 15:11 Our inheritance is the Gentiles, 15:13 so he says I claim Southern Philippines 15:15 as my inheritance 15:17 and since then, he's gone there, 15:19 set up this ministry called GoBeDo Missions 15:22 and in the last few years 15:23 they've baptized several hundred people 15:26 and they're solid Christians. 15:27 They have a team of about 15 or 20 Bible workers 15:30 that go up in these mountains 15:32 and they work really hard to reach 15:34 unreached people groups. 15:36 There had been no work among them 15:37 before they started doing this work 15:39 and so that's exciting. 15:40 Yeah. That's awesome 15:41 And then in the central area we have... 15:44 The West Central Visayas. 15:45 Iloilo. Yeah. 15:47 The Philippines is made up of 7,500 islands. 15:50 Not all of them are inhabited 15:51 but this is the West Central Island of Panay. 15:55 A little city called... 15:56 Well, it's a big city for us but in the Philippines 15:59 it's a little city, it's called Iloilo. 16:01 And we went over there in 2008 and we did some training 16:05 and brought some computers and some cameras 16:07 and they got going with broadcasting 16:10 so they're taping shows, 16:12 they got their little studio that they built 16:14 and they've actually been broadcasting on satellite 16:16 for quite a number of years. 16:17 That's an exciting program. 16:19 And we also have some Bible workers... 16:21 Yeah, I was gonna say it, that same church, 16:24 they had a disaster actually, it was... 16:26 We'll have to tell the story in a different episode, 16:28 but that church realized the need for Bible workers. 16:31 And so we've been sponsoring. 16:32 They had a request for like 2,800 Bible studies. 16:34 Yeah. 16:35 So we've been sponsoring Bible workers there 16:37 for a number of years. 16:38 Then we also want to talk about Cambodia. 16:41 And we have some friends that are in ministry there, 16:44 named Tim and Wendy Maddocks. 16:46 And their ministry is called... 16:47 The Salt Ministries 16:48 Saltmin.org Yes. 16:50 We'll not only provide financial services for them 16:52 but we also are inspired by them. 16:54 Oh, yes. 16:55 They're one of the reasons why we're doing 16:57 what we're doing because we saw 16:58 how God moved in their life. 17:00 And we said we want that same experience in our life 17:03 and so we started camping out on Mathew 6:33, which is... 17:07 "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, 17:08 and his righteousness, 17:09 and all these things shall be added unto you. 17:11 Exactly. 17:12 And we saw that lived out in his life. 17:14 So now he's come over and spoken 17:16 in number of our faith camps. 17:18 Tremendous, wonderful friends. Yeah. 17:20 Well, they have quite a number of different projects there. 17:23 They have an orphanage. They got like 45 acres. 17:26 With eight homes. Yeah. 17:27 And they have a school with 12th grade. 17:29 Hundred and fifty kids. Yeah. 17:30 And they have a media centre with a giant studio. 17:32 A studio. 17:33 It's quite an involved ministry 17:35 and so we'll spend a little time on that one 17:37 in a different episode. 17:38 And then, also we have a young lady 17:39 that's actually there working with the Maddocks. 17:42 Her name is Laura Calkins and that's where Sarah been, 17:44 he was until she went to Thailand. 17:46 And that's where one of the Sharon sons. 17:48 That's my next one on the list, Andrew and his wife Ken, 17:51 who is Cambodian. 17:52 Yes. They're teaching there. 17:54 She's actually finishing her student studies there. 17:57 And they're planning to start a new program like Tim's 18:00 in a different section of Cambodia. 18:02 There's a lot of need in Cambodia too. 18:03 Huge need. Huge need. 18:05 Okay, that kind of covers one area of the vision. 18:07 Okay. 18:08 That was to reach the unreached with the gospel. 18:12 And then we have the other part of the vision, 18:14 which is to reengage North America with missions. 18:17 Yeah. 18:18 And you've just completed a project for the office 18:20 of Adventist Mission at the General Conference, 18:22 which is part of this. 18:25 It's completed now but we want to mention it anyway. 18:27 Yeah. And you mentioned it earlier. 18:29 What is that? 18:30 It's called, ''I Want This City." 18:31 And it's a series of half hour shows. 18:33 They're 13 half hour shows 18:35 where I follow a church planting pastor 18:37 around Bangkok to show the affect 18:40 of the decline in giving to foreign missions. 18:43 What that looks like on the frontlines. 18:45 And we see him crying because he can't go into areas. 18:48 We see him dealing with having to close a church plant 18:51 because there's no funds. 18:52 Yeah, and we see the joy at the baptism, 18:55 and we see some of the ways that life is different 18:57 for missionaries and some of the challenges. 19:00 Yeah. We see his heart. Yeah. 19:01 The heart of Christ 19:02 that gives him a heart for the people. 19:04 And it's exciting. I mean, it's a wonderful show. 19:07 But with that, the reason for that is because 19:10 we started seeing that there is not much interest 19:13 in foreign missions 19:14 or not much awareness of foreign missions. 19:16 And this is because it's not promoted. 19:18 We don't know about it very much 19:20 and so we're seeing a trend overall in the church 19:24 that we're kind of disengaging from foreign missions. 19:28 A lot of people think that 19:29 the work is going forward very well, 19:31 when in actuality in lot of places, 19:32 it is kind of imploding. 19:34 It's kind of dying away. 19:35 That's why we have no Desire of Ages in Thailand. 19:38 We used to, we don't now. 19:39 And so, this is the purpose I think God brought us into 19:42 because we were really enjoying taking the gospel 19:45 to places where it's never been. 19:47 But engaging North America, God's heart is for His church. 19:51 To be involved for their own sakes, 19:53 for character development, and for their own joy, the joy, 19:57 I mean, it's a feast. 19:59 Gospel work, 20:00 and taking the gospel to the nations is a feast. 20:02 It's a spiritual feast to see people's eyes light up 20:06 when they receive the gospel. 20:08 It just does so much, 20:09 it feeds our own spiritual life. 20:11 And it fed Jesus. 20:12 That's what He said 20:13 when He was talking with the widow. 20:15 The woman at the well. 20:16 Yeah. Yes. 20:17 The food I have that you know not of. 20:18 He was eating based on giving her the gospel. 20:21 Right. 20:22 So we want to share that great opportunity. 20:25 Right. Okay. 20:26 So then, the last part of... 20:28 The second part of this is recovering... 20:29 Well, we've done camp meetings also, 20:31 that's been part of what we've been doing. 20:32 These camp meetings are very special, 20:34 they're called faith camps, 20:35 because it requires faith to follow the Lord. 20:38 But the focus is on missions and a lot of our workers 20:42 that came to help in these meetings are now overseas. 20:45 Yeah, they said, it's dangerous to be staff at faith camp. 20:48 You might end up going. Yeah. 20:50 So... 20:51 So the other part that we're doing 20:53 and that's more long term and more 24/7 is Mission TV. 20:57 Can you briefly encapsulate Mission TV for us? 21:00 Mission TV is 24/7 mission stories, 21:03 foreign mission, 21:04 because there are some countries 21:06 and people groups and languages, 21:07 there are no missionaries, 21:08 there's no Christians, there's nothing. 21:10 So our focus is on foreign missions and it's 24/7. 21:14 It's a streaming channel right now on missiontv.com. 21:17 Our dream and hope is to have it on a satellite 21:20 where more people can get to it, 21:22 and view it in their homes 24 hours a day, 21:24 7 days a week. 21:26 And we show different ministries like AWR, 21:29 Adventist Mission. 21:30 Gospel Outreach. 21:31 All these wonderful ministries like ASAP 21:33 that are doing wonderful ministries overseas 21:36 and they're showing their work. 21:37 And we want our channel dedicated to their work 21:40 and those types of things. 21:42 So that's the channel. Okay. 21:43 Now we do have projects in several other countries 21:46 that we're not going to mention today 21:47 because of the nature of those countries 21:49 in being closed countries. 21:51 But there are projects in other places 21:53 that we can't talk openly about, 21:55 but they're just as important. 21:56 And Jesus for Asia, the way we get our funding 21:58 for administrative cost, how do we do that 22:00 because you're the accountant. 22:02 Yeah, the funding for administrative cost 22:04 comes by donation. 22:05 We don't hold anything from... 22:07 So if somebody donated to Bible workers? 22:10 No, it goes to Bible workers. 22:12 No funding for administration comes from that? 22:14 No. We made a commitment a long time ago. 22:16 All these other projects that people donate money to, 22:19 none of that goes to administrative. 22:21 No. So then, how do we function? 22:23 How does Jesus for Asia function? 22:24 By the grace of God we function. 22:27 If people say where-needed-most or they say general fund, 22:32 or Jesus for Asia and they just leave it blank, 22:34 whatever, then those are used for 22:36 paying administrative cost 22:38 and that includes some of these other projects 22:40 that we've mentioned 22:41 because some of these don't have their own funding. 22:43 You know, they don't get enough funding 22:46 or they get a little bit but not enough. 22:48 So if somebody donates to administrative, 22:50 a large percentage of that actually goes to a project. 22:52 Yes. 22:54 And even if it doesn't go to a project, 22:55 it sponsors something that's a project cost. 22:59 Right. Like financial services. Exactly. 23:01 Like we have a bookkeeper and we pay her a small stipend 23:05 and it pays those. 23:06 And if she wasn't here, 23:08 then it would be much harder for us 23:09 to get the money out into the field. 23:11 So those kinds of things are very important 23:14 and also the Mission TV, most of the crew, 23:17 most of the Jesus for Asia crew, 23:18 the small stipends are paid out of that fund also. 23:21 It's an important thing and it's not all buying paper 23:24 or sending out newsletters or something like that, 23:27 the unrestricted is what is called in accounting world. 23:30 The where-needed-most type of funds cover a lot of things, 23:35 both here and overseas, and here for overseas, 23:39 and here for North America, 23:41 for the ministry in North America. 23:43 So it's important to have those as well. 23:45 So all these projects, honey, 23:48 we must've been in ministry for a long time. 23:50 No. We started in 2005, in February of 2005. 23:54 God has accomplished all this in just nine years. 23:56 Yes. 23:58 And so, we must be really special people. 24:00 No, we're not special, but God is special. 24:02 God is special. 24:03 And when God shows you a picture of 24:05 what you need to be doing for Him in His work, 24:07 and you go forward, 24:09 He opens the doors, He provides, 24:11 and then suddenly you're like, wow. 24:13 We do a show like this 24:14 and we have to list everything to do the show, 24:16 and it reminds us of how much He's done. 24:18 How much He's accomplishing through Jesus for Asia, 24:21 but sometimes we just, we just see the big picture 24:24 and we don't focus on all the different list. 24:26 And that of course is the subject of another show, 24:29 as how God has led. 24:30 Right. 24:31 And the beautiful thing is He can lead anybody. 24:33 Right. 24:34 And a lot of the missionaries that are over there, 24:35 finding that out, that's what's exciting. 24:37 This is the feast of the harvest. 24:39 And I'm really happy to be a part of it. 24:42 Yeah. It's a blessing and a privilege. 24:44 And so this is the feast that God has called us to. 24:47 And He is calling everyone to this feast 24:49 and there's so much joy. 24:50 And this is what drives us is that we have discovered 24:53 so much joy in doing God's work. 24:56 One of the greatest thrills that I have, and I've had cars, 24:59 I've driven fast, I've skied fast, 25:02 I've done all those stuff, 25:03 but one of the greatest thrills for me 25:04 is seeing a young person or an old person 25:07 accept Jesus Christ to be baptized. 25:09 The light comes on in their eye, 25:11 that's better than driving the fastest sports car. 25:13 And the blessing of doing the mission work 25:16 that we've experienced is for our marriage, for our kids, 25:19 gives them purpose, gives them vision 25:22 and it gives them hope 25:23 to cling on and make sacrifices. 25:25 And it's such a blessing for us 25:27 that we want more of this blessing for others. 25:30 Right. 25:31 We want others to experience this blessing as well 25:33 and so we're encouraging you to get involved. 25:36 Bring missions, bring the needs of the world into your home, 25:40 into your own mind and into your children's mind 25:44 by books, by Mission TV, 25:46 all these different ways that God has. 25:48 Sometimes it's kind of hard to find the right things, 25:50 but as we get more involved with God's mission, 25:53 we draw closer to His heart, 25:55 and we experience more of His blessings. 25:57 And His blessings are peace, joy, love, 25:59 longsuffering and patience, and all these things, 26:02 and trials to develop our patience, 26:05 and to develop our love, and to develop our joy. 26:08 And so God is calling every single Christian 26:10 to the feast of the harvest. 26:12 Come and be a part of taking the gospel 26:14 to the unreached, to the world. 26:16 There are so many ways you can get involved, 26:18 by your prayers first of all, that's the most important, 26:21 by your financial gifts, 26:23 this is what God is calling us to do, 26:24 this is what God is using to prepare us 26:27 and call us out of Laodiceanism 26:29 which is rich, and increased with goods. 26:31 That's why he set up this arrangement 26:33 of seeing the needs, 26:35 and by, maybe even going, going overseas. 26:39 Just earnestly inquire of God, what He wants us to do. 26:43 And in that obedience is tremendous blessing. 26:46 And in doing so, experiencing growth in His grace 26:49 and it's so exciting. 26:50 I've been so blessed in doing this. 26:52 If Jesus for Asia was to shut down today, 26:54 I'd just say, thank you Lord. 26:56 Thank you for these nine years. 26:57 But I don't believe God, that's God's plan. 26:59 No. 27:00 I believe God's plan is to keep growing 27:02 and keep reaching people. 27:04 There's still so much work to be done 27:06 and I believe with all my heart that if we all get involved, 27:09 God could finish this work. 27:11 He's waiting for us to do that. 27:13 Here at Jesus for Asia, we praise God 27:15 for what He has accomplished 27:17 in these last 10 years of ministry. 27:19 And it's all been made possible by the generous support 27:22 of people like you who love to see the gospel proclaimed 27:26 to the unreached of the world. 27:29 We're right now poised for explosive growth, 27:32 as calls from Asia continue to pour in for help, 27:36 for more Bible workers, Bibles, help for orphans, 27:40 evangelistic materials and missionaries. 27:43 Won't you please consider partnering with us 27:47 to communicate His love 27:49 to a people who are dying without Him, 27:52 who have never heard the name of Jesus. 27:55 You may send your tax deductible gift 27:57 to Jesus for Asia, PO Box 1221, 28:00 Collegedale, Tennessee 37315. 28:04 Or you can call us at (423) 413-7321. 28:10 You can also find us on the web at Jesus4asia.org 28:14 May God richly bless you 28:16 as you join in the feast of the harvest. |
Revised 2016-06-21