Participants:
Series Code: LM
Program Code: LM000156S
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00:55 Right after the countries of the west
00:57 to finish celebrating their Christmas 00:58 and New Year holidays with Christmas trees, 01:01 bright lights, and the other holiday fanfare, 01:03 in South India 01:05 they're preparing to celebrate pongal. 01:07 Like the holidays of the West, 01:09 it is centered around the winter solstice. 01:12 Pongal is a three-day holiday 01:14 celebrated especially in the state of Tamil Nadu. 01:17 It commences on January 13 or 14th 01:21 right after the sun has reached its most southern point. 01:26 On the first day of pongal, houses and homes are cleaned 01:29 and decorated such as you see here. 01:52 On the second day people gather to cook rice 01:54 and other special foods in the early morning. 01:57 It's offered to their sun god during prayers 02:00 and later served for lunch. 02:03 This ritual seeks a blessing for an abundant harvest. 02:06 It's kind of like Thanksgiving offering. 02:08 You have to remember this is South India, 02:11 where they have harvest in January. 02:15 The third and final day of pongal 02:17 is dedicated to worshiping the farm animals, 02:20 particularly cows, 02:22 and they are decorated for the occasion. 02:24 A carnival like celebration takes place 02:27 on the last day as well. 02:30 As enticing as a celebration is, 02:32 the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians, 02:35 "For though there be that are called gods, 02:37 whether in heaven or in earth, 02:39 as there be gods many, and lords many, 02:42 but to us there is but one God, 02:44 the Father, of whom are all things, 02:47 and we in him, 02:48 and one Lord Jesus Christ, 02:50 by whom are all things and we by him." 02:56 Over the course of the 26 years, 02:58 we've been in India 02:59 Laymen Ministries has helped establish many churches 03:02 using the system we have in place. 03:05 Some churches have property and nice buildings. 03:08 Others are rented spaces such as this church 03:10 on top of a house. 03:12 So this is the area which you were talking about 03:13 where they'd like to put a temporary church? 03:14 Yes. 03:16 And I think that some of our viewers 03:17 have probably seen over the years 03:18 on our television programs 03:20 where we've taken to temporary churches 03:22 is what they call it, right? 03:24 That are on top of roofs like this, 03:25 and they put up either a thatched roof or a metal roof 03:28 and they have church service 03:30 for maybe 25, 50 people at mostly. 03:32 Yes. 03:34 And then what's the next step in the process? 03:35 After that maybe depends upon our financial situation, 03:40 we'll purchase a property and we'll build a church. 03:43 Yeah, and in this area here, 03:45 how many churches that we established any at all 03:48 or is this kind of new un-entered territory. 03:50 Around this area we have so far entered into 15, 03:56 one five, 15 un-entered territories 03:58 we have ended around this area. 04:00 And temporary churches in those areas are established. 04:02 We have temporary churches four. 04:05 And we have built eight churches in this area. 04:08 Wow, and what does it cost 04:09 to build like a temporary church 04:11 just to put a roof on a building like this? 04:13 It is $1,000 US. About a $1,000. 04:16 And then they use that for maybe a year, two years 04:18 until they can establish in before going to church. 04:21 Oh, good. 04:22 Well, it helps me to understand to look at it. 04:25 With just a thatched roof, it provides a place to worship 04:29 and to talk about the Bible. 04:31 Those that attend come from all walks of life, 04:34 and some are just now learning about the Bible 04:37 for the very first time. 04:42 Our system for establishing churches 04:44 has become a showcase in India. 04:46 Pastor Johnson has been asked to go to various places 04:49 all over India to share how Laymen Ministry works, 04:52 so they too can replicate our proven method. 04:57 While we were there, 04:59 I had a chance to take part 05:00 in a dedication of a new church. 05:07 This is just a sample of the kind of churches 05:09 where the Bible workers have been working. 05:11 This is small humble beginning 05:12 that the church starts out this way 05:14 at the end it grows. 05:16 There's a lot more members actually than we have here 05:18 because this afternoon some of them aren't here, 05:21 but as the church gets bigger and bigger, 05:23 they'll actually buy property 05:25 and they'll establish a church. 05:26 We've established a lot of churches 05:28 over the years here in this part of India. 05:49 In India, it's not uncommon to meet people 05:52 who used to worship demons like this man. 05:54 One of the issues back not too long ago in our magazine, 05:57 we had a story about this gentleman, 05:58 and he was a Hindu that was worshipping idols 06:01 and it was kind of like almost a demonic thing 06:04 and you are a priest, right? 06:07 Yes. 06:11 What convinced you not to do that anymore? 06:20 So these Bible workers came to my home. 06:31 They gave many explanations 06:33 that these are not the gods, true gods. 06:40 Jesus is the true God. 06:44 Jesus is the only God. 06:45 They said, the Bible workers, hear the Bible studies 06:49 and make him to remove all the idols from his house. 06:53 And he was so scared at the first time 06:56 when they were... 06:58 Actually, his house was very dirty. 07:00 Our Bible workers all joined together 07:03 and they clean all the houses, 07:07 clean the houses, 07:09 and not only they took away the idols, 07:10 but they clean all the houses 07:12 and they washed all of the house rooms 07:16 and they made him to be happy 07:18 and they prayed for him. 07:20 And they sang songs and prayed 07:23 and they gave him sometimes some food also 07:25 because he has only one son. 07:27 He did not take care of this man. 07:30 So our Bible workers 07:32 we gave him food for the first time. 07:34 Sister, especially, Sister Pushpa. 07:41 We gave him Bible studies 07:43 and we took all the ropes in his hand and in his neck 07:48 that were enchantmenting ropes. 07:50 He was like casting spells something like that. 07:53 So he had especially like ropes around his neck and... 07:56 Yeah, we removed everything. 07:57 We told him to remove everything. 07:59 He removed everything 08:00 all theses ropes in his... 08:06 Like necklaces. Yeah, neck and his hands. 08:09 We took away everything and then he became a Christian. 08:15 And he wanted to take baptism, and we gave him baptism. 08:19 And now he's our church member. 08:21 By the grace of God now he has lost all the powers, 08:25 enchanting powers because he accepted Jesus Christ. 08:28 He became a normal man like us. 08:31 And previously he was having the talks with the evil spirits 08:36 and had a relationship with the evil spirits 08:39 because of his... 08:40 Because he had a lot of idols in his house. 08:44 He used to talk with them. 08:46 And now he left everything 08:49 and gave his life to the Lord Jesus Christ. 08:57 Since the beginning of our project in South India, 09:00 Laymen Ministries has sponsored a team of Bible workers. 09:04 Currently we employ 50 Bible workers, 09:07 two of whom are pastors which oversee the teams. 09:10 These Bible workers go to an area 09:13 and work at until they get a small group established. 09:15 They hold Bible studies and answer questions. 09:20 These groups then grow by word of mouth, 09:22 and the Bible workers make friends with these people 09:25 pray for their families 09:26 and help them in various ways. 09:28 Eventually, they're introduced to a pastor. 09:31 A church company is formed, 09:33 property is purchased and a church is built. 09:38 Even after that 09:39 the Bible workers still visit the new churches 09:42 to check on them 09:43 and to make sure that people are not falling away. 09:46 Going door-to-door our Bible workers encounter 09:49 people of all types from the wealthy 09:51 and educated to the poor and suffering. 09:55 They have even gone to a door 09:57 just to find out that a woman was trying to commit suicide 10:00 or find someone suffering in extreme depression. 10:04 They had been threatened by drug addicts and drunks, 10:06 chased away by Hindus, 10:08 and even had stones thrown at them. 10:10 Yet our Bible workers still pray for 10:13 and with people 10:14 and see the Lord changing hearts. 10:16 Many of the people who are hurting 10:18 and the hardest to reach later apologize 10:21 and give their hearts to Jesus. 10:23 The work of the Bible worker is difficult, 10:26 but it's worth it. 10:32 Every time I visit South India, 10:34 we hold a meeting in prayer time 10:36 with our Bible workers. 10:37 But even when I'm not there, 10:39 this meeting takes place every Monday morning. 10:42 The Bible workers come and pray together, 10:44 make their plans for the week, 10:46 talk about strategies 10:48 and give a report from the previous week. 10:50 We run a tight ship you might say, 10:53 but we're still like a big family. 10:55 When I visit with my wife Christy, 10:57 we share with them words of encouragement 10:59 and talk with them about their work and lives. 11:02 Some of these Bible workers have been with our ministry 11:04 for many years. 11:07 Some of our older Bible workers are now on part-time pay, 11:10 and they no longer go out door-to-door. 11:13 Instead they have a new ministry 11:15 in answering our prayer hotline 11:17 that is connected with our television programs. 11:20 Many of the people who call in receive free books, 11:23 tracts, and magazines. 11:25 Names and addresses are taken 11:26 and they're turned over to our workers 11:28 at the television studio, 11:29 who then mail these materials out. 11:32 If the people call back or write in, 11:35 often a Bible worker will go to their home 11:37 and pay a visit. 11:38 We make many contacts this way 11:40 as our television programs are known all across India. 12:13 In 2003, 12:15 we began our television ministry in India, 12:18 there was no Seventh-day Adventist media studios 12:21 at that time. 12:22 We had to hire commercial studios to record our programs, 12:26 which was both costly and full of many headaches. 12:30 A decade later, 12:32 we built our own studio outside the city of Chennai 12:34 in South India. 12:36 Being located out in the country, 12:37 we have a peaceful place to do our production 12:40 free of the city noise. 12:42 The small campus consists of a production studio, 12:45 bookstore, apartments, and even a church. 12:48 We're able to produce 12:50 all kinds of television programs 12:51 in three different languages, 12:53 English, Tamil, and Telugu 12:55 under the name Laymen Ministries Saving Hands. 13:00 This is Laymen Ministry, India's production studio. 13:03 I remember we bought this property in 2011, 13:06 we had a prayer of dedication a group of us got together 13:08 and we stood right in this kind of open-field area. 13:11 And we prayed that this property could be used 13:13 for God's glory for building a production studio. 13:16 We started building in 2012. 13:18 And the process was slow at first 13:20 because they have seasonal rains here. 13:22 And we had to also build up the property 13:24 so it would prevent the property 13:26 from being flooded. 13:27 We hold in bricks, and we started construction 13:29 but by March of 2013, we had the big dedication, 13:33 where we had a lot of people come here 13:35 and we dedicated this facility to the glory of God 13:38 to produce television programs and music videos. 13:41 Since 2013, we've produced literally 13:44 hundreds of television programs. 13:45 So these programs have been used on cable networks 13:48 and satellite networks. 13:49 Some of them are produced in Telugu language. 13:51 Some of them are produced in English language. 13:53 And some of them are produced in the Tamil language. 13:55 And we're looking at expanding into the Hindi language. 13:58 But besides just producing television programs 14:00 that are being aired on television with you, 14:03 you know, your typical channels 14:04 like satellite and cable networks. 14:06 We're expanding a lot into YouTube 14:08 and producing television programs 14:11 specifically for YouTube target. 14:13 This building is the two-story building. 14:15 So the downstairs area 14:16 is actually a production studio. 14:18 But the upstairs area is a living area 14:20 and some of the studio staff and Bible workers 14:23 that actually live on campus here, 14:24 live up there. 14:26 And then in the back, we have a kitchen area 14:27 where they can cook food. 14:28 And we have a small church in the back too 14:30 which serves not only for a training place for 14:34 during the week where we bring people in, 14:36 lay people in, and train them how to do Bible work, 14:38 social work in these local community areas. 14:41 But we also use it for Sabbath services. 14:44 We have two Bible workers here that have worked this area, 14:47 and we now have quite a number of church group started 14:51 including the one here on Sabbath. 14:52 On the upper story of the church, 14:55 we have a large storage facility 14:57 where we have all our literature. 14:59 We have people who actually call into the TV programs 15:01 if they're wanting to get free literature 15:03 and so we have books, and magazines, 15:05 and things like that in various different languages. 15:07 And the men that work here at the studio are in charge 15:10 of shipping this literature 15:11 not only around the area of the city of Chennai, 15:14 but all across India 15:15 and even to very many foreign countries. 15:18 Our faithful supporters have helped with the weekly airtime 15:21 cost of $1,320 to keep Pastor Shadrack, 15:25 Pastor Johnson 15:26 and our other programs on the air. 15:29 That is just for airtime 15:30 and it doesn't include studio overhead 15:32 or production costs. 15:34 Our team in the studio produces a wide range of programs, 15:37 from short Bible clips to music videos, 15:40 and present truth presentations. 15:42 They also produce a Sabbath School discussion program 15:45 that's very popular with Adventist 15:47 and non-Adventist alike. 15:49 Each year we produce 104 half hour programs 15:53 and 52 hour long programs. 15:55 Each show begins with a special song, 15:58 which means producing 156 music videos each year 16:02 just for our television programs. 16:13 As you may know, Chennai, 16:15 India has been suffering from a severe drought. 16:18 Earlier this year, 16:19 our well went dry at the studio. 16:21 And this was a serious problem 16:23 as we have people coming to record at our studio. 16:26 Right at the height of dry season 16:28 we had a well driller come and we prayed for water. 16:32 God blessed and now we have a good borewell 16:35 that provides enough water for the whole campus. 16:38 We wanna thank each one of you 16:39 who helped us with this project. 16:58 India has elephants. 17:01 Ever since I was a young boy, 17:02 I had a fascination with these pachyderms. 17:05 In South India, there's a place that is an Elephant Sanctuary. 17:09 When we arrived some of the elephants 17:11 were receiving the morning baths. 17:13 It was also feeding time. 17:51 I would love to have an elephant for a pet, 17:54 but I don't think they would do so well 17:55 in the backwoods of North Idaho. 18:01 Down in the south eastern tip of India 18:04 close to a city called Nazareth, 18:06 Laymen Ministries operates a boys' home 18:08 for orphan and semi-orphan boys. 18:10 Our facility is on a nice piece of land located in the country. 18:14 We are currently working to build a girls dorm next door 18:17 because the government will not allow boys 18:19 and girls in the same buildings. 18:23 We currently have 15 orphan boys 18:25 in our home right now. 18:27 And the children are provided a loving home type environment. 18:31 Moses Samuel and his wife 18:32 are the directors of our orphanage. 18:34 He was raised an orphan himself 18:37 and has a business degree in management. 18:39 Moses and his wife have a love and passion 18:42 for helping orphaned children. 18:45 While we were there Moses showed Christy 18:47 around the kitchen, 18:49 as we recently bought some new appliances. 18:57 I wish I had flowers on mine like that. 19:00 So we have a bunch of eggs here, they're marked. 19:03 You can see that they dated them. 19:06 This one is better. 19:09 It's been dated so that they don't use the eggs 19:12 that are too old. 19:17 And there's lots of vegetables in there. 19:21 Because... 19:22 We want to make sure the children 19:24 get fed a balanced diet. 19:27 Such a... 19:28 Ours is one of the best menu in all India. 19:33 And do the children like the food? 19:35 When they first came, from government, 19:39 they were excited to see this one. 19:44 And the children like it? 19:46 Yeah, they like it. 19:47 We have a small food committee. 19:50 We call the children and we ask them. 19:53 If they don't like any food, we avoid it. 19:58 But if it's good for them, 20:07 we ask them to eat. 20:22 This is Lakshmi, 20:24 she is here to help cook in the kitchen 20:27 for the children. 20:28 And when you're cooking for this many children, 20:30 you definitely need an extra pair of hands. 20:33 She's busy preparing lunch today 20:36 and we're real thankful for her. 20:38 Want a turn? 20:40 Say hello? 20:44 This is dormitory one. This is for little children. 20:48 We have 12 boys, six small ones 20:51 and six bigger ones. 20:53 That's a change from the last time 20:54 I was here because last time they were all in one room. 20:57 Yeah. 20:58 This is a very good idea. 21:00 Yeah, yeah. 21:02 Also, what we do, what we have do, 21:07 earlier the children were falling down. 21:09 So now we get them to sleep like this. 21:13 So they won't fall down. 21:16 They say the children sleep like a helicopter. 21:18 Yeah. 21:20 So they fall out. Yes. 21:23 Okay. 21:24 This is the distribution notebook. 21:27 Okay. 21:28 We put it here. 21:30 When the children need anything they write on this page. 21:33 This page has their name. 21:36 Their name up there. 21:38 And they'll put their request here. 21:40 Okay. And we'll look into that. 21:43 So this box right here is called 21:45 "The Suggestion Box" or "The Complaint Box." 21:49 And it has a lock on it. 21:51 So every month the government comes 21:53 and they open it up 21:54 and they see what the children have written there. 21:57 I was thinking, some children back home 21:59 might like to have one of those in their home. 22:02 This is a very unique idea, and it protects the children. 22:06 Yeah. 22:09 I know that many of you in the States 22:12 have been very interested in the orphanage here in India. 22:17 And that many people know 22:19 that we've only been able to house boys. 22:22 This ground that we're standing on right now 22:24 has been purchased sand, 22:27 by our donors, 22:28 in order to level this area out 22:31 so we can build a dormitory for the girls. 22:34 And I just thought that it would be nice for you 22:36 to know that 22:38 we are working towards that. 22:39 And that this is beginning 22:42 the foundation of building that dormitory, 22:45 so we can also house some girls here. 22:53 The boys attend an Adventist school nearby. 22:55 We have a small mini van 22:57 that was donated a couple years ago. 22:59 So we use that to take the boys back and forth 23:02 from home to school. 23:03 This school provides a wonderful Christian education 23:06 for these boys. 23:08 The boys are taught to keep their areas clean, 23:11 their clothes washed and folded. 23:13 Each has their own area to neatly put things away. 23:17 All have chores that have to be performed, 23:20 which is good training for learning 23:21 how to be responsible. 23:23 They're fed healthy meals. 23:25 And once a week, a gentleman comes 23:27 and give some of the students music lessons. 23:29 The boys love playing instruments and singing. 23:32 Every evening they say their prayers 23:35 and do things like brush their teeth. 23:38 The government inspectors tell us 23:40 that our facility is one of the nicest in this region. 23:44 On Sabbath people come from the nearby community 23:47 to worship God in our little church, 23:49 which is toward the entrance of the property. 23:51 The boys help lead out in Sabbath school 23:54 and in church service. 23:55 They often have special presentations and sing songs. 23:59 For $100 per month per child, 24:01 we can provide food, shelter, 24:04 and a loving home environment 24:05 and an education for these children. 24:14 As mentioned earlier, 24:16 much of South East India has suffered from a drought 24:19 and we had serious water problems 24:21 at our boys' home. 24:24 One of the problems we've continually dealt 24:25 with here at the orphanage is the fact 24:27 that the ocean's about a mile away 24:29 over this direction 24:30 and the salt water from the oceans 24:32 coming into the water table here 24:33 and contaminates the soil. 24:35 And so the surface water here is sailing. 24:38 It's made a problem for some of the gardening 24:39 that we've done here, 24:41 we've had to bring in sand and dirt 24:42 and raise the beds up 24:44 so that we can actually grow food here. 24:46 We got actually a really nice garden area now. 24:48 But the problem is culinary water, 24:50 fresh water used for cooking and drinking 24:52 and things like that. 24:53 So we drilled the borewell 24:54 right over on the side of the property here 24:56 which turned out to be really good, 24:57 the water's clean. 24:58 The only problem is that May, June, July, the water goes dry. 25:02 So during that season, the boys and Moses, 25:06 the director of the orphanage here 25:09 have to go to the nearby town 25:11 with these push carts, 25:12 and they have to hand pump water 25:13 into these kind of like cans 25:15 to bring over here for the culinary purposes. 26:03 We recently just got an offer from the government 26:06 to be able to tie into a government waterline system, 26:09 it's only about 3000 feet over that way, 26:11 the cost will cost about $3,000 to do that, 26:15 and we'll have adequate fresh water here 26:17 for all the culinary purposes 26:19 of being able to run the orphanage. 26:20 So we're really praying that those funds will come in. 26:23 We also ran into some other funding problems with... 26:26 We're trying to build the girls' dormitory 26:28 because of the fact that there's turns out 26:30 that there's a lot of zoning 26:31 and things like that have that take place. 26:33 And so we had to hire an architect. 26:35 The old days in India, just going on the countryside 26:37 and building a building are long gone, 26:38 you know, the western idea of way things are done 26:41 is come into society. 26:43 And so now you have to get proper permits, 26:45 especially if you're dealing with something 26:46 like an orphanage, 26:48 you have to have special permits, 26:49 you have to have everything engineered, 26:50 you have to be in the right kind of zoning 26:52 to be able to build certain kinds of building 26:54 so that has set us back a little bit. 26:56 We had one donor who has given most of the money 26:59 for building the girls' facility. 27:01 But now we're finding out that's not quite enough 27:03 to really be able to meet all the needs. 27:05 So we're praying for that too. 27:08 From Bible workers, and building churches, 27:11 to television production, and orphanages, 27:14 Laymen Ministries has been working in India 27:16 for 26 years 27:17 to help bring the gospel message 27:19 to the people of this exotic country. 27:21 And we wanna thank all of you for your prayers and support. |
Revised 2019-12-19