New Perceptions

‘Happy Birthday, Pioneer––Did You Get My Letter?’

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

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Series Code: NP

Program Code: NP190216A


00:00 ♪♪
00:09 >> ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Let us all adore Thee ♪
00:21 ♪ Casting down our golden crowns ♪
00:26 ♪ Around the glassy sea ♪
00:33 ♪ Cherubim and seraphim ♪ ♪ Falling down before Thee ♪ ♪ Which wert and art ♪
00:49 ♪ And evermore shall be ♪ [ Song ends ]
01:03 >> Let's stand as we pray.
01:12 Holy Father, is it okay to sing "Happy Birthday" in church?
01:17 The Pioneer Memorial Church -- 60 years old today.
01:21 What else can we sing but "Praise God, From Whom All
01:24 Blessings Flow"?
01:26 For six decades, You've come down to meet with us beneath these towering arches and
01:30 jubilant pipes, and we thank You. For 60 years, You've come down
01:35 for the joy of weddings and graduations, for the grief of death and funerals, for the
01:39 birth of babies and the baptism of sinners, and we thank You. "Crown Him with many crowns, the
01:46 Lamb upon His throne." That's what they sang on that first Sabbath 60 years ago, and
01:52 so we sing it, too, but let it be Your music today, blended with our birthday praises, as we
01:58 worship You now in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
02:08 [ "Crown Him with Many Crowns" begins ]
02:16 ♪♪ ♪♪
02:36 ♪♪ ♪♪
02:56 ♪♪ ♪♪
03:16 ♪♪ ♪♪
03:36 ♪♪ ♪♪
03:56 ♪♪ ♪♪
04:16 ♪♪ ♪♪
04:36 ♪♪ ♪♪
04:56 ♪♪ ♪♪
05:16 ♪♪ ♪♪
05:36 ♪♪ [ Song ends ]
05:45 >> You may be seated.
05:53 [ "Majesty" begins ]
05:58 ♪♪ ♪♪
06:18 ♪♪ ♪♪
06:38 ♪♪ ♪♪
06:58 ♪♪ ♪♪
07:18 ♪♪ ♪♪
07:31 [ Song ends, "Great Is the Lord" begins ]
07:36 ♪♪ ♪♪
07:56 ♪♪ ♪♪
08:16 ♪♪ ♪♪
08:36 ♪♪ ♪♪
08:56 ♪♪ [ Song ends,
09:00 "Agnus Dei" begins ]
09:06 ♪♪ ♪♪
09:26 ♪♪ ♪♪
09:46 ♪♪ ♪♪
10:06 ♪♪ ♪♪
10:26 ♪♪ ♪♪
10:46 ♪♪ ♪♪
11:06 ♪♪ ♪♪
11:26 [ Song ends ] In 1 Samuel, it says, "There is
11:30 none holy like our God," and He deserves our worship and our
11:35 total praise. So, at this time, if you want to
11:38 give your praise to Him or you have a burden that you'd like to
11:42 bring to Him, I just invite you to come forward at this time.
11:46 And I invite you to stand as we sing.
11:49 [ "Total Praise" begins ]
11:55 ♪♪ ♪♪
12:16 ♪♪ ♪♪
12:36 ♪♪ ♪♪
12:56 ♪♪ ♪♪
13:16 ♪♪ ♪♪
13:35 ♪♪ ♪♪
13:55 ♪♪ [ Flourish, song ends ]
14:10 >> It was a big day 60 years ago when they opened these doors to
14:14 the world and that crowd -- and we're gonna look at pictures in
14:17 just a moment -- that crowd came flowing in.
14:19 It was a huge deal. In fact, the next day, we ended
14:21 up on the front page of the South Bend Tribune.
14:26 I have the South Bend Tribune here -- Sunday morning.
14:29 So Valentine's Day was a Sabbath in 1959.
14:32 Sunday morning, front page, they had to move the articles around to get two beautiful pictures.
14:38 So here's the picture of the filled, brand-new, for the first time Pioneer Memorial Church
14:43 sanctuary, and underneath it, these words -- "Adventist Church filled for first worship
14:48 service. A capacity audience of 2,000 persons --" they didn't have
14:52 double services back then -- "2,000 persons attended worship services in the new $440,000
15:00 campus church." [ Laughter ] Man.
15:02 Can you imagine building a church for $440,000? We spent 10 times that amount
15:11 just to put these two wings on. Anyway, "The service marked the first time the newly completed
15:17 structure had been used. The inaugural service was led by Pastor J.L. Tucker, campus
15:23 pastor, Pioneer Memorial Church. An house of prayer for all people."
15:30 Not to be outdone -- and I'll put this one on the screen for you because we do have this in
15:34 our archives. "Student Movement, February 23, 1959."
15:39 Can we put that up there? There it is. "Student Movement, Campus
15:43 Edition. Emmanuel Missionary College." Here's how the piece opens.
15:47 "Jesus -- central theme rings in the new church." Quoting J.L. Tucker, the first
15:52 pastor, "'I have no other central theme than Jesus,' as Tucker began the first sermon in
15:58 EMC's new church on February 14. 'It shall ring from the nave, the balcony, the classrooms of
16:04 this church,' he continued. 'With David of old, we say I was glad when they said unto me, let
16:09 us go into the house of the Lord. With gladness, we welcome our
16:13 visitors and members to this first service in our new church home.
16:17 It is to be an house of prayer for all people.'" What did the church look like
16:22 back then? What did it feel like when they began to, brick by brick, raise
16:27 up this place of worship? Let's pull out an old family album.
16:32 We're all black and white back then. Here's where they were
16:36 worshipping before this church was erected. That's the old auditorium.
16:41 Can you see a balcony up in the corner? That balcony wrapped all the way
16:45 around the auditorium. It had a sloping floor, and this is where the students, this is
16:50 where the faculty, this is where the community -- this is where everybody worshipped.
16:54 But then comes a student movement to raise money, and soon the walls begin going up.
17:00 Take a look at this picture. Next pictures, please. Well, this is groundbreaking.
17:06 I don't recognize a soul in that picture, do you? [ Laughter ]
17:10 I don't. By the way, I forgot to do this in second.
17:13 We did this in first. Was there anybody -- Is there anybody here who was in
17:20 Pioneer Memorial Church February 14, 1959? Anybody here?
17:24 Just put your hand up. I was surprised in first church, and you're gonna see behind me.
17:28 Anybody here? I see a hand over there, Ray Phillips.
17:31 All right. Ray Roberts, sorry. I see Ray Roberts.
17:35 I see a hand right -- Rosie, you were here? Good night!
17:40 >> Choir! >> No, don't -- [ Indistinct shouting ]
17:43 What? [ Shouting continues ] Oh, there are people behind me?
17:46 [ Laughter ] Are they standing? >> Yes.
17:48 >> Are they the same ones that stood in first service? [ Laughter ]
17:52 Okay. We've got Judy, Joann, and Rick.
17:56 Can you believe that? Put your hands together for people who were here 60 years
18:00 ago! [ Applause ] All right.
18:08 Let's go back to our family album. So, there comes the church on
18:11 campus. We're gonna get an aerial view in just a moment.
18:13 You're gonna love the aerial view. Okay, so there they're going up.
18:16 These are our walls. Those are our rafters. Next, please.
18:20 Now beginning to extend. Nice. Next, please. That's a picture taken from
18:27 right here, looking out over the campus, and you're gonna see what kind of a campus was out
18:31 that front door in a moment. Next, please. Okay, the mortar.
18:35 Beautiful Indiana limestone going up, as well. Next, please.
18:40 Ah! Pews. The assembling of the first pews.
18:45 You know what? These pews have been putting up with your weight for 60 years.
18:50 [ Laughter ] And this is about the end. We're gonna put in brand-new
18:54 pews come May. May, June, July, and August, we're gonna put in brand-new
18:58 pews. We'll have padding on the back. You're gonna love it.
19:02 Okay, pews. Next, please. Ah, there it is --
19:05 College Avenue and Westwood Drive. Yeah, we can picture it.
19:08 Next, please. Okay, there's the aerial view. Hold that up.
19:13 Okay, try to guess where the campus is back then as compared to what you know about now.
19:18 So, we see Pioneer, of course, here at the bottom, on the left. There's nothing in front of
19:23 Pioneer. It's just a field. There's no James White Library,
19:26 there's no seminary, there's no "ad" building -- there's nothing.
19:30 There's just a parking lot to the north of Pioneer. We see Lamson.
19:35 You see Lamson beyond Pioneer, and then there's a field.
19:38 There's an old building or two. Let's not worry about trying to guess the names of the
19:43 buildings, but the point is, 60 years ago, when they opened these doors, that was the campus
19:48 of Andrews University. Let's look at the next picture, please.
19:52 That is opening Sabbath. And we know it's Michigan because of the snow on the
19:57 ground, and nothing's changed in 60 years, and here's everybody going in.
20:02 And there in the front -- For you aficionados, there in the front is a Rambler.
20:07 [ Laughter ] Rambler went to church that day, yep.
20:10 Those were the days. Is this the last -- No, we're gonna go to Sabbath school.
20:14 Go downstairs for a moment please. See how big the rooms were?
20:18 We've had to put walls in over the years just to accommodate more and more divisions, and for
20:23 awhile, we were meeting in every classroom on this campus, it felt like, until we built these
20:27 two wings back in '96 and '98, but there is the Sabbath-school room and our beloved pastor.
20:33 Next picture, please. Oh, not quite right yet. This is the church.
20:37 Minnie Iverson Wood led the combined corral -- 250 voices. We used to have, when I came,
20:43 the choir benches that went that way -- permanent benches tiered up to the top near the pipes.
20:50 But there they are on opening Sabbath. Now we have Pastor J.L. Tucker,
20:54 the beloved first pastor of the Pioneer Memorial Church. And you know what, folks?
21:00 The student body of Emmanuel Missionary College -- it didn't become Andrews until
21:04 '61. The student body of EMC initiated the fundraising for
21:09 this church. They raised the money. In fact, I want you to hear --
21:17 this is unbelievable, but the president of the student association was in the class of
21:23 1953 -- he was the president in '52/'53 school year -- he lives right here in Berrien Springs.
21:31 We took our cameras in, sat down in the comfort of his family room -- Fred Stephan, my friend
21:37 Fred Stephan, been a longtime Adventist educator for years across North America.
21:44 He remembers the fundraising, and let's listen to him tell the story.
21:47 Fred Stephan on the big screen.
21:50 >> Well, I graduated from Cedar Lake Academy, and it was
21:56 just a thing for us to do, and I know I was the first one in our
22:02 family to go to college, and I elected to come here -- to EMC
22:07 in those days.
22:11 South Hall or North Hall -- one of those -- but it was this large room that had the balcony
22:18 came all the way around and with a slanting floor.
22:24 And that's where we had our church services.
22:33 We met with the student council and started to lay out some
22:37 plans for the year. We dealt with the picnic and
22:41 various activities, and I suppose that the idea was out
22:49 there that we needed a church, and we certainly did.
22:58 ♪♪ We passed out little honey bears
23:02 that were about 8 inches tall, little pink/yellow bears, and
23:08 encouraged them to save their money -- coins, whatever -- and
23:15 I recall one student, a dorm student, donated a very valuable
23:23 coin collection.
23:25 And we would initiate programs, like we would encourage students to give up their dessert for a
23:33 month or any period of time and contribute the money for their desserts toward the building of
23:39 the church. And there were other activities that we would encourage them to
23:45 donate toward the church, and they were active.
23:50 We had a good response.
23:57 In the early '60s, because I became principal of
24:02 Wisconsin Academy, and we brought students over.
24:06 And I recall going to the church and looking at it and going
24:13 through it at that time.
24:16 Well, I was really happy to see it, and you get that feeling --
24:20 "I wish we would've had this nice building."
24:28 I would hope that it might continue to focus on its
24:34 mission, that we could hasten the coming of the Lord.
24:42 ♪♪
24:48 >> Good morning. Good morning. It is so good to see you guys up
24:53 here. There are just a few of -- We're gonna let everybody get settled,
24:57 and then we're gonna do something a little bit different.
25:00 Now, you guys really missed out by coming to second, because
25:04 first service, we did this, and I'm gonna be honest -- we had no
25:08 idea how it was gonna go. It was exciting, to say the
25:11 least, but we're going to try it again, so things could still go
25:15 awry.
25:16 So it's good that you're here still. So, Emmett, come up here for a
25:22 minute.
25:27 We're gonna give Emmett a little quiz. He did pretty well in first, but
25:33 we're gonna see how he does now. Okay, Emmett, come here. Can you tell us when Christmas
25:45 is?
25:50 >> No. [ Laughter ]
25:52 >> Oh. Okay. How about Thanksgiving?
25:56 >> No. >> Okay. We're gonna make this a little
26:01 easier. How about the Fourth of July? >> No.
26:05 [ Laughter ] >> Okay. Maybe something a little bit
26:09 more recent? Can you tell me when Valentine's Day was?
26:12 >> No. [ Laughter ] >> Okay.
26:15 Well, hold on. Hold on. Can you tell me, Emmett, when your birthday is?
26:24 >> October 11. >> Okay, okay. Thank you so much, Emmett.
26:31 You did a fantastic job. Here's the thing. You guys, you know when your
26:36 birthdays are, don't you? >> Yes! >> Yeah.
26:40 Because our birthdays are a very, very special day. >> I know my birthday.
26:47 >> I'm sure you do. And here's the thing. I like my birthday, too.
26:54 I remember it was my eighth birthday, it was getting close, and I was looking forward to it.
26:59 I was starting to get excited. You know how it is. You start counting off the days,
27:03 and when you're in your birthday month, it is getting close. And I was excited, except there
27:10 was a problem. Every time I seemed to bring up my birthday to my parents, they
27:16 kind of changed the subject. It was like they weren't planning anything, and it was
27:22 getting closer and closer and closer, and, pretty soon, my birthday was going to be the
27:27 very next week, and it didn't seem like they had any plans at all.
27:32 This is troubling for a middle child. [ Laughter ]
27:37 And so, finally -- I remember my birthday fell on a Sunday that year.
27:44 And so, finally, Sunday came along, and, all of a sudden, people started showing up at the
27:49 house, and my parents threw a surprise party for me. But there are good surprises,
27:55 and then there are other surprises, aren't there? And the other surprise was none
28:02 of my friends had been invited to the party. It was a party for all my
28:08 parents' friends, and I was so disappointed. But, guys, if you think
28:14 birthdays are a big party, a bigger party is coming. Jesus is coming again, and it's
28:20 gonna be a party like absolutely no other because the entire universe is gonna be celebrating
28:27 this party. There is gonna be nothing like it, and if you want to talk
28:32 about a party you can look forward to, the Second Coming is that party.
28:35 Are you guys excited about the Second Coming? >> Yes!
28:38 >> Are you excited about seeing Jesus? >> Yes!
28:43 >> My question for you then is, "Have you invited your friends to the party?"
28:49 >> Yes. >> Because we can't always rely on our parents to invite our
28:56 friends, can we? [ Laughter ] We need to make sure that we're
28:59 inviting our friends for ourselves, and you guys -- you guys already are old enough to
29:04 know how to invite your friends, aren't you? So how many of you guys are
29:09 willing to commit to you are going to invite your friends to the Second Coming?
29:16 Okay. Thank you so much. And now I need one more volunteer.
29:19 Oh, you guys are really brave. You're raising your hands before I even tell you what this is
29:24 for. This is dangerous. Okay, I need one volunteer for
29:28 prayer, and you right there, come on forward.
29:41 And what is your name? >> German. >> German.
29:44 Okay. So, let us bow our heads and close our eyes while she prays
29:48 and thanks God for the big party He has planned and help us to remember to invite people to the
29:56 party. >> Dear Father, we thank You that You have brought us to
30:01 church. Thank You for that You protect us.
30:05 Please help us to remember to invite our friends to the party. Amen.
30:10 >> Amen. And as you go back to your seat, start thinking about the friends
30:14 you want at that party.
30:21 [ "Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow" begins ]
30:28 ♪♪ ♪♪
30:48 ♪♪ ♪♪
31:03 [ Song ends ] Blessed Father, You have, for 60
31:07 years, rained down upon this piece of terra firma.
31:14 And we have stood before You now and declared our gratitude and our praise for what the
31:21 Lord of hosts, the Lord of angel armies, has done. And You're not through yet.
31:27 We pivot on our heels and now look forward. What is yet to come?
31:38 Renovate heart and house. We've talked about the house for the last few moments.
31:43 Now, Father, renovate heart, renovate all our hearts. As Your family, we pray in
31:49 Jesus' name.
31:50 Let all the people say... >> All: Amen.
31:53 >> And amen. Be seated, please. Want to share a story with you
31:57 that Krish Kandiah wrote in the most recent Christianity Today
32:02 magazine. It's a great story.
32:05 Happened over in England. Here we go.
32:09 There in England, this "little boy was playing in the street,
32:12 kicking the dust, jumping off walls.
32:14 My wife happened to walk past him with our five children,
32:17 which caught the lad's attention.
32:19 He watched from a distance for a while and then plucked up the courage to jog over and ask,
32:24 'Are you going to have a party?' My wife quickly answered, 'Yes, we are!
32:28 We call it church. If you go and check with your mum, you can come with
32:32 us.' That little boy ran home and was back in a couple of minutes with
32:35 a huge smile on his face. That Sunday, he stayed for a cup of hot chocolate and left before
32:40 the services began. But he was back the next week and the week after that.
32:45 And, pretty soon, he had brought his mother, his brother, and a couple of his cousins.
32:49 Eight years later, they are an integral part of our church. One of the most moving moments
32:54 of those years was when the boy's mother was baptized," as we saw just a moment ago.
32:59 "Standing waist-high in the water, she explained a little of her traumatic childhood, her
33:03 years living rough, and something of the struggles of trying to hold her own family
33:08 together. Her face shone, and her voice clearly articulated her love for
33:12 the God who had found her and welcomed her home. The idea that had caught her
33:17 son's imagination was that the church was like a party and that he and his family were invited
33:23 to it. Until then, they had sadly mostly experienced what it was
33:27 like to be excluded, but the discovery that church wasn't so much an event you turn up to as
33:33 a family you belong to was life-changing for them. In fact, it was life-changing
33:39 for the whole church." Isn't that good? Did you catch that last line?
33:44 The church isn't so much an event you turn up to as a family you belong to, and it is a
33:50 life-changing discovery. It'll change you forever and ever, once you realize we are
33:57 family. That's not some new-fangled notion that comes with the third
34:02 millennium. Are you kidding? That's as old as Scripture.
34:05 You take the apostle Paul -- he's scribbling off a letter to his young ministerial protégé,
34:12 young pastor Timothy, and Paul gives this counsel. Put it on the screen for you.
34:16 Look at it there -- 1 Timothy 5:1-2.
34:19 "Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but instead exhort him
34:23 as if he were your --" what? "...as if he were your father."
34:27 Keep going. "Treat younger men as your --"
34:30 what? And older women as your what?
34:33 Mm-hmm. And younger women as your
34:36 sisters, "with absolute purity." Just in case there is a young
34:40 seminarian that has wandered into this space for worship
34:43 today on our 60th anniversary, I want to say to you that that
34:46 line, taught to me by my dad and first initiated by the apostle
34:50 Paul, has been the credo that I've sought to live by.
34:54 I'm telling you what, guys, ladies, if you'll treat the older women as your mother and
35:03 the younger women as your sisters, you won't have any problem at all.
35:08 You know why? This isn't just about sexual ethics, by the way, whether
35:13 you're male or female. This is about the metaphor "we are family."
35:18 We're family. That's the whole idea of the Church.
35:21 We are family. Paul goes on -- in the letter to the church in Rome, he scribbles
35:28 a little P.S. at the end.
35:29 "I want you to pass my hugs and kisses on to some in the
35:32 congregation," so here we go. I'll put it on the screen.
35:34 Romans 16:1, 13. "I commend to you our sister --"
35:38 where'd you come up with that? Family metaphor, of course.
35:41 "I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church
35:44 in Cenchrea..." Oh, and by the way, "Greet
35:47 Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a
35:50 mother to me, too. Give her my love and hugs."
35:55 Why? Because the Church is family. We are family.
36:00 That wasn't original with Paul. The Lord Jesus, when He was here, that was His metaphor.
36:05 You remember that day that Jesus is teaching away, and, all of a sudden, his mother and his
36:09 half-brothers show up at the back of the crowd, and they sent a word by somebody, and they
36:13 say, "Your family's here, and they want to talk to you." Jesus then speaks.
36:17 Watch this -- put it on the screen.
36:19 This is Matthew 12:49-50. "Pointing to his disciples,
36:24 Jesus then said --" hey, guys, look -- "'Here are my mother and
36:28 my brothers. For whoever does the will of my
36:31 Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.'"
36:34 Why? Because we...are...family.
36:37 Jesus went on Luke chapter 18. Put that up, please --
36:40 Luke 18: 29-30. "'I tell you the truth --" he
36:44 said to another crowd -- "'no one who has left home or wife or
36:48 brothers or parents or children for the sake of the
36:52 Kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in
36:55 this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.'"
36:58 In the 60 years that we have watched these baptismal
37:01 curtains open, time and time again, there have been
37:04 occasions -- you haven't known about it -- when men, women,
37:07 young adults, teenagers, and sometimes kids standing in that
37:10 baptistery have done so at great relational cost to
37:17 themselves, and they have subsequently been ostracized by
37:21 their most tender and precious relationships.
37:25 Jesus says, "You may lose those biological relationships when you follow me, but guess what.
37:31 You're gonna get 100 times more in the community I have for you because we are family.
37:37 We are family." Yeah, it's a big deal [Chuckles] for Paul, for Jesus, for
37:44 Scripture. "Church isn't so much an event you turn up to as a family you
37:50 belong to." And it's just the very same way with the last letter ever
37:55 written in the Bible, bar none. It's the last letter to the seven churches.
38:00 It's to the church living at the end of time. It's the letter to Laodicea.
38:04 That's been our little winter theme. Just a few more parts left, and
38:07 we're done, but let's go to Revelation chapter 3, the last letter.
38:11 Jesus dictated it to John there on the isle of Patmos. But what's the letter say?
38:16 Well, may I show you that, if we read between the lines, we see that it's still big on family?
38:21 Watch this. Revelation 3:14...
38:34 You can stop it right there. He calls himself, "I am the
38:37 ruler of God's creation." And guess what.
38:40 The ruler of God's creation is the inventor of the family.
38:44 He's the one who said, "You'll be male, and you'll be female, and, oh, by the way, will you
38:50 please go and multiply?" The creator of the universe, who created us, is the Lord of
38:56 families. He says, "By the way, I'm the one who's sending you this
39:00 letter. I'm big on family." But we know He's even just as
39:03 big on family by another clue tucked away. Let's look at that verse 14 we
39:07 just read a moment ago and just use the opening line. "To the angel of the church in
39:12 Laodicea..." Because you know what? When Laodicea existed as a
39:16 church, they didn't have edifices. They didn't have Gothic arches
39:20 like this. They didn't have cathedrals. They had nothing.
39:24 All they had was somebody's house. Church happened in a home, a
39:28 family circle. That's what happened. The families gathered together
39:32 in a house and worshipped every seventh-day Sabbath. Embedded between the lines --
39:40 "We are family." That's why Jesus comes along here in verse 20 -- This is
39:46 something else. This is the one line that everybody who knows Scripture
39:50 remembers.
39:51 "Oh, this is the only part of the letter I remember."
39:53 Verse 20. "Here I am!" Jesus speaking...
40:04 The door is a family house. It's the door to a family home.
40:08 "Hey, yo, family, you're having a big party in there, but do you
40:13 know that I'm not in there?
40:15 Anybody open the door for me, I'll come in, and we'll be family together.
40:19 We'll share that meal together." Yeah, why? Because we...are...family.
40:28 "Church isn't so much an event you turn up to as a family you belong to."
40:35 And that's why "Renovate" is not just about house. "Renovate" is about heart and
40:42 house, and right now you and I are thinking "heart." In fact, nothing has brought
40:48 this reality into sharper focus for us here at Pioneer than what has been happening over the last
40:53 few years. I have a friend who told me years ago, "Our business,
40:57 okay --" so he's talking about the Church. "Our business," as a Church, "is
41:00 to find the wave the Holy Spirit is creating and then to surf it."
41:06 Now, you have to to be a surfer to get this, and I have my young friend Michael Von Dorpowski
41:10 here, and he's a top-flight surfer. And, so, Michael, let's put a
41:14 picture of the wave -- let's see a picture of the wave on the screen.
41:17 That's a big wave, isn't it? And Michael will tell you the first thing you got to do is you
41:21 got to have the wave. If you don't have a wave, you're not surfing -- you're paddling,
41:25 right? Once you get the wave, once you see the wave, then
41:29 [Snaps fingers] you ride it, you surf it for all you're worth. The Holy Spirit has been
41:38 creating a wave around here, and we didn't even note it. We didn't even see it till the
41:44 other day. Oh, my, let me show you. You're saying, "Dwight, what's
41:47 that wave?" Let me show you a picture from this morning about eight minutes
41:51 ago. Let's put that picture on the screen, please.
41:54 Recognize those faces? That was taken just eight minutes ago.
41:58 That's not the whole group. That's the only part that we could get into the lens.
42:04 You know who those are? Yeah, those are children. For months now, the number of
42:09 children coming forward for the children's story each Sabbath has been unbelievable, and it's
42:13 still growing. Where did these children come from?
42:16 I'll give you a little hint. They came from their parents, all right?
42:20 [ Laughter ] Where do the parents come from? The parents have come from all
42:23 over campus, they've come from around the community, they've come from around the county.
42:27 They're coming. "Why are they coming here, Dwight?"
42:30 I'll tell you why. Because what Pioneer does for children, that's why.
42:34 In just the one hour allotted for the Sabbath-school time each Saturday morning, what Pioneer
42:39 does is without parallel. You say, "You're just biased." Of course I am, but let me tell
42:43 you something -- the reputation is heard on the street, around the world.
42:47 I travel, and people come up and say, "Yo, I know about your church -- the children's Sabbath
42:51 schools."
42:56 We have the finest, we have the most creative children's Sabbath schools on Earth, bar none, and
43:02 they're known throughout the denomination. And as you can see, they enjoy
43:06 the same reputation here at home. That's why they're showing up.
43:10 You throw in a Pathfinder Club second to none and an Adventurer Club that is the
43:15 largest in North America, and it all adds up -- voilà -- Pioneer's future.
43:20 The Holy Spirit has created a wave, and we've got to surf that wave for all we're worth as long
43:25 as the wave is here. See, that's the deal. And so the confluence of two
43:31 compelling realities has convincingly shown us the wave of the Holy Spirit here that
43:38 He's created in Pioneer. Okay, what are the two realities?
43:41 Well, one I've already given you -- number one, the throngs of children that now occupy this
43:45 space, and number-two reality is the highly motivated, visionary volunteer leadership that the
43:51 Spirit has anointed and appointed. Back in September, I sat down in
43:55 my office here at the church with Laurence Burn, who's children's Sabbath-school
43:59 superintendent from birth through grade 1, and Glynis Bradfield, who's
44:03 children's Sabbath-school superintendent from grade 2 through early teens, and they
44:07 were brimming -- [Chuckles] I'm listening to them -- brimming with ideas about how to grow
44:11 children, and not just the children, but to grow their families, and not just the
44:14 families, but grow the Kingdom in the process, and, this morning, while you were wherever
44:18 you were during Sabbath school, they were packing that youth chapel out.
44:22 We took a picture, and I want to put the picture on the screen for you.
44:25 You know what they did? They had all the Sabbath schools downstairs come upstairs,
44:29 parents and children alike -- 276, head-count right there. And they put on a humdinger of a
44:36 program, and they sent the teams who were having their youth Sabbath school there down into
44:40 those rooms downstairs to teach little classes up and down the hallway.
44:45 That's the kind of creativity that the Spirit is raising up. He's created a [Chuckles] wave.
44:49 We got to surf this wave. And so, after much prayer and planning with our team here and
44:55 with our Conference administration, we are pleased, on this 60th birthday Sabbath,
45:00 to announce a major paradigm shift in the pastoral team at the Pioneer Memorial Church on
45:05 the campus of Andrews University, and here it is.
45:09 Jim Collins, in his mega best-seller, "Good to Great," uses the leadership metaphor of
45:13 the bus. He says, "Listen, the deal is, you got to get the right people
45:17 on the bus first, and after you have them on the bus, you've got to get them in the right seats."
45:22 Well, that's exactly what we've realized, and that's what we're about to announce.
45:27 In keeping with that, we're moving two pastors to new seats on the Pioneer bus.
45:33 To respond to this wave that the Holy Spirit has already created with our children, we are asking
45:38 Ben Martin -- you met him just a moment ago, that precious little Emmett, his boy, and Arlo --
45:43 we're asking Pastor Ben, our present youth pastor, to become our new pastor for children and
45:49 family discipling, giving special leadership and oversight to children from birth through
45:54 early teens. Ben has long had a passion for reaching the youngest of the
46:00 members of God's family, and he's shown a proclivity to that skill, and we're very grateful
46:06 that he has accepted this invitation. It's a perfect shift to surf the
46:11 Spirit's wave. Now, his departure from youth ministry means that our team
46:16 will only be complete when we bring in a new youth pastor on board to join the Pioneer
46:21 team, and our new youth pastor will be a woman. >> Amen!
46:26 >> Amen! >> Well, two of you are happy. [ Laughter, applause ]
46:31 I knew you would. Yeah, amen. Our new youth pastor will be a woman.
46:37 We don't know who it is yet, but we know it'll be a woman. You say, "How do you know that,
46:41 Dwight?" Because those are the only names we've turned in.
46:43 And I just was on the phone with the Conference president, Jim Micheff -- who's a great
46:49 supporter of Pioneer -- yesterday, and we got the date for the interviews.
46:53 They're gonna happen all on the same day, in just a few days. So we know that God will be
47:00 sending a woman to Pioneer to begin to lead, spiritually lead our teens.
47:06 Hmm. But with the recent retirement of Pastor Sharon Terrell, we've
47:12 had to bring two people in. Pastor Sharon has been our finance and stewardship pastor.
47:21 We're making two shifts. We've asked Joann Siagian, our accountant, to become our new
47:26 church treasurer, and she's accepted a new responsibility and is doing great.
47:30 And we're asking José Bourget, our campus chaplain, to become our new executive pastor.
47:35 For the first time in the history of the Pioneer Memorial Church, we have
47:38 now a leadership position called "XP," executive pastor. "Why are you doing that,
47:43 Dwight?" Because I need, because we need someone with a passion for
47:49 administration to oversee the vision mission of Pioneer as we now move into the seventh decade
47:55 as a campus congregation. José's task will be to lead the annual strategic-planning
48:00 process, reviewing the mission vision and core values, developing key objectives and
48:05 tactics, and establishing three- to five-year goals for the Pioneer Memorial Church.
48:10 We need it. Which means now we've got to find a gifted campus chaplain to
48:16 fill Jose's position. And we're now beginning that search process, as well.
48:22 Well, the Spirit will lead us. I'm not worried about it. The Holy Spirit will lead us to
48:25 the right person. By the way, there's one other major change that I need to
48:28 announce to you, and that is our GROW Group pastor, that is vacant when Sabine Vatel left to
48:37 become a hospital chaplain, but we're very grateful already that Pastor Rodlie has agreed to step
48:43 into that leadership position, GROW Group discipleship ministry, along with the
48:47 community-outreach ministry that he already is carrying in his portfolio.
48:52 And Brianna Martin -- we just met her a few moments ago -- will continue to assist
48:58 Pastor Rodlie in this critical ministry of GROW Groups, providing discipleship for this
49:04 congregation. So we have the right people on the bus, and, by the grace of
49:11 God, they're occupying the right seats on the bus. And with the arrival of our new
49:16 youth pastor and our campus chaplain, this team, at last, will be complete again, to which
49:21 I'm gonna say, "Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord." Yeah.
49:26 ♪ We are family ♪ They ought to write a song like that sometime, you know?
49:32 [ Laughter ] I mean, seriously. It just has something to it.
49:36 ♪ We are fa-mily ♪ Little bit of Pauline syncopation perhaps.
49:42 But that's family. By the way, I'm putting it on the screen for you.
49:46 That's "Family" with a capital F. I want to end with a quotation.
49:49 One more time -- the words of Krish Kandiah, from his Christianity Today piece.
49:53 This is profound. On the screen...
50:01 "It can be an antidote to more individualistic --" which is
50:04 society today -- "sadly even consumptive --" Everybody's a
50:07 consumer, consumer. We're always trying to attract
50:10 consumers, something new to get consumers to come to us.
50:13 No. "...sadly even consumptive
50:15 models of church participation that are common today."
50:18 We don't want that, he's writing.
50:20 Now read...
50:37 To which I say amen. So let there be no question that
50:43 the God who for six decades has led this mighty congregation,
50:48 beginning 60 years ago right now, is the God who will guide
50:53 us. "Oh, Thou great Jehovah,
50:56 pilgrims through this barren land, we are weak, but Thou art
51:00 mighty. Hold us with Thy powerful hand."
51:04 And He will, for He is the God of Abraham and Sarah, He is the God of Isaac and Rebecca, He is
51:10 the God of Jacob and Leah and Rachel. He's the God of the pioneers,
51:14 for whom this church is a memorial, and you know what? I have good news for you today.
51:19 He is still the Lord of Pioneer. What do you say? >> All: Amen.
51:23 >> Amen. Amen, because we are family -- all are family.
51:32 Amen. Invite you to turn your worship bulletin over, and on the back
51:37 cover is the Litany of Dedication that we are going to read right now.
51:44 Find your bulletin. Turn it over, back cover. And Karen is gonna join me as we
51:53 invite you to stand. She'll lead the congregation in this Litany of Dedication, after
52:00 which we'll sing the mighty "Lord's Prayer" together, all right?
52:08 "Almighty God, we give You thanks for the work You have done through Christ in this
52:15 place." >> All: "We thank You for adopting us into Your family as
52:20 Your sons and daughters." >> "You have sent Your Holy Spirit to heal and comfort
52:25 our hurts, our sorrows, our infirmities, and our losses." >> All: "You have listened to
52:31 our confessions and forgiven our sins." >> "Lord, thank You for drawing
52:36 us a congregation to become part of Your global Church." >> All: "Thank You for our
52:42 pioneers and founders who obediently listened to Your voice to raise up both our
52:48 church and our congregation for Your sacred purposes." >> "Help us to teach our young
52:55 Your Word and Your ways so they will know who they are and whom You call them to be."
53:01 >> All: "Inspire us with a vision for Your glory, to be a house of prayer for all people,
53:09 and use that vision to direct the path of this congregation." >> "Continue to empower us with
53:16 Your Spirit, that we might connect, grow, serve, and go with the Gospel of Jesus Christ
53:22 as Lord and Savior to all people." >> All: "In our families, in our
53:27 community, and to the ends of the Earth." >> "Help us to witness to the
53:32 good news of Jesus Christ until people of every nation, tribe, tongue, and people worship Your
53:39 holy name." >> All: "May all glory and honor be Yours, in and through Your
53:46 Church, and in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen."
53:51 >> Let us sing together the "Lord's Prayer."
53:54 [ The "Lord's Prayer" begins ]
54:02 ♪♪ ♪♪
54:22 ♪♪ ♪♪
54:42 ♪♪ ♪♪
55:02 ♪♪ ♪♪
55:22 ♪♪ ♪♪
55:42 ♪♪ ♪♪
56:02 ♪♪ ♪♪
56:22 ♪♪ ♪♪
56:42 ♪♪ Amen.
56:46 ♪♪ [ Song ends ]
56:58 >> Before you go, let me take an extra moment to share with you
57:01 an opportunity to get into the Bible in a fresh, new way.
57:04 All across the world, more and more people are hearing the call
57:07 to examine Scriptures for themselves.
57:09 If you felt drawn to learn more about God's Word, but you don't
57:12 know where to start or you're just looking for a more in-depth
57:15 examination of Bible truths, then I have something right here
57:18 that I believe you're going to enjoy.
57:20 I want to send a series of guides to get you started.
57:22 This one's entitled, "Why Does God Allow Suffering?"
57:25 Each guide begins with a story, an introduction of the subject.
57:28 Then, through a series of focus questions,
57:30 you'll be learning portions of the Bible you may never
57:32 have known before, and when you're through, you'll be able
57:34 to share with others some of these inspiring Bible truths.
57:38 So just call our toll-free number.
57:39 It's on the screen -- 877 -- the two words --
57:42 HIS-WILL. Our friendly operators
57:44 are standing by to send these study guides to you.
57:46 Once again, that's 877-HIS-WILL.
57:49 Call that number, and then, again, join me next week
57:54 right here at the same time. "New Perceptions."
58:00 ♪♪ ♪♪
58:17 ♪♪


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Revised 2019-02-27