Participants:
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000839
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01:00 You know we're gonna sing a song that I think
01:02 is dear to our hearts and we're going to 01:04 rely on your memory to call forth the glory of 01:08 the Lord as we sing, 6:33, "When we all get 01:12 to heaven", that standard that causes us 01:14 to give glory to the Lord, "When we all get 01:17 to heaven what a day a rejoicing 01:19 that shall be", 6:33. 01:45 Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, 01:50 Sing His mercy and His grace. 01:55 In the mansions bright and blessed 01:58 He'll prepare for us a place. 02:02 When we all get to Heaven, 02:07 What a day of rejoicing that will be! 02:11 When we all see Jesus, 02:16 We'll sing and shout the victory! 02:21 While we walk the pilgrim pathway, 02:26 Clouds will overspread the sky; 02:31 But when traveling days are over, 02:35 Not a shadow, not a sigh. 02:39 When we all get to Heaven, 02:43 What a day of rejoicing that will be! 02:48 When we all see Jesus, 02:53 We'll sing and shout the victory! 02:56 Onward to the prize before us! 02:58 Onward to the prize before us! 03:03 Soon His beauty we'll behold; 03:08 Soon the pearly gates will open; 03:13 We shall tread the streets of gold. 03:15 When my friends? 03:16 When we all get to Heaven, 03:21 What a day of rejoicing that will be! 03:26 When we all see Jesus, 03:31 We'll sing and shout the victory! 03:39 Now stand with me this morning as we sing 03:41 our song of hope, "We have this hope 03:44 that burns within our heart Hope in 03:48 the coming of the Lord". 04:02 We have this hope that burns within our hearts, 04:11 Hope in the coming of the Lord. 04:19 We have this faith that Christ alone imparts, 04:28 Faith in the promise of His Word. 04:36 We believe the time is here, 04:41 When the nations far and near 04:45 Shall awake, and shout and sing 04:49 Hallelujah! Christ is King! 04:57 We have this hope that burns within our hearts, 05:06 Hope in the coming of the Lord. 05:17 We have this hope that burns within our hearts, 05:25 Hope in the coming of the Lord. 05:34 We have this faith that Christ alone imparts, 05:43 Faith in the promise of His Word. 05:52 We believe the time is here, 05:56 When the nations far and near 06:00 Shall awake, and shout and sing 06:05 Hallelujah! Christ is King! 06:13 We have this hope that burns within our hearts, 06:23 Hope in the coming of the Lord. 06:35 Amen! 06:39 Good morning. Good morning! I sing in the 06:43 men's chorus called his voice and we go 06:47 by a text in the Bible, John 10:29, My Father 06:54 which gave them to me, I am sorry, 06:58 it's 27, "My sheep hear my voice and I 07:01 know them and they follow me". 07:05 Our Father we come to you this morning, 07:09 we want to know your voice, we want 07:11 to hear your voice. We'd ask that you 07:13 would be with us as we learn more about 07:18 you today and as the program comes 07:22 this morning we want to hear your voice 07:23 and we want to be your children and 07:28 ask Lord that you would guide and direct 07:30 each one of us in our daily lives. 07:33 And as the Holy Spirit touches us this morning, 07:35 let us make sure that we are your sheep 07:39 and we hear your voice. In Jesus 07:42 name we ask these things, amen. 08:11 More about Jesus I would know, 08:16 More of His grace to others show; 08:23 More of His saving fullness see, 08:30 More of His love Who died for me 08:39 More about Jesus; in His Word, 08:45 Holding communion with my Lord; 08:52 Hearing His voice in every line, 08:58 Making each faithful saying mine 09:05 More, more about Jesus, 09:10 More, more about Jesus; 09:16 More of His saving fullness see, 09:23 More of His love Who died for me 09:30 More, more about Jesus, 09:35 More, more about Jesus; 09:42 More of His saving fullness see, 09:49 More of His love Who died for me 09:57 I want to love Jesus more and more. 10:26 Good morning ASI family! We have an exciting 10:30 program for you this morning and so sit 10:32 on and hold on because we're gonna 10:34 try to give you a drink of water through 10:37 a fire hose because we have so much to 10:38 tell you in such a short period of time. 10:41 ASI has taken the initiative tell the 10:44 world and tell them now, there is 10:47 a very important part of our initiative. 10:50 ASI sharing Christ in the market place 10:53 is as same as what we paralleled 10:55 with the church, on working together 10:57 to tell of the soon coming of our Lord 10:59 Jesus Christ. I have with me Pastor 11:02 Mike Ryan from the General Conference 11:04 and Mike how is important is our DVD program? 11:09 Well I think I have an opportunity to look 11:12 at a lot of evangelism initiatives around 11:14 the world and it should come as no secret 11:18 to anyone here that the ones that are 11:20 successful have one foundational element, 11:22 and that is active committed lay people 11:25 who are involved in witness for the Lord 11:28 Jesus Christ. Amen. And where you see that 11:30 taking place those evangelism initiatives 11:33 are successful and so I'd say that the DVD 11:36 program as tremendously important 11:38 because it involves lay people who are committed 11:42 to proclaiming the Gospel to the world. Amen. 11:46 Well ASI family as you know we've been 11:48 involved with the DVD project through the 11:50 years and last year you are very generous 11:52 in your support of taking the DVD program 11:55 to a new level of small groups and sharing 11:58 Christ around the world. How has been 12:01 around the world has, has it affected the whole 12:03 world? It certainly has, as you know 12:05 every year the ratio of Adventist to world 12:10 population that ratio gets smaller. Our church 12:13 is growing, it's one of the churches it's 12:15 growing very rapidly and I think the reason 12:17 is because we have lay people who are committed 12:21 to the mission of the church. Amen. 12:24 And you know, I know that I am gonna introduce 12:28 Viorel Catarama and nobody here is confused 12:31 as to who he is? He is one of the 12:33 visionaries of this DVD program and initiated 12:38 it but you not only were a part of that 12:39 initiation and that initial visioning but 12:41 you have actually be now implementing 12:43 the program. And I know that recently 12:46 you have been to Tanzania and I want 12:48 you to tell me a little bit about that. 12:51 Going to Tanzania was not planned I just 12:54 walked out last year from this convention 12:56 and a lady just stopped me and said 12:58 let's go to Tanzania, said let's go to 12:59 Tanzania. Only when I got there, 13:02 I found out what I said yes because the 13:04 blessings was tremendous not only 13:06 for the 300 people that were present there 13:09 getting trained and receiving the right 13:12 tools to do their evangelist series but 13:14 the blessings to our side as well. 13:16 Well now I know that you took 300 DVD players, 13:19 you trained 300 people they are now 13:21 in motion. Groups are studying across Tanzania 13:23 and you brought three pictures to take our 13:26 audience to Tanzania. I'd like to bring those 13:28 pictures up right now and have you tell us 13:30 what's going on there. We have a beautiful 13:32 students for 2 full days just grasping and 13:38 soaking everything, how to present successful 13:42 evangelist series. We call it Cart Style 13:44 and that part of the word we call it Heart Style. 13:47 You know I can help and interrupt 13:49 you here just a little bit, ASI family look at 13:52 these pictures because you have been partners 13:55 in putting that many people into motion. 13:57 Amen. What are we seeing here? 13:59 At this time we see these people that receive 14:01 their tools to go back to their homes and 14:05 the pictures we had before I interview that 14:08 fellow and I asked where are you coming from? 14:11 He told me the name of the town where he 14:13 is coming from and I said, I am sorry I am 14:14 not good at geography. And then I said could 14:17 you tell me how far is that? So he start 14:19 to tell me that he start two and half days ago, 14:22 he walked on foot for few hours then with 14:25 the boat and train and the bus and finally 14:29 two and half days later he made it to 14:31 the training. He said why are you going home, 14:33 I am in not hurry to get back home because 14:35 I have a group of people waiting for me 14:37 to start this. Yeah, so he made the sacrifice 14:40 in coming but then he also was in a hurry 14:42 to get home because he had a group waiting 14:43 there, listen I wanna thank you for being 14:45 part of our presentation this morning 14:47 and communicating back to people who have 14:50 supported this project. How successful it's 14:52 been in one location from around the world. 14:54 Amen. Thank you very much. Appreciate that, 14:56 our next guest Lynn Bartholomew. 14:59 I you know had a chance to meet you up 15:01 in there little room over planning this thing and 15:03 I was impressed with your enthusiasm for 15:05 this project. I know you recently returned 15:07 from Guatemala and you were involved in 15:10 the distribution and training of DVD players 15:12 there, tell me about that. I heard about the 15:16 DVD players in 7 minutes from last year's 15:19 meeting and I decided that needed to be 15:22 something done and our project gone 15:24 in Guatemala. And we are grateful that we 15:27 did that project like that. Okay and how 15:29 many people were actually involved in the 15:31 program that you initiated. The program 15:35 we're initiated in the drilling program down 15:37 there, we had about 40 people down there 15:39 last year and we just need out reach along 15:42 going with it and that's the way we went. 15:44 Okay, now recently you went there with 50 DVD 15:45 players, is that correct? That was at the same 15:47 time, yes sir. Okay and you had some already 15:52 some interesting results from that initial 15:54 results. Tell me about that. Oh yes, 15:56 give these DVD players to these people. 16:01 When I'm asked by a fellow will you teach 16:05 us English? And he says yes but first now 16:08 there's 3 families listening to that. 16:12 Another fellow says I need a church. 16:14 I've got standing room only now, after he has 16:18 had the DVD players for a while. 16:22 Went to church one Sabbath, thatch roof, 16:25 sitting on boards, that seven year old gave 16:32 us a lesson from new beginnings. 16:37 I didn't have him in my class and it was 16:40 only a week after the DVD players had gone 16:42 out but what an inspiration and 16:45 another fellow. He walked two hours for 16:49 Wednesday evening meetings and after 16:52 the meetings he walks two hours home in 16:56 those jungles. Yeah and you know, 16:59 and I know that when you come to a meeting 17:01 like that you've meet people that are excited 17:03 about the Lord Jesus Christ and they make a 17:06 lot of sacrifice. Absolutely! And it's 17:08 the kind of sacrifice that sometimes in 17:10 a more cozy environment, we don't like 17:12 making those kind and so I am gonna ask 17:14 you something. What did the church leadership 17:16 think of this program there? The church 17:19 leadership evaluated this. I went down 17:21 having not even talk to them about the 17:23 DVD players. We got down there and I ask 17:29 them and communication is a challenge in a 17:31 foreign country especially when 17:33 I don't know the language where people working 17:35 with us and the leadership said yes. 17:39 A week from this Sunday we'd like to have 17:42 you bring these to us, after the program 17:45 the president in the conference says 17:48 I can hear four years ago with responsibility 17:51 of making a conference in Northern Guatemala, 17:58 last September we were officially organized 18:02 there is a conference and he says you have 18:04 just done more for this conference than 18:09 anybody else has. That's fantastic. 18:11 Thank you ASI. That's fantastic, thank you 18:13 again for being, adding to this initiative 18:15 now I understand. Did we show the graphic 18:18 the picture that you brought? Right there, 18:20 that's graphic of DVD players and front are 18:24 the brand new Guatemala Northern 18:25 Conference. And we just say thank you 18:28 to each one. Yeah, ASI what do you say 18:32 to this report when you see that you have 18:34 already 80 people baptized. Thank you 18:37 very much Lynn for being part of our 18:38 program today. Our next guest Barbara 18:42 Taylor and David Weber and I wanna welcome 18:45 you to the program this morning. 18:46 Thank you, thank you very much. We are 18:48 on a little bit of world win tour here and 18:50 as you know we've been to several countries 18:52 already but I know that you recently came 18:54 from three countries in and around America, 18:56 where were you at? We were in Costa Rica, 18:59 Nicaragua and El Salvador. And of course 19:03 the purpose there was to go and distribute 19:05 DVD players. Yes, we trained over 2000 lay 19:09 people. I mean that's just fantastic and 19:13 to think that those DVD players are actually 19:18 in motion and there's little groups 19:20 surrounding those pictures every evening 19:23 and you know that has to touch your heart. 19:26 Barbara what does that mean to you? 19:28 It was the most impressive experience 19:31 that I have ever had I saw an witnessed lay 19:34 people that were so on fire and so dedicated 19:37 to the Lord and His service. We had 19:40 experiences with people that were just beyond 19:43 comparison and if you bring up a couple 19:45 of the slides we can show you what that was 19:50 like in areas. This is a 78 year old grandmother 19:54 that was so excited about sharing Christ, 19:58 she could not stand still. She just was so 20:00 motivated and so excited. She was so prepared 20:03 for the lessons that when she got up to 20:06 show and train, she was ready with her lessons 20:10 to know them and understand what the 20:13 presentation was going to be about. 20:14 That was the most impressive part of it. 20:16 Let's move through with these pictures. 20:17 Yes please, this is here again in El Salvador. 20:20 This is the training that we gave in El 20:22 Salvador, that was just inspiring. 20:25 If you'll notice a lot of these pictures they 20:27 have the same building, well these are buildings 20:29 that were built by Maranatha. So you'll 20:32 see the evangelism centers in Nicaragua, 20:36 Costa Rica and El Salvador where all from 20:39 there. Here again this is in Nicaragua we 20:41 had two young man 19 years old, that were 20:45 willing to travel for 3 days, they had 20:48 to take off from their work and they travel 20:51 not only by land on foot but they traveled 20:55 by horse and they also traveled by boat and 21:00 a bus rather to get there. So these were 21:03 dedicated young people, here again we have 21:06 more people that are just every single one 21:09 of them had an inspiring story I just, 21:12 go ahead. Can you tell me about an 11 year 21:15 old boy that was involved in this program 21:19 just in a sentence or two. Okay, we had 21:20 a 11 year old boy that was so eager and 21:24 had his memory and his mind of a scriptures 21:27 of the holy and of the Bible. He was not 21:30 only ready to teach the lessons but he 21:33 got up and spoke for memory and taught 21:36 the lessons as they were showing up on 21:38 the screen. And I understand you 21:40 had a crime pastor there also. Yes. 21:42 Who was disappointed because. He came 21:45 to me and his tears were flowing down 21:48 his cheeks and he cried and he said I have 21:51 14 churches and we are so poor in our 21:54 area that we couldn't afford to bring anyone 21:57 with us and he just cried and said please, 22:00 please help me to get some more DVDs so 22:03 I can take back to my people. Yeah. And 22:06 we make sure he did. Let me ask David 22:07 a question here very quick, he's been 22:09 standing here. David you know, what was 22:10 your impression going there and being 22:13 involved in this as a young person, of course 22:15 you look like an experienced evangelist 22:16 I can see that, go ahead. Well to me it was 22:19 just such an honor to be involved 22:22 in the program, you know and the youth are not 22:27 the church of tomorrow, they are the church 22:29 of today and it was just really cool to get 22:32 to see all that was happening. 22:34 I understand that there was a quotation said 22:36 about young people on the radio, 22:37 did you remember what that was? Yeah. 22:39 Well what did they say? They said that the 22:41 church doesn't need to try and entertain 22:44 the youth because the church can't compete 22:46 with the world in entertainment but they 22:47 don't have to because sowing is the best joy 22:50 in life that you can find. Okay. Amen. Thank 22:52 you very much for being here and adding 22:55 to the excitement of the program. Chester 23:00 and Harriet Clark are no strangers to ASI 23:03 and again welcome to the Sabbath morning 23:05 program. I understand that you recently 23:07 came back from Bulgaria and a little side touch 23:10 to Turkey, tell me about that. Well, we 23:12 had the thrill of going to Bulgaria and training 23:15 the lay people with the train them now program. 23:18 We have a few slides that one weekend were 23:22 in Sofia and trained something like 300, 23:24 this is the church there in Sofia. We trained 23:27 about 300 lay people with the DVD program 23:32 and here they are excitedly holding up 23:34 their boxes of DVD players. And the next 23:38 weekend we were at a gypsy camp meeting 23:41 in Cushendale and there were 2 or 3000 people 23:44 there and we had the privilege of training 23:46 about 65 of those lay men there and also 23:50 in Sofia there were a few that came across 23:53 the border from Turkey. Okay, so in total 23:56 in Bulgaria you distributed how many DVD 23:58 players? About 400. About 400! You know I 24:02 don't know how this comes on your ears 24:04 but that's 400 little evangelism meetings 24:07 that are taking place in a country like that. 24:09 So you know, I know that you know it just 24:11 strikes me is thrilling. I know that you 24:13 brought some other pictures, I'd like to 24:14 move through those as we can and it represents 24:17 a story I believe and Harriet can you tell 24:19 us a story of some other things that taken 24:21 place there. This couple are being ministered 24:26 to by lay men who were trained at the meeting 24:29 in Sofia that actually been visiting this 24:32 couple for about 2 years. The husband 24:34 was a university professor but he was 24:36 stricken with polio and he had spent 40 years 24:39 in a hospital specializing with polio 24:42 patients. And the wife had advanced diabetes 24:45 and they were very needy couple. And the 24:47 lay people who had been going and giving 24:49 them treatments bringing them food, 24:51 they are actually even built a ramp for the 24:54 wheelchair, but they didn't know how to 24:55 transition into a spiritual message for 24:58 them. And so when they came and they 25:00 received the training, they were just so 25:01 excited and that very week they took 25:04 the program to their home wondering how 25:07 this couple would react and the couple loved 25:09 that. And so every week they are going 25:11 back and giving them the DVD program. 25:14 That's fantastic now, you know you told me 25:16 about another little story too and I said 25:19 if we had time and we've got just a few 25:21 seconds here you can share that with us. 25:23 What else took place there that really 25:25 inspired you? Well, it was really exciting 25:27 to go see the Gypsies and learn of their love 25:30 for the Lord and when we did the training session 25:32 for the Gypsies, there was a 15 year old girl 25:35 who attended. The next week when we are 25:37 in Sophia she came to our meeting to again 25:40 go through the training program and she 25:42 told us how she'd already began holding meetings 25:44 and she had 6 adults attending her meeting. 25:47 I tell you, that's just fantastic amen. 25:49 It was really exciting. Let me just ask this 25:52 question in general you know, you and 25:53 I went to school together Chester, so I know 25:56 that you didn't take homiletics and you 25:57 know these things. You were involved in science 25:59 and a few things. Would you recommend this 26:01 to people here, can they become involved 26:03 not only in conducting the meetings but in 26:05 the training and distribution of these 26:06 DVD players. Yes and I would definitely 26:08 encourage it, I've been on many mission trips. 26:11 I pulled hundreds of teeth but knowing that 26:13 we are training an equipping lay people 26:16 to relief pain and suffering for 26:18 eternity is an added dimension that it gives 26:21 us a tremendous amount of satisfaction. 26:23 Thank you for coming and adding some excitement 26:25 and little bit initiative to this DVD program, 26:28 thank you so much. I think Tine Finley and 26:37 Crystal Catarama and Mike Ortel. I wanna 26:40 welcome you to our program. Thank you. 26:41 Thank you. And I now that lot of people, 26:44 they say that evangelism is dead in North 26:50 America is that true Ernestine? No way. 26:55 I know that we are here to talk about this so 26:57 I know you not long ago are returning to 27:00 Portland Maine, why are you doing that? 27:01 I am returning to Portland Maine because 27:04 first of all the Holy Spirit is convicted me 27:07 to go back to the city and the place where 27:09 I grew up and was converted to Christ 27:13 and also where the message began and 27:16 where we are counseled to go back to 27:19 preach the Three Angels Message powerfully 27:22 where the 1st and 2nd angels message were 27:24 praying. Okay, so you had it back there in 27:26 September? Yes. Did you have a plan? 27:27 Oh we have a very comprehensive plan, 27:30 we have a full scale, developed a full scale 27:34 plan and in fact an evangelistic count down 27:37 calendar for that series of meetings. We're 27:41 going to be doing health. We're already 27:44 in our health meetings and we have had ship 27:46 program and lifestyle matters and depression 27:51 recovery and a number of things. And we 27:52 have a 127 Bible studies going because 27:55 we have young people doing Bible studies 27:58 and door to door work. So a very 27:59 comprehensive preprogram in 28:02 preparation for the evangelistic meetings. 28:04 Now it's my understanding that you have 250 DVD 28:07 players that they have distributed it already. 28:09 Yes, we've been blessed because of the fact 28:12 that ASI has joined us and this trust is gone 28:14 beyond Portland Maine although we started 28:17 there, we're going through out the 28:18 conference, and ASI leadership has taken on 28:21 the challenge to come and help us so that we 28:24 can have an evangelistic trust in Bangor and 28:27 Augusta the capital and young people developing 28:30 a plan in Camden Maine and then I am going 28:35 to have an evangelistic series in the university 28:38 of Maine in Portland and we have that's 28:41 beginning September 28 to November 3 28:45 and so we have a very comprehensive plan 28:48 where the conference is involved and lay people, 28:51 young people, we're excited. Well, I can 28:54 tell yeah you are excited and of course 28:55 I have known you and you are a person who you 28:58 know, adds that initiative and makes 28:59 things go. Listen, you know just as side note 29:02 since we are in North America actually 29:03 this is just a little sample of us taking 29:05 place to lot of places in North America. Church 29:07 growth is alive in North America and also 29:09 church planting and that's truly. Let me 29:11 just come to Crystal if I can, you are a young 29:14 person. You look like you are an experienced 29:15 evangelist and you've had, you probably 29:19 haven't had a lot experience with 29:21 evangelism but how did this program, how 29:24 did it impress you? Well because of this 29:27 program I am committed to the mission of 29:29 a church and also when you think about it 29:32 and you have so many people who have been 29:34 trained and are doing these sermons in their 29:36 homes and churches. More people are getting 29:39 to know Christ and this is what we want 29:41 because our motto is train the world, I mean 29:44 "tell the world tell them now". And so in 29:47 answer to the question why are you involved 29:48 in this, you are just saying it's because you 29:50 want to be involved in God's mission. Yeah. 29:52 What would you say to young people who are 29:53 watching you right now? Don't be afraid 29:55 to do what the God is calling you to do. 29:59 That's fantastic, thank you Crystal for that. 30:01 PastorMike let me just ask you a question here, 30:03 how important is this program to the North 30:05 Eastern Conference? Northern New England 30:08 Conference! Northern New England Conference, 30:10 I am sorry. It's very important in the fact 30:11 that we have so few Adventists in 30:13 that area where the cradle of Adventism 30:15 where it all began. We have such a low 30:18 percentage of Adventist ratio around the 30:21 world there's one Adventist for 30:22 480 people. There it's one Adventist for 30:25 every 668 people, so you can see the work 30:30 is needing to go out and Tiny and ASI has 30:32 just made this thing begin to start a fire. 30:35 We got lay people train 300 to do this work. 30:39 That's what I was gonna ask you, do you see 30:40 a response among the members in that area 30:43 to through this program? Yes, we were 30:45 anticipating when ASI came to do training 30:47 weekends that we would. You know, in my mind 30:50 I am thinking if we get 20 people per area and 30:53 it ended up being 50 people, never had 30:55 enough materials that people came out and 30:57 drove in, committed and signed up for this 30:59 program. Okay, we had three graphics till they 31:01 come up, let's take our members. I think 31:04 we had three pictures for this and I just 31:06 want to know very quickly what we're looking 31:07 at here. Oh these are people who came and did 31:12 the instruction, ASI leaders and who are 31:14 very grateful. Okay, let's go to the next 31:16 one move through them if you would. 31:17 There is a lay person in Augusta Maine, who is 31:21 doing his trial learn of being a speaker at one 31:24 of these meetings. Fantastic! And there we 31:27 see the same thing happening of a lady 31:30 who is wanting to commit herself and finding 31:32 people that were just didn't have a 31:35 inspiration at all, now they become 31:37 a fire want to see God's word go. Yeah, 31:40 so would you be opposed if a quiet 31:42 a few of these people here would come to. 31:43 If they would fall in fear we will find places 31:46 where they can preach, they can do a Bible 31:48 studies, whatever it might be we're excited. 31:50 That's great, I wanna thank the three of you 31:51 for coming. Thank you. And just giving us a 31:53 small picture was taking place in the North 31:55 American division, thank you very much. 31:56 Thank you, bye, bye. Very good! 31:58 Our next "guest", who is better known than 32:06 you guys? You know, Denzil I understand 32:09 that you are going to be asking some 32:12 questions now. Yes, Dwight and I and Elder 32:17 Ryan went to in March. Where did we go 32:19 Dwight? We went to Jakarta, Indonesia. 32:22 And what did we do there? Well, we 32:24 conducted a training seminar and preparation 32:27 for evangelism and Denzil if you wouldn't 32:30 mind I'd like to just do a little flash back. 32:33 Please. How many of you were in Grand Rapids, 32:37 Michigan in the year 2000, were you there? 32:41 I see a lot of hands there. You know one 32:44 of the things that I remember from that time 32:46 was the moment our program when we had 32:52 several people who came out and read in 32:54 different languages the Bible and elder Paulson 32:57 came the very last one and then on the 33:00 screen they flashed the pictures from the new 33:04 beginnings DVD program concerning people 33:07 in Africa. The excitement that took place 33:10 there I thought could not be excelled. 33:14 But you know through the use of training, 33:17 the new beginnings DVD program has been 33:21 taken to a whole new level. God has 33:23 let in a way that I believe is absolutely 33:26 fantastic. Amen. And that's what we were 33:28 doing. Amen. We were training people to 33:30 use the DVD players in the settings of 33:34 evangelism in their homes and little meeting 33:38 places or whatever else to spread the Gospel, 33:41 the Lord Jesus Christ in that area. And how 33:45 many people did we train? We got some 33:46 pictures let's see the pictures. Well we 33:49 started out with the concept that we will 33:52 train 500 people and we took DVD players there 33:55 and we took 1200 discs. And that Sabbath 33:59 morning as you can see right there on 34:01 the screen the building was filled and we have 34:05 people even on the outside and there was 34:07 over a thousand that showed up that morning. 34:09 Yes, you can see in the picture as actually 34:11 I went out behind and there were people 34:13 standing out in grass there and they had 34:17 projectors because they're so far that they 34:19 could not see it from inside the building. 34:21 And the excitement level was such that you 34:24 could hardly believe was taking place the picture 34:28 on there where we were giving the pastors 34:30 the boxes of DVD players and these DVD 34:35 players were to be assigned to the lay people 34:38 to conduct the studies in their homes and various 34:41 places and one of the things that we did 34:44 was each person who received the DVD player 34:47 made a commitment to use it at least 3 times 34:52 each year for 2 years. And that these DVD 34:57 players were committed totally to the 35:00 use of evangelism, they weren't to take them 35:03 to play the latest movies or what ever like that 35:05 but to use them evangelism. After we did 35:09 the training Mike what happened? Well 35:12 I just came back from Indonesia, matter 35:16 of fact last Sabbath I was standing in 35:17 an auditorium with about 12000 people in it. 35:22 Amen. and it was at conclusion of some 35:24 reaping meeting so that was a direct result 35:26 of the DVD program. We have a video and 35:30 I'd like to go to that video right now if we 35:32 could and I wanna take this audience to 35:34 Jakarta, Indonesia. Jakarta, Indonesia 35:36 immediately is 14 million people and in the 35:40 extended Megalopolis it is 22 million people. 35:45 It is a very typical city in some sense as you 35:49 see huge diversity there; every world religion 35:53 is represented in that city. It is also 35:56 represented by various scales of economy 35:58 and as you take a look at that city as 36:03 many of the cities in the world, you ask 36:05 yourself the question, how can the church rise 36:08 to the challenge of evangelism? Amen. 36:10 And I can tell you that this DVD program 36:14 that was initiated in March has electrified 36:18 the membership and the leadership of the 36:20 Jakarta conference, they have been excited 36:23 about this program and of course they not 36:26 only had the 500 but then they had to extend 36:28 it to 750. They conducted 31 reaping meetings 36:34 simultaneously starting two weeks ago on 36:37 a Friday night. Well actually on a Sabbath 36:41 really and they had people come in from 36:45 all over Jakarta to these 31 meetings and so 36:49 they you know I happen to be one of the 36:52 presenters at the meetings. We had 36:54 an average attendance of 18000 or 19000 37:01 each evening and what was interesting that 37:05 as you look down on the audience that you 37:07 found that there were 9000 of them that were 37:11 not members of our church. Amen. So, 37:13 probably half or little more than half were 37:16 9 members and it reached out to the various 37:20 cultures. This happens to be a mediate took 37:22 place focused on the Chinese. As many of you 37:26 know I have chance to look at a lot f 37:28 evangelism programs from around the world. 37:30 The city of Jakarta on the scale of difficulty 37:33 is one of the more difficult cities in the 37:36 world but I am not going to mention why but 37:38 for those of you do just casual reading, 37:40 you know why. And so it was thrilling to 37:44 see the people respond and come forward 37:47 actually they started last Sabbath with a huge 37:53 rally where they brought all of the people who 37:56 would committed their lives to Christ. They 37:58 were involved in the small group program; 37:59 they have 687 small groups taking place 38:03 in Jakarta as I speak right now. Amen. 38:06 And that's was taking place as a result 38:08 of these DVD players and so we had 38:10 this rally where everybody came 38:12 togetherlast Sabbath I was there in the 38:14 platform 12000 people and a tremendous 38:19 percentage of them were not members, 38:21 they had come there because they have a new 38:23 hope and that hope is been because there 38:26 had been ASI members that have committed 38:29 themselves to providing a DVD program 38:30 from around the world. And so at the 38:33 conclusion of this we went to the a little 38:36 swimming pool and we had the opportunity 38:39 of witnessing a baptism there, a mass baptism. 38:42 Those that have been baptized in the past 38:48 four weeks as a result to this program, 38:50 last Sabbath and then this Sabbath they 38:53 are having a special baptism that involves 38:55 about 350 people. The total is 1,638 have 39:03 made an initial decision for the Lord Jesus 39:05 Christ. Amen. And there is a meeting that will 39:10 take place in our October another reaping 39:13 meeting as a result of this DVD program and 39:17 it they are anticipating that probably a vast 39:22 majority of those 9000 that are attending will 39:25 make a decision for the Lord. Amen. 39:27 Mike we have Dr. Simmons here from the, 39:30 is a Vice President of The General Conference 39:32 and Dr. Simmons, you were involved in this 39:34 reaping series? I certainly was 39:36 and I'll say Solomon Sabbath, I learn to 39:39 say happy Sabbath there in Bahasa. 39:42 I was part of this wonderful, most 39:45 wonderful and glorious experience I have 39:48 experience in public speaking. That's been 39:51 part of my life for quiet sometime, so that 39:53 was not new to me but there was something 39:56 different about this. I even came into 39:59 the church through an evangelistic effort 40:03 such as this one, right here in this city 40:05 Louisville Kentucky, my home town. 40:07 So all of that was familiar but I never 40:11 been to evangelist before. How did it 40:15 go for you? It went just wonderful, 40:18 it went smoothly; it was exciting from 40:21 beginning to end. When we arrive there 40:24 a week ago on Friday, we were reminded 40:28 that we would all speak at one of the local 40:30 churches on Sabbath. So I went to my Lee Church, 40:33 the Salinda church in my group. The church 40:36 was packed; there were people there from 40:38 every where. I sort of identified about 40:41 45 or 50 guests who had been part of the small 40:45 groups. I was later told that there were 40:47 a 100 there. These were people who had worked 40:50 through the relationships in the small groups 40:54 and had already made a decision to follow 40:57 Christ with all that they were learning and 41:00 I brought the sermon that day and it started 41:04 and just did not stop until we engaged in 41:08 that wonderful celebration of 41:09 baptism last Sabbath. Actually from your side 41:12 you had how many baptized? Well I was 41:15 told that, that day we had about 200 people 41:18 there and I think a 150 people actually were 41:22 baptized last Sabbath. Fantastic! From that 41:24 just a one site that she came from. 41:28 Isn't that wonderful? Amen. How has the small 41:35 groups and being involved with the preparation 41:38 work and the follow up work been as far 41:40 as bringing the people closer to Jesus. 41:43 This is the key. The small groups and the 41:46 training that took place in preparation for the 41:50 small group work is just the key. There would 41:52 have been no reaping whatsoever had there 41:55 not been all of that work, the relationship 41:59 building, loving people and systematically 42:02 and methodically teaching and training 42:05 people in the word overtime. I could 42:09 tell in my group we had 600 to 800 people 42:14 present at our meetings every night and 42:16 more than 600 were guests we would call them 42:19 guests. Those who were seeking the Lord 42:21 and I guess there is administrator in me 42:24 and a lot of teacher in me. So I learned the 42:28 faces of the individuals, not the names but the 42:31 faces and I spoke each night, I could gauge 42:35 the level of understanding and 42:37 acceptance. I could tell who had been 42:40 through the small group experience, who 42:41 already understood and then of course there 42:44 were those who were new. So of course I had 42:46 to make some adjustments and how I 42:47 presented the word but the small group 42:51 experience is the key to at all. And I am totally 42:55 committed to that, I totally support it 42:57 and I will do this again. Amen. And what's 43:00 exciting about that is not what's happening 43:02 today but what is happening for the future 43:04 in Jakarta. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely 43:07 you know in October they were gonna have 43:10 another reaping meeting and I may mentioned 43:12 the fact that well we baptized a thousand 43:13 six plus, 600 plus, but in October I keep 43:19 thinking of the 9000, there were 43:22 non-members who were attending those 43:24 meetings and according to the leadership 43:26 they will have enough time to have gone 43:28 through those programs, but we expect that 43:30 there will be probably a much larger baptism 43:32 at that time. So the DVD program has been 43:34 tremendous. I think probably the thing it 43:36 impressed me most about it was it has inspired 43:39 and given vision to a church there that really 43:42 struggles under some unusually difficult 43:44 circumstances. That's right. Brothers 43:47 and Sisters I've been involved in a lot of 43:49 evangelism activities throughout the years 43:51 and the thing that I have noticed more than 43:53 anything else is when I see the joy as pastor 43:56 Ryan has just said of lay people realizing 43:59 they could do more to tell others about Jesus, 44:01 there is nothing that brings more happiness 44:04 then seeing other people telling others about 44:07 Jesus and training them. Yeah. You know, 44:09 we've been here; we have visited a few 44:11 countries now. Yes. And in this little interview 44:14 trying to give a report back to this body on 44:17 what's been taking place with DVD players but 44:19 I can tell you that it's just a Micronism of 44:21 what is taking place around the world. There 44:24 are places Denzil that you and I have been with 44:25 this DVD program, we didn't even report on 44:27 today. Well we can't. Yeah, I mean they 44:28 are thousands and thousands of 44:30 these players and groups that are taking place 44:32 around the world and I tell you what impresses 44:35 about it. Because at its foundation, 44:38 evangelism and church growth is only going 44:41 to be successful as the membership rises 44:44 to the commission that Jesus left for us. 44:46 It's not going to be a pay thing, it's done by 44:49 workers this kind of things but it's going 44:51 to be a joint effort working together and I 44:53 have seen that in this DVD program. 44:55 Brothers and sisters we all have a important 44:58 part to play in the soon coming of our Lord 45:00 Jesus Christ. Let's each one of us make a 45:03 commitment to share Christ in our market 45:05 place, share Christ all over the world tell 45:08 everyone we can about Jesus because they can 45:11 tell someone and they can tell someone 45:12 and it won't be long till we can be home 45:15 in heaven, thank you. Thank you very much. |
Revised 2014-12-17