Participants:
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000985
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06:14 Welcome to ASI Video Magazine. I am Conna Bond.
06:18 I'd look like it, okay, today 06:23 one of the best things about being an ASI member 06:25 is that you many opportunities to collaborate 06:28 with other. Yes, okay that's right, good, got it, 06:34 some have ideas, some have resources, 06:35 some have time and energy. Okay. 06:38 The One-Day Church is one of those ideas, 06:43 a solid steel structure church, 06:49 design an affordable steel church structure kit, 06:51 an affordable steel church structure kit. 06:54 Ideas, resources, time and energy. 06:55 Some have ideas, some have resources, 06:58 and some, some have resources 07:03 and some have the time and energy to make those ideas 07:05 come to live. Okay, okay, we're going to do this. 07:14 Okay. Welcome to ASI Video Magazine, I am Conna Bond. 07:17 Today, we'll visit two mission projects here 07:19 in Southern Africa, where ASI members are meeting 07:22 the physical and spiritual needs of people in Zambia, 07:25 and Tanzania. In both of these countries, 07:27 there is a whole lot of building going on. 07:43 Good morning, I'm Conna Bond, and for the past year 07:47 I have been serving a Communication Director 07:48 for ASI, and it has been the most amazing experience, 07:51 the most amazing blessing to me. 07:53 As a little girl I always wanted to go traveling 07:56 around the world. My parents had been 07:57 missionaries, my older brother and sisters 07:59 grew up in the mission field, 08:00 and I wanted to travel too but those opportunities 08:02 never came until last March ASI sent me to Africa, 08:06 I went to Zambia and Tanzania. 08:08 They ask me to make two more episodes 08:11 of the ASI Video Magazine, 08:13 and I felt completely unequipped for the task, 08:16 and as you can see I learned by trial and error. 08:19 And over the past ten or so years, 08:21 I have worked as a team with my husband. 08:23 He is a designer, a graphic designer, 08:26 and I have been a writer, 08:27 and I have worked with many people, who are creative 08:30 and who are known as being very creative people. 08:33 And I know that many of you have not concept 08:36 of what goes into creating a video, or a painting, 08:40 or a piece of music. It took my husband 08:42 and I probably eight hours to create just that 08:45 little short three minute video for you. 08:47 I had to choose between just twenty five photos 08:51 of Africa from thousands that I took while 08:54 I was there, and I wanted them to represent 08:56 the package of what Africa was like, 08:58 what it tasted like, what it felt like, 08:59 what it smelled like. I wanted you to feel like 09:02 you were there, but I can only choose a few photos. 09:05 People call this process of making choices 09:08 and creating a visual or a 09:10 musical product, creativity. 09:13 And I have pondered that concept of creativity 09:17 many times over the years, and I has some convictions 09:20 about it that I like to share 09:22 with you this morning. 09:23 I have often seen people approach a musician 09:26 or an artist and say something like 09:28 that was such a beautiful song, you're so gifted, 09:30 you're so talented, and there's almost 09:33 a wistfulness in their voices as if to say 09:35 I wish I had gifts and talents like that. 09:38 And that has bothered me and I tried for years 09:40 to figure out why and I've come to this conclusion. 09:44 I believe that we as humans don't understand 09:48 the Biblical concept of creativity. 09:51 I think our definition is too narrow. 09:54 Maybe we missed the boat all together. 09:56 Let me ask you and share this with you in the context 10:00 of this question. When the Lord created wheat, 10:03 and then we grounded into flour, 10:06 and we made a loaf of bread. 10:07 Did the Lord look down and say wow, what a great idea, 10:11 I never though of that. 10:15 The Bible says there is nothing new under the sun, 10:19 that most certainly is true with God. 10:21 I believe that we cannot surprise him. 10:24 And I am convinced that everyone of our actions 10:27 is one of two things it's either creative 10:30 or destructive, and that means 10:33 we are either building up the kingdom of God, 10:36 or we are tearing it down. 10:38 We as humans are incapable of creating 10:41 anything out of nothing. 10:44 Does that concept disturb you? I am afraid 10:48 we often like to take credit where credit 10:50 is not due, but the simple fact is we do not create, 10:54 but we do participate in the creative process, 10:58 and I've been convicted of this for years 11:00 but just a few days ago I came across 11:02 this wonderful quote by Ellen White. 11:04 She writes, a human artist receives 11:08 his intelligence from God. You could put 11:10 any word there, a human physician, a human teacher, 11:14 a human artist receives his intelligence from God, 11:17 he can only fashion his work in any line 11:20 to perfection from materials 11:23 already prepared for his work. 11:25 In his finite power he could not create, 11:28 and make his materials to serve his purpose, 11:30 if the great designer had not been before him, 11:34 giving him the very improvements 11:36 first in his imagination. 11:39 The Lord God commands things into his, into being. 11:43 He was the first designer. He is not dependent on man, 11:47 but graciously invites man's attention 11:50 and cooperates with him in progressive 11:53 and higher designs. What did God use to create? 12:00 Can you tell me? His word. 12:05 Nothing will make you more creative than reading 12:09 his word, communicating his word, 12:12 living his word out in your life. 12:15 When you speak words of encouragement 12:17 you are being creative. When you are patient, kind, 12:21 gentle and understanding you are being creative. 12:24 When you heal the sick and comfort the broken hearted, 12:28 you are being creative. You are building up 12:32 the kingdom of God, and you are rebelling against 12:35 the destructive forces that are trying to tear it down. 12:40 Now the nice thing about this is that 12:41 it frees us up to truly appreciate each other's 12:45 contributions and efforts. When you tell a musician 12:49 thank you for that beautiful song 12:51 or you tella pastor I really appreciated that sermon, 12:54 you are simply saying thank you for choosing 12:58 to participate in the creative process. 13:00 Thank you for letting God use you for choosing 13:04 to be creative instead of destructive. 13:07 We're commanded to encourage one and another 13:10 and build each other up and that means having 13:13 appreciation for each other's efforts. 13:16 One last thought, that quote pointed to God 13:19 is the great designer, and that means 13:21 and this is the best news. He is the one 13:24 who does the editing in your life. 13:26 He chooses what will be part of your final story. 13:30 He selects the twenty five pictures that will represent 13:34 the trend of your choices in your life. 13:37 You may feel like your life is a series of outtakes 13:40 and blunders like you saw on the screen today, 13:44 but I promise to his mercy and grace, those mistakes 13:47 and those blunders will not make the final cut. 13:50 He will present you in the light of his righteousness 13:53 and through the lenses of his wisdom not yours. 13:58 And that's the good news that is the good news 14:01 that we have to share with the world. 14:03 Now having redefined creativity 14:05 I like to introduce you to some friends 14:07 that I've had the opportunity to meet 14:08 over the past year. I get to talk to a lot of ASI members 14:12 and these are people who are building up 14:14 the kingdom of God. These are creative people 14:16 and first of all I like to introduce you 14:18 to two young men I met, I just met them 14:20 a few weeks ago at the General Conference session, 14:22 and I interviewed them on the Adventist Mission stage. 14:25 It was a wonderful experience, 14:27 they were so inspiring to me. 14:28 These young men represent what we talk about, 14:31 what we heard about last night in the sermon, 14:33 they are not normal, and when you listen to them 14:36 share their story, you will know why. 14:38 This is Jose Suazo and Jesse Zwicker, 14:42 they are both twenty four, but they met when 14:44 they were both about eighteen, 14:45 and they were attending European Bible school. 14:48 Tell us a little bit about what happened 14:51 when you met and what you are doing now. 14:54 Well at the European Bible school we were receiving 14:57 some training, some tools on how we as young people 15:00 could be effective missionaries, 15:01 and that when I encountered this guy. 15:04 He is actually from Switzerland, 15:06 and God has all these heavenly appointments, 15:08 and he helps you meet just the right people 15:10 at the right, amen. Amen. 15:12 And so I managed to meet this guy, 15:14 and I was telling him about my experience 15:16 as an Adventist, well my short experiences 15:19 as an Adventist because I didn't have the privilege 15:21 of being born in the precious truth 15:24 that we as Adventists have, 15:26 and so I was relating with him, 15:28 and we had the same burden of doing mission work 15:30 and I was telling him about this place in Honduras 15:33 where I felt that the Lord had called me 15:36 to start doing the work, and he would tell me 15:38 how he was inspired to go do the same thing 15:41 in Switzerland, and I was trying to persuade 15:43 come on Jesse, lets go to Honduras, 15:45 and lets work in Honduras. 15:46 Now this has not always been the vision that 15:48 you had for you lives right. 15:49 What did you see yourself doing Jesse 15:52 before this all came together? 15:54 Well, I grow up in Switzerland, 15:56 and in Switzerland you know Adventism 15:58 is not very strongly defined in many areas. 16:01 So I was an Adventist and I would go to church 16:04 and do you know the things on Sabbath 16:06 but I had my own life, I like to play the drums, 16:10 I would go all over Germany and Switzerland 16:13 and do tours and play the drums and playing the bass 16:16 and doing all that nice things that I like to do 16:19 till God, he's like, he's like come on, 16:22 do something smart you know. 16:26 So your calling, like you said at the 16:28 general conference session, your calling 16:29 was not to preach the drums then. 16:31 He had another message for you to share. 16:33 I would always read Matthew 28, 16:35 and you know all these gospel commissions, I was, 16:38 you know go and play the drums on to every nation 16:40 right this is what I would dream, and then suddenly 16:43 I started reading it again 16:44 and I'm like like preach the Gospel. 16:46 I don't know how to preach the Gospel of every nation, 16:49 how am I going to do this you know, 16:50 I need to get some training, so that's where 16:52 I decided I needed to go to Norway 16:54 to this European Bible school. 16:55 In all of Switzerland there is no mission school. 16:58 There is no mission school in all of 16:59 or there was no mission school in all of Germany 17:01 and so forth. So I went to Norway and met this guy, 17:05 and this is the guy that got me 17:06 into this whole mess. So tell us about 17:09 this whole mess that you have been going on 17:11 in Honduras. You went back home, 17:13 now you hadn't been brought up, you weren't a Adventist, 17:15 you went to, was it Laurelbrook Academy, 17:17 an aunt sent you there, I guess you like some of the 17:20 missionary kids that came down from there 17:21 and decided you needed to go to school there, 17:23 so what happened there. 17:24 Well, actually what happened is that 17:26 I was not born in an Adventist church, 17:27 actually my mother was evangelical. 17:29 There was only three people that could preach 17:30 in her evangelical church, the pastor, 17:32 another old guy and my mother. 17:34 And so we were raised as Christians, 17:36 but we have never encountered 17:37 the wonderful truths as we as Adventists have 17:39 and this mission trip from this academy in the States 17:42 came over and stayed in my aunt's camp. 17:44 My aunt is also a leader in the evangelical church, 17:46 and she was so impressed that these young people, 17:48 how these young people were able to get out 17:51 of their comfort zone, preach the Gospel, 17:53 build churches and do all these exciting things, 17:55 and she says this has to be something 17:58 that I want for my daughter, 18:00 so she send my cousin, and you know how aunts are 18:02 and so my aunt goes to my house and tells my mother 18:05 and tells my family about it, 18:06 and I felt the Holy Spirit 18:07 calling me to go to this school. 18:08 I went to the school, I was arguing like crazy 18:11 because I did not understand hell, 18:12 what are you talking about, there is no hell. 18:13 There is hell, it's in the Bible. But then I guess, 18:16 I really don't know why they accept non-Adventist 18:19 into Adventist schools, but I praise the Lord 18:22 because the Dean asked me to study the Bible 18:25 and I was studying the amazing facts guide book 18:28 and I just ate everything up. I could not believe 18:32 that I didn't know all these things before, 18:35 and so I accepted the Adventist message, 18:36 got baptized, and actually the day after 18:39 I got baptized I had to preach on the mark 18:41 of the beast you know because Laurelbrook 18:43 has a very intensive Bible program, 18:45 and so they teach you all these things 18:47 and then I had this bread in almost in anger. 18:49 I could not believe that we as Seventh-day Adventists 18:51 have the truth, have all these 18:53 wonderful precious truths, 18:55 and I have never known about it. 18:56 So I had this burden, and so I felt 18:58 the calling from the Lord to go 19:00 and start a mission project in Honduras, 19:01 and so I went home and I told my parents 19:04 about everything that had happened 19:05 and I told them you know I am not interested 19:06 in anything else. What I want to do 19:08 is serve the Lord. And you know 19:09 what my father told me. He grabbed my by the shoulder 19:12 and he says Jose everything that I have I believe God 19:15 has given to me, so that you can start this project 19:17 and I believe the Holy Spirit has been guiding you 19:20 all this time and we support everything 19:23 that you do. And he was not an Adventist 19:24 at that point right. 19:25 And he was not an Adventist at that point. 19:26 So then I called Laurelbrook Academy 19:28 and I told them hey you guys got me into this mess. 19:30 So now you guys have to come and help me. 19:31 And so they came down, they did a mission trip, 19:33 they started building up a church 19:35 because we were working in a community 19:37 where there was no church, 19:38 and then I called European Bible school 19:40 and I told them hey you guys got me into this mess, 19:41 so now you guys have to come and help me, 19:43 and they send the mission trip, 19:44 they held the first evangelistic campaign 19:45 in this community. The first day the building 19:48 was packed full. There were people that 19:51 were waiting outside, waiting to listen 19:53 to the new truth of the Adventist message. 19:54 In the end of the evangelistic series 19:56 they made an altar call and a few people stood up 19:58 to accept the Adventist message, 20:00 and to be baptized and one of the people that stood up 20:02 was actually my father, and I praise the Lord 20:05 because God knows exactly. 20:07 You can never know where you're going 20:09 to be but wherever you are if you are witness 20:11 like these young people were in this camp 20:13 doing this mission work. God can use that 20:15 and the ways of that are so profound you will not 20:18 even know about it. I bet you that 20:20 all these young people that were there did not imagine 20:22 all the consequences of what they were going to do 20:25 there in this mission trip. 20:26 And I want to clarify when we talk about 20:27 the Adventist message. We are talking about whatever 20:29 this book says, right. We follow this book, 20:32 this is what we ready. We do what it says and that 20:34 is the Adventist message. Now tell me Jesse, how 20:37 did you join in and end up in Honduras from Norway. 20:40 Well you went back home to Switzerland, right. 20:42 Yeah I was in Norway, we would talk about there 20:45 but I was not involved in that 20:46 because I wanted to start my own project 20:47 in Switzerland, right, but then God you know 20:50 how he is you know, he leads you 20:52 and actually he led me to Bogenhofen to study 20:54 theology, to become a pastor. 20:57 So I was there studying theology 20:58 and he was this guy out in Honduras 21:01 you know his father has just donated the property, 21:04 and so he would call me actually through MSN 21:06 he would write to me. He's like Jesse you know 21:09 we just got this property donated, 21:11 I got this mission trip to come to it, 21:12 built the church you know, guy you need to come 21:15 and help me. I don't have, 21:16 I don't have anybody here helping me, 21:17 you know come on over. And I am like okay, 21:21 this is you know when God calls you 21:24 to do mission work, we don't have a lot of choice, 21:26 right. So I prayed just to be sure 21:29 and booked the ticket and we went over 21:32 and that's where we joined in all of these. 21:34 I started, you know I had no clue about Spanish 21:37 and I didn't know one single word, 21:40 actually I knew is and no right, that's about it. 21:42 But I went there and I came out, 21:45 I brought this Spanish Bible, 21:46 and I would go to this community right 21:48 we would do outreach and so forth 21:49 and I would go to them and just show them 21:51 the Bible verses and say read this you know, 21:54 and they would read it right and then they would tell me 21:57 stuff I am just like, sure you know, that's good, 22:00 but so I would go to the next text and so forth, 22:05 this is how the whole thing started, 22:07 so but the desire was there. 22:09 You were nineteen at that time, right, 22:10 you were nineteen when you started. Yes. 22:11 And you're both twenty four now. 22:12 So what is going on down there now. 22:14 You have a school going, 22:16 you're starting a lifestyle center, 22:18 and its all been started by the two of you 22:19 and a group of other people about your age, right. 22:22 Well, praise the Lord, you know we have 22:24 you know God is so merciful you know 22:26 he sends us so many young people, 22:28 other young people actually all of our, 22:30 we have about twenty young people all over from, 22:34 all over the world, from Poland, from Brazil, 22:36 from Switzerland, Germany, from Venezuela 22:41 and so forth, and all of them are just there, 22:43 they are all like below twenty eight years old. 22:45 But we all are working for the common goal, 22:49 and we have this mission school going on, 22:51 actually we have the privilege of training 22:53 young people to do mission work, 22:55 to do effective mission work in Bible evangelism, 22:57 medical missionary work and leadership to be able to 23:01 start new mission schools and new lifestyle centers 23:03 all over, all over Central America 23:05 and around the world, right. 23:07 So that's the goal of the mission schooling. 23:10 God has been good, he's been blessing, 23:12 and we have been able to I mean we've been blessed, 23:16 we've been able to start new projects, new programs, 23:20 English schools and so forth. 23:21 And the people don't only just learn English you know 23:23 they learn Bible English, right. 23:25 So they learn you know ten commandments by heart, 23:27 their final exam is the quote the Fourth Commandment, 23:31 so its, people come to church just through 23:35 English school and through the lifestyle center, 23:39 it's a blessing. And your vision for this is not just 23:42 to train people to be Bible workers or evangelists, 23:44 but you're trying to train them 23:46 in the business aspect, and prepare them to go out 23:48 and start similar schools just like you did, 23:50 is that right? Definitely, I believe that, 23:53 I believe the spirit of prophecy, 23:55 when the spirit of prophecy says 23:56 that we're such an army of young people rightly what? 23:59 Rightly trained, right. Then the end will come. 24:02 And so part of the aspect of our course is to 24:06 train young people in leadership. 24:07 So that they have all the tools that they can go back 24:09 and start their own project from scratch. 24:11 That they can feel the courage; 24:12 they can feel endowed with the tools because God 24:15 does not necessarily call the people 24:17 who have all the expertise but call when God calls you, 24:19 he endows you with the Holy Spirit, 24:22 so that you are able to do this work. 24:25 And so we train the young people 24:26 in this business aspect, business management, 24:28 project development, so that they are able 24:30 then to go and multiply the concept 24:33 or be part of another project that already exists 24:35 and be effective in doing mission work. 24:37 Actually this guy right here he couldn't speak 24:39 Spanish when he came there. Three months later 24:41 the Holy Spirit helped him, 24:43 he was able to speak Spanish. 24:44 I was translating for this guy, 24:45 you know and he comes up and he is like yeah 24:48 you just didn't translate correctly on this one. 24:49 You know I am like Jesse forget this, 24:52 why don't you just do it Spanish you know 24:54 and he did, and he teaches in Spanish, 24:56 he preaches in Spanish and the Holy Spirit 24:57 is ready to be out poured on these people 25:00 when we say what. When we say Lord here I am. 25:02 Here I am, and that is part of the creative process 25:06 isn't it, being willing to participate 25:08 and building up the kingdom of God, 25:10 and that is what they doing. 25:11 Thank you guys so much for being with us today. 25:13 Go visit their booth, it is Vita International, 25:17 and we, they have a booth here in the exhibit hall. 25:20 Next I would like to introduce you to 25:22 another person I met at the General Conference, 25:24 I also introduced him there, look right over here. 25:27 This is Dr. Viriato Ferreira, it is easier 25:30 for me to say Viriato Ferreira. 25:33 He is from Portugal and I met him just 25:36 a couple of weeks ago, and was so inspired 25:38 by the messages that he had to share, 25:41 that we even had him come and do a seminar here, 25:44 it was called Reaching Hearts in Secular Nations, 25:47 and that was, what really struck me is that 25:49 he had an idea of ministry and what it meant to be 25:52 in the mission field way back 25:54 when he went to medical school, 25:55 he wanted to be a missionary. 25:56 And his ideas have changed over the years, 25:59 what it means to go to the mission field 26:01 and how to reach out to people, 26:03 and I'd like him to share today some of those 26:05 concepts that you shared in a shorter version of what 26:08 you shared in the seminar this week. 26:10 Well, thank you Conna, it was inspiring to listen to 26:12 these two young men. Were you inspired? Amen. 26:14 I was. Now, I wanted to be missionary, 26:18 and my goal was to go to Africa or to Asia 26:22 or to South America, one of those places 26:24 where preferably there would be no Adventists 26:26 and where there would be no doctors. 26:29 Okay, my wife is a physician as well, 26:31 and that's why we wanted to work. 26:33 So we worked sometime in Africa, in Namibia, 26:36 and then the Lord helped us to change completely 26:41 our direction. It's not that we don't believe 26:43 that there's a mission field out there but 26:45 he's just enlarged our vision. 26:47 We ended up in Europe. We had an invitation to set up 26:50 a lifestyle center in the school of 26:52 health evangelism, hence in the beginning 26:55 we didn't want to go. 26:56 See, we wanted to go back to Africa you know 26:58 I was going to residence pediatrics, 27:00 I actually started that in the UK, 27:02 and then there was an invitation to go to Europe 27:05 and to do mission work. In fact the Union President 27:08 says you know you're missionaries 27:09 somewhere else, why don't you 27:10 become missionaries here. I didn't want to, 27:13 I really didn't want to. Now, why is it that, 27:14 explain to us why you didn't want to go, 27:16 you didn't see as a mission field 27:17 and the reason for that? 27:18 I didn't see as a mission field, because I thought 27:19 there were so many Adventist doctors 27:21 why two more. You know let them do the work 27:23 that needs to be done. And second, I thought you know 27:26 these are not real needs, you know the real needs 27:28 are in those poor places, that's what I thought, 27:34 but as we started getting ready to go to Europe. 27:37 We spend two and half years in the States at Wildwood, 27:41 and Conna, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. 27:46 You know people coming with huge lists 27:48 of medications, you know twelve, fourteen, fifteen, 27:51 most of them on antidepressants 27:53 and they started telling me about their stories, 27:55 and I tell you painful, painful stories. 28:00 Stories of being left by the spouse, 28:03 you know the children on drugs, loneliness, 28:06 you know stories that would keep them awake for nights 28:09 without end you know just painful relationship 28:14 in their marriage, and I started asking myself 28:18 you know, who is suffering more. 28:20 My friends back in Namibia, Northern Namibia 28:23 under a tree meeting on Sabbath, 28:25 just under a tree or the people 28:27 here with an affluence. A lot of suffering 28:31 and that just was so incredible, 28:36 just to realize that suffering is everywhere 28:39 and the ministry of Jesus is to everyone. 28:43 That's right, so that led you not only to shift 28:45 your ideas about what it meant to minister 28:47 but also to shift how you went about ministry. 28:51 That's right, yes. Tell us a little bit about that. 28:53 Well, we went over to Portugal and we set up 28:55 medium size help, a little clinic in Lisbon, 28:57 downtown Lisbon, and we started seeing patients. 29:00 As we were seeing them we just realized something. 29:03 You know Europe is known as a secular place. 29:06 Well, I found out that it may be secular, 29:09 it may be religious, but it's not on spiritual. 29:11 You know I am still to find the first true atheist. 29:17 When I asked him how do you cope with illness, 29:20 how do you, you know does faith play a role 29:23 in your illness and they usually tell me doctor 29:27 I don't go to church, I don't believe. I don't go. 29:31 And I asked him, I am not asking you to 29:33 which you church you go to. I am asking inside, 29:37 deep in your heart do you believe every single person 29:41 in these eight years, and I've seen many, many people 29:45 they've told me yes I believe, and I pray 29:48 and God hears me. Its amazing 29:50 and the young people, they are in the pubs, 29:54 in the bars and you know, ask them, do you believe, 29:56 yes I believe. So in a sense may be we're using 29:59 a wrong term when we call these nations 30:01 secular nations, is that right, but you see them 30:04 different than you used to. 30:05 They're rebelling against traditional forms of religion. 30:08 They are rebelling against the character 30:11 that is being portrait of God by many, 30:14 probably many of us, including myself. 30:18 And so people look at this and in their honesty 30:22 they say I don't want that. 30:23 You go and knock on their doors, and they don't open 30:26 if they know that you've come from a church. 30:28 They are protecting themselves, 30:29 are these bad people? No, 30:32 but you know what I found is that through friendship, 30:37 its not just friendliness, 30:39 one thing is to be friendly; the other is to be a friend. 30:43 I realize that I don't know or I didn't know 30:46 I am still learning how to be a friend. 30:50 You know, we live in a very closed group, 30:53 and we forget that out there, there are people 30:56 who are just as much as children of God as I am, 31:00 and as you are, and as you are. 31:03 And to be friends is to be there for their problems, 31:06 to be by their side and once they 31:09 trust you as a friend. Then they see integrity, 31:13 I am a sinful person, but God wants me to be to be, 31:20 to reflect him, and once they see that in you 31:23 then they hear what you have to say about God. 31:26 Now can you share really quickly, you shared about 31:28 a man whose life you saved recently, 31:31 and you were able to play out this whole scenario 31:34 in your interaction with him and his family. 31:36 Maybe you can share a little bit of that, 31:38 everyone needs to go and watch the seminar 31:41 on the website if you have a chance. 31:42 This is actually happening quite now, about right now 31:45 about a year ago I was traveling 31:46 and I saw an accident and I went to help, 31:48 and there was a person next to the man, 31:51 and it happened to be nurse, 31:53 and she says you know he's dead. Well if he's dead, 31:57 he's dead. If the nurse tells you that the man is dead, 31:59 he is dead. So then I felt for the pulse, 32:04 there was no pulse it's cold blue, 32:05 there was carotid pulse still twenty per minute. 32:08 Now doctors know what that means you know, 32:10 he's going to die in few seconds. 32:11 So I started the CPR and the man survived, 32:16 and he had fallen off a motorbike, 32:18 injured his neck, a long story short. 32:21 Well the man survived about a month 32:24 and a half, two months later I met the family. 32:26 They were very, very happy to meet me, and to thank 32:30 and a friendship started now. These people are 32:33 highly educated PhDs and we asked them about religion 32:38 and they say well you know, it's not for us. 32:41 But deep in their hearts they are searching 32:44 and the friendship is starting 32:45 that is so profound, so deep, 32:47 they invite us to their home, we invite them to our home, 32:50 and so on, and it's just opening wedge to something 32:56 deeper and these are special people. 32:57 Because everyone has questions. Oh yes everyone. 32:59 And they want to see how you are answering 33:01 those questions in your own life. 33:03 They wanted to know if you have integrity 33:04 in your religion, and if you have faith 33:06 and if you are a believer. That's right. 33:08 And that's what I really appreciate 33:09 about his seminar, what he shared, 33:11 what he is sharing in his ministry. 33:12 I really invite you to check out that seminar. 33:15 All of our seminars will be downloadable 33:17 from the website, it's at www.asiministries.org. 33:23 And I just want to encourage all of you 33:25 to recognize that you are part of the creative process 33:29 of building up the kingdom of God. 33:31 We have met people today who are participating 33:34 in that process in other parts of the world, 33:36 but I want everyone here to recognize 33:38 that each one of us is a creative person. Amen. 33:41 God bless you. God bless you. 33:43 We're looking forward to some great testimonies 33:46 this morning from some members in action. 33:48 Are you ready for that. Okay, my first guest 33:52 this morning step right over here Tim. 33:54 Tim Arakawa is with? AudioVerse. 33:58 And AudioVerse is what? AudioVerse is a website, 34:03 it's a online resource that anyone with an Internet 34:06 can actually go to and access sermons online. 34:10 About how many sermons are we talking about? 34:12 We are talking about over twenty two hundred sermons 34:16 currently, sermons and audio books. 34:18 Sermons and audio books, and our partner here 34:21 is Alistair Huong who is the Bible teacher 34:24 at Ouachita Hills Academy and I meant to mention Tim, 34:28 I know you're not very busy, 34:30 but you're doing what right now. 34:31 I am actually doing internal medicine residency 34:34 at Kettering, Ohio. So this AudioVerse is something 34:38 you do in both minutes of your spare time. 34:40 Now Alistair, how many visitors 34:46 do you get on this website, 34:48 or the AudioVerse per month. 34:51 Right now per month we're getting approximately 34:54 thirty thousand unique visitors every month. 34:56 Okay, that's fantastic, and how does this rate 35:00 compare to other websites out there. 35:03 Well according to alexa.com which is an independent 35:06 website we are currently ranked consistently 35:09 in the top five percent of all websites 35:11 on the Internet. That's amazing, 35:13 in terms of traffic, the top five percent 35:14 of our websites, can anybody say amen to that. 35:17 Amen. That's amazing, and this has been going for 35:20 how long, Tim? We started in 2005, 35:22 so this will be our fifth year. 35:25 We are going to get into a little bit 35:27 about what's happening with AudioVerse, 35:29 the impact it's having, and we have some, lets see, 35:36 we are going to go into some of the testimonies, 35:40 and some of the things that are happening, 35:42 it seems to me there is somebody who was reached 35:47 in at Loma Linda of another denomination. 35:49 That's right, recently I was meeting with a young man 35:53 who was a Catholic, and one of his friends 35:57 consistently gave him recordings, CDs 36:00 from sermons of AudioVerse that they downloaded 36:03 and burned. And he continued to resist 36:05 but he finally listened to one of them 36:06 of Randy Skeete, and this Catholic young man, 36:09 he decided I need to give my life to full time ministry. 36:13 Amen. And after listening to the message 36:15 by Randy Skeete, he decided to become a Catholic priest, 36:18 and so he went and enrolled in the seminary 36:20 and in the interview the priest told him 36:23 you do now that tradition takes precedent over 36:27 the Bible don't you, and because of the truth 36:29 that he's been hearing from these recordings 36:31 he could not accept that, and he decided to leave. 36:34 But shortly after he got very, very sick, 36:37 so that he couldn't continue school, 36:38 and as he was laying in bed all he did was listen 36:41 to AudioVerse, and he heard a message by Dr. Neil Medley 36:44 which connected the physical health 36:46 of an individual with the spiritual powers 36:49 and immediately he knew that the Adventist 36:52 had the right message for this hour. 36:54 In the very next Sabbath he kept the very first Sabbath 36:58 in his life, and that was when he shared with me 37:00 personally this testimony with AudioVerse. 37:02 That's amazing, and Tim, there was somebody else 37:05 who had a challenge with drugs prior to listening 37:09 to AudioVerse. Well, I'll let Alistair tell that story. 37:12 Okay. Because he is our story. Okay. 37:14 This young man he was dealing with drugs, 37:17 and he was running from God and he came back and back 37:20 to God, fell away, back to God, fell away, 37:22 until he was the near the point of the limit 37:25 of his endurance. When prudentially 37:27 he came to AudioVerse, he listen to the sermons 37:30 by the people he has never heard of before. 37:32 He learned about the grace of Jesus, the righteousness 37:34 by faith, message, and he was transformed. 37:37 His marriage was on the rocks, it was restored, 37:40 and he decided to go to APCO and now he is a 37:43 full time Bible worker. Amen, and anybody 37:47 who goes on AudioVerse to catch some of these 37:51 twenty two hundred sermons, how much do they pay. 37:54 Everything is free of charge, and that's one 37:57 of the beauties of this. It's something that can benefit 38:00 each one of us in our spiritual life 38:02 and it's also something that we can share with others. 38:03 Very good and so if it's free to the people who go 38:07 on the Internet and listen to AudioVerse 38:09 they must cost anything to put to do this. 38:13 Well we are blessed that God is providing 38:15 in different ways, and we do primary distribute 38:19 these things over the Internet 38:20 which is a little bit less expensive 38:22 than other mediums, but at the same time we do have 38:25 a lot of exciting projects that we're working on 38:28 and there are a lot of bandwidth cost, 38:29 and so there are expenses as well. 38:32 So how can somebody get involved to be involved 38:35 with AudioVerse. Well, we do have some exciting projects 38:39 that if anyone is interested in helping to support 38:42 we would be glad to talk with you later. 38:44 We are actually expanding to different languages, 38:47 we now have five languages and we're expecting 38:50 more in the future. We also have a big push to put spirit 38:53 of prophecy into audio. And so we have 38:56 several languages, and several books 38:59 that we've done, we're wanting to expand that, 39:01 and we are also working on applications that can run 39:04 on smart phones, so people can listen 39:05 while they're on the move. And who listens to things 39:10 on these smart phones but our young people, amen. 39:14 And this is how we need to reach people 39:15 but you're also reaching into foreign lands. 39:17 How many foreign countries and the most recent 39:20 one that's number two. Well we've been reaching 39:22 into hundreds of countries in the world. 39:23 I don't even know the count, but most recently 39:27 we have noticed that in history, 39:31 China has consistently be in the top five countries, 39:34 but in the past two months China has been the 39:37 number two country that's been downloading sermons 39:40 from our website, and we praise the Lord for that. 39:42 Amen, and I have to just testify to you know when I 39:45 go into pass by our daughter's room 39:48 and she has the ear buds in and listening to someone, 39:52 I said what are you listening to, 39:53 because parents have to be careful 39:55 about what's on the Internet 39:56 and it's AudioVerse and we say lights out, 39:58 its ten thirty, pass by a room 40:01 and there's this little glow in the room, 40:03 I say what you are listening to? AudioVerse, 40:06 so she is one of those thirty thousand people, 40:08 unique visitors per month. Thank you so much for your 40:12 inspiration to us, and we pray 40:14 that your ministry continues and flourishes 40:16 and we look forward to more testimonies. Thank you. 40:19 My next guest is Rico Hill and Jared Thurmon. 40:24 Rico is currently from Scottsdale, Arizona, 40:28 and Jared is from Atlanta, Georgia. 40:32 And welcome gentlemen, and your ministry 40:34 is called Beehives and I'm eager to hear 40:37 how you came up with this name. 40:38 We're going to tell you, the Beehive well basically 40:42 we found this in Welfare ministry page 112, 40:45 and in there Ellen White had seen in a dream. 40:49 In 1876 she has seen these two beehives, 40:52 and she didn't know what it meant, so basically she got 40:55 no further subsequent type of dream or vision 40:59 to explain it, and before she knew it 41:02 she was in the bay area and she saw two churches, 41:05 and she said truly the Lord's word 41:08 has been fulfilled. And basically 41:10 what had happened was these churches 41:12 has spilled beyond the church walls 41:15 and they were doing integrated evangelism. 41:18 And integrated evangelism is basically taking the word 41:21 of God and the Gospel into the marketplace 41:24 like ASI. Amen. And demonstrated 41:27 the love of Jesus Christ through 41:28 the restaurant work, through health work, 41:30 through the lifestyle center work, and so forth, 41:33 so that's basically where we got the name 41:35 and we wanted to resurrect and note idea 41:37 and put a new pen on it. Amen, and Jared, 41:40 you're from Atlanta, what is your background, 41:43 how did you get involved. Okay, 41:45 my background is business, I was educated at 41:48 Southern Adventist University and I had the 41:50 opportunity when I got out of school to help start 41:52 a couple of assisted living facilities, 41:54 and manage those and sell those, 41:57 and started a business consulting company 42:00 and the Lord has been blessing me 42:03 with the ability to not only do that 42:05 but now to jump full time into this work. 42:07 Fantastic, and Rico I want to hear 42:09 what your background is, but we have a few photos 42:13 that we are going to show while we talk, 42:15 and so we can get started on those 42:17 and our viewers can enjoy those as we begin to tell 42:21 some of the blessings but your background, 42:24 you haven't done this all the time, you come from where? 42:26 Well, I was blessed to come into this wonderful 42:29 church in 1996, and through the net series 42:33 of Mark Finley, became Adventist 42:36 and just loved the message and wanted to do all 42:38 I could for the Lord. At the time I was working 42:41 for MTV Nickelodeon as a television executive, 42:44 and my most recent job was at Turner Broadcasting, 42:48 where I was the Vice President of programming 42:52 and acquisitions, and the Lord called me out 42:56 of that into full time ministry. Amen. 42:58 To do the Beehive, and I am so thankful for that. 42:59 And you are working currently in Arizona 43:02 at the university there, and what are some 43:04 of the projects that are going on with Beehive? 43:07 Well, Jared, I'll let you tell him about that. 43:09 Okay, as you're seeing some of these pictures, 43:10 you can see a thrift store, that's the way 43:12 we felt was something we needed to get an enterprise 43:14 going to sustain the work. I think we got a picture 43:17 of some of the projects, we're building 43:18 an agricultural school in India, 43:20 as well as soon to launch one at Haiti. 43:23 We believe in empowering people, educating people 43:26 and equipping them to sustain themselves 43:28 and then to spread the ever lasting Gospel. 43:31 So you're seeing some of these things are working. 43:33 The most exciting is the Daniel challenge. 43:35 What is the Daniel challenge? 43:36 The Daniel challenge is an effort we set, 43:38 how do you reach a college student, 43:39 the thought leaders. As you look back in history 43:42 that while Denizens went to secular college campuses, 43:45 and the fathers of the reformation 43:47 were born through that. Did you hear what he said. 43:49 They're going to university, 43:52 secular universities and reaching who, 43:54 the young people. So continue with your story. 43:57 We believe the thought leaders are the eighteen 43:59 to thirty four demographic, and if we can reach them 44:01 with this Daniel challenge which is an essence 44:03 and interrupting whenever you want. Okay. 44:05 In essence it is the story of Daniel, walk them 44:09 through this character Daniel, 44:10 who like them was about seventeen or eighteen 44:12 when he began this higher education experience. 44:14 Walk them though his life and at the same time 44:17 bring in the eight laws of health that we all know 44:19 plus two that we added to it, 44:21 that we felt were important and Rico, 44:22 I'll let you jump in. So we felt like the 44:24 Daniel challenge, we wanted to make 44:25 it a challenge. Exactly. 44:27 Because you know we didn't think 44:28 that they would response so much to, hey come here 44:30 I'll lecture about Daniel. 44:31 But if we said you know what, 44:32 why don't you take a challenge, 44:34 and you know it has pop culture residence in terms 44:38 of the whole idea of the biggest loser and so forth. 44:42 So we said lets give them a challenge, 44:44 so instead of ten days we give them ten weeks. Amen. 44:47 And through that they basically 44:49 come to our website, and they sign up, 44:51 they come to our website and they'll see 44:53 there is a challenge for them every week, 44:55 and if they do the challenge they collect 44:57 points basically. And before they know it 45:00 they're going to Daniel chapter one and they see 45:03 in Daniel chapter one that basically there was a dream 45:05 and that, that because of a diet someone was able 45:10 to interpret that dream and have understanding 45:12 and they were wiser, so we sort of guaranteed them 45:15 that if they do this challenge they'll be wiser, 45:17 they'll be smarter, they'll be able to really be able 45:19 to compete on campus in terms of their grades 45:22 and so forth. Top of the class the university, 45:24 so give us some examples of some of the victories. 45:26 Okay, I can tell you one, a gentleman who was in 45:30 and out of the church his whole life 45:32 and this was actually an Adventist student 45:34 in and out of the church and I'm sure many of us 45:35 can relate with that, even some parents. 45:37 He said I've never seen the health message make sense. 45:40 You made it make sense with the life of Daniel, 45:43 and I want to apply these principles in my life 45:46 and already seeing health benefits, so exciting, 45:49 it's exciting to see that, and it's exciting to see 45:52 you know students who are incentivised, 45:53 we're want to give away some iPods 45:54 and things to this point system, and what happened 45:57 was as we developed the Daniel challenge 45:59 it expanded into beyond. So we've actually prepared kits 46:03 where churches now can operate the Daniel 46:05 challenge in their community, 46:07 and the reason we got that idea was basically seeing 46:10 that beyond college students this country 46:12 and this world needs health and Rico tell him 46:14 about Tasha. Oh well, I met one by the name 46:16 of Tasha Grimes. She's not a member of our faith, 46:18 and she nearly died. You may have seen a picture 46:21 of her that was just rolling, 46:22 and she had nearly died and we put her 46:25 on the Daniel diet and challenged her, 46:28 and before we knew it she became this vibrant person 46:32 who now comes to our meeting. We meet every week 46:35 on the campus of Thunderbird Academy in Arizona. 46:39 She comes to our meetings, and here's the thing. 46:41 She comes from Dallas, Texas. Wow! 46:43 She comes at a mayo clinic for her check up, 46:46 but now she has found an excuse every single week 46:49 to come to our meetings, and she is well on her way 46:53 to become a member of this faith. 46:55 That's a victory for the Daniel challenge, 46:56 can you say amen to that. And how can these people 46:59 become involved in Beehive. Well, you know, what we say 47:03 to people is that we want to empower people, 47:05 people who are ministry minded, 47:08 who are business savvy, who want to combine the two, 47:10 we want to be that hub, because of our network 47:13 we are going to build a bigger and larger network 47:16 of Adventists who can really reach the people 47:18 with the Gospel in so many different ways. 47:19 A lot of people don't know how to get started 47:21 with the ministry. A lot of people don't know 47:23 how to take their business and be more mission 47:25 minded with it. We want to be sort of a hub 47:27 for those people. And you can find out 47:30 about this by going on the website the beehives.org. 47:33 Gentlemen, you're an inspiration to us, 47:35 and so if you want to help see a vision of Ellen White, 47:40 come to reality in this end times, 47:44 talk to these gentlemen. Thank you so much. 47:48 Okay, my next guest is a couple Lemuel 47:52 and Donna Vega. And Lemuel and Donna actually come 47:58 from Fort Wayne, Indiana, and you've got a 48:00 special ministry and it's called Christmas 48:04 Behind Bars, Christmas Behind Bars, 48:08 so what is the ministry? Well Christmas Behind Bars 48:12 is definitely not secular December 25th. 48:15 Christmas Behind Bars is an opportunity to go 48:18 into jails, and prisons and all of our lay people here 48:20 today have an opportunity to visit a 48:22 county jail in their area. Very good and how long 48:26 has this been going. Thirteen years. 48:28 Thirteen years, and you're background 48:31 and you haven't been in prison 48:32 and ministry the whole time, 48:33 what is your background? I was in prison, 48:35 I was in prison, and I understand 48:36 the value of what it means when someone comes to you 48:39 and shares with you and identifies 48:42 with the brokenness of your life. So you had experience 48:45 and started to try and get rid of temptations. 48:49 That's correct, I was in prison, 48:51 I got out of prison, prison did not change my life, 48:53 and thirteen years sick and ready to die 48:55 in a hospital room from drug addiction, 48:57 from heroin, from cocaine, I went for medical treatment, 49:00 the medical doctors couldn't help me 49:02 with methadone or Antabuse or Valium. 49:04 So I didn't get help, but I prayed and I ask Jesus 49:06 for help in my life and that started 49:08 my relationship with Jesus and then a year later 49:12 we had the opportunity to do the first county jail. 49:14 So we have a brief video that we are going to roll 49:17 while we answer questions here and tell about 49:21 some of the victories and testimonies through 49:23 Christmas Behind Bars and can you tell us Donna 49:27 of any examples of how people have been touched 49:33 and what is it you do to make contact 49:36 with these people. Well I have a letter I can read. 49:39 Okay, go ahead. This is from Preston, 49:41 it brings me joy, it brings joy to a lonely heart 49:45 to talk to others who are not in prison about Jesus. 49:49 Knowing others care brings a smile. 49:52 I've only have been in this prison. 49:54 He had only been at this prison two years 49:56 and Christmas Behind Bars came. 50:00 He lived the horrible life, so I was still new in Jesus 50:03 when we came. God had been leading me 50:06 to interesting studies about his Commandments. 50:09 So I was already following him but what I believed 50:14 was way different than mainstream Christians. 50:17 I was beginning to doubt some things, 50:19 I found study material in the gift bag 50:22 that Christmas Behind Bars brought, 50:24 I began reading books and realized I wasn't alone 50:27 in my thinking. The Holy Spirit was truly leading me 50:31 and showing me I must obey all Ten Commandments. 50:35 So Lemuel, this is amazing to think that you can 50:39 get into these institutions, 50:42 how do you that? God opens the doors, 50:43 he is going before us in the end of time. 50:45 I want to share with you about a lady 50:47 in the Lafayette jail. Someone had shared with her 50:50 about the Sabbath. She got put in segregation, 50:52 there was something written on the wall 50:54 about the Sabbath, and in her bag 50:56 was the Ten Commandments twice removed. 50:57 She said I now know that the Sabbath 50:59 is really Saturday, so that is absolutely amazing. 51:02 A man doing life in prison at a maximum security prison, 51:05 he received one of the packages 51:07 and now he's giving Bible studies in the prison, 51:10 and his mom is doing two county jails in her area, 51:14 just north of Louisville, Kentucky. 51:16 So people are getting involved 51:18 in sharing the Gospel. So if you, if I were to go up 51:20 to a jail and say I have got some stuff for the inmates, 51:25 what do I do, is there a proper procedure 51:27 to get it in there. Yes, a proper procedure is to pray 51:31 first and ask God for help. Second is to see 51:33 what your network of volunteers is 51:35 and then we can make small gift packages 51:37 and we will help whoever wants to get involved 51:39 with that, we'll give them some pointers. 51:41 So you actually put together a care package 51:44 and for some reason that gets through the doors. 51:46 Correct. Because not everything can get 51:49 into prisons as you well know and so how can 51:53 some of our friends here can become involved 51:55 in this type of ministry. If they like to contact us 51:58 at christmasbehindbars.com. or e-mail us or contact 52:01 at christmasbehindbars.com. We will send you 52:05 an information packet and then we can tell them 52:07 how to start and start getting product. 52:09 And so this is local evangelism, 52:11 so could I go to my local county jail and do this. 52:16 Yes, everybody has a local county jail probably 52:18 within twenty miles of your home, 52:20 and you just contact them, see how many inmates 52:22 they have and then we'll let you know what kind of stuff 52:25 to put in the bags and go forward with that. 52:27 Fantastic and Donna, you're in charge of correspondence, 52:29 so you get to see a lot of the letters and things 52:32 that come in, are there any others that either of 52:35 you might have to share that would 52:37 help inspire our friends. Yeah, 52:40 Lanny was in prison for thirty seven years. 52:42 He killed two state troopers 52:43 and he said this is, that this program when it 52:47 came in, he said he's never seen anything like it. 52:49 So he had been going to church services 52:51 in the prison but I say it's the Holy Spirit 52:54 that's going before and touching 52:55 and blessing the hearts of these people, 52:56 there was a man that was doing 52:58 four hundred years in prison. 52:59 Actually he was facing four hundred years 53:01 in the county jail in solitary confinement 53:03 and he told me about a year ago 53:07 that this program was the first thing that gave him 53:09 hope on his journey. So when you're in prison 53:11 like that, facing that kind of time, 53:12 suicide is just around the corner in your mind. 53:15 So these are people that are down and out, 53:17 they've reached their lowest. 53:18 We all believe in foreign missions in reaching people 53:21 who are in great need in foreign lands 53:23 but there are people within your own community, 53:26 within twenty miles of your home who need to be 53:28 reached for the Lord, and they are ready to receive 53:31 the blessings, and what you have to offer, 53:35 so this is an outreach that anybody can do, 53:38 and it sounds like some of these inmates once 53:41 they get the material it helps them get their minds 53:44 off their woes, and do they help 53:46 others within the facility. Absolutely, 53:49 Bible studies right, 3ABN satellite dish 53:50 was installed in a maximum security prison 53:52 and the picnic table service went from one picnic table 53:55 to three picnic tables of inmates on the yard 53:58 studying the Sabbath message from an inmate 54:00 carrying the Gospel message, 54:01 so it is worthwhile. So, you're an evangelist 54:03 in your own community there and so people 54:06 can get in touch with you, you have an exhibit there. 54:09 We don't, but it's christmasbehindbars.com or 54:12 contact@ christmasbehindbars.com. 54:14 And we often you know put some type of package 54:18 together or get involved in our local community 54:20 to do a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, 54:22 Christmas Behind Bars isn't around December 25th. 54:26 Year around, we just got back from Arkansas, 54:27 seventeen hundred inmates in that prison there. 54:29 Louisville, I mean Kentucky, there was a lady 54:32 that had a heart for prison ministry, 54:34 we visited two facilities, we were in North Carolina, 54:36 Easter Sunday, Indianapolis Women's Prison July the 4th. 54:39 So its on going, and God is opening the doors 54:42 all year around. So roughly, 54:43 just ballpark figure, how many care package do 54:45 you put out per year, per month. 54:47 I don't have an idea, twenty five, 54:49 thirty five thousand, it'd be three semi trailers full, 54:51 we did in February 25th and then we distribute those, 54:54 so we need refrigerated semi trailers now, 54:56 because its hundred degrees, 54:57 it's no longer Christmas ministry. 54:59 So, we've got a few hands here 55:01 and many hands make for light work, 55:02 is anybody interested in getting involved 55:04 in this say amen. Amen. 55:05 You're an inspiration to us, thank you so much. 55:07 Thank you, God bless you. God bless. |
Revised 2014-12-17