Participants:
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000988
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01:01 Good evening ASI. Good evening.
01:04 My first guest is Edith Tokich, 01:08 and you're from right here in Orlando right. 01:11 Yeah, I'm here from Central Florida. 01:13 Alright, so you didn't have a long commute 01:15 to get here. No, I really appreciate the fact 01:18 that we have the meetings here. 01:22 Now, now Edith, back in 2002, there was a movie 01:28 called "The Passion of Christ" correct, yes. 01:31 And, many of you are familiar with that movie 01:33 and the response that Seventh-Day Adventist Church 01:36 had to it. Your church took the opportunity to order 01:40 5000 books to share, right. So what happened, 01:43 tell me a little more about that. 01:46 Well, we had plans to handout 01:48 The Passion Of The Ages 5000 of them at a beer 01:52 festival that is held yearly in Umatilla. 01:56 And, we kind of, when they had and ordered books 02:02 before we made the final arrangements, 02:05 and as it turns out after lengthy negotiations 02:08 I was told that they will not allow us to handout 02:12 any books, they will not allow to have any religious 02:16 material at the beer festival. 02:18 So what did you do with those 5000 books? 02:21 Well, at first I panicked, and then I started 02:25 praying I was walking and praying and driving 02:29 and praying and just constantly praying 02:32 for wisdom for the Lord to show what we could do 02:35 with those books. So you took these to a 02:38 farmers market, and tell us about that. 02:42 Well, one of these times when I was praying 02:44 and asking for wisdom, the Lord kind of 02:47 impressed me to, to try to hand them out 02:50 at the farmers market as soon as he did that, 02:53 we jumped into action and rented a spot at our 02:57 local farmers market and setup a table and 03:02 I made banners and signs, and we featured the 03:08 Passion Of The Ages book, but we also had some 03:10 other books along setup and so I did handing 03:14 them out. So, many of those books that you pass 03:17 out are directly from ASI. Now, how do you 03:21 get the people to take the books that you're trying 03:24 to give them? Well, what's wonderful about witnessing 03:28 this way is that people come to your table, 03:31 they are curious, they want to see what you have, 03:35 they look at it, they start talking and visiting 03:38 and we do not approach anybody. 03:40 People come to us, and it's their choice to take 03:45 the material, and because of that I believe that 03:49 these books are used more than if we were to 03:53 lets say go door to door and hand them out 03:55 to everybody. Now, do most people just take one 03:58 book or do you have some people that take 03:59 a lot of books, what do they do with those books? 04:03 A lot of, a lot of people take more than one book 04:07 and usually they read them, and then come back, 04:10 and they look at the table, you can see their eyes just 04:15 wondering and they just point to different books 04:18 and they say, I have this one, 04:20 I read that one and I like to take the other one, 04:23 also and they come, and they eventually end up 04:28 with the whole collection. We also have people who, 04:33 when they see the books even at the first 04:35 time of returning they ask you know could 04:39 I take another copy of this or that, 04:41 because I would like to send it to, or 04:43 give it to my daughter or son or friend or coworker, 04:49 and we are not only witnessing to the people 04:52 who actually come to the table, but they are in 04:55 turn doing the witnessing for us as well, amen. 04:59 Wow! That's incredible. So, you have an individual 05:03 that's taking these books and sending them overseas. 05:07 Where are they sending them to? We had a couple, 05:10 we have a couple that comes regularly to our table 05:14 and they were taking quite a few you know always 05:17 a handful of books sometimes a dozen, 05:19 and didn't say much they were just taking them and 05:22 then finally one time we started visiting with them 05:25 and they shared, what they doing is they 05:28 aren't involved with the anysoldiers.com ministry 05:35 where they sending care packages to the 05:38 soldiers overseas, and they decided to send 05:41 out books and I like to tell you that these people 05:44 are not Adventists, but they like their material 05:47 so much that they decided to send our material 05:51 to the soldiers. Can you say amen? Amen. 05:55 That's exciting. Now, there's an individual that, 05:59 that is sharing the books in his library. 06:03 Tell us about that. That was on the street first. 06:07 We also have other outreach programs, a dozen 06:09 of other things that we do and on the street 06:13 first we do pretty much the same thing and 06:15 there was one gentleman who came and again 06:18 he did the same thing, he took one or two here 06:20 and there and then eventually we ended up 06:23 visiting with him as well and he has shared 06:25 that he was taking the books to a library that 06:30 is in his subdivision and he was putting the books 06:33 into the library. Now we have some photos 06:36 right here of your ministry in action. 06:40 So you're not only just going to the farmers market 06:44 you're also going to, you have your, 06:49 your path finders going to a Christmas fair 06:52 and various events. Yeah, our path finders are very, 06:55 very busy and witnessing, we have a fair in Eustis 07:01 every year, they setup a booth and you're gonna 07:04 see a picture in a minute and they are, personal 07:07 ministries is giving them the books and they 07:10 handout the books at the fair, 07:14 they also do Christmas in the park and do the same 07:16 thing and we pretty much use every opportunity 07:20 that we have to share our material. 07:24 In closing, do you have any words of inspiration 07:26 for the people here to encourage them to do 07:29 the same thing? Well, I feel very strongly that 07:36 everyone of us has a work to do that the Lord 07:40 has assigned us to do, and we need to pray and 07:43 ask the Lord for wisdom to show us what that is, 07:47 and we ask, we need to pray and ask the Lord 07:49 to give us wisdom and direction in actually 07:53 doing the work. Now Edith has a website if you would 07:56 like to contact her, it's www.hastenhiscoming.com 08:00 thank you Edith, thank you. 08:07 My next guest is Tom Ish. Many of you know Tom, 08:10 he's with Creation Illustrated Magazine. 08:12 I've known Tom for probably 20 years now. 08:15 First, at Vemar college, years ago. 08:19 Now, Tom has a magazine that has touched my heart 08:22 personally. I have a cousin that had gone away 08:26 from the Lord, one day he picked up the magazine 08:29 Creation Illustrated, and there was an article 08:32 in there that touched his heart and he came 08:34 to Christ from that article, praise God. 08:37 Chip that's, that's a direct answer to prayer. 08:39 You know we had two prayers when we started this 08:41 publication, number one that would be top quality, 08:43 so the professionals would feel comfortable about 08:46 sharing it with people in their market place, 08:49 but also number two that it cut across to nominational 08:52 lines and I'm happy to report that in our 18 years, 08:56 we now have 55 percent Non-Adventist leadership, 08:59 can you say amen, amen. And, this is, 09:03 oh can we see, a show of hands how many of you 09:05 are familiar with Creation Illustrated? 09:07 How many of you are currently subscribed? 09:10 And how many are sharing it in your market place? 09:13 That's what I was afraid of; we're gonna change 09:14 that in just a few minutes here. We have a slide to 09:17 share with you just so you can get a little bit more 09:19 familiar with Creation Illustrated and what is it, 09:22 it's a quarterly publication and as I say we've been 09:25 going for 18 years and it's in all 50 states 09:28 and 30 foreign countries, and readers called it 09:31 the Christian answer to national geographic, 09:34 and we'll hold the other slides for just a second 09:38 but, the Christian answer to national geographic 09:41 and I didn't tell you this before Chip, but I 09:42 got my degree in Geography from UC Berkeley, real 09:46 conservative institution on the West Coast, 09:48 and I had a dream, I had a dream to write for 09:52 National Geographic. Now, I had to tell you that God 09:56 had another plan, amen. And, so we have an 10:01 obligation to share the First Angels Message, 10:03 not to, and Revelation 14:7 says, 10:07 worship the creator of heaven and earth, 10:09 not to prove that He's the creator of heaven 10:12 and earth. That's right, and so, also the first 10:15 angel's message is there, and its sequential, 10:18 we've got to get the first angel's message right, 10:21 before we go onto the second and third 10:22 angel's message amen. Amen. And I 10:24 have to say we've slipped a little bit in that, 10:27 and we have some work to do. 10:29 We're suffering and we want to help, 10:31 as best we can. Now in the other slides that 10:33 were up there, the Creation Illustrated in nature 10:39 has the animal features, the outdoor adventures, 10:42 things like that, then the scripture section has 10:45 of the creation week, one day at a time, 10:47 a little bit deeper into the creation story then in 10:50 the living section you'll find gardening features, 10:54 getting people outdoors, helping kids unplug, 10:57 youth photo contest and a favorite among the women, 11:01 Genesis Cuisine Recipes or vegan. And so, 11:04 Genesis 1:29 is where you'll find the source for 11:08 that and so, it's really been a blessing to see 11:15 how it's working, and this is really Christ method 11:18 of reaching the masses is through the things he made, 11:21 and Tom is this approach working? 11:23 It really is working Chip, as we read in Hebrews 11:26 without a parable spake he not unto Him, and 11:29 I'll just share with you a couple of brief letters 11:32 to show that it is working, somebody from 11:35 Madagascar Raphael Picard says that thank you 11:39 for your good magazine, it's a blessing to us. 11:41 We use some articles as sermons in our ministry 11:44 and our missionary programs, in the village, 11:47 it is wonderful. Then a woman in 11:50 Southern California writes, five years we've been 11:53 enjoying your publication, when our granddaughter 11:56 asked her little two-year-old what shall we 11:59 read today, she runs and gets Creation Illustrated. 12:02 Alright. Now, an elderly person in England, my 12:06 elderly parents have enjoyed Creation Illustrated 12:10 for sometime, your purpose is not so much to prove 12:14 as praise, your objective in selecting content 12:17 is more devotional. Thank you for this different 12:19 approach sharing creation. So, yes, it is working 12:23 and I have to say that partnering with the 12:26 North American Division Education Department, 12:29 we raise about $95,000 a year to send 6000 12:33 subscriptions to every Adventist teacher in school 12:36 in North America, amen, and Larry Blackmer writes, 12:41 creation is becoming a large issue in the church, 12:45 and here is a proactive step you can take in promoting 12:49 the Adventist view and one teacher writes 12:51 we've already used it in staff worship and expect to 12:55 use it in student worships and science classes. 12:59 So, is evolution creeping into the church at all. 13:03 It really is, you know we have a real challenge here 13:06 and we need to show our young people that 13:10 we are the greatest evidence of a creator. 13:13 You know we have creation science in the publication, 13:17 but we need to show that God is still the creator, 13:21 He can creating in us a new heart and He's going 13:24 to recreate this earth and He's not gonna to take 13:26 billions of years to do it, amen, amen. 13:29 And so we have to share this opportunity with 13:34 people and this isn't just show and tell, 13:37 on my last slide here, we're gonna to show 13:40 you a what this Pen of inspiration tell us, 13:44 and it says that we need to be, 13:48 that this is the most effective way to reach 13:51 non believers, who know not God is through 13:53 His words. In this way far more than 13:56 any other method, she doesn't just say 13:59 that it's a good method or one method, 14:01 it's far better than any other method, 14:03 they can be made to worship the true God, 14:06 the maker of heaven and earth. 14:08 So, we have an obligation to share the first 14:12 angel's message in this church and we need to work 14:16 together to purge the apostasy out of our schools, 14:20 and our churches and if Pantheism and Kellogg 14:25 were the first alpha apostrophe evolution 14:29 creeping into our church, in our schools 14:31 is the Omega Apostasy. So, we do need to fight 14:35 back and we need to join and work together. 14:41 Some of our goals are to create a DVD and have 14:47 a six day conversion program, 14:49 a six day conversion program. 14:51 One pastor said to me, if it took the Lord, 14:53 six days to create the earth, 14:55 why should it take us 28 days to make 14:57 an Adventist, amen. So we want to work together 14:59 with people who believe in the creation message 15:01 and have a six day conversion program, 15:04 a DVD that can go all over the world. 15:07 So, if you want to help with that, see me, 15:10 go on our website creationillustrated.com, 15:12 and we could work together. 15:15 Now, we want to see a conviction of people 15:18 and if you don't contact me I'll contact you, 15:23 and if you say times are tough, I'll say time is 15:26 short, if you says I can't afford it, 15:28 I say we can't afford not to, 15:30 if you say maybe later I said I'll tell you 15:33 that's never been this late before as my friend 15:36 Herb Douglas says, it's never been this late 15:38 before friends. And if you have too many projects 15:40 you're involved in. You're gonna to be called 15:44 to be involved in one more, 15:45 thank you Tom, thank you, Thanks. 15:51 My next guest is Ed Williams. 15:57 Ed, where are you from? Silver Spring, Maryland. 16:01 Now Ed, have you always been a 16:04 Seventh-Day Adventist? No, I started off as 16:07 Seventh-Day Adventist and during my teen years 16:10 I made some very poor choices and I drifted 16:12 away, okay. How long where you gone? 42 years, 16:16 42 years. Well, so what brought you back, 16:19 what's your testimony? Well, 16:21 I fast forward from then to 1992. 16:25 In 1992, my youngest sister was diagnosed with 16:28 Mesothelioma, asbestos related cancer. 16:34 She had a lung taken out, heavy chemotherapy, 16:36 heavy radiation, but she made it through. 16:40 About three years later, her husband went 16:42 through his midlife crisis. And, they were gone, 16:46 he was gone for almost five years, 16:48 during that period of time Charlotte's job 16:52 was eliminated, because the company she worked for 16:55 was sold, she was in poor health, she was alone. 17:00 So my wife and who had been through divorces 17:02 knew what it was like to be lonesome so we decided 17:05 we would take her under our wing. 17:07 A little did we know that God was putting us 17:09 under her wing. Wow! We would to have dinner 17:13 once a week, we vacationed together, 17:16 she never complained, she was just a good 17:19 Adventist Christian. Well, but five years later 17:24 her husband came back and asked to be reinstated 17:28 and she accepted, and I thought it was a bad idea, 17:30 but it worked. Well, in 2003 the cancer came back, 17:38 a week-and-half after it was diagnosed 17:40 she was gone, wow! That just brought this alternate 17:48 period of time, my wife kept on saying you know, 17:52 I like to be more like Charlotte, 17:54 I like to be more like to Charlotte. 17:57 Well, after she was gone, Carol says, you know, 18:01 we should go to church, I said well if we do there 18:04 is one we're going to, amen. And she said why, 18:07 I said it's the only one that just preaches 18:10 the Adventist tell me the real truth of the Bible. 18:14 So, we started going to church, and she's went 18:19 into Bible studies because she was never an Adventist, 18:22 and that's when I knew I was in deep trouble, 18:24 because although I had given up cigarettes 18:26 back in '87. I was a heavy drinker; 18:29 I was drinking between 40 and 50 drinks a week. 18:31 That's quite a bit, and I knew that I was not 18:34 going to be able to stop this on my own. 18:37 So I was praying about it, the day that the pastor 18:40 left on the final Bible study I said well, 18:44 are we gonna to do this, she said yes. 18:48 So I took 25 of the 30 pack and I gave it 18:50 away at the camp ground, I should have thrown 18:51 it away but I didn't. And, you know, 18:55 the good Lord took it from me and I haven't 18:57 even had the urge since that day. 19:00 Wow! So this must of have triggered an idea 19:08 in your mind that you could have a special 19:10 ministry for people just like you. 19:12 Well, I knew that the Lord wanted me to do 19:15 something I didn't know what it was yet. 19:16 So I started studying and trying to catch up 19:18 or there's 42 years of not being in the truth. 19:24 And then I donned on it who better to go after 19:26 those that are drifted away but somebody 19:28 that's been there, that's right. 19:29 So we started developing our ministry at that time, 19:34 okay. So what is that ministry? 19:36 What do you doing now? We have FARM, 19:39 which is Former Adventist Recovery Ministries. 19:42 We have developed a program that we go out 19:44 to the churches and try to generate interest and 19:47 reclaiming their people, giving them a study 19:50 on the prodigal son's brother to prepare them 19:55 for the right attitude for reclaiming, 19:58 we provide information on how to and 20:01 what not to do, like did any of you would stop 20:04 and think that the one time you don't want 20:06 to go and do that is on Sabbath afternoon, 20:10 because if you catch them in doing something 20:13 that they shouldn't be doing that's a got you 20:14 and it's gonna cause resentment. 20:17 Any other time, and we try to answer the questions 20:21 on what to do and what not to do, to go in love, 20:24 take the material and so forth. 20:27 And, we also ask everyone of them to write down 20:32 the names and the address of everybody that 20:34 they know that has dropped away from the church, 20:37 because even though I'm located in Silver Spring, 20:41 if I get the name in California, 20:44 I'll call a pastor that lives close to there, 20:47 our shipping materials with instructions and 20:49 so forth to help him and let him take the materials 20:52 to them saying that he's from Former 20:55 Adventist Recovery Ministry, somebody that 20:57 truly loves them has put him in contact with us, 21:00 they want you back, God wants you back. 21:03 Well, now something I want to mention about Ed 21:09 is this isn't a full time job for him. 21:11 He actually has a company, it's a home inspection 21:14 company. So, this is the ASI model right here, 21:19 members in action, working in their market place 21:21 and hopefully you can take this to a full time 21:25 where this is all you do, because we know, 21:27 we all know, and let's see have a raise of hands, 21:30 do you know anybody that you went to school with, 21:33 a family member, do you know anybody 21:36 that's left the church? Well look at that, 21:39 every hand is raised and the Welshmen Baltimore 21:43 Area where I live, it's estimated between 21:45 a 100 and 150 thousand, if you stipulate that 21:48 out to the nationwide it's got to be well over a 21:50 million. It's a big job, we need your help. 21:55 Okay so, what tools do you have that we can 21:58 tell them about right now that they can go to. 22:00 If you stop by our booth at 629, 22:04 I can show you what we have to offer. 22:07 The materials and so forth and if you want 22:09 to do it at your church, we'll get you the materials 22:12 just let us know. Okay, so this man is coming to you. 22:17 He has a booth here. He has a solution, 22:20 you have a problem. We all have this problem. 22:23 We need to bring our friends and family back 22:25 to the church, back to God. 22:27 And so, I really want you to go and visit with this 22:30 man at booth 629 Ed Williams. 22:32 And you also have a website and for those 22:35 of you on television you might wanna write 22:37 this down and go visit it. www.adventistfarm.com 22:42 thank you Ed, thank you and we need 22:44 your prayers most of all, amen. 23:00 Good evening, good evening. 23:02 I would like for you to meet my friends Pastor 23:06 Jay Lo and Panyia Vang Lo, amen. 23:11 We are so happy to be here, 23:14 to share with you the amazing way God is leading 23:17 the Lo family. Can you tell us, 23:19 where are you from? We are from Laos, 23:24 but we are Hmong from the mountain of Laos. 23:30 So, you're Hmong from the mountains of Laos, yes. 23:34 How many of you have ever heard of Hmong people, 23:38 will you raise your hand, oh quite a few, 23:41 truly these are unreached people. 23:43 Can you tell us some more about the Hmong people? 23:47 The Hmong people originally from South end China. 23:51 The southern province of China are Hmong country, 23:55 but in early 1900 or 19 century the Chinese took 24:04 over the Hmong country so they migrated to 24:06 Southern China to Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, 24:12 Burma and during 1975 after Vietnam war, 24:17 the Hmong migrate again to the United States, 24:21 Canada, Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand, 24:27 Argentina and French Guiana. 24:31 What religion are the Hmong people? 24:35 The Hmong believe and says the worship Animism 24:41 and Buddhism. And so you grow up in a 24:45 Hmong Village and your family was what religion? 24:50 My family believe the Ancestor and Animism. 24:53 Can you tell us how you became a Christian? 24:57 Well after the Vietnam war, we become a refugee 25:01 and I came to the refugee camp in Thailand 25:06 and were the refugee was divide by, 25:10 divided into two section, one section is the 25:13 non-christian and the other is a christian. 25:17 So, I saw there the love of God calling from all the 25:24 Christian around the war to the Christians site 25:28 and one day my cousin invited me to stay 25:33 with them. So they teach me some Bible, hymn, 25:39 sing a song and then they also help me to find 25:43 to sponsor, to sponsor, a Christian family 25:45 to sponsor me to come to this country. 25:49 So, we don't have time to share all the 25:51 wonderful interesting story tonight, 25:53 but you could come by the ASAP exhibit and hear 25:57 more from Pastor Jay and Mrs. Panyia 26:01 and they will tell you more of their story. 26:05 Let's fast forward to the United States, 26:09 when they were both had come to the United States 26:12 and fast forward to when Pastor Jay was a 26:18 seminary teacher at the Lutheran Seminary 26:21 in Saint Paul Minnesota. He also was Pastoring 26:25 a church among them the Hmong people, 26:29 during that time, there was a lot of problems 26:33 in persecution. Can you tell us about that? 26:37 Sure, when Jay decided to become a pastor, 26:42 we actually were disowned by our family, 26:46 our relatives, our friends and the Hmong community 26:50 leaders, because we always involved in the community 26:53 and they believed that we had betrayed our 26:56 own people, our own culture and our own religion. 27:03 So, someone actually drove an old car, 27:09 full of gasoline and parked behind our garage 27:14 and tried to burn our house down. 27:17 They also wrote many, many, 27:20 many messages on our garage that you would 27:24 not want to read. They actually tried to shoot 27:29 down his professor at the time was the Hmong 27:33 coordinator for the Lutheran Church at that time. 27:37 And they missed him; they hit him on his shoulder. 27:42 They actually bombed his garage, but he wasn't home, 27:46 and also every time that we have a mission trip 27:51 to Southeast Asia. We would have phone calls 27:54 and threats from people that we will not come 27:58 back if we take these trips, but you know what, 28:02 God guided us through all this and He protected all 28:06 of us through that time, because He knew that 28:08 we were doing His work for Him reaching out to 28:11 the Hmong people. And you were not discouraged 28:14 and afraid at that time. No, actually our faith 28:18 grew stronger, and we did not stop, 28:21 we continued doing God's reaching out to the 28:25 Hmong people. And for 16 years you served God 28:28 with the Lutheran Church, did many kinds of missions, 28:32 training, training students to be missionaries, 28:36 and how is it that you became interested 28:39 in the Adventist message? Well, one day I 28:45 discovered the Sabbath by myself, 28:50 and then I questioning the supervisor, 28:55 why Lutheran doesn't provide this, 28:59 as what we teach and preach by keeping 29:01 the Sabbath. So he turn around and he say 29:04 are you questioning the senate or our doctrine, 29:09 church doctrine then three months later I received 29:13 a letter saying that you'll be no longer have 29:18 funds to support your mission and 29:20 you are now free to leave. You were a seeker 29:26 for truth and the Lord says when He the 29:28 spirit of truth has come He will lead you to all truth 29:32 and so what happened at that time when you 29:36 are released from your Pastoring job 29:38 and from your work and teaching at the seminary. 29:42 What did you do after that? After that, 29:46 my cousin from Thailand came to visit and then 29:50 he said well I have a brother-in-law, 29:54 who is a Hmong pastor married to a missionary 29:58 also live in the twin city of Minnesota. 30:01 I want you to meet, maybe you can work with him, 30:04 then I ask him for to give me his phone number, 30:08 he gave me his phone number, 30:10 I call him and he's Pastor Ko and Terry Saelee, 30:16 they under Hmong Adventist pastor in St. Paul 30:20 and that's how I get to know him and get into 30:24 the Seventh-day Adventist. And he shared the 30:27 good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 30:30 the truth of the Sabbath many things, 30:33 he gave you books and then you began 30:36 translating the Hmong Bible and why is it important to 30:40 translate the Hmong Bible. It is important because, 30:46 the first couple Hmong Bible about is out there 30:51 right now is translated from the living Bible 30:54 and the word of God and it's very, 30:58 it's a paraphrase and not accurate. 31:02 So after learning Greek and Hebrew and many 31:07 other languages, I decided that God's calling me to 31:12 translate the Bible into the Hmong according 31:16 to the original language. And what have you been 31:19 doing for the past year. For past year, 31:23 I was sponsored by Minnesota Conference 31:26 to study at Andrews Seminary and I was at 31:31 the same time I also translate Bible into the 31:34 Hmong language as a part time. 31:38 What is your vision for God's work in the future? 31:42 Our vision is to share the gospel, 31:47 the true gospel to all the Hmong people around 31:50 the world and to continue to translate the Bible 31:56 until it is finished and then become a missionary 32:03 to serve the Hmong people around the world. 32:05 And Panyia, do you support him in this vision? 32:09 Absolutely, I always supported him, 32:14 God has planted this seed in our hearts 32:15 even before we were married. 32:18 And we've always been partners in serving God 32:21 willing soul especially the Hmong soul for God's 32:25 Kingdom. I will always support him with God's 32:28 grace and willing. I pray that we will continue 32:31 to do that, but you know we don't have 32:35 all the resources to do that and we don't have 32:38 the funding to do that. And so, I ask that you 32:42 pray for us and pray with us that God would 32:47 touch people's heart to support us with any 32:52 resources financial or what have you, 32:55 so that we can continue to translate this Bible, 33:00 Hmong Bible and share it to the 15 million Hmong 33:07 around the world. And also that, 33:11 please pray that God would touch people's heart 33:14 and find a sponsor for Jay to continue his Greek 33:16 and Hebrew at Andrews University so that 33:19 he can understand the Bible more from its original 33:23 language and able to translated more accurately 33:26 into the Hmong language, amen. 33:29 Some of the teachers at Andrews University 33:32 have encouraged him to continue studying, 33:35 but ASAP is committed to pray for them 33:42 and do everything possible to help them to continue 33:48 reaching the Hmong people throughout the world 33:51 with the everlasting gospel and we solicit 33:54 your prayers, God bless you, thank you. 34:04 ASI family, I would like to introduce you to my 34:06 friend Joe Cirigliano. Joe trained to be a 34:10 physical therapist. He would probably be an 34:13 ASI member today if he continued that career 34:15 and followed into it's maturity we have lots 34:19 of medical people here, but Joe has become a 34:24 Seventh-Day Adventist minister specializing 34:26 in mentoring people to witness effectively. 34:30 So Joe I don't want to waste your time asking 34:33 questions but I want to ask you one favor, 34:36 tell us the story of how ordinary people, 34:41 small people can do wonderful things when 34:43 they have a big God. Amen, thank you very much. 34:47 The Bible tells us in Isaiah 55:11, 34:49 that the word of the Lord will never return 34:52 backward, do you believe that? Amen. 34:54 I think we've heard a lot of stories tonight 34:56 of how the efforts of little people, 34:59 regular people like you and I can make difference 35:01 to change lives. Now, I'm a paid professional 35:04 pastor and evangelist, but I want to tell you 35:06 this story of how my family received the 35:10 advent hope. Way back in the 1970s in 35:13 New York City, a lot of very strange things 35:15 were happening, and people started to leave 35:17 New York city and move to the suburbs and my 35:20 family move to Long Island and when they were 35:23 out there, my uncle Tony was a mailman. 35:27 Now when you're born in an Italian family 35:28 they flip a coin, a head you're Tony and tails 35:32 you're Joe. I got Joe and with the name like 35:38 Joe Cirigliano when people see me they often think 35:40 I'm in the mafia and I've been asked that 35:42 many times but, I tell people I don't work 35:44 for the Godfather I work for the God the Father. 35:50 But in the 1970s my uncle Tony was a mailman, 35:53 who was working his route one day and a local 35:55 church secretary named Sandy Newman was mailing 35:59 out a magazine called these times now, 36:02 Signs Of The Times and they came across my 36:04 uncle's mail route. Now if you ever wonder if the 36:08 mailman reads your mail he does and my uncle 36:13 read that magazine and began to learn even more 36:17 he been studying with my Aunt Maryanne 36:19 from quite a while and the Lord grabbed a hold 36:21 of him, changed his life. Now word had gotten 36:24 around to the family that my uncle Tony had become 36:27 a Seventh-Day Adventurer. No one had ever really 36:34 heard of that before and a little bit of worrying 36:35 and concern and so my mother decided to go 36:39 and study with them, she had been searching 36:41 and seeking for the Lord and they had a Bible 36:44 study one night and she brought over a 36:46 pepperoni pizza. And it's while my uncle picked 36:51 the pepperoni off the pizza that their Bible study 36:53 continued to move even further and my Aunt 36:56 Maryanne said she was shocked a few weeks later, 36:59 when my mother called and said can I go 37:01 to church with you next Sabbath, amen, 37:05 wow! And things changed, and things happened, before 37:08 long my uncle just in time to share the good 37:13 news with my mother, my uncle went to Southern 37:15 College became an Adventist pastor. 37:19 My mother became a literature evangelist, 37:22 who went and worked to put my sister and I 37:24 through Adventist school as a part time mother, 37:27 she was a second selling literature evangelist 37:30 in the Atlantic union as a young boy. 37:34 Thousands of lives were change because of my 37:37 uncle's ministry and his training many of you 37:39 have heard of his gospel workers, program 37:41 or some of his good news Bible study series 37:43 and my mother I told you about but, 37:46 for the last 16 years I've been serving the 37:48 Seventh-day Adventist Church in a variety 37:50 of positions. For the last more than a decade been 37:53 working in Atlanta, Georgia as a pastor and 37:57 conference evangelist, there God blessed us to do 38:00 evangelist meetings more than three dozen 38:02 of them, plant a few new churches, 38:05 and every time someone came to the evangelistic 38:07 meeting at least half the nights, I would send them 38:11 Signs of the Times magazine subscription 38:13 for a year. And at one point we had quite a 38:16 few people, dozens of families hearing 38:18 the good news. Now working as an evangelist 38:22 and a coordinator and a pastor through the years, 38:25 I've kind of lost count, but I can tell you that through 38:28 color press that our ministry we have mailed 38:31 millions of Bible study cards and handbills to homes. 38:35 Millions of homes have had the opportunity 38:40 to hear good news because one local church 38:44 secretary decided to send a magazine. 38:48 You know the amazing part, is that she didn't even 38:51 mean the magazine for my uncle. 38:54 She didn't mean the magazine for my mother. 38:57 She didn't mean the magazine for me 39:00 and she didn't mean the magazine for the many of 39:02 lives that were touched. Friends, 39:05 I can tell you that if you are willing to do 39:08 small things for a big God, then he will amaze you, 39:14 amen, because we have that promise 39:16 we can claim that His word never returns void. 39:21 It never returns void, and if you've heard it said 39:25 before that people are not interested trust me 39:27 friends people are interested in truth today 39:29 like never before, amen. This summer we started 39:34 our Atlanta Center for training and soul winning 39:36 and we had a lot of students staying with us 39:38 and we partnered with SEYC, and with the 39:41 Southern Union Publishing mega book program, 39:44 and the students went door to door in the heat, 39:46 I don't know if you were in general conference 39:47 and how many of you were GC in Atlanta? 39:50 How many of you ever said while you were there 39:53 standing outside that you were cold. 39:57 They call it hot Atlanta for a reason, it was hot, 40:00 but the students walked the streets and they 40:03 sold more than $230,000 worth of our message books. 40:10 More than 20,000 pieces of literature were 40:12 distributed and sold and lives were changed, 40:16 like the leaves of autumn our message went out 40:18 through the publishing program, and people 40:21 were trained, lay people were trained. 40:22 There were 15 evangelistic meetings held in 40:25 Atlanta leading up to the General Conference 40:28 with a four night reaping event the Pastor 40:31 Mark Finley at the Georgia World Congress Center. 40:34 So for many weeks our church, the Atlanta North 40:37 Church was the headquarters for a lot of training 40:39 of not just professional preachers, 40:41 not just the professional pastors, 40:43 but regular people like you and I, 40:47 who were trained to give Bible studies, 40:48 to hold evangelistic meetings, to 40:50 preach and do visitation and to meet objections 40:53 and to win people to Jesus. 40:56 And so friends, the proof continues that people 40:59 are willing to hear, the multitudes are in the 41:02 valued decision. The harvest is great, 41:05 but the laborers are few. As we saw thousands 41:09 of lives touched and we saw many lives changed. 41:13 It came true to me again as I thought about one 41:16 local church secretary that did so much. 41:22 She thought it was little, but little things for 41:26 a big God changed my destiny forever. 41:31 And friends your little efforts for a big God 41:35 can change many destinies forever, 41:38 because of one woman mailing one magazine, 41:42 millions of lives have been changed, 41:45 about three years ago, my uncle Tony passed away. 41:50 He knows a little bit about what I've done in 41:52 ministry, what the Lord used, used me to do, 41:57 but he doesn't know my life's work yet. 42:00 About 10 years ago, that local church secretary 42:04 passed away. She doesn't know I'm a pastor 42:09 and evangelist. She doesn't know about the 42:11 millions of homes, all she knows as before she 42:17 closed her eyes and fell asleep that she decided 42:21 to do some small things for a big God. 42:26 I can't wait to see her; I can't wait to tell her 42:31 what her little efforts did through a big God 42:35 and changed my destiny and the destiny of my 42:38 family forever. Let's pray Father God in heaven, 42:46 all of us here today, ASI is about equipping and 42:49 inspiring the average person to do something, 42:52 small things for a big God, I praise you Father for 42:56 what you did for my uncle, for my mother, 42:58 for my family, because of the efforts of one 43:02 local church secretary. Praise you Father, 43:06 for the hope I have in the Adventist message 43:09 and thank you for bringing good news 43:12 to my heart, I pray in Jesus name, amen. 43:53 "We are gathered here as a family sharing love, 44:02 sharing peace and pardon; but outside this holy 44:11 place are so many lost in sin. 44:19 If we keep our love inside these walls, 44:25 how will they ever know, that the words 44:34 we say are true, that the God we serve is real? 44:46 Share your faith, share the peace and joy you know, 44:53 share the light in a world of darkness, 44:59 share the truth that can set all people free; 45:06 be the love of Christ, let him live in you and me. 45:27 As the ones who've gone before us 45:33 walked in faith, may we boldly follow, trusting 45:41 in our eternal God, Who is with us still today? 45:53 Joining hands and hearts and lives as one 45:58 to make the message known, 46:06 that the words we say are true, 46:10 that the God we serve is real. 46:21 Share your faith, share the peace and joy you know, 46:27 share the light in a world of darkness, 46:33 share the truth that can set all people free; 46:40 be the love of Christ, let him live in you and me. 46:54 Share your faith, share the peace and joy 46:58 you know, share the light in a world of darkness, 47:06 share the truth that can set all people free; 47:13 be the love of Christ, let him live in you and me. 47:29 Be the love of Christ, let him live in you and me." |
Revised 2014-12-17