Participants:
Series Code: SF
Program Code: SF000020C
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00:01 Welcome back to Mending Broken People,
00:04 the 3ABN miracle story. If you don't stand 00:08 for something brother you're gonna fall 00:09 for anything, that's right. And, and I appreciate 00:14 the Seventh-Day Adventist because they know 00:15 what they believe, they know why they believe it 00:18 and they are not afraid and ashamed to stand for it. 00:21 And so at least through three angels broadcasting 00:24 isn't either and so I appreciate that. 00:33 That's when I was running my little 00:34 auto shop that I had there in West Frankfort 00:36 and Rick bless his heart, he was a big man and 00:41 he drove a 1980 Ford Pinto. 00:43 And that Pinto became the connection between he and I. 00:47 I would take this car into Ronnie and Ronnie would 00:52 patch it up for me and then it would be about 00:55 two weeks and something else would go wrong 00:57 with this car. And I thought, 01:00 Lord why are you doing this to me. 01:02 I was blaming the Lord and it was just 01:07 because we live in the world, 01:08 where things were out. And as he would come in 01:10 you know and we began to talk and he was pastor 01:13 in Assemblies Church at that time. 01:14 And as we talk you know he would talk about 01:17 what you know, you Adventists you know 01:19 do this or that or believe this 01:21 or that so every time he'd come in 01:22 we'd have a spiritual conversation about the 01:25 differences between our two beliefs you know. 01:27 With this greasy box over near Ronnie's desk 01:32 and he would always say hey Rick and he said 01:36 take the book out of that box, 01:38 he said it's absolutely free. And to make him 01:42 feel good I would take a book and I know that 01:46 the first six or seven books that I got from Ronnie 01:50 I threw it away, oh mercy. Confessions good for the 01:53 soul thou heart in the reputations, yes. 01:55 I didn't know what God was doing in his life 01:57 in the background. I didn't know exactly how that 02:01 was impacting him. But I could tell that 02:04 it was having an effect. I started reading some 02:07 of the material and I thought now this is 02:09 pretty interesting stuff. And so I rode 02:12 off to Maryland to the general conference 02:15 of Seventh-Day Adventist and got some Bible studies. 02:18 As he was picking up his car and I handed him this 02:21 and he said I've got that one, 02:23 I said you have, okay. I haven't got that one. 02:26 How about this, he said I've got that, 02:30 I said of course you get those I said didn't give 02:32 you all of those, he said no you didn't he said I've 02:35 got everything you've got in that box, 02:36 I said where did you get it, he said I contacted 02:38 your conference headquarters 02:40 and I told them what I was interested in, 02:42 I just said send me everything you got, 02:44 he said they did. I went back to the basic doctrines 02:47 of the Bible and began to study them 02:50 and the basic doctrines of the Bible including 02:55 the Sabbath, including hell, including the 02:58 character of God, the state of the dead, 03:01 basic Bible doctrines that I had a little different 03:05 view than what I was reading in these Bible studies, 03:09 but I thought that's okay we just let the Bible shine 03:13 it's own light. And we are all just gonna have to see, 03:17 you have a degree or two don't you and, 03:18 yeah I had two, two degrees what were they? 03:21 And well one is in Biblical studies 03:26 and one is in counseling. On a Friday evening 03:29 I'll never forget it, I went in got cleaned up 03:33 preparing for the Sabbath you know sat down 03:35 had my supper and I thought you know 03:37 I might call Rick and see just where he is at, 03:40 see what is he thinking and I called him, 03:42 I think Jane answered she passed the phone to him 03:46 and she said Rick, Ronnie is on the phone, 03:49 so Rick come to the phone and he said, 04:01 I said how are you doing Rick? 04:03 He was down, you know, Rick just didn't get down. 04:09 Rick was always smiling and unhappy, 04:11 he sounded kind of down. And I said what's going on? 04:15 Well he said I've given my Church notice, 04:19 I'm gonna be leaving. I needed to settle 04:23 this in my own heart and if someone had ask me 04:26 at that time when we left our church that you 04:31 would become the Seventh-Day Adventist 04:32 I would probably said absolutely not, hey look 04:35 I'm just re-examining some scriptures. 04:38 And so we began to share a little more, 04:41 little more and I said Rick, I said have you heard 04:44 of 3ABN, he said yeah I've heard of it, 04:47 he said I've never been there. 04:48 He said I've heard that they are doing some things, 04:52 I've read some pieces in the paper you know 04:55 some articles and I said how would 04:58 you like to go, he said oh I like that, I like that. 05:01 So we set up a time when we could go, 05:04 and I picked him up and brought him out to 3ABN 05:07 then it was the old building you know with the big huge 05:09 32 foot satellite dish out there. 05:12 And I am remembering getting up looking 05:13 up at that thing, wow you know it just looked 05:16 immense. You know and I took him through 05:18 and in the mean time I had called Danny 05:21 and updated him and I said I'm bringing him 05:23 up today, so get him out, Danny was erred me 05:26 this and Danny gave us the tour then of the place, 05:30 you know. And at that time Rick was just all 05:34 ice until he was all ice and he brought Danny 05:37 up to date about what he has been studying 05:40 and that he didn't have a job, didn't know what 05:42 he was gonna do and Danny said Rick how 05:44 would you like to work here for 3ABN, yeah. 05:46 Well what can I do? You know, I don't know what 05:49 you are doing and I don't know anything about 05:50 television what can I do? Well we had kind of an 05:52 entry level there called master control 05:55 and so many people started in master control. 05:58 When you came you said I don't want you to think, 06:00 lead you on then I am gonna become a 06:02 Seventh-Day Adventist, that's not my intention 06:04 I won't say I won't be, but that's not 06:06 who I am you know quitting to come out here. 06:09 And for a year and a half, I said on the midnight 06:11 shift in master control and was able to study 06:15 the Bible doctrines. I don't like to call them 06:19 the Seventh-day Adventist doctrines 06:20 because they just happened to be the Bible doctrines 06:22 that the Seventh-day Adventists happen 06:25 to embrace. And, so I did study to 06:29 make a long story short, I studied and I found 06:34 that the Sabbath enhanced my relationship 06:39 with my heavenly father, Amen. 06:41 That the character of God, what the Bible teaches 06:43 about the character of God enhances my love 06:46 and appreciation for my heavenly father, 06:49 that what the Bible, the Bible version of hell 06:54 and the Bible version of the death just enhanced 07:00 my relationship with my heavenly father. 07:02 Somebody said oh I hate to see you lose, 07:04 so many years of ministry, brother I didn't lose a 07:07 thing. He used to tell me he said, 07:09 I tell you what, me and Joe Crews have argued 07:12 about this. He said Joe Crews has been, 07:14 that was with evangelists then you know. 07:16 He said Joe Crews and I have spent many a 07:18 night together, he said because he was right 07:20 there in my living room, he said because he take 07:23 copies of the tapes home with him and study. 07:25 And he said, you know I said out I was gonna 07:27 prove this man wrong, he said and I couldn't do it, 07:29 I couldn't do it. And so I think he sat in 07:33 master control, 18 months maybe two years 07:36 something like that, putting the Adventists 07:38 programming on the year. And he didn't change 07:41 a thing, but it changed him, it changed him. 07:46 I think it maybe a year and a half that he did that, 07:49 maybe two years and he was going home 07:51 and as he put these tapes on the air at home 07:53 to look at him of course his wife Jane 07:55 and their daughter Kim would set there 07:57 and they all go through those things. 07:59 At the end of that about a year 08:01 and a half I believe it was he said you know 08:04 I want to become a Seventh-day Adventist. 08:06 Oh, tremendous and they were all baptized 08:10 and that was the beginning entry of him 08:13 into pastoral ministry here in an Adventist church. 08:16 Amen well welcome, we want to welcome each 08:19 of you this morning the Bible says. 08:22 Rick although played a vital role during his time 08:24 at 3ABN he spent many years mending broken 08:27 people who called into the pastoral department. 08:30 Rick also went on to pastor several 08:32 Adventist churches through the years. 08:34 Rick passed away in early 2010. 08:40 I said Danny the Russian church leadership 08:43 has asked me to run a campaign at the Kremlin. 08:46 Danny said I think you better come up to 3ABN. 08:49 So I came up to 3ABN, I could still remember. 08:52 We've received an invitation to preach 08:54 inside the Kremlin, yes. The first time in the 08:57 history of Russia to preach inside the Kremlin. 09:02 And that's had Danny Shelton and 3ABN 09:05 got involved because of the challenge of 09:08 preaching the Gospel in Moscow, 09:10 but that didn't happened. Yes it is true, 09:14 we were denied going to Moscow, 09:17 going to the Kremlin. And when people think 09:20 they are frustrating the work of God, 09:22 they aren't kidding themselves because 09:25 God has got a bigger and better and a 09:28 different plan. And so I said to 3ABN to 09:32 Danny Shelton, Danny would you like to come 09:35 with us, I would you like you to come 09:37 and help us to preach Christ to the Russian 09:40 people in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, 09:44 the soul of a visionary in the heart of a missionary. 09:46 Danny said yes you can count on us, 09:48 we will come and that's how 3ABN got 09:52 involved and we thank God they did 09:55 because they had the vision. 09:57 We hired the Palace of Sport in Nizhny Novgorod. 10:00 And when we booked the Palace of Sport 10:03 in January of 1992 in the midst of a very, 10:07 very cold winter. The old communist official 10:11 sitting under a picture of Karl Max 10:15 and also Lennon, he said to me. 10:19 No one will come you know through the translation, 10:22 he said no one will come, we have taught 10:24 the people here not even to think of him. 10:27 That director of the Palace of Sport was 10:30 almost trampled to death in the charge of the 10:35 Russian people coming to hear the Gospel of Christ. 10:38 And so when the doors would open right on 10:41 2:30 they would be a wall of people 10:44 and they would come running, 10:46 if you were in there way you could get trampled 10:49 to death seeing those people rush in to get 10:52 the best seat or you know to get A seat. 10:56 Because if I understand correctly, 10:58 if I remember correctly they end up having 11:00 to shut the doors, you know they were 11:02 filled the seating capacity and they couldn't allow 11:04 anymore else to come in you know and they were 11:07 people outside who didn't get to come in. 11:10 There was an old man stood outside crying out, 11:12 I waited 70 years for Jesus in the name 11:15 of God let me in. We even saw people trying 11:21 to unearth the foundations of the building, digging 11:25 hole to stand, to climb in under the ground 11:28 and come up. I couldn't get to the meeting 11:31 myself at the start, I couldn't get there. 11:34 They came and told me you can't get near the hall, 11:37 we can't get you to the meeting. 11:38 They contacted the Russian government 11:42 and the Russian government contacted 11:44 the Russian army and the Russian army sent 11:48 along a military vehicle and took me to the meeting. 11:53 The Russian army got me to the meeting. 11:55 Thank you Russian army. So the man who said 11:59 we told the people not even to think of him. 12:02 Nobody is going to come; now I had his neck on 12:04 the line. You know what the KGB did? 12:08 They sent their officers and young men dressed 12:11 in black. And they came and acted as deacons 12:16 and ushers. The KGB worked for us and the 12:22 Russian army, how can we forget those days? 12:26 It was the Book of Acts repeated by the power 12:30 of God and was only the start, and 3ABN 12:33 was involved in this. Already after the 12:35 opening of these programs. [Foreign Language] 12:40 Danny called the United States of America. 12:42 [Foreign Language] And they did a coast 12:46 to coast broadcast. [Foreign Language] 12:52 Using the telephone. [Foreign Language] 12:56 Telling the American people. [Foreign Language] 13:00 Of the wonderful meetings we are having here. 13:02 [Foreign Language] Well, Doctor Julia came 13:06 to the meeting since 1992 to hear English 13:10 as she should be spoke. She didn't realize it, 13:16 she wasn't gonna hear English at all, 13:17 she gonna hear Australian. I had never heard anyone 13:22 who is mother tongue would be English, 13:23 so I came to those meetings just to listen to English 13:27 and that was very good learning experience 13:30 because I learned a lot of words, 13:32 I learned a lot of new notions. 13:34 And she became fascinated by what 13:37 she heard, she came as an atheist. 13:39 It was probably and actually the first time 13:43 when I heard Psalm 1 speaking about God 13:46 I never thought there was God. 13:48 I was supposed there might be some force some energy, 13:52 which I was very much unsure about. 13:55 If it exist at all and then when he spoke about God, 14:01 about Jesus Christ, about the Holy Spirit, 14:04 about God's care and protection of my life 14:11 that in spite of myself was wrapping hold of my heart. 14:17 It happened when Pastor John Carter read don't 14:21 you that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit 14:25 and that just struck me it's struck me. 14:29 I didn't regarded in the context of a health 14:36 message, I was not thinking that it was 14:40 directed to the believers in coherence, 14:43 I just knew that the Lord was speaking to me, 14:46 don't you know that your body is a temple 14:48 of the Holy Spirit. And so it filled my heart 14:52 with such tremendous joy and happiness. 14:54 Me as imperfect as I'm, as sinful as I'm. 15:01 God wants to dwell that I'm good enough 15:05 for him that was a moment of my 15:07 conversation I remember it so well. 15:09 This book is the very word of the living God. 15:13 [Foreign Language] And this book tells me 15:17 that there is a creator of God in heaven. 15:19 [Foreign Language] 15:23 And this book tells me that God loves you. 15:25 The largest secular crowds on planet earth 15:31 attending religious meetings and learning about God. 15:37 They were thinkers and they were readers, 15:40 the leader of the KGB the Journal, 15:44 the Journal Vladimir came to the meetings. 15:46 He came night after night and he sends a 15:50 message come and preach to the KGB. 15:53 Pastor Carter please come, I ate with the Journal 15:58 and his staff. We were met at the steps by 16:02 two full blown colonels. Then he said now I want 16:07 you to go ahead and preach strong to my man, 16:10 evidence for the Bible and preach Daniel 2, 16:13 Daniel 7, Matthew 24, gave them everything 16:17 just about. Then I had an altar call 16:19 and a thousand came forward this was a 16:23 golden moment in history. It was because the time 16:27 was special it was the right place at the right time. 16:35 God prepared the soil the harvest was ripe. 16:38 People say it just doesn't happen, you know, 16:40 that couldn't happen. We've seen Pentecost, 16:43 we've seen the opera in the Spirit of God, 16:46 we have seen the latter of rain. 16:48 People will say no, no, no, no those things 16:50 don't happen, maybe doesn't happen, 16:51 where they live maybe doesn't happened 16:53 to them. But it does happen. The fact that 16:55 we had reached out to another continent, 16:57 you know half way around the world. 16:59 And here we're video taping a series that will show 17:01 on 3ABN and you know this is a ministry. 17:06 This is a message that is going to reach 17:08 how much of Russia we had no idea at the time 17:12 you know but that is what open the door for 17:15 the you know the 3ABN evangelism center 17:18 and you know the starting of the work in 17:21 Nizhny Novgorod I mean that one key thing 17:24 is what started at all, I feel like for 17:27 Nizhny Novgorod and for Russia. 17:29 When we had the Baptism in the Novgorod river 17:31 with the help of the Russian army, 17:32 who served as a deacons, set up the tents and who 17:35 supplied me with the truck on which to stand 17:38 in the PA system and all of that good staff, 17:41 who supplied me with the stage that will made 17:43 up of those boxes in which they put handgrenades 17:46 and all those stuff. When we had that great 17:49 Baptism when we went there, when we saw out of the 17:53 stuff we had a great problem because we 17:57 didn't have a place to put the people 17:59 and this is with Danny Shelton had the vision. 18:02 Danny said we need to get an evangelism center here. 18:07 And the member of that team, 18:08 an old man who came from California he said 18:11 to Danny, because Danny was used 18:14 by the spirit of God to make this presentation. 18:16 They gave Danny a hundred thousand 18:18 dollars that was the seed money. 18:20 You came and what do you think about these plans 18:23 of building evangelism center. 18:25 Well, I think it's exciting and TV station whole 18:29 works, the whole works it's just great to have 18:32 a part in it. And if we can contribute 18:36 something toward the cause here in this country, 18:40 hey let's do it. Danny Shelton thought of 18:46 starting 3ABN in Russia, he went to saw those crowds, 18:52 those Baptized people. The idea in his heart was 18:57 first that this people need a place to meet 19:01 somewhere and second that many more people 19:06 could be influenced if Russia had it's own 3ABN, 19:10 so it was that time that they started looking 19:16 for a facility and it was the time of the first 19:21 ever auction of private property in Nizhny 19:25 Novgorod after the all the years of communism 19:30 so 11 projects were put on that auction 19:35 for to be sold. Ten of these deals of selling 19:40 the non-finished constructions during 19:42 that first auction have been recognized invalid. 19:47 But the only deal that was recognized as valid 19:52 at that auction was our deal the 19:56 purchase of this building, 19:59 so, 3ABN bought this building. 20:01 It bought it for the local conference 20:05 and that was in 1992, and in the following 1992, 20:11 I started working at this project as a translator. 20:20 I want to thank 3 Angels Broadcasting Network 20:23 from all my heart 3 angels build our Church. 20:27 And by the grace of God 3ABN got that center 20:32 and after a number of years of intensive work 20:36 Danny got the job done. 20:37 Danny needs credit for that. Goodness credit 20:41 I believe he is got in heaven for it 20:42 because nobody knows the battle, 20:45 trying to get the money, trying to build 20:48 the building, trying to get the work men 20:50 to come to work when they won't drunk, 20:52 tremendous battle. The studio was finished in 1996 20:58 and the big sanctuary, the rest of the facility was 21:03 finished in 1998. This is when the whole building 21:09 was dedicated to the Lord. But while the construction 21:14 was going on, Danny wanted for us to start creating 21:19 our own Russian language 3ABN programming. 21:24 I am so proud of that center. Dr. Julia said, 21:27 she calls me Pastor John. I Baptized her. Dr. Julia with 21:31 PhD in linguistic. She said, may I show you some 21:35 of our programs. There are programs on marriage. There 21:42 is all different sorts of programs. Goodness to me. 21:47 I am so proud what she has done and I am so proud 21:50 of what 3ABN is done with the tremendous 21:55 sort of opposition. 3ABN is my life, it is my love, 21:59 and my service. I can't thank God enough for it. 22:08 Well, I didn't have a GPS when I made my first trip 22:10 to 3ABN. I had some directions are written 22:13 on a piece of paper after leaving St. 22:15 Louis and driving across the river it seem like we 22:21 were getting further and further away from 22:23 civilization and then after turning off the highway 22:26 there in van and heading towards Thompsonville 22:30 I had to lean forward up against the steering wheel 22:33 to try and find this turn off that ended up being 22:38 gravel road by the time we got to 3ABN and I thought 22:42 myself, so this is gonna be broadcasting to the world. 22:51 Somebody actually gave me a video tape and there 22:54 was a Danny in a Church sharing the vision 22:57 and story of how he wanted to start this network. 23:01 And it's also before my time with Central Church 23:04 and Amazing Facts, Karen and I were doing conference 23:07 of evangelism in Northern California as well as Pastor 23:10 in the small Church in the lovely little valley called 23:13 Covelo and that was during that time we did a series 23:16 of meetings up right in California, video tape the 23:23 Revelation series and the number of those tapes 23:24 made the way around the country and I understand 23:26 that one of them found it's way to 3ABN. 23:29 Danny later told me that he saw the tapes and actually 23:33 sat on the shelf for about a year before he had 23:37 viewed them. I received the call and Danny asked 23:41 if we willing to come out and do an interview 23:46 and I was thrilled. Doug Batchelor, 23:48 it's good to have you. Hi, Danny good to be here. 23:50 It's probably your first time, 23:53 to the Southern Illinois and 3ABN? 23:56 Yes, Southern Illinois its first time. 23:58 While I was there they said we would like to tape 24:00 some programs where you answer Bible questions 24:03 because in our tapes Danny had seen we took time 24:07 every program and dedicated it to answering 24:10 Bible questions. So that's when we started 24:13 a series called Bible Answers. 24:20 Welcome to the program that brings you Bible Answers 24:21 to your questions, and now here is your host 24:25 Doug Batchelor. We are glad you can join us friends, 24:28 and this program is dedicated to answering the 24:31 most common questions that come in regarding 24:33 the Bible, spiritual things in Christianity. 24:36 Well, you notice a dramatic difference after 3ABN 24:39 began to air our videos that once we had recorded in 24:43 reading were little higher quality because we put 24:46 them on 1 inch tape, and I don't think most people 24:49 even know what 1 inch tape looks like anymore the 24:51 recorders were as big as washing machines 24:53 I'm not exaggerating. But it was a little higher 24:56 quality in the day and so we sent these great big 25:00 the one program was on a real this big like just 25:04 the great big thick real. And so we sent those programs 25:07 to 3ABN, they began to air them, and as we 25:11 traveled around we were running into more and 25:13 more people that were saying oh! we really enjoyed 25:16 your broadcasting. It was a marked and noticeable 25:21 difference how many people were now encountering 25:23 the programs once 3ABN to air them, 25:27 and it did a lot for our ministry ultimately. 25:34 I received a call from Pastor Joe Crews and he was 25:37 watching a set of the half inch tape showed them 25:40 to the Amazing Facts staff back in Frederick, Maryland 25:43 and they said, you know, we are interested in talking 25:45 to this gentleman about coming and training 25:49 in to take my position. And so it may have been the 25:54 3ABN broadcast that he had got an hold of. 25:56 But we noticed a big difference once the programs 26:00 were going up on 3ABN with invitations that 26:02 were coming to do of evangelism everywhere. 26:04 Only an eternity, where we be able to measure 26:09 the impact of 3ABN has had on a kaleidoscope of Christian 26:14 ministries giving them a platform and I always 26:17 appreciate the openness. Tell us about your 26:19 ministry, put the address upon the screen 26:22 we want people to know how to contact you. 26:25 There has been so many ministries that have been 26:27 bit blossomed and been respond through the platform 26:32 of being able to shared with people through 3ABN. 26:36 It's been just tremendous opportunity and it has been 26:38 a great service through the Church and to the 26:40 people who benefited from those ministries. 26:44 It was early in the morning, sun and just basically 26:47 come up and God spoke to me and I am not type 26:51 of person that says God told me this and 26:53 God told me that, it just woke me up. 26:57 It just had broken daylight and all the voice said, 27:02 it was prepared something for television and that 27:05 was it and I took that as a mandate from God to 27:10 prepare some for television, so we prepared a whole 27:15 television series. They did put it on the air and it 27:20 did nothing, I mean absolutely zero, 27:25 and I don't discourage real easy and I just said, 27:29 well you are young you just learn in you just need 27:32 more experience and so we did another whole series 27:36 for television, put on the air did nothing. 27:41 I mean not one response. Through the years more 27:45 attempts to produce television programs 27:47 were made but nothing worked until the series of 27:50 home videos recorded by Australian Carl Branster 27:53 began to circulate in his country. 27:56 Soon Pastor Cox was invited to Melbourne, 27:58 Australia for series and this time Carl hired a 28:02 professional television crew but the Lord set up yet 28:05 another divine appointment. 28:07 There was rumors, let's put it that way, 28:09 you know, they had the great divine works and I 28:11 had heard some rumblings but I hadn't really didn't know 28:15 anything until I was holding a meeting in Keene, 28:18 Texas and Danny showed up and came up 28:22 and talked to me after it's over and told me that he was 28:24 gonna build a station here to reach the world 28:28 and what he was doing and would like for us to be part 28:32 of it and all in, of course, I had a real burden 28:37 in my heart for the message to be spread and anything 28:42 as far as I'm concerned can be done to get the message 28:45 our there. We need to be doing it, so I encouraged 28:47 him move ahead and do what you can, make it work. 28:52 Somehow later Danny invited me to come and 28:56 to talk about our ministry in what we were doing. 29:01 Thank you Danny. Well, Cox it's good to have 29:02 you here. Is this your first time to 3ABN. 29:05 It's my first time to 3ABN. You got a look around. 29:07 Yes, we've enjoyed it, I had a good look here and 29:11 the new facility and all, looks wonderful. 29:14 Well, God is blessing. 29:15 And that's the first time I came out to 3ABN 29:17 and I can remember driving here and out through the 29:21 corn fields and that time everything was over 29:25 on the other side here. I spent my life going from 29:29 one Church to another holding meetings, 29:31 so I didn't have the money to put the programs 29:33 on television. I just didn't have that and after 29:37 visit with Danny and he was kind enough to say 29:41 we will send me your programs and when we have 29:44 a spot we can put them in, we will put in there, 29:46 and that's what I did. I sent it to him and from 29:50 time to time he would put them in and show them 29:52 and that is the first time and from that it 29:56 began to grow and began to take place. 30:00 That's what started it. First when we did, 30:05 in which 3ABN was involved and they came 30:08 and filmed it in all was the one in Chicago 30:12 in 2000 that was wonderful as far as I'm concerned 30:16 they did a fabulous job and we appreciate 30:19 working with them and I have no doubt 30:22 in my mind that my ministry has benefited 30:28 tremendously from 3ABN, I have no doubts about that. 30:33 I have no doubts that Amazing Facts 30:39 got a report, even it is written and some of them 30:45 have all grown and benefited wonderfully from what 3ABN 30:51 has done for them. When the Lord spoke to Danny 30:54 and told him to prepare a station that would preach 30:59 the undiluted Three Angels Message some that would 31:03 counteract to counterfeit, it's clear 31:06 you know the purpose must be to get the message out 31:11 that must be your purpose. 31:13 It's not for any other reason, but to proclaim 31:18 the message of Jesus Christ and prepare people 31:22 for the second coming of Jesus Christ. 31:24 And I'm sure that as they have faced in the past, 31:30 real struggles that people trying really to stop him 31:35 or shut him down, I'm sure they will face 31:38 more than you can, you can't do that kind of thing 31:42 and not have the Devil attack that's part of it. 31:45 So you learn to put everything 31:49 in Lord's hands, trust him and let him handle it. 31:53 You and I just need to be strong in our faith 31:57 and as 3ABN does that, as you fulfill god's purpose. 32:07 I know that God has been sold the instrumental 32:10 in the ministry but the God uses people to get things 32:13 accomplish and to get things going. 32:15 At many times that were those of us who came in 32:17 who had no experience, but God also brought in people 32:21 who did have experience and had the ability 32:23 to have a vision and to see. 32:26 Yeah, this is where we are now, 32:28 but we need to be going here. 32:35 Things like these downlink stations are starting 32:37 to pop up all over aren't they. 32:39 We are right getting our handful on the lot of them 32:41 and there is a lot of work that needs to be done 32:45 to reach the people. It's important why do we need 32:48 downlink station? Well lot of the people 32:50 that were trying to reach have television sets 32:53 inside their home and they don't know about 3ABN, 32:55 they are not specifically looking for 3ABN 32:58 on satellite. And this would give them an opportunity 33:02 to turn around on their little television set 33:05 and stumble across as we might say. 33:07 Larson was busy, maintaining the station on the air 33:10 here I was hired to be an engineer 33:12 and I was performing a engineering duties, 33:14 when I came there were only two TV stations 33:17 in a local here in Johnson City and one in Salem. 33:21 Right after I got here there was a window 33:24 of applications would have to see. 33:26 So, I took an advantage of that window 33:29 and I apply for many, many TV stations 33:31 all over the U.S. They were being granted left 33:35 and right and so he had to put everything together 33:38 to get these downlink stations on the air 33:40 and I personally have been to many of those sites 33:43 and turned on many of those transmitters, 33:45 and I remember lots of them, 33:46 I remember Jacksonville, Florida 33:48 and Sarasota, Florida, I remember Asheville, 33:50 North Carolina, Tyler, Texas, Lincoln, Nebraska. 33:54 I don't know Green Bay Wisconsin, 33:55 and Berrien Springs in Michigan 33:58 and Grand Rapids Michigan there was a lot of downlinks 34:00 in about seven or eight years a bunch of them. 34:04 Moses was very fond of putting transmitters 34:06 in buildings and sometimes very tall buildings. 34:08 I remember Clarence and I being out there 34:10 where you could literally look over the edge 34:13 29 storey's down. And we are out there 34:17 wrestling installing a satellite dish to mount 34:20 to pick up the signals so that we could be 34:22 re-transmitted on the local airwaves. 34:24 And that was scary I mean it was, it was cold 34:27 and the wind came straight up that, that building 34:31 and it was so cold and we are out there 34:33 and we prayed in all the way Lord please don't let 34:36 the wind get a hold to this dish because 34:38 we never see it again and you now we were right down 34:41 in town, and who knows what damage it will do. 34:44 What sticks with me today is, 34:45 I still remember a lot of the local people 34:48 who came out to help us, people who had no experience, 34:52 no background some of them did, but lot of them 34:54 did not but they are just willing to help, 34:56 to be a local contact person for that transmitter 34:59 and to kind of take responsibility for it, 35:02 you know, I mean common what's 3ABN 35:05 about if it's not about people you know. 35:07 God had this all in mind. I know that God is very wise 35:13 and he does things on his own time. 35:14 And God was waiting for this baby to grow 35:20 a little bit and be able to chew on stronger things 35:24 Danny said well. I had the vision to take this all 35:28 around the world, but I don't know how. 35:30 So I told him I don't know how either, 35:32 but the Lord knows and he will tell us how. 35:35 So, I started research, I went to Danny and 35:39 said I think I found that the way of doing is 35:43 convert from analog to digital. 35:44 Moses had a bunch of new equipment brought in 35:47 and installed over the old facility, 35:49 a dish that pointed over the Atlantic Ocean. 35:52 You know that was shooting to a satellite over 35:54 there and it was taken off at satellite 35:56 and I'm gonna to had this translation equipment 35:59 because there is different methods of 36:00 TV transmission in Europe. 36:03 So, it was a digital signals. 36:05 They had all this new equipment brought in 36:06 and they had to be wired up and some of things 36:09 we were I really think we were ran over our heads 36:11 but you know from the human standpoint, 36:13 but the Lord was with the ministry all the way 36:16 and you know things got done, things 36:20 got accomplished that by human standards, 36:22 probably could not have you know could 36:24 not have been. 3, 2, 1 praise the Lord. 36:35 In 1996, we did the first multi-language evangelism 36:43 series from here. It was the first series 36:47 that was done in the 11 different languages 36:51 with the Mark Finley. It was the first time in the whole 36:55 history of the Seventh-Day Adventist church 36:58 to do an 11 different languages and this was only 37:03 possible because of the impact to the DVD 37:06 compression that it was able to do worldwide campaign. 37:12 In 1997, they started to use that technology for a 37:18 companies like for instance Sky Angel and then 37:20 in 1998, we started with Sky Angel broadcasting 37:25 also to small 18 inches alloy dishes. 37:28 Besides Sky Angel our dish network and direct TV 37:32 and even what we call a DTH direct to home 37:37 and other satellites that were using this technology 37:43 not only here in the U.S, but they were using this 37:47 in abroad and it was just a matter of contacting 37:51 them and say look we have this channel and is 37:53 already compressed all that you have to do is put 37:56 on your platform. So I think that was a tremendous 37:59 leap of viewership for 3ABN. 38:03 At long last Three Angels Broadcasting Network 38:06 founded it signal beginning to reach the world. 38:09 Fulfilling the vision given to Danny Shelton years before. 38:13 We started to broadcast a test period on a new 38:17 satellite called Thaicom 3. You will see that the 38:21 footprint of the satellite covers all the way from 38:23 Africa, all the ways to Australia and New Zealand. 38:28 And then we finally went from only one satellite 38:32 and we went to second satellite and then we went 38:35 from only United States base and we went all from 38:40 Africa all the way to Australia with the one 38:44 satellite called Thaicom at that time was Thaicom 3. 38:49 On June 28th 2000, the impossible became a reality. 38:53 3ABN signal reached the world. During the years 39:02 3ABN was expanding its technical ability to reach 39:05 an ever growing audience, through downlink stations 39:07 and satellites. The networks ability to produce 39:11 programming and meet the needs of callers 39:13 increased. More property and the construction 39:16 of a new production center and additional 39:18 buildings brought new possibilities to the 39:21 growing network. In 1996, 3ABN moved into 39:26 its new facility. More space was available to meet 39:29 the growing volume of male orders and 39:31 correspondence. The new production center 39:34 gave the network more studios for program creation. 39:37 Three Angels Broadcasting Network 39:39 was able to expand into new avenues. 39:51 We trust God that he will supply our needs and he 39:55 does. Then God trust us to be good stores of this 39:59 funds that he provides for us and as the need 40:04 comes in of course the daily operations that goes 40:07 without saying, but some times and Moses Primo 40:10 was the one that will bring these things to our 40:12 attention. There will be these whole people group. 40:15 This whole area of the world that haven't heard that 40:18 the good news of Jesus Christ and Moses will come 40:22 inside we got this incredible opportunity to build a 40:25 radio station or a television station someway to get 40:28 the message into that area and how do you saying 40:31 out to that. It was a project that in the beginning 40:37 was not very well accepted, but the 40:39 Lord starts to put in some different people's heart 40:43 that this is was a project that had a need and it 40:48 had a acceptance. The administration said that 40:52 yeah it maybe we can do it. If its not gonna be a 40:56 new burden on the 3ABN's budget, if there is 40:59 donations for this project and specific for that 41:03 maybe we can do it. So just in few weeks we 41:07 had a control room, we had a studio 41:10 and we had a signal to put on satellite. 41:13 3ABN Radio got started back in 1999 and then in 41:17 February of the year 2000 we went on the air. 41:20 We went to satellite. 3ABN realized that there was 41:23 a whole new audience out there to reach. 41:26 With radio there people who driving down the street, 41:29 there people at work, working on the computers. 41:31 They turned the radio on. They can listen on the 41:33 internet. It's just a whole new way to get it. 41:37 They can now listen to us by cell phones so there 41:39 had been a lot of, a lot of changes and a lot of 41:43 growth in the last number of years. 41:45 As far as the radio production goes we have a 41:47 regular department here that does I'm part of 41:50 the production department and we have some 41:51 other people as well that work on production and 41:54 what we do is we will record say if 41:56 it's a local program for 3ABN Radio. 41:59 We will put it together, we will put an introduction 42:01 on it, we will put a close on it and we will send it 42:04 to our system that plays back our programs and 42:07 so far so we do that. We take radio programs that 42:10 other people do as well and put them on the air and 42:13 so we are extending the reach of 3ABN through 42:17 the Radio Ministry around the world and 42:20 exactly the same way the TV does. 42:24 I don't think anybody realize what 42:26 a passion Danny has had for music since he was 42:29 a little boy and the desire of having a recording 42:32 studio to the point where he build on his own home 42:36 and then tried to build one but put it off because 42:38 that wasn't God's time. He did it again, 42:41 put it off because it wasn't God's time. 42:43 And quite literally quit pursuing until all 42:46 the sudden it was the right time and when 42:47 God did it. I can't tell you how that happened. 42:50 Where this is gonna go, I mean who knew where 42:53 it was gonna go. The 3ABN Sound Center was 42:55 built as a audio recording studio. 42:58 There is a State-of-the-Art recording studio. 43:02 We are able to basically do about anything that 43:05 anybody in the ministry can do. That's we have 43:07 been blessed God has built it. It was founded 43:10 initially. I think in Danny's mind to be able to 43:13 produce the music so that we would have 3ABN 43:17 CDs to the people to listen to and be minister to and 43:20 also to help with the music and the network that 43:23 needed to be to needed to that, that was the 43:24 initial I think direction as we begin to built it we 43:28 realized that there are ministries out there, 43:30 Christian ministries that make product and that 43:33 always able to go into the industry with a huge 43:37 cost. I believe that we are tiding out of them the 43:40 blessings that people bring to the 3ABN to get the 43:43 message over the airwaves, we were tiding back into 43:45 other ministries so that it doesn't just stop here. 43:48 It goes into ministries, music ministries all over the 43:51 world also that come here and work and I just I 43:55 think that's really what God is doing with it. 43:56 He is using us to bless others as he blessed us. 44:00 I do believe the miracles of Russia help to 44:03 pave the way for 3ABN Latino, but this is a 44:06 Faith Ministry. You know we would rely upon the 44:08 Lord. I saw the need for his Spanish channel and 44:10 I said Lord if it is your will for a Spanish channel 44:14 to start at 3ABN impress Danny. Danny blinked 44:18 once and said well let's do it. I said I wasn't 44:24 really prepared for that. So, I said to myself did 44:27 he say let's do it. It was another miracle to me 44:32 to see that 3ABN taking another step of faith to, 44:36 to start a Spanish channel and miracles after 44:41 miracle after miracle happened and 3ABN Latino 44:44 went on the air in the year 2003 and since then 44:48 the Lord has shown his mighty hand and 3ABN 44:51 Latino has grown incredibly fast and we are now 44:54 on over about 800 cable companies and couple of 44:58 channels re-broadcasting our signal and as 45:02 somehow the Lord draws the people to the 45:05 channel. People changing channels and you know the 45:08 Lord leads them to the channel. Well, the greatest 45:12 resource that we have here at 3ABN in my 45:15 opinion are the employees. God has graced this 45:19 ministry gifted this ministry with men and women 45:22 from all over the world we say it like this from 45:25 around the world, from across the United States 45:28 and even next door. God had sent people into this 45:30 ministry that are gifted and talented to do 45:36 some of the most incredible things we honestly 45:38 with the small workforce that we have are able 45:42 to accomplish more than, then so we are told 45:46 in some of organizations that have three 45:49 times the number of employees they don't put 45:51 out as much production as we do here at 3ABN. 46:01 There are 17 departments and its everything from 46:06 housekeeping to administration and everything 46:09 in between in taping a program production. 46:13 We will tape the program, but before the 46:15 taping takes place in a program the first that 46:18 was program development than someone they 46:22 have turn around his group had to construct 46:25 the set before you can tape on it either that or 46:28 graphics had to design a virtual set. So every 46:32 time you see a program so much went into that 46:36 program before the actual taping and once its 46:39 taped it has to go to editing and then from editing 46:42 it has to go down to programming. Programming 46:45 then ingested and its in master control, then master 46:49 control puts it out our here. Then our viewers 46:52 get to see it. There is really two ways we create 46:56 series in a program development department. 46:59 One is that we make buying someone who has a 47:02 great message or something to share with the 47:05 world and we develop a program around that 47:08 host other times we develop a program, 47:13 idea we get the concept and then we develop 47:16 the program and invite hosts at the 47:19 incubation program, will develop the look and feel 47:23 of the program designing the set. Working on the 47:27 development of the set the colors, 47:30 the graphic animations, the opening and closing 47:34 and then we put it all to music it's a long process, 47:38 but we work with a host to develop the content 47:41 and its an exciting process. Production I think we 47:50 think ourselves as a sort of a cake bakers, a lot of 47:53 ingredients are put together to get a 47:56 final product and that's what we do. 47:58 Our department is large, it includes four 48:01 working studios. A production truck which is 48:04 sort of a mobile studio, 48:06 editing is part of production. 48:08 What the person sees, what they are 48:10 watching on TV comes from our department. 48:12 How it is shot, how it is edited, 48:14 it opens and closes. What they see 48:17 is a function of the production department. 48:19 If you take a show like today's show, 48:21 like our today's show, it's a flagship show 48:23 of the station. A number of things happened 48:25 in what we called pre-production 48:27 than house production and post production. 48:29 In pre-production, we are talking with the guests, 48:31 we are finding out what their burden is, 48:32 we are finding out what their ministry is, 48:34 how we can highlight that ministry, 48:36 how we can assist them in showcasing 48:39 what they do, it's a personal testimony or ministry. 48:42 We feel our job is to make them shine. 48:45 The less people see of us than more than 48:47 see of the guests that's good for us. 48:50 In the production end, there is a director, 48:54 a producer, video graphics individual 48:57 and of course camera people and all of 49:00 these individuals work together to make a show. 49:02 The director actually handles this board 49:05 that you see behind me. 49:07 There are we say calling the shocks as a robot. 49:09 Each camera is a shot, there are four cameras, 49:12 sometimes five. The director actually pushes 49:14 the buttons, which determines what the 49:16 person at home is seeing. He works in concert 49:19 with the producer who is the shopper. 49:23 He is the person that gets everybody 49:24 together, he is a person that kind of 49:26 determines the angle that the show is 49:29 gonna be coming from what's gonna be 49:32 focused on, what's gonna be emphasized 49:35 or de-emphasized, so the director and producer 49:37 work very, very closely. The video graphics 49:40 person is also very very important because 49:43 somebody is got to determine what the show is 49:46 gonna look like as far as are they gonna be name 49:49 supers that we gonna identify who this person is, 49:51 if they have pictures or video that will help 49:53 augment the story and a video graphics person 49:57 puts all of that together. 49:59 Then we got a floor director, we've got camera 50:00 people, we've got a jib operator, 50:02 which is at long arm that has a camera on the 50:05 end. All of these things go behind the scenes 50:07 to make up a particular show and then last but 50:11 not least of course is editing, cutting out bad 50:15 things, putting in good things and our show maybe 50:20 20 hours in the making when we put together 50:22 the main hours for all of these different individuals 50:25 and the different pieces of input. One day, 50:28 I went to Danny and I said Danny will you really 50:31 need a remote trunk and he said what do 50:33 you mean a mobile truck I said yeah everything 50:37 that we have in the studio, we can put in a 50:39 truck in the four wheels and that we can take 50:41 anywhere and Danny started to mention that 50:44 on the air. The people started to donate money 50:48 towards this mobile truck that there was just a 50:51 dream in our minds and finally in 1998 we started 50:57 to purchase the equipment it took us a longtime 51:00 it was actually almost a year to build to this 51:04 truck, it turn out to be a very good truck that 51:07 we are still using today it has been what 12 51:10 years since. Another need that came later on 51:14 because people want to do live and I said 51:17 while to do live we need to have a satellite dish 51:20 and in order to do that we could do either with 51:23 the fly wave or we could actually put permanent 51:26 installation to the truck and just drive the 51:28 truck to the location, so we decide to do that 51:31 because it was more cost effective and we build 51:34 this in the small truck and has a satellite dish on 51:37 top and we can just point to the satellite dish 51:40 every time when we go to different location 51:42 and we can do a live transmission from any where 51:44 in US. On the road productions really if I can 51:51 use the term up the anti because everything 51:54 that happens in the studio happens in a smaller, 51:58 quicker, condensed sense on the road. 52:01 Since most of our on the road material is live, 52:04 there is very little room for air. Our on the road 52:08 crew is a great group of guys and girls, 52:11 men and women who have worked together for 52:13 number of years and they developed sort of a 52:15 rhythm working together since you are live, 52:19 you don't want mistakes because all of your 52:21 mistakes the world sees your mistakes. 52:24 So, we want to cut down on mistakes by 52:26 being very efficient knowing what we were doing 52:29 and helping our guests to be very comfortable 52:32 a big part of what we do in production is to 52:34 make the guest comfortable enough so that they 52:37 again they shine so that what they have to say is 52:41 transfer to the heart and the mind of viewer. 52:49 The focus of course is Jesus Christ in the 52:53 amazing way that he has done thinks that just 52:59 were miraculous to bring this ministry about 53:02 and they keep it to float and our people must 53:05 understand that we are completely and totally 53:08 depended upon them. We have absolutely no 53:11 Church support, denominational support 53:13 financially we do not. So, I remember the first 53:16 time I saw Danny Shelton, I met with him with 53:18 Dr. Lee brought Danny to Keene, Texas and he 53:22 came to our fellowship Sabbath school, 53:24 which was a large Sabbath school group and 53:27 Melody was with him and they sang 53:29 and then they talked they told us about 53:31 the dream and when he told us about 53:33 that dream I became so excited 53:36 and the amazing thing it was it almost 53:39 like kidding out here in Illinois with out any type 53:43 of opposition because people were so far away 53:46 that they, they couldn't really tell Danny not 53:49 to do it, he did it and I praise God 53:53 for the fact that this ministry began, 53:55 this is God's ministry. Danny is the first 53:57 one I will tell you that, this is his ministry, 54:00 but he reached down and he choose a young man 54:03 at that time who is still young and he choose 54:07 a young man who wouldn't be stopped 54:09 who would keep going no matter 54:13 what who would go against the odds 54:15 because he felt so deeply that 54:17 God had given him this command to build the station 54:22 and as a result this ministry exist and goes around 54:27 the world. I believe the Lord wants this ministry 54:29 to be strong right up until the time 54:31 when he comes back and the clowns of glory 54:33 and I believe that, that he is gonna use 54:37 this ministry in even a greater more powerful 54:40 way then he is ever used it before. 54:47 It's amazing to me to see how God 54:50 has taken us from the conception 54:54 of this ministry and now he has had us fulfill 55:00 his mission of go all around the world 55:02 there is no place in earth that you can go 55:04 that you cannot watch 3ABN, 55:08 so this is amazing what God has done to fulfill 55:10 his mission of getting this 3 Angels Message 55:13 all around the world. 55:20 If you wanna say your life is good for something 55:23 then this is one I can name back on 55:28 and say it was good that I was here. 55:31 Starting of the ministry in Russia, 55:34 going to Russia to preach it was 3ABN 55:37 that came and stood by my side nobody else. 55:40 When I first came to 3ABN I was a broken person 55:46 and 3ABN rescued me, not only did I find 55:52 a loving family in the workforce here at 3ABN, 55:56 but I started attempting the local 55:59 Seventh-Day Adventist Church. 56:06 If you chose 3ABN as a positive one, 56:09 3ABN will be on the air, will be a mouth piece for God. 56:13 God will continue to supply every need 56:15 as long as the programming that's put out 56:19 by 3ABN brings on glory to God. 56:22 I believe the day that we compromise, 56:25 the day that we dilute there is a reason the Lord 56:27 impressed me 25 years ago a station 56:30 that will counteract, the counterfeit, 56:32 there were many counterfeits out there 56:34 as long as 3ABN is holding fast to the pillars 56:38 of our faith to the Bible to the word of God 56:40 and giving the message in an undiluted way 56:43 straight forward, straight from the word of God, 56:46 God will continue to bless it. 56:48 I want you to build a television station that will 56:51 reach the world with an undiluted 56:53 3 Angels Message is one that would counteract. 56:56 Three Angels Broadcasting Network, 56:58 thank you for joining us today we should have 57:00 an exciting program for you. 57:02 I am speaking the words that don't happened, 57:05 it's almost like I am checking myself 57:07 and said could this really happen. |
Revised 2024-11-19