Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY017008A
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Removing pain 00:23 Lord, let my words 00:29 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:45 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:06 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn 01:07 and we want to welcome you once again to 3ABN Today. 01:11 We're just glad 01:12 that you have decided to spend this hour with us 01:14 and I believe you will be sincerely blessed by the Lord. 01:17 We'll be talking to two people who as young people 01:21 were called out of darkness into God's marvelous light. 01:24 Amen. 01:25 And now they are filled with purpose 01:30 and they're allowing God to use them in a marvelous way. 01:34 We want to just take this opportunity to thank you 01:37 from the bottom of our hearts, for your prayers 01:41 and your financial support for 3ABN. 01:44 You are our God breathed partners 01:47 and we just want to express our sincere appreciation, 01:51 because we couldn't be doing this 24/7 ministry 01:55 around the world without your partnership, 01:58 so thank you so much. 02:00 Now let me go ahead, 02:01 I just want to introduce these two special people. 02:04 They're dear friends of mine, brother and sister in the Lord 02:07 and they're also are employees of 3ABN. 02:11 So first we have Janelle Owen. 02:13 Janelle, you're a designer for our publishing department. 02:15 Yes. 02:16 And you work on the 3ABN World News. 02:20 Yes. Yes. 02:21 Yes, and also Facebook, 02:23 and the Facebook all the different networks 02:24 have Facebook pages and recipe website, 02:29 anything that needs to be done that's creative. 02:32 Well, we're just very glad 02:33 that you're using your gift for the Lord. 02:35 Yeah. 02:36 Now next to you is your handsome husband. 02:40 Yes, he says, yes. Yes. No. 02:43 I don't know. 02:44 And that's Donald Owen. 02:46 And, Donald, you work in both production 02:48 and sometimes in our pastoral department as well. 02:50 Yeah. 02:52 And how long have you two been married? 02:54 For almost... Since 2008. 02:56 Be almost nine years. Since 2008, wonderful. 02:59 Together for 18 years. 03:02 Eighteen years you've been together? 03:04 There's a story in that, yeah. Mercy. 03:05 Yes, it's part of the testimony. 03:08 That's good. Okay. 03:09 Well, we're anxious to be reminded of your testimony, 03:13 I know you've shared it here before, 03:15 but we're going to hear beyond the testimony, 03:18 you know, sometimes we get stuck in 03:21 talking about the past and... 03:22 I'm sure. 03:23 God doesn't want us to always... 03:25 Right. 03:26 We speak of our past to bring Him glory. 03:27 Amen. 03:29 But then we've got to have more to the story, 03:31 there's got to be what God is doing in our lives now. 03:33 Yes. 03:35 And they've got so much to share. 03:36 As a matter of fact, 03:37 I would love to share a scripture with you, 03:39 there are several scriptures here. 03:41 And it's in Romans 12 03:44 and I'm gonna begin with verse 9, 03:46 and the reason 03:48 I'm gonna embarrass Donald and Janelle here. 03:50 The reason that I want to share this 03:52 is because when I sat down 03:55 I thought this is a scripture that reminds me of them. 03:59 And the subheading here is "Behave like a Christian". 04:03 Paul writes to the Romans. 04:05 He says, "Let love be without hypocrisy. 04:08 Abhor what is evil. 04:10 Cling to what is good. 04:13 Be kindly affectionate to one another 04:15 with brotherly love, 04:17 in honor giving preference to one another, 04:19 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit..." 04:25 I like the way the Amplified says. 04:26 Yeah. 04:28 Never be lagging in zeal, you two never are. 04:29 Praise the Lord. 04:31 "Serving the Lord, 04:32 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, 04:35 continuing steadfast in prayer, 04:37 distributing to the needs of the saints, 04:40 given to hospitality." 04:42 And when I think of Donald and Janelle, 04:44 this is what I think of because when God brought them out, 04:48 and you know, Ephesians 5:18, 04:49 "We're commanded ever be filled with Holy Spirit." 04:52 And I know you all are 04:54 because the love, 04:56 the sincere love you have for others 04:58 to reach those who are lost and suffering, 05:01 and to see that you're never lagging in zeal. 05:04 When any event comes up, 05:06 you can count on them being there passing out materials, 05:10 they're quite the little literature evangelist, 05:14 but they've done much more 05:15 and we want to talk about that today. 05:17 But because we know you love music, 05:19 because we love music, 05:21 we like to praise the Lord 05:23 so we want to share this song with you. 05:26 We have Stephanie Dawn and she will be singing for us. 05:29 Dan Thornton is on the piano 05:31 and the song that they're going to be doing is "Grace". 05:45 My heart is so proud. 05:50 My mind is so unfocused 05:54 I see the things You do through me 05:59 As great things I have done 06:03 And now You gently break me, 06:08 Then lovingly You take me 06:12 And hold me as my father 06:17 And mold me as my maker 06:23 I ask you: "How many times will you pick me up 06:28 When I keep on letting you down? 06:32 And each time I will fall short of Your glory 06:37 How far will forgiveness abound?" 06:41 Then You answer: "My child, I love you 06:46 And as long as you're seeking My face 06:50 You'll walk in the power of My daily sufficient grace." 07:03 At times I may grow weak 07:08 And feel a bit discouraged 07:12 Knowing that someone, 07:15 somewhere could do a better job 07:21 For who am I to serve You? 07:26 I know I don't deserve You 07:30 But that's the part that burns in my heart 07:34 And keeps me hanging on 07:38 I ask you: "How many times will you pick me up 07:43 When I keep on letting you down? 07:48 And each time I will fall short of Your glory 07:52 How far will forgiveness abound?" 07:56 And You answer: "My child, I love you 08:01 And as long as you're seeking My face 08:05 You'll walk in the power 08:07 of My daily sufficient grace." 08:15 You are so patient with me, Lord. 08:27 As I walk with You, I'm learning 08:32 What Your grace really means 08:36 The price that I could never pay 08:40 Was paid at Calvary 08:44 So, instead of trying to repay You, 08:49 I'm learning to simply obey You 08:53 By giving up my life to you 08:57 For all that You've given to me 09:01 I ask you: "How many times will you pick me up 09:06 When I keep on letting you down? 09:11 And each time I will fall short of Your glory 09:15 How far will forgiveness abound?" 09:19 Then You answer: "My child, I love you 09:24 And as long as you're seeking My face 09:28 You'll walk in the power 09:32 of My daily sufficient grace." 09:50 That was Stephanie Dawn and Dan Thornton 09:52 and I just love her voice, I love the... 09:55 you were mentioning that she was singing, 09:57 I think it was at camp meeting when beautiful wonderful savior 10:01 when she did a duet with Pastor John Lomacang 10:04 and it's so beautiful. 10:05 Well, if you're joining us just a little late, 10:08 then I want to introduce our special guest once again. 10:10 We have a husband and wife with us 10:12 and that is Donald and Janelle Owen, 10:14 and we're just thrilled 10:16 that you guys are willing to share 10:18 and excited about what God is doing in your life. 10:21 Definitely, yes. I'm too excited. 10:23 Yes. 10:24 But you know, what I'd like to do is 10:27 I know you've shared your testimony on 3ABN before, 10:30 but there's many people, 10:32 we have new viewers everyday and many people 10:35 even if they've seen it may not recall everything 10:38 but they also, there're many who never, 10:40 this would be the first time to see you. 10:42 So, Donald, tell me you said 10:44 that you had been together 18 years 10:46 married for 9 of those 18. 10:49 So tell me a little bit about your past 10:53 and how God reached you? 10:56 He actually reached into a dark pit 10:58 and pulled you out, didn't He? 11:00 Tell me a little bit about that? 11:01 Well, 11:04 it began with the idea of pornography 11:07 at the age of 12, 11:08 my brother had very crafty, 11:10 he decided to go to a local corner store. 11:13 And there was no cameras at the time small corner store 11:16 and he then, adult magazines, 11:19 the very top rack which is obviously 11:21 they put them up, so kids can't reach 11:22 and he's old enough to reach them. 11:24 He showed about 10 of those down in his pants. 11:27 He came back home and he said, 11:28 "Hey, guys, I've got something to show you." 11:31 So about five or six of us guys went in the back in the shed. 11:33 We're here in the back 11:35 and there he will open the magazines 11:37 and I saw all kinds of images, 11:39 it just infiltrated my mind and at that time of my life, 11:42 you know, I was a teenager. 11:44 I mean, it's easy to be seduced 11:46 and brought into this idea of pornography 11:48 and that planted a seed in my mind for years 11:50 which began to get darker and darker as I got older 11:55 realizing that I was falling into this lust the sin, 11:58 but I didn't realize at the time what it was 12:00 because it was kind of a young age. 12:02 And as it progressed, 12:03 I got worse to get in the pornography. 12:06 I wound attend strip clubs, I've been to peep shows, 12:09 all that kind of stuff. 12:11 And then I also started getting online, 12:13 when online just first started, internet was just new, 12:15 it's kind of basic, there was no have pop ups, 12:17 you know, you see all those pop ups and everything. 12:19 It was real basic like DOS 12:21 and I remember the first time 12:23 I was in the computer room in college at that time. 12:25 I started texting or not texting but... 12:28 Searching. Yeah, I was chatting online. 12:30 Oh. 12:31 Chatting online, I would spend four, five hours a day 12:33 and I swear my eyes are, I wear glasses usually, 12:36 but I was on a computer screen 12:38 constantly looking four, five hours a day, 12:39 I just glued to that computer. 12:41 That was just neat to me that 12:42 I could be talking to somebody 12:44 away over in other side the world 12:45 that's when Satan came in and use it for another purpose. 12:47 Okay. 12:49 I began doing sexual chat online. 12:51 And I actually lost a job due to it 12:54 because it was such a strong addiction. 12:57 And then meanwhile I started dating her, 12:59 I still had this addiction 13:01 viewing pornography magazines or videos 13:05 and it was just a really hard thing to overcome 13:07 and I didn't tell her much about it as far as you know, 13:10 the chatting and things I was doing like that, 13:11 kind of kept it from her, 13:13 but we kind of got into the pornography thing together. 13:17 How did you, when you say that you got into it together? 13:21 How did you first learn that he was into pornography, 13:24 had you done it before 13:25 or was just something he introduced to you? 13:27 Yeah. Actually we didn't... 13:29 I guess we didn't realize early on our relationship 13:31 that we had both had viewed pornography 13:35 and had actually had, 13:37 you know, my history with that 13:38 and then at some point in our relationship, 13:40 I don't know how long we had been together 13:42 but we would go to video stores together 13:45 you know get the tapes 13:48 and you know, all the other stuff 13:51 that goes along with that lifestyle. 13:53 I won't go into too much detail 13:55 but you know, there's other things 13:57 to go along with that. 13:58 And so it just became kind of part of us like part of, 14:03 you know, our lifestyle. 14:04 And you know, I think at first 14:07 we had the shame of going in that backroom 14:09 at the video store to get the stuff 14:11 but then eventually you became calloused, 14:13 you know, when you get over that initial feeling of shame 14:18 and I think that, you know, eventually we just, 14:20 it just became like... 14:21 It becomes normal, doesn't it? Yeah, exactly. 14:23 But you know, I have to say this 14:25 because I remember the first time 14:29 that I heard this lovely couple's testimony 14:31 and I was just sitting wide-eyed thinking, 14:33 you're kidding, 14:34 because when the Lord did reach down and shine his, 14:40 when he shown his light into your darkness, 14:44 what a marvelous job He did of purifying you 14:47 and cleansing you of all unrighteousness 14:49 because these are two of the most pure hearts 14:52 you'll ever meet. 14:53 And just to see the purity in your life 14:56 now it's just so amazing. 14:57 Thank you. Praise God. 14:59 Praise God. Amen. 15:00 So you're together for nine years 15:02 and kind of a tawdry CD type of thing. 15:08 Did that ever make you feel like 15:11 you might not be able to trust one another, 15:13 did it bond you together or did it... 15:15 tell us about that? 15:16 That's interesting, you mentioned that 15:18 I had been doing a lot of sexual chat 15:21 with women online like I said there's one job 15:23 actually I lost my job over, 15:24 they caught me and they even the employees like, look, 15:26 they know what you're doing, you better stop. 15:28 I said, "No, I can quit. It's okay." 15:31 You know, I kind of have this you know, kind of thing. 15:33 I can deal with it, don't worry about it. 15:34 And I kept doing it and doing it 15:36 and eventually we were on vacation 15:38 and I decided to cover my tracks 15:40 because I knew they could follow you 15:42 on the computer where you went, 15:43 so I just start deleting stuff on the computer. 15:46 When I came back the manager boss, 15:48 he pulled me and he says, "We need to talk." 15:49 He said, "This isn't working out. 15:51 You need to leave." 15:53 I said, "What's going on?" 15:54 He said, "You just killed our computer is destroyed." 15:56 I don't know what you've done but we know what you're doing 15:58 and it was destroyed. 15:59 So I mean, I literally that's the first time, 16:01 I have ever cried at losing a job 16:02 because I knew what I had done, 16:04 I knew the shame and the guilt 16:05 and everything I carried with that, 16:07 it was really hard. 16:08 Then I had to come home and then confront her 16:10 with some of the stuff I've been doing. 16:12 And she was basically ready to walkout the door to leave. 16:14 I kind of knew that there was something going on. 16:17 And when we talked about it, 16:20 it was just confirming when he confessed. 16:23 It was just confirmed kind of some thoughts 16:24 that I had already and because really like, 16:27 you know, we had viewed the pornography together 16:29 and that wasn't an issue for me, 16:31 you know, because I thought it was okay at the time. 16:34 But the fact that he went a step further with, 16:36 you know, chatting with women 16:38 and you know, there's all that... 16:39 You felt betrayed. Exactly. Yeah. 16:42 As if he had cheated on you. Yeah. 16:44 And that's where those paths lead, 16:45 it's like it's a destructive path... 16:47 Yeah. 16:48 It will go further and then further and further 16:50 and it's like until there's no, it's just disappointment. 16:53 Okay, so how did God reach you? 16:57 Well, I've share this a lot of times. 16:58 We get married in 2008, 17:00 excuse me, I'm killing my throat. 17:02 In 2008, I had realize 17:04 I need to make some right changes in my life 17:06 so I want to get rid of that stuff, 17:08 I just want to get on my life, I wanted to make change. 17:11 I tried to quit several times on my own 17:13 and in February of that year, we're going to get married 17:15 which was in August of that year. 17:17 But February of that year I had a dream 17:18 and it was very, very, vivid. 17:21 I was in a bar with some friends, at time 17:22 we also drank a lot, 17:24 you know, I drank a lot but on weekends, 17:25 social gatherings and things. 17:26 And I was in a bar with some friends 17:29 and I'm standing next to this booth 17:30 and this old man walked, I just, I remember, 17:32 I mean I can still see it. 17:34 It's in 2008 just that means what almost 10 years ago now. 17:37 And I can just see him walking had this long white beard, 17:40 long white hair, just didn't, 17:42 I mean, he just look like he was a bar type person, 17:44 it's just he shouldn't be in the bar. 17:45 And he walked right up to me, locked eyes with me said, 17:48 "God is coming." 17:50 And when I heard that I just, I mean, 17:52 I literally just shout on my bed, 17:53 I just woke up I said, "What? 17:55 What is that?" 17:56 I mean something was weird about that dream, 17:58 it wasn't normal. 17:59 And I just instantly remember going to the living room 18:01 and pulling my Bible out, and I started reading. 18:04 I remember, Revelation 14:12 says, 18:06 "Here is the patience of the saints, 18:07 so they keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." 18:09 And I just started crying. 18:11 I'm like what's happening? I said, what's going on here? 18:13 Then after that I was just totally just changed my life. 18:16 I mean, I read the Bible like I said, 18:18 from Genesis to Revelation in three months. 18:21 I mean, I read the whole Bible and I was so hungry. 18:22 I just, I want to know what truth was, 18:25 I wanted to make a change. 18:26 Did you have any kind of religious background? 18:30 As a young, 18:31 I think early teens or before that I was in Baptist churches. 18:35 And my brother actually told me 18:36 I was baptized in Baptist Church. 18:38 I don't remember it but he told me I was. 18:40 I don't remember it 18:41 but I remember being at the backroom 18:42 with the Baptist pastor 18:44 and accepting the Lord when I was about 12 or 13. 18:47 I don't remember the baptism but yeah, 18:48 so my mother tried 18:50 to kind of keep us in a spiritual aspect. 18:53 And my father, he kind of, 18:55 some things happen in a church 18:56 he had attended before and it kind of burned him, 18:58 so he didn't go to church as much 18:59 but my mom, she always tried to take us. 19:01 We bounced around from Baptist church to Baptist church. 19:04 How about you? 19:05 Well, I was just going to mention to you 19:07 as part of that testimony, 19:08 we actually lived together for 10 years 19:10 before we were married. 19:12 So that's where that extra time comes in you know, 19:14 we're together for 18 years now. 19:17 And so for me I was raised Adventist. 19:21 I was, you know, we were in church 19:24 until I was about the age of 12 19:26 and unfortunately, my parents got divorced 19:28 and then we stopped going to church. 19:30 And so at that point our family kind of went separate ways 19:35 and so church and God 19:38 just became really nonexistent. 19:41 And I never stopped believing in God 19:43 but I feel like He was never, 19:45 He wasn't put as a priority in my life, 19:47 I wasn't living what I knew from my childhood, 19:50 you know, the things I had learned up to that point 19:52 and so I wasn't living it. 19:54 But He was, I never stopped believing in God. 19:57 Okay, so when God really reached down 20:01 and touched and massaged 20:03 and started to breaking up the hardness of Donald's life, 20:08 how did you react to that? 20:09 Were you, at first 20:11 were you pleased by this or were you put off by this? 20:15 It was a mixture of things actually because I was, 20:18 I knew that it was God 20:20 because he had tried to quit some of the things 20:23 that he had mentioned, 20:24 you know, like the chats and things like that. 20:25 And even though we've viewed pornography together, 20:28 it was easier for me to quit that, 20:30 and it was, it was something that was harder for him, 20:34 but he had tried different things 20:35 and nothing was working. 20:37 And I saw the changes in him 20:38 and God was working on him big time. 20:42 But as far as you know, going back to church 20:45 and getting closer to God, at that point 20:47 I wanted nothing to do with any of that. 20:50 So there was, I like the changes in him 20:52 but I didn't want a new life, a new lifestyle. 20:55 I didn't want to change anything I was doing, 20:57 you know, I thought I'm okay. 20:58 That's what I thought I'm okay at this point. 21:00 And I'm like he's the one 21:01 with the problem like really no, 21:03 God, showed me other ways on that. 21:05 But so anyway it was kind of interesting 21:07 how that worked 21:09 but God worked on his heart first 21:10 and I saw those changes and eventually 21:12 after becoming, the Holy Spirit was softening my heart 21:17 and seeing those changes, it's just amazing. 21:19 And so just by that really made a difference for me. 21:23 Okay. 21:24 Well, let's fast forward 21:25 because the bottom line is the Lord did reach down 21:29 and He pulled you out of this darkness. 21:30 Yes. 21:32 You became actively involved in church 21:35 and your lives were both transformed. 21:37 Amen. 21:39 But now most recently over the past year 21:42 or so you've been taking what God did for you 21:48 and sharing it with the community, 21:50 and specifically you've been working 21:52 with Cheri Peters material, 21:54 "Celebrating Life in Recovery". 21:57 Who wants to tell us 21:58 about how you started this in the community 22:01 and how it was received. 22:03 Yeah. Actually, that's great. 22:04 Thank you, Shelley, for asking that. 22:06 It has been, let's see, we first moved here. 22:09 We knew God had used us back in Indiana 22:12 to get in the community and start, 22:14 we'd do festivals and things so. 22:16 We have a love for the community. 22:17 I really want to help see the community, 22:19 so my prayer, I was praying Lord. 22:20 I said, Lord, I know what your proverb says, 22:22 I don't remember the actual one but it says, 22:24 you know, "My people perish where there's lack of vision." 22:26 Yes. 22:27 I said, Lord, what is the vision 22:29 you'd have for this community? 22:30 What can we do? 22:31 And so as I thought on and pondered on it little bit, 22:35 I remember Brian Tyre when he worked here, 22:37 him and I we talked a bit. 22:38 And we're talking about doing addiction recovery, 22:42 it kind of popped up. 22:43 And then another coworker, she had mentioned here, 22:45 some stuff that her family's going through, 22:47 we're dealing with addictions. 22:49 So okay, this is interesting. 22:50 So then we instantly remembered, you know, 22:54 you guys record here Celebrating Life in Recovery, 22:55 Cheri Peters and so well, 22:57 maybe we should check into that. 22:58 So we did and we met 23:00 with the church board at that time, 23:01 we decided just popped in on the whim, 23:03 didn't even schedule anything, we just popped in, 23:05 "Hey, we're here. 23:06 We want to talk about this." 23:08 And we got a really good response from the board, 23:10 the church board and they said, 23:12 "Yeah, we want to back this up." 23:13 And so we decided to implement the program at the church first 23:17 to get the pilot to kind of get familiar with the program 23:21 what it did. 23:22 It's a 14 week course. 23:24 It's a 12 step program, 23:27 that deals with recovering people 23:29 through different various addictions. 23:32 And this is 23:33 "The Celebrating Life in Recovery". 23:37 It is based on the book Steps to Christ. 23:40 Yes. Amen. 23:42 It's based on Ellen White's book, 23:43 "Steps to Christ" 23:44 which is just a marvelous book 23:46 but it has been paraphrased 23:48 if you will, brought into modern English, 23:50 brought into English that the type of terminology 23:54 that would appeal to people 23:56 who might be going through or would be understood 23:59 I should say for people 24:00 who are going through those kind of problems. 24:02 Relatable to those who are in recovery. 24:03 Yes, okay. 24:05 So tell us a little bit, 24:07 what kind of success 24:08 did you have at the local church? 24:11 Well, not as much as we hoped. 24:13 We thought there's more enthusiasm. 24:16 My belief personally is that there's a lot of people 24:18 that are afraid to speak 24:21 about these things in the church. 24:23 I really feel like there's a need to... 24:26 As I like to say, I told this to Janelle, 24:27 I tell other people I said, when we begin to be realized, 24:31 when we begin to heal. 24:32 Yes. 24:33 And if we're not being real and people step into our church 24:36 and they're like, you know, you look around 24:37 and see all these people look perfect and happy 24:38 and stuff in which we should be we're, 24:40 you know, Christ is in us. 24:42 But at the same time, there are things 24:43 that we have struggled with or we do struggle with. 24:46 And we have to be honest, you know, with ourselves. 24:47 And so to me 24:50 doing this recovery just been powerful. 24:52 So we had a few show up at the church 24:54 that kind of became our core group. 24:57 We did another one locally at the school 24:59 there we started a second one. 25:01 Met a couple people attend. 25:04 And one person has stuck with us the whole time 25:06 since and we've done... 25:08 Amazing transformation. 25:09 Then we went to the Maranatha Center 25:10 which is located downtown it was Frankfurt. 25:12 We went there and we did another 25:14 Celebrating Life in Recovery 14, 25:15 we had 22 people show up. 25:17 Praise God. 25:18 And did they cover it again, 25:19 I mean, when we think recovery 25:21 sometimes people are just thinking of alcohol 25:22 or you know... 25:23 Oh, no. Alcohol and drugs. 25:25 But tell us I mean, 25:26 like you came out of the pornography addiction... 25:28 Right. 25:29 Tell us some... Sorry. 25:31 There were some eating issues. 25:33 There was alcohol and there was, 25:35 you know, all kinds of emotional type things... 25:38 Of abuse. 25:39 And, you know, abuse... A lot of abuse. 25:40 Suicide. 25:42 You know, those type of things too. 25:44 But we had 14 people graduate. Yeah. 25:46 Fourteen out of 22, that's excellent. 25:48 Yeah. It was powerful. 25:50 We have strong testimonies of how people overcome it. 25:53 Steps to Christ, 25:55 is to me one of the most powerful books 25:57 that I know of that wins people to Jesus. 26:00 I mean, it was just phenomenal. 26:02 I won't mention names 26:03 but some of our participants what they've been through. 26:06 One suffered a lot of mental illness. 26:09 I want to just put it that way. 26:11 And this person struggled 26:12 with a certain type of addiction. 26:14 Well, it broke him on that addiction after week five, 26:17 this particular participant struggled to come, 26:20 he didn't really want to come 26:21 but the Lord encouraged me to encourage them. 26:23 As I encouraged them they stuck it through 26:25 and now this particular person is what? 26:27 Five months clean. 26:29 Praise the Lord. Five month clean. 26:30 Yeah. Praise. 26:32 I got a text from this particular participant, 26:33 he said, "I've never, what's it like to be? 26:35 This is weird to be sober. 26:37 I've never been like this before, 26:38 I don't know what to do." 26:39 How exciting. Oh, yeah. 26:41 God has been really working amazing things and like, 26:43 you know, I mentioned that the transformation 26:45 and the one person he mentioned that, actually started 26:48 with our original group that's still with us. 26:50 There's now leader 26:51 and that's what we prayed for is we want to make disciples. 26:54 Amen. Amen. 26:55 We wanted, you know, people to take this 26:57 and use it and the transformation, 27:01 and we were talking the other day 27:04 about how this transformation that we see, 27:06 it's almost like we don't have kids, 27:08 but it's almost like you're seeing your kid 27:10 go through elementary school, then high school, 27:12 then college and it's like you're seeing them 27:13 go to the next level. 27:15 It's amazing. Yeah. 27:16 That's exciting. Yeah. 27:17 That's exciting. 27:19 But now why don't you take them through these 14 weeks? 27:22 And this is, I'm sure there's a lot of discovery 27:24 and this discovery of self discovering of the Lord 27:28 in knowing, learning how to draw in His power. 27:30 Right. 27:31 You know, in Jeremiah it says that, 27:35 "We can't change ourselves anymore 27:37 than an Ethiopian can change his skin 27:39 or a leopard can change his spots." 27:41 Right. Amen. 27:42 So it's something of learning how 27:44 to just give this all over to God these problems. 27:49 But as people are going through this 27:52 and you've seen such miraculous stories, 27:55 what happens at the end of the 14 weeks? 28:00 That is a great question. 28:02 That's something that we've been thinking about, 28:04 we talk to as a group 28:05 before everybody disperse the 14. 28:08 And when you ask, what do you want to do? 28:09 Do you want to go on? 28:11 We can help you get the material 28:12 and you can take it 'cause a lot are from. 28:13 I mean, we have one person driving two hours 28:15 one way every weekend. 28:16 Isn't amazing? That is amazing. 28:18 Two hours, so they were very committed. 28:21 I could just share this quick story. 28:23 The one particular lady that was two hours away, 28:25 she had a high speed chase go through her backyard 28:28 that night before they're getting ready to leave, 28:31 the car rolled over fence, took it out, 28:32 she still gets in her car, gets in her car, 28:35 she goes ahead to pick this other lady 28:37 and big bird on if it's like a vulture or whatever 28:39 a big bird smash into her front windshield, 28:42 glass all over a chair, 28:43 feathers and she picks the lady and still comes. 28:46 That's amazing. 28:48 She recognized that it was from Satan, 28:50 that she recognized 28:51 that the enemy was trying to stop her from coming 28:53 because that's the day 28:55 that Donald is really discouraged. 28:56 Yes. 28:57 I mean, a very discouraging day that we almost didn't go. 29:01 You know and things like that will happen on Sundays 29:03 like you know, either us or someone in the group 29:06 will have something strange happened to where, 29:08 you know, either we almost don't go 29:10 or we don't go at all. 29:11 Yeah. 29:13 So let me ask you this question 29:14 because you probably learned 29:16 a whole lot about yourself in leading this. 29:19 Did you not? Yes. 29:20 Oh, yeah. 29:21 And you learned a little to recognize. 29:23 You know, I can usually recognize 29:25 when somebody is under an attack of Satan. 29:29 But I'm not always quick to recognize 29:31 when I'm under attack. 29:32 Oh, that's true. 29:34 You know, it's kind of like 29:35 when something's going on in your own life, 29:36 you kind of assume the guilt, 29:39 the condemnation or something, 29:41 and finally one day you kind of like 29:42 "Wait a minute", 29:43 I'm under this is a spiritual battle going on 29:46 and I'm just, I'm not fighting back hard enough 29:49 or letting the Lord fighting for me. 29:51 But as you're learning these things about yourself, 29:56 did you find that, you know, 29:58 it takes a great commitment 30:00 to commit 14 weeks of your time to lead. 30:03 And I'm sure there were discouraging things 30:05 that happened. 30:07 But did you find that you grew in more, 30:12 more blessed even in the blessing 30:14 that you're giving to others? 30:15 Definitely. 30:17 I would say, yeah, it really poured into, you know, 30:18 our personal ministry when we work at the church, 30:22 when we do the church personal ministries 30:23 because it just gave us the fire 30:25 and the passion to want to see the excitement there, 30:29 it's like I want to see people excited about the Lord, 30:31 I want in churches, you know, I just I want to see people 30:33 excited about what they're learning, 30:35 I want to see them excited about the Word of God. 30:36 I want to see them excited 30:38 about what God can do in healing. 30:39 And there's that movie, was it Tell The World. 30:41 And Ellen G. White talked in there. 30:42 It was just so profound. 30:44 I mean, she's, I've never heard Jesus as a healer before. 30:46 And that caught me, I was like people need to know 30:49 that Jesus is a healer 30:50 and there's a lot of people don't know that. 30:51 And that was to me the key 30:53 and it's just really sparked us to get in the community. 30:56 We've been doing all kinds of stuff 30:57 with the different personal ministries 30:59 as far as like you said with literature, 31:01 giving out literature to people. 31:03 I mean just and trying to get people in the church involved, 31:06 members like, Elder Ted Wilson says, 31:08 he wants total member involvement. 31:09 Amen. 31:11 And I think that's what we need 31:12 and that's what we're striving for. 31:14 I mean, just really give us a spark to spark other people 31:16 to see life in them, just like what Ezekiel 37 says about, 31:19 "Breathing into them and given the bones and everything 31:21 and bring in the life." 31:22 And we want to see the life 31:24 and you have something 31:25 you're going to share it looks like. 31:26 Yeah, actually I think this would be a good time 31:28 to share these verses, Isaiah 61:1 and 2. 31:32 And this was actually brought to our attention by some folks 31:36 that we were sharing this ministry with 31:38 and they looked at each other 31:39 after we mentioned 31:41 the Celebrating Life in Recovery 31:42 and they said, Isaiah 61. 31:45 And so it's beautiful. 31:47 It says, "The Spirit of the Lord, 31:49 the Lord God is upon Me, 31:51 because the Lord has anointed Me 31:52 to preach good tidings unto the meak, 31:55 He have sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, 31:58 to proclaim liberty to the captives, 32:01 and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, 32:04 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, 32:06 and the day of vengeance of our God, 32:07 to comfort all that mourn." 32:09 Why don't you read 3, 4 and 5 too? 32:11 3, 4 and 5. If you don't mind. 32:13 "To the point unto them that mourn in Zion, 32:15 to give unto them beauty for ashes, 32:17 the oil of joy for mourning, 32:19 the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness..." 32:21 There you go. 32:23 "That they might be called trees of righteousness, 32:25 the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified. 32:28 And they shall buildup the old waste places, 32:31 they shall raise up the former desolations, 32:33 and they shall repair the waste cities, 32:35 the desolations of many generations." 32:38 Amen, and amen. 32:40 You know, I'm sitting here watching the two of you 32:42 and I'm thinking, there's somebody at home 32:45 who's watching maybe, 32:47 you've got a history of drugs or addiction, pornography, 32:51 and you're thinking, God can't use me, 32:55 or maybe you're in it right now. 32:56 But here you see how when God rescues us, 33:00 when we allow Him to be Jehovah Rapha, 33:03 the Lord who heals us. 33:04 Amen. 33:06 He can turn around and... 33:08 as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, 33:10 he said that he is the God of all comfort, 33:13 who will comfort you and then use you 33:15 to comfort others with the same comfort 33:17 that you receive from the Lord. 33:19 Yes. 33:20 So because the two of you 33:23 came out of the background of addiction. 33:26 Right. 33:27 I'm sure that people listened to you more readily 33:31 than if you've just been the pastors standing up 33:35 there trying to teach this class. 33:37 Yeah. 33:39 I was just going to say sometimes I feel like I regret, 33:41 you know, those years 33:43 that I was just wasting money, wasting time, 33:46 wasting all of the stuff that we did, 33:48 with God nothing is wasted, 33:50 it's you know, I still have the regret 33:52 but I know that God is using that now 33:54 to reach the people that need to be reached, 33:56 you know, through that testimony. 33:58 That's you know, it's all him. 33:59 When does that scripture say, what you meant for evil, 34:01 God meant for good. 34:03 Yeah. 34:04 And so God can totally turn anything around. 34:07 So you've had great success. 34:11 I mean, 14 out of 22 is glory to God. 34:14 That's an incredible success rate. 34:17 But now what do you do with them 34:18 because you've taken them all the way through, 34:21 you said you could offer the materials, 34:23 you are the personal... 34:25 Donald, you're the Personal Ministry's 34:28 director for the Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church 34:31 which is our church that we attend here, 34:34 and you're the co-director. 34:36 What do you do now 34:37 with these people that have come into 34:43 the knowledge of how much God loves them? 34:45 Amen. 34:46 And what a plan that he has for their life? 34:48 Do you just say, "Bye. 34:49 See you." 34:51 No, we don't say goodbye and see you, no. 34:53 Mention that we have a team too... 34:55 Yeah, we have a team of people 34:56 that we get together and we meet. 34:58 We've been sorting some stuff out 35:00 but before that everybody is kind of, 35:02 the 14 weeks are wrapping up, 35:04 we sat down and then we said, "What would you like to do?" 35:06 First personally for me 35:08 and for you we've been praying, 35:09 we'd like to see disciples 35:10 like I said some of these people are 35:12 45 minutes away, 2 hours away, 35:13 I mean you live in a community 35:15 where you can be a center of influence. 35:16 Yes. 35:17 So we would like to see you take this material, 35:19 if you would like take this material, 35:20 we'll get it for you or whatever we got to do 35:22 but you can take this material in your own community 35:23 and use it. 35:24 Since you've used it now, 35:26 we really want to see disciples. 35:27 Unfortunately, that didn't happen 35:29 the way we thought it would but God had different plans. 35:31 Many of them said 35:32 that they wanted to do continuously. 35:34 They wanted this to be a continuous program. 35:36 And so I know this is only 14 weeks 35:38 so that's where we've been 35:40 implementing in designing a continuous program 35:44 to where we can keep this in the community 35:46 and keep people coming. 35:48 Most of the people that did come, 35:49 what I have done is I keep in contact 35:51 with them through texting. 35:53 I text them devotionals 35:54 and just ask how they're doing and... 35:56 Yes. 35:57 I try to, I'm not saying, I'm always great at it 35:59 but I do try to keep in contact with them. 36:00 Okay. 36:02 The communication has been little sparse 36:03 but just the seeds have been planted 36:06 and lot of people I said overcome 36:07 and it's just been phenomenal success. 36:09 And the continuous thing 36:11 is what we're really striving for now. 36:12 We're implementing some things in the community, 36:15 doing some advertising, 36:16 which I guess start next week some of it too. 36:18 But a continuous program 36:20 to where people can just walk in 36:21 on the street and say all, 36:22 because a 14 week program 36:24 you can be like week three like you missed stuff, 36:26 so we want someone where somebody just come in, 36:28 they can share what they're going through, 36:29 they can pray with them, 36:30 they can surround them with support, 36:32 and one of the biggest things that we talk about 36:34 is that this is confidential, this is extremely confidential. 36:37 And we stress that. 36:39 Yeah, because if it's not confidential, 36:40 you lose their trust. 36:42 Amen. Amen. Yeah. 36:43 So the continuous program that you're calling it DOVE, 36:48 D-O-V-E. 36:49 That's an acronym for? 36:51 Acronym actually, 36:52 we have a little something you designed to put together. 36:55 Yeah, I think maybe bring the graphics 36:57 so I can follow along with. 36:59 Dove... Yeah, go ahead. 37:00 Divinely overcoming, 37:01 becoming victorious and empowered. 37:05 Divinely overcoming, 37:06 becoming victorious and empowered. 37:09 The DOVE recovery group, I like that, 37:12 with your favorite color of green. 37:13 Of course, yeah. For new beginnings. 37:15 God is... Yes. 37:17 God with new beginning. New beginning, exactly. 37:19 We came up with that name specifically 37:21 because so when we sat down, 37:23 we said we want this people to overcome. 37:27 We don't want people to stay where they're at, 37:29 we want them to overcome, 37:30 we want them to gain the victory, 37:31 we've seen it happen. 37:33 "Steps to Christ" was integral part of that 37:36 and through that ministry reading that book 37:39 and also what steps are there in 37:40 Celebrating Life in Recovery, she deals in health as well, 37:43 which was really amazing to implement that into that, 37:47 weave that into that so it helps people 37:49 who are struggling to addiction to overcome like you know, 37:51 learning to drink more water 37:53 or eating more better foods or getting better rest 37:56 and all these necessary things 37:58 that associate with you know, overcoming addiction. 38:01 So that was really a key component 38:04 that we need is the overcoming. 38:07 We need to have overcoming 38:09 and also we want to empower people, 38:11 so they can go and take this to their families 38:12 like the Woman at the Well. 38:14 You think about what Jesus did there, 38:16 you know, and He didn't condemn her 38:18 or doing anything like that, He just you know, 38:19 she said, I'm going to tell my community 38:21 how many people came back? 38:22 It was a 1000 I think there was. 38:24 Whole city. Thousand or so came back. 38:25 And you know who is this man? 38:27 Who is the greatest evangelist? Yes. Indeed. 38:29 And was blessed, wasn't she? 38:30 Somebody there experienced it. 38:32 So we really want people to overcome, 38:34 to be empowered, and to be... 38:37 So what is the continuing program? 38:39 We're using this life recovery Bible. 38:42 It's amazing resource. 38:44 And again it's more in the language 38:47 that is very simple to understand. 38:50 And there's also workbook that we're gonna start using. 38:53 But this Bible is, 38:55 it has little devotionals in here and... 38:58 Twelve step devotional. Yeah, 12 step devotional. 39:01 It is a 12 step program and so for example, 39:05 one week we'll go over the topic of acceptance, 39:10 accepting that you have a problem. 39:13 And then they'll be a devotional on that 39:15 and then like in the workbook there's questions 39:18 that will probe them to think, you know, 39:20 different aspects of acceptance. 39:23 And this is just been a really great resource. 39:25 And actually one of my favorite things about this Bible 39:29 is The 12 Missteps of Life Recovery. 39:32 To me it shows the battle of the flesh and the spirit. 39:35 Read those real quick... 39:37 All are good. Twelve missteps. 39:38 Okay, The 12 Missteps of Life Recovery. 39:40 "I can quit tomorrow." 39:42 And in every one of these it has a scripture to it. 39:44 Yes, to show that... 39:46 To tell you can't. 39:48 And number two, "I can handle it 39:50 by just trying harder or having more willpower." 39:53 Oh, boy, everybody's been there. 39:55 Yeah. 39:57 Number three, "Turning my life over to Christ 39:59 is the only step I need." 40:01 And we all know that that's very important 40:02 but we also need to implement the practical... 40:06 Yes. Absolutely. 40:08 Applications. 40:09 Number four, "Twelve Step groups 40:11 that don't talk about Jesus aren't worth my time." 40:15 And again that's... 40:17 But you know, that is something that's 40:19 you know, there are people who I've heard that 40:23 in different 12 step programs 40:24 and I'll just specifically mention 40:26 this is in Alcoholics Anonymous, 40:27 there are some groups that don't talk about God 40:30 and just there are others who openly do, 40:33 but I've seen that even I had a friend 40:37 who attended one where they didn't talk about Jesus 40:40 but they did teach them to pray 40:42 and finally he was praying "to this higher power". 40:46 And he said that he said, I'm not sure it was audible 40:50 but it seemed audible that he said, 40:52 "I heard a voice say, I am your higher power. 40:57 My name is Jesus Christ." 40:58 Amen. Amen. 41:00 And he was totally transformed. Yeah. 41:04 And see I think that's important to mention 41:07 because Jesus takes us where we're at you know, 41:11 and I think that, you know, maybe somebody need to start, 41:14 some people need to start in those other groups. 41:17 What we focus on is their spiritual growth 41:19 more than anything. 41:21 And so we stress the importance of Jesus 41:25 being the one that helps them overcome, 41:28 but maybe some people need other 12 step groups 41:31 for where they're at in their walk... 41:33 'Cause there is some who will never come to your group 41:34 if it's all about Jesus and God, 41:36 if they have no belief whatsoever. 41:38 At least they'll have somewhere to go. 41:40 And number five, 41:41 "While recovery might be good for some, 41:42 it just isn't right for me." 41:45 Number six, "If I follow the Bible, 41:47 I don't really need to work the 12 steps." 41:49 And again, you know, 41:50 there's the practicality aspect of that. 41:53 Number seven, "Since I'm accountable to God, 41:55 I don't need a sponsor." 41:58 Number eight, "Since God has forgiven me, 42:00 I don't need to go back to rehash what I've done." 42:03 So all of these are the missteps... 42:05 Missteps. Yes. 42:06 In case anybody is listening on the radio, 42:08 we don't want them to think, these are the true steps. 42:10 These are the missteps of the life recovery. 42:12 And this is kind of like 42:14 where we go in our natural flesh, 42:17 it's like what we naturally want to think. 42:20 And so number nine, 42:21 "Since Jesus would want me to help my old friends, 42:24 I don't need to change where I go 42:26 or who I hang out with." 42:28 Big one there. Well, that's a big mistake. 42:29 Very big one. 42:31 Number 10, "Though I can forgive most things, 42:34 some things are just beyond forgiveness." 42:36 We know that's not possible 42:38 but Jesus can forgive all things. 42:40 And if we don't know forgiveness is... 42:44 unforgiveness is the root of bitterness and resentment. 42:47 Yes. And it's... 42:49 And some people... 42:50 There's no healing if we don't. Yeah. 42:51 So people need to hear that forgiveness, 42:53 you know, it helps them to heal. 42:54 Right. Sure. 42:56 Number 11, "Since I am involved in recovery, 42:58 I don't need additional counseling or medication." 43:03 Number 12, "After making good progress in my recovery, 43:06 I can start using again in moderation." 43:09 That one is really scary. Yes. 43:11 So those are things that 43:13 so following the Celebrating Life in Recovery, 43:16 the Cheri Peters recovery group that now you are taking them 43:20 into this life recovery Bible. 43:23 Let me ask you this question. 43:25 What do you do, 43:26 have you had anyone walking off the street 43:29 who hasn't been through the 14 weeks 43:32 the 12 step recovery? 43:34 Have you had somebody just joined you 43:36 and here you are working with people 43:38 that have gone through recovery. 43:40 Are they lost I mean, or do you intend to do 43:42 the Celebrating Life in Recovery 14 week program 43:46 again sometime or? 43:48 Basically, what we're looking as 43:50 just making this a continuous ministry 43:53 to where it's just continuous. 43:54 Because we want to make it to where anybody can come in 43:56 like you said off the street. 43:58 And just come in the middle like week five or week seven 44:01 and what we've been doing in 44:03 like with this Life Recovery workbook 44:04 and what it does is there's different devotionals 44:06 in the back. 44:08 There is a seven for step one, seven for step two, 44:10 so on so forth. 44:11 And what this does is it correlates with each step. 44:14 So it kind of like a stepping ladder 44:16 like a ladder to each step 44:17 and I'll just maybe read you a couple question here. 44:19 This is called know one situations. 44:21 Question number one says, what feelings do I experience 44:24 as I acknowledge people in my life 44:26 who have power such as supervisors, spouse, 44:28 religious leaders, and sponsors? 44:30 Just kind of answer that or what do I try to escape from 44:33 why do or what do I feel trapped? 44:36 So this is that's increasing the self-awareness, 44:39 I see that we're running out of time, 44:41 but it's excellent material. 44:43 It's an excellent. 44:44 I mean, I'm just so proud of you 44:46 that you've allowed God, 44:49 you didn't just take for granted 44:50 what the Lord had done in your life 44:52 but now you're sharing that. 44:54 And did you find that you're growing through this as well. 44:56 Oh, yes, definitely. 44:58 You know, we always say that we learn to teach 45:01 but we teach to learn. 45:03 It's like you can be... Oh, yes. 45:04 Learning something... For sure. 45:05 And then when you start teaching it, 45:07 it is like it is so deep inside of you. 45:09 So I know that you want to make yourself available to people. 45:14 Yes. 45:15 If you want to start one of these recovery groups 45:18 and you just like to talk to somebody who has, 45:21 if you are interested in your church 45:23 becoming involved in something like this 45:25 or reaching out to the community, 45:27 that's what we must do with... Amen. 45:29 We have to reach out... That's right. 45:30 With the love of Jesus. 45:31 And hold Jesus high 45:33 and He will draw all men into Himself. 45:35 Donald, why don't you give us your email address 45:37 and if you're brave enough your phone number 45:39 for people to contact you? 45:41 Sure. 45:42 My email address, it's Donald, D-O-N-A-L-D Ral, it's R-A-L, 45:47 I should say Ralph abbreviated in R-A-L. 45:50 And last name, Owen, O-W-E-N and then number 2. 45:53 So it's Donaldralowen2@gmail.com. 45:57 And my number, it's 812-267-0228 46:01 and you can reach me pretty much anytime. 46:03 I will get back to you as soon as I can, 46:05 I usually respond, so as quickly as I can. 46:08 So if you want give me a call to 812-267-0228. 46:12 Look forward to hearing from someone 46:14 because I know there's people out there 46:15 that need to hear, they need this ministry, 46:17 it's very important, it's addiction recovery 46:19 and just reach out to me. 46:21 That's all I can just add so. 46:23 And then I have to just reiterate 46:24 what you said in the beginning 46:26 that none of us can just stick your head in the sand 46:31 and ignore this problem because it's happening in our churches, 46:34 it's happening in families of church members. 46:38 There are people who are suffering with, 46:42 it could be a spouse 46:43 that's involved in pornography or drinking 46:46 or maybe their spouse is not involved in church, 46:49 but there's even church members who come to church 46:52 grit their teeth, they smile 46:54 and they act like everything's okay. 46:56 They've just got, you know, 46:57 they've mastered the verbal camouflage 47:00 but they need to have a safe place 47:04 where they can feel that people they trust 47:08 that they can share these problems with, 47:10 so that they can overcome. 47:12 Because, as you say 47:15 if we don't get real, we can't heal. 47:17 There you go. 47:18 So that's very, very important. 47:20 Well, I just want to thank you. 47:21 We're gonna come back in just a moment 47:23 for a final thought from the two of you 47:26 but I want to thank you for what you're doing 47:28 for the glory of God. 47:30 And it's just so exciting to see you all are involved, 47:33 every weekend you're doing something. 47:36 Having no children, 47:38 it seems like you have put all of your energies 47:42 into rearing up spiritual chore with the Lord. 47:44 Oh, amen. That's what we want. 47:45 Well, this has just been a time that reminds us 47:51 how much we need to share the Lord. 47:54 But before we come back with a final thought, 47:56 we want to have another song with Stephanie Dawn 48:00 and Dan Thornton will be on the piano. 48:02 And I love the simplicity of Stephanie Dawn 48:07 really communicates a message. 48:09 I love the simplicity with which she delivers a song 48:13 because you really hear the words 48:16 and these words are special, "How Deep the Father's Love". 48:35 How deep the Father's love for us 48:42 How vast beyond all measure 48:49 That He should give His only Son 48:55 To make a wretch His treasure 49:02 How great the pain of searing loss 49:09 The Father turns His face away 49:16 As wounds which mar the Chosen One 49:23 Bring many sons 49:25 To glory 49:41 Behold the man upon a cross 49:47 My sin upon His shoulders 49:54 Ashamed I hear my mocking voice 50:00 Call out among the scoffers 50:07 It was my sin that held Him there 50:14 Until it was accomplished 50:21 His dying breath has brought me life 50:27 I know that it is finished 50:45 I will not boast in anything 50:52 No gifts, no power, no wisdom 50:59 But I will boast in Jesus Christ 51:05 His death and resurrection 51:12 Why should I gain from His reward? 51:19 I cannot give an answer 51:25 But this I know with all my heart 51:32 His wounds have paid my ransom 51:39 Why should I gain from His reward? 51:45 I cannot give an answer 51:52 But this I know 51:55 With all my heart 51:59 His wounds 52:01 Have paid my ransom |
Revised 2017-03-02