Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY018104A
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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 01:09 - Hello and welcome to 3ABN Today! I am so 01:13 excited about our program today. Sorry that my 01:16 husband's not here with me. You know I'm always 01:18 happier when he's here with me, but he sends 01:22 his regards to you, and I am thrilled to 01:25 be here with our guests. First of all... First of all, 01:32 Rico Hill is a very dear friend. He's no 01:36 stranger to 3ABN and definitely no stranger 01:40 to Dare to Dream, and he is my brother in 01:43 the Lord. So, Rico Hill is here from the 01:46 Beehive International Ministries. Yay! - So 01:50 happy to be here, sister, with you again. 01:52 - Oh, it's so great. - The excitement can 01:53 be felt as palpable. - I know it! I know it! 01:56 And my viewers are going to be so excited 01:58 when they hear what you're doing. It's always 02:00 exciting to know what God is doing. - And He's 02:04 moving. - And He's moving! Introduce the 02:07 rest of your team. - Well, with me today 02:08 is Jonathan Euler, our director, of international 02:11 development for the Beehive, and a gentleman 02:14 we've been working with over the last 02:15 couple of years, Leslie Williams, who was a 02:17 representative for the trust, and we'll 02:18 talk about that partnership. - Absolutely! 02:22 It's going to be great. You're not gonna want 02:24 to miss any of this. But let's have some 02:26 music first, and then we'll come back and 02:28 talk to our guests. Our musical guest 02:31 today is Sam Ocampo, and he's going to play "My Tribute." 06:38 - How beautiful. Thank you, Sam, for that. To 06:41 God be the glory for the things He has done. 06:43 And He's done such great things! Think 06:46 about the great things God has done in your 06:48 life. Think about what He's always doing in 06:51 your life, and then be thankful and be grateful 06:55 to Him for all that He's done. We're grateful 06:58 for what God is doing with the Beehive! First 07:01 of all, the Beehive. Why the Beehive? What 07:05 is the Beehive? What is that name? - Although, 07:08 we are making honey now, so we can say that. 07:11 Jonathan will share about that when we 07:13 get to it. The Beehive actually comes from... 07:16 We saw this back in 2009. We saw a statement 07:20 in the Spirit of Prophecy where, in 07:21 the book, Welfare Ministry, it talked about how 07:24 Ellen White had had a dream. And in this 07:27 dream, she saw two beehives. Long story 07:31 short, it turned out it was not real beehives; 07:35 it was actually two churches that were in 07:36 the Bay Area who were busy, seeking to finish 07:40 the work-one in San Francisco, one in Oakland. 07:42 They had, primarily, work that was 07:45 health-related...but it was more than that 07:49 in that it was integrated evangelism, it was 07:52 meeting people right where they were-literally- 07:55 as they had shops and restaurants and meeting 07:58 rooms and reading rooms and all these kinds of 08:00 things that were reaching the people in an organic 08:03 way. I'm going to emphasize that. That 08:06 really captured our attention, and we saw, 08:08 "Wow, this is how God wants to finish the 08:10 work," where we saw that there was a bevy 08:14 of activity-a beehive of activity-in the Bay 08:17 Area. So, we said, "We want to set up the 08:20 Beehive all around the world in every city." 08:23 It was ambitious... [laughter]...to say 08:26 the least. But nonetheless, God has really blessed. 08:29 Oh, if men would praise the Lord for His goodness 08:31 and for His wonderful works in the children of 08:33 men. So, we do praise the Lord for what He's 08:36 done. - Amen. And how long ago did the Beehive 08:38 start? - We started in 2009, officially. We 08:42 became a non-profit organization in 2010, 08:46 and that was the exact same year that we actually 08:49 started in- well, it was in Haiti after that huge 08:53 earthquake. It took off there, took off 08:57 here in the States; I began to do health talks 08:59 and health seminars, and that led to working 09:01 with 3ABN, the TV show From Sickness to Health... 09:05 - I was just going to say, "Do you recognize 09:06 Rico?" From Sickness to Health, which is- 09:09 if you haven't seen that, you definitely need 09:12 to watch it. It's actually on Dare to Dream as 09:13 well as the parent network, 3ABN. So, you definitely 09:17 need to watch that. It is so innovative; it's 09:20 so different. It's refreshing! You're 09:22 giving a lot of great information, but in a 09:24 format that reaches the people! So, it's 09:27 really great. - Wherever I go, people stop and 09:31 they say, "Oh, you're the guy- where's the 09:33 blue guy?" They always wanna know where the 09:35 blue guy is. - Right, right, right; that's true. 09:38 So, from- this whole thing in 2009 with the 09:42 earthquake and all, that's where the Beehive 09:45 actually just got started. - Well, it was... We had 09:48 started on the campus of Arizona State University 09:51 here in the States. So, it was almost like this 09:53 simultaneous kind of thing that took place 09:56 in 2010, actually. What we wanted to do is, 10:00 we wanted to really be data-driven. And what 10:03 I mean by that is, oftentimes, throughout 10:06 the world, people are- you know, before they 10:08 launch a product, they launch a business, they 10:10 want to know what people- what's the trends? 10:12 What's happening out there? How do you take 10:16 the pulse of what people are looking for? And I 10:18 think, sometimes, we don't do enough of that 10:20 in ministry, whereas we are selling the 10:26 greatest product the world has ever seen. 10:29 That's the gospel-the everlasting gospel. So 10:32 therefore, we wanted to see what would happen 10:35 if we tried to do city mission in a country. 10:40 Jonathan's going to talk about what happened 10:42 in Haiti, but we started on the campus of Arizona 10:44 State University and wanted to see what 10:46 would take place if we actually used health to 10:49 reach people on a public university campus. So, 10:52 it started simultaneously, and we just did research 10:55 and development for a few years to see, "What are 10:59 the needs, and how do we meet people where 11:01 they are?" And, really, it just gave us so much 11:03 information, and that led us to actually, 11:07 really, building up the Beehive, but also 11:09 figuring out a cycle of evangelism that we call 11:14 CHAT. I am so excited to tell you about that 11:17 and share that. So, training people to finish 11:20 the work. - Yes! Yes, yes, yes-which is so 11:22 important! And it's so important, again, 11:24 to find out, to get the pulse of the people to 11:28 find out what their needs are and then 11:30 how to design whatever it is that you're going 11:32 to design to meet that need. - Amen. - And 11:35 that's what you guys are doing. - Amen. - So, 11:37 the Beehive is not really just a health 11:39 initiative; it's more than that. - No. It is a 11:43 solution-driven initiative. In other words, whatever 11:47 the problem is- because you'll find that when 11:50 you go to certain places in the world, you know, 11:53 their issue is not- everyone needs good 11:55 health, but not everybody knows that they need 11:58 health in terms of, like, diet and lifestyle. 12:01 - Right. - Sometimes, people just need a 12:03 job! - Mhm. - That will make them healthier. 12:05 - And relieve the stress, right? - Exactly. And 12:09 so, we found that, within the Adventist 12:14 church, we have everything that the world needs to 12:18 solve their problems. We have everything 12:21 they need. If you have financial problems, well, 12:24 guess what? We have a system. If you have 12:26 health problems, we got a system. If you 12:29 got social problems, we got a system! If 12:32 you got family problems... - We got a system. 12:34 - Children, child guidance-come on! 12:36 [laughter] - That's right. - We have something 12:39 for every need. And what we need to start 12:41 to do is utilize, you know, what we have, 12:46 form partnerships, and begin to really 12:49 finish the work. To really get back to it, 12:51 here it is, Christ's Method Alone. Now, 12:54 I know people say that, they toss it around, 12:56 but we really believe it. We've taken it to 12:57 heart, He mingled with people as one who desired their 13:02 good, He met their needs... How do you meet someone's 13:06 needs if you don't mingle with them? If you don't 13:10 spend time with them? You can't just come in 13:12 and pose. "Oh, well, this is what you need! 13:14 You need the gospel!" Yeah, everybody needs 13:17 that, but they don't know they need the 13:18 gospel! "Right now, I'm just going through 13:20 a terrible divorce." "I can't feed my children." 13:22 "I don't have a job." So, how do we begin 13:25 to CHAT with them? And CHAT stands for community, 13:27 health, advocate, training. - Ahh! - How do you 13:31 advocate on behalf of a community that will 13:34 make them healthier financially, physically, 13:37 mentally, spiritually? Amen? - That is beautiful. 13:43 Meeting them at their point of need (just like 13:45 Jesus did), finding out what they need (because 13:49 you have to be in relationship first), 13:51 and then meeting those needs. And that's what 13:54 you're doing that's amazing. And so, what 13:56 is your role, Jonathan, in all of this? What is 14:00 your role with the Beehive? - My role is 14:03 in the country of Haiti, so I'm there all the time; 14:05 been almost 8 years now. Just after the 14:09 earthquake of 2010, which was a devastating 14:12 natural disaster. 350 thousand people killed 14:16 in just a few seconds. Schools collapsed with the 14:19 children inside, churches destroyed, hospitals 14:21 destroyed, just devastation. Scott Therman, one of 14:25 the co-founders of the Beehive, and I went 14:27 to Haiti shortly after that disaster, and the 14:30 UN is driving around in tanks, and people 14:33 are camped out in tents, and just very difficult 14:35 in so many ways. We were lost immediately 14:39 in all the confusion, and someone came and 14:42 knocked on our door as we're sitting in the car. 14:44 We can't communicate, totally lost, praying for 14:46 guidance... Somebody knocks on the door and 14:49 says, "Can I help you guys? You look lost." 14:50 And he says, "Are you Adventist?" And we're 14:53 like, what!? "Yes, we're Adventist." And 14:55 he's like, "Did you know that there's an 14:57 Adventist hospital down the street?" We were 14:59 parked like, right next to the sign like, right 15:01 down the street from the Adventist hospital. He 15:03 takes us to the Adventist hospital, we walk in, and 15:06 it is my friend from high school that I hadn't 15:08 seen for 10 years that is the administrator 15:11 of the hospital - Are you kidding? - And we've 15:13 been staying at hotels, we have like, so many 15:15 problems. We can't communicate, we don't 15:16 have any connections, and he's like, "Oh, you 15:18 can stay here where you have translators 15:19 and food and water and internet," and all these 15:21 things. So, we stayed there, and we started 15:25 in the hallway with all the emergency 15:26 responders. People coming in with problems and 15:30 going out on tarps and just very, very, very 15:33 high, tense situation. And eventually, we 15:36 got ours established and we saw that there 15:39 was a need to help Loma Linda. Loma Linda was 15:42 coming there, and they were trying to get their 15:44 building ready for a class that they were 15:46 going to teach, and another miracle that 15:48 we got connected with them. They needed 15:50 people that could be boots on the ground 15:52 and get their building renovated, and we 15:54 needed to make friends and work. We'd been 15:56 in hotels and in the hallway for some time. 15:59 - When he says "hallway," he means sleeping in the 16:02 hallway. - Literally. Literally in the hallway. 16:06 - We lived in a hallway for 6 months. - In the 16:08 hospital in the hallway. - Let's go back for a 16:10 minute, because what you said... You gave me 16:12 a lot of meat here. What you said was, 16:15 you're sitting in your car, lost, and someone 16:20 comes up to you to the car and gives you directions 16:25 to the Adventist hospital which you were right 16:28 near! - Yeah, we had no idea it was there. 16:30 - I mean, just- how do people not believe in 16:34 God? That is just NOT a series of coincidences. 16:38 It's just not-that somebody would come 16:41 up to you and say, "You guys look lost," and 16:43 you're right near the Adventist hospital, and 16:46 the person that's the administrator is your 16:47 friend from elementary school or high school. 16:50 I mean, it's all God-ordained. So, you ended up being 16:56 in Haiti after the devastation and living 17:00 in- sleeping in hallways. - Yep. - Why were you 17:05 there? What were you there to do? - Our goal 17:07 is to start a city mission and country mission 17:10 outpost/inpost center of influence and try to 17:14 have a vocational training, agriculture 17:17 training, a location that people can get 17:20 trained with CHAT in the States and then 17:23 come to Haiti and practice their training and reach 17:25 the people the best we can. - Aw, that's 17:27 beautiful. What is the situation now in Haiti? 17:32 We know what it was, and I've read that 17:36 there's been such misappropriation of funds 17:39 that funds that were supposed to be used to 17:43 help the people there have been diverted into 17:46 other things and not used for the people there. 17:51 Are they still struggling? Is there still tremendous 17:53 need there? What is the status? - It is so 17:55 difficult. There are so many problems in so 17:57 many areas; everyone is struggling. The people 18:00 that are coming to help are struggling, the 18:01 people that are living there are struggling, 18:03 government's struggling... One way that we've 18:04 found to help was, after the earthquake, there 18:07 was a lot of children that were orphaned. 18:08 So, we found that the struggle was very real 18:11 for these children. They're in broken-down 18:13 homes, they're with no plumbing, no electricity, 18:15 no beds, no food, so we got into these places 18:18 and renovated 12 different locations and helped 500 18:21 kids go to school, have beds, have clothes, have 18:24 food; they started little gardens, they 18:26 started little businesses; we built second stories 18:29 and expanded their structures and repaired 18:31 their structures. And so, we got into helping 18:34 right away there with that area of devastation. 18:37 - Can I jump in? This is what we call CHATing. 18:40 - Ahh. - Helping people to understand that- 18:44 the way that we see this is, everything begins 18:47 with a conversation. That conversation, a 18:49 knock on the door, right? The language 18:52 barrier was there, but God was doing something. 18:54 It began as a conversation; they chatted, but 18:57 what did it lead to? It led to sustainable, 19:01 meaningful, impactful ministry. And I find 19:05 that, a lot of times, our people, they want 19:08 to get into the work, but we just don't know 19:10 how to CHAT. We don't know how to actually 19:13 communicate and come down to what people's 19:15 level- it's in the book Medical Ministry, page 238, 19:19 where it says that meeting people right 19:22 where they are is the gospel ministry. Jesus 19:27 came from heaven, but He became a man. - Right. 19:30 - He spoke our language. He met us right where 19:33 we are. So, what we have to begin to realize- 19:36 and this is what CHATing is all about-is it's not 19:39 coming to people with our lofty and high ideals 19:43 about what they need, but instead meeting them 19:46 on the level where they are. And this is a- 19:48 - Get to know them. - Get to know them! 19:50 Jonathan, he's not saying at all- he's a 19:53 humble brother. I respect that and I appreciate 19:54 that, but this brother LIVES in a war zone. 19:57 He's in a war zone and actually making a 20:01 difference in people's lives. Walk through 20:03 some of the things, because it started in 20:05 the hallway of a hospital. But really- 20:08 walk them through how this has grown into a 20:11 city mission right in Port-au-Prince, and 20:15 then also a country outpost in Bohoc. 20:19 - So, yeah. We started in the hallway. We 20:20 eventually got a patient room, then we eventually 20:23 got a little volunteer area and we started 20:26 making stuff out of shipping pallets, making 20:29 little raised beds. We saw trashed shipping 20:31 pallets, and we saw that there was a need 20:33 for gardening and food, and we know the agricultures 20:35 of the ABCs of education, so we start making 20:39 these little raised beds behind the hospital out 20:41 of shipping pallets and start growing food 20:43 there behind the hospital and sharing food with 20:45 everybody. It's a great way to make friends. 20:46 Everybody likes free veggies. - Yeah, what 20:50 a great idea! - And so that led to us needing 20:52 to expand. We kind of outgrew our stay there 20:55 and we got a place down the street. I 20:59 think we have a picture of Rico and I in the city 21:02 mission that we've now turned into a city mission. 21:07 It is an inpost there for the city, and we 21:10 make a bunch of stuff now out of shipping 21:12 pallets, taking garbage and teaching young 21:14 people and people with our jobs how to make 21:17 these amazing things out of shipping pallets. 21:20 So, everything there in the picture is all 21:22 out of shipping pallets. 21:24 different items all made from recycled 21:27 wood all by people who are not really skilled 21:30 or educated in that area. 25-30 people 21:33 employed just at that one location. That, then, 21:36 is helping all their families. So, if you 21:38 have 25 or 30 people that have a job all 21:41 the time, they're going to support the kids and 21:43 the cousin and the mother and the father. 21:45 So, it averages, maybe, 5 people supported by 21:48 one person having a job. So, that's CHATing 21:51 and helping and ministering to 150 people just with 21:54 the woodshop there. Then we're learning 21:56 our own skills, we're building our own things, 21:58 and we help a lot of other ministries by 22:01 building their stuff. - That is huge. - And then 22:03 after that starts going, God led us to some 22:07 property 3 hours north of Port-au-Prince where 22:10 we now have a 50-acre piece of land that we're 22:13 building buildings and starting classes and 22:16 raising animals and have 23 different 22:20 types of fruit trees, and people are all coming 22:22 to visit. Probably have a picture of a group 22:24 that came there to visit. Loma Linda has 22:26 been a very supportive and very great partnership 22:29 that they have come 6 years in a row, and 22:33 there they are at the outdoor kitchen there 22:36 at the country mission, having a great trip. 22:39 - And these are Loma Linda students? - Yes. 22:41 They're physical therapy students. They have a 22:45 program at the Adventist hospital in the Adventist 22:47 university there in the city where they're 22:50 teaching rehab tech- training rehab tech 22:53 people. - That's incredible. Leslie, 22:56 I know you've been sitting here patiently. 22:58 We're going to come back, 'cause we have 22:59 some more pictures that you're going to 23:01 show. I just want to talk to Leslie a bit 23:03 about what your position is and your role is 23:06 with the Beehive. - Well, maybe about 23:10 2013, we were asked to come to a church 23:12 upstate in New York to help them develop 23:14 a center of influence. I had never heard of 23:17 the Beehive or anything like that, and so we 23:19 were doing it the hard way. We were developing 23:21 curricula and things like that to train the 23:23 people how to get into the communities and 23:25 do this work according to Christ's method. And 23:28 then one day, I receive a text message from a 23:31 number that I didn't recognize, and it 23:32 just had a link; that's it. It was from- this 23:36 was in 2015 and was the August 2015 issue 23:41 of the Review. On the cover was Jared and 23:46 Rico, and I'm like, "Who are these guys? 23:49 Really?" [laughter] And so I go to their 23:52 page and I'm like, "You gotta be kidding 23:54 me! These guys have this whole training 23:56 regime to prepare Seventh-Day Adventists 23:58 to go and do the work in the communities that 24:01 they serve on an ongoing sustainable basis using 24:04 health focus outreach?" So, the group that I 24:07 was working with, I said, "You guys"- I 24:09 sent them all this article. They're like, 24:11 "Where'd you get thi"- I was like, "I don't know 24:12 who sent this to me!" [laughter] To this day, 24:14 this is 5 years later, I still don't know who 24:17 actually sent this text. It actually has opened 24:20 up an opportunity and a new world for me and 24:25 the people that I work with at the trust. 24:27 Our goal right now is to take what it is 24:30 that we see Jonathan doing and bringing it 24:32 here to the United States. But again, 24:34 it starts with training. - So, your group, then, 24:39 does the training? - No, we do the training. 24:42 It's an online training program, and, really, 24:46 it's a whole cycle of evangelism. I'm just 24:48 kind of like- just give you a sense of what 24:49 that looks like. We start with revival. We need 24:52 to revive our churches, to wake them up out 24:55 of their sleeping, right? So, we actually 24:57 hold a rally. And when we, in the second segment, 24:59 when we're talking, we'll bring out a couple who 25:02 actually had been right in the thick of it, and 25:05 they orchestrated a rally (I don't want to 25:07 steal their thunder too much), but 500 people 25:10 from 16 churches showed up in one high school 25:13 location. We're like, "How do we finish 25:16 this work?" So, they'll talk about that, but 25:18 it starts with that revival, then people 25:21 go online and they do a course online where 25:24 they learn about, basically, the Great Controversy 25:28 that we are in and what that all means 25:31 and what it all entails in terms of, you know, 25:34 the work that God has called us to do, how 25:36 we have to put aside our own desires and 25:41 die to self in order to really do this work, to 25:43 really understand and appreciate the righteousness 25:47 of Christ. And having Christ as our righteousness 25:50 to actually do the work... You know, people will 25:53 say to you sometimes, "Well, you know? I'm 25:54 really not a speaker, and I don't really... 25:56 That's not my thing. I just kind of stay in 25:58 the..." When Jesus spoke, He says, "You 26:01 know what- the words that I speak, they're 26:02 not my own. The work that I do is not my work; 26:05 it's the Father's." He's trying to help us 26:07 understand that what we can do, it's not based 26:10 on our own strength; it's what God does through 26:12 us. So, really, the course is all about 26:14 allowing God to use you as a broken vessel. He 26:18 gets all the glory when that happens, right? 26:20 - Yes! Yes, yes. And there are so many people, 26:22 like you said, who feel that they're not able 26:24 to do this; but it's the power of God that gives 26:27 you the ability to those He calls; He 26:30 equips. He's not just going to put you out 26:33 there without equipping you to do the job. So, 26:36 that is amazing. - Well, you know what- when you 26:38 think about it, God gets the glory when He takes 26:41 someone who says, "I'm really shy." I'm a shy 26:44 person! People never believe me when I say 26:47 that. I am! I am. I'm a very shy person. If 26:50 you really knew me, I'm a VERY shy person. But 26:53 I believe that when the power of God takes hold 26:57 of you, you can do anything! It doesn't 27:00 matter. So when people say, "You know what... 27:02 That's not my thing." People have to get out 27:06 of their comfort zone and get into the Comforter's 27:08 zone. Come on, somebody; say amen! - Come on, now! 27:12 - Because when you do that, God will work 27:14 through you. Amen? - That's right, amen. 27:16 So, you and Leslie- - We work together. 27:21 He's a sales guy. That's his background 27:26 before the Lord grabbed ahold of him, and he 27:29 has the ability...he has a unique set of 27:32 gifts and skills in terms of going out and 27:35 just- the man will go without sleep, without 27:38 rest; he won't break any health laws, amen? 27:40 [laughter] But nonetheless, he will drive to Canada, 27:45 he will drive to- you just drove to Nova Scotia? 27:48 From New York City, from upstate New York. 27:51 He will go and go and go to tell people about 27:54 how they can get into this work, and nothing 27:57 stops him. So, when we connected, he was 27:59 exactly what we needed in terms of just getting 28:01 the word out; and now, from that, just tell 28:04 them about the partnership that had developed as 28:06 a result of some of the work the Lord has 28:08 been doing through you. - Well, praise the Lord. 28:10 A lot of what has happened is just going and telling 28:12 folks that, "Hey, you know what, we have a 28:15 work to do; we've been created for a specific 28:16 purpose and specific reason for the times 28:19 that we live, and that there's no getting around 28:22 it and that as Seventh-Day Adventists, we have this 28:24 awesome responsibility to be an asset to the 28:27 communities that we serve and to the 28:29 world. We started to speak to conference 28:33 workers, conference officials, union officials, and I've 28:37 written as many as 15 letters to one guy. - Wow. 28:40 [laughter] - I'll follow up till you tell me to 28:44 go away. That's my sales background. But 28:46 the whole idea is, this is what we've been called 28:48 to do. How can you help us to accomplish 28:50 this as the president of the Atlantic Union? 28:53 G. Earl Knight supports what it is that we've 28:55 been doing as a conference. Danielle Anore from 28:59 Northeastern Conference. And Northeastern 29:03 Conference, at their last worker's meeting, 29:04 said, "We believe that Christ's method is the 29:07 way that we are going to finish this work. We 29:10 want to expose all 60,000." They almost 29:12 have 60,000 members, 200+ churches in 29:15 Northeastern Conference. And Northeastern 29:17 Conference and Southern New England Conferences 29:19 are working together in the shared territories, 29:21 because we need a mobilized, well-trained group of 29:25 people to go into the communities, into the 29:27 homes and actually developing meaningful 29:31 strategic alliances with government, with 29:33 education, and telling them, "We are Seventh-Day 29:35 Adventist. This is what we bring to the 29:37 table. This is how we can improve the health 29:39 of your community, and we're not charging you 29:42 anything, 'cause God has sent us to do this 29:44 work and no one else has been sent to do 29:46 this work." And so, it's been a tremendous 29:49 blessing to see the response of not only 29:52 church officials. One of the quotes that has 29:55 really motivated me to just go, go, go, is 29:58 taken from Counsels for the Church, page 30:01 58, paragraph 1. "The work of God in this 30:04 Earth can never be finished..." 30:12 ...that this is an all-hands-on-deck. This is- 30:15 there's no time for us to bicker about what 30:17 was- this is now. Let's work together 30:21 now, let's get this work done, and let's 30:24 go to heaven, because there is an end to this, 30:27 and we're a part to this Great Controversy 30:30 between Christ and Satan. We're on the 30:33 right side and we need to go on the winning 30:35 side. - That's right. - We need to let people 30:37 know that they have a role; Seventh-Day 30:39 Adventists have a role. It's not just returning 30:41 the tithe or going to church. Jesus never 30:44 sent a proxy; He always went Himself. And we 30:47 need to go ourselves. So, what CHAT really 30:51 does is it creates authentic opportunities 30:54 for Seventh-Day Adventists to learn 30:55 how to engage the community sustainably, 30:58 long-term; not just, "Hey, we're having a 31:00 health expo! Come and join us, and then we'll 31:02 see you next year for the next health expo." 31:04 That's not authentic ministry that we as 31:07 Seventh-Day Adventists have been called to do. 31:10 Jesus was in the community 365 for 3-and-a-half 31:13 years. We're supposed to follow His example, 31:17 and we should be in the community 365! 31:20 Seventh-Day Adventists need to become important 31:22 and relevant in the day-to-day lives of 31:25 the people that their churches serve. - That's 31:29 very true. You know, if your church is in 31:32 a community and people in the surrounding area 31:35 don't know that that church is there, you're 31:37 not doing your job. That's one of the things- 31:41 - And too much of that happens, by the way. 31:42 - Absolutely! Would the community miss- if, 31:47 for some reason, the church shut down, would 31:49 the community miss that church? And if the answer 31:52 is no and they don't even know that we are 31:55 there, then we have a big problem! And what 31:58 I'm hearing you say is that we have to- let's 32:03 get that fire going. Let's get that fire 32:06 going. Let's get that involvement, that 32:09 revival going, because if we are revived- too 32:14 many of us are asleep at the wheel. We are 32:18 asleep. We're just lethargic, we just- 32:20 and we need to have that Holy Ghost revival going 32:26 so that we have that energy to do what God 32:29 has called us to do. The Lord is coming back 32:31 here, and people need to know about the Lord! 32:35 Go ahead. - Well, there's a quote sister 32:36 White said that many in our churches would 32:38 do this work if they were taught. This is 32:41 where CHAT comes in. It's actually creating 32:44 the platform for us to be taught how to do 32:47 this work, not as a hit-or-miss but as a 32:50 well-oiled machine to do this comprehensively. 32:53 I read an article in 2013 by Ted Wilson 32:56 called, "Big Cities, Bigger Vision," and 32:59 it really helped me to understand that the 33:01 world church and I have the exact same mission 33:04 as a member of the church. And how do 33:06 we work together with the world church with 33:08 our conferences, with our unions, with our 33:10 pastors, in order to do this work on an 33:12 ongoing, sustainable basis? And it requires 33:14 that we demonstrate the love for each other 33:16 that the Bible says that we should so that 33:18 people will know that we are Christ's disciples. 33:20 If we do this work once and for all, we'd- 33:23 and I look at it like this: I used to be a 33:26 competitive athlete, and I want to win. I 33:28 never went to a track meeting and said, "Oh, 33:31 I'm gonna get a bronze today!" I came to get 33:34 the bronze? No! I'm going for the gold. 33:37 Jesus has promised us the gold of the kingdom, 33:40 so what I'm hoping is that people will recognize 33:43 that Adventism is not a spectator's sport; 33:46 this is an all-hands-on-deck, and you need to learn your 33:49 role so that you can play a meaningful part 33:53 in finishing the work that God has called 33:55 us to do as a people. - That's beautiful. 33:57 - You know what, there's something that I got 33:59 from Leslie. He said that we were on a 34:01 conference call one day. He says, "You know 34:03 what?" with the same passion that you see here, 34:05 "You know what? If you're in the military, 34:08 they don't seek to take a city and not talk to 34:11 each other!" He says, "If you're going to take 34:15 a city, all hands on deck, all the units 34:18 are working together, you don't have a unit 34:20 over there and a unit over here and they're 34:21 like, 'What are you guys doing?' 'Oh, well, 34:23 we're doing our thing over here.'" They work 34:26 in tandem; they work in conjunction with one 34:28 another. And this is really- it's a coordinated 34:31 effort, and that's really the heart of what 34:33 we're doing. As we talk to conferences- 34:36 and wait till you talk to the couple that's 34:38 coming up in the second segment of the show- 34:40 how we're setting up evangelism zones where 34:43 entire conferences have bought into this, and 34:46 they're trying to mobilize the people. 34:47 It's really within Ted Wilson's idea of 34:50 total member involvement. So, we'll talk some 34:53 more about that. - Yes, yes; for sure. So, 34:55 what you're saying is the importance of 34:59 partnering - the importance of, you 35:02 know, if I have this ministry over here, 35:05 and you have this one over here, and somebody 35:07 else has this one over here, why can't we 35:09 come together? - We cannot finish the work 35:11 until we partner. - And make a difference. - Because 35:13 Jesus said, and you kind of quoted it there, Jesus 35:17 said that, "They will know that I've come 35:20 when you're one." We're all scattered and all over 35:23 the place, then it doesn't represent the very 35:26 character of God. He says, "The Father and 35:28 I, we're one!" And I pray that you also 35:32 would be one so that the world will know 35:34 that I've come. But unless they see that- 35:38 'cause really, at the end of the day, Yvonne, 35:40 the point of the whole gospel is that the 35:45 world would get a revelation of the 35:47 character of Jesus; and that character is 35:50 one where there's one love, there's one mission. 35:55 - Yes. Yes, and that is doable. - Absolutely. 36:00 - And you guys are doing it. You're bringing 36:04 people together through the power of the Holy 36:07 Spirit - bringing people together to finish this 36:10 work. Jonathan, you were over there in Haiti, 36:13 living in a situation where- tell us about 36:15 your living conditions, how you're living. 36:18 - Talk about that and also let them know 36:20 some of those pictures of what partnerships 36:23 have wrought. - Yeah. To start with the 36:26 partnerships, we're seeing a lot of benefit 36:27 with coming together and partnering and 36:29 helping each other to move the work forward, 36:32 Loma Linda... - We have a picture about that. 36:35 - Yeah, it showed the Loma Linda students 36:37 that there was one of them. We have a lot 36:40 of good partnerships there; several ministries 36:43 and churches and schools, Walla Walla and Andrews 36:45 and Southern and the local university, the 36:49 local ADRA, a local hospital, other ministries, 36:53 Quiet Hour, Restore a Child... Lots of 36:56 different Adventist ministries and partnerships 36:58 have been a huge blessing. We've talked some 37:00 about the city work, city mission, and in the 37:03 countryside is really where we're passionate 37:06 and excited about people coming to CHAT 37:09 with the community. We're feeding everyone 37:12 that we can from the community. We have a 37:14 picture of a bunch of kids that have come 37:16 to the kitchen there to be fed. I found that 37:21 before they can be spiritually fed, they 37:23 need to be fed so that they can be nourished 37:27 and actually hear what you're saying. - Absolutely. 37:29 - They really are hungry for actual food, and 37:32 then they realize that they're hungry for the 37:34 spiritual food. - That's right. - One of our 37:36 great examples of the CHAT program and action 37:40 there in Haiti is one of our, now, 37:42 full-time workers. She was coming to a 37:45 clinic time. She's so sick and the kids are 37:48 sick, and no one can understand why she's 37:49 sick. We're like, "Let's go to your house and 37:51 see if we can help." So we went to her house, 37:54 and we get to her house and we see that her whole 37:56 roof is made out of natural fiber stuff 37:59 like banana leaves and sticks, and it's 38:02 got so many problems. There's little animals 38:04 in there, little bugs, and mold; the house 38:08 is made out of sticks. It's just an amazing 38:11 situation that this woman and her children 38:13 were in. So, we raised money, fixed the roof/ 38:15 repaired the roof, and she's not sick anymore. 38:18 Now, she's coming to church, and her kids- 38:21 she's not Adventist; kids are not Adventist; 38:23 her friends and neighbors, not Adventist- 38:25 and now they're coming to church, in a church 38:27 where we actually did a bunch of work and 38:30 fixed a bunch of stuff. The church close by had 38:32 a dirt floor, and we put a concrete floor and we 38:36 built some benches. The guys, actually, 38:39 that built the benches, they said, "We're going 38:42 to come to church on Sabbath." They're not 38:44 Adventist. Like, "We're going to come to church 38:46 on Sabbath. We built the bench...we're going 38:47 to sit on that bench." [laughter] - That's 38:51 great. "We're not going to let that bench go 38:53 to waste." - They came in, they're sitting on 38:55 the bench, they're so happy...the kids and 38:57 young people and non-Adventists, sitting 38:59 in church on Sabbath, 'cause they're proud 39:01 of their work. - Aw, that's good. You guys 39:03 are doing an amazing job. We're so grateful 39:07 for what you're doing. We have some music, 39:11 and then we have some other guests that 39:13 you'd want to talk to about what they're 39:15 doing as well. So, thank you both, Jonathan 39:18 and Leslie, for all that you're doing. Let's 39:20 listen to Sam Ocampo again as he plays "The Lighthouse." 43:46 - Thank you so much, Sam, for that beautiful 43:48 song, "The Lighthouse." And that's what we're 43:51 to be! We're to be a lighthouse in the darkness. 43:54 There are so many people who don't know 43:56 about Jesus who need to, and we have two 43:59 guests here who are being lighthouses in 44:02 their communities. Welcome to the Domdrowskis 44:06 We have Tom and Sandra. - Thank you. - So nice 44:09 of you to be here. Tell us what you're 44:11 doing. - Well, we are trying to develop CHAT 44:15 and create a model of evangelism for the 44:19 cities. Most of the people in the world 44:21 today are congregating in cities, they're living 44:24 in cities, and we have a work to do to 44:26 evangelize people, to tell people the good 44:29 news, and so the natural strategy is go to the 44:32 cities. We've gotta do it in the cities. 44:34 And the challenge that we're having is that 44:37 many of our churches work as silos-kind of 44:40 independently of one another-and what we're 44:43 trying to do is break out of that silo mentality, 44:45 saying, "Listen. There's no one church that can 44:47 work the city by itself, so we've got to do this 44:50 together. We've got to be a team." - Yes. So 44:52 how did you do it? - Well, I was introduced 44:54 to CHAT - Rico came to the Southern New 44:56 England conference camp meeting in 2017. Very 44:59 grateful for our conference administrators 45:00 for inviting him. I had not known of him and 45:04 that ministry until that point in time, so I was 45:06 introduced to him through Leslie; Leslie 45:09 was there, attending the camp meeting. He 45:11 invited me to a meeting where we were with the 45:13 conference president, union officials, and 45:15 Rico was there. They proposed this idea. 45:18 They said, "We've got these urban areas within 45:20 the Southern New England conference: Boston, 45:22 Hartford, Worcester, Providence of Rhode 45:25 Island. Can we try to do this? Can we try 45:27 to tackle this?" Because CHAT had been done 45:29 before as kind of like on a one-church model, 45:32 but it had never been done in a teamwork 45:35 model with multiple churches. So I said, 45:38 "Yeah, let's give it a shot." We have a 45:40 good relationship with our regional conference 45:42 in the area, Northeastern Conference, and we 45:44 decided to reach the hand out and say, "Let's 45:48 do this. Let's try to take this relationship 45:51 to a whole new level in working in the Greater 45:54 Hartford area"; that's where the Connecticut 45:55 Valley churches... I actually have a two-church 45:57 district- again, can't forget my sister church, 45:59 Rockville-Tolland. But it's a- we live kind of in 46:03 the shadow of Hartford, so what we're trying 46:07 to do is create the Greater Hartford 46:08 evangelism zone. We have 16 churches, 46:12 primarily, in that area. They're on 46:14 board with it. From both conferences, the pastors 46:17 are supportive of the idea, and we're starting 46:19 a work more collaboratively and going- we're right 46:22 now in the training session, the second 46:24 phase of this CHAT cycle of evangelism. 46:26 - What I love about this couple is that, 46:28 as a pastor couple, pastoring two churches... 46:35 - Ah, now, see? I should've introduced 46:37 you as Pastor. - Oh, he's a pastor! - Oh, 46:39 I'm sorry. I apologize. - Again, you were just 46:42 saying supporting ministry working with 46:44 the local church and conference. So, 46:47 partnerships. That's what we're trying to 46:50 model. - That's great. - Yeah, it's beautiful. 46:52 - And the beauty of it is that he himself 46:54 has taken the training. - Yes! - As the leader 46:57 of the church, don't say, "Well, you all need to 46:59 do it"- no! He's doing... He's online, taking the 47:02 training. But Sandra's going to tell us, real 47:05 quickly, about the rally that they had. 47:09 - Okay. - I didn't know what to expect when 47:10 they said, "You're going to come up here. 47:11 It's going to be held at a high school..." 47:13 Take it away. - Well, the first step in that 47:16 CHAT cycle of evangelism that you saw is the 47:18 Great Health Controversy weekend. Rico comes 47:21 in and gives a weekend, and it's revival for the 47:24 church members. This is not where you invite 47:26 the public; this is to revive and educate the 47:29 church members and to put a taste in their 47:31 mouth to say, "Yes, I want to be trained." 47:34 And so he comes up, and meanwhile, we've 47:37 all been working and rallying the churches- 47:39 Leslie and Tom have been going from church 47:43 to church, rallying the pastors and everything- 47:45 and they responded with 16 churches. This 47:49 is just one city's worth of churches. We had 47:55 200 people come on Friday night, we had 47:59 500 people come for the Sabbath presentations 48:01 (which was all-day long). - I think there's 48:03 a picture for that, right? - We have a 48:04 picture up there somewhere. Then, on Sunday, he 48:09 comes back and does a hands-on. And you know 48:12 on Sunday, the numbers drop off. He thought 48:14 there was just going to be 25. We had 140. 48:19 There, he did some cooking demos and he had 48:21 his chef come; they were running out and getting 48:24 paper plates, you know, last minute, just because 48:28 the number that responded was so much more than 48:33 our expectations. And also, this is when they 48:37 sign up for the training and say, "We want to 48:38 continue. We want to be able to do this 48:40 together." So, I just want to give this number 48:43 here: we now have 75 to 80 people signed 48:49 up and going through the online training right 48:52 now. This is including families, so sometimes, 48:54 you sign up, but the whole family is watching 48:58 it together and going through the training. 48:59 We're excited about that. - Yes! That's amazing! 49:02 - I should mention that. They're not 49:04 just doing an online training to get information. 49:06 We've got tons of information as Adventists. 49:09 This is designed for, once they finish, 49:12 they're going to do something that YOU'RE 49:13 familiar with. They're going to actually start 49:15 to do these little satellite health 49:18 seminars throughout the evangelism zone 49:21 of From Sickness to Health. - I love it! 49:24 - So, for five days, we utilize and we 49:28 integrate little pieces from the show, and, 49:31 with a speaker- now, I've been doing them 49:34 around the country. What we do is, the 49:37 whole motto is, "Never let people go." You keep 49:40 mingling with them all the way to an evangelistic 49:42 series. You never stop. Don't let them go. 49:47 Not as Leslie says. "See you next year." 49:50 No! We take them from one thing to the next. 49:52 They stay within the cycle. - So the retention 49:54 level has got to be through the roof, 49:56 because you're not letting them go! - You 49:58 don't let them go. Can I tell you this? - Yes. 50:00 - I just did an evangelistic series in Tacoma, Washington 50:02 at the Tacoma Central Church. In September, 50:06 I did a From Sickness to Health - five days. 50:08 They spent about $10,000 on ads: media, Facebook, 50:13 radio... No one came to the evangelistic 50:17 series from that effort. They sent out fliers. 50:20 The people who came to the meetings came 50:23 from the health talks, From Sickness to Health. 50:26 12 baptisms. Hallelujah. Now, speaking of success, 50:31 you got to tell- this is an amazing story. 50:34 Tell her the story. We got like, one minute. 50:36 Tell the story about the mayor. - The mayor. 50:38 Well, the mayor of... - He came to the rally. 50:41 - ...of South Windsor, we invited him to the 50:42 rally. He's a medical doctor by profession, 50:44 graduate of the Yale Medical School. He is 50:48 very respectful of the work that we do as 50:51 Adventists. He's Muslim by faith, profession, 50:53 but he grew up and has been influenced by 50:56 Adventists through his medical degree. He 51:00 came to the rally, so he knows our health 51:04 message. He understands the role that it can 51:05 play, and this is what he said at this rally 51:07 (where there were 500 Seventh-Day Adventists). 51:09 - Now, Tom invited him to the rally to 51:11 speak specifically to the Adventists. - Honest thing. 51:14 And this is, in a nutshell- he spoke for 51:16 10 minutes, but here's what it boils down to: 51:18 he said, "You Adventists are like a sports car. 51:20 You're like a fine-tuned machine like a Porsche 51:22 that I saw sitting in the parking lot." He 51:25 says the only problem is this. He says, "You're 51:27 only going 5 miles an hour." - Ooh. - And 51:29 as a result of that, you're blocking traffic. 51:31 - Ooh! - He said, "If you were to take this 51:33 machinery out on the road the way it was 51:35 designed to run, I guarantee you the 51:37 rest of us would be following you." - Wow, 51:41 is that powerful? - I was sitting like... 51:44 - Oh, wow. That is so powerful. So, you 51:47 are actually reaching out to the community and 51:51 getting them to come in and hear; it's not 51:54 just for Adventists. We don't want viewers 51:56 to think that this is just for Adventists. 51:59 - Well, it's to get the Adventists out 52:01 of the benches and into the community. 52:02 - Yes. Yes. - It's to train the Adventists, 52:04 really. - And that is what we have to 52:08 do - get people up. I know that you're going 52:11 to want to know how to reach the Beehive and 52:15 to get involved with the Beehive and CHAT, and 52:18 also to make a donation to them. They need 52:20 your support to get this work done. Here's 52:23 how you can reach them. - Beehive 52:27 International demonstrates God's selfless love through 52:30 innovative health education and humanitarian 52:33 aid by drawing close to individuals, ministering 52:36 to their needs, and revealing the love of 52:39 Christ in practical ways. You can help 52:41 by becoming a partner church to establish 52:44 evangelism zones, by repairing infrastructures, 52:47 or by helping them build new schools and 52:50 orphanages. Please visit their website, 52:52 BeehiveVision.com. That's BeehiveVision.com. 52:58 Or call them toll-free at (866) 816-1844. 53:03 You may write to them at Beehive International 53:06 Post Office Box 386 Spencerville, Maryland 53:10 20868. |
Revised 2021-08-23