Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY190102A
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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 00:19 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:35 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:08 Hello and welcome to another 3ABN Today program. 01:12 I'm Jason Bradley, 01:13 and I'm so glad that you could join us. 01:16 And you know what? 01:17 I want to share a scripture with you 01:19 at this very moment. 01:20 It comes from Proverbs 22:6 01:23 and it says "Train up a child in the way he should go, 01:26 and when he is old he will not depart from it." 01:30 I am here with the team from Young Disciple ministries. 01:34 We have Tony Evert, 01:36 he's the design and IT Director. 01:39 you wear multiple hats. 01:41 We have Jessica Pendleton 01:42 who is the Girl's head counselor 01:45 of Young Disciple ministries. 01:48 And we have Amedeo Rondon. 01:50 Yes. 01:51 Did I say it right? Got it. 01:53 All right. And he is a Young Disciple. 01:56 I am so glad that you guys are here. 01:59 I think what you are doing is amazing. 02:01 I've had the opportunity to sit down with you 02:04 and talk briefly about 02:06 all of the fascinating things that you have going on 02:10 with leading young people to Christ. 02:13 But before we jump all the way in there, 02:16 we want to go to song to a song rather, 02:20 and with Stephanie Dawn and is entitled "Be". 02:46 Be here in my eyes 02:50 So others may see 02:53 The beauty and presence Of Your love 02:59 In one who was blind 03:01 But now believes 03:09 Be here in my heart 03:13 Flow through my blood Strengthen my soul 03:18 And wash me clean 03:21 A living example 03:24 Of what Your grace has done 03:32 I will walk beside you 03:36 I'll give you my life 03:41 And when others seek To find you 03:47 May I be a light that shines 03:56 Be here in my hands 04:00 Give me Your touch 04:03 Use me to comfort And to build 04:08 Shelter for those 04:11 Who need Your love 04:34 Breathe words to my lips 04:38 So I may speak 04:40 Echo Your truth 04:43 And living words. 04:46 Lord, make me all That I can be. 04:53 I will walk beside you Jesus, 04:58 I'll give you my life 05:03 And when others seek To find you 05:08 May I be the light that shines 05:17 Be here in my heart 05:21 Flow through my blood 05:24 Strengthen my soul 05:26 And wash me clean 05:30 Lord, make me all that 05:32 I can be 05:39 Lord, please make me all that 05:44 I can be 06:12 Wow, what a beautiful song. 06:15 Tony, I wanted to go 06:17 a little bit into Your background. 06:19 Tell me a little bit about Your upbringing 06:21 and how you got involved with Young Disciple? 06:25 So I was raised an Adventist. 06:29 In fact, my grandparents 06:31 were missionaries to Central Africa. 06:32 My dad was raised in a mission field. 06:34 On my mom side, 06:37 her great, great grandfather worked for Ellen White. 06:41 He was her gardener. 06:43 He's mentioned in one or two places 06:44 in her writings. 06:46 Wow. 06:47 But that heritage didn't guarantee 06:50 that I would be a Christian or an Adventist or anything. 06:54 And, I'm really thankful for my parents 06:56 who instilled in me a desire 06:59 to understand God's Word. 07:01 They taught me how to study the Bible 07:03 and gave me the interest 07:05 in trying to figure out salvation 07:06 and making it personal. 07:08 And, it's kind of my history going up 07:14 when I was 14, 15, 07:17 we were at a church plant in California 07:20 and we were working with Young people there, 07:26 and I was one of the Young people 07:28 at that stage. 07:29 My mom was the teacher of the junior class 07:31 and we were all just interested in what was going on. 07:37 It was a very exciting class. 07:38 And that was kind of the roots of Young Disciple was there in 07:42 and I remember one time Young people were asking, 07:45 you know we're studying the Bible stories again. 07:47 Is there something else that we can... 07:50 Anything else in the Bible that we can study 07:51 and so we started just photocopying Bible lessons. 07:53 Wow. 07:55 And for them able to study and they were... 07:56 They loved it. 07:57 you know, we have people that would come and visit 07:59 and they were like, 08:00 "Can we use this in our church?" 08:01 Yes. 08:03 And, 08:04 I think God at that point was planting the seed 08:07 of something to really help 08:09 Young people connect with Christ 08:10 in a more meaningful way. 08:13 Digging deeper, yes. 08:15 Digging deeper into the Bible 08:16 and I think that today, 08:22 the reason why a lot of Young people 08:23 are leaving the churches 08:25 'cause they don't have that foundation in God's Word. 08:27 And they know a lot of things, 08:30 they know that we go to church on Sabbath 08:33 and they know that we... 08:35 But these different beliefs, 08:37 they know that Jesus, 08:39 you know, came to the earth, 08:41 they know that about David and Goliath 08:43 and they know about different things, 08:47 but it's sort of like 08:49 this is what my parents want me to believe. 08:50 Yes. 08:52 My parents challenged me 08:54 to really understand what I believe 08:56 and we really have a burden to help other people 08:59 make the religion their parent's religion, 09:03 say "Is this really what I want to believe?" 09:05 Yes. 09:06 And, if you have a foundation in Christ's Word, 09:11 then you can actually connect with Christ. 09:14 And you could have something real, 09:16 and it doesn't have to be fake anymore. 09:17 Absolutely. 09:19 In other words, you can't live through, 09:23 you know, Bible says "Oh taste and see." 09:25 And you can't taste and see 09:27 through somebody else's taste buds, right? 09:29 So you have to develop that 09:31 on Your own relationship with Christ, 09:34 and so what you're saying is 09:37 you can't have Your parent's relationship 09:41 with Christ per se, 09:43 you need to have Your own individual relationship. 09:45 Right and, 09:47 so that's really been our heart 09:48 is to help Young people connect with Christ... 09:50 Yes. 09:51 For themselves... Yes. 09:53 To really develop a relationship 09:56 that will take them 10:01 through the difficulties of the teen years 10:03 and really the rest of Your life. 10:04 If you have the Word, you've an anchor. 10:08 If Your parents have the Word, they have an anchor. 10:10 But it's not useful to you 10:12 especially as you transition to realizing, 10:15 oh, I'm a person, I'm an individual person. 10:17 Indeed. 10:19 Jessica, tell me a little bit about Your background? 10:23 Oh, I've been a Seventh-day Adventist my whole life. 10:25 I was raised in Adventist home. 10:28 I think on all four sides 10:30 I can count fourth, fifth and sixth generation 10:34 Seventh-day Adventist so it goes back. 10:36 Unfortunately though, I grew up in a divided home, 10:39 even though we are Adventist and had been for generations. 10:43 It was so divided home and so that left me just 10:47 with a lot of questions about Christianity 10:49 'cause you see one thing in public 10:51 and then you see something else at home and it just... 10:54 I had a lot of questions 10:56 and when I was about 14 years old, 10:58 I was really struggling. 10:59 Like we had had some significant changes 11:01 in our family and life 11:03 and my parents had split up and I was just like, 11:08 I didn't know what was God, where was God, 11:11 what was there for me in Christian life. 11:13 And about that time my church decided to start... 11:17 Try something else for the Young people 11:19 and so they ended up ordering Yong Disciple magazine. 11:21 We have never heard of that. 11:23 I had never been interested in 11:27 studying my Bible really, and somehow I saw these lessons 11:29 and I just took one look at them 11:31 and I was like, "I think I can do this." 11:33 And I studied 11:35 and that was really the beginning 11:36 of my own relationship with God in a powerful way. 11:42 And it was a few years after that 11:44 that I was able to attend the camp, 11:46 and that was even more instrumental in my life, 11:51 just going into a camp 11:52 where everything about the program 11:54 was to help me develop my own relationship with God 11:58 and coming from a home where we had domestic violence. 12:02 We had abuse as part of it to have people 12:05 that were showing us a God of love 12:08 was a transformational and helping me understand 12:12 that God was a loving Father, He was amazing. 12:15 And, that He was for me, 12:17 it wasn't for other people that God was actually someone 12:19 I could be close too as well. 12:22 And then, so a few years down the road things were, 12:25 our family life continued to get worse 12:27 and my parents are divorcing 12:29 and I was 15 or 18 12:32 so it was just time to go to college 12:34 and everything's just like, 12:36 everything I thought was solid was like 12:38 it was worse than I thought it was 12:39 and just so much difficulty and turmoil. 12:43 And then, I just remember, a few years after that, 12:47 praying to God and saying, 12:49 "God, if you have any use for me 12:51 through all this that I've been through, 12:53 can you just help me 12:56 find the little way that I can serve you. 12:58 Just some way that you can still use me 13:00 that all this hardship isn't gonna be for not that. 13:03 Do you still have a purpose and a plan for me." 13:06 And it was a few weeks later, 13:07 we had, part of our family 13:09 had moved out to Washington State 13:11 and it was a few weeks later 13:12 we got a call from Young Disciple ministries 13:15 and they said, 13:16 "Hey, we have a bumper crop of campers this year 13:19 and we need counselors, 13:21 and would you be willing to come and serve?" 13:23 And it was just like such an answer 13:26 to my prayer like, "Wow, God can still use." 13:29 Like even if I can just serve these two weeks, 13:32 and it can just be a tangible reminder to me 13:34 that God can use me 13:36 that I can still be His that 13:37 He can turn the hardship into something beautiful. 13:41 And so I did and it was amazing experience. 13:43 And, it was about, somebody there found out 13:46 that I had some accounting experience 13:48 and they asked me, they were like, 13:52 "Would you be willing, 13:53 we might be needing an accountant soon." 13:56 And I was thinking like, 13:57 I really wanna work with people, 13:59 and I want to get more education, 14:00 I wanted to finish college 14:02 and that was just important to me 14:04 and so I said no. 14:07 And they asked again and I said no, 14:09 it's not what I'm interested in doing, 14:10 and I wanna work for God but I really have these things 14:13 that are really important to me. 14:15 And so, shortly after that, 14:20 I had given them my final no and I just thought like, 14:24 "Lord, I don't feel I have peace about this. 14:27 I don't know where you want me to go, 14:29 what you want me to do." 14:31 And so I just prayed again 14:32 and I just knelt on by my bed and said, 14:34 "Lord, here's all my plans and you know where I've been, 14:37 what I've been through, 14:39 you know where I can best serve you. 14:41 Can you just make it really clear for me 14:43 because I don't know?" 14:44 Yes. 14:45 And I was expecting Him to just open up the door 14:48 in another area and that next morning, 14:50 first thing the next morning, 14:52 I get a call from Tony and he's just like, 14:54 "I know you already said no, 14:56 but I just felt like 14:58 we should just call you one more time 15:00 and just say are you willing to come?" 15:03 And so I was like, well, this is God's answer. 15:06 I just knew right away. 15:08 And so I went and interviewed 15:10 and Mr. Evert, he's the ministry director. 15:13 He interviewed me and he said, 15:14 I just need you to know that coming here, 15:18 we need an accountant, 15:20 we need somebody to do all the behind the scenes work 15:22 and we see that you are qualified to do that. 15:24 But we need you to realize 15:26 there's mission trips that happen, 15:27 we need you to run the office. 15:29 you don't need to come disillusioned feeling like 15:31 I wanna come be part of these and we need you here. 15:34 We know how you'd be disappointed 15:36 so you won't be able to involved with camps, 15:37 you won't be able to go on the mission trip, 15:39 you won't get to travel. 15:40 you will keep the backbone going 15:42 while we do all those things. 15:44 And so I was like, hmm, now there's a new thing 15:47 because I really want to work with people 15:49 and I like that this is a sacrifice. 15:52 But I was just like, 15:53 I could see God saying so clearly go forward, 15:55 this is what I have for you. 15:57 And so, I was just like, "I'm willing to do that." 16:02 And it was so amazing 16:03 because God opened up a way for me 16:05 to get my bachelor's degree in business administration 16:08 from online university 16:10 and just a couple of years debt free 16:12 like working for a ministry that just doesn't happen. 16:14 Oh, that's beautiful for sure. 16:15 And so that was a huge blessing to me. 16:18 And then also too, as time went on, 16:22 I found out that warning 16:25 that you're not gonna be able to travel, 16:26 you're not gonna be involved. 16:28 It was like, "Hey we think you might be a good fit 16:31 to be more involved with camp," and eventually ended up 16:34 that I'm the girls' head counselor. 16:35 So I'm right in camp 16:37 during camp working with the girls 16:38 and I have so many opportunities 16:40 to work with girls that come from troubled homes, 16:43 that come from abuse, 16:44 that come from domestic violence 16:46 that are questioning their worth, 16:48 their value, everything, 16:50 and to me I'm just like, 16:53 "God knew so much better than I could have ever dreamed 16:58 of where I could be happiest serving Him." 17:00 Yes. 17:01 And that's incredible about you. 17:02 What's incredible about Your journey is 17:04 you actually read the Young Disciple's magazine, 17:07 so it played a crucial role in Your development 17:11 and Your relationship with Christ, 17:12 then God brought you around 17:15 to working with the organization, 17:17 with the ministry. 17:19 That is incredible. 17:21 Amedeo, I know we have to dig deep, 17:24 we have to go back many years 17:27 to get into Your history and Your past? 17:32 So tell us a little bit about Your background? 17:35 So I've grown up Adventist all my life. 17:39 And the reason I say that is, as I was growing up, 17:44 I realized that my family also realized along with me, 17:47 that the only difference 17:48 between us and other people was that 17:50 we went to church on Saturdays. 17:51 And that we didn't eat pork, that was it. 17:55 But, as I remember I was 11, 17:58 actually I was 12 and it was New Year's day, 18:01 and we're sitting down on the porch 18:02 and my sister's like, "you know what? 18:04 We got to read the Bible." 18:05 I can see we all wanted, you know, dive deep, 18:07 let's read the Bible. 18:08 We decided we're gonna read the Bible, 18:10 and we went through major changes 18:11 and we realized, okay, 18:13 we need to be more sincere in our walk. 18:16 And during this time as a Young person, 18:18 I have had the Sabbath school lessons 18:20 and I grew up with the quarterlies. 18:22 I remember went one day to my mom and said, 18:24 "Mom, I wanted to do something deeper. 18:26 Like I know about Noah and the Ark, 18:28 I've heard it since I was three years old, 18:29 but who was Noah? 18:31 What was his faith based upon? 18:32 you know stuff like that. Yes. 18:33 My mom said, "Okay, it's okay, son, 18:35 I'll find you something." 18:36 And she ended up finding Young Disciple magazine. 18:39 I remember my first shipment I got it and I thought, 18:41 "Whoa, this is cool." 18:45 I opened the lessons and they were deep. 18:46 They were exactly what I needed. 18:49 And then the next quarterly that arrived, 18:50 it announced the Young Disciple camp. 18:52 And I thought, "Whoa, this is awesome! 18:54 I wanna go!" Yes. 18:56 Now at this point we have lived in Florida 18:58 and Young Disciple Camp was about to happen in a month 19:00 and I was told, my dad told me, no. 19:01 We're living far down and we're about to move, 19:03 that won't work out. 19:04 So I just said okay, you know what, 19:06 I'll think about it. 19:07 A year went by 19:08 and I didn't really give thought to it. 19:10 But then they announced Young Disciple again. 19:12 And out of nowhere I told my parents, 19:14 you know, I'd like to go this time. 19:16 And they were like sure, you can go ahead. 19:17 Go, let's do it. 19:19 So I remember driving into the camp 19:21 and I didn't really know what to expect. 19:25 I wanted to meet some more young people 19:28 that were like-minded and, boy, did I get that. 19:31 I got there and it was so nice, 19:33 my counselors were so nice to me, my friends, 19:36 the people who were in my unit were so nice. 19:38 But the one thing about Young Disciple camp 19:40 that struck me was that. 19:41 As opposed to other Adventist stuff like that. 19:45 Here they challenged your faith. 19:48 They didn't just tell you, you know, 19:49 they didn't just give you the Bible. 19:51 They told you know what, 19:52 you've gotta find it for Yourself. 19:54 So every morning like Young Disciple, 19:55 before we start the day we started out with devotions. 19:58 And they encouraged you, 19:59 just take out Your Bible and well, 20:01 God inspires you to read it. 20:04 And it was amazing. 20:05 I never really had such deep devotions in. 20:08 Because of YD, 20:09 I've been able to keep a habit of doing my devotions 20:12 and, you know, keeping in the back of my mind 20:14 to continue doing that. 20:16 And, I remember the one thing 20:18 that I could take away from the camp 20:19 is they don't want you to just leave 20:21 Young Disciple at Young Disciple. 20:23 They want you to take Young Disciple home... 20:25 Yes. And apply it to Your life. 20:27 So because of that, I was able to... 20:30 Like I said in maintaining the consistent habit 20:32 and even tossing on my friends about Young Disciple. 20:34 you were being a disciple? 20:36 Yeah, yeah, I was being a disciple. 20:38 That's great. 20:39 The good thing about Young Disciple 20:40 is it doesn't just stop there around those ages. 20:43 But they have a program 20:44 that's a bit more advanced if you wanna do some more. 20:46 It's called Mission Experience. Okay. 20:48 So for one month, 20:49 they take you to the Philippines, 20:51 where you train, 20:52 they give you a crash course on public speaking 20:56 and how to dialogue correctly. 20:58 you aced that class, it seems like I mean I hope. 21:04 And then for two weeks you get to do some meetings 21:07 and I'll get to it in a little bit 21:10 so when I heard up Mission Experience, 21:12 I thought, "Oh, man, that's four weeks 21:14 in the other side of the world." 21:15 I don't know if I wanna do this. 21:17 But I had some friends 21:19 who'd been on there and they're saying, 21:20 "Yeah, you should go." 21:22 So I asked my parents and said, "you know what, 21:24 I really wanna go." 21:25 I know that there's a cost involved with it, 21:29 but I feel God inspired me to go. 21:31 My parents told me, "Go ahead and do it. 21:32 Don't look back." 21:33 And God was able to help me 21:35 raise the funds for it and it was amazing. 21:37 And this is exactly what I needed, 21:39 when I was 15 and I turned 16 there. 21:41 It's perfect for the older Youth 21:43 because they give you leadership skills. 21:44 Yes. 21:45 There I was able to gain those skills. 21:52 And when I came back home from the mission experience, 21:54 I decided, "you know what, I cannot just leave it here. 21:56 I've gotta do something." 21:57 So ended up leading some Youth Sabbath's 21:59 of my own local church 22:00 and inspiring the Youth to do something 22:02 and I tribute it all to God 22:03 of course and to Young Disciple. 22:05 Amen, Amen. 22:07 Well, I can tell that you are very passionate 22:09 about Young Disciple ministries 22:11 and I'm glad that you came along 22:13 because this is so nice to hear from people 22:17 that are being touched by the ministry. 22:20 Tony, what made you decide to go into design and IT work? 22:26 So when I was nine, my mom got me a computer, 22:30 this is back in the dark ages of computers. 22:35 But, you know, in... 22:37 But she was wise, 22:39 and she didn't just buy me video games, 22:41 she bought me a book on how to program 22:43 and so I was like, "Okay, this sounds interesting." 22:46 And so I learnt how to program and I loved it. 22:48 What was Your first language? 22:50 Basic. Yeah. Basic, okay, okay. 22:53 And In addition to that I was taking music, 22:57 I was taking piano 22:59 and as I was growing up, anytime anybody asked me 23:03 "What do you wanna do when you grow up?" 23:04 I'm like, 23:05 "I'd like to do something with computers and or music," 23:08 you know that was kind of always what was in my head, 23:11 but I had no idea really what God had in mind for me. 23:14 But I kept, you know, 23:18 God really fostered 23:20 that love of technology in my heart 23:22 and the love of art and music and things like that. 23:24 And, when I was 16, 23:29 we moved to the campus of a college 23:34 and we moved there on the condition 23:38 that we could do something like Young Disciple. 23:40 And so they were like, 23:41 "Okay, that's fine, you raise all the money, 23:43 you do all the work, we'll let you do that," 23:45 you know, so... No pressure. 23:47 Yeah. Yeah. 23:48 So as part of my education, 23:52 I was assigned to work at Young Disciple. 23:55 So my mom and I 23:56 were the first two people working on it. 23:58 And that's when God brought together 24:00 that love of computers, that love of art 24:02 and love of things like that. 24:03 And, so I was the designer on the magazine 24:07 and I was also responsible for all the technology 24:09 so we started out with, we needed a computer, 24:12 so I started researching 24:13 what kind of computer do we need 24:15 and pretty soon we realized 24:17 that one computer wasn't gonna work 24:18 for two or three people to try to all use one computer. 24:21 And so then it's like, 24:23 okay, so we got all the files in this computer, 24:25 but we got somebody else on this computer 24:26 that needs to be working so I learned about networking, 24:28 and God just really kept teaching me 24:31 different things that I needed to know. 24:34 I took a... 24:36 When in college, I graduated with a degree 24:38 in Christian Publications management 24:39 which really has nothing to do 24:41 with either IT or graphic design, 24:45 but God taught me all along the way 24:47 He put me into the people who knew how to do things, 24:50 who knew different aspects of technology 24:53 and somebody that went to our church, 24:55 worked for Adobe and he said, 24:57 "you know what, you guys really need to use," 24:59 at that time it was PageMaker it's in design you know that. 25:03 He gave us a copy of it to use and showed us 25:05 how to use it and just things like that. 25:07 All along the way, 25:08 God opened up the doors and took that love 25:10 that I have of technology and music and things like that 25:13 and just said, 25:15 Here's what I want you to do in My service. 25:17 And for some reason He put on my heart to be, 25:20 to want to do that and not just to go out. 25:23 I remember, when I graduated from college, 25:27 this friend of ours from Adobe said, 25:31 "Would you like to come work for Adobe? 25:34 We'll start you at $75,000 a year," which in '96. 25:39 Oh, that's beautiful. 25:42 And that was not appealing to me at all, 25:45 you know, for whatever reason, I was just like, 25:47 "No, God has called me to do something greater." 25:49 Yes, yes. 25:52 And it's really a privilege 25:54 to have God to be part of this ministry. 25:57 So I've learnt everything from wireless networking 26:01 and fiber optics and data based administration, 26:03 the serve administration. 26:04 All those kinds of things were fallen to me 26:06 and somehow along the way God set in 26:08 and here's how to do these things. 26:09 Yes, which is incredible 26:11 because He was preparing you for what you're doing today. 26:14 What's it like to walk in Your purpose 26:16 and Your calling 26:18 that God has placed in Your life? 26:23 There are so many people that have the age 26:25 that I'm now sort of this mid-life crisis. 26:27 When they look back 26:28 and what they've done with their life. 26:30 And they're like, it was meaningless, you know, 26:34 and they're like almost panicking. 26:38 What can I do...? Give me some meaning to life. 26:41 And I've never felt that. 26:42 I mean, you know, 26:44 I know that God has called me to be where I am 26:46 and He's given me something to do that's important, 26:48 is actually helping people. 26:50 And as I look around, 26:51 and I can see the Young people that are solid in Christ 26:55 that have given their lives to Him, 26:56 that are in His Word and understand it 27:01 and have a real experience in Christ. 27:03 I'm like, that's awesome. 27:05 Yes, yes. 27:07 I had a little part in that for some reason. 27:09 Yes, yes. 27:10 That is such a wonderful feelings to know that, 27:14 I mean, you had a part in that. 27:16 And why me? 27:17 I mean, nobody special, you know. 27:20 We actually have a video 27:22 that I think adds to what you're saying right now. 27:25 Let's take a look at that video. 27:28 I got involved with YD when I was 15 years old. 27:31 Before that time, I really wasn't very spiritual. 27:35 I went to church, I was involved there, 27:38 my family was home schooling, 27:39 very involved with many different things, 27:41 but my spirituality wasn't really that great. 27:45 The first year I came to camp, 27:47 I wasn't excited about studying the Word, 27:50 I really didn't have a desire to, 27:52 I wasn't memorizing. 27:54 I didn't really know how to study the Bible. 27:57 Everything seems really random and disjointed. 28:00 One of the things that YD really did for me 28:02 that first year was the deep Bible study class 28:05 and learning how to get into the Bible for myself. 28:08 Kneeling in front of the camp fire, 28:10 the last day of camp, 28:12 it was an appeal for surrendering those things 28:14 that you hold, cherish in your heart. 28:16 And at that moment, I surrendered them to Christ. 28:21 Surrendered them fully. 28:22 When we took the deep Bible study class 28:24 and began looking at methods 28:26 of how you compare scripture with scripture, 28:28 I became so excited. 28:29 I went home and I started doing 28:31 all of this personal Bible study, 28:33 looking up different words, studying things like faith, 28:36 of righteousness and these different ideas 28:38 and seeing them through all of scripture. 28:40 And it changed my life. 28:41 I started having devotions, 28:43 and because I was in the Word of God, 28:45 I started to have a relationship with Jesus. 28:47 I studied the Young Disciple magazine 28:50 and it gave me that firm foundation, 28:51 it taught me how to study. 28:53 It taught me that 28:54 scripture memory was a key ingredient 28:56 for overcoming temptation. 28:59 The Young Disciple ministry's influences my desire 29:02 to be an overseas missionary 29:04 was greatly encouraged and strengthened. 29:05 The Lord called me to Cambodia to work in an orphanage 29:08 and also to work with refugees in Thailand. 29:12 There's no doubt in my mind 29:13 that I would not be where I am today, 29:16 if it were not for Young Disciple. 29:20 It's doubtful that I would even be a Christian today 29:23 to be completely honest if it weren't for the impact 29:25 that this ministry has made on me. 29:26 As I look back on the things that impacted me, 29:30 that prepared me for that work overseas 29:32 I can say that probably the biggest influence 29:35 in equipping me for the work that I'm doing now as a teacher 29:39 has been my time at Young Disciple Camp. 29:43 The changes that God had brought in my heart 29:48 through this place. 29:49 I know it could be happening 29:50 in many, many other young hearts 29:53 to come. 30:00 Wow. 30:01 Tony, there are a lot of different things 30:05 going on with the Young Disciple ministries. 30:07 What are some of the facets of Young Disciple ministries? 30:11 So at Young Disciple, 30:12 we have the Young Disciple magazine, 30:14 it's a weekly publication for young people. 30:16 There is Young Disciple Youth Bible Camp, 30:19 there is the Mission Experience, 30:21 there's Truth for Youth 30:22 which is an evangelistic series for kids. 30:24 I watch that Truth for Youth. 30:25 And then there's a new program that right now we're calling 30:27 "Light for Learners" which is Bible lessons 30:30 for people who are in prison. 30:32 And this all started really with Young Disciple magazine. 30:36 Like I said, we were at this church plant, 30:37 we were kind of photocopying stuff, 30:39 and we really realized 30:41 God wants us to do something more than that 30:43 and so the Young Disciple magazine 30:46 at the core of it is those Bible lessons. 30:48 So in each issue, right in the center, 30:52 you have a daily Bible study. 30:54 The very first lesson is on different, every week, 30:59 there's a different Bible study method. 31:01 So this one is the verse by verse study method, 31:03 but we go through all kinds of different ways 31:05 to study the Bible. 31:06 Then each day, 31:07 they have different lessons that'll help you apply it. 31:09 So up at the top section we have something that is... 31:15 easy for the younger readers 31:17 and then if you go down have a study for yourself. 31:19 Here we dig deeper and then 31:22 there's usually some kind of puzzle 31:25 or an activity that they can do. 31:27 So we try to really catch the different kinds of learners 31:30 because everybody comes to God's Word, 31:33 they are blessed, the Holy Spirit leads them, 31:35 there is... 31:40 There is His grace, 31:42 there's things that they get out of it 31:44 and you got different people learn different ways 31:45 and we've realized that, so we've tried to make a lesson 31:48 that works for different kinds of young people. 31:50 But then in addition to that, 31:52 we have stories that reinforce 31:56 whatever the topic is 31:58 so if the Bible lesson is on... 32:01 If we're going through the parables of Christ, 32:03 and maybe the lesson is on, you know judge not, 32:08 then perhaps will be a story where somebody learned, 32:11 "Why does the God says don't do this?" 32:12 Yes, yes. 32:14 In addition to that, there are articles, 32:17 very often we'll do a series from the reformation, 32:21 how God brought light out of darkness. 32:25 There are articles on health. 32:26 There's articles on all kinds of different topics, editorial, 32:29 something inspirational about cover. 32:32 So that sort of a brief overview of the magazine, 32:34 but the whole magazine really is focused on 32:36 the topic of this Bible lesson 32:38 and helping the young person to really understand 32:40 how to study the Bible and through that 32:42 to connect with Christ. 32:44 It almost seems that it like it shows 32:47 the practicality of the gospel too as well. 32:51 So we're trying to do more than just fill in the blanks. 32:53 Like here's a Bible verse right in the missing words. 32:56 Obviously there are times when we do that 32:58 but really behind all of that is the method 33:00 to help young people say, "Oh, wait, 33:02 I just got something out of the Bible, didn't I?" 33:03 Yes, yes. 33:05 So we were sending these 33:06 magazines out all over the country. 33:08 And there were a lot of home school families 33:12 that were somewhat isolated. 33:15 And we started getting letters from young people that said, 33:18 you know, none of my friends are interested in the Bible. 33:22 None of my friends really seem to care about spiritual things, 33:24 they just wanna have fun 33:25 and they just wanna mess around. 33:26 And, I feel like I'm the only young person 33:29 that wants something more than just this out of religion. 33:34 And, we were like, we see this over here, 33:37 we see this over here, clearly they're not. 33:40 Let's bring them together and encourage them, 33:43 teach them more, help them to see 33:45 that there are 7000 in Israel it's kind of like, 33:48 like you found out. 33:49 So that was really 33:51 where the idea of Young Disciple Youth Bible Camp 33:54 came together and so, 33:56 we let the young people know, we 're gonna have this camp 33:58 and we're like, "How do you have a camp, right?" 34:02 And again, 34:03 God put us in touch with people 34:05 who knew what they were doing 34:09 and who are willing to help us sort of establish the things. 34:13 And we brought the young people together 34:16 and taught them how to, you know, 34:19 encourage them having devotions, 34:21 taught them more ideas how to study the Bible 34:23 and opened a different opportunities for outreach. 34:28 And then, taught them different life skills. 34:30 Just sort of a basic introduction 34:32 so would I like to be a missionary pilot? 34:35 So kind of one of our classes 34:37 was missionary pilot ground school. 34:39 Would I like to be medical missionary? 34:41 Would I like to learn a foreign language? 34:43 We've had all kinds of different classes. 34:44 Obviously in a week of camp, 34:46 you can't make somebody proficient in. 34:49 So that's the duration a week, one week? 34:51 Yeah, the camp is one week long. 34:52 you can't make somebody proficient at anything. 34:54 But you can give somebody an experience to say, 34:57 "Wow, I want to pursue this," 34:58 or maybe God would call me some other direction, 35:02 both of those are very useful to young people. 35:05 And as we're bringing young people together at camp, 35:07 they were doing outreach, they were learning skills. 35:09 We were like, can we take this deeper? 35:12 And can we introduce them to, 35:17 you know, obviously in a camp scenario, 35:19 there's only so much outreach you can do 35:20 because the day is very full. 35:22 And, you can only go so far and we're like, 35:25 "Let's do something a little bit deeper." 35:27 And that's where the Mission Experience 35:28 kind of grew out of that was 35:29 let's take these young people 35:31 who have learned some skills and let's like can triple that. 35:35 Both like the testing and help them experience 35:39 what it is to be on the frontlines of mission 35:41 in a foreign country. 35:44 And so that's... 35:45 Yeah, it's a lot of times when you have a mission trip, 35:48 the young people are in the sidelines 35:49 they're helping. 35:51 And we're like, "No, we're helping. 35:53 They are in the frontlines! 35:55 We're gonna put them in and see what it's really like 35:57 to be a missionary in a foreign country. 36:00 And so they preach the messages. 36:02 They go and visit people in their homes, 36:04 they're leading out in children's meetings, 36:07 you know all of these different things are involved in ministry 36:09 and we are there to mentor them 36:11 and help them and see that through. 36:13 That's incredible. 36:14 What are some stories that you can share? 36:16 Maybe of how some lives have been transformed, Jess? 36:20 Yeah, I go on the mission trip to the Philippines. 36:24 We just went this last year for a month 36:27 and one of our participants... 36:29 Well, to start out, I help with child evangelism, 36:33 and so I led that this time and I take all my kids 36:37 that are gonna be doing child evangelism. 36:39 This year we had three different sites so I had, 36:42 I think six per site and... 36:45 Actually four per site. 36:47 And I just sat them down and I said, "Here's the deal. 36:51 I can't check up on all of you. 36:53 I can't run around and say, 36:55 did you get your craft supplies? 36:57 Did you put the scissors in the craft bag? 36:59 Did you get the DVD? 37:00 Did you get the guitar?" 37:01 I can't do that and I don't want to do that. 37:04 And so we said maybe at home 37:08 you're used to mom and dad 37:10 helping you out and making sure you did everything, 37:11 but it's time to go to the next level now. 37:14 And so, what's gonna happen to your meeting 37:17 if you can't do the craft or you can't preach the sermon 37:20 or you didn't bring that? 37:22 What about these young lives that 37:24 may never have another chance to hear the gospel? 37:26 And you could just see all of a sudden 37:27 it became more real to them like, 37:30 "Oh wow, my role is important." 37:33 And at the end, we had testimonies 37:35 and I'll never forget how one of the girls said 37:39 you know, she's 15 and she said, "At our home, 37:42 I've never had this kind of responsibility." 37:44 And she said, "I was terrified when you said." 37:46 Looked at me and said, 37:48 "It's up to you to do your part. 37:49 I'm not gonna check up on you. 37:51 Oh, did you remember your part?" 37:53 She said, "I was terrified like no, send someone else, 37:56 I can't do it. 37:57 I'm too young." 37:58 And then she said, "I realized, I can do it. 38:01 I can play an important part in service for God 38:05 and I can bear burdens and I can be responsible." 38:08 And she says that was transformative for me 38:10 in my own life. 38:12 And so that was just such a blessing to us 38:15 to see that young people wanna bear burdens, 38:18 they want to be given responsibility. 38:20 They don't want us to just do everything for them 38:22 and provide programs for them. 38:24 They want to be placed in roles of service 38:27 and mentored in those so that they can feel like 38:29 they're a meaningful part of God's family. 38:31 Absolutely. 38:33 I think that without that, you know, 38:36 sometimes that relationship becomes lacking in that regard 38:39 because it's almost as 38:41 if it doesn't apply to that young person 38:43 because they've got nothing to do with it per se. 38:46 So that's excellent. 38:48 you also prepared them for college basically 38:50 and the real world 38:52 by doing those things for sure. 38:54 What are some other stories? 38:55 So I've got one of it. Okay. 38:57 Absolutely. 38:58 So I went this last time also 39:00 with the group in February to March. 39:04 And I was in the public evangelism team 39:05 so we're in charge of giving the adult meetings. 39:08 So how a typical night would run this year was, 39:11 for one hour there would be kids meeting, 39:13 then we've a 15 minutes break, 39:14 then we start out with our adult meetings. 39:17 Throughout the kids meetings, 39:18 we have a lot of attendance the first night with some kids. 39:21 And you know over the couple of nights, 39:23 we realized all the kids were still there, 39:24 they were just kind of doing their own things, 39:26 they wouldn't pay attention. 39:27 But there's this one kid in particular. 39:29 He was just always so zoned in 39:31 on the messages and he was helping out. 39:34 And at some point he started helping us, 39:36 so when the kids would become rowdy, 39:37 he'd tell them him like, "Hey, be quiet, be quiet." 39:39 And it was just amazing to see his passion for this. 39:42 But had he not stayed for the adult meetings, 39:45 I probably wouldn't have seen him. 39:47 But this kid stayed for the adult meetings. 39:49 Stayed throughout the whole 39:50 two, two and half hours of the program. 39:52 And because he wanted to do something deeper. 39:55 So I got to talking with him and I was praying, "Lord, 39:58 I hope this kid gets to be baptized." 40:00 And when they give the baptism appeal, he stood right up. 40:05 The day that I got to see him get baptized, it was amazing. 40:10 I just can't explain what joy was. 40:13 He got baptized right around. 40:14 I actually turned 16 there and I say, 40:16 you know my best present I got was him being baptized 40:19 because it was amazing and I remember towards the end 40:22 we're able to give him a Bible and he held it 40:25 and I could see the tears about to come 40:27 through his eyes and he was like, 40:29 "Thank you for this Bible." 40:30 And that touched me because I thought, you know, 40:32 I've got five different Bibles at home 40:33 and five different translations from couple of people, 40:37 but do I treasure my Bible as this kid does in there... 40:42 If you give him just a note with a scripture on it, 40:45 they're so thankful for it, so not only did it touch him, 40:48 which I'm glad but it also touched me 40:51 to treasure my Bible more. 40:53 Wow, that's huge. 40:54 And how old are you right now? 40:55 I'm 16 right now. 40:57 Sixteen and that moment had such an impact 41:02 on your life as well. 41:04 you know, I think about when people ask the question, 41:07 where are the youth in the church? 41:12 There's one right there and at the camp. 41:16 I mean, there's so many other young people 41:20 that are on fire for the Lord. 41:23 So what other facets, 41:25 you said something about prisons? 41:28 Right. Tell me about that? 41:29 So we have a friend that is, 41:34 she's been helping out at camp, 41:35 she's done a lot of things with the ministry 41:38 and she at her church, 41:40 they have a prison ministry program. 41:42 And she was trying different lessons 41:44 and she was really feeling like, 41:46 she was struggling to find something 41:47 that was a good fit for the prisoners. 41:49 Sometimes the lessons would be over their head, 41:50 sometimes it would be just for whatever reason 41:53 wasn't keeping their attention, which she thought well, 41:56 we've got all these Young Disciple Bible lessons. 41:58 They were written for kids, 42:00 but a lot of these are offenders 42:02 are actually young people. 42:04 And she's like, "Let's give it a try." 42:06 So she took the lessons in there and they loved them. 42:10 And she was like, "Can you send me more?" 42:11 And then pretty since she was like, 42:14 we got a few problems here. 42:16 One of the problems is this in the lessons, 42:19 there are pictures of young people, 42:21 has their names, 42:22 and things like that and she's like, 42:24 "This is not okay in prison." Yes. 42:26 So we've taken the lessons, we've edited them. 42:29 We've taken out some things for example that may say, 42:31 on your way to church practice your memory text, you know, 42:34 every time you stop at a light, 42:36 say your project memory verse again, 42:38 you know, and obviously 42:40 that's not gonna work in a prison situation, 42:43 so we've gone through edit them down 42:45 and made them appropriate for use in prisons and so, 42:47 we are just in the process of building that up, 42:50 building up a series of lessons so by the time it's done, 42:54 there is going to be lessons on absolute surrender, 42:58 Steps to Christ, 43:00 different Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, 43:02 the Life of Christ, 43:05 a lot of different topics like that, 43:06 that are really applicable to people that are behind bars 43:10 and really helping them too. 43:12 In the same way the young people 43:13 are now connecting with Christ to help them like 43:15 Christ did in that same way. 43:17 So we're in the process of building that up and we hope 43:21 that soon there'll be many people across the country 43:24 they're being blessed in that way. 43:25 Absolutely. 43:26 What's the thought process 43:28 as you're developing these topics of study? 43:32 What are you thinking about? 43:35 It's a lot of it is prayer. 43:37 It's like, "Lord what do you want us to talk about?" 43:39 And God says, "What blessed you?" 43:42 you know it's like well, 43:44 I was blessed by the Steps of Christ, you know. 43:46 When God goes through and shows 43:47 you here are the steps to being a real Christian 43:50 or you know, the importance of surrender, 43:54 and as he brings things to our attention, 43:55 like this is a really important topic 43:58 and it really isn't like, 44:01 I'm really wonderful, 44:02 I know everything that we needs to know. 44:04 It's more like Lord, what do you want me to say? 44:05 And He puts words in your mouth? 44:07 Yes, yes. 44:09 Jess, how have you seen 44:12 a change in maybe some of the girls' lives 44:15 that you've counseled? 44:18 I just got a letter couple of months ago 44:20 from a girl that said, 44:23 "I just want you to know, 44:25 that I thank God every day for the influence this ministry 44:28 and this camp has had on my life." 44:30 She said, "I've been through a lot of abuse, 44:34 and she says I was cutting, I felt worthless. 44:38 And now it's been, I think she said six months 44:41 since I've cut myself. 44:42 And she just said it's transformed my life, 44:46 and I just wanna say thank you and we see story after story, 44:49 not all from bad homes 44:51 but it's just this reminder that these young people, 44:54 these precious lambs of God, 44:57 many of them have been through such hard things 44:59 and many of them are gonna face significant trials 45:02 as they become adults 45:03 and start making their own choices 45:05 and to me, 45:06 I feel like one of my greatest goals 45:11 when working with these beautiful girls 45:13 is just number one, 45:15 helping them see their worth and their value in God's eyes. 45:18 So they don't go seeking for worth and value 45:20 in the wrong places. 45:21 And not only to get them connected with Christ, 45:24 but to help them understand that 45:26 one of the greatest antidotes for the pleasure of sin 45:31 is the joy of self sacrificing service. 45:33 And if they can get that taste of service, 45:35 that taste of working for God, 45:37 it can just keep them from all the things 45:41 that Satan would like to just move them 45:43 right out of the church way, 45:44 and so to see those young people 45:46 and they don't all. 45:47 I mean I cry sometimes when I see them walk away. 45:50 And yet to see so many 45:52 that are like I want to serve God. 45:54 I wanna use my talent, I wanna spend this time 45:57 instead of just goofing off online and wasting time, 46:00 but really preparing for life of service to God. 46:04 It's such a beautiful thing to be part of. 46:06 Yes, amen. 46:08 Tony, what are some current projects 46:10 that you guys are working on? 46:13 One of the things that kind of 46:16 go out of the mission experience was 46:19 we realized there's a lot of research 46:22 that's been done on the people, 46:23 we realized that young people 46:25 who make a decision for Christ before the age of 12, 46:29 are many times more likely 46:31 for that decision to be a permanent 46:32 than people who make that decision later in life, 46:35 and we realized so often evangelism 46:39 and evangelistic series is focused on the adults 46:41 and that's awesome and we need to do that, 46:43 and that's the example we have in the Bible, 46:45 and yet we also have the example 46:47 of Bible of ministering to children. 46:49 And we realized that, 46:51 it's a lot of work to put together 46:53 a program for children, 46:55 you know, every day for like, you know, 46:58 you got a 26 night evangelistic series 47:00 that's really hard to put together 47:02 that same kind of program for children, 47:03 and so we saw the need 47:05 for an evangelistic series for kids. 47:07 And so, that is really where the Truth 47:09 for Youth Program grew out of which is, 47:12 it's a 26 night evangelistic series for kids 47:14 and it has all the PowerPoints, it even has scripts. 47:16 you don't even have to come up with what to say. 47:19 If you can read, you can present Truth for Youth, 47:21 the crafts are there on the disk in PDF format. 47:23 you can print them out using materials and supplies 47:26 that are easy to transport or easy to obtain locally, 47:29 you can do that. 47:30 There are materials to take home and things like that. 47:33 So in the Philippines, 47:35 in the areas we've been working the children speak English, 47:38 they like to speak English, 47:39 they like to do English craft and things like that. 47:41 So that's great and we've used, 47:43 and people have used Truth for Youth 47:44 all over the United States 47:45 to do evangelistic work with children as well. 47:48 But, on our heart it was like, 47:50 the world is bigger than English speaking countries. 47:53 And so we translated it into French and into Spanish, 47:58 and it's in the process of being translated 48:00 into Korean and Swahili, 48:03 and there was a group in Africa 48:05 that wanted to translate it into Yoruba, 48:08 but the current project right now 48:09 is in a country that's closed to the gospel, to evangelism. 48:14 The Adventists in that country said, 48:17 we're going to do 700 evangelistic series every year 48:23 and we want to include children's evangelism. 48:25 And we'd like to use Truth for Youth, and so right now, 48:28 our current project that we're working on 48:29 is to translate this into their language 48:32 so that they can use this in a powerful way. 48:35 I don't know how you do evangelism 48:37 in a closed country to children. 48:38 I know it's difficult, 48:40 but they have a heart to do this, 48:42 in spite of the risks 48:43 and they wanna see children in the kingdom 48:44 and we wanna see children in the kingdom. 48:46 So we're working together with translators 48:48 there to bring all the graphics, 48:49 all the craft everything together 48:51 into that language to make that happen. 48:54 That is huge. 48:56 What are some of the needs of your ministry? 49:00 So obviously, right now that translation project 49:03 is something that is really on our hearts, 49:08 there is a lot of artwork 49:10 and there's a lot of cost involved 49:11 with using artwork 49:13 and there's a lot of cost 49:14 involved with translating and things like that, 49:18 duplicating, making materials available, 49:20 so right now we're actively raising funds for this project 49:26 and $45 will give this entire Truth for Youth series 49:31 in their native language 49:33 to one of the local workers there 49:34 to use and again 49:36 they're trying to do 700 series every year. 49:40 That's a lot of young people. 49:41 If you do the math and figure it, 49:42 however many they have we need to reach those groups. 49:44 That's a lot of young people 49:45 they're gonna learn about Jesus, 49:47 and this is a country where the young people, 49:48 it's not like our young people that pretty much everybody 49:50 in America has heard of Jesus at least, 49:52 a lot of these people haven't even heard of Him. 49:54 And so, this is an awesome opportunity. 49:56 And, of course, all of the things 49:59 we're doing the camp, 50:00 the magazine, the mission experience, 50:03 all of these things take money to do. 50:05 and at this point, about a third of that money 50:08 comes from people who are like, 50:10 I want young people to connect with Christ. 50:11 I want young people to be studying the Bible, 50:13 I want young people to be making religion their own. 50:17 And, we're just so thankful for the people 50:20 who partnered with us to make that happen. 50:22 Yes, what about volunteers? 50:24 So every year at camp obviously we have young people 50:29 that come and volunteer to be counselors. 50:32 And that's probably 50:34 one of the most important positions at camp. 50:38 The units that we have are small, 50:39 we have eight to ten young people 50:42 with tent on the outside, 50:44 in the tent with two counselors. 50:45 Okay. 50:47 And the job of those counselors 50:48 is giving their hearts to Christ. 50:51 And so the counselors come on the Wednesday 50:53 before camp starts, camp starts on the Sunday, 50:56 and we teach them here's how to work with hearts, 50:57 here's how to help our young people, 51:00 here's how to spot things that would tend to trend downward. 51:04 Here's how to encourage things that would to trend upward 51:07 and our goal at camp 51:09 and we've been fairly successful at this. 51:11 It's to have positive peer pressure. 51:13 Which means, 51:15 we try not to have an abundance of young people 51:18 who are totally uninterested. 51:22 But, in the situation, in fact we ask young people 51:26 before they come, are you least interested 51:28 in becoming more spiritual you know? 51:29 Yes, yes. 51:30 But what you see is young person will be like, 51:32 "I don't know about this." 51:33 And they see everybody else in the tent 51:35 has opened their Bible, 51:36 they're having devotions, they're praying 51:38 and they're like, 51:39 "I guess it's cool to do that." 51:41 And so, but the counselors are there 51:43 to make that happen. 51:44 Absolutely. 51:45 Well, we want to go to a quick address roll 51:48 and news break and we'll be right back. 51:55 Young Disciple Ministries began as a magazine, 51:57 but has grown to include youth camps, 51:59 mission trips, 52:01 music and video production and much more. 52:03 If you like to find out more about Young Disciple Ministries 52:05 or if you like to support them financially, 52:07 visit their website YoungDisciple.org. 52:10 That's YoungDisciple.org. 52:12 you may also call them 52:13 at (509) 722-4300. 52:16 That's (509) 722-4300. 52:21 Or write to them at Young Disciple Ministries, 52:23 PO Box 400, Inchelium, Washington 99138. |
Revised 2020-02-19