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Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220032A
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00:05 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:16 ♪ I want to spend my life removing pain ♪ 00:26 ♪ Lord let my words heal a heart that hurts ♪ 00:36 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:57 ♪ ♪ 01:07 Hello friends and welcome to another 3ABN Today. My name is 01:11 Pastor James Rafferty and we are so glad you've joined us. We 01:14 have a great program today. We're going to be talking to 01:17 young people and those who are connected with young people. So 01:19 if you're a young person or if you're a parent of a young 01:23 person or a grandparent of a young person or just have a 01:26 heart for young people, you won't want to miss this program. 01:29 We're going to be interviewing two guests, that Bill Krick and 01:35 David Pano who are both involved with a ministry called Youth 01:38 Rush and that is a ministry that incorporates young people in 01:42 outreach, evangelistic outreach, literature evangelistic outreach 01:46 And they have some amazing stories to tell us about the 01:49 experiences that young people have had who've been involved in 01:52 this ministry Youth Rush. So just let me introduce my guests 01:56 first and after we introduce the guests we'll have a little word 01:57 of prayer and then I'm just going to give all the time to 01:59 you guys. So Bill Krick, tell us a little bit about yourself. 02:02 Yeah, James, I work as director of literature ministries for 02:06 Pacific Union Conference and I've been involved in literature 02:09 ministries for 31 years and that's my privilege and my joy. 02:13 I've got a wife and a couple of daughters. 02:17 Okay, praise the Lord. David tell us about yourself. 02:18 Well I'm originally from Bolivia but I have the opportunity to 02:22 go to a college here in the US (David Pano) that's heavily 02:25 involved in literature ministries. So we used to 02:28 canvas like 20 weeks a year because it's part of the 02:32 curriculum and I didn't know that God was going to lead me 02:35 to be a full-time ministry in literature ministry. So I'm 02:40 currently working as literature ministries director on the 02:42 Michigan Conference. (Amen, amen). 02:43 Are you married, do you have children. You're single still. 02:46 I am. 02:48 Okay. See how the Lord works... 02:49 Well let's have a little word of prayer before we get started and 02:51 then we're going to jump right in. Father, I want to thank you 02:55 again for this opportunity just to talk about young people and 02:57 the ministry. Thank you for Bill, thank you for David. 03:00 Thank you for their heart and dedication for this ministry 03:03 that disciples and comes along side of young people. I pray 03:08 that you will just guide and direct their words and their 03:10 opportunities here to share with our viewers, that they will 03:13 touch the hearts and lives of many people who will be 03:16 listening. We ask for your Spirit to be here and we ask in 03:19 the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. So before we get started tell us 03:25 a little bit about Youth Rush. What is Youth Rush? 03:29 That's a good question, James. Youth Rush is a summer program 03:32 okay it's during 10 weeks of the summer, so as Ellen White writes 03:37 she says when school closes (okay) there will be opportunity 03:40 for our students to go into the field as canvassers and work 03:43 from house to house. So Youth Rush is house to house ministry 03:47 house to house evangelism. And so number one, it's evangelism. 03:50 I have literally the stories of hundreds of people who've been 03:56 baptized because they were contacted from Youth Rush or 04:01 just plain door-knocking. (Okay) So that's exciting. Number two 04:03 it's discipleship you know young people get experiences that they 04:08 remember for their lives and they learn practical aspects of 04:13 ministry. And number three, it helps them with their school 04:16 bill. (Oh really?) Yes because they earn for their schooling 04:20 and most schools, all Adventist colleges, many schools give a 04:24 portion on top of their earnings in scholarship (Oh really, okay) 04:27 So they kind of supplement the earnings that they get when they 04:30 do the Youth Rush program. All right. Fantastic. I love 04:32 that. So let's just get into it. What kind of unexpected things 04:38 can happen when a student is out there working for the Lord? 04:41 You know in Judges chapter 6 you see the call of Gideon and God 04:45 comes and says Oh the Lord is with you, Gideon. And Gideon's 04:48 like well I mean we're oppressed right now and we don't see any 04:53 power, we don't see anything. And then he asks the question, 04:58 what happened with all those miracles? And the rest of the 05:03 story is when Gideon himself experiences like supernatural 05:08 encounters with God, he experiences the power of God in 05:11 battles, he experienced victory. And I will say if you want to 05:16 experience God meet Him where He's at. (Amen) In the field. 05:19 Reaching out to people and you will have so much...like we're 05:24 going to start sharing the stories and these are not 05:26 stories from the Old Testament. And Post New Testament we are 05:31 seeing God still working, the same God who opened the Red Sea 05:35 is still working today and remember He's working with young 05:39 people as well. If a young person is watching, you don't 05:42 have to have like a theology degree for you to experience the 05:47 wonderful miracle. It's just a blessing to serve and see 05:51 people's lives changing just in front of your eyes at the door. 05:54 Sometimes the Holy Spirit just strikes them and they start 05:57 crying. You're like this was not me. This was not me and God has 06:02 to be here. So that's something...I think we have a 06:07 video. Olivia's going to share with us what this experience 06:11 looks like. (Excellent) 06:14 I was canvassing industrial businesses at the end of a 06:17 morning. (Olivia Joyce) And I walked into one business knowing 06:20 it would be my last based on how much time was left. And so I 06:23 just said hello. It was a mechanic's shop and I couldn't 06:25 see anybody that was around but eventually, a lady came in from the 06:29 back and she looked like she'd been having a bad day. And it 06:31 turns out that she had. What I didn't know at the time was that 06:34 she had just come to the end of a very difficult situation in 06:36 her life that morning and it was just really discouraging her. 06:40 I just said hello and shared with her what we were doing. I 06:43 shared with her the health books and she's kind of interested but 06:46 not really and she just asked me Oh, what religion are you? 06:49 And so I shared with her in the back like I'm working with the 06:52 famous Bible Story company. Have you heard of us? And she said Oh 06:55 no, no, no what religion what church are you. And so I took a 06:58 deep breath and I said a prayer and I said Oh we're Seventh-day 07:00 Adventist Christians, have you heard of us? And she just 07:04 stopped and looked at me and her whole face lit up. And I wasn't 07:07 expecting that. But she just smiled and she said you're a 07:11 Seventh-day Adventist? I want to be a Seventh-day Adventist. 07:13 And so our conversation just really took off from there. She 07:17 shared that she's a home school mom and over the past 15, 20 07:20 years through educating her children, trying to give them 07:22 a Bible-based education she'd been studying the Bible on two 07:27 different Bible study guides from different denominations 07:28 and God had been showing her in the Bible the truth about the 07:31 Sabbath and what happens when we die. Also about how God wants us 07:35 to be healthy through the health message too. And so I shared 07:38 with her that yes this is things that I believe too that the 07:41 Bible teaches. And she was so excited because she had heard of 07:44 Adventists and was curious about learning more but she just never 07:46 had really had an opportunity to look into attending a church in 07:50 the area. And so I said another prayer and I just invited her if 07:54 she was interested that she was welcome to come and visit the 07:58 church that my friends and I were staying at for the summer 07:59 as we did our program. And she was very interested in coming 08:03 and she just gave me her number so that we could be in contact 08:06 Before I left I was able to pray with her and, we were both able 08:09 to recognize that this was definitely a divine appointment 08:12 that only God could have arranged. Because she'd been 08:14 going through so much lately. So I left her with Christ Object 08:18 Lessons and also the Desire of Ages. But the story didn't end 08:21 there because two weeks later she was able to come to church 08:25 and to worship and pray and sing with my friends and I. And she 08:29 had such a wonderful experience and she told me later just as 08:32 we were standing in the foyer just sort of praising God 08:34 together and praying together for each other just how good God 08:38 has been to both of us in making sure that our paths had crossed 08:41 She shared with me that this was the first time she felt at home 08:44 in a church in a long time just with people who were welcoming 08:47 and wanted to follow God and all the truths in the Bible too. 08:50 It was one of the biggest blessings of my life to stand 08:53 and talk with her in the foyer after church service and to just 08:56 recount how God had blessed and to realize that He'd been 08:59 arranging this day's experience and that of two weeks before for 09:02 15 or 20 years before we had ever met, really almost before I 09:07 was born. And just continue to pray for her and her family as 09:10 they continue to follow the light that God has given her and 09:14 to realize that God is always faithful to those who 09:16 are seeking Him. 09:17 ♪ ♪ 09:25 Amen. What a powerful testimony from Olivia. So I know when I 09:30 was listening to you David I was hearing someone who was speaking 09:33 maybe from experience, like you'd experienced some of this. 09:35 So do young people have to have some kind of special skills in 09:40 order to join Youth Rush? 09:42 You know the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 8:12 it says 09:46 For if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to 09:50 what a man has and not according to what he has not. And 09:54 basically, you just need to have a willing mind, a willing heart. 09:58 Even if you're struggling with something but you have the 10:01 desire you know want to give it a try, and I will echo the 10:06 disciple's word that says come and see. Come and see for 10 10:07 weeks, only 10 weeks in the summer, just dedicate all that 10:10 to God and you will see how God can work in you. One of the 10:15 wonderful experiences is many young people are saving their 10:18 own families. Parents have been converted through young 10:21 people. You don't need anything. You just need a willing heart. 10:26 That's what the Bible says. (Amen) And I think that's what 10:30 that's what we are going to see another video. And we have 10:34 different stories and we want the young people to share that 10:38 and at this point, we will have Bethany to share what it is to 10:47 experience the same concept that we're talking about. 10:49 Okay, all right. 10:51 So I was working in this parking lot and it was really slow. 10:58 (Bethany Peterson) There wasn't much going out and I was 11:00 wondering maybe I should move on But as I was going I had the 11:03 impression that God was about to do something really big. And so 11:07 I just prayed and I said, Lord I'm not going to leave this 11:09 parking lot until you bless me. I continued praying for Him to 11:13 show me who to talk to and I saw this one man and I headed 11:17 towards him and as I went I saw out of the corner of my eye a 11:20 lady sitting in her car and she looked at me and she smiled. 11:23 And I thought I should go talk to her. So I went around and I 11:28 began to canvas her on the health set. She was holding out 11:32 her hand when she saw what I was holding in my arm still and 11:36 she said is that The Great Controversy. And I said, yeah 11:41 that's The Great Controversy and I handed it to her. She looked 11:45 at me and she said, you know what, I'm a former Adventist. 11:48 And I've been looking for my copy of The Great Controversy 11:50 for the past two days. I didn't know what to say. I was shocked. 11:54 Just then my leader, Olivia, came up from behind and she 11:58 asked us what church we went to and we were able to give her the 12:01 address of the church that we're staying at. Also, she signed up 12:03 for correspondence Bible studies But the most exciting part was 12:09 just before I left she said, you know what, God sent you here 12:12 and I want to come back to church and you know what, I'm 12:15 going to go home and I'm going to read this copy of The Great 12:17 Controversy. That was really exciting for me because I was 12:24 thinking, you know what, what if I would have left that parking 12:26 lot. What if I hadn't waited for God to do that great thing that 12:30 He had impressed me that He was going to do? I was just so 12:34 excited to see how God works with us when we persevere and 12:37 we have patience. 12:38 ♪ ♪ 13:06 Amen! I love that. I absolutely love that. That was a powerful 13:09 testimony from Bethany. It's amazing to me that you know 13:14 these young people, they just need that willing spirit, that 13:16 willing mind and then God can use them in a powerful way. 13:18 Yeah, James, and what does it do for a young person's mind and 13:22 heart to...you know they go out they work hard, they give of 13:26 themselves and then someone says to them, God sent you here. 13:29 There's something that happens to a young person, they see. As 13:33 David said it's experiential it's an experience, come and see 13:36 and they're standing there experiencing that and that's a 13:40 powerful moment. 13:41 Amen, amen, You know, I was just thinking about, I was watching 13:43 those videos and I'm seeing these young people and they're 13:46 walking around with these big stacks of books, you know, going 13:48 from place to place and you know we live in a culture right now 13:51 where everything's video, everything's media, you know and 13:55 even a lot of the stuff that I listen to you know, audio books 14:00 and all that kind of stuff and the Bible on audio. So do people 14:03 still, use books? (Laughs) 14:05 That's a good question. You know we do carry some media and the 14:08 the books that we have also have links to media. But surprisingly 14:13 and you have to look at the research, the actual data, 14:16 surprisingly books are not dead in fact, revenues went up for 14:22 I believe it was eight years consecutively till COVID then 14:24 the market went crazy. But it's amazing. In fact there's an 14:28 article that just came out in the magazine The Atlantic. It 14:31 has a very good reputation for scholarship but they're secular 14:34 sources and without reading you all the details this is what 14:38 they said. They said: Two thousand years after the codex 14:41 and 500 after the Gutenberg press the book persists. If 14:47 something better were to come along you'd expect it to have 14:49 done so by now. In other words, as far as technologies go, the 14:53 book endures for very good reason. Books work. And then it 14:57 talks the different methods of agriculture and transportation 15:01 evolved, technologies that evolved and we don't do things 15:05 in our culture and society the way we used to. However, when it 15:10 comes to books it says the book has remained largely the same. 15:14 That puts books on par with other super inventions of human 15:18 civilization including roads, mills, cement, turbines, glass 15:23 and the mathematical concept of zero. (Wow! Laughter) So this 15:27 is a secular source (Wow I'm impressed) saying this is an 15:31 amazing invention. I was on an airplane recently, this is just 15:34 a few months ago. The guy sitting next to me I made 15:36 friends with him and he works for Oracle. He was moving to 15:40 Austin, Texas with his girlfriend. A really nice guy. 15:42 And he's on the cutting edge of technology you know he does 15:45 tech for a living. 15:47 For those who don't know What's Oracle? 15:48 Oracle makes software that runs in billions of devices. It's 15:55 amazing. So this guy I was talking to he says what do you 15:58 do for a living? I said well among other things, I make these 16:01 and I pulled out two Glo tracts out of my pocket and showed him 16:07 some tracts and he took them and he held them kind of at arms 16:10 length and he said this is 500 year-old technology, he says, 16:15 but it's really interesting that we all still use it, don't we? He 16:18 says right here in my backpack I have two physical books that 16:21 I'm reading. This is a tech guy. (Yes) So books persist and 16:27 people do read books. People use books. It isn't going away. 16:31 Amen, amen. 16:32 More than 80 percent of college students, they prefer the text 16:36 books in paper. (Yeah) 16:38 There's something about having that pen in your hand, something 16:42 having that paper before you. It's true because I'm the same 16:46 way. I like the iPad for that reason because I can still use 16:49 the pen, I can still mark, I can still feel like I'm actually 16:53 looking at a book. Okay so let's say books still work. What about 16:57 this idea of going door to door? I mean that seems hard 17:02 especially you know today. But is door to door still working 17:06 in today's culture? 17:08 Good question James. So there was a big election for governor 17:14 of the state of California where I live and the Washington Post 17:20 reported that the Democratic party sent volunteers door to 17:24 door and they knocked on two million doors in the weeks 17:28 leading up to that election to talk to people about who they 17:32 should vote for, you know how it goes. And I thought that was 17:35 interesting. That was actually during a COVID wave as well so 17:38 they had to take extra precautions. So they still went 17:42 door to door even during COVID, because they know that that's 17:45 the best way to contact people. Research from Stanford 17:48 University, Columbia University, Dr. Donald Green, the Leadership 17:52 Lab, all these places have done careful research on what is the 17:55 best way to contact people for political campaigns and they 17:59 say that better than direct mail better than electronic means by 18:03 email or texting is actually personal contact. (Wow) So I 18:07 find it interesting that this is the thing that our prophet Ellen 18:10 White said many, many years ago and they endure and even from 18:14 secular sources we find that this is what works. That human 18:19 contact, that human interaction. We have another video that we'd 18:22 like to share and this one is from Daniel and this is a really 18:27 fun story. In fact, it's my favorite video. (All right) 18:29 When I was five years old I accepted the Lord but I'd ended 18:35 up growing up in bad neighborhoods involved with 18:39 gangs, drugs, money, women, you name it. Been homeless. I 18:46 mean I caught my first case at eight. but through all of it God 18:49 (Daniel Fagan) never left my side. Every time that I cried 18:52 out to Him, He was right there. And it was like He never left my 18:55 side. I felt as soon as I started praying He was already 18:57 there. Even if I was thinking about it, He was right there. 19:00 So as I continued growing the Lord kept doing these things 19:03 which made me believe in Him. And so when he finally got ahold 19:08 of me and I finally submitted to Him I started going to church 19:12 and seeking his truth and so I was going from church to church 19:16 to church trying to get His truth and was asking everybody 19:21 for Bible study and nobody would give me Bible studies. And it 19:24 made me feel like wow, I can't even get a Bible study. I'm 19:30 going to do it by myself then, me and God. And there's reason 19:32 for that. 19:34 ♪ ♪ 19:39 I was working in the construction area and this guy 19:40 come up selling books. And I walked over to him and I noticed 19:44 he had some Bible literature stuff. And I said, Man, I said 19:47 man you do Bible studies? You know because at this time nobody 19:50 would give me Bible studies. He said well I don't but I can send 19:52 somebody your way who can. And so he wrote my information down 19:56 and the next thing you know I had a guy come to my house, his 20:00 name was Dennis and he gave me Bible studies and he started 20:04 proving to me that Saturday is the actual day of the Sabbath. 20:08 I never knew that. I always thought it was Sunday. And so 20:12 that spoke to my heart and from that moment on I started to seek 20:16 truth. Even though I didn't have much knowledge in the Bible 20:18 I started passing out The Great Controversy and literature and 20:22 stuff like that, going door to door and even this Sabbath this 20:28 week, today, a guy came from my area where I went and 20:32 evangelized and he came to church today. He was actually 20:35 going to commit suicide but he actually came to church today. 20:38 And the Lord used me. And so going door to door does work. 20:43 I got numerous other people that I can talk about. And whether 20:48 it's literature, whether it's just saying hey how's it going, 20:50 you believe in Jesus? anything but giving these books 20:53 gives you an opportunity to speak to them. 20:56 ♪ ♪ 21:02 So I found myself in the middle of my summer just thinking about 21:03 quitting and heading home. I was at my lowest point and it was 21:07 (Dino Tsatalbasidis) at that time that I received a text from 21:08 one of my former leaders with a Bible study contact information 21:11 all filled out and my name at the bottom. And he said Dino, 21:14 do you recognize this Bible study contact? And I said that 21:18 I did not for I had handed out many different Bible studies 21:21 to different people during my time canvassing. What I just 21:25 realized what God had done in Daniel's of life what God had 21:29 done in my 21:30 life in just connecting the two of us at the perfect time I just 21:34 started to cry. I couldn't believe that really used me to 21:36 make an impact. That encouraged me this summer to just keep 21:41 doing the work that God gave me to do this summer. 21:46 And the Lord has been doing such great things in my life and now 21:48 he's brought me to the point to where I'm going to go to a Bible 21:51 school so that I can learn to be an evangelist so that I can 21:54 serve Him for the rest of my life, because He is my life. 21:58 ♪ ♪ 22:05 It is my privilege to baptize you. As a minister of the gospel 22:16 (congregation cheering and clapping) 22:25 ♪ ♪ 22:31 What a powerful and amazing testimony. That was awesome. 22:35 Praise God. 22:36 You know James it says in Desire of Ages, p. 152, In order 22:39 to reach all classes we must meet them where they are. They 22:45 will seldom seek us of their own accord. That's the value of 22:47 personal contact is reaching out to people. You know. Can they 22:51 find it online? Sure they can. They can find that information. 22:53 Will they find it is the question. 22:55 You know I just want to revisit this idea of the impact that 23:00 this has not just on the people that are being reached like 23:03 Daniel but the students themselves, I was picking that 23:04 up from Dino. You know he was discouraged, he was about maybe 23:08 to give up and all of a sudden he just got this fresh energy 23:11 from the Holy Spirit because of what the Holy Spirit has been 23:14 doing through people that he had been reaching out to. 23:17 Yeah, today Dino's a pastor. He is a pastor, yes, and a minister 23:23 of the gospel. So it is a huge blessing to see that. 23:26 Mmm, Mmm, I love that. I mean when you look at this we are 23:33 burdened with young people who are floundering, you know. 23:35 They're not sure what to do or where to go and I think Youth 23:40 Rush could be a powerful ministry for them. So um what 23:42 kind of stories illustrate this you know this experience that 23:45 the young people are having? 23:47 Like a young person, when they go to Youth Rush they will 23:50 encounter many blessings and I'll repeat some of them. One of 23:53 them is financial. And it's okay if a person says you know I 23:56 don't want to...I heard people saying I don't want to be 23:59 selfish but I need money. They're just trying to be 24:02 responsible. They're trying to pay the bills and there's 24:04 nothing wrong with that so you get financial blessings. And God 24:08 knows what you need. You need money and God provides. We've 24:11 seen checks of thousands of dollars coming to students 24:14 because they need it. Another blessing that you will find when 24:18 someone goes to the canvassing program is friends. Youth Rush 24:25 has been attracting these missionary-minded young people 24:28 and those friends, you know, you laugh together, you also cry 24:32 together, you pray together and I found myself even that those 24:36 friends that I developed while I'm doing the ministry those are 24:39 the friends that are good friends. They will have a 24:42 positive impact in your life. But above all the greatest 24:47 blessing even if you don't get any is the experience with God. 24:49 If you will have a chance...We all have some loved one in our 24:56 lives that we want them to be closer to Christ. They can be 25:01 sons, daughters, friends, brothers, sisters. But you know 25:03 you have that person that you have a burden for that person. 25:07 And the question comes, it's like what would you rather to 25:10 see? Like maybe you have the potential to see an angel or you 25:15 see that person converted. So those type of experiences that 25:19 are bigger and larger in a sense than reaching people and seeing 25:25 people like that converted; it's like...It just hooks you in like 25:29 you want to experience that again. I want to see...I cannot 25:33 believe...I have experienced this when I saw the Holy Spirit 25:36 touching the heart of the person in front of me just breaking 25:39 down and crying and saying I need Jesus. And you are humbled. 25:43 You are humbled and you say how can God help me...I mean use me. 25:48 And you will experience...and I bet, I don't gamble but I was 25:57 sure that a young person that goes to Youth Rush and 25:58 experienced God in the field will come and you know no 26:00 scientist in this world will convince him that God doesn't 26:03 exist. That has happened to me. 26:05 Amen. And that's why I'm here. Yeah, so... 26:10 So how did this all get affected by COVID? You know I mean you 26:16 guys are out there going door to door, etc. I see in the videos 26:20 some of the young people, they're wearing the masks. 26:22 I know we're not necessarily doing that right now but it's 26:27 back and forth. And there's a lot of people that are afraid. 26:29 I mean they're behind doors, they don't want to go out and 26:31 and then these young people are coming to their doors. 26:33 The general idea has been that the people are afraid of COVID 26:37 and I understand and I have seen that. And what happened 26:41 is that in 2020 when we have the spike of COVID we decided to 26:48 still go, carefully and be responsible but still go. We did 26:53 a different type of canvassing. We would call people to fund 26:59 raise for books to be distributed and to our surprise 27:02 instead of the apathy like people are hungry and the next 27:08 year we just went full-blown canvassing and its incredible 27:12 like we haven't received any rejections because of COVID. 27:15 Actually, we have people telling us, I haven't seen a human being 27:19 in months. (Gotcha) It's just the connection and suddenly 27:24 people are okay with door knocking because they're finally 27:27 having a social interaction and that just...that was just the 27:32 hunger of the people for spiritual things. I was reading 27:34 an article that said though COVID spiked the spiritual 27:38 interest. (okay) And in several countries they did a study of 27:42 Google search and they found out that one of the top ones were on 27:46 prayer. So we might say, Oh good they're going to find Christ, 27:49 etc. but the reality is not. One of the top downloads in Google 27:55 Play which is you know the platform for Google to download 27:58 audiobooks okay was the crime. So people are desperate for 28:02 spiritual things but they're not going to the right places. 28:05 (Gotcha) They're trying to fill with other spiritual things. And 28:08 that's why we have to hit the iron when it's hot. Many people 28:13 might say that, no let's wait. We don't bother. Yeah we don't 28:17 want to bother people we don't want to bring discomfort but 28:22 there's a lot of people in big needs. You know suicide rates 28:25 are gone up. Like addictions have gone up. But people are 28:30 so...and I will tell you this. We haven't changed anything in 28:35 our training, in our like development but the sales of 28:39 message books, you know books on donations that we leave have 28:42 gone up 50 percent of the normal (Wow) So we are seeing the 28:49 spiritual interest of people and all. So it's incredible that 28:53 COVID has created a big need for our message. 28:56 It's amazing how God overrules isn't it? You know it seems like 29:00 COVID would shut down this kind of ministry but it's actually 29:03 increased the interest because people are being isolated and 29:07 they want to see people and also they're thinking what's going on 29:10 in our world? What's happening? Is there an answer? Is there 29:13 some way we can find out how to deal with this? 29:15 Yeah there are two main things that people have questions about 29:18 in today's world and that is like you say, is there any hope 29:22 for the future. That's a religious question generally. 29:24 And number two is health. Right? COVID's a health issue. Religion 29:28 and health. And do we as a people, as a church, do we know 29:32 anything about those two things? See God has given us tremendous 29:35 light. (He Sure has) 29:36 He sure has. I love that. 29:38 I think when we talk to young people and that's something they 29:41 love, they're willing to risk. And we were wearing masks and 29:46 everything. We were responsible in that sense, but they were 29:50 willing to go for it. Because you know in these previous years 29:54 we saw like the teachers were quarantined, the workers were 29:59 quarantined like you know that that's the point and the 30:01 churches were quarantined and now we're quarantining the 30:03 gospel which is the very thing that people need in this time. 30:06 (yes) and I love this because remember like our leaders and 30:11 our young people they brought me to tears. They said we're going 30:14 to do it. We're going to do it anyway. And we have to work 30:20 through the right channels but we did it. And it was incredible 30:22 People are hungry. (Amen amen) Yes. 30:26 Well any more stories that can illustrate the impact that this 30:30 has on young people? 30:32 I think we have a video from Seth. Seth has a testimony 30:35 that we'd like to share. (okay) 30:36 (Seth Morgan) This was my second time going canvassing and the 30:44 first time I was a little discouraged because not many 30:46 doors were being opened but I was still persevering. So the 30:51 second day I told myself do not get discouraged even if two 30:55 doors or 10 doors are opened remember who you are doing it 30:59 for. So I had just done a full street and that's when I noticed 31:04 a car was parked there, so I was like, Oh maybe I should 31:08 canvas the person in the car but then I was like, Oh the car is 31:11 running. Maybe they're going to leave soon. So I decided to keep 31:14 going down the street. As I was going down the street something 31:19 urged me to go back to that car. And I was heading back to the 31:23 car I thought of my friends who were on the other side of the 31:25 street. I decided I don't want to let them down. I need to keep 31:28 going because I have a certain time that I need to meet them 31:31 at the same time. So I just kept on going. I put the thought 31:35 behind. That's when I got another urge, this time a 31:39 deeper urge to go back to that lady's car. So this time I 31:43 decided that surely is the Holy Spirit leading me. I got to the 31:48 lady's window and waved through the window to let her know that 31:51 was friendly. She rolled the window down and that's when I 31:54 noticed that tears were flowing down her face. So I asked her 32:00 can I pray for you? Even though tears were flowing down her face 32:02 she said Sure you can pray for me. And so I prayed for her, I 32:08 asked what was wrong and that's when she replied with tears 32:11 still flowing down her face that that she had just received a 32:13 text as she was going down the street that her son had just 32:18 passed away. She was sitting on the side of the road because 32:20 she didn't know what to do. And at that moment I knew that I was 32:25 meant to be there. So I prayed for her, I prayed for her family 32:31 and that's when a smile appeared on her face even though tears 32:35 were still flowing down and she thanked me with the biggest 32:37 smile. I decided to leave her the Story of Redemption that 32:41 shares hope when people are going through tough times. I 32:44 knew this lady was going through tough times. So I left that book 32:47 with her. As I continued down the street that's when I 32:50 realized that I had learned a lesson. The Lord has a purpose 32:54 for all of us. And I knew that the Lord had purpose in me going 33:00 to that lady's car because in the end we are doing the Lord's 33:04 work and we are here to minister to the world. 33:07 ♪ ♪ 33:25 That was powerful. That was so moving. Praise God. 33:29 And I wish we would have a lot of time to share so many stories 33:34 how God is actually working in the field that...Last year we 33:39 were in a remote place in Michigan, Upper Peninsula and 33:44 way over there...We go every year like for a couple weeks we 33:48 send groups of people up young people. And last year Jose, he 33:56 went there and he knocked on the door and this lady said Look aw 33:59 your back. But it was his first summer. And like what do you 34:03 mean, this is my first summer. No, no you guys, you know. 34:08 And she started sharing her story that many years ago she 34:11 bought a Great Controversy from a young person. And she says you 34:16 this book is amazing. It contains so much truth. It's so 34:21 powerful, it changed my life. It's so powerful that I am 34:24 reading it to my children today. (Wow) So I'm currently reading 34:30 to my children. He's like wow that's amazing. So do you go to 34:32 any church. And she's like naw I do not go to any church because 34:36 none of them keep the true Sabbath which is the seventh day 34:39 (Wow) He's like well there's actually, a church here that 34:42 keeps the Sabbath. And she was super excited and signed up for 34:46 Bible studies. You know, that young person who gave her the 34:49 book doesn't know what happened. And it's incredible how God can 34:55 work and sometimes a young person might come for the summer like 34:59 him and you will reap what others have done. And it's just 35:03 such a blessing to see that. And you see the young person's face 35:07 like wow I cannot believe that's real. 35:11 Absolutely and again this experience that the young person 35:14 has...When I was a young person James I canvassed, I did 35:20 literature evangelism, but when I saw a couple of people get 35:24 baptized that I had contacted I realized God can actually use 35:28 me. God can actually use me as a young person to actually make 35:31 a difference in somebody else's life. So over the last few years 35:35 I've had young people write in to us, this is what participating 35:40 in Youth Rush has done for me personally. I'd just like to 35:42 share a couple of them. These are all unsolicited by the way. 35:45 We didn't ask them, hey, tell us about your experience, give us 35:48 feedback, these are unsolicited testimonies. This is from 35:51 Madison. She says, thank you for allowing me to take part in 35:53 Youth Rush. I couldn't tell you how many ways my life was 35:57 changed. This is from Emma. Thank you for giving me the 36:00 opportunity to be part of the Literature Evangelism Program 36:02 this summer. I really enjoyed working with the group and 36:05 growing in my relationship with God every day. I cannot think 36:08 of anything else that I could have done this summer that would 36:11 have been better than working with other youth who had the 36:14 same purpose, letting others know about God's love for all of 36:17 us. This is from Amy: I am convinced that this is what God 36:21 has planned for my peers and me for this end time and now more 36:25 than ever in my life I'm actually putting into practice 36:27 what I'm learning. (Amen) See those are the kinds of things in 36:31 a nutshell that a young person can take away from this and to 36:34 experience. Once they've experienced some of these 36:36 stories you know what it does for their hearts and minds. 36:41 I like what you said earlier you know. You said that these young 36:45 people become leaders like pastors. You said that Dino 36:48 became a pastor. So how does Youth Rush prepare people for 36:52 leadership, prepare people to you know carry that 36:55 responsibility? 36:56 So good question. So first of all the lessons learned, again 37:01 I'm quoting from Colporteur Ministry, the lessons learned in 37:04 all these different areas prepare them for future ministry 37:07 in the afterlife. In fact in Testimonies, Vol. 6 p. 330 37:10 Ellen White writes: That canvassing is the best 37:13 preparation for other lines of missionary labor. (Okay) So 37:16 that's the big picture. Now on a more specific level one of the 37:21 keys to Youth Rush are the young adult leaders. So David and I 37:25 are getting older (Correct) So but ideally (I know the feeling) 37:30 you know young people admire and look up to people who are just 37:35 slightly older than themselves. (Gotcha) So those are the young 37:38 people that we want to train to be leaders and Pacific Union 37:41 owns and operates a school called Souls West. It's a school 37:45 of evangelism operated in Prescott, Arizona. It's a 37:49 beautiful location. And Souls West trains for a variety of 37:53 things but one thing is specifically that it trains, our 37:56 Youth Rush leaders for conference Youth Rush programs 38:00 the following summer. So Youth Rush students, a few of them, 38:04 choose to go to Souls West and there they have in field and in 38:07 classroom training on a variety of things, especially Youth Rush 38:11 leadership. And we have a short video we'd like to share, just a 38:13 short one, about what Souls West is. (Super) 38:16 ♪ ♪ Souls West Campus, Prescott, AZ 38:25 Growing up Seventh-day Adventist I always thought that I knew 38:27 what I needed to believe in but that all changed when I went to 38:30 UC/Berkley. That's where I found that I really didn't know what I 38:34 (Ella Zerna) believed in. I didn't know why I was going to 38:37 church and that's why I really decided to go to Souls West 38:40 because I really wanted the true foundation and to be equipped 38:44 to be a soul winner, to know what I actually believe in and 38:47 have a firm relationship with Christ. 38:49 (Diana Falter) One of my favorite things about Souls is 38:51 where we're able to receive one on one personal mentorship in 38:54 our daily lives and in our personal walks with God. And 38:58 then it's really cool because then we go into Bible work and 39:00 were able to share that with other people and help reach 39:03 their hearts and their lives. 39:06 (Nathan Ortiz) Now I have a relationship with Christ that I 39:07 never had and I've never felt better equipped to share that 39:10 with somebody else _. 39:16 ♪ ♪ 39:30 Now I'm even more interested. How long is this Souls West 39:34 program that you're training these young leaders? 39:36 So it's a 39:37 two-year program but that also includes summers where usually 39:41 they become Youth Rush leaders in the different conferences and 39:46 they serve the next generation of Youth Rush students and 39:50 there's that mentoring going on that's coming alongside and 39:54 being there together. That's one of the specialties of Souls West 39:58 itself is the mentored field experience. So by the time a 40:03 young person graduates from Souls West they'll have as many 40:06 as 50 hours of mentored field experience where an experienced 40:10 person, a staff member, another young adult is sitting there 40:13 next to them teaching them the principles of what it means to 40:17 give a Bible study or in the case that we're talking about 40:20 now be a Youth Rush leader. So they're prepared, they have 40:25 experience so when they start they're not just green and fresh 40:28 Okay. And do you keep some of these youth leaders these 40:32 trained leaders after two years or do they just go from there, 40:34 they go into another field? 40:36 A variety of outcomes, a whole variety of outcomes. We don't at 40:39 Souls West, we don't pretend to think that we're training people 40:43 to enter pastoral ministry necessarily. This is evangelism 40:46 training so that no matter what they do, no matter where they 40:49 are, no matter what field they go into they can have the 40:52 confidence to reach out and share their faith. In fact, I 40:54 have a story here that I haven't shared yet. This is one of my 40:58 favorite testimonies. I received this also unsolicited from Julie 41:03 She said she's a Youth Rush Alumni. She said: Being involved 41:09 in canvassing was one of the best decisions I ever made for 41:12 my spiritual, social and professional life. Currently she 41:15 works at a health care institution and she graduated 41:19 from Souls West. She said I gained skills I use everyday 41:23 at work and yesterday, I had a really great experience talking 41:25 and praying with a patient. Something I couldn't have done 41:29 comfortably without all those years that pushed me out of my 41:31 shy comfort zone. 41:32 I love that. So what you're saying basically is that 41:35 these young people that go through this training aren't 41:38 necessarily going into pastoral type ministry. They may go into 41:41 health care, they may go into a lawyer's office, they may just 41:44 be a regular worker in some other field but this experience 41:48 helps them still to minister to people and to witness to people 41:51 and to share Christ with people. 41:52 God works in mysterious ways. Because even within their 41:56 summers we don't give them like which school to go to or what to 42:01 study but it's strange because in the summers they have 42:03 students coming 42:04 like I have decided to be a teacher. God told me to be a 42:07 teacher. I mean, we don't know...God works and he shows 42:12 the young people out there in the field you know this is where 42:14 you're called to be. 42:16 I love that. So as they're connecting with God through this 42:18 experience, this powerful experience of being involved in 42:22 this Youth Rush, God is speaking to them and God is directing 42:24 them. 42:26 Yeah and we believe that we all should be leaders. In the church 42:29 you lead people to the gospel, to Jesus, to foot of the cross. 42:33 To any degree, you have to be leaders and leaders even the 42:37 secular world knows, leaders, they just don't show up. They're 42:41 not even born they're developed. And that's why there are 42:46 programs like this where you can be developed to be a good leader 42:47 because being spiritual is not enough. You have to grow as a 42:50 leader. 42:51 And leadership is a call to service, right? That's what I'm 42:54 seeing with these young people. They're called to service. A few 42:57 minutes ago you pulled some paper out of your pocket. Little 43:01 tracts. I'm kind of interested in that. What's that all about 43:03 and is that something you use with Souls. 43:06 Yeah. So these Glow tracts that I showed you before, James, they 43:13 come from Pacific Union. They're the Glow Ministry and they've 43:17 printed, oh I don't know, over 110 million copies now in 70 43:21 different languages around the world. So thank God for what 43:25 he's done through that ministry. But during Youth Rush we use 43:28 Glow tracts as well. Often we leave them on doors where people 43:31 aren't home. And we hand them to people. So that's something that 43:35 a young person can take away from a Youth Rush, summer is 43:38 handing out Glow tracts wherever you go. And especially in 43:41 today's world there are certain titles that are especially, 43:46 they're pertinent because people are asking certain types of 43:49 questions and I think we have a graphic of some of the best Glow 43:52 tracts for today's audience. You know the end for the world. 43:57 There's one on the Coronavirus. There's one on When Freedom Dies 44:01 Certainty in an Uncertain World written by Mark Finley. Help for 44:06 Loneliness. Loneliness has gone up by massive, we have huge 44:09 amounts of loneliness problems. Secrets of Peak Mental Health. 44:12 So handing tracts like this out in today's world, in today's 44:15 culture has never been easier. You know I hand out to people 44:19 today and I say here's some...My canvas for this is very, very 44:22 simple, James. I just say, Here's some encouraging 44:25 pamphlets. That's all I say. I said that to someone yesterday. 44:29 Here's some encouraging pamphlets. Oh, thank you. 44:31 You know. Especially these people who are sitting in booths 44:35 and they have nothing to do. They're standing there, they 44:37 need something to read, right? So young people can take that 44:41 desire to give literature out away from a summer. But it also 44:45 works evangelistically. I'll tell you a quick story, James. 44:48 There was a lady who came home one day. She found a Glow tract 44:51 on the second coming of Christ on her door. And she read it. 44:54 She was convicted. She called the number on the back and said 44:57 you know I want Bible studies. She was given Bible studies and 45:01 she, and later her husband, were baptized. And they became 45:04 leaders in their church because they found something on their 45:08 door. And we don't know who left that there. And we won't know 45:11 who left that there. So a lot of this is you sow you know by 45:16 faith. You don't know what's going to happen. So yeah, the 45:19 Glow ministry is a part of what we do, it's an exciting part of 45:23 what we do. And since...one other thing I wanted to share. 45:26 Since there are 70 languages that Glow has been translated 45:30 into we are able to utilize Glow at a moment's notice. So since 45:36 Glow has been translated into the Ukrainian language we just 45:40 worked with a press over in an adjoining country and printed 45:44 almost two million of these Glow tracts in the Ukrainian language 45:48 to give to, to encourage, yeah Ukrainians who are in need and 45:55 there's examples there on the screen of...there's the back 45:57 panel of one. Of course, I can't read that. Can you? But that's 46:01 exciting that we can serve the people and they took the tracts, 46:06 I was told, with great desire. 46:08 Amen. I love this. So two things that really speak to my heart. 46:13 You know as director of the discipleship ministry I love 46:15 the fact that you're involved in discipling young people. And I 46:19 remember when I became an Adventist back in 1984 it was 46:24 through a door hanger that was left on my door. And it's not a 46:28 door hanger that I got. My sister actually got it but she 46:30 started studying with Adventists and that got me to start 46:33 studying with Adventists and eventually studied my way into 46:35 the church. And then of course I've been involved in a ministry 46:39 for about 35 years that was involved in printing literature. 46:42 And it's true. People can be overwhelmed with a book but a 46:45 tract is something that can pique their interest and it's 46:48 easy to read, it's quick to read and we had translated tracts 46:51 into over 40 different languages Bible studies and a lot of the 46:54 evangelists told us this literature is one of the most 46:57 successful ways to do evangelism because it reaches people where 47:01 they are, in the moment, if it's a subject that's pertinent to 47:03 them. It can get them studying the Bible and really get them 47:06 interested in the word of God. So worldwide are you having 47:11 experiences now that go beyond North America. It sounds like it 47:14 with Ukraine and these different languages that have been 47:17 translated. Tell us a little bit about that. 47:19 Yeah, just, in summary, Youth Rush actually has spread to five 47:23 continents. So that's exciting to us. You know it's not 47:26 something we did. It's something the Lord made happen you know. 47:29 There's Youth Rush-Japan which is one of my favorites. You know 47:32 Japan, what a country! You talk to the people in Japan. Youth 47:36 Rush-Japan. Then we also have Youth Rush-Australia and Youth 47:39 Rush-Australia is a...they have short programs in different 47:42 parts of the country and they're going right now. And we also 47:45 have Youth Rush-Peru and then the final one is besides North 47:50 America is in a sensitive country which we won't share 47:52 which one that is. But it's exciting to think that on five 47:56 continents now the Youth Rush model where young people can go 48:00 out and not only sell books but sell small literature and talk 48:03 to lots of different people, small literature, talk to lots 48:06 of different people. As you said sometimes a large set maybe can 48:10 be intimidating, but something that is smaller is less 48:13 intimidating and finds easier receptivity. 48:17 And it's pertinent specifically to them. 48:19 Yes. You know there's a quote from Ellen White says many 48:23 people will not hear the truth unless we go to their places, to 48:25 their doors. And it's a reality because people have told us you 48:30 know we can just put it online and it's available to anyone. 48:36 You don't spend money just printing so much, etc., but 48:38 reality is that when you Google truth, it's not going to come up 48:44 oh yeah, the three angels' message, Revelation 14. First of 48:47 all it's not going to come up even Christian things. You know 48:52 there's so many variations and people are confused looking for 48:57 truth. And someone going to the door and saying this is it, read 49:03 it. And also making a personal impression. I remember the story 49:07 of this evangelist that was training a you know an intern. 49:11 This intern was so big into social media you know taking 49:15 video selfies and tweeting, blah blah, blah. He was not doing the 49:23 very thing that he was supposed to do which was giving personal 49:26 Bible studies, one on one, you know. He was always you know look 49:30 at this video. We are with so and so, with this evangelist 49:33 until the evangelist kind of lost his patience and he grabbed 49:37 him and he said son, God didn't send a video, He sent his Son. 49:43 (Oh wow) So that tells you that nothing...literature is just the 49:47 avenue for us to reach out to people and the personal contact 49:51 brings so much power on that. And I heard stories like people 49:57 saying like I read this book because of the smiling person 50:01 that knocked on my door. It's just something about this young 50:04 person...We even have like parents say hey like how can I 50:08 send my children to you programs because I want to become like 50:12 you. So it is an important aspect of ministry. (Amen) 50:17 Hey David I appreciate what you just said very much because 50:19 I looked it up the other day and there are 4.5 billion web pages, 50:23 that doesn't count the dark web or the hidden web. And so you 50:27 know can someone find the truth online? Yes. Will they find it? 50:32 They have to sort through 4.5 billion pages. And so while it's 50:36 in that sense, it's still true that many will not hear the 50:41 truth were it not for canvassers and our books. It's for 50:44 different reasons than it used to be, but it's still true. 50:46 Yeah, and I love this. The sacrifices that are being made 50:51 by these young people to go out door knocking. You know it 50:54 is challenging. I know that, I've done it. And I think people 50:58 realize that and there's an exceptional power that come with 51:03 a young person that's going out there, putting themselves out 51:05 like that and connecting with people. And of course these 51:07 providential meetings like we've heard about in these videos. 51:10 Are there any closing thoughts you'd like to share? 51:14 Well there's just so much but I can only say that God is doing 51:20 amazing things and He's preparing hearts and we need 51:25 people to be out. We have seen people have been blessed 51:31 financially and some of them struggling but there are 51:34 different options and we want to see more young people involved 51:38 in this. There's a big need not only for themselves but also for 51:43 the people. And God will provide their needs. It's just a faith 51:47 based experience that you can engage in and you will see how 51:54 beautiful God is you know in practicality, not just in 51:58 knowledge but in practicality. 52:00 Yeah, I would say to...I agree totally with David, and I would 52:03 say to any young person or parent that's watching you know 52:06 YouthRush.org. There you'll find different places that you can 52:11 sign up and there are different questions that are answered on 52:14 frequently asked questions pages and I would sign up. It doesn't 52:18 hurt, and give it a try. 52:20 Amen, amen. Very exciting. We need to encourage people to 52:23 connect with YouthRush.org Don't go away. 52:26 We'll be right back. |
Revised 2022-08-30