Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY230005A
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01:05 Hello, and welcome to 3ABN Today.
01:08 I'm Jason Bradley, and I'm so glad that you decided 01:10 to join us for this power packed hour 01:13 that we have in store for you. 01:15 I want to share a Bible verse with you. 01:18 It's taken from Daniel 12:3. 01:22 "Those who are wise shall shine like the 01:25 brightness of the firmament, 01:26 and those who turn many to righteousness, 01:29 like the stars forever and ever." 01:33 My guests today are taking streams of light 01:37 to all the homes in America. 01:41 They have a huge goal. 01:43 And you're going to hear all about what's been taking place 01:46 and what is unique about this initiative. 01:49 So let's introduce them, shall we? 01:52 We have Oleg Lotca, it's great to have you here, 01:55 the Streams of Light International president. 01:58 Thank you for being here. 02:00 Jason, good to be with you. 02:01 ~ Yes, yes. 02:02 And next to you we have Johnny Henderson, 02:04 Streams of Light Evangelism Director. 02:07 It's great to have you here as well. 02:09 ~ Good to be here. 02:10 And we have some special guests that will be joining us 02:12 a little bit later on Skype, 02:14 and we'll introduce them at that time. 02:16 But before we dive into your background and all of that, 02:20 we're going to be blessed in song by Celestine Dickens 02:24 and Farrah Berry, and it's entitled, The Savior is Waiting. 02:46 The Savior is waiting to enter your heart. 02:57 Why don't you let Him come in? 03:07 There's nothing in this world to keep you apart. 03:18 What is your answer to Him? 03:28 Time after time He has waited before, 03:37 and now he is waiting again 03:47 to see if you're willing to open the door. 03:58 Oh, how He wants to come in. 04:18 If you'll take one step toward the Savior, my friend, 04:27 you'll find His arms open wide. 04:35 Receive Him and all of your darkness will end. 04:46 Within your heart, He'll abide. 04:54 Time after time He has waited before, 05:03 and now he is waiting again 05:12 to see if you're willing to open the door. 05:22 Oh, how He wants to come in. 05:54 To see if you're willing to open the door. 06:08 Oh, how He wants to come in. 06:49 Wow, what a beautiful song. 06:50 The Savior is Waiting. The Savior is Waiting. 06:54 Oleg, tell us a little bit about your background. 06:58 ~ Jason, I was born in Moldova. 07:01 That's a country in the former USSR 07:05 between Ukraine and Romania. 07:08 And then at the age of 15 I got rebellious 07:12 and left home and church. 07:16 I went to England for four years and Canada for four years. 07:20 And then in Canada was when I met Jesus 07:22 for the first time in my life. 07:24 Even though I was in an Adventist family before, 07:27 that was my first encounter with Jesus. 07:30 And I decided to go and study theology in South America, 07:33 in Argentina. 07:35 And that was such a blessing. 07:37 That's where I met a young lady, Karen. 07:42 Today she's my wife and mother of four kids. 07:46 And that's where for the first time I started canvassing. 07:52 Canvassing, for those who don't know, 07:54 is basically selling books door to door. 07:56 At first, I saw that was such a horrible work to do. 07:59 You know, a lot of rejections and stuff. 08:02 But then I just loved it so much, and I said, 08:04 "Lord, I want to do this for the rest of my life." 08:07 So currently I'm working for Central California Conference 08:11 in the literature evangelism department. 08:13 And also working with Streams of Light. 08:15 ~ That's beautiful. Now where did that transition come in? 08:18 Because you hated it at one point, 08:20 and then you started loving it. 08:21 What changed? 08:22 You know, when I read about Peter, the disciple, 08:27 when he said to Jesus, "You'll never wash my feet." 08:31 And then he said, "Wash me entirely." 08:32 That was kind of my experience, because I said 08:35 canvassing work is only for losers. 08:37 That's what was in my mind because I'd seen the negative 08:40 experience when I was a kid. 08:42 But when I went out door to door and I actually have seen 08:46 how people receive it, yes you do get a lot of rejections, 08:49 but then people telling you stuff like, 08:51 "I was praying this morning that God would show me 08:54 that He loves me and He will open His truth to me. 08:57 And then now you come." 08:58 And then seeing people giving their lives to Jesus 09:01 as a result of that ministry, I like said, 09:03 "Lord, this is too much." 09:05 And then when I went through that experience, 09:07 when I've seen what it does to people, 09:10 what it did to me, you know, to encourage me to go out 09:13 even when it's hot or when it's raining. 09:16 You really have to push yourself out of your comfort zone. 09:19 I loved it. 09:20 And after that, I just said I want to be in this 09:22 for the rest of my life or until Jesus comes. 09:25 Amen. That's awesome. 09:27 You were the answer to someone's prayer. 09:29 ~ So many of those, you know, when you see that, 09:32 you say, now my goal is for as many people as possible 09:38 to be involved in this because I see how impactful. 09:41 Every time you go out God has a divine appointment. 09:44 So that is just so powerful. 09:45 ~ Yes, amen. 09:47 What about you, Johnny? 09:48 ~ Yeah, you know, I didn't have the privilege of 09:51 growing up in an Adventist home. 09:52 But through a nature of events and whirlwinds in my life, 09:55 at the age of 15, I found the Adventist message. 09:59 And the Adventist message came to me through my father 10:01 who was in prison at the time. 10:03 And God used him to reach out to me. 10:06 And just in God's divine timing He pulled me out of 10:10 darkness before it was too late. 10:11 And it was just almost immediately, even before 10:16 being baptized, as soon as I started learning the truth, 10:18 I got involved in what we call literature evangelism. 10:21 And all the money I would have I would go and buy books 10:26 and I would go to the gas stations every night 10:28 to try to distribute to people the little bit of 10:31 knowledge that I knew. 10:32 And that was where the love of literature evangelism 10:35 just grew in my heart. 10:36 And I remember one day there was this program 10:39 in Texas called, Sent. 10:41 And it's where they train people on how to give Bible studies, 10:44 and how to preach, how to do apologetics, 10:47 And you know those moments when you're in church 10:50 and the pastor calls, "Hey, go and hug or shake someone's 10:53 hand that you have never met before." 10:55 And it was one of those moments, and I encountered this lady. 10:59 And I said, "Well, what do you do for a living? 11:02 Or what are you doing right now?" 11:03 She said, "You know, I'm in a work called canvassing. 11:06 We go out eight hours a day, four to five days a week, 11:10 and we not only share the gospel, 11:12 but we leave the books and support ourselves on donations." 11:16 And I stopped her and I said, "Wait, wait, wait. 11:17 You get to go our for eight hours a day?" 11:20 I said, "I wish I could do that. 11:21 I can only do one or two hours after school in the evening." 11:24 I said, "How can I get involved?" 11:26 And basically, she told me how to get involved. 11:29 I got involved in my first program, canvassing program 11:33 in the summer, and I did that for about eight months 11:37 between the summer program fulltime. 11:40 And then I got linked up with Bible working. 11:43 It went from there. 11:44 After Bible working I realized that there's a great need 11:47 in the world for not only spiritual help and 11:51 spiritual healing, but physical. 11:53 And so I got convicted to go and study in 11:55 medical missionary work there at Wildwood Health Institution. 11:59 And it was thereafter graduating that I ran into 12:01 Streams of Light International. 12:03 We've been serving together ever since. 12:05 ~ That's beautiful. That's beautiful. 12:06 Well, Oleg, what is Streams of Light all about? 12:09 What do you guys do? 12:11 ~ Well, yeah, it's a supporting ministry of the 12:14 Seventh-day Adventist Church. 12:15 And our goal, the vision of Streams of Light 12:18 is to place one book, one of this book, 12:22 The Great Controversy, into every home 12:26 in North America by 2026. 12:29 We're planning to do that together with a health magazine, 12:32 Thrive Health magazine, because we're told that 12:34 the health message has to go together with the 12:37 three angels' messages. 12:38 So this is our goal. We're so excited about this. 12:41 So you know, a goal like this, one book, 12:45 I mean, there are more than 148 million homes. 12:48 ~ So the only way to accomplish that is through local churches. 12:53 There's no way you can do it 12:54 through mission trips or something. 12:56 It's local churches, to get local churches 12:58 equipped, enthused, inspired, and sent. 13:01 So that is our passion now, to train churches 13:05 and to help them organize their outreach in their local church. 13:10 And just to enjoy and see how the members are coming 13:12 when they're coming back after outreach. 13:14 There's so much joy and happiness. 13:16 So that's what Streams of Light is doing right now. 13:19 And we're developing as well, I'll ask Johnny to help us 13:23 and tell us about that, but we're developing 13:25 different tools as well to help local churches 13:28 to see evangelism as attractive, and to also have tools 13:33 to attract their outreach. 13:36 And I'll ask Johnny to tell us what we're working on. 13:39 Yeah, just to piggyback on something that you mentioned 13:42 about the local church. 13:44 You know, just an interesting fact is that we have about 13:47 21 million members in the Adventist church. 13:50 And when you compare that to the amount of pastors we have, 13:54 when you compare laymen to ordained ministers, 13:57 we have 99.91 percent of the church made up of lay members. 14:01 So if we're going to work together to finish the work, 14:04 if there's any muscle in the Adventist church, 14:07 it's the lay members. 14:08 So you know, like you said, we can't just do the mission trips, 14:11 It's not just about us doing the work, 14:13 but it's about getting everyone involved, 14:15 the muscle of the church, in order to reach 14:17 every home of North America. 14:18 And for that reason, we have prayed earnestly, 14:22 "Lord, what can we do? 14:24 What can we create in order to help in this process?" 14:28 And we just started to create an app. 14:31 We are launching the Streams of Light app. 14:33 And in this app, you cannot only track your distribution 14:37 records, but you can also record survey interest. 14:40 So as you go door to door, you will be able to have the option 14:44 to record whether you left it in someone's hand, 14:47 whether you left it at the door. 14:48 And then once you click that, you can then have the 14:52 opportunity to record prayer requests, donations received, 14:57 or a survey. 15:00 And in the survey you can ask questions. 15:01 It's a customizable survey. 15:03 You can ask about cooking classes, 15:06 you can ask about marriage seminars, 15:08 and ultimately Bible studies. 15:10 You collect the people's information, and on the backend 15:13 all this information is accessible and able to be seen 15:16 by each church leadership. 15:19 And so, you not only get to see, okay, how many books 15:21 have gone out to the community, who has accepted, 15:24 who has rejected, but what is the community 15:26 actually interested in? 15:28 So it's a turnkey solution for, we believe, to avoid 15:33 hit and run evangelism. 15:35 We're not here to say, "hi", and, "bye." 15:36 We're here to build a relationship with the community. 15:39 We're here to build bridges that will last for eternity. 15:42 You're assessing the community's needs, 15:45 you're then meeting those needs, 15:47 and you have the follow-up in place to make sure that 15:50 they continue walking in that path. 15:53 That's beautiful. 15:54 That's Christ's method of evangelism right there. 15:56 ~ We actually have a video that highlights, you know, 16:00 what you're trying to do with The Great Controversy 16:03 and Streams of Light International. 16:05 Let's take a look at that video right now. 16:09 We're taking The Great Controversy to more than 16:11 148 million homes in North America. 16:14 And we want you with us. 16:16 Here's the thing. 16:17 We all know God has called us to preach the 16:19 three angels' messages. 16:21 But it's not always easy to know how to share it with others. 16:24 That's why we made it our goal to get The Great Controversy 16:27 into every single home in North America by 2026. 16:31 But it's more than just giving out the book. 16:33 We want to make it easy for anyone to share it, 16:36 for anyone to read it. 16:38 It's way more than just a book. 16:40 It's an interactive experience. 16:43 Just scan the QR code at the beginning of every chapter 16:46 and have access to videos, audio versions, 16:49 and other study materials. 16:51 We want everyone to interact with the book in their own way. 16:55 We've also created a system that's easy to implement 16:58 in your local church so that you don't have to 17:00 reinvent the wheel. 17:01 If you want to make it even easier, we can come to you 17:04 and provide all the tools you need to get started. 17:06 God wants you to be involved in the last proclamation 17:10 of His message. 17:12 Get involved with sharing The Great Controversy 17:14 with Streams of Light and all organizations that are 17:17 doing something spectacular like that. 17:20 So if you want to help us achieve this incredible goal of 17:24 reaching every home in North America, 17:26 sign up today at streamsoflight.net. 17:37 Wow! You know, one of the things that I love 17:39 is that nothing is impossible for our God. 17:42 So while that's a huge goal, 17:44 nothing is impossible for our God. 17:46 And it can be achieved for sure. 17:49 So what are some of the things that you guys have done? 17:52 What activities have you participated in? 17:55 Yes, basically what we're doing, we're going to local churches 18:00 speaking and organizing outreaches. 18:02 But also we're doing mission trips. 18:04 And I'll let Johnny talk a little more about that. 18:07 But you know, one thing that people are asking me often, 18:11 "Why are you so enthused about the distribution of this book?" 18:14 And I love it because we have the inspired writings. 18:19 We have the inspired writings in the Bible, 18:21 and the inspired writings in the book, The Great Controversy, 18:24 and others. 18:26 And we're told that The Great Controversy 18:28 is the book that has to go out more than 18:31 any other of the books. 18:33 Because in this book, the last warning to the world 18:36 is given more distinctly than in any other books that are there. 18:41 So that's why there is so much enthusiasm about this book. 18:44 And also because it transforms lives. 18:49 It activates churches, but also when we reach people 18:52 it transforms lives. 18:54 And I'm reminded of this experience in the Crowley church 18:59 there in Texas that was pretty amazing. 19:03 I think we'll hear a little more about that. 19:06 But, Johnny, why don't you tell us about our mission trips. 19:09 ~ Sure, yeah I mean, I'm super passionate 19:12 about training churches. 19:14 I mean, we're told that the work of God on this earth 19:16 will never be finished unless the men and women that 19:19 comprise our church membership rally together, 19:21 unite their efforts with those of 19:23 church officers and ministers. 19:25 But we're told that many would be willing to work 19:28 if they were just simply taught how to begin. 19:31 That every church should be a training school. 19:33 So that's why we're so passionate about not only 19:36 reaching out to them, but equipping them 19:38 and sending them out. 19:39 And in order to enthuse more churches, in particular 19:43 a large city, we thought of this idea of mission trips. 19:46 Some people, some ministries use mission trips as a means of 19:50 distributing and getting as much out, you know, for themselves. 19:55 But the way we view it is as a tool to inspire 20:00 all the churches around. 20:02 And so, what we'll do is for about four to five days 20:04 we'll choose a large city and we'll collaborate 20:06 with the Conference and local churches there 20:09 to distribute anywhere between 40 to 50 thousand 20:11 Great Controversies. 20:13 So we ask volunteers to come from all throughout 20:15 North America and locally to go and distribute about 20:18 24 hours' worth of outreach in those four or five days. 20:21 It's just an amazing experience. 20:24 And we had the privilege to do that 20:27 in St. Louis and Silicon Valley. 20:31 And we have the privilege of looking forward to 20:33 doing some more soon. 20:35 ~ That's huge. 20:36 How do you go about choosing what cities to go to? 20:39 ~ That's a good question. There's a lot involved. 20:42 First, we're looking at the Conferences that like the idea. 20:45 We talk to them, the leadership of the Conference, 20:48 and say, this is what we're doing. 20:50 And some Conferences are just saying that, 20:52 "We want this in our Conference." 20:54 And then we go with the need of which city 20:57 they would like to pick. 20:58 So we're going to Michigan in just a few months, 21:03 and then Texas as well, Houston Texas. 21:06 Those were chosen by the local church administration. 21:11 They said, "That's our focus." 21:12 We join basically the effort of the local Conference. 21:16 Now I've heard Texas mentioned twice. 21:19 Right? We have Pastor Adam Keating on with us. 21:23 And he is the pastor of Crowley Seventh-day Adventist Church. 21:27 And we want to hear from him, just what he can share about 21:32 Streams of Light International 21:34 and what's going to take place there. 21:37 Pastor Keating, welcome to the program. 21:41 Thank you so much for having me. 21:42 It's a blessing to be here. 21:44 I appreciate what Johnny said earlier about the ability to 21:48 build relationships with our community. 21:51 For me as a local pastor, that's my desire, 21:53 is to build relationships with the folk in my community. 21:57 And having the partnership with Streams of Light 21:59 has enabled us to get The Great Controversy 22:02 into almost 3000 homes within the city of Crowley. 22:06 Wow! 22:07 That's significant because there's only about 4800 homes 22:11 in the city of Crowley. 22:13 So my desire is that we blanket this entire city 22:16 and do our part in this little part of the mission field. 22:19 Amen. 22:20 And why do you think this work is so important 22:23 at this specific time? 22:27 I think it's part of proclaiming the gospel of this kingdom. 22:31 The Bible says that is the final sign that will take place. 22:35 We focus on a lot of the other signs and the challenges 22:38 and the tribulations, that I think sometimes we need 22:40 to focus on the positive and the amazing thing that God said. 22:45 He said that as we're faithful to carry that message forward, 22:48 that the end would soon come. 22:50 So I'm passionate as a pastor because I get the ability 22:53 to mobilize my members in doing that. 22:56 In fact, Ellen White says that there will be 22:59 jets of light in every city. 23:02 The counter to that in the following quote 23:04 in, Testimonies, volume 9, is that the light will go out 23:08 when men trust in their own ways and their own plans. 23:12 And so, if Ellen White says we need to be doing this work, 23:14 I say let's do it. 23:16 And how do I do this effectively? 23:18 That's where this beautiful partnership with 23:20 Streams of Light came in. 23:21 So for over the last year or so, we've had the privilege of 23:25 going out with the local chapter of ASI, 23:27 we've had the privilege of going out every month 23:30 since to distribute The Great Controversy in our community. 23:33 And I have so many stories of what God is doing to 23:36 build relationships with people here in the city of Crowley. 23:40 ~ I love that. 23:41 Why don't you share some of those stories with us. 23:43 I would love it. 23:45 There's two that come to mind. 23:47 The first is a lady named Gabby. 23:49 One of the afternoons when we were going out sharing 23:51 The Great Controversy in our community, 23:53 there was a car driving past and one of our members 23:56 held up a book and said, "This is for you." 23:58 They drove past and backed up and said, "What?" 24:01 They gave the book through the window. 24:03 The folks said, "Hey, who are you and where are you from?" 24:06 They said, "Hey, we're so and so from the Crowley 24:08 Seventh-day Adventist Church. 24:09 We have a gift for you and we'd love to give it to you." 24:12 They said, "When do you all meet?" 24:14 Believe it or not, the following Sabbath 24:16 Gabby showed up with her two daughters in church 24:19 and we were able to have a time of prayer with her. 24:22 We were able to talk with her when she left. 24:24 And she's been back very regularly since. 24:27 And praise God she's in an active Bible study right now 24:30 preparing to join the Seventh-day Adventist Church 24:33 hopefully one day very soon. 24:34 ~ Amen, amen. ~ Praise God. 24:36 Amen, amen. 24:37 So you're seeing the fruits of the labor 24:40 that has been taking place. 24:43 In unbelievable ways. 24:44 We probably have 8 or 10 baptisms that are in the works, 24:49 folks that are being prepared via Bible study. 24:52 We have lay people giving Bible studies, 24:54 we have pastors here in this church giving Bible studies. 24:57 And it's amazing because as we go out and we build those 25:00 relationships with folks, we are able to connect them back 25:03 into our local community, we are able to get them studying, 25:07 and they're able to see truth in a way that they have not 25:09 been able to connect it before. 25:11 And by God's grace, within a matter of time 25:13 we'll see those waters of baptistery filled. 25:15 Amen, amen. 25:17 This is exciting times that we're living in. 25:20 And we're so thankful for what you're doing 25:21 to spread the gospel and get those streams of light 25:25 into the community. 25:26 And that's huge, as you said, 3000 people have 25:29 received this book out in Crowley. 25:32 And there's, what, 4800 people there? 25:36 Right, 4800 homes, just over 19,000 people 25:40 that live in this city. 25:42 So I solicit your prayers in praying for our community 25:44 that the Lord will continue to work and continue to open doors. 25:47 Amen, amen. 25:48 Well, thank you so much, Pastor Keating. 25:51 And I look forward to hearing more someday soon. 25:54 Thank you for being on. 25:56 Thank you. 25:58 Wow, so what was that experience like when 26:02 you guys partnered together on your end? 26:06 Well, just to see pastors like Pastor Adam 26:09 who mobilized his church, it was a wonderful partnership 26:13 between the ASI Southwest chapter and a church-like 26:18 Crowley church, and us getting our stuff. 26:22 So just to see when you get together 26:24 with our churches, conferences, you know, ASI, 26:28 there's just a synergy. 26:30 So it's beautiful. 26:31 I mean, something like that was with this 26:33 work in Silicon Valley. 26:35 And there we have Pastor Dan Serns as president, 26:38 and he was with us for all of those four days. 26:43 And I've never witnessed anything like that. 26:45 I know how busy presidents are, 26:47 to come and spend those 5 and 6 hours a day 26:51 going knocking on doors. 26:53 So it was just amazing to witness what the Lord is doing 26:56 by bringing people together and going out. 26:59 It's just amazing. 27:00 So that was another mission trip that you had there. 27:03 ~ That is correct. 27:05 The goal is to blanket, to place one book 27:10 in every home in the Silicon Valley. 27:12 That's San Jose where all those tech companies are, 27:16 and San Francisco. 27:17 The goal is to place one book 27:19 in every home of all that area in the next three years. 27:23 Wow, well we actually have Pastor Serns here with us 27:27 on Skype, and would love to hear from him 27:30 and his experience going out and passing out those books. 27:33 Pastor Serns. 27:36 Hi there, good to join you. 27:38 It's great to have you. 27:39 Welcome to the program. 27:41 I want to hear from you your experience as you were 27:46 partnering with Streams of Light 27:49 to pass out The Great Controversy in Silicon Valley. 27:53 Sure. Well in Central California we have 10 million 27:57 people we need to take the Adventist message to. 28:00 And our two biggest mission fields are 28:02 Silicon Valley and San Francisco. 28:05 So every Labor Day weekend we set aside time for a 28:08 mission trip and we invite anybody to come from across 28:11 our conference or around the world and join us day by day. 28:16 We get together, we have prayer together, 28:18 we have prayer alone with the Lord and search the Word. 28:22 And then when we have Jesus in our hearts, 28:24 and love in our hearts for the people, then we go out. 28:28 And we go out to all these neighborhoods 28:29 with a smile on our face and a prayer in our hearts, 28:32 Delivering the Great Controversy and the health magazine 28:36 and connecting with people. 28:37 And during that time, 24 hours door to door to door to door, 28:42 we had the chance, I personally had the chance 28:44 to meet people who have an atheist background, 28:48 agnostic, who are Hindu and Sikh and Muslim, 28:52 and Buddhist, and all forms of Christianity, and Catholics. 28:58 And I tell you, a few people would say, 29:01 "You know, we're not interested." 29:02 But the vast majority welcomed the book. 29:06 And you don't realize that until you get out. 29:09 This is Silicon Valley where people would say 29:11 it would be very hard. 29:13 I found often times where we think something is hard, 29:16 it becomes hard. 29:18 But when we realize that there's a great God 29:20 who goes ahead of us and is preparing hearts... 29:23 And we're not there to badger people. 29:25 We're there to make friends. 29:27 And many of them have never had a smiling face at their door 29:30 that didn't have some ulterior motives. 29:33 So we just had a wonderful time praying with a lot of people 29:37 and have some amazing stories. 29:39 And if I can just add, Pacific Union College 29:42 theology department said, "We want our students 29:46 involved in the mission as well." 29:48 So we set up something where they came down to 29:50 San Francisco for eight Sabbaths all day long, 29:53 and in the afternoon those theology students 29:56 would go out passing out The Great Controversy 29:59 and health magazine door to door. 30:01 And within the second week that they went out, 30:05 they met a lady named Melinda, and she said, 30:08 "What are you doing? I want to do this too." 30:10 Two weeks later she was out 30:12 passing out The Great Controversy. 30:14 And on the eighth week after they started, 30:17 Melinda was baptized and she's now a member of the 30:19 San Francisco Philadelphian Seventh-day Adventist Church. 30:22 ~ Praise God, praise God. 30:24 Now you're the president of the Central California Conference 30:28 of Seventh-Day Adventist. 30:29 How did you find the time in your busy schedule 30:33 to make it out for all those hours 30:35 and to knock on all those doors? 30:38 I believe that God asks each of us to manage 30:42 our time according to His will rather than the 30:45 urgencies that come. 30:46 You know, there are crises, but we need to set up systems 30:50 where the work is not dependent on any one person. 30:54 Too many of our churches are pastor dependent, 30:57 too many of our conferences are president dependent. 30:59 But when we spread it around, as Ellen White says to do, 31:03 then we block off time and we say, we need to be out on the 31:07 front lines with the people. 31:09 I've pastored, I've worked in a conference 31:11 and union area, but if I don't take time 31:14 personally, I can't get refreshed. 31:16 If I'm not out with the people, I forget what the mission is. 31:20 And I can think the biggest mission is to keep up to date 31:23 with emails, or all kinds of other things, 31:26 or this urgent crisis, or whatever. 31:29 We have teams that respond to crises. 31:31 But that allows everybody to have their turn to be 31:35 out on the front lines for the Lord. 31:36 Amen, amen. 31:38 Oleg, was there anything that you wanted to ask? 31:41 ~ Oh, I just love Pastor Dan's passion. 31:45 Sometimes, you know, he energizes me. 31:47 If I'm discouraged, I need to go into his office 31:51 or meet him in the hallways of the conference, 31:53 and he will boost me for another week. 31:55 You know, he's just impressive. 31:58 We have, at the conference there in the 32:00 Central California Conference, we have these area meetings. 32:04 There are eight different areas. 32:06 So what we're doing as a conference team, 32:08 going to each area and bringing the churches together, 32:12 at least the church boards, together where they get trained. 32:17 And then an idea came to Pastor Dan, it was his idea, 32:22 why don't we take them out right after the training 32:24 to distribute The Great Controversy there. 32:27 So that's what we're doing, is visiting every area. 32:31 And then after those trainings, go out and 32:33 do something practical as well. 32:35 Not only theory, but do the practical part 32:38 and gather as many interests to study the Bible as possible. 32:44 So I just love the enthusiasm. 32:46 And Pastor Dan is such a supporter. 32:49 You know, not only in the easy times, but in the hard times 32:52 he's there to support and help. 32:54 So I appreciate that so much. 32:55 Pastor Dan, we just want to thank you 33:01 for all that you're doing. 33:02 And thank you for taking the time out of your schedule 33:05 to join us on this program and encourage our viewers 33:08 and listeners to really get behind this project. 33:10 Thank you, thank you so much. 33:13 Alright, so how many people were involved in these mission trips? 33:19 Because it takes a whole lot of people to get this thing going. 33:23 How many people are involved? 33:24 Yeah, that's a great question. 33:27 And I just want to highlight something as we get into that. 33:30 You know, hearing these testimonies from Adam and Dan, 33:34 it's really amazing. 33:37 You know, the literature work is not always immediate fruit. 33:41 You know, I think anyone who get involved in literature 33:43 evangelism understands or will understand that this is a work 33:46 that is by faith and that a lot of our rewards will be seen 33:50 when we're in heaven, by God's grace. 33:52 And so that was so encouraging for me. 33:55 I bring that up because at our past mission trips 33:59 between St. Louis and Silicon Valley we had about 34:04 80 to 100 volunteers at each one for the entire mission trip. 34:08 And then on the Sabbath we had numbers up to 200 34:12 going out and distributing. 34:13 And the powerful thing is, there in St. Louis, we had 34:17 over 100 Bible studies sign-ups. 34:19 And so, to see that when we just get people out, 34:23 when we get people involved, sometimes it takes a big event 34:25 to do so, but when they go out and they meet 34:28 people in the community, as Dan Serns said, all the different 34:30 religions and the different people, it gives us the 34:33 opportunity to give them a chance to learn the truth. 34:38 ~ You know what I love as well? 34:40 To partner with other organizations. 34:43 We have partnered with GYC. 34:45 And it was amazing. 34:46 Amazing to see more than 1800 people go out 34:50 in only two and a half hours, and more than 42,000 books 34:55 were distributed, and more than 34:57 315 Bible study interests gathered. 35:00 Just a few months ago. 35:01 It was so encouraging to see that. 35:04 So when you see all that and the way the young people are 35:07 coming back, and now they're going to their own churches, 35:09 taking this to their own church and saying, "We want this 35:13 done at our local church level," It's so amazing. 35:17 ~ Yes, Yes, that's huge. 35:19 You know, it goes to show that people are 35:22 hungry for the gospel. 35:24 And they are searching. 35:25 So what happens if we are silent? 35:28 You know, if we're not going out and we're not talking to people, 35:31 if we're not sharing the wonderful news of Jesus Christ 35:35 with people, what happens to those people? 35:39 ~ Jason, you know, Covid was a good lesson for all of us. 35:44 That is the question of a few days everything changes 35:47 and you can't go door to door anymore, you can't meet people. 35:50 And the crisis came. 35:51 So that's why we're trying to take advantage of the time of 35:55 freedom that we have now, the time of prosperity still. 35:59 We're still financially, our country is still 36:01 somewhat stable. 36:03 So that's why our urgency by 2026. 36:07 And some people are criticizing this and saying, 36:09 "This is too long? Why would it take so much?" 36:11 And some people are saying this will never be 36:13 accomplished by 2026. 36:15 So you get both of them. But that's fine. 36:17 We're trying to do humanly whatever we can 36:20 to do it as soon as possible, to get as many people 36:23 involved as possible. 36:25 I mean, we believe that mailing out this has its place, 36:28 but we believe in personal. 36:30 Hand-delivered. 36:31 Because of that personal contact... 36:34 I mean, I was in Texas a year and a half ago. 36:37 I gave a book to a lady in a parking lot. 36:39 She said, "What's the book about?" 36:40 I told her this is a blend of history and Bible prophecy. 36:43 She said, "Oh, I'm looking for a church." 36:46 But she said, "I'm looking for a church 36:48 that will preach the truth." 36:49 And I told her, "Oh, ma'am, I happen to be going to 36:52 a church like that tomorrow. 36:53 Do you want to join me?" 36:55 She joined me, and twelve months later 36:57 she was baptized in that church there in McAllen, Texas. 37:01 So just to see how people are searching. 37:04 When we are willing to go out, the Lord will lead us 37:07 to those people. 37:08 And then she was crying in her baptism, saying, 37:10 "Thank you for leading me to my family of truth." 37:14 I mean, that is just... 37:16 You can't put a dollar amount on that experience. 37:19 It's just so... It's priceless. 37:21 ~ That's right, that's right. 37:22 Tell us about some things that you have on the horizon. 37:24 What's coming up? 37:26 ~ Yeah, you know, Streams of Light is super excited. 37:29 You know, we have been doing these local church trainings, 37:31 doing these mission trips. 37:33 And we're just sitting down together one day 37:35 praying, "Lord, how is it that we can take this ministry 37:40 to the next level? 37:41 How is it that we can multiply? 37:43 How can we expand our boundaries?" 37:46 So we started praying, "Lord, expand our boundaries." 37:49 And you know, it's a scary prayer. 37:51 That means a lot more work. 37:52 And you know, God has answered that prayer with a new model. 37:55 So with our regular mission trip we would partner with about 37:59 five to ten churches in the conference in order to do it. 38:03 But the idea came, yes, let's partner with churches 38:07 locally in order to do the mission trip, 38:09 but on the Sabbath of the mission trip 38:11 let's have every church in the conference 38:13 distribute The Great Controversy in their own community. 38:17 And so, it's just amazing. 38:19 Upcoming we are partnering with the Michigan Conference 38:23 to do a mission trip in Detroit. 38:25 And then we are partnering with the Texas Conference 38:27 to do an outreach in Houston. 38:29 And I just want to put into comparison. 38:32 In Silicon Valley we were able to distribute about 35,000 books 38:36 in four days. 38:38 In Michigan, if every church joins, we can distribute up to 38:41 600,000 books in one day. 38:44 And in Texas, one million books in one day. 38:49 It's not just about the numbers though. 38:51 It's not about just reaching the community. 38:54 But think about all the church members that will get involved, 38:58 all the churches that will be revived, 39:00 and the long-term work that will be as a result. 39:03 ~ Amen. You know, we have Pastor Elton DeMoraes 39:06 on here with us, joining us via Skype. 39:09 Pastor, how are you today? 39:13 Doing great. 39:15 It's good to be with all of you today. 39:17 Amen, amen. It's great to have you. 39:19 How excited are you about this initiative 39:22 that's going to take place? 39:25 Well, when this idea came about, and all the stories 39:30 and the possibilities, and of course with this great book, 39:34 in conjunction with how Streams of Light have 39:39 packaged this with this health magazine, 39:43 and then using technology with the QR code 39:48 and it taking you to videos, I immediately spoke to my 39:52 teams and said we've got to be a part of this. 39:54 We have to do this. 39:56 And we looked at the challenges around us. 39:59 Houston was the perfect place. 40:02 You know, the fourth largest city in the U.S. 40:07 2.3 million people in that place. 40:11 And we want to, not only there, but throughout Texas 40:14 distribute one million of The Great Controversy books. 40:18 And so we're excited. 40:19 We're very excited to be a part of this 40:22 because we want to do everything to hasten the soon coming 40:26 of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 40:28 ~ Amen, amen. 40:31 What do you anticipate, you know, that will become 40:36 of this initiative? 40:39 Well, we have several initiatives going on right now 40:43 in our conference. 40:47 We have Doug Batchelor coming very soon to be part of a 40:51 great event in Dallas. 40:53 We have ARISE also coming to do a major training 40:57 for our young adults. 40:59 So this is a part of our larger vision to really do whatever 41:05 we can to keep spreading the good news of salvation 41:09 and of the soon coming of Jesus Christ. 41:11 So we want all of our churches to be involved. 41:16 And we want our members to be energized. 41:19 We want everyone to take this opportunity 41:23 to also get closer to the Lord and use this as an opportunity 41:28 for revival in their lives. 41:30 So we are expecting the Lord to do great things 41:34 through this initiative here in our field. 41:37 ~ Amen, amen. 41:38 And I have to ask you this question, because you're the 41:41 President of the Texas Conference. 41:42 How do you find the time to be boots on the ground 41:46 and participate in wonderful endeavors like this? 41:51 Well, you know, we say this all the time, right? 41:54 You're never going to find a baptistery in our headquarters. 41:59 Because mission and ministry takes place 42:02 right there in the local field. 42:04 We are there to support. 42:06 Yes, we have meetings, like Pastor Serns says. 42:09 You know, we have a major operation to take care of it. 42:15 But we have a great team and we delegate, 42:18 and we are all hands-on deck, involved in training, 42:23 in mobilizing, in energizing, and bringing tools and resources 42:30 to our people in our field. 42:32 So yes, we have meetings, yes we have things we've got to do, 42:35 but we want to make sure that we're in the trenches 42:38 working with our people there. 42:41 Because it's a major field, and we cannot only 42:44 rely on a few or some people to do it. 42:47 It needs to be all of us working together. 42:50 Like Sister White says. 42:52 Sister White says when we work together under one purpose, 42:58 for the accomplishment of one goal, she says 43:00 they would move the world. 43:03 And that's our desire. 43:04 Move the world for Jesus here in the Texas Conference. 43:07 ~ Amen. Well thank you so much for coming on. 43:09 Thank you for sharing. 43:11 We will be praying for maximum results. 43:14 We know that our God can multiply our efforts. 43:17 And we are expecting Him to do so. 43:19 So thank you so much for coming on, 43:21 and hope to hear from you again in the future. 43:24 - God bless you. - Praise God. 43:26 ~ Thank you, pastor. 43:27 So this is incredible. 43:30 You have so many plans, so many people are involved 43:34 in this, and I believe that we are going to 43:37 see some great things taking place. 43:40 And I'm looking forward to having you guys back on 43:43 to hear more about this. 43:45 But with any great initiative, there come challenges. 43:48 So what are some of the challenges that you face 43:51 with Streams of Light International? 43:53 ~ Oh, that's a good question. 43:55 You know, we believe that when the Lord calls you 43:58 to do something, He'll provide everything that you need. 44:01 First, think when the Lord called me to this, I said, 44:04 "Lord, me?" 44:05 I said, "I can't. 44:07 I don't have this and this, and that and that." 44:09 Talking about capacities. 44:11 But the Lord has provided people around 44:14 who have exactly those things that I don't have. 44:17 And God just showed one more time, "It's not about you, Oleg. 44:21 It's about Me doing My work. So just work forward." 44:25 So we've seen in that sense. 44:26 Then financially, I said, "Lord, but this requires money." 44:31 And especially when you put a goal by 2026, 44:34 that requires a huge operation. 44:38 And maybe for people that familiar to this, 44:42 that have done events, you know how much it takes. 44:46 The Lord has brought a team of about 17 people now 44:50 on our team, so we are praising God for that. 44:52 But now we're running into an issue. 44:54 Only for this year, we're planning to print more than 44:57 2 million books, but to get paper. 45:01 In the country now we have a crisis of paper, printing paper. 45:04 ~ So there's a shortage. 45:06 ~ There's a shortage of that. So we need to secure that. 45:08 So we have bought enough paper to print 45:11 close to a million books. 45:13 And now we're going out, by faith, to buy more paper 45:16 to secure that paper for 2 million books. 45:19 And now we're running into an issue of storage. 45:22 So we need warehouse space. 45:24 We need warehouse space in California, 45:26 warehouse space in Tennessee where there's a printing press 45:30 that's going to be printing books there, 45:32 and then warehouse space in Texas. 45:34 So we're looking to purchase those places. 45:37 Because I mean, we tried to rent, and we do rent some, 45:41 but rent is so expensive. 45:43 We want to purchase so that this work will have its own place 45:47 and the books will come. 45:48 Our goal is to keep the prices as low as possible 45:52 of the books for the members to get the books 45:54 at the lowest price possible. 45:57 The more times you transport the books around, 45:59 the higher the cost goes up for the books. 46:01 So that's why we're planning strategically 46:03 how we can bring costs down. 46:05 So our needs, financially. The Lord has provided always. 46:10 But He tries our faith every time. 46:12 He never comes early. 46:14 But He never comes late. 46:15 He comes always on time. 46:17 So financially we need a lot. 46:19 We need volunteers. We need volunteers. 46:21 If you're out there and you say, "I'm impressed by what 46:24 you guys are doing," go to streamsoflight.net 46:27 and tell us that you want to volunteer in any capacity. 46:33 We will be so happy to have volunteers. 46:35 And then people that donated, we are receiving some donations 46:38 of RV's that we need for our teams when we travel 46:41 to mission trips. 46:42 RVs, motorhomes, whatever, so that we can take 46:46 with us and our crew to stay there. 46:48 So anyway, there are many, many needs. 46:50 But the biggest need is for people to pray for us. 46:54 The biggest need: to come and join us for our mission trips. 46:57 Our biggest need for you, if you're watching, 47:00 at your local church there, get your local church mobilized. 47:05 I guess that's the biggest, biggest help that you can do 47:08 for us, is getting involved at your local level. 47:11 By us seeing churches getting on fire and doing this 47:15 all over the country, that's just amazing. 47:18 ~ Amen, amen. 47:19 Johnny, you're the director of evangelism. 47:21 What does your role entail? 47:24 What does a typical day in Johnny's life look like? 47:28 It's a great question. 47:29 You know, I am very privileged by God to serve 47:33 Streams of Light in this capacity. 47:34 Basically, I oversee all things training, all things evangelism. 47:39 So training churches, organizing mission trips, 47:42 developing training resources, 47:45 overseeing and seeing how we can keep the fire alive 47:49 in our churches, and developing strategies for follow-up. 47:53 And because we're such a small team, 47:54 anything and everything else that comes in between. 47:57 ~ Yes, yes. Multiple hats for sure. 48:00 ~ I would say that Johnny is one of the busiest people 48:02 on our team. 48:04 Johnny works beyond 10, 12, 13, 14 hours. 48:09 Johnny works long, long hours. 48:11 So he's one of those people and guys that when he 48:17 believes in something, he goes all in. 48:20 All in. So that's Johnny there. 48:21 ~ Yes, I gather that from talking to Johnny too. 48:24 That's very good. 48:26 What about you? 48:27 What does a typical day in Oleg's life look like 48:30 as the president? 48:31 ~ Well, a lot more Zoom than I would like. 48:35 Many, many, many Zoom meetings. 48:38 Because our team is all scattered all over the country. 48:41 We have people in New York, people in Tennessee, Texas, 48:45 California; so all over the place. 48:47 So a lot, a lot, a lot of Zoom meetings. 48:50 A lot of Zoom meetings. 48:52 And then traveling. 48:53 Quite a lot of traveling as well. 48:55 And then I'm involved in, I work for the 48:58 Central California Conference and I'm visiting churches. 49:00 Every Sabbath I visit different churches 49:02 in the California Conference. 49:04 And it's just a blessing. 49:06 You know, I'm very busy. 49:08 A lot of time away from home. 49:11 But I'm so grateful for my wife. 49:13 She supports, and she says, "My role is being back here 49:16 with the kids, and we support what you are doing." 49:19 So we're just grateful to God to give us this wonderful 49:22 opportunity to serve Him. 49:24 ~ Amen, amen. 49:25 Real quick, what's one story you can share about 49:29 maybe a life that's been transformed? 49:31 ~ Oh, I love it. 49:32 I was distributing books in Northern California. 49:35 And I visited this home. 49:37 I'll try to make it very short. 49:39 I visited this home; they were a little hesitant 49:41 at first to let me in. 49:43 I insisted a little bit. 49:44 I don't know what, but at that point I felt like insisting. 49:47 So to make it short, they were looking for health resources. 49:51 They wanted to learn how to cook vegan food. 49:54 And I invited them home; I said, "Come and you'll eat... 49:57 Come Sabbath at 2:00 pm and you can eat a 49:59 vegan meal at my place." 50:01 My wife cooked. So they came. 50:03 Four kids, they have four kids, and the two make six. 50:07 And us, and at time we had two kids. 50:09 So plus four makes ten. 50:11 At that time we lived in an RV. 50:13 So ten people in an RV, that was pretty tight. 50:16 The next Sabbath after that they came again. 50:19 And the next Sabbath again. 50:21 So after about a year, they had requested for me to marry them. 50:25 And then after about three months they have 50:27 requested to be baptized. 50:28 The entire family of six are now assisting the church; 50:32 not only assisting but they are very active in evangelism. 50:37 And that's one of the closest families 50:39 that we have here in the U.S. 50:40 ~ That is huge. 50:42 ~ And that stemmed from them wanting to learn 50:44 how to cook vegan food. 50:46 - That's correct. - That is incredible. 50:48 But you coupled health message and the gospel. 50:53 That's beautiful. That's beautiful. 50:55 What would you say to that individual that wants to get 50:59 involved with Streams of Light? 51:02 If you watch this program and the Lord is leading you, 51:05 first, we are asking, pray for us. 51:07 Second, pray for what the Lord would have you to do. 51:11 And in your local church approach your pastor, 51:14 approach you pastor and talk to him or an elder 51:16 and say, "How about us getting involved and distributing 51:20 here in our local territory?" 51:23 That would be the biggest thing you can do is to 51:25 cover your local territory. 51:27 And then join our mission trips. Come with us. 51:29 We would be happy to have you with us. 51:31 ~ Amen, amen. 51:33 We're getting ready to take a brief break, 51:35 show you how you can get in touch with them, 51:37 how you can support them. 51:38 And then we'll show you a little new break. 51:40 And we'll be right back. Don't go anywhere. |
Revised 2023-10-31