Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Don & Barbara Hales
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000131A
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00:01 Stay tuned to meet a survivor
00:02 and the mother who dealt with the after math. 00:05 My name is Jason Bradley. 00:06 And you're watching Urban Report. 00:32 Hello, and welcome to Urban Report. 00:34 My guests today are Don and Barbara Hales. 00:37 Don is the team leader of Tanglewood Ministries 00:41 and his mother Barbara is the coordinator 00:44 at Tanglewood Ministries. 00:45 Welcome to Urban Report, Don and Barbara. 00:47 Thank you for having us. Thank you, good to be here. 00:49 It's pleasure to have you. Just to-- 00:52 I want our viewers to know 00:54 a little bit about your background. 00:55 I want to go into it 00:58 because you have a powerful testimony. 00:59 And we want to touch on that 01:01 as well as find out about the ministry. 01:04 We want to find out about Tanglewood Ministries. 01:06 So Ms. Barbara, how back in, was it 1994? 01:13 Was that was that the year? 01:14 He had the accident? 01:16 Yes. That you had the accident? 01:17 Okay. 01:19 What transpired on that day? 01:20 How did you find out about the accident? 01:23 Okay, Don was a senior at Andrews University 01:26 with one semester left and it was this summer 01:29 and very beautiful day. 01:32 I was out cutting grass, 01:33 when my husband came to the door 01:35 and called and said that there had been 01:36 an accident at Andrews Air Park. 01:39 And we needed to go immediately. 01:41 Wow! 01:43 And so what was running through your mind? 01:45 I know, you had multiple thoughts. 01:46 Well, when he said an accident obviously it meant aircraft. 01:50 I have the unique distinction of having both a husband 01:54 who flies and three sons to fly. 01:57 So it was perhaps, in the background of my mind 02:00 that it's not unusual that perhaps one of them, 02:03 at some point would have an accident. 02:05 Yes. 02:07 And so when we heard that there had been an accident, 02:09 I put the lawn mower up, hopped in the car 02:12 and raced as fast as we could to Andrew's 02:15 about a half an hour away. 02:16 Okay, okay. 02:18 And what was going on that day, Don. 02:20 What happened? 02:22 How did that accident come about? 02:24 Well, earlier that morning, 02:26 a friend of mine who owned the aircraft 02:30 which is called an Ultra light, headed out. 02:33 And another friend was actually flying it. 02:36 And my father had been up that morning. 02:40 He worked for the Federal Aviation Administration 02:43 and he was doing surveillance that morning on the airport. 02:47 And so we were all looking at this machine 02:51 after the pilot who was flying it, 02:54 came back and landed. 02:56 And my dad just basically told me, 03:01 "Don, don't fly this thing." 03:03 You know, don't fly it. Wow! 03:05 So your dad warned you about flying it. 03:07 He had warned me. Yes. 03:09 What is an Ultra light? What is that? 03:11 An Ultra light is a kit built 03:14 or home built aircraft, recreational use. 03:18 One passenger which is a pilot and is flown on nice days. 03:24 And a open cockpit. 03:28 Some people in the past have called them flying lawn chairs. 03:31 Oh, wow! 03:32 Just like my wheel chair, 03:34 with some wings on it and an engine in the back to, 03:36 you know, to push it forward. 03:38 That's a scary. But it sounds comfortable. 03:40 Yeah. Yeah. 03:41 And I thought that that'd be fun to fly. 03:45 And so when my father told me not to fly it. 03:49 I said, "Okay, I won't." 03:51 But inside, I was like, "I'm going fly this thing." 03:55 That makes you want to fly it that much more. 03:56 Well, yeah, yeah. 03:57 And you know, I was 22 at the time 04:00 and I say now young and dumb. 04:04 But more yet, to the heart of the matter, 04:10 rebellious on the inside, you know. 04:13 You know, outwardly, you know, toeing the line. 04:15 You know, doing my part but inwardly, you know, 04:18 I'm going to do things my way. 04:21 And with that in disobedience, 04:23 of course, is a dangerous combination. 04:27 Absolutely. Get's you in trouble. 04:28 Absolutely. That's what happened that day. 04:30 How high were you when you crash 04:32 and what led to the crash? 04:35 Okay, I was told, I was about 75 feet. 04:37 And this was right after takeoff. 04:40 The Ultralight could be flown as a hang glider. 04:43 So it has, what is called a push pull bar 04:46 which is attached to the wings, so when you push the bar out, 04:51 it tips the wing back and you go up. 04:54 If you pull the bar towards you, 04:56 it pulls the wing down and you go down. 05:02 And the way that it is set up 05:04 is the cart is on a harness, I mean, on a pendulum. 05:08 So that no matter if you're going up or down, 05:11 you're still in a level position. 05:14 So when I came down, 05:16 I landed in a seated position like this. 05:20 So my spinal cord absorbed all of that energy. 05:24 And it blew out my thoracic eleventh vertebrae. 05:27 Wow! Yeah. 05:28 That's truly a blessing that you are alive. 05:31 I praise the Lord for it 'cause I should have been dead. 05:34 Yes, yes, yes. 05:36 Now Ms. Barbara, it's also my understanding 05:40 that there were some people that rallied behind you guys 05:45 during this time and provided something 05:48 that was very special and very useful to you. 05:51 Yes, yes, as time went on he went to rehab. 05:54 And then it was an issue, can he get back to life. 05:58 And a group of pilots 06:00 from the South Bend- Mishawaka area 06:02 which was the general area 06:03 in which we lived, one of the gentlemen, 06:07 in particular, came up with an idea. 06:09 He said he was trying to sleep one night. 06:11 He was thinking of Don. 06:12 He was a friend of my husband 06:14 and from his dream or idea, birthed a project. 06:21 And that project was to raise enough money 06:24 to give Don a brand new handicapped accessible van. 06:28 Wow! What a blessing? 06:30 What a blessing? 06:31 And as a result, the word went out 06:32 to the Pilot community 06:34 and over a period of about two to three months, 06:37 they raised somewhere around $ 45,000. 06:42 And then in September of that year, 06:44 they presented Don with a brand new van. 06:47 That's huge, I know you were happy about that. 06:49 I'm still amazed today. Yes, yes. 06:52 It's wow. 06:53 That is a blessing, in fact, the people 06:55 that don't know you 06:57 still rallied behind and supported you. 06:59 And really want to take part in that project. 07:02 Okay, such a powerful story and testimony. 07:07 How did Tanglewood Ministries begin? 07:11 Well, after that time, that I got the van 07:15 and I had moved to Cincinnati to start work 07:18 and I was working at an airport on the east side of town. 07:21 And worked there for about seven and a half years. 07:24 I was able to get married and buy my own home 07:27 and in all of that, so I was living. 07:29 But my health started to go down 07:36 and so around about 2005 my health really, really, 07:44 you know, started to go down. 07:45 My marriage was coming apart at that time 07:48 and I had to also resigned from work 07:51 because of health reasons. 07:52 So that was a real low period in my life, 07:56 all the way through 2007. 07:59 And in 2007, I was in despair and actually wanted to die. 08:07 But I just thank the Lord that he had other plans. 08:10 And at that time I went through a leg amputation. 08:13 And also my father was killed 08:17 in a car pedestrian accident in front of our home. 08:20 And so it was in, let's see, in 2008 08:24 that I was in a hospital for a second leg amputation. 08:29 And I'll let mom take over the story here 08:31 because she did a visitation that day. 08:34 Don was just about ready to get out the hospital 08:37 with the second leg amputation. 08:39 And the elderly friend of ours went into 08:43 and assisted living private pay facility. 08:46 And I decided to go visit her, to see how she was doing. 08:50 And as I was leaving she had said, 08:53 you know, I like the facility. 08:54 It's is a beautiful place. 08:57 People are very nice but the one thing 08:58 I don't like is, I don't get to go to church anymore. 09:03 And so, you know, I can't get out or anything. 09:07 And I heard myself saying to her, "Well! 09:09 You know that's something I could do. 09:11 I would be happy to start a church service here. 09:14 I've been involved in ShareHim 09:16 and preached in three or four countries. 09:19 You know, I can do that. 09:20 And so I spoke with the activities' leader 09:23 and she said, "You'd come every week 09:26 and do a church service?" 09:27 And I said, "Sure, I'd be happy to." 09:30 And when can we do it and after much talking, 09:34 it became apparent that the best time for them 09:37 was Sunday evening, 09:39 when I normally would be watching 60 Minutes. 09:41 Wow! 09:43 Way just like, you know, my day is gone. 09:45 So I said, "Yeah I'll do it. 09:47 So we started after supper on Sunday evening. 09:51 And so we've been doing a weekly service 09:53 ever since during that hour. 09:55 Wow! okay. 09:57 Now, number one, you're a very strong woman. 10:02 How did you feel, I mean, to have your son 10:07 going through this at the time, losing your husband? 10:10 How did you? 10:11 How did you make it through that tough time? 10:13 And what helped? It's only the Lord obviously. 10:16 I mean, you're going through so many emotions, 10:20 basically you're trying to figure out 10:22 what your finances are going be? 10:23 Because now your income is going to be cut. 10:25 Because your primary source of income is no longer there. 10:30 And then, of course, he was living with us 10:32 about that time which meant 10:33 that basically I was the caregiver. 10:36 And you know, it's like, you know, 10:38 "Lord, there's so much going on 10:41 and I need something different." 10:43 And I saw getting out and getting back 10:46 involved in ministry is something he did. 10:47 I could do. That would be good for me. 10:49 Okay. Okay. 10:52 And, Don, how are you feeling at the time 10:54 of with this ministry beginning? 10:57 And how did you feel about taking part in that? 11:01 Well, I was happy to help. 11:03 But my attitude was that this was her ministry. 11:08 I never had any aspirations of, 11:12 you know, working with elderly seniors. 11:15 You know, I had thought that, 11:16 you know, I wouldn't mind working with, 11:18 you know, grown adults but I never saw 11:22 my calling into senior ministry. 11:26 But I thank the Lord for it. 11:27 It's one of the best things that's ever happened to me. 11:30 Yes, that's a blessing as well. 11:33 What challenges? 11:35 What are some of the challenges that. 11:37 TWM has faced spiritually or otherwise? 11:41 Well, for us, when we came into ministry, 11:46 we came with the idea that, you know, we've got a, 11:49 you know, we'll preached the doctrinal truth 11:51 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 11:53 We really wanted to emphasize that. 11:56 We're also doing, you know, all of the formalities 12:02 of a church service. 12:03 You know, we only have one hour. 12:05 So you know, after doing all those formalities, 12:08 we end up with about 10 minutes left for the word. 12:11 And the Lord intervened in our lives personally 12:17 and you know, brought it to my attention 12:21 that we really needed to focus on... 12:25 Lifting up Jesus. Lifting up Jesus. 12:28 And when we lift up Jesus, he would do the drawing. 12:32 And all of that doctrines will fall in to place. 12:33 All of the doctrinal truths will fall, 12:35 you know, right into place as we walk through the Bible, 12:39 you know, which we're doing now. 12:41 Also, we have trimmed down our service. 12:43 Because we only have a half hour. 12:45 An hour. 12:47 Oh! We've an hour. 12:48 But actually in our memory care services, 12:53 we only have a half hour. 12:55 So we don't have a lot of time for all of the extras. 12:58 So we focus on singing the hymns. 13:02 You know, the elderly love the hymns. 13:05 Also, prayer, that's very important 13:07 in getting into the word. 13:09 Those are the three basics and then we add, 13:11 you know, special music, the appeal song. 13:15 But really tried to focus those emphasis 13:18 on the singing, praying. 13:21 And the word. And the Bible. 13:23 And that's what our program is based around, 13:25 you know, week after week. 13:27 That's great. 13:28 And I like, what you said about 13:29 the doctrinal truth being in and just focusing on the word. 13:34 And I mean... The truth come forward. 13:35 And the truth is in there. Right. 13:37 You just have to find it. 13:38 Yeah, 'cause we actually got pushback from, 13:41 you know, from the folks who were coming. 13:45 You know we started to get pushbacks 13:46 on some of those things because they're coming from, 13:48 you know, different faiths backgrounds. 13:51 And we found that it's not they that need to change. 13:55 We needed to change. 13:56 And when that focus changed for us personally 14:00 and then corporately as a ministry, 14:03 the ministry just started to grow. 14:06 And we saw the Lord just doing wonderful things. 14:10 And still is today. 14:12 The other thing that also happened was that 14:15 before when we first started, 14:17 you know, we got this service on Sunday night. 14:20 And you know, okay, we've got the service. 14:23 But now we're spending... 14:27 When we end our service on Sunday, 14:28 we begin to get ready for next week service. 14:32 And what that said to each of us 14:34 we needed to make sure 14:35 that we were spending time in prayer 14:37 and personal Bible study. 14:39 And then literally I do a lot of the special music 14:42 but the question is I can't just sing any song. 14:47 What's a sermon going to be about? 14:49 And my song needs to be an appeal-song 14:52 that would capsulate 14:54 what the speaker was talking about. 14:56 And that can be a challenge. I believe. 15:00 Because you can't just come up with a song 15:02 and put it with the sermon. 15:04 And you have to ask God, 15:05 "What song should I sing at the end of that sermon 15:09 that will say what you wanted to say 15:12 that to appeal to those folks' heart?" 15:14 And God comes through, when I come through. 15:18 When I do what I need to do, He gives you the right song, 15:23 that's just the song that needed to have been 15:25 sung after that sermon. 15:27 And it's been awesome to see the response of the people. 15:31 That's beautiful. 15:33 It's so amazing what you guys are doing 15:35 because I mean, when you go to some of these facilities 15:38 and you realize there's some loved ones 15:40 that are in there, that have no visitors. 15:42 They have nobody that comes to visit them. 15:44 So you guys are sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. 15:47 And you're also providing them with visitors. 15:50 And showing them that people still love them 15:53 and they're not forgotten. 15:54 And I think that is excellent. 15:56 What are some of the miracles 15:58 that you guys have witnessed in some of these facilities? 16:02 Probably the lady who initially asked 16:06 that we consider coming, had moved from her home 16:09 after being in it 40, 50 years, into a facility 16:13 and came kicking and screaming. 16:16 Her children said you're going. 16:20 Only to discover that a couple years later 16:23 because of health or finances, she had to move again 16:27 and to hear her say, you know, 16:29 I came here not wanting to come. 16:32 But because of your weekly service, 16:34 I now have a relationship with Jesus Christ. 16:37 And wherever I go it will be okay 16:40 because I know I am taking Jesus with me. 16:43 That is just amazing. 16:47 It touches your heart. Yes. 16:48 It does. Yes. 16:49 It does. Yes. 16:51 What training do you'll have 16:53 that prepared you for this work? 16:57 The Lord. 16:59 Being willing is... And open... 17:01 Is the primary prerequisite. 17:04 You know, the background that we have, 17:08 that we have brought, you know, as you know, being, 17:11 you know, members of the church, 17:13 you know, having been a part 17:14 of Seventh-day Adventist Church, 17:15 obviously is helpful. 17:17 But really a willing heart 17:18 and a willingness to get on your knees 17:20 and pray Lord, "teach me, show me." 17:23 And because we look back at, you know. 17:26 Early services... 17:27 When we first started, it's like, "Wow! 17:30 We did that." 17:32 But the Lord has taken our stumbles and He's blessed. 17:37 And we're still growing and learning. 17:40 But being willing to be used and to wear multiple hats 17:43 because you know we have a team of ten. 17:47 But you know, from week after week, 17:49 you know, we have to adjust. 17:50 You know, sometimes we're speaking, 17:51 sometimes we're not. 17:53 We do have two main speakers 17:54 but you know sometimes they're not always there. 17:56 So somebody else has to step up 17:58 and speak or sing or what have you. 18:02 But being willing, being willing, has been the, 18:07 you know, the best thing for us. 18:09 And you know, God has led and he has provided. 18:12 Very excited. Amen. 18:14 And being able to realize 18:16 that visitation is a part of this. 18:18 You know, we originally committed 18:20 for an hour on Sunday evening. 18:22 But we're now taking a day of week for visitation. 18:25 We have people who end up in hospitals 18:27 or in other facilities. 18:30 Last year we had twenty people that died. 18:34 Already this year we've probably lost eight or ten. 18:37 So we're attending funerals. 18:40 Or at least the wakes 18:42 and that even open another ministry 18:44 because now when someone dies, 18:47 we make up a packet that includes a good book 18:52 which we're using A Great Hope, 18:54 right now which is the last three chapters-- 18:57 Last nine chapters are Great Controversy, 18:59 with the corresponding postcard that Nathan Green did. 19:02 And we put those in an envelope, 19:04 put a message on it. 19:06 And we make up one up 19:07 for every immediate family members. 19:09 So if a wife died, the husband and any children get it. 19:13 If the mom dies then we give it to the children and. 19:16 Just last week, we gave away nine. 19:20 And of course, that, they cost. We have no budget. 19:25 But what happens is that someone would press 19:27 some money in our hands 19:29 which enables us to continue to make up those packets 19:33 and we figure that the packet costs about 350 each. 19:37 And a decent nice card from Hallmark 19:40 would probably cost three fifty 19:42 and which they're going to pitch. 19:43 But they're holding on 19:45 to those Great Controversy books 19:46 into the picture of the Second Coming. 19:51 Wow! So it's been a need. 19:53 So we're interacting with family members 19:56 that we had no idea we'd ever get a chance to. 19:59 Wow! Impacting so many lives. 20:02 We have some pictures of you guys in action 20:05 that I'd like for our viewers to see. 20:07 So as we put those on the screen 20:09 why don't you describe that for me, Don. 20:11 This is Pauline Finn. 20:13 And she was the inspiration to start Tanglewood Ministries. 20:17 Wow! Very important lady. 20:20 And again this is us during, 20:22 I think, that was a Christmas service 20:24 that we were doing. 20:28 And this is one of our team members, 20:29 Bob Cassini and he was speaking to Mrs. Finn. 20:32 And I believe they were talking about 20:35 a Bible topic on that particular shot. 20:37 Oh, wow! Yes. 20:39 And this is Eva. 20:40 She is our lady who does the health nugget. 20:44 And she's demonstrating some of the exercises 20:48 that she wants some of the people to do. 20:51 And this is a view of the room 20:53 in which we do the worship service. 20:56 And this is Charles. 20:57 He's our main speaker and doing a sermon 21:00 on the sacrificial offering the lamb 21:04 that was brought to the tabernacle. 21:07 And this is McGill. 21:09 And he's also one of our speakers. 21:12 And he's got a model there of the sanctuary 21:17 that God instructed Moses to build. 21:20 And so we did a whole series on the sanctuary. 21:24 And this is from Faith, she's one of our musicians. 21:29 Of course, mom here doing one of the sermons. 21:33 That's for music. 21:35 Oh, I didn't know that you can play guitar. 21:36 Just a little bit, just a little bit. 21:38 But I do play. Yes. 21:40 And this is our end of the year program 21:42 we call it the Agape feast. 21:44 And it's just a really nice service 21:47 that we do each year. 21:49 The tables are lined up in the form of a cross 21:52 and we have the lights dimmed. 21:53 And there're some candles up there. 21:55 And nice, some food, 21:58 you know, some finger foods and things like that. 22:01 It's just a really nice service to end out each year. 22:04 And then this is our team. 22:06 We've got Clinton, and in front, Faith, 22:09 and McGill and his wife Titta. 22:10 And Bob and Eva Kasznia, and Rebecca and Charles Pates. 22:16 Yeah. So that's our team. 22:17 Wow! Yeah. 22:19 Wow! Wow! Yeah. 22:21 Well. 22:22 How can someone who wants to become involved 22:25 with senior ministry, how can they get involved? 22:27 What do they need to do? 22:29 Well, the easiest way would be to hopefully know 22:33 someone in the facility that helps. 22:36 But then speak with the activities leader 22:39 and arrange a time that's convenient for everyone. 22:43 Ideally, maybe you think it needs to be on Sabbath. 22:46 But Sabbath might not be a day 22:48 you want to commit to doing something. 22:51 But work with the activity folk. 22:54 And we're doing two Thursday services 22:57 and one Sunday night, well, at this point. 23:00 And how did you select those days in particular? 23:02 I know you still watch 60 Minutes on Sunday night? 23:06 Sunday night was because it worked 23:08 in with their schedule 23:09 and it worked in with our schedule. 23:11 And then Thursdays, we have also expanded 23:15 to a mailing list. 23:17 And we do about a little over two hundred sermons that 23:20 of which about 35 of them we hand deliver. 23:25 And the rest we mail. 23:27 And two of the individuals had left Tanglewood 23:31 and went someplace else and we were just dropping off 23:33 hand their sermon outlines each week. 23:37 But the activity leader had been a Tanglewood, 23:39 and this is not and that a new facility. 23:42 And she asked, "Would you consider 23:43 doing a service here?" 23:45 And since we were going there every weekend anyway, 23:47 we decided, "Yes we could stay half an hour." 23:50 And this is memory care, so their memories are short. 23:54 Yes. 23:55 But they love the sing the hymns. 23:57 And so basically we do abbreviated service. 23:59 We sing most of the time. 24:01 I do about a five minute talk that includes scripture. 24:07 And so we read, try to read familiar passages 24:10 that some of them still know, like the Twenty third Psalms. 24:13 Or John 14:1-3. 24:17 And others that are fairly familiar. 24:20 And they literally wake up, 24:22 sometimes they're totally out there 24:23 but when we get there, starting singing the hymns. 24:26 They wake up. 24:28 They sing with this us in harmony 24:30 and in tune for half an hour. 24:33 Yes, it is. 24:34 And to see that happen week after week, 24:37 is just amazing. 24:39 Well, we want to tell people 24:40 how to get in touch with you and how to reach you. 24:43 You can contact. 24:45 Tanglewood Ministries by sending them a mail 24:48 at South Bend First Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 24:51 1936 East Altgeld street, South Bend, Indiana 46614. 24:59 Or via phone at (574)654-7320. 25:05 And they also have a website, sbadventist.org. 25:12 Well, it is such a wonderful ministry that you all have. 25:19 Okay. 25:20 I want to know how it co-relates 25:22 with the Adventist Church, like with the mission 25:24 of South Bend Adventist Church. 25:27 How does it, how does it work with that? 25:31 Well we're a supporting ministry 25:32 but we work closely with the church. 25:35 And they have been very supportive 25:37 of what we're doing and even provided Bibles for us 25:41 because we needed super large print, giant print Bibles 25:44 and we were able to get those, and... 25:46 But they've been very helpful, supportive and encouraging. 25:51 And that's been... 25:52 you know, just a great relationship. 25:54 Yeah. 25:55 And I was just gonna add 25:57 that all of the team members are members 25:59 of our First church as well. 26:01 Oh! wow, so you'll the church who is involved in. 26:05 What is it like with the short time 26:07 that we have left, 26:08 what is it like having your son in ministry? 26:12 My mother and I work together. My mom's Yvonne Lewis. 26:16 Yes. And so we're both in ministry. 26:18 And ...but what is it like 26:20 from a mother's perspective working hand in hand 26:23 with your son serving the Lord? 26:26 It's been exciting. He's a good compliment for me. 26:31 We generally get along quite well. 26:35 And we've discovered that we harmonize quite nicely 26:38 in singing as well in music aspect. 26:41 And often times think somewhat alike so. 26:45 He's been a wonderful asset and the technical things, 26:48 particularly, sound systems and that, kind of thing, 26:52 I don't have to worry about the computer and all that. 26:55 And what's it like working with your mom? 26:58 It's been a good partnership. 27:01 To follow her lead but yet also make suggestions, 27:07 maybe we should do things this way. 27:09 But the Lord has blessed and you know, 27:11 He's the focus and He's the attention. 27:13 And when you co-laboring with Christ 27:17 and with family it's just, has been real exciting. 27:21 Yeah. Amen. 27:22 It's amazing to see God work especially, 27:25 when you choose to follow him and you pray. 27:27 And you nailed it on the head 27:29 when he said that willingness and prayer is the key. 27:33 I want to thank both of you all for being here. 27:35 Thank you so much for joining us. 27:36 Thank you for having us. 27:38 And I want to thank you all for watching. 27:40 I hope you have been as blessed as I have, 27:42 by this inspirational testimony. 27:45 Well, we've reached the end of our program. 27:47 Join us next time and remember 27:48 it just wouldn't be the same without you. |
Revised 2015-10-22