Participants:
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000252A
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00:03 Have you ever felt like
00:05 God had a mission for you to accomplish. 00:07 Well, stay tuned to meet two people 00:08 who answered the calling that God placed on their lives. 00:11 My name is Jason Bradley, 00:13 and you're watching Urban Report. 00:38 Hello, and welcome to Urban Report. 00:40 My guests today are Pastor Scott Griswold 00:43 and his wife Julie. 00:45 Pastor Griswold is the director of Reach the World Next Door, 00:48 and Julie is the prayer coordinator. 00:50 Welcome to Urban Report. It's great to be here. 00:53 It's good to have you. 00:54 I would love... There we go. 00:56 We can reach. 00:57 So tell us a little bit about your background? 01:00 Well, Julie and I went overseas almost after we were married, 01:04 to Cambodia, and spent some years there 01:07 with Adventist Frontier Missions, 01:09 helping start the church, 01:10 planting there, in that country. 01:12 And later ended up back over there in Thailand 01:15 for 10 years 01:16 with the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 01:18 working with this center for East Asian religions. 01:21 Reaching out to Buddhist, 01:22 finding ways to share Christ's love with them. 01:25 Wow, And how did you go about doing that? 01:27 How do you witness to, like, a whole another faith? 01:32 Well, that's a whole long story, 01:34 that's a big conversation. 01:35 But the biggest things are a lot of prayer, 01:39 depending on the Holy Spirit, being a true friend, 01:42 and then coming close to where they're out, 01:44 trying to understand them, 01:45 and build bridges from that to the things 01:47 that they don't understand about Jesus. 01:49 So that's about as quick as I can put it in a nutshell. 01:53 Okay, and have you guys always been Adventists? 01:56 Have you always been in the church? 01:58 We both grew up in Seventh-day Adventist homes, 02:01 and we're walking with God, little by little, 02:04 and then we had a deeper experience, 02:06 and then slowly he captured our hearts for missions. 02:09 Nice. 02:10 And how did you get involved 02:12 with being the prayer coordinator, 02:14 and what does that look like, what do you do? 02:17 Well, I've always enjoyed praying, 02:19 I love praying with people. 02:21 And ever since I was young, I've enjoyed doing that. 02:25 And so, in our ministry now, we do united prayer, 02:29 which is, kind of, like popcorn prayers, 02:32 where everybody has a sentence to participate 02:35 if they wanted to and share praises about God, 02:40 and His... 02:41 Who He is. 02:42 And then we go into confession, and then our interceding. 02:46 And we usually take this time to bring before God the ones 02:51 that we have been reaching out to during the week, 02:53 because much of our work is working with refugees, 02:57 and immigrants, and international students 02:58 that we are meeting weekly. 03:01 So we add those to our poster, 03:03 and we're praying for them weekly, 03:04 daily in our united prayer time. 03:06 Wow. 03:07 So that's, I mean, if we're really wanting 03:09 to see Jesus come back. 03:10 We're gonna need miracles everywhere. 03:12 And the biggest miracles 03:14 we're needing is to see the work finished 03:15 to the least reached, 03:17 those who had no opportunity to know God at all. 03:20 Yes, and the gospels to go to all the world, every nation, 03:23 kindred, tongue, and people. 03:25 Absolutely, so you guys are doing an amazing work. 03:29 And how... 03:31 What is the mission 03:33 that God has placed on your heart? 03:35 When we started considering 03:36 coming back from living overseas 03:38 for 16 years, we wanted to know 03:39 as our children are going to college, 03:41 we wanted to be close to our aging parents, 03:43 what should we be doing here? 03:45 Yeah, and it's hard to leave over there, 03:47 where you can speak the language 03:48 and come here and think, 03:49 "Oh, where's the mission field here?" 03:51 And we begin to look around, 03:53 in particular, at Houston, Texas. 03:56 And this is the fifth largest metro area, fast growing, 03:59 the most diverse place in United States. 04:02 Because there is no majority population, 04:05 and because they have 4,000 to 5,000 04:07 new refugees coming in every single year, 04:11 entering there. 04:13 So as we were discovering this, 04:14 we found out they're coming from the hardest countries 04:16 in the world, meaning, 04:18 the places where you're most likely 04:19 to be persecuted as a Christian, 04:21 so like Afghanistan, Somalia, 04:25 these places that you just couldn't go. 04:27 But God has sent them here, I believe for a reason. 04:31 We have this influx, 04:35 we've got immigrants, we have refugees, 04:37 we have international students, 04:39 more than a million international students studying 04:41 in North America, tourists, and I think God has done it 04:45 because He wants us to get the work done 04:48 and we didn't go there. 04:49 You got a quote, Julie, that is so powerful. 04:51 Yes, in Evangelism, page 570, it says, 04:55 "We should be able to see 04:57 in the multiplying opportunities 04:59 to reach many foreigners in America 05:01 as a divinely appointed means of rapidly extending 05:05 the third angel's message 05:06 into all the nations of the earth. 05:09 God in His providence 05:10 has brought men to our very doors, 05:12 and thrust them as it were, into our arms 05:16 that they might learn the truth, 05:18 and be qualified to do a work 05:19 that we could not do in getting the light before men 05:23 of other countries." 05:24 Wow. So in other tongues. 05:26 And so that's just... 05:28 that's, you know, if we can learn 05:29 to live intentionally looking for opportunities 05:34 for the ones that have come to America 05:36 from those countries 05:38 that have never had the opportunity 05:40 to learn about Jesus and His love. 05:44 See, that's amazing, like, I look at you two, 05:46 and I see the passion 05:48 that you have for the mission field, 05:50 and I remember meeting you Pastor Scott at GYC, 05:55 and just talking to you 05:56 and hearing some of the different stories, 05:59 and I was just blown away. 06:01 And you gave me several cards, and it said, now... 06:06 What did it say on those cards? 06:08 I carry it with me all the time. 06:10 It's called mylanguagemylife.com. 06:13 So this is a website 06:14 that we put together with different volunteers 06:17 when we've been working with ASAP ministries, 06:19 and they... 06:21 We just gathered anything we could find, 3ABN, 06:24 in the different languages, other ones, 06:26 Adventist World Radio, 06:28 Voice of Prophecy, Bible Studies, The Jesus film, 06:31 so that when you meet somebody at the door, 06:33 and or wherever you are, in the market, and they say, 06:36 "No, speak English, Vietnamese, or Afghani," 06:39 or whatever, you can put this in their hand and say, 06:43 "Vietnamese, or Farsi, or Dhari, or whatever it is" 06:48 and know that they are gonna be able to look at that 06:50 and hear in their own language. 06:52 Which is amazing. 06:53 So it just really breaks down the language barrier, 06:56 you know, there's no reason why we can't witness this. 07:00 It's very true. 07:01 It's such an amazing plan that God has, 07:04 I think of Acts 2, 07:06 when we are often praying as a people for God 07:09 to finish His work. 07:10 We know it's going to be the power of the Holy Spirit. 07:13 So when we're asking for that we, kind of, 07:15 "Okay, what does that mean, what's going to happen?" 07:17 But Acts 2 shows us exactly what's gonna happen. 07:20 And it says that in verse 5, it says, 07:22 "There were devout men in Jerusalem 07:25 from every nation under heaven." 07:27 And then, just a few verses, they say, 07:29 "How is it we're hearing in our own languages." 07:32 What's going on. God has made that possible now. 07:35 And if we will strategically begin 07:37 to look and say, 07:38 who is in my neighborhood that is not in my pews. 07:42 Who is here from countries 07:45 that I know we are waiting on so that Jesus can return. 07:48 And then we can be missionaries right here. 07:50 Yes, yeah. 07:52 Because this is a huge mission field, 07:55 right here in America. 07:56 There are a lot of people that are suffering. 07:57 There are a lot of people 07:59 that don't know about Jesus right here. 08:02 And it blows my mind that there are still people 08:05 that don't know 08:07 about Christ right here in America. 08:09 There out of the 4,000 unreached people groups 08:12 in the world, worldwide. 08:14 This means they have almost 0% Christians among them. 08:19 80, 85 or so are here 08:21 in the United States by the thousands. 08:23 These are Japanese, these are Iraqi, 08:26 these are from Bangladesh, from India, 08:29 some of these countries 08:30 that are just so huge in numbers 08:32 and almost no missionaries, they're right here with us. 08:35 Wow. 08:36 So that's why we decided to move to Houston. 08:39 We've been working with ASAP ministries 08:41 and they're operating this new training program 08:43 that started in 2017. 08:46 And it's a school where young people can come 08:49 who want to be missionaries, 08:50 and for nine months work with us. 08:55 Training for missions by doing missions. 08:58 We're out in the field, like, three days a week, 09:01 meeting refugees, immigrants, and international students, 09:05 and then the other three days spending time in the classroom, 09:08 and in the afternoon learning vocational skills, 09:11 like, gardening, like construction, 09:15 healthy cooking, various things 09:17 that they can use in missions anywhere. 09:19 So you're giving them practical tools 09:21 for living too and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 09:23 And that's actually 09:24 what we do here at Dare to Dream too, 09:26 I mean, that's great. 09:27 Practical tools for living in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 09:30 And the beautiful thing is, is that it's a small, 09:33 it's like a family, 09:34 because we want to keep it small, 09:36 between 10 and 16 students, 09:38 so that there can be that one-on-one mentorship, 09:41 and so that we can go out with the students, 09:43 we can be learning as were as we're going out, 09:47 and we meet an Afghani, and we come back and we think, 09:50 "Okay, he's talking about the Trinity." 09:52 So we learn about the Trinity and how to speak to a Muslim. 09:57 So that's the beauty and also 09:58 because it's cross-cultural in our... 10:01 We're wanting students to be not just from American born, 10:06 but from other countries, 10:08 like, we have this couple 10:10 from Taiwan, and some Burmese... 10:11 Yeah, the picture shows 10:13 some of those that are coming together. 10:14 Yeah, so it shows. 10:16 And that in itself is a mission field 10:18 that we can grow together, 10:20 and learn to appreciate cultures. 10:23 Living together, everybody in the same place, 10:25 you started to get on the each other's nerves. 10:27 You got to learn how to work through problems. 10:29 Just like in the real mission field. 10:31 And close quarters, huh? Yes, yes. 10:33 Different cultures, where you learn to appreciate 10:36 the diversity for all of its beauty, 10:39 and then where it does conflict learning 10:41 how to try to understand 10:43 what's behind the reason he does that or she does that. 10:46 Yes. 10:47 So what does it look like 10:49 when you're witnessing to somebody, 10:51 I mean, people, we often hear about people 10:53 witnessing to other people, 10:54 but what does it look like, walk us through, 10:58 maybe one instance or two instances 11:00 where you've witnessed to somebody? 11:01 Did you pass them a track, did you...? 11:04 How did you broach the subject? 11:06 Well, let's jump to the Cambodian community 11:11 that we ended up in, 11:12 because that really gives a solid illustration 11:15 of when the hurricane hit. 11:18 Hurricane Harvey in 2017 11:20 just devastated an entire community plus 11:23 many other places as well. 11:25 But the one place called Rosharon, 11:27 there were many Cambodians 11:28 had moved there to grow their greens. 11:29 These are immigrants that came out of the war, 11:32 25, 30 years ago but had been here. 11:35 And so we got to go down there, 11:38 just shortly after the students arrived, 11:40 and begin to tear out soggy... 11:43 Molded dry wall. 11:45 Yeah, everything was a mess, but mold growing really fast. 11:48 And seeing these people just in trouble, 11:52 we could practically began to care 11:54 and to reach out to them. 11:56 That's the basis of any Christ like work. 11:58 Christ method. Amen. 12:00 Yes, Christ method. 12:01 You saw the need, you met the need, 12:04 and then you tell them to follow Christ. 12:06 So you can see in the picture, us, 12:08 you know, helping these people, 12:10 some are our students, and my son there, 12:12 beginning to rebuild and care. 12:15 But in one of the pictures, 12:16 it shows with Mr. A... 12:19 A man there, Cambodian man that we met, 12:21 there's a picture of four 12:23 in which they were just surrounding him 12:26 with love and care. 12:27 'Cause when I walked up to his house, 12:29 I could smell the black mold. 12:30 Wow. 12:32 And I saw him step out, and I said, 12:33 you know, as we got acquainted, I said, 12:35 "Do you know how dangerous it is for you to live there?" 12:37 And he said, "I'm going to die soon anyway." 12:40 I was like, "What?" He was only 60. 12:42 What are you talking about? Wow, 60, that's young. 12:44 So, you know, I just thought he was talking 12:45 but Rachel began to come close to him, 12:48 and smile, and talk to him, 12:50 and he was intrigued that she was from China, 12:51 you know, Taiwan and spoke Chinese, 12:54 and pretty soon his story was pouring out, 12:57 that during the Khmer Rouge 12:58 and the Pol Pot War in that country, 13:01 his first wife had been separated 13:03 from him and killed. 13:04 And then in the refugee camp, 13:06 he remarried, only to have that wife, 13:08 as she was pregnant, 13:10 step on a landmine and also died. 13:13 So he said to us, 13:14 he said, you know, you can see the tears 13:16 still in his eyes 30 years later. 13:18 You can imagine, I never want to get married again. 13:21 And then he said, but then this lady found me. 13:23 And he reached in his car, 13:25 pulled out one of the few things 13:26 that didn't get ruined by the flood, 13:27 and showed us the picture of his third wife. 13:30 We had just met her the day before, 13:32 she was crying at the Buddhist temple. 13:33 Encourage her heart, be a friend to her. 13:35 We prayed with her, and cared for her, 13:38 and now we were meeting 13:39 and going to be able to help then 13:41 in their struggles. 13:42 So that's where it started, 13:44 we went and got a book that was in Cambodian, 13:45 that have the gospel, put it in his hands, 13:48 the next time we met him, 13:49 he was sharing the story about Jesus 13:51 on the cross with us. 13:53 And we were just so touched 13:54 how through the horrible things that happened, 13:57 God still works and brings people together, 14:00 and so wherever you can go, 14:02 you don't have to have a hurricane. 14:04 But when you begin to care and to reach out, 14:06 you will find something 14:08 that you can do to meet somebody's needs 14:10 and that's what we're trying to do. 14:12 That's beautiful. 14:13 Where do people go to get the cards? 14:16 Ah, that's a good question? Yeah, how do people get those? 14:19 If you go to that website reachtheworldnextdoor.com, 14:22 they will link you to explain it 14:23 and how to use them, 14:25 and then it will link you to the ASAP ministry site, 14:28 where you can order them. 14:29 And they're cheap, I carry 'em, gave probably 20 away, 14:32 on our way here in the airport. 14:34 And you just, you know, you can ask a person, 14:36 "Do you speak another language besides English?" 14:39 And if they tell you say, "Well, but this is there." 14:41 It's got really good videos, and different things, 14:44 and great stuff in English too. 14:45 Yes, yes. 14:47 So that's a way they can connect. 14:48 Yeah, because, I mean, you go to certain restaurants, 14:51 you go to, maybe a salon, nail salon, 14:54 whatever the case may be. 14:56 People speaking other languages, 14:58 no reason why we can't witness. 15:01 Now there is, I mean, there's even Google Translate. 15:05 So no language barriers anymore. 15:09 We have to get the gospel out. Yes. 15:12 There is another area that we're working in, 15:14 which is just apartment complexes 15:15 right in Houston city in southwest area. 15:18 There are places where housing maybe... 15:21 begin to be more vacant. 15:22 And with the refugees coming in, 15:24 refugees resettlement agencies contact them and say, 15:28 you know, "Is there a good place for them?" 15:31 So we found places where there's just many 15:33 from Afghanistan and Somalia, as we were mentioning earlier, 15:37 and Julie, in particular, has had some very 15:39 special experiences in connecting 15:41 with Muslim ladies there, 15:43 that I think is worth talking about. 15:45 Well, it's... 15:46 I wish our students could be with us, 15:48 because every time I go out, 15:50 there's all of us are going out, and I think, 15:52 "Oh my, I've got so many wonderful stories." 15:54 And then when we get in the van and talk about everybody else, 15:58 their divine appointments that they have had, 15:59 as they are knocking on doors and meeting people. 16:02 It's just exciting when you're willing 16:04 to go outside of your comfort zone, 16:08 and just say, you know, we are wanting to get 16:11 to know the neighborhood, and is there anything... 16:13 We want to welcome you to our country, 16:16 because most of them are very new. 16:18 Yes. Some have just arrived. 16:19 I met a family of six boys 16:23 from Afghanistan, two, three Sabbaths ago, 16:26 and they had just arrived three months ago. 16:28 And they took us up to their apartment, 16:30 and they had to sit down, gave us nuts and snacks, 16:34 and just wanted to be friends with us immediately. 16:37 And so we ask them, 16:39 you know, is there anything that we can do to help you, 16:41 and the one story that Scott 16:43 was probably talking about, Rachel, 16:46 one of our students as she's knocking on doors, 16:49 and she met a lady who was pregnant, 16:53 and this was back in November. 16:55 So we kept visiting, 16:57 every Sunday we're in this apartment building 16:58 so that we're able to go on... 17:00 It's an ongoing friendship. And that's the key. 17:04 Yes, consistency. And to... 17:05 Yes, to be able to be the family 17:07 that they have had to leave behind 17:09 because of the war, 17:10 or the reasons why they've had to come 17:12 because of the crisis in their country, 17:14 for us to step in that gap, and be the family for these, 17:18 for some of our brothers and sisters like this. 17:21 And this lady was from Afghanistan. 17:23 And we have befriended her each week. 17:27 And we were there when she first gave her... 17:31 Gave birth and we were her first... 17:33 In fact, there's a picture of that, 17:34 little one 17:36 with our student holding that baby. 17:37 Wow! We got the picture right there. 17:39 And it was... 17:41 And we were their first visitor. 17:42 And she said, "Thank you. You're my first visitor." 17:45 And everybody wants to show off their baby, 17:47 especially to their families. 17:48 So we could be family for her. 17:52 And the next week we came, next Sunday, 17:54 and then she started referring to us as her best friends. 17:59 And each week that we come, 18:01 we hear a little bit more about her story, 18:04 and she's asking us questions, 18:06 and it's just beginning to build 18:08 a beautiful friendship. 18:10 So you guys were cultivating relationships 18:12 with people is so important. 18:14 I think if we just this one question, 18:16 what would I want someone to do for me if it was me? 18:21 I love the text in Leviticus 19:34, 18:23 it says, "The stranger who dwells among you 18:26 shall be to you as one born among you, 18:29 and you shall love him as yourself, 18:31 for you were strangers in the land of Egypt, 18:33 I am the Lord your God." 18:35 You know, that's... 18:37 Jesus said, as you've done it to the least of these, 18:38 and He specifically spoke of, 18:40 I was a stranger, and you took me in. 18:45 Took me in, right to your heart. 18:47 And so in all the talk about refugees and immigrants, 18:50 all we need to do is say what would Jesus do, 18:53 how can we care and share. 18:55 And, you know, start praying. 18:58 This is a big, big piece 18:59 of what we've been talking about. 19:01 In fact, we've put together a booklet called Praying 19:04 for the World Next Door, 19:06 and it goes through the statistics 19:07 of who has come to America. 19:10 And it shows you where to go at our website to find out 19:12 who's in your metro area. 19:14 To find out who are the least reached here. 19:16 Because, I mean, you know, everybody is important, right? 19:19 But when you start to realize these people have no witness. 19:22 They're not going to come to my church, 19:24 they don't have radio program in their language, 19:26 and a lot of them 19:27 still don't speak another language. 19:29 So I need to be the one 19:31 who looks for that one lost sheep, 19:32 and leave the 99, 19:34 you know, we're so busy in church, 19:35 in our homes, we don't have time for this, 19:38 unless we make it a priority. 19:39 Absolutely. Like, Jesus did. 19:41 You know, I think of Jesus came to reach the Jews 19:44 so that they can in turn reach the world. 19:46 But He just couldn't help Himself. 19:47 There's the Roman centurion, 19:50 then there is the Samaritan woman, 19:51 and then there's a Syrophoenician lady, 19:53 then there's the 4,000, the feeding of the 4,000. 19:56 He just kept reaching 19:58 the world next door, even at the cross, 20:00 He was reaching out to the terrorists on His right, 20:04 and the Roman soldiers down below. 20:06 And that should give us, you know, just the confidence 20:08 that this matters to the heart of Jesus. 20:11 Yes, that level of service is just... 20:14 Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. 20:16 So as we pray, I believe, 20:18 God is gonna do incredible divine appointments, 20:21 like, we were walking at the apartment complex, 20:23 you were visiting that lady, 20:25 and we had gone to a home, but they weren't there, 20:28 or they were sleeping, or something, 20:29 and I'm just thinking, 20:31 we have some time to kill it, and I don't want to kill it. 20:33 I want to know, God... You got two students with you. 20:35 Yeah, two students with me, walking through, 20:36 and I'm just praying, "Lord, lead us." 20:38 We go around a corner, and there is this man 20:40 with a horribly scarred face and hands. 20:44 And I reached out my hand, and I shook his hand and said, 20:46 "Hi, my name's Scott, what's your name?" 20:48 And he looked at me, and his eyes just show, 20:51 and I kept looking past the scars 20:53 through those eyes to say, 20:55 "This is a real human behind that." 20:57 He was from Afghanistan. 20:59 And he said, "Well, that's a long story." 21:00 You know, when one of the students 21:02 asked him a question, not to directly. 21:05 And I'm sure we will hear that 21:06 because we got his house number, 21:08 and we're going to be back visiting him, 21:10 'cause he just soaked up the friendship 21:12 you could tell he was lonely. 21:13 Nice, nice. So... 21:15 So prayer's a big key. 21:16 In families we've talked about, 21:18 looking and finding out who the least reached are, 21:21 what else would you say, Julie? 21:22 Just one of the things that we just take for granted, 21:26 that we found out about one, when we were knocking on doors, 21:31 we found a Somali 21:34 who didn't have any way to get to a doctor. 21:36 He had just come from the refugee camps, 21:38 he had a broken nose, because he had... 21:41 He had taken care of a young lady 21:44 who had been being bullied by several teenagers. 21:47 And he stepped in to help this young lady, 21:49 even though she didn't... 21:51 He didn't know her. 21:52 So he has this broken nose, everything is so expensive, 21:55 you know, doctors, 21:56 you just can't walk in much without. 21:58 No, you can't. 21:59 And when you don't have any money, 22:00 and so when we went to his door to ask, 22:03 you know, how can we help your... 22:05 You, here in America. What is there something... 22:07 And he immediately, 22:08 I need to be able to go to the doctor, 22:10 and we don't have any insurance card. 22:12 And so we came back the next week 22:14 and we helped him fill out the forms, 22:16 took him to the place where he could get it, 22:19 and from that, 22:21 you know, then now we're eating with him in the park, 22:25 we're meeting with him, and on a regular basis. 22:30 So it's just another one is... 22:33 When we get back on Thursday, an Afghani family, 22:37 who is moving, 22:38 there is a family of seven of them, 22:40 and she's pregnant, next month to deliver. 22:43 And they're living in a one-bedroom apartment. 22:46 Wow, seven people in one bedroom. 22:48 Yes, and they're moving this Thursday, and they... 22:51 to a two bedroom apartment. 22:53 And we're bringing bunk beds, so they can pile up. 22:56 Okay. 22:57 So just things like couches, 22:59 you know, we put it on the Facebook 23:00 for the churches to help, you know, down in Houston, 23:04 we're wanting them to get involved. 23:05 So we just... 23:07 When we reach out and we find these needs 23:09 we put them on the Facebook page, 23:11 and we get phone calls, I have a couch to give, 23:15 I have a rice cooker, I have bunk beds, 23:18 so just even simple things like that. 23:21 I love the fact that you guys are consistent, 23:23 you know, you're following up, because, you know, sometimes 23:26 you see people come into church, 23:29 and they're visiting, people say, "Hi." 23:33 You know, some people may speak, 23:34 some people may not. 23:35 And then, you know, they come back, 23:37 but nobody follows up with them from time to time, 23:40 and that's where the gap... 23:41 This is going to take discipleship 23:43 before they're ever evangelized. 23:45 I mean, it's gonna take close friendship, 23:47 because going from Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu background, 23:50 to becoming a dedicated 23:52 Seventh-day Adventist Christian, 23:53 a follower of Jesus is a long process. 23:57 And God can do it quickly and miraculously, 23:59 but it takes that dedicated love. 24:02 And I want to encourage 24:04 those who are listening, to think. 24:05 We can do this. This is not so hard. 24:07 I don't have to know all about these religions to reach them, 24:10 but I just have to be in the process of saying, 24:13 "God, please use me. 24:14 And when you think of what one person may do, 24:17 think of the Apostle Paul, 24:18 and what he was able to accomplish for God 24:21 Think of the international students that are here, 24:23 these are the world leaders, or future world leaders. 24:26 And they're here for four years, 24:27 six years, short time. 24:29 But 80% of them go back 24:31 having never been in a Christian church, 24:33 75% say they never had an American friend. 24:37 And we can change that. 24:39 You know, Isaiah 60, I think it's verse 22, 24:41 it says, "A little one will become a thousand, 24:43 and a small one, a strong nation. 24:45 I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time." 24:47 That's what God wants to do. 24:49 And you may be tired, you may think you have no time, 24:52 but if you just reach out to one, 24:54 and I did that on a shuttle, 24:56 when I was tired coming back from an overseas trip, 24:59 and I smiled at a young girl from China. 25:02 She smiled back and wanted to talk. 25:04 We made a friendship, brought her to the house, 25:07 got to know my wife, she began coming to church, 25:10 profess some belief in Jesus, then found her husband, 25:13 he was from a somewhat Christian background, 25:16 and just the other day, 25:18 I was saying to our students behind us, 25:19 we haven't learned much English, 25:21 and the Chinese speaking ones were there, 25:23 and, I mean, we haven't learned much Chinese 25:26 and all about, all I know, is Shasha, 25:28 and she said that's right, Shun Shun, 25:30 I need to get in touch with her, 25:31 'cause she had met 25:32 our international student friend, 25:34 whose name is Shun Shun, 25:35 she confused it with what I was saying, 25:38 called her that night 25:39 and set up Bible studies with her over the phone. 25:41 Wow! 25:42 So who knows what Shun Shun will do for the Lord, 25:45 but we need to just be thinking one person. 25:48 Absolutely. 25:51 You guys are doing 25:52 such amazing things by the grace of God. 25:54 How do people get involved, 25:56 and what are some of your needs? 25:59 Okay, let me say two ways, big ways to get involved. 26:02 The first one is come join us. Okay. 26:04 We just want to invite anyone who's listening to this, 26:07 who wants to be a missionary anywhere 26:08 in the world to seriously consider, 26:11 go to reach theworldnextdoor.com, 26:14 and apply, and go through that process and come. 26:17 We've got a huge mission field, and we have missionaries, 26:21 experienced missionaries 26:22 who will mentor you as you reach out. 26:24 Second thing is if you can't come, go online, 26:26 there's an online training kit by the same name 26:29 and you can do that with your family, 26:31 or with a small group in your church, 26:33 and begin reaching your local community. 26:35 It's just there. 26:37 If you want to give financially, 26:39 you can go to the same sites, 26:40 or also directly to ASAPMinistries.org, 26:44 and that students need sponsorship, 26:47 even some of our students right now are needing 26:50 that help and other things, it's a developing program. 26:53 Yeah, it's just started, we just opened up in August. 26:55 Yeah, just recently. Wow! Wow! 26:59 So our program runs from August to May. 27:02 And so, that's the time, kind of, a school timeframe, 27:06 and if people really, 27:08 you know, just love the people and don't want to leave them, 27:10 they can stay on another year internship. 27:12 Wow! 27:13 So they can stay on an additional year, 27:15 that is great. 27:16 What are other things that you have coming up next, 27:19 in the short time we have left. 27:21 What are some things that you have coming up? 27:24 Well, we continue 27:25 with the program till it finishes for this year, 27:28 and then revamp, re-look at it, always seeking to improve it, 27:32 partnering with the local churches 27:34 to reach out, and just praying 27:38 and asking God to finish His work, 27:40 'cause we need this everywhere. 27:42 And more labors, more labors in the field. 27:45 That's a big thing. Yes, yes, absolutely. 27:47 Well, thank you so much for coming on 27:50 and sharing with us. 27:51 I'll reach over there to you, 27:54 and thank you so much for joining us. 27:56 Make sure that you get involved in the mission field. 28:00 Well, we've reached the end of another program. 28:02 Join us next time, and remember, 28:04 it just wouldn't be the same without you. |
Revised 2018-04-26