Participants:
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR190016A
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00:01 Stay tuned to meet two people
00:02 whose life is nothing short of a miracle. 00:04 My name is Jason Bradley, 00:05 and you're watching Urban Report. 00:30 Hello, and welcome to Urban Report. 00:32 My guests today are Pastor David Guerrero 00:34 and he is the Speaker and Director 00:36 of Rekindle the Flame Ministries 00:38 and Joshua Guerrero, 00:39 he is also the Speaker and Director 00:41 of Rekindle the Flame Ministries. 00:43 Welcome to Urban Report, guys. 00:45 Thank you. Thanks for having us... 00:47 It's great to have you here. 00:49 You know, we go pretty far back since New York Times. 00:52 Yes. 00:54 Kingston, New York, Eddyville, New York. 00:55 That's right. Poughkeepsie, New York. 00:57 That's right. 00:58 And you're no stranger 00:59 to the Dare to Dream Network or 3ABN. 01:03 But we've got Joshua here with us today. 01:06 And I want to find out a little bit about, 01:08 you know, both of your backgrounds. 01:11 Let's start with you first, Joshua. 01:12 Sure. 01:14 Well, my name is Joshua Guerrero, 01:15 and I'm a Speaker/Director 01:17 of Rekindle the Flame Ministries, 01:18 but my specific task 01:20 is actually to work on our public university campus, 01:23 University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. 01:25 And actually, we had you, Jason, 01:26 just come and speak to our campus 01:28 about a month ago. 01:30 I'm just helping students see the reality of the gospel 01:32 and how it transforms lives. 01:34 A lot of students just add in here, 01:37 a lot of students came back from that really challenged 01:40 and really encouraged, even one student 01:41 that's not an Adventist, 01:43 he really is interested in studies live to Christ, 01:46 and so I'm really... 01:47 Oh, wow! 01:49 I'm really encouraged by that and I'm just so thankful 01:50 that you came and shared your testimony with us. 01:52 Oh, praise the Lord. 01:53 Well, I was thankful for the invitation 01:54 and it was great to see, 01:56 you know, what you have going on, 01:58 on that campus, because it's a secular campus. 02:00 Right. 02:02 But yet, you know, you're trying to reach them 02:04 with the Gospel of Jesus Christ 02:06 and introduce them to Christ. 02:08 So I want to dive deeper into that 02:10 a little bit later in the program 02:12 and talk about what you have going on 02:14 with the public campus ministries 02:16 and all of that. 02:18 Pastor Guerrero, you know, in the intro, 02:21 I talked about how you are two walking miracles. 02:26 Okay. 02:27 I want you to touch on that, because when I was there 02:30 in Stevens Point, you shared with me 02:32 a little bit about your testimony 02:34 and I was blown away. 02:35 Okay. 02:38 In 1990, well, the early '90s, 02:40 1990s I was attending, while beginning to attend. 02:46 It was in Oakland College 02:47 before it was Oakland University. 02:49 And I became discouraged while attending school 02:54 and it was... 02:56 It wasn't anybody's fault. 02:58 It was my response 03:00 to difficulty and challenges at the school 03:03 that I decided that I was going to pull away 03:07 from the school. 03:08 And while I was there in Huntsville, 03:10 I pulled away from the Lord. 03:13 During that experience, 03:14 I decided to remain there in Huntsville. 03:16 I had a job 03:18 and I was dating someone I was very fond of, 03:21 and I was just working and I was kind of enjoying life 03:24 away from God. 03:26 And then things started to take a turn for the... 03:30 I would say for the worse. 03:32 My job was a little bit in jeopardy, 03:34 because I was under some stress. 03:36 The person that I was dating, which I was very fond of 03:39 and we were thinking about becoming very serious, 03:43 she became... 03:45 Well, she was unfaithful, that hit me. 03:48 Then, my job situation got very difficult and challenging, 03:53 and they were looking at making some shift, 03:56 so I was looking at losing my job. 03:57 And then I got a phone call from my stepfather, 03:59 he called me and he said, 04:01 "David, we need you to come home, 04:03 because it doesn't look like your mother's gonna make it." 04:05 And he explained to me that she had cancer. 04:08 Yeah. 04:09 I became overwhelmed at that time in my life 04:12 and so I decided 04:15 that I was going to take my life. 04:17 And upon that news, getting that news, 04:22 I went to the grocery store, I got about... 04:26 It was a bottle of aspirins I bought, 04:29 and I took about 100 of them. 04:30 I sat there in the bathroom and this was intentional. 04:32 Wow! 04:33 I locked the bathroom door, I put on the shower, 04:35 because I had two roommates 04:36 I said, "If they come in and they hear." 04:39 Yeah. 04:41 That shower going, 04:42 they'll think I'm taking a shower. 04:43 And so I slowly just one by one I took every aspirin. 04:49 Now, they tell me this, these were my roommates. 04:51 They said, "First, they thought I was taking a shower." 04:54 They said, "It's taking too long." 04:55 Yeah. 04:56 And so they got the door open, 04:58 they said, "I was laying there." 04:59 They brought me to the vehicle, their vehicle, 05:01 rushed me to the hospital. 05:03 And they tell me this, because I wasn't aware of this. 05:05 They said the doctor said that, 05:07 "If they had been 30 seconds late 05:09 that I would have lost my life." 05:10 Wow! 05:12 Now, while I was in the hospital, 05:15 so now I'm there, 05:17 all I recall is that the doctors were saying 05:19 some things about me and dying, and I could hear faintly, 05:22 and I remember really thinking about what I had done. 05:27 And I felt bad about that and so, I prayed there 05:32 and I said, "Lord you know, if You would just save me, 05:36 I will give you the rest of my life. 05:38 I'll surrender my life to you." 05:40 Wow! 05:41 And it was almost instantaneously 05:42 and I know this is hard to believe, 05:44 I sensed His power come upon me. 05:48 I sat up 05:50 there in the hospital room, 05:52 I threw up 05:55 and I looked at everyone there and said, "I'm okay." 05:59 And everyone kinda looked at me and said, "Huh?" 06:02 I said, "I am okay," and I was sober. 06:04 I was sober. Wow! 06:06 The doctors left the room, 06:07 they brought some people to talk to me 06:09 and I said, "Listen, I'm gonna go home 06:10 because I'm okay, I'm sober." 06:13 They were shocked. 06:15 You know, I attribute it to the power of God 06:17 that came in that room. 06:19 And I left that evening, 06:22 I walked from that place, 06:23 from the hospital five miles to my apartment, 06:26 my two roommates looked at me, 06:28 as if they were looking at a dead man living, 06:30 and they said, "What happened?" 06:33 And I shared with them what God had done in my life. 06:35 And from that day forward, 06:38 one, I submitted my life to God. 06:40 And it wasn't that I just jumped into ministry right away 06:42 or just ran the church, 06:43 but I've made a covenant with the Lord, 06:45 and slowly but surely God continued 06:47 to work in my life 06:49 after I had surrendered my life to Him. 06:51 Yes. Brought hope into my life. 06:53 And then I once again 06:55 reinvested my life into the life of the church, 06:57 became a church elder, 06:58 became a pastor, and later on in life, 07:01 we would start Rekindle the Flame Ministries. 07:03 Wow! 07:04 And see that is a very powerful testimony. 07:08 Were your roommates in the church, were they? 07:11 None of us were in the church. No? Okay. 07:12 We all were in the church 07:15 and the three of us had come up, 07:17 you know, we had left the church. 07:19 How did that situation impact them? 07:21 Well, you know, I know that one of them 07:25 from what I remember recall, came back to the church, 07:28 the other one we stayed in contact with, 07:30 well, you know, well, I stayed in contact with him. 07:33 To this day, I can't recall if he's back in church. 07:37 You know, we stayed in contact for some time 07:39 and over the years, we kinda became distant. 07:41 Okay. But I know the other one did. 07:44 Yes. He did return to church. 07:45 Okay. Yes. 07:47 So then you started Rekindle the Flame Ministries, 07:49 why the name Rekindle the Flame? 07:51 Well, Rekindle the Flame Ministries, 07:53 you know, it had a very interesting start. 07:54 My wife and I, 07:57 and now this is years, 07:58 you know, you go from that moment, 08:00 God is moving in our lives and now we start this ministry. 08:03 We began to meet people in the church 08:04 where we were pastoring in the area where we were, 08:07 and even some people in conference office 08:10 and so on and so forth, who were sharing with us 08:12 very privately that while they were in church, 08:15 they really didn't have a relationship with Christ. 08:18 And so we began to minister to individuals, 08:22 and families, and we began to help them 08:24 to rekindle that flame for the Lord. 08:27 Nice. 08:28 And from that moment on, 08:30 it just continued to grow and grow into, 08:33 you know, where we are today. 08:34 And so we continued to help people to find Christ 08:39 and rekindle that flame for the Lord. 08:42 Amen. 08:43 And, Joshua, how did you get involved 08:45 at Rekindle the Flame? 08:47 Sure. Now, that's good question. 08:49 So I think the first way, time I got involved was 08:52 kind of in small ways, actually. 08:54 My dad kinda gave me some things 08:55 to do in the ministry, 08:56 just to like, you know, help with bookkeeping 08:58 or just like, you know, clean the office or whatever. 09:00 But as I got older, I really got passionate about 09:04 my local university on public campus ministries 09:06 and so this is how I started getting involved 09:08 and then with my dad, 09:10 he kinda coached me 09:13 and helped me kinda get involved in that process, 09:15 as well as many other people that kinda got, 09:17 we launched into that, so, but... 09:19 So, that's how I kinda jumped into that. 09:21 That's how you jumped in. Yeah. 09:22 And how have you liked it thus far? 09:25 Okay. Yeah. 09:26 So I kinda use the word like, I mean, I really love it. 09:29 I mean, so God has really put this passion in my heart. 09:33 It's really interesting back 09:34 when I was graduating high school. 09:37 I want to do something to reach my friends 09:39 that weren't going to church anymore. 09:41 A lot of my friends kinda grew from Pathfinder, 09:43 we did a lot of youth programs, 09:45 but most of them 09:48 have stopped going to church or following Christ. 09:52 And so that really hit me hard because as a young person, 09:55 I struggle with my faith. 09:56 Yeah. 09:58 And I found Christ to be everything I was looking for, 09:59 I found that in Christ, He'll never let you down 10:01 and He always has a purpose for your life 10:04 than doing your own desires while they may be 10:08 pleasant for a season, eventually they run out 10:11 and you're filled with depression, 10:13 you're filled with discouragement. 10:14 Yeah. 10:15 So I wanted to do something to help my generation 10:17 come back to Christ. 10:19 And so... Wow! 10:21 Statistics are right now that 70% of young people 10:23 have walked away from Christianity, 10:25 and that's a huge number. 10:26 Wow! Seventy percent? 10:28 Yep, 70%. Wow! 10:30 And so... 10:32 What do you think that's attributed to? 10:33 Yeah. I think the main reason has to do... 10:36 Well, two main reasons actually. 10:38 The first one is a personal relationship with Christ. 10:41 A lot of young people 10:44 is kinda like cultural Christianity. 10:45 They grew up with it, but they never actually know 10:47 what it is. 10:48 So once they reached the age 10:50 where they're kind of independent, 10:51 they're like, "Well, you know what, 10:52 I want to do my own thing," 10:54 but that's because they never found Christ for themselves. 10:55 Yes. They were... 10:57 So it's not real to them. 10:58 Surviving off relationship that their parents had 11:00 basically the grandparents. 11:02 So they end up going to colleges and then... 11:04 so that they're spoon fed 11:05 Christianity when they're younger, 11:07 when they go to college and they just get 11:08 spoon fed something else, thinking that 11:09 they're trying to be independent, 11:11 but really, they never actually got off the 11:13 spoon feeding process. 11:14 They're just still in it, 11:16 they never become truly independent. 11:17 Meaning that, true independence is finding, 11:20 thinking things through critically 11:22 and finding Christ for yourself, you know. 11:23 Yes, yes. 11:25 And so, 11:26 that was what I wanted to kinda get involved 11:28 with those helping young people, 11:30 you know, find out, 11:31 "Okay, how do we get over this barrier 11:33 of Christianity being something that's not real?" 11:37 It's more just, you know, form tradition now. 11:38 Yeah. So became more experiential. 11:40 Yeah. Yes. 11:42 Experiencing the gospel. Yeah. 11:43 So, yeah. 11:45 Bring it to light. It's the living word. 11:47 Right. Yeah. 11:48 But still bringing it to life in the eyes of others, as well. 11:53 So with the public campus ministries, 11:55 what types of things do you do 11:57 and how do you reach people on campus? 12:00 Yeah, great question. 12:02 So, a lot of what we do is, there's three ways we do it, 12:04 spiritual, physical, and mental. 12:08 And so in the spiritual realm, we do something called 12:11 discussion night and we do discipleship. 12:15 Physically, we do outreach in the community, 12:18 doing community service, Salvation Army, 12:20 and then doing exercise groups. 12:23 Like last semester, we did like a running group. 12:25 We go running through the trails 12:27 and do 5Ks or whatever. 12:28 That's been really fun. Nice. 12:30 And then also just going hiking, 12:33 see, that's been really great just like that. 12:36 So you're impacting the community, 12:37 you're helping the community. 12:39 You guys are doing positive things 12:40 in the community 12:42 and then you're also spending time in nature 12:44 and, you know, drawing closer to God... 12:46 Right, God's second look. 12:48 And that brought us well and fellowshipping together. 12:49 Yeah. 12:51 And a big thing for college students 12:52 is community and so that's one thing 12:54 we really try to foster at each of those sections, 12:56 so spiritual, physical, and mental, 12:58 as community and knowing that there's a group of people 13:00 that care about you. 13:02 And they want to make feel real. 13:04 And so that's what makes all the difference in the world. 13:08 And, you know, when we were at the Ministry House, 13:12 you had a group of people that came out, 13:14 you know, we were talking, we had snacks. 13:16 I love snacks. Yeah. 13:17 Right, I love snacks. 13:19 So we had snacks, we were talking. 13:22 And then this young lady started to open up 13:24 and shared about her life. 13:25 Yes. That was a powerful time. 13:26 And she really, she was very transparent. 13:30 And I think that that is important. 13:33 It was like a safe space. 13:35 You know, and I think that's important, 13:37 especially for, you know, the college age students, 13:41 they want to feel like they're in a safe space, 13:44 so where they can share, and open up, and be vulnerable. 13:49 And, you know, you provide them 13:50 with the gospel. 13:51 Right. 13:53 And so yeah, that was a tremendous blessing. 13:55 We actually... 13:56 Yes, it was. 13:58 We actually have some pictures that I want to, 14:00 you know, put up and just tell us briefly 14:02 what's going on in each one of these picture. 14:04 Sure. Okay. 14:05 So this picture right here, 14:07 we're actually at one of the nursing homes 14:08 and we're just kinda volunteering, 14:10 just helping the residency on the Spirit of Christmas 14:13 and just helping them really get closer to Christ. 14:15 So that's my sister, Holly and Hunter there so, 14:18 that was a lot of fun, we really enjoy just... 14:19 So that's the gospel in action. 14:21 Yeah, really. That's what it is. 14:22 Oh! 14:24 This picture here is Josh Gale, me, and my sister. 14:27 Right there, we're setting up for Involvement Fair. 14:29 And The Involvement Fair is a chance for us to 14:31 get the word out about our club on campus 14:33 and get to meet new students, 14:35 kinda like a community fair, so that was a lot of fun. 14:39 All right, yeah. 14:41 That's our annual Father/Daughter Retreat 14:43 in northern Wisconsin, 14:44 where we have fathers and daughters come together. 14:46 And I share messages on how to have an effective 14:51 relationship with, you know, your daughters 14:52 and then also encouraging the daughters to live 14:55 in a vibrant lives for Jesus Christ. 14:58 Wonderful retreat. 14:59 Yeah, this actually this picture here, 15:01 this when Jason came a month ago 15:03 onto our campus and we're just setting up 15:06 the booth outside of the theater, 15:07 just kinda getting ready for students to come. 15:10 That was a really fun time, 15:12 just working together as a team. 15:13 There he is. There is Jason right there. 15:15 So right in Campus University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point 15:18 so... 15:19 That was a great time, Jason. 15:20 Yeah, that one was a great time. 15:22 What's going on in this picture? 15:24 Yeah, so that's four of us helping out 15:25 at The Salvation Army. 15:27 And we're serving people that are either homeless, 15:29 you know, they're on drugs, 15:31 and you know, they're really down in their own life, 15:32 but we get the chance to kinda serve them a meal. 15:35 So this Sabbath afternoon I think so. 15:37 Nice. So practical Christianity. 15:40 Yes. 15:41 It was wonderful and nice to be at Stevens Point. 15:46 I felt kind of like a professor though 15:48 I wasn't kind of persona, different but... 15:50 Sure. But yeah, I had the... 15:52 Professor for 15 minutes, right? 15:53 Yeah, that's right. That's right. 15:56 Okay, so tell me a little bit about 15:59 Rekindle the Flame Ministries 16:01 from your side of things, Pastor Guerrero. 16:04 Okay, that's a good question. 16:05 You know, Rekindle the Flame Ministries 16:08 is a Christ's methods ministry. 16:11 Where we seek to meet people's needs practically, 16:17 we also offer Christian counseling, 16:20 life coaching, 16:21 marriage coaching, health and wellness coaching, 16:24 leadership coaching, coaching excuse me, 16:26 and also life changing seminars. 16:28 Wow! 16:29 And we focus on the community 16:34 and reaching the community. 16:36 And then we also come alongside the churches 16:38 and help them work through kind of like a discipleship 16:41 process of showing them 16:42 how to make disciples for Jesus Christ. 16:44 That's the objective is to make 16:47 followers of Christ and make them disciple, 16:49 so they can go and then make other disciples. 16:51 And so we do that on a regular basis. 16:53 I'll give you one example, just the other day, 16:55 we had an organization call our ministry 16:57 and asked that if we could go into a place 17:00 where this gentleman who didn't know English 17:02 and I know Spanish, and he spoke Spanish. 17:05 If I could translate and get an understanding 17:06 of what was happening in his life. 17:08 We setup the appointment, I went to the home, 17:11 I was able to understand the gentleman 17:13 and share what he really was needing. 17:16 He was able to talk to his sister 17:17 for the first time in almost 18 months 17:20 because no one could understand it... 17:21 And he said, all he wants to do is call his sister. 17:24 And so I got on the phone. I said, hi to sister. 17:26 I talked to her in Spanish. 17:27 And, you know, she started to cry 17:29 when I said, "You know, have your brother on the line." 17:31 And they were kind of reunited on the phone. 17:34 And now we're building relationship, 17:35 you know, with him. 17:36 I've connected him with some of the... 17:39 While I'm gonna be connecting with him this week 17:41 or this happened last week with the Spanish church there, 17:43 they're gonna build the relationship. 17:44 And now we introduce him to our special message. 17:48 Nice. So that's what we do. 17:51 And so tell me about Christ's method. 17:55 Because I know that you implement that 17:57 in reaching people. 17:59 So tell us about Christ's method, 18:00 maybe there's somebody out there that doesn't know 18:02 what Christ's method is, break that down? 18:04 Yeah, you know, in Ministry of Healing, 18:06 page 145, she says, 18:08 "Christ's method alone will give us true success." 18:10 You know, the Savior mingled with people as one who... 18:15 He had his best interest and so He desired the best. 18:18 And so He met their needs, He showed sympathy to them 18:21 and compassion. 18:22 He won their confidence and he said, 18:23 "Come and follow Me." 18:25 That's Christ's method. Nice. 18:26 And so our method is the same thing, 18:28 is that we get a sense of what are the needs in society 18:32 or in the community, 18:34 they may be at the campus ministry, 18:38 maybe that they need life coaching, 18:39 or Christian counseling. 18:41 They may need food or just someone to pay them a visit. 18:45 And so we meet those needs 18:46 and we win their confidence, 18:48 we show them sympathy, 18:49 and then we invite them to follow the Savior. 18:51 Amen. Amen. 18:53 Now I see the passion that's in Joshua, 18:57 for spreading the gospel. 18:59 What type of lessons did you instill in your children 19:02 as they were growing up? 19:03 That's a good question. 19:05 First, I want to say is that, "No family is perfect." 19:07 And so I have flaws. 19:08 And I think my wife and children will be the first 19:11 to say, "Yes, he does." 19:15 You know, I think that my children, first of all, 19:18 is that you have to live what you're preaching, 19:21 and even when you make mistakes, 19:23 be able to come to your family, come to your children say, 19:26 "That was wrong, please forgive me. 19:28 I should have never done that." 19:30 Yeah. 19:31 But the thing that we have 19:32 instilled with them is one service. 19:34 That we're here as an instrument of God 19:37 to serve others and not ourselves. 19:39 Two, within our home, 19:41 you know, we have morning and evening worship. 19:46 And it's not just worship, 19:47 you know, we come and we talk about God 19:49 and we begin to share the things 19:52 that are happening in our lives, 19:53 that we were having victory 19:55 or that we were having struggles, 19:57 and then we turn to the Word of God and we say, 19:58 "Well, what does God 20:00 have to say about this to help us." 20:01 Yes. 20:04 You know, we have an open door policy. 20:07 And there're two things that we do there. 20:10 Every Monday, you know, you will find on my smartphone, 20:13 you know, it reminds me that Monday evening 20:17 at around 6 o'clock that I have an appointment and I rotate 20:20 and I go through my children, 20:22 you know, each Monday evening where we spend time together, 20:24 just talking about life 20:26 and just sharing with one another, 20:27 what's happening, the victories they were having, 20:29 you know, and the things they were struggling with, 20:31 and we pray for one another. 20:32 And that's a decidedly process. 20:35 And then we have and my wife is brilliant at this. 20:38 She has talk time, and I'm often there, 20:40 but not all the time because of my schedule. 20:42 Talk time where we meet with our children 20:45 and they have that hour to just share with us 20:48 what's going on in their lives, 20:50 and the things that they're struggling with, 20:53 or maybe some things that they need help with, 20:55 and so we come up with a plan to help them live the life 21:01 of a vibrant Christian. 21:02 Wow! 21:03 Those are some of the things that we do. 21:05 Yeah. That was excellent. 21:07 And I can see that it's made an impact in Joshua's life. 21:10 You also wrote a book and what's your book entitled? 21:13 Yes, there's a book that I've written, 21:15 it has been out since about 2000. 21:17 Now, I try to remember the date, seven or nine. 21:21 It's called, 21:22 "Fatherhood, Reclaiming Your God-Given Role." 21:25 And basically, it outlines for men 21:27 how to be a biblical father. 21:29 It talks about the father as priest of the home, 21:33 you know, the father as prophet, 21:34 meaning that he proclaims the word, 21:36 and then the father as king, not as a tyrannical leader, 21:39 but as a serving leader. 21:41 And then it shares how to have a relationship with your wife, 21:44 and how to have relationship with your children, 21:47 and how to have relationship in the community. 21:49 Then, the last chapter shares with the father and/or men, 21:53 because this is a book for men as well, 21:55 you know, how to start building 21:58 taking the steps 21:59 to become a much more effective Christian man 22:03 and a much more effective Christian father. 22:06 And sometimes I host seminars 22:07 and conferences on that very topic. 22:10 Oh, wow! Yes. 22:11 So if somebody wanted to say they want to book you 22:14 for a seminar, how do they go about doing that? 22:16 They can call us at 715-310-2196. 22:22 Okay. Or they can go to our website. 22:24 Okay. What's your website? 22:26 Our website is 22:27 www.rekindletheflameministries .org 22:33 And also we do Christian coaching 22:35 and actually we're in the process 22:38 of building a network of Christian coaches, 22:40 training them and certifying them, 22:41 because I'm a Christian coach trainer, 22:43 and they can go to adventistchristiancoaching.com 22:47 Okay. 22:48 And they can find out a lot about of what we do 22:50 and how we network with other people, 22:52 we train and disciple others, 22:53 so they can implement Christ's method alone 22:57 which will give them true success. 23:00 And we feel that gives anybody true success 23:03 as they follow Christ's method. 23:04 Amen. 23:06 And, Joshua, what's next with you 23:08 or for you with campus ministries? 23:11 Yeah, great question. 23:12 So right now we're in the process 23:14 of really establishing a center on campus where we are. 23:17 We've had a house we're renting 23:20 across the street from university 23:21 for about a year or so. 23:25 And just like you said, it's really safe space 23:27 like we had when you were there just to have people come. 23:29 Yes. 23:31 And share their story, fellowship with us 23:32 get to know us better, 23:34 and worship God, it's really been a blessing. 23:36 So we're just asking God and just praying, like, 23:39 "What He wants to do next with it 23:40 and how we can make it more of a sustainable thing 23:43 and make it more established." 23:45 Yes. 23:46 And so, right now we're just really praying as a team, 23:48 how we can do that. 23:49 And so that's the biggest, I think, thing next for us. 23:53 I got you. I got you. 23:54 And Joshua has been an inspiration to me, 23:56 because when he first started this, 23:58 one of the questions I asked him, 24:00 I said, "Well, how are we going to fund this?" 24:03 And he said, "Dad, you know, 24:04 like you've taught me this, it's by faith." 24:05 Amen. 24:07 And so each month the Lord does provide 24:08 the financial means... 24:10 For needs. Yes. 24:11 To take care of that campus house. 24:13 Yeah. And so God does amazing things. 24:15 And so he has been an encouragement to me 24:18 as he stepped out in faith and said, 24:19 "God will provide each and every month 24:21 for this ministry." 24:22 Yes. 24:24 And speaking of that provision, 24:25 what are some of your needs as a ministry? 24:28 Well, the first need is prayer. Yes. 24:30 You know, like, we always need prayer. 24:32 You know, the second is with the campus ministries. 24:34 You know, it does cost, 24:37 you know, to rent the house and to get the materials there. 24:41 And then we have our monthly, you know, functioning well, 24:44 yes, our operational needs for the honorariums 24:47 and the traveling. 24:49 And when we have people on a regular basis 24:51 come to our home, and we meet their needs to the resources 24:55 of what we have there. 24:57 And it happens because people support the ministry, 25:00 so we're able to feed them, we're able to, 25:01 you know, to do things on our 22 acres. 25:06 Just recently, we put together a plan 25:08 because a lady in our community lost her husband 25:11 and she needed to replace her roof. 25:13 And so we said, "You know what? 25:15 Our ministry is going to come behind her." 25:16 And we made a cry and a call for, 25:18 you know, assistance and help. 25:19 And we just helped that individual, 25:22 so that they can get their life back in order, 25:25 but they can get the Christian support that they need. 25:29 And that opens just 25:30 tremendous doors for reaching them. 25:32 Yeah. 25:33 Because when you reach their heart 25:35 and then you introduce them to the God 25:36 who's able to supply for all of our needs, 25:39 according to His riches and glory. 25:40 Amen. So you're meeting their needs. 25:43 This is practical Christianity, practical Christianity. 25:47 Amen. 25:48 What's the testimonial that you have? 25:50 Maybe one, we're short on time, 25:52 but one testimony that you may have, 25:55 how somebody has been impacted besides 25:57 the individual whose roof you helped with? 26:01 Well, you know, it goes back to 26:03 and I mentioned it in brief just earlier. 26:06 Was getting that call 26:07 and this was just the other day, 26:09 you know the gentleman here he is in the community. 26:13 People there and I believe it was by divine providence. 26:17 I couldn't understand him. 26:19 Someone there say, "Hey, you know what, 26:21 I know a pastor, I know a ministry, 26:23 that this is what they do. 26:24 They come into a situation, and they'll help," 26:28 and then we getting the call, and just going there, 26:32 and just listening, listening to his story, 26:36 encouraging him, but most importantly, 26:39 connecting him one with his family once again, 26:42 and then having the opportunity to talk about Christ 26:45 and connecting him to Christ, and then saying, "Can I return? 26:49 And can we together, journey together as friends 26:52 have a deeper relationship with Christ?" 26:54 And he said, "Yes." 26:55 He said, "Come, please come back." 26:57 And he said, "I haven't been to church in a long time. 27:01 He said, "I am a Pentecostal." 27:02 And I said, "Hey, God loves us all, right? 27:04 He loves Adventists or Pentecostals, he, 27:07 you know, he does. 27:08 You know, we're all God's children." 27:10 And for him to say, "Yes, let's continue 27:13 to build this relationship and grow in Christ together." 27:17 And I know that overtime, that God is gonna do 27:19 what He does best, bring people closer to Him, 27:23 but also bring them to those distinctive truths 27:25 that we have for the world today. 27:28 So he may embrace the Adventist message one day. 27:33 Yeah. Yes, yes. 27:34 And so that's amazing. 27:37 You know, to sit here and look at a father and son 27:40 in ministry together on fire for the Lord 27:42 and reaching people in very practical ways 27:44 and implementing Christ's method, 27:47 that's something you don't really get to see very often. 27:52 To God be the glory and I look back some time 27:54 and I say, "You know what, 27:55 this could have only been to the God's grace 27:58 and His power." 28:00 Amen. Well, thank you for joining us. 28:01 And thank you. 28:03 Until next time, God bless. |
Revised 2024-06-26