Participants:
Series Code: ASIC
Program Code: ASIC000001A
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00:20 Welcome to the 70th ASI International Convention.
00:25 And I'll greet you warmly 00:27 on behalf of the Texas Conference, 00:29 50,000 to 80,000 members here in Texas 00:32 and we greet you and will walk with you 00:36 is our prayer that at the end of this convention 00:39 that we'll leave this place feeling more called, 00:42 more chosen, and more committed 00:44 to do what God has called us to do 00:46 and to haste in His soon coming. 00:48 I welcome you here to Houston 00:50 and may God bless you in your stay here. 00:54 It's a privilege tonight 00:55 to welcome our ASI family to Texas. 00:57 Thank you for allowing us to join you here. 01:00 And the Texas Conference has been busy 01:04 helping us actually prepare for this event. 01:06 We had a Health Expo here today, 01:07 a lot of stuff is going on in preparation for the meeting. 01:11 So we're just happy 01:12 that each one of you has joined us here 01:13 this evening. 01:15 And we're praying 01:16 that God will grant us a special blessing. 01:18 You know, Texas is a big place, isn't it? 01:20 Is that what I heard? I heard a rumor. 01:22 That the Lone Star... 01:24 Everything's big in Texas. 01:26 Well, we're looking for a big blessing in Texas. 01:28 Amen. 01:29 And just, again, we're happy that each one of you 01:32 have come here to join us for this convention. 01:35 And we are also praying 01:38 that the Holy Spirit will do something 01:41 in a very individual way. 01:43 A general way to... 01:45 We want the Holy Spirit to be present here with us 01:47 in our meetings. 01:48 But we want the Holy Spirit to do 01:50 something in your life individually. 01:53 We want the Holy Spirit to take over your heart 01:56 and to impress you personally 01:58 about what you should be doing for God's work. 02:01 And so tonight, again, we just thank you that you have come. 02:04 We welcome you. 02:06 And if you are here and you run across something you need, 02:11 contact one of the ASI staff members 02:13 and have them assist you with that. 02:16 We're also gonna pray for you tonight. 02:18 Elton is gonna pray for us 02:19 as we begin our session tonight. 02:21 Thank you so much for joining us 02:22 and for praying for us. 02:24 Amen. 02:25 Let us all bow our heads together for prayer. 02:28 Our most gracious Heavenly Father, 02:30 we come before You this evening in the name of Jesus. 02:34 And we're thankful that You brought us here safely, 02:37 we're thankful that You brought us here, 02:38 Father, to this convention so that we can have more tools 02:42 to continue to work for you. 02:44 And, Lord, I pray that you will bless us 02:47 during our time together that in everything we do, 02:50 Father, may You be present. 02:51 And we pray for Your Holy Spirit 02:53 to touch our hearts in a mighty way 02:56 that when we leave this place, this convention, 02:59 Father, we will leave with the desire 03:01 to continue to work for You, to finish the work, 03:04 so You can come and take us home. 03:06 So bless each participant, 03:07 bless each individual that are here tonight, 03:10 and those who are still traveling, Father, 03:12 we pray for traveling mercies, 03:14 we place this convention in Your hands. 03:16 In Jesus' precious name we pray, amen. 03:19 Amen. 03:36 Have you ever wondered where we began? 03:40 The spark to begin this movement? 03:46 Remember. 03:48 It took me a long, long time to learn to really believe 03:52 that all things worked together for good 03:55 to those who love the Lord. 03:58 I still will have to learn many more things, 04:01 but I have been led over a path 04:05 that has helped me to stabilize my faith 04:12 that great truth can be depended upon 04:18 if one will only stay by the Lord. 04:22 Under her guidance, this college was established. 04:26 Self-supporting, inspiring, educating, 04:29 the foundation was laid. 04:32 Ministries sprang up all over the world, 04:34 lay members and church leaders 04:36 burned to join ministry with the church, 04:39 ASI was born. 04:43 Today, 04:44 ASI continues with the example of the Apostle Paul, 04:48 sharing Jesus Christ in the marketplace. 04:52 Business professionals were needed on the team 04:55 and as ministry and business united 04:57 in the efforts, a dynamic network was formed. 05:01 Every day ASI members and ministries 05:04 carry the light to mission fields 05:06 across the North American division 05:08 and the whole world. 05:14 It's important to be a part of ASI 05:16 because I'm able to share my gifts 05:18 with the team of people in so many ways worldwide. 05:22 It's not just a blessing to the people I teach, 05:24 it's a blessing to me as well. 05:28 Building a One-Day Church is a really special experience 05:34 because you get to come in here 05:36 and these people sometimes don't even have a church 05:39 or whatever they built for themselves 05:41 and it's really special, 05:44 you see them come to you, they're all happy, 05:46 they come shake your hand and say, 05:47 "Thank you, thank you." 05:49 They value the church so much. 05:51 And building it, you know, 05:52 it's a good build, it's not hard, 05:55 I didn't have to go through any special training to do it, 05:58 but the rewards from it are incredible, 06:01 such an experience. 06:03 It's a great opportunity to be part of ASI 06:06 as a business 06:08 because it's God who gave us these businesses 06:10 in the first place. 06:12 And now being a part of the ASI family, 06:15 I can work together in a strategic way 06:17 to use my business to multiply the kingdom of God 06:20 in a way that I never could have done before. 06:23 Well, you know, I think that this whole program 06:28 says two or three important things. 06:29 Number one, it says, I can be involved, 06:34 no matter who I am, no matter what my skill level 06:37 or what my talents I can be involved. 06:38 And that really is a message for the whole church. 06:41 The takeaway is we can work together, 06:45 we can build a community 06:48 that goes beyond what differences we have. 06:54 Healing, 06:56 teaching, 06:58 training, 07:00 sharing, 07:02 proclaiming, 07:05 building faith, 07:07 restoring, 07:09 this is what we do. 07:11 This is who we are. 07:13 The tribulation will bring about good 07:18 and mellow one. 07:21 Make one more efficient, 07:24 and more capable working for the Lord 07:29 is a hard experience to learn. 07:33 If I'd had my way when I started out, 07:36 I never would have traveled 07:39 or would never have chosen to travel over a road 07:43 that had in it tribulations. 07:45 I would have always looked for a road 07:47 that was free from those, because as a young man, 07:53 I'd dodged every time I could 07:56 anything that was hard and difficult. 07:59 And when I was in medical school, 08:01 I found that even young people that were old enough 08:05 and had developed enough to take a medical course 08:09 could become quite famous in dodging a good many things 08:13 that they only could get away with if you understand? 08:16 Your wisdom is sufficient, 08:19 that you will not dodge any hard thing 08:24 and take an easy road 08:25 because if you get in the habit of doing that, 08:28 you're going to have a hard time. 08:31 We are a team in business and ministry together 08:36 focused on Christ, 08:38 passionate about the mission of the church 08:40 just like you. 08:42 Join us in spreading the light of the Advent message 08:46 to the world. 08:49 What the world needs is Jesus, remember. 12:33 Amen. 12:37 Good evening, ASI. 12:39 It's time for a very special feature, 12:42 members in action. 12:44 And it's my privilege tonight 12:45 to be able to share a three of them with you 12:47 as we begin our ASI Convention tonight. 12:50 I have with me, Svitlana Alekseichuk Koka... 12:54 Kokabyuff. 12:57 I'm glad you said that. 12:58 Kokabyuff. 13:00 And from Kazakhstan right now. 13:04 Maybe I just go back a little bit 13:05 before she shares to tell you that it was in 1997, 1996 13:10 when we were in Ukraine, 13:12 conducting the first Wildwood 13:14 medical missionary training program, 13:16 she was one of 30 students 13:18 that the conference sent to train with us. 13:21 And out of those 30, 13:22 we chose two to come to the Wildwood 13:24 for training for 2 years, 13:26 and then returned to carry on a work 13:29 in that country of Ukraine. 13:31 Svitlana was one of those. 13:33 So she returned to Ukraine 13:35 and had the privilege of helping to pioneer 13:38 what has become a major health institution 13:40 there in Central Ukraine, Novi Obihody. 13:43 And for 10 years, you ministered there. 13:46 After that time, she was called for a while to pilot a program 13:50 in Tajikistan in Central Asia in 2004 and 2005. 13:56 And there you began to experiment 13:58 and to demonstrate the power of medical missionary work 14:01 among Muslims. 14:02 Tell us something about that experience 14:04 that you had there in Tajikistan. 14:07 Well, it was really a blessing for me. 14:09 It was the first time to be in Central Asia. 14:12 And to use the right hand of the gospel, 14:15 the medical missionary work to reach the Muslim for Christ. 14:19 And you can see the map, so this is the Central Asia 14:23 and we were in that time in Tajikistan, 14:25 right now our ministry in Kazakhstan. 14:28 But when we came to Tajikistan, 14:30 we were doing different health programs 14:33 like cooking classes, high blood pressure seminars, 14:36 different seminars in the church building. 14:39 And, you know, there was some programs like, 14:42 for example, cooking class we had 250 people 14:45 came to the church building. 14:47 So that was amazing. 14:49 I think I remember sometimes they would come to the building 14:52 and they would look around to see 14:53 if anybody was watching them. 14:54 And they would just sneak there. 14:56 To sneak in a little bit. Yes. 14:58 If I remember right, 15:00 the conference leader said that 15:02 the result of that short period of time 15:04 that you were there, 15:05 they had more baptisms in that year 15:08 than they'd had in three years previously. 15:10 Or even more years. Even more. 15:12 Yes, we had 19 people baptized in 7 months. 15:15 That was... 15:17 Did you hear that 19 people in a Muslim country 15:19 in seven months using medical missionary work. 15:21 Amen? Yeah. Amen. 15:23 So after you were in Tajikistan, 15:27 you returned to Novi Obihody 15:29 and ministered there for a while longer, 15:32 but that burden for Central Asia never left you, 15:35 did it? 15:37 Yes. 15:38 And during that time, 15:39 God brought into your life Doveglet 15:41 and you were married. 15:43 And she looks so happy about it. 15:45 She had her third baby two weeks ago 15:47 here in this country. 15:49 And you can meet Nathan later. 15:52 Anyway and so he laid a burden on you 15:55 to return to Central Asia, 15:57 in fact, one of the conference presidents 15:59 in Kazakhstan kept knocking on the door and said, 16:02 "Come over and help us." 16:03 Yes. 16:05 And we received the call in 2011, 16:08 and we accepted the call. 16:10 Actually we were praying with my husband 16:12 to go back to Central Asia. 16:14 We had really the burden and we have been praying 16:17 that God will open the doors for us to go there. 16:20 And so you went back there and the huge city, 16:23 the capital city of El Monte, 16:24 and you went there with no equipment, 16:27 no property, no buildings, 16:30 but you had a call to come and help. 16:31 Yes, exactly. 16:33 We came there as medical missionaries 16:35 to the conference building 16:37 and it was such a blessing to work with the church. 16:40 And that church leaders provided for us the four rooms 16:44 where we were able to set up for them health consultations, 16:49 health treatments, 16:51 and we were doing also different programs 16:53 in the conference building. 16:55 And I had an opportunity to visit there several times. 16:58 And they were actually putting... 17:00 They use office rooms, 17:03 converted them in with bunk beds 17:05 and had up as many as 10 ladies in one room 17:08 who desperately want to come to your lifestyle program. 17:10 Yes. 17:12 So our health room, you know, has been running all the time, 17:15 so we would receive patients, people for consultations 17:19 and we would do the treatments, but also from time to time, 17:23 we would conduct the lifestyle sessions 17:26 in the conference building. 17:28 That's amazing. 17:29 So you had a number of lifestyle sessions. 17:31 Yeah, during the four years when we were in El Monte, 17:34 this big city, 17:36 we had 11-day lifestyle sessions 17:40 and we had around 160 patients 17:42 only for the lifestyle sessions. 17:44 It was amazing to see in a conference office building 17:48 to be able to do all that in such a little bit of space. 17:50 Well, now God has called you to have a real lifestyle center 17:53 and you found property 17:55 and you have been starting to do the building 17:58 and I remember now and seeing that property 18:00 out in the country there 18:01 and the river in the background, 18:03 you had this little house on the property, 18:05 that's all it was on the property, 18:06 we would probably call it a shack, 18:09 but it became a home to you. 18:10 You remodeled that and tried to live in it for a while, 18:14 no bathroom, no electricity, pioneering with two babies. 18:19 And then it wasn't big enough, 18:21 you know, how they made it bigger? 18:23 They took one of these metal containers 18:25 that you ship overseas with, those big metal things, 18:28 and they attached to the building 18:30 and that became your dining room and... 18:33 Two bedrooms. 18:34 Two bedrooms and... 18:36 People were just saying, 18:37 "Please let us come to your lifestyle program." 18:39 Yes, because we used to run the lifestyle programs 18:42 all the time during those four years, 18:45 and people ask us, "Please continue." 18:48 So we decided that we will have lifestyle programs 18:52 at our place. 18:53 So in the meantime, 18:55 then they're building their new center. 18:56 The building is up, it's three stories high, 18:59 it's got the roof on it just a week or two ago, 19:02 and they have enough construction help 19:04 that if they have enough funds, 19:07 this building will be 19:08 ready to be fully occupied in two months. 19:10 Yes. 19:11 We're praying for that to happen. 19:13 Thank you so much. 19:18 Our next interview, Members in Action 19:21 is from a member that many of you know, 19:23 Richard Bland from United Prison Ministry. 19:26 Hello, Brother, good to see you tonight. 19:27 Praise the Lord. Wonderful. 19:29 You have a wonderful ministry, 19:30 it reaches all across to our country. 19:32 You made a mistake, it's not mine, 19:33 it's God's ministry. 19:34 Oh, thank you for correcting me. 19:36 I believe you. 19:37 And you're reaching across the whole United States. 19:38 That's correct. 19:40 And virtually, you have access somehow 19:43 to almost every prison in this country. 19:44 Well, we do. 19:46 We send material to everyone I think 400 prisons. 19:49 You had an interesting experience 19:52 I think in Washington, D.C. 19:54 was that where you were sharing books 19:56 and so forth and it made the news. 19:57 Well, I think I was in New York. 19:59 New York. 20:00 Yeah, that was a prison in New York 20:02 where they ask for about 28,000 books from us 20:04 in one time. 20:05 In one time. And you have a video of that? 20:06 Yeah, let's see that clip real quick. 20:08 Let's see that. Okay. 20:11 That's my wife and I there, just found and started in 1980. 20:19 For the first time ever, 20:21 United Prison Ministries International 20:23 delivered 28,000 books to Rikers Island. 20:26 There were 14,000 copies of the book, 20:28 Bible questions answered, 20:30 and another 14,000 copies of the Desire of Ages. 20:33 A chaplain on Rikers Island requested the books 20:36 after seeing Richard bland, 20:38 President of United Prison Ministries International, 20:41 interviewed on Three Angles Broadcasting Network. 20:44 Bland says, his organization gives Bibles 20:46 and other life-changing books to prisoners free of charge 20:50 and says, it has a very positive effect. 20:53 And I said, "Why that book?" 20:55 He said, "That book will change the lives." 20:56 He said, "Everybody he's known to him, 20:58 read that book, 20:59 their life will change from crime to Christ." 21:01 Antonio Hall community chaplain 21:03 of the United Prison Ministry says 21:05 he has been incarcerated more than a dozen times 21:08 in several different states 21:10 before he got his hands on a Bible. 21:12 He says it changed his life. 21:15 When you have time in prison to study God's Word, 21:18 you will be able to know the truth, 21:20 and the truth will make you free 21:21 right there in the institution. 21:23 Bland says, United Prison Ministries International 21:26 is able to distribute the materials 21:28 due to the generosity of its supporters 21:30 who believe the Word of God 21:32 will transform prisoners' lives. 21:47 That particular Bible lessons has been developed 21:50 that you're looking on the screen here 21:52 over 37 years of it, 21:54 prisons have had us to put together a Bible lesson 21:57 that nobody turns down. 21:59 Stop by booth 100, 22:01 you get a copy of it and you see what I'm saying. 22:03 And we won't have to be here another 70 years. 22:05 Amen. 22:06 Because this book here 22:07 covers 25 of the most important questions 22:10 that have been asked. 22:12 We have put in this one book here 22:13 and it's designed for everybody to get one. 22:16 I understand that through these many years 22:18 that you've been ministering, 22:19 you've put out something like 22:21 72 million copies of different books. 22:24 That's correct. Truth filled books. 22:26 And that's not only here in America to, 22:27 you know, Romania, Indonesia, Russia, Africa. 22:32 Now I understand in just a few days of time, 22:34 you're going to be attending a very important conference 22:37 that that is a prison chaplain people 22:39 all over the country. 22:40 No, that is prison work period 22:43 is they got about 30,000 members, 22:45 the American Correctional Association. 22:47 And we belong to that. 22:48 And the reason why I want to mention that 22:50 because we are the only ministry 22:53 they tell us that stays by the Bible, 22:55 that's why they came to put us out of prison, 22:57 unless they put the Bible out of prison 22:58 because everything we do is out of the Bible. 23:01 They have tried, but when they come to it, 23:02 they can't do it because we go by the book. 23:05 I see. Praise the Lord. 23:07 So you've got these new lessons, 23:08 and in the lessons, 23:10 I've looked at it with you a little bit, 23:12 you saw some on the screen there. 23:14 They cover specific Bible topics with texts. 23:18 Yeah. The most 25 asked questions. 23:20 People like, for example, here on the top right here, 23:24 stress, defeat loneliness, 23:26 healing the sorrow, living with loss, 23:28 and pull your marriage, take control of smoking, 23:31 all those are right here. 23:32 Now we give them the first 15 of what they want, 23:35 the next 10 Bible lessons what they need. 23:37 Okay. 23:38 It tells them about who wrote the Ten Commandments. 23:40 What happens when a person dies, 23:41 where are they? 23:43 What day is the Sabbath day? 23:44 What food to eat. All that's in here. 23:45 They have the right answers out. 23:47 So therefore, it's foolproof. 23:50 And your goal is to take this Bible lesson now 23:54 after this conference 23:56 and actually before Christmas time 23:58 to get them, where? 24:00 At all the prison, we've... 24:01 What's all the prisons mean? 24:03 Well, every prison in the United States, 24:04 every state and federal prison. 24:05 All throughout the United States. 24:07 Yeah, we don't deal with jails because they move so fast, 24:08 but all state and federal. 24:09 In fact, we committed ourselves 24:11 to give them 2,500,000 of these. 24:14 Of course, our friends are going to help us 24:15 by Christmas. 24:16 Okay. Are there some of the friends here? 24:18 Oh, yes. They've always been there. 24:19 ASI has been my friend since 1980. 24:21 Okay. 24:22 And when Harold Lance was the president 24:24 and I think only a few of us left here now. 24:28 I see Ellsworth Mckee sitting over there and 24:31 a few other people, most of them have, 24:33 you know, retired. 24:34 So your goal then is to print these lessons, 24:37 get them out before Christmas 24:39 so that these can go to all the inmates 24:40 all over the country. 24:42 Yes, but our second goal is for everybody 24:43 here to get them too. 24:45 They're designed for every household, 24:47 every house. 24:48 Nobody has turned us down 24:49 in the last three or four months, 24:51 we've tested it. 24:52 These aren't just prison designed? 24:54 No, no. 24:55 You know, any of us could use this? 24:56 Anybody who want to go to heaven. 24:58 Well, that sounds like... 24:59 Anybody who want to go to heaven. 25:00 And then there... So that's going to work. 25:02 And anybody that they want to go. 25:03 I want to speak this to you, Charles, 25:04 I wish all of our Christian friends 25:06 will read Ezekiel 3:17, 18, 19, it says this. 25:10 It says that, "We have been chosen 25:14 by God's people as watchman. 25:16 And if we don't speak to warn somebody, 25:19 and they are lost, we are lost too." 25:22 And this lesson is designed so we can speak to everybody. 25:24 Amen. 25:26 And give them 25 Bible studies with over 500 questions in it. 25:29 Right here. Stop by the booth, 25:30 you'll be convinced yourself when you got one, 25:34 just like I showed it to you. 25:35 Thank you so much. 25:37 So booth number? One hundred. 25:38 All right, that's easy enough to remember. 25:40 One hundred. Stick with one hundred. 25:41 You can't win with the method that we... 25:43 Come by and get a free lesson. 25:45 Oh, yes, yes. 25:46 And learn more about how to... 25:47 And I can show you how to get more lessons too 25:49 that's going to cost you... 25:50 And by the way it's supposed to be $5 to people, 25:51 we let have people for dollar a piece, just a dollar. 25:53 Okay. But we've got boxes of 100. 25:55 We're getting ready to print 125 million of these. 25:58 Did you hear what I say? 25:59 A 125 millions. Not just 2.5 millions? 26:01 No, that's how many people in America, every home. 26:04 Oh, okay. 26:05 And we got ex-prisoners that's getting out, 26:07 it's going to be delivering these. 26:08 Amen. They're working for it. 26:10 Well, you have a fantastic ministry. 26:11 I love how you... 26:13 No, not manmade. God has a fantastic ministry. 26:14 Now you're talking. 26:15 And I love how you involve the prisoners 26:17 to help other prisoners. 26:18 Well, we do that. Thank you, Brother Bland. 26:20 'Cause that's what it's all about. 26:21 May God bless you. 26:22 Thank you so much. God bless you too. 26:24 Our last Member in Action. 26:26 Pattie Guthrie is coming to us from the West Coast. 26:29 And she is gonna be sharing something 26:31 that's very precious on her heart 26:33 and her husband's heart, who is a... 26:35 Todd, is a physician, right? 26:37 And so tell us the burdens you have, 26:41 you don't run an institution, 26:43 you don't have a ministry like the United Prison Ministry, 26:46 but you do have a special burden. 26:47 God's laid something on your heart, hasn't He? 26:49 Yeah, I'm here as a spokesman or a spokesperson for people 26:55 who don't have a lot of talents. 26:57 I homeschooled my children and when they left home 27:00 I was trying to figure out, "Now what?" 27:02 Sitting in my house, it's kind of empty. 27:04 And the Lord placed a burden on my heart to share 27:07 and begin giving Bible studies 27:09 and doing more health ministries. 27:11 So that's what I've been doing. 27:12 I see. 27:14 And so you have just sort of found a way 27:15 to mingle with people in your community. 27:16 Right. 27:18 And we have some fun talking in ahead of time 27:20 about different stories that you've had. 27:22 I was fascinated by the one that some Pentecostal church 27:27 actually recognized that you and your husband 27:29 were reaching out to the community, they said, 27:31 "Come and join us with a festival," 27:32 I believe it was. 27:34 Right. 27:35 In our community, we have an interesting community, 27:37 a lot of different religions, most of them not Christian. 27:41 And our Pentecostal friends invited us to come 27:43 and provide literature 27:45 for their organic gardening booth 27:47 that was gonna be held at this outdoor festival 27:49 in our city park. 27:51 And so we agreed, I was really excited, she said, 27:54 "Yeah, bring some health literature 27:55 and also please bring a gospel literature 27:58 that we can share as well." 28:00 Oh, she asked you to bring that. 28:01 She did. 28:02 I sensed that she wasn't interested 28:04 maybe more doctrinal stuff, 28:05 but I found a beautiful copy of Steps to Christ, 28:08 took that, and we also had a lot of tracks about health, 28:11 so we took those as well. 28:13 So this festival was a kind of a new age... 28:19 Pretty much, all of the booths were... 28:22 The theme was healing, 28:23 but it was through sorcery or witchcraft 28:27 or some other method, 28:29 people are searching for answers 28:30 and there was a lot of using crystals to heal people 28:33 or light shields or trance, 28:36 and people are in all kinds of different states. 28:39 And so we were there at that little organic gardening table, 28:42 and not too many people were coming by. 28:44 So I just decided to take some of the tracks in my hand. 28:47 And we started walking around, 28:49 and in whatever state people were in, 28:51 I just said, "I have some good news for you, 28:53 would you like, can I share something?" 28:55 And I would just put the track in their hand 28:56 and I'd look at them right in the eye, 28:58 and I'd say, "You are loved by the God of the universe." 29:03 And so people would say, "Yeah!" 29:06 And so I pretty much was able to... 29:09 Some of them would look at it and see it and said, 29:11 "A love letter from Jesus." 29:12 And maybe 1 in 10 would just say, "No, thanks." 29:15 But most of them were quite open. 29:17 I think they thought 29:18 I was probably part of what was happening there 29:21 may be on their page. 29:23 So they were receptive, 29:25 and as that I pretty much covered 29:28 all of the different booths, 29:29 had some really amazing conversations. 29:31 Then in the back, I met another gentleman 29:35 who was just sitting kind of watching the whole situation. 29:38 Kind of off by himself there somewhere? 29:39 Right. 29:40 And so I went up, did my little spiel with him, 29:42 and I thought maybe he was also part of it, 29:45 but he said, actually, he's a Christian 29:48 and he's been trying to reach these people 29:50 and he's kind of discouraged 29:51 because he's tried to helping with the homeless and so on. 29:55 He's tall gentleman and I looked at him and I said, 29:58 "Well, are you homeless?" 29:59 And he said, "Far from it." 30:03 He had a simple disguise, 30:05 but he actually is a man of means 30:08 and it ended up being an amazing contact. 30:11 While we're standing there, another young man came through, 30:14 who's obviously searching, and he believes he is God 30:18 and he was explaining that to us. 30:20 And my husband meanwhile came looking for me 30:22 and so we were both there sharing with him, 30:25 but long story short, 30:27 we invited them both to come to prayer meeting. 30:29 And our prayer meeting is an outreach, 30:31 so we provide a free vegan supper every Wednesday night. 30:34 And people are welcome to come from the community, 30:37 and so the older gentleman has already come 30:39 and he's promised to bring the young man with him as well. 30:42 So we're excited about that. 30:43 So this is a "retired home school teacher," 30:47 who's shy or whatever she projected here, 30:51 but notice where she goes to witness, 30:53 it's amazing, and the simple way 30:56 that you're reaching out to people. 30:57 It's just... 30:59 I praise the Lord for the opportunity. 31:01 It's wonderful. 31:02 Now you and your husband 31:03 have done a Diabetes Undone program. 31:07 Right. 31:09 And that's a new program by Life and Health Network. 31:11 And I've done it three times. 31:13 Last fall was the first time we ran it in our church. 31:15 And the format is such that you have people 31:17 seated around tables, 31:19 you show a video for a few minutes, 31:20 and then you have a discussion. 31:21 And one of the ladies 31:23 who had come is Buddhist and from China, 31:27 and she's been living in our town for a while, 31:29 and I went to the table 31:31 just to find out how things are going. 31:32 And she looked at me, and she said, 31:34 "Does your church offer Bible studies?" 31:37 And the lady sitting next to us says, 31:39 "Yeah, you should get her to be your teacher." 31:42 And so that started a relationship with her, 31:46 our follow-up for the diabetes undone class, 31:49 we did a breakfast Sabbath morning at the church, 31:52 a vegan breakfast, 31:54 and invited our attendees to come before Sabbath school. 31:57 And so she was one of the ones 31:59 who came and then she stayed for Sabbath school. 32:01 And that day, our lesson study was on Job, 32:04 and she said she'd never held a Bible in her lap before. 32:07 And so she was just reading the Bible the whole time, 32:10 while we're having the discussion about Job 32:12 and the terrible things that happened to him. 32:14 After the Sabbath school class, she said, 32:18 "I am amazed 32:20 at what I've just learned this morning." 32:21 She said, "For 30 years, 32:22 I've struggled with the concept of karma, 32:25 and how if you do something bad, 32:26 something bad will happen to you 32:28 or if you do some of the good, good things will happen. 32:30 And that doesn't seem fair 32:32 and it feels like a religion of fear. 32:34 And today for the first time, I have peace, 32:36 I found out that sometimes some things happen 32:40 because there's a test, there's another reason." 32:43 And so that initiated our relationship with her. 32:48 She went to Taiwan for three months, 32:50 she connected with some Chinese folks over there, 32:52 came by... 32:53 You sent her some literature I think. 32:55 Yes, she got some... We got... 32:56 Chinese literature? Literature for her in Chinese. 32:58 And she also got a Bible in both languages, 33:01 English, Chinese. 33:02 And so we've been studying now 33:03 for several months doing Bible studies, 33:05 we have a small group Bible study ladies. 33:07 And she's given her heart to Jesus and she is thrilled, 33:10 she's there every Sabbath for Sabbath school church 33:13 and sharing her faith with people 33:15 who come over from China. 33:16 So praise the Lord. 33:18 Thank you so much, Patti, 33:20 for sharing these beautiful stories 33:22 about just being willing to be used of God, 33:24 be sensitive to God's opening doors for you, 33:27 and seeing the results of these people. 33:30 Your church is amazing. 33:31 You're doing meals for Sabbath school, 33:34 you're doing the vespers, 33:36 and using all this just as a way 33:38 to make people comfortable and get to know them. 33:41 Yeah. 33:42 Thank you so much for sharing that tonight. 33:48 I am glad to be able to bring you 33:49 the first of our Offering in Action segments. 33:53 This is a time when we discover more about the projects 33:57 that we are funding for this year 33:59 during this year's offering. 34:00 And an interesting thing that you will notice 34:03 is that many of the projects 34:04 that we're highlighting this year, 34:06 show you that there is a lot of partnership, 34:08 there's collaboration that's happening. 34:10 And we're recognizing that when we work together, 34:13 our effectiveness is enhanced. 34:16 So we're happy to be able to bring that to you 34:18 so that you understand 34:19 how ministries and organizations 34:21 are working together. 34:22 So first here with me is Julia O'Carey 34:25 she's the director of ASAP. 34:28 Julia, tell us what does ASAP stand for? 34:30 And tell us a little bit about your ministry. 34:33 Debbie, ASAP stands for 34:34 Advocates for Southeast Asians and the Persecuted. 34:38 So basically, what we do is reach out to the poor, 34:41 the persecuted, the unreached, 34:43 and refugees in the 10/40 Window. 34:46 Oftentimes, that's women and children. 34:48 And our main goal is for them to know Jesus, 34:52 and to spread the gospel 34:54 in a very difficult part of the world 34:56 where there's many Muslims, Buddhists, 34:58 very few Christians, less than five percent. 35:01 Now you have a distinct privilege 35:03 of having been a recipient last year 35:06 as well as a recipient this year. 35:08 And so I'd like you to tell us first, 35:10 how were the funds 35:11 that were granted you for last year? 35:12 How were those used? 35:14 Was it a benefit for the ministry 35:15 that you're running? 35:16 First I just wanna say, we are so grateful to God 35:21 and to ASI 35:22 because the funds that were given 35:24 have been used extremely well 35:27 because we have close to 500 ethnic missionaries 35:30 in these countries, 35:32 and they only get a small stipend of about $120 35:36 depending in which country. 35:37 And if they have a medical emergency, 35:41 their little stipend could never cover. 35:44 And so the funds from ASI 35:46 went to help them for medical emergencies, 35:49 and also to help with training. 35:51 A lot of these workers have just a basic education, 35:55 they've never gone to seminary, 35:57 and so the trainings are so, so important for them. 36:01 And I can tell you, just couple weeks ago, 36:05 one of our workers in Myanmar... 36:07 We get these urgent emails, he's having kidney failure, 36:11 we rushed him to Thailand to the hospital 36:14 because he would have died, 36:15 and because we had the funding 36:18 he could get this surgery that he needed. 36:21 And I mean, we get so close to these missionaries. 36:24 And to think that he almost lost his life, 36:28 I mean, he's working in the harshest conditions 36:30 in this village in Myanmar, 36:32 but now him and his young family 36:34 are going to be able to continue doing their work. 36:37 And I love seeing the pictures, he's doing fine, 36:40 and God is really blessing. 36:42 Oh, praise God. We're glad for that. 36:45 Tell us now about 36:46 what's happening with this year's project. 36:49 Well, this year we have two new exciting projects 36:54 that we're praying for. 36:55 And the offering that will be taking this weekend 36:59 can go towards it. 37:01 One is for helping lepers in a close country, 37:06 and in this particular country, 37:08 there's over a quarter of a million lepers 37:13 in over 600 colonies. 37:16 And ethnic missionaries, medical missionaries reach out 37:21 and give just simple care to these lepers. 37:24 They're not contagious, 37:26 the government gives them enough medicine for that. 37:28 But they don't have anybody to help them 37:31 with basics like cutting their hair 37:33 and, you know, just wound treatments. 37:38 They stay so incredibly busy. 37:40 So we can take a look at the slides. 37:42 I have a couple pictures to show you. 37:46 Oh, this one, I mean, 37:47 they will do just whatever to help the lepers 37:51 like clean their toilets. 37:53 And look at the smile on this missionary's face. 37:57 I mean, it's just such an honor and joy for her to do things 38:00 for the lepers 38:01 because what she does for the lepers, 38:03 she does for Jesus. 38:05 And this volunteer here doing the wound treatments, 38:10 he would lay down his life for the lepers. 38:12 One quick story. 38:15 If we go to the next slide, we'll see that. 38:19 The lepers, some of them have gardens, 38:21 and one day, one of the lepers fell in this tank, 38:26 and there was no water in it, 38:27 but there was no way he could get out. 38:29 And the lepers around couldn't do anything 38:32 because almost all of them are handicapped. 38:35 So somehow one of them made their way to the missionary 38:38 that you just saw a picture of and said, 38:40 "Please come help us." 38:41 This man ran over there, grabbed the leper, 38:45 put him on his shoulders, got him out of there, 38:47 brought him to the hospital, stayed with him night and day, 38:50 he had broken his arm. 38:52 And the leper said, 38:54 "You know, my family wouldn't have done this," 38:57 'cause society has totally abandoned them. 39:00 They're isolated from family. 39:03 They've experienced a lot of loss, a lot of trauma. 39:07 And he was so grateful to this volunteer. 39:11 He said, "Tell me more, why are you here? 39:13 What are you doing?" 39:15 Here he is. 39:16 He was crying when he was telling me about it. 39:18 And then they have 39:19 such an open door to tell him about Jesus. 39:22 And so many of these lepers 39:25 have come to know the Lord in such a short amount of time. 39:28 When I went to visit them, 39:30 I would just hug them and shake their hand 39:33 and they said, "Wow, you'll touch us?" 39:37 You know, it just touched their hearts. 39:40 They said, "You are my sister in Christ." 39:43 And it was so beautiful. 39:45 This leper here, he was the happiest man 39:48 I have ever met in my life. 39:51 Blind, totally bedridden, wounds, 39:56 but singing, claiming scripture, praying. 40:00 I mean, he grabbed my hand 40:01 and he said, "Can I pray for you? 40:02 I hear you're going back to America." 40:04 I went to pray for him. 40:05 I mean, what a beautiful contrast 40:07 between the physical and the spiritual. 40:11 And I just praise the Lord 40:13 for this opportunity for ASAP 40:15 to reach out to the least of these 40:16 because these are the greatest in God's eyes. 40:19 Oh, that's wonderful. 40:20 So these missionaries 40:21 are actually being befriending them 40:23 and meeting their needs. 40:24 So they're following Christ model, 40:26 meeting their needs, and then they opens up their heart 40:28 so they can tell them about Jesus. 40:29 Yes. That's great. That's wonderful. 40:31 Now when we talk about the second project, 40:34 it has to do with an initiative 40:38 that actually started under ASAP 40:40 called Reach the World Next Door. 40:42 So for, by way of introduction, 40:45 I think we'll go ahead and run that video. 40:48 Welcome to the mission field. 40:50 It's North America, it's Texas, it's Houston, 40:53 it's seven million people 40:55 in America's fourth largest metro area. 40:58 But is that really the mission field? 41:00 Isn't it India? 41:01 Isn't it Bhutan and Pakistan? 41:03 That's the amazing point. 41:05 There are 29,000 Urdu speaking Muslims 41:08 from Pakistan in Houston. 41:11 There are tens of thousands of Hindu, Punjabi, Gujarati 41:15 all of them from India. 41:16 Hindus, Sikhs, who need to know Jesus. 41:19 And if Houston was its own country, 41:21 it would be the fourth largest nation receiving refugees, 41:25 4,000 arrived recently. 41:27 This is the mission field. 41:30 Ellen White helped us to see what was happening 41:32 when she said, "God in His Providence has sent men 41:35 to our very doors and thrust them, 41:37 as it were, into our arms, 41:38 that they might receive the truth. 41:41 It is a divinely appointed means 41:43 of rapidly extending the third angel's message 41:45 into all nations." 41:47 So ASAP Ministries 41:48 and the Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists 41:50 decided to start 41:52 a cross cultural missionary training center last year. 41:55 I'm standing on the property that god is found. 41:58 We came not knowing where we're going, 42:00 but he has provided a place with two shops, 42:03 two houses, and five cabins. 42:05 Praise the Lord. 42:06 You can hear about it at ASAPMinistries.org. 42:10 Our specific focus will be to train young adults 42:13 to be cross culture missionaries 42:15 anywhere in the world. 42:16 They will learn how to reach out 42:18 by doing practical missionary work among refugees, 42:21 international students, and immigrants. 42:23 At the outpost center, 42:25 we'll practice skills for befriending 42:27 and sharing with Buddhists, Muslims, and Hindus. 42:30 God has provided the staff with missionary experience 42:32 among those groups. 42:34 At the outpost center, 42:35 we'll learn agriculture and medical ministry 42:37 with an eye to the least reached, 42:39 and they will learn how to go then into the city 42:42 making friends with international students, 42:45 befriending and helping refugees to resettle, 42:48 and doing whatever we can 42:50 to share Jesus with the immigrants. 42:52 I'm so excited to see what God will do 42:54 through Reach the World Next Door. 42:56 Will you join us with your prayers? 42:58 Because they're your neighbors too. 43:00 You can learn more at ReachtheWorldNextDoor.com. 43:09 God, so tell me why... 43:11 I can tell in your voice in that video 43:14 that you just are really excited about this ministry, 43:16 why are you so excited about Reach the World Next Door? 43:19 I'm so excited because I know God is going to use 43:22 all of us in reaching the immigrants, 43:25 the refugees, the international students 43:27 because He wants to come home, Jesus wants to come back, 43:30 and so He's just brought those least reached countries, 43:33 those people right where we can reach them so easily. 43:36 I know this is part of His major strategy 43:38 for finishing the work. 43:39 Now I know that the video talks about a place 43:42 where you can actually conduct the training. 43:44 And so how many students can come there, 43:46 and do you have to come there 43:48 in order to be trained to do this? 43:50 We planned out 12 to 16 students there, 43:52 there's still opening for students to apply, 43:55 if you know some young people 43:56 that you think really want to give their lives 43:58 to missions, 43:59 let them come and we will mentor them 44:01 as we go out together and reach out. 44:03 But no, not everybody can come, 44:05 and we are all in different places 44:07 where we are in workplaces, neighborhoods, families 44:11 where there are people who are the least reached. 44:14 And so, yes, we can learn how to do that too. 44:16 And so how can we get our hands on materials 44:18 that tell us how to befriend individuals 44:22 that we might be uncomfortable approaching? 44:24 At the ASAP Ministries booth, 44:26 we have a special prayer guide to place in your hands 44:29 called Praying for the World Next Door. 44:31 He will get you praying for them, 44:33 God will place them on your heart 44:34 so that you will see them wherever you go, 44:37 and then there's also some ideas there 44:39 and at the website. 44:40 Plus there's a whole training kit 44:41 that a church can do, 44:43 just talked with someone in Oregon 44:44 who got her church together about 10 of them, 44:47 and they begin to go through the kit 44:49 which led them out to make friends with refugees 44:52 who had just arrived from overseas. 44:54 So it gives them the confidence and the tools 44:57 to be able to go out and befriend individuals? 44:59 Yes. And it's so simple. Okay. 45:01 I mean, just talking to people this weekend 45:04 as you see somebody 45:05 and maybe there's a little bit of an accent, 45:07 you can say to them, 45:08 "So do you speak another language besides English?" 45:10 And when they say, 45:12 "Yes, five, Tamil, Gujarati, Punjabi, Hindi and..." 45:14 In other words, you wouldn't recognize. 45:16 You can say, "I've got a card for you, 45:19 MyLanguageMyLife.com." 45:21 And hand them a card with over 150 languages 45:25 of Seventh-day Adventist Biblical materials. 45:28 Excellent. Excellent. 45:29 Scott, thank you so much for what you're doing. 45:31 I can feel your passion for Reach the World Next Door. 45:34 And I know you're passionate for ASAP. 45:36 We can all be passionate together 45:38 and collaborate with them 45:39 and support them in their ministry. 45:41 Thank you very much. Amen. 45:46 Our next interview 45:47 is with two of my friends Robert Kuczek, 45:51 he is the president of Springs of Life. 45:53 Come little closer now, I said we were friends. 45:56 Thank you. 45:57 And Jason Fournier 45:58 who is the president of Kibidula in Africa. 46:01 So first, I want to talk a little bit 46:02 about Springs of Life. 46:04 So tell us about Springs of Life, 46:05 where is it located 46:07 and what's the main focus of its ministry? 46:09 Okay, we work in a small country of Poland 46:12 that is located in the geographical 46:15 center of Europe. 46:17 There is about 5,000 Adventists in Poland, 40 million people, 46:23 so one Adventist for about 7,500 non-Adventist people. 46:29 And we work in the area of health and publishing. 46:33 As far as health is concerned we do NEWSTART programs. 46:37 As far as publishing is concerned, 46:39 we publish electronically on a 14 different web pages 46:43 as well as in the traditional way, 46:45 on printed pages. 46:47 Now you don't publish things 46:48 that are just distributed in your country, 46:50 they're actually distributed worldwide. 46:53 What other countries do you send materials to? 46:56 Basically we're actually 46:58 focusing on the Polish materials, 46:59 but because all the ministry 47:01 is supported by printing services, 47:04 so we do offer a printing services 47:06 to other countries and we print in many languages, 47:09 all over Europe and recently in Africa. 47:12 Okay, we're gonna get to Africa in a minute. 47:14 But first tell me a little bit about this particular project 47:17 that is in the offering for this year. 47:20 Our goal is to prepare and produce 47:23 very inexpensive Bible since... 47:29 The Bibles are quite expensive in Poland to get you... 47:33 If you would like to understand this picture of the situation, 47:38 if we keep the same ratio between the price of the Bible 47:41 and the income of the average person in Poland, 47:45 and the Bible would have to cost about $160, 47:48 US dollars to, you know, so it's quite expensive. 47:52 Our goal is to prepare less expensive Bibles 47:57 about four times less expensive. 47:59 And aren't there some issues 48:01 with accuracy of message in the Bibles 48:03 that you're trying to correct in translation then? 48:06 We are actually using 48:08 the old translation of the Bible 48:10 that is like a King James. 48:13 And we are just changing the grammar 48:16 and making it into a modern language, 48:20 but we keep the accuracy of the Bible. 48:23 Okay. Excellent. 48:24 Now you mentioned that 48:26 you provide some of those printing services 48:28 to other countries. 48:29 Right. All right. 48:31 Enter Kibidula. Right. 48:33 Before we actually start working with Kibidula, 48:37 we have been printing for different countries 48:40 in Europe, Sweden, France, Germany, Portugal, 48:46 we printed the glow tracks 48:48 for different languages but recently, 48:51 of course, we are very happy with that close relation 48:56 with Kibidula and printing the materials for them. 49:00 So, Jason, tell me a little bit about this relationship 49:03 that you have with Springs of Life. 49:05 They're printing materials and sending them 49:07 from Poland to Africa. 49:10 Why don't you just print the materials 49:13 that you need in Africa? 49:14 Yes, it would seem like it would make sense 49:17 to print in Africa 49:18 since there are printing presses around. 49:22 Unfortunately, the government charges taxes on paper 49:26 but we can import the books tax free, 49:29 so that's one aspect. 49:32 But over the past two years, 49:34 we've been working closely with Springs of Life 49:37 and printed well over half a million books now. 49:41 And they've been very helpful on working with us on layout 49:47 and how to just get the right size and everything. 49:51 But another challenge 49:52 we've been having is not credit, 49:56 but how to deal with payments. 49:58 It takes us quite a while 50:00 if we're printing abroad to get a book ordered, 50:05 laid out, printed, in a container, 50:07 shipped to Africa, cleared, distributed, and then paid for. 50:11 And our money ends up tied up 50:13 for months on end before we see it back. 50:17 And Springs of Life has offered us a very helpful... 50:22 We can order our books, they print them, 50:25 they pack them, they ship them before we've made any payment. 50:28 And that's been very helpful in being able to get... 50:32 I like that kind of partnership, don't you? 50:35 Half a million books out in two years. 50:37 And they print them all in Swahili. 50:41 And I have a couple of here, Steps to Christ, 50:44 and You-Turn by Hans Diehl. 50:46 And these books have just been selling like hotcakes. 50:49 We ordered... 50:50 I think... 50:52 Or they delivered 30,000 or something like this 50:56 and they were gone in two weeks, 50:57 and we've got another 100,000 on order now, so... 51:01 That's incredible. Amen. 51:03 That's wonderful. I'm glad to hear that. 51:05 So tell me, Robert, 51:08 how do you know that you're making a difference? 51:10 If you're just distributing books all the time, 51:11 do you have any stories that you can share with us? 51:13 I have many stories. 51:15 But there's not enough time to share all of them. 51:18 So I will tell you one story 51:20 that the Lord gave me just recently. 51:22 About three years ago, 51:23 we've been on a short weekend vacation 51:26 with my family. 51:28 And we went to my parents' apartment 51:30 that most of the year nobody's there 51:33 because my parents are with us now. 51:35 And just during these three days, 51:38 phone ring, and my wife pick up the phone, 51:40 and there was a lady on the other side. 51:43 She asked if she could speak with me. 51:46 But I wasn't home at this moment, 51:48 so my wife wrote her number 51:52 and told her that I will call her back. 51:54 And when I came home, 51:56 she gave me this paper and I looked at the name, 51:58 and I recognized that this is my math teacher 52:01 from 30 years ago. 52:03 And I was wondering 52:05 what does she wants from me after 30 years. 52:09 And she was giving me actually her time, 52:11 you know, so I thought, "What!" 52:14 But I called her, 52:16 and she asked me actually to come to her house 52:21 to share and to talk with me. 52:23 I remember when just before graduating from primary school, 52:27 I gave her a copy of Desire of Ages. 52:30 And when I came to her house, 52:32 she told me that for most of the years, 52:36 the book was just sitting on the shelf doing nothing 52:40 until her husband died, 52:41 and she was little bit depressed 52:43 and she was looking for meaning in life. 52:46 She discovered the book, she opened it, 52:48 she started reading it, 52:49 then she started reading the Bible, 52:51 and she actually was calling me to give her Bible studies. 52:55 Wow. 52:56 And of course, in few weeks, she was baptized. 52:59 Amen. 53:01 So, you know, if you think about it, 53:03 30 years, the book was not in use, 53:07 but yet after this long time, 53:11 she found the time, she read it, 53:12 and she became Adventist. 53:14 Amen. Amen. 53:15 So we have 30,000 gone in two weeks in Kibidula, 53:20 30 years later, 53:21 we have a testimony of a convert 53:24 from Great Controversy. 53:27 I tell you that's a great collaboration, 53:28 we're happy to hear that. 53:30 And so we want to lift their hands 53:32 and be partners with them 53:33 to continue their ministry in Kibidula in Africa 53:36 and Springs of Life in Poland. 53:39 Wonderful. Thank you very much. 53:40 Thank you very much. |
Revised 2018-01-25