ASI Conventions

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: ASIC

Program Code: ASIC000010A


00:21 Good evening, ASI family.
00:24 We've been inspired
00:26 as we've heard that we are Called,
00:28 Chosen, and Committed
00:30 but I was thinking of the words of Jesus,
00:32 He said, "Many are called but few are..."
00:35 And I wonder why that was the case
00:38 and then I realized that not everyone responds to the call.
00:44 Tonight, we're going to be challenged by the Word of God
00:47 and I'm thankful that we can not only say,
00:50 "Lord, I accept the call to be chosen
00:54 but by Your grace and the power of Your Spirit
00:57 I want to be committed."
00:58 So whether you're joining us
01:00 via television, internet, or here in Houston, Texas,
01:03 let's open our hearts to the Spirit of God
01:06 and be blessed.
01:07 What do you say? Amen.
01:10 Let's stand for prayer
01:14 and let's bow our heads and worship together.
01:18 Dear Father in heaven,
01:19 we thank You so much for our family here,
01:23 each one of us.
01:24 And we want to praise You together and thank You.
01:27 You're such an awesome God,
01:29 and You fill our hearts with Your unfailing love,
01:33 and we bless Your name.
01:36 And we just pray that now
01:38 as we are coming close to the Sabbath
01:40 that we can release all the things
01:43 that bind us to this earth,
01:45 which include our anxieties, and concerns, and cares,
01:49 and just draw us heavenward through Your Spirit.
01:52 Open our hearts to receive Your Word
01:55 and I pray for our speaker tonight
01:57 that he would be filled with Your Spirit
01:59 and we would be blessed to be in Your presence.
02:02 In Jesus' name, amen.
02:10 Kyle, we've been working
02:12 with the North American division,
02:13 we've been trying to figure out
02:15 how we can work more effectively together.
02:18 That's right.
02:19 This entire week we've been talking about
02:21 how the work of God on this earth won't be finished
02:23 until lay people join hands with the church
02:26 to finish the work.
02:27 And ASI is actually
02:29 a part of the North American division, Steve.
02:30 Amen.
02:32 We're a part of our church,
02:33 and we're here to support our church,
02:35 and to work together to finish the work.
02:37 So one of the initiatives that's happening
02:39 across the North American division right now
02:42 is a church planting initiative.
02:44 We have with us tonight Elder Jose Cortez
02:48 who is our director of... ministerial director.
02:52 How many churches have been planted
02:54 in the North American division in the last year?
02:58 Last year for the glory of God,
03:00 we had the opportunity to see
03:01 250 new church plants right here in North America.
03:06 Praise God. And that is a blessing.
03:07 Wow, that's amazing,
03:09 250 new churches in the North American division.
03:11 And this year up to this month
03:13 we have over 100 new churches this year in North America.
03:16 So between last year and this year 350.
03:19 That is a great thing. Okay.
03:20 But let me ask you a question,
03:22 how many churches do we need to plant...
03:24 Well, no, how many churches
03:25 we have in the North American division first of all?
03:26 Between churches, companies, and groups
03:29 we have about 6,700 right now
03:32 in the North American divisions and that is great.
03:33 Six thousand seven hundred?
03:35 Going towards 7,000.
03:36 That is correct. That is pretty amazing.
03:38 How many do we need to get a church
03:39 in every town of the North American division?
03:42 You see, Steve, in order to make sure that we have
03:45 that every person living in North America
03:47 has access to the gospel through an Adventist church,
03:50 we would need to have one church
03:52 for every 25,000 people.
03:54 That would be above 40,000. That's a big church.
03:56 That would be above 40,000,
03:58 no, no, one church for every 25,000 people in the community.
04:02 Well, I think we should convert them all though.
04:04 I think we should but we would need right now 14,000 churches.
04:09 Fourteen thousand, we only have seven.
04:11 We only have seven, so we have long ways to go.
04:13 That's why we need to work together.
04:15 Amen, amen.
04:16 Well, anyway, we're working on this,
04:18 we're talking about how we can be more effective.
04:19 Elder Jackson, tell us what do we,
04:21 you know, what do we really need to focus on here?
04:24 You know the reality is and all of us are aware of it
04:28 that Jesus is coming soon.
04:30 Amen.
04:31 That the work won't be finished for any of us
04:35 until it's finished by all of us.
04:37 Amen.
04:38 And the time has come for us
04:39 and I appreciate the invitation,
04:41 I appreciate being here.
04:44 But there's a reality that goes like this,
04:46 every one of us sitting in this auditorium tonight,
04:48 and there may be some guests and praise God for that,
04:51 we are all members
04:52 of the Seventh-day Adventist church.
04:54 We are all a part of the remnant church
04:57 God's movement in these last days
05:00 and we must pull together.
05:04 That's what God's ideal is for us.
05:06 Amen. Amen.
05:07 So as we move to the future,
05:10 we are working in a coordinated way
05:13 and we hope to return to you ASI family
05:16 with some very real plans that will include real places
05:20 where they need Seventh-day Adventist churches
05:22 and real people that will go there
05:25 and help to establish
05:26 Seventh-day Adventist churches in these towns
05:28 across the United States of America,
05:30 so that everyone in North America
05:33 can have access to a Seventh-day Adventist church.
05:36 Ellen White told us plainly
05:38 that our witness should be lifted up
05:41 in every town and city.
05:44 We need to work together to plant churches
05:46 in areas where there are none today.
05:49 God will be honored
05:50 and we will fulfill His dream and His mission.
05:53 Amen. Thank you ASI family.
05:58 It was 16 years ago, 16 years ago this summer
06:02 that I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ.
06:04 Interestingly enough a month later,
06:05 I wound up for my very first ASI Convention
06:08 in Sacramento, California.
06:11 And to be so inspired to see what church members
06:14 are doing to further the mission of Jesus.
06:16 I believe the power for that mission
06:19 is only found in a personal connection with Jesus Christ.
06:23 I'm here with my friends Bob and Audrey Folkenberg.
06:25 Now you're no strangers to the ASI family,
06:28 but tell us for those who may be here for the first time,
06:30 what you folks have been doing for the last five years?
06:38 For the last five years,
06:40 the Lord has called us back to work in China
06:42 with our over 4,000 churches
06:44 to preach the good news of Jesus Christ
06:47 to the 1.4 billion people living there.
06:51 One point four billion people,
06:52 I can't imagine the challenges that presents.
06:55 Can you tell us a little bit about
06:56 what that looks like practically?
06:58 Well, humanism, secularism
07:02 are just growing threats to society
07:05 but also the church.
07:06 And so you see a church that's growing,
07:09 we also see a church
07:10 that is facing these in their witness
07:12 as well as even in their heart and soul.
07:15 So what are the great needs that we have in the church
07:17 is developing new methods to reach
07:19 this kind of people in China
07:21 as well as to pray for revival in our own churches in China.
07:25 Now, Audrey, you are Prayer Ministries director
07:29 for the entire country
07:31 and you've taken the ten days of prayer initiative
07:33 that the General Conference
07:34 Prayer Ministries Department produces
07:36 and you've adapted that to the context in China.
07:39 Can you tell us a little bit about what you did?
07:42 Sure, it's exciting what God is doing with the material
07:45 that's been made available to us.
07:47 For 2014 we took all the material
07:50 and we translated it into a simplified
07:52 and traditional Chinese characters,
07:54 and we put it on websites across China
07:56 as well as sent it out through our leaders in the office,
07:59 to the leaders across China.
08:01 Then in 2015 and 2016, we did a little different,
08:05 we said, "Hey, not only are we going to make it available,
08:08 encourage it across our territory
08:10 but we're also going to utilize it in our office."
08:14 So with all the traveling that's done,
08:17 I approached our administrative team
08:18 and I said, "Could we have a one week moratorium."
08:22 Travel moratorium in January.
08:24 And we had it, we had a week of prayer
08:27 and we used the 10 Days of Prayer material
08:29 in 2015 and 2016
08:31 for our office week of prayer.
08:32 And it was such a blessing
08:34 every day, morning and afternoon to meet.
08:37 Twenty seventeen, for this year we bumped up
08:39 our game a little bit as we got around the table
08:41 and I was reviewing the material,
08:43 it occurred to me that packaging is everything.
08:47 So we took the material for 10 Days of Prayer
08:50 and put it into a booklet form,
08:52 and all across China this was sent
08:55 almost 48,000 copies
08:57 which is kind of a drop in the bucket.
08:59 That's what our goal is going to be about 400,000 next year.
09:02 But we issued this and we sent it across China
09:05 in addition to using it in the office,
09:08 they used it across China and fell in love with it.
09:10 Amen.
09:11 So Bob is Mission President,
09:13 you're hearing reports
09:14 of what 10 Days of Prayer
09:15 is doing all across the country.
09:17 Can you share with us just a little bit tonight?
09:19 Just a few weeks ago,
09:20 we brought the leaders of China together for a meeting
09:23 and we invited them to share
09:24 what God was doing in each of their territories
09:27 and unprompted in any way,
09:29 probably two-thirds of them begin to say,
09:32 they began their reports by saying,
09:34 "Let us tell you about the 10 Days of Prayer
09:36 and what a difference it has made in our church life."
09:39 They use it in small groups,
09:41 they use it in their house churches,
09:42 they use it in their leadership teams.
09:44 Even one pastor in the island of Hainan said
09:48 that somehow another pastor
09:50 of another denomination got a hold of it,
09:52 came to them and said,
09:53 "Can we order a 100 copies of this for our church?"
09:56 Amen.
09:58 Seventh-day Adventists this evening,
09:59 do you need power in your life, in your congregations.
10:02 This is not about a program,
10:04 this is not about performing a ritual,
10:07 this is about connecting person to Lord Jesus
10:09 and experiencing His power flowing through us
10:11 into our ministries to reach the world before Jesus comes.
10:15 Wanna invite you to visit 10daysofprayer.org.
10:18 Sign up your church
10:19 and don't miss the opportunity
10:21 to pray with Seventh-day Adventists
10:22 all over the world this coming January.
10:24 God bless you.
10:27 Few weeks ago, I had a very interesting experience.
10:32 In Taiwan, I was eating with one of the pastors.
10:36 While we were eating, he took out his smart phone
10:39 and he showed me some pictures
10:42 and he said, "I baptized this person last week."
10:45 And then he showed the other person,
10:47 "I baptized this person and that person."
10:50 And in fact, he said, he has 70 names in his smart phone
10:54 and he's praying for them every day
10:57 and he is looking for an opportunity
10:59 to give Bible study to them
11:00 and he is baptizing them one by one.
11:03 I was inspired.
11:05 Immediately, I repented my sin
11:08 and then I began to develop a list
11:11 on my smart phone too.
11:12 So I have quite a few names on smart phone.
11:15 I'm praying for them
11:16 and then I want to be an example
11:20 to all our church members
11:22 that we need to be involved in the mission of the church.
11:26 My dear brothers and sisters,
11:28 we believe that Jesus is coming soon
11:30 and we have to finish the gospel as soon as possible.
11:34 But pastors and paid workers cannot finish the work alone,
11:39 for we all lay people and then pastors,
11:42 we have to really work together to finish the gospel work.
11:46 And I'm so glad that in our church
11:48 we have many dedicated lay people,
11:52 I really appreciate that.
11:54 And then let us continue working together
11:56 with the same spirit
11:58 to finish the work in our generation.
12:01 Maranatha, Jesus is coming very soon.
12:34 I'm learning to be
12:38 Like Jesus
12:43 I'm following
12:46 In his ways
12:51 I'm learning to love
12:56 Like he did
13:00 In all that I do and say
13:08 At times I am tempted
13:12 To make a wrong choice
13:16 But I want to listen
13:20 As the still small voice whispers
13:25 Love one another
13:29 As Jesus loves you
13:33 Learn to show kindness
13:37 In all that you do
13:40 Be gentle and loving
13:45 In deed and in thought
13:50 For these are the things
13:54 Jesus taught
13:59 I'm learning
14:01 To love my neighbor
14:07 I'm learning
14:09 To serve my friends
14:14 I watch
14:16 For that day of gladness
14:22 When Jesus will come again
14:29 I want to remember
14:33 The lessons he taught
14:38 Then the Holy Spirit
14:41 Enters into my thoughts
14:44 Saying Love one another
14:50 As Jesus loves you
14:55 Learn to show kindness
14:59 In all that you do
15:03 Be gentle and loving
15:08 In deed and in thought
15:13 For these are the things
15:18 Jesus taught
15:23 Love one another
15:27 As Jesus loves you
15:31 Learn to show kindness
15:35 In all that you do
15:38 Be gentle and loving
15:43 In deed and in thought
15:47 For these are the things
15:54 Jesus taught
16:06 We're so happy you're here with us today,
16:08 you know, it's great to meet new friends
16:11 and have them be a part of our ASI family.
16:14 And I just had the privilege last evening
16:16 of meeting Randy Meyer.
16:18 Randy, can you tell us about your ministry
16:21 because we're here to hear mission stories.
16:23 International Caring Hands
16:25 is an organization dedicated to using dental work
16:31 as medical missionary work
16:33 and we cannot do that alone.
16:36 We're a very small ASI organization
16:39 and as I mentioned before this morning,
16:41 we are a family,
16:42 and the ASI family is the only way
16:45 that we can do what we do.
16:47 We work in coordination with other organizations
16:50 including Riverside Farms Institute in Zambia.
16:53 They have been very instrumental in helping us
16:55 get a mobile dental clinic up and going there.
16:58 We work in coordination with ADRA Madagascar.
17:01 Without ADRA, we would not be able to serve the people
17:05 there in Madagascar as efficiently as we do.
17:08 And we're also blessed to work with other organizations
17:11 such as Maranatha, Volunteers International,
17:15 and we're also able to work
17:16 with Pathways to Health in Spokane,
17:19 and also we work regularly with AMEN,
17:22 and had the first AMEN Clinic in the Pacific Northwest
17:25 roughly about two and a half years ago.
17:29 So we are very blessed
17:30 to work with these different organizations
17:32 and have this opportunity to be part of the ASI family.
17:38 Isn't that exciting?
17:39 All these ministries that are cooperating
17:42 and working together,
17:43 that's what we're doing here.
17:44 I think you've got some exciting stories
17:47 to share with us today, Randy,
17:49 and you've also got some pictures
17:50 that are going to be shown during this time.
17:52 So please share.
17:53 The first story that we'll have is from Chuuk, Micronesia.
17:58 In Chuuk, Micronesia,
17:59 it's a population of 50,000 people
18:02 living on about 16 islands.
18:04 And in those islands there is no private dentist
18:09 to provide any care to the people there.
18:12 And there was this young girl,
18:13 she was 12 years old at the time
18:16 and there's a lot of domestic violence in Chuuk
18:19 and her brother had kicked out her four upper front teeth.
18:24 Can you imagine what that would be like?
18:26 Have your four front teeth knocked out,
18:28 no way to get any services to do anything.
18:33 Her mother threw her teeth in the garbage can.
18:36 But her uncle came by and her uncle said,
18:39 "Hey, the Adventist dentist is here at the dental clinic."
18:43 Let's see if he can do something.
18:44 So they grabbed what they thought
18:46 was all of the teeth out of the garbage
18:48 and headed down to our dental clinic.
18:50 Dr. Cedric Hayden gathered the teeth up
18:54 and he actually started doing root canals in his hand
18:57 on three of those teeth.
18:59 Unfortunately, they didn't show up with the fourth one.
19:02 So he told them go back
19:03 and get the fourth tooth out of the garbage
19:06 and so they got that tooth.
19:09 Dr. Hayden worked on them for hours
19:12 and was actually able to get those teeth
19:14 put back into the sockets
19:16 and used fishing line to melt on there
19:20 to hold them together.
19:22 And then the first picture
19:24 that I have will show a picture of her teeth
19:26 after they've been put back in
19:28 and now she is able to smile
19:32 and come and visit us on a regular basis
19:35 and all of her teeth are healthy at the current time
19:38 which was an amazing thing.
19:40 Dr. Hayden was not sure
19:41 that these teeth would be able to be restored
19:43 but they were.
19:46 We also work in Madagascar with Peter Delhove
19:49 and we've been very blessed with our work there.
19:54 We work about two hours south of Antananarivo.
19:57 We've had people come in with abscesses
20:00 roughly about the size of softballs to grapefruit.
20:03 Huge abscesses the first time we come here.
20:06 In this picture you'll see, this is our waiting area
20:08 when we show up in the morning,
20:10 and so you can see that there's an awful lot of people there.
20:13 And the first day there weren't so many people in the line
20:16 and we wondered why?
20:18 They thought we weren't using anesthetic.
20:20 And so the next day they showed up
20:22 because they heard we were using anesthetic.
20:25 And then our next place is in Zambia.
20:28 In Zambia we work with Riverside Farms Institute
20:32 and have a mobile dental clinic,
20:33 that's 4-wheel drive that goes out
20:35 into the rural and remote villages
20:38 in the Southern Zambezi River.
20:41 And you'll see here a picture of Dr. JoyJoy Falia.
20:44 I love that name, you gotta love it.
20:46 JoyJoy, wouldn't you love to have a name like that?
20:49 She's a little lady
20:51 packed with a lot of dynamite for Jesus,
20:53 and she works hard,
20:55 and you can see her here
20:56 with a couple of assistants in our clinic in Zambia
20:59 working with the children there.
21:02 And then our next location
21:04 that we've gone has been to Madagascar
21:11 and, I mean, I'm sorry, not Madagascar,
21:14 but to Mongolia,
21:16 and in Mongolia we actually work with It Is Written
21:20 with John Bradshaw there,
21:21 and we got a dental chair
21:24 and some dental unit to work on the teeth there.
21:29 And we're actually able to see about 300 people
21:32 there with It Is Written,
21:34 and It Is Written had over 100 volunteers
21:36 that did eye surgeries
21:38 and all sorts of services there.
21:39 And many of my Mongolian brothers
21:42 who went with me on that trip are sitting here
21:44 and it's good to see them.
21:47 And we've been very blessed by this
21:48 and in fact there were a total of 70 people
21:53 baptized in Mongolia.
21:55 This is a picture of the It Is Written team
21:57 and the baptisms that we had there.
22:00 In addition to there, we work in the Pacific Northwest,
22:04 and we've been very blessed to work with AMEN,
22:07 and we plan to continue working with them again this year.
22:11 We'll have a clinic there in Eugene, Oregon
22:14 where we're from and also in Portland.
22:17 So if you're interested in signing up
22:18 for one of those clinics,
22:20 it will be in Portland on August 18th and the 20th.
22:25 And in Eugene on the 24th and 25th of September
22:29 and you can go to amensda.org to sign up for one of those.
22:34 In closing, I think you had a couple of quotes
22:37 that you wanted to leave us with today.
22:40 When we look at what Ellen White shares with us
22:43 in relation to medical evangelism,
22:44 I just wanted to read a couple of quotes here.
22:47 "How shall we reveal Christ?
22:49 I know no better way
22:51 than take hold of the medical missionary work
22:55 in connection with ministry."
22:56 Medical Ministry, page 319,
22:59 "And then Christ gave a perfect representation
23:01 of true godliness
23:03 by combining the work of a physician and a minister,
23:06 ministering to the needs of both body and soul,
23:10 healing physical disease,
23:12 in speaking words brought to the troubled heart."
23:15 Counsels to Health, page 528.
23:18 Thank you, Randy, and to God be the glory.
23:21 Amen.
23:26 Good morning, ASI and happy Sabbath.
23:30 So happy to see each one of you here today
23:32 and isn't it nice to be able to have one day a week
23:35 where we can rest
23:36 even if we're busy enjoying lots of things,
23:38 we can rest in God's presence.
23:41 Well, I'm delighted to have three people here
23:43 that I know well.
23:44 In fact, I enjoy working with them
23:46 and leading up to ASI,
23:49 we did something very interesting,
23:51 and I'd like to ask Floyd to tell us
23:54 a little bit about the health expo
23:55 that we had the first day, Wednesday
23:58 and why we decided to do that?
24:01 Yes, I'm glad to tell you then, one reason of course was
24:04 because ASI National wanted us to do it.
24:08 And, but we were thankful they were
24:10 because we felt like...
24:11 As we all know the medical work is the right arm of the gospel
24:16 and so we wanted to practice it,
24:17 put into practice here
24:19 and also if possible give kind of a model
24:21 so those other members of ASI who are coming can see
24:25 what it is like to do a health expo.
24:28 And also we feel like we really owe the communities
24:34 where we meet for ASI.
24:36 We'd like to give back to them
24:38 as well as receive the blessings
24:39 of being in their facilities and things like that.
24:43 So those are really probably the main reasons
24:46 why we felt like we wanted to do it
24:48 and we're happy that we could do that.
24:49 Floyd Courtney was the president
24:51 of ASI Southwestern Union for quite some time,
24:55 and Dawn has taken his place for the last couple of years,
24:59 and so I'm delighted to have both of them here with us.
25:02 Pat Humphrey as well has been very involved
25:04 with ASI for a number of years.
25:06 And I'd like to ask you
25:07 what was it like to get the word out?
25:09 How did that go, getting the word out to everybody
25:11 about what was happening?
25:12 Well, as always it's a challenge
25:14 to get the word out
25:15 especially in a large city like Houston
25:17 but we had a lot of help actually.
25:20 And one of the first things that happened is
25:22 that the ASI leaders
25:23 along with Dawn our Chapter president
25:26 met with the pastors, the local pastors
25:28 and they were excited about working along with this
25:33 and they helped us quite a bit
25:34 to get the word out to the community
25:36 as well as their church members.
25:38 We also did an ad
25:40 that the Sunday prior to the event.
25:43 We had an ad in the newspaper,
25:44 we were able to get something out
25:46 through the city news website,
25:50 and we also did community calendars,
25:54 we worked with community agencies
25:56 to get the word out to the people that they serve.
25:59 And so through a number of ways
26:01 we were able to get the word out.
26:03 Very good.
26:05 Well, Dawn, I'd like to ask you
26:06 what kind of services were you able to offer here?
26:09 We were offering services according to the Newstart model
26:13 so we did in the typical expo style.
26:16 We did a nutrition station, exercise, water, sunshine,
26:19 temperance, air, rest and trust in divine power.
26:23 But then in addition we also offered some expanded services,
26:28 so we had oral health screening,
26:29 vision health screening, barber and beauty
26:32 and we also had a pelvic floor biofeedback station
26:36 which was very, very interesting.
26:37 Okay, so a lot of good services
26:39 that we could offer to the community.
26:41 That's wonderful.
26:42 Pat, where did you work in particular, in what station?
26:45 I worked at the health age assessment station.
26:48 And so this is where there's a computerized assessment
26:51 and you interview the person
26:53 and they give you their data,
26:55 their age, their weight, and height
26:59 and you take all that information,
27:01 put it into the computer,
27:02 and what it does is it generates
27:04 what we call the health age.
27:06 So they can find out how old they really are.
27:11 How many years of life
27:14 either they can have additional years
27:18 and in some cases people's age
27:21 is actually higher than their chronological age,
27:24 so it gives a lot of good information,
27:26 Wonderful.
27:27 And how about you, Floyd,
27:29 what were you involved with for the health expo?
27:31 I didn't work a lot in one specific station.
27:34 I was kind of a floater
27:35 seeing that everything was going okay
27:37 because, you know, in an operation like that,
27:40 lot of times a certain need can come up or something like that.
27:42 So I was kind of floating
27:44 and checking to see if everything's going okay.
27:46 When I wasn't helping somebody,
27:48 I also, I worked pretty much as a greeters
27:51 because it's a large area, people coming in
27:53 and we want to make sure they got to us
27:56 and to where they needed to be
27:57 so I helped also in that area of being greeter.
27:59 Okay. Very good.
28:01 So we want to get down to finding out
28:04 what the impact was.
28:06 And I'd like to ask it in two ways actually, Dawn.
28:08 I'd like to find out
28:09 first of all, what the response was from the community?
28:13 And also what the response was
28:15 or how the volunteers were benefited and blessed
28:18 by this experience?
28:20 It was really a wonderful experience.
28:22 The community, they were just really happy.
28:25 Many of the people came and said,
28:26 they'd never seen anything like this
28:28 and they were just very excited
28:29 to be able to receive the services.
28:31 Some of them came and they stayed and stayed and,
28:34 so we got a lot of opportunities
28:36 to interact with them.
28:37 And in terms of the volunteers, they too were very excited.
28:40 Some people had never worked in expo before
28:43 and they were just so happy to be able to reach out
28:47 and touch the members of the community.
28:48 So it gave everyone
28:50 who was involved an opportunity
28:51 to really participate in this work
28:53 of being the hands and feet of Jesus.
28:56 And we started out, you know, with a very conservative goal,
28:59 we would like to get 200 but we'd be happy with 120.
29:04 We ended up with about 170 volunteers,
29:07 and that's just what was on paper,
29:08 and people just kept coming in the door,
29:10 "I want to help. I want to help."
29:11 We had people traveling from Killeen
29:13 that had been involved in previous health events
29:16 in our jumpstart clinic,
29:18 people who had been involved in Pathway,
29:20 they came and helped,
29:22 so it was really a blessing.
29:24 So we'd like to hear some stories
29:26 of some experiences that you had.
29:27 Pat, would you have one you like to share with us?
29:29 Yes, I had a young man that was 22 years old
29:32 who came and did the health age assessment.
29:34 After he completed the questionnaire
29:36 turned out that he was 32.
29:39 His health age was actually 32,
29:41 and I went through some of the recommendations
29:44 that are given with this questionnaire,
29:46 and he was just so grateful to find out
29:49 that he could actually do some lifestyle,
29:52 make some lifestyle changes
29:53 and lower his health age even to as low as 16
29:57 if he would put those things into practice.
29:59 Okay. Wonderful, and how about you, Dawn?
30:01 Do you have some stories you'd like to share with us?
30:03 Yes, I had been in and out of the FedEx office
30:06 at the convention center all day
30:08 pretty much making copies.
30:09 And the young lady who was assisting me to marriage,
30:12 she said, "What are you doing?"
30:13 And when I told her what services we were offering,
30:16 she says, "This is an answer to prayer.
30:17 I really need to have
30:19 some of these things looked at."
30:21 And when she took her break,
30:22 I saw her going through the expo.
30:24 Okay, wonderful.
30:25 Well, thank you so much for all of the hard work
30:27 that you've all put
30:29 into organizing this health expo.
30:31 It's been a wonderful experience
30:32 to be able to have local church members
30:34 be more in contact with ASI
30:36 as well as ASI be involved in reaching out
30:39 and giving back as you've mentioned.
30:41 Thank you so much. Amen. Thank you.
30:42 God bless. Thank you.
30:44 So one of the organizations
30:46 that we've probably mentioned more than any other
30:49 and maybe even without knowing it is one called AMEN.
30:53 Don't you agree?
30:54 We've probably said amen more
30:55 than we've mentioned any other organization.
30:58 And I'm delighted to have with me Dr. Brian Schwartz
31:01 as well as Vinh Trinh with us here from AMEN,
31:04 both of them are from AMEN.
31:05 And we're excited because this is similar
31:08 to what we've just heard about
31:10 in reaching out through the right arm of the gospel,
31:12 the health message in order to touch lives.
31:14 And so I'd like for you to tell us,
31:17 Dr. Schwartz, what is AMEN?
31:19 AMEN is the Adventist Medical Evangelism Network.
31:23 It was started around 2004
31:26 by a group of physicians and dentists
31:28 who were actually here involved at ASI
31:31 and got together in a small breakout session at ASI
31:33 and decided that we needed a regular organization
31:36 that could really develop the right arm
31:38 initially to help physicians like myself
31:40 and dentists to make their medical practice
31:43 into a ministry,
31:44 but then it quickly expanded into a national work
31:48 doing AMEN free clinics and even internationally.
31:51 Okay.
31:52 Well, we'd like to know a little bit more
31:54 about the AMEN free clinics.
31:55 Could you tell us a little bit about
31:56 how that has developed and what you actually do?
32:00 So in 2013, we begin the idea
32:03 of actually going into a region.
32:05 This is similar to what Pathways does
32:08 but at a smaller scale to help local churches and communities
32:11 or several churches get together
32:13 and put on a weekend event,
32:15 one day, two day, three days.
32:16 Thursday, Friday, and Sunday
32:19 just to get together to provide medical care
32:22 with health screening and simple medical treatments,
32:25 full dental care including crowns
32:27 and tooth extractions and also vision care.
32:32 Okay.
32:34 And it's been just growing rapidly.
32:35 Okay.
32:36 Well, I'm delighted to have Vinh Trinh here as well.
32:39 He's actually the clinic director
32:41 and you can imagine
32:42 that when you're organizing clinics
32:43 all over the place, he stays pretty busy.
32:45 Why don't you tell us a little bit more about the clinics
32:48 and especially Clinic-in-a-Box, a very unique tool?
32:52 So we decided that we needed to move backwards
32:56 to serve smaller churches,
32:58 so Clinic-in-a-Boxes are scaled down version
33:00 of our larger clinic.
33:02 What we're doing is putting a spotlight into the church,
33:06 within the community.
33:07 And I believe we have a video to showcase
33:09 just to give a glimpse about
33:10 what Clinic-in-a-Box is all about.
33:11 Okay. Wonderful we'll let that roll.
33:27 Since 2013, AMEN has flung open the doors
33:31 to what it means
33:32 to be a mission minded medical professional.
33:35 Thousands of patients have walked into a gym, church,
33:39 convention center, and even a refugee camp.
33:43 They were greeted and treated by thousands of volunteers
33:47 who shared the same earnest desire to be Jesus' hands
33:51 in helping and healing the sick.
33:54 Now four incredible years later,
33:56 it's time to circle back to why all of this matters.
34:00 The patients' journey to Christ.
34:04 Clinic-in-a-Box is a scaled down version
34:07 of the AMEN Clinic,
34:08 held over just one day with a few providers
34:12 and all the same free services
34:13 that AMEN Clinic has always featured.
34:17 Why the change?
34:19 Because rather than being
34:20 a revolving door of medical procedures,
34:23 the clinic must be a door that opens to the church.
34:28 The mission of Clinic-in-a-Box is to put a spotlight
34:31 on even the smallest Adventist church
34:34 and to empower its members
34:35 to become a light in their community.
34:39 That's really what a church should be, isn't it?
34:42 A safe place of hope, healing, and love,
34:46 and that is what your church can be.
34:49 Maybe all you need is to plant the seed.
34:57 For more information about
34:58 how you can host a Clinic-in-a-Box,
35:00 please email AMEN
35:02 at admin@amensda.org
35:06 or call 530-883-8061.
35:14 Well, that sounds very exciting
35:15 and we'll let you tell us a little bit more about
35:17 how people can get involved with that.
35:19 But before we go to that, we'd like some stories as well.
35:22 We'd like you to tell us, Dr. Schwartz,
35:24 how you've been able to reach out to patients
35:27 and maybe especially because of AMEN,
35:29 and how you've been involved?
35:31 And how you've been able to collect ideas
35:32 through that organization?
35:34 So with AMEN we have an annual conference.
35:37 We get physicians, dentists, optometrists,
35:39 all health care providers together
35:41 just to share ideas
35:42 and we just keep building on ways that that work.
35:45 But just a little story
35:47 about my experience with an AMEN free clinic.
35:50 Okay.
35:52 Just having the opportunity to take care of a gentleman
35:54 who has not been able to get health care.
35:57 He comes in, he knows nothing really about who we are,
35:59 what we're doing, but it's just...
36:02 You can tell that he just appreciates the love
36:04 that he's felt through this process.
36:06 We take care of him,
36:08 give him a couple simple prescriptions,
36:09 and help get him in some resources
36:11 that he can follow up with
36:12 and hopefully get plugged into a church.
36:14 But as I always do with all my patients,
36:16 I say one of the things
36:17 they offer to do is have a prayer,
36:18 "Would you like to have a prayer with me?"
36:20 And as I pray with him,
36:21 he begins to cry and he just turns and says,
36:23 "I don't know what religion you are,
36:25 but I want to be a part of this church."
36:26 Wow.
36:28 There's no theology at this point.
36:29 He just senses something and it convicted me
36:32 that it's more than just preaching the gospel,
36:34 and sermons, and evangelistic series.
36:36 The health message,
36:38 the gospel lived out in action
36:40 opens the door to hearts and they respond.
36:42 Yes. Absolutely, thank you for sharing that.
36:45 I think that this is a wonderful tool
36:48 that you have here, this Clinic-in-a-Box,
36:49 it just sounds like it could really meet
36:51 the needs of a lot of small churches,
36:54 or maybe even larger churches,
36:55 any size church
36:57 that doesn't have their own equipment
36:58 which is probably most of them, right?
37:00 Tell us a little bit about how churches can get involved?
37:03 How they can benefit from this tool
37:04 that you're offering?
37:06 So just to make the distinction,
37:07 AMEN does do weekend free clinics
37:10 where we'll bring in our team, we will coordinate volunteers,
37:14 and we will work with the local churches
37:16 to put on an event.
37:17 We have just recently been able to expand
37:20 to two trucks, two teams
37:21 and will be able to support
37:22 up to 44 of those type of outreaches.
37:26 They're already booked out for all of next year.
37:28 Okay.
37:29 So the Clinic-in-a-Box is a simpler method
37:31 where if a church has a few health care provider
37:34 and they want to put together a small scale event,
37:37 we can ship that to them perhaps
37:38 with one of our team members to help get it going.
37:40 So even the smallest of churches
37:42 can put these on.
37:43 Okay, wonderful,
37:45 so it's a little different from the regular clinic
37:46 where there's a whole team that comes.
37:48 This is something that's kind of do it yourself
37:50 with some instructions, of course,
37:52 with the equipment that you need...
37:53 Everything they need.
37:54 Everything you need in order to offer
37:56 this free clinic in your local area.
37:59 That's right. Okay. Wonderful.
38:00 Well, thank you so much for sharing
38:02 and may God bless the work that AMEN is doing.
38:04 Thank you, Wayne.
38:08 I think the thing that inspires me
38:10 the most is the testimony of a life of self-sacrifice.
38:14 When I go throughout my day,
38:16 I try to think
38:18 of what other people have gone through before me
38:21 especially on the days
38:23 that I feel a little selfish
38:24 or I feel like I don't want to do ministry.
38:27 I think about the people that really didn't have a lot
38:31 or not even had a lot of support,
38:33 but they kept on going anyway
38:35 because they had a greater reward,
38:37 a greater goal in mind
38:39 than just how I feel right now
38:41 and having comfort and pleasure right now.
38:44 And the greatest example of that of course is Jesus.
38:48 And honestly that's where
38:50 I got my greatest source of inspiration.
38:52 I guess my question would be,
38:54 why would you not want to join ASI?
38:56 Everyone should be a part of ASI.
38:58 There are all types of people, young, old,
39:02 you know, poor college students,
39:04 rich businessmen and women,
39:06 and everyone is altogether for a common goal
39:09 really just worshipping together
39:12 and going for that one mission of seeing Jesus come soon.
39:17 All of the interactions and all the connections
39:19 that I've had with ASI have been so positive
39:21 because they serve to inspire people in ministry,
39:25 and give you resources, and training,
39:28 and it's such a huge inspiration
39:30 and encouragement for anyone,
39:32 and I would just encourage everyone to be a part of it.
39:40 Welcome to another offering in action segment.
39:44 With me is Moise Ratsara, he's the president for GYC,
39:48 Generation Youth Christ.
39:51 Lela Lewis, who's the CEO and president
39:53 of Your Best Pathway to Health
39:54 and Duane McKey,
39:56 president of Total Member Involvement
39:58 in Adventist World Radio.
39:59 So we've got all the big guys up here, girls.
40:02 Okay, so, Moise, first tell us,
40:04 this is a phenomenal collaboration
40:06 that's going to be taking place in Phoenix,
40:08 Arizona between GYC, Pathway, and others.
40:11 But tell us a little bit about that,
40:12 how did that come about
40:14 and a little bit more about GYC?
40:15 All right. Great, well, thank you so much, Debbie.
40:17 You know, GYC exist to engage, inspire,
40:21 and challenge young people in the mission and vision
40:24 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
40:26 We believe that young people can proclaim
40:28 the three angels' message
40:31 and we also believe
40:32 that young people can live a life of service.
40:35 Pathway in a practical way shows the love of Christ
40:40 through health care and we say, you know,
40:42 why don't we use both arms of the gospel,
40:44 the right and the left.
40:45 Let us do something big so that we can go home.
40:48 Because at the end of the day
40:50 we are Seventh-day Adventists
40:53 and we believe that Jesus is coming soon.
40:56 And if Jesus is gonna come,
40:58 then we need to be involved in TMI,
41:01 Total Member Involvement.
41:03 But even beyond that
41:04 we need to be involved in Total Ministry Involvement.
41:09 Amen. Amen.
41:10 So, Lela, this is more, this is bigger than
41:12 just GYC and Pathway to Health,
41:14 who else is involved in this collaboration?
41:15 You know, it's so exciting, Debbie.
41:17 It was actually exactly a year ago,
41:19 a whole bunch of us at ASI in Phoenix sat down together
41:22 GYC, Pathway, Total Member Involvement,
41:25 The North American Division, 3ABN, Hope TV,
41:28 and many, many other ministries.
41:29 And we said, "How can we do this?"
41:32 We want to combine just what Moise,
41:34 you just said we want to combine
41:35 and make this the best event for God next year.
41:38 So we came up with Christmas,
41:40 December 25, 26, and 27 for Pathway, Phoenix.
41:44 Now, Moise, this is interesting to me.
41:46 I know that with GYC
41:47 there's always an outreach during the convention.
41:50 This precedes the convention
41:52 and includes the day of Christmas.
41:54 How do you think that resonates with GYC attendees?
41:57 I think it's going to be excellent
41:58 because we're not going to lose a Christmas,
42:00 we're going to gain a Christmas
42:02 because we get to be the hands and feet of Christ.
42:05 And young people want to serve,
42:06 young people want to make a difference in a tangible way
42:09 and this is the best way to do it.
42:11 And, you know, Moise, that was intentional.
42:13 We picked Christmas at very intentionally.
42:16 It's the day the world,
42:18 whether we believe in Christ or not.
42:19 The world celebrates the gift of God
42:22 through the eternal life, eternal health
42:25 through His Son Jesus
42:26 and we get to be that physical gift
42:28 of whole person healing,
42:29 physical, mental, emotional,
42:31 and spiritual health on the day
42:33 that we celebrate that gift of life.
42:35 And you know that very fact
42:38 of Seventh-day Adventist coming together
42:40 not to give up their Christmas,
42:42 but to gain the best Christmas ever has gained
42:45 the attention of the highest levels
42:46 of our federal government.
42:48 The governor's office, the mayor's office,
42:51 some of the largest health care networks in the United States
42:53 and largest health insurance companies
42:56 are actually giving financially
42:59 to make Pathway Phoenix a huge success for God.
43:01 In fact, we have 307,000 square feet available to us
43:06 at the Phoenix Convention Center
43:08 to be able to service 10,000 patients
43:10 in two and a half days.
43:12 Well, that's really phenomenal.
43:13 Now you have a particular target audience if you will,
43:17 that you're hoping to reach at this event?
43:19 You know, that is the most exciting thing to me.
43:22 There are thousands upon thousands
43:24 upon thousands of refugees
43:27 in the Phoenix area from countries
43:29 all around the world including the 10/40,
43:31 which we haven't been able to reach.
43:32 And we are planning, working with the Arizona Conference
43:35 not only to reach them
43:37 but their family members in their own home countries.
43:40 So this sounds like it's right up your alley, Duane McKey.
43:42 Oh, yes, it is exciting and thrilling.
43:44 You know, a PS first,
43:45 I just want to say I just talked to Pastor Rudguree,
43:47 he's sitting right back there from East Africa.
43:49 He did the same method over there,
43:51 Pathways method and then evangelism.
43:53 He just told me Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda,
43:57 they just baptized 251,000 people this year.
44:02 Amen. Isn't that thrilling?
44:04 Amen.
44:05 And then last year, two years ago,
44:06 we were over here in San Antonio.
44:08 We have six brand new churches now because of this.
44:11 It works here in America as well.
44:13 In Phoenix we're thinking about all these refugees.
44:16 One thing we can do is the new God pod.
44:19 It's a radio, it's a transistor,
44:20 we can broadcast on the radio,
44:22 we can load it with three angels' messages
44:25 and the Bible in their language.
44:27 And then secondly, this is absolutely amazing.
44:30 You've got lot of things in your pocket.
44:31 A lot of things here.
44:32 Just your cell phone that you know
44:34 that WhatsApp has 1.4 billion users around the world.
44:40 The largest social media,
44:41 second largest next to Facebook in the world,
44:43 and Facebook just bought them.
44:44 They're smart, aren't they?
44:45 A friend of mine Neveline in Namibia,
44:48 he's Afrikaan, he gives on WhatsApp.
44:51 He's learned how to do this
44:52 and we're going to do this in Phoenix,
44:54 3,000 Bible studies a day, a day
44:59 and in Phoenix all these people would teach them
45:02 how to do it with their cell phone.
45:03 And the sad news is...
45:05 Ah, it's a best news, it's free,
45:06 it doesn't cost anything.
45:09 They can contact their family members
45:11 back home on WhatsApp
45:13 giving them Bible studies
45:14 of what they have learned in Arizona.
45:16 So this outreach
45:17 will transcend Phoenix, Arizona.
45:19 It will actually literally go around the world.
45:20 Globally. And you know what?
45:22 Whether you're young, whether you're not so young,
45:25 if you have a smile and you have a heartbeat
45:28 which I think all of us do here,
45:29 you can go to pathwaytohealthvolunteer.org
45:33 and be a Christmas gift to those in need.
45:36 Make this a Christmas to remember.
45:38 Will you pray about coming?
45:40 And will you come? God bless you.
45:42 Amen. Thank you.


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Revised 2018-02-14