3ABN On the Road

Special Missions Reports - Saturday Morning

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000839


01:00 You know we're gonna sing a song that I think
01:02 is dear to our hearts and we're going to
01:04 rely on your memory to call forth the glory of
01:08 the Lord as we sing, 6:33, "When we all get
01:12 to heaven", that standard that causes us
01:14 to give glory to the Lord, "When we all get
01:17 to heaven what a day a rejoicing
01:19 that shall be", 6:33.
01:45 Sing the wondrous love of Jesus,
01:50 Sing His mercy and His grace.
01:55 In the mansions bright and blessed
01:58 He'll prepare for us a place.
02:02 When we all get to Heaven,
02:07 What a day of rejoicing that will be!
02:11 When we all see Jesus,
02:16 We'll sing and shout the victory!
02:21 While we walk the pilgrim pathway,
02:26 Clouds will overspread the sky;
02:31 But when traveling days are over,
02:35 Not a shadow, not a sigh.
02:39 When we all get to Heaven,
02:43 What a day of rejoicing that will be!
02:48 When we all see Jesus,
02:53 We'll sing and shout the victory!
02:56 Onward to the prize before us!
02:58 Onward to the prize before us!
03:03 Soon His beauty we'll behold;
03:08 Soon the pearly gates will open;
03:13 We shall tread the streets of gold.
03:15 When my friends?
03:16 When we all get to Heaven,
03:21 What a day of rejoicing that will be!
03:26 When we all see Jesus,
03:31 We'll sing and shout the victory!
03:39 Now stand with me this morning as we sing
03:41 our song of hope, "We have this hope
03:44 that burns within our heart Hope in
03:48 the coming of the Lord".
04:02 We have this hope that burns within our hearts,
04:11 Hope in the coming of the Lord.
04:19 We have this faith that Christ alone imparts,
04:28 Faith in the promise of His Word.
04:36 We believe the time is here,
04:41 When the nations far and near
04:45 Shall awake, and shout and sing
04:49 Hallelujah! Christ is King!
04:57 We have this hope that burns within our hearts,
05:06 Hope in the coming of the Lord.
05:17 We have this hope that burns within our hearts,
05:25 Hope in the coming of the Lord.
05:34 We have this faith that Christ alone imparts,
05:43 Faith in the promise of His Word.
05:52 We believe the time is here,
05:56 When the nations far and near
06:00 Shall awake, and shout and sing
06:05 Hallelujah! Christ is King!
06:13 We have this hope that burns within our hearts,
06:23 Hope in the coming of the Lord.
06:35 Amen!
06:39 Good morning. Good morning! I sing in the
06:43 men's chorus called his voice and we go
06:47 by a text in the Bible, John 10:29, My Father
06:54 which gave them to me, I am sorry,
06:58 it's 27, "My sheep hear my voice and I
07:01 know them and they follow me".
07:05 Our Father we come to you this morning,
07:09 we want to know your voice, we want
07:11 to hear your voice. We'd ask that you
07:13 would be with us as we learn more about
07:18 you today and as the program comes
07:22 this morning we want to hear your voice
07:23 and we want to be your children and
07:28 ask Lord that you would guide and direct
07:30 each one of us in our daily lives.
07:33 And as the Holy Spirit touches us this morning,
07:35 let us make sure that we are your sheep
07:39 and we hear your voice. In Jesus
07:42 name we ask these things, amen.
08:11 More about Jesus I would know,
08:16 More of His grace to others show;
08:23 More of His saving fullness see,
08:30 More of His love Who died for me
08:39 More about Jesus; in His Word,
08:45 Holding communion with my Lord;
08:52 Hearing His voice in every line,
08:58 Making each faithful saying mine
09:05 More, more about Jesus,
09:10 More, more about Jesus;
09:16 More of His saving fullness see,
09:23 More of His love Who died for me
09:30 More, more about Jesus,
09:35 More, more about Jesus;
09:42 More of His saving fullness see,
09:49 More of His love Who died for me
09:57 I want to love Jesus more and more.
10:26 Good morning ASI family! We have an exciting
10:30 program for you this morning and so sit
10:32 on and hold on because we're gonna
10:34 try to give you a drink of water through
10:37 a fire hose because we have so much to
10:38 tell you in such a short period of time.
10:41 ASI has taken the initiative tell the
10:44 world and tell them now, there is
10:47 a very important part of our initiative.
10:50 ASI sharing Christ in the market place
10:53 is as same as what we paralleled
10:55 with the church, on working together
10:57 to tell of the soon coming of our Lord
10:59 Jesus Christ. I have with me Pastor
11:02 Mike Ryan from the General Conference
11:04 and Mike how is important is our DVD program?
11:09 Well I think I have an opportunity to look
11:12 at a lot of evangelism initiatives around
11:14 the world and it should come as no secret
11:18 to anyone here that the ones that are
11:20 successful have one foundational element,
11:22 and that is active committed lay people
11:25 who are involved in witness for the Lord
11:28 Jesus Christ. Amen. And where you see that
11:30 taking place those evangelism initiatives
11:33 are successful and so I'd say that the DVD
11:36 program as tremendously important
11:38 because it involves lay people who are committed
11:42 to proclaiming the Gospel to the world. Amen.
11:46 Well ASI family as you know we've been
11:48 involved with the DVD project through the
11:50 years and last year you are very generous
11:52 in your support of taking the DVD program
11:55 to a new level of small groups and sharing
11:58 Christ around the world. How has been
12:01 around the world has, has it affected the whole
12:03 world? It certainly has, as you know
12:05 every year the ratio of Adventist to world
12:10 population that ratio gets smaller. Our church
12:13 is growing, it's one of the churches it's
12:15 growing very rapidly and I think the reason
12:17 is because we have lay people who are committed
12:21 to the mission of the church. Amen.
12:24 And you know, I know that I am gonna introduce
12:28 Viorel Catarama and nobody here is confused
12:31 as to who he is? He is one of the
12:33 visionaries of this DVD program and initiated
12:38 it but you not only were a part of that
12:39 initiation and that initial visioning but
12:41 you have actually be now implementing
12:43 the program. And I know that recently
12:46 you have been to Tanzania and I want
12:48 you to tell me a little bit about that.
12:51 Going to Tanzania was not planned I just
12:54 walked out last year from this convention
12:56 and a lady just stopped me and said
12:58 let's go to Tanzania, said let's go to
12:59 Tanzania. Only when I got there,
13:02 I found out what I said yes because the
13:04 blessings was tremendous not only
13:06 for the 300 people that were present there
13:09 getting trained and receiving the right
13:12 tools to do their evangelist series but
13:14 the blessings to our side as well.
13:16 Well now I know that you took 300 DVD players,
13:19 you trained 300 people they are now
13:21 in motion. Groups are studying across Tanzania
13:23 and you brought three pictures to take our
13:26 audience to Tanzania. I'd like to bring those
13:28 pictures up right now and have you tell us
13:30 what's going on there. We have a beautiful
13:32 students for 2 full days just grasping and
13:38 soaking everything, how to present successful
13:42 evangelist series. We call it Cart Style
13:44 and that part of the word we call it Heart Style.
13:47 You know I can help and interrupt
13:49 you here just a little bit, ASI family look at
13:52 these pictures because you have been partners
13:55 in putting that many people into motion.
13:57 Amen. What are we seeing here?
13:59 At this time we see these people that receive
14:01 their tools to go back to their homes and
14:05 the pictures we had before I interview that
14:08 fellow and I asked where are you coming from?
14:11 He told me the name of the town where he
14:13 is coming from and I said, I am sorry I am
14:14 not good at geography. And then I said could
14:17 you tell me how far is that? So he start
14:19 to tell me that he start two and half days ago,
14:22 he walked on foot for few hours then with
14:25 the boat and train and the bus and finally
14:29 two and half days later he made it to
14:31 the training. He said why are you going home,
14:33 I am in not hurry to get back home because
14:35 I have a group of people waiting for me
14:37 to start this. Yeah, so he made the sacrifice
14:40 in coming but then he also was in a hurry
14:42 to get home because he had a group waiting
14:43 there, listen I wanna thank you for being
14:45 part of our presentation this morning
14:47 and communicating back to people who have
14:50 supported this project. How successful it's
14:52 been in one location from around the world.
14:54 Amen. Thank you very much. Appreciate that,
14:56 our next guest Lynn Bartholomew.
14:59 I you know had a chance to meet you up
15:01 in there little room over planning this thing and
15:03 I was impressed with your enthusiasm for
15:05 this project. I know you recently returned
15:07 from Guatemala and you were involved in
15:10 the distribution and training of DVD players
15:12 there, tell me about that. I heard about the
15:16 DVD players in 7 minutes from last year's
15:19 meeting and I decided that needed to be
15:22 something done and our project gone
15:24 in Guatemala. And we are grateful that we
15:27 did that project like that. Okay and how
15:29 many people were actually involved in the
15:31 program that you initiated. The program
15:35 we're initiated in the drilling program down
15:37 there, we had about 40 people down there
15:39 last year and we just need out reach along
15:42 going with it and that's the way we went.
15:44 Okay, now recently you went there with 50 DVD
15:45 players, is that correct? That was at the same
15:47 time, yes sir. Okay and you had some already
15:52 some interesting results from that initial
15:54 results. Tell me about that. Oh yes,
15:56 give these DVD players to these people.
16:01 When I'm asked by a fellow will you teach
16:05 us English? And he says yes but first now
16:08 there's 3 families listening to that.
16:12 Another fellow says I need a church.
16:14 I've got standing room only now, after he has
16:18 had the DVD players for a while.
16:22 Went to church one Sabbath, thatch roof,
16:25 sitting on boards, that seven year old gave
16:32 us a lesson from new beginnings.
16:37 I didn't have him in my class and it was
16:40 only a week after the DVD players had gone
16:42 out but what an inspiration and
16:45 another fellow. He walked two hours for
16:49 Wednesday evening meetings and after
16:52 the meetings he walks two hours home in
16:56 those jungles. Yeah and you know,
16:59 and I know that when you come to a meeting
17:01 like that you've meet people that are excited
17:03 about the Lord Jesus Christ and they make a
17:06 lot of sacrifice. Absolutely! And it's
17:08 the kind of sacrifice that sometimes in
17:10 a more cozy environment, we don't like
17:12 making those kind and so I am gonna ask
17:14 you something. What did the church leadership
17:16 think of this program there? The church
17:19 leadership evaluated this. I went down
17:21 having not even talk to them about the
17:23 DVD players. We got down there and I ask
17:29 them and communication is a challenge in a
17:31 foreign country especially when
17:33 I don't know the language where people working
17:35 with us and the leadership said yes.
17:39 A week from this Sunday we'd like to have
17:42 you bring these to us, after the program
17:45 the president in the conference says
17:48 I can hear four years ago with responsibility
17:51 of making a conference in Northern Guatemala,
17:58 last September we were officially organized
18:02 there is a conference and he says you have
18:04 just done more for this conference than
18:09 anybody else has. That's fantastic.
18:11 Thank you ASI. That's fantastic, thank you
18:13 again for being, adding to this initiative
18:15 now I understand. Did we show the graphic
18:18 the picture that you brought? Right there,
18:20 that's graphic of DVD players and front are
18:24 the brand new Guatemala Northern
18:25 Conference. And we just say thank you
18:28 to each one. Yeah, ASI what do you say
18:32 to this report when you see that you have
18:34 already 80 people baptized. Thank you
18:37 very much Lynn for being part of our
18:38 program today. Our next guest Barbara
18:42 Taylor and David Weber and I wanna welcome
18:45 you to the program this morning.
18:46 Thank you, thank you very much. We are
18:48 on a little bit of world win tour here and
18:50 as you know we've been to several countries
18:52 already but I know that you recently came
18:54 from three countries in and around America,
18:56 where were you at? We were in Costa Rica,
18:59 Nicaragua and El Salvador. And of course
19:03 the purpose there was to go and distribute
19:05 DVD players. Yes, we trained over 2000 lay
19:09 people. I mean that's just fantastic and
19:13 to think that those DVD players are actually
19:18 in motion and there's little groups
19:20 surrounding those pictures every evening
19:23 and you know that has to touch your heart.
19:26 Barbara what does that mean to you?
19:28 It was the most impressive experience
19:31 that I have ever had I saw an witnessed lay
19:34 people that were so on fire and so dedicated
19:37 to the Lord and His service. We had
19:40 experiences with people that were just beyond
19:43 comparison and if you bring up a couple
19:45 of the slides we can show you what that was
19:50 like in areas. This is a 78 year old grandmother
19:54 that was so excited about sharing Christ,
19:58 she could not stand still. She just was so
20:00 motivated and so excited. She was so prepared
20:03 for the lessons that when she got up to
20:06 show and train, she was ready with her lessons
20:10 to know them and understand what the
20:13 presentation was going to be about.
20:14 That was the most impressive part of it.
20:16 Let's move through with these pictures.
20:17 Yes please, this is here again in El Salvador.
20:20 This is the training that we gave in El
20:22 Salvador, that was just inspiring.
20:25 If you'll notice a lot of these pictures they
20:27 have the same building, well these are buildings
20:29 that were built by Maranatha. So you'll
20:32 see the evangelism centers in Nicaragua,
20:36 Costa Rica and El Salvador where all from
20:39 there. Here again this is in Nicaragua we
20:41 had two young man 19 years old, that were
20:45 willing to travel for 3 days, they had
20:48 to take off from their work and they travel
20:51 not only by land on foot but they traveled
20:55 by horse and they also traveled by boat and
21:00 a bus rather to get there. So these were
21:03 dedicated young people, here again we have
21:06 more people that are just every single one
21:09 of them had an inspiring story I just,
21:12 go ahead. Can you tell me about an 11 year
21:15 old boy that was involved in this program
21:19 just in a sentence or two. Okay, we had
21:20 a 11 year old boy that was so eager and
21:24 had his memory and his mind of a scriptures
21:27 of the holy and of the Bible. He was not
21:30 only ready to teach the lessons but he
21:33 got up and spoke for memory and taught
21:36 the lessons as they were showing up on
21:38 the screen. And I understand you
21:40 had a crime pastor there also. Yes.
21:42 Who was disappointed because. He came
21:45 to me and his tears were flowing down
21:48 his cheeks and he cried and he said I have
21:51 14 churches and we are so poor in our
21:54 area that we couldn't afford to bring anyone
21:57 with us and he just cried and said please,
22:00 please help me to get some more DVDs so
22:03 I can take back to my people. Yeah. And
22:06 we make sure he did. Let me ask David
22:07 a question here very quick, he's been
22:09 standing here. David you know, what was
22:10 your impression going there and being
22:13 involved in this as a young person, of course
22:15 you look like an experienced evangelist
22:16 I can see that, go ahead. Well to me it was
22:19 just such an honor to be involved
22:22 in the program, you know and the youth are not
22:27 the church of tomorrow, they are the church
22:29 of today and it was just really cool to get
22:32 to see all that was happening.
22:34 I understand that there was a quotation said
22:36 about young people on the radio,
22:37 did you remember what that was? Yeah.
22:39 Well what did they say? They said that the
22:41 church doesn't need to try and entertain
22:44 the youth because the church can't compete
22:46 with the world in entertainment but they
22:47 don't have to because sowing is the best joy
22:50 in life that you can find. Okay. Amen. Thank
22:52 you very much for being here and adding
22:55 to the excitement of the program. Chester
23:00 and Harriet Clark are no strangers to ASI
23:03 and again welcome to the Sabbath morning
23:05 program. I understand that you recently
23:07 came back from Bulgaria and a little side touch
23:10 to Turkey, tell me about that. Well, we
23:12 had the thrill of going to Bulgaria and training
23:15 the lay people with the train them now program.
23:18 We have a few slides that one weekend were
23:22 in Sofia and trained something like 300,
23:24 this is the church there in Sofia. We trained
23:27 about 300 lay people with the DVD program
23:32 and here they are excitedly holding up
23:34 their boxes of DVD players. And the next
23:38 weekend we were at a gypsy camp meeting
23:41 in Cushendale and there were 2 or 3000 people
23:44 there and we had the privilege of training
23:46 about 65 of those lay men there and also
23:50 in Sofia there were a few that came across
23:53 the border from Turkey. Okay, so in total
23:56 in Bulgaria you distributed how many DVD
23:58 players? About 400. About 400! You know I
24:02 don't know how this comes on your ears
24:04 but that's 400 little evangelism meetings
24:07 that are taking place in a country like that.
24:09 So you know, I know that you know it just
24:11 strikes me is thrilling. I know that you
24:13 brought some other pictures, I'd like to
24:14 move through those as we can and it represents
24:17 a story I believe and Harriet can you tell
24:19 us a story of some other things that taken
24:21 place there. This couple are being ministered
24:26 to by lay men who were trained at the meeting
24:29 in Sofia that actually been visiting this
24:32 couple for about 2 years. The husband
24:34 was a university professor but he was
24:36 stricken with polio and he had spent 40 years
24:39 in a hospital specializing with polio
24:42 patients. And the wife had advanced diabetes
24:45 and they were very needy couple. And the
24:47 lay people who had been going and giving
24:49 them treatments bringing them food,
24:51 they are actually even built a ramp for the
24:54 wheelchair, but they didn't know how to
24:55 transition into a spiritual message for
24:58 them. And so when they came and they
25:00 received the training, they were just so
25:01 excited and that very week they took
25:04 the program to their home wondering how
25:07 this couple would react and the couple loved
25:09 that. And so every week they are going
25:11 back and giving them the DVD program.
25:14 That's fantastic now, you know you told me
25:16 about another little story too and I said
25:19 if we had time and we've got just a few
25:21 seconds here you can share that with us.
25:23 What else took place there that really
25:25 inspired you? Well, it was really exciting
25:27 to go see the Gypsies and learn of their love
25:30 for the Lord and when we did the training session
25:32 for the Gypsies, there was a 15 year old girl
25:35 who attended. The next week when we are
25:37 in Sophia she came to our meeting to again
25:40 go through the training program and she
25:42 told us how she'd already began holding meetings
25:44 and she had 6 adults attending her meeting.
25:47 I tell you, that's just fantastic amen.
25:49 It was really exciting. Let me just ask this
25:52 question in general you know, you and
25:53 I went to school together Chester, so I know
25:56 that you didn't take homiletics and you
25:57 know these things. You were involved in science
25:59 and a few things. Would you recommend this
26:01 to people here, can they become involved
26:03 not only in conducting the meetings but in
26:05 the training and distribution of these
26:06 DVD players. Yes and I would definitely
26:08 encourage it, I've been on many mission trips.
26:11 I pulled hundreds of teeth but knowing that
26:13 we are training an equipping lay people
26:16 to relief pain and suffering for
26:18 eternity is an added dimension that it gives
26:21 us a tremendous amount of satisfaction.
26:23 Thank you for coming and adding some excitement
26:25 and little bit initiative to this DVD program,
26:28 thank you so much. I think Tine Finley and
26:37 Crystal Catarama and Mike Ortel. I wanna
26:40 welcome you to our program. Thank you.
26:41 Thank you. And I now that lot of people,
26:44 they say that evangelism is dead in North
26:50 America is that true Ernestine? No way.
26:55 I know that we are here to talk about this so
26:57 I know you not long ago are returning to
27:00 Portland Maine, why are you doing that?
27:01 I am returning to Portland Maine because
27:04 first of all the Holy Spirit is convicted me
27:07 to go back to the city and the place where
27:09 I grew up and was converted to Christ
27:13 and also where the message began and
27:16 where we are counseled to go back to
27:19 preach the Three Angels Message powerfully
27:22 where the 1st and 2nd angels message were
27:24 praying. Okay, so you had it back there in
27:26 September? Yes. Did you have a plan?
27:27 Oh we have a very comprehensive plan,
27:30 we have a full scale, developed a full scale
27:34 plan and in fact an evangelistic count down
27:37 calendar for that series of meetings. We're
27:41 going to be doing health. We're already
27:44 in our health meetings and we have had ship
27:46 program and lifestyle matters and depression
27:51 recovery and a number of things. And we
27:52 have a 127 Bible studies going because
27:55 we have young people doing Bible studies
27:58 and door to door work. So a very
27:59 comprehensive preprogram in
28:02 preparation for the evangelistic meetings.
28:04 Now it's my understanding that you have 250 DVD
28:07 players that they have distributed it already.
28:09 Yes, we've been blessed because of the fact
28:12 that ASI has joined us and this trust is gone
28:14 beyond Portland Maine although we started
28:17 there, we're going through out the
28:18 conference, and ASI leadership has taken on
28:21 the challenge to come and help us so that we
28:24 can have an evangelistic trust in Bangor and
28:27 Augusta the capital and young people developing
28:30 a plan in Camden Maine and then I am going
28:35 to have an evangelistic series in the university
28:38 of Maine in Portland and we have that's
28:41 beginning September 28 to November 3
28:45 and so we have a very comprehensive plan
28:48 where the conference is involved and lay people,
28:51 young people, we're excited. Well, I can
28:54 tell yeah you are excited and of course
28:55 I have known you and you are a person who you
28:58 know, adds that initiative and makes
28:59 things go. Listen, you know just as side note
29:02 since we are in North America actually
29:03 this is just a little sample of us taking
29:05 place to lot of places in North America. Church
29:07 growth is alive in North America and also
29:09 church planting and that's truly. Let me
29:11 just come to Crystal if I can, you are a young
29:14 person. You look like you are an experienced
29:15 evangelist and you've had, you probably
29:19 haven't had a lot experience with
29:21 evangelism but how did this program, how
29:24 did it impress you? Well because of this
29:27 program I am committed to the mission of
29:29 a church and also when you think about it
29:32 and you have so many people who have been
29:34 trained and are doing these sermons in their
29:36 homes and churches. More people are getting
29:39 to know Christ and this is what we want
29:41 because our motto is train the world, I mean
29:44 "tell the world tell them now". And so in
29:47 answer to the question why are you involved
29:48 in this, you are just saying it's because you
29:50 want to be involved in God's mission. Yeah.
29:52 What would you say to young people who are
29:53 watching you right now? Don't be afraid
29:55 to do what the God is calling you to do.
29:59 That's fantastic, thank you Crystal for that.
30:01 PastorMike let me just ask you a question here,
30:03 how important is this program to the North
30:05 Eastern Conference? Northern New England
30:08 Conference! Northern New England Conference,
30:10 I am sorry. It's very important in the fact
30:11 that we have so few Adventists in
30:13 that area where the cradle of Adventism
30:15 where it all began. We have such a low
30:18 percentage of Adventist ratio around the
30:21 world there's one Adventist for
30:22 480 people. There it's one Adventist for
30:25 every 668 people, so you can see the work
30:30 is needing to go out and Tiny and ASI has
30:32 just made this thing begin to start a fire.
30:35 We got lay people train 300 to do this work.
30:39 That's what I was gonna ask you, do you see
30:40 a response among the members in that area
30:43 to through this program? Yes, we were
30:45 anticipating when ASI came to do training
30:47 weekends that we would. You know, in my mind
30:50 I am thinking if we get 20 people per area and
30:53 it ended up being 50 people, never had
30:55 enough materials that people came out and
30:57 drove in, committed and signed up for this
30:59 program. Okay, we had three graphics till they
31:01 come up, let's take our members. I think
31:04 we had three pictures for this and I just
31:06 want to know very quickly what we're looking
31:07 at here. Oh these are people who came and did
31:12 the instruction, ASI leaders and who are
31:14 very grateful. Okay, let's go to the next
31:16 one move through them if you would.
31:17 There is a lay person in Augusta Maine, who is
31:21 doing his trial learn of being a speaker at one
31:24 of these meetings. Fantastic! And there we
31:27 see the same thing happening of a lady
31:30 who is wanting to commit herself and finding
31:32 people that were just didn't have a
31:35 inspiration at all, now they become
31:37 a fire want to see God's word go. Yeah,
31:40 so would you be opposed if a quiet
31:42 a few of these people here would come to.
31:43 If they would fall in fear we will find places
31:46 where they can preach, they can do a Bible
31:48 studies, whatever it might be we're excited.
31:50 That's great, I wanna thank the three of you
31:51 for coming. Thank you. And just giving us a
31:53 small picture was taking place in the North
31:55 American division, thank you very much.
31:56 Thank you, bye, bye. Very good!
31:58 Our next "guest", who is better known than
32:06 you guys? You know, Denzil I understand
32:09 that you are going to be asking some
32:12 questions now. Yes, Dwight and I and Elder
32:17 Ryan went to in March. Where did we go
32:19 Dwight? We went to Jakarta, Indonesia.
32:22 And what did we do there? Well, we
32:24 conducted a training seminar and preparation
32:27 for evangelism and Denzil if you wouldn't
32:30 mind I'd like to just do a little flash back.
32:33 Please. How many of you were in Grand Rapids,
32:37 Michigan in the year 2000, were you there?
32:41 I see a lot of hands there. You know one
32:44 of the things that I remember from that time
32:46 was the moment our program when we had
32:52 several people who came out and read in
32:54 different languages the Bible and elder Paulson
32:57 came the very last one and then on the
33:00 screen they flashed the pictures from the new
33:04 beginnings DVD program concerning people
33:07 in Africa. The excitement that took place
33:10 there I thought could not be excelled.
33:14 But you know through the use of training,
33:17 the new beginnings DVD program has been
33:21 taken to a whole new level. God has
33:23 let in a way that I believe is absolutely
33:26 fantastic. Amen. And that's what we were
33:28 doing. Amen. We were training people to
33:30 use the DVD players in the settings of
33:34 evangelism in their homes and little meeting
33:38 places or whatever else to spread the Gospel,
33:41 the Lord Jesus Christ in that area. And how
33:45 many people did we train? We got some
33:46 pictures let's see the pictures. Well we
33:49 started out with the concept that we will
33:52 train 500 people and we took DVD players there
33:55 and we took 1200 discs. And that Sabbath
33:59 morning as you can see right there on
34:01 the screen the building was filled and we have
34:05 people even on the outside and there was
34:07 over a thousand that showed up that morning.
34:09 Yes, you can see in the picture as actually
34:11 I went out behind and there were people
34:13 standing out in grass there and they had
34:17 projectors because they're so far that they
34:19 could not see it from inside the building.
34:21 And the excitement level was such that you
34:24 could hardly believe was taking place the picture
34:28 on there where we were giving the pastors
34:30 the boxes of DVD players and these DVD
34:35 players were to be assigned to the lay people
34:38 to conduct the studies in their homes and various
34:41 places and one of the things that we did
34:44 was each person who received the DVD player
34:47 made a commitment to use it at least 3 times
34:52 each year for 2 years. And that these DVD
34:57 players were committed totally to the
35:00 use of evangelism, they weren't to take them
35:03 to play the latest movies or what ever like that
35:05 but to use them evangelism. After we did
35:09 the training Mike what happened? Well
35:12 I just came back from Indonesia, matter
35:16 of fact last Sabbath I was standing in
35:17 an auditorium with about 12000 people in it.
35:22 Amen. and it was at conclusion of some
35:24 reaping meeting so that was a direct result
35:26 of the DVD program. We have a video and
35:30 I'd like to go to that video right now if we
35:32 could and I wanna take this audience to
35:34 Jakarta, Indonesia. Jakarta, Indonesia
35:36 immediately is 14 million people and in the
35:40 extended Megalopolis it is 22 million people.
35:45 It is a very typical city in some sense as you
35:49 see huge diversity there; every world religion
35:53 is represented in that city. It is also
35:56 represented by various scales of economy
35:58 and as you take a look at that city as
36:03 many of the cities in the world, you ask
36:05 yourself the question, how can the church rise
36:08 to the challenge of evangelism? Amen.
36:10 And I can tell you that this DVD program
36:14 that was initiated in March has electrified
36:18 the membership and the leadership of the
36:20 Jakarta conference, they have been excited
36:23 about this program and of course they not
36:26 only had the 500 but then they had to extend
36:28 it to 750. They conducted 31 reaping meetings
36:34 simultaneously starting two weeks ago on
36:37 a Friday night. Well actually on a Sabbath
36:41 really and they had people come in from
36:45 all over Jakarta to these 31 meetings and so
36:49 they you know I happen to be one of the
36:52 presenters at the meetings. We had
36:54 an average attendance of 18000 or 19000
37:01 each evening and what was interesting that
37:05 as you look down on the audience that you
37:07 found that there were 9000 of them that were
37:11 not members of our church. Amen. So,
37:13 probably half or little more than half were
37:16 9 members and it reached out to the various
37:20 cultures. This happens to be a mediate took
37:22 place focused on the Chinese. As many of you
37:26 know I have chance to look at a lot f
37:28 evangelism programs from around the world.
37:30 The city of Jakarta on the scale of difficulty
37:33 is one of the more difficult cities in the
37:36 world but I am not going to mention why but
37:38 for those of you do just casual reading,
37:40 you know why. And so it was thrilling to
37:44 see the people respond and come forward
37:47 actually they started last Sabbath with a huge
37:53 rally where they brought all of the people who
37:56 would committed their lives to Christ. They
37:58 were involved in the small group program;
37:59 they have 687 small groups taking place
38:03 in Jakarta as I speak right now. Amen.
38:06 And that's was taking place as a result
38:08 of these DVD players and so we had
38:10 this rally where everybody came
38:12 togetherlast Sabbath I was there in the
38:14 platform 12000 people and a tremendous
38:19 percentage of them were not members,
38:21 they had come there because they have a new
38:23 hope and that hope is been because there
38:26 had been ASI members that have committed
38:29 themselves to providing a DVD program
38:30 from around the world. And so at the
38:33 conclusion of this we went to the a little
38:36 swimming pool and we had the opportunity
38:39 of witnessing a baptism there, a mass baptism.
38:42 Those that have been baptized in the past
38:48 four weeks as a result to this program,
38:50 last Sabbath and then this Sabbath they
38:53 are having a special baptism that involves
38:55 about 350 people. The total is 1,638 have
39:03 made an initial decision for the Lord Jesus
39:05 Christ. Amen. And there is a meeting that will
39:10 take place in our October another reaping
39:13 meeting as a result of this DVD program and
39:17 it they are anticipating that probably a vast
39:22 majority of those 9000 that are attending will
39:25 make a decision for the Lord. Amen.
39:27 Mike we have Dr. Simmons here from the,
39:30 is a Vice President of The General Conference
39:32 and Dr. Simmons, you were involved in this
39:34 reaping series? I certainly was
39:36 and I'll say Solomon Sabbath, I learn to
39:39 say happy Sabbath there in Bahasa.
39:42 I was part of this wonderful, most
39:45 wonderful and glorious experience I have
39:48 experience in public speaking. That's been
39:51 part of my life for quiet sometime, so that
39:53 was not new to me but there was something
39:56 different about this. I even came into
39:59 the church through an evangelistic effort
40:03 such as this one, right here in this city
40:05 Louisville Kentucky, my home town.
40:07 So all of that was familiar but I never
40:11 been to evangelist before. How did it
40:15 go for you? It went just wonderful,
40:18 it went smoothly; it was exciting from
40:21 beginning to end. When we arrive there
40:24 a week ago on Friday, we were reminded
40:28 that we would all speak at one of the local
40:30 churches on Sabbath. So I went to my Lee Church,
40:33 the Salinda church in my group. The church
40:36 was packed; there were people there from
40:38 every where. I sort of identified about
40:41 45 or 50 guests who had been part of the small
40:45 groups. I was later told that there were
40:47 a 100 there. These were people who had worked
40:50 through the relationships in the small groups
40:54 and had already made a decision to follow
40:57 Christ with all that they were learning and
41:00 I brought the sermon that day and it started
41:04 and just did not stop until we engaged in
41:08 that wonderful celebration of
41:09 baptism last Sabbath. Actually from your side
41:12 you had how many baptized? Well I was
41:15 told that, that day we had about 200 people
41:18 there and I think a 150 people actually were
41:22 baptized last Sabbath. Fantastic! From that
41:24 just a one site that she came from.
41:28 Isn't that wonderful? Amen. How has the small
41:35 groups and being involved with the preparation
41:38 work and the follow up work been as far
41:40 as bringing the people closer to Jesus.
41:43 This is the key. The small groups and the
41:46 training that took place in preparation for the
41:50 small group work is just the key. There would
41:52 have been no reaping whatsoever had there
41:55 not been all of that work, the relationship
41:59 building, loving people and systematically
42:02 and methodically teaching and training
42:05 people in the word overtime. I could
42:09 tell in my group we had 600 to 800 people
42:14 present at our meetings every night and
42:16 more than 600 were guests we would call them
42:19 guests. Those who were seeking the Lord
42:21 and I guess there is administrator in me
42:24 and a lot of teacher in me. So I learned the
42:28 faces of the individuals, not the names but the
42:31 faces and I spoke each night, I could gauge
42:35 the level of understanding and
42:37 acceptance. I could tell who had been
42:40 through the small group experience, who
42:41 already understood and then of course there
42:44 were those who were new. So of course I had
42:46 to make some adjustments and how I
42:47 presented the word but the small group
42:51 experience is the key to at all. And I am totally
42:55 committed to that, I totally support it
42:57 and I will do this again. Amen. And what's
43:00 exciting about that is not what's happening
43:02 today but what is happening for the future
43:04 in Jakarta. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely
43:07 you know in October they were gonna have
43:10 another reaping meeting and I may mentioned
43:12 the fact that well we baptized a thousand
43:13 six plus, 600 plus, but in October I keep
43:19 thinking of the 9000, there were
43:22 non-members who were attending those
43:24 meetings and according to the leadership
43:26 they will have enough time to have gone
43:28 through those programs, but we expect that
43:30 there will be probably a much larger baptism
43:32 at that time. So the DVD program has been
43:34 tremendous. I think probably the thing it
43:36 impressed me most about it was it has inspired
43:39 and given vision to a church there that really
43:42 struggles under some unusually difficult
43:44 circumstances. That's right. Brothers
43:47 and Sisters I've been involved in a lot of
43:49 evangelism activities throughout the years
43:51 and the thing that I have noticed more than
43:53 anything else is when I see the joy as pastor
43:56 Ryan has just said of lay people realizing
43:59 they could do more to tell others about Jesus,
44:01 there is nothing that brings more happiness
44:04 then seeing other people telling others about
44:07 Jesus and training them. Yeah. You know,
44:09 we've been here; we have visited a few
44:11 countries now. Yes. And in this little interview
44:14 trying to give a report back to this body on
44:17 what's been taking place with DVD players but
44:19 I can tell you that it's just a Micronism of
44:21 what is taking place around the world. There
44:24 are places Denzil that you and I have been with
44:25 this DVD program, we didn't even report on
44:27 today. Well we can't. Yeah, I mean they
44:28 are thousands and thousands of
44:30 these players and groups that are taking place
44:32 around the world and I tell you what impresses
44:35 about it. Because at its foundation,
44:38 evangelism and church growth is only going
44:41 to be successful as the membership rises
44:44 to the commission that Jesus left for us.
44:46 It's not going to be a pay thing, it's done by
44:49 workers this kind of things but it's going
44:51 to be a joint effort working together and I
44:53 have seen that in this DVD program.
44:55 Brothers and sisters we all have a important
44:58 part to play in the soon coming of our Lord
45:00 Jesus Christ. Let's each one of us make a
45:03 commitment to share Christ in our market
45:05 place, share Christ all over the world tell
45:08 everyone we can about Jesus because they can
45:11 tell someone and they can tell someone
45:12 and it won't be long till we can be home
45:15 in heaven, thank you. Thank you very much.


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Revised 2014-12-17