3ABN On the Road

Members In Action

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000987


01:21 Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
01:29 Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
01:38 Weep o'er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
01:47 Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.
01:55 Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
02:11 Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.
02:32 Though they are slighting Him, still He is waiting,
02:40 Waiting the penitent child to receive;
02:48 Plead with them earnestly, plead with them gently;
02:56 He will forgive if they only believe.
03:43 Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
04:00 Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.
04:18 Someone is out there, looking for the reason,
04:34 Someone is trying to find a way to pull
04:41 to be the one to be with Lord.
04:52 Rescue the perishing, duty demands it;
04:59 Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide;
05:07 Back to the narrow way patiently win them;
05:15 Tell the poor wand'rer a Savior has died.
05:50 Good evening to ASI family. Good evening.
05:53 It is my distinct and real privilege to invite to ASI
05:59 tonight my friend Bill Knott who is presently
06:03 serving as editor of the Adventist Review.
06:07 We are grateful for his service and he has the
06:13 privilege also on Sabbath evening of bringing our
06:16 key note address but tonight we are going to
06:18 talk about the Adventist Review.
06:21 And Bill can I ask you some questions?
06:22 You may in fact. The Adventist Review is
06:25 one of the longest published papers in the
06:28 Adventist Church. What role has it played
06:30 as the church has developed?
06:33 I was trying to describe not long ago the role of
06:36 the Adventist Review as sort of being the center
06:39 pole of the Adventist Church for the last 161
06:42 years, it's where you go to get the best information
06:46 to get doctrinal materials, to read about mission.
06:49 It's a place of gathering and always has been in
06:51 the life of the church we see ourselves as
06:54 committed to the central cord, not only of the
06:56 teaching of Adventism, but of the people of
06:58 Adventism. My wife and I happen to
07:00 have the privilege of being at GC a few weeks
07:03 ago and every morning when we came down the
07:07 long walk way from the hotel to the meeting.
07:10 There would be young folks handing out flyers,
07:12 that showed us what happened and most of the
07:15 days there was a new edition of the
07:16 Adventist Review. How in the world did you
07:19 manage that logistically? Well that way, that's one
07:22 of the things we spend five years
07:23 getting ready to do. When you try to turn out
07:25 a 32 page four color magazine every 24 hours
07:29 for about 8 days. The challenge is especially
07:31 when you're publishing house is about 700 miles
07:34 away are events. Everyday we would
07:37 send the content digitally to Hagerstown, Maryland
07:39 under the Review and Herald Publishing
07:40 Association about 6:00 pm. They would plate it
07:44 and print it and bind it and box it and put it on a
07:46 private charter plane by 2:30 in the morning in
07:50 Hagerstown. It would arrive in Atlanta at 5:00
07:52 and it was sitting on the table of the steering
07:55 committee by 6:30 am and we walked in for
07:57 breakfast. I have to admit that was one of those
08:00 moments that a huge team of people contributed to.
08:04 I have said and I will say again publicly,
08:07 an enormous thanks to the good folks at the Review
08:09 and Herald. Who made that possible by
08:11 literally staying up all night.
08:13 Now, I believe you're rolling out some of those
08:15 issues to regular subscribers aren't you
08:17 too? I think I have seen them in the mail.
08:19 In fact, all eight special daily bulletins are in
08:22 addition to the normal 36 that you get in
08:25 annual subscription in 2010 and in every GC year
08:29 Now, Bill you are an editor right? Yes, and that
08:32 means you make some decisions.
08:35 Do you print everything that comes to you or
08:37 you exert some kind of editorial prerogative?
08:40 I don't want to discourage people by giving away
08:42 the actual percentage of what we print or what
08:44 comes in the mail. But, I can tell you that
08:46 we would look at every article with the point of
08:49 view that asks how will this build up God's people?
08:52 How will it teach them? How will it instruct them?
08:54 How it will encourage them? If it doesn't passes
08:56 those tests. We thank the authors and send it back,
09:00 but if it meets those tests. We publish those things
09:02 working carefully with authors to make sure that
09:05 the impact of the ideas the Lord gave them really
09:08 get communicated to the Church.
09:10 We believe that your policy as you reply today
09:12 is representative of mainline traditional
09:15 Seventh-day Adventist. Absolutely, we're
09:17 committed to those values as persons as an
09:19 editorial team. We take council regularly with
09:22 the leadership of the church both lay and
09:24 administrative trying to make sure that we
09:26 stay on balance. That we stay focused on the
09:29 mission of the church that we note the essential.
09:32 I have seen in our local conference paper that you
09:34 were a speaker of one of our camp meetings.
09:36 You are out on the circuit, you are on TV.
09:38 Why are you out so much? Out and about?
09:41 One of the things you have to do when edit a
09:43 magazine in today's culture is help people
09:46 understand what value it has for their lives.
09:49 I get to look at people in the eye and say you read
09:52 this magazine your faith will be strengthened.
09:55 You read this magazine you are gonna fall more
09:57 in love with Jesus. Read this magazine your
09:59 children are gonna grow up maturing in the Lord
10:01 Jesus Christ. This evening when you walk out here
10:04 you're gonna get your copy at the door, test that
10:06 out see if I am telling the truth.
10:10 My wife and I read the letters to the editor.
10:13 And some, some of them more interesting
10:15 conversation or points of view are expressed there
10:19 sometimes it's back and forth. Sometimes it's not
10:21 always commendatory, sometimes it's critical.
10:25 Do you have any particular themes of
10:28 letters or particular experiences with letters
10:31 that you like to share? A lot of our writers send
10:35 very encouraging notes and if we printed all
10:38 those, everyone would think we are only about
10:40 self congratulation. What you read in the
10:42 letter section at the Adventist review is
10:44 frequently just a sampling usually reacting to the
10:47 content of previous issues. Most of the time people
10:51 write us to say, do more of this, print more of that
10:54 kind of things. Sometimes we have honest voices
10:56 who say, I don't think you got it right here.
10:58 We listen carefully to those, and if you are one
11:00 those who is written a letter we try to respond to
11:03 your letter personally as well as publish the most
11:06 useful ones that we think the church is gonna be
11:08 helped by. Would you be willing
11:10 to let us take a hand poll here of how many people
11:12 read and or subscribe to the reviews
11:14 that what you say? You're welcome to do
11:15 and in fact I hope more hands keep going up.
11:18 How of you receive the Adventist review on a
11:21 regular basis? So, you're in friendly territory
11:25 Adventist now you are anonymous.
11:26 Well you know that means I still have work to do.
11:28 That's why I come to places like ASI and GYC.
11:31 I go to camp meetings continuing to put the
11:34 word out. This magazine has been and continues
11:36 to be the center pole of the Seventh-day
11:38 Adventist church. We want you to come
11:40 gather here and, and learn what God is
11:43 gonna do with this people.
11:44 Now, if you're one of ASI members and those in
11:47 the 3ABN audience to have a take away point
11:49 of view what would you want us to know or think
11:53 or have an impression about the Adventist review?
11:56 I want you to trust it. As a place that you can open
11:58 up on Sabbath or Friday evening that's the way
12:00 I grew up reading the Adventist review, little
12:02 knowing that someday I would be responsible
12:04 for the words in those pages. I want you to
12:07 know that when you come away from these
12:08 pages your faith is gonna be built.
12:11 That's been my story so many times as I've gone
12:13 back in the archives of this magazine I get the
12:16 privilege to see what God has done through the
12:18 pages of this journal. Hundreds of thousands
12:21 of people have been won to faith and strengthened
12:23 in their faith by what God has put in the pages of
12:26 this magazine. It began with a prophetic vision.
12:29 I think we are still following that vision of
12:30 sending like, like streams of light around the world.
12:33 Thank you very much Bill. Thank you.
12:45 Just a few minutes ago you heard a beautiful
12:47 rendition from Wayne Atwood.
12:51 You know 8 years ago Wayne decided to pull up
12:54 sticks from the United States and go to a foreign
12:56 country. When he moved to this foreign country
13:00 he realize that there was something missing
13:03 in his life. There was no ASI family and he began
13:09 to dream and pray, and wished and hope that
13:13 he could interact with ASI family in a day to
13:16 day basis in this foreign country. Well, two years
13:22 ago something happened, a series of events took
13:24 place that would change everything and bring to
13:27 fruition his dream. Wayne, tell us about it.
13:31 Well, I am very excited to share this with you this
13:33 evening because as Ramon said it's true that I found
13:37 it a little bit difficult to be where there weren't
13:39 many Adventists and where there wasn't a
13:42 thriving group like ASI. And so it took a while to
13:46 kind of you know adjust to the move and to a
13:50 different culture because I live in Quebec, Canada.
13:52 So, its French speaking, so first of all I had a
13:55 language to learn and then second of all a few
13:57 cultural things to learn as well. But, about a couple
14:01 of years ago the conference president
14:03 his name, of the Quebec Conference his name is
14:06 Dragan Stojanovic. And he approached me
14:09 and he told me about an experience that he had
14:12 when he was a Pastor in Michigan.
14:14 And that experience how to do with ASI.
14:17 ASI was involved in an evangelistic project there
14:20 in his church. And he was so impressed to see the
14:24 way they lay people work together with the church
14:27 that he said we have to have ASI here in Quebec,
14:30 Canada as well. And that story really touched my
14:33 heart because I felt here is an individual that the
14:36 reason he wants ASI is because he's
14:38 experienced ASI. And those of you that
14:40 have experienced ASI you know that, that's the
14:43 thing that we should have everywhere, where lay
14:45 people are working hand in hand with the
14:47 organized church to be able to share the gospel
14:50 and work in many different ways.
14:52 So, it took a little bit of time.
14:54 But, we, we worked together, together with
14:56 the conference president and together with some
14:58 supporting ministries that are there in Quebec.
15:01 And together of course with business people to
15:03 try to form a first board in order to really be
15:07 pioneers to bring ASI to Quebec.
15:10 That's the way NAD would respond
15:13 spontaneously to start chapter. That's true.
15:14 ASI is always programmed within the environment
15:17 of the church and we're part of the division.
15:19 The North American Division that covers
15:21 Quebec. So, Wayne got in touch with us once
15:24 he had his group in place, we came to a strategy
15:27 session and once it was clear that you guys were
15:30 in the spirit of ASI, you had groups and you
15:33 were doing what the ASI does. We wrote it as an
15:36 ASI board to bring you into our fold.
15:40 That still wasn't the end. I had to contact Dan
15:43 Jackson who was then president of the Canadian
15:45 Union and he had to take it through his union board
15:49 and they had to approve it which he did.
15:52 No one knew I'm sure he didn't know he would be
15:54 the president of the division, but months ago
15:56 this year they approved the organization of the
16:00 Quebec chapter and so you are now formally
16:02 a part of the North American Division ASI.
16:06 When you mentioned the language challenges what
16:09 other challenges did you face up there?
16:12 Well, you know they are a lot of challenges and
16:14 one of the challenges that we face is just how small
16:17 the church in Quebec. They are less than 3000
16:20 members in the whole province.
16:23 And there are about 8 million people that live in
16:26 the country of Quebec. And you know we can
16:29 look at it from the side that oh they aren't very
16:31 many but I choose to look at it from the side that
16:35 ASI is going to have such an impact in Quebec.
16:39 Because everybody knows each other and
16:41 once they catch the vision of what ASI is all about.
16:44 I believe that it's going to really change that church
16:47 in Quebec. In a way that will really get lay people
16:50 involved in on fired to do something and so that's
16:53 what I'm really excited about to see how people
16:56 are getting on board and they're wanting to see
16:58 thing develop and I know it's gonna be
16:59 a positive experience. So, it's on fire in Quebec.
17:02 What about the rest of Canada?
17:03 What's your dream, your vision for
17:04 the rest of Canada? Well, of course as you
17:07 mentioned it is for Quebec and so we are
17:10 gonna be French speaking in, in the chapter that
17:12 we are developing of course we're also
17:14 providing English translation.
17:15 But, it's primarily for the French. And so the
17:18 English people need something too, Amen.
17:20 It's unusual that the French people start
17:21 things, usually it's the English people that
17:22 started things. But, the French people,
17:24 the English people need things as well,
17:26 so my encouragement to any of you that are
17:29 Canadian members or any of you that are interested
17:32 in becoming Canadian members to get organized
17:35 as well. There is plenty of room for everybody,
17:37 Canada is so vast it's much larger then the
17:40 United States but the population is so small
17:42 that it makes a lot more sense in the ASI board
17:45 agreed that it makes so lot more sense to organize
17:47 by sector and in order to more efficiently work
17:50 together and collaborate. But, we wanna
17:52 communicate all together and so I encourage those
17:54 of you that are Canadian let's get organize
17:56 and let's do something. And so, that's means
17:58 likely a chapter west of the Rockies somewhere
18:01 in British Columbia at chapter somewhere
18:04 perhaps in Ontario and we are open to it.
18:07 We want it to happen historically there was an
18:09 Eastern and Western chapter in Canada so
18:12 it is time to revival. Now, Wayne I understand
18:16 that you involved with a ministry also, tell us
18:18 about it? Well, Sabbath you gonna be talking
18:20 about it right? That's right. Can you give a little
18:22 preview what you gonna be talking about?
18:24 Well, we are involved in Media Ministry it's called
18:26 better living. And that's true on Sabbath afternoon
18:29 we will be talking about it so be sure to come back
18:31 and here it but we believe that media is one way to
18:33 reach this very secular people. We are gonna
18:36 share with you all the things that we are doing
18:38 try to reach non Adventists for Jesus
18:40 so come back. Amen. Thank you.
18:53 Hello ASI. Hello. I love this part of the
18:57 program. We have some wonderful stories here
18:59 I have with me Meiring and Juanita and they are
19:03 from Riverside, Riverside Farms Institute.
19:07 That's right. And Meiring tell me about yourselves
19:10 and where are you from and little bit
19:11 about what are you doing? My wife and I are from
19:14 Riverside Farms Institute as you said from Zambia.
19:17 And we have been working there for 9 years now.
19:20 And Riverside is supportive ministry of
19:23 the Seventh-day Adventist church member
19:25 of OCI, Outpost Centers International, yeah.
19:31 Okay, okay Juanita now you have an
19:34 evangelism department is that right?
19:37 That's quite correct. So, what does that entail?
19:40 We are the coordinates for the evangelism
19:42 department for Riverside farm. We work in Zambia
19:46 and in the countries around where we go,
19:49 we do some teaching of some lay people,
19:52 we teach them evangelism, we teach
19:53 them health. At the same time we do evangelistic
19:56 series. We also have Global Bible workers
20:01 that we work with at Riverside. We have about
20:04 120 of those at Riverside that work with Riverside
20:08 currently, but only 65 of those are actually donor
20:12 paid the others were sacrificially but they
20:14 do give reports to us. Wow, wow that's
20:18 exciting. So, now how do these pioneers reach
20:23 people of Africa, what are they doing?
20:26 We realized the role that the lay people have to
20:28 play in these last days you know to bring the
20:30 message of Jesus Christ to the people and we use
20:34 these lay workers, we train them, we send them
20:38 out to the furthest parts of the Zambia and even
20:41 across the borders of the Zambia. And they really
20:43 go to places where you and I cannot go.
20:46 They understand the language, they understand
20:47 the culture and so we work together with them.
20:51 Actually we see ourselves as a team.
20:53 My wife and I visit them four months out of the year.
20:57 Sleep in a tent, we visit them, eat with them,
21:00 sleep with them. Encourage them to do the
21:02 work and we use a specific method that
21:06 I wanna speak about that tonight.
21:09 And that is using literature in a very
21:10 powerful way. We found that, that literature
21:15 works very effectually within Zambia.
21:19 In Africa there is a hunger for spiritual things.
21:23 So, if people are hungry we want to feed them.
21:26 And especially I want to mention Light Bearers
21:29 Ministry and even Remnant Publishers that
21:31 have given us a lot of material and specifically
21:35 Light Bearers have given us Bible lessons which
21:38 are called the voice of prophecy lessons.
21:40 And we use those lessons to increase the Bible
21:43 studies with these pioneers within the field
21:47 as we train them. So, they come once in a
21:50 year in January. We give a seminar to them.
21:53 We train them, we tell them what to do, we work
21:55 as a team, we make a plan for the year.
21:58 And then they go out to every single part that we
22:02 can think of. They go to marketplaces, they go to
22:06 hospitals, they go to schools, they go to
22:10 prisons, we have a pioneer that is only
22:13 working in prisons. He goes into the prisons,
22:16 he has full authority to go into any of the state
22:19 prisons and he goes in doing these Bible lessons
22:24 with the prisoners and then have a full
22:26 evangelistic you know meeting with them inside
22:29 the prisons and we find that we have increased
22:34 not just a number of baptisms, but also the
22:36 number of Bible studies that one person can give.
22:40 And through this training the pioneers actually train
22:44 others also to be involved in us.
22:46 And we have found that at the moment they,
22:50 we have abut 3000 to 4000 baptisms in a year.
22:54 And more than 20000 people are studying these
22:58 Bible lessons, so, Amen. God has helped us to
23:01 increase, not just a one on one but people
23:04 can just find these lessons, study them and
23:06 they are ready for baptism. Amen, can you say
23:09 Amen? Amen. So, can you tell me a story about
23:13 one of these pioneers a testimony story?
23:16 Yes, I can do that. One of our pioneers was sitting
23:19 in his office one day and he was busy working
23:23 when he looked up and a mad man walked
23:25 into his office. And he politely just said sat down
23:28 and the pioneer didn't know how to get rid of
23:30 this man. And he wanted to give him money
23:32 because he thought well may be if I give the man
23:34 money he would leave. And the man refused the
23:38 money he looked around the office and saw a stack
23:40 of Bible lessons lying there. And he said he
23:43 wants these, the pioneer wanted to just get rid
23:46 of him said it's fine, take it and go.
23:49 The man walked down the street and he saw a
23:51 lady on the other side crossed over the road.
23:53 And he went to her and he gave her the
23:56 whole stack of lessons. She didn't know what to
23:59 do with the mad man, so she just took the lessons
24:01 to get rid of him. She walked down the road
24:05 and she saw that there was a telephone number
24:07 for the pioneer written behind and planning to
24:10 give him the lessons later. She started looking at
24:13 them and getting really interested in some of the
24:15 titles. She went through all 26 studies, contacted
24:20 the pioneer and said she is ready for baptism.
24:24 Wow, that is incredible. Well you must have an
24:28 incredible budget to sponsor and to work with
24:32 all these people. What is it cost sponsor a pioneer?
24:36 Is about $80 in a month to sponsor pioneer.
24:40 $80 a month, wow. Yeah they live from very
24:43 little you know sometimes we eat with
24:45 them and you get a bowl of rice for breakfast,
24:48 that's what you get. So, that's what they live on.
24:51 That is, that is incredible. Well, thanks so much for
24:55 your time. Do you have anything else that you
24:57 wanna add? Thank you very much for
25:00 the time that we could share with you.
25:02 Thank you. And we really want to
25:03 invite people to come to the booth
25:04 and pray with us. Get to know, get to know
25:06 these people there in the exhibit hall and you'll get
25:08 to, be able to know them a little bit and ask them
25:11 some tough questions okay. Alright thank you
25:14 so much. Thank you very much.
25:23 That's wonderful now I have a special, special
25:27 friend here that I want you to meet.
25:30 And these, these folks are very dear to my heart.
25:34 Rarely will you meet someone with so much
25:37 joy in the Lord. And this is Geoffrey and Martha
25:41 Ngige and they are here from Kenya.
25:45 And Geoffrey tell me something have you
25:48 always been blind? I was, when I was a child
25:56 I could be seen very perfectly. I was born as
26:01 an Anglican and raised up as an Anglican and
26:05 when I was a youth I go to this message of the
26:10 Adventist and I was on fire, I wanted to make
26:15 sure that everybody had known this message and
26:20 I continued doing Bible study, house to house.
26:24 And I was so amazed. That God could save soul
26:30 you see me just a new believer and I really
26:34 develop that anxiety of preaching. I started even
26:40 preaching in the street and many people started
26:45 coming to listen to the message and many people
26:49 after every session I could call, I call out and people
26:53 could come out and I could introduce them to
26:57 a nearby church in Nairobi and they're
27:00 baptized. And, at this time I had been
27:04 diagnosed with a retina problem and the doctor
27:09 showed me that I gonna be blind but I didn't take
27:14 it and I knew I was preaching about the living
27:17 God and I knew that he could live us this or he
27:22 could help me not to continue being washed.
27:27 But, eventually, unfortunately I started
27:32 experiencing that I could not read the Bible.
27:35 I was very angry with God, I was very bitter.
27:39 But, I was inspired because you know
27:43 every time you fight with God. You are lose, you
27:45 are fighting a losing battle. God warned me
27:50 and I accepted my faith and I had a lot of question
27:54 which had no answer. If I get blind and I am just
27:58 a young man, would I cease from preaching,
28:02 oh where will I ever get a wife to marry.
28:06 You know in Africa when you are blind you are
28:08 condemned to be in the street begging money so,
28:12 I knew this was the end of my life but the good Lord
28:17 inspired me because he is the one who knew better
28:20 than I. Paul inspired me in Romans 8 verse 28.
28:24 When he say, all things to those who fear the Lord
28:26 work for good. I could not comprehend this
28:30 and I could not know how blindness
28:33 could be of any good. But when I accepted
28:37 this message, when I accepted the reality that
28:40 good Lord started hearing my heart, he started
28:44 binding my wounds and you know, he started
28:47 performing great miracle, that's the great question.
28:51 I was asking where would I get a wife, he gave me
28:55 this wonderful lady here. Amen. Amen.
29:03 So, Geoffrey what, what happened, what happened
29:08 next, what happened and how did your life turn
29:11 around for the good. Then my life turn alone
29:15 for good because I was thinking that was the end
29:18 of my preaching. But, after the good Lord
29:23 gave me this beautiful wife here.
29:25 She started helping me to come and preach
29:30 through memory. And I was back in this street
29:33 again. Preaching and many people accepted
29:37 Christ and there after I can experience the benefit
29:42 of the good news and how it can transform a
29:47 hopeless man like me. And I tell you now I am
29:51 experiencing a good wife, two children. I'm running
29:55 a ministry by the name Passing the Light
29:58 Ministry and I'm so excited that I'm part
30:02 of God's work. Amen, Amen.
30:11 You know Geoffrey turned to me and he was
30:16 telling me about when he went blind how
30:17 depressed he was and he turned to me and he said
30:21 but, who knew that people would flock to
30:25 hear a blind man preach. Amen. And Geoffrey has
30:29 planted 15 churches and 100's of people baptized
30:33 he's trained Bible workers in Kenya.
30:36 And, and they've even started another little
30:39 program but tell me, I'm gonna tell you a story
30:43 cause we have just a second here, but you
30:46 know I'm, during the political unrest in Kenya,
30:51 they had some real trouble and I got an e-mail
30:54 from a lady that was over there telling about the
30:57 violence and how they were attacked by mobs
31:00 and their car was beaten and windows were
31:02 broken out and over and over they would drag
31:05 Geoffrey out of the car and try to make him
31:08 speak because his dialect would tell them where he
31:11 was from and they would have kill him.
31:13 And the mobs killed a lot of people they say mobs
31:16 and one village after another.
31:18 God delivered them and she told me this
31:20 harrowing story and I, so I started calling Geoffrey,
31:24 calling Geoffrey and finally I got Geoffrey on
31:26 the phone and I said Geoffrey, Geoffrey you
31:29 need to come back to the States and I said,
31:32 you have trouble there. He says oh, the Lord is
31:34 good, the Lord is blessed us. Amen, Amen.
31:37 And I said but you have trouble Geoffrey.
31:39 And he says the Lord takes care of us, we had
31:41 a little trouble but the Lord is good, we baptize
31:44 35 more people. And I said but Geoffrey you
31:48 should come home until the political unrest settles
31:51 down. And Geoffrey says Mark, I'm determined to
31:57 be spent for the gospel, amen.
32:00 And he stayed there and he had another evangelist
32:02 campaign and baptized more people. Amen,
32:06 Amen. So, Geoffrey and Martha have started an
32:11 orphanage and from, there are a lot of orphans
32:15 from this political unrest and from AIDS there
32:18 and so you need to stop by their booth and get to
32:21 know them a little bit. Can you say Amen?
32:22 Amen. Thank you two, both so much
32:25 for being here, Amen, thank you, thank you.
32:34 Next I have doctors and Chris and Lela Lewis and
32:40 they're here to talk to us a little bit.
32:42 And can you tell us a little bit about yourselves
32:44 and you are up to what you are doing in our ministry?
32:47 Yes thank you Mark, we are both graduates of
32:51 Loma Linda University School of Medicine.
32:53 I'm a general surgeon and Lela is an OB-GYN.
32:56 Together we found it Right Arm of Love which
32:59 is a non-profit organization which
33:01 provides free health screening and free health
33:03 counseling in Phoenix, Arizona. Also we are
33:06 heavily involved in health media and we've recently
33:09 founded the medical and surgical
33:11 Health And Healing Institute.
33:13 Since our ministry's origination in 2003
33:15 by God's grace we've distributed over 20,000
33:18 peaces of present truth literature, generously
33:21 donated by project restore. To God's grace
33:24 we've provided 20,000 individuals with free
33:27 health screening and by God's grace provided
33:30 15,000 Bible study context to the Seventh-
33:33 day Adventist church. Wow, Amen. Praise God,
33:37 Praise the Lord, can you, can you tell me though
33:40 how you went from health screening to health media.
33:44 Well, in 2005 we began doing a teaming up with
33:49 pastors and evangelists and with combining our
33:52 health lectures with full blown
33:53 evangelistic seminars. The results were
33:56 absolutely astronomical. The Lord opened
33:59 amazing doors with Trinity Broadcasting
34:01 Network, CBS and NBC where we were actually
34:04 filmed for free air time. And addition to that the
34:07 Arizona Government gave their full support as
34:09 in the executive branch of the Arizona government,
34:12 as well as multiple evangelical church support.
34:15 Also the health lectures opened doors for the
34:17 television show Practical Living which is produced
34:20 by Loma Linda Broadcasting Network.
34:22 And Practical Living is currently re-aired in
34:25 Phoenix on Good New Television that's a local
34:28 Seventh-day Adventist TV station.
34:29 Of course the most exciting results were
34:31 those seen by those individuals who gave
34:33 their heart to Jesus, on the screen you'll see a
34:35 picture of Mr. Bob Bradley, Mr. Bradley
34:38 actually became acquainted with
34:39 Adventism through coming to the Arizona
34:42 State Fair Health Board. He then followed up
34:44 coming to the booth going to a health lectures
34:46 series and then an evangelistic series
34:49 and praise God he give his heart to Jesus.
34:51 He is just one of many people who have given
34:53 their heart to Jesus through health evangelism.
34:55 Praise the Lord, and you know I know the Lord
34:59 uses lifestyle medicine and lifestyle care but you
35:03 are both acute care providers.
35:05 Can, can the Lord use that to lead people to Jesus?
35:08 Absolutely Mark, on the screen you will also see a
35:11 picture of Mrs. Antoinette Venega, she was a patient
35:13 of mine when I was at Loma Linda.
35:15 Antoinette had something called a Placenta Percreta,
35:18 which is where essentially the Placenta acts like a
35:20 cancer, it grows through the lining of the uterus.
35:23 It goes out into the bowel the bladder and even the
35:25 blood vessels and as you can imagine it's a life
35:27 threatening emergency because the patients can
35:29 bleed to death. As such we plan ahead, we plan
35:33 for a cesarean hysterectomy, which is where you
35:35 deliver the baby by C-section and then
35:37 you immediately followed by taking out
35:39 the uterus. These patients are often admitted to
35:42 the hospital from months on end even and this is
35:45 exactly what happened to Antoinette, we were
35:47 watching her very carefully during this
35:49 period of time she was not the least but interested
35:52 anything spiritual. And then the dreaded day
35:55 arrived. And she started bleeding, we were racing
35:58 her down to the operating room and on the way
36:00 down there, everyone was crying the nurses
36:02 Antoinette, I clasped her hands and I said
36:05 Antoinette, can I pray with you please.
36:07 And she agreed, I specifically prayed
36:09 dear Jesus please guide our hands as surgeons
36:13 and also please bring her through this very, very
36:15 dangerous operation safely. We proceeded
36:18 with the C-section and delivered a very healthy
36:20 baby boy and then proceeded with the
36:22 hysterectomy and taking out the uterus and we
36:24 noted Placenta had gone into the pelvic side walls
36:27 and everything bleeding profusely there was
36:30 nothing we could do to stop it. Finally the
36:32 anesthesiologist leaned over the curtain and said
36:34 something that a surgeon never wants to hear.
36:37 He said you need to start chest compressions now.
36:40 I said, oh you've got to be kidding me, at which she
36:43 said no. At this point I start crying out the
36:46 Lord aloud, I would previously been crying
36:48 you know speaking to him silently in my mind
36:51 and now I'm like Lord please help, please help,
36:53 as 30 some people are running around the room
36:55 and all chaos is breaking news.
36:58 We called for something called a co-black, which
37:00 is where we accept all uncross-matched blood
37:02 in the entire hospital, this is at Loma Linda
37:04 University. 78 units of packed red blood cells,
37:08 54 units of fresh frozen plasma and 38 units of
37:11 platelets layered by God's grace he miraculously
37:14 saved her. He brought her through that operation
37:17 and by God's grace as soon as operation was
37:20 over and she was recovered, I went to
37:21 her bed I said Antoinette, Jesus brought you
37:24 through that operation he has a special plan for you
37:27 Jesus has a plan for you, when she was discharged
37:30 from the hospital I send her home with a
37:31 magazine on the Sabbath and one that describes
37:33 what happens when we die and I'm so happy to
37:36 tell you today by God's grace she and her
37:38 husband both have given their heart to Jesus and
37:40 were baptized. Amen, Amen. God be praised,
37:44 God be praised. Praise the Lord, well
37:46 I understand you have a plan to blend lifestyle
37:50 medicine with acute care can you tell me
37:52 about that briefly? Yes, we believe that these
37:55 two are just completely intertwined, there are so
37:57 many situations where like a patient I had we
38:00 call him John. He had severe Crohn's and after
38:03 I performed his surgery for his complicated
38:05 Crohn's disease I was able to share with him
38:07 God's lifestyle plan for him and today he is
38:11 symptom from his Crohn's. He is off all of
38:13 his Crohn's medications so praise God for that,
38:16 that's why we are planning to start a
38:17 Seventh-Day Adventist Hospital combined with
38:21 lifestyle center on the outskirts Phoenix,
38:24 Arizona. Amen. Wow, well I know
38:29 it's often difficult to sustain lifestyle centers.
38:34 How do you planned over come this?
38:37 The Holy Spirit impressed us to start
38:38 the Medical and Surgical Health and Healing
38:41 Institute. The acronym is actually MSHHIN
38:45 pronounced mission. As in the great gospel
38:48 commission to use Jesus, Three angels messages
38:51 using his health message to turn those people to his
38:54 Three Angels messages and a life with Jesus.
38:57 What the physicians at the mission and tell they
39:00 accept and reduced significantly
39:02 reduced salary. Those safe salary goes
39:05 into a trust fund at the Arizona conference and
39:07 then those salaries are then utilized to purchase
39:10 the land, the building then self sustain the institution
39:13 in it's entirety, both the lifestyle center and the
39:16 acute care setting. The Lord has provided
39:18 amazing opportunities because we feel this is
39:21 the Holy Spirit's leading. We actually have an
39:23 appointment to meet with the Governor of the State
39:25 of Arizona in the next couple of months to
39:27 discuss these issues as well as we will be
39:29 re-filming with Trinity Broadcasting Network
39:31 starting August 27th. Wow, have you seen any
39:35 evangelistic success from these new efforts.
39:39 Well, we've just opened our doors for a medical
39:41 practice but already we're already seeing God
39:44 producing fruit. We send out 37,000 flyers to the
39:47 surrounding homes. We've had a number of
39:49 calls of people that wanna come to our practice
39:51 simply because they recognize something
39:53 different about our practice. In addition
39:55 several have come or have schedule
39:57 appointment specifically because we are a
39:58 Seventh-day Adventist practice and many of
40:01 them are non-Adventist. We are really, really
40:04 happy that the Lord is allowing us to participate
40:06 in with him as we attempt to spread his Three angels
40:10 messages to the world. We solicit your prayers
40:12 and we also want to encourage each and
40:14 everyone of to follow Jesus leading and
40:16 I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
40:19 Amen, Amen. Well get to know these young people
40:23 at the exhibits, so I appreciate it, God bless.
40:32 And please tonight to introduce you my dear
40:34 friend Reuben Dias and he is from Portugal.
40:37 And I had the privilege to meet Reuben at first time
40:40 in at this ASI convention in 2007.
40:44 And Reuben, you asked Don and I to come over
40:46 and help set up an ASI chapter in Portugal in
40:49 2008. And so Don and I went and got in car
40:53 with Reuben and we took a 3 hour drive.
40:56 And it was one of those what I call Henry Martyn
40:59 would call divine appointment.
41:00 Because at that time Reuben you asked us how
41:03 ASI had changed our life and we told you our
41:06 family story about how ASI has changed our life
41:10 and our family and given us what we have today
41:12 and the joys that we have of service.
41:14 And what happened when we talked?
41:17 Well, you touch our heart because actually you
41:19 wanted to experience that, we came to ASI before,
41:23 we heard stories and we thought this has to
41:27 happen in our lives. So, when you told about
41:30 this and specifically about the DVD program,
41:33 I was touched and I remember that I asked
41:36 you Denzil, we wanna do something like this.
41:39 So, you did before, tell me who to do it
41:43 and find me a place. And I ask you what
41:46 county you want to go to. And I remember I said
41:48 you know I don't care about the country.
41:50 Okay just let's think about it, let's pray about it and
41:53 whatever comes up we just go.
41:56 Okay and I told you that I be think and pray about
41:59 this and I said give me a couple of weeks.
42:01 What just so happen he has took us to his
42:03 fantastic vegetarian restaurant and just as
42:06 we sat down I got a phone call and it was from
42:08 Pastor Mark Finley. And he said Denzil,
42:11 I've just got back from Cuba. And you can't
42:14 believe the exciting things that's going on
42:16 in Cuba right now. We need to get down
42:19 there and get involved in doing DVD training and
42:22 training the lay people to be involved in
42:24 evangelism. That's right. And I said, I think
42:27 I know just the person, I let you know.
42:31 And I hang up the phone, and I told you about it.
42:33 Yeah there was about while you were in the
42:35 phone about 10 minutes, yes, you came back and
42:37 you told me listen I have the country for you
42:40 and I asked you what is the country, that quick,
42:42 yes. What country is it right?
42:44 And I said Cuba. And I said, oh that's good
42:46 because I have been there before I know the
42:48 language my parents were missionaries in South
42:50 America and I learned Spanish and I said lets go.
42:54 Yeah, and I though was even better because you
42:56 live in Portugal and America we have a
42:58 tough time getting into Cuba.
43:00 That's right so as you said it was a divine
43:02 appointment and both of us were really
43:04 shocked by so was a quick of an answer.
43:07 We were it was just amazing.
43:09 And so happen after that? Well, we went together
43:11 actually we went together and with another about
43:14 eight members of ASI and that was in 2009.
43:18 It was a fabulous experience.
43:20 We actually took Ramon our ASI executive
43:23 secretary and Ray, Herald and several other
43:27 people and it was Dwight, Dwight and we went.
43:30 And we went and what do we do?
43:32 Well, we were a great team blessed by the Lord
43:34 and what happened was tremendous.
43:36 Was it first time that I experienced that in
43:38 my life. Again I saw before with another
43:40 people but then I experienced myself.
43:43 We went there and it was scheduled to be training
43:46 1000 people. 1000 members and you know
43:50 what 1000 showed up exactly nobody missed
43:54 so 1000 were trained and equipped in that 2009.
43:57 And I think we have some pictures to
43:58 see on that don't we? Yes, we do we can bring
44:00 up some pictures it's amazing how people
44:04 react in Cuba to having the opportunity
44:07 to share the message. And what was exciting
44:09 to see is the faces the people when they realize
44:12 they can do more to tell other about it, look at the
44:15 face of this lady right here.
44:16 This is an example where you handle the
44:18 equipment and after the training you are so
44:21 amazed you know initially they were
44:23 frightened, they think they can do it but at
44:25 the end they are so involved with the Holy
44:27 Spirit that they just want to go right way and do it.
44:30 Okay and then you went what happen after that
44:32 you went did it again? Well, I call this the chain
44:35 reaction because you know I was impact by
44:38 somebody else by you Denzil where you were
44:40 inspired of the Holy Spirit and others inspired of
44:42 you. You know and then went again in 2010 this
44:45 year so we did another 1000 with a pretty much
44:49 the same team we have another dear friend from
44:53 Portugal, Carlos also Randy, Bevins is here
44:58 and other friends so we met another team and
45:01 we met another 800 family and more than that
45:04 showed up so we had about 2000 families
45:07 now trained in Cuba. Now, Reuben I know that
45:09 you could tell stories all day long to our ASI
45:12 family, yes, tell us one quick story.
45:14 You know one thing that was really shocking
45:17 was that in this training when I was giving the
45:21 training at the end the local pastor came to me
45:24 actually the responsible person responsible for
45:27 the personal ministries, he came to me and said
45:30 listen we have surprise are you prepared for the
45:32 surprise? There is one person right now that
45:36 he is prepared for baptism he has gone through the
45:38 studies and he wants to be baptized right now.
45:41 What do you think about it, I said sure let's do it.
45:44 So, and this persons particular person was
45:48 a pastor of another domination.
45:51 And you know what was incredible what happen
45:54 afterwards was that he was baptized and I had
45:58 this blessing this incredible opportunity
46:01 that I handover to him his DVD player for him to do
46:06 the work afterwards, Amen. So, let me get this
46:08 straight, a layman gave him, led him to the Lord
46:14 down Cuba. A layman from Portugal gave him
46:17 the equipment, so that this pastor can now teach
46:20 the Adventist message to other people in Cuba.
46:23 Yes, and you know that we have reports actually
46:26 I received an email 2 days ago that another pastor
46:30 of another domination also happened the same
46:32 thing and specifically what happen was that
46:37 five of his congregations that have now been
46:40 baptized in the Adventist Church. Amen, amen.
46:42 So, more then 200 people already have been
46:45 accepted the message. But, it didn't stop there
46:47 did it? Because we have some
46:49 more pictures to show you
46:50 from what happen next? Yes, really quickly, you
46:52 know this is stop here, we came back to Portugal
46:55 and we thought this has to happen in Portugal
46:57 also so, right now in Portugal we did the
47:00 same training process so again the chain reaction
47:03 and we have 480 families that were trained and they
47:08 are ready and they are run their own small groups.
47:10 Amen. But then not only did that happen what
47:14 did you decided to do personal?
47:15 Well, myself and Carlos we are officers of ASI in
47:19 Portugal, we though listen we cannot talk about it if
47:22 we don't do it. So, this was a big challenge for us.
47:26 So, we decided to set up our own group.
47:27 We have a photo here and you know we don't have
47:30 any visits, any visits initially so we prayed
47:33 about it we just thought our two families and what
47:35 happen afterwards was tremendous.
47:38 Because now we have eight visitors attending
47:41 our small group. So, we are a totally of 25
47:44 people of four different families
47:46 running the small group. ASI family did you hear
47:49 that now you understand that the DVD program is
47:52 something that you have generously given to and is
47:55 now had an impact. Not only does it have an
47:57 impact here in North America it has a huge
47:59 impact in Cuba, it has a huge impact around the
48:03 world. And with your offerings and your
48:05 financial support you have been able to help
48:07 this grow and millions of people have heard our
48:09 message through this program.
48:12 And its just exciting to be a part of it and you'll be
48:14 able to play another part of that in our
48:16 offering this coming this Sabbath, Amen.
48:18 So, thank you very much.


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Revised 2014-12-17