Special Feature

The Jack Blanco Story

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

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Series Code: SF

Program Code: SF000040


00:01 It was the encouragement in the ministry of Jack Blanco
00:04 that kept my eyes fixed on Christ.
00:06 Jack's allegiance is absolutely to God
00:10 as his King and Savior and to the Scripture
00:13 that reveals God to him.
00:15 He really was a living example
00:17 of what it meant to be a devoted follower of Jesus.
00:21 The story that they want to tell others,
00:27 not of themselves, but of God.
00:33 I think that's what's one of the geniuses of his ministry,
00:37 were he was truly interested in other people.
00:41 In my life, here I saw God's teacher.
00:46 He seems to be uncomfortable
00:48 when people praised the "Clear Word" and he said,
00:51 "You know, it's God, it's not me."
01:03 Jack Blanco story is filled with extraordinary experiences.
01:07 He seized the hope that God brought into his life.
01:11 You and I can also have a story
01:13 of extraordinary experiences
01:14 if we accept the hope that God has for our lives.
01:19 That's what makes this story important to tell,
01:21 embrace hope in your life as you watch
01:24 the Jack Blanco story and be blessed.
02:53 A person's life story never stands alone,
02:57 just as creeks and tributaries
02:59 from across the continent flow into rivers
03:01 and eventually merge into the ocean.
03:04 There are always others who influence
03:06 and impact an individual in ways that make a difference.
03:10 The life of Marion Blasius was a river
03:13 that flowed into Jack Blanco's life
03:16 and together through the years,
03:18 they emptied themselves into a ministry for God
03:21 that spanned the globe.
03:23 Having a godly mother and grandmothers
03:25 influenced Marion and help prepare her
03:27 for a life of service as a Bible worker,
03:31 teacher, missionary, mother,
03:34 and wife of a pastor.
03:36 Growing up in Chicago during the 1920s
03:39 was a dangerous affair.
03:40 Corruption, crime and violence seem to ooze
03:43 from crevice in the city.
03:45 In the midst of this chaos,
03:47 Mother Lilly taught young Marion to place her trust
03:50 in a God loyal to His promises.
03:54 The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
03:56 His mercies never cease.
03:59 Great is His faithfulness.
04:01 His mercies begin afresh each morning.
04:03 Marion recalls her grandmother fondly.
04:06 I remember one day I said,
04:08 "Grandma, it's starting to rain."
04:10 She said, "Don't worry, we're not made of sugar.
04:14 We won't melt."
04:15 We would go down to catch the streetcar,
04:19 and then ride the streetcar to the end of the line,
04:23 then get on the Chicago-Milwaukee Railroad
04:26 and ride that 'til the tracks went up,
04:30 then we'd get off and walk down the stairs
04:34 to the North Shore Church.
04:36 Mother Lilly always had Bible study interest.
04:39 During her childhood and teenage years,
04:41 Marion trained for ministry, leading others to Jesus
04:44 as she watched her mother and grandmother
04:46 reach out to people.
04:47 When I was in high school,
04:50 our church had evangelistic meetings.
04:53 We invited the church members
04:56 that were baptized to come to our house to worship.
05:00 I made a little goal device.
05:03 When we made our goal for Sabbath School,
05:06 I'd turn on the light.
05:08 Although Marion and her mother were faithful to their beliefs
05:11 and told others about Jesus,
05:13 there was a shadow in their family life.
05:16 Marion's parents were separated.
05:18 Daily, Marion prayed that her father
05:20 would make a decision to follow Jesus.
05:22 It wasn't easy to wait for an answer.
05:25 As a youth, Marion discovered
05:27 God doesn't always answer a prayer
05:29 according to human time.
05:31 She developed a willingness to wait on God
05:33 which built a foundation for her
05:35 to lead others to Jesus.
05:38 In North Chicago, Katie Keissling,
05:41 a teenage German immigrant struggled to survive.
05:44 My mom came over from Germany when she was 17,
05:48 so she came about 1922.
05:52 She was working in a bakery in Chicago,
05:55 working 10 hours a day
05:57 and like many, many immigrants had to work like that.
06:01 Katie arrived in her new country with little money
06:04 and was often bewildered by the big city.
06:06 It was nothing like the quiet Bavarian hills
06:09 she had left behind.
06:10 Shortly after she arrived in Chicago,
06:13 Katie med Fredric Ross,
06:14 an immigrant from Vienna, Austria,
06:16 who had been in the United States
06:18 for several years.
06:19 Katie was impressed with Frederick's knowledge
06:21 of American customs and language.
06:23 He advised Katie on where to apply for work
06:26 and helped her find lodging.
06:27 Together, Katie and Frederick
06:29 talked about their hopes and dreams.
06:31 They enjoyed warm spring nights and crisp autumn days.
06:34 Although Katie spend long hours at the bakery,
06:37 she looked forward to her time with Frederick.
06:39 Little by little love began to grow.
06:43 Sadly Frederick took advantage of Katie's love.
06:46 One day Katie could no longer ignore
06:48 what she didn't want to admit, even to herself.
06:52 She knew she was pregnant
06:53 and would have to tell Frederick.
06:56 How would he receive the news?
06:58 Did she have the courage to form the words
07:00 and say them out loud to someone else, even Frederick?
07:03 One evening, Frederick suggested
07:05 they take a walk in the nearby park.
07:07 Katie knew the time had come.
07:09 They had spent many special moments together there.
07:13 Once the words were spoken,
07:14 Katie felt as though her secret was lighter.
07:17 Frederick seemed pleased
07:18 and they discussed what would happen next.
07:20 Katie even allowed herself the luxury of daydreaming about
07:23 the new little family unit they would become.
07:26 Her fantasies would soon be replaced with bitter tears.
07:30 One evening she called his apartment
07:34 and there was no answer.
07:37 That was little strange.
07:39 And you know, in those days
07:43 you go back through the 1920s,
07:46 you know, everybody didn't just own a car
07:49 and whizzing wherever,
07:51 you know, where they wanted to go.
07:54 So you had to get on the streetcar
07:56 and do this and that.
07:58 So you know, she called, next day
08:01 she called again and no answer.
08:04 Fear began to overwhelm Katie.
08:06 Could something have happened to Frederick?
08:08 Was he ill or worse?
08:11 She waited another day and said, well,
08:12 I think I need to go over there to find out.
08:16 Talked to landlady, what's happened,
08:17 so she went over there and landlady said, no,
08:22 he left a couple of days ago.
08:25 You mean he's not here. No.
08:26 Where did he go? I don't know.
08:29 What about all his things?
08:31 No, he took them with them or sold them, whatever.
08:34 So she took my mother upstairs in his apartment
08:39 and the apartment was empty, nobody there,
08:41 no forwarding message, nothing, gone.
08:44 So here you have a single mother
08:46 and of course pregnant.
08:48 As Katie stumbled out of the apartment,
08:50 her soul felt as cold as the Chicago wind
08:53 that whipped her small frame. Frederick was gone.
08:56 Alone, Katie would face the stigma
08:59 of being an unwed mother.
09:00 In spite of the heartache and hurt,
09:03 the tiny baby made its way into the world
09:05 on a hot June day in 1929,
09:07 rejected by his earthly father even before birth,
09:11 little Johann Jacob Kiessling was loved dearly by his mother.
09:15 I was born premature,
09:17 born weighing only about 4 pounds.
09:21 And, but I'm still here.
09:25 Obviously, I survived.
09:27 What do you know about your father?
09:28 I know nothing about my father.
09:31 My mother was so hurt over
09:34 what she called the betrayal,
09:36 she didn't wanted to talk about it, ever.
09:40 She finally told me his name.
09:42 His name was Frederick Ross,
09:45 but he was from Vienna, Austria.
09:48 And of course, my mother was originally from Bavaria,
09:52 southern part of Germany,
09:54 but it was here in this country that they met.
09:56 Katie Keissling loved her little son
09:58 and didn't want to be separated from him.
10:00 Without money, Katie and baby Jacob
10:02 would nowhere to live.
10:04 Mom having to work 10 hours a day in a bakery,
10:07 she had to find babysitters to care of me
10:10 while she was working,
10:11 then she'd pick me up in the evening.
10:13 But one time she came home early from work
10:17 and as she approached the door,
10:20 she could hear me crying inside,
10:23 and so she knocked on the door
10:25 and the people opened the door
10:27 and they were sitting around the table eating supper.
10:30 And my mother could tell I was crying
10:33 because I was hungry.
10:35 I mean, there is a certain cry
10:36 when the baby is hungry and she says,
10:39 "Oh, haven't you given him anything to eat yet?"
10:42 They said, "No, we told him if he stopped crying,
10:44 then we will give him food to eat,
10:47 but if he keeps crying
10:48 we're not going to give him anything."
10:50 So this is the kind of treatment,
10:52 you know, that I had from some of the babysitters.
10:54 Katie was appalled that her precious son
10:57 was being treated so callously.
10:59 It wasn't long before her boy had a new caretaker.
11:02 And then she found some other babysitters
11:04 and this was in the apartment about three stories up
11:10 and as she came home early
11:11 and I like to play out on the porch.
11:15 The slats covering the porch
11:19 must have been farther apart
11:22 and I was out there playing
11:23 and there was a broom out there
11:25 and I was trying to get that broom loose
11:28 which was stuck under a chair
11:30 and pulled real hard and the broom,
11:34 you know, gave way and I just felt backwards
11:40 and fell through the slat.
11:42 As Jacob tumbled off the porch falling three stories down,
11:45 his mother was returning from her work day to take him home.
11:48 Just about that time, my mother was coming the stairs,
11:53 and she sees this bundle,
11:55 okay, flying through the air hitting the ground,
12:00 bouncing off the ground and oh,
12:04 she looks and it's, you know, it's her baby.
12:08 And so she turns around and runs down
12:11 almost tripped on the way down,
12:13 almost fell, and there I was,
12:17 you know, unconscious and I don't remember
12:23 any other thing that she told me.
12:26 All I remember she said, you were unconscious,
12:28 we rushed you to the hospital.
12:30 How long I was in the coma, I have no idea.
12:33 Katie had an Aunt Katie and Uncle Jack
12:35 who also lived in Chicago.
12:37 Baby Johann Jacob was nicknamed
12:40 Jacky after his uncle.
12:42 The couple saw the stress and strain
12:44 the young mother was under
12:45 as she tried to raise little Jacob,
12:47 now Jacky, on her own.
12:49 My mother's aunt felt sorry for her,
12:53 and said, "Why don't you come and live with us.''
12:56 My great aunt and great uncle,
12:57 they love me, I love them,
12:59 and their kids love me and yeah,
13:01 it was a sort of a happy family situation.
13:04 During those years of struggle,
13:06 Katie clung to her faith in God.
13:08 It gave her hope and peace.
13:09 She wanted her son to come to love God as she did.
13:12 The whole family was Catholic. My mother was Catholic.
13:15 I went to the Catholic Church,
13:17 and so I went to Catholic parochial school.
13:19 What I remember about school is the kindness of the nuns.
13:23 Every morning they would come and ask us,
13:28 first, second graders, whatever and even older ones, you know,
13:31 how many of you did not have breakfast this morning?
13:36 Now it's not that I didn't have breakfast
13:38 but sometimes I purposely ate very little breakfast
13:42 so I was still hungry
13:45 because I loved the attention of the nuns.
13:48 And they were so kind and so gentle,
13:50 I will never forget them.
13:53 I can't.
13:54 No, there are some very good people there
13:56 in the Catholic Church, absolutely.
13:58 As Jacky grew up, his mother Katie
14:01 longed to return to Germany to visit her relatives,
14:04 she wanted him to know his extended family.
14:06 Katie saved every extra dollar
14:08 she could afford until she had the exact amount
14:11 needed to purchase two tickets.
14:13 At first Jacky wasn't sure about leaving home
14:15 and going to a far country,
14:17 but his excitement began to grow
14:18 as he thought about visiting his grandparent's farm.
14:21 In 1938, Jacky and his mother said goodbye to Chicago
14:25 and left for Katie's homeland.
14:27 He was enthralled with the adventure
14:29 of traveling by boat and train.
14:32 When we arrived in Germany,
14:34 the train of course pulled into the station.
14:37 As soon as the train stopped,
14:39 my grandparents got on the train
14:42 and my grandmother went ahead first, when she saw me,
14:46 you know, when she saw us,
14:48 she gave my mother a big hug
14:50 and then she reached down and gave me a big hug and,
14:52 you know, and she seemed to be so proud
14:55 of seeing a new grandson and then of course
14:58 with the name Keissling, member of the family.
15:02 Jacky loved being with his uncles Fritz and Joseph
15:05 and his Aunt Connie at their home in Hohenberg, Germany.
15:08 Well, when I stayed here at the farmhouse,
15:10 I stay on the second floor.
15:12 The farm was in the back of the house,
15:14 you know, that's where it started
15:16 and went clear up to the woods way back there.
15:19 In the winter it got very cold,
15:21 and there was no heat on the second floor.
15:23 There was actually ice on the inside of the window,
15:27 not only thin ice but I mean thick ice.
15:31 Living on the farm
15:32 was a new experience for little Jacky.
15:34 There was much to explore when he first arrived.
15:37 Being in this barn after all these years
15:40 brings back a lot of memories.
15:41 Farm work filled Jacky's days.
15:44 Wheat and hay were two of the main crops
15:46 his grandfather raised.
15:47 Even though it has been more than 75 years
15:49 since Jack worked on the farm,
15:51 he hasn't forgotten the skills he learned as a boy.
16:04 Jacky learned many new things on the farm.
16:06 When his uncles were called into the army,
16:08 his responsibilities grew.
16:10 And so to run the farm, it was just grandfather
16:13 and myself and my mother's younger sister
16:17 and she was only about 4 years older than I was.
16:20 So there's a lot of work to do,
16:21 so it wasn't long before my grandfather taught me,
16:23 you know, how to plow,
16:24 how to use the oxen in the field and all that.
16:27 Anyway, it was feeding time, they were hooked together,
16:31 okay, so there was a little wagon
16:33 and they took off running.
16:35 Time to go to the barn.
16:36 And time to come home to eat, and there was a little fence
16:40 just on the other side of the barnyard.
16:43 And I knew at the speed they were going,
16:46 they wouldn't be able to stop,
16:48 they'd plow right into the fence
16:50 and what do you do,
16:52 you know, with subsistence farming
16:54 when two oxen are hurt and those are the only ones
16:57 that we could use for the plowing.
17:00 And so I ran as fast as I could to try to keep up with them
17:04 and I caught up with them just before they got to the fence
17:08 and I was able to stop them.
17:09 When the time came to return home to America,
17:12 grandfather persuaded Katie to let the boy remain
17:15 for a year on the farm.
17:16 You know, she kissed me and huged me
17:19 and then said goodbye
17:20 and stands on the back platform of the train
17:25 and the train pulls away and she is going like this,
17:28 I said, oh my man, I broke down and cried.
17:31 I cried for three days, literally.
17:34 The values of self respect
17:35 that Jacky's mother and grandparents
17:37 instilled in him served him throughout his life.
17:40 They taught him to live
17:42 in a way that honored the family name.
17:44 One thing about my grandfather,
17:46 he was a man of faith.
17:49 And if there's one thing
17:50 that he taught me is honesty, okay.
17:53 No prevarications, no lying or whatever.
17:57 Even my mother was the same way.
17:58 Taught me what was right,
18:00 to be honest, not lying, not stealing or whatever.
18:03 And my grandfather reinforced that,
18:06 and I think that's a very important lesson
18:07 for people to learn, young and old.
18:09 While world politics grew tumultuous,
18:12 life on the farm continued.
18:14 Jack attended the village school.
18:16 It's amazing to come here
18:18 and see the school still standing,
18:21 you know, the school 75 years ago.
18:24 Like many boys, Jack had a bit of mischief in him.
18:27 The teacher did not like mice.
18:31 Somehow she was just...
18:33 and so we brought a dead mouse
18:36 to school one day, okay,
18:38 and word got back to my grandfather,
18:41 and I tell you he really gave me a good talking to,
18:43 he knew how to talk where it sank in,
18:46 and so he would say, you know, what have you done,
18:48 first of all to do to this good teacher.
18:51 And second of all,
18:52 what have you done to our good name.
18:54 So I learned my lesson of family responsibility.
18:58 Faith was an important part of the family's way of life.
19:01 Jack attended worship services with his relatives each week.
19:04 It was an honor to be asked to be an altar boy.
19:08 As an altar boy, of course you serve the priest.
19:10 When I come into this church,
19:11 I have a sense of, sense of respect,
19:14 the sense of honor, dignity, sense of holiness.
19:19 On September 1, 1939,
19:21 Adolf Hitler invaded Poland and World War II began.
19:25 For 12 years the events
19:27 of the Holocaust terrorized Europe.
19:29 Hitler wanted to create the superior Aryan race
19:32 by eliminating those whom he felt were inferior,
19:35 11 million people including 6 million Jews
19:39 and 1.1 million children would eventually die
19:42 because they were targeted by the Nazi regime.
19:45 As war began to impact the family,
19:47 life in the village became more difficult,
19:49 church bells were being claimed by the Nazis for ammunition.
19:52 I was working in the field with my grandfather,
19:55 and all of sudden we heard the bells ring
19:58 and my grandfather stopped working
20:01 and took off his cap
20:02 and we heard a couple more rings of the bell
20:05 and then all the sudden, crack.
20:06 And now we know that the German Wehrmacht
20:10 came here to smash the bells and take them away,
20:12 and that really hurt my grandfather.
20:15 I'll never forget how he took off his cap
20:17 and bowed his head and prayed.
20:19 With the attack on Pearl Harbor,
20:21 the United States entered the war.
20:23 Little Jack was now considered an enemy of Nazi, Germany,
20:27 and things would rapidly become too dangerous for him
20:30 to cross the border and return to America.
20:32 This also cut off communication with his mother.
20:35 Well, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor and so on,
20:38 and of course, it came over the news
20:41 and my grandfather heard about it,
20:43 and he was very sad.
20:45 And he came over to me and told me about it
20:47 and gave me a big hug.
20:49 I could just feel his sorrow over,
20:56 you know, what happened to America.
20:57 Jack progressed in school
20:59 and finished his course of study.
21:01 He wanted to continue his education
21:03 but that would mean leaving the farm.
21:05 Jack applied to a trade school
21:06 and received a letter stating that he was accepted
21:09 into the aeronautical engineering program.
21:12 Eagerly Jack boarded the train
21:13 and made his way to Konigs Wusterhausen,
21:15 located just outside of Berlin.
21:17 A man met him at the station.
21:19 He had a brown shirt on and he had an arm band
21:22 on with a swastika and a visor cap
21:26 and black trousers and black boots.
21:31 And he said, yes, you know,
21:33 you're Jack or Jacob as they called me,
21:36 are you Jacob? Yes.
21:38 Come, follow me.
21:40 Okay.
21:43 I applied to go to school.
21:44 Just come and follow me.
21:47 So he didn't walk very far and, you know,
21:51 and there was a barbwire and the guard dogs
21:54 and everything else.
21:56 And that was the first taste of a labor camp.
22:00 Jack couldn't believe he had been duped.
22:02 This wasn't a school at all.
22:04 He had just lost his freedom.
22:06 Life in the crowded camp
22:08 became a depressing pattern of hard work,
22:10 little food and ill-treatment from the guards.
22:13 The guards would like some entertainment.
22:16 The in thing in sports
22:17 in those days of course was boxing.
22:21 You know Joe Louis was world champion,
22:23 and he defeated the heavyweight champion,
22:28 the German heavyweight champion
22:30 and so anyway they thought, well, boxing is a thing,
22:33 so they arranged us according to our weight.
22:37 The reward for winning the match would be extra food.
22:40 Every time I was put into the open space,
22:43 you know, I would knock the other guy down,
22:45 so then the commander put me into a little heaver weight,
22:48 little heaver weight.
22:49 Next time he put me into, you know, fairly heavyweight.
22:52 Well, I wasn't able to knock that guy down,
22:55 but he wasn't able to knock me down.
22:57 Enraged at Jack's performance,
22:59 the commander entered the ring and beat Jack severely.
23:02 Jack lay bleeding on the ground,
23:04 staring at the black boots straddling his body.
23:07 And the one thought that came to my mind,
23:11 you may kill this body
23:13 but you're not going to kill my spirit.
23:15 I am an American...
23:18 and I am going to stay an American,
23:21 and it's same thing when I think,
23:23 you know, of the history of Christians through the ages,
23:28 mean lot of persecution
23:29 and some were executed and whatever.
23:33 You know, all these Christian martyrs.
23:35 I know, they must have had the same kind of thing that,
23:38 you know, you can kill the body,
23:40 but you can't kill my spirit.
23:41 My spirit is committed and dedicated to Jesus Christ.
23:45 Early one morning the guards awaken Jack.
23:48 He learned that he was being transferred
23:50 to another labor camp.
23:51 Upon his arrival at the Leipzig camp,
23:54 Jack had an experience that allowed him to escape.
23:57 When we got there and headed towards the camp,
24:01 I never was in the camp because what happened, all the sudden,
24:07 I found myself outside of the camp,
24:11 some distance from the fence, all by myself.
24:16 I couldn't believe it, I still remember this day,
24:18 I looked around, there was nobody there.
24:21 In 2012, Jack and the documentary team
24:24 found the place where he was supernaturally transported away
24:27 from the labor camp.
24:29 It now serves as a governmental scientific research center
24:32 in Leipzig, Germany.
24:34 It was an emotional moment for Jack
24:36 as he remembered his near death experience at the hands
24:39 of one of the Third Reich's most lethal labor
24:41 and concentration camps.
24:43 Jack's experience is like the biblical story
24:46 of Philip found in Acts 8,
24:48 when God took Philip, bodily from the road by Jerusalem
24:51 and placed him in another city.
24:53 You must have gotten close to this
24:55 before you found yourself inside of this wall.
24:58 Well, that's the point, yeah.
25:00 Wow.
25:02 I'm getting the chill.
25:04 This would have been the main entrance.
25:07 You had to have been close to here.
25:08 I'm going to kneel down here and have a word of prayer.
25:10 Okay.
25:33 Jack was free.
25:35 During the next two days,
25:36 he made his way back to his grandparent's farm.
25:39 Surprised to see him,
25:40 they thought he had been at school.
25:42 The next morning grandfather had bad news for Jack.
25:46 Son, I can't keep you here.
25:51 If they know that I am harboring a runaway,
25:55 I may be arrested and there's nobody here
25:59 to care of the farm.
26:00 No, son, you need to turn yourself in.
26:04 But, yeah, to turn myself in for the sake of family,
26:08 knowing what lay ahead.
26:12 Jack was sure he would be returned to Leipzig,
26:14 instead he was sent to the munitions factory
26:17 at Pegnitz which was near Nuremberg.
26:19 We had to work 12 hours a day from six to six.
26:23 For breakfast we would get a cup of black coffee
26:27 and a slice of bread.
26:29 For lunch you got a bowl of soup, watery soup,
26:36 and then in the evening a cup of black coffee
26:38 and a slice of bread.
26:40 When I came out of the area,
26:42 I think I weighed about 85-90 pounds
26:44 or something like that.
26:46 By that time I was about 16, 17 years old.
26:50 Day after day, Jack had to listen
26:52 to anti-western propaganda.
26:54 He began to worry about how his mother
26:56 was being treated back in America.
26:58 He had to make a deliberate effort
27:00 not to believe the words he was hearing.
27:02 There has to be a concentration,
27:05 a conscious concentration of setting your mind
27:09 against what is evil and wicked.
27:13 We need to set our mind against
27:15 what we hear and see on the media
27:17 if it's not right and good.
27:19 Survival became the watchword for Jack in the new labor camp.
27:22 Food was scarce.
27:23 The work was hard and life was cheap.
27:26 Those who collapsed were carried away
27:28 and never seen again.
27:29 Jack longed for freedom and came to find it
27:32 in an unexpected way.
27:33 One day a German military officer told Jack
27:36 and two of his friends they were needed.
27:38 And so he says, yeah, we want you, okay.
27:42 Hitler needs you and we're going to draft you
27:45 into the German military.
27:46 Here is your uniform.
27:48 All they had these skinny guys, wear uniforms that didn't fit.
27:52 I remember very clearly marching along the road
27:56 which went right by the medical center
27:59 where wounded German soldiers were sitting on the porch
28:03 and they were looking out at the scraggly bunch of people
28:07 that's supposed to be, you know, win the war.
28:10 I can still see the smirk on their face.
28:12 I mean it was obvious.
28:14 Once again God intervened in Jack's life.
28:17 Instead of being transferred to the frontlines,
28:19 Jack and his two friends were sent back to the labor camp
28:22 where they waited for orders.
28:24 With Jack's change in status
28:26 from prisoner to German soldier,
28:29 the guards at the gate became less vigilant in his presence.
28:32 One day Jack and his two friends
28:34 were visiting with the only guard at the gate.
28:37 Suddenly the guard was called to a situation in the camp.
28:40 And he said, listen, I've got to go, okay.
28:43 There's nobody else here right now.
28:44 You stay here.
28:46 Keep an eye on the gate,
28:48 and I'll be back and he took off.
28:51 We looked at each other.
28:55 Looked around and looked straight ahead
28:58 and there was a woods not far away
29:01 and we said, okay,
29:04 we'll watch the gate and put it behind us.
29:09 And off we took.
29:10 Before long it was time for the three friends
29:13 to go their separate ways.
29:14 With many miles to cover, the danger increased.
29:18 Jack never knew when he might run
29:20 into either German or American soldiers.
29:23 I remember walking through the woods
29:24 and all the sudden I hear some noise behind me.
29:28 You know, I got behind the little bush
29:30 and I looked and were tanks,
29:32 American tanks because the American army
29:34 was pushing up into Germany in small trees like this,
29:39 I mean a tank, no problem.
29:41 As Jack neared Hohenberg,
29:43 he had another encounter with American soldiers.
29:45 And as I came out of the woods,
29:49 I came to this bank
29:53 and little cliff and I looked down
29:57 and there I saw American trucks
30:01 with GIs on it,
30:04 and one fellow looked up at me and gave the hitchhiking sign.
30:12 Oh, did that bring back
30:13 a lot of warm memories of home, of America.
30:17 After days of walking,
30:19 Jack finally arrived at grandfather's farm.
30:22 With freedom and the end of fighting,
30:24 Jack wanted to return home to America
30:27 and be with his mother.
30:29 The war was drawing to a close.
30:31 Well, I had forgotten my English after so many years.
30:36 And I had no papers because the Nazis took the papers away.
30:41 And so I went to the military up
30:43 in Hohenberg and they said,
30:45 you were born in America? And you can't talk English?
30:50 You have no papers, you know, go back to the farm.
30:55 And so I did and just a little while later,
30:59 I get a letter from the German mailman
31:05 from my mother in the United States.
31:08 For years there had been no contact
31:09 between Jack and his mother.
31:11 Then God intervened and made the impossible happen.
31:15 When Jack went to the American military authorities
31:17 with the letter from his mother,
31:19 they couldn't believe he had received correspondence
31:21 through the private mail system during war time.
31:24 Jack was instructed to go to Frankfurt.
31:26 So, Jack, it's been a little while
31:29 since you've have been here
31:30 in Frankfurt, Germany, 67, 68 years.
31:34 What's it like to be here today
31:35 and what was the city like back then?
31:38 And I tell you, this city was just a mass of rubble.
31:41 It had been bombed so severely,
31:44 you know, I asked directions to the military,
31:49 I had to climb over rubble in order to get there.
31:52 And of course when I got there, I gave him the letter.
31:55 How did you get that?
31:56 Well, I said the German mailman.
31:57 There is no private mail coming through.
32:01 The letter needed to be verified
32:03 before anything further could be done.
32:05 So I sat there and I must have been waiting
32:07 there for 2 or 3 hours.
32:09 Finally they said, we checked it out
32:11 and it is genuine,
32:13 go back to the farm and we'll contact you.
32:16 I give credit to the Lord for getting that mail
32:19 through, that letter through.
32:20 Jack couldn't believe it. He was going home at last.
32:24 Weeks later as the ship entered the New York harbor,
32:27 seeing the Statue of Liberty,
32:29 he appreciated freedom as never before.
32:32 The God he had yet to know deeply
32:34 had made a way for Jack to be free.
32:38 Marion was busy as a Bible worker
32:40 in Chicago, Illinois,
32:41 while Jack struggled with his situation in Germany.
32:44 She faced her own set of dangerous and challenges.
32:48 I was giving studies to a mother
32:50 and her divorced daughter.
32:52 They lived in a apartment up over a store.
32:56 As I was driving to their house
32:59 I noticed that every time I stopped at the stop sign,
33:03 there was a young man at the wheel of the car.
33:06 He'd smile at me.
33:08 I thought it was funny at first
33:10 because it just happened at every stop light.
33:13 This continued on and on and I thought,
33:16 "If I go fast, he goes fast.
33:19 If I go slow, he goes slow.
33:21 Well, I got to turn off of this road
33:23 pretty soon to get where I'm going."
33:25 So when I turned off,
33:26 I turned very quickly and went down the hill.
33:30 Well, he was in the left lane
33:32 while I was driving down the right lane
33:34 and I went down to the first house
33:37 at the bottom of the hill and I said,
33:39 "Quick, quick, look at your front window.''
33:42 Eventually we saw the car turn around.
33:45 Marion experienced one miracle after another
33:48 on the rough Chicago streets.
33:50 One night I was coming home from that area
33:53 and I saw a net across the road
33:57 and as I approached it I thought,
33:59 "I'm not stopping here."
34:01 I just stepped on the gas
34:03 as fast as I could and took off.
34:06 When I got home I told my mother and she said,
34:09 "Call the police."
34:11 The police said, "They stop cars and take the cars
34:15 and sometimes even hurt the people."
34:18 Despite these experiences,
34:19 Marion loved telling people about Jesus
34:22 and she wanted to study more,
34:24 so she could share more about Him.
34:26 From her youth, Marion had been trained
34:28 first by her grandmother and mother,
34:30 who all worked as a team to reach Bible study
34:33 interest around the metropolis.
34:35 Her formal training came at Emmanuel Missionary College,
34:38 now Andrews University, where she studied
34:41 under the great evangelist, George Vandeman.
34:44 My mom went to college
34:45 in an age when a lot of women didn't,
34:49 and she graduated and was one of the first
34:52 Bible workers in the denomination.
34:55 I had gone to Moody Bible Institute
34:58 to learn how to do chalk drawings.
35:00 So the pastor asked me to do the hand
35:05 that was nailed to the cross.
35:07 I said, "It's hard to draw a hand."
35:09 But, he said, "I'll pose for you."
35:12 And all Sunday morning he posed
35:15 and I practiced drawing the hand
35:18 and that night I was able to do the hand nailed to the cross.
35:24 Little did Marion know she would soon receive a letter
35:27 from a young man requesting that she visit his mother.
35:31 That letter would change Marion's life forever.
35:36 When Johann Jacob Kiessling left the shores of Germany
35:40 to return home to the United States,
35:42 he could hardly contain his excitement.
35:45 He was going to be reunited with his mother.
35:47 His family has expanded to include a stepfather,
35:50 Lee Blanco, a half sister Marie,
35:53 and stepbrother Mike.
35:55 Jack still felt a shadow
35:56 from never knowing his biological father.
35:59 Well, all my life I had been using
36:01 my mother's maiden name Kiessling.
36:04 And so when I came back from the war,
36:06 I still had the name Kiessling,
36:07 but now I found that I had a stepfather,
36:10 and I had a little stepsister, Marie of 4 years old
36:16 and my mother I think still a little bit hurt
36:22 over the whole betrayal thing for whatever reasons.
36:26 She didn't wanted to have different names in the family.
36:30 So she asked me, "Would you be willing to change your name,
36:33 okay, from Kiessling to Blanco."
36:36 I said, "Mother, anything,
36:37 I mean, I'll do anything for you, sure, no problem."
36:41 So my name was legally changed to Blanco.
36:44 Now Jack John Blanco was fully part of the family.
36:48 He was thrilled to have a younger sister.
36:50 The two spent many happy hours together.
36:53 Jack's stepfather Lee
36:55 suggested that Jack work for him in his parent's diner.
36:58 Jack started as a dishwasher
37:00 and eventually became a short order cook.
37:03 I saw some things in Chicago south side
37:07 after the war that I never wanted to touch,
37:12 I remember one time a fight developed
37:15 right there in the restaurant
37:16 between a husband and a wife.
37:19 And I went there to try to separate him
37:23 and calm him down and so on.
37:26 The man looked at me,
37:27 he said this is a family business
37:28 and then if you get involved in it,
37:29 you're gonna be in it.
37:31 Jack witnessed many conflicts like this
37:33 and each one left a strong mark on his memory.
37:36 When I saw all the effect of hard liquor,
37:40 I said forget it, I'm not touching it.
37:44 Many of his friends had rough reputations.
37:46 During one party, three buddies
37:48 invited Jack to join them in their car.
37:50 Jack innocently followed them.
37:52 A flask of alcohol was passed around.
37:55 Jack took one drink thinking it wouldn't affect him.
37:58 I took a little swig.
38:00 It sent me for a loop.
38:02 Jack returned to the party
38:04 but learn something frightening.
38:05 He was no longer in control of himself.
38:08 The next thing I knew is
38:10 I was the laughing stock of the party,
38:12 and I was saying things and doing things
38:14 that I was ashamed of,
38:15 and I wanted to stop and couldn't stop,
38:18 there was somebody else in control.
38:19 The incident made a lasting impression
38:21 on Jack's teenage mind.
38:23 He'd never tasted liquor before and he never touched it again.
38:26 God was preparing Jack for a life
38:28 he couldn't even imagine.
38:32 With the end of World War II, a new kind of war,
38:35 the Cold War began developing.
38:37 The United States reinstated the draft
38:39 and 19 year old Jack Blanco became nervous.
38:42 He had grown 6 inches and gained 50 pounds
38:45 since returning from Germany.
38:47 Uncle Sam looked at me and said,
38:49 "Oh, where have you been."
38:50 And I said, "Oh, my, I'd seen enough of war
38:53 and I'd rather not go into the infantry."
38:57 Anyway, volunteered for the air force.
38:59 Then I was shipped down
39:00 to San Antonio, Texas for a boot camp.
39:02 Although Jack left the trouble of Chicago,
39:05 it seemed he was drawn to fights.
39:07 During basic training,
39:09 Jack became involved in an altercation
39:11 and he was thrown down on the floor face first.
39:13 His nose was broken.
39:15 That injury would affect Jack for years to come.
39:18 From San Antonio, Jack traveled to Cheyenne, Wyoming
39:21 to receive more training in aircraft communications.
39:24 He also hoped to find role models.
39:27 He keenly missed a father figure in his life.
39:30 One evening I was lying in my bunker
39:33 and thinking about this,
39:36 because my father had left before I was born,
39:39 so I really didn't have a model to go by and didn't feel,
39:44 didn't feel like I had a "father"
39:47 and as I was thinking about this,
39:49 you know, a thought came to my mind
39:52 and I know it was the Holy Spirit.
39:53 Have you ever thought about
39:57 using Jesus Christ as your model?
39:59 Jack wasn't very familiar with the gospel stories,
40:02 but he remembered that the nuns talked about Jesus
40:04 and said that He was honorable and trustworthy.
40:08 And then the thought came to me.
40:11 Yeah, if I had been--
40:13 if I had been there 2,000 years ago
40:15 and walking by the Sea of Galilee,
40:17 and He would look at me and He would say,
40:19 "Jack, come, follow Me."
40:22 And then I thought, well, now wait a minute,
40:23 I mean that was 2,000 years ago.
40:27 Okay.
40:28 Yeah.
40:31 Forget it.
40:32 Then the Holy Spirit, I know, spoke to my conscience
40:35 and my heart again and said,
40:38 He is not dead, He is alive.
40:42 Jack began to imagine walking along with Jesus in daily life.
40:46 He couldn't envision going to a bar
40:48 or smoking a cigarette with Jesus.
40:51 Jack determined that he didn't want those habits
40:53 to be a part of his life.
40:55 Visiting the base library regularly,
40:57 he began to read books.
40:59 He discovered a rebound book with the green cover
41:02 and the word Bible on the spine.
41:04 Just one word.
41:06 Well, I had never held a Bible in my hand,
41:09 I never read the Bible.
41:11 And so I took it, and I took it
41:14 over to the reading table, and I opened it up.
41:18 And I'll never forget,
41:20 I saw a picture there of Jesus standing
41:25 with his arms outstretched like this,
41:28 and all kinds of people either sitting or kneeling before Him,
41:33 crippled people, young people, old people,
41:37 and they're all looking up to Him.
41:39 And I looked at that picture,
41:41 and I pictured myself, yeah,
41:46 being right there in front of Him,
41:48 looking at Him, and I started to cry.
41:52 Jack wanted to keep his new found book for himself.
41:55 Tempted to lie that he'd lost the book,
41:58 he realized that he couldn't do that.
42:00 Reluctantly, he returned the book to the base library
42:03 before he departed to his next station.
42:06 Little did he know
42:07 how much this mislabeled little book
42:09 would change his life's direction.
42:11 Jack scoured many bookstores on his furlough back in Chicago
42:15 to find a copy of the book he'd read in Cheyenne.
42:18 With time running out before he left for Guam,
42:21 he took a train to a used book store
42:23 on the north side of Chicago.
42:26 And I got there and there was a sign
42:28 on the door, out to lunch.
42:30 You know, be back at 1 o'clock.
42:34 Went back at 1 o'clock he wasn't there.
42:37 So I paced up around the sidewalk.
42:40 Jack waited and watched the door for nearly an hour.
42:43 Just as he was about to give up,
42:45 at 1:45 he saw an elderly gentlemen
42:48 hobbling down the sidewalk with the cane in hand.
42:51 I was standing there by the entrance,
42:54 and he looks at me, he says, well, young fellow,
42:56 what can I do for you?
42:58 I said, well, I'm looking for a Bible
43:00 in question and answer form.
43:03 He thought a minute
43:04 and kind of scratching his head.
43:08 Well, he said, I may have something for you.
43:13 The clerk pulled a ladder over to a set of dusty shelves
43:16 and climbed up to the highest shelves
43:18 at ceiling level and selected a book.
43:20 Placing it in Jack's hands he asked.
43:23 He said, is this the book?
43:25 Is Bible the question and answer
43:26 that you're looking for?
43:28 And I kind of hesitated
43:29 because it wasn't the same size.
43:32 Jack read the cover and saw the title
43:35 Bible Reading for the Home Circle.
43:37 I said, well to the old man I said,
43:39 let me check it out.
43:40 So I turned to the section
43:41 that had to do with the State of the Dead.
43:44 I said, wow, I don't understand everything
43:47 but I know this is the same,
43:48 it says the same thing that the other one said.
43:50 Yeah, I said, I will take it.
43:52 How much?
43:53 Jack was ready to pay $20 or more.
43:55 He couldn't believe his luck when the man said,
43:58 well, for you soldier $2.
44:01 I want to be clear to our audience.
44:02 Yeah.
44:03 This is the Bible Readings from that bookstore that day.
44:07 No, this is it, absolutely.
44:10 With the precious book in his possession,
44:12 Jack was soon on his way to Guam
44:14 at the onset of the Korean War.
44:16 Though his communications responsibilities
44:19 on the airbase led to long and tense hours,
44:22 Jack quit drinking caffeinated beverages.
44:24 Step by step he was changing
44:26 what he put into this body.
44:28 Other airmen noticed the difference.
44:30 One day a friend Carl Pintredge called Jack aside.
44:34 I understand you're religious.
44:36 I'm taking a correspondence course
44:39 and I'm learning a lot of things.
44:41 But listen, he said, if you're religious,
44:44 let me loan you this book.
44:45 It's called Desire of Ages.
44:47 That night Jack began to read the book
44:50 and couldn't put it down.
44:51 He was impressed that the author
44:53 was inspired to be able to write such words.
44:56 Carl soon invited Jack to study the Bible with him.
44:59 Jack learned about the Sabbath,
45:01 but it brought a crisis to his new faith.
45:03 When I read Catholic Bible,
45:06 Ten Commandments were little different
45:07 than what I was taught.
45:09 And I said, oh, they lied me.
45:13 No, I mean it was just like taking a knife
45:15 and stabbing it in my chest.
45:17 I thought, what am I gonna do,
45:18 I mean, what church am I gonna belong to?
45:21 So I said, I know what I'm gonna do,
45:24 I'm going to keep God's commandments
45:27 including the seventh-day Sabbath.
45:29 If I'm the only one in the world
45:33 and that is still my conviction today.
45:38 Carl announced one Friday he had met people
45:41 from a church on the island who believed the same things
45:43 that the young airman had studied.
45:45 The two were excited to know they were not alone,
45:48 they had no idea,
45:49 they were about to be introduced
45:51 to a family of millions of like believers.
45:54 The next day they attended the church
45:56 with the Sabbath keepers.
45:57 They began to unwrap the truth as it is in Jesus.
46:00 This truth brought perfect peace to him
46:03 in spite of the war time setting.
46:04 With this encounter, friendships grew,
46:07 Jack and Carl chose to be baptized
46:10 at the foot of suicide cliff in the Pacific Ocean.
46:13 Jack eagerly wrote to his mother
46:15 about his new hope in Jesus.
46:17 He was now a Seventh-day Adventist.
46:20 Soon Carl shipped out to Korea.
46:23 Alone Jack had to take his stand for the Sabbath.
46:26 His commanding officers were unhappy with this,
46:29 but Jack could not be moved,
46:31 even if meant a court-martial.
46:33 Our early Adventists who stood firm
46:36 for their faith really pioneered a way
46:40 that helped the military come to understand
46:44 religious accommodation better.
46:46 And I believe that Jack Blanco
46:49 and his experience during the '50s,
46:52 as he stood up when it was most difficult,
46:55 helped to make it easier for others that followed.
46:58 Jack was able to hold his ground
47:00 for his new faith in God.
47:02 That test was less difficult for Jack to deal with
47:05 than the letter he received from his mother that read,
47:09 "I raised you as a Catholic,
47:11 if you change your beliefs, I'll disown you."
47:18 What would Jack do with such a response?
47:20 He had been separated from his mother for years
47:23 while confined to the German labor camp.
47:25 Would he risk losing his relationship again?
47:28 I remembered reading in the Bible where Jesus said,
47:30 "If any man sets his hand to the plow and looks back,
47:35 he is not worthy of me."
47:37 Whoa.
47:38 So I set my face like a flint, looked straight ahead,
47:44 went ahead and was baptized.
47:45 In the mean time of course, I didn't hear from my mother.
47:47 I mean, I wrote her every day for 6 months, not an answer.
47:53 Half a year later,
47:55 Jack received the long-awaited letter
47:57 from his mother with the message
47:58 that he was welcome to come home
48:00 while on furlough.
48:01 Ooh, there is a breakthrough.
48:03 Jack decided to contact the Adventist Church in Chicago
48:07 and asked them to send someone to visit his mother.
48:09 A letter of response arrived
48:11 from a young woman named Marion,
48:13 who had taken up the task.
48:15 I got a letter from the Bible worker,
48:19 and I read it, and well, I went to see your mother
48:23 and I had a warm welcome
48:26 but she's really not interested in Bible studies
48:30 or visits, whatever and so on.
48:34 That was disappointing.
48:36 Jack tossed the letter into the trash can.
48:38 Then he felt compelled to retrieve it
48:40 in what later came to light as a providential move.
48:44 During Jack's furlough his mother cautiously embraced him.
48:47 She also shared that she thought
48:48 he should meet the Bible worker
48:50 who had visited her several months before.
48:53 Jack called Marion and made plans to see her
48:55 at church the following Sabbath.
48:56 So I went into the church sanctuary
48:59 and sat near the front and just little while later
49:02 this young woman comes up to me,
49:05 taps me on the shoulder and said,
49:08 'What is your name."
49:09 I said, "Well, Jack Blanco."
49:13 Over the weeks a sincere friendship
49:15 developed between Jack and Marion.
49:17 She began to teach him how to give Bible studies.
49:20 Marion Blasius was Jack Blanco's
49:22 first Bible teacher.
49:24 Quickly they grew in the word while they slowly fell in love.
49:28 When it came time for Jack to return
49:30 to his military assignment,
49:32 he wondered if Marion was interested
49:34 in a deeper relationship.
49:38 I said goodbye to Marion.
49:39 And I was packing and all of sudden
49:42 I felt this impression, call Marion.
49:46 I said what for, in my mind, you know.
49:50 Call Marion.
49:52 So I pick up the phone
49:54 and I called her and she answered.
49:56 Jack and Marion met under the quiet trees
49:58 here at the University of Chicago.
50:01 Jack broached the subject of keeping in touch.
50:04 Marion's response was cautious.
50:06 She needed time.
50:07 Marion wanted to get the advice
50:09 of her former pastor, Elder Osgood.
50:12 He said, "I'm going to be interested
50:13 in the man you marry."
50:16 And I said, "Well, I appreciate that."
50:19 She took me to the train station
50:22 and we said goodbye.
50:24 So I expected her response not to be so cautious,
50:28 so I'm thinking about all this on the train
50:30 and I started to cry.
50:33 I still remember.
50:34 Tears start coming down, of course soldiers don't cry,
50:39 so I wiped the tears away.
50:41 Jack was faithful in his church attendance in Washington.
50:44 After Jack shared his personal testimony at a youth meeting,
50:48 the pastor Elder Osgood suggested
50:50 Jack get to know his former Bible worker from Chicago.
50:53 He thought they would make a good fit.
50:56 Jack's heart was as light as a feather,
50:58 for he already knew her
50:59 and now he had Pastor Osgood's stamp of approval.
51:02 Jack proposed and Marion said yes.
51:06 They were married on September 28, 1952.
51:10 In fact, at our wedding
51:16 Jack said, "I don't want to kiss you publicly
51:23 until after we're married."
51:25 So after we were married the pastor said,
51:30 "You may kiss your wife."
51:36 We didn't know how--
51:40 We went from side to side and people laughed.
51:47 The Lord could not have given me a better companion.
51:52 I knew that she would love the Lord
51:54 more than she loved me,
51:56 and she knew that I love the Lord
51:58 more than I loved her.
51:59 Following the wedding,
52:00 Jack and Marion returned to Washington State
52:03 where Jack had to complete his time in the military.
52:06 The couple knew that they were being called to ministry.
52:09 But what exactly did that mean for them
52:11 at the onset of a life together.
52:15 If you really want to be effective
52:17 and really want to reach people,
52:19 you need to get your education.
52:20 The pastor of the Chicago Church suggested that
52:25 I go to Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska.
52:30 He was impressed by what they were doing
52:32 and all that.
52:33 And in those days if you were new Adventist
52:39 and you were interested in taking theological training,
52:43 they were looking for recommendations.
52:45 When the registrar learned
52:46 that Jack was married to Marion, the Bible worker,
52:49 that was recommendation enough.
52:51 Once again Marion was helping
52:53 to launch Jack into his calling to ministry.
52:56 I was eager to get into fulltime ministry.
52:59 And so what I did is I took, you know,
53:02 the heaviest load I could get in courses.
53:04 After graduating from Union College,
53:07 Jack headed to seminary.
53:09 As a military veteran,
53:10 Jack could attend college on the G.I. Bill.
53:13 But that didn't pay all the Blanco's bills
53:15 especially with the new born Cheryl Anne.
53:18 In those days they didn't sponsor you to the seminary.
53:21 If you went, you went on your own.
53:22 I drove to Washington D.C. and then I had to get a job
53:26 and the only job I could get was delivering milk.
53:30 So that meant getting up at 2 o'clock in the morning,
53:35 going to the place, loading my truck.
53:37 At one house, they had put in a new lawn,
53:41 and they had little sticks
53:42 and they had a wire around those little sticks.
53:46 Well, at 3 o'clock in the morning,
53:48 I didn't see those little, tiny sticks
53:51 and those little wires and I grabbed the milk bottles
53:55 and start running towards the front door
53:57 and I tripped on one of those-- splash, on the sidewalk.
54:02 I want to tell you, I cut my hand,
54:06 I ran back to the truck real fast and got the milk
54:08 and delivered it at the house, but then I had to clean up,
54:10 I had a bunch of rags in the truck,
54:12 but I had to clean up
54:13 because I didn't want to lose a customer.
54:15 Every penny counted and so I would drive with one,
54:18 standing up driving with one hand.
54:20 My hand would fill with blood and I would just dump it out
54:25 and drive some more, I had to fill up
54:27 and dump that, drive some more
54:29 and then went to the emergency room
54:31 after I unloaded the truck
54:32 and they looked at it said, boy, I'll tell you,
54:35 you are very fortunate because you just by a fraction,
54:40 you miss cutting the tendon.
54:42 You still have the scar?
54:45 Yeah, you ask me, now, was it the right hand?
54:48 Yeah, I still had the scar. See it.
54:50 Yeah, I do. Right there.
54:52 When Jack and Marion left the seminary,
54:54 they received a call to the New Jersey Conference.
54:57 The conference president held the meetings.
54:59 We helped out and did Bible work
55:01 and visitation, Bible studies.
55:03 With the church planted in Morristown,
55:05 Jack and Marion branched out to Summerville,
55:08 Flemington and Woodbury to raise up
55:10 and serve and congregations in these communities.
55:13 It was during these early years in ministry
55:16 that Steve John was born.
55:18 Jack's deeper passion for people also developed
55:21 in his first pastoral districts.
55:24 It began on April 8, 1960,
55:27 I was involved in an automobile accident which was tragic.
55:30 I had severed injury to my cervical neck area
55:35 as well as the lower lumbar area of my back.
55:38 The night before my surgery,
55:40 God sent an unknown messenger
55:43 to my bedside at 9 o'clock at night
55:46 and offered a short word of prayer,
55:49 asking God's will to be done in my life,
55:52 and that I may just surrender my life to Him,
55:54 it was a very short prayer.
55:55 Walt credits that compassionate prayer
55:58 with his commitment to Jesus.
56:01 He said, "You need to keep your eyes fixed on Christ."
56:06 One day as Marion was sorting the mail,
56:09 she opened an envelope containing information
56:11 that would change the lives of the Blanco family.
56:14 After reading its content,
56:15 she sent 10 year old Cheri to ask her daddy a question.
56:19 She says, Cheri, go ask your daddy
56:21 that if he got a call to be a missionary in Africa,
56:24 if he would go.
56:26 So the little one comes into my study and said, daddy.
56:31 Yes? I have a question.
56:33 Okay. What?
56:34 If you had a chance to go to Africa
56:36 to be a missionary, would you go?
56:38 And I said absolutely.
56:40 That was a life changing letter.
56:42 Leaders of the General Conference
56:43 of Seventh-day Adventists
56:45 had observed the Blanco success in New Jersey.
56:47 They believed Jack's soul winning skills
56:50 could be used as a model for others.
56:53 The purpose of going to Africa was to train
56:55 the local people in evangelism.
56:58 Excited about their new adventure,
57:00 Cheri, Steve, Marion and Jack set out
57:02 for what was then known as Southern Rhodesia.
57:05 We were one of the last missionaries
57:07 to go on a boat, on a freighter.
57:10 After a trip across the ocean,
57:11 the Blancos arrived in Cape Town, South Africa.
57:14 From there they traveled over land by car to Solusi Mission.
57:18 They traveled in their new Volkswagen,
57:20 with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car.
57:23 In 2013, the documentary team along with Steve's wife Kelly,
57:28 returned with Jack and Cheri to retrace the journey
57:31 to Solusi University, formerly Solusi Mission.
57:35 It's almost unbelievable that I'm back here after 48 years.
57:40 I mean in 2 more years
57:42 it would be 50 years since I arrived.
57:45 You know, when of course, when I came to Solusi Camp,
57:49 as I thought well,
57:50 we'd be living in sort of primitive housing,
57:52 you know, in a hut or something
57:54 and then they showed us this house,
57:56 and I thought wow, I mean,
57:58 looking at the African situation and so on,
58:03 I mean this is really a treat to be living in this house.
58:10 So Jack and Cheri, we're about to go into this house here
58:13 on the campus of Solusi where you lived,
58:16 lived here 48 years ago.
58:18 That's true.
58:19 And so this is the first time you've been back inside.
58:21 Oh, yes.
58:23 Let see what kind of memories we can remember.
58:25 All right, let's go inside. Oh my.
58:28 Oh my. Oh my. Oh my. Oh my.
58:32 That brings back a lot of memories.
58:36 Yeah.
58:37 Now, of course there was one thing here
58:39 that wasn't here before and that is the television.
58:42 In those days we didn't have televisions.
58:44 But there is a fire place. Yeah, I remember.
58:46 Fire place, that was our only way of keeping warm
58:50 because there was no heat.
58:52 Yeah, there was no heat.
58:53 So that's, you know, we would hobble here
58:56 and then quick, run to bed.
58:58 Southern Africa's cool evenings
59:00 gave the Blancos the opportunity
59:01 to welcome students into the warm
59:03 fellowship of their home.
59:05 I can imagine knowing Marion, the hospitality
59:07 she just had to-- probably put on and spread for them.
59:09 Sure, you get very close to students.
59:12 And so we would invite the students over,
59:14 you know, and part of the family
59:16 and have little vespers together.
59:18 I remember worship here.
59:21 Dad sitting in the chair, we'd sing our family worship,
59:24 you know, we'd sing, I'd play the piano
59:26 and he would sit in the chair and read to our family.
59:30 To keep up with all of the daily tasks in the home,
59:33 Marion was blessed to have a capable assistant.
59:36 Ketty worked with Marion as the Blanco's house girl.
59:39 Jack welcomed Ketty back into the Blanco home
59:41 in an emotional reunion almost 50 years later.
59:44 Whenever Ketty came,
59:47 it was just like sunshine coming into the house.
59:50 She had such a warm personality and friendly, energetic,
59:54 I mean, oh yes, just fill the house with her personality.
59:59 There are some people who are very loud, they're noisy.
01:00:02 Mrs. Blanco was very peaceful and quiet.
01:00:08 She could talk, but, I mean she wasn't that loud.
01:00:13 I enjoyed being with her.
01:00:15 I remember she would always ride out
01:00:17 to the school there on her bike.
01:00:20 The chores of running a household are the same,
01:00:22 no matter the location.
01:00:25 Well, I used to come to his house
01:00:27 to help do the laundry.
01:00:29 So to clean up, vacuum the carpets,
01:00:32 and dust the floors, dust the furniture.
01:00:36 I still remember there was a beautiful light
01:00:40 blue carpet in this room
01:00:43 and green sofas, light green sofas.
01:00:48 While Marion was teaching,
01:00:50 Ketty was skilled at keeping the home in order.
01:00:52 She showed off her astonishing ability
01:00:54 to carry a milk jug on her head
01:00:56 from the farm cow to the Blanco home.
01:00:59 Cheri and Steve were in awe of the sights
01:01:01 and sounds of their new life in Africa,
01:01:03 including the animals and the landscape.
01:01:06 One of my brothers and my favorite activities here
01:01:09 was climbing copies.
01:01:11 They're large piles of rocks.
01:01:13 I mean, the rocks are huge
01:01:15 and we would ride our motorcycles
01:01:18 or get somebody to drive us and climb these rocks.
01:01:21 One of the things that we found was some cave paintings of,
01:01:25 it looked like a battle.
01:01:27 The children persuaded their parents
01:01:29 that they needed a pet or two.
01:01:31 When I thought of going to Africa,
01:01:34 a picture that came to mind was a monkey.
01:01:37 And I thought some of them were so cute
01:01:40 and I really wanted one.
01:01:42 So we found one at a pet store in town
01:01:47 and I brought her home,
01:01:50 and we chained her to a big tree
01:01:53 in the back of our house.
01:01:55 And she would fill her pouches full of food
01:01:59 and her cheeks would get really big.
01:02:02 And then she would get-- if we did anything
01:02:05 that wasn't quite what she wanted,
01:02:07 she would get really angry and she would make these faces
01:02:10 and she'd jut her jaw forward like this
01:02:13 and pulled her eyebrows back and go...
01:02:19 As an eager 7 year old,
01:02:21 Steve had a world to explore and was always on the go.
01:02:24 Once he came home from school it was bike time and
01:02:28 he was out, come in and run around
01:02:31 for a few minutes and he was out.
01:02:33 He didn't spend time in the house.
01:02:36 He didn't spend time in the house.
01:02:38 But he was such a joyful child. He was happy boy.
01:02:44 I just have those memories of him.
01:02:46 And I always wondered, "How does he look now?
01:02:52 How old is he?"
01:02:54 Steve after practicing medicine in the States lost his battle
01:02:58 against Lou Gehrig's disease in August of 2009.
01:03:02 We always wanted to come back here
01:03:04 so that he could let the experience,
01:03:07 what he experienced growing up.
01:03:11 It's helped me to connect and realize a little more
01:03:17 of what made him the wonderful person that he was
01:03:23 because he was an amazing man.
01:03:26 One that I wish more people could have known
01:03:30 and more people that he could have cared for
01:03:34 because he was also an amazing physician.
01:03:37 It wasn't long before
01:03:38 Marion took on additional responsibilities.
01:03:41 Mom stepped in wherever she was needed.
01:03:44 So at one point they needed her,
01:03:47 there was no grade school teacher
01:03:49 for the missionary family children,
01:03:53 so she taught.
01:03:55 Jack's initial responsibility was to be
01:03:57 the head of the religion department for the school.
01:03:59 He eventually was asked to pastor
01:04:02 the 1,000 plus member church
01:04:04 and lead out in the annual field school of evangelism.
01:04:07 Ten years to train the theology students for city evangelism
01:04:12 and also the pastors are coming in from the village,
01:04:18 train them for city evangelism
01:04:19 because the cities were expanding
01:04:21 and we need to reach the people in the cities.
01:04:23 Jack was determined to find a meaty location.
01:04:26 So we started the meetings there, start at 7
01:04:30 and for about an hour and half.
01:04:33 Well, the church was packed, they sat in the aisle,
01:04:37 they sat on the rostrum,
01:04:40 they were standing by the open windows to listen
01:04:44 and so I said to the team of students,
01:04:48 no, we got to do something else.
01:04:51 Why not we cut the meeting time down to an hour,
01:04:55 and then have main meetings at 6 o'clock,
01:04:57 one at 6 and one at 7.
01:04:59 So we have one at 6 and one at 7.
01:05:01 And the same thing happened,
01:05:02 I said, well, let's have one at 5.
01:05:05 And the same thing happened,
01:05:06 so we had one at 4, 5, 6, and 7.
01:05:09 And that is meetings every night for three weeks.
01:05:12 The meetings resulted in hundreds of baptisms
01:05:15 of both new and former members.
01:05:17 During a door to door visit in Harare,
01:05:19 Jack and one of the students met a girl
01:05:21 and her mother, Mrs. Jeffries who is quite ill.
01:05:24 This encounter would allow Jack to demonstrate
01:05:27 to the students the power of persistent prayer.
01:05:30 And as she walked past me,
01:05:32 she held out her hands like this
01:05:33 and I noticed they looked like she had leprosy.
01:05:37 There were big holes in her hands.
01:05:40 The daughter explained her mother had been afflicted
01:05:42 for more than 2 years with what began
01:05:45 as an itch in her hands and developed into deep sores.
01:05:48 So I said, we need to pray about this.
01:05:50 So, you know, we had prayer before we left.
01:05:56 We invited the girls to the meeting.
01:05:57 The daughter invited Jack to return to pray
01:06:00 for her mother again.
01:06:01 She couldn't read the Bible,
01:06:03 so I started telling her stories about Jesus
01:06:05 and so on and His healing.
01:06:07 And then asked her, I said,
01:06:09 "Ma'am, do you believe that Jesus loves you?
01:06:12 She kind of hesitated.
01:06:14 So I prayed, we left. Jack returned daily.
01:06:17 With each visit, Mrs. Jeffries responded
01:06:19 a little more to the idea of a savior who loved her.
01:06:23 So we'll have the same thing repeated every day.
01:06:26 Next time we went back there,
01:06:28 do you believe that Jesus loves you?
01:06:30 Well, the nod was little firmer.
01:06:32 Next question I asked her,
01:06:34 do you believe that Jesus can heal you?
01:06:38 Slight little nod.
01:06:39 Jack continued the visits
01:06:40 and Mrs. Jeffries' faith began to grow stronger.
01:06:43 She had a black band around her wrist.
01:06:46 That black band was an indication
01:06:48 that she had been to the witch doctor.
01:06:50 Ma'am, you don't, really don't need this.
01:06:53 I didn't ask her to take that black band off.
01:06:57 Next day back again, and the black band was gone.
01:07:03 And every evening, of course, the girls came to,
01:07:06 came to the meetings and they said,
01:07:08 "Pastor, oh, the itching didn't returned
01:07:12 second day, third day, fourth day.
01:07:15 Wow, praise the Lord.
01:07:17 On the fifth night,
01:07:18 the girls retuned to the meetings with bad news.
01:07:21 I could see there was something wrong.
01:07:24 I could tell in their face.
01:07:27 So I ask them, I said, "How is ma'am?"
01:07:31 They closed their eyes and they shook their head,
01:07:34 they said, "Pastor, the itching has come back."
01:07:40 How do you explain that to somebody?
01:07:42 She can't read the Bible, can't talk English.
01:07:45 What do you gonna say?
01:07:46 Well, I guess, the Lord doesn't love you.
01:07:49 Oh, He can't heal you.
01:07:50 Oh, my word, this was the person,
01:07:53 the lady's soul that was at stake, right?
01:07:58 Oh, so we had-- we got the team together
01:08:00 and we prayed all night till 4 o'clock in the morning.
01:08:04 We went there early in the morning to the house,
01:08:07 knocked on the door, the door opened
01:08:10 and there stood ma'am, little ma'am, the biggest smile
01:08:14 that I had ever seen from east to west.
01:08:16 She pushes me aside, runs out to where they do the cooking,
01:08:22 reaches down and picks up a heavy iron plaque
01:08:26 and lifts it up in the air.
01:08:27 And then I said, "Ma'am, can I see your hands?"
01:08:29 And she pressed her hands out.
01:08:32 Those hands were just like baby's hands, fresh, clean.
01:08:39 Oh, ma'am, totally healed. I want to tell you.
01:08:43 Wounds like that do not replace themselves overnight.
01:08:49 That was a miracle. No doubt about it.
01:08:52 I want to tell you that set that evangelistic team on fire.
01:08:57 They came up with a little song.
01:08:59 My God can do anything, anything, anything.
01:09:03 My God can do anything.
01:09:05 He healed the sick, He raised the dead,
01:09:08 He caused the blind their eyes to see.
01:09:11 My God can do anything.
01:09:13 And they sang that
01:09:14 as we concluded the evangelistic series.
01:09:20 That same song that they wrote,
01:09:23 they brought back to Solusi right here,
01:09:25 and it set the whole campus on fire.
01:09:27 In the mean time, Jack trained young students in evangelism
01:09:31 and many went on to become church leaders themselves.
01:09:34 One student was Forus Muganda, father of three children.
01:09:38 And he start taking Greek,
01:09:39 and he was getting A's in Greek.
01:09:43 So I called him to my office one time,
01:09:46 I said, "Muganda, how?
01:09:49 I mean, you're getting better grades
01:09:51 than some of these young men
01:09:52 who just came out of high school.
01:09:55 How do you do that?"
01:09:56 He called me pastor, he says, pastor,
01:09:59 I pray before I study.
01:10:02 Oh, well, that's good, I understand that.
01:10:06 No pastor, you don't understand.
01:10:08 What do you mean I don't understand?
01:10:10 No, pastor, I take my Greek book
01:10:14 and my I put it on the chair, the seat of the chair
01:10:17 and I get down and I kneel
01:10:19 or I put my Greek book on the floor
01:10:22 and I kneel down and pray
01:10:24 and I study my Greek on my knees.
01:10:27 Muganda was determined
01:10:28 to share the story of Jesus with everyone he could.
01:10:32 For that summer he went out and did colporteur work
01:10:34 and out showed all the local,
01:10:38 all the local colporteurs in that mission area.
01:10:41 Jack's influence in Muganda's life
01:10:43 extended to that of Muganda son Baraka.
01:10:46 During Muganda senior year in college,
01:10:48 his son was also a student at Solusi.
01:10:52 Jack and my father were very good friends.
01:10:56 When I arrived at Solusi College,
01:11:00 my father kept talking of Jack, every time Jack.
01:11:04 "I said, "Who is this Jack?" He said, "He is a man of God."
01:11:07 He was a well-beloved teacher
01:11:11 who had a very strong evangelistic outreach.
01:11:14 Every year he took out students and faculty from the religion
01:11:18 or the Bible department to places
01:11:22 where they would do evangelism.
01:11:23 He would go out with students
01:11:26 on various evangelistic campaigns
01:11:30 or efforts or meetings.
01:11:34 He would come back enthused, vibrant.
01:11:41 And he would continue preaching to us
01:11:44 with power and conviction.
01:11:47 What I remember most was the song
01:11:51 that he would lead out.
01:11:54 Then sings my soul
01:11:57 My Savior God, to Thee
01:12:03 How great Thou art
01:12:07 How great Thou art
01:12:10 That made a tremendous impact on us.
01:12:13 There were sobering reminders about others
01:12:15 who had labored in this part of the world.
01:12:18 You know, when I'm losing my bearings,
01:12:21 I go there to the cemetery
01:12:22 and be reminded of the spirit of commitment.
01:12:29 I am aware that some of the men
01:12:30 who are resting there, came after they had learned
01:12:34 that their predecessors had died.
01:12:39 But still that did not deter them from coming here.
01:12:45 They were willing to come and replace those
01:12:47 who had rested here.
01:12:48 And they're resting there
01:12:50 while waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus.
01:12:54 To me, that is invaluable.
01:12:56 You need to walk in the footsteps
01:12:58 of those spiritual giants.
01:13:01 When I said there is a spiritual giant
01:13:04 who is bigger and taller than anyone,
01:13:09 that big giant, Jesus Christ,
01:13:12 it's His footsteps that you need to walk in.
01:13:15 Throughout their ministry, Jack and Marion maintained
01:13:18 that kind of commitment to tell others about Jesus.
01:13:21 Yeah, there were times we had our health struggles,
01:13:24 particularly Marion.
01:13:25 Her sacrifice wasn't even in her mind, in her thinking.
01:13:29 She just was driven to support the mission.
01:13:31 No, the sacrifice wasn't in her mind.
01:13:32 No, she was just driven you know.
01:13:34 And when she was sick, yeah,
01:13:35 I need to get well, to put her heart and soul into the work
01:13:41 and that was her passion.
01:13:43 Jack and Marion's time in Africa came to an end
01:13:46 when they were asked to relocate to the Philippines.
01:13:49 There Jack would take up his duties
01:13:50 as head of the graduate study program
01:13:52 at Philippine Union College.
01:13:54 I was involved in administration here as well,
01:13:57 that's at Solusi.
01:13:59 But, yeah, it broadened there
01:14:01 because they had started
01:14:03 a master's program in Philippines,
01:14:06 and the master's program was approved by the states.
01:14:12 Jack's responsibilities became increasingly heavy.
01:14:15 He was asked to fill in as president of the college.
01:14:18 During this time Marion needed surgery for cancer in her neck
01:14:21 and this added to Jack's burden.
01:14:24 These professional obligations and health concerns
01:14:27 began to take a toll on the man
01:14:28 who had dedicated every thing to his heavenly Father,
01:14:32 leading to one of the most poignant
01:14:33 and testing moments of his ministry.
01:14:35 I was about 40, mid 40s.
01:14:38 One morning I had my personal devotions
01:14:41 and I was praying about
01:14:43 all the responsibilities that I had,
01:14:45 and the whole situation of the family
01:14:48 and the presidency and all that.
01:14:52 And I knelt down and prayed, I thought to myself,
01:14:55 you know, I'm going through all this,
01:14:58 I'm not sure how much longer I can take all this.
01:15:03 And straight from Africa, no furlough,
01:15:06 fives years in Africa, straight to the Philippines.
01:15:10 I thought, you know, I'm dong all this
01:15:13 and I don't even get a thank you
01:15:16 from the General Conference.
01:15:18 Forget it, I'm going home.
01:15:21 These are the thoughts that went through my mind
01:15:23 just like that.
01:15:24 And then I thought, yeah, okay, I'm going home.
01:15:28 And I thought, well, forget the ministry,
01:15:32 and then the next thought came into my mind,
01:15:34 what in the world did I just think.
01:15:37 Did Satan come along
01:15:39 and implant these thoughts in my mind.
01:15:43 What does Christianity really have to offer anyway?
01:15:46 Oh, no, I always thought of myself
01:15:50 as a strong, spiritual,
01:15:53 pastor, leader, whatever, administrator.
01:15:57 You know, the thought that came to my mind
01:16:00 and I started to cry.
01:16:01 And I thought, I can't trust myself.
01:16:07 My trust has to be totally in Jesus Christ.
01:16:12 I have to kept my eyes totally fixed on Him,
01:16:16 not even partial of my own abilities
01:16:20 in what I can do for the Lord and I want to tell you,
01:16:25 I cried all the way up, walking to class.
01:16:30 When I got to class, I wiped my tears away.
01:16:34 And I said, Lord, I am here to teach
01:16:38 and I'm here keeping my eyes on You.
01:16:41 Today when I look back,
01:16:44 I thank the Lord for that experience.
01:16:47 I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.
01:16:51 Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
01:16:53 Look full in His wonderful face,
01:16:56 and the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
01:17:00 in the light of His glory and grace.
01:17:05 Returning from mission service,
01:17:07 Jack and Marion enjoyed ministry in Maryland,
01:17:09 teaching at Columbia Union College
01:17:11 and serving as an editor at the Review.
01:17:14 He also pastored on the west coast.
01:17:16 I was a pastor in California
01:17:18 and we had a call to teach at Pacific Union College
01:17:23 and also a few different
01:17:24 Southwestern Adventist University,
01:17:27 and then we had a call to come to Southern Missionary College
01:17:31 which is now Southern Adventist University.
01:17:33 Jack and Marion's choice to once again accept
01:17:36 God's leading would impact untold numbers of lives,
01:17:39 as Dr. Blanco led the work in Southern school of religion,
01:17:42 his influence impacted faculty and co-workers
01:17:45 as well as thousands of students.
01:17:47 One time I recall,
01:17:49 I was wrestling with the decision
01:17:50 as to whether to move from here
01:17:52 and go to Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska.
01:17:55 So I came and I got together with Jack,
01:17:58 and we prayed about it, and he encouraged me greatly,
01:18:02 and I ended up making a decision
01:18:03 that I have perfect peace about.
01:18:05 Dr. Blanco's commitment to his heavenly Father
01:18:08 was evidenced in how he guided
01:18:10 young men and women in their ministry.
01:18:12 I really felt that Jack became something of a father to me.
01:18:17 I remember one time, I got into trouble
01:18:19 because I kind of walked into a meeting
01:18:21 and I was so focused on what I needed to do
01:18:26 that I was a bit oblivious to the people around me.
01:18:29 And little later, Jack called me into his office
01:18:32 and he spoke the truth and love to me.
01:18:34 He really epitomizes
01:18:37 what the Bible talks about in Philippians 2,
01:18:40 "Let this mind be in you, which also is in Christ Jesus."
01:18:44 He's always looking out for the interest of others
01:18:46 and not just his own interest.
01:18:48 But he is not ashamed to speak the truth and love.
01:18:51 Dr. Blanco's affable manner as a mentor, teacher
01:18:54 and fellow professor allowed to him
01:18:56 reach across a broad spectrum of individuals,
01:18:59 to touch countless lives.
01:19:01 Some people are technical teachers,
01:19:04 and one of the things I love about Jack
01:19:07 is that at his heart he's a pastor,
01:19:11 and so if you're student in his class,
01:19:14 you're being pastored,
01:19:16 you're not just being given
01:19:17 an outline here to be tested on.
01:19:20 Jack was a rare individual.
01:19:22 He was well informed in theology
01:19:25 and unusually, he was well connected
01:19:31 and he understood the issues of practical ministry.
01:19:34 Jack came to Southern
01:19:36 when we were having some theological challenges
01:19:40 that were developing a rather poor reputation
01:19:44 of the university in the community.
01:19:47 And he was able to pull the religion
01:19:49 department together in such a way
01:19:52 as to mitigate those problems.
01:19:54 The reputation of the school of a religion across the division
01:19:57 was enhanced significantly under Jack's leadership.
01:20:00 During Dr. Blanco's tenure at Southern,
01:20:02 he served as the dean of the school of religion.
01:20:05 He founded and served as the president
01:20:07 of the Adventist Theological Society
01:20:10 and was president of the Southeastern Chapter
01:20:12 of the Evangelical Theological Society.
01:20:15 Jack and his colleagues established
01:20:17 a R.H. Pierson Institute of Evangelism
01:20:19 and World Mission.
01:20:20 He was advisor for the Chinese radio program
01:20:23 College of the Air,
01:20:24 and for the refinement of the theology curriculum
01:20:27 at Russia's Zaoksky Adventist University.
01:20:30 The Blancos contributions at Southern were recognized
01:20:33 with the presentation of the university's
01:20:35 distinguished service medallion.
01:20:37 An award voted by Southern's faculty
01:20:40 and they were named honorary alumni of the university.
01:20:43 Dr. Blanco infected us with the love of Jesus.
01:20:46 He taught with such excitement and energy,
01:20:48 you just had to get to know Christ better.
01:20:50 An African Proverb teaches,
01:20:52 "A family tie is like a tree, it can bend,
01:20:56 but it cannot break."
01:20:57 Jack and Marion's life experiences
01:20:59 led to an unwavering trust in God.
01:21:02 One of their greatest desires was to instill
01:21:04 that same trust in their children.
01:21:06 Dad was my rock.
01:21:08 He was my everything's going to be all right person.
01:21:12 My mother and father-in-law are amazing
01:21:16 individuals that just looking at them,
01:21:23 for me, you can tell that they love the Lord.
01:21:28 And the story
01:21:33 that they want to tell others
01:21:37 not of themselves but of God.
01:21:42 The Blancos love for the Lord carried
01:21:43 over into their love for their grandchildren.
01:21:46 I remember every time he would come over to our house,
01:21:48 he would pick me up with his strong arms
01:21:51 and throw me as hard as he could on the couch
01:21:54 and that was-- it's just a tradition
01:21:55 that's really enjoyable.
01:21:58 And he still can.
01:21:59 There were difficult times for the Blanco family,
01:22:02 times that tested them but made them stronger.
01:22:05 As a teen, Steve had a job cleaning doctor's offices,
01:22:08 easy access to temptation was too strong for Steve
01:22:12 and he stole some prescription medications.
01:22:14 Of course the doctor had reported
01:22:16 that there was, these muscle relaxing pills were missing.
01:22:22 And so the police came and checked it out
01:22:24 and, you know, who was in the office and all that,
01:22:26 there was Steve, and so he was arrested.
01:22:29 And he was put in jail.
01:22:31 Steve received probation with mandatory drug testing
01:22:34 and tested clean every time.
01:22:36 But Steve became a very well known,
01:22:40 well liked physician.
01:22:42 Patients just loved Steve with his personality.
01:22:46 One of the hardest test for the Blanco family came
01:22:48 when Steve was diagnosed with ALS,
01:22:51 better known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
01:22:53 From the time it was confirmed
01:22:56 that it was Lou Gehrig's disease,
01:23:00 to the time that he died, it was only one year.
01:23:04 One morning early, about 4 o'clock in the morning
01:23:06 I got a call from Kelly and said that
01:23:09 Steve has gone into a coma,
01:23:11 now you ought to come up to see him.
01:23:14 As Jack and Marion
01:23:15 and the rest of the family gathered by Steve's side,
01:23:18 they began their sad goodbyes.
01:23:20 You know, I put my arms around Steve,
01:23:22 put my cheek next to his and then prayed,
01:23:26 and then I prayed and hugged him and kissed him
01:23:28 and opened my eyes, he had stopped breathing.
01:23:36 To watch somebody from a distance is one thing,
01:23:38 but to be right there
01:23:41 and he dies right there. That moment.
01:23:46 when I looked in his face, I thought to myself, you know,
01:23:54 this gives me a little idea on how God must have felt
01:23:59 when He looked into the dying face of His Son on Calvary.
01:24:05 But He had the power to do something
01:24:09 but didn't step in, and let His Son die.
01:24:15 Can you imagine the emotional pain of stepping back
01:24:21 when you have the power to do something
01:24:23 and not do anything, and He did that for you and me.
01:24:31 There come times in life as you're having your devotions
01:24:36 and you read the Bible and read the Bible,
01:24:37 you become so familiar with it, you know,
01:24:40 it's not really registering in your heart like it should.
01:24:46 So, you know, you have to change
01:24:48 your devotional approach.
01:24:50 Both my mother and my father instilled
01:24:53 very strong values in my brother and myself.
01:24:57 The most important value I would say
01:25:00 that they left me with is that nothing
01:25:02 is more important in life than my relationship with God.
01:25:07 And what that means to me is, nothing's more important
01:25:13 than I begin everyday that, there, with God.
01:25:16 You already know what he said.
01:25:19 No, all you have to do is read what he said.
01:25:22 It's just the question is, how would he say it today.
01:25:24 Maybe I ought to write this down.
01:25:26 So I started with Mark and I started writing it out,
01:25:30 as if Jesus were there, saying what He said.
01:25:35 Every morning Jack would get up between 3:30 and 4 a.m.
01:25:38 and write, in spite of being a college dean,
01:25:41 teaching a full load of classes
01:25:42 and fulfilling his administrative duties,
01:25:45 Jack faithfully spend time reading and writing out
01:25:47 the New Testament in his words, by hand.
01:25:50 And that the waking up at 3 o'clock
01:25:52 was not in order to write the "Clear Word",
01:25:54 it was in order to meet with God.
01:25:57 During a holiday with relatives,
01:25:58 Jack shared his project with his family.
01:26:01 They were eager to have him share with others.
01:26:03 Word began to circulate
01:26:04 and others wanted to read Jack's writings.
01:26:07 The first edition of the New Testament
01:26:08 was published at College Press,
01:26:10 then Review and Herald Publishing
01:26:12 began producing Jack's books.
01:26:14 His personal devotional became the "Clear Word".
01:26:17 Years ago Jack was a part of our team here
01:26:19 at Review and Herald
01:26:20 and it was really good to have him back
01:26:22 as an author and writer at the Review and Herald again.
01:26:25 As we started this project,
01:26:27 we realized there could be some confusion
01:26:28 about calling this a Bible,
01:26:31 and we moved into calling it a paraphrase
01:26:33 for devotional reading.
01:26:34 When the decision was made to publish the 'Clear Word",
01:26:37 Jack and Marion didn't want to profit from the sales.
01:26:40 Instead they chose to give royalties
01:26:42 to student scholarships at Southern Adventist University
01:26:46 amounting to hundreds of thousands
01:26:48 of dollars and growing.
01:26:50 He's made a major impact
01:26:51 not only on students at Southern,
01:26:52 but also students around the world
01:26:54 as they use "Clear Word" paraphrase to lengthen their
01:26:58 and expand their understanding of the Bible.
01:27:00 I can tell you, I know many people
01:27:03 who have been blessed in multiple ways
01:27:07 by the "Clear Word" paraphrase.
01:27:08 They found that the "Clear Word"
01:27:14 brought things alive for me
01:27:17 and it felt like I was right there with Christ.
01:27:20 From the written word, the "Clear Word"
01:27:22 was transformed into the spoken word.
01:27:25 I really felt it was a unique honor
01:27:27 to be invited to be the audio "Clear Word"
01:27:30 for Jack Blanco's own Lord, our Lord.
01:27:34 You excellence can be seen everywhere.
01:27:37 This was a high for my own personal spiritual journey.
01:27:39 When I got to the chapters on the Passion of Christ
01:27:41 in the New Testament,
01:27:43 at the end of each of the gospels,
01:27:45 the Crucifixion, the Denial of Peter, Gethsemane.
01:27:48 As I got to those passages
01:27:50 and I would start reading through them
01:27:52 and it would talk about Peter's denial.
01:27:54 I got so choked up, I literally would break down.
01:27:57 And I would turn the tape off, go back, gather myself,
01:28:02 put myself back into that scene.
01:28:04 A missionary teaching in a war torn nation,
01:28:07 placed a copy of the "Clear Word"
01:28:08 in the bookcase.
01:28:10 A Muslim teacher began teaching his students
01:28:12 to read English by using that copy.
01:28:15 The students wrote out entire passages
01:28:17 to practice their skills.
01:28:19 Only heaven knows the impact this will make.
01:28:25 Jack and Marion led busy and productive lives
01:28:27 during their working years
01:28:29 in addition to raising a family,
01:28:31 they taught and preached, gave Bible studies
01:28:33 and branched out to work with groups of people
01:28:36 who were very different from them.
01:28:38 When the time came for them to retire,
01:28:40 Jack continued to write.
01:28:42 Today, Jack volunteers for the local VFW.
01:28:45 He serves on many educational and theological committees
01:28:48 and also mentors current and future leaders.
01:28:51 One of Jack's great passions is prison ministries.
01:28:54 He also enjoys stamp collecting,
01:28:56 weight training and many outdoor activities
01:28:59 near his home in Collegedale, Tennessee.
01:29:01 A lifetime of joy mixed with tragedy
01:29:04 and near death experiences, balanced by hope and salvation,
01:29:08 have shaped the man, Jack Blanco.
01:29:10 His love for God and his desire for others
01:29:13 to know Jesus compels him to continue
01:29:16 to share the gospel with others every single day.
01:29:19 On several occasions Jack and I have talked
01:29:21 and he has both shared his conversion experience
01:29:25 that led him into the Seventh-day Adventist church,
01:29:27 as well as the strength of the convictions
01:29:30 he had that he was doing
01:29:31 what the Bible called him to do.
01:29:33 Jack has said on occasions that if somehow,
01:29:36 and it's the stretch for him
01:29:37 to even think of the possibility,
01:29:39 the church were to take a stance
01:29:40 that was not biblical, he would stick with the Bible.
01:29:44 For 85 years Jack Blanco has faced dangers
01:29:47 and overcome challenges.
01:29:49 His earthly father abandoned him before he was born.
01:29:52 As a toddler, Jack suffered a fall
01:29:54 from the third story of a building
01:29:56 that should have claimed his life.
01:29:58 He was separated from his mother
01:30:00 and grandparents
01:30:01 and survived experiences in German labor camps
01:30:03 during World War II.
01:30:05 One particular night,
01:30:07 I remember, heard the siren go off and headed,
01:30:12 you know, for these earth built bunkers
01:30:15 and then we heard the droning of the bombers
01:30:19 and then the bombs falling.
01:30:21 And they got closer and closer and closer.
01:30:25 One got so closed, I mean, our whole bunker shook
01:30:30 and we just held our breath.
01:30:32 The main squadron of the bombers
01:30:36 had dropped their bombs and then flew on.
01:30:39 We thought it was over.
01:30:40 And then we hear a lone bomber droning along
01:30:43 and he is the one that's dropping the bombs
01:30:45 that came closer and closer and closer.
01:30:49 We just sat there holding our breath.
01:30:52 We got out of the--
01:30:53 Out of our bunkers, back to bed.
01:30:56 Next morning, of course, we were ordered to clean up
01:30:59 and we paced off as best we could, the bombs
01:31:04 that were dropped the space between the bombs.
01:31:07 One more bomb would have been a direct hit on our bunker
01:31:11 and I wouldn't be here today.
01:31:13 Jack and Marion dedicated their lives
01:31:15 to following their heavenly Father.
01:31:17 Our grandparents have had a huge impact
01:31:19 on God's work on earth.
01:31:20 A lot of people give offerings in church and what not.
01:31:25 Both of them took a huge step further
01:31:28 and firsthand went to other countries
01:31:31 and brought Christ to people.
01:31:34 I think his story should be told
01:31:36 just because of how much he's had to overcome
01:31:39 and I feel like that would have made so many people bitter.
01:31:43 He's really just risen above it.
01:31:45 On February 4, 2012 after sometime as caregiver
01:31:50 Jack said goodbye to the one dearest on earth to him.
01:31:54 Marion fell asleep in Jesus, her work here complete.
01:31:58 Today as Jack continues to tell the story of Jesus to others,
01:32:02 he carries on the ministry
01:32:03 that Marion began with a young soldier
01:32:06 who came home on leave and sat in a pew one Sabbath morning.
01:32:10 Jack's focus is to leave a legacy that ripples on,
01:32:13 bringing people a knowledge of the master of the ocean,
01:32:16 in all Jack has done and all he continues to do.
01:32:20 This same message has remained the theme of his life.
01:32:23 It's all about Him. Yeah.
01:32:28 I didn't grow up with the father,
01:32:29 but I've got a heavenly Father.
01:32:30 And by His grace I will not disappoint Him,
01:32:32 I'll uphold Him and I'll uphold His reputation.
01:32:36 That's what it's all about, upholding God's reputation.
01:32:42 We don't just sit, say well, I'm saved.
01:32:45 No, we go about upholding God's reputation.
01:32:49 What else are we here for? Amazing grace.
01:32:54 How sweet the sound.
01:32:57 That saved a wretch like me. Yes.
01:33:00 I once was lost, now I am found,
01:33:04 was blind, but now I see.
01:33:07 Wow!


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Revised 2015-04-02