3ABN Today

Youth Rush Literature Programs

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants:

Home

Series Code: TDY

Program Code: TDY190012A


00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people
00:12 I want to spend my life
00:18 Removing pain
00:23 Lord, let my words
00:30 Heal a heart that hurts
00:34 I want to spend my life
00:40 Mending broken people
00:45 I want to spend my life
00:51 Mending broken people
01:11 - Hello and welcome to another 3ABN Today
01:13 program. I'm Jason Bradley, and I am so
01:16 excited about what we're going to be talking about,
01:20 which is the Youth Rush literature programs.
01:23 Now, you're probably at home, wondering,
01:24 "Well, what is that?" You're going to find
01:28 out. We have a few videos to show you,
01:30 and it's just going to be a blessing. So, here
01:34 with me, I have David PaƱo, and he is the
01:37 Literature Ministries- he's with Literature
01:40 Ministries in Michigan Conference of Seventh-day
01:42 Adventists-and Bill Krick who is with Literature
01:46 Ministries of the Pacific Union Conference of
01:49 Seventh-day Adventists. - Glad to be here. - It's
01:51 great to have you. It's great to have both of
01:53 you here. Tell me a little bit about yourself and
01:57 your background, David. - Oh, yes. I was raised
02:00 Adventist. My grandpa used to be a pastor;
02:04 my dad used to be a pastor. So, though I
02:08 have Adventist background, I didn't know Jesus. I thought
02:14 I knew Jesus, and I was in my late 20s that,
02:18 actually, I met Jesus for the first time with
02:20 a group of young people that taught me about
02:23 Jesus in my own church. Ever since then, I decided
02:27 to serve God. When God sent me to serve Him,
02:30 it has been literature. So, that's where I'm
02:32 at now. - Nice, nice. And what about you,
02:35 Bill? - You know, I'm a fifth-generation
02:37 Seventh-day Adventist. My great-great-grandfather
02:40 had his door knocked on by a faithful worker
02:43 and he accepted Christ and Christ's messages
02:47 for him...but I had to make it my own like we
02:51 all do. I did that through Adventist
02:55 Christian schools. My mother sacrificed dearly
02:58 to send me to Christian school, and there, I
03:01 found mentors who guided me in the path to follow
03:04 Christ. That's really why I'm following Christ now
03:09 and why I'm looking for Him. - Nice. Well, before
03:11 we go into more about the literature evangelism
03:15 and all of those things and before we jump to
03:18 those videos, we have a song that
03:20 is very fitting for the topic; and the song is
03:25 brought to us by Alessandra Sorace
03:28 and it's entitled, "I Will Go."
03:59 Give me ears to hear Your Spirit
04:04 Give me feet to follow through
04:10 Give me hands to touch the hurting
04:16 And the faith to follow You
04:26 Give me grace to be a servant
04:32 Give me mercy for the lost
04:37 Give me passion for Your glory
04:43 Give me passion for the cross
04:50 And I will go where there are no easy roads
04:56 Leave the comfort that I know
05:02 I will go and let this journey be my home
05:08 I will go
05:13 I will go
05:30 I'll let go of my ambition
05:36 Cut the roots that run too deep
05:42 I will learn to give away
05:47 What I cannot really keep
05:53 What I cannot really keep
06:00 Help me see with eyes of faith
06:08 Give me strength to run this race
06:16 And I will go where there are no easy roads
06:22 Leave the comfort that I know
06:28 I will go and let this journey be my home
06:34 I will go... I will go!
06:40 I will go, Lord, where Your glory is unknown
06:47 I will live for You alone
06:53 I will go because my life is not my own
06:59 I will go...
07:03 I will go
07:06 I will go
07:30 - Wow. What a beautiful and fitting song for
07:33 what we're going to be talking about. So, you
07:36 know, we talked about the Youth Rush literature
07:38 programs being the topic of our discussion. What
07:42 is Youth Rush? Either one of you. - Alright.
07:45 It is part of the Literature Ministries,
07:48 and that usually takes place during the summer.
07:52 It's a 10-week program where young people will
07:57 go door-to-door, and they're going to be
07:59 sharing literature. They get donations
08:01 for the literature... But I can say that
08:04 this is a mission trip; but usually, mission
08:07 trips, you pay for... right? You pay your
08:09 ticket, you pay, also, the expenses over
08:11 there... But in this mission trip where
08:13 you're going to be reaching a lot of
08:14 people, you get paid. That's the blessing.
08:17 You also get financial help. People mainly
08:22 get it for school tuition. So, you're working for
08:26 the Lord, but you're also gaining financial
08:28 benefits out of that... but the main blessing
08:32 is the spiritual component where you can see God in
08:37 other work. I don't know if, Bill, you
08:39 want to add something. - Yeah. The enormous
08:42 benefits of participating in a Youth Rush program
08:46 for a young person- the ages are usually
08:48 between 16 and 25, Jason. When a young
08:53 person comes out of a summer like that, they
08:55 will have visited approximately 7,000
08:57 homes. - Wha- 7,000 homes!? - More or less.
09:00 - Wow! - And the opportunities to
09:03 interact with people and the learning that
09:06 goes on, the experiential education, as it were,
09:11 is so valuable for a young person. In fact, we have
09:13 a short testimony on video that gives a
09:16 testimony of somebody who's now a Christian
09:19 professional in the position of responsibility. He talks
09:23 briefly about his experience doing a summer like this.
09:26 - Nice. Well, I tell you what: let's go
09:28 to that video right now and check that out.
09:36 - My name's Andrew John. I'm the president and CEO
09:38 of Sonora Regional Medical Center in
09:40 Sonora, California- soon to be known as
09:43 Adventist Health Sonora. So, as a young professional,
09:48 or student in college, you have a lot of ways
09:51 you could spend your summer...but I recommend
09:55 dedicating at least one summer to literature
09:58 evangelism. You'll learn things both about yourself
10:01 and people that, otherwise, would take a lifetime of
10:06 experience to learn. The opportunity that
10:09 I had to go door-to-door and share not just my
10:12 faith but learn about other people's faith
10:14 absolutely set me up for success in the
10:19 professional world. [piano music]
10:25 - Wow. It sounds like there's a lot of benefits
10:28 to participating in this program-
10:30 spiritually, professionally, and equipping people with
10:35 the tools that they're going to use throughout
10:37 their life. - Oh, yes; definitely. I remember
10:42 having a student that at the end of the summer,
10:45 she called one of her elders in her local
10:48 church at the end of the summer. The elder,
10:51 after talking to this student, he called her
10:53 mom. He called the student's mom and the
10:57 elder said, "Your daughter has changed. She's more
11:02 articulated and more spiritual," and it
11:04 was just a 10-week period. That's amazing
11:06 how these programs can help a lot of young people.
11:09 - Yes. Now, in the process of doing
11:12 these programs, are the young people
11:14 absorbing some of this literature, as well?
11:18 I mean, I know that they're having experiences when
11:20 they go to knock on the doors and all of that.
11:22 But are they studying the Word? What's going
11:25 on during this program, too, that helps to facilitate
11:29 that spiritual growth? - That's a good question.
11:32 I have actually, here, some testimonies that
11:35 have been sent to us by some young people
11:39 after the summer. Now, these are unsolicited
11:42 testimonies; they're not testimonies that
11:44 we went fishing for. - Uh-huh. - And we
11:46 saved some of them. I'd like to read just a few of
11:48 them to you in their own words. This is
11:51 from Erin. She says, "Last year," - she's
11:54 talking about the 10-week summer Youth Rush program.
11:56 "Last year was an amazing experience that really
11:59 changed my life-specifically, my walk with God. I want
12:02 people to know the God who loves them more than
12:05 they can even imagine." So, here's this young
12:08 woman, and her life was turned around when she
12:11 could see that, in reaching out to other
12:13 people, she sensed that God was reaching out to
12:16 her. This is from Josh: "Before last summer,"
12:20 he writes, "I never read my Bible. But
12:23 now, I always get up and read it." So those
12:26 habits of spending time with God and with the
12:28 Word in the morning originates often in the
12:31 summer when they feel their need of God. Here's
12:34 another girl-Jodi: "Last year's canvassing," -
12:37 that's the Youth Rush program - "affected
12:39 me spiritually. I learned to feed myself spiritually."
12:42 Isn't that a nice testimony? - Yeah.
12:44 Yeah, it is. - If young people can learn to
12:46 feed themselves spiritually, then they don't always have
12:50 to be under direct supervision and mentorship. They can get
12:54 it straight from the Lord. - Yeah. Mhm. And you know
12:57 what - just to touch on that just a little bit -
12:59 what I've heard from both of you guys in the
13:01 beginning was that you had to come to know the
13:05 Lord for yourselves. - That's right. And
13:09 that's how the structure of the programs are like. They
13:13 have chores, they have time for... We give them
13:17 time for them to have their own devotions.
13:18 They usually stay in, and we can be, sometimes, at
13:22 churches or schools, and they have leaders
13:26 that we entrust them. They feed them, also,
13:29 spiritually, because they have worships
13:31 together, they sing together, they work
13:34 together, they have training to go to the
13:37 doors, then the leaders, also, with them through
13:42 the day, as well. So, that's how, kind of,
13:45 the structure works, and that runs for 10
13:48 weeks. Let me tell you this: for young people
13:52 or a young person, you will find your best friends
13:57 while you do God's work, because those are the
14:02 friends that you're going to be able to call later
14:04 on and say, "Hey, I'm struggling. Can you
14:06 pray for me?" - Yeah. - Those are the friends
14:07 that, when things get harder, you can contact
14:11 them. That's a great benefit. - Maybe even
14:13 meet a spouse there; watch out. [laughter]
14:16 - That's happened to many. - That's happened
14:18 to many people? Oh, yes...yes. - You know,
14:21 David just mentioned, Jason, the leaders,
14:23 the Youth Rush leaders, and I think that's a
14:25 really important point. There are well-trained
14:28 experienced young adult leaders who not only
14:32 supervise but train and inspire and encourage
14:35 and pray with the young people and help them,
14:38 and they're with them and rotate all the time
14:40 with them. That encourages safety and efficiency and
14:44 success, and that's a key part of that Youth
14:46 Rush- the Youth Rush experience is the young
14:48 adult leaders. - Yes. And, you know, the
14:51 beautiful thing is, like, they're watching all of
14:54 that that's taking place and internalizing that,
14:57 and then that's going to come out later as
15:00 they become leaders... you know? Great leaders
15:02 basically create other great leaders. - Yeah,
15:05 and that is right. Even for me, I'm a pastor,
15:12 helping so much, because when I was a leader, you
15:15 have to take care of these young ones. You
15:17 see their personalities and you have to work,
15:20 and they're helping a lot in the church
15:21 environment. But the main thing is, many young people
15:26 are hurt sometimes that they say, "I don't see
15:29 God that's real, because I haven't experienced the
15:35 actions of God if He's doing something in this
15:39 world." It's because they don't go to the
15:42 field. You need to go to the field to see God
15:45 in action. This is- I mean, you see Joshua
15:47 singing, "Jesus," with his sword out-you know?-
15:51 ready to fight; but where you're going
15:53 to see Jesus actually fighting is in the field.
15:56 So go there and go with God, and you will see
15:59 Him in action. That's the main thing. - Which,
16:02 that's beautiful, because when you look at Christ's
16:04 life, what was He- He was healing people, He
16:07 was meeting people's needs, He was ministering
16:09 to the people wherever He went. But, like Christ's
16:12 method. What were you going to say, Bill? - Just
16:15 one more testimony from Philip. "Canvassing this
16:17 year was probably the best decision I made for
16:20 my spiritual well-being, being out on the front
16:22 lines of God's army, and actually doing the action
16:25 part of my faith was very rewarding." Again,
16:28 these are in his words. This is the pattern
16:30 we see, where young people, when they go
16:34 out and put into practice their faith and they get
16:36 into action, they sense their need of God, they
16:39 see God working, they watch miracles, they
16:41 experience their part of a miracle happening, they
16:43 come back and their eyes are opened and they say,
16:45 "Wow, God is real." Their faith strengthens. - And
16:48 that's how everything happens, especially
16:51 with me; because one time, I was in my church
16:54 in the pews, and I was listening to these people
16:57 sharing testimonies. I kind of got upset
17:02 with myself and with God and I said, "Lord,
17:05 I want my own testimonies. Why do I have to always
17:10 just listen?" - Uh-huh. - Right? I want to
17:12 experience, myself, as well! - Yes. - And God
17:15 sent me to canvass, and I got 'em. - Nice. - It's
17:18 amazing. - Share some of those with us. - You
17:21 know, one of the things that comes to my mind
17:24 right now is in Texas. I was knocking on doors,
17:26 and one of the... Usually, we expect
17:29 people to open the door and we can give them the
17:31 books so they can have it in their hands. This
17:34 lady didn't open the door. She pulled the
17:38 curtain from the window that was right next to
17:40 the door, and she's like, "What do you want?"
17:42 I was like, "Oh, man." So, "Hey, ma'am, my
17:46 name is David," I showed her a book, Peace Above
17:48 the Storm (that's also Steps to Christ), and
17:51 showed it to her. "This is what we have,"
17:52 and she opened the door, grabbed the book out of
17:55 my hand, and she hugged it and she said, "I need
17:57 this book." - Wow. - And I was like, "Whoa, whoa,
18:00 whoa." - She wasn't even going to open the
18:01 door. - No, she was not going to. But when
18:03 she saw the book, she grabbed it, and she's
18:06 like, "I want this book." I'm like, "Yeah, you can
18:07 have it. It's just on donation basis."
18:09 Then, she told me, "No, you don't understand."
18:11 That's what she said. "This is from God."
18:14 And I was like, "Well, tell me what happened."
18:17 She told me her story that four days before,
18:20 her husband left her. He went with another
18:25 woman. She begged him. She told him, "I'm going
18:28 to forgive you. Just stay. We have a
18:30 daughter together." He said, "No. I don't
18:33 love you anymore. I'm going to go with this
18:34 woman." So, you can imagine for this woman,
18:38 her whole life fell apart. - Yeah. - She said that
18:42 ever since then, she has been crying in her
18:43 room. Crying, sleeping, maybe eating something,
18:48 but crying, sleeping, all four days straight.
18:51 She said when she went to the bottom of everything,
18:56 she knelt for the first time. She said, "Lord,
18:59 if you care for me, please send someone
19:01 to help me, because I need peace." - Yeah.
19:04 - And when she said, "Amen," we rang the
19:06 bell. - Wow. Talk about an on-time God. - That's
19:11 what we call divine appointments. - Yes.
19:13 - You're going to hear a lot of them. - Absolutely.
19:15 Man! That's powerful. Well, you definitely
19:19 ended up with the testimony that you
19:21 were praying for, for sure. Bill, what stories
19:24 or testimonies do you have? - You know, I
19:26 could tell you a bunch of them, but I'll just share
19:28 a short one that happened to me 10 days ago. 10 days
19:31 ago from when I'm sitting in this chair, I was in a
19:33 large city in California, and I had with me a
19:36 very young man. We were meeting people, and we
19:41 gave a piece of literature to this man. He said, "What
19:46 is this?" I said, "It's something encouraging
19:49 from the Bible; Bible- based literature."
19:51 He said, "Oh!" I said, "We're from this
19:54 Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church right
19:57 over here by the railroad tracks." He said to me,
20:00 "Oh." He says, "I used to be Seventh-day
20:03 Adventist." And I said, "Oh." I said, "Well,
20:06 you oughta come back. It's a really friendly
20:08 church!" And he said to me, "I've been
20:11 meaning to do that," and he began to look
20:14 regretful and sorrowful, but still hopeful. And I
20:19 said, "You know, we have some young adults
20:20 who are in this city, and they're looking
20:22 for people to study the Bible with." And he says,
20:24 "Well, I live right over here on this
20:25 street. I'd be happy to give you my phone
20:27 number." So, he did. That night, the young
20:29 adults texted him, and they set up a Bible
20:31 study. Turns out that the place where he lives
20:33 was right across the street from where our
20:35 young adult Bible workers were living. And the very
20:38 next day, they held a Bible study with him,
20:39 and he says, "I want to come to church this
20:41 Sabbath." So, this is not something that I
20:46 cooked up. - Yeah. Yeah. - This is us
20:47 showing up and God making something
20:50 special happen. - Wow. - And that's what happens
20:52 for young people all the time. You know,
20:54 the young man who was with me was like, "Whoa,
20:56 what's going on here?" - Mhm, mhm. Man!
20:59 - It's amazing for a young person to know...
21:04 Usually, you see powerful stories,
21:06 crazy things happen; but usually, you hear
21:09 from those preachers, pastors, evangelists
21:12 telling all these amazing stories...but young people
21:15 are also having them. - Yes. - So, the realizations that
21:19 are like, wow - God can also use me to do great
21:22 things for him, and that's like an eye-
21:25 opening experience for many young people,
21:27 because God does want to use them. - Yes,
21:30 absolutely. We have another video we'd
21:33 like to share, and this video summarizes the
21:35 whole experience of Youth Rush from the perspective
21:38 of a young person - of a student. - Nice.
21:41 Well, let's go ahead and take a look at
21:43 that right now.
21:46 - Well, there are a lot of emotions as a
21:48 canvasser. So, when you first come, you're like,
21:51 scared out of your mind. "What in the
21:53 world did I get myself into? There are all
21:55 these people that I don't know, and I'm
21:57 going to talk to strangers tomorrow and knock on
21:59 their door!?" I can say that Youth Rush
22:03 students are some of the most courageous
22:04 people I know. They go out there and
22:07 they face their fears - there is some fear that
22:09 goes into it when you're first going out and knocking
22:11 on doors - but it's incredible. You have
22:14 this feeling before you're going to go
22:16 out to the field of nervousness and fear
22:19 and all of this stuff, and then you go throughout
22:21 your day and you have these incredible experiences
22:24 that just pump you up like no other. Canvassers
22:26 can all relate to what I'm talking about.
22:28 You leave to the field, and you're scared,
22:31 but then you come back just rejoicing and so filled
22:34 with joy that, really, a lot of other experiences
22:37 in life really can't relate to. It's just
22:39 this joy of seeing someone that was like, "I was just
22:42 praying for you to come!" Or seeing God at work
22:44 right in front of you. I mean, I don't even know
22:47 how to describe the joy that's there,
22:48 but it's literally addicting. That's why people continue
22:51 day after day even though it is so hard,
22:54 but they continue to do it because it's really
22:56 the most highly rewarding things that you can do-
22:59 not just canvassing, but evangelism in
23:01 general. When you get over that fear and you
23:03 go for it, you actually do it, and see God at work.
23:06 You can't get enough of it. - Hi! We're at Tiffany's
23:09 house. Us canvassers are just taking a break
23:12 on our Friday and enjoying kicking back here at Tiffany's
23:15 house. Here, we're about to go swimming, eating,
23:17 having fun with each other, start the whole entire week...
23:20 We're out there in the hot sun, knocking on doors
23:23 for 8 hours. Yeah, let's take a look over here.
23:31 Yeah, so, right here, we actually have the
23:34 rest of our canvassing group. Say hi, guys.
23:36 [Hi!] We're just enjoying our Friday, just chilling
23:39 back with one another, eating our chips and
23:41 everything, enjoying each other's company.
23:43 And here, we have one of our knocked out canvassers,
23:46 because it's a hard week of...working,
23:51 knocking on doors... Yeah. One night, I
23:54 asked God to give me a divine appointment at
23:56 one of the doors. I knock on Sadie's door
23:59 and she opens up, and we get to talking, and
24:02 I show her a Christ's Object Lessons and a
24:05 Steps to Christ. Her face lights up and says,
24:07 "Oh, I actually bought these books two years
24:09 ago. And since then, I've been taking them
24:12 everywhere with me, and I've been giving
24:14 people Bible studies on them and showing
24:16 them how God actually loves them and wants
24:18 to be with them." And then- so after that,
24:21 I wanted to give her a Great Controversy
24:25 and DVD on Bible prophecy, and she was able to sign
24:30 up for personal Bible studies, as well.
24:33 - You know, I never thought that I would
24:35 do 10 summers in a row of Youth Rush; but when
24:40 I think about why, I keep coming back and
24:42 coming into the leadership now. I think of the lives
24:46 of the students that are changed.
24:48 It's really incredible, because growing up
24:51 in the Seventh-day Adventist Church here in the NAD,
24:54 I've realized that more and more young people
24:57 are leaving the church, and we know that. But
25:00 it's awesome to be a part of something where
25:02 for two-and-a-half months during the summer every
25:06 single year, we gather together, this group
25:08 of young people that come from all kinds of
25:11 spiritual backgrounds, spiritual experiences,
25:14 but they come together. And as they're going
25:17 door-to-door doing evangelism, they start
25:20 having a renewed experience with God. We start seeing
25:23 young people who, maybe before, were just kind of
25:26 coming to church just because, or weren't really into it and
25:29 didn't know why they trusted the Bible or
25:31 why they were even Adventist, but they
25:33 come; and as the summer goes on and as they feed
25:36 on the Word, as they pray, as they knock
25:39 on doors, as they talk to people and see God
25:41 at work right in front of their faces, all of
25:43 a sudden, they kind of tap into, like, why they're
25:46 Seventh-day Adventist- the reason in the mission
25:48 of the church-and they start to adopt it as their
25:52 own. It's so amazing, because Youth Rush
25:55 gives me hope as a young person that Jesus can
25:57 actually come in my lifetime. It gives me hope, because
26:00 I see young people that are so excited. And after
26:04 they're done with Youth Rush, they leave to their
26:07 homes and they get their churches on fire. They want
26:10 to be GLOW leaders. They want to go on
26:11 GLOW mission trips. They want to have their friends
26:14 come and do Youth Rush the next summer; and it
26:16 just continues. Through this program, I have
26:19 devoted my life to it, and I encourage other
26:22 people to devote their lives to it, because
26:24 I believe that it's through young people like this that
26:27 God is going to use to finish His work. It gives
26:30 me a lot of hope as a young person that
26:32 Jesus can come in my lifetime.
26:42 - Wow. Now, you know, one of the interesting
26:44 things is as I was watching the video,
26:47 I was just thinking about the fact that-
26:49 like-there's no healthier friendship, no healthier
26:52 bond that could be formed other than doing something
26:56 for the Lord together and how they're coming
26:59 together, and they're also studying the Word
27:02 together, and all of those things. Renella
27:06 spoke to... The fact that there's a sense
27:09 of urgency and that there's a hope that Jesus can come
27:13 back during our lifetime, which is amazing. Amazing.
27:19 - We're happy to see young people catching
27:23 on fire for the Lord, and they realize that
27:26 they can take part in this time, you know?
27:31 The work in this time. It's amazing to see them
27:34 in action and how the... Like she mentioned,
27:38 like a young person that's changed.
27:41 You can see one person that... We have a student
27:44 that was struggling with certain things, and you
27:47 can see at the end of the summer, going back
27:49 to the school as a preacher now.
27:52 - Wow. - So, those are the
27:53 type of things that are so rewarding.
27:55 - Yes. And, you know, the Bible says, "By
27:58 beholding, we become changed. So, all those
28:00 that they're beholding changed them.
28:03 - And my best friends in my life and spiritual
28:05 life, actually, they came because I was
28:08 doing work on- working for God with them. 'Cause
28:11 we struggled together, we've fought together,
28:13 and they're like buddies for life. We pass out
28:17 Christian literature, we share Steps to Christ,
28:22 Great Controversies, and all of these books,
28:25 and people might wonder, you know, if this is actually-
28:28 if people are actually getting it, you know?
28:31 Literature, books, etc. Books are still relevant.
28:36 - That's right. Books are still relevant,
28:38 people do still read. In fact, Americans
28:42 have spent more money on books year after year
28:45 for several years. It's amazing! People do read.
28:49 I think of a story: I was sitting on the
28:52 platform at a church; I was about to preach,
28:55 and I looked out into the audience and there
28:57 was a young man, a young adult, there with his wife,
28:59 and he was kind of not paying attention. He was
29:03 reading his Bible, and that caught my eye.
29:05 He was a young adult in church and he's
29:08 reading his Bible? And so I thought, "I want
29:10 to get to know who this guy is." So, I chatted
29:12 with him after the service, and he told me this story.
29:16 He said that some young man came to his door
29:19 (he was a Youth Rush student), and he got
29:21 the book Great Controversy. He also got a Great Controversy
29:24 from his friend at work. He got two Great Controversies,
29:27 and he thought, "Wow, I better read this book."
29:29 To make a long story short, he read the book,
29:31 and he was baptized... and so was his wife,
29:33 and they're active members of their
29:35 local church. So, you know, God uses inspired
29:39 writers. He uses literature in a big way. But, you know,
29:43 it goes beyond that though, too, Jason,
29:45 because we see in Youth Rush programs,
29:47 we see God using personal contact as well as the
29:52 literature itself. We live in a very
29:54 impersonal society. We live in a society
29:57 that's wired and teched with phones and devices
30:01 and all those things, and people really...
30:04 they really appreciate when there's a smiling
30:07 young face that's courteous and polite
30:09 at their door that cares about them. And I mean,
30:12 I have story after story that illustrates that.
30:14 I think of a story that just happened recently.
30:16 There was a young man who's a student at
30:19 La Sierra University right now. He went
30:22 to the door, and the man looked at him and
30:24 said, "I'm not interested." The man is in the process
30:28 of closing the door when Nathan sees
30:31 inside, he sees a piano. He says, "Oh, that's
30:33 a nice piano! I play the piano!" And the
30:35 man stopped, and inside the house, there was
30:38 a little five-year-old boy. The five-year-old
30:40 boy said, "Daddy... Daddy, this man plays the piano.
30:44 Can he come in and play?" And Nathan says, "Yeah,
30:46 I love playing the piano." And the man said, "Okay,
30:49 but make it quick." So, Nathan goes in,
30:52 plays a beautiful song on the piano.
30:54 The five-year-old loves it. He plays another song,
30:56 and the little boy says, "Daddy, can he come
30:59 over and teach me the piano this week?"
31:01 The man says, "Yeah, he can do that." So,
31:04 the next day, Nathan came and gave a very
31:06 short piano lesson to the boy. And the next day,
31:09 he did the same thing. And several days went
31:11 by of piano lessons until they finally shared
31:14 a meal together. The man turned and looked
31:17 at Nathan and said, "Weren't you going
31:18 to tell me something about God?" He then
31:22 showed him his books, he got a bunch of books
31:23 from Nathan, they started Bible studies, and the man
31:27 was baptized. - That is amazing.
31:29 That's Christ's method! There was the need,
31:32 he met the need, he developed that relationship,
31:36 and then led in evangelism. - That's right. And this man
31:40 is attending church faithfully, he's the Adventurer leader
31:43 in his church, working with the children. You know,
31:47 God uses Youth Rush to reach out to people.
31:52 - Yes. Wow! That's amazing. - There are a lot of people
31:57 out there...a lot of people just waiting
31:59 to be gathered. They don't even know that
32:01 their church is close by. How they know is when
32:05 we go to them. That is the key that has been
32:09 happening, yeah. - So, in other words,
32:11 you're saying that it doesn't do any good
32:13 to just hold onto this good news for ourselves
32:17 just to hold onto it, but we need to share
32:19 it with the world. That's what you're
32:20 telling me? - That is correct.
32:22 - Absolutely. - The students, they have
32:25 Bible studies when they're outbase.
32:28 The leaders give them Bible studies (as their
32:31 request). I have many students even getting
32:34 baptized during the summer, and that has
32:37 happened. They're so excited for God, and they
32:40 go out and they share it to people; yes, mhm.
32:43 - So, what is the typical approach? Right- so,
32:50 literature evangelist goes and they knock
32:51 on the door... I mean, what does the spiel
32:55 sound like? What do they say? I mean, how does that go?
33:01 - It varies, depending on the part of the
33:03 country that you're working in. But generally,
33:06 the student is courteous and says, "I'm a student
33:09 working for my schooling," and then they show them
33:12 some books. So, we train students to make friends
33:16 at doors, and that's the key thing: to let
33:19 people know that you're a real person and that
33:21 you care about them and that you show them the
33:24 books and try to meet their needs and ask
33:25 about their family and get to know them.
33:28 And so, that's the main thing. We try
33:31 to train students to know the pathway to
33:33 reach people's hearts. That's the main thing.
33:35 I'm thinking about another story that happened, Jason.
33:38 There was a girl named Christen, and Christen
33:41 was going door-to-door, met a family, they bought
33:45 some books, they signed up for Bible studies... And
33:48 Christin's a very loving girl. She cared about
33:50 these people, and she had to go back to school
33:53 like our students do, but a local person
33:57 followed up, and the husband and the wife
34:00 and one of the children (was old enough) was
34:02 baptized. But Christen got to show up at that
34:07 baptism, which happened several months after the
34:10 summer. And so, here she is, watching the
34:13 people whose door she knocked on get baptized.
34:16 She was so thrilled! And I'll never forget-
34:18 we were in the fellowship hall afterwards, and the
34:20 lady who was baptized had wet hair. She was
34:23 giving Christen a hug; and she said, "I don't
34:27 know what I would've done if you hadn't
34:29 knocked on my door." - Wow. That's powerful.
34:31 - That's what she said to Christen! With the
34:33 big hug and wet hair. - Yeah... Yeah. That
34:36 is powerful. So, you know, it's like they
34:39 get to see God at work. Wow. Well, I know you
34:44 have some more stories, too. Both of you guys
34:47 are full of stories with literature evangelism.
34:51 - We enjoy- I mean, we get to see that we work
34:55 in the field with them; and when we hear those
34:58 stories... These are real experiences, like
35:01 remember one- because you don't know what
35:03 happens with those books! Because you will leave
35:06 those books, and you don't know what happens-
35:08 and heaven will tell. But sometimes, many
35:12 times, God gives you the story, though.
35:14 I remember last summer, one of our students,
35:17 she was knocking on doors. A lady opens the door,
35:21 and she shows her the book-again, you know-
35:23 Steps to Christ... Peace Above the Storm. And
35:25 she says, "This is the book!" and she goes
35:28 and tells her the story: "Last year, I got this
35:32 book from another colporteur, like,
35:34 another Youth Rush student." And she says,
35:37 "I got this book two months before I was
35:40 diagnosed with cancer." She grabbed the book
35:44 and she said, "This book helped me to
35:46 get through all of this. I wouldn't know what
35:49 to do without this book." She didn't just say that;
35:53 she's like, "Do you have more?" And she got way
35:55 more books! And you can say, "Wow, I don't
35:59 know if that canvasser knows the story," but
36:02 she knew that God is actually using young
36:06 people, working with them and they're touching people's
36:09 lives; yes. - Yeah. You said,
36:11 David, that often, the young person may not
36:13 know the effects of what they've done.
36:16 That's usual. We often receive experiences
36:19 and testimonies that we find out four or
36:21 five, six, years later. One of the- there was
36:24 a Sabbath school teacher in one of the largest
36:26 churches where I live, and he says, "Oh, yeah-
36:28 five years ago, this girl knocked on my door.
36:30 I got a DVD from her, I watched it, and
36:33 I started weeping and it changed my life,"
36:35 and he was baptized. I have no idea who the
36:38 girl was. It had to be one of the 10 girls on
36:41 that team... We'll never know which one. So, we
36:45 often don't know. I will say that it's encouraging
36:47 when we receive testimonies from customers, from people
36:52 who have gotten books. I have one here: there was
36:57 a man who was an atheist, and a young woman named
37:02 Nancy spoke to him, and he was amazed.
37:06 This is in his words, the words of the atheist:
37:08 he said, "She spoke with such love and kindness.
37:11 She told me she wanted to share the love of Jesus
37:14 to everyone. I am a non-Christian. I don't
37:17 like it when people pray for me, but I let her pray,
37:20 and it was beautiful." Isn't that nice? Yeah.
37:23 So, we want to have young people who are
37:25 courteous and who share the love of Christ. - Yeah.
37:29 And I think that approach that's so needed is the
37:32 loving approach, because that's the approach that
37:34 Christ takes. - And we're talking about young people
37:38 that are sincere. Young people are one of the
37:42 most sincere people. They're not playing
37:45 around. If they're mean, they are going to be mean;
37:49 but if they're gentle and they want to be
37:52 kind, they are...and that is touching people's lives.
37:55 - Yes, it is. - God is doing so much, and
37:59 it's incredible that, for instance, the story about
38:02 Jemima. She went to knock at the door, and the lady
38:06 bought a Peace Above the Storm. She asked, "Hey,
38:09 do you want the receipt?" And the lady said, "Yeah!
38:13 Give me the receipt;" and she said, "What's
38:14 your name again?" She said, "My name is Jemima," and
38:18 the lady started crying. She just started crying,
38:21 and Jemima was our student. She's like, "What did I do
38:24 wrong? Did I mess up something?" and she
38:27 kept trying to comfort her. She said, "No, no,
38:30 no," and she told her the story that, not
38:32 too long ago, her grandma passed away, and she said
38:38 that her name was Jemima, as well. She was looking in
38:41 her grandma's stuff, and she realized that she was
38:44 a Christian. And that morning, she was praying
38:48 that God will send her someone that will bring
38:52 her peace in her life... and here was Peace
38:54 Above the Storm. Young people can be an answer
38:58 to prayer, you know? And that is the neat
39:00 part of the ministry. - Yeah, absolutely.
39:03 Absolutely. Bill, what are some things that
39:06 you've experienced personally as you've
39:09 gone out? - Good question. When I was a young man
39:12 and working- meeting people...meeting lots
39:18 of people. I was young; I didn't know what I was
39:21 doing, but I wanted to work for the Lord. I met
39:23 a young man who said, "Look, I can't talk to
39:26 you now; can we talk later?" I said, "Sure."
39:28 So, I went to his house later, and he bought...
39:31 He got 16 books from me. He got everything.
39:33 This is amazing! And he wanted to know the
39:36 Bible. He wanted to learn the Bible. I had to go back
39:39 to school, so I took off and went back to
39:40 school. But one of the church members there,
39:43 faithful church members, studied with this man,
39:45 and he was baptized. I felt very pleased
39:49 about that, because I was a young person.
39:50 I had to go to school. But during the time when
39:54 I wasn't in school, during break, I used
39:56 it to serve God, and that's what's rewarding
40:00 to me as a young person. We have one more video
40:03 to share. David, tell us about that video. - Yes.
40:06 One of the greatest things that you can have in this
40:08 program is He's going to affirm your faith. You
40:12 are going to be standing on the solid rock, and
40:15 that's what you're going to see in the
40:17 video. - Nice. Well, let's take a look at
40:19 that right now.
40:23 - I was very energetic. I was so happy to
40:25 canvass on this particular day, but books were not
40:28 [selling]. I did all that I could do- my training
40:30 well. I did my best, but there were no books
40:34 going out the whole day, and Satan was trying to
40:37 put me down and discourage me.
40:39 I was like, exhausted. But finally, the last
40:42 drop of the day, I met this lady. Her name is
40:45 Sister Leah. She has four children; she was
40:48 very much not a receptive person. She said, "Please
40:51 go away; it's time to sleep. We have nothing
40:54 to do with any of you. Please go away." She was trying
40:56 to send me away. I tried to canvass, tried to ask
40:59 her questions...nothing worked. And finally,
41:02 I just stopped canvassing there, instead, talking
41:04 to her as a normal friend. She was interested in my
41:07 testimony, that I'm going to be a pastor
41:10 in India and a missionary wherever the Lord sends
41:12 me. She decided to ask me questions, and she
41:16 said, "What books do you have?" I showed her a
41:19 kid's set of books that we had, Jesus from the
41:22 New Testament, and Old Testament books, as well,
41:25 and she was so interested in the kid's set. I also gave
41:28 her devotional sets like Steps to Christ, Christ's
41:32 Object Lesson, and Desire of Ages. She was interested
41:35 in that book, and she was interested in the
41:37 prophecy sets like The Great Controversy and
41:40 Daniel Chronicles. She was interested in all my books
41:43 and my DVDs. She was so impressed by all these DVDs
41:47 and the books, and she ended up getting all the books that
41:50 I had in my bag. She said, "At this time,
41:54 I have $150 in my pocket in cash.
41:57 Will that be enough?" And I said, "It's enough-
42:00 to pay $150." She said, "This is my only salary
42:04 for this week. I'm just a babysitter. I don't
42:07 have any other money apart from this, but I
42:10 would rather give it for a good cause than
42:12 to spend for myself. I don't know what I'm
42:14 going to do next week, but I know the Lord is
42:16 going to take care of me." That really encouraged me
42:19 so much by her lifestyle and by her testimony.
42:23 She said, "Take it all and serve Jesus,"
42:26 and I promised her that I will serve Jesus as long
42:30 as I live. We cried, and we really prayed
42:33 together. I was so impressed and remembered a Bible
42:38 verse which Paul said: "For me to live is Christ
42:42 and to die is a gain. Just as Mrs. Leah
42:46 gave $150, not knowing what her future is for
42:50 the next week, that reminded me that I
42:52 should give myself to Jesus completely and
42:55 serve Him entirely as long as I live."
43:12 - That is a powerful, powerful video. There
43:17 are so many stories that go along with this line
43:22 of work. What are some other stories where lives
43:25 have been transformed or lives have been turned
43:29 around? - I think I just remembered a couple
43:33 stories, but I remember a student coming, and
43:38 he was quiet. We, as leaders, we decided
43:42 we're going to put more effort into him because
43:45 he was not that social. We invested a lot. We
43:49 loved him. And in the seventh week, he talked
43:54 to me. We already talked. We hung out, we have
43:58 fun together, we struggle together, as well; we did
44:01 all of that. But in the seventh week, he said,
44:03 "I want to talk to you." He said, "When I came
44:05 here, I just... I've been trying to commit
44:07 suicide for the last year. So, I gave it
44:10 a try, and I was angry against all of you
44:13 because you were all happy. I was angry,
44:17 because I was thinking, 'They don't know what
44:19 life is.'" Because he was kicked out from
44:22 home when he was 11; he lived on the streets.
44:25 And something that we did is share our testimonies,
44:28 as well, because we're not holy people. We're
44:31 not like sinless people at all. We're sinners,
44:34 we need the same grace, and God can forgive us
44:39 from all our sins. When he listened to those,
44:42 he said, "Wow. These people, they also have
44:45 struggles, but they're still happy!" And then
44:47 he said, "I want that happiness." And he
44:50 said, "You know, the fourth week of this
44:51 summer, I gave my life to God." He said, "For
44:54 the first time in my life, I can smile and
44:57 be happy at the same time." So, it was amazing,
45:00 because at that time, he decided, "I'm going
45:02 to serve God." He decided to be a missionary that
45:05 summer. - That is awesome. Bill? I know you're full of
45:10 stories, Bill. - Yeah, that's part of the fun
45:13 of my job is I get to hear these...I get to
45:16 see the hand of God at work. It can be simple,
45:19 and some stories can be more complicated.
45:22 I think of one of the simplest stories.
45:24 We try to leave a Bible study interest card on
45:27 doors where no one is home. Somebody came
45:30 home, filled out the card, sent it in, and
45:32 the husband and wife are baptized. That can
45:35 be that simple...or it can be more complicated.
45:37 I remember the story- this actually happened
45:40 recently. There was one of our young women who
45:43 was going door-to-door, and she met a young woman
45:46 named Erica. Erica was so interested in the
45:50 Bible, interested in her literature, and
45:54 she said, "I want to study the Bible with
45:55 you." And so the young woman said, "Sure."
45:57 So, they had a Bible study, and she said,
46:00 "But I want you to come over before my husband
46:03 gets home, because my husband is from a different
46:07 denomination, and he's going to be upset if he
46:09 finds out that we're studying the Bible.
46:11 He doesn't want us to study the Bible. I'm
46:13 sure he wouldn't." So she said, "Okay, that's
46:15 fine." So, she went over to Erica's house at the
46:18 time and they were having a Bible study, and the
46:21 husband walks in right in the middle of their
46:23 Bible study. He says, "What are you doing
46:26 here? Why are you study- you shouldn't be studying
46:28 the Bible unless I'm here," and he was angry. So,
46:31 our young woman said, "It's nice to meet you,"
46:33 and she left; and instead, she came
46:34 back and had a time where they can cook
46:37 together...'cause it's not a Bible study. So,
46:39 they were cooking together, and she
46:41 prayed that God would open the heart of this
46:43 husband. He finally agreed to let them
46:45 study the Bible together. So make a long story
46:46 short, Erica accepted the Lord and was
46:50 baptized, and Erica's brother was baptized
46:54 because of Erica's influence...and Erica's
46:56 son and Erica's sister, and Erica's sister's
46:58 husband, and Erica's sister's husband's
47:01 mother, and Erica's parents, and Erica's
47:04 neighbor were baptized all because of one door
47:07 knock and because God worked through the
47:10 difficulties that were happening. There's
47:11 obstacles, all because a young person was
47:14 willing to knock on one door. - Wow. Wow!
47:17 And so it was like the residual effects!
47:20 - That's right! Waves of blessing. - Man!
47:22 Yeah, that is amazing. You know, you never
47:25 know who's going to be touched as a result of
47:30 what you share with them and the Holy Spirit working
47:33 on their hearts. Like- you know-they studied
47:35 with Erica, and then all of these other
47:37 people came to the Lord. It also speaks to the power
47:40 of influence, as well. You could either influence
47:44 people for good or for bad. But praise the Lord
47:48 that she shared Christ. - Amen. God is using...
47:57 I want to emphasize- God wants to work with
47:59 young people. God wants to tell them that they
48:04 can do great things, as well, and they can
48:06 experience Jesus. All that the youth need to do
48:10 is give Him a chance. You can go to YouTube
48:15 and you can put "Youth Rush," and you're going
48:17 to find a lot of videos. There's one, a story
48:20 from Andrew and how his life was changed in one
48:24 summer. He said the very same thing: "I just needed
48:30 to give him a chance." There might be young
48:34 people that are ready for signup to canvass-
48:37 "Let's go!-but there might be young people
48:41 that will be doubting. "Should I; should I
48:43 not?" I'll say, just give Him a chance.
48:46 Just give him 10 weeks of your life. Just give
48:49 Him a chance and do your best. And then,
48:53 after that, if it doesn't work, you
48:55 can walk out and say, "I gave my best and
48:57 it didn't work out..." But I can tell you
48:59 it's not going to happen. - Yeah. - Because God is
49:01 real. - Yes, He is! - God is real, and He's
49:03 going to reveal Himself to you. That's our goal.
49:08 That's ministry. Yes, you get financial
49:10 blessings; yes, you get a lot of friends...
49:13 but having the assurance that God is real, that's
49:16 going to help you to stand in times of trouble.
49:20 - Absolutely. Absolutely. I was going to ask you
49:23 what your needs were, too, and you pretty much
49:26 covered it in that. So, let's just recap over
49:30 that. What do you need? You need people? - Yes,
49:34 I think mostly, that's right, because young
49:37 people have a lot of options today. The
49:39 economy is strong. There are millions of open jobs...
49:44 but what young person is going to be willing to
49:47 say, "I'm going to put aside what I could've
49:50 done and I could've done well at, and I'm
49:53 going to do something for the Lord," that is
49:55 somewhat uncomfortable. It's difficult ministry,
49:58 but it is tremendously rewarding. So, we're
50:01 looking for young people who are going to be
50:03 willing to do that. At YouthRush.org, there
50:08 are a variety of places that young people can
50:11 sign up for Youth Rush. They can sign up for
50:13 all 12 of them if they want to, but each one
50:16 has their separate location there. And
50:19 that's the first step is for a young person
50:20 to go to that website and apply. - So,
50:23 YouthRush.org. - YouthRush.org. - Nice. And then they can select
50:27 the region that they're in. - That's right, or
50:30 that they're closest to. Uh-huh! That's right.
50:32 - Nice. So, you know, I hope that as a result
50:36 of watching this program that people want to get
50:39 involved, because these are powerful testimonies.
50:42 And, you know, I believe that time is short. You
50:45 guys believe that time is short, that we're
50:47 living in the last days? - Amen! Yeah. And that's
50:49 definitely what's happening right now. God wants to
50:53 train young people, and that's what this work is
50:56 designed for. You want to experience Jesus,
50:59 have the assurance that He exists, and you can
51:01 share Jesus. You can do those two things
51:04 in canvassing. - That's right. To emerge from a
51:07 summer with the confidence to be able to share your
51:09 faith wherever you go and whatever you do.
51:12 I got an email from a former student. She
51:15 works at a healthcare facility, and she said,
51:17 "Bill, just the other day..." No, she said,
51:20 "Just yesterday, I prayed with a patient." And she
51:23 says, "Without having done Youth Rush those
51:26 summers, I wouldn't have had the courage
51:28 to do that! I wouldn't have known what to do!"
51:30 - Wow. - And here she is, as a healthcare
51:32 worker...and that's what we want! We want to see
51:34 young people who are professionals, Christian
51:37 professionals, who are not afraid to share their
51:39 faith." - And so, again, this equips them with
51:45 the tools necessary to do that. It makes them
51:48 comfortable and confident in doing so. Man! I can't
51:52 believe our time is just about up. I mean,
51:55 we went through so many great stories, so many
51:57 great videos, and our time is almost up.
52:00 You know, I really like the idea of the written
52:07 word. There's something about being able to turn
52:10 the pages in a Bible as opposed to going to my
52:15 cell phone and just scrolling and doing
52:18 all of that. I really liked the written word,
52:21 and I can see why literature evangelism is so great,
52:28 coupled with people that care about other people
52:32 genuinely, and also people that are spreading
52:35 the gospel of Jesus Christ- the Holy Spirit pushing
52:39 those efforts. We're going to take a short
52:42 break, and we will be right back.


Home

Revised 2019-05-14