Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY200036A
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00:01 As you're well aware,
00:03 we're living in unprecedented times. 00:05 Join us now for today's special program. 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Mending broken people 00:23 I want to spend my life 00:29 Removing pain 00:34 Lord, let my words 00:39 Heal a heart that hurts 00:44 I want to spend my life 00:50 Mending broken people 00:55 I want to spend my life 01:00 Mending broken people. 01:16 Hello and welcome from your 3ABN family. 01:18 Thank you for joining us for this program. 01:20 It is one hour long. 01:22 My name is John Dinzey. 01:23 And it's a pleasure for me to be with you. 01:25 And it is a joy also to say, God is good. 01:29 God is good. 01:30 And I am joined today by members of God's family 01:33 that we would like to introduce to you. 01:35 I'm going to start here on my left. 01:37 We have Gerry Wagoner, welcome. 01:41 Thank you, John. Good to be here. 01:42 Thank you. 01:44 You've been here before, 01:45 also participated in 3ABN camp meetings. 01:47 Tell us a little bit about that? 01:50 We were close friends with Jim Gilley's daughter 01:54 and son-in-law, 01:56 Kirk and Mary Anne Krueger. 01:58 And they asked us in 2010 to come here 02:00 and laid out in the youth department 02:02 during camp meeting and once we did it, 02:05 we enjoyed it so much, we did the next seven years. 02:07 So had many good memories from 3ABN camp meeting. 02:10 Amen. 02:12 Welcome back, Gerry, 02:13 and also now on my right, Andy Weaver. 02:17 Welcome again. 02:18 Thank you. Thank you for having us. 02:19 You have been here before, this is your... 02:22 Third time. Third time. 02:23 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. 02:25 And you are joined once again. 02:27 Your wife Naomi, welcome again. 02:29 Thank you. 02:30 It's a blessing to be here. 02:32 Amen. 02:33 And this time, 02:35 we only have one of your children. 02:36 How many children do you have, Naomi? 02:37 We have eight. Eight children? 02:39 It's five girls and three boys. 02:41 Five boys. 02:42 Five girls... 02:44 And three boys. And three boys. 02:45 And we have one of the boys here 02:47 and what is your name? 02:48 Henry. Henry. 02:50 Very good. 02:51 So you're Henry the VIII? 02:52 No. No? 02:54 He's Henry the I. 02:55 Henry the I. 02:57 Praise the Lord. 02:58 Welcome also, 02:59 and we praise the Lord for all that He has done, 03:02 and we want to go ahead 03:04 and start this program with prayer. 03:06 And so let us go to the Lord in prayer. 03:10 Our loving Heavenly Father, we thank You, Lord, 03:13 for Your kindness and mercy. 03:15 We thank You, Lord, that we have this opportunity 03:18 to be together as a family 03:20 to share of the great and wonderful things 03:22 You have done. 03:24 We ask that you will guide us 03:25 and bless us during this program. 03:27 We ask for Your Holy Spirit to guide our conversation. 03:30 And we also ask you, Lord, 03:31 to bless all of the prayer requests 03:35 that have come in. 03:36 We have many requests that have come 03:38 from different parts of the world. 03:40 And we ask that You will consider each one 03:43 and that You will minister in each case, 03:45 in each individual's life. 03:47 And there are some asking for blessing financially, 03:51 marriage troubles and children that are, 03:55 have separated themselves from the way of salvation 04:00 and we also pray for those that are sick. 04:02 We pray that You will have compassion and minister 04:05 to each and every situation, 04:07 each and every person. 04:08 And we ask that in all things 04:10 Your name may be honored and glorified. 04:12 And we ask you for these things in Jesus' name, amen. 04:15 Amen. 04:16 And so, I would like to start with a scripture. 04:20 And I'm going to ask Henry, I'm going to dare to ask Henry, 04:23 which one of the Bible verses you like the most, 04:26 which one would it be? 04:29 Um, it'd be John 3:16. 04:32 John 3:16. 04:34 I had that scripture in my mind. 04:36 And it says, "For God so loved... 04:38 "The world that He gave His only begotten Son, 04:41 that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, 04:43 but have everlasting life." 04:45 Amen. Amen. 04:46 Now, that is a scripture that's worth 04:49 dedicating time to prayer, 04:52 and seeking to understand this marvelous verse. 04:55 He loves the whole world. 04:57 All the whosoevers. 04:59 All the whosoevers 05:00 and everyone that is hearing us is a whosoever. 05:02 Amen. 05:04 Okay, Praise the Lord. 05:05 Praise the Lord. 05:06 And tell us about what that means to you, Andy? 05:09 To me that means that God is not partial, 05:11 He is not a respecter of persons, 05:13 that He died for all the whosoevers. 05:16 And so when I see people, 05:18 whether they have Christ 05:20 or whether they don't have Christ, 05:22 God, Jesus still died for them. 05:24 He loves them just like, 05:26 I mean, I believe He loves me and I look at other people, 05:29 and I think God loves everybody the same. 05:32 Amen. 05:33 Praise the Lord. 05:35 And I know you all have a story to tell concerning that. 05:39 But I'm going to ask Sister Naomi, 05:40 if you tell us about how the love of Christ 05:44 has helped you in your life? 05:47 Well, it has helped me to understand, 05:51 the more I understand how He loves me, 05:54 it helps me to understand how to love other people 05:58 and to love my own family. 06:00 And it's just, it is a blessing to know 06:05 that even though my immediate family is not, 06:09 has not accepted the truth yet, there's still hope there. 06:12 He loves them and He cares about them. 06:15 Now some of our listeners and viewers 06:19 may recognize your voice or your faces, 06:22 because you have been here before, 06:24 but they see you and they say, 06:26 well, they are dressing a little different than we do. 06:29 Tell us about your background 06:30 because you have an Amish background 06:32 and you are Seventh-day Adventist. 06:34 Tell us in a capsule, 06:36 what happened in your life 06:39 and how you became Seventh-day Adventist? 06:41 Yeah, so we were born and raised 06:44 Swartzentruber Amish which, 06:46 if you look for those 06:47 that are familiar with Amish people, 06:49 you'll, it won't take long until you figure out 06:52 that there are different, 06:55 kind of different levels of Amish. 06:57 Some are a lot more progressive, 06:58 some of are lot more primitive. 07:00 We were extremely primitive. 07:03 And... 07:04 When you say primitive, 07:05 you mean that you live more with more basic things. 07:09 That's right. No indoor plumbing. 07:10 No indoor plumbing. 07:11 Yes, no power tools 07:13 and we lived very close to the earth. 07:15 Okay. Yeah. 07:17 We grew a lot of our own food. 07:18 We ate our pets in the wintertime 07:20 and grew our gardens in the summertime, 07:22 that kind of thing. 07:24 Yeah. 07:25 And so we grew, kind of grew up together, 07:27 went to school together, Naomi and I. 07:29 And... 07:30 Did she lived far away, or you only saw her at school? 07:34 Oh, she did not live far away. 07:35 She was within about a mile as the crow flies. 07:39 Yeah. Okay, very good. 07:40 So you met her in school? Yes. 07:42 I met her in school. 07:43 And never thought I would marry her. 07:45 Not that we were not friends. 07:46 But you know, she's actually my second cousin. 07:48 And this might help explain a little bit how that works. 07:53 I have... 07:55 I think I have almost exactly 300 first cousins. 07:58 Three hundred cousins? Yes. 07:59 Okay. 08:01 Yeah, so my mother was part of a family of 17. 08:04 And my dad was part of a family of 14. 08:06 Hmm. 08:08 And so that makes about exactly 300 first cousins. 08:10 So I have a lot of second cousins. 08:13 And my dad never wanted his children 08:16 to marry second cousins. 08:18 Well, you can imagine 08:19 that I have a gazillion of them. 08:21 And so, when I put my eyes on her, 08:24 I thought, I wonder how dad is going to take that. 08:27 But he liked her and he never said anything. 08:29 Oh, praise the Lord. Yes. 08:31 Praise the Lord. 08:32 And so... Everything's good. 08:34 Everything's good. 08:35 And, you know, he said something. 08:36 I never thought I would marry her. 08:38 But what were your thoughts concerning him? 08:41 Well, he, yeah, we met in school. 08:44 And... 08:45 You didn't pay much attention to him at all. 08:46 No, we were just kids in school 08:49 but after we, well, we went to eighth grade 08:53 and then we were done with school, 08:56 and somehow somewhere along the line, 08:58 I think God put that spark in my heart 09:01 that maybe that would be the guy 09:04 and so this is where we're at, 09:06 we met and we didn't regret it ever since. 09:10 Praise the Lord. 09:12 I could tell, it was a little awkward at first 09:13 when we started courting. 09:15 Oh, it was. 09:16 Because we were almost like siblings, 09:17 you know, because we did 09:19 a lot of things together as neighbors 09:20 and at first it was pretty awkward. 09:22 But we loved each other. Praise the Lord. 09:24 Now when you know when those that are listening 09:27 and imagining you live in a community, 09:32 in the Amish community 09:34 and is basic, living in basic, 09:40 like you mentioned primitive, 09:41 but you're talking about the different way of living. 09:46 And when you say that you were courting 09:47 and things like that. 09:50 People think in these days, so we went to do this, 09:53 we went to do that, 09:54 we went to the mall together walking around, 09:56 your life together was different 09:58 getting to know each other. 09:59 That's correct. 10:01 And so, but tell us about the Amish community 10:03 in the sense of spirituality. 10:06 How strong is that belief? 10:07 Is this just a community of people 10:09 that are just together living? 10:11 Let's say without the indoor plumbing 10:13 without the electricity, 10:15 or is religion a backbone of the Amish community? 10:19 I think it's a combination of religion and tradition, 10:24 a strong community combination. 10:26 They are very religious, 10:28 but not in the way we think as religious. 10:31 Now, they're not spiritual people so much, 10:32 but they're very... 10:35 Yeah, I think it's a combination 10:37 between religion and tradition. 10:39 And the church I grew up in, 10:42 they didn't apologize that tradition comes first. 10:44 I mean, they didn't mince words. 10:46 If there is a clash 10:47 between the Bible and tradition, 10:49 you go with tradition. 10:50 Oh, okay. 10:52 And people accepted tradition over the Bible then? 10:55 Oh, yes. 10:57 And that is based off of I think we talked 10:59 about a little bit here in the past, 11:02 that's based on 2 Timothy 3:14, I believe, 11:06 maybe 16, no, it's 3:14. 11:08 Okay. 11:09 You might just want to read that. 11:11 And you can understand if you are a traditionalist, 11:14 you can take that. 11:16 And because the way I grew up, 11:19 we didn't understand how to read the Bible, 11:21 we didn't understand how to interpret the Bible. 11:24 And so we would read verse by verse, 11:28 and make it personal and not understand the context. 11:32 And so, 2 Timothy 3 starts out by saying 11:34 that in the latter days 11:36 there'll be perilous times, etc. 11:38 Yes. That's right. 11:39 And the Amish are experiencing that, 11:41 a lot of the young people are running away. 11:44 And then it seems to kind of culminate in verse 14, 11:49 you might want to read that and they say, 11:50 well, this is the answer, 11:52 to stop all of this, this is the end. 11:53 Okay. 11:55 2 Timothy 3:14, 11:56 "But you must continue in the things 11:59 which you have learned and been assured of, 12:01 knowing from whom you have learned them." 12:04 And this is a New King James, 12:05 perhaps you may remember that King James Version. 12:07 Yeah. 12:08 And so that's, to them this, 12:10 that verse is the foundation of the Amish religion, 12:13 where I grew up. 12:14 Now, it's hard to just, 12:16 you know, speak for everybody 12:17 because different Amish communities 12:18 are different. 12:20 Some of them are actually very spiritual these days. 12:22 God is working in everywhere, 12:23 including the Amish community, so. 12:25 And you have it in your heart to reach the Amish community, 12:30 you're a Seventh-day Adventist now. 12:31 Give us in a capsule how you transition, 12:34 how you decided to go from being an Amish 12:37 to being a Seventh-day Adventist? 12:39 Sure. 12:40 Yeah, that's a good question. 12:41 So I think it was about 2010. 12:43 I was starting to really seek because I would have died to. 12:48 I would have fought a war over, you know, my church... 12:51 Changing the tradition. Oh, yes, absolutely. 12:53 And then I started reading a book. 12:55 It's called the Martyrs Mirror. 12:57 And it's a compilation of stories and testimonies 13:00 that were written 13:01 about the early Anabaptist people 13:03 that die for their faith. 13:05 And it really stirred my heart because I always want to, 13:08 I want to be part of something that is worth dying for. 13:11 I always wanted that. 13:12 But I wasn't sure what it was, I thought it was being Amish, 13:15 but didn't feel right. 13:16 You know, it's like, 13:17 you know, you die for the hat you wear, 13:20 you know what I mean? 13:21 And literally, if I wore the wrong hat, 13:23 I would have been shot. 13:25 And so it just as I got older, it seemed, 13:28 you know, just seemed, 13:29 maybe some of these things are irrelevant. 13:31 That really stirred my heart and I started seeking 13:33 and at first, I was buying literature, 13:36 because I just was looking for. 13:39 I wanted to see my church reform. 13:41 I had no intentions of leaving, never wanted to leave. 13:45 But I wanted to see reformed to where we come to church 13:48 and we're excited about the Bible, 13:51 because we just come to church and everything was formal, 13:53 and you could fill your pocket with cigars, 13:56 and come to church, 13:58 but you couldn't bring your Bibles 13:59 and I thought, that's just wrong, 14:00 you know, we should be spiritual people. 14:02 And so, yeah, my heart was stirred 14:06 and I started reading more and more and like I said, 14:09 I started buying literature, it wasn't Adventist literature. 14:12 And I was, you know, it helped me in some areas, 14:15 I was disappointed in other areas. 14:17 I didn't believe that the idea of once saved always saved. 14:21 I did believe that we can have assurance of salvation but... 14:26 Now is this idea of once saved 14:28 always saved part of a traditional Amish belief? 14:31 Yes, no, actually, 14:34 one of the beliefs was that 14:35 once saved always saved is a lie. 14:37 Okay. 14:38 However, they also believe that you cannot have 14:41 assurance of salvation and they celebrate, 14:43 people never really know. 14:45 Yeah, they're actually very Catholic, 14:47 you know, in their mindset. 14:48 Okay. 14:50 The mindset is mainly Catholic? 14:51 Yeah. Very Catholic. Okay. 14:52 So you started searching, 14:54 you started looking for something 14:57 because you are not completely satisfied. 14:58 That's correct. 15:00 And at this time you were still not married, 15:02 or were you already married? 15:05 And did you tell Naomi about that? 15:07 I'm looking for something else? 15:09 Yeah, well... 15:10 Yeah, I was not really looking for something else, 15:11 I was looking for more. 15:13 More? Yes. 15:14 I just wanted to enrich my experience. 15:17 And yeah, I shared it with her and she was good with that. 15:20 She was having some health issues. 15:21 And so we were seeking 15:23 and we didn't even know like we were, 15:24 we look back and it's like, 15:26 you know, we were really seeking for help 15:28 with her health and everything. 15:29 Okay. 15:31 And then Seventh-day Adventist family 15:32 crossed our path, 15:34 and that's where everything changed. 15:35 Okay. 15:36 So did they come by your community 15:38 or you found yourself in some place 15:39 as you were traveling? 15:40 They moved into the community. 15:42 They moved into the community? 15:43 Onto a farm that I worked a lot and so we connected in. 15:46 Yeah, they were able to answer a lot of questions. 15:48 I was so intrigued. 15:50 My brother told me, we met him first. 15:52 And he told me he said, Andy, you got to meet these people. 15:54 He said, these are not lawless people 15:56 like we looked at most, 15:58 almost all outsiders as lawless people, 16:00 like we were strongly taught 16:01 that the Ten Commandments are binding. 16:03 Okay. 16:04 Oh, yes, and the law of God is still binding, 16:06 although we were inconsistent in that, 16:08 but we believed, you know, in the idea 16:10 that the law is still binding. 16:12 And he said, these people are not lawless. 16:14 They actually believe 16:15 that God expects us to obey Him. 16:17 And he said, 16:19 these people also believe in communion 16:21 and foot washing like we do, 16:22 which we did. 16:23 Okay. 16:25 And so, I can't wait to meet them. 16:27 And everything just kind of spiraled from there. 16:29 They gave me a Great Controversy, 16:30 and I was not looking 16:32 for any more controversy at the time. 16:35 Okay, so they gave you the book, 16:37 the Great Controversy, 16:39 which is a book 16:41 that Seventh-day Adventists have written, 16:45 and it's a book that talks about the great controversy 16:48 between good and evil. 16:49 And it was a blessing to you? 16:51 It was... 16:52 You recommend this book to people? 16:53 I recommend it all day long. 16:55 I probably read it, I don't know, 20 times. 16:57 Twenty times? 16:58 Yeah, 'cause it helps me understand 17:00 why they're suffering, etc. 17:02 And I, you know, I used to be upset with God, 17:04 I never wanted to be angry with God, 17:05 but sometimes you can't help it. 17:08 If somebody is suffering and you don't understand why, 17:11 and you see all the wickedness and you wonder, 17:12 why doesn't God just kill the devil? 17:14 You know, He could do it. 17:16 And it's upsetting. 17:17 It's just, that is what it is. 17:19 And so, it helped me understand 17:21 that this is the great experiment 17:23 with sin. 17:24 And, yeah, so it was a blessing, 17:27 but the rubber met the road when I read Desire of Ages. 17:30 That's what I need. That's what I was looking. 17:32 I want peace between me and God. 17:33 That's one of my favorite books, 17:34 Desire of Ages. 17:36 Oh, yes. 17:37 It's the life of Christ. 17:38 Amen. 17:40 And it's taken from the Bible, 17:41 but it shows Christ in a way that's attracting. 17:46 You want to know more. 17:48 Yes. 17:49 Oh, yes, Desire of Ages Chapter 1. 17:50 I got nearly memorized that. 17:52 I listened to it and read it so many times. 17:54 It's just, it's wonderful. Amen. 17:56 So those two books helped you along with the Bible. 17:58 And it did. 17:59 You see yourself wanting to read the Bible more? 18:02 Oh, yes. 18:03 Well, it really prompted me to dig into the Word of God. 18:05 Now I was like, I would read the story of Jesus 18:09 like in Matthew 26 and 27 and it became my life. 18:11 Amen. 18:12 Like before, it was just a story. 18:14 I couldn't relate, like, I would be upset like, 18:16 why when Jesus is standing before Herod, 18:18 why wouldn't He talk? 18:20 I mean, come on, 18:21 you know, and that's the way we think. 18:22 Like I was always very opinionated 18:24 and really quick to defend myself. 18:26 And I thought that's just so strange. 18:29 But reading Desire of Ages I understood why. 18:31 Amen. Amen. It's just wonderful. 18:33 Did you read any of the books 18:37 or any portions of the book to your family? 18:39 Oh, yes. 18:40 Desire of Ages, especially and the Great Controversy, 18:42 especially the last chapter of Great Controversy, 18:44 we still read it today. 18:45 So you saw yourself making changes. 18:46 Naomi, how did you react to all of this? 18:49 Did you say, 18:51 I don't think I want to be part of that? 18:52 Or did you say okay, I want to know 18:54 what is really touching your heart? 18:56 Yeah, I think at first I did, 18:59 it really did made me uncomfortable 19:02 because what he shared, I believed it. 19:06 I saw and I believed it, 19:08 but I'm one of these persons that doesn't like changes. 19:13 And the first thing that came to my mind is well, 19:17 what are the people going to think? 19:19 My mom, my siblings, 19:20 and this is going to be way more than we can handle 19:23 but was enough, 19:27 listening to him he kept sharing and I, 19:30 we read together and in our prayer that we just. 19:35 I finally said, 19:36 "Well, God, this is, this is in Your hands. 19:39 I can't do it, You will have to do it." 19:41 And from there things went much better. 19:44 Once I gave myself into His hands 19:47 and just gave up, He took it. 19:50 So you also saw your heart being touched by the things 19:53 you were hearing? 19:54 Yeah, it did. 19:56 It really made a change. 19:57 So you became Seventh-day Adventist. 19:58 How many years would you say 20:00 you're Seventh-Day Adventist now? 20:01 It was 2014. 20:03 Okay, Praise the Lord. Yeah. 20:04 And you're happy about this? 20:05 Ah, we enjoyed every bit of it. 20:07 I'll do it all over again. 20:08 Amen. 20:09 Amen. We love being Christians. 20:11 It's wonderful. Amen. 20:12 And so we have Henry as one of the representatives 20:15 of the other eight of the seven children, 20:18 eight together. 20:19 Tell us about your love for Jesus? 20:22 Well, we started coming to Adventist Church. 20:26 I didn't really recognize well, 20:29 they didn't really tell us that much about it. 20:31 He was pretty young at the time. 20:32 Pretty young. 20:33 So it was afterward when it was all changed up. 20:37 Yeah, we didn't, 20:38 like I didn't really know anything about it till, 20:41 like after it was like pretty much over. 20:44 I started learning, knowing more of it. 20:46 And I understand you play an instrument, 20:49 which one and it's which one, I hear, 20:51 I think did you say guitar. 20:52 Yes, I do a little bit, just learning. 20:54 Just learning, oh wonderful. Praise the Lord. 20:56 And you'd like to sing songs to the Lord? 20:58 Yeah. Good. Good. 20:59 Perhaps someday you may come with the guitar 21:02 and play a song for us. 21:03 Maybe. 21:04 Maybe, okay, we'll keep that in mind. 21:07 So the Lord led you through a path 21:12 and now you want to share this joy 21:14 with the Amish people. 21:15 Want to hear more about that. 21:17 And we know you have some pictures to share with us. 21:19 Let's talk to Gerry a little bit 21:20 because you've also had a journey. 21:23 You give us your background 21:25 and how you became a Seventh-day Adventist? 21:27 Yeah, John, I was raised, old German Baptist Brethren. 21:33 A lot of people don't know what that is 21:35 or have heard of them, 21:36 but they're an Anabaptist group. 21:39 I'm 25% Amish 21:40 because my grandfather was old order Amish. 21:44 I don't know which 25% maybe from the knees down. 21:47 Okay. 21:48 Wonderful man. 21:50 But I came from eight generations 21:52 of old German Baptist Brethren. 21:54 I was very happy there. 21:56 Wasn't looking for anything else. 21:57 I met my wife at church, 21:59 our first date was at church 22:01 and baptizing which was kind of fitting. 22:04 Wasn't looking for anything else 22:06 until a brochure came in the mail in 1986 22:11 advertising a Daniel and Revelation seminar. 22:15 Friend of mine, 22:17 and I passed it around the table that night 22:18 as we were eating a meal together and said, 22:20 "Well, it looks kind of interesting. 22:21 Maybe we should just kind of sneak out." 22:24 Now, in that Anabaptist's environment, 22:27 you don't dare be too different. 22:29 You probably shouldn't do things like that, 22:31 but we thought we could pull it off. 22:34 Give us a little background about Anabaptists, 22:37 how that's different from Baptists 22:39 or Seventh-day Adventist even? 22:42 I look at the Anabaptist as a tree 22:44 growing by the Reformation River 22:47 to use an allegory. 22:49 And there are many branches on that tree. 22:51 There are the Mennonites, German Baptists, 22:52 Dunkard Brethren, Amish, 22:55 different flavors of Mennonites. 22:57 How they differ is that these people, 22:59 after the Reformation happened, 23:03 the Roman Church recoiled away from the reformers said, 23:06 "No, no, this is too far, we can't have this." 23:09 But the Reformation wasn't complete. 23:12 A group of people began studying their Bibles 23:15 and they say, you know, 23:17 you can't be baptized as a child 23:18 and have it mean anything. 23:20 You need to be an adult, you need to say, 23:21 I want to serve Jesus. 23:23 And so they started re-baptizing people, 23:26 based on that mature decision. 23:29 And then both the Catholic Church 23:31 and the reformers recoiled from them, 23:34 so they didn't have enough friends. 23:36 Many of them lost their lives 23:37 to bring that gift of adult baptism 23:40 back into Christianity. 23:43 And so you in this environment, 23:46 somehow, the brochure that came in 23:49 started your journey 23:50 towards studying deeper into the Bible? 23:53 It did, I grew up, believe it or not 23:55 with Arthur Maxwell's Bible story books. 23:58 I love those books, read them as a boy. 24:01 Didn't know who they were from or who put them out. 24:04 So we went to this Daniel and Revelation seminar 24:06 as two German Baptist men. 24:07 We sat near the back, 24:09 put our black hats on the coat rack. 24:12 And wow, 24:14 I couldn't believe what I was hearing. 24:15 It was so powerful. 24:17 It was on 70 weeks of Daniel that night 24:20 and I just was kind of leaning forward in my chair. 24:23 On the ride home, 24:24 Eric and I kept talking to each other, 24:25 man, never seen the Bible that clearly before. 24:29 So we were pretty excited. 24:31 We went back the next night, took our wives said, 24:34 "Come on, come on with us." 24:35 We got a seat down in front that time, 24:37 went through most of that whole seminar 24:40 and just was riveted by these beautiful truths. 24:44 Every night the evangelist 24:47 would figuratively hand us a link, 24:50 a golden link. 24:51 Beautiful, didn't have a lot of strength. 24:53 It was just one link. 24:55 But every night 24:56 it was putting those links together 24:57 when it was over as a chain. 25:00 I thought, wow, 25:01 where's this been for eight generations? 25:03 Wow. 25:04 Describe a little bit. 25:06 Compare the Amish lifestyle of living 25:10 to your style of living at that time? 25:13 The German Baptists very similar to Amish, 25:15 a lot of people confuse us except we had vehicles, 25:19 John, and electricity. 25:21 No TV, no radio. 25:23 So I grew up without that. 25:24 And I became a good reader because of it 25:26 and I'm very grateful for that. 25:28 Yes, that's good. 25:31 Very conservative, 25:33 try to abstain from worldly amusements, 25:35 that kind of thing. 25:37 Although when we, 25:39 most of us young boys when we became of age, 25:41 we got our first cars and we, 25:43 that was during the days of the big block engine 25:47 and we kind of overindulged maybe in that era, okay? 25:51 To make up for everything else 25:53 that we maybe thought we missed out on. 25:56 So you saw yourself being drawn to the messages 26:01 you were hearing and studying more. 26:04 Did anyone come to your home to continue studies with you? 26:07 Not at first, 26:09 I had to be pretty quiet about what I was learning 26:11 because it had so intrigued me. 26:14 I saw Jesus in every doctrine is like walking down a hallway. 26:18 And every in one of those 27 doctrines, 26:21 there was a window in that hallway 26:22 and I would pause and look in that window. 26:25 And I would see Jesus in there from a peculiar point of view, 26:28 and it was so attractive. 26:29 Amen. Praise the Lord. 26:30 I did confide in my father that about the Sabbath, 26:33 and, oh, he wasn't very impressed 26:36 about that. 26:37 He said, Gerry, you weren't old enough. 26:39 You weren't mature enough in the faith 26:40 to be going to a meeting like that. 26:42 And I thought, maybe he's right. 26:44 He's older than I am. 26:46 About how old were you at that time? 26:47 I was 26. 26:49 Twenty six? Okay. 26:50 And I couldn't get those truths out of my mind. 26:52 So I went to back in those days, 26:54 they called it odd lots. 26:56 I went to odd lots and bought a big white Bible, 26:59 cheap, $9, 27:01 read the whole thing through in three months 27:03 and took notes. 27:04 And I studied for two years 27:06 to try to disprove the Adventist message. 27:08 It was that powerful. 27:09 It was always in there in my mind 27:11 when we would go to church, we'd go to be with friends, 27:13 I was thinking those truths that I'd learned. 27:16 And I would often hear things in conversation 27:18 that would disagree 27:19 with what I knew to be true now from the Bible. 27:22 So I kept studying for two years 27:23 trying to disprove the Adventist message. 27:27 My wife wasn't real impressed with all this, 27:31 she was very happy. 27:32 I was too in the German Baptist Church, 27:34 lots of friends. 27:35 My dad thought I would maybe be a minister there 27:38 and that was his goal for me. 27:39 That was his goal for you? 27:41 That's right. 27:42 It was that in your mind at all? 27:43 Not really. 27:45 I thought it may happen someday, 27:47 but I left that up to God. 27:48 Okay. 27:50 Wasn't planning for it. 27:51 And at the end of that two years, 27:54 it all came to a head one night. 27:57 I went to my knees 27:58 because I didn't know where I belonged anymore. 28:00 I had studied myself into the message 28:03 and it had me by the throat. 28:05 But I was still a German Baptist man, 28:07 I still had a family, two children and a wife 28:10 and we still attend a church there. 28:12 But I needed to know where God wanted me 28:15 and I went to my knees that night 28:16 with that kind of a prayer. 28:17 And I said, "God, I made a mess out of all this. 28:20 Where do you want me?" 28:21 It's really all that matters. 28:23 And I fell asleep. 28:25 On the strength of that prayer, 26 years old, 28:27 my wife was gone that weekend at a baby shower. 28:29 So I had the house to myself, woke up in the morning. 28:35 It was a Sabbath. 28:38 And from that point on, 28:39 God began to impress me to follow Him, 28:44 and I was ready to stay a German Baptist 28:47 or be an Adventist, whatever He wanted, 28:48 it just didn't matter. 28:50 I wanted to know what God wanted. 28:52 So you actually, in this point, as you were praying, 28:55 you're saying, "Lord, I want You to let me know 28:58 what You want me to do, 28:59 be a German Baptist or Seventh-day Adventist?" 29:04 How did the Lord help you through that process? 29:08 I woke up... 29:09 You started with the... 29:11 You say you looked at the... 29:12 You realize it was Saturday, the seventh day Sabbath. 29:15 That's right. 29:16 I woke up that morning 29:17 with the most peace I've ever had in my life. 29:20 And I've been turmoil 29:21 for two years up to that point, John, 29:23 because this message was haunting me. 29:25 It was so powerful, I couldn't get rid of, 29:27 I couldn't shake it, 29:28 I couldn't erase it from my mind. 29:30 So I thought, well, I'll just disprove it, 29:31 and then I'll be all right. 29:33 Now, I've failed. I'm a failure. 29:34 You're a failure in disproving the truth. 29:36 That's right. 29:37 Praise God for that. 29:40 I had the notion that morning to go to a local church, 29:43 an Adventist Church, 29:45 didn't know a whole lot about them. 29:47 I thought their name was funny, but Seventh-day Adventist, 29:50 and I had no room to talk 29:51 because I was old German Baptist Brethren. 29:54 I took a chance, 29:55 I thought maybe they'll start about 10 o'clock. 29:57 So I drove there and I met the pastor 30:00 and He remembered me from the seminar somehow, 30:02 he came up said, "How have you been?" 30:04 I said, "Terrible." 30:06 He said, "Oh dear." 30:07 But this is two years later you're talking to him. 30:09 That's right. 30:10 Oh, he remembered you, very good. 30:11 I was very kind, polite 30:13 wherein I told him I'd been studying, 30:15 was, had a lot of turmoil over the years 30:17 and I also bought a book during these two years 30:20 how to avoid the scenario of Seventh-day Adventists, 30:23 written by a Southern Baptist theologian, 30:25 David MacLeod. 30:27 And that book was no good 30:30 because I had that odd lots Bible 30:32 that I was reading through, 30:33 and it took me closer to the message. 30:35 I stayed there for the potluck. 30:38 He said, "We're having a potluck of vegetarian." 30:40 I thought, "Well, why not?" 30:41 You know, I was raised on meat and potatoes, 30:43 but I thought get some potatoes. 30:48 I enjoyed it. 30:49 And then he said, 30:50 "Would you like me to come to your house?" 30:53 I said, "Yeah, I have a lot of questions." 30:57 I said, "But not to my house. 30:58 My wife isn't real thrilled with all this. 31:01 How about if I meet you somewhere neutral?" 31:03 He said, "Sure. 31:04 You come on up here to the church Thursday night." 31:06 Okay. 31:08 I ate supper, told Nancy, 31:09 I'm going to go out for a drive and I did. 31:11 But I drove to the church. 31:14 He stood me up. 31:17 In 27 years of ministry, 31:19 he has never ever stood someone up for a Bible study. 31:24 Oh, he forgot. 31:25 He forgot. He forgot. 31:26 Yeah. 31:28 There was a young man in there 31:30 who was the teacher at that school. 31:32 And I was kind of embarrassed walking around aimlessly 31:34 waiting on these 40 minutes now waiting 31:37 and so I got to talking to this fellow. 31:40 And we became best friends 31:41 and we're still good friends today. 31:43 And he shared with me his testimony, 31:45 and I shared with him my story. 31:47 But he asked me, "Do you want to pray?" 31:49 I said, "You mean out loud?" 31:52 He said, "Well, yeah, it's okay." 31:53 It was foreign to me. 31:56 So I prayed a very simple prayer. 31:57 God, thank You for what You've done for me in 32:01 and instead of giving me strength Jesus, 32:03 just be my strength. 32:05 That'll be good enough. 32:06 Amen. 32:07 That's those sincere prayer are always heard by God. 32:14 Yes. 32:15 So what happened next? 32:19 Well, he gave me a Great Controversy. 32:22 I took it home and read it and I put it on my, 32:25 you know, how you get a really good book 32:27 that God wants you to read. 32:28 You ought to read it and it gets, 32:30 it becomes invisible for a while. 32:32 I set it somewhere in the room 32:33 and I finally one day I looked up, 32:36 Nancy and I like to read a little bit 32:37 before we turn the lights out in bed. 32:39 So I saw that corner of the book, 32:40 I reached up, pulled it down, opened it up, 32:42 if thou even thou had known in this day of thy visitation, 32:46 and I was just hooked. 32:47 I thought, well, 32:48 what is this woman going to say to me? 32:51 I had no idea what she would be like, 32:54 you know, I knew about Mary Baker Eddy 32:56 from some of the false churches 32:58 and this one was not what I expected. 33:01 This was incredible. 33:02 And I kept tapping Nancy and say, "Listen, 33:04 I got to read her little portions of this." 33:06 And finally she said it too late, 33:07 you know, let's go to sleep. 33:10 So I read that whole book. 33:11 You read the whole book? 33:13 Not that night, but in the coming weeks. 33:16 Fascinating is, 33:18 and I realized I had to join the Advent movement, 33:21 there was, there would be no peace without it. 33:24 And Nancy was thinking about it, 33:25 and then she got scared. 33:28 The cost would be too high, we would lose friends. 33:33 And I understand that. 33:34 And so I joined the Adventist Church in 1989, 33:37 January 7, without my wife. 33:41 It was a difficult... 33:42 It was a process for her. 33:43 Yes. Yeah. 33:45 And looking back on it, John, it was the right thing to do. 33:47 Because I've come to understand the Advent messages, 33:52 being like Elijah's mantle, 33:53 it fell from heaven when he went to heaven 33:55 and you have to pick it up. 33:57 You have to make it sure, 33:58 as a parent you can't put it around your shoulders 34:00 and say this is who you are. 34:02 You have to pick it up and say this is mine. 34:05 For Nancy, it took about eight months. 34:06 And she picked it up. 34:08 She came up to me one day in church said, 34:10 "Would it be okay if I was baptized?" 34:12 And I said, "Yes," 34:14 without hitting my head on the ceiling. 34:15 Praise the Lord. Amen. 34:17 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. 34:18 Well, the Lord has brought you two together, 34:21 your family and Andy, we were in his family. 34:25 There's a ministry 34:27 and it's called the West Salem Mission. 34:31 Andy, you're the co-founder. 34:33 And, Gerry, you're a board member. 34:35 Tell us about this mission, Salem, West Salem Mission. 34:38 What is it 34:40 and what do you dedicate yourself to? 34:41 Sure. So it was founded in 2015. 34:45 And, you know, 34:47 we kind of have a similar testimony. 34:48 And you know, when you find truths like this, 34:50 you get all excited and you want to share it 34:52 with other people. 34:53 And as we were learning a lot of these things, 34:55 we thought, this is a message 34:57 that would be a blessing to everyone. 35:00 It's not a threat to the Amish way of life. 35:02 But it's got end-time message, especially Revelation 14, 35:05 this is so relevant. 35:06 And so we had a burden to reach out 35:10 to the Amish community or if that doesn't work, 35:12 which a lot of times it doesn't, 35:13 just help those that do come out. 35:15 Yes. 35:16 And that's kind of direction it has gone like we just, 35:19 we, you know, we do mass mail-outs 35:21 and that kind of thing. 35:22 But, yeah, we've been busy just taking care 35:25 of what the Lord brings us. 35:27 And so the Lord is really working their hearts. 35:29 So that's kind of 35:30 what West Salem Mission stands for. 35:32 You know, we're out there 35:33 to help plain people that struggle 35:35 when they come out, 35:36 because a lot of them that come out, 35:38 there's two groups that come out of the Amish, 35:40 the plain communities. 35:41 You have the group that just wants to leave, 35:44 they want the world, 35:45 then you have a group that they want to, 35:48 they want to serve God. 35:50 And so a lot of times what happens is they come out, 35:54 and they're not ready to go to an English church 35:58 as we refer in outside 36:00 like Seventh-day Adventist Church and, 36:02 and so some of them, 36:04 quite a number of them have just kind of turned around 36:06 went back to the Amish church 36:07 because they were not comfortable 36:09 with that. 36:11 And so we're trying to provide that soft landing for them. 36:14 Let me ask you this question about, 36:17 because the Amish community is a community 36:19 that pretty much separates, 36:22 they separate themselves from the rest of the world 36:25 and they study the Bible. 36:27 They go to church together, 36:29 how do they see reaching the world? 36:33 I mean, is there such a desire 36:36 to reach others to become Amish 36:38 or is that only the, we are together? 36:42 We are going to stay and our community grows? 36:45 Or how do they view 36:46 the rest of the world in that sense? 36:48 Yeah. 36:49 Generally the Amish don't believe in evangelism. 36:52 It's more of a maintenance church. 36:53 I mean, they have a very high retention rate, 36:56 and that's commendable. 36:58 And so they focus more on the inside. 36:59 On the inside? 37:01 Okay. Yes. 37:02 And, you know, Jesus said that, 37:03 you know, He talked to the Pharisees, 37:05 I think in Matthew 23, 37:06 about standing in the synagogues 37:09 or in a corner of the street just to be seen. 37:12 So they interpret that as, 37:14 you know, Jesus is saying 37:15 that you shouldn't evangelize which is misapplication. 37:19 But they're not. 37:20 They don't believe in evangelism. 37:22 So they believe if you grew up Seventh-day Adventist, 37:24 you should stay there and you can be saved there. 37:26 If you grew up Amish, you should stay there. 37:29 So they have no burden... 37:30 To reach others. 37:32 No, to reach others, not usually. 37:34 But they don't, 37:36 they don't believe you're condemned 37:37 just because you're not Amish, 37:39 because, yeah, 37:40 they're traditionalist, you know. 37:42 You go back to 2 Timothy 3:14, 37:45 you must stay the way you were taught. 37:47 That's what they believe. 37:48 So the Amish community 37:50 is basically one religious group, 37:52 is it considered a religious group? 37:53 You don't have many denominations 37:55 among the Amish? 37:56 Actually, you do have many, you have many denominations, 37:58 but they all work together. 38:00 Like if, if they, like, you have the old order 38:03 that they will look at the Swartzentruber Amish, 38:06 where I grew up, the people I grew up with, 38:08 and they really frown on them, like we have actually some, 38:12 some members that are from the old order church. 38:14 And they had a struggle to worship with us at first 38:16 because it was a real downgrading 38:19 and they're might like, you worship with those people. 38:21 And so they really looked down to us 38:22 because they were a lot more progressive 38:24 and well-kept and things like that. 38:26 But it's amazing 38:27 when one person leaves the church, 38:29 they all help each other shun that person, 38:30 you know what I mean? 38:32 Even though they have their differences, 38:33 their prejudice, they work together in, 38:36 you know, they don't believe in evangelism. 38:38 So everybody stays, the sheep stay in their pens. 38:41 They'll help each other do that, 38:42 generally speaking. 38:43 Well, very interesting, there's a lot to learn. 38:46 Now you have some pictures, 38:48 and we want to talk about some projects 38:50 that you have had 38:52 and where the Lord has brought you. 38:53 Let's go ahead and start. Yep, start. 38:56 Okay, here's the first picture. 38:57 What is this that we're looking at? 38:58 So this is a multipurpose building, 39:00 many of our viewers will recognize this. 39:03 This is where we... 39:05 This is going to be a training center 39:06 for our missionaries. 39:08 And also we have church services in this place. 39:10 Okay. 39:12 And so, yeah, 39:13 that most of our viewers will notice that, 39:16 recognize that. 39:18 We moved into it in... 39:19 Beautiful building. Yeah, thank you. 39:21 It came out great. 39:22 When we first started, 39:24 I didn't envision it being beautiful. 39:26 We just wanted something that works. 39:27 Something practical. 39:28 Yes. And... 39:30 So we see the wagon wheels on the ceiling. 39:32 Yes. 39:33 Yeah, my brother made those and he doesn't know it. 39:35 He doesn't know they're in our sanctuary. 39:37 Someday, hopefully he'll come out 39:39 and he'll recognize them 39:41 and we're gonna have a good chuckle over that one. 39:44 Yep. 39:45 So this is a sanctuary. 39:46 How many people at this time 39:48 do you have coming to the services? 39:50 So I think at most Sabbath it's around 50 or 60. 39:53 Our membership is around 35, I'm thinking. 39:56 Okay. Yeah. 39:58 We still have quite a few people 39:59 that are not members 40:01 and I think we have like 40 guests under 18. 40:04 How did you raise the funds? 40:05 Here we have a choir of children 40:06 or, well, no, not just children. 40:08 Yes. 40:09 So basically we got on to 3ABN for one thing 40:13 and we just said this is what we're doing 40:14 and people got behind us. 40:16 And we're very grateful for that. 40:18 Beautiful picture of the children. 40:19 Yeah, that was Sabbath school. 40:21 This is kitchen. 40:22 A little bit of dining area. 40:25 And here's the big thank you, thank you signs. 40:27 Yes. 40:28 So this is when we moved in in November, 40:30 we've got these made and we were just very excited, 40:33 we went from a crowded little building 40:35 into a spacious building, so that was very special. 40:38 And so why is this picture? 40:39 Why is there a sign that says thank you? 40:41 Well, we're thanking all the donors, 40:43 all the people that contributed to making this happen. 40:46 If I knew how much it cost to build this building, 40:48 I would have never tried it. 40:49 So you started this project without any idea 40:51 how much it will cost? 40:53 I thought, you know, I had it... 40:54 You went forward by faith. I did. 40:56 We spend more on, just HVAC 41:00 than we spent building an Amish house. 41:03 Oh, yeah, so it was just... 41:05 And the... 41:06 the AC's... 41:07 Air conditioning. Air conditioning system. 41:09 And so I was getting introduced to the real world. 41:12 Because we have all the, you know, we have electricity, 41:14 we have plumbing and everything. 41:16 And, yeah, if I knew how much it costs, 41:18 I would have never tried it. 41:19 I had a couple, 41:21 almost a couple of heart attacks 41:22 throughout this like, 41:23 so I'm feeling like, what in the world? 41:25 I'm not buying property, you know. 41:27 So in your home, 41:28 do you still live 41:29 without electricity and plumbing? 41:31 No, we don't. 41:32 We just got electricity and plumbing 41:33 about six months ago. 41:35 Six months ago. Yeah. 41:36 It's just, your life, it can be a lot cleaner. 41:38 It's something to get used to. Yeah. 41:40 And we love it. I love. 41:41 We love walking up to a freezer 41:42 and there's something cold there, 41:44 it's pretty awesome. 41:45 Wonderful. 41:47 So the building is up, and people are coming. 41:51 What happens next? 41:52 So, so from here on out, 41:54 what we're doing now is mass mail-outs. 41:56 We're working through like project Steps to Christ. 41:59 Do mass mail-out Steps to Christ. 42:01 And like I said, you know, 42:03 we didn't really see this coming, 42:05 we thought 42:06 we would have to reach out more. 42:07 But it's not really the way it's going. 42:09 Right now people are open, people are just amazed. 42:12 It's amazing how many people 42:13 are actually considering the Sabbath. 42:15 And once they see a group like us, 42:17 they say, hey, that, this is an option. 42:20 And so, yeah, we've been kind of occupied 42:22 taking care of what we have. 42:23 Praise the Lord. 42:25 Yeah. Praise the Lord. 42:26 We got more fish on the hook, I can tell you that, 42:28 they're not out of the pond yet. 42:29 Praise God. 42:31 Now, this church is located where? 42:33 I mean the Amish community is nearby, 42:35 or where is it located? 42:37 It's in the heart of the Amish community, 42:38 there's about 350 Amish families, 42:40 and this is in the heart of it. 42:42 When you say 350 Amish family, 42:44 you're talking about how many people 42:45 because you have eight children in your home 42:47 and I heard something about 14 in another home. 42:50 Yes, so the average, 42:51 I think the average family has about nine children. 42:53 So you're looking at, let's say 10 times 350, 42:56 you look at 3,500 people roughly. 42:59 And we tried so hard for years, 43:00 we tried so hard to get out of there, 43:03 like for about three or four years, 43:04 and the Lord wouldn't open the doors. 43:06 And now we're so glad we're there. 43:07 We thank God, 43:09 He doesn't always answer our prayers, 43:10 He's like no, Andy, you need to stay right there. 43:12 Wow. Praise the Lord. 43:13 Now, Gerry, you were also involved 43:14 in the board. 43:16 Tell us about some of the projects 43:17 that the board is considering and what the future looks like? 43:22 Good question. 43:23 Our first burden was to be available 43:26 for Anabaptist people around the country 43:28 and sometimes around the world 43:30 who would be interested in the great Adventist message 43:33 and just to be there to encourage them 43:36 and help them, guide them as needed. 43:39 The building project was a big project. 43:42 That was kind of job number one. 43:44 We were graciously granted or given this property, 43:48 about 10 acres, which was just perfect. 43:50 It was an old fireworks factory, 43:52 believe it or not, 43:53 so we removed a couple of buildings 43:55 and going to remove a few more 43:57 and add it on to the one we had, 43:59 made a beautiful sanctuary. 44:01 And, like Andy said, 44:03 another one of our burdens 44:05 and it beats in our hearts all the time. 44:07 I'm thinking of a precious quote it says, 44:09 no sooner does someone come to Christ, 44:12 there is born in their hearts a desire 44:14 to tell others about a friend you've found. 44:17 Boy, that exemplifies 44:18 the whole West Salem Mission Board. 44:20 We do, we just care 44:21 about the wonderful Advent message 44:23 we want to share with not only Anabaptist, 44:26 but anyone who's available. 44:29 Amen. 44:30 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. 44:32 So one of the things you're doing 44:33 is you're doing mass mail-outs. 44:36 I have a question concerning. 44:38 I mean, you're talking about the Amish community, 44:40 do you have literature that when 44:46 or are you planning to make literature, 44:49 prepare literature, 44:50 so that when an Amish person receives, 44:52 it says, he has no problem opening it 44:55 and looking into it to read it. 44:59 Is there such a thing for them? 45:02 That's a good question. 45:03 It's amazing you bring that up because I get calls frequently. 45:05 Andy, do you have any literature 45:06 that is specifically designed for them? 45:08 We're in the process. 45:09 I'm writing, I love to write, I'm getting, 45:11 I was asking Gerry a ton of questions 45:13 in a way down because he likes to write like, 45:15 I got eighth grade education. 45:16 And even though I love to read and love to write, 45:20 when it comes to grammar, I need some help. 45:22 So we were spending time on that. 45:23 But we are working on that 45:25 to come up with our own literature, 45:26 because we have, as Adventists we have 45:28 a tremendous amount of great literature. 45:30 But so many times 45:31 certain topics are not addressed. 45:33 Okay. 45:35 And you know, like 2 Timothy 3:14. 45:37 And so, yeah, what's relevant for one culture 45:40 is irrelevant for another one, you know what I'm saying? 45:42 So, we are working on that. 45:43 That's a very good point. 45:45 You know, you brought out 2 Timothy 3:14, 45:47 and you said that for the Amish, 45:49 there's tradition that they look that is higher, 45:53 or they would believe that tradition more 45:55 because they have been practicing 45:56 for so long, 45:58 instead of the Bible. 45:59 So, you have to come up with some literature 46:03 or some way of explaining to them, 46:05 you know, tradition has some good merit 46:09 when it is found on biblical principles. 46:15 But when it departs from biblical principles, 46:17 then tradition has to be set aside. 46:19 And this is a... 46:20 This was a struggle perhaps for Naomi or you. 46:24 Can you address that in any way? 46:26 Naomi, what would you say about that? 46:27 You mean you have tradition, 46:28 and then you have these things you were learning? 46:31 Right. It's a good thought. 46:33 Well, I do remember telling him 46:35 when we first started talking 46:38 or trying to go towards the Adventist. 46:42 I looked at him one day and I said, 46:46 this is not possible that we can keep the Sabbath 46:50 and not break the fifth commandment, 46:53 because it said, honor 46:55 and honor thy father and thy mother. 46:57 And I thought that honor means obeying. 47:01 And I thought... 47:02 Just strictly obeying. 47:03 Yes, you do whatever they tell you, 47:05 whatever they teach you. 47:07 And I thought by doing, by keeping the Sabbath, 47:11 we would not be staying by what we were taught 47:14 according to that verse. 47:16 So I did struggle with that. 47:18 But then he explained it in a different way to me 47:21 and I was able to see that we need to follow God, 47:25 according to His Word, and the rest will be okay. 47:28 Praise God. So there's... 47:29 The Lord used you, Holy Spirit to make it clear. 47:33 And so this is a process. 47:36 Now you said that the Amish people, 47:39 they seem to be looking for something, 47:43 they seem to be, some are drifting away, 47:46 but there's unrest, 47:48 you used the word unrest before we got. 47:50 What is this unrest about? 47:52 I think this unrest is the Spirit of God is moving. 47:55 God is working in these people's hearts 47:57 and so we have, 47:59 all these people that are, 48:01 yeah, they're feeling that something different, 48:04 they are experiencing something missing 48:05 in their lives. 48:07 And so, yeah... 48:09 Retention rate, high 90%. 48:11 That's true, 48:12 so their retention rate is like 96% or something. 48:15 It used to be higher, has dropped a little bit. 48:18 But even though there's still a lot of people leaving, 48:20 you still have a pretty high retention rate. 48:22 And, yeah, the Spirit of God is moving. 48:25 And in the Amish church, 48:27 the leaders are not leaders per Se, 48:29 they are more herders, you know, they herd the people. 48:33 And so, and the young generation, 48:36 as they see people leaving like, 48:38 by beholding you become changed, right? 48:40 And so in the Amish community, 48:42 what's happening is like my nieces and nephews, 48:44 they're growing up in a different world. 48:46 They're looking at me because they love me. 48:49 And they're like, he can't be lost. 48:51 You know, 48:52 there's something wrong with this. 48:54 And so, yeah, yeah, it's partly 48:56 because they see that there's a change 48:59 and so it prompts people to think. 49:01 As I was growing up, we didn't think for ourselves, 49:04 you know, we just did what we were told to do. 49:06 But the young generation today, not so much that way. 49:09 Not so much that way. 49:10 So, it seems to me 49:12 that God has blessed you with a ministry 49:15 to be able to reach the Amish community 49:18 in a way that others cannot. 49:20 I mean, for, like, you say 49:22 the English people coming to the Amish community, 49:24 they will be shunned, they will be... 49:27 Basically they don't want anything to do with them. 49:30 But you know how they live, you know what they believe in. 49:34 And so, I think we need to ask our friends, 49:40 our listeners and viewers to pray for you, 49:42 because this is a ministry that is vital, 49:46 very important to reach the Amish community 49:49 to reach the Anabaptist in a way 49:51 that it seems to me 49:54 that it's hard to reach them some other way. 49:55 It's true. 49:57 I mean, they don't have radio, for the most part, 49:59 they don't have television. 50:00 So this is face to face work and literature. 50:03 Amen. 50:04 Absolutely. Yeah. 50:06 And you know, it's only by God's people 50:08 praying that this ministry has been sustained 50:10 and their support, 50:12 because it has, it's been a hard one. 50:14 Believe me, we've learned a lot 50:16 and we've been humbled out, 50:17 you know, plenty of times and it's been a hard one. 50:20 It's been hard, but it's been, 50:21 it's been fulfilling and like I said, 50:23 I will do it all over again. 50:25 You will do it all over again. Okay. 50:26 Tell us what some of your needs are 50:27 because we want to put your contact information, 50:30 even if you want people to pray. 50:33 Tell about some of the needs you still have 50:35 for the West Salem Mission? 50:36 Sure. 50:38 So I think the most recent need is storage area. 50:41 So I think the... Storage area? 50:43 Okay. 50:44 Yeah, we have a picture of there 50:45 somewhere that shows... 50:47 Yeah, this is it. 50:48 So we're trying to build it so it has different purposes, 50:50 so we could use it for breakout sessions 50:52 at our annual camp meetings. 50:54 But it was also, it will also serve as a garage, 50:58 garage type of building. 51:00 So we're fundraising for that. 51:02 We need a few more bucks for that. 51:04 We hope to do that this year. 51:05 So that's the main thing for now. 51:07 And then from there, we want to go to a school, 51:09 there's a need for local school. 51:11 So we want to open up our school. 51:13 And so that'll be the next project. 51:15 You mentioned something about a teacher? 51:17 Yeah, there's... 51:18 We really need a good teacher, 51:20 and we're not sure where to look for. 51:21 We need some... 51:23 That's a matter of prayer. That's a matter of prayer. 51:24 And so if there's anybody out there 51:26 that is looking to teach school, 51:29 give us a call, because we have a need for it. 51:31 Wonderful. 51:32 Well, we'd like to share contact information 51:35 for the West Salem Mission. 51:37 And afterwards, 51:39 we would like to bring you some news from 3ABN 51:42 that is of great importance and vital information 51:45 that we'd like to share with you. 51:47 So we'll be back after these things. 51:52 To receive more information about West Salem Mission, 51:55 and how you might support their efforts, 51:57 please contact them at (567) 334-1080. 52:03 That's (567)-334-1080. 52:08 Their website is WestSalemMission.org. 52:12 That's WestSalemMission.org. 52:16 You may write to them at 14700, Rickel Road, 52:20 West Salem, Ohio 44287. 52:25 That's 14700, Rickel Road, West Salem, Ohio 44287. |
Revised 2020-09-04