Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220024A
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00:05 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:15 ♪ I want to spend my life removing pain ♪ 00:26 ♪ Lord let my words heal a heart that hurts ♪ 00:36 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:57 ♪ ♪ 01:08 Hello friends, Welcome to 3ABN Today. My name is 01:10 John Lomacang. I have my wife with me. (Angela) Hi, I'm so 01:13 excited about today's program. I'm happy to be here and I'm so 01:17 glad that you have tuned in today. 01:19 Now we're talking about ASI. Some of you may know what that 01:23 acronym means but it's Adventist Laymen's Services and Industries 01:28 And if you don't know what that is I recommend you stay tuned to 01:30 the program (Oh yeah) because the gospel can be shared in many 01:33 creative ways and that's what this ministry is all about. 01:36 A culmination and a coalition of ministries that span the 01:42 entire world sharing Jesus Christ in the market place in 01:46 very creative ways. So do stay tuned. Matter of fact, I 01:49 recommend you hit record because you might say if only I recorded 01:53 that to share that with someone else. But before we go any 01:56 further, thank you for your prayers and all your support of 01:59 3ABN as we continue going and growing getting ready for the 02:01 coming of the Lord. Now what's so nice about this program today 02:05 is, honey, we're not going to do music because there's so much 02:07 to cover (a lot). We're going to go ahead (videos, pictures) 02:11 right away and it's going to be very informative and if you have 02:13 a television if you're listening on radio well you'll get as much 02:19 as we can give you but if you're watching the program you'll 02:22 really enjoy what we have to show you today. Well Honey, what 02:25 about our guests today? 02:26 We have three guests with us today-Dr. Andi, she's the ASI 02:31 president, Dr. Andi Hunsaker Did I say it right? No? 02:44 Thank you so much. We're so thrilled to be here today. 02:47 We've been looking forward to it. So we're excited. 02:50 Amen. And next to you, Curtis, you have to say your last name. 02:54 Letniak. 02:56 Thank you. He's the ASI General Vice President. Now where do you 02:59 where do you all live? Where do you live? 03:00 I'm from Massachusetts. We say we're from Boston. We work in 03:04 Boston but we live in the suburbs. We're from Boston 03:08 basically. We've been there for about 27 years I think, yes 28 03:14 years. 03:16 It is endurance, the patience of the saints. 03:21 And Curtis, welcome. (Thank you) Glad to have you here. 03:23 Where do you live? 03:25 Just a little north of here. Alberta, Canada. 03:26 A little north! The warmer part of the North American Continent. 03:31 And a very familiar face, Rodney Bowes. Welcome. 03:36 You are the Vice President for Evangelism. 03:40 Yes, it's good to be back. Thank you for having us here. 03:44 We're enjoying it. 03:47 Well every time I see you I know there's a lot we're going to be 03:50 covering today. So I'm just going to dive right in. 03:52 How and why did you 03:54 become involved in ASI? I'll Just start with Rodney. 03:57 Sure no problem. So for me it was a very interesting way. 04:02 I was pastoring in Arkansas actually. And after some time 04:06 the Lord worked on our hearts, my wife and I, said we've got to 04:09 get involved in mission service. So we actually went to Wildwood 04:14 which is a long-time ASI member. We were introduced to ASI. We 04:19 actually started Light Ministry. I'm the president of Light and 04:23 we started that back in 2008. So that's when I really got 04:28 involved with ASI. 04:30 (Wow nice.) Instead of going to Curtis, right away I remember I 04:34 was at ASI when you were announced to be the new 04:37 president of ASI. And I thought such a little lady with such 04:40 great responsibilities. (We are) Good to have you here Andi. 04:42 Thank you so much. 04:43 She's a twin, isn't she? 04:45 That's right. That always gets me. 04:46 Identical twin. 04:48 Identical twin, yes. 04:49 The last time when your sister's husband was here I was 04:51 getting...I was connecting him to somebody else. It's 04:54 confusing. But you guys are so identical. But good to have you 04:58 here. How's it going so far in that new seat? 04:59 Things are going great. As you can see I have amazing help and 05:04 Curtis and Rodney are just phenomenal to work with. I've 05:07 got an easy, easy team to work with. So it's just a blessing. 05:12 And what about you getting involved in ASI, how did that 05:15 happen and what attracted you to ASI? 05:17 Well you know it's interesting. Before my husband and I even 05:20 attended an ASI meeting we paid some dues to become ASI members. 05:24 But you know there was a misconception in my mind about 05:27 what self-supporting looked like and I thought well I'll pay dues 05:31 I'll support the organization but it didn't seem like it was 05:33 for me. Finally went there and loved what we saw and heard. 05:37 Lay people doing things that were phenomenal. One of the 05:41 things that interested my husband and me was just the lay 05:44 person that went overseas and drilled wells to help people 05:49 have water. We thought well we can certainly do something. And 05:52 then interestingly I was walking out of one of the meetings, I 05:54 can't remember which year it was but said to me would you help us 05:59 and be president of the Atlantic Union ASI? Sure I'll do that. 06:03 I didn't know what it was about. Little did I know, and that was 06:07 I think in 2008. And then it just led to different things and 06:13 we have been so blessed to have a burden for souls just because 06:16 of ASI that's something that I hadn't experienced before. 06:19 You're sister's involved and her husband with ASI. 06:22 Yeah well um they're also ASI members. He is the president of 06:26 AMEN which is an ASI member. But they also are very involved 06:30 in sharing Christ in their market place as well. Phenomenal 06:33 stories, both of them. (yes) 06:36 Wow, and Curtis Letniak. Did I say that pretty good? 06:41 Sure. How is it being the ASI General Vice President? 06:43 Well it's been great to work with an amazing team. Having 06:49 been involved as long with the organization so I'm kind of the 06:52 new kid on the block but it's been a great experience and a 06:56 fast learning curve for sure. 06:58 You know you work...talk about pastoring and then entering ASI 07:04 wondering what is this and then the Lord bringing you together 07:07 as a team. And whenever people get together we know God has a 07:11 plan that's far beyond our vision but to work at the local 07:14 church and to work at ASI, how do you see it different? 07:17 Well it's very interesting because what ASI means to the 07:22 church is very important because it's engaging the laity and 07:26 really the best church member is an ASI member because it's 07:30 someone who is sold out for Christ. Someone who really gets 07:34 it and as we're going to see throughout this...we see lay 07:39 people who have a vision and a passion to share the three 07:42 angels' messages and that's what really ASI is all about. And 07:47 then the collaboration is just amazing as we're going to share 07:51 stories of how we partner with the church in a powerful way. 07:55 It's important. 07:56 What about you Curtis? 07:59 So for me being involved with ASI is much like the story of 08:06 Nehemiah that we read about and we think of looking back how the 08:12 people saw this great work that had to be done and Nehemiah 08:15 presented to them the case and they came together and it says 08:18 in Nehemiah 2 and verse 18 at the end it says: And they said 08:23 let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands 08:25 for the good work. So that's kind of like an ASI convention 08:28 where we can come together, we can connect and network and be 08:31 inspired and equipped. And then if you look what happened after 08:35 that you had the priests coming together with the lay people. 08:38 This leader, this person, and his family, you know all coming 08:42 together, working shoulder to shoulder and accomplishing in 52 08:46 days just this amazing work that God was able to do working 08:50 together side by side, the laity and the church working together. 08:53 So for me, that's one thing where we can see opportunities for 08:59 churches. Instead of operating just in local churches, we now 09:02 can connect together the lay people coming together with 09:06 ministries, lay-led, alongside the church just advancing the 09:10 work, working together just like we see in Nehemiah and you know 09:13 it's just amazing to see how God was able to work through that. 09:17 You know being familiar with that story I love that simile. 09:21 Actually, it's called rise up and build to share that message. 09:23 but now considering how the projects happen, just before we 09:26 go to Andi, we also know that there's a lot of opposition 09:31 because throughout the story of Nehemiah the one thing that I 09:33 really like about it and all the opposition Nehemiah refused to 09:38 come down off the wall. (That's right). So how do you stay on 09:40 the wall at ASI because there's so many things that are 09:44 competing in your day to day life as well as in your day to 09:47 day ministry. (That's right) How do you stay on the wall? 09:48 So the focus that ASI brings you know we can see as you work 09:54 together and as you stay focused on that mission, you can just see 09:59 the difference that it makes in our churches. There's so many 10:02 distractions, just like you said So many things that Satan's 10:04 trying to do to take our eyes off the work and if we're by 10:07 ourselves in little silos the enemy could have easily taken 10:10 out this or that. But coming together, working shoulder to 10:12 shoulder just as they did there, they were able to you know fend 10:17 off those attacks, staying focused on the work and that is 10:20 really very much a part of what ASI is. (Wow) 10:23 Yeah, I totally agree and I love his text but and there's one 10:28 also that the apostle Paul uses in Hebrews 10 which to me is an 10:31 ASI text and it says...And that's 10:24 and 25. It says: 10:35 Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good 10:39 works. So it's not just good works, but I believe that those 10:43 of us, that come to ASI, who bought in, for being all in and 10:47 all out for Jesus Christ actually, love each other. 10:50 So it says, And stir up love and good works not forsaking the 10:55 assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some but 10:59 exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day 11:04 approaching. And so I think that when you sit by yourself or 11:08 maybe just go out and do a few little things you don't have any 11:12 inspiration, you don't have any support. But when we come 11:15 together at ASI, we feel that call of God in our lives and 11:19 it's refreshed every single year because we hear something new 11:23 and God does something new in us every day and every time that 11:27 we come to the convention. So these two texts I think come 11:31 together to just really give us that encouragement and the spark 11:34 that we need. And we've seen how living by yourself can tear a 11:39 church apart. We've seen that recently. And so I'm just glad 11:43 that ASI is there and that when we come together and let the 11:48 Lord do a work in our minds and our hearts, I tell you, as Ellen 11:53 White says the work will be finished like fire in a stubble. 11:56 And so that's one of the reasons that I'm excited about ASI, um 12:02 you know, all of us together supporting each other, 12:04 encouraging each other and just showing different ways that we 12:06 can minister together. That's what's kept me engaged and 12:11 it's been just a huge blessing. 12:14 In unity. Wow. Do we have a picture of you and your family? 12:17 I think we do. 12:19 Are they involved with you? 12:20 Yes. So you know ASI started for us, our family, with a simple 12:24 invitation I think back in 2013 from my uncle just said, you 12:30 know we're involved in business and he said you know I think 12:33 you'd really be blessed by being part of ASI. So we followed that 12:38 invitation came to our first convention. Little did we know. 12:40 It totally changed the lives of our whole family and the picture 12:44 that you just saw was an example of that... 12:46 Where were you in that picture? 12:47 In Cambodia. So we had no idea that God would have a place for 12:50 our family across the world in Cambodia. Here this little 12:54 Canadian family you know being able...But it was through ASI 12:57 that we were able to make those connections and God opened 13:00 doors you know for our family. I think that was our eighth trip 13:02 as a family, I think my 12th time to Cambodia in a three year 13:06 period. It was a total life changing experience for our 13:08 family. 13:10 So not only the unity of the faith but the unity of the 13:12 family. (Yeah) The coalition that gets stronger as we pull. 13:16 Of course, as you know there's some people watching the program 13:18 or listening that might say well I'd like to know more about ASI. 13:22 Well we have about almost a five-minute video that we'd like 13:24 you to look at right now. It'll give you a broad view of what 13:28 ASI has done, how it got started and where it's headed. 13:34 ♪ ♪ 13:38 ASI is dedicated to networking, equipping and empowering people 13:42 like you, trail blazers for the gospel from all walks of life. 13:47 Visionaries and innovators who are looking to combine their 13:51 skills and talents with the unique call God has given to us 13:55 of His final movement. A call to prophesy again before many 14:01 nations. A call to take the three angels' message into the 14:05 market place in this generation. Join us as we take a closer look 14:09 at the birth of ASI, its vision mission and purpose and the ways 14:15 in which you too can be a part of this trail-blazing movement 14:19 of innovative mission for God. On a warm summer's day in June 14:26 1904 the steamboat the Morning Star pushed away from the 14:31 landing dock here in Nashville, Tennessee and headed up the 14:34 Cumberland River. On board was a small group of explorers 14:39 setting out to find land. The group was on an expedition to 14:43 find suitable land to build missionary training schools. 14:46 These training schools were designed to deploy workers into 14:50 the deep south of the United States. When they were a few 14:53 miles out of Nashville the Morning Star broke down right 14:57 near this spot. Providentially they had broken down on the edge 15:01 of the Ferguson Nelson farm, a large but unpromising spread of 15:06 land near Madison. When they got to the land Ellen White told 15:11 Southerland, she had seen it in vision and this was the land 15:14 they should purchase for the training school. 15:16 Sutherland's heart sank. He protested that it was far too 15:20 big and far too expensive to be considered. But Ellen White 15:24 remained adamant. This was the land. They begged God for help 15:30 for courage to move forward in faith in obedience to the divine 15:34 counsel. As they prayed they were filled with such peace, 15:37 assurance and courage that from that point forward whenever they 15:42 faced challenges they never doubted that God had called them 15:45 to this place and to this work. Sutherland and Magan's faith, 15:49 courage and self-sacrifice were hallmarks of the work here at 15:54 Madison. These traits permeated every factor of student life 15:58 and provided an example for each cohort of students to follow. 16:03 In many ways, Madison set the stage for innovation in mission 16:08 in the Seventh-day Adventist church and not only that it also 16:11 facilitated and empowered lay driven mission initiatives. 16:16 Years later when Adventist Laymen's Services and Industries 16:21 better known as ASI was formed it too embraced these same core 16:26 values: Mission, innovation and self-sacrificing commitment all 16:31 driven by an empowered and well equipped laity. At the heart of 16:36 the Madison model were a few key principles. The importance of 16:41 faith in God's word and sacrifice. The importance of 16:44 innovation and entrepreneurship within the context of mission. 16:50 And the importance of an empowered and engaged church 16:54 membership readily sharing Christ in the marketplace. 16:57 (Steve Dickman) So sharing Christ in the marketplace is the 17:00 model of ASI. Every business has its market place. 17:06 God has brought us where we are. (Volker Schmidt) He has given us 17:12 business and the opportunities. And so wherever we have that 17:18 vision we share what God has given us. 17:20 (Joshua Subhash) The only way we could reach is Christ's method 17:24 alone. The Savior mingled with men as one who desired their 17:28 good. He showed His sympathy for them ministered to their needs 17:31 and won their confidence then He bade them follow me. 17:36 I think it's very important for us to open doors to be able to 17:40 share the gospel. (Denzil McNeilus) A friend, Dwight 17:42 Hilderbrand says it best. He says: Once you share Christ it's 17:46 like a disease and there is no cure because you want to do it 17:49 over and over again because it's such a joy. 17:51 (Philip Baptiste) Ministry has to take place beyond the walls 17:53 of a church and wherever you are wherever you live, wherever you 17:58 work, wherever you go to school God wants you to do ministry. 18:01 (Mark Finley) ASI becomes the pulse, the very heart of what 18:06 Adventism is all about. It is a lay movement. I'm reminded of a 18:11 statement of Ellen White where she said: Until laity and 18:17 ministry join hands the work of God on earth will never be 18:20 finished. (White, 9T, p. 116.4) and so it's vitally important. 18:25 That was an amazing roll to help us understand more specifically 18:29 what ASI does, its inception, its vision, how it got started, 18:33 but I think we could find out a little bit more as we maybe 18:36 throw the questions to our panel today starting you Andi. ASI has 18:39 an amazing beginning but that's just a capsule of actually what 18:43 happened to bring it to where it is today. What can you add 18:45 to that? 18:46 Right. I think the story of Madison is one that really is 18:51 one of my favorite stories. I've read the book Madison, God's 18:54 Beautiful Farm multiple times. It tells the story of 18:56 E.A. Sutherland and P.T. Magan. They both began there and of 19:00 course Magan went to Loma Linda which is my alma mater. But it's 19:04 interesting, the great things that were done because of 19:09 Madison were done because of two men who heeded the counsel 19:13 of Ellen White. And I think that we as a church need to really 19:19 look at this and figure out why were they successful? How can we 19:23 also, be successful. The Lord has given us just a great cloud of 19:27 witnesses. We have Ellen White number one. I just want to read 19:30 something very interesting from this book. This is from Madison, 19:35 God's Beautiful Farm. But it's interesting because we look at 19:38 this story and we think, Oh they were different from us. They 19:40 were not. But this is so interesting. Ellen White had as 19:46 he mentioned in the video, the boat broke down. And Magan 19:49 called it a tub. This old tub of yours is always breaking down. 19:52 And so they brought them to this land which he thought was just 19:57 worthless land. And P.T. Magan and E.A. Sutherland walked off 20:02 to have a discussion when Ellen White said This is the place. 20:05 And it says here, E.A Sutherland looked at Magan and he turned. 20:12 He set searching eyes on Percy Magan. I do believe that you 20:16 started Mother White on this tangent. He called this a 20:19 tangent about the Ferguson Nelson property. Then seeing an 20:23 incredulous look on Percy's face he burst into tears. And this is 20:28 what he said. Oh I wish we had some honorable and Christian way 20:33 to get out of the whole thing without showing lack of faith in 20:37 the testimonies from the Lord's messenger. It occurred to me, 20:40 you know sometimes the Lord calls us to do hard things. But 20:44 listening to the counsel of the Bible and Ellen White can really 20:48 I think bring us into safe harbor and really move us as a 20:51 people to the final days. And I think that we are all...we 21:00 mentioned the three angels' messages and we really are very 21:04 much engaged and want every single church member to be 21:08 engaged in sharing Jesus Christ. 21:11 Amen. Hmm. Beautiful. Curtis how are ASI members involved? 21:19 So there are different aspects of ASI members. You have 21:24 professionals, you have business owners, you have associates, 21:29 people from all different walks of life and profession. Then 21:32 you've got the supporting ministries as well. And this 21:35 kind of follows the model of Madison where you had these self 21:41 supporting ministries who needed an opportunity to come together 21:44 and share what God was doing. Network and work together and 21:49 share resources. And that's very much what ASI is about doing is 21:54 coming together in these different facets of life, 21:58 different walks of life, each with the tools God has given us 22:01 and saying Lord what can I do with what you've given me? How 22:04 can we work together? And, as it said in the video, working 22:08 together we can accomplish much more than we can individually. 22:11 Wow. I'm going to throw it to Rodney right now. Talk about 22:16 some of the personal work because there's a lot of 22:19 involvement that each individual of ASI can get involved in as 22:23 well as the members. Walk us through some of that. Some of 22:29 the personal work that... indistinct. 22:30 The personal work. The personal work is very important. You know 22:33 ASIs motto is Sharing Christ in the Market Place. And we truly 22:38 believe that every person, every ASI member has that marketplace 22:43 So it becomes very, very personal in regard to sharing 22:48 Jesus in our neighborhoods. One thing I wanted to mention is 22:52 that a lot of the parts of Madison were built on sacrifice. 22:59 And personal sacrifice is really the heart of mission, it's the 23:04 heart of Jesus and that's really what really motivates people to 23:07 go around the world and preach using our different tools that 23:11 ASI has developed and get involved in building churches 23:15 and schools and institutions and everything. Sacrifice. 23:20 What about evangelism? 23:22 Evangelism is very important and ASI has been involved in 23:27 evangelism and developing innovative evangelistic tools 23:33 like the New Beginnings evangelistic tool, that we've 23:37 mentioned here before at 3ABN and we've recently redesigned 23:41 the whole thing and it's to empower the lay members of the 23:46 church to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. 23:48 You have some pictures to show us then (indistinct). 23:50 I very definitely do, yeah. So the first picture that we have 23:53 is of the new beginnings series itself. This one is the picture 23:58 roll project. New beginnings is not just something that is done 24:02 on powerpoint but the picture roll project was very innovative 24:07 Again we've been here on 3ABN and Steve Dickman and I showed 24:12 that to our audience. The picture roll is a way to take 24:15 the gospel to areas where there's no electricity and to 24:19 share the whole message, 26 powerful evangelistic sermons 24:25 coupled with health put together in a beautiful package that you 24:30 can take anywhere. If the lights go out it's not a big problem. 24:35 If the generators stop, whatever the case is, the picture rolls 24:38 share the three angels' messages in a powerful way. And the next 24:43 picture just shows some of our team in Zambia getting those 24:48 picture rolls and going out to all parts of their country and 24:53 sharing the gospel in a very meaningful way. (Wow) That's 24:58 the heartbeat. 25:00 Yeah. We were in Zambia (Zimbabwe) and they had the 25:04 picture rolls. 25:05 Yes, they're all over the world now. 25:06 And I like it how you have this health message with the message. 25:10 It's so evangelistic. 25:12 The right arm of the gospel, the health, and then the powerful 25:16 preaching with beautiful artwork. 25:18 Yeah, I like what you said. If the power goes out it really 25:23 doesn't. This is reliant more on the power of the Holy Spirit. 25:26 (Amen) And that's a very interesting thing. I've often 25:29 said to the young people nowadays that use their phone 25:31 and their I-pads for their Bibles, I said, you're Bible 25:34 only has a certain life span. But if you have a physical book 25:37 the power never goes out. (Amen)(Wow) 25:41 Yes, now Curtis what about you? Do you have... 25:48 Yeah so just feeding off of what Rodney was sharing about picture 25:50 rolls, we were able to see that and experience that first hand. 25:53 In fact, I think the next picture shows Cambodia. This 25:56 picture here was two weeks ago. This was at a school in Cambodia 26:00 where the students would use this during the day, the picture 26:03 rolls that you see here. They would prepare the presentation 26:08 for the evening where they invited their parents and 26:10 neighbors to come then in the evenings to these meetings. 26:12 So using the picture rolls they were able to go through a series 26:15 of meetings and it was just amazing to see how God worked 26:18 through these young people and through the picture rolls to 26:21 just connect and reach out to the people in their community 26:24 and their parents. I mean, what parent seeing their child 26:28 present an evangelistic series wouldn't be touched. And so that 26:31 was one opportunity a few... It was about a year ago a little 26:36 over a year ago, if we take the next picture. This is in a 26:39 classroom. This classroom has 200 children in a tiny little 26:43 room and they were using the picture rolls as part of their 26:46 curriculum and they would actually, on all four walls of 26:51 the room where they would have kind of a separate little group 26:54 meeting, they would use these picture rolls in an amazing way 26:57 to...And for the children this brings such vision who've never 27:01 heard of God, you know, coming from a different world view, to 27:05 be able to visualize what the second coming might look like or 27:09 various things like that. And of course the health messages as 27:12 well, that were part of that. 27:13 And these picture rolls, just a question on it. Now are there 27:17 many picture rolls that have different topics or one picture 27:20 roll that contains all the topics? 27:23 So it comes in a tube and there are two picture rolls. And so 27:28 there's 26 total programs, 13 in each roll. (Wow) So it's really 27:36 actually an amazing thing. We've printed it on waterproof paper 27:38 that's tear resistant and so they're durable, they last. And 27:45 they've been all over the world. One thing that I wanted to 27:47 mention about this one for Cambodia is that we sent 1500 of 27:52 these and it was an amazing thing. It was the largest 27:57 shipment of religious material like this that had ever gone 28:00 into the area. And so God worked some miracles just to be the 28:04 picture rolls into the field... 28:07 Just as an example of working together through ASI ministries 28:10 members of ASI, there were a number of different ministries 28:13 involved in getting these picture rolls into the country 28:15 working together and then distributing them to not only 28:18 within Cambodia but all throughout southeast Asia. 28:20 Was it difficult to get it in? 28:22 Very difficult. We took the first picture roll in as a 28:26 family when we went on one trip before this container was 28:30 released and took it for Bible study helps for small groups. 28:34 And they held that at the security. They thought it was a 28:38 missile launcher and so finally we were able to convince them 28:45 that...Yeah exactly. (Multiple voices). 28:47 That's the purpose of bringing this message, into all the world 28:50 What better way than to catapult it. You know, Rodney I'm going 28:54 to come back to you. Talk about Exploring His Way. 28:58 Another feature...indistinct. 29:00 Definitely. This is a brand new product that ASI is developing 29:04 New Beginnings has been known as something that is for adults. 29:08 The picture roll has been used for children and adults but we 29:12 have a brand new evangelistic series that is specifically made 29:17 for children. We're going to have two versions. One is going 29:21 to be from ages three to seven and then ages eight through 12. 29:25 We're going to debut it at our upcoming ASI convention. So it's 29:30 a full evangelistic series, Exploring His Word specifically 29:34 for children and we want youth and children to give the message 29:39 Okay we have a picture of kind of what the kind of looks like. 29:44 Exploring His [Word] is a beautiful, beautiful thing and 29:48 again this is a full message evangelistic series for kids 29:53 that we want lay people around the world to use. 29:56 That's really good. Now how many will that also cover(indistinct) 30:01 Twenty-six topics. It's going to match the adult version exactly 30:04 so the kids are going to learn the same message. The whole 30:07 family is going to be excited about Daniel 2. The whole family 30:10 is going to learn about the mark of the beast. It's going to be 30:13 all together. 30:14 Get them while they're young. 30:15 Get them while they're young. Get those minds going. Put those 30:18 seeds in there. And now let's talk about 3 A.M. because that's 30:22 something that you're very much connected to. (Chuckles) 30:26 How's it going with your journey into the 3 A.M. call. 30:31 Wow. I'm excited about that; the three angels' messages call... 30:35 The 3 A.M. call is an initiative that ASI started several years 30:38 ago and we have thousands of people that are participating 30:42 to share the three angels' messages in a powerful way. 30:47 So we set up a website the3amcall.org and it helps 30:53 people to have tools and the methodology of how to share the 30:57 gospel in a distinct way. 30:59 Now we have a slate that gives us an idea what the... 31:03 The 3 A.M. Call, the picture that we have is simply the home 31:06 page. So I want to encourage everyone to go to 31:09 the3amcall.org or just 3amcall.org and sign up to 31:15 become a missionary sharing the three angels' messages. 31:18 Matter of fact, when you were here last time my wife signed 31:21 up. I did and I get emails all the time. Yeah, it's beautiful. 31:26 We'll tell our audience how they can sign up also. 31:27 Yeah, now Andi what about you? Share with us. 31:32 Well you know it's interesting a lot of times we think, people 31:37 might think that they come to ASI, it's an organizational... 31:41 We do evangelism overseas, we do all sorts of different things 31:44 and it's sort of disjointed from the person and individual 31:48 investment. Before I show my series of slides on our 31:55 "vacation" turned mission trip I just want to tell you a little 31:58 bit about our own journey with ASI. Because before that we had 32:03 not really done much. We were very much involved in another 32:06 ministry, in fact, the ministry was interviewed before us. 32:08 And so in my thinking knowing the right thing, be able to 32:14 speak the right thing was very important. And one of the ASI 32:19 meetings that we were at Mark Finley gave a talk on Pentecost 32:23 Revisited and he talked about the different reasons why the 32:29 Holy Spirit had not been poured out yet. At the end, he talked 32:33 about going door to door and he asked the question, did He see 32:40 you? And I remember thinking He didn't see me. I was 32:44 devastated thinking to myself I didn't really have a heart for 32:48 people. So that started my husband and I on a journey and 32:51 we went door knocking in our neighborhood. And that was a 32:55 little stressful for my husband. He's more reserved. I'm a little 32:58 bit more out there. But I'd gone door knocking before but not in 33:01 our neighborhood. It's easier to go in some other neighborhood 33:03 where the people would never see you again. So we did (what was 33:07 that like?) and some tremendous things happened out of that. We 33:10 got to know the neighbors. We had a Bible study that came out 33:14 of that, that met in our home for a while and later, I don't 33:17 think I have time to tell you that story, we may at the very 33:19 end, but did that. And another person, I studied the Bible with 33:24 for two years and she would have been baptized had her husband 33:27 not divorced her. She had to go back to work. But that is an 33:30 incredible story of how the Lord was working. And the other thing 33:34 that we did in our neighborhood during the pandemic is we had a 33:40 cooking school, a cooking school And you know I love to cook, I 33:44 love the kitchen but I've never done a cooking school but 33:47 ASI member who's become our absolute dearest friends on the 33:51 planet said, Oh we can do it on Zoom. Multiple voices. But 34:00 telling you it's just encouraging members there are 34:02 things you can go do for Jesus Christ. Now my whole idea of 34:07 that was to get a Bible study. I love doing Bible studies. And 34:11 so you know we did. And so my husband and I are now studying 34:15 the Bible with a couple that came to the cooking school. 34:17 And it is amazing. And what we've done to kind of...because 34:23 Boston's a sort of intellectual kind of a place, you know, 34:27 irreligious. So we had to kind of redesign our own studies and 34:31 we did sort of apologetics. But it's been just an amazing 34:35 journey just really being involved with that and then 34:39 encouraging our church members as well. But I think that when I 34:43 mentioned all in and all out. We like to go on vacation. My 34:48 husband and I love to travel. We love to go on vacation. And 34:51 we like to go on vacation with friends and so we did one time. 34:53 And we went on a sailing trip to Belize. Now we knew that the 34:58 sailing trip was going to end and we'd have a few days at the 35:00 end and we were going to go to church. And so I do have some 35:04 slides, a series of slides, I'm going to walk you through what 35:07 happened. Because this is what we met with on Sabbath morning 35:11 when we drove up. This was the church. There were seven of us 35:16 traveling together, actually seven or nine, something like 35:19 that. But it was so funny because we drove up...My 35:22 brother-in-law who does everything, he's the leader of 35:25 our group. We all sat in the van and we looked at that church, 35:29 that building and we said, Right. We didn't want to get out 35:34 of the van. And so my brother- in-law said We are getting out 35:38 of the van. This is where we're going to church today. And we 35:40 thought, ahhh. It was a church for orphans. They were all 35:44 orphans and here they are. And it was incredible. My husband 35:48 who was going to preach, I'll show you in a moment, but this 35:50 is what the orphans looked like. They were so engaged for Jesus 35:53 Christ. But this was the only place they had to worship. You 35:55 notice the ceiling. There were no lights. And we sat in that 35:59 place and we thought wow, um this is something else. And so 36:04 here's my husband preaching (Amen) at the church dressed in 36:08 his sandals, et cetera, it's very hot in Belize. But I want 36:11 to tell you something about the orphans. They knew their Bibles. 36:14 And one of our group was to lead in the scripture reading 36:18 and he told them the scripture to turn to and they began to 36:23 recite the scripture by memory, there were several verses and he 36:26 was still trying to find where it was on his electronic Bible 36:29 and so that didn't quite work out so well, but anyway so they 36:36 recited and we fell in love with the orphans. And we said that 36:38 church cannot be. I'm going to do something about it. And so we 36:42 got together right there in our hotel later and we said 36:45 we're going to 36:46 destroy the church and build them a new church. So we knew we 36:49 couldn't do a one-day church because we'd have to have a big 36:52 container to ship everything so we said, we are going to 36:55 build them a new church. And so we just had the local help do it 37:00 There was some of it that my brother-in-law knew if you 37:04 show the next picture again this is what the inside of it looks 37:06 like (Oh what a difference) and then the next one is one to 37:10 remind you. Then the next slide what it was before with all the 37:14 mold and the rust and everything And then so this is what it came 37:18 out after that. 37:20 Praise the Lord. 37:21 So and you know and I think this is one of the things I think 37:23 that ASI does to each of its members. It transforms you. 37:28 So that when you go on vacation you recognize...Your eye is 37:33 always out. Just as it is now when I go to work...Does that 37:36 person need me to pray with them I pray with several people at 37:39 the hospital. By the way, this is a very good spectrum of what ASI 37:42 looks like. They have supporting ministry, we have business and 37:46 a professional and just how to lead people to Jesus Christ and 37:48 caring about people. That was not something that was in my DNA 37:54 I hate to say it on TV but the Lord can transform everybody. 37:58 And so this was something that we did and they loved it. They 38:01 loved it. They just couldn't believe, these orphans, that 38:03 this was now their new church building. 38:06 That was a divine appointment. 38:07 It was a divine appointment. So I believe that for an ASI 38:10 member, we're always all in so if you think you're on vacation 38:14 if the Lord calls you to change courses, you're not on vacation 38:18 you're on a mission trip. Just became a mission trip and you do 38:22 it to change. Look in your own pocket to fund whatever needs to 38:26 be funded. So praise the Lord. 38:28 How long did that take? 38:29 You know I think they got that done in about three months. 38:33 (That's it?) We just sent them the funds. It was somebody that 38:35 we knew would use the funds appropriately and they got their 38:38 team and just built it. 38:40 You know the Lord knew he was going to send you there before 38:42 you knew you were going to end up there. As the Bible says, 38:46 The steps of a righteous person is ordered by the Lord (Right) 38:49 He delights in his way. So we don't get to places 38:51 coincidentally. It's amazing how I go back to the reaction, We 38:57 are not going in there. And I like the Lord spoke to your 39:02 brother-in-law, We are going in there because this is where I 39:05 want you to be today to not worship in the beauty of 39:09 holiness but make worship the beauty of holiness. How 39:14 beautiful it was to be able to end up...I mean the orphans and 39:17 those who have gone there, I'm sure the congregation has grown 39:21 since then. People say now we are willing to go there. (Right) 39:24 You know a funny thing happened when we came in the first place. 39:28 We went to provision the boat and we got all our groceries and 39:32 we had I don't know four or five grocery carts filled with 39:34 groceries and we had every single checker in the grocery 39:37 story helping us and one of them came and said to me, Are you 39:41 guys missionaries? And we said No. And they said all the food. 39:46 It was amazing. There's a need out there. So it's really. God 39:50 was trying to talk to us ahead of time, remember that you're 39:52 working for me. 39:54 Amen. That's beautiful. Oh, praise the Lord. Now Curtis how 39:58 does ASI partner with the church? 40:01 So there's a lot of connection that happens. For example you 40:08 have most of the ministries that are part of ASI doing ministry 40:12 for the church, reaching areas maybe that the church is not 40:16 reaching. Or doing things in a way that the church is not able 40:20 to do. But the church and these lay ministries, just as the 40:23 video pointed out work together in multiple ways. I can think of 40:28 many of our ministries that partner with local missions in a 40:32 lot of these countries to work along aside them. So they're 40:35 working together not against. And so you have also other ways, 40:41 as Rodney said, the best church member is an ASI member. So if 40:45 you have one or two ASI members in your church. I think you have 40:50 an evangelistic series going on even this weekend, Rodney, just 40:52 working with other people and a lot of that through connections 40:55 with ASI. And so there's just countless examples of where you 40:58 know just coming together along side other church organizations 41:02 with the lay people and the organizational nonprofits are 41:08 just a perfect example of that. 41:10 (A team) Anything to all to that Rodney? 41:14 Definitely. (multiple voices) I have a picture to show actually. 41:17 This last weekend I was partnering with the Central 41:21 California Conference. So we have a picture of Let's Preach. 41:26 This picture shows over 100 lay people learning to preach. 41:31 We had Louis Torres and several of the conference leadership 41:36 were there as well and so it was a one-day symposium of how a lay 41:43 person can lead out in an evangelistic series. And so 41:47 that's a clear way of how ASI partners directly together with 41:53 the church. 41:54 Wow. You know I'm listening to the beautiful stories of how ASI 41:58 is affecting people's lives. The vacation, which in fact, was a 42:03 mission from God and how each one of you is involved. But now 42:07 listen, let's talk about I think what's the root of ASI is your 42:10 personal life. Let's talk about that. How you live and how it 42:16 affects what you do. Because I know that there's vocation but 42:21 there's also commitment to Christ and to live should be in 42:27 harmony with what you are involved in. Talk about some of 42:29 that. Let's start with...Curtis (indistinct and multiple voices) 42:34 You know there was a similar experience to what Andi shared. 42:38 So it was our first trip to Cambodia as a family and it was 42:43 through an ASI ministry that we were going, Adventist Frontier 42:46 Missions. And we went to our first village there. We had just 42:51 arrived. It was on Sabbath afternoon. We'd had church. 42:55 That afternoon we were going to go out with the mission families 42:59 it was kind of a medical mission project. We went to this house 43:03 There was this man inside that had tuberculosis and so they 43:06 were going to check up on him. And there was barely a two-week- 43:11 old baby laying right on the mat beside him. And this man is 43:15 coughing on his hands and coughing and they were trying to 43:18 teach him, you know, to be careful so this didn't get 43:21 passed on. And it was at the end of the visit that he so 43:24 appreciative that we'd come to visit. He wanted to shake each 43:27 of our hands, after he'd just been...And at this point, I mean 43:30 this is my first time in a country like this. It's hot, I'm 43:33 jet-lagged. It was bad enough for me and then to shake my hand 43:40 I'm like Lord you brought us here. We're going to die of 43:41 tuberculosis, now my whole family. I was walking down the 43:44 ladder of that stilt house saying get me out of here Lord 43:46 I don't want to be here. And it was just as I was getting my 43:51 shoes on, these ladies came across the road from this house 43:55 that we were at and they said we know that you know Jesus. 43:59 Could you come to our house and tell us about Jesus. And it was 44:02 there that God transformed my heart. I said, Lord, this is why 44:05 you came to this earth. You came to minister to these people and 44:09 to share the hope of Jesus' coming with them and this is 44:13 what I need you to do to my heart. Give me a love for these 44:16 people. So it was through that that my heart was transformed 44:20 and we've never been the same as a family. We bring this back 44:23 to our workplace. We, you know, have a number of staff there 44:28 that we're blessed to be able to have worship each week as we 44:33 begin our work week and throughout each work day we 44:36 begin with prayer and this has become part of the company 44:39 culture. But part of that is missions then because God put 44:42 that in our hearts as missions and it was through ASI that this 44:45 all came about that we have been able to take a number of our 44:49 staff on mission trips around the world and they've had 44:52 similar experiences where God's worked in their lives to bring 44:54 that transformation. As a result of that you know there's a 44:58 desire to know more about Jesus and it's then that this opens 45:01 the door as we have worship each week and just walk through 45:04 different stories in the Bible. Some people have never even 45:06 heard of Adam or anything like that. But it's through these 45:10 experiences that we're able to in our marketplace and through 45:13 these different mission opportunities have an 45:16 opportunity for our staff and team to be involved. 45:18 Praise the Lord. 45:20 I know Rodney well. I mean he's involved all the time. I think 45:24 he's like that New York City Channel 7 newsman. There he goes 45:27 again. He's always involved. (in mission, that's right) 45:29 Now what about the ASI convention, Andi. 45:34 Yes, you know I just wanted to mention also that you do another 45:42 ministry. I just wanted to make sure that he got all his 45:45 ministry in. He's got so many things going. I know you had the 45:46 ministry with the aviation whatever it is. 45:51 Yeah, and so it was again being involved with ASI in a lot of 45:54 these different projects. There are so many places around the 45:57 world that are so difficult to get to but we know we have to 46:00 have the opportunity to reach these places. And so you know in 46:04 business, aviation's part of our business as well and we could 46:07 see how God could use you know aviation in a similar way to 46:12 reach places in a very effective way that could never be done 46:15 otherwise. And so just through connections with different 46:18 people within ASI we were able to actually launch, during COVID 46:22 an aviation ministry that's reaching projects now in 46:25 Nicaragua and Alaska, the Philippines and a lot of 46:28 different projects where we support projects that are, you 46:31 know, mission aviation based and making ways to reach these. In 46:36 Northern Canada we actually just had a meeting yesterday to reach 46:39 three different missionary bases throughout northern Canada to 46:42 reach these very remote, difficult-to-get-to places. 46:45 And so again... 46:47 What do you bring them? (I'm sorry?) 46:48 What do you bring them? 46:49 So this...everything from humanitarian to get people that 46:54 need to go to the hospital. Bringing supplies in to these 46:56 remote places, but more importantly, as you touch 46:59 people's lives with you know helping and serving in this way 47:03 then to bring Christ's love to them. You know having Bible 47:06 workers that go into some of these places that could never 47:08 get there otherwise. 47:11 The three angels' messages is literally flying (indistinct) 47:14 To all the world. That's wonderful. 47:16 I like that. And I think we tell these stories and we don't want 47:21 to get any praise whatsoever. And I really like our convention 47:27 I know this is going to be seen multiple different times and 47:29 whatnot. But this year's convention I think the theme 47:33 came to us direct from heaven. I hate to say that but I really 47:36 do believe that that happened. Our theme for this year...By the 47:39 way the convention is the first Wednesday, because the first 47:44 Wednesday of every August, every once in a while it kind of goes 47:48 in the end of July. We have a theme this year. It's called 47:53 Revive to Witness and the subtitle is United, Transformed 47:57 and Sent. (Beautiful) And I think that unless we have a real 48:02 baptism of the Holy Spirit that they did back in the days of the 48:08 apostles, I think our work is in vain. And so we want to make 48:13 sure that we do not become full of ourselves, puffed up, moving 48:17 ahead without the Holy Spirit, without God on our side. And so 48:21 we are really praying for a life transforming convention this 48:30 year. We want to get more members but we want to reckon 48:34 to have the people that will be members or that will be...or 48:37 that are already members to recommit their life to Jesus 48:41 Christ and that's only done with deep soul searching. And I want 48:45 to read a quote for you from 1 Selected Messages, if you 48:49 don't mind. (Sure) 1 Selected Messages, just a small part of 48:51 it. A revival of true Godliness among us is the greatest and 48:56 most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first 49:02 work, she says. So we can do all sorts of things but unless we 49:05 ourselves have true Godliness the work is in vain. (That's 49:10 right, Amen) It's really of ourselves. She says there must 49:14 be earnest effort to obtain the blessing of the Lord, not 49:16 because God is not willing to bestow His blessing upon us, but 49:20 because we are unprepared to receive it. Now that's really 49:24 sobering. Can it be that we're doing all sorts of things but 49:27 we're actually unprepared to receive the outpouring of the 49:29 Holy Spirit in these times. And she says this thing, this here, 49:34 I'm skipping a couple lines. But it is our work by confession, 49:39 humiliation, repentance and earnest prayer to fulfill the 49:43 conditions upon which God has promised to grant us His 49:46 blessing. And so for this convention it's our prayer 49:50 that each of us, even though we're seasoned ASI members 49:55 "doing the work" et cetera, that we are self-engaged in that 49:58 process with Jesus Christ of confession, humiliation, 50:03 repentance and earnest prayer. There's a work that needs to be 50:06 done in our lives just as we go out and work. And so that's our 50:10 theme this year. It's from Acts two but there are several other 50:15 passages of scripture that will be used as well. This is a time 50:21 that the theme came to us so quickly. I've been on multiple 50:24 you know planning's for the theme and we wrestled and wrestled 50:28 and wrestled and write something on the board, no that's no good. 50:30 But this came (snaps fingers) We were all literally very much in 50:34 agreement. It was amazing. So we're excited about the 50:37 convention and invite you to attend. 50:39 Okay. Well Curtis do you want to add something to that before 50:42 we go on a break. 50:43 Well I would just extend the same invitation that was 50:48 extended to me in 2013 by someone who cared about me 50:53 deeply, you know, just extend the same invitation to our 50:56 audience. Consider just getting involved. If God's putting it on 50:59 your heart you know that the world is not going to be here 51:03 much longer. And we have been given a very specific calling 51:06 and opportunity to be part of that. And if God's putting that 51:08 on your heart I just invite you to consider just coming to an 51:12 ASI convention, allowing the Lord to work through that time 51:15 and just see what He does. It will change your life. (Amen) 51:18 We're going to have another opportunity on the other side 51:21 of the break but I know that many of you listening and 51:24 watching the program are saying well, I've heard about ASI. For 51:27 the first time some of us said I'm so glad that I have been 51:30 reminded about ASI. It's a powerful ministry. And you may 51:33 have a ministry that you want to connect to ASI to expand your 51:36 effectiveness and your resources You may be wondering how could 51:40 I get involved with ASI. Well here is the information that you 51:43 need to contact them and possibly also become a member 51:47 of this amazing ministry that touches the world. 51:50 If you would like to contact or know more about Adventist 51:55 Laymen's Services and Industries you can write to them at 51:58 9705 Patuxent Woods Drive, Columbia, MD 21046. You can also 52:06 call them at (443)391-7235. That number again is (443)391-7235 52:18 You can also visit their website at ASIMinistries.org. That's 52:22 ASIMinistries.org 52:27 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2022-07-28