Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220043A
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00:04 I want to spend my life
00:09 mending broken people. 00:15 I want to spend my life 00:20 removing pain. 00:25 Lord, let my words 00:31 heal a heart that hurts. 00:36 I want to spend my life 00:41 mending broken people... 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:52 mending broken people. 01:06 Hello and welcome to 3ABN Today. 01:09 We're glad that you have joined us 01:11 and we have a program that we know will be a blessing. 01:14 My name is John Dinzey and my wife Idalia is with me. 01:17 And we are glad that we have some special guests 01:20 that have joined us to share wonderful information. 01:23 That is right. We're going to be talking about 01:25 the Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. 01:29 That's right. And you know, that should awaken some interest 01:33 in you, curiosity and all. 01:35 But this is a very informative program. 01:37 I invite you to invite your loved ones to also tune in 01:41 and learn of this. That's right! 01:44 So as you hear the information we hope that you will become 01:48 a person that you know where to go when you want information 01:51 about the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 01:53 And we have plenty wonderful... plenty of information to share. 01:58 And I would like to introduce our guests. 02:00 Idalia, why don't you introduce our guests today? 02:01 Oh sure... of course. 02:03 We have Dr. Dragoslava Santrac with us 02:08 and we want to welcome you to the program. 02:10 Thank you for being with us. 02:11 Thank you. I am very happy to be with you. 02:13 Thank you. You are the managing editor of the 02:17 Encyclopedia of SDA's at the General Conference. 02:21 That's correct. Wonderful. Very good. Thank you for being here. 02:25 And Dr. David Trim, who is the editor of the Encyclopedia 02:29 of SDA's at the General Conference of SDA's. 02:33 Dr. David Trim... welcome to the program. 02:36 It's a pleasure to be with you. Thank you. 02:37 Thank you. We thank you both so much for coming 02:40 and this is a wonderful opportunity to ask questions 02:44 that we have in mind. Um-hmm. 02:47 And we know that the information you share 02:50 will be taken advantage of by many people. 02:55 So... We hope so. Amen... Amen. 02:58 Well, we are going to go to the Lord in prayer. 03:00 And we would like to remind you that you can become 03:03 part of the 3ABN family by being a prayer warrior. 03:07 What's a prayer warrior? 03:08 Do you have to go out into the battlefield and fight? No! 03:11 Prayer warriors pray for the prayer requests that 3ABN 03:14 brings to you every day. Every day we receive 03:17 prayer requests from around the world. 03:19 And we have people that receive some of these prayer requests. 03:22 We send them a few... not to overwhelm them. 03:25 And of course, some of you will hear prayers requests 03:29 when you're listening on radio. 03:30 And you will also see prayer requests on the screen 03:33 when you're watching on television. 03:35 And many people just jot them down 03:37 and pray for those needs. 03:39 And we can tell you that people call back and tell us: 03:42 "My prayer was answered! Thank you so much for praying. " 03:45 And it's a blessing to pray for others 03:47 because as you pray for others 03:49 you draw close to the Lord as well. Um-hmm! 03:52 So it's a wonderful opportunity. 03:53 Plus we want to pray for you as well. 03:55 You have your needs and you have your questions 03:58 about what is the Seventh-day Adventist church. 04:00 You've been listening and watching the programming 04:02 learning of the doctrines - Biblical doctrines - 04:05 and you may be questioning. 04:08 You know, many people hear that the church is a sect 04:13 or a cult, right? 04:15 So I just want you to invite you to prayerfully watch the program 04:19 and learn of what the SDA church is. 04:22 Yes, and people call with questions 04:25 and so we encourage you to call our prayer line. 04:28 Encourage you to call 3ABN if you have questions. 04:36 If you're calling from another country please remember to 04:39 add plus 1: 618-627-4651. 04:43 Let's go to the Lord in prayer. 04:46 Our wonderful and loving heavenly Father, 04:49 we thank you that we can approach Your throne of grace 04:53 with us knowing that You will always be there. 04:57 Knowing that You will listen to our prayer. 05:00 We thank you that we can come to You in Jesus' name 05:03 and we praise the Lord. We understand that there's 05:07 no other name under heaven whereby we can be saved. 05:13 Heavenly Father, we present to You the prayer requests 05:16 that have come in to 3ABN throughout this day. 05:20 You know each and every person; 05:21 You know each and every need. 05:23 And heavenly Father, You are all wise. 05:26 You know the end from the beginning. 05:28 And there are people that are ready today to be healed. 05:31 We pray for healing upon them. 05:33 Some must wait a little longer. 05:35 Help them to continue to trust in You. Yes. 05:37 And it may be that some will receive the answer that 05:41 the apostle Paul received: "My grace 05:44 is sufficient for thee. " Yes. 05:45 We pray, Lord, for those that are looking for a job. 05:48 Guide them to the place where they should go 05:51 and we pray that You will bless them with favor 05:54 that they may receive the job they need 05:57 not only to work and bring the money they need into their home 06:03 but also that their talents may be further developed 06:07 and where they can also shine & show others the love of Christ. 06:12 We pray, heavenly Father, for marriages that are having 06:14 difficulties. Be with them; guide them through the 06:17 process of coming to an agreement and continuing 06:22 facing the challenges of life looking unto Jesus. 06:25 And Lord, we pray for those that are praying for loved ones 06:29 that have perhaps left the walk... they left their walk 06:34 with Jesus and are out in the world. 06:36 We pray for Your Holy Spirit to speak to their hearts 06:39 to lead them back to the foot of the cross 06:43 and to salvation through Jesus Christ. 06:45 We ask for Your Holy Spirit. Guide us and help us 06:47 in this program - um-hmm - that the information that is shared 06:51 will be of great blessing to Your children. 06:55 We ask You to be with Dr. Trim 06:57 and Dr. Dragoslava and bless us. 07:01 We ask in Jesus' holy and blessed name. Amen. Amen. 07:05 Amen. 07:07 And we are going to read a scripture 07:10 Hebrews chapter 12 vs. 1 and 2. 07:13 Idalia, can you help us with that? 07:15 Sure. Hebrews 12:1-2 says: 07:19 "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about 07:22 with so great a cloud of witnesses 07:25 let us lay aside every weight 07:27 and the sin which doth so easily beset us 07:30 and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. 07:36 Looking unto Jesus 07:39 the Author and Finisher of our faith 07:41 who, for the joy that was set before Him, 07:45 endured the cross, despising the shame 07:49 and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. " 07:55 Praise the Lord! May the Lord add a blessing to His Word. 07:59 Amen... Amen. 08:00 Well, we'd like to know... Both of you, if you have 08:04 a comment about these scriptures? 08:06 This is my favorite scripture passage. 08:09 And you know the key is... if you just read it in isolation, 08:12 you may think: "Well, what is this about? " 08:15 But the key is the start which is - depending on the 08:17 translation - wherefore or therefore or even so. 08:20 Basically, it's connecting us back to Hebrews 11. 08:23 The chapter divisions, of course, aren't in the original. 08:27 They're something that gets added centuries later 08:30 as a convenience. 08:31 Really this chapter 12:1-2 is the end of chapter 11: 08:35 that great passage of the heroes of the faith. 08:38 And it's saying: "What's the lesson of this? " 08:40 "Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses" 08:44 that is what can empower us. Yes. 08:46 To "Lay aside burdens and the sin that so easily ensnares us" 08:50 as one translation says 08:51 and "run the race set before us. " 08:54 And then the beautiful coda to it: 08:57 "Looking unto Jesus: the Author and Finisher of our faith. " 09:01 So as a historian I love the way that it refers back 09:04 to the history of the church and then says 09:07 "These are not just dead heroes of the past. 09:10 They are what can inspire us and empower us 09:13 to live a Christian life here and now 09:16 looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. " 09:19 Amen! Amen! I know you could share some more about that 09:21 but we have limited time. Yes. 09:23 Dr. Santrac? I love the phrase: "Surrounded by a cloud 09:27 of witnesses. " Sometimes we may feel 09:31 abandoned and alone in our walk with God. 09:35 Perhaps sometimes mis- understood by our environment. 09:39 But knowing that so many before us have treaded 09:43 this same path and that the Finisher of our faith, 09:46 the Lord Jesus Christ, is the Author of that faith, 09:50 the Sustainer of that faith, and the One who will 09:55 give a prize at the end. 09:58 And this a beautiful text to introduce our talk 10:02 about the encyclopedia because the encyclopedia 10:05 has stories of these many many witnesses 10:08 to Christ's victory. 10:11 Indeed, if we... It's an online work 10:15 but it may eventually appear as a print edition. 10:17 And if it did, then I think the final part 10:20 after the last article under the letter Z 10:23 would say: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by 10:27 so great a cloud of witnesses. " 10:28 Excellent! Excellent! 10:29 Well you know, after being in- volved in 3ABN for so many yrs. 10:34 we know that people are very curious. 10:37 So people are wondering where are you both from 10:41 because you have an accent a little different than 10:44 the typical American accent. 10:46 We'll start with Dr. Santrac. 10:49 Yes. Well I was born in an Adventist family 10:52 and grew up in various cities in France. 10:55 At some point I moved with my parents 10:58 and two siblings to Serbia, 11:00 the country of origin of my parents. 11:03 And that's where I met my future husband Alex. 11:06 And Alex and I... we lived on three continents 11:11 while pursuing our education and while serving the church 11:15 in various capacities for the past almost 23 years. 11:18 So I guess I picked accents all over the place 11:22 wherever I lived. So... 11:25 Dr. Trim? Well my accent you may detect wanders a little 11:30 because that reflects my life. 11:32 I was born in India where my parents were missionaries. 11:35 I spent my childhood and early teenage years in Australia 11:39 where my father was from. 11:40 They moved to Britain where my mother was from. 11:43 At Adventist college in Britain I married an American girl... 11:48 a California girl as the song says... 11:52 and lived and worked in England for many years 11:56 but then was called by the church to work in the US. 11:59 So you'll hear a little bit of Australian. You'll hear 12:01 a little bit of British. As I say, it wanders a little bit. 12:06 Wanders a little bit. But overall? We're all pilgrims - 12:09 yes - in this world. That's right. 12:11 You're from the Dominican Republic & I'm from Puerto Rico. 12:13 Well overall, the language of love or your passion 12:19 for what you do for the Lord and for us all 12:22 to be able to understand where our church is from 12:26 and all the history of it. 12:28 We thank you for that. 12:30 Well, I'm excited about what we're going to hear 12:32 in a moment - yes - but first, we have a... 12:34 we'd like to share a musical offering. Um-hmm. 12:38 A musical offering. Yes... this musical offering 12:41 is going to be brought to us by a mother and daughter team. 12:44 And that is Celestine and Farrah and they will be 12:48 singing Fill My Cup. 13:04 Like the woman at the well 13:08 I was seeking 13:13 for things 13:15 that could not satisfy. 13:21 And then 13:23 I heard my Savior speaking: 13:28 "Draw from My well 13:31 that never shall run dry. " 13:36 Fill my cup, Lord. 13:40 I lift it up, Lord. 13:44 Come and quench 13:46 this thirsting of my soul. 13:52 Bread of Heaven, 13:54 fill me till I want no more. 14:01 Fill my cup... fill it up 14:03 and make me whole. 14:14 There are millions in this world 14:18 who are seeking 14:23 for pleasures 14:26 earthly things afford. 14:31 But none 14:33 can match the wondrous treasure 14:39 that I find 14:41 in Jesus Christ my Lord. 14:57 So my children, if the things 15:01 this world gave you 15:05 leaves hungers 15:07 that won't pass away 15:13 my blessed Lord 15:15 will come and save you 15:20 if you kneel to Him 15:23 and humbly pray. 15:27 Fill my cup, Lord. 15:30 I lift it up, Lord. 15:35 Come and quench 15:37 this thirsting of my soul. 15:42 Bread of Heaven, 15:45 feed me till I want no more. 15:54 Fill my cup, 15:56 fill it up 15:58 and make me whole... 16:03 fill my cup, 16:07 fill it up 16:09 and make me 16:13 whole. 16:34 Thank you so much. A beautiful song. 16:36 We all need the Lord to fill our cup. Um-hmm. 16:40 And when the Lord fills our cup, you'll know 16:43 that you have no need. Much to share. That's right. 16:47 Well we are here to talk about the SDA Encyclopedia. 16:51 I'm excited about this. 16:53 And the question is: what in the world 16:56 is the SDA Encyclopedia? 16:58 Well the original SDA Encyclopedia 17:01 was published in 1966. 17:05 And it has been... It was revised again in 1975 17:09 and 1996, but it hasn't been revised 17:12 for a very long time. And the General Conference 17:15 officers, the President, Elder Wilson, 17:18 looked at it and said: "We need an up-to-date encyclopedia. " 17:21 My regular job is Director of Archives, Statistics, & Research 17:26 and so Elder Wilson said: 17:30 "You're archive... it's history and research. 17:32 We'll task you with creating a new encyclopedia. " 17:35 And I think originally he probably just thought of 17:37 a third edition. But as we looked at it 17:42 we realized there was a need for something completely new. 17:45 And so that's why the name has changed. 17:47 It's the Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists 17:50 or ESDA as we refer to it 17:53 and that signals that it's an entirely new work. 17:56 Every article that was in the old encyclopedia 17:59 will be in the new encyclopedia - OK - 18:01 but the articles have been written afresh 18:04 and anew based on new research - 18:06 OK - and also written by people from around the world. 18:09 Excellent... excellent. 18:10 So what is the difference between the encyclopedia 18:15 we've had before? Right. 18:17 So the old encyclopedia came out initially in one volume. 18:21 And if any of your viewers have the SDA Bible Commentary set 18:26 they will have it on their shelves, red & green volumes. 18:29 Uh-huh. The second revised edition 18:32 that came out in 1996 came out in two volumes 18:35 because it had been extended. 18:37 And that's a brownish, sort of black version. 18:39 Some of the people will have that on their shelves. 18:41 I have the old red and green version which I inherited 18:44 from my late father, so that sits on my shelves. 18:48 That was print. As I said, the new one 18:50 has been com... It's still in progress - 18:53 right - but it's completely written afresh 18:56 but also it's not print... it's available online. 18:59 Online. It lives online. 19:01 Now eventually there may be a print edition 19:04 but the authoritative text will be online. 19:08 Why? Because it means it can be constantly updated 19:11 and it can be revised and corrected. And your viewers 19:14 can see on screen now - right - some information about 19:17 the ESDA... about the number of articles. 19:20 And one of the great things about it 19:23 is the number of photographs. 19:25 We have 10,000 photographs. Wow! Marvelous! 19:28 We love photographs! And most of them are ones 19:31 people will never have seen. 19:32 And the key thing is that it's online. 19:35 You can see the search window and the results of a typical 19:39 search coming up now. 19:41 It's very easy to search. We can talk about that later 19:44 and it brings out wonderful articles and these photographs. 19:48 You know, there's a few photographs that every Adventist 19:50 is familiar with. Yes. Ones of James and Ellen White. 19:53 Yes. Maybe John N. Andrews and Uriah Smith. 19:56 These are photographs that have been supplied by families - 20:00 OK - by institutions... for articles about institutions. 20:05 These are photographs that nobody other than the families 20:07 themselves perhaps have ever seen. 20:09 So they're extraordinary images, and most articles - 20:13 most biography's - have got photographs. 20:15 We're very pleased about that. And as I say, 20:17 10,000 photos currently... 3,500 articles. 20:22 We're aiming eventually to have 7,000 articles. 20:25 But there are 3,500 on the website, so that's... 20:29 that's a good chunk of material, more than anyone can read 20:31 in an afternoon. That's right! 20:33 Yes indeed! So it's possible to "surf" it 20:37 or to search it in a very focused way. 20:40 But I have to say one of the pleasures of looking at it 20:44 is to look at the photos. Yes! 20:46 And sometimes especially articles about famous people 20:49 and say: "Wow! Here's a photo of them that I don't recognize 20:54 because it's taken when they were young. " 20:56 And again, only the family - perhaps - has seen it. Yes! 20:59 Yes Idalia? We have contributors - 21:02 some family members that supplied some pictures - 21:05 but who else has contributed to the ESDA? 21:09 Yes. Well I would like to say that this is also a new feature 21:13 of the new encyclopedia. The team that works 21:16 on the encyclopedia is an international team. 21:20 Currently there are over 1,500 authors 21:24 worldwide who contributed articles. 21:27 And we have an editorial team of about 50 editors - 21:31 excellent - coming from all the 13 world divisions, 21:35 the General Conference attached union mission fields, 21:40 and of course the General Conference. 21:42 So it's a very diverse team 21:45 unlike with the previous we call it "old encyclopedia. " 21:50 Yes. The old SDA encyclopedia 21:52 was produced by a relatively small team 21:55 working at the old Review & Herald Publishing Association 21:58 based at the church headquarters 22:00 produced in the late 50's and early 60's. 22:03 And so it really reflected just the American church 22:06 with a little bit of European influence - Oh - 22:08 because one the team was British. 22:11 And that's not the church of today. 22:13 That was the church of the 1960's. 22:15 It was one in which still North America had the largest 22:21 single membership of any division. 22:23 But that's not the world church today. 22:25 And so we wanted an encyclopedia that would reflect 22:27 the diversity of the church. Wonderful! 22:30 And so we have those editors as Dragoslava described 22:33 who are around the world. Why? Because 22:36 they know who to ask. 22:37 They may know the one person who has made the history 22:41 of the church in Luzon in the Philippines his passion 22:44 or the one person who has made the history of the church 22:47 in the Dominican Republic - yes - her passion. 22:50 And so they can get local people who are experts. 22:53 And that's why we have 1,500 authors as Dragoslava said 22:57 worldwide which means we're getting an authentic 23:00 account of the church's history. Excellent! That's practically 23:04 answers my question. This is a MASSIVE undertaking. 23:06 The question was: How do you ensure that you have 23:10 an accurate picture? How do you? The accuracy... 23:13 that this is what actually, is true and factual? 23:17 Yes. We have very strict 23:21 quality control measures in place. 23:25 All articles are signed. 23:27 They have endnotes and sources so people can verify 23:31 the sources of information 23:33 and also all of our articles are peer-reviewed 23:36 by several peer reviewers depending on the topic. 23:40 For some types of articles like for example the history 23:44 of theology articles which are about our beliefs 23:47 and the way they developed we have a special committee 23:51 of theologians and historians who review these articles. 23:56 To make sure that we get it right 23:58 because obviously articles on our doctrines 24:01 have to be gotten right. 24:03 Yes. And so that's why we have an extra level 24:06 of quality assurance for them. 24:09 But we also for important articles 24:12 church leaders also review them 24:14 because we want this to be faith-affirming. 24:16 We want it to be truthful. Yes. 24:18 And that's important to note because we haven't always 24:21 done things successfully or ethically. 24:24 There have been... we're a human organization. 24:28 And so we have to be truthful and accurate 24:31 but we also want it to be faith-affirming. 24:33 So all of these measures go into it to ensure that 24:37 it is accurate and truthful and that it represents 24:41 not just one part of the church's views. 24:44 Say the view just of European missionaries - right - 24:48 who went to certain African countries. 24:50 We want it to reflect the local point of view 24:52 but we also want it to be faith-affirming. 24:54 That's wonderful! I like that: faith-affirming. 24:57 You know, there are people searching for information 25:01 and a lot of people are familiar with something 25:05 that starts with the letter W: Wiki-something. 25:08 There are stories there about the Seventh-day Adventist church 25:11 but this is a more "get it from the source" 25:16 information. Right. The problem with Wikipedia... 25:20 It's a wonderful resource 25:23 and I think everybody uses it. 25:24 But it's written by somebody who has a particular desire 25:29 to write on the topic. Yes. 25:30 And that means that they're not reliable; they're not accurate. 25:34 And indeed, as Dr. Santrac discovered when she first 25:38 became interested in joining the project 25:40 often they're notably inaccurate. 25:44 You might want to share about your experience. 25:47 Yes. Well actually that was my daughter's experience 25:50 who wanted to do a research project for her high school 25:54 class. They were asked to choose an American group 25:58 and write a history, etc. 26:01 So she said: "Well, this is a good chance to 26:03 present to my class and my teachers something about 26:06 our church. " And the teacher asked that the research is 26:11 solely based on online sources. 26:14 So when you Google what you find. 26:16 And after some time she came to me with a whole list. 26:20 "Mom, did you know about this? " 26:21 "How can people say something like that? " 26:24 "This is not true! " 26:26 So all of the searches she found it was quite discouraging. 26:30 She just abandoned the topic and found something else. 26:34 And I am thinking: "It is our hope that when people 26:37 Google Adventist church or Adventist people 26:41 that the top result will come from encyclopedia.adventist.org 26:47 so people get reliable balance information. 26:51 Yes! That's right. Yes, because with what's on the Internet 26:54 if somebody who has a particular passion for it 26:57 and sometimes passions can be distorted - yes - 27:00 and so you get all kinds of things 27:04 as Dragoslava's daughter discovered. 27:07 And so... But that's another reason we want to be truthful 27:10 and accurate and that we don't gloss over 27:13 things that maybe some people might find a little embarrassing 27:17 or say: "Should we wash our dirty laundry in public? " 27:20 We want this to be faith affirming for Adventists. 27:24 But for people who are not Seventh-day Adventists 27:27 we want them to be able to say: "Wow! This church is... 27:31 models Christian truthfulness and accuracy. 27:35 It's not hiding anything. " 27:36 Conspiracy. Conspiracy... thank you. 27:39 Yes, Idalia. "Whatever I may have heard from certain people 27:43 about the Seventh-day Adventist church 27:44 here it is. It's being open; it's being honest. " Amen. 27:49 And so we see this as benefitting both SDA's 27:53 and people who are not Seventh-day Adventists. 27:55 And we would like everybody to be able to get that accurate, 28:00 truthful, and balanced - the word you used earlier, John - 28:04 balanced information. Wonderful! This is wonderful 28:06 because there is so much information out there 28:10 but when you have a reliable source of information 28:15 go to the reliable source of information. 28:17 That's right. Go to the SDA Encyclopedia. 28:19 That's right. Yes. Well, it's been live for 2 years now, 28:23 right? How has the response been? 28:26 Well, I say that the readers have been quite enthusiastic. 28:32 People contact us and they want to share 28:35 the photographs they have... the materials: 28:38 placards, documents... historical documents. 28:41 And they are excited sometimes to discover 28:45 the biography of a relative and they tell us: 28:47 "Oh, I've learned something about my grand grandfather 28:50 I've never heard before. " So it's been really reassuring 28:54 and reaffirming of what we are doing. 28:57 Yes. We've had more than 28,000 unique visitors 29:02 last month - wonderful! which is... we still want 29:05 more people to know about the encyclopedia. 29:08 Yes. That's one reason we're glad to be with you: 29:12 to get the word out; let more people know about it. 29:17 As Dragoslava said, we've had a good response 29:20 not only in an increase in the number of unique visitors 29:23 each month. And the website by the way is: 29:29 Yes. Um-hmm. So that's quite easy to remember. 29:35 We've been glad to see 29:37 the number of visitors each month increasing 29:39 but as Dragoslava says 29:41 we've also had feedback from readers. 29:43 How many photographs did we start with? 29:45 Was it 6,000 or 7,000? 29:47 When we launched the encyclopedia 29:49 the exact number is 3,700. 29:52 Photos? So you see we've increased by almost three times 29:55 that number. And that's one of the things that people 29:58 who read articles say: "Would you like photos? " 30:01 "I have photographs of this person or of this institution 30:06 in its early days. " Yes. And so we've had the photographs 30:08 have just come flooding in. We've also had other feedback. 30:11 And one of the things that people have noted is how they 30:14 like the fact that the story is told... 30:18 I'm thinking of the church now in parts of Africa 30:21 and Latin America... that the story is being told 30:24 from their point of view. Yes. Oh... very good. 30:27 In the past, the story would always be about the European 30:30 or American missionaries who came. 30:32 Now missionaries are wonderful. As I said, my parents are 30:35 missionaries. Because I'm British I'm actually 30:38 a missionary to America you might say. Yes! 30:40 This is true! This is true! 30:42 So missionaries are wonderful and indeed 30:45 Adventists around the world don't wish to forget 30:48 missionaries. On the contrary, in parts of Africa 30:52 for example they are naming new institutions 30:55 after early missionaries of more than 100 years ago. 30:58 So they want to honor them. But though the Adventist message 31:03 wouldn't have taken off without the missionaries 31:05 the story is bigger than the missionaries 31:07 because the missionaries only planted the seed. 31:10 Yes! In every part of the world it was local people - 31:13 local colporteurs and literature evangelists 31:15 and local pastors - who were inspired that they went out 31:19 and did the bulk of the work. That's right. 31:21 And so that's where we come to one of the satisfying things. 31:25 As I said, we wanted an encyclopedia that would reflect 31:28 today's church. Yes. 31:32 And you know the difference is profound. 31:34 When the encyclopedia launched in 1966 31:37 there were 1.6 million SDA's. 31:40 In 2015 when it launched 31:43 there were 1.2 million baptisms. Praise the Lord! 31:47 And there were 19.2 million mem- bers which is 12 times as many 31:52 as in 1966. The numbers of unions and conferences increased 31:57 by almost 100 percent... it almost doubled. 32:00 The number of medical instit- tutions since 1970 has increased 32:06 by 500%. 32:08 Wow! So the church is just... it's much bigger. 32:11 It's much more diverse so there's a lot more stories 32:15 that have to be told. 32:16 And that's what we're trying to do 32:19 and it's therefore gratifying to hear feedback 32:22 from readers saying that they appreciate 32:25 the story of the church - say in Nigeria - 32:28 reflecting the contributions that Nigerians rather than 32:31 only of the missionaries who came. 32:33 That's right! You know, this is a resource 32:35 that is good for new Seventh-day Adventists 32:40 and SDAs that have been around for many years. 32:42 I remember sharing either in Sabbath School 32:45 or just talking to people 32:47 and I mentioned something about the history of the SDA church 32:50 and they just: "I didn't know that! " 32:52 And in the Encyclopedia of SDAs you can find information 32:57 that is just marvelous and helps to affirm your faith. 33:02 You were going to say something? Yes. 33:04 I just wanted to briefly mention 33:07 that also we have readers who contact us with some changes 33:11 or corrections. OK... I was going to ask about that. 33:14 And we welcome those as well. 33:15 And having an online format it is very easy 33:20 for us to make edits and changes 33:23 and maybe sometimes add new information 33:25 we were not aware of. 33:27 So that's the beauty of an online format. Yes! 33:30 We didn't have to wait until all 7,000 articles were done. 33:34 We could launch, and simply by launching of course 33:38 provide impetus for more people to get involved. 33:41 And some of those articles that are on the list 33:43 inspired some people to volunteer to write them 33:46 or to e-mail us and say: "I note that you don't have 33:50 even an article planned on this figure. 33:53 I think he or she should be in the encyclopedia. " 33:55 Sometimes you look at it and say: "Well, 33:57 they're important in your life but maybe they're not quite 34:00 worthy of an article. " An article. Yes. 34:03 But other times we say: "Yes, this person had a fascinating 34:06 life... a really wonderful example of faith. 34:11 This person SHOULD BE in the encyclopedia. " 34:14 So that's part of it but also the ability to update & correct. 34:18 So we don't have to wait 10 years or 20 years 34:22 to do a new edition. Another edition... exactly. 34:24 Which we would if it were in print. 34:26 Instead, we can... because mistakes creep in. 34:29 You know, we have the quality assurance processes 34:32 but inevitably little errors creep in. 34:36 Sometimes there's ones that people think are a little more 34:39 major. And we can review them 34:41 and where we say: "Yes, they're right. This is an error. " 34:46 We can make the correction and therefore 34:50 it's always going to be authoritative and up-to-date 34:53 because it's constantly being updated. 34:55 I like that. I'm really excited for all the information 34:58 I've heard thus far, but I think in the short time 35:01 that we have left I think they have so many stories 35:05 to share. Please share some stories with us. 35:10 Yes, well it's very hard to choose I'm sure. 35:14 So perhaps we could talk briefly about the Adventist work 35:18 in Japan? Yes, yes... let's start with that. 35:22 It starts with Wm. Grainger. 35:26 He was the first official missionary to Japan - 35:29 Adventist missionary to Japan. 35:31 Here is his picture. 35:34 Yes. William Grainger was before going to Japan 35:39 for about nine year he was the president 35:42 of Healdsburg College... the forerunner of PUC: 35:45 Pacific Union College. OK. 35:47 And I just marvel at God's providence. 35:51 So he was the president for nine years 35:55 and right at the time when he was replaced in 1894 36:00 his former student from Japan invited him to come 36:05 to Japan and help him spread the word. Yes. 36:08 And so the church decided yes, this is a good time 36:11 to enter Japan. In the late 1890s 36:14 Ellen White is in Australia 36:15 and she is now more aware of the needs of Asia. 36:19 And so Ellen White... The church for its early first years 36:23 we were a reform movement within Protestantism. Um-hmm. 36:27 And from the late 1890's - for the rest of her life 36:30 until her death - Ellen White is saying: "No, we're more than 36:33 a reform movement among Protestants. This message 36:36 has to go to Asia. " To China and India she mentioned. 36:40 And what are China and India? They are strongholds of Hinduism 36:43 of Islam and of Chinese traditional religions. 36:46 So she's saying: "We have to reach people 36:48 of other religions. " So Japan is one of the countries 36:51 that Ellen White had mentioned. And so this opportunity comes 36:54 and Grainger was in middle age. 36:56 Had never lived outside California 36:58 but he accepts the call. 37:01 Yes, and his student Teruhiko Okoshira 37:05 we have his photograph as well. 37:07 He came from a wealthy Japanese family. 37:10 His parents sent him to California to learn English 37:14 and business. And in California 37:17 he was invited to attend a Camp Meeting 37:22 that was held by some people from Healdsburg College. 37:25 That's where he met Professor Grainger 37:28 who invited him to study at the Adventist college. 37:32 He got excited, and the two of them go back to Japan 37:35 and there they open Shiba Japanese-English Bible School. 37:40 So that was the way God works. 37:43 Yet William Grainger also went with his wife. 37:45 Exactly. Often when we tell the stories of the missionaries 37:50 we tell just the story of one person: the man. 37:52 And very often they had family. 37:55 They had children of missionaries as well. 37:57 So in the encyclopedia we try to bring out 37:59 and give details of the families not just of the subject. 38:02 Well, I call that, Sir, divine appointment. 38:05 Exactly! And we actually have a photo 38:09 of Okoshira and his wife. Because she also contributed 38:14 to the mission work in Japan. 38:17 And among the first students of that Japanese-English Bible 38:21 School were two military men 38:24 who came to learn English because of their profession 38:29 but then they accepted the Adventist faith. 38:33 It was Hide Kuniya & Dr. Kawasaki 38:38 who got baptized, and that was the first official 38:42 Adventist baptism in Japan in 1897. 38:47 Now maybe we can see the photo of Kuniya as well. 38:52 The military? The military, yes. 38:55 And people can go to encyclopedia.adventist.org 38:59 and see all the photos. 39:01 But where the story becomes very I would say 39:06 inspirational and maybe even sad 39:10 is that Wm. Grainger died only three yrs. after being in Japan. 39:15 He was struck by a sudden illness and died within weeks. 39:18 But now his students: Okoshira, Kuniya, and Kawasaki 39:25 continued the work... the medical missionary work. 39:29 Opened the sanitarium... so many things. 39:33 An example again is the missionary comes but who takes 39:34 the missionary backs them up, and who makes the work grow 39:38 is local people. That's right! 39:40 You plant the seed and you nurture. 39:43 OK! More stories. There are stories of history. 39:49 Do you have maybe a more recent story 39:52 that are included in the encyclopedia 39:54 that you would like to share? 39:56 Why don't you talk about Brian Dunn? 39:58 Yes. So not all stories are happy stories, 40:04 stories of big success. 40:06 Brian Dunn's story is the story of a missionary 40:10 who very young... We have a photo of him with his wife. 40:13 Brian and his wife Valme. Her name was Valme... yes. 40:18 He was only 25 years old when with his wife in 1965, 40:25 November 1965, they went to the Solomon Islands. 40:29 They were missionary nurses. They were Australians 40:31 and they went as nurses as Dragoslava said. 40:34 Yes. And only after a month 40:37 he was speared on his doorstep. Oh no! Local islanders. 40:42 Local islanders, yes. 40:44 Wow! So the point of the spear protruded from his chest 40:49 and the back of the spear from his back. 40:51 Wow! It took them several days 40:53 to get him to the nearest Adventist hospital. 40:58 But he lived only a few days and he died. 41:02 Here is his tomb... memorial. 41:06 Yes, but his example: although he spent less than a month 41:10 in the mission field his example actually inspired 41:14 many more people to come to the Solomon Islands - wow - 41:18 and continue the mission work. 41:19 What's amazing to me is that his wife 41:22 returned to the mission field only after a few months 41:26 and she worked as a nurse at a leper colony in PNG. 41:31 Wow! Amazing. Yeah, some people would be shattered by that 41:36 but she's: "No... I'm committed to missionary work. " 41:38 And so she went back into the mission field. 41:40 And I can tell you as a boy in Australia 41:42 his story was told. And the moral of the story 41:47 as it were was to say: 41:50 "He has died; who's going to succeed him? 41:53 Who's going to replace him? " Right. 41:55 And that's very often what comes out of stories... 41:58 about the biographies of mis- sionaries in the encyclopedia. 42:01 Because a lot of them do perish. They pass away very quickly 42:05 because they're going to places that have unusual diseases 42:09 for which no cures were known. 42:10 We're talking about the late 19th century 42:13 and early 20th century. 42:14 But when they die they ask for the message to go back 42:19 "Who is going to pick up the flag that I have laid down? " 42:23 Take the torch. That's right. Exactly: take the torch. Yes! 42:25 "I will go. " Somebody has to say: "I will go! " 42:29 It's the Spirit of God that stirs people's hearts 42:32 not to be afraid but to go and continue the work. 42:36 The chosen, the called... and God equips the called. 42:39 Well... Yes... It's not only stories of 42:43 missionaries in the far-flung world. 42:47 There are also stories - biographies - of individuals 42:50 who have been important in North America. 42:52 And of people who... they don't make a huge sacrifice 42:58 as in going to another country or laying down their life 43:01 but they do commit their life to amazing careers of service. 43:07 And one of them is E. E. Cleveland. 43:10 We've got a photograph of him. 43:12 E. E. Cleveland... yes! 43:15 Many of your viewers will be familiar with him. 43:17 One of the most famous Adventist evangelists and that photo is 43:21 probably one that most haven't seen. Many of your viewers 43:24 will remember him when he was older. 43:25 I have never seen that photo until today. 43:28 But this is E. E. Cleveland when he was in his prime, 43:31 when he was starting to launch the series of evangelistic 43:35 campaigns that really transformed the African-American 43:39 SDA church. And beyond African-Americans 43:41 but particularly brought in thousands of African-Americans. 43:45 And so the North American church today in which African-Americans 43:51 are extremely important 43:53 really only dates back to the 1940s and 1950s. 43:57 African-Americans were a small minority 44:00 in the No. American church until then. 44:02 And it's the preaching of E. E. Cleveland. 44:04 We have a photo in fact of one of his evangelistic series. OK. 44:09 Tents? Some may even just be able to see 44:14 the sign says BIG TENT. Big tent. 44:16 THE BIG TENT... exactly. 44:18 And so this is one of his first missions. 44:21 You can see the chairs are packed very close together. 44:24 Hopefully your viewers will see that. 44:26 And so he preached in big tents; 44:28 he preached in halls; he preached in stadiums 44:32 and just had a transformative effect on the North American 44:36 Church and of course inspired many, probably hundreds 44:39 of young men to become pastors and think: "I, too, can be 44:43 an evangelist. I can preach an evangelistic sermon 44:46 and make a difference. " 44:48 So there's information about E. E. Cleveland and many of the 44:52 well known and I'm going to say unknown 44:55 Adventists that have contrib- uted in some way or another 44:59 in the history of the Seventh-day Adventists. 45:02 That's exactly right. And what may be interesting 45:04 to you, John and Idalia, is that we also have 45:06 articles on people who were pioneers of television. 45:09 Wonderful! So for example, we have 45:11 an article on Charles D. Brooks: C. D. Brooks. 45:14 Yes! Also a famous African-American evangelist 45:18 here he is actually preaching an evangelistic sermon 45:21 in his youth. Again, some may remember him 45:24 when he was older. Um-hmm. 45:25 A powerful evangelistic preacher - YES! 45:29 who conducted evangelistic campaigns around the world, 45:32 even in Cairo in the 1960s. 45:34 Today that's impossible to imagine an evangelistic 45:36 series in Cairo BUT... he did it. He did it back then. 45:41 And then of course he moved into television. 45:44 Um-hmm. And the image that we can put on the screen now 45:49 is of course he pioneered the Breath of Life ministry. 45:52 Yes... I remember that picture. And Breath of Life of course 45:55 was one of pioneering Adventist television ministries. 45:58 Um-hmm. And he reached many thousands more people 46:01 through that. Passed away recently. 46:03 And we're very happy to have a wonderful biography of him 46:07 on the encyclopedia. I'm sure you have stories 46:09 of George Vandeman and 46:11 also, the, what's the name? 46:15 I forget his name, for now, but he did the... I forgot the name 46:20 of that series. One of the early Adventist programs as well. 46:24 We've just commissioned an article on Walter Arties 46:27 who has just passed away. 46:30 I should have said one of our rules for the encyclopedia 46:34 is we don't have any articles on living people. 46:36 OK. For various reasons but partly for you need a little... 46:41 you need a little detachment. Yes. 46:43 And so we didn't have one on Walter Arties, 46:46 but he has now passed away 46:48 so we have just commissioned an article on him. 46:50 Of course another pioneer of TV ministry was Faith for Today. 46:53 So that will be coming; that will be added to the website. 46:58 That's the beauty of it being digital! 47:00 That's right! You can keep adding and updating it. 47:02 Well, you know I like a printed book 47:06 that you can hold, but there's also value in 47:08 the digital version, because I can't see a video 47:11 in a book. You have videos also. 47:15 We do! And we hope that we will actually 47:18 have a printed version one day of the encyclopedia 47:21 or at least some volume. But as you mentioned the videos 47:24 we are so very blessed to have video footage of some 47:28 our missionaries. And perhaps now we can show 47:32 the video of Jessie and Leo Halliwell, 47:36 the American missionaries in South America. 47:39 Famously they had mission boats which they took up the Amazon. 47:42 It would take them months to go from the mouth of the Amazon 47:46 into the depths because it was thousands of miles. 47:50 They would go up the little tributaries. 47:52 They would stop and they would do medical work for the people 47:55 who needed it. Millions of people who depended 47:59 actually on them because there were no hospitals. 48:02 The medical care in the Amazon region of Brazil 48:05 was the Adventist church's mission boats. 48:08 Wow! That's fantastic! 48:10 You know, I mentioned a written book. 48:12 Like I said, I like to look. But do you have the 48:15 capability of searching online? Yes. 48:17 You put in key words and you find a list of articles 48:22 and things you can read. So this is... Would you say 48:25 it's easy to use? It's VERY easy to use I would say. 48:29 Very straightforward. When you open the website 48:34 it's very clear what you need to do step by step. 48:36 There's a big search window on the front page of the website. 48:40 And you put in a term. If you put in a name, for example, 48:45 it will bring up at the top any article that exists 48:48 with that name. But then it will bring up 48:50 any article that has that name in it. Excellent! 48:53 So you can start to get some contextual information. 48:57 If there isn't an article yet then you'll find 49:00 at the bottom a list of articles that have been commissioned 49:03 that are still in the process of being written. OK! 49:06 And people are like: What is the website? 49:12 We multitask! We're watching 49:14 but we want to go to the website at the same time. 49:16 Wonderful! Please do that. 49:18 I hope people are on their phones right now 49:20 because the website is designed to be easily used on phones, 49:24 on tablets, as well as websites 49:26 because we know that today the majority of viewers 49:29 readers probably won't go on their laptop or their desktop 49:32 computers. They'll go on a tablet or on a phone. 49:35 And Slava, just tell them a little bit how they can 49:38 filter their search. Yes. So people can also use 49:41 the advanced search option 49:43 where they can browse articles 49:45 by division or country 49:47 or even article category. 49:49 For example, you want to find out 49:50 everything about medical missionaries in China only. 49:55 There is an easy way to do that. 49:57 Or in Inter-America and so on. 50:00 And this is what a printed book can't allow you to do. 50:03 That's right. John, I'm an old-fashioned guy. 50:05 I'm a historian... I love printed books. 50:07 But there's just so much extra capability in this website. 50:11 That's right. And so when we looked at it 50:15 this is why we recommended to Elder Wilson it should be 50:18 an online website. Excellent! And that's the way to go. 50:20 I know the time is running out but I just need to mention 50:25 this since this is an international program. 50:28 People may wonder: "Oh, are articles only in English? 50:32 What for people who are not English speaking? " 50:35 We are very happy to say that we have made some progress 50:39 with this and already have articles available 50:41 in Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, and Korean. Excellent! 50:45 Marvelous! And we depend on qualified 50:48 volunteers to help us with this work. 50:51 So if anybody wants to help us translate, e-mail us at: 51:03 We welcome new authors; we welcome new translators; 51:06 we welcome anyone who wants to help us. 51:08 Praise the Lord! Fantastic! You know, marvelous! 51:11 We hope that you are ready to jot down the information 51:14 so that you can find out where to go 51:18 or if you are interested in contributing 51:20 we are also going to share contact information. 51:23 So after you see the contact information 51:26 you will hear news from 3ABN 51:27 and then we will be back in just a moment. We'll see you. |
Revised 2022-12-06