Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220061A
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00:01 ♪ ♪
00:05 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:15 ♪ I want to spend my life removing pain ♪ 00:25 ♪ Lord let my words heal a heart that hurts ♪ 00:36 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:56 ♪ ♪ 01:07 Hello friends. Welcome to 3ABN Today. My name is Ryan Day. I'm 01:12 your host and we want to just say thank you for taking the 01:15 time out of your day to spend with us here at this time and we 01:19 have a very, very special program today where we're going 01:21 to be talking about opportunities to witness, 01:24 opportunities to express and to communicate the evangelistic 01:30 outreach that God has commissioned us to do 01:32 and we have a fine example that we're going to be talking about 01:36 today and what God is doing in Central Oregon really out in the 01:41 middle of nowhere and we're going to talk about that because 01:43 we have Central Oregon Camp Meeting with us today Coming all 01:47 the way from Christmas Valley we have Joshua and Ioanaca Gladden 01:52 and it's a blessing to have the two of you. How are you doing 01:53 today. 01:54 We're doing great. Good to be here. It's an honor actually... 01:57 Amen, praise the Lord. And we're going to get to know you guys a 01:59 little bit better in just a moment. We're going to be 02:01 talking about what God is doing in Central Oregon out in the 02:07 high, high desert in Central Oregon. But you're not going to 02:10 want to miss it so get your family around and be prepared to 02:14 maybe take some notes because they've got some great, great 02:16 advise as to what God is doing and working through them and 02:20 it's something that you perhaps maybe want to, to do maybe back 02:25 home in your own church and in your own community. So before we 02:28 go anywhere else into this interview and talk about what 02:30 we've come to talk about today we're going to be blessed by a 02:33 special musical number that's going to be brought us by 02:36 Hope Vasquez and she's going to be singing for us 02:39 In Christ Alone. 02:41 ♪ ♪ 02:53 ♪ In Christ alone my hope is found ♪ 02:59 ♪ He is my rock, my strength my song ♪ 03:05 ♪ This cornerstone, this solid ground ♪ 03:11 ♪ Firm through the fiercest drought and storm ♪ 03:15 ♪ What heights of love what depths of peace ♪ 03:21 ♪ When fears are stilled, when strivings cease ♪ 03:27 ♪ My Comforter, my all in all ♪ 03:34 ♪ Here in the power of Christ, I stand ♪ 03:41 ♪ ♪ 03:49 ♪ In Christ alone, who took on flesh ♪ 03:54 ♪ Fullness of God in helpless babe ♪ 03:59 ♪ This gift of love and righteousness ♪ 04:05 ♪ Scorned by the ones He came to save ♪ 04:12 ♪ 'Til on that cross as Jesus died ♪ 04:17 ♪ The wrath of God was satisfied ♪ 04:23 ♪ For every sin on Him was laid ♪ 04:29 ♪ Here in the death of Christ, I live ♪ 04:37 ♪ ♪ 04:44 ♪ There in the ground His body lay ♪ 04:49 ♪ Light of the world by darkness slain ♪ 04:54 ♪ Then bursting forth in glorious day ♪ 05:00 ♪ Up from the grave He rose again ♪ 05:05 ♪ And as He stands in victory ♪ 05:12 ♪ Sin's curse has lost its grip on me ♪ 05:17 ♪ For I am His and He is mine ♪ 05:24 ♪ Bought with the precious blood of Christ ♪ 05:32 ♪ No guilt in life, no fear in death ♪ 05:39 ♪ This is the power of Christ in me ♪ 05:46 ♪ From life's first cry to final breath ♪ 05:52 ♪ Jesus commands my destiny ♪ 05:58 ♪ No power of hell, no scheme of man ♪ 06:04 ♪ Can ever pluck me from His hand ♪ 06:10 ♪ 'Til He returns and calls me home ♪ 06:18 ♪ Here in the love of Christ, I stand ♪ 06:30 Wow, praise the Lord. Thank you so much Hope for that beautiful, 06:36 beautiful song and your beautiful voice. Thank you so 06:38 much. That was such a blessing. All right. Joshua and Ioanaca 06:44 Gladden from Christmas Valley, Oregon. That's right. I said 06:49 Christmas Valley. I've never in my life heard of this place. I 06:53 think it was, let's see, I think it was toward the end of 2018 06:57 I came into my office one day and I had a voice mail I think 07:02 on my phone and I pressed the button to hear who had called or 07:06 check my messages and over the phone I had this message from 07:11 you Ioanaca I believe it was saying hey we're with Central 07:17 Oregon Camp Meeting. We'd love to have you come out and speak 07:19 and are you available and if you are could you give us a call 07:23 back. I thought yeah okay I'll call them back you know and see 07:25 what it is. I'd never heard of Christmas Valley and you guys 07:29 got a legitimate camp meeting situation going on so I'm 07:32 thinking well man this is Central Oregon Camp Meeting, you 07:35 know this thing must be in some big giant metropolis that I've 07:38 never heard of, Christmas Valley And I remember I took the trip 07:42 out in June of 2019, I believe it was. And as I'm getting closer 07:48 and closer to my destination this thing was literally out in 07:54 the middle of nowhere. If you've ever been to Oregon, beautiful 07:58 state, love it but you have like I guess a couple different 08:01 geographical regions. You have the mountains and woods on one 08:04 side and on the eastern side high desert, high mountain 08:08 desert. And it's literally a desert for as far as you can see 08:10 And so when I got there I had to admit when I first got there 08:13 I thought man who's going to come to this camp meeting 08:16 because it's way out in the middle of nowhere. But praise 08:19 God the Lord's sent his people. There's people from all over 08:21 the area, all over the state coming to this camp meeting and 08:25 so we're here to talk today about what God is doing for you 08:28 guys and how blessing the Central Oregon Camp Meeting in 08:32 Christmas Valley. And before we get into the details of what God 08:36 is doing there I just want to get to know you guys because 08:38 you're new. This is your first time here at 3ABN and so we'd 08:42 like to get to know a little bit more about who Josh and Ioanaca 08:45 are. So in that case Josh let's start with you. Where are you 08:48 from you know tell us a little bit about yourself. 08:50 I'm third generation Adventist, born and raised in Oregon but 08:55 I've traveled the world so I've got a little bit of experience 08:57 under me. But yeah I'm the head elder there at the Christmas 09:00 Valley church. And we started our camp meeting. You know it's 09:05 complete blessing for all. 09:08 Amen Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. And your bride here 09:11 Ioanaca, that's a name you don't hear very often. If you don't 09:17 mind could you tell us your real name. You said Ioanaca is kind 09:21 Ionica is my real name. 09:23 Ionica is your real name. Okay. But you also go by... 09:25 Yoanna. 09:26 Yoanna okay. And you are from... 09:28 I'm Romanian. I'm Romanian and I got to marry my husband about 09:34 17 years ago last month, no two months ago 17 years ago and I 09:40 came into the U.S. and he says hey listen I'm an Adventist and 09:45 it's like oh okay. So I kind of knew a little bit about 09:50 Adventism but what I knew about Adventism was they go to church 09:55 on Saturday. So coming from Europe for me it was really 10:00 difficult to take that in because the seventh day there 10:03 actually is the calendar is on Sunday. Yeah, so it was a little 10:11 bit challenge for me at first. And I have to do a little bit 10:14 some research and that's how I came to the faith. So I came to 10:19 it's another testimony but a little bit though brief history 10:25 how I became a Seventh-day Adventist was I told him that we 10:32 need to go to church. It was the year of 2005. And 2006, August 10:43 19 I got baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist church. 10:45 Oh praise the Lord, praise the Lord. 10:47 Yes and I think that was the best day of my life because 10:50 at that point when I got baptized I believe with all my 10:54 heart that Jesus forgive all of my sin and I got the new life 10:59 of Christ from then on. Not perfect, I said I told people 11:02 I told people that you know what I felt perfect. At that moment 11:06 I came out of the water I was perfect but it's like perfection 11:11 is of a lifetime. 11:14 Right right right absolutely. Praise the Lord. So God... 11:16 You guys have a beautiful family got two beautiful little girls 11:18 What's you little girls' names? 11:20 Marisa and Alexia. 11:21 Well, praise the Lord. And so that being said the Lord has led 11:25 you guys on a powerful journey and I'm guessing are you from 11:28 Josh were you originally from Christmas Valley? 11:30 No, I'm originally from Dallas, Oregon. 11:34 Okay, all right. But now you live in Christmas Valley and so 11:38 now let's talk about what in the world, how in the world did you 11:42 come about with the idea to start a camp meeting because I 11:45 know this thing goes all the way back to 2013 is when you started 11:49 So how did this come about? You're out in the middle of no 11:53 man's land in Oregon and you get this idea...or how did it come 11:56 about that you know we need to start a camp meeting. 11:59 A church member...we attended the camp meeting in northern 12:03 California and 3ABN and Danny came there and quite a few 12:06 people came there and the camp meeting actually fell apart. 12:10 Unfortunately, it had closed. But we bought a tent for that camp 12:15 meeting and we told them as long as they had the camp meeting 12:17 they could have our tent. And long story short but the tent 12:22 was a complete blessing. It's a massive tent that we acquired. 12:25 And so we decided...the church family said well we got this 12:29 tent why don't we have a camp meeting out in the middle of 12:31 nowhere too. And so but then what happens? You need funds. 12:36 You know the church is small. We didn't have the funds so we 12:39 prayed about it and we says let's have the camp meeting. 12:42 And a guy down the street, he's four or five houses, non 12:46 Adventist doesn't know we're having a camp meeting, he puts 12:50 a check in our box and it says for wherever it's needed. So 12:55 God can work miracles if you move forward in faith He will 12:57 provide. 12:58 Praise the Lord. So who...so did you guys come up with this idea 13:02 together or did one of you get the notion first. Like hey let's 13:07 do this. Who's idea was it first 13:10 There were a couple of people, a couple members that they came 13:14 yeah the church yeah and they came forward and said hey let's 13:17 listen let's have camp meeting. Because that one closes so now 13:21 they decided how about we having one. So that's how we 13:24 started. So the money that came for whatever is needed the $4500 13:31 it went to that camp meeting that first year of 2013. And the 13:39 churches was behind us. Everybody was agreed okay let's 13:41 do it. Let's go on and have camp meeting. 13:44 So again I can't emphasize it's amazing what God is doing there. 13:48 Because when you see this place I mean not to, again beautiful 13:53 place. It's just you would never think in a million years that 13:57 that would be a camp meeting in this place. I mean as far as 14:01 your eye can see all around it's just desert, rocks and it's like 14:05 man how could you do something like this? But I have to believe 14:08 that maybe in the beginning, maybe, maybe not, but in the 14:12 beginning when you guys first started talking about this, so 14:15 what was going through your mind as far as the challenges that 14:17 you were going to have to deal with to get this thing going. 14:20 Because when you think of camp meeting, I mean I think of you 14:23 know lots of people, you know big-name speakers, you know you 14:26 got to get speakers people are going to come and listen to. And 14:29 so what are some of the...any challenges that you guys had to 14:32 deal with in the beginning trying to organize this thing? 14:36 Well we haven't been coordinator for the beginning of the camp 14:42 meeting. We've been coordinator for the last five years. So next 14:46 year it will be our 10th year. Well now the books to the church 14:54 has like 70 members. So can you imagine, okay 70 members, can 15:01 you imagine how many can be active right? But I think we 15:04 have more members coming to church that any other church 15:07 because you look at the big churches you know they have 15:09 like 200 members and only like 80 of them right? Well this 15:14 church is like over 10 from 70 That's pretty good but how many 15:18 are actually active in the camp meeting. Just very few. And we 15:25 want to give God all the glory for the strength and effort that 15:30 He gives to His people to go through in faith. In the 15:37 beginning I don't know I wasn't very much involved in it but it 15:40 was a lot of work. We always provide free food for everybody 15:46 so that's a little challenging the kitchen and the tent and 15:49 back and forth, back and forth. But what we can say, we can say 15:52 that for the last five years I think it was a really blessing 15:57 to be part of everything. And people so nice they come and 16:02 they see that there's a need of getting volunteers in certain 16:06 areas and they just say, Hey listen I see that you need help 16:10 Can I help you with anything? People super, super nice in 16:16 helping in whatever we need, yeah. 16:18 Right absolutely. So maybe you can kind of walk us through 16:21 because as our viewers are watching at home right now there 16:23 may be someone who's saying oh this is a good idea. Maybe we 16:26 should start a camp meeting in our own community and that's 16:29 actually the purpose of why you're here, right? You want to 16:31 encourage as many people as possible around the world to do 16:34 what you guys are doing. You know I was impressed by what you 16:38 guys had going on when I was there and then recently you had 16:42 Pastor James Rafferty, I think out there as well. He came back 16:44 He's like man these people have something amazing going on out 16:47 there. I said I know, I've been there. I've seen it. But there 16:51 may be someone at home saying you know I would like to do this 16:54 at my home or in my home church or in my community but you know 17:00 how am I going to do that? So I guess the question would be What 17:03 some of the...I guess what do you have to do to start 17:08 something like this. What are the first steps or what is the 17:12 planning process look lie in starting up a camp meeting like 17:15 this? 17:17 Well God has inspired someone, the Holy Spirit talked to 17:21 someone about recruiting someone to you know get the camp meeting 17:24 going, I mean to the local church or whatever that may be. 17:27 I think they should go with what God inspired them and don't 17:33 worry so much about the financial because God will take care of 17:37 that. That's with Divine help. God is taking care of that 17:40 because we've been trying with that camp meeting to put so 17:45 much effort on our own in the beginning and we forgot to involve 17:49 God so many times in it. But we see the difference in the last 17:53 few years that when we leave God and He takes care of the 17:58 Divine part. And I think when people try to get the camp 18:02 meeting going, go to your local church, give your idea, take it 18:06 to the board and let them discuss. If the church is behind 18:09 it then that's God's will. 18:10 All right, all right. Praise the Lord. So if someone comes to 18:15 your camp meeting, to the Christmas Valley camp meeting 18:16 What can they expect? You know what kind of experience can they 18:21 expect when they come? 18:22 It's a very family-oriented camp meeting. We get so many praises 18:26 because it is for the family. Yeah, and it's very personal. 18:29 You know we're small 150 people attend so it's not like a great 18:36 big camp meeting. You can visit with the speakers. You get to 18:39 know everybody that attends it and we had more kids this year 18:45 than we've ever had and so that's a complete blessing. 18:48 Oh wow. Praise the Lord and so if a remember correctly when I 18:53 was there...you start on a Thursday evening I believe is it 18:57 Is it Thursday or Wednesday? 18:58 It was on Thursday morning, 9:30 19:01 Oh that's right Thursday morning You guys start in the morning 19:03 Thursday morning and you have your Thursday and all day Friday 19:07 and then I think most of the day Sabbath, right, is that correct? 19:10 All day Sabbath and then you end is it Saturday evening or...Okay 19:15 Yes at 8:30 depends. You know always the last speaker is 19:18 taking more time because the last speaker can take more than 19:22 an hour. Anyway 8:00, 8:30 yeah. 19:24 Okay you kind of alluded to this already but do people have to 19:27 bring their own lunch, their own supper or what is the food 19:33 like in Christmas Valley? 19:36 The food is very good. We provide all the food for 19:39 everybody, all the meals ever since...People can usually come 19:43 in on Wednesday night so they get the meals Thursday morning, 19:46 Thursday noon, Thursday supper, and there's very good meals so 19:50 and we do all the serving. It's not buffet style. It's all 19:54 served to the guests. 19:55 Right. There may be someone watching from your state Oregon 19:59 or from one of the surrounding states or wherever that says I 20:01 want to visit this camp meeting You know they're traveling there 20:06 so what does the housing look like. How are they going to get 20:09 housing if they come. 20:11 Well the town is about probably now 2000 people so... 20:17 Right. Is it really 2000? 20:19 Yeah. Well in 2010 there were like 1200 to 1500 so... 20:25 That is...I'm blown away right now. 20:26 So (not audible) Yeah 20:28 I'm only saying that because I think if I remember correctly 20:31 Christmas Valley seems to be significantly smaller than our 20:36 local town here of Thompsonville and Thompsonville only has like 20:39 600 people. I'm surprised to hear that number, wow. So okay. 20:43 Right well it's a vast area so not everybody you know lives 20:47 in town. Everybody lives outskirts of town. Yeah so yeah 20:51 it's quite a bit of people there 20:53 Wow, yeah that's amazing. 20:55 COVID raised the population quite a bit. 20:58 Oh okay. Wow. So people come there and they want to stay... 21:02 you know they need housing and they want to stay. What are the 21:04 options for staying there when they come if they want to stay? 21:09 There are two motels in Christmas Valley and the 21:12 Aubrey Park and 21:13 people also can come with their campers and camp on the church 21:16 property where actually the camp meeting is there. It's I 21:20 don't know how many acres. I think it's two or three acres. 21:24 There's a lot of space for everybody. In tents, you can 21:26 bring your tent and pitch your tent out there and spend the 21:29 night. 21:30 I remember when we were there there were several campers and 21:34 RVs there and you guys have a really, really nice setup 21:37 beautiful setup. Absolutely. Okay so let's talk about 21:43 speakers. So you guys have been going on now you said since 2013 21:47 so not only do we want to talk about how you can get speakers 21:53 because I know you have a couple of stories for that, but who are 21:56 some of the speakers that you've had at the camp meeting over the 21:59 years? Do you remember some of the speakers? 22:00 The first year, the first year we got was C.A. Murray. 22:04 C.A. Murray, my brother. I love C.A. Yes he's a great speaker 22:09 Okay and I think it was him that had recommended me because I 22:13 remember you called...yeah and so you had C.A. who are some 22:18 other ones that you guys have had? 22:20 We have C.A., we have Steve Wohlberg, we have Mark Foss 22:26 Okay Mark Foss yes. 22:27 We had him. We have James Rafferty a couple of times 22:30 Last year we had...who was... it was Carlos Munoz. 22:35 Carlos Munoz, my good friend Carlos from Amazing Facts. 22:38 Yeah, so he was there. We invited him again. I don't think 22:43 he expected that...what he got himself into but he says 22:48 wherever the Lord sends me I will go. Yeah and we got him for 22:52 2024. 22:54 All right. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord and you've had 22:57 I think you've had my brother out. 22:58 And we've had Dakota too. 23:00 Dakota my brother and I think you've even had let's see Charles 23:03 Byrd was that one time. So you guys are getting some great 23:08 speakers to come to this camp meeting. So I guess the question 23:11 is how do you get these guys? I mean because most people 23:13 probably think no one's going to come to my camp meeting if I 23:16 start one in my hometown. But I would think you know where you 23:20 guys live I would never have imagined that you would have 23:23 gotten the speakers bit yet the Lord is involved in this and so 23:26 tell us how you got the speakers to come. 23:28 You answered the question right then. The Lord, right? 23:31 But how did you go about it? You obviously didn't have...How did 23:34 you contact these individual speakers. 23:37 Well, I don't know. With media the world is very small. 23:43 Other people suggest...You know it's like C.A. suggested you so 23:48 like hey, I have this guy. He's new here at 3ABN so how about 23:54 you give him a try. So that's what we did. 23:57 So this all started with you making phone calls. (Yes) You 23:59 contacted C.A. I'm guessing he was here at 3ABN at the time 24:02 and so...you know I'm only bringing this out because you 24:06 know we want to encourage. The purpose of this interview is to 24:09 encourage everyone at home that you can do this as well. That 24:13 the Lord wants, He wants more of these type of camp meeting to go 24:16 on all around the world. And you know you may be in a small 24:20 community, a big community, whatever kind of community but 24:23 you know you simply just have to step out in faith and say okay 24:25 Lord if you want this to happen you're going to have to bless. 24:28 And so in this case, you know you've contacted...you would 24:31 have to sometimes call, make lots of phone calls to get 24:36 speakers and I'll tell you this and I don't even consider myself 24:38 on the same level as some of these other speakers because I 24:41 look up to C.A. and James Rafferty and I was just blessed 24:44 to even be able to be considered to come to this camp meeting but 24:50 you know a lot of people have this idea that oh they're never 24:54 going to come, so and so's never going to come here. They're 24:57 not going to respond you know they're on TV, or they're this 25:00 and that. They're not even going to come to my home town. Well 25:02 that's not always the case because you know I can't speak 25:05 for all speakers but I can say you know what if the Lord want's 25:08 me to go there that's where I'm going. If God opens the door for 25:10 me to be there that's where I'm going. And so big meeting, small 25:13 meeting, big camp meeting, small camp meeting, we go to them all. 25:17 And so you know I love what you guys are doing because you don't 25:22 hesitate at all. You're saying Lord you're going to bring them 25:25 here and so you're not ashamed or afraid to make the phone call 25:28 and say hey can you come. And because of this, you have gotten 25:32 some really great speakers and so praise the Lord, praise the 25:35 Lord for that. So you know the camp meeting is right there on 25:39 the property of the church itself and...Now is the same 25:45 pastor still there that was there when I was there or do 25:47 you guys have a different pastor now. 25:48 No, he moved. 25:50 Oh, he moved so do you have... 25:51 We have actually many camp meetings we have it without 25:54 being a pastor there. The first time... 25:55 The first two years we had no pastor the church body can do 26:00 this. Don't, I want to stress don't push this on the pastor. 26:03 The church body can do this if you get together you can do this 26:08 Ohhh. I love what you're saying, I love what you're saying 26:10 because the idea that many church members have is that 26:15 well, the pastor has to do this. If we're going to get something 26:17 done like this the pastor's got to make it happen. And my 26:19 friends I just want to make an appeal to you at home sometimes 26:24 we got to step up and in fact it's our duty to step up and the 26:26 pastor shouldn't have to do it all. And in this case, I love 26:29 that you know you guys as church members are pulling together to 26:33 make this happen and to put on such an incredible event like 26:39 this. It's amazing. So what are some of the...Let's talk about 26:44 topics, themes, because that's you know when people come to 26:48 camp meeting you know they want to know what's the theme. Like 26:51 what are they going to be talking about, what are some of 26:53 the subjects and you know if I go to a meeting what are they 26:57 going to be preaching about. So how do you come up with that 27:00 content. How does the Lord inspire you to come up with a 27:04 particular theme you know to pitch to the speakers so they'll 27:08 be able to prepare you know a themed event like this. 27:11 Well actually it comes pretty easy because I'm just asking 27:17 God, Hey God what are we going to do this year and already do 27:21 we have everything lined up for the next year. In the next up 27:24 going to be starting all over _ in a short time here 27:28 but how we get the theme and stuff I don't know, it just come 27:35 to us. _ something with Josh right here and he says hey 27:40 listen... But the camp meeting is always on Jesus Christ. So we 27:45 want to highlight Him. We want Him to be the one actually the 27:54 King of the camp meeting. Like next year it's going to be the 27:58 Son of Righteousness. And I think that it's really important 28:02 to God first in everything we do And about the speakers when they 28:07 ask Hey listen what's your theme what's your camp meeting? It's 28:11 like what's this, what you want me to talk about. And I says you 28:13 talk about whatever the Holy Spirit inspires you. And I don't 28:17 give each one a subject to talk about. I let God to work on 28:21 their hearts. 28:22 Mm-hmm, wow, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. So when you 28:27 have to come...First of all about how many do you guys have 28:31 on average coming to these camp meetings? 28:33 Well it can vary depending on the year. Like this year I think 28:36 it was about 80 to 90, but last year we were a lot more, we were 28:41 probably pushing the 150, 165. And then even in 2020 when 28:46 COVID was happening and the lock down was going on we still had 28:50 camp meeting and that's a miracle in itself... 28:51 Tell us about that. 28:53 Because first the church board it's like we're in June. We're 28:57 in complete lockdown like everywhere right? And so the 29:02 governor had a meeting, it was on Tuesday and we said you know 29:05 if she opens it up by Friday we'll have camp meeting. That 29:08 was the prayer we had and we voted for it on the board 29:11 meeting, a church decision. Thursday she opens up to have 29:17 outdoor meetings or gatherings of 150 people. We have our camp 29:21 meeting the following Thursday, Friday, Saturday. We take down 29:25 the tent Monday or Sunday. Monday morning she closes all 29:30 outdoor gatherings. (Ohhh, wow!) So we had a 9-10 day window and 29:37 we had our camp meeting. And we were only supposed to have 150 29:40 so I stopped counting at 150 but there was more. 29:43 Right, right. So how far out do you guys plan something like 29:47 this? Like is it something you do the month before, a couple 29:51 months before or when you're planning a you know like you 29:54 had one coming up in what is it June next year. 29:57 June, always the third week of June. 29:59 Okay, so June 2023. And so when do you start planning for that? 30:06 I start planning right after the camp meeting's over. 30:09 I got you, got you. All right, all right. 30:12 We start planning when you're on the high. You get everything 30:14 lined up for next year. 30:17 Well, well. Praise the Lord. Man That's amazing. My friends I 30:20 hope you're enjoying this because you can do this at your 30:23 own church and in your own community and you know I think 30:28 Mrs. White even mentions in her writings that you know we need 30:32 more camp meeting style so that our camp meetings should be 30:34 evangelistic in nature. And that's the one thing I loved 30:37 about being there when I was there is that hearing all the 30:40 messages and all of the testimonies and the songs and 30:42 the experience in general when I was there it felt very 30:46 evangelistic. Anybody could come through the doors whether they 30:49 were Seventh-day Adventist or not, they could walk through 30:52 those doors and they're going to hear the gospel message and hear 30:56 about Jesus Christ. They're going to hear the three angels' 30:58 messages and be drawn to Jesus. It's not just an Adventist thing 31:03 Sometimes I think our camp meetings, not all, but some camp 31:05 meetings become so Adventist focused that you know we kind of 31:09 leave out our community. But Mrs. White says it should be 31:13 evangelistic in nature. We should be opening our doors and 31:14 that our camp meetings should be almost mini-reaping events you 31:19 know and so in that case I really, really appreciated you 31:22 guys' camp meeting for that purpose. 31:24 I mean we do...that's the whole point. We put out signs, flyers, 31:28 mass mailing advertisement to invite the whole community. It's 31:32 not just for the Adventists. It's for anybody who wants to 31:35 come in the community as well. And we do get people from the 31:39 community to come attend the meetings and that is a complete 31:42 blessing. 31:43 Amen, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Well we're going to 31:45 continue our conversation in in just a little bit. We're not 31:48 quite finished with our interview but we have another 31:51 special music number that we would like to present at this 31:53 time. This is coming again from our sister Hope Vasquez and I 31:57 remember when Hope came here a couple years ago and she's with 32:02 us today and she's going to be singing us a beautiful song 32:04 entitled Amazing Grace. 32:07 ♪ ♪ 32:17 ♪ Amazing grace how sweet the sound ♪ 32:22 ♪ that saved a wretch like me ♪ 32:31 ♪ I once was lost but now I'm found ♪ 32:38 ♪ Was blind but now I see ♪ 32:45 ♪ My chains are gone, I've been set free ♪ 32:54 ♪ My God, my savior has ransomed me ♪ 33:00 ♪ And like a flood His mercy reigns ♪ 33:09 ♪ Unending love, amazing grace ♪ 33:22 ♪ The Lord has promised good to me ♪ 33:31 ♪ His word my hope secures ♪ 33:38 ♪ He will my shield and portion be ♪ 33:46 ♪ As long as life endures ♪ 33:54 ♪ My chains are gone, I've been set free ♪ 34:02 ♪ My God, my Savior has ransomed me ♪ 34:08 ♪ And like a flood His mercy reigns ♪ 34:18 ♪ Unending love, amazing grace ♪ 34:29 ♪ Through many dangers, toils and snares ♪ 34:40 ♪ I have already come ♪ 34:48 ♪ His grace has brought me safe thus far ♪ 34:56 ♪ And grace will lead me home ♪ 35:05 ♪ My chains are gone I've been set free ♪ 35:11 ♪ My God, my Savior has ransomed me ♪ 35:21 ♪ And like a flood His mercy reigns ♪ 35:28 ♪ Unending love, amazing grace Unending love, amazing grace ♪ 35:57 Amen, praise the Lord again. Thank you so much Hope for 36:01 sharing that music with us. Man she has a beautiful voice and 36:04 she plays very well. You know I usually don't do this but I want 36:07 to take the time just to brag on Hope for just a moment we had 36:10 her come out a couple years ago and do some music for us and I 36:14 was producing the music at the time. And she came in and it was 36:20 an awesome time to be able to work with her because she had 36:24 several songs to prepare and she came and I mean flawlessly 36:28 without messing up. Sometimes you know with certain musical 36:31 artists, even myself sometimes, we mess up, we have to stop and 36:34 make and edit or we have to start all over and do the song 36:37 over again and it takes time in the production studio but Hope 36:40 came in, she was prepared, she brought her guitar and played 36:45 flawlessly and sang all these songs I think within an hour. 36:48 I think it was like 11 or 12 songs within an hour. She just 36:52 did fantastic and so the Lord has blessed her tremendously 36:53 and so we want to say think you Hope for sharing your gift with 36:57 us and for blessing us with that music. If you're just now tuning 37:01 in my name is Ryan Day. I'm the host today for the 3ABN Today 37:05 program which is what you're watching right now. We have with 37:07 us Joshua and Ionica Gladden all the way from Christmas Valley, 37:13 Oregon. And we have been discussing the tremendous 37:16 blessing that the Lord has brought to them and allowed them 37:19 to lead out in and that is of course what we know as the 37:22 Central Oregon Camp Meeting there in Christmas Valley, 37:26 Oregon. It has been going on since 2013 and you guys have 37:30 been leading out the last what five years you said. That's 37:33 almost been five years and it's just a tremendous blessing. I've 37:37 had the privilege of being involved there and as a guest 37:40 speaker and they've had several other tremendous guest speakers 37:44 And the purpose that they're here today my friends, if you're 37:46 just now tuning in, the purpose they're here is to encourage you 37:50 to encourage every single one at home to say you can do this 37:53 as well. This isn't something you know that you know they 37:55 just picked up off the top of their heads as a church and said 37:58 oh, let's just do it. No this was inspired. This was brought to 38:02 them by the Lord placed on their heart and this has been 38:04 functioning well for them and they've been blessed by it and 38:07 so many others. And so actually we had some pictures we wanted 38:11 to show you. You guys can walk us through what we're looking at 38:13 here as far these pictures. What's happening here? 38:17 Yeah this is actually the first picture we took when we took 38:23 over and I said we need to put this online. We need to open our 38:25 Facebook. This actually is on Facebook Central Oregon Camp 38:29 Meeting. And we have that on there. We also have that on our 38:33 website but mainly it's on Facebook. So we started putting 38:36 the Camp Meeting on Facebook and C.A. there and we have them. 38:43 I don't want to forget Laura and Ernie Williams. 38:47 Yes, Laura Williams and Ernie. Yeah. 38:49 And the reason I want to mention them is because 2021 I had on 38:53 my notes in 38:55 here we had only $200 for the Camp Meeting to go ahead. 38:58 And it costs about $5000 for all the expenses and all and 39:02 it's like this time like this is the first year actually 39:05 like God's going to provide. And before that, we used to have 39:10 garage sales, yard sales making money and we go to the 39:13 community and tell 39:15 the community what it's all about. But I say like we 39:20 struggled raising money for the camp meeting. And 2021 is 39:24 like a letter to the Lord whatever He wants. If He wants 39:26 to have this camp meeting He has to provide. And actually the 39:32 donations came in that year more than we ever expected, over 39:36 $7000. So we had that money for 2022 going in 22 we have 39:46 actually, more money coming this year. Actually, it poured down 39:51 rain. We had to move from outside to inside of the church 39:54 and there were not that many people but God blessed and we 40:00 want to give all the glory and the honor because He's the 40:05 center of that camp meeting, yeah. And another thing God also 40:08 provided two _ speakers. 40:15 Before we go to that story let's see these other pictures. I'm 40:17 excited to get a story. 40:18 Okay so this is camp meeting 2022. 40:19 This is the kids last year 2022 They have Sharon Gladden 40:31 that. And this is 2020, the COVID year. 40:38 This is the COVID year, wow. 40:40 Yeah, yeah, and people been blessed by it. This is a 40:44 different angle of the tent yeah, the same year. 40:47 And the big tent here. 40:49 This is the outside. This is actually 2020 we had to put 40:52 another one outside so people can have more cover. It was 40:56 super-hot. Yeah. Yeah, that's 2021. We have a lot of 41:01 people there, yeah. 41:02 Praise the Lord. There's Laura, I saw her. 41:04 And to touch on this this photo we moved inside and we were 41:09 praying all morning that the rain would stop because we have 41:13 service for food for people to eat but not indoors. And it 41:18 stopped raining about noon. Everybody was able to eat 41:22 outside and then we moved back into the church and it poured 41:25 down rain. So it was a complete miracle but...To touch on the 41:31 finances it is a miracle that that God is all that He's 41:34 provided. I mean we've had speakers that come and they say 41:37 we've got such a blessing and they pay for the whole room and 41:41 board. They pay for all their expenses. They don't have to but 41:44 they did it. This year we got a blessing. We called up and we 41:48 have four speakers. That's four rooms for four days and we said 41:52 how much do we owe the bill? And they says we don't, you don't 41:56 owe anything. It's been paid. And we don't know who paid it 41:59 but it's been paid. Don't worry about the finances. Give it over 42:04 to God. He'll provide. 42:05 That's right. You know that's the number one thing I think 42:06 that a lot of people hearing this story...Aw, I can't start a camp 42:10 meeting in my church or in my community because you know that 42:12 takes a lot of money. I love what you're saying. You know 42:16 it's completely depending upon the Lord. When you have that 42:18 faith, that faith of a mustard seed. You say okay Lord, you 42:21 want us to do great things. You called us and commissioned us to 42:24 preach and teach the gospel and take every opportunity to do 42:28 that, the Lord's going to be behind it. He's going to say 42:30 look I've got cattle on a thousand hills. I'll take care 42:32 of you, right? And that exactly what He's been doing for 42:34 you guys and it's just a blessing to hear that, to see 42:37 the pictures and to see all the people that are coming and being 42:41 blessed. That's a tremendous blessing. 42:42 But if you really think about it for five or six thousand dollars 42:46 to bring these speakers, three speakers and a singer even and to 42:51 feed them for three days for five to six thousand dollars. 42:54 And they're coming a long way We're in Oregon. They're coming 42:56 from 3ABN, they're coming from California, they're coming from 42:59 all over the place and to be able to do this for that money 43:04 is very little. And don't worry about it. God will provide, God 43:07 will send the funds to your church. Even our first year, I 43:10 mean He provided the funds. 43:12 Praise the Lord, praise the Lord That's so powerful. Powerful 43:15 testimony. And I remember you talking about the weather. I 43:19 remember, I don't remember if it rained but I do remember the... 43:23 you know you were in the high desert out there. So the 43:26 contrasting temperatures that you have from mid-day to evening 43:29 I think when I was there it was like really hot in the day and 43:33 and you know people were sweating and then that night it 43:36 was so cold and the wind was blowing and it was so cold that 43:39 we had to move it inside because it was just too cold out there. 43:42 So very interesting weather and temperatures where you guys are. 43:46 Yeah it can be 100 in the day and then it can drop all the way 43:50 to 35 in the night. 43:52 Yes, that's insane, that's amazing, just amazing. Praise 43:56 the Lord, praise the Lord. So talk about the kids program 43:58 because I saw the picture you know where your mother-in-law 44:02 is leading out in that. So you know if people bring their 44:05 children what kind of experience are they, are the kids going to 44:07 experience when they come there? 44:09 Well she prepared a lot of things in advance and you know 44:12 like I said. Every time the camp meeting is over we start the 44:15 next year. And she puts a lot of work and she does it by 44:19 herself. A lot of crafting, a lot of activity for the kids. 44:23 She has you running out there with the kids. She's 78 now. 44:26 Since she is running to the old back yard and hiding stuff so 44:32 the kids can find a treasure. and they give them gifts and 44:35 participating, songs, and...They do a lot of things, yeah. 44:40 Oh man, wow, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Okay so you got 44:44 to tell us the story because I only read a portion of it but 44:48 this was I guess last year you were trying to prepare for 44:52 speakers for this year and so tell us about what all happened 44:57 with you preparing speakers. You were having some difficulty 45:00 getting some speakers. 45:01 Well the difficulty started right after the camp meeting and 45:04 I was kind of lay a little bit back because I'd been going 45:09 through certain things and I wasn't sure if I was really that 45:15 person that I should coordinate a camp meeting. And I said, Lord 45:19 if you don't want me to do it just find somebody else to do 45:23 it and going through a tough time at that time and I thought 45:28 okay the Lord had just been leading me and convinced me that 45:34 everything going to be all right and just go forward, I have this 45:40 And it came December and December is like I have only one 45:46 speaker that was booked from the previous year and that was James 45:50 Rafferty because Joshua asked him if he can come back next 45:53 year and he said yes. So that's all we had. And I figured okay 45:59 so and I start making phone calls because we have a deadline 46:03 January for the advertisement purpose I have to have everybody 46:07 lined up, booked, and ready to go for that advertisement. And I 46:13 had just James. Like what I'm going to do right? And start 46:18 pray because I'm making the phone calls, email, text and 46:21 like everybody is like seems to be occupied with something else 46:26 and would not be able to come. And it's like and I fall on my 46:30 knees and I say Lord I can't book anybody. Go ahead you book 46:35 somebody. And... 46:37 That's probably what He was waiting on the whole time. 46:40 And you know I rely so much on myself sometimes because I'm a 46:43 person that you know everything has to like we say get your 46:47 ducks in a row. Well I get my ducks in a row pretty nice on my 46:51 own to a certain point, right? So that's what I said I say, Lord 46:56 whatever speakers you're going to book just I want you to book 47:01 them because I can't get anybody And then a week later people 47:05 start coming in and they book us for three years in advance 2023, 47:10 and 2024 and they want to make it for 2022 and I said Oh I'm 47:15 sorry we are all booked. And he's like man what kind of camp 47:18 meeting do these people have that everybody is now want to go 47:21 to it. And yeah so that I think that was a sign that God was 47:26 showing me what if I was struggling in the months before 47:30 and He says don't worry about it, I have it. And my faith 47:35 really increased a lot more since that experience from last 47:39 year. 47:40 Right, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. So based on that point 47:43 there, we have just a few minutes left before we get into 47:47 our final portion, but what have you guys experienced personally 47:51 How is being involved in this camp meeting, inviting the 47:56 speakers, hearing all the messages, how has this camp 48:00 meeting experience blessed you over the years? 48:02 It's life-changing, it really is because not only do you get to 48:06 serve being involved you get blessed. And we hear that from 48:11 our speakers. We say you know how do you get these big names? 48:14 But when they come and you put Christ at the center these 48:18 speakers walk away and say I was blessed. And that's why they 48:21 want to come back to the camp meeting. They love small camp 48:25 meetings. They don't need 10,000 people. They love coming 48:28 wherever God is calling them to speak. 48:31 Absolutely, praise the Lord. What about you Ioanaca? 48:32 Actually, I say that my faith increases a lot more and my 48:37 Christian walk with Christ the last few years All the study and 48:44 spending time in God's word I think it helps a whole lot. So I 48:48 encourage people that don't just read the Bible because you 48:52 forgot to read it in a week. Just when you read it just go 48:56 through and meditate on what you read because that's what is 49:00 going to sink. And the camp meetings when people gather 49:04 together and have a good time I love to serve. I love talking 49:08 to people, I want to mingle with people and I think that is one 49:13 of my things. And I don't mind doing the dirty work, you know 49:19 kitchen dishes and stuff. I'm all over the place in there and 49:23 people noticing, people notice like they pass me on the path 49:27 away. It's like she's running all the time, no wonder she's so 49:30 thin. Like I'm not that thin. You know what... 49:32 Lots of work involved, yeah. 49:34 But people approach us and say hey, can I help with something? 49:38 Everybody is so nice and kind and it's just amazing. 49:46 That is another blessing to be able to go three days with 49:49 serving, with doing all this. And even my mother, 78, and a 49:53 lot of other church members that are elderly, they're able to go 49:56 through this and God gives them the strength. It's a complete 49:59 glory to God. Because we don't have that strength the rest of 50:02 the year. 50:04 Because during this three days at 5:30 on the clock I'm awake 50:08 because we have driven 40 minutes one way to the camp meeting so 50:11 it's like 5:30 the Lord woke me up ready to go to start the 50:14 day off. Yeah. 50:15 Amen. He knew that you guys could handle the workload and 50:19 the pressure and He's called you guys to lead out on this and 50:21 it's a blessing. I was thinking back to when I was there. One 50:24 of my favorite experiences was once the camp meeting was over 50:27 with at the very end, I think it was Sabbath evening you guys had 50:31 a big bonfire. Do you guys still do that if the weather 50:34 permits. But it was just a great experience just to fellowship 50:36 and sit around the fire in the cool night weather of Christmas 50:41 Valley there. And it was just a great experience and I remember 50:44 that you know just being able to sit and fellowship with the 50:47 church members and it was just a great experience. So amen praise 50:51 the Lord. You know I was hearing your testimony. This 50:54 text came to mind. Isaiah chapter 58 beginning with verse 50:57 The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your 51:01 soul in drought and strengthen your bones. You shall be like a 51:04 watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not 51:08 fail. Those from among you shall build the old waste places and 51:12 you shall raise up the foundations of many generations 51:15 and you shall be called the repairers of the breach, the 51:19 restorers of streets to dwell in That's what you guys are doing; 51:23 repairing the breach, restoring the streets to dwell in and 51:25 preaching the gospel. You probably have been tremendously 51:28 blessed. I know I have by this story and by what's going on 51:31 there in Christmas Valley and perhaps the Lord has laid upon 51:34 your heart to bless this effort and to donate, to give, to 51:39 support this effort or perhaps maybe you want more information 51:42 as to how you can give it yourself. This is how you can 51:46 contact the Central Oregon Camp Meeting in Christmas Valley. 51:49 If you would like to contact or know more about Central 51:53 Oregon Camp Meeting SDA Christmas Valley you can do so 51:57 in the following ways: You can write to them at 52:00 60506 Old Lake Rd. Christmas Valley, OR 97641. You can call 52:07 them at (541) 223-8984. You can visit their website at: 52:19 CenntralOregonCampMeetingCVSDA. com. You can also send them an 52:25 email ioanaPeach81@yahoo.com |
Revised 2023-07-19