Urban Report

Personal Testimony

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Don & Barbara Hales

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Series Code: UBR

Program Code: UBR000131A


00:01 Stay tuned to meet a survivor
00:02 and the mother who dealt with the after math.
00:05 My name is Jason Bradley.
00:06 And you're watching Urban Report.
00:32 Hello, and welcome to Urban Report.
00:34 My guests today are Don and Barbara Hales.
00:37 Don is the team leader of Tanglewood Ministries
00:41 and his mother Barbara is the coordinator
00:44 at Tanglewood Ministries.
00:45 Welcome to Urban Report, Don and Barbara.
00:47 Thank you for having us. Thank you, good to be here.
00:49 It's pleasure to have you. Just to--
00:52 I want our viewers to know
00:54 a little bit about your background.
00:55 I want to go into it
00:58 because you have a powerful testimony.
00:59 And we want to touch on that
01:01 as well as find out about the ministry.
01:04 We want to find out about Tanglewood Ministries.
01:06 So Ms. Barbara, how back in, was it 1994?
01:13 Was that was that the year?
01:14 He had the accident?
01:16 Yes. That you had the accident?
01:17 Okay.
01:19 What transpired on that day?
01:20 How did you find out about the accident?
01:23 Okay, Don was a senior at Andrews University
01:26 with one semester left and it was this summer
01:29 and very beautiful day.
01:32 I was out cutting grass,
01:33 when my husband came to the door
01:35 and called and said that there had been
01:36 an accident at Andrews Air Park.
01:39 And we needed to go immediately.
01:41 Wow!
01:43 And so what was running through your mind?
01:45 I know, you had multiple thoughts.
01:46 Well, when he said an accident obviously it meant aircraft.
01:50 I have the unique distinction of having both a husband
01:54 who flies and three sons to fly.
01:57 So it was perhaps, in the background of my mind
02:00 that it's not unusual that perhaps one of them,
02:03 at some point would have an accident.
02:05 Yes.
02:07 And so when we heard that there had been an accident,
02:09 I put the lawn mower up, hopped in the car
02:12 and raced as fast as we could to Andrew's
02:15 about a half an hour away.
02:16 Okay, okay.
02:18 And what was going on that day, Don.
02:20 What happened?
02:22 How did that accident come about?
02:24 Well, earlier that morning,
02:26 a friend of mine who owned the aircraft
02:30 which is called an Ultra light, headed out.
02:33 And another friend was actually flying it.
02:36 And my father had been up that morning.
02:40 He worked for the Federal Aviation Administration
02:43 and he was doing surveillance that morning on the airport.
02:47 And so we were all looking at this machine
02:51 after the pilot who was flying it,
02:54 came back and landed.
02:56 And my dad just basically told me,
03:01 "Don, don't fly this thing."
03:03 You know, don't fly it. Wow!
03:05 So your dad warned you about flying it.
03:07 He had warned me. Yes.
03:09 What is an Ultra light? What is that?
03:11 An Ultra light is a kit built
03:14 or home built aircraft, recreational use.
03:18 One passenger which is a pilot and is flown on nice days.
03:24 And a open cockpit.
03:28 Some people in the past have called them flying lawn chairs.
03:31 Oh, wow!
03:32 Just like my wheel chair,
03:34 with some wings on it and an engine in the back to,
03:36 you know, to push it forward.
03:38 That's a scary. But it sounds comfortable.
03:40 Yeah. Yeah.
03:41 And I thought that that'd be fun to fly.
03:45 And so when my father told me not to fly it.
03:49 I said, "Okay, I won't."
03:51 But inside, I was like, "I'm going fly this thing."
03:55 That makes you want to fly it that much more.
03:56 Well, yeah, yeah.
03:57 And you know, I was 22 at the time
04:00 and I say now young and dumb.
04:04 But more yet, to the heart of the matter,
04:10 rebellious on the inside, you know.
04:13 You know, outwardly, you know, toeing the line.
04:15 You know, doing my part but inwardly, you know,
04:18 I'm going to do things my way.
04:21 And with that in disobedience,
04:23 of course, is a dangerous combination.
04:27 Absolutely. Get's you in trouble.
04:28 Absolutely. That's what happened that day.
04:30 How high were you when you crash
04:32 and what led to the crash?
04:35 Okay, I was told, I was about 75 feet.
04:37 And this was right after takeoff.
04:40 The Ultralight could be flown as a hang glider.
04:43 So it has, what is called a push pull bar
04:46 which is attached to the wings, so when you push the bar out,
04:51 it tips the wing back and you go up.
04:54 If you pull the bar towards you,
04:56 it pulls the wing down and you go down.
05:02 And the way that it is set up
05:04 is the cart is on a harness, I mean, on a pendulum.
05:08 So that no matter if you're going up or down,
05:11 you're still in a level position.
05:14 So when I came down,
05:16 I landed in a seated position like this.
05:20 So my spinal cord absorbed all of that energy.
05:24 And it blew out my thoracic eleventh vertebrae.
05:27 Wow! Yeah.
05:28 That's truly a blessing that you are alive.
05:31 I praise the Lord for it 'cause I should have been dead.
05:34 Yes, yes, yes.
05:36 Now Ms. Barbara, it's also my understanding
05:40 that there were some people that rallied behind you guys
05:45 during this time and provided something
05:48 that was very special and very useful to you.
05:51 Yes, yes, as time went on he went to rehab.
05:54 And then it was an issue, can he get back to life.
05:58 And a group of pilots
06:00 from the South Bend- Mishawaka area
06:02 which was the general area
06:03 in which we lived, one of the gentlemen,
06:07 in particular, came up with an idea.
06:09 He said he was trying to sleep one night.
06:11 He was thinking of Don.
06:12 He was a friend of my husband
06:14 and from his dream or idea, birthed a project.
06:21 And that project was to raise enough money
06:24 to give Don a brand new handicapped accessible van.
06:28 Wow! What a blessing?
06:30 What a blessing?
06:31 And as a result, the word went out
06:32 to the Pilot community
06:34 and over a period of about two to three months,
06:37 they raised somewhere around $ 45,000.
06:42 And then in September of that year,
06:44 they presented Don with a brand new van.
06:47 That's huge, I know you were happy about that.
06:49 I'm still amazed today. Yes, yes.
06:52 It's wow.
06:53 That is a blessing, in fact, the people
06:55 that don't know you
06:57 still rallied behind and supported you.
06:59 And really want to take part in that project.
07:02 Okay, such a powerful story and testimony.
07:07 How did Tanglewood Ministries begin?
07:11 Well, after that time, that I got the van
07:15 and I had moved to Cincinnati to start work
07:18 and I was working at an airport on the east side of town.
07:21 And worked there for about seven and a half years.
07:24 I was able to get married and buy my own home
07:27 and in all of that, so I was living.
07:29 But my health started to go down
07:36 and so around about 2005 my health really, really,
07:44 you know, started to go down.
07:45 My marriage was coming apart at that time
07:48 and I had to also resigned from work
07:51 because of health reasons.
07:52 So that was a real low period in my life,
07:56 all the way through 2007.
07:59 And in 2007, I was in despair and actually wanted to die.
08:07 But I just thank the Lord that he had other plans.
08:10 And at that time I went through a leg amputation.
08:13 And also my father was killed
08:17 in a car pedestrian accident in front of our home.
08:20 And so it was in, let's see, in 2008
08:24 that I was in a hospital for a second leg amputation.
08:29 And I'll let mom take over the story here
08:31 because she did a visitation that day.
08:34 Don was just about ready to get out the hospital
08:37 with the second leg amputation.
08:39 And the elderly friend of ours went into
08:43 and assisted living private pay facility.
08:46 And I decided to go visit her, to see how she was doing.
08:50 And as I was leaving she had said,
08:53 you know, I like the facility.
08:54 It's is a beautiful place.
08:57 People are very nice but the one thing
08:58 I don't like is, I don't get to go to church anymore.
09:03 And so, you know, I can't get out or anything.
09:07 And I heard myself saying to her, "Well!
09:09 You know that's something I could do.
09:11 I would be happy to start a church service here.
09:14 I've been involved in ShareHim
09:16 and preached in three or four countries.
09:19 You know, I can do that.
09:20 And so I spoke with the activities' leader
09:23 and she said, "You'd come every week
09:26 and do a church service?"
09:27 And I said, "Sure, I'd be happy to."
09:30 And when can we do it and after much talking,
09:34 it became apparent that the best time for them
09:37 was Sunday evening,
09:39 when I normally would be watching 60 Minutes.
09:41 Wow!
09:43 Way just like, you know, my day is gone.
09:45 So I said, "Yeah I'll do it.
09:47 So we started after supper on Sunday evening.
09:51 And so we've been doing a weekly service
09:53 ever since during that hour.
09:55 Wow! okay.
09:57 Now, number one, you're a very strong woman.
10:02 How did you feel, I mean, to have your son
10:07 going through this at the time, losing your husband?
10:10 How did you?
10:11 How did you make it through that tough time?
10:13 And what helped? It's only the Lord obviously.
10:16 I mean, you're going through so many emotions,
10:20 basically you're trying to figure out
10:22 what your finances are going be?
10:23 Because now your income is going to be cut.
10:25 Because your primary source of income is no longer there.
10:30 And then, of course, he was living with us
10:32 about that time which meant
10:33 that basically I was the caregiver.
10:36 And you know, it's like, you know,
10:38 "Lord, there's so much going on
10:41 and I need something different."
10:43 And I saw getting out and getting back
10:46 involved in ministry is something he did.
10:47 I could do. That would be good for me.
10:49 Okay. Okay.
10:52 And, Don, how are you feeling at the time
10:54 of with this ministry beginning?
10:57 And how did you feel about taking part in that?
11:01 Well, I was happy to help.
11:03 But my attitude was that this was her ministry.
11:08 I never had any aspirations of,
11:12 you know, working with elderly seniors.
11:15 You know, I had thought that,
11:16 you know, I wouldn't mind working with,
11:18 you know, grown adults but I never saw
11:22 my calling into senior ministry.
11:26 But I thank the Lord for it.
11:27 It's one of the best things that's ever happened to me.
11:30 Yes, that's a blessing as well.
11:33 What challenges?
11:35 What are some of the challenges that.
11:37 TWM has faced spiritually or otherwise?
11:41 Well, for us, when we came into ministry,
11:46 we came with the idea that, you know, we've got a,
11:49 you know, we'll preached the doctrinal truth
11:51 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
11:53 We really wanted to emphasize that.
11:56 We're also doing, you know, all of the formalities
12:02 of a church service.
12:03 You know, we only have one hour.
12:05 So you know, after doing all those formalities,
12:08 we end up with about 10 minutes left for the word.
12:11 And the Lord intervened in our lives personally
12:17 and you know, brought it to my attention
12:21 that we really needed to focus on...
12:25 Lifting up Jesus. Lifting up Jesus.
12:28 And when we lift up Jesus, he would do the drawing.
12:32 And all of that doctrines will fall in to place.
12:33 All of the doctrinal truths will fall,
12:35 you know, right into place as we walk through the Bible,
12:39 you know, which we're doing now.
12:41 Also, we have trimmed down our service.
12:43 Because we only have a half hour.
12:45 An hour.
12:47 Oh! We've an hour.
12:48 But actually in our memory care services,
12:53 we only have a half hour.
12:55 So we don't have a lot of time for all of the extras.
12:58 So we focus on singing the hymns.
13:02 You know, the elderly love the hymns.
13:05 Also, prayer, that's very important
13:07 in getting into the word.
13:09 Those are the three basics and then we add,
13:11 you know, special music, the appeal song.
13:15 But really tried to focus those emphasis
13:18 on the singing, praying.
13:21 And the word. And the Bible.
13:23 And that's what our program is based around,
13:25 you know, week after week.
13:27 That's great.
13:28 And I like, what you said about
13:29 the doctrinal truth being in and just focusing on the word.
13:34 And I mean... The truth come forward.
13:35 And the truth is in there. Right.
13:37 You just have to find it.
13:38 Yeah, 'cause we actually got pushback from,
13:41 you know, from the folks who were coming.
13:45 You know we started to get pushbacks
13:46 on some of those things because they're coming from,
13:48 you know, different faiths backgrounds.
13:51 And we found that it's not they that need to change.
13:55 We needed to change.
13:56 And when that focus changed for us personally
14:00 and then corporately as a ministry,
14:03 the ministry just started to grow.
14:06 And we saw the Lord just doing wonderful things.
14:10 And still is today.
14:12 The other thing that also happened was that
14:15 before when we first started,
14:17 you know, we got this service on Sunday night.
14:20 And you know, okay, we've got the service.
14:23 But now we're spending...
14:27 When we end our service on Sunday,
14:28 we begin to get ready for next week service.
14:32 And what that said to each of us
14:34 we needed to make sure
14:35 that we were spending time in prayer
14:37 and personal Bible study.
14:39 And then literally I do a lot of the special music
14:42 but the question is I can't just sing any song.
14:47 What's a sermon going to be about?
14:49 And my song needs to be an appeal-song
14:52 that would capsulate
14:54 what the speaker was talking about.
14:56 And that can be a challenge. I believe.
15:00 Because you can't just come up with a song
15:02 and put it with the sermon.
15:04 And you have to ask God,
15:05 "What song should I sing at the end of that sermon
15:09 that will say what you wanted to say
15:12 that to appeal to those folks' heart?"
15:14 And God comes through, when I come through.
15:18 When I do what I need to do, He gives you the right song,
15:23 that's just the song that needed to have been
15:25 sung after that sermon.
15:27 And it's been awesome to see the response of the people.
15:31 That's beautiful.
15:33 It's so amazing what you guys are doing
15:35 because I mean, when you go to some of these facilities
15:38 and you realize there's some loved ones
15:40 that are in there, that have no visitors.
15:42 They have nobody that comes to visit them.
15:44 So you guys are sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
15:47 And you're also providing them with visitors.
15:50 And showing them that people still love them
15:53 and they're not forgotten.
15:54 And I think that is excellent.
15:56 What are some of the miracles
15:58 that you guys have witnessed in some of these facilities?
16:02 Probably the lady who initially asked
16:06 that we consider coming, had moved from her home
16:09 after being in it 40, 50 years, into a facility
16:13 and came kicking and screaming.
16:16 Her children said you're going.
16:20 Only to discover that a couple years later
16:23 because of health or finances, she had to move again
16:27 and to hear her say, you know,
16:29 I came here not wanting to come.
16:32 But because of your weekly service,
16:34 I now have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
16:37 And wherever I go it will be okay
16:40 because I know I am taking Jesus with me.
16:43 That is just amazing.
16:47 It touches your heart. Yes.
16:48 It does. Yes.
16:49 It does. Yes.
16:51 What training do you'll have
16:53 that prepared you for this work?
16:57 The Lord.
16:59 Being willing is... And open...
17:01 Is the primary prerequisite.
17:04 You know, the background that we have,
17:08 that we have brought, you know, as you know, being,
17:11 you know, members of the church,
17:13 you know, having been a part
17:14 of Seventh-day Adventist Church,
17:15 obviously is helpful.
17:17 But really a willing heart
17:18 and a willingness to get on your knees
17:20 and pray Lord, "teach me, show me."
17:23 And because we look back at, you know.
17:26 Early services...
17:27 When we first started, it's like, "Wow!
17:30 We did that."
17:32 But the Lord has taken our stumbles and He's blessed.
17:37 And we're still growing and learning.
17:40 But being willing to be used and to wear multiple hats
17:43 because you know we have a team of ten.
17:47 But you know, from week after week,
17:49 you know, we have to adjust.
17:50 You know, sometimes we're speaking,
17:51 sometimes we're not.
17:53 We do have two main speakers
17:54 but you know sometimes they're not always there.
17:56 So somebody else has to step up
17:58 and speak or sing or what have you.
18:02 But being willing, being willing, has been the,
18:07 you know, the best thing for us.
18:09 And you know, God has led and he has provided.
18:12 Very excited. Amen.
18:14 And being able to realize
18:16 that visitation is a part of this.
18:18 You know, we originally committed
18:20 for an hour on Sunday evening.
18:22 But we're now taking a day of week for visitation.
18:25 We have people who end up in hospitals
18:27 or in other facilities.
18:30 Last year we had twenty people that died.
18:34 Already this year we've probably lost eight or ten.
18:37 So we're attending funerals.
18:40 Or at least the wakes
18:42 and that even open another ministry
18:44 because now when someone dies,
18:47 we make up a packet that includes a good book
18:52 which we're using A Great Hope,
18:54 right now which is the last three chapters--
18:57 Last nine chapters are Great Controversy,
18:59 with the corresponding postcard that Nathan Green did.
19:02 And we put those in an envelope,
19:04 put a message on it.
19:06 And we make up one up
19:07 for every immediate family members.
19:09 So if a wife died, the husband and any children get it.
19:13 If the mom dies then we give it to the children and.
19:16 Just last week, we gave away nine.
19:20 And of course, that, they cost. We have no budget.
19:25 But what happens is that someone would press
19:27 some money in our hands
19:29 which enables us to continue to make up those packets
19:33 and we figure that the packet costs about 350 each.
19:37 And a decent nice card from Hallmark
19:40 would probably cost three fifty
19:42 and which they're going to pitch.
19:43 But they're holding on
19:45 to those Great Controversy books
19:46 into the picture of the Second Coming.
19:51 Wow! So it's been a need.
19:53 So we're interacting with family members
19:56 that we had no idea we'd ever get a chance to.
19:59 Wow! Impacting so many lives.
20:02 We have some pictures of you guys in action
20:05 that I'd like for our viewers to see.
20:07 So as we put those on the screen
20:09 why don't you describe that for me, Don.
20:11 This is Pauline Finn.
20:13 And she was the inspiration to start Tanglewood Ministries.
20:17 Wow! Very important lady.
20:20 And again this is us during,
20:22 I think, that was a Christmas service
20:24 that we were doing.
20:28 And this is one of our team members,
20:29 Bob Cassini and he was speaking to Mrs. Finn.
20:32 And I believe they were talking about
20:35 a Bible topic on that particular shot.
20:37 Oh, wow! Yes.
20:39 And this is Eva.
20:40 She is our lady who does the health nugget.
20:44 And she's demonstrating some of the exercises
20:48 that she wants some of the people to do.
20:51 And this is a view of the room
20:53 in which we do the worship service.
20:56 And this is Charles.
20:57 He's our main speaker and doing a sermon
21:00 on the sacrificial offering the lamb
21:04 that was brought to the tabernacle.
21:07 And this is McGill.
21:09 And he's also one of our speakers.
21:12 And he's got a model there of the sanctuary
21:17 that God instructed Moses to build.
21:20 And so we did a whole series on the sanctuary.
21:24 And this is from Faith, she's one of our musicians.
21:29 Of course, mom here doing one of the sermons.
21:33 That's for music.
21:35 Oh, I didn't know that you can play guitar.
21:36 Just a little bit, just a little bit.
21:38 But I do play. Yes.
21:40 And this is our end of the year program
21:42 we call it the Agape feast.
21:44 And it's just a really nice service
21:47 that we do each year.
21:49 The tables are lined up in the form of a cross
21:52 and we have the lights dimmed.
21:53 And there're some candles up there.
21:55 And nice, some food,
21:58 you know, some finger foods and things like that.
22:01 It's just a really nice service to end out each year.
22:04 And then this is our team.
22:06 We've got Clinton, and in front, Faith,
22:09 and McGill and his wife Titta.
22:10 And Bob and Eva Kasznia, and Rebecca and Charles Pates.
22:16 Yeah. So that's our team.
22:17 Wow! Yeah.
22:19 Wow! Wow! Yeah.
22:21 Well.
22:22 How can someone who wants to become involved
22:25 with senior ministry, how can they get involved?
22:27 What do they need to do?
22:29 Well, the easiest way would be to hopefully know
22:33 someone in the facility that helps.
22:36 But then speak with the activities leader
22:39 and arrange a time that's convenient for everyone.
22:43 Ideally, maybe you think it needs to be on Sabbath.
22:46 But Sabbath might not be a day
22:48 you want to commit to doing something.
22:51 But work with the activity folk.
22:54 And we're doing two Thursday services
22:57 and one Sunday night, well, at this point.
23:00 And how did you select those days in particular?
23:02 I know you still watch 60 Minutes on Sunday night?
23:06 Sunday night was because it worked
23:08 in with their schedule
23:09 and it worked in with our schedule.
23:11 And then Thursdays, we have also expanded
23:15 to a mailing list.
23:17 And we do about a little over two hundred sermons that
23:20 of which about 35 of them we hand deliver.
23:25 And the rest we mail.
23:27 And two of the individuals had left Tanglewood
23:31 and went someplace else and we were just dropping off
23:33 hand their sermon outlines each week.
23:37 But the activity leader had been a Tanglewood,
23:39 and this is not and that a new facility.
23:42 And she asked, "Would you consider
23:43 doing a service here?"
23:45 And since we were going there every weekend anyway,
23:47 we decided, "Yes we could stay half an hour."
23:50 And this is memory care, so their memories are short.
23:54 Yes.
23:55 But they love the sing the hymns.
23:57 And so basically we do abbreviated service.
23:59 We sing most of the time.
24:01 I do about a five minute talk that includes scripture.
24:07 And so we read, try to read familiar passages
24:10 that some of them still know, like the Twenty third Psalms.
24:13 Or John 14:1-3.
24:17 And others that are fairly familiar.
24:20 And they literally wake up,
24:22 sometimes they're totally out there
24:23 but when we get there, starting singing the hymns.
24:26 They wake up.
24:28 They sing with this us in harmony
24:30 and in tune for half an hour.
24:33 Yes, it is.
24:34 And to see that happen week after week,
24:37 is just amazing.
24:39 Well, we want to tell people
24:40 how to get in touch with you and how to reach you.
24:43 You can contact.
24:45 Tanglewood Ministries by sending them a mail
24:48 at South Bend First Seventh-Day Adventist Church,
24:51 1936 East Altgeld street, South Bend, Indiana 46614.
24:59 Or via phone at (574)654-7320.
25:05 And they also have a website, sbadventist.org.
25:12 Well, it is such a wonderful ministry that you all have.
25:19 Okay.
25:20 I want to know how it co-relates
25:22 with the Adventist Church, like with the mission
25:24 of South Bend Adventist Church.
25:27 How does it, how does it work with that?
25:31 Well we're a supporting ministry
25:32 but we work closely with the church.
25:35 And they have been very supportive
25:37 of what we're doing and even provided Bibles for us
25:41 because we needed super large print, giant print Bibles
25:44 and we were able to get those, and...
25:46 But they've been very helpful, supportive and encouraging.
25:51 And that's been...
25:52 you know, just a great relationship.
25:54 Yeah.
25:55 And I was just gonna add
25:57 that all of the team members are members
25:59 of our First church as well.
26:01 Oh! wow, so you'll the church who is involved in.
26:05 What is it like with the short time
26:07 that we have left,
26:08 what is it like having your son in ministry?
26:12 My mother and I work together. My mom's Yvonne Lewis.
26:16 Yes. And so we're both in ministry.
26:18 And ...but what is it like
26:20 from a mother's perspective working hand in hand
26:23 with your son serving the Lord?
26:26 It's been exciting. He's a good compliment for me.
26:31 We generally get along quite well.
26:35 And we've discovered that we harmonize quite nicely
26:38 in singing as well in music aspect.
26:41 And often times think somewhat alike so.
26:45 He's been a wonderful asset and the technical things,
26:48 particularly, sound systems and that, kind of thing,
26:52 I don't have to worry about the computer and all that.
26:55 And what's it like working with your mom?
26:58 It's been a good partnership.
27:01 To follow her lead but yet also make suggestions,
27:07 maybe we should do things this way.
27:09 But the Lord has blessed and you know,
27:11 He's the focus and He's the attention.
27:13 And when you co-laboring with Christ
27:17 and with family it's just, has been real exciting.
27:21 Yeah. Amen.
27:22 It's amazing to see God work especially,
27:25 when you choose to follow him and you pray.
27:27 And you nailed it on the head
27:29 when he said that willingness and prayer is the key.
27:33 I want to thank both of you all for being here.
27:35 Thank you so much for joining us.
27:36 Thank you for having us.
27:38 And I want to thank you all for watching.
27:40 I hope you have been as blessed as I have,
27:42 by this inspirational testimony.
27:45 Well, we've reached the end of our program.
27:47 Join us next time and remember
27:48 it just wouldn't be the same without you.


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Revised 2015-10-22