ketsdablog

I just received this from Jacque Spence. Not only does it remind us of the providence of God, but it invites us into an opportunity to serve others. [David VanDenburgh]

I don’t know about you, but sometimes it seems to me like God’s timing is anything BUT perfect. In March, we will be sending a team of Christian youth to Kosrae to repair the SDA church as well as dental and eye teams to serve needy patients in the Kosrae Hospital. God’s leading was very evident in the planning of this mission, which was scheduled months ago. Key to the logistics of the mission, however, was locating a warehouse where we could gather and load supplies and building materials for shipping. When none of our usual contacts came through, we prayed about the need for a warehouse. Several months passed with no answer, and my faith began turning to worry. Would God provide a warehouse in time? Finally, last Monday I pled with God, “You know how badly we need a warehouse, and we need it NOW. PLEASE DO SOMETHING!” Just then the name Norm Koerner popped into my head. Norm was our first landlord when we moved our headquarters to Benicia 20 years ago, but I hadn’t spoken to him for some time. So I called him up and told him about our plight. Funny, he said, he had a warehouse that he’d been trying unsuccessfully to rent out for months. “I think Someone has been saving it for you,” he said. The warehouse turned out to be everything we needed: spacious, surrounded by a secure fence, and more than able to accommodate a 40-foot container for loading. So now we have a warehouse and a container but we still need a lot of additional items to fill that container. In addition to building supplies, we have a list of basic items need by the church and school:

Pulpit
Communion table
Piano
SDA Bible textbooks
70 NIV Pathfinder Bibles
Globes and maps for classrooms
Student desks (50-60)
Teacher desks
Chairs
Furniture for the school apartments (couch, chairs, tables)
Washing machine
Microwave
Small freezer
Vacuum cleaner
Sewing machine
Chainsaw
Jumper cables
Hard drives, Dell compatible – 10 GB or better
Volleyball net & volleyballs
Basketball hoops & basketballs
Ironing Board
Weed eater

Some of these items seem so simple and mundane, but out in those remote islands they are precious. I want to make sure that the container is filled to overflowing with these treasures. If is the Lord is moving your heart to donate either items or cash to purchase the items, please don’t delay! The container is scheduled to ship at the end of this month, so that gives us little time to work. I must admit that I’m a slow learner. I’m still a bit worried that we won’t have everything we need by the time the ship leaves at the end of this month. Will God’s timing once again be perfect? Stay tuned...

Jacque Spence
Founder/Executive Vice-President

PS: Another 40-foot ocean container will soon be headed for the Marshall islands. We need to put two vehicles in that container for use by Canvasback missionaries on Majuro, the main island. Since cars there rust out before they wear out, vehicles with about 100,000 miles are appropriate. We need a small sedan for our Clinic Director and a minivan, station wagon or small SUV for our Health Educator and her family of three. If you can help, please call us at (800) 793-7245. Thank you!

A City That Runs on Faith

Loma Linda, famous for its groundbreaking medical center, is led by Seventh-day Adventists devoted to health and spiritual growth.

By Susannah Rosenblatt, Times Staff Writer

Lynn Foll watches the unusual procession every Saturday morning. His neatly dressed Loma Linda neighbors pile into their cars and quietly disappear. That's when the 62-year-old financial advisor usually heads to the supermarket. It's the perfect time to shop, because the aisles are deserted, just like the city's baseball fields, sidewalks and coffee shops. While the rest of Southern California is buzzing on the first day of the weekend, the streets in Loma Linda fall still as thousands of Seventh-day Adventists gather in church for the Saturday Sabbath. "It's a peaceful, sleepy town in the morning," said Foll, a former Adventist living alongside the growing number of non- Adventists who call the San Bernardino County town home.

The city is best known for Loma Linda University Medical Center, where in 1984 doctors performed the world's first infant cross-species heart transplant: "Baby Fae" was given the heart of a baboon. Less known is that the university and medical center are run by Adventists. Loma Linda, home to at least 7,000 Adventists, one of the largest concentrations in the world, has been governed exclusively by church members since it incorporated more than three decades ago. Adventism, a conservative Christian denomination, and the church's holistic devotion to people's health and spiritual well-being dominate daily life in Loma Linda, where biblical creationism and cutting-edge medicine exist side by side. The city has a Ronald McDonald House to shelter the families of ailing children â?" but no Golden Arches. Most Adventists are vegetarian. There are no bars in town, and at the city's popular Adventist Book Center, the shelves are lined with volumes forecasting Armageddon.

Still, Loma Linda is no backwater. The population of more than 21,000 is downright cosmopolitan: Almost half the residents are nonwhite, and Adventists have Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Romanian, Spanish and Vietnamese congregations in town or nearby. The city is an oasis of sorts, with low crime rates compared with neighboring Colton, Fontana and San Bernardino, according to local law enforcement data compiled by the FBI: In 2004, Loma Linda logged 18 violent crimes per 10,000 residents, while neighboring Fontana saw 51 and San Bernardino 133. "You can really tell the difference when you cross into San Bernardino," said nurse Rachel Mose, 46, a San Bernardino resident buying groceries in Loma Linda. Said Mayor Floyd Petersen: "In everybody's mind, Loma Linda has a great reputation. But there's also something mysterious about it to everybody." "We have spent an incredible amount of effort reaching out to the world," he said, referring to the hospital's international programs and the church's missionary work. "We haven't spent much effort reaching out to people that live five miles from us." City Councilman Bob Christman noted, "In many respects Loma Linda is a different kind of community. I know we're in the middle of a metropolis, but sometimes we act like we're the island of Catalina."

Latia Cunningham had no idea she was moving to an Adventist enclave when she left Fontana four years ago. She was drawn to the quiet streets and a diverse set of neighbors' but noticed something peculiar. "I kept wondering why I didn't get mail on Saturday," said Cunningham, 38. Loma Linda is one of a handful of places across the country where mail is delivered Sunday, and not Saturday, in keeping with the Adventists' Sabbath and by arrangement with the Postal Service.

The Loma Linda Market seems like a perfectly ordinary grocery store, until you search for the meat aisle. Cases of Morningstar Farms' @ $2.69-a-can Tuno meat substitute are piled next to Worthington's vegetarian Turkee slices. Organic shampoos share floor space with bulk barrels of spices and whole grains. The five-member City Council has historically enforced strict zoning laws against alcohol sales, reflecting the church's teetotaling ways. (Beer and wine are sold only at supermarkets and a few restaurants.)

In spite of that inconvenience, Debbie Paschall prefers living somewhere with a pronounced spiritual component, considering Loma Linda a bit like Salt Lake City, her former home and the world center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A nurse, she and her colleagues at the medical center will often pray before starting a shift. "It's good karma," said Paschall, 47, a nondenominational Christian. "You're working as a team, and everyone's on the same page to help others."

Pediatric heart surgeon Dr. Leonard L. Bailey said his Adventist faith complements the groundbreaking medicine he routinely practices. "I think the health message has been fundamental to the Adventist philosophy of life right from the very beginning," he said. "I think its part of the mission of this organization to [be] "on the edge of science." Bailey performed the groundbreaking transplant that put the heart of a baboon into ailing Baby Fae. She died 20 days after the procedure, but it paved the way for more than 250 infant heart transplants using human hearts. Eighty-one percent of newborn patients with new hearts make it to age 5, said Sharon Robie, administrative director of the medical center's heart transplant program. The institution's heart care program was ranked in the top 50 nationwide by U.S. News & World Report in 2004. Although Adventists reject evolution in favor of creationism, "variation within species microevolution, if you would" is probably all part of the original design," Bailey said of Baby Fae's baboon heart.

Adventists' interest in healthcare stems from the belief that "the physical body is spiritually significant," said Gerald Winslow, vice president for spiritual life at Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center, the university hospital's parent corporation. The church's emphasis on free will leads Adventists to both value prenatal life and support individual choice with respect to abortion as well as in vitro fertilization. In addition, vegetative, non-responsive patients are allowed to be taken off life support if there is no chance of recovery, and church leaders are drafting an official position on stem cell research. The nationally ranked hospital, which admits about 40,000 patients annually and averages 1 million outpatient appointments a year, sits among the university's eight graduate schools, including nursing, medicine and public health. Students are prohibited from drinking or smoking on campus and have mandatory chapel every Wednesday. The university also retains a religion faculty to teach a biblical approach to patient care. "We are an avowedly Christian school," said Chancellor Richard Hart, estimating that about half of the 4,000 students are Adventist, as are many of the teaching faculty.

As part of the Adventist ideal of healthy living, initiated by the writings of prophetess Ellen G. White, no meat is served in the hospital's cafeteria. The religion's emphasis on nutrition and exercise has paid off. Adventist men live an average of 7.3 years longer and Adventist women 4.4 years more than other Californians, said Terry Butler, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Loma Linda's School of Public Health and co-investigator in the new Adventist Health Study. Researchers intend to survey 125,000 Adventists to investigate links between diet, disease and faith.

The century-old university and medical center are the flagship of 6,000 Adventist learning institutions worldwide, according to John Banks, a spokesman for the world church. The private education system is second only to the Roman Catholic Church's in size, he said. And local high schools are solid: Both the private Loma Linda Academy and the Redlands Unified School District, which serves area students, post higher SAT scores than the county as a whole, according to academy officials and data from the College Board.

Adventism's spread began with the denomination's official organization in 1863. Before that, church pioneer William Miller had predicted Jesus Christ's return in October 1844, a blunder known to Adventists as the Great Disappointment. Built upon Calvinistic Protestant roots, Adventism distinguished itself with Saturday worship, belief in Christ's imminent Second Coming, or advent, and rigorous guidelines for daily living, including dietary restrictions and conservative dress. Believers generally oppose homosexuality, and the most traditional church members shun fiction, movies and dancing. Even non-vegetarian Adventists avoid pork, in accordance with the Old Testament and White's teachings, and strict adherents avoid all meat.

Adventism officially arrived in Loma Linda in 1905, when White stepped off a horse-drawn wagon on her way home to Napa Valley from a church conference in Takoma Park, Md. The town, once known as Mound City, had been renamed Loma Linda, Spanish for "pretty hill" in 1900 by a group of physicians and businessmen. Shortly before White arrived, they sold their failed hospital to the church. It was because of White's "providential" vision that the hospital was revived, said university medical center historian Richard A. Schaefer. Loma Linda's population swells to an estimated 50,000 during the day with employees and visitors to the medical center and Veterans Hospital down the street. The university and hospitals employ more than 12,000. 40% of the property in town is tax-exempt, according to City Manager Dennis Halloway. "We need more business," said Mayor Petersen of the town, which lacks the major retailers that are found just over the city line in Redlands and Colton. Some residents say the City Council, which has been entirely Adventist since incorporation in 1970, needs a non-Adventist perspective to remain impartial, especially in university-related matters. "Loma Linda has become a brand name for the Adventists in a lot of ways," said bookseller Leland Lubinsky, a non-Adventist who was born in Loma Linda, has twice run unsuccessfully for council and plans to try again in June. "There's sort of a proprietary right that the university feels about the town as a whole." Three council members with university affiliations recused themselves from a September vote on the construction of a specialty hospital that could siphon patients from Loma Linda. To make a quorum, Petersen eventually voted after drawing straws, something the council must do half a dozen times a year. The three voting councilmen approved the new facility.

Local political fights don't concern Linda Brown, 59, of Hesperia. She journeyed to Loma Linda University Medical Center daily when her 35-year-old son, Lance, lay in intensive care with a rare, life-threatening muscle disease last year. The staff restarted his breathing twice, and she has supreme confidence in the hospital's care. He is back home, though still fragile, after 56 days in serious condition, Brown said. She doesn't have much faith in high desert doctors, Brown said, as her husband munched on sweet-and-sour tofu and noodles in the medical center's meatless cafeteria. And the institution's occasional quirks aren't a bother. "They could serve slop," Brown said, smiling. "They saved my son's life."

"If all of the unchurched people in the United States were a nation of their own, they would be the eleventh most populated country on Earth. Only Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Russia would have a greater head count."

- George Barna, "Grow Your Church From the Outside"

CBN – We pass by all kinds of people every day. Some may be aspiring young professionals, confident in their talents and pursuing success. Others may be middle-aged businesspeople, disillusioned with life and wondering what went wrong. Others may be teenagers hanging out on street corners, or even grandparents feeling abandoned inside of retirement homes. Rich or poor, healthy or sick, seemingly happy or obviously sad, many people have one thing in common: They haven’t received God’s forgiveness and accepted the leadership of Jesus Christ in their lives.

The question for us is this: Will we be a good neighbor to them? Will we show them God’s love and share Jesus with them? Jesus said that the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbors as ourselves. He also showed that our neighbor is whomever we come into contact with: our co-workers, people in the restaurants we eat in, and people on the subway or in the airport.

We need to let people know what God is really like.Loving your neighbor means having a selfless concern for the complete well-being of the people around you. Many of those people are unchurched, in other words, they don’t attend any local church. And many unchurched people don’t know God’s love and forgiveness.

Whether you’re in North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, or the Middle East, there are many people who need to know the Lord. Dr. Moore, adjunct professor at Regent University, shares that in the United States there are 195 million people who are unchurched, making it the third largest grouping of unchurched people in the world. According to Dr. Moore, polls indicate more than 60 million Americans would respond positively if someone they trusted invited them to church.

Being a Friend

The problem is, many Christians don’t have any unsaved friends. But if we really care about people, then we will reach out to non-Christians and befriend them. Some disapproved of Jesus’ method of ministry, saying that He was a friend of “tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 7:34). May we all be guilty of reaching out to those who need the Lord!

One key way to be a friend is to intercede for others. Pray that God will soften their hearts to His voice, and that He will draw them to Himself. Then be faithful to keep praying for them.

Giving It Time

As you develop a genuine friendship with non-Christians, there will be opportunities to bring up spiritual matters in a non-threatening and non-judgmental way. Also, you can invite them to Christian activities, such as a concert, or even to a church service.

But keep this in mind: Conversion is usually a process that takes place over time. It may take months or years for someone to finally make the decision to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. Pastor Lee Strobel of Willow Creek Church and author of Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary, writes that “many Christians and churches are only geared to treat evangelism as an event – a decision that needs to be made right now, rather than a choice that frequently comes after a period of discovery”. You may be just one of several people over a period of time who helps someone else come to faith in Christ.

A Better Understanding of God

One way we can more effectively reach out to our neighbors is to develop a better understanding of God, and then to share it with others. Sometimes our doctrinal traditions get in the way of what the Bible reveals about God. God is a loving, good, holy, and compassionate God who wants all people to come to faith in Jesus Christ. He is the author of our faith but not the author of evil. He grants people genuine free will, yet wants all to follow His will for them.

Many people have either never accepted Christ, or have fallen away from faith because of bad theology. We need to let people know what God is really like. When our doctrinal traditions conflict with the whole teaching of the Bible, then we need to adjust our doctrine. When people know the truth, it will set them free.

Breaking with Tradition

When it comes to churches themselves, we must be willing to break with how we have traditionally done church. Dr. Moore states, “God’s creative solutions often challenge our assumptions, traditions, lifestyles, and preferences. We must often learn to color outside the lines to join with what God is doing.”

Being Relevant

There are all kinds of people in this world, speaking different languages, coming from various kinds of cultures, having differing tastes in music, and differing in life experiences. We must be willing to adapt our approaches in order to effectively reach more people. As the Apostle Paul said, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).

In other words, we must reach out in ways that are relevant to the unchurched. Dr. Foltz, author of Healthy Churches in a Sick World, writes, “Barna believes churches have dropped the ball, failing to demonstrate Christ’s power in a relevant way to our non-Christian neighbors.”

Seeker Services

A powerful way to be more relevant to non-Christians is to have separate church services for the unchurched. This way, the whole service can be strategically tailored to the needs of people who are seeking spiritual truth. Many churches have started doing this very successfully.

In such services, sermons can be directed at questions that seekers have, such as: Is there really a God? Why believe in the Christian God? Did humanity just evolve? Can I really be forgiven for all of the things I’ve done? Can God really change me?

There are many other ways that seeker services can be tailored to the unchurched, such as having a shorter worship time, letting visitors remain anonymous, limiting the whole service time, and even having the service on a different day or at night.

It is important, though, to keep seeker services separate from the regular church service. While seekers need one type of service, believers need another type. They need one that will help them grow to maturity in Christ. They need a different kind of sermon, and different kinds of worship and prayer times.

A tremendous advantage in having a separate seeker service is that Christians who do not feel very gifted in evangelism can help others come to Christ by being part of a seeker service. For example, they can be part of the music team or greet visitors in a seeker service. They can also invite friends to a seeker service.

Embracing Diversity

Dr. Moore says that we must move from cultural uniformity to unified diversity. We must stop expecting everyone to conform to traditional church culture and allow for greater diversity in our churches.

One way to do this is to offer services with different styles of musical worship. Many churches have more than one Sunday morning service, yet offer only one style of worship as if all the people in their communities are the same. Instead, churches could be all things to all people by having one service with a Vineyard style of worship, another with a more traditional hymn style, and yet others with Hosanna or Hillsongs styles. Some areas may wish to offer country music worship. Offering different styles of worship is not about division, it is about reaching out to people with differing musical tastes so that they may more readily enter into the worship of God. It is about recognizing and respecting people’s varying tastes and making it easier for them to connect with God.

Another way to emphasize unity without uniformity is to celebrate the diversity of a church’s members. One such church is Mosaic, in southern California. Its website states, “The name of our community comes both from the diversity of our members, and from the symbolism of a broken and fragmented humanity which can become a work of beauty under the artful hands of God.”

Also, there are new styles of churches which seek to reach a certain part of their communities, such as skateboarders, bikers, or surfers. This approach simply recognizes that people often feel more comfortable around people that are a lot like themselves. For instance, someone who is a surfer may be more comfortable going to a surfer church. This is just another way of being all things to all people in order to help them come to know Jesus.

Today’s Good Samaritans

One time, when a lawyer asked Jesus who his neighbor was, Jesus replied with the well-known parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Though Samaritans were looked down upon or even despised by Israeli society, the good Samaritan was actually the hero of the story because he showed genuine concern for the well-being of another.

Like the Samaritans, in today’s world Christians are often looked down upon. Communist governments see them as a threat to be eliminated, as do radical adherents of some other faiths. And the religious pluralists of western society preach tolerance while being intolerant of Christians. Yet, like the good Samaritan, we Christians can show compassion for those that are hurting. We can let the love of God flow through us to bring healing to many. May we all, like the Good Samaritan, love our neighbors as ourselves, and share the light of Christ.


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