Roger and Scott
GO sermon #2
Matthew 28:19-20
S-1752
SLIDE #1: background passport slide
ROGER
SLIDE #2: Introduce video #1 of Roger and Julie teaching in Mongolia We have the highest-rated program on Eagle TV.
VIDEO #1: Roger and Julie teaching in Mongolia
SCOTT
SLIDE #3: Matthew 28:19, 20: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
ROGER
☻SLIDE #4: Julie and I recently spent several weeks teaching and encouraging missionaries throughout central Asia and the Middle East. We wish you were there.
☻SLIDE #5: We were in one country: cold, not water, took us three days to learn how to turn it on.
Sitting in restaurant and bugs begin crawling out of Julie’s pants.
Brush your teeth with coke.
You get used to it—it is part of the adventure!
☻SLIDE #6: Behind the scenes: trash, dogs—one match could incinerate an entire city.
Julie starts to throw trash out the window of the hotel: “We are still Barriers; we don’t throw trash out the window.
Julie and I returned to US. I entered men’s room in Atlanta to series of loud curse words and the cry, “I dropped my cigarette in the toilet.”
I thought, at least he has a toilet. And I knew I was back in the US.
☻SLIDE #7: US Bubble: American bubble: world map with US in bubble.
I want you to go crawl out of the Bubble—every one should have the experience.
Julie and I are global workers from Casas.
☻SLIDE #8 Teaching in Brazil
☻SLIDE #9: Teaching in Greece
☻SLIDE #10: Teaching in Azerbaijan
☻SLIDE #11: Teaching in Ukraine
☻SLIDE #12: Teaching in Jordan
☻SLIDE #13: Teaching in Turkey
☻SLIDE #14: Teaching in Mongolia
On a Global Outreach Adventure you will discover several special things.
☻SLIDE #15: 1. God is alive and well and you are now a part of it!
Ukraine: church building as you go.
You will return with a changed heart and a passion to advance the Kingdom of God on earth.
You will be amazed at how you love to share your faith with others.
☻SLIDE #16: 2. You will be humbled as you engage with men and women who sacrifice so much.
Iranian woman at elevator talking to Julie: Came last year and did not think I can make it another year. You talked on relationships and I used mine to get through another year. I came this year thinking I could not make it. After hearing you talk on spiritual growth, I think maybe I can make it another year.”
☻SLIDE #17: 3. You will develop relationships that will add untold dimensions to your life.
Julie at piano in Ukraine
Internet
☻SLIDE #18: 4. People are alike in every culture.
Ukraine empty stores: wish they had something to buy: even if have the money, few if any products available.
☻SLIDE #19: 5. Serendipities happen at the most unexpected moments.
Julie beside Jordan River and getting to go to Israel.
☻SLIDE #20: Julie getting to go to Israel.
SCOTT
SLIDE #21: We’d like to introduce you to a Casas full-time global worker who serves people from the whole world from right here in Tucson. Your Global Outreach gifts support Cherie as she connects churches and Bible Fellowships with refugee families. They welcome and help them assimilate into American culture.
SLIDE #22: For example, you welcomed a refugee family into Tucson this week.
CHERIE
SLIDE #23: For me, the exciting part was that these were Casas people who’ve never met refugees. Last week I spoke at their group and they were ready to welcome a new couple. They got their apartment ready for them – they furnished the rooms, stocked the refrigerator with food, and hung pictures on their wall.
SLIDE #24: Then they brought their kids to the airport, held up sign and flags, and welcomed this couple from Iraq. Last week they thought refugees were scary people from far away who kill Americans.
But this week when they saw them face to face they fell in love with them – they saw that they were real people. All the kids gathered around the Iraqi wife as she told what her life was like. After the first sentence she was in tears. All the relatives she left behind in Iraq were in danger because she and her husband were helping the American military.
SCOTT
Some of the things you do are really like parties. This week two Bible Fellowships threw a baby shower for another family from Iraq.
CHERIE
SLIDE #25: Yes, the mom and dad have twins, but this is the first one born in America – the first American baby. The Bible Fellowships collected a mountain of diapers and gave them a brand new crib, car seat, stroller, and lots of other gifts. All I did was give them pointers – cross-cultural stuff.
At first everyone tried to be cordial and correct. Then they played charades. Everyone had to act crazy to win so they all began laughing. The Americans realized, “These are real people like us.” At the end, I we all lifted our hands and prayed for God to bless the mom and her baby.
ROGER
Any Casas Bible Fellowship can have a meaningful ministry partnering with Cheri to help incoming refugee families start a new life here in Tucson.
CHERIE
I can come to your class, give you training. Then you can throw a baby shower or furnish an apartment for a new arrival, welcome them at the airport, and be their friend. You don’t pay their rent and or buy their clothes. You just do what you do best – build a relationship and show them love.
ROGER
SLIDE #26: George Vanderveer has been at Casas 30 years. Global Outreach has been an important part of his life. He constantly gives out materials and gets his Bible Fellowship to pray for our apostles. Every Sunday at 6am George is walking the perimeter of the Casas campus praying for the day.
SCOTT
SLIDE #27: Here are some quotes from George:
“Giving to global outreach is second nature.”
“If I stop working, I won’t be able to give.”
“I have nothing else to do with my money – I don’t want to leave it at my grave site.”
SLIDE #28: George has gone on nine overseas trips including six trips to Turkey; he even last June when he was 80. This year George was planning to go again till the doctor stopped him.
ROGER
Today we’d like to show our appreciation to George. Shout, cheer.
SLIDE #29: Tom Terry found Christ here at Casas 25 years ago. Christ touched his heart during an evangelistic meeting when you were looking for a job.
Whoever could have guessed when you were a disc jockey at KVOI Christian radio that one day you would lead the most popular and well-loved TV station in Mongolia.
After the fall of communism Eagle TV began as the first independent TV station in Mongolia.
TOM
SLIDE #30: Eagle TV is sort of the FOX News of Mongolia. We air 13 hours of live news and talk programming, and four hours a day of strategically placed Christian programming as well as quarterly prime time specials.
Our relationship with the Mongolian people was cemented during the Gulf War.
We provided the only live, up to the moment coverage of what was happening in Iraq. The communists censored their news coverage to only what they wanted shown.
During our live coverage we allowed viewers to call and give their opinions about the war—with no censorship of their opinions. That had never been done in Mongolia before.
In two weeks on a single phone line we took more than 4,000 calls. The communist government was incensed. But we had broken new ground for freedom of speech in Mongolia. We became known as the station that cares about what the average person thinks.
ROGER
SLIDE #31: Eagle uses a series of Bible movies produced by—of all people—Ted Turner, to broadcast Bible stories throughout the countryside.
Your intention is to take people from Genesis-to-Jesus and make the ideas of the Bible, household concepts. Movies of Genesis, Exodus, etc. Foundation for NT truths.
Of all the stories, are you surprised that the Bible story that speaks most clearly to the Mongolian people is the story of Jacob?
TOM
SLIDE #32: Mongolians are devout idol worshippers.
Explain why.
When they see the Bible movie of the life of the idol-worshipper, Laban, contrasted with Jacob’s reliance on the one true God, they are pierced to the heart.
They watch as the idol-worshipper Laban loses everything of value to him (including his idol). But God blesses Jacob. This immediately causes doubt with Mongolian Buddhists and Animist and they start to wonder if Christ might be better than an idol.
Just three months ago we had a team in the countryside showing Bible movies of Laban and Jacob to Mongolian herders.
One idol worshipper was trusting his idols to give him protection and favor for himself and his family. Like Laban, his family idols had been passed from generation to generation and now to him. He decided that the way of Christ was better than the way of idols.
VIDEO #2 Man discarding his idols
ROGER
Fifteen years ago there were no Christians and no churches in Mongolia, and Mongolia was considered the most Buddhist nation on earth.
Now, Christian churches outnumber Buddhist temples in Mongolia by 8-to-1.
Many Mongolians are desperate to know what God’s word has to say.
TOM
SLIDE #33: Steppe by Steppe is our strategy to use Bible movies to tell Bible stories in the country side to evangelize and disciple.
Last summer an elderly lady approached one of our Steppe-by-Steppe teams requesting a Bible. Bibles in the Mongolian countryside are difficult to come by. There are no bookstores, and no mass distribution of Bible.
One day she stopped by a public outhouse. Outhouses in Mongolia are barely standing wood shacks that have an open pit inside with just two loosely placed wood planks to stand on. That’s it. It’s dirty. It’s nasty. It’s not something you really want to think about or experience.
This lady went into that outhouse, latched the wood door, turned and looked down into the pit.
Imagine her shock, someone had discarded a Bible in the outhouse pit.
You know where I’m going with this story, don’t you?
That woman climbed down into that pit, into the much and the mire, she retrieved that Bible, took it home, cleaned it off, and it’s her Bible today.
ROGER
In the last year your Steppe-by-Steppe country-side ministries touched 84 communities for Christ. They’ve planted 10 new churches—including churches in a gold mine and on a military base.
They’ve reached more than 31,000 people for Christ. In a nation with only two-and-a-half million people, that’s staggering.
TOM
We have three teams trained and ready to go out to show Bible films–but we only have two vehicles. We need a Land Rover for our last team that will cost $18,000.
ROGER
Tom, from the global outreach gifts that we have Casas has set aside over the last few years for special projects, we would like to present you with this check for $18,000 to get that vehicle and show those Bible films across Mongolia.
(Present Tom Check and Tom says “thank you.”
SCOTT
SLIDE #34: Ari Sloane and six friends from his ABF recently returned from a trip to Central Asia.
How did you decide to go?
ARI
I was sitting in my Sunday morning ABF when they passed out the brochures for a Global Outreach trip to central Asia. God immediately said, “Ari, you’re going on this trip. I leaned over to my wife and said, “I am going on this trip—and I did.”
SCOTT
Ari is a tough Tucson cop. You’ve seen most everything—but, you were really afraid to go, weren‘t your?
ARI
I wanted to go but I was afraid. In my line of work I am pretty much in control. I decide to take someone from their home and put them in jail. The fear of not being in control – of the unknown – crawled into my heart.
SCOTT
How long did that fear hang on to you?
ARI
From that second I set my foot down in Central Asia on I was filled with peace—It was like a thick cloud of God’s presence surrounded us.
I gave a seminar about my job as a crime fighter—and there was standing room only.
I had English conversations with college students. Three of them even skipped classes one day to spend the entire day talking about Islam and Christianity and the issues of life.
SLIDE #35: One told me, ‘We need more men like you here – men who are strong in their faith.’ I told them, ‘You can be strong, too.’
SCOTT
You still have contact with these guys, don’t you?
ARI
Yeah, now they email me and tell me, “Ari, I pray for your safety in your job. Your happiness is my happiness, your sorrow is my sorrow. Please pray for me . . . you are closer to God.”
It was tough to leave, I loved it so much. I feel like I left a part of my heart there. That place will be part of my life forever – and these three guys will be, too.
SCOTT
This trip reminded you of when you were a kid.
ARI
Yeah, when I was a kid, the best day of my life was when I got to go to work with my dad.
On this trip to central Asia, every day was like going to work with my Heavnly Father.
Now, I see that this trip has made me bold in sharing my faith in normal conversations.
I now spend every day going to work with my Father.
ROGER
SLIDE #36: Steve Hagedorn is your Bible Fellowship Director. He also was on the trip.
You all had a special name for him, didn’t you?
ARI
We called him Mr. Skeptical. I was Mr. Afraid and he was Mr. Skeptical.
Steve said, “What good can you do in a short-time? Besides we aren’t missionaries. How can we help?”
Any way, by the time we get over there and adjust to the time changes, it will be time to come home.
He said, “I’ll go. But if I’m right, Scott will wish I hadn’t gone.”
“When it was time to go home, he didn’t want to go. Let’s figure out how to stay here.”
SCOTT
SLIDE #37: “I found out it was worth it because: (1) It was so obvious that the long-term workers need people from the US to come help them. (2) I had no idea we’d be able to communicate easily with so many Muslim people who asked us about the deep issues of life. (3) And it changed my heart – it gave me a love for the people who have no relationship with God.”
ROGER
SLIDE #38: Not long ago, Bryan Wilson was in the Casas high school ministry. Many remember him as a typical teenager, lost, confused and trying to find his way in life.
Then he went on a short-term trip, and God got his attention. Casas sent him out as a global worker to Zambia.
SCOTT
Last November 27 Bryan landed his airplane—filled with the first full-time workers—on a newly cleared landing strip in an area of Zambia so remote that as far as any one knows, until recently, there were no missionaries, no churches and no known believer among them.
SLIDE 39 When Bryan landed, 500 leaping, smiling children surrounded the plane so tightly he couldn’t open the door!
Now global workers live there and share The Story of Jesus. The people told them, “We have never heard this message before. No one has ever come to tell us.”
Brian and his airplane fulfill a critical role. The team Bryan is serving is starting 400 churches a year among 18 people groups who have never heard of Jesus.
ROGER
SLIDE #40: Brian needs a garage for his airplane.
He now parks his airplane in the mud under a Ramada. Neighborhood kids can climb on it. He has to roll the 55-gallon fuel barrels through the mud to fill-er-up. And if he wants to do repairs, he has to set the parts in the mud.
It costs $100,000 to build a hangar. Bryan has already raised $75,000 and he’s asking Casas for the last $25,000 so they can get it built. So we want to help him.
[Stage crew: bring check to roger.]
Scott, this check isn’t filled out. It isn’t signed.
SCOTT
SLIDE #41: Last week, out of our global outreach offerings we presented a check to Roberto Morales for $50,000 to provide training and “how to” conferences for 150 pastors in Peru over the next two years.
SLIDE #42: Last week, out of our global outreach offerings we presented a check to Doug and Dina for $175,000 to help finish buying a Student Outreach Center in Central Asia.
ROGER
This check is blank. We want to buy a hanger for Brian Wilson for $25,000—our gifts to Global Outreach during the year will buy this hanger and fund many other projects as well.
SLIDE #43: So that starts with the new pledges we make today. God has allowed Casas to send out 17 homegrown global workers from our church, who are now serving full-time around the world.
These are everyday people who sat next to us in worship. They were part of our Bible Fellowships. They are our family.
God has blessed us – and that is how we bless the world. All of this is part of the genetic code of our church. It is who we are.
Years ago Casas set up a separate budget so each of us could give to support the ministry of these family members. We each get to be involved. We invite you to make this personal by filling out the enclosed Global Outreach pledge card and turning in a generous pledge
We have an invitation from our partners in Central Asia.
(ushers move into place)
(WE MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS VIDEO: IF NOT, USHERS BE LISTENING, ROGER WILL TELL YOU WHEN TO ENTER AND ROGER WILL GIVE CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS TO THE CONGREGATION FROM THE PULPIT.)
VIDEO #2 – Arzy and Gulia come help us –
PASS offering plates.