Should We Block His Calls?

Should We Block His Calls?

by Joe O’Brien

In October 2001 Brian called 3ABN’s Pastoral Ministries Department to complain about God. As I listened, Brian shared with me why he thought God was a very poor and unfair manager of human affairs. He had lost a relationship with a lady friend; he had lost his brother to an untimely death; and now a young lady he admired for her talent had met an untimely death in an airplane accident. In fact, his subsequent phone calls seemed to be his way of filing complaints against God.

For a number of years he’d called several other ministry prayer lines, as well as ours, and unfortunately, the guidance he received from some of the other prayer warriors only added to the confusion. On one occasion, someone at another ministry prayed that an individual who angered Brian would die!

As Brian pointed out the error in their beliefs, these ministry workers became disenchanted with him and blocked his phone number, refusing his calls. This resulted in him calling us even more often, using excessive time, and honestly forcing us to consider blocking his calls, as well.

QUESTIONS

Eventually he was restricted to speaking only with me, and I was glad I was picked, because Brian’s anger with God was usually expressed in the form of a question. Why does God allow this or that? Why doesn’t God do what I would do?

Questions allow for answers, and answers produce understanding. Understanding produces transformation, and transformation is just what God wants! “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:2. Brian was walking the very path God was calling him to walk.

As Brian would ask his often-brilliant questions, we would go to God’s Word for the answers. Why do evil people get away with doing evil? Why do good people suffer and die young? Why has God allowed Satan to run rampant for thousands of years? On and on it went, but God’s Word gave Brian the answers he needed.

NEVER GIVE UP

This continued for nine years! Nine years of transformation by the Word of God. That’s where Brian found wisdom. That’s also where he found power—power to rise above anger by forgiving his enemies. It also provided him with the peace that God promises in Philippians 4:7, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Brian found that he can trust God and His Word, and that’s where he met his best friend, Jesus.

By our tenth year of conversation, the man who had started out as what seemed like a sparring partner in 2001, had become my friend and brother in Christ by 2011. Brian dedicated his life to our Lord on March 23, and was baptized on July 9, 2011, by Pastor William Webb.

I congratulate and welcome my new brother, Brian Hofacker, one of the newest members of the New Port Richey Seventh-day Adventist Church in Florida! To God be the glory!

The Little Things

The Little Things

by Teresa Bonilla

At times we don’t realize the impact of the little things we do. However, they often have an impact for eternity. Not too long ago I received what seemed to be a normal phone call. A lady thanked us for our programming and gave me her prayer request, but as the conversation developed things started to change.

For the past four years, 77-year-old María Ramírez has been watching the 3ABN Latino network. When she moved into her new apartment she brought along her satellite dish and installed it, but soon one of her neighbors complained because it was against the housing policy.

María prayed, and when the administrator came to speak with her she said, “If you take away my satellite dish, I will die.”

“Die?” he asked.

“Yes, I will die spiritually, because this is my spiritual food,” she explained. (Amazingly, the administrator allowed her to keep her dish!)

DOING MORE

Although María is a monthly donor to 3ABN Latino, one day she questioned whether she was giving enough to God’s work. As she asked Him what more she could do, the thought came to her to collect aluminum cans, recycle them, and send the money to 3ABN.

Soon María was going through the dumpster every day looking for cans, and it wasn’t long before her neighbors began approaching her, worrying she might be in need of food. Each time she would tell them about her plan, and many of them began helping her!

“But the enemy tried to harm me,” she adds. One of her neighbors became so angry they denounced her again to the administrator and threatened to kill her if she continued to collect cans!

Once again he spoke with María, asking why she was collecting cans. She showed him all the receipts she’d received from her donations to 3ABN Latino and other ministries, and he congratulated her—he even gave her an offering to send to 3ABN!

Next, María began encouraging her aunt to collect cans, and, just as before, her aunt was threatened with eviction as she began to help! María assured her by saying that if they kicked her out of the building, she should be at peace, because God was in control. “For us who love the Lord, all things work out for good,” she said. “He who gives, receives.”

(Not surprisingly, her aunt was never evicted.)

AMAZED

These aren’t the only ways God has used María to testify about His power and love. When she went in for her regular checkup, her doctor was deeply impressed by her health improvement. He asked her what she’d been doing to keep herself healthy and she told him that she’d been watching 3ABN Latino’s health programs and learning about natural remedies. Impressed, her doctor told her he would try them for himself and share the information with all his patients.

“I know why you are improving,” he said. “You take care of your health, and you always have a smile on your face. When you come here you’re always sharing literature with other people in the lobby, you get your exercise gathering cans, and you donate that money for God’s work.”

María asked us to pray for the owner of the apartment building where she lives. He has health problems, and noticing her good health habits, he asked her to cook for him every other week. He was even willing to pay her, but she refused.

Truly, María’s life of service to others, and to her Lord, is a testimony to those around her. Faithfulness in the “little things” are having an impact for eternity!

Where We Want to Be

Where We Want to Be

We’re so grateful for all those who have volunteered their services to this ministry over the years. But what motivates someone to sell their business, donate the proceeds to 3ABN, and move here to volunteer? We sat down with Don and Grace Yost recently to find out.


“I first heard about 3ABN from my mother,” Don begins. “She discovered it just as they were getting started, and she spoke of it often. My sister bought a satellite dish and I watched whenever we visited. Later we purchased a dish for our home, too.

“When 3ABN held a rally at Forest Lake Academy in Apopka, Florida, we made a point of attending, and that’s when I told my wife that I wanted to meet Danny. You see, I had my own automotive transmission repair business, but I was tired of it, and wanted to retire. Now I felt impressed to sell it and donate the money to 3ABN—but I hadn’t told Grace about it, yet!

“We talked to Danny for a few minutes before I told him what I wanted to do. He urged us to come up and look the place over first. Then he asked, ‘Is your wife in agreement with you?’

“Without hesitation, she said, ‘Yes!’ ”

A DIFFERENT WORLD

Soon Don and Grace were on their way to Illinois with the idea of moving here to volunteer. But while they were impressed by 3ABN, they weren’t so sure about the move. “We’d just built our dream home in Florida,” Grace says, “and it was nicer than I could’ve dreamed for!”

“We were planning to stay there until Jesus came,” Don adds, noting that southern Illinois was just so different from anything they’d ever experienced.

“Then there was the very real fact that we wouldn’t have any family close by!” Grace recalls. “I remember thinking, No Lord, we can’t do this. But the Holy Spirit hadn’t spoken to me; He spoke to Don, and something kept drawing us here.”

THE SALE

While Don and Grace struggled with the idea of moving, over the next year God continued sending them affirmations. Finally they contacted a real estate agent and put their house in Florida up for sale.

“I was retired and I was bored,” Don admits. “I kept thinking, I am sitting here while 3ABN needs so much help! If the Lord wants us there, He’ll sell this house for us! I felt it was the right move and that the Lord would take care of us.”

Then, during their volunteer third trip to 3ABN, they received an offer on their house. “I’d always wanted to work for the Lord,” Grace says, “but my life hadn’t worked out that way. Earlier we’d considered volunteering with another ministry, but we would’ve had to buy a motor home, so we didn’t pursue it. But now we began looking in earnest, and when we found a house, we made an offer—contingent on the sale of our Florida home, of course.”

The sale went through, and Don and Grace began volunteering full-time. However, not long after this they felt they should move closer. After a year and a half they finally found and bought some property, and since their first Illinois house was almost paid for, they used the equity to build their new one.

TOTAL DEPENDENCE

But building a home on a volunteer’s salary while still paying for the first one soon became a financial burden. “We cut our expenses to a bare minimum, but we still struggled,” Don admits. “We got rid of my truck, our satellite dish, our Internet—even our newspaper subscription. For the first time in our marriage we wondered if we were going to make it, but the Lord was faithful, and we were never late on our payments.”

Grace struggled, too. “I’d been taught to work hard, save money, and pay off my home by the time I retired. But our life wasn’t working out that way. One morning I sat and thought, Lord, I don’t understand this journey. But then the Holy Spirit impressed me with the thought, Grace, it doesn’t make any difference. Jesus is coming soon. That message was so clear in my mind!”

Three years later their first home sold. Then, after finishing their new house, Don returned to manage 3ABN’s grounds and maintenance departments.

Their experience left a lasting impression, however. “I have a peace about it all today,” Don says. “Now I know I could walk away from everything I own, while before, I was tied to some of it. I don’t know what would’ve happened if we’d stayed in Florida, but our relationship with the Lord has become a lot stronger since we’ve been here!

THROUGH THE EYES OF JESUS

Grace says she was surprised when 3ABN asked her to assist in pastoral ministries’ correspondence, since her experience was in management and accounting. But when she began working with inmate letters, the correspondence volume increased dramatically.

“I never dreamed I’d have a passion for this, but today I see inmates through very different eyes,” she says. “In fact, I’m trusting that I see them through the eyes of Jesus! They’ve been through so much. Almost all of them have been abused, abandoned, or have grown up in the streets. I really have to depend on the Holy Spirit for my words. People talk about ‘jailhouse conversions,’ but many of our inmates are in for life. They recognize they now have a better life with Jesus, and many of them tell me that prison was the best thing that ever happened to them. I write to tell them what God can do for them. I try to focus on the joy they can have—and my joy increases!”

RETIREMENT?

“A friend was talking about retiring, and I told him it wasn’t biblical!” Don chuckles. “Can you think of any situation in life where you can work for the One who’s taken care of you all of your life? Now that you’re in a position to turn all your time over to Him, can you think of anything better? And if you want to know the Lord, get out of your comfort zone! You’ll find Him!

“I’ve learned to trust Him more than I ever thought I could. Grace has had some very hard blows in the past few years,” he continues. “She suffered three car accidents in two years—and none of them were her fault. Then she had a stroke and was partially paralyzed on one side, but by God’s grace she recovered completely!”

He pauses, then shakes his head. “I have no regrets.”

“Me either,” Grace whispers. “We are where God wants us to be, and that’s where we want to be!”

No Coincidence

No Coincidence

by John Dinzey

Recently, Pastor Armando Miranda, vice president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, related a remarkable story to us. While traveling in Texas for an event earlier this year, he met a fascinating couple who had told him of an amazing “coincidence.”

Gabriel and Minerva Hernandez live in what they call “The Valley” in south Texas, an area close to the U.S. border with Mexico. They have seven TV sets in their home, but six of them couldn’t receive any TV channels, and the seventh one could only receive two channels: a Mexican sports channel and 3ABN Latino. However, the sports channel came in so poorly that it wasn’t too appealing to watch.

One morning Gabriel watched 3ABN Latino for a couple of hours and was blessed by the programming, but when he turned it on later that evening, his wife asked, “Why are you watching that channel again?”

“Oh this is a Christian channel, and it’s very good,” he told her. Then he added, “You should watch it, too.”

“Oh really?” she asked as she stood there for a moment.

Before long Minerva was sitting down. As she was a much-sought-after speaker, pastor, and evangelist, 3ABN’s programming was very appealing to her. They began watching together whenever there was an opportunity. Having a theological background, Minerva ordered some Bible studies offered in one of the programs and began to dig deeper.

Eventually their interest prompted them to contact Amado Sanchez, a local Seventh-day Adventist pastor,  and he invited them to an evangelistic series scheduled for the next two weeks.

“I would love to be able to come every night,” Minerva said, “but the only night I can come is Monday, since I have to preach all the other nights.”

“What a shame,” Pastor Sanchez said. “I think you would really appreciate these presentations.”

“PLEASE DO SOMETHING”

Gabriel and Minerva came on Monday and they were blessed. Again she expressed her wish to attend every night.

Later that night she prayed, “Lord, I would really like to go to these meetings, but I’m booked every night to preach. If You really want me to go, please do something to make that possible.”

I believe God heard her prayer, because the very next morning she received an apologetic call, explaining that an unforeseen situation had developed and asking her if she was willing to postpone her preaching for two weeks.

“No need to apologize,” she said. “God is in control, I don’t have a problem postponing for two weeks!”

The Lord had worked it out, and they didn’t miss a single night. Soon after, Gabriel and Minerva were baptized, and today they are happy members of the McAllen Spanish Valley Central Seventh-day Adventist Church. What seemed a strange coincidence was really a blessing to them!

Once again, we praise the Lord for using 3ABN Latino to help people “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:18.

More Precious Than Gold

More Precious Than Gold

Leroy and Colleen Sharp (center) were befriended by Martin Klein (left) and his wife Janelle (right). “It’s so important to have people walk with you from the time you begin attending church, through baptism, and beyond,” Colleen says. (Photo: Bob Charbonneau.)

Republic, Washington, is nestled among the mountains on the northeastern side of the state. Originally dubbed Eureka, the settlement’s first name aptly described the excitement created by the discovery of gold in the late 1890s.

There are many things that make Republic special, but perhaps nothing is more precious to Leroy and Colleen Sharp than a little radio station that broadcasts 3ABN Radio.

BACK STORY

Everything about KETL-LP, 100.5 FM, is miraculous. In 2001, a small group of church members decided to try for a construction permit after receiving notice that the Federal Communications Commission was accepting applications. But the challenges were steep. “We would need to find a broadcasting site, do some preliminary engineering work, form a nonprofit corporation, and submit an application—in four weeks!” says Dr. Bill Pellow, a Seventh-day Adventist optometrist who led the team. With faith and determination, they obtained their permit, which gave them 18 months to put the station on the air.

One problem, however, seemed insurmountable. No one wanted a radio tower in their backyard!

“We talked to a half-dozen landowners, but received a negative response from each one. Things began to look pretty bleak for a while,” Bill admits, “and my faith wavered a little.”

Finally only one location was left—Gold Hill, the best location of all. One of the team members knew the owner from high school, but he didn’t hold out much hope the man would be sympathetic to their cause.

“We had earnest prayer and continued to pray as our friend Reed Heckly called the landowner,” Bill says. “As he tried to describe the purpose of the station, the owner cut him off! ‘I don’t care what you broadcast,’ he said. ‘I believe in freedom of speech!’ ”

That problem was solved, but another one quickly replaced it. They had to obtain permission to pull electricity from one man’s property, and permission from two other families to bury heavy electrical cable across 2,000 feet of land to the tower site. As they called each one, they obtained permission without problems, and no one was more surprised! “After receiving half a dozen noes in a row, we had just received four critical yeses,” Bill says. “We knew we were watching a miracle!”

There were many more stories—finding a sturdy tower for a miracle price, how church members hauled it there and assembled it, how they raised $12,000 in yard sales, and the logger who just happened to be building a logging road through that area. Finally, KETL-LP went on the air—just four days before the FCC deadline!

“Our signal reaches much farther than we ever expected,” Bill says. “You can actually receive a pretty fair signal all the way in Grand Forks, Canada!”

PREPARING THEIR HEARTS

Meanwhile, many miles away, the Holy Spirit had spent years preparing the hearts of Leroy and Colleen Sharp for new truth.

“I was born in Dixon, Missouri,” Leroy says. “My dad’s dad was a Pentecostal preacher, and my mom’s dad was a deacon in the Baptist church. But my parents weren’t much for going to church. Sometimes I’d go to Sunday School with an aunt, or I might attend Vacation Bible School, but when I was 12 or so, I got saved in the Baptist church. Well, that caused an uproar in the family because of their Pentecostal background! ‘Wait until your grandpa learns about this!’ they said, and I was left feeling like I’d done something wrong, rather than something right.

“After that I went to church a few times, but never felt like I belonged,” he continues, “and by the time I was 16 or 17, I was already drinking and doing drugs. By the time I was 27, I was already in a messed-up relationship, and one day we got into a fight and I got shot point blank through the chest. I was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital but when we got there, I woke up. The attendant said, ‘Hey, you’re dead!’ and I said, ‘No, I’m not!’

“I’ll never forget the surgeon’s words when I tried to thank him afterword. He said, ‘Son, you shouldn’t thank me. You just weren’t bad enough to go to hell, or good enough to go to Heaven!’ ”

Colleen, on the other hand, was raised in County Durham, England. “I was brought up by my grandparents, and my grandmother was Catholic. I know she gave me her love for Jesus, but my granddad gave me the things of the Spirit. I’ve always had those as my foundation, even though I never went to church.”

“I lived in a large farm house in the country—a retreat for my friends when they wanted time out. We’d talk about what was happening in the world, and although we had no knowledge of Bible prophecies, after 9/11 we just knew that something was going on. I began feeling a strong urge to give up everything I had and move to America with nothing but a suitcase. I finally did, and I can’t explain how I felt, except to say that it was very freeing. It’s as if I was going through my life and settling things within myself.”

However, Colleen says she missed those deep conversations with my friends. “By 2009 I was dying inside because I had nobody to connect with on a spiritual level,” she says.

Leroy and Colleen had moved several times, looking for land to settle and build on, and finally they came to Republic.

“While Leroy was at work I remember wanting to listen to something, but the only radio station was 3ABN! As I listened to David Asscherick, he got me! I kept thinking, This is exactly what I believe!

I would turn it off before Leroy came home, and several months went by before I told him. Then I began switching it on tentatively and discovered that while he liked Doug Batchelor, he couldn’t handle David Asscherick’s pace!”

Colleen grins, “It’s sort of like a preference in herbal teas. In the morning I really like Red Zinger tea because it has a kick, but others like a more calm variety.”

THE INSISTENT MAN

After listening to 3ABN Radio for about a year, Colleen felt compelled to visit a Seventh-day Adventist church, but didn’t know when they met for worship. “I couldn’t get anyone on the telephone, so I called a church 50 miles away, and they told me the services were on Saturday mornings,” she says. “When I arrived I was greeted cordially and found a seat in the back of the church. Now you have to understand that I was raised Catholic, and mass was solemn and silent, but here people were drinking water, walking around, and greeting one another! They seemed genuinely good-hearted, though. After the service I met Martin Klein and his wife Janelle. She invited me to lunch, but I told her I couldn’t come because my husband was picking me up. As I was leaving, Martin kept up with me and said he wanted to invite my husband.

“ ‘Hello, Leroy, would you like to come to lunch?’ he asked as we approached the truck.

“ ‘No, I don’t think so,’ my husband answered. ‘Besides, I’m not dressed for lunch.’

“ ‘That’s okay, I invited someone who’s camping, so you’ll fit right in!’

“What a pushy guy! I thought, just as Leroy shot me a What’s going on? look. The truth is that he was so pushy we finally agreed to lunch out of courtesy! Later we found out that this was not his nature at all, but he’d felt the Holy Spirit compelling him that, no matter what, we were supposed to come home with them!”

They drove up to the house at the Klondike Mountain Health Retreat, founded by Martin’s father, Pastor Leonard, and his wife Aldine. Martin explained that they treated all sorts of lifestyle diseases and provided vegetarian cooking classes for the community. After lunch the two couples went for a walk, and the friendship they established brought Leroy and Colleen both back to church the following week.

Soon they began having Bible studies after lunch, and major changes began to take place. “We claimed the promises in Psalm 107, and the Lord took away the desire and broke the chains of our cigarette addiction,” Leroy says. “When God does something like that, He doesn’t mess around!”

On September 18, 2010, Leroy and Colleen were baptized in a lake, as their church family gathered around them. Church pastor Mel Pond, and retired pastor Leonard Klein (Martin’s father), baptized them together, welcoming them into the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Today they are both active in their church, doing their part to spread the good news.

“It’s so important to have people walk with you from the time you begin attending church, through baptism, and beyond,” Colleen says. “It’s so important to never forget that our presence is important in church, too. Each of us gives the gift of our presence in church, and I think that ties in with what Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, ‘For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.’ It’s not just that we’re all there worshipping with the words—our hearts come out in worship, too. It’s a palpable thing, and when someone’s not there, I miss them.”

Leroy and Colleen (center) were baptized in a nearby lake. Since they had close friendships with both pastors, they asked Pastor Mel Pond (left) and Pastor Leonard Klein (right) to baptize them together.(Photo: Bob Charbonneau.)

MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD

Through God’s blessings, the Sharps have been able to purchase some land on a mountain and are now building a home that’s “off the grid.”

“We have no electricity,” Leroy says, “but we do have solar panels and batteries.”

“We also enjoy the light of lamps in the evening,” Colleen adds. “It’s so lovely. We have radios on our phones so we still listen to 3ABN Radio. I think it’s the best evangelist ever. It’s non-threatening, and different speakers appeal to different people. I think it would be great to have someone talk about the local church, though. I would have liked to hear what went on there, where it was, and what time they met.”

Her idea is not wasted on those who work there. “We have a tremendous need for someone willing to move here and volunteer to produce local programs,” says Bob Charbonneau, the personal ministries director for the Republic Seventh-day Adventist Church. “All the equipment is ready. They don’t even have to know how to run it. They just need to be willing to learn. This is a special place that Seventh-day Adventist founder, Ellen White, would have heartily endorsed,” he adds.

The little station on Gold Hill is working tirelessly to reach those who are seeking for the Lord. And with results like these, it’s proving to be more precious than gold!