Michigan Camp Meeting 2016: The Harvest is Great

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Family Life

Amy Austin

Sharing Your Faith as a Family

Father in heaven, thank you so much for this new day.

And even though it's rainy and nasty outside, we know that your presence is here and we can feel it.

I just pray that you will be with Amy today as she shares the ideas that you gave her.

And we just pray that each 1 of us will be able to take away many things that we will then go back and share in our areas and our spheres of influence.

So today, just be with Amy as she speaks, and be with each 1 of us, and thank you so much for loving us and for giving us the opportunity to be able to share your love with others.

I'm excited about outreach and about ministry and about all these little ideas the Lord gives me.

He gives me 1, I think it's the coolest idea, but then he gives me another 1, I'm like, wow, he always outdoes himself.

And so it's exciting to see what the Lord has done.

And when Gail called me, I had no option but to say yes, because I told the Lord that if He would keep giving me ideas to share Jesus, then I would be willing to share them with others.

I'm also excited because I made all sorts of stuff for you guys and instead of it being on my living room floor now, because it's been all over the house for a while, I get to actually give it to you.

But it seems like the microphone is not on now.

All right, so just so I don't forget at the end, up on this table on the far right, there's a folder for everybody.

It has extra information in it, you don't need it for the seminar.

I have 6 or 7 little samples in it for each 1 of you to take with you.

Oh, if you do need a piece of paper, there's a piece of paper and pens up here.

Because everything, all the ideas that I'm going to show you, I don't have a handout for.

But if you like an idea, just jot it down.

In the folder that I'm going to give you, I have a little business-like card, and I have a Bible Labs blog where I keep a list of all these ideas.

I didn't want to forget them, so I started doing that.

There's pictures and explanations and all, so you'll be able to access it.

So, but if you like something you can jot it down and yeah.

Okay, I think that's all I wanted to say before we start.

Let's go ahead and pray 1 more time really quickly.

Heavenly Father, we just pray for your spirit to be here, for you to lead and guide, for you to be my words, Lord.

All right, So we're gonna talk about sharing your faith as a family.

And really, it can be as an individual, a family, it can be for your school, it can be for your church.

I've used all of these in all those different areas.

And you know, for some of us, It comes naturally, doesn't it?

But for others of us, it doesn't come so naturally, and we need somebody prodding us, or maybe doing it with us, or giving us the ideas.

Frankly, for all of us, no matter if it's easy or hard, It would just be easy to rely on the church or the school for some of these outreach ideas.

Because our kids are sometimes involved in Bible labs or a community service day, and that's wonderful.

It's fantastic for the kids to go out and share Jesus.

And churches should have personal ministries.

You know, some of us might be going to the nursing home.

Or we might call somebody up on the phone, you know, and let them know we missed them.

But is it enough just to rely on our church and our school to provide the outreach that we need?

But for us, for our family, we decided, you know, that's not enough.

As a Christian, it really shouldn't be enough because every Christian is called to be a missionary.

We all have that job to do, and so we all as Christians need to develop a lifestyle of evangelism.

1 of our greatest desires for our children is not just to be trained academically and not just to have a whole lot of spiritual knowledge in their head, but that they would develop a heart that just longs to serve, that loves Jesus so much they're willing to sacrifice, they're willing to do anything to share Jesus and to give for the cause of Christ.

In Matthew 5, 16, it says, "...let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

And that is what we want for our children.

And I'm sure that's what you want for your children or your school children or your church children.

We are told, oh and also, we feel too, my husband and I, that it's not just the school's job, it's not just the church's job to do that.

We feel ownership of that and so we want to help them develop that.

We're told in the spirit of prophecy that the home is the child's first school and it is here that the foundation should be laid for a life of service." Further in Christ Object Lessons, page 345, it says, "...parents should teach their children the value and right use of time.

Teach them that to do something which will honor God and bless humanity is worth striving for.

Even in their early years, they can be missionaries for God.

And 1 more, in Ministry of Healing, it says, the more fully the spirit of true ministry pervades the home, the more fully it will be developed in the lives of the children.

They will learn to find joy in service and sacrifice for the good of others.

I praise the Lord that my parents did this for me.

I remember as a kid we all visited many, many times on Sabbath.

We would visit a little elderly lady and we'd take things to her and we'd sing with her.

I remember 1 time coming home from church, a man had been riding his moped or motorcycle, something he'd flipped, going over the tracks.

And so we stopped and we helped him, and we got him to the hospital.

I remember little things like that where my parents would involve us in outreach and service.

I remember there's a children's story, an Uncle Arthur's bedtime story.

Oh, shoot, I thought, the Surprise Package Company.

That was always 1 of my favorites, and I love to do little things like that.

I did as a child, and I still love to do it now.

And so that's what we want to develop in our children.

So from planned glow track outings to spontaneously coming home from the store and taking raspberries to our neighbors, to cleaning up somebody's yard.

We're constantly making an effort to live a lifestyle of evangelism.

So everything that I'm about to show you and I have a lot of slides, so hopefully we'll get through everything.

But everything that I'm about to show you are just simple ideas, not hard, not fancy, but ideas that the Lord has given us to help serve those around us, simple ways that we have found to share Jesus in our community and in our home and our churches.

With the Lord's help we're endeavoring to lay that foundation for a life of service and we're being blessed as we do that.

Well We should be missionaries at home first.

Testimonies volume 4 says the first great business of your life is to be a missionary right at home.

Testimonies volume 6 says our work for Christ is to begin with the family in the home.

There is not a missionary field more important than this.

By precept and example, The Lord's Testimonies Volume 6 says, be so educated that they will sympathize with the aged and the afflicted, and will seek to alleviate the sufferings of the poor and distressed.

They should be taught to be diligent in missionary work, and from their earliest years, self denial and sacrifice for the good of others and the advancement of Christ's cause should be inculcated that they may be laborers together with God.

But if they ever learn to do genuine missionary work for others, they must first learn to labor for those at home who have a natural right to their offices of love.

I should say in here really quick, in the folders there is a sheet of paper, a handout that has all the quotes and the Bible verses on it.

Okay, so we want to be missionaries at home.

There are obviously lots and lots of ways that you can do this.

I don't have a monopoly on this by any means, but I'll share with you a few things that we have done.

It would be nice, wouldn't it, if we could just say, little Suzy, please share that toy nicely, or please talk sweetly, Johnny, And we lived happily ever after, right?

But if your home is anything like mine, it doesn't always work that way.

And so we have to form habits of kindness.

We have to help our children form habits of kindness.

By doing it, by repeating it, by practicing it.

And so, we like to do, we like to give opportunities to practice kindness.

Bob Benson

Elsena Benson

Managing God’s Resources at Home

Father in heaven, thank you for another beautiful day here at Camp Meeting.

Thank you for the privilege of being able to come to these seminars.

And today, as Bob and Elsina shared, we just ask that you will speak through them in a powerful way, that we can gain insights and wisdom to the way that you want us to handle your finances.

Everything is just entrusted to us to manage.

If you're wondering if you're in the right place, this seminar is entitled Managing God's Resources at Home.

And we're a pastoral couple up in 13th Street in Cadillac, Manton, and Meesek Seventh-day Adventist churches.

And he's going to do the why, and I'm going to do the how, basically.

So I'm gonna read a kind of a quote, I'm gonna make a kind of a quote, and you tell me, you fill in the gap if you know what it is.

What is the truest and greatest object in life?

The truest and greatest object, What would that be?

The answer is to restore in us the image of God in our soul.

Secondly, the second part of that is, still quoting from the same source, in this case it'd be Patriarchs and Prophets 595 or Christian Education 63, the second part is to be brought back into the perfection which man was first created.

And so here we have this most important point, this truth that we wanna highlight in the process of stewardship, and that is to restore the image of God in our soul.

Not only our soul, but the soul of our children as well.

Maybe you say I already have, I don't have any kids, but as a church collectively, as schools collectively, in all that we do we want to put these principles in there.

So how do we personally succeed and help our children and our youth to succeed in this restoration project?

There's certain things that we want them to know, the basics, which is not stewardship.

Just going through the sanctuary model, the acceptance of Christ is important.

The acceptance of Christ as Savior, the acceptance of Christ as Lord.

That would be like at the labor, which includes the daily baptism of the Holy Spirit, the commitment to Christ in that way.

Other daily practices of spiritual discipline, Bible study, prayer, and witnessing.

That's a daily experience in the holy place.

The most holy place, new covenant experience, a new heart, the law written on our heart and on our mind.

Those are important, and as important as they are, this is not the seminar that's gonna talk about that and flesh that out.

But there is another sharp tool, and I do mean sharp.

And this sharp tool that God has given us to help mold within us and our children a Christ-like character, what do you think it might be?

Since you're here at this Seminar, you would probably guess biblical stewardship.

Biblical stewardship is a sharp tool that God uses to mold the image of Christ's character in our life.

Every day when we practice this, it happens.

Basically, it's the effective biblical management of all the resources God has given us.

Truth, talents, body temple, time, treasure, all those are part.

We're going to focus on the treasure part today.

Velasen is going to cover a lot of the basics on that.

Why is this so important for helping us to model Christ's life in our experience?

Biblical stewardship helps us to make the Kingdom of God a priority in our lives.

You think about Matthew 6, verse 33, you Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

And all these other things, like don't worry like the pagans do about food and drink and clothing.

Put the first part, the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

And so when you think about that in terms of time, the first part of the day would be having that personal relationship with Christ.

1 day out of 7, time with Christ on the Sabbath day.

All of our resources, giving Him the very best of all of our talents and our skills, all of these things all apply to this principle.

When you look at, apply it to, slide down, Malachi talks about that as we return a tithe and give offerings, God is going to give us a blessing.

So there's this, as we give to God, we're returning to Him the blessings He already gave us.

You know, you guys were born with health, with parents.

There's so many things that God gave you already.

You know, we think about how important faith is in the product of developing a Christ-like character.

These things were given, So like David said, when we give back to God, we're not giving of our own, we're giving what God has already given to us.

So biblical stewardship's really important in developing this character of Christ in us.

1 Corinthians 6, verse 10 through 12 talks about the opposite.

It says, 1 Corinthians 6, verses 10-12 The love of money is the root of all evil, that while some have coveted it after this, they have erred from the faith.

They have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

But you men of God, flee these things, follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, etc.

And fight the good fight of faith." So here we see that stewardship helps us to turn away from the things that would develop a Satan-like character.

And as we turn our back on that, to put first the Kingdom of God as righteousness, that helps us to walk down the lane of developing a Christ-like character.

Stewardship also helps us to restore in us rightful worship.

In heaven the angels were saying, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive, they talk about 7 things, honor and glory and strength and power and blessing and wisdom and riches.

Then he's worthy to receive back from us our tithes and our offerings.

And as we return our tithes and offerings, we are worshiping God.

So, you know, for kids, every day when they do something, maybe there's a project and they earn a little something for it, you know, teach them that very day.

So put a little tie aside and tell them as you're doing this, you are worshipping God.

By giving the tie, you're giving, You're worshipping God.

So even as we as adults, we get our paycheck, put that first tenth out, we're worshipping God.

So it helps to restore in us the principle of worship.

So I'm gonna turn it over to, There's 1 more part.

Without faith it is impossible to please God.

Ellen White had this vision, first vision.

They had when people were walking on this pathway, it got narrower and narrower and they had to start leaving suitcases behind and everything else.

And finally, they came to such narrow and difficult places in the path, the only way they could get through that was to grab ahold of the vines that were hanging down from heaven.

And that would get them over the hump and around it.

I'll tell you, stewardship, you've heard many stories of people who didn't have enough money to pay tithe in all their bills.

And the challenge was, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, be faithful to God, give Him the first tense, and God will help you with the rest, that takes faith.

And faith is what it takes for us to get through the last day experiences.

So in order to prepare ourselves to stand through the last day trials and difficulties, we need this kind of faith.

And we can get a lot of this faith through the practice, the faithful practice of stewardship.

So these are just some of the reasons why stewardship is so important.

Kaylene Chadwick

Choosing the Right College - Part #1

Dear Heavenly Father, please bless this time that we can spend with each other here at Camp Meeting for this short time of 1 hour.

I pray that it will be your words that I speak and not mine, and to guide families and young people to choosing the right college that you would like them to be at.

I ask this now in your wonderful name, amen.

So, my name is Kayleen Chadwick, and I am the presenter for this seminar today.

I formerly was at Andrews University, still very closely tied to Andrews University.

I am now a stay at home mom, but helped doing Camp Mini again this year, which is a lot of fun.

So I've met 3 of you in our time of before we get started, but I'm sure are you a student?

Yeah, it's definitely a well worth time and coming to Michigan camp meeting.

I know it's definitely the highlight in our family.

So I'm excited that you're here because 1 day You will be a parent and you're still finishing off college So you're going to get both sides of the spectrum here of getting your foot off on the right start when you are a parent But being able to finish it with what God has in mind for you.

So over the years, I've had a lot of thoughts on what is a good way to prepare for college and where you should go for college.

So I've kind of divided the seminar into 2 parts and focuses on the years that you have before college, sorry, before high school, and then we'll spend a lot of time going through the different steps for high school.

So the 2 of you that are in high school at the moment, you can kind of just take a broad overview and say okay, where am I at in all of this going on and what ways do I want to improve the way I'm going to spend my senior year and making the right choice and being in the right place.

So even if I mention something that can be happening when you're like yay high at 5 years old, it could still apply to you right now.

So don't feel like some of the seminar isn't for you.

It's picking you up wherever you're at and as a parent it's whatever age your children are and getting on the right track of how it is.

But before I begin the seminar there is 1 thing that I do want to make clear that is very strong on my heart is that we live on this earth just for 1 purpose and that purpose is to be ready for God's kingdom And then the second purpose is to bring as many people with us as we can.

So in our lives we're preparing ourselves for Kingdom, getting the education we need to make a living, to share to others.

And then with sharing others, I think the first circle of sharing with others is your immediate family.

So whether it's your parents, your brothers, your sisters, or your children, we're getting everyone that we know ready for God's kingdom.

So anything that I say in this academic world that I have worked in, it really relates right into that theme of preparing for God's kingdom.

So let's dig right on in now to the pre-high school years.

But I do wanna just mention briefly where I'm from.

I spent nearly half my life now in the United States.

But the accent comes from when you're younger.

My journey to college, when I was beginning to, I was your age, exploring different work experience programs, trying to decide what career I was going to do, I made the worst possible mistake ever.

I just kind of flitted and fluttered, was a crowd follower.

I really didn't know how to stand up for myself.

And someone was applying for nursing next to me, so I decided to apply for nursing.

So I decided I would apply for nursing, did 6 months and hated it and all I wanted to do was go back to an Adventist college again.

So being raised in England, the only option I had was Newbould college, so I looked at the degree programs that Newborn offered.

There were about 4 of them, and 1 of them was business, so yeah, I became a business major.

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Series

Family Life

Choosing the Right College - Part #1

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Parts

Sharing Your Faith as a Family

1h 18m

Managing God’s Resources at Home

1h 3m

Choosing the Right College - Part #1

1h 2m

Choosing the Right College - Part #2

1h 6m

Sex- How & When Do I Teach My Child

1h 12m

Family Worship Adventure

1h 15m

Sound Doctrine