AMEN 2018: Call to Service

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Adventist Medical Evangelism Network (AMEN)

Plenary

Brian Schwartz

Motivation for Service: The Explosive Power of the Gospel

Elvin Adams

The Primary Thing is the Primary Thing

Stephen Wright

All People are Worth the Investment

Dafne Moretta

My Story, His Faithfulness

Tash Ching

Purposed in His Heart

John Bradshaw

The Power of One

Testimonies & Mission Reports

Naren James

Spiritual Entrepreneurship: In Search of Investors

Mark Finley

Loving Service: The Heart of the Early Christian Faith

Lord God, on this Sabbath afternoon, we just praise you for this high time together.

We feel that your presence has been here with us.

We pray that as we move into this time of worship reflection, testimony, that your Holy Spirit would subdue our hearts, that you would speak to us, and that you encourage us, Father, as we see what you are doing in the lives of your children throughout the world, As we hasten, we do what we can to hasten your coming.

Thank you again for this opportunity and these things we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

I had the opportunity to go to Philippines in June, a couple months ago, to inaugurate their very first annual Amen Conference over there.

And some of you saw, most of you probably saw the video we had this morning.

And it was, yeah, I didn't think I was going to be in that 1.

I asked Shane to cut me out, but there I was.

So this second video is an additional information slot that we just wanted to share with you.

And then immediately after the video, Dr.

Elvin Texson is going to be sharing with us a little bit about AIMEN Philippines, its inception, its progress, and what to expect in the future.

You know, an AIMEN chapter in any part of the world helps the local physicians to actually work together along with the pastors and others, the hospitals that we may have, the institutions that we have, the other health ministries and supporting ministries to be able to work together in unison, to have a tapestry of work and the pattern of the beehive, where it's not just health ministry, but health ministry plus others in the local conference, in the Union, in the division.

This is a way of actually being able to reach a larger number of people with the good news of the gospel.

When I was first asked to come to speak at Amen Philippines, I was picturing maybe 40 or 50 people from a local group.

I never expected they'd be coming from various islands, from the north, from the south, from Malaysia, from Guam, there's even somebody from Africa.

They have over 200 delegates in attendance.

Many speakers from Our AMEN conferences back in the United States have been speaking here as well as some of their own speakers and it's been a very powerful, exceptionally good start for the first annual AMENS Philippine conference.

From the devotional, to the testimonies, to the breakout sessions.

I think all these things, they teach me something to be a more effective doctor, pray God.

And this conference, it changed my point of view that we are here on this earth.

We are just instruments to make a difference to people's lives.

We're not just here to heal the sick, but to bring them close to Jesus.

And my point of view now is that all of the patients are important.

And the most important thing that we should do is to bring them to Jesus.

Before we were more focused on the physical health.

So this time around we hope to incorporate the spiritual and health together in our practices.

So it's really been a blessing to be able to attend the AIMEN conference.

I believe that we are living in the last days and to keep this message within our own selves is a great mistake.

We need to share it because you know people are dying because of ignorance.

As medical professionals we should not only be well-versed with our field, I mean in our specialty or how to treat diseases, but more so how to prepare for the coming of the Lord.

In this meeting the people exuded energy.

They're excited about what they're doing.

Just the mere fact that more people attended than was anticipated would attend.

And it's not because they have this great marketing machine, right, that got everybody here.

It's that people who were coming were excited and they told other people, you ought to come to this.

So the tone of people here was 1 of interest, of a desire to work together.

I would assume that some of them were curious, right, as to whether this would actually take off.

And they put their money where their mouth was and they came to see, to hear, to experience and from what I hear already they don't seem to be disappointed at all.

I would like to say Mabuhay from the Philippines and we are so thankful for the opportunity we had when we attended AMEN there and now we are also having that AMEN conference here and we have been blessed by the people from AMEN USA and we hope that you will also pray for us here, that we will be able to do the medical missionary work and how you inspire others too, that we will be able to do that also, so that our work here in the Philippines will be united and we can even be a stronger medical arm.

I want all medical professionals to also join the AMEN Convention wherever these are held.

They will really help you, not only benefit you, but also benefit others who will be under your care.

I consider my part this afternoon as a divine appointment.

I am grateful to God for this opportunity to share what he has done for the medical community in the Philippines.

Oh God, my Father, please speak through me and stand beside me as I share to my brethren here what you have done to Amen, Philippines.

I feel inadequate for this task, but although I have this script here, but I'm open for the Holy Spirit to impress me what to say.

It all started from a burden, a deep burden on how the medical profession is being conducted in our country, whether in our very own Adventist hospitals or individual practices.

After finishing our residency training, me and my wife were called to work as staff physicians in 1 of our Adventist hospitals.

We have observed how our sanitariums have evolved from being missionary institutions to becoming business-like in nature.

We do understand that for an institution to be sustainable, it must have profits or return of investments.

But we felt that the focus is more on business rather than ministry.

We cannot even cater for charity or poor patients and we lack intentional programs for the poor.

Wherever poor patients come to the ER and cannot secure money for down payments, we transfer them to government hospitals or less equipped facility for treatment.

Another burden is our spiritual condition as practitioners.

Since Philippines for a very long time do not have SDA medical or dental schools, most of us who are practicing now are products of secular or private state universities.

We have observed transformation from being active church leaders and members before entering medical school to becoming passive members and even not attending church anymore after medical school, compromising our faith during our residency training and in our practice.

There have been attempts to organize our Adventist medical and dental professionals, but to no avail.

Doctors were either passive, resistant, or suspicious.

Sometime in 2015, a friend introduced to me, to my wife, Audioverse.

We have not heard about this website before, which provides Bible-based and Christ-centered media globally.

We were especially encouraged by sermons from ASI, GYC, and later sermons from AMEN conferences.

A presentation by Pastor Mark Finley to medical students made an impact on us.

I began to search the website amensda.org, going through the organization's mission, vision, and objectives.

We were so excited and blessed to know that an organization like this has been existing already.

It brought joy to our hearts knowing that God has a people in North America who are passionate about medical missionary work.

Reminds us of what God told Elijah, yet I have left 7, 000 in Israel, all the niece which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him." This triggered a series of emails with Rebecca Barnhurst.

Praise the Lord for her patience, dedication, and love for ministry.

5 of us physicians from the Philippines were able to attend the 2016 AMEN right here in Indian Wells, followed by 4 delegates in the 2017 AMEN in Sonesta.

May I request my friends from the Philippines to stand up?

These are officers and part of the organizing committee of AEMEN Philippines.

We were so inspired and blessed to network with our brethren here in the U.S.

Todd Guthrie about our desire of establishing AEMEN chapter in the Philippines.

He gave us his blessing and support which even inspired us to move ahead.

In April of 2017, an AEMEN chapter was established in Central Philippines.

But it was not until May of the same year during a health summit in Bali, Indonesia, sponsored by our division that AEMEN Philippines was established on a national level.

Zeno Marcel was the main speaker during the summit.

We gathered the few doctors who were present in the summit, around 13 or 14 of us, and scheduled a working lunch since it was not part of the program.

It was an informal meeting, and we introduced AEMEN to them, its mission, vision, and objectives.

We answered their queries and solicited their ideas.

Later, a decision has to be made whether to organize right away or to go back to our respective areas and form AEMEN chapters first.

Some concerns identified were funding, the SEC registration, etc.

Zeno was across our table eating and attentively listening to our discussions.

It was the Holy Spirit who inspired him to stand and speak up.

He introduced himself that he is part of the Amen Board, and I could not forget what he said, do not let formalities or red tapes prevent you from organizing the group now.

Immediately, we voted for the Philippine AEMEN officers and advisors.

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Series

Plenary

Testimonies & Mission Reports

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

Motivation for Service: The Explosive Power of the Gospel

1h 5m

The Primary Thing is the Primary Thing

47m

All People are Worth the Investment

46m

My Story, His Faithfulness

1h

Purposed in His Heart

29m

The Power of One

52m

Testimonies & Mission Reports

18m

Spiritual Entrepreneurship: In Search of Investors

31m

Loving Service: The Heart of the Early Christian Faith

50m

Sound Doctrine