ASI 2025 Conference: Investing in Eternity

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Seminars

Denzil McNeilus

Donna McNeilus

Barbara Taylor

Heavenly Mergers and Acquisitions

Want to welcome, especially I see a lot of red tags.

And we just want to welcome you all here, especially to 1 of our most special times of the year.

You know, my wife and I came to our first ASI convention 38 years ago.

That kind of shows you how old we are but yes, 38 years ago and you know what we've never missed 1 in 38 years and I will tell you it's been such a blessing.

Matter of fact, 1 of the 1 of the persons we met the first time we came to ASI was Dan because Dan's been coming longer than I have.

And it's been such a joy and a privilege.

You know, 1 of the things you'll find coming to an ASI convention is you get to fellowship, encourage each other.

You know, being in Adventist, you're unique, right?

But being an Adventist business and professional, you're really unique.

And to meet like Mike minded people who want to share Jesus that are passionate about getting off this planet, as I like to say, they, It's neat to be able to come together and to form bonds and to get ideas.

I know you new members, I just encourage you to spend a lot of time at the booths.

That's where you fellowship, you get ideas.

And you see this person, this person, this person, you go, well, maybe I know someone who we can get together because I believe the Lord never adds, he multiplies as we work together for him.

And I really believe that's what's really important in the ASI organization.

Well today we're going to do a seminar on how to get Bible studies, the most important thing in the world.

And we're going to do it a little bit differently.

Where we apologize and before when we have prayer, I want you to please remember Calvin Kim and his family.

I don't know if you know, but his, the reason why Calvin, Calvin was supposed to be the 1 moderating and doing this seminar today.

But just last week his father-in-law died.

And so there, he's with the family this week.

And so he was not able to attend this week.

So we're really we really miss Calvin and we we want to uplift him in our prayers as as they're going through that grieving process.

You know in Thessalonians it says that we don't grieve like other people do.

You know, and you just know that it isn't long.

And the way the world's going today, it's going to go very quickly.

But we still have that privilege while we're still here on this earth to tell others about Jesus.

And that's what we're going to talk about today.

So with that I'd like to ask everyone to bow their heads for a word of prayer.

Our Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for the privilege of us being able to be here, for the privilege that you've given us of knowing you and knowing what the future is holding, and Lord, the privilege that you've given us of telling others about you and your soon return.

Lord, I pray that today that as we discuss your work, the most important work is reaching people for you, that each 1 of us will be disturbed, will be shaken in a way that we will leave this room never the same.

That we will want to share you more than ever before.

Because Lord when it's all said and done, that's the only thing that's really important.

Help us to keep what's important in our life important and take away the things that aren't.

That we will be able to be used by you because Lord we know you're coming so so soon and when you come Lord most of all we pray that we will be found faithful.

Bless us Lord today for we ask in thy name, amen.

Each 1 on this panel could actually do the whole seminar and have time left and we'd have to spend a lot more time.

So we're gonna try to do this as quickly as possible.

You're gonna be, we're gonna give you through a fire hose, but we're also a drink through a fire hose.

But yet what we're gonna do at the end is give time for questions and answers.

Okay, so with that, My name is Denzel McNeilis and I'm a banker.

But our real job is to tell others about Jesus.

And I'm here with my lovely wife, Donna, who I met in the eighth grade.

And she is gonna tell her side of how this works because I'll tell you what, it's totally different than mine.

And from a nice point of view, I mean, I'd admit that.

And then of course we have Barbara Taylor.

Barbara Taylor is from Colorado and has been passionately involved in small group ministry and especially been very, very active with the New Beginnings.

And of course, my dear friend Dan Houghton, who has been involved with a unique way of doing Bible studies, but he has been involved in planting a church and growing a church, but also been involved in personal Bible studies and doing personal Bible studies.

Each 1 of us are doing personal Bible studies today.

And so with that, we're gonna get started and we'll start with Barbara telling about what she does.

I always tell everybody, Calvin is the Energizer Bunny on steroids.

Because he just goes, goes, goes all the time.

And he always has so much to offer to everybody.

He has such faith and such tremendous, tremendous inspiration.

My blessing for the last 17 years is to travel all over the world training people how to give small group home Bible studies And I know that Donna Denzel and Dan we're going to be talking a little bit more about single Bible studies but I'm going to share with you some suggestions and ideas about small group home Bible studies.

You know, there's a sign in my dentist's office that says, only floss the teeth you want to keep.

My sign says only tell those about Jesus you want to be saved.

Is there somebody that you would ever say, oh, I don't want you to be saved?

We want everybody to be saved and we must have a passion, a really deep passion to winning souls to God's kingdom.

We're seeing the times change so quickly and we know that time is coming to an end shortly.

And we want to be ready and get everybody ready for those who are interested in studying.

1 of the benefits of having small groups is what we suggest is that you have teams of 4 people.

You have a speaker, an assistant speaker, a technician to advance the slides, and a host or a hostess.

And each 1 of those team members, they will come up with 10 names.

Let's just say it's a family member, or it's a work associate, or somebody in your community, or somebody that maybe has left.

You know I have so many churches that tell me half of their church after COVID never came back And I'm sure some of your churches have experienced that as well.

And we know there are many people that are not coming to church that should be coming to church.

So what we do is we suggest that each person make a list of 10 names and they take about a week or 2 and they earnestly, earnestly pray over those 10 names and ask the Lord, please Lord, bring those people to know you and help me to be able to be the witness for them.

And after a couple of weeks you all get together and now you have 40 names.

And you exchange those names and you have each 1 pray over those 40 names.

And what we suggest is tell your church members, we're praying over these names and we want to give you those names and ask you to pray for them.

You know, I have a list of names that I keep by my bedside every morning, every night, I pray for that list of names that I pray for.

And we want our church involved, every 1 of the church members, even if they're not part of the team, they should be praying and praying for those lists.

After a couple, 2 or 3 weeks of more prayer, then you walk and maybe some of you may want to personally invite them.

Maybe you want to send them a special invitation.

Maybe you want to give them an opportunity to come to a host or hostess meeting, and you just, maybe let's just say, I say, you know, Kathy, is it Kathy?

Kathy, have you noticed all of the catastrophic events that are happening and all the things that are going on around the world.

Beverly is having a meeting at her house Thursday about how to know and guarantee what is happening in the future.

And I'll pick you up and take you to the meeting at 06:00.

I'll pick you up and we can go to the meeting Never say would you like to go because that gives them an opportunity to say no So you offer to pick them up and take them to the meeting.

And then once they begin the meetings, and I'm not going to go because I go all day to training.

I'm going to be going to train in Trinidad and Tobago and we go from 9 o'clock in the morning until 4, 35 o'clock at night.

But I just want to share with you some suggestions.

And you know, Jesus spent 3 and a half years with his disciples, taking them through all of what was going to happen and all those times they could have said, this is for sure, this is the Christ, but you know something?

He gave them time and he trained them and he spent time with them so when they did realize that he was the Christ, that's when they became on fire for the Lord.

I also want to encourage you, do not be discouraged if You have somebody that rejects your appeal to come to them.

Frank Hasel

Love is! A Journey of Grief, Grace, and Gratitude.

And you might be able to hear me a little better than from the back row there.

Since I was born and raised in Germany, I'd rather start on time.

And I'm happy to have this seminar with you.

Now, the seminar that we will be exploring here, the topic that we will be exploring, it's a very important topic.

And it affects more people than you think, even in the church.

And if you've been at the opening evening yesterday night, I gave a little introduction.

I was told the microphone did not work properly for everything I said, unfortunately.

But I announced, maybe you've heard it, that I will have a frank conversation with you about this subject.

But before I start, let's have a word of prayer.

And then I'll start into the subject here.

Dear Jesus, I just invite you and your presence into this very room that you will be with us, with everyone who is attending this seminar.

Help me to speak clearly, help me to express things that are difficult to express in words that people, can help people to resonate and deal with their own experience of loss.

And we ask that you will keep all disturbances away and that this seminar can be a blessing to those who listen to it here in person and beyond.

And we ask this all, Lord Jesus, in your wonderful name, we pray, amen.

So some of you might know me a little bit.

And so just for the sake of those who have never had a chance to meet me in person, do not know my story, let me share a little bit about my background so that you will better understand where I'm coming from and what I'm sharing with you.

I do this, I talk about this topic not just in theory, but from a very personal experience.

A little over 15 years ago, my wife died.

She had breast cancer and she did not survive that.

And when you go through an experience of significant loss in life like that, I tell you that's a tough 1.

Even for Seventh-day Adventists, even for believing people.

And it raises a lot of questions, significant questions, hard questions, questions for which there are, to my knowledge, no easy answers.

And we have to learn to live with some open questions.

We don't have the privilege of knowing everything that God knows, and so we have to deal with situations in life that are not so easy.

And what I would like to do with you is just to share a little bit of my story.

And as I share parts of my story, I will stop here and there on some aspects that I find significant and meaningful and perhaps helpful.

And so we will explore things that relate to the whole process of grieving, of losing a loved 1, how that changes your life, how that changes your existence, and how it changes the way you relate to other people, and all that.

Now, we just have, I think, a little over an hour or so.

That's a huge topic, and we cannot cover everything that is connected to this whole experience of losing a loved 1, of the process of grief and grieving.

And so if you want to know more, I would like to make the following announcement that you might find helpful.

Maybe some of you are familiar with 3ABN or with It is written.

So both institutions are very powerful and good institutions.

I've seen their booth in the exhibition hall.

They invited me just recently this year and last year to give some interviews with them where I share a little bit more about my experience of losing my wife and going through the process of grieving and how even in the darkest of seasons in life, gratitude can flourish and flower and bloom.

So if you want to know more, just go to 3ABN, go to It is written, just type in my name and you will find several recordings there and videos and you might want to watch that for some additional aspects that we might not be able to cover today.

If you are still interested to learn even more about my story and the whole subject that we are dealing about, I would like to refer you to my recent book, Love Is, a journey of grief, grace, and gratitude.

And in there you will find very practical aspects, very practical tips, very practical suggestions on how to relate to a person who is in the grieving process.

Some of you might have lost a spouse, a person you love, maybe a child.

Some of you know a person who has lost a loved 1.

And somehow you might wonder, how can I best relate to that person?

How can I engage with that person in meaningful and helpful ways?

Now that book, Love Is, that you see here on the screen will give you very helpful and practical insights into this whole subject and you probably will enjoy reading that.

You can get this on Amazon.com or on any other online bookstore that is on the internet.

Have you lost a spouse, or have you lost a person you loved dearly?

Now, this is just a question for you personally to reflect.

Or do you know another person who has experienced this situation where they are in the process of grieving the loss of a loved 1?

And now you wonder, How can I relate in the best possible way to a person like that?

Now remember, this is a little practical thought.

Remember that every person you meet, not just in this room, but every person you meet is a person who loves something, is a person who is afraid of something, and is a person who has lost something.

Now, if you want to have meaningful conversations, not just small talk, If you really want to have conversations that touch the heart, where you get to know the person on a deeper level, you may want to talk about 1 of these 3 questions.

Is there something in your life that you are sincerely afraid of?

And perhaps the most personal, the most challenging question is, have you lost someone or something that you really loved?

If you raise some of these questions, you will realize that you start to talk with people on a different level.

And you don't know anything that is really going on in the heart of that person.

So remember, every person you meet, every person loves something.

Every person you meet is afraid of something.

And every person you meet has lost something in their life or will lose something in their life if they are very young.

So there's just a little something to ponder.

Now here's the first thing that I would like to share with you from my own experience of significant loss in life.

Death often comes unexpected, and most often too early.

That makes death very special in our lives.

That is the reason why death is so impactful in our lives.

See, death is something that we still have not fully mastered yet.

Despite all the advances in science and the medical sciences and everything, death is something that is still beyond our control.

And yes, we can manage it somehow, a little bit, and yet, when it comes, it comes.

And it often comes at an unexpected time.

With my wife, It also started very unexpectedly.

In fact, if you ask me now, I can hardly remember the exact time and date when it all started.

All I remember now is that on 1 day, I think it was a Friday morning, just before the weekend started, We were scheduled to go to a wedding of some friends.

And they asked me to have the wedding ceremony there.

And as we were preparing, my wife noticed something in her breast.

And that little something, that little lump, that little something that irritated her, and she was not sure what it was.

And that started a whole process of multiple visits to doctors, numerous exams, further exams, specialized exams, until you had the certainty that yes, this little something was not harmless.

It was cancer, and it needed to have surgery, and it needed to have special attention and care and a medical treatment and everything that follows from that.

Jeff Sutton

Raising Children to be ‘Missionaries’ with a Mission

I know there are people that are still going to come in as we get going.

But raising kids is a big topic, something I don't know a lot about.

So we're going to talk a little bit about that.

Just as a brief introduction, Fauna and I been working overseas for close to 21 years.

And we've been married for close to 21 years.

So we don't know much else different than what we do.

We lived in Bolivia for 8 years, and now we currently live in Belize, where we work at a missionary training center called MOVE.

We were blessed, both of us were blessed to be born into mission-minded families.

My dad was a, I would say, had a car dealer, he had a dealership when I was a kid, grew up fixing wrecks, but we would go every Christmas to Mexico to build churches, he still does that.

My dad runs a ministry called Mexico Missions and Beyond, and he has figured out how to build 10 churches in 2 weeks, I don't know how he does it.

He's 74 years old and still working for the Lord.

And I am so blessed to have that legacy from the choices my dad made.

And Fauna's parents, many of you know, are Jerry and Yvonne Eller.

I've never met a man that was so mission minded.

Every time we'd stop at a gas station, he'd hand out books to everybody and just loved the Lord and fought and grew up in that environment.

So then we had a challenge of how are we gonna raise our kids to be missionaries?

So I just wanna ask a couple people to stand up here so you know them.

I know you're in the middle, that's Andean.

And I wanna ask Cherise to stand up because in this picture, that is Charisse and that is Andy and that is a small airplane that we're flying in.

And there they all are, conked out in the back seat.

Our kids were raised in a very strange setting, unusual.

And how we navigated that, we're going to be talking a little bit about that today.

So Before we begin, let's start with a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, Lord, we are so grateful that you sent your son to be a missionary here to save us, Lord, to show the world who the Father was, is.

And Lord today as we share a little of our experience of raising kids in the mission field, we just ask that your Holy Spirit will speak.

Lord, you know how much we don't know, and But we are so thankful that you have made up for our deficiencies.

And we just plead with you that the Holy Spirit will speak to the hearts today, each situation, and may they glean principles that will be a blessing and useful in their own situation.

Lord, we pray these things in Jesus' name.

You know, when I went, we first started as a missionary, I always dreamed of being a mission bush pilot.

I thought of flying into postage stamp runways and wanting to do heroic things.

I quickly decided that I had to make some decisions about, well, what was I going to do in relationship to my family and what my dreams were?

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