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 New Pastor Gives Personal Testimony Sabbath services at the Laurelbrook Seventh-day Adventist Church on January 9, 2010 began with a song service led by David (senior), accompanied by Donna Kanna on the piano. The opening song was “Give me the Bible”. David then had prayer and Sharon Oxentenko read Isaiah 28:10-11 and welcomed everyone.
The mission report was a DVD about East-Central Africa. Leeann (senior) and David (senior) collected the Laurelbrook Missions Offering. Vasti (senior) and her sister Karina (elementary school) sang “Lamb of God melody” in Spanish and English for special music. Sharon Oxentenko had a few remarks in a Power Point “The Message in Names” about how words and Biblical names together have a message. Each Biblical name like Adam has a special message. Sharon Oxentenko had closing prayer. The congregation then broke up into two Sabbath School classes to study the week’s lessons.
 The church service proper began with an organ introit by Donna Kanna. David Wendt had the invocation. Clayton Brandt welcomed everyone and made the necessary announcements. The new pastor will have the prayer meeting on Tuesday evening with a board meeting afterwards. Two weeks from today the new ASI president will be here.
The congregation sang “Come, Christians, Join to Sing”. Clayton Brandt had the Morning Prayer and called for the offering. Bob Davis and Marvin Frey collected the morning offerings. The congregation sang the doxology; Clayton Brandt had a prayer for the offering. Ron Oxentenko read Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
Donna Kanna sang “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say” for special music. Vasti then told the children a story about her sister’s rescue of the family cat who had taken an unauthorized stroll outside the house.
Pastor Wendt talked about “By the Word of Their Testimony”; the congregation sang “Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart”; and Pastor Wendt had the benediction.
Personnel Other Than Students:
Bob Davis – one of Laurelbrook’s maintenance men specializing in home repair
Clayton Brandt – one of Laurelbrook’s maintenance men assigned to the vehicle shop and heavy equipment, local church elder.
David Wendt – pastor of the Graysville, Pikeville, and Laurelbrook Seventh-day Adventist churches. New church pastor at Laurelbrook.
Donna Kanna – Laurelbrook’s music director
Marvin Frey – Laurelbrook Nursing Home administrator
Ron Oxentenko – Laurelbrook’s president
Sharon Oxentenko – Ron Oxentenko’s wife, Sabbath School superintendent for the Laurelbrook church
Notes on the sermon:
1. Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
2. Trials now come in groups it seems today.
3. By 3rd grade, he was constantly failing his classes so his parents transferred him to a local public school from the church school he had attended.
4. By 6th grade, he was in the top of his class. He went to his first dance that year and became involved in sports in middle school.
5. In his sophomore year, he started playing games on Friday night and quit going to church. He graduated from high school with honors and thought he wanted to be a police office.
6. He took one year of criminal justice in college and dropped out for lack of money.
7. He joined the Coast Guard (sort of police) and went to boot camp. The instructors had them do pushups with a hundred pounds on their backs.
8. All of a sudden, he found religion. He was allowed to attend a nearby off-base Adventist church. He didn’t go to the inspection and managed to keep his off-base privileges.
9. He was then stationed on the Coast Guard cutter Confidence. This ship picked up fleeing Haitians.
10. At this point, he had a perfect scenario – beaches, travel, and other fun things. But out at sea, things changed – there was nothing but eat, sleep, and work.
11. When he was resting one day, he had a vision of what heaven was like. Suddenly, the vision went black, and God spoke to him and said that if he didn’t change he wouldn’t make it to heaven.
12. He turned to the Ten Commandments and realized how many he was breaking. He gave his heart to God right then and there. Right away his language cleared up.
13. Other sailors took notice of his conversion.
14. That next weekend he had the weekend off at Guantanamo Bay. He called home collect to his mother and told her about his conversion.
15. The next Sabbath, he was out to sea and had to stand duty. He went to the chaplain and got into Bible debates. The chaplain felt the sailors were doing God’s Will by doing their jobs. He was advised not to raise any issues until the ship was back in port.
16. A local Adventist came and picked him up, talked with him until late at night about the Bible, and lent him a book that caused him to make a decision about the Sabbath.
17. He went to the duty officer and told him about his religious decision to keep the Sabbath. The officer made a copy of the book to share with the captain. The next day the captain called him in and gave him a hard time. The captain wanted his baptismal certificate; it was sent to him.
18. The captain made the decision to get him out of the Coast Guard as fast as possible. It took about three months to get the paperwork done. It was an honorable discharge.
19. The crew noticed the difference in him. One young man who was always teasing him told him he wanted what he had.
20. He was allowed to work at the land station.
21. He went back to Washington State and went to a health ministry and took a three-month class. He met his wife there. A year later, they were married. They went to Oklahoma Academy for a while and then back to the health ministry.
22. When his daughter announced her arrival, the couple went back to Washington State. He did tree working. After a time, God allowed his work to dry up. They were three months behind in their rent.
23. He even tried to be a firefighter in a small town. 500 people applied for this position. When he took the physical test, he came out third on the list. But once again the Sabbath issue became a test since that was the day when the town firefighters did routine work around the firehouse.
24. Should he mention the issue during the job interview? He decided to be open about the issue of the Sabbath and noticed the faces of the firefighters fall. He was not hired right when he needed a job.
25. They had been giving their tithe to other ministries, but then they became convinced to give the tithe to the church.
26. He noticed a job opening working with disabled. But the job “required” a master’s degree. The Lord convinced him to look up government offices who would be dealing with the company. He made up a chart listing all the benefits of dealing with that particular company.
27. At the job interview, he was asked about how good he would be at sales. They were astounded when he pulled out his chart and gave his talk. He got the job and then a job with a computer company.
28. He started his own company dealing with disabled clients and their need for jobs.
29. Monty Church after one church meeting asked him whether he wanted to be a pastor. At another church, a pastor preached on how Jonah tried to evade God’s call. God impressed him that he wanted to preserve himself and his family at the expense of the call to the ministry.
30. They came to Southern, badly in debt. It got worse. Finally, they had to go back to Washington and sell the house and come back.
31. Before he finished his undergraduate work, he became the pastor at Pikeville.
32. There are times when they felt upside down, but God was hanging on to them.
33. Ellen White says that many who are not sure should seek out others who in difficulty. They themselves will be helped out of their difficulties by their own words.
34. When we wonder where God is, we have forgotten what God has already done for us.
35. Those who have a more bland testimony, who have not forgotten God, are spared a lot of heartache and sorrow.
36. God calls us all to be pastors. By helping others, we help ourselves.
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