Latest / Mission SONlight CHATT / Mission SONlight Chatt with Samuel Francis - Christian Entrepreneur
Transcript
- 0:09Welcome to Mission Sunlight Chat from Network
- 0:117 Media Center. We are at the St. Louis General
- 0:15Conference Session 2025 where the church is having
- 0:18its every five -year business meeting. And we
- 0:21are in the exhibit hall as you're looking out
- 0:23at exhibitors just passing by the front of our
- 0:27booth and many other booths. We are thankful
- 0:30to be here and connecting with ministries all
- 0:32over the world, global leaders in ministry, serving
- 0:36God and sharing what's happening in their field.
- 0:39I want to say hello to our guest, Samuel Francis.
- 0:42Yes. How are you doing? You are an entrepreneur
- 0:45and ministry leader, and you have a number of
- 0:48things you're going to share with us as well
- 0:50as your own personal testimony. Thank you for
- 0:53joining us. Would you begin us with a word of
- 0:55prayer? Absolutely. Let's pray together. Father
- 0:58in heaven, I pray that Jesus will be seen, that
- 1:00Jesus will be heard, that Jesus will be known.
- 1:03That's my prayer in his name. Amen. Samuel, before
- 1:06we get into the, by the way, love the name. And
- 1:09when I hear Samuel, I just want to do that low
- 1:11voice. Samuel. Yes. Hopefully people know what
- 1:16I'm doing. They just think I'm weird, which could
- 1:18be too. So, Samuel, you have several ministries.
- 1:23Before we get into that, tell me who Samuel Francis
- 1:26is. Where did you start? Where did you grow up?
- 1:28What part of the country or countries? Just what
- 1:31is your rearing like? Tell us who you are. Yeah,
- 1:33so I was born in New York City, Brooklyn. Wow.
- 1:36And grew up there for about maybe three, four,
- 1:38five years. That's another country for us southern
- 1:41boys. Very different, very different. Then I
- 1:45moved to Maryland, and that's where my formative
- 1:47years were, Maryland, Bowie, Maryland, Prince
- 1:49George's County. Went to school there, church
- 1:52there, everything. From there, went off to school
- 1:56in Virginia, missionary in Dominican Republic
- 1:58for about 10 years, and then landed in Tennessee,
- 2:02where I'm currently living today. So your history
- 2:05was knowing Christ as a young person. Yeah, definitely
- 2:08grew up in the church. For sure. When you say
- 2:10the church, you mean the Seventh -day Adventist
- 2:12Church? Absolutely. Not all of our listeners
- 2:13and viewers are Adventists, so I want to clarify
- 2:15that for them. Yes. And so your parents were
- 2:19involved in the church? I mean, as a child, I
- 2:23would assume so because I can't remember that
- 2:25far back. But as I was growing up, they did take
- 2:29me to church. That's what you've known. Right,
- 2:30right. They didn't take me to church. It's not
- 2:31like they were pastors or elders or anything
- 2:33like that. Late people. Right. Yeah. They definitely
- 2:36took me to church. Took us to church. Okay. You
- 2:39say you went to college in Virginia. Was it an
- 2:41Adventist school? Heartland College. Heartland.
- 2:43Okay. Very good. Tell me about your experience
- 2:46at Heartland. Oh, I loved it. For those that
- 2:49don't know, Heartland College is a supporting
- 2:52ministry of the Seventh -day Adventist Church.
- 2:53It is not what we call an Adventist institution.
- 2:58Heartland is just around the corner, so to speak,
- 3:01from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, his home
- 3:05there in Virginia. I thought when you said Virginia
- 3:07that maybe you went to one of the colleges in
- 3:09Virginia because Thomas Jefferson famously began
- 3:11a number of educational institutions. But Heartland
- 3:15is there near Monticello. So tell me about Heartland.
- 3:19What happened there with you? Loved it. I was
- 3:21converted when I was 16. God got a hold of my
- 3:23heart. And there was a church friend who had
- 3:26suggested Heartland, but at the time when she
- 3:27suggested it, I wasn't converted. So I was like,
- 3:29I don't want to go. I'd rather go to business
- 3:31school. I'd rather do my thing. But when God
- 3:34showed me that ministry was his call and purpose
- 3:38in my life, then Heartland, it was the school
- 3:42that God had prepared to prepare me for ministry.
- 3:45So as I hear you speaking, You wanted to do your
- 3:48thing, but when God got a hold of you, you wanted
- 3:50to do his thing. Oh, 100%. Amen. If somebody
- 3:56was interested in Heartland College, I know that's
- 3:58not what we're here to talk about, but we have
- 3:59had leadership from Heartland come and talk to
- 4:02us on Mission Sunlight Chat before. What would
- 4:04you recommend to them? It's not heaven. No place
- 4:09on earth is heaven. Know what you're going to
- 4:11get. Make sure you get it. And then go give the
- 4:14gospel to the world. Go for it. That's it. Yeah.
- 4:17Go in with a smart way about you that nothing's
- 4:20perfect. Absolutely. All right. So after Heartland,
- 4:23what happened with you? So that's when I went
- 4:24to be a missionary. So I did my internship in
- 4:27Dominican Republic. I studied pastoral evangelism.
- 4:30So my third year, that's where you finish all
- 4:32your coursework. And then your fourth year is
- 4:34overseas or in internship. And that's where I
- 4:37did my internship, Dominican Republic. As that
- 4:40fourth -year student, were people calling you
- 4:42Pastor Francis? Yeah. Oh, yeah, as I was, you
- 4:46know, serving in Santo Domingo. It comes with
- 4:49a heavy responsibility when you hear that title,
- 4:51doesn't it? It does. It does. But, I mean, you're
- 4:53prepared for it. You know, it's not like, you
- 4:56know, it's unexpected. Okay. Right. All right.
- 4:59And after you did that for, I think you said
- 5:0110 years? Yes, back and forth, serving there
- 5:04in different capacities for 10 years. Family
- 5:08yet or still single or what's that situation?
- 5:10I do not have a family. Okay. As far as wife
- 5:12and children. But one day? Oh, absolutely. Oh,
- 5:16I'm off the market though. I'm off the market.
- 5:18I do have a girlfriend. Okay. Absolutely. At
- 5:20the time of this recording. Totally get what
- 5:25you're saying here. All right, ladies, hold off.
- 5:28Right, right, right. Well, so. As an entrepreneur,
- 5:36you saw ministry opportunities. You came out
- 5:40of the mission field and kind of put those things
- 5:42together. I should backtrack a little bit. So
- 5:45even before I went to Heartland College in high
- 5:47school, back to the time when the Lord had converted
- 5:49me, he introduced me to literature evangelism.
- 5:52That was my first introduction to, you know,
- 5:54full -time hands -on ministry. So as a junior
- 5:57in high school, I spent my first summer canvassing
- 5:59in 2008. And for those that don't know, canvassing
- 6:03means you were selling Christian literature door
- 6:07to door. Giving out literature on a donation
- 6:10basis. Okay. You know, from 2008 up until this
- 6:15year, the last 17 years of my life have been
- 6:18heavily involved in literature evangelism from
- 6:20the student level all the way up to the conference
- 6:21level. All right. So what are the business slash
- 6:25ministries that you've got going now? So right
- 6:27now. I have a clothing line. God will provide
- 6:30one of the T -shirts that we sell. So this T
- 6:34-shirt is one of them in the clothing line, right?
- 6:36Right, right. So the name of the clothing line
- 6:38is Where Jesus Is, W -E -A -R, Jesus Is, Where
- 6:41Jesus Is. Okay, I like that. Yeah. So you have
- 6:44other shirts? Oh, yeah, there's other shirts,
- 6:46other products. That's just one facet of the
- 6:49business. And then we have the game, How Saved
- 6:51Are You? Just came out with this. How safe are
- 6:54you, Jordan? I'm just going to set that up here
- 6:56and let the folks at home see that. This is a
- 6:58game that's coming out. As we speak, it's still
- 7:01in the beta mode. As a matter of fact, right
- 7:03now, you can just go to HowSafeAreYou .com and
- 7:06order it. Okay. You know, absolutely. And you'll
- 7:08have it available in, say, how long? They can
- 7:11get it right now. They can preorder right now.
- 7:13They don't have to wait. They can pre -order
- 7:15right now. Ship and ride to their own. Exactly.
- 7:17All right, tell us. Hold on. I want to know about
- 7:20the game, but we'll do that in the second segment.
- 7:22Tell us the third ministry project you have.
- 7:26That was the very first one. It's called The
- 7:28Next Drop -Off. That's where everything began.
- 7:30So The Next Drop -Off, that was like canvassing
- 7:33was my heart and soul for 17 years. I mean, I
- 7:37started when I was 16, plus 17, I'm 33 now. And
- 7:40so, absolutely, that's what started everything,
- 7:42the podcast. With the podcast came the clothing
- 7:44brand, and then How Safe Are You? This is like
- 7:47three months ago, brand new. Okay. Mm -hmm. So
- 7:52you have pretty much been married to Christ and
- 7:57focus on serving him. Mm -hmm. What a commitment.
- 8:02Has that been easy? That's God. I'm human just
- 8:06like you. There's ups, there's downs, there's
- 8:08ins, there's outs. It's God's grace that has
- 8:11kept me. I'm not the best model of Christianity,
- 8:15but, you know. So I said to you, you know, what
- 8:19do you say to youth and young adults about Heartland?
- 8:20What do you say to a youth and young adult who
- 8:23is interested in entrepreneurship? They feel
- 8:26like God's led them to either start a business,
- 8:29start a ministry, get out there and connect in
- 8:32some way, whether it's in a commercial sense
- 8:34or in a ministry sense. What do you tell them?
- 8:37I mean, give them some practical advice about
- 8:39how to go and how to move. First and foremost,
- 8:42think. You would think that that's a common place
- 8:46to start, but a lot of people don't think. Think
- 8:48it through, huh? Have a plan. Think it through.
- 8:50What do you want to do? Write it down. Write
- 8:54it down a number of times. Write it down every
- 8:55day to make sure that you're on a single track.
- 9:01You can't chase two rabbits. That's where a lot
- 9:03of people go wrong. But really think, what do
- 9:05you want to offer? What problem are you solving?
- 9:09Can God help you with this business? There are
- 9:11some businesses God can't help you with. I was
- 9:13going to add to your think process, pray. Absolutely.
- 9:17Be prayerful. 100%. 100%. Of course, yeah, in
- 9:22that meditation phase, you're seeking confirmation
- 9:26from God with the gifts that he's already given
- 9:28you. Because he wants you to use the gifts that
- 9:30he's given you, you know. And then as you grow,
- 9:34he's going to give you more gifts. It's kind
- 9:35of like the parable of the talents. The one that
- 9:38received five didn't end with five. He just started
- 9:40with five. The one that received two didn't end
- 9:41with two. He started with two. The worst one
- 9:43started with one and ended with one. And so you
- 9:45don't want to be that guy. You don't want to
- 9:47be that server. Don't be that guy. Right, right,
- 9:51right. Absolutely. All right. Think and pray.
- 9:53And then take advantage of the resources. In
- 9:562025, there's no reason why anyone can't be successful
- 9:58because all of the people who were successful
- 10:00before us, they've either written in a book,
- 10:02they've spoken on a podcast, they've given a
- 10:04course on YouTube, and it's on Google. It's in
- 10:07one of those four places. There's plenty of ways
- 10:08to learn. 100%. 100%. There's no excuse why you
- 10:12shouldn't be successful. Unless you're pushing
- 10:15something that isn't really in God's leading.
- 10:17God may want you somewhere else. If you're struggling
- 10:19with success. Since this is evidently a Christian
- 10:23platform, I guess we should define the fact that
- 10:27there's two different forms of success. There's
- 10:29worldly success and then there's godly success.
- 10:32Regardless of what you're after, you could be
- 10:34successful in the world. I mean, Christ said
- 10:36you can get in the whole world and lose your
- 10:37soul. To many, that's a form of success. But
- 10:40in the church, success, I would say, would be
- 10:43something that would reflect God's glory and
- 10:45lead souls to the kingdom. Amen. Let's talk more
- 10:50about the ministries. I want to learn more about
- 10:53the game and also the shirts. Yeah. We're going
- 10:55to do that in a moment. Before we continue with
- 10:58that, I just want to remind our listeners and
- 11:00viewers, you can connect with us, missionsunlight
- 11:01.org. Text us, 1 -423 -855 -4877. Email hello
- 11:07at missionsunlight .org. And please click the
- 11:09share button as we take this break. Click the
- 11:11share button. Let someone else know that you're
- 11:12listening, you're watching, and you want to encourage
- 11:14them to do so as well. Thank you so much for
- 11:17doing that. We'll be back with more Mission Sunlight
- 11:19Chat. at the heart of the planet. The intrepid
- 11:36spirit of a village and the vibe of a great metropolis.
- 11:40It means camera one and camera two. It means
- 11:44transforming a school, orphanage or hospital.
- 11:48It means fire, rain, ice and snow. It means gifts
- 11:53by the dollar and by the check. It means donations
- 11:57that roll and donations that fly. It's a movement
- 12:03on a trail or down a motorway. It means family.
- 12:09All of us together. And individually. It's who
- 12:13you are or who you are becoming. And to her,
- 12:17it's a simple gesture that means hope. Whatever
- 12:21it means to you, being a media missionary means
- 12:25more than you might think. Welcome back to Mission
- 12:36Sunlight Chat. We are talking with Samuel Francis.
- 12:38Samuel, I would like to say what business you're
- 12:41in, but you're in the God business. You've got
- 12:44T -shirts. You've got a game. And then the latest
- 12:48thing that you're up to is? This game. How saved
- 12:52are you? Absolutely. Tell us about the game.
- 12:55What do we do? It says the game for your life
- 12:58on it, but what does that mean? Right. So the
- 13:02devil is seeking to. win souls just as much as
- 13:05Christ is seeking to win souls. The difference
- 13:08is Christ can save them and the devil can't.
- 13:10And so he's asked us to be creative in becoming
- 13:15fishers of men. And so essentially that's what
- 13:18this game is. Consider it as a net. The game
- 13:24is based off of conversation. There's three levels
- 13:25of conversation. Icebreakers. You open it up.
- 13:31While you're opening it, I'm noticing here it
- 13:33says age 14 plus. Anybody. It's for the whole
- 13:35family. Two to 20 players. Yeah. Oh, yeah. The
- 13:38time to take. You can do it in 20 minutes. Oh,
- 13:40yeah. You can do it in five minutes if you want
- 13:42to. The question on the back says, are you saved?
- 13:45Are you sure? Sadly, there are millions of believers
- 13:47around the world who still wrestle with the assurance
- 13:49of their salvation. Wrestle no longer. Yes. That's
- 13:53right. Okay. Tell us about it. You've opened
- 13:55it. Let me just hold that up for the camera here.
- 13:58Oh, 100%. So they can see what's there. Oh, Jordan
- 14:01was getting a shot on the other end. I pulled
- 14:02it away. Sorry about that, Jordan. Yeah, and
- 14:04so there's four levels. Join the community. Right.
- 14:08You started with the icebreaker questions. Okay,
- 14:10which one of those? Is that number one? Right.
- 14:13Okay, there. All right. And if you will, I'll
- 14:17hold that up over here. I'll trade with you.
- 14:19There we go. Yeah, so that red deck, those are
- 14:21icebreaker questions. Those are the questions
- 14:23that are meant to, you know, get some laughter
- 14:24going, you know, get the conversation flowing.
- 14:27Everybody can participate. in round one. So that's
- 14:31right here, the red one? Right. Those are the
- 14:33red questions. Deck one. Then you go to deck
- 14:35two. Those are deeper questions. Those are the
- 14:37questions you really kind of have to think about.
- 14:40This is where you're starting to get your feet
- 14:42wet, so to speak. And then when you get to the
- 14:44purple deck, those are the soul -stirring questions.
- 14:47Those are the questions you really have to bare
- 14:49your soul. And the purpose of the game is to
- 14:51get everybody talking, regardless of where they
- 14:54are in the spectrum of salvation, whether they've
- 14:56accepted Christ or not. Everybody has something
- 14:58to say. And then you go to the challenge cards.
- 15:00That's the very last one. And by the time you
- 15:02get to the challenge cards, you know, the challenge
- 15:04cards vary. You could be writing. You could be
- 15:06doing an impromptu sermon. You could be drawing.
- 15:09You could be thinking of a podcast title. You
- 15:12could be recording a video. You know, there's
- 15:14so many different challenges. We want to get.
- 15:17every part of the brain activated with those
- 15:19challenge cards and after you do a challenge
- 15:21card you go right back up to round one you just
- 15:23do question one two three challenge one two three
- 15:25challenge you just back and forth just like that
- 15:27so there's a lot of dialogue and oh yeah so okay
- 15:32i don't know if you worked with the psychologist
- 15:34to come up with this but um I have had some therapy
- 15:40because I lost my wife four years ago. And one
- 15:44of the things that my therapist has done in the
- 15:47process of my grieving and remarrying is the
- 15:51importance of having what he calls 20 -20 -20
- 15:54time with my spouse. And so each day we try.
- 15:58We don't successfully do this every day, but
- 16:00we try to spend 20 minutes. Superficial questions,
- 16:04just checking in. In 20 minutes, we dig in a
- 16:06little bit deeper. What was that like for you?
- 16:08And then we dig in a little deeper and we talk
- 16:12about maybe how it might have bothered us, how
- 16:17it hindered us, whether that's a relational thing
- 16:19between me and her or between her and others
- 16:21or me and others or just watching what others
- 16:23are going through. And then we might even have
- 16:25an extra 20 minutes. That's where he says we
- 16:27really, really, the rubber meets the road and
- 16:29we connect in a bound way. Yeah. What I'm gathering
- 16:34as you do this is I'm hearing that 20, 20, 20,
- 16:37and then the extra 20. Absolutely. So there is
- 16:41a, whether you intended for it or not, if you
- 16:43were letting the Lord lead you, you got some
- 16:45of that in this as you put this card together.
- 16:48I want to notice here at the bottom it says H
- 16:50-S -A -Y. That is the name of the game. How saved
- 16:53are you? It's perfect for families, couples,
- 16:56teams, schools, leaders, churches. I think that's
- 16:58great that you did a game that two people can
- 17:00play. Right. It can be a blessing for marriage,
- 17:03for strengthening the spirituality of your marriage.
- 17:05Absolutely. I like here, you've got some emojis,
- 17:09loads of laughter, deep conversation, spiritual
- 17:11connection, exciting challenges. I'm looking
- 17:15at this brochure here, and I'm just going to
- 17:17hold this up for Jordan to get in a little bit
- 17:20closer here. Maybe I can help with that. There
- 17:23is a QR code. Is it on that page? Yes, sir. Yeah,
- 17:28there it is. Yeah, yeah. If folks want to connect
- 17:29with the QR code, they can do that. We'll also
- 17:32put information in the bio because you've got
- 17:34a website where they can go. As you said, they
- 17:37can pre -order this game. Absolutely. You know,
- 17:39the Seventh -day Adventist Church for several
- 17:41years was producing games that were... For the
- 17:47family. And it was great for Sabbath afternoons.
- 17:49And then we've kind of gone through. I get in
- 17:51trouble with some of the publishers because I'm
- 17:53sure there's some new games out there. But we've
- 17:54gone through maybe not as many. This is a fresh
- 17:57new game that folks can play. This is the best
- 18:00one ever. End of story. Best game. Because this
- 18:04is talking about the thing that matters most.
- 18:06Absolutely. Your eternal life. Very simple. Easy
- 18:08to play. You can play it anywhere. Take it on
- 18:10the plane. You can take it to church. You can
- 18:13take it to the classroom. You can play this game
- 18:16anywhere. This is the best game, the best Christian
- 18:19conversation, and it's indestructible. You're
- 18:23saying that because I just dropped it on the
- 18:25floor. Let me see that other box. I'll trade
- 18:27the brochure with you. I just want to show this.
- 18:30On the back here it says Romans 10 .13. Everyone
- 18:32who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
- 18:36Romans 10 .13. It's on both ends. Absolutely.
- 18:39The game pieces, the game cards are very interesting.
- 18:41I'm just going to pull one out here. That's from
- 18:43the Red Deck. What's the most valuable thing
- 18:45you ever lost or that was stolen from you? Explain.
- 18:49I'm going to pull out the second one. Just randomly
- 18:51pulling these cards out. There we go. Nothing
- 18:53prepared in advance. Yeah. And Jordan, keep me
- 18:57abreast of how we're doing on time. The second
- 18:59card, what are three habits that have helped
- 19:01you strengthen your faith? Okay, we've gone a
- 19:04little deeper there. Yes. Just going to pull
- 19:06again randomly here from the middle of the deck.
- 19:09I know you probably don't like to call them a
- 19:11deck of cards because that can be associated
- 19:12with gambling, but that's kind of a deck, right?
- 19:14It sure is a deck. Okay. It asks us to read Numbers
- 19:1720, verse 6 through 13, and Deuteronomy 3, 23
- 19:20through 29. Digging into the word. I love that.
- 19:23Have you ever experienced a major disappointment
- 19:25or setback, and how did you handle that? Man,
- 19:29I can see a pattern here. With therapists liking
- 19:34this deck of cards. Yes. Going to pull to the
- 19:37challenge card. Absolutely. Are we ready for
- 19:38this? We're ready. Open the New Testament or
- 19:40Proverbs and start reading at random. Your partner
- 19:43or group must try and find exactly where you
- 19:45are reading. Keep reading until someone finds
- 19:47exactly where you are in the text. Yes. That
- 19:51is serious getting into the Word. Yes. And when
- 19:53you're asking the Holy Spirit to lead this game,
- 19:56because it's not just a game. Right. It's about
- 19:59salvation, and that certainly isn't a game. So
- 20:02I'm going to call it an exercise in faith. Yes.
- 20:04Faith exercise. Yeah. You can get deep. And if
- 20:08you go through this series of cards, whether
- 20:10you do it, like you said, in five minutes, five
- 20:12minutes a day, maybe you make it your morning
- 20:14worship. Right. Maybe you make it your Friday
- 20:17evening family time. Maybe you make it your couple's
- 20:21time. Maybe that's part of your 2020 with your
- 20:24girlfriend. Absolutely. With your spouse, with
- 20:27your kids. Great ways that we can find a connect.
- 20:31Indeed. Indeed. So the heart of the game is on
- 20:33the back of this brochure. There's three purposes.
- 20:37One is to help you get to know God better, right?
- 20:40So the questions and challenges with the altar
- 20:43of incense symbol, those are all about helping
- 20:46you strengthen your walk with God. Every question
- 20:48and challenge with the table of showbread is
- 20:51revolving around the word of God. And so that's
- 20:54where you're digging into the Bible, opening
- 20:56up his word and getting active there. And then
- 20:59the know God's people, these questions and challenges
- 21:01are all about the social aspect, getting to know
- 21:03people better, getting to know God's people better,
- 21:07showing, sharing your light with the world. And
- 21:10so all of the questions and challenges have one
- 21:12of these three symbols, and that's how you can
- 21:14kind of differentiate what kind of question you're
- 21:16getting into. Amen. I like the idea that it has
- 21:19the connection to the sanctuary. 100%. And that
- 21:22as it goes, it grows. Absolutely. Yeah, deeper
- 21:27and deeper. Samuel, we're going to come back
- 21:28and talk a little bit more, but I need to take
- 21:30a break. We hope that you are being blessed by
- 21:32our program today. And if you are, would you
- 21:34connect with us at missionsunlight .org? There's
- 21:36an opportunity to give there. You can also text
- 21:38us or email us. If you give, you are helping
- 21:41this ministry continue to share more of these
- 21:43stories behind mission and ministry. So thank
- 21:46you for that blessing. We are thrilled to be
- 21:48here at the General Conference Session Exhibit
- 21:50Hall in St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States
- 21:52of America. A lot of noise in the background,
- 21:55but that's the sound of ministries sharing with
- 21:58one another what God is doing. We'll be back
- 22:00with more Mission Sunlight Chat. Our salvation
- 22:11is a day -to -day matter, isn't it? The real
- 22:16principle of the Sabbath is reconnecting ourselves
- 22:20with the Creator. We must learn to abide in Jesus'
- 22:27name. We move ahead with our mission objectives,
- 22:30recognizing that we are serving together the
- 22:33Most High God. Welcome back to Mission Sunlight
- 22:48Chat. Our guest, Samuel Francis, is here from,
- 22:51well, from three different places. Remind me
- 22:55again, what are they? The game? How saved are
- 22:58you? Right. How saved are you? God will provide.
- 23:01Where Jesus is is the name of the clothing brand.
- 23:04And then the next drop -off podcast. Okay, let's
- 23:06talk about that podcast. Tell me about that.
- 23:08How can people find you and what's the purpose?
- 23:10Yeah, so I started the podcast because I wanted
- 23:12to... Create a community. I was extremely inspired
- 23:16by Eric Thomas, motivational speaker. But more
- 23:18than that, you know, community leader, father,
- 23:21husband. And I was tapped into his community.
- 23:23And I was like, man, every time I listen to an
- 23:25episode, I was like, man, this is good. I feel
- 23:27like I'm brothers with these guys. I feel like
- 23:29I'm there in the room. But this doesn't exist
- 23:32for Literature Evangelist. Because you have different
- 23:34groups, different conferences and whatnot. And
- 23:36so I was like, okay, God, how can I create a
- 23:38community where Literature Evangelist from not
- 23:40only the United States, but from around the world.
- 23:43can tune in weekly and find encouragement, find
- 23:47motivation to keep on going. And so I didn't
- 23:50know what to do, where to start. So I started
- 23:53where everybody should start on Google, how to
- 23:56start a podcast. Went through the necessary steps.
- 23:59And in about a couple months in 2019, from the
- 24:02moment the idea came to my mind, a couple months
- 24:05later, we launched our first episode. Do you
- 24:07have guests? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, definitely.
- 24:10So season one, there's the multiple seasons.
- 24:11Season one was all about canvassing, literature,
- 24:13evangelism, training, motivation, testimonies,
- 24:16the entire world, interviewing, publishing leaders,
- 24:19summer program leaders, just everything that
- 24:24you can think of about canvassing. That was season
- 24:26one. Season two, we launched more so into your
- 24:30story of salvation, you know, not so much salvation,
- 24:33but more so your purpose, right? What has God
- 24:37called you to do? That was season two. Season
- 24:39three was the story of salvation. How God saved
- 24:42you. Where did he find you? That was season three.
- 24:46Season four was more so about how do you be in
- 24:50the world but not of the world. That's season
- 24:52four and five. So many of us were on fire on
- 24:56Sabbath and then throughout the rest of the week
- 24:57were on fire for somebody else. You know what
- 25:00I mean? But how do you stay consistent in your
- 25:02Christian walk? So that was season four and five.
- 25:05And now we're on season six where we're tackling
- 25:07the four biggest questions of your life, which
- 25:09is, number one, which God are you going to serve?
- 25:11Number two, how are you going to serve him? What
- 25:13area? You know, what are your gifts and callings?
- 25:16Question number three is who are you going to
- 25:17marry? Who are you going to serve God with? And
- 25:19then question number four, the biggest question
- 25:21is, are you going to bring children into the
- 25:23world? And if so, how are you going to raise
- 25:25them? Because that's the next generation. So
- 25:26that's what we're covering in season six right
- 25:28now. You know, as I listen to you, Samuel. You're
- 25:31not afraid to ask tough questions. Oh, man. No.
- 25:34Make sure that your girlfriend is able to keep
- 25:39up with you. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. She's great.
- 25:41Just a little relational advice. Indeed. She
- 25:46won't turn to you one day and go, who are you?
- 25:48She knows what she's getting into. A man who's
- 25:51not afraid to ask the tough questions. Indeed.
- 25:53You know, but you're not doing it for self. Right.
- 25:56You're doing it for Christ. For Christ. Absolutely.
- 25:58So where God is. Where Jesus is. Where Jesus
- 26:01is. Yes. Yes. So that came about. That's the
- 26:04clothing brand. That's the clothing brand. That
- 26:06came about simultaneously with the podcast. So
- 26:08the podcast started in 2019, December of 2019.
- 26:11And we're getting ready to go to GYC. GYC Generation
- 26:15Youth Christ. Right. Yearly meetings they have.
- 26:19Love GYC. And, you know, there was no way that
- 26:24I could create merch. only for literature evangelists.
- 26:29And so I was like, man, what should I create
- 26:30for those who won't wear the canvassing merch?
- 26:35And so I was just thinking like, man, what could
- 26:37I wear? Or what could I create? And in that process,
- 26:41you know, Jesus is came to mind. Because I wanted
- 26:44to put something like Jesus is something, but
- 26:46nothing was coming to mind except Jesus is. I
- 26:49was like, all right, why don't we just leave
- 26:50it at that? Jesus is. And I put the dot, dot,
- 26:52dot, you know. And when we went to the UIC, that
- 26:56sold out. So I was like, hmm, we might be onto
- 27:00something here. So we kept making more shirts,
- 27:03hoodies, and things like that. And it's grown.
- 27:05I give thanks to God that it's grown significantly.
- 27:08And we're here to scale it, scale it all the
- 27:10way up. The word Jesus is international. Absolutely.
- 27:13Everywhere I go. Quick story. So that was the
- 27:17only shirt I wore from 2020 until... I was hired
- 27:22to be a full -time literature evangelist. So
- 27:25for that two -year period, I only wore Jesus
- 27:26Is. And one time, I was going into Publix, and
- 27:30a lady stopped me as she was coming out the store.
- 27:32And she's just looking at my shirt. And, of course,
- 27:35you know, I'm used to people just looking at
- 27:38my shirt. And so she's like, Jesus Is. She's
- 27:42like, Jesus Is everything. I was like, you got
- 27:44it. That's right. Jesus Is everything. And she
- 27:45kept on going, Jesus Is my best friend, sweet
- 27:47lady. And Becky was her name, Becky. At the time,
- 27:52I was getting ready to go on a canvassing program
- 27:53in the summer. And so I got her, you know, of
- 27:56course, introduced to the game. I mean, introduced
- 28:00to the shirt. And Holy Spirit was like, Sam,
- 28:01I want you to give her a shirt for free. And
- 28:03so I was like, hmm, well, that's interesting
- 28:06because I'm selling these, Lord. Why would I
- 28:07give her one for free? But Holy Spirit said,
- 28:09give her one for free. So I took her to the van.
- 28:11I carried the shirts with me everywhere I went,
- 28:13right? And so she bought one. And I was like,
- 28:17okay, I feel impressed to give you this shirt
- 28:19for free. And she's like. Wow. Well, I'm going
- 28:22to go ahead and buy that one, you know, for her
- 28:23husband. And Holy Spirit says, I want you to
- 28:26give her a shirt for free. I was like, Lord,
- 28:28I'm trying to give her a shirt. So I give her,
- 28:30I pull out another shirt like this. This one
- 28:31is for you for free as a gift. She's like, you
- 28:33know what? I do have a son. I'm going to buy
- 28:37that one for him. So she buys that one. I'm like,
- 28:39oh, my word. Holy Spirit says, Sam, give her
- 28:41a shirt for free. I was like, Lord, I've already
- 28:43pulled out two shirts. She's bought every shirt
- 28:45I pulled out. So I pull out another one. It's
- 28:46like, man, listen, this one is for you as a gift.
- 28:49I don't want you to buy this one. This one's
- 28:51for you. Long story short, as I'm getting ready
- 28:53to go on this canvassing trip to Texas, I said,
- 28:57I have a friend of mine you're going to love.
- 28:59And what I do is I get them in contact because
- 29:02there was an evangelistic series coming to Chat
- 29:04First, that church, later on that year. And so
- 29:07I get them connected. And when I get back from
- 29:09the canvassing program, my friend in Chattanooga,
- 29:12she tells me, hey, Sam, you've got to come to
- 29:16the evangelistic series because that's that.
- 29:18That person that you met, Becky, she's coming.
- 29:21And she brought her son. Amen. Praise God. Once
- 29:24you got the T -shirt for her. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 29:26Absolutely. And she went through the whole series.
- 29:28Her son went through the whole series. And at
- 29:29the end of it, her son was baptized. Wow. Praise
- 29:32God. Baptized. And, of course, very active church.
- 29:35He was invited on a mission trip to Mexico that
- 29:38December. And later on in March, he invited me.
- 29:41So 2021, he invites me. I go. He goes to Wichita
- 29:45Hills. Gets heavily involved in the mission.
- 29:48Man, just great story. And I was just like extremely
- 29:51thankful to God that a simple shirt could lead
- 29:55a soul to Christ. And now he's married now, serving
- 29:58God. And I'm just humbled just to know that God
- 30:03took something simple, you know, a nontraditional,
- 30:06and he's using it to save souls. I missed in
- 30:08the story what happened with Becky. Becky. So
- 30:10Becky was the one I met at Publix. Right. And
- 30:13she's the one that was just. fascinated with
- 30:15the shirt jesus is like turn around what's on
- 30:17the back what there's nothing on the back jesus
- 30:18is everything you know jesus is my friend he's
- 30:20my savior he's like hey man hey man she was just
- 30:22loving it loving and loving it and because i
- 30:25wasn't going to be in the area for long i decided
- 30:27to connect her with my friend right yeah yeah
- 30:30and so they kept in contact invited her to evangelism
- 30:33series she attended the meetings she attended
- 30:34the meetings with her son any results there yet
- 30:37Well, her son was baptized. She's still on fire
- 30:40for the Lord. She wasn't miserably baptized,
- 30:43but she loves Jesus. Oh, she's a Christian. She's
- 30:45a child of God for sure. No question about it.
- 30:48Praise the Lord. Absolutely. So, again, how can
- 30:53they get a hold of a shirt if they want it? WhereJesusIs
- 30:55.com. Okay. So, typically people do W -H -E -R
- 30:59-E, like location where. It's not location where.
- 31:04Clothing wear. W -E -A -R. W -E -A -R. Jesus
- 31:08Is. WhereJesusIs .com. And how can they connect
- 31:11with the game? HowSavedAreYou .com. HowSavedAreYou
- 31:14.com. HowSavedAreYou .com. Absolutely. And? And
- 31:17TheNextDropoff .com. And now The Next Drop Off
- 31:20just got on YouTube with Season 6. And so we're
- 31:22on YouTube as well. Yeah. Check out the podcast.
- 31:25Order your game. Yes, indeed. Order your clothing
- 31:29wear. Absolutely. Support our brother in Christ
- 31:32and help share the gospel. It's not just a purchase
- 31:35for self, but it's a purchase for the kingdom.
- 31:37Right, absolutely. So being a literature evangelist,
- 31:39I'm trained to go up to people wherever they
- 31:41are, in parking lots, businesses, houses, right?
- 31:44The whole spirit behind the clothing brand was
- 31:48so that people would come up to you, and that's
- 31:49exactly how it's been from day one. With the
- 31:51Jesus is line, I don't have to do anything but
- 31:54wear it. And people come up to me telling me
- 31:56who Jesus is. People come to me asking, like,
- 31:58Jesus is what? You know, like, what do you mean
- 32:00Jesus is? Because there's nothing else on the
- 32:01shirt. It's just Jesus is. And so, yeah, the
- 32:04conversations, they come to you. Praise the Lord.
- 32:07Yeah. Samuel Francis, thank you so much for sharing.
- 32:10I'm going to say Samuel Francis, the game guy.
- 32:13Yeah. It's a game for life. It's a game about
- 32:16eternal life. Yeah. Hold that up one more time.
- 32:19Just really excited about that. I'm going to
- 32:21be ordering one. Probably order a shirt or two.
- 32:24And then definitely want to check out your podcast.
- 32:26We want to also include your podcast connection
- 32:29to our podcast. Maybe one day we can join you.
- 32:33Yeah, that would be great. Jordan and I would
- 32:35love to do that, one or both of us, if that's
- 32:37an option down the road. Speaking of sharing,
- 32:40we want to encourage our listeners and viewers.
- 32:42Would you click the share button if you've been
- 32:43blessed by the program today? Let somebody else
- 32:45know you're listening. Let somebody else know
- 32:47you're watching so they too. can enjoy we're
- 32:50on most all the major podcast channels we're
- 32:52on facebook and youtube there's a way for anybody
- 32:55to connect just about anywhere in the world so
- 32:58connect with us at missionsunlight .org as well
- 33:011 -423 -855 -4877 is the number to text hello
- 33:05at missionsunlight .org is an email you can connect
- 33:08with us at feel free to give feel free to let
- 33:10us know your prayer request let us know you're
- 33:13praying for us and we of course are praying for
- 33:15you as well. Brother, before we close this, just
- 33:18a defining word from God's word you want to say.
- 33:21Absolutely. So in this season, I'm studying the
- 33:24parable of the talents, where if you're familiar,
- 33:28you know that the servant, one of them got five
- 33:31talents, one got two, one got one talent, and
- 33:34the master went off. And it's just fascinating,
- 33:37the mindset of the two who decided to double
- 33:42their talents, and the one who decided not to
- 33:45do anything at all. And Jesus calls him a wicked
- 33:47and slothful servant. You know, it's not like
- 33:49Jesus had compassion and mercy, like, oh, poor
- 33:51guy, you know, you probably just didn't know
- 33:54what to do. Let me give you another chance. No,
- 33:56he called him a wicked and slothful servant.
- 33:58It's because that servant knew what to do. That
- 34:00servant could have asked for help. He didn't
- 34:02do it. And so it's been my, that was the story
- 34:06that led to my conversion. Of course, you know,
- 34:08I grew up in the Seventh -day Adventist church,
- 34:10but I wasn't converted until I was 16 or 17 years
- 34:12old. And it was that sermon preached that one
- 34:15day Jesus will come and ask, what have you done
- 34:17with the talents that I've given you? And it
- 34:19was that point that led me to stop and think,
- 34:23what have I done for Jesus? You know, what have
- 34:27I done for Jesus? And it was at that moment that
- 34:29I saw the cross and I saw what Christ did for
- 34:31me. And I was extremely ashamed of the fact that
- 34:34Christ gave all his life, his everything for
- 34:35me. And I hadn't given anything. for him. And
- 34:39it was at that moment that I got on my knees
- 34:41and said, Lord, the rest of my life is yours.
- 34:42Amen. Use me however you see fit. And so I want
- 34:46to be that servant that went out and put my talents
- 34:49to use and multiply them by God's grace. Amen.
- 34:52Yeah. Amen. Samuel, as we're wrapping up this
- 34:56episode, let's have a word of prayer to finish
- 34:58up. Okay. Generally, Father, we thank you for
- 35:00the opportunity to hear the work that Samuel
- 35:03is doing and the exciting things that he's doing
- 35:05to reach out to others. Not just your traditional
- 35:09ways of reaching people, but the clothing line
- 35:11that makes people ask questions and makes them
- 35:15think instead of just us always going to them
- 35:17and the podcast and everything that's involved.
- 35:21It shows us that you can use... use us in ways
- 35:23that aren't just traditional evangelism. And
- 35:26I pray that each one of us will look for a way
- 35:28that we can be using the talents that you give
- 35:31us, that we won't hide them, but we'll use the
- 35:34talents that you give us to further your kingdom
- 35:36and your ministry. Be with us as we leave here
- 35:38and help us each to find a way to use those talents
- 35:41that you give us. In your name, amen. Amen. That
- 35:44is our program for the day. This is Mission Sunlight
- 35:48Chat. This has been a Beeson Brook production
- 35:52in association with Network 7 Media Center. Executive
- 35:56Producers Christopher and Rebecca Beeson Roddy
- 36:00Scarborough Don and Nancy Van Ornum Associate
- 36:03Producers Jordan and Ashley Wagner Gary and Dina
- 36:07Bartle -Wagner Your host today, Christopher Beeson
- 36:10Director of Production and Audio Engineer Jordan
- 36:13Wagner To suggest guests Topic questions, to
- 36:17pray with us or to give, visit missionsunlight
- 36:19.org or text us at 423 -855 -4877. You may write
- 36:26to us at Network 7 Media Center, Box 25468, Chattanooga,
- 36:33Tennessee, 37422. This has been a production
- 36:37of Network 7 Media Center.