Latest / Mission SONlight CHATT / Mission SONlight Chatt Ep.2 with Steve Dickman

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Mission SONlight Chatt Ep.2 with Steve Dickman · Mission SONlight CHATT

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  Music
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  Welcome to Mission Sunlight Chat from the Media Missionaries of Network 7 Media Center.
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  We're glad that you have joined us.
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  We are here in our world headquarters studio located in Chattanooga, Tennessee in the United States of America.
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  Wherever you are around the globe listening or watching, we welcome you. We're glad you're with us.
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  My name is Christopher Beeson and next to me is Steve Dickman.
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  We'll talk to Steve a little bit more, learn a little bit more about him in just a moment.
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  Our Director of Production and Engineering today just down the line is Jordan Wagner.
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  And Jordan will be making sure things run smoothly and he'll jump in as he chooses in there with his microphone.
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  Mission Sunlight Chat is a non-profit Christian media production.
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  So if you'd like to know more, visit us at missionsunlight.org or if you want to give, you can click donate there.
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  Just one more thing before we get into today's program. We need to grow.
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  As we begin the program, Stephen, we want to learn a little bit more about you.
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  But before we do, would you have a prayer for us?
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  Absolutely. Father in heaven, we come to you today as the giver of life
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  and all good things and even our trials and tribulations.
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  Today, we are grateful for the opportunity to talk together.
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  May this program be a blessing to someone who is watching today.
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  In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
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  Amen.
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  So as I said before, Steve Dickman is with us.
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  Steve, I've known you across many different ministry platforms.
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  Share with us a little bit about what you're doing now, what you're doing today.
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  I'm serving as president for Outpost Centers International.
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  That's one of my primary jobs.
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  I'm also serving as president for Harbert Hills Academy in Savannah, Tennessee,
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  which is kind of my history.
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  So I'm carrying those two main responsibilities right now.
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  We'll come to Harbert Hills. I think the connected the full name is the foundation.
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  Yeah, Rural Life Foundation.
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  OK, you're responsible for that, which is a pretty broad place.
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  We'll talk a bit about that.
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  A few things are going on.
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  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  So tell me about your family, your kids.
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  I know you have some grandkids.
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  Tell me about your ministry.
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  Just what things you like to do in life every day.
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  Just let our audience know a little bit more about you.
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  Yeah, so I have two children, two daughters, both grown and married
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  and on their own in different parts of the world.
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  Can you say where those are?
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  Yeah, yeah.
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  So my oldest daughter, Heather, is married to Jared Ho-Wing
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  and two children, Steven and Daniel, and they're in the Philippines.
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  They just launched to serve with PAMAS as an aviation ministry there in the Philippines.
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  And Heather's husband, Jared, is a helicopter pilot.
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  He's flying for them there in the regions of Philippines.
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  And as we record this, PAMAS has had a challenging year.
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  I want to remind our viewers to be in prayer for them,
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  and especially for this new opportunity of ministry and missionary service
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  for Heather and Jared.
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  Daniel was the grandson.
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  Steven and Daniel, grandsons.
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  Yeah, I like that one of them's name, Steven, too.
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  There you go.
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  My other daughter, Julia, and her husband, Rylan.
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  Julia is a nurse.
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  He is a computer technician, computer online specialist that helps people from
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  so he can work from home there in Walla Walla, Washington.
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  She's a nurse there.
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  Okay. And no grandkids there?
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  No grandkids there yet.
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  So two grandkids.
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  That's what I have, too.
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  But this year, I'm going to have two more, so I'm going to take you.
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  My wife, Rebecca, and I are quite excited to be growing that addition in our family.
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  They're a lot of fun, aren't they?
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  They're a lot of fun.
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  And it's a little challenging when they're halfway around the world,
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  but God is good.
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  He's given us communication tools, at least.
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  I was just going to say, I've seen you with a few of your grandchildren,
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  or with your grandchildren, a couple of your grandkids.
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  And I know you enjoy spending time with them.
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  It's going to be tough to have them way over there.
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  You're going to find a reason to visit the Philippines.
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  I am looking for every reason to visit the Philippines.
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  And by God's grace, we'll be over there some.
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  Your wife, Brenda?
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  Yeah, she is serving as girls dean at Harvard Hills Academy.
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  And we've been in ministry there for 32 years.
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  And so she has done a number of years as assistant dean and then dean,
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  English teaching, music, a whole variety of things.
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  As in most ministry settings, you know, there's not just one hat for you to wear.
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  You wear many hats.
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  And so, yeah, we're still carrying on the work there at Harvard Hills.
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  So you said you had two daughters, but as a girls dean,
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  you have a lot more than two daughters.
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  I've got 30 of them upstairs.
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  Yeah, that's a good life.
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  Hobbies, I know you stay super busy, so I'm trying to figure out,
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  does he have any fun?
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  I enjoy a lot of things in life.
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  When I was growing up, I learned a lot of skills because I attended a school,
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  Harvard Hills Academy, where a lot of practical things.
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  So I really enjoy working with my hands, building things.
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  And I enjoy gardening, don't have much time for either of those things at this point in my life,
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  but I do enjoy them.
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  And when I have time, it's relaxation to get involved in those things.
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  What do you like to build?
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  You have an engineering background.
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  Yeah, yeah.
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  We'll talk about that a bit in a minute.
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  But I like working with wood, for one thing.
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  My father was kind of a woodworker kind of person, and he taught me those skills.
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  So I enjoy that.
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  Like I said, I don't have a lot of time for it, but when I do, it's always a joy to take a few
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  minutes and build something, whatever it is.
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  And yeah, don't I remember there was some history,
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  maybe they still do this at Harvard Hills where they were making, in the wood shop,
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  they were making pins.
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  Sure.
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  Do you still do that kind of thing?
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  Yeah, the woodworking class makes a whole variety of projects during the year, depending on the
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  year, depending on the students, what their interest is.
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  And so tell us what they make.
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  Well, they may make a piece of furniture or they may make something like a pen turning on a lathe.
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  Of course, they can do usually multiple projects during the year.
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  We teach those kind of classes on Friday.
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  So they have a three and a half hour block where they're dedicated to that each Friday,
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  whichever class they choose.
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  And so whether it's woodworking or auto mechanics or medical missionary or radio broadcasting,
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  whatever it is, they have some intensive time to work on different kinds of projects.
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  So yeah.
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  Do you get to teach any of those?
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  Well, I used to, but now unfortunately I'm not in the teaching arena anymore just because of my duties.
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  Okay.
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  All right.
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  So you're the president of Outpost Centers International now.
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  What does that mean?
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  What do you do?
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  What do you not do?
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  Well, we're a small organization.
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  When I say a small organization, staff wise, we're a small organization, but we cover about 75%
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  countries and it'll soon be 280 ministries scattered across about 75 countries.
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  So it's a lot of work is in the field.
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  We're doing OCI events around the world this year.
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  We'll probably have 15 events, different events, different parts of the world.
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  The goal is to inspire laypeople to do something.
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  We believe, in fact, the vision of Outpost Centers International is to do something.
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  The vision of Outpost Centers International is that there would be a thriving network of lay led ministries
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  in every country of the world.
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  So think about that for a minute.
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  You travel.
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  How many countries?
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  About 235 or so, depending who you ask.
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  I learned of a new country the other day.
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  Now, what's that?
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  By the way, it's within the country of Georgia.
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  There is another country that exists there and I can't remember the name of it,
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  but I said, is this another country?
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  And they said, yeah, it's a different country.
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  And I said, but it's in Georgia.
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  Yeah, but it's in Georgia, but they considered actually themselves to be a different country.
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  I'm headed to Georgia this fall.
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  I'll have to look for that.
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  And I don't mean south of Tennessee.
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  Right.
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  And this is the Georgia on the other side of the world.
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  Although south of here, Georgia is another country, but that's another discussion, another time.
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  So yeah, but we believe that the laypeople have a vital part to play in helping to get the gospel
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  to the world.
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  Every nation, kindred, tongue, people.
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  And when we think of nations, the 235 number is an easy number.
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  And so when I began to think about this and the challenges of trying to accomplish this vision,
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  began to study this, I realized that 235, well, we just got, you know, maybe Seventh-day
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  Adventists have a presence in like 212 countries, but 23, that should be easy.
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  Let's just make a list of the 23 countries and figure out how to get somebody there and do something.
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  But then I began to realize that within each country, there are multiple people groups.
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  And worldwide, they estimate there's probably 16,000 people groups.
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  And we as a Seventh-day Adventist church have a presence in less than 1,000 of those 16,000
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  people groups.
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  So it takes you to a whole different understanding when you recognize that.
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  And how do we address that?
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  We as a church, as a Seventh-day Adventist church have been working on it for a number of years,
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  taking the gospel to the world.
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  And Ellen White makes this statement.
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  She says, the noblest aim that any young person can have today.
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  And I, you know, young is a number, right?
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  So I consider myself still to be young, even though I probably wouldn't fit in anybody's
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  chart of age-related youngness.
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  I consider myself to be young.
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  And so the noblest aim that we can have is to take the gospel to the world in this generation.
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  So when you think of that, it's humanly impossible.
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  So I say, praise God that it's humanly impossible, because that means that God is going to have
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  to show up and he's going to have to do some things to us, through us, and for us that
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  we have no power to do on our own.
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  Human beings, when this happens, human beings are not going to get the glory, because it
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  can't be done humanly speaking.
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  It's going to have to be a God thing.
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  And I'm looking forward to being a part of that journey when God shows up and the power
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  of the Holy Spirit falls and we as a church and as lay people and as God's children recognize
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  our calling to take the gospel to the world in this generation.
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  Amen.
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  And I think it's important for people to pick up on your comment that we're talking about
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  everyday lay people.
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  We're not talking about some theologically ministry-trained lay people.
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  Anybody can serve Jesus today in various capacities that he can lay on them.
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  It's interesting.
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  If you look at the population of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, we have about 22 million
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  members worldwide.
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  About 22,000 pastors out of those 22 million members.
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  So.1 percent, 99.9 percent of our church is lay people.
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  That's where the power is.
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  That's where things can happen on a scale that can be dynamic and impacting the world.
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  The 22,000 pastors, we love pastors.
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  They're great people.
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  They have a function and a role.
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  But for them to do it by themselves, not logical.
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  We need all, everyone to engage in whatever God's calling them to do.
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  Amen.
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  Amen.
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  Yeah.
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  We're going to keep talking with Steve, but we are going to take a break first here for
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  just 60 seconds or so.
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  We'll be back with more mission sunlight chat.
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  Our salvation is a day to day matter, isn't it?
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  The real principle of the Sabbath is reconnecting ourselves with the creator.
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  We must learn to abide in Jesus' name.
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  We move ahead with our mission objectives,
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  recognizing that we are serving together the most high God.
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  Welcome back to mission sunlight chat.
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  Our guest today, Steve Dickman, president of Outpost Centers International, OCI.
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  Steve, you talked about what you're doing presently,
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  a little bit about your family, who you are, things you enjoy.
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  Tell us how you got here about growing up.
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  You mentioned, not only are you president of Harbert Hills,
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  but you also mentioned a moment ago that you were a student at Harbert Hills.
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  So that's got to be an interesting story.
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  Tell us a bit about those influences in your journey.
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  So both of my parents attended Madison College.
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  And for those who have any acquaintance with the Madison College that we know,
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  in Madison, Tennessee, established by Ellen White in 1904,
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  and a team of laypeople, Percy McGann and EA Sutherland,
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  really helped to spark plug the work of Madison.
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  In the late 40s, my parents came to attend Madison College.
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  My father came from California.
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  My mother came from Knoxville, Tennessee.
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  And Madison was their education.
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  And because of what they received there and what Madison was,
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  Madison was a call to ministry at every level.
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  Their chapel services, their worship programs, their classes,
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  were centered on helping prepare laypeople to go out and do mission,
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  whether it was teachers or biologists or accountants or whatever it was.
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  They were teaching people to go out and do mission.
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  So both of my parents responded to a call to help start a new unit.
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  They called it a unit of Madison.
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  So the units were started by a staff member or some students
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  that got together and said, let's go start something new.
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  So they decided to start a new school.
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  And they decided to start it in a place in Tennessee
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  where there was no Seventh-day Adventist work or presence.
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  Savannah, Tennessee, surrounding that area were nine counties,
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  no Seventh-day Adventist work going on.
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  So they said, let's go there.
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  Let's start something there.
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  And so they decided to start a school.
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  The papers were signed in 1951, 72 years ago,
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  to start the corporation that began the work there.
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  My parents had volunteered early on as part of the team,
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  but because of schoolwork and my father spent some time
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  in a special duty from the U.S. government in the Army,
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  not voluntarily, but requested his presence.
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  And he showed up and spent some time in Korea there.
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  And but anyway, came back, finished his work at Madison
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  and took a master's degree at Peabody.
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  And then came to Harvard Hills in 1956.
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  In 1957, I was born there.
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  So I was born in ministry.
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  So that's my background.
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  It wasn't something I decided necessarily, but I was there.
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  I grew up in this environment.
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  It was kind of became a part of my DNA.
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  I didn't realize that when I left Harvard Hills
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  as a graduating senior, having attended all 12 grades
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  of my elementary and academy years there.
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  I didn't really realize that.
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  I didn't realize totally the heritage that had been,
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  was a part of who I was.
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  And so I took a degree in engineering.
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  I worked in the engineering field for about 10 and a half years.
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  During the last few years of that career,
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  I just became increasingly aware that God had something to do
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  for me, something for me to do that was not necessarily aligned
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  with my current career path.
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  And so we were seeking for what God would have us do.
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  And we thought, well, maybe we would be part of the ADRA team
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  somewhere in the world and help develop resources
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  for underserved populations of the world.
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  But that wasn't God's plan.
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  So I was called by Harvard Hills and asked
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  if I would come back as principal.
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  So an engineer with really not any education experience,
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  except for I grew up there.
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  And so I kind of inherited that component
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  and became a part of Harvard Hills Academy in 1991
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  and have served there since then.
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  That is a great heritage to be able to share.
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  And you had the opportunity to share that with your parents as well.
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  Mm-hmm. Yes. Right.
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  Your father being the, was he president before that?
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  Yeah, he was president of the Institute of Education
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  of the institution, not from the beginning.
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  The founder, William E. Patterson, was there in the beginning as president.
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  But early on when my folks came, they asked him to serve
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  as a leader for the institution.
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  And he went to Madison and served as principal of the academy there for two years.
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  So I lived on the Madison campus for two years,
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  but it was before I could really remember much.
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  So I was just young, but I lived there with my parents on the campus
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  as well. My father was principal of Madison Academy.
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  And then they recognized that if Harvard Hills was going to continue to thrive,
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  they needed to have my father back at Harvard Hills.
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  So they called him to come back and we stayed there then.
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  That was kind of our journey for the family.
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  Any particular experiences that you say have shaped your ministry experience from the past
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  along your journey?
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  Yeah, I'd say there's a few that have really been probably instrumental.
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  When I was in high school, you know, I made my decision to be a Christian,
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  to be a Seventh-day Adventist Christian at a pretty young age.
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  I think I was 10 or 12. I was baptized.
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  But it comes a time when you have to really think that through as you're growing up.
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  And I think I was probably 16 or 17 in that neighborhood
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  when it became clear to me, look, you can choose some different paths in life if you want to.
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  I said, you know, the path I want is I want to stay on God's path.
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  And so I chose that for myself more, I say more completely or permanently at that point
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  as more of an adult thinking, even though I'm not sure we all think as adults, even now,
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  we probably revert sometimes to our childish thoughts.
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  But, you know, I chose that for myself and said, yes, this is going to be my path
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  and I'm going to stay on this path.
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  And so God used that.
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  Kind of an aha moment.
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  Yeah, yeah, a moment there.
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  And probably some influence in that was when I was 16, my brother was 18, almost 18.
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  We were very entrepreneurial in nature, had had our own,
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  earned our own money and kept, you know, kept business going, you might say, on the side,
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  aside from what we were doing in school.
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  And we had a lawn mowing business.
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  And so we were traveling to mow lawns and we had an accident.
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  My brother was thrown out of the vehicle and ended up paralyzed.
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  And so things like that, when they happen to you as a young person, they affect your journey.
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  And so it was a time when I had to reevaluate a lot of things, say, wow,
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  this is not the way we plan things.
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  This is not our thought process.
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  How will this be used by God?
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  How will I choose to relate to this?
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  Because in this world, we're going to have difficulties.
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  We're going to have challenges.
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  That's not the question.
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  The question is, how do we relate to those things?
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  How do you respond?
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  You know, I can choose to respond and say, okay, God, I don't like this,
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  but I'm responding by saying, I'm going to stay on this journey with you,
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  even though I don't like my current circumstance.
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  And so, yeah, I think things like that.
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  My father's influence was also very powerful because he lived a life of service to God
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  and to other people.
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  When you're in institutional work, for some of you who know that or understand that,
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  you know that's not easy kind of work.
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  And you have to get up early and go to bed late and understand that what you're doing
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  is not for your own benefits, for the benefit of others.
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  And so my father had this saying, he said, real happiness is found in unselfish service
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  for other people.
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  When you're doing service for other people without trying to get anything in return,
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  that's where you find true joy.
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  I don't think I fully realized the impact that had on my life till later when I personally
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  got involved in that kind of service.
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  You know, when you're working in the engineering field,
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  and you're getting a paycheck for what you do, and you show up on time, and you leave
• 23:24
  on time, and you do your work to the best of your ability, that's one thing.
• 23:28
  But when you show up and everything is centered around ministry, and it's in a kind of a
• 23:38
  sacrificial setting, it teaches you some things you may not have really understood before.
• 23:44
  And so the joy of serving, again, to me, it's a privilege to be able to serve God and to
• 23:52
  be able to be used by God to reach other people.
• 23:56
  Amen.
• 24:00
  I want to mention your brother Randall that was injured in the accident.
• 24:05
  He's an incredible example to us about perseverance.
• 24:08
  Oh, yes.
• 24:09
  Because he didn't just say, okay, I'm going to do this.
• 24:11
  Yes, yes. Because he didn't just say, okay, I'm,
• 24:15
  correct me if I'm wrong, quadriplegic.
• 24:17
  Yeah, quad, yeah.
• 24:18
  Yeah, he didn't just say, well, I can't do anything.
• 24:20
  I have used my arms and legs, oh well.
• 24:23
  He went on to finish his high school education.
• 24:26
  He finished a college degree, became a nursing home administrator,
• 24:30
  and carried that load for years in a way that was anybody that came in contact with him
• 24:38
  would walk away with, wow.
• 24:40
  Yeah.
• 24:41
  What do I complain about?
• 24:42
  That's what I was going to say is he was a wow guy.
• 24:45
  Yeah. This guy gets up in the morning, the rest of us get out of bed and maybe our foot
• 24:50
  hurts or something. But when you have that kind of setting and getting up is a whole journey.
• 24:56
  And then the wheelchair experience that you have every day where you're confined to a wheelchair
• 25:00
  and other people have to serve you, but yet you're serving other people at the same time.
• 25:05
  That's a journey. And to do that with grace and dignity,
• 25:08
  you know, yeah, he was example to a lot of people.
• 25:12
  I want to jump down to Jordan down there.
• 25:14
  Jordan has experienced the Harvard Hills campus and the ASI and OCI experience as well.
• 25:21
  Jordan, I just wonder if you have anything you want to toss in with a thought or comment
• 25:25
  or a question even for Steve as we've talked here.
• 25:31
  I just, I think it's a, I've enjoyed my time as I've been on the campus and being
• 25:36
  around the students and seeing the program that they've done there.
• 25:41
  You started a video program recently too, didn't you?
• 25:44
  Yes, we have a media program on our campus and you'll have to come over and give us some clues
• 25:50
  on this kind of setup. We're not quite to this level yet, but we'd like to be in a studio
• 25:55
  setting. We're working on that for our listeners. They can't see where we are. And our viewers are
• 25:59
  probably wondering what in the world we're in a five foot by nine foot space, this small studio
• 26:04
  in the basement of our home here. And we're blessed with the best technology to do this.
• 26:12
  Right. And so, but anyway, the Lord has blessed us there. We have a radio station on the campus
• 26:17
  where we broadcast 50,000 watts of power across West Tennessee, North Mississippi, North Alabama,
• 26:24
  reaching out to individuals to connect them with Christ and to give them a revelation of who Jesus
• 26:31
  is. So we, it's all religious programming. We use the Life Talk Stream as our foundation and we add
• 26:37
  to that and students get to learn and experience that environment, working in a radio station and
• 26:42
  being taught radio broadcasting. Now we've added a TV station to the campus. We have a television
• 26:47
  station there where we broadcast four different channels, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• 26:54
  And the students get a class in media if they choose. And we also have a radio station in
• 27:00
  and we also broadcast live our chapel services or Vespa programs and Sabbath services are more of
• 27:07
  our standard broadcast there that we go live with. I think the last time Jordan's referencing,
• 27:11
  the last time we were visiting, you had this shell of a space, it almost felt like an old barn that
• 27:20
  you, it was part of the building, but it just felt like you'd been casting off things and storing
• 27:24
  things in it and then you were going to renovate it. Now that's all done. No, it's not all done yet.
• 27:28
  So you can come help us finish that project. Jordan, love to have your input there.
• 27:33
  Thanks for bringing it up, Jordan. Yeah, exactly. But we're on this journey to finish that space.
• 27:38
  We've got it all cleaned out now and we're ready to start building things in there.
• 27:42
  And it will be again a training space for young people. You know, the world today, as you well
• 27:49
  know, is a lot of media happening and to be in that space with something to say that is wholesome,
• 27:58
  that is centered on the truth of God's Word is kind of, it's significant to me because in general,
• 28:10
  if you go to these media channels, much of it is not biblically centered and it's not really very
• 28:17
  uplifting. A lot of the media of the world. So we have an opportunity to impact that space
• 28:22
  and to train young people to impact it. Amen. Steven, I want to ask you some more questions,
• 28:28
  but we're going to take a break. We hope that our viewers have been encouraged and blessed by
• 28:33
  listening to the program today. We have more to come, but we need to take a break. So remember,
• 28:37
  you can give at missionsunlight.org and you can share this program with anyone right now.
• 28:42
  Thanks for doing both or either. We'll be back with more Mission Sunlight Chat.
• 29:12
  Welcome back to Mission Sunlight Chat. Our guest, Steve Dickman from OCI and other ministries far
• 29:40
  and wide around the globe and close by. Truth is, OCI is just maybe what two, three miles here from
• 29:48
  our campus. Yeah, it's like a five minute, six minute drive over here. Yeah, just over the mountain
• 29:52
  the way the crow flies. We once lost a drone over your property, but that's another story.
• 29:57
  Okay. Maybe it's out there helping somebody somewhere somehow. Tell me, where are you going?
• 30:05
  What's next for Steve Dickman? What's next maybe for the ministries or your family? Just tell us
• 30:10
  some of your hopes and dreams for the future. Yeah, thank you Christopher for asking about that.
• 30:16
  I think it's significant that each one of us have something we're thinking about for the future,
• 30:23
  rather than just existing in the current time and taking what comes our way to actually say there
• 30:29
  are goals and dreams beyond maybe where we are right now. And as I think about it on a personal
• 30:36
  level, I have had time to reflect some on my life because if you can calculate time correctly,
• 30:48
  I just turned 66. And so I think about, well how much longer is this journey? And it could be short
• 30:55
  or it could be longer by God's grace. I'm still alive and in good health and I can go forward
• 31:01
  with God's work, I feel like. Okay, but in a personal sense, what does that mean for each of us?
• 31:08
  To me, it's about uncovering God's calling and making sure that I stay as best I can in the center
• 31:16
  of His will. There are a lot of challenges we face individually each day, but to get up every
• 31:25
  morning and say, Lord what I want to do today is stay in the middle of your will. I want to be where
• 31:31
  you want me to be. I want to do what you want me to do. I don't want to be off string somewhere.
• 31:36
  And sometimes God gives a corrective course. It was not necessarily my plan to serve in some of
• 31:43
  the roles I've served, but when God calls, sometimes He opens a door for us and we have a choice to
• 31:52
  make. We can choose to move forward even though it's a challenging situation. We're not sure about
• 31:59
  the future. The present may be comfortable, but God has given me personally a promise.
• 32:05
  I found it in Isaiah chapter 40 and He says, I'm going to give you strength. I'm going to give you
• 32:13
  wings like eagles. And this is just kind of my paraphrase. Young men may fall down and get weary,
• 32:21
  but those who wait on the Lord are going to renew their strength. And they're going to be able to
• 32:26
  walk and run even when others are weary. So to me, that's a promise that God has given to me
• 32:32
  personally. And so when I face challenging situations, I claim that promise. I say, God,
• 32:37
  you said you're going to give me strength and you're going to give me what I need to move forward.
• 32:45
  And so for me, that's the personal journey I'm on. I want to stay where God wants me to be,
• 32:49
  even if it's a challenging situation and allow Him to do what He can do. Ellen White makes another
• 32:55
  very interesting statement. Basically, she says, if we'll set ourselves aside, there's no limit to
• 33:01
  what God can do with us. I say, God, I don't know what you can do, but whatever it is, please do it.
• 33:08
  And let me be willing to let you do it. So if there's no limit, what does that mean?
• 33:15
  It means anything. God can do anything with us poor human beings who I often think of it this way.
• 33:24
  Crackpots. When I was born, I didn't have anything. I didn't have clothes on. I came into this world
• 33:31
  naked. I'm going out naked, well, so to speak. They'll probably dress me up in a suit maybe
• 33:35
  on a good day and put me in a casket, bury me somewhere. But I didn't come in with anything.
• 33:41
  I'm not going out with anything. What's my job while I'm here? It's to be a good steward.
• 33:45
  If God has given me talents, time, energy, whatever He's given me, I need to use those
• 33:50
  things for Him because now is the time. When I die, somebody else will use the stuff I've got.
• 33:56
  So I should dedicate it to God's cause now, whether that's strength, time, energy, whatever
• 34:00
  it is. Fully dedicated to God's cause is my desire. That's my heart's desire. Now, talk about ministry.
• 34:07
  Wow, what an opportunity. I work for an organization that's scattered around the world with 75 countries
• 34:14
  and 280 ministries now almost. And what do you do with that idea? How do you say you're going to do
• 34:19
  something in that context? So I have to kind of confine my energy sometimes. Because you become
• 34:26
  aware of all kinds of needs. I was just visiting a country last week that is one of those closed
• 34:32
  countries of the world. And it's a very difficult country to get into. It's a very difficult country
• 34:39
  to live in. It's a very difficult country to do ministry in. In fact, almost impossible to do
• 34:45
  ministry there. What do you do with that? When God sets before you that information, that opportunity
• 34:53
  to go there and learn about that, can you come home and be the same person? Yeah, I haven't found
• 35:00
  that possible. So I travel, I go these places, I learn about needs, and I come home. And it seems
• 35:06
  like God says, okay, I want you to do something with this. So what do I do with it then? So I take
• 35:11
  that and say, okay, how can we start something here? And I can't start things all over the world,
• 35:16
  but there are people, in fact, Christopher, there may be somebody watching today who says, you know,
• 35:24
  God's working on my heart. And I feel like he's calling me to do something, but I really don't
• 35:30
  know what. I would say to that person, keep praying because God will show you. God will open a door,
• 35:34
  he will show you. But you have to be willing to move into it, step forward into some of those
• 35:38
  challenges. So from a ministry setting, the vision that Outpost Centers International has
• 35:47
  is to have a thriving network of lay ministries in every country of the world.
• 35:52
  I doubt that I can accomplish that. I know I can't accomplish it. In my lifetime, in my service time
• 36:01
  to this organization, I would be amazed if we could see that, but probably not. But to say there's
• 36:08
  something bigger than me is a good thing. It's not something I can do. It's not something, okay,
• 36:14
  we got two countries on the list and we're going to go do those and mark it down that we did
• 36:17
  something. No, we've got every country in the world on our list. And as God provides and opens
• 36:23
  doors there, we want to inspire work to be done in those countries. Okay. You've almost answered
• 36:30
  my next question with these things you've just shared, but maybe you'd like to
• 36:34
  galvanize it down to just a few simple thoughts. What would you just say to someone who's just
• 36:40
  going through everyday struggles or perhaps someone who's struggling with an answer to the call?
• 36:49
  I would say read your Bible, but read it in a personal sense. You know, it's easy to read
• 36:56
  the Bible. I mean, we can open up, we've got it on our phone, we've got it in our bookcases,
• 37:00
  we've got it in our briefcases, we've got our Bibles everywhere, right? And we can access those
• 37:06
  in different ways. And you know, I get the verse of the day on my phone, I get the devotional on my
• 37:10
  phone. But sit down with God's Word and have a conversation with Him, a real conversation,
• 37:17
  and read His Word. Allow Him to speak to you through His Word. I think of text like Isaiah
• 37:24
  chapter 6 and verse 8, where Isaiah was struggling with this. God was giving a call and He was saying,
• 37:32
  who can we find to go? And His answer was, here am I, send me. So Jeremiah, I mean Isaiah's answer,
• 37:42
  Isaiah's answer to this call was, here am I, send me. Well, what is my answer? Personally,
• 37:49
  I was recently, in the last few months, I was in the country of Israel. And I didn't ever expect
• 37:56
  to go there, but I went there to do some things for OCI. And while I was there, we went down by the
• 38:03
  Sea of Galilee, and I was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. And what I was imagining
• 38:09
  in my mind is, what would this have looked like 2,000 years ago? And what would it have looked like
• 38:16
  2,000 years ago? And what if I was a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee, and Jesus came by and said,
• 38:24
  leave it all behind? You know, Peter and his friend said what? They didn't say, well, let us
• 38:34
  go sell the boat. It says they got up and followed Jesus. They left it behind. I was able to go in
• 38:43
  the city of Capernaum. Matthew, imagine Matthew sitting at his text booth there. He's collecting
• 38:49
  taxes, and Jesus comes by and says, follow me. He gets up, he leaves it behind, and he goes forward.
• 38:57
  So God calls in interesting ways. If we're struggling sometimes with a decision,
• 39:03
  I personally have found it to be, many times I'm worried about things that I can't solve anyway.
• 39:10
  We're thinking about our future and our life, and well, what if I do this, or what if I take this
• 39:14
  step? Listen, God's got all this in control. And if we follow His plan, we're going to be happier
• 39:21
  in the end anyway. So friends, if you're facing a challenge, and God may be working on your heart,
• 39:27
  He may be calling you and saying, I need you. I need you in my service. You've got some talents
• 39:34
  that I want to see used for spreading the gospel around the world. I would invite you to step into
• 39:40
  that. Instead of hesitating, step into it. Read God's word, claim His promises. Allow Him to speak
• 39:46
  to you personally. Put your name in those promises. They are powerful. I mean, just think of this.
• 39:52
  I will never leave you or forsake you. I mean, that's amazing, right? He's always with us. In our
• 39:59
  difficulties of life, to be able to say, I have a God who is here. He's not next door. He's not in
• 40:06
  some other universe. He's here. He says, I will never leave you or forsake you. To me, it's
• 40:12
  powerful. I mean, we've all had our challenges in life, right? Difficulties and things that are
• 40:18
  tough, and we're weeping, and we're crying, and we're crying out to God, change this situation,
• 40:23
  deliver me from it. God says, I'm with you. I'm never leaving you. I'm not forsaking you. I'm
• 40:29
  forsaking you. I'm not going to forsake you. I'm still here. Let's keep this journey going together.
• 40:36
  So by God's grace, friends, let's keep the journey going together. Allow God to use us,
• 40:42
  and to speak to us, and to guide us step by step, because He has a plan. Amen. And we may not
• 40:47
  understand it, but He has a plan. Steve, thank you. Thanks for sharing your time and your
• 40:53
  experience and your testimony today. God is indeed good, isn't He? Amen. Well, that is today's
• 41:00
  program. We're going to have a word of prayer and then just some closing thoughts. Let's pray
• 41:04
  together. Father, as we have shared and heard this testimony, Lord, I want to pray for those who are
• 41:10
  watching and listening right now, wherever they are on planet Earth.
• 41:15
  They're hearing encouragement and they're maybe relating,
• 41:22
  or maybe they don't hear anything, but for some reason they've been drawn to this
• 41:26
  podcast and they're seeking whatever it is you want to teach them. Lord, I just pray that the
• 41:32
  Holy Spirit will enter in, encourage them, and help them to find their journey with Jesus.
• 41:38
  Yes. Amen. Thank you for the time with Steve and for his incredible busyness. His focus remains
• 41:46
  on serving you. So I just ask that you will strengthen him and Brenda and his family and his
• 41:51
  colleagues and whatever aspect of ministry you place him in. Thank you for hearing our prayer.
• 41:58
  Please continue to be with Jordan and I and our team with Network 7 Media Center and the production
• 42:03
  of this podcast, Mission Sunlight Chat, that it was a pleasure to be with you.
• 42:06
  And I just ask that you continue to be with us, Mission Sunlight Chat, that it will be to your
• 42:11
  honor and glory and yours alone. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Once again, thank you for
• 42:20
  listening. This has been Mission Sunlight Chat, our guest, Steve Dickman. I'm Christopher Beeson,
• 42:24
  your host, and today's engineer, our director of production, Director Jordan Wagner. We thank you
• 42:28
  for joining us and we thank you for sharing our show with your friends via text, email, and on
• 42:34
  the internet. We also thank you for your gifts and most of all we thank you for your prayers,
• 42:38
  especially your prayers. That's all today from our studios in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
• 42:43
  This is Mission Sunlight Chat.
• 43:13
  Thank you.