Recently the Outreach Ministries team found themselves serving alongside the Sandy Seventh-day Adventist Church at their community dental clinic. The dental clinic, hosted at the Sandy church, was put on to help community members who could not afford dental procedures such as fillings, cleaning, or extractions. Rob Zama, the Oregon Conference field evangelist for outreach ministries, was excited to see just how many people made their way out to the clinic. “A lot of people came as early as four o’clock in the morning,” said Rob, “Even some who thought they were going to be the first ones there came early and there were already people lined up ahead of them. It was so packed you couldn’t find a spot to park on the street! I circled around for a long time trying to find a parking spot. The front parking lot and lobby was packed. It was incredible!”
Pastor Zama found out about the clinic after working with the Sandy church only a few weeks ago. “I had just finished an evangelistic series at the Sandy church,” said Zama, “Pastor Diego Silva invited me to come so that I could see what else the church was doing evangelistically. One thing I really appreciate about Pastor Silva is that his view of evangelism is focused on the broader ways we can reach people. It’s not just a series, and it’s not just dental work. It’s everything that a church does to reach people! So I was really excited to go––and he asked me not just to come see it, but if I would like to be part of it. I got involved doing exit interviews. After people were finished with their procedures, we would ask them a few questions and create an opportunity for them to share about their experience. Mostly, we wanted to connect with them, hear their stories, and be there to pray with them if they wanted us to.”
Pastor Zama shared how incredibly grateful many visitors were to be able to access dental care they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford. And though he valued the conversations he had throughout the day, one particular interview really stuck with him. “The conversation that stood out to me the most was a conversation with a woman that went by the name of ‘Lucky,’” he said, “She was probably in her late 50s with short hair and earring wearing kind of a signature Oregon jacket. She was calm and happy the procedure was finished, and I began talking with her. She told me she was from the Happy Valley area and came because she hadn’t been able to afford to get her dental issue addressed. As she started to say that, she broke down weeping. I asked her what was behind her tears. She said she’d had one of her front teeth pulled before, and ever since having that done, her granddaughter had been afraid of her. She wouldn’t come up to her anymore or hug her––and I think that’s what was bringing those emotions out in her. Now after her procedure, she could have the confidence to go back to her granddaughter and hug her and play with her again. She kept thanking us and she said, ‘This means the world to me! You have no idea how much she means to me. You all were so kind, and this is the first time someone has offered to pray for me like this.’ I asked if I could pray for her again, and getting to pray over her and her family was just a sacred moment. The joy that this woman had on her face after that interview was just incredible. It was a God moment for sure.”
Andy Villanueva, the associate director for outreach ministries, was able to help translate and connect with several Spanish-speaking visitors as he volunteered. He shared how important it is that churches don’t limit their evangelistic efforts to lectures and seminars. “I think oftentimes evangelism has been limited to a prophecy seminar that lasts one to four weeks, and that’s about all until the next prophecy seminar that happens anywhere from one to six years later. And for a lot of churches there’s really no community engagement in between. I think the two need to go hand-in-hand,” said Villanueva, “We need to find the opportunities to connect with our communities––not to just focus inwardly on having people come into our churches on Sabbath or to a prophecy series, but to also go beyond our church walls. There are great ways to do that through community service, disaster response, and things like that. But we need to listen to what our community needs. When we’re able to connect with them in that way, I think things like an evangelistic series becomes a lot more credible because we’re already part of the community and we’ve built those relationships together.”
Pastor Rob Zama agreed, sharing that when we limit ourselves to the methods we’ve used in the past, we miss out on connecting with many of our neighbors. “It’s hard to convince people through a mailer to take time out of their day to come and listen to more information. There’s a lot of information already at people’s fingertips! But I’ve found that if we meet a person’s felt needs and add value to their life, people are a lot more open to listening to us. They’re often more than willing to listen to what you have to say.”
Please join us in prayer for everyone who came through the Sandy Church’s dental clinic, for the volunteers and church members who made it happen, and for all of the outreach ministries team as they continue to share the love of Jesus here in the Oregon Conference.
