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Narrator: Amazing facts change lives.
Gary: Early 1980s all the baby boomers were turning 21. The night club scenes were exploding. I started a entertainment lighting company.
Wife: I was the president. There were six divisions doing the raves in the '80s and '90s in some warehouse where you're setting up lighting and fog. Who knows what's going on in there-- and night club installations. I loved it and it was who I was.
Gary: Bought a new house out of town, and we moved about two or three times. We were always going to different churches. We were in a Lutheran Church. Then we were in a Methodist Church. I think we were in three different Baptist churches. My wife was raised Catholic, I was raised Methodist.
Currently, I've been out reading all the Hal Lindsay books and watching all the left behind movies. I really wanted to understand what the Book of Revelation was all about. Nothing really ever made sense to me.
Wife: One day Pastor Lloyd came knocking and he had that net 99 flyer.
Pastor Lloyd: We were preparing for an evangelistic series. Different people were going different directions with handbells to invite people to the meeting.
Wife: I saw that coming at me. All the colors and I thought, "Oh no, this is some kind of cult thing."
Pastor Lloyd: She said, "Thank you very much. I'm not much interested myself, but my husband likes that kind of thing."
Wife: Then Boyd said, "Would you give it to him please?" and I said, "Okay, I will," so I took the pamphlet and I put it on the counter. Gary came home and he walked by it.
Gary: Ran to the kitchen, quickly eat and take a shower, go back out and work a show.
Wife: Two or three days went by like this and I moved that brochure from the counter, put it on the dining room table, put it back on the counter if I actually threw it in the garbage. As I threw in that garbage can, I could hear him and see his face saying, "Would you give it to him please?" and I actually took the garbage out.
That night lying in bed, I kept seeing his face and hearing his voice and thinking, "Oh boy, I've got to get that brochure out of the garbage." I took that and I put it right underneath the remote control. Bright colors, he'll see it.
Gary: I finally sat down in my living room and I picked up the remote. I saw that angel holding up that scroll.
Wife: "Wow cool, what is this?" I was in the kitchen cooking. I thought, "Oh no."
Gary: I looked at it. I turned it over, and then I saw a little building, a little church building. It wasn't too far away. It was about six houses down. It said, " Friday night."
Wife: I certainly wasn't going. I mean, it wasn't my intention to go.
Gary: I didn't have any shows going on that night. I thought it was a one night deal. I went, and as I heard about the millennium man I was just blown away. I didn't want it to end. I knew what I was hearing was all from the scriptures. It wasn't based on Hollywood movies or other books that were written. They said, "Come again tomorrow night." I thought, "Wow, great, two nights."
I tried to tell my wife about it and she still wasn't interested. Then she decided to come.
Wife: I started to hear the truth. I started to get fed.
Gary: Every night, after the seminar, they would hand us an Amazing Facts study guide. I couldn't do those fast enough.
Wife: The business kept us going seven days a week. It was night and day.
Gary: Crew working all around the clock. When we finally heard the Sabbath message, so far everything's been true, right from the Bible.
Wife: Church on Saturday, no work. Anyway, it all clicked.
Gary: Both our heads turned at each other. Our jaws dropped open.
Wife: I said, "We can't do that."
Gary: The first thing that came out of my mouth was, "We have to."
Wife: I knew that it would be a sacrifice, and I was in fear about it.
Gary: We didn't know how we were going to do it. We talked to the Pastor about it. The Pastor said, "We'll just pray about it and God will open doors."
Wife: I didn't want to give up all the connections I had made, all the networking, all the money, all the investment.
Gary: We went to the board and asked them if they would consider closing on Saturday, and they agreed to. We closed the storefront on Saturday. We were still doing productions, and that bothered us. A couple of months later, God opened the door for my wife. She exited the company. I prayed about it, and God opened the door for me too.
Wife: Gary, shortly after, was offered a job being paid more money than he made as an owner of the company.
Gary: He said, "I'll give you $1,000 raise, and you will never work another weekend."
Wife: We were able to keep the Sabbath and enjoy the wonderful blessings that God had for us on the Sabbath day.
Gary: My kids never again had to say, "Quit talking about work." After the seminar was over, my wife and I and my children were all baptized into the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Even if I gave up everything, I knew that God would have something better.
Wife: I have much more understanding. There's much more depth in my Christian walk with the Lord.
Gary: We started an Amazing Facts Bible School and a church. It allows anybody to understand the scriptures. The understanding in time sure changed my life dramatically. I am very happy and excited to be a part of it.
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