Okay. Hi, hi. Awesome. Everybody can hear me? Yes. So, welcome, everybody. Thank you very much for showing us today. The presentation is going to be a day with several phases, coordinators, mentors, and interns of OpenStack All-Reachy Internships. My name is Victoria Martínez-Helacruz. I'm software engineer at Rehat. I'm the coordinator of the All-Reachy Internship for about, well, co-coordinator because I have somebody else working with me. But I have been coordinating these internships for about two years now. Today with me is Samuel and Nisha. I'll let them introduce themselves. So, hello. My name is Samuel. I am a core developer in Keystone and I have been an Outreach mentor this around and I was mentoring Nisha. Yeah. So, hello, everyone. I'm a final year undergraduate student and I participated as an Outreachy intern in the May to August 2016 round and I'm here to share my perspective and glad you are here. Thank you. Awesome. So, we split this presentation in three. We are going to start with the point of view of the coordinator. Then we are going to talk about how is to be a mentor for Reachy and we will end up with the Nisha experience as an intern. Let me see here. If I can start passing the slides, of course. Well, we have the introduction but we have your pictures. There you go. Okay. Being a coordinator, first of all, I want to introduce you with what Outreachy is. How many of you is familiar with Outreachy internships? Please raise your hands. Okay. Most of you. But still, let's do a brief overview of what Outreachy is. So, Outreachy is not something about OpenStack only. It's an internship that it is broader. It has been more than 12 rounds today. It's going to be 10 years since Outreachy internships has been around in open source software. The idea of these internships is to bring more people for underrepresented groups to open source communities. In the represented, we are talking about women. It is started for women and now it also includes, of course, the LGBT community and some other communities as well. It was started mainly by the GNOME Foundation. The first rounds for this internship was in the GNOME Foundation. Then the program started to cut on and it got more popular and it generated a really good impact on GNOME. So, they open it to open source organizations. That's when OpenStack started contributing as well. Since then, the software freedom conservancy is the organizing that has been leading and organizing these internships. As I said, there was more than 12 rounds to date. There are still new rounds, more interns for the upcoming months as well. So, when OpenStack has shown these internships, OpenStack has shown these internships for the Grizzly release that was 2014 in the picture. Well, I am in the picture with Anita Kuno and Laura Alves. We were the first interns for reaching for OpenStack. It has been six rounds since OpenStack has been joining. We have had a total of 30 interns up to date. We only had four hires of those 30 interns. I put that in red because it's something that kind of worries us because what we are seeing is that the level of the interns that we have is very good, but there are no entry level positions in current markets. It's like there are no juniors, no internships for our interns to continue working on OpenStack. Still, it's okay since probably not all of the interns who are looking for, you know, working at OpenStack to continue like in a full-time manner, but still it's like something that we are worried about. Of course, every time we have the chance, it's like we expose it. So, maybe, you know, get some attention on that area. Overage funds itself with sponsors. A sponsor for OpenStack has been the OpenStack Foundation, Red Hat, Rackspace, Intel, IBM, HPE, and a few more, but for sure those listed in that slide. Several projects of OpenStack have joined it. Not only coding projects like Horizon, Infra, Glance, Indoor Soccer, Sahara, Keystone, but as well we have interns in documentation and there has been some interns in other areas for OpenStack as marketing. So, how is the original workflow? How is that we as coordinators organize everything so we can have interns working in OpenStack? So, ORICHI has rounds every two times every year. We have rounds that are for summer usually in the Northern Hemisphere, but also have for summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Rounds usually goes from May to August and then we have another one in December to March. And we start calling for mentors usually. Our task as coordinators is to reach to people that have experience contributing to OpenStack that work in a full-time manner. And we ask them to propose ideas so interns can pick those tasks and use those tasks as the anchor project for the internship. After we have the mentors proposing their ideas, we have the application period in which mentees reach the mentors listed in, well, the ideas page for all the mentors we could recruit. And they start talking with them. They start interacting with the call base of the project they are willing to mentor for. They start setting up their developer environment. They work in environment in the case of blogs or marketing. They start talking with the community not only with the mentor. The idea is that in that period not only they got to apply, but also to start knowing people in the community. Then they propose an application and they contribute a minor patch to the call base so we can get a feeling of how it would be to work with that intern. Then we have the intern selection in which that is a collaborative process in which all the people that have worked with that applicant collaborate in order, you know, they did feedback on how it was to work with this person. And we pick interns according to how much funding we have for each round. And then we have after one month more or less the internship period. The internship lasts three months. And it's a paid internship. And we expect our interns to work in a full-time manner. That is 40 hours per week. Because this is an internship as it will be in any other company contributed to Open Stack. Finally, this is something that is about Open Stack. Precisely, it's not for all the projects that are showing O'Ritchie. We try to get our interns to attend the Open Stack Summit. Why is that? Usually the foundation has been very supportive in this case since our interns attending to the Open Stack Summit allow them to attend to talks, attend to workshops, to attend to the sessions. We usually, mentors try, well, mentors and coordinators, try to get these interns to, you know, be able to collaborate with the people. It's like mentors try not only like to help them to get involved, to radiate with the rest of the people. But also it's like they guide them so they can, you know, have their first summit, have a good first summit. We also try to help with career advice as time permits. We try to help them to land their first job when they come here. We try to connect them with people that might help them to do that. And we also consider that this is a great networking opportunity. So they can start, you know, getting into this market. In the picture, while we see the first one is one of the workshops. The second picture, like the one in the right, is one of our previous interns that has given a talk today about Open Stack SDK, Shefali. And the other picture is from Vancouver in which we have a networking session. I am there in the picture with mentors and interns for previous outreach rounds. So what it takes to coordinate. I'm doing this voluntarily. I have shown Open Stack as an intern. I have been a mentor as well and now an coordinator. But it's voluntarily. Any of us, of you, sorry, can help coordinate through this kind of effort. If you think it's important, if you want to give back, I'm doing this, as mentioned, because I'm trying to give it back to the community. And it's not so time consuming. Like most people worry about this kind of, you know, extra activities that it's going to be more time consuming. But it's not. What we have to do in order to have these kind of internships in Open Stack is to, well, first try to reach mentors, to reach people you consider that are capable enough, well, everybody's capable enough, but that might be interested on mentoring. And, you know, you are willing to help them to understand what it takes to mentor somebody. You also have to coordinate events. This is sometimes we have ideas with coordinators of having, I don't know, hangouts during the internship so we can help mentors to, you know, get everybody together and to connect every mentor and mentee. So they get to know each other and we kind of build a community around that. And we also try to encourage communication between all of them. And so they can later meet on summits and meet on some other conference and continue with what they have been working and anything that might be of their interest to continue with this internship. And with that, I'm going to give a sample number for us yours. Okay, so what does it take to be a mentor in a program like Outreach in Open Stack? How is it to work very close to a mentee and actually try to pass some knowledge you have and the mentee doesn't yet? So I'm going to cover a few points here. So first of all, the motivation of someone willing to be a mentor. First, it's very interesting because when you are teaching someone else, you are learning as well. So that's very common because when you are teaching someone else, you got to review everything you know so far and you are going to validate that or not. And maybe you can even fix your knowledge. Another very important point is that you got to pay forward to the community because there was a time when you first joined the community, you were just like your mentee. You didn't know that much and you learned by getting help from other folks as well. So that's just how the community works. It is corrable and you got to just pay forward. Having mentees and very interested folks in an organization like Open Stack is also very interesting for the organizations involved because they are going to take benefit from the code and from the resource generated there. In our case, Nisha worked in functional tests and she was using Keystone Client. So there were no functional tests there and now we have covered like most of the operations available there and everybody, every enterprise using the Keystone Client is taking benefit from that. Also, it's very grateful for a mentor to see that you are impacting someone else's life. Maybe most of the time that's a positive impact, that's what we expect and you impact that person by teaching her how to be better technologies but also like other things like her career because you also give some advice on how path, what are the possibilities to go and they are always very receptive to some, to those kind of advice. Okay, here we have listed some preconditions for being a mentor, for being very well, who is willing to be a very good mentor for my point of view. So first is experience because if you are going to teach and pass knowledge and have discussions with someone else, it is expected that you have more knowledge in that very specific domain you are going to be working with, right? And second, it's necessary that you have a very well-defined project because that's one of the first key points to get a very successful program and in Outreach that's a point that is very, that is required because at the first beginning you have to apply to the program and you have to have a very well-defined project there just to make sure you were looking at things like before, you have a very good idea of what you are going to do during the internship. Also make sure deadlines are set because when you have deadlines and list of things you are expecting to be done by that time you can keep track of the progress very easily and if you lose track of the progress your program is very likely to fail and you don't want to do that. So for a mentor, for me it's also very important to be able to help on any maintenance questions that doesn't mean I need to know everything but if she asks me something that I have no idea what that is, I know at least all the folks I can ask with her and then we can get a response so we cannot, we won't be blocked there. Also make sure your mentee has enough background on the project because there's something very interesting that happened to us that was before this program so initially developed functional tests in Keystone Client for OpenStack and before the program she didn't know about OpenStack, she didn't know about Python neither how to write tests so she had she had tried to get approved in the last, the other round like in the end of last year yes but she didn't get selected but she was very good because she didn't give up then she got the background knowledge before applying again and she was approved in the last round and was able to complete all the work. So and for me one of the points that are very important to make sure you can see in your mentee is that proctiveness and will to learn because if your mentee is very proactive that means if you get in a week where you are very very busy that person will not just stop working if there is a block there she will look around and ask for help and this is very important especially in OpenStack because there is a whole community there, there is the IRC channels and you can just go there and ask and people will be very helpful. Now I will give some tips on being a good mentor so these tips here are about before starting the program so when you first get to know your mentee. So this is something very basic but it's very important so be kind and polite because even sometimes even if you don't want to sound like that if the other person perceives you like being a little bit rude that can just end the connection there and that could be a very successful program but just because of that you are just losing very good work. Share your background so just set up a hangout or IRC talk and just share your background tell your mentee what you do what you like to do why you feel comfortable you have confidence and why you are very motivated with that project as well and ask and see the other way around as well because the mentee needs to show interest in the project and share her background and this was something very important in our case because Nisha was very clear about what she knew and what she didn't so that's very important because some mentees may try to pretend to know something and that's just going to be a blocker in the future. Just agree on the communication means that's about well you have you have to communicate very regularly with your mentee so make sure you have a preferred channel like a hangout or something like that and do not make assumptions so that point is about do not make assumptions about what your mentee knows like I could just think that Nisha was very aware of what OpenStack is Python and all the other things but I didn't make an assumption just asking okay so what do you know and what you don't know right and I think that something that's very valuable is the will to learn even if the person doesn't know that yet that doesn't mean she can she get learn during the process and make it happen so there are some tips for during the program so the first one I just talk it was communicate very regularly so just to help keeping track of the progress of the program because that's very important and when you keep track you won't have like headaches in the future and it's our common that when you first when you are in the first weeks of the program you've got a better idea of how the work is and then you can adjust the deadlines you had first proposed in your application one very important point as well is to let your mentee very comfortable to ask because sometimes especially in the beginning the mentee may seem like avoiding to disturb you a lot but you have to pass her confidence that you are there to help and you are available there you are like spending our time for her to learn to learn you as well so one approach I do that I make that happen is by at the beginning of the program you start asking questions to your mentee just to see the progress and then the confidence starts to to be established there and the last point here is risks so as a mentor you got a pay attention the risks like the timeline the deadlines if your mentee is spending enough enough time in the project if everything is going right and sometimes it may happen some situations where you can't evaluate by yourself you can't get answers by yourself and there is the coordinator you can get some help from the coordinator or maybe even some from some other mentors and make sure you have a plan to mitigate the the risks and finally after the program it's not like okay you have finished it also bye okay we are free so just make sure you have some time for feedback because that's very very important so make some points and some note some situations when things went right and some other situations where things didn't went that right didn't go that right so you are both still learning with the process right and how you can avoid mistakes in the future that's even very useful for your mentee because maybe Nisha is going to be someone's mentor in the future so she's also learning at the process and always praise the good work I think that points very important because since the beginning if your mentee does a work that may be very easy for you that's not that easy for her like an open stack she started by fixing a link replacing the link yeah in the documentation and some people just look at that okay that's too easy but it's not that easy because there is all the development process behind that you have Garrett as the system for review you have Launchpad for bugs you have Github and you have everything behind that use this yeah you have a whole infrastructure there with tests and everything so do not underestimate what your mentee has done just praise the good work and the person can also be you feel like very comfortable to be happy and see that she's going the right path okay I think I've covered all the points from a pain mentor point of view so yeah I'll take so being a mentee so I successfully completed my internship so I'll share my experience so motivation so why did I apply for being an outreach intern and that open stack so I was actually inspired by a former outreach intern who did her internship in open stack get a couple so I was actually looking for planning to apply in Google summer of code but then I started applying in the December winter round so Google summer of code happens only summer so I got started that way and then it's a great way to start because it's my first open source contribution so yeah and then you get you get to grow as a person not just your technical skills but also communication skills writing skills and a lot more so so why I chose open stack is because it's an active community whenever I used to ask any question on ISE I used to get help from people maybe it will take some time but yeah it's still quite active so then it's a beginner friendly and encouraging so like Samuel said they don't really make assumptions that you know everything so you can get started from the scratch so that's then widely used open stack is used by thousands of organizations so that's also why I wanted to contribute and then it has rich guidelines a set of guidelines and documentation so that also really helped me in getting to know how open stack works because I didn't know anything about it before the internship period then you get to learn from experienced contributors around the world chasing time zones and all it was my first experience on like working from a mentor we had a around seven eight hours time lag so it was it was great working with him and other community members and their experience so I'm still in my undergraduate studies so it's really nice to get working with people who are already working in industry then takeaways so after I completed my internship so I got to learn about the basic concepts on how open stack works I did my internship in the I wrote the functional test for the Keystone client library so I got to know about more about Keystone and then I got enough interaction with the code base so that's really important when you choose a project and because after the internship you should have sufficient interaction with code base to actually learn and continue contribution code review system and feedback so I learned about the code review system get it I didn't know about it before the internship so when I started in the first batch that's what that's when I got started with get it but it took me long to get more comfortable so then feedback I learned the importance of feedback before the internship I didn't know why the reviews are so important and why it's important for people to actually leave comments and suggest you better ways and all so I got to learn it's really important to for making the code better in an such a big organization so then after the after my three-month internship I was able to during my three-month internship I was able to get 30 plus merge patches so that's also thanks to family Victoria then yeah that made me more confident open-stack contributor so if you are planning to start up contributing in open-stack this is a really good way then I got to know about the travel support program and I got accepted for it and that's what made me stand here and share my experience with all you few then expectations so it's basically expect what you can expect from a mentor from your mentor when you're applying for the application process proposal for the internship so mentor someone who shapes the mentee because I didn't had any experience so Samuel has really helped me achieve what I have contributed all that I have contributed Samuel and even other contributors from the from open-stack then so when you are so we were free to choose any project and any mentor when we were applying for the internship so it's good to communicate with your mentor before the application proposal and find someone who has enough time for you who is not too busy and has enough to guide you and tell you communicate well communication is really important because it's an international community and that's the only way you get all the work done ask your doubts then role model yeah the your mentor should be around model should be someone who you aspire to become that that would be a great way to get going keep keep yourself motivated then clears your doubt is able to clear your doubt you actually understand he he's actually able to explain to you and you are actually able to grasp the concepts so that's also important and who is as enthusiastic as you are for the whole internship so Samuel was really very enthusiastic just like me so that also really help me keep going and then I have shared a quote so give a man a fish and you feed him for a day teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime so it's really important to have a good mentor so that even after your internship you can keep contributing then tips so tips for all the people who are want to apply as a mentee in any future outreachy open stack outreachy or opens maybe an open stack or any other organization so start early it's never too late to start but yeah the earlier the better because you get to learn more and you get more comfortable find an interviewing project so that's really important because during the whole three month internship you are mainly working on that project so it's really important you find it interesting otherwise I guess it won't be so good experience so good project timeline you should have a good project timeline I talked about it with my mentor and he really helped me because I didn't know much about the task because obviously I was still learning so it's it's like good thing to communicate well and have a good project timeline so that you can actually finish successfully or internship then be completely honest so be completely honest about your time time availability about your technical skills and anything and it shouldn't be like you shouldn't try to hide anything I think that way that way you'll be more comfortable even talking and that way you'll be able to successfully complete then engagement with community so we had keystone meetings every Tuesday so yeah it's even if sometimes at the starting of my internship I felt that I might not be able to understand much in the meeting or maybe I won't be able to help or put in my thought they won't they might not be useful but later I realized sometimes a fresh outlook to the problem is actually the key so it's still good to attend meetings and discussions then good communication as I said it's crucial then during the internship so after the application proposal if you get selected then during the internship you should not try to have any other commitments because it requires a full-time contribution then jot down your daily and weekly progress so at the beginning of the internship I use I talked with the mentor and we used to maintain a etherpad link and I used to jot down what I have been done today so that we he also knows that I'm not stuck at somewhere or if I need some help or if I'm contributing enough putting enough time that's really important then try to be independent because at times yeah he might not be available so you have to be and also it's not good to be good to ask him everything like even the basic things you can just go google it out and try on your own so then once you hit a dead end it's good to ask as soon as possible because you shouldn't also waste your time in just being too independent and trying everything on your own and try to ask that shouldn't be the case as well they seek help from everyone not just my mentor I actually got to know a lot of people in Keystone and they were ready to help and that that gave me even more confidence and I like I got to know a lot of lot more people and that's that makes me even more willing to keep contributing in Keystone then blog in share my share experience so even after even during the internship or after the internship I actually wrote a regular I did regular blogging outreach he actually expects the mentee to blog like twice a month at least so it's good to give back to the community and share your experience then have fun there are times I was Chuck there was like I felt frustrated and there were times I felt great pride if I even if I was able to just replace a link that's true so you should learn to have fun on both then what comes next so now that I have completed my internship I still want to own my skills further and learn and then I plan to keep contributing and then code review yeah so my mentor suggested me that it's a good way to learn I even attended like a few sessions here so code reviewing I'm trying to do code reviews leave a few comments and everything blogging and sharing my experience at here at the top and even in back in India I have shared I have recently given a talk on outreach over stock so help new contributors learn yeah I want to like the on the OPW channel whenever someone asked if I'm available I try to answer the queries and then I want to apply as a mentor in some future round and we like okay so that's it thank you so thank you very much yeah we are open for a Q&A if you have any comment as well we just left the our Twitter handles there if you don't have any question now but you want to reach us in some way yeah so feel free to use the microphone over there if you have a question now or reach us on our own on Twitter no questions thank you thank you


We're glad to know you're still there. Right now we're looking at what is happening in Niger and also the West African Block, ECOAS, Economic Community of West African States. The team is negotiating with Niger on return to civil rule. We have, as I guess, Dr. Frank Ter Abagan, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Ben West State University, Good morning and welcome to the program, Doctor. Hello, Dr. Abagan, can you hear me? Good morning and welcome. Thanks for having me. Okay, I was wondering what I was supposed to say before you can hear me. You said it correctly. Before now, when the problem in Niger happened, the ECOAS community was talking very tough. They were going to give sanctions and they actually did. They were going to go to war even almost. That's what we were trying to get from their talk. But now it has come down to negotiations, to return to civil rule. We'd like you to give us a general perspective of what you think about the stage at which ECOAS is now with Niger. Okay, thank you very much. The ECOAS leaders led by our own president have just adopted diplomacy instead of coercive action. They've decided that diplomacy will give them the result of what they want than to use force. The earlier discussions were about using force to, you know, return Muammar Bazoum back to power. But they've weighed the costs. If you invade Niger, you're going to talk about a very huge humanitarian crisis. And also our northern corridor, the states in the north that share a border with Niger will also be affected. There's another dimension to the creation of the Sahel alliance between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso also changed the narrative, including their links with the Russian Federation. So the leaders decided that the best thing to do now was no longer to use force in the form of a military invasion, but use diplomacy. And that's what led to the creation of that committee which has been in Burkina Faso. I mean, Benin called the Voa and Burkina Faso to come together and talk to the leadership in Niger about a quick transition. That's what they are looking at. And the echo has also said that despite the military coups along the West African corridor, the value placed on democratic rule as the best for states within the West African sub-region is non-negotiable. So they are just using a different approach now. The first approach was about using force, or the use of force, but now they've decided that let's form a committee and send this committee to Niger to talk to the leaders about a very short timeframe for return to democratic rule. Okay. Well, my concern is that this carrot approach should have been the first thing and the last result becomes the force that they were talking about. Do you think that they can be negotiating now from an advantageous position or they are going to be disadvantaged? Because you have already threatened someone before you come to say, okay, let's talk about it. It should have been less talk and then when they do not talk or the talks do not yield anything, they now resort to another one. So where do you think Echoas will be negotiating from, a strong point or a weak point? Echoas is negotiating from a sensible point. Let me use that word, sensible point. Not entirely weak, but more just sensible. The thing is that you weigh your options. At first Echoas was dealing with only Niger. That's who they were dealing with. But when Niger now went into an alliance with Mali and Burkina Faso and Russia, the whole game changed. The whole scenario changed. We were dealing with people now who could master military power based on the alliance they had gotten into because of the similarities of the coups along the West African corridor. So it changed the whole scenario. The casualty level was going to be higher. The military technology they had access to was more sophisticated. So it was time for Echoas to now go back to the 20s to think of a more sensible approach. And this is why we're coming up with this now. So I agree with you on a certain extent that yes, Echoas is negotiating from, I won't call it a totally weakened position, but a more sensible one. Because Echoas can still invade, but the cost will be extremely high. It is going to affect us because we are contiguous to that particular country. And also the humanitarian crisis was going to be much. And this is what Echoas is trying to prevent. So this is the scenario that has changed the whole game with the initial interest in attacking or invading Niger. So I think Echoas is just trying to be reasonable at this point. But the most important thing here is now we're using diplomacy. And I think somehow in this scenario that we achieve much more with diplomacy, especially with the idea of asking the military leader, not just in Niger, but I know because it's going to spiral to both Mali and Burkina Faso and any other African country within the West African sub-region, that look, the time has come for you to give us a short transition program that will move us from this military rule, as you see, to a more civilian or democratic elected government, which reflects the will of the people. I think that's where the discussion is at now. What if the color bluff, sorry. What if the color bluff and say, okay, we don't need you anymore? Because that's what it seems now. Instead of coming cap in hand to beg Echoas that, okay, give us some time and all that, they now started forming another alliance or other alliances that will show that they don't even need Echoas anymore. Because Echoas, that protection and everything was supposed to be there. They don't have it. They don't feel secure anymore. That's what forming another alliance is. What happens if the color bluff? Well, they, they, we are, even as an analyst, I'm rather, to say a bit impressed with what those states have done. We didn't anticipate them coming together the way they did. I guess maybe when you're forced into a corner, you do so. They weighed options and I think this didn't, I think it wasn't an accidental thing. They weighed the various options if there was going to be an aggression, because we have threatened military action on other Echoas states who decided to change government unconstitutionally. The case point of Gambia is still there. So what has happened now is that they have unveiled themselves, the options. And the option now is, first of all, coming together. You're not dealing with the Nigerian army. You're dealing with the Malian and Bokinabi army. And then they also reached out to Russia, who has deployed the Wagner Force, which is one of the deadliest fighting, private fighting forces in the world right now. So this is the arsenal that Niger has as its disposal. And then secondly, Niger is making a lot of money now. You recall that they were not happy with the arrangement when France was controlling things and an ounce of uranium was being sold for 80 cents. They're getting almost $300 per ounce now on the international market. And they're using that to make a lot of money. So they also have money now on their hands. So we're dealing with the situation whereby Niger has become suddenly larger than life. So the approach now has to be different. And I commend them for using this. Let's see what negotiations will do. Is the right way to do it now than to go into a particular conflict that will create a lot of crisis force in terms of destruction of lives and property. So this approach, I think, is the best one. Yes, you could call the Nigerian government of being crafty and all that. Well, I guess if you're in their shoes, you probably do the same thing. You need all the help you can get because you came to power unconstitutionally and you came to power when the international community seems to be against you. So this is the scenario that's playing itself out. I think with negotiations and with a little bit of diplomacy, they're able to get more done than if it's physical aggression. So do you think things are looking up right now and with these negotiations we'll be able to move from the military to the civilian role? Is that something you think they might even want at the moment or not? Yes, that's a very good observation. Eko was said several times through the president of his commission, Dr. Omar Aliu, that the Nigerian government is belligerent. They don't seem to want peace, you understand? They're also blocking attempts at humanitarian aid by Eko to some of the Nigerians there. And France is also pulling out. So France formed the security corridor to prevent jihadist attacks around the corridor, which is the same corridor that they share with Mali and Burkina Faso. So there are worries, yes, that it's going to happen. But the thing is that we're hoping, we're hoping that sense, reason will be the basis for the exchange. Whatever you do, I don't think you rule out dialogue. No matter how well the conflict is, it's dialogue that resolves things. You can't even see it happening in both Ukraine and Russia, Hamas and Israel. So the scenario here is still the same. We've not gotten to the stage where we're firing weapons at each other, but at least the platform for dialogue is opening up. So I would think, and I think it's most reasonable for the Nigerian government, military government to participate in this. And also the world is for democratic governance now. So whatever they do, we need to see a transition program from that government. How long are you going to stay in power before you hand over to the people? Because power belongs to the people. The democratic ideal should be the one we should uphold because, like a lot of people have observed, there's a tendency that if you don't form some kind of activism against military rule, you are sanctioning it and it will become something that you see, not just along the West African corridor, but to other African states, maybe Eastern and Southern parts of Africa. The main thing now is that the government in Niger has to see that ECOAS is no longer threatening force. The fact that the committee has been formed with three heads of state to go and negotiate is a step in the right direction. We're all hoping, you know, in these kind of situations you rely a lot of hope to. We need a lot of very skillful diplomats who will go in and engage the military government to see reason why a transition program is needed so that Niger quickly returns back to democratic rule. Okay. So, I mean, obviously we're hoping for the best and Niger can move back to the democratic rule. But then, what if it doesn't pan out that way? And then we're seeing countries like Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger just going on with the military. What does that say to, you know, other West African states? Are we seeing stuff like uprising like this now moving to other countries because they can say, oh, if Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso could do it, we can also do it as well. Are we going to see an uprising like that in other countries? Well, things may look similar, but each country has its own unique cultural treat. It has its own unique cultural patterns and all that in terms of political culture and how they react to issues. You see, the situation is the military in these countries was very clever because of the experience with France. So you could see a lot of public support, massive public support for these military governments. Now, it would get to a stage that the people themselves were the ones who would start demanding civil rule. Demand democratic rule. It's going to happen with time. So it is when they now start making those demands and the military government does not want to accede to those demands. That is when the internal crisis will start. But for now, the government appears popular. All those military governments, they have the support of the people. So it's a situation now. But what Echo was saying is we have already agreed you are part of us. This international organization will have that as laws on constitutional government, your government is unconstitutional. So yes, it's an aberration because of the situation you're coming to power, but it's unconstitutional. So give us a time frame in which you will return power to the people through a democratic process. That's what Echo was saying. So I think it's a step in the right direction. And we hope the military government sees this because, of course, they are riding the wave of popularity now, but you cannot see what is going to happen in the next six months. So this is how it goes. Government sometimes coming to power at the instance because they're saying what the people want. They appear popular. But after some time, the government now will start getting demands. The politicians in these countries who would want the return to democracy because they have lost power too. So we're hoping seriously that the military government doesn't need the need for that. The thing is, what terms are they taking to the table for these negotiations? Because so far we've been hearing about return to civil rule because it is constitutional and all that. What about the issues that were raised by these people who planned and executed the coup? For instance, you said something about Niger becoming richer now because that alliance with France which impoverished them has been caught. When they return to the civil rule, are they going to follow the agreements they've had before now? Will they still go back to selling their resources at cents when they are now ending up to $300 per ounce of whatever you called and all that? Will they return to that? It's like returning to your vomit. Sorry for the term that I used. So what terms are they taking to the table? Well, I hope it doesn't get to that stage. Amy Smart Politician in Niger and Burkina Faso and Mali will recognize the fact that the people revolted and the military capitalized on this. And that's why you have military governments in those countries. So if you're going to come into power or you're going to come to power, even if it's democratic, and you are not going to go by the wishes of the people who didn't want the shackles of France on their necks anymore, your government will become instantly unpopular. Now, you see, the key thing Eko has to say is that, why not say that you shouldn't fight France? Well, if there's going to be a change of government, it should be democratic. But I guess the people were simply fed up, you understand, and they supported them. They preferred the instant removal. Sorry, can a democratic government, can a democratic government, sorry, sorry, can a democratic government sever the ties with France the way a military government has done? Because when they come back to democracy, is it possible for a democratic government to say, okay, now we have nothing to do with France anymore, and then they want to stand on their own? Is that possible in a democracy? Because it seems as if democracy drags and drags. It is. If you take a look at governments in the eastern parts of Africa, you know, Tanzania, Kenya, those governments have had, or even Zimbabwe, they've had times where they took hard line positions against the, you know, right now the United States, led by other Western countries, has imposed sanctions on Uganda because Uganda refused to enact LGBTQ laws. You understand, they enacted very strong anti-LGBTQ laws. So because of this, there are a lot of its sanctions on Uganda, and Uganda government is democratic. You heard most of any was voted in. You have the same thing for Rwanda too. So there are governments that have come in through the ballot and have maintained a very tough stance on certain issues. So a democratic government can also do the same, especially a democratic government that knows that its power is from the people. You also have the late John Magofuli of Tanzania, who totally fought against, you know, certain Western interests in his country, you know, that, no, especially over the process and administration of the COVID vaccines. He stood his ground and he made sense of what we're saying. We even had Thabo Mbeki, we recall years ago, who kept fighting the international community over its process of fighting HIV AIDS. So you can have a democratic government if you have a leader who knows his onions that will say no, this particular thing we don't want. In fact, a democratic government can even be stronger because the person who is in power is speaking because he's deriving his authority from the people. We can have this kind of situation. It shouldn't always be a military government that, you know, that's flexing his muscles because the first thing you see is a gun by his side. So we can have that kind of situation. We've had those in the past. So I think it's a matter of facing the reality and looking at what your objectives are and negotiating properly. I think there's a win-win situation here. The government in Niger, in Burkina Faso, have to realize over time that it cannot maintain those structures because you are saying that if another person comes with a bigger gun within the military, the person can overthrow you. But if it's constitutional, you have the legitimacy to rule without any intervention or intrusion into your government. So in as much as there is some level of pessimism, I want to have hope that they also know that with time, the government must become democratic. So the best thing to do is to negotiate. Which Neko is trying to do now. Happy Hoping, Doctor. Alright, we want to thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for your insights and valuable contributions. Thank you. Thank you, Doctor. Thank you. Alright, we've been speaking to Dr. Frank Teh about again. He is someone, actually, the senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Benrey State University of Macaulay. Thank you so much for joining us today. So now we'll take a quick break and when we return, we'll be looking at our second hot topic. Stay with us.


So, primarily I'm going to be referring to some of the content of this book, which is Church Membership in the Bible by Peter Masters. And some of you will recognize that name because it's also right here. Peter Masters is the editor of this confession that we use. And I'm not one who normally seeks out photo ops with famous pastors, but I do happen to have just this one. And so, this is in the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, and we are in the vestry of the church after the evening service there, and I think it was 2018, Marian and I took a 30th wedding anniversary trip to London. And the people there couldn't have been more gracious. It was such a, the whole highlight of our trip was our interaction with this church. But we're standing in front of Charles Spurgeon's pulpit. This was his church in the 1800s, and you can barely see it, but just to the right of the pulpit there's a clock that he used to time himself. But on that trip we went and visited on Friday evening and rang the bell at the church, and his secretary, Helen, came and met us, and I think she was the only person in the building. She gave us a tour, took us through the bookstore, invited us to go out evangelizing with them on Saturday, which we did, went down to a part of London where they were doing some open-air preaching, and we passed out tracks, and on Sunday after church we went to a fellowship with Helen and her husband and some other people in the church, and one of the really interesting things that they do at that church, and this is not a lesson about Peter Master's church, but I can't help but share some of this stuff. So it's in the middle of London, and they have a Sunday school that they do in the afternoons where they have, I can't remember if it was five, I think it was 700 inner-city kids who come to a Sunday school on Sunday afternoons, and the whole church is wrapped up in teaching, organizing, part of what they do is they go door-to-door in London inviting kids to come to their Sunday school, and often the parents are like, yeah, yeah, yeah, take them. But yeah, so I can't even imagine how many people it would have taken, how many members would have been involved in teaching that many young kids Sunday school, and then we went to the evening service, and it was interesting because Peter Master's, we talked for, I don't know, maybe 15 minutes, and he shared, he said, you people in America have this all wrong as far as Sunday school goes. You pull people out of the service during the church service for Sunday school, this is how you should do it, so maybe it's food for thought for us, but imagine the impact that they're having with these over the years, thousands of young people who, their only exposure to the Christian faith is likely, you know, the effort of that church. But so you can take the picture down, and the show and tell is over. In his book on church membership, he's got a chapter, and so are we passing out the copy of the lesson? Does everybody have that? Pardon? It's really what, I also, I've lost my coffee, there it is, wait, there you go, I'm getting cotton mouth up here, thank you sir. So he's got a chapter in the book on loyalty to the local church, and that's really what I've put into the handout that you have is essentially, I've lifted the first part of the chapter and, you know, reproduced it here, and then there's an outline of the rest of the chapter. And so we're going to try to go through this as much as we can this morning. So the lesson really is not so much about the necessity for church membership, but we want to talk about that just a minute before we get into this issue of loyalty. You can't live out your Christian life apart from being with people in a church. You can't love one another in the way that we're called to do, and really hold each other accountable in the way that we're called to do. So a couple of thoughts about church membership, Pastor Michael wrote this definition years ago when he was teaching essentials. He said church membership is a visible expression of one's union with Christ and his bride, whereby a professing follower of Jesus Christ formally commits to join, serve, support, and submit to one local assembly and its leadership, laboring to obey God's will for the edification of the body of Christ and the salvation of the lost to the glory of God. There's a lot in that, and we'll delve into some aspects of it this morning. John MacArthur said this about church membership, living out a commitment to a local church involves many responsibilities, exemplifying a godly example in the community, exercising one's spiritual gifts, indeligent service, contributing financially to the work of the ministry, giving and receiving admonishment with meekness and in love, and faithfully participating in corporate worship. Much is expected, but much is at stake, for only when every believer is faithful to this kind of commitment is the church able to live up to her calling as Christ's representative here on earth. To put it simply, membership matters. We see, I'll point you to a couple of passages, if you would look at Acts 2 and verse 47, excuse me, we see there at the end of that, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. And so there's a definite number that are identified. It's not a just a loose, easy, undefined kind of thing, it's a specific number. The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. And one really interesting thing about church membership that our 1689 points out, if you have it with you, turn to chapter 26, and I'll just point you to sections 5, 6 and 7. So in the confession, chapter 26, section 5, in the exercise of the authority which has been entrusted to him, the Lord Jesus calls to himself from out of the world, through the ministry of his word, by his spirit, those who are given to him by his father, so that they may walk before him in all the ways of obedience which he prescribes to them in his word. Those who are thus called, he commands to walk together in particular societies or churches for their mutual edification, and for the due performance of that public worship which he requires of them in the world. And the particular thing I wanted to point you to here is so that they may walk before him in all the ways of obedience which he prescribes to them in his word. And then the next sentence, those who are thus called, he commands to walk together in particular societies or churches for their mutual edification, for the due performance of that public worship which he requires of them in the world. And the proof text there is Matthew 18, which is the section that we know about as being related to church discipline. And church discipline begins with making sure that there's nothing between you and your brothers or sisters. And so we're blessed to be part of a church where church discipline is practiced, and in fact, as we'll see in Peter Master's chapter on loyalty to the local church, one of the things that he says is, you know, if a church doesn't practice church discipline, leave it. So it tends to have this sort of negative, you know, thing, a lot of churches stay away from it, but it's really about preserving unity and true fellowship and, you know, not letting small things turn into big things, and we're here to worship God together, and, you know, we can't do that if we're hating each other. But in church discipline, what we see is that, you know, there are people, you know, if they're unrepentant and refuse to hear their brothers refuse to hear the church, they're put out of the church. So this idea of church membership and the necessity of church membership is reinforced by and supported by Matthew 18. And, you know, there are other passages in the Bible about discipline, putting people out and restoring them, and so church membership is crucial. There's nowhere it says, you know, you must be a member of a church, but the implication and the inference and all of the other ways that we see in which the Christian life has lived out assume church membership. But so the main thing we want to talk about today is loyalty and the issue that often comes up in the course of our lives where, especially in this country and especially in our world today where, you know, people are constantly moving and, you know, the jobs are changing, the economy is changing, the world is changing. I was going to say the climate is changing, but John McArthur did a sermon recently where he basically skewered all of the current thinking about the big threats to the country and said the biggest threat to the country is the government. But let's see, where was I? Loyalty. So, you know, one of the, we're inclined to think in a worldly way. Now, I did this years ago. I worked for Golf Week for 10 years and got laid off in 2007. Is Tom Matugi here? Tom, there's Tom. I've told this story about Tom many times, but, and so I, you know, I've been a journalist for forever and it's the only thing I thought I really knew how to do. You know, I got laid off and I started sending out resumes and I got a job offer in North Carolina and I was inclined to go there. We'd been here two years. This was 2007 and I was telling Tom about this and Tom said, well, what are you going to do about a church? And, you know, I naively was like, well, I'm sure there's a good church up there somewhere. And, you know, really the more I thought about that question and the more I thought about how I had wondered, wondered for so long from one bad church to another and had found a true church where there was a high concentration of genuinely converted Christians, the more it, you know, the more difficult it began to, you know, as I thought about leaving, I was like, I don't know, maybe I don't know if I can do this. Like, finally I found a true church. I need to rethink this. And so I did.  Changed careers, which at 50 was, you know, a little nerve-wracking. Started a business in a field I knew almost nothing about. And so that was 2008. And I'm so glad that I did. The Lord has blessed that decision and that choice in many ways. And this is, so this gets at a point that Peter Masters makes in this chapter, which is that your first inclination, when a difficulty comes into your life that makes it appear to you that your first and best choice is to move away don't do it. He speaks of proving the Lord. And he speaks of it too as being a way that Satan often works in pulling people away from where they're supposed to be. So with that sort of as an introduction, let's look at what... So Peter Masters makes the point in the chapter that there are times when it is, you know, the Lord is calling someone to make a move to another place. And that does happen. He's not saying that, you know, regardless of whatever is going on, never do it. There are times when that is clearly... It's the Lord is orchestrating the circumstances in your life and moving you to another place because he has a purpose for you there. So that may happen. But, you know, you need to really look carefully and think carefully and prayerfully about whether that is, in fact, what's happening and not let worldly influences be the thing that really causes you to move away. And that's really where he starts in this lesson. So if you would just refer to this at the beginning, this quote that I pulled out at the top. He says, when the next trial arises in our lives, will we have the right priorities? Many fall in the time of trial without even a struggle and consequently they may suffer years of unhappiness without real spiritual usefulness. Some have gone into a spiritual wilderness because matters of career or location become the biggest influence in their lives, causing them to abandon their place in the service of the Lord. And so I encourage you to read this thing. I'm just going to highlight a few things that he says. This is counter-cultural.  I've got bills to pay. I've got a mortgage, you know, all the stuff. It's taken me a while and still, you know, as I see people leaving, with every year I see the gravity more clearly of this issue, of loyalty to your church and not treating this lightly. And partly that's because we've seen a number of people leave for really simple preference and, you know, worldly kinds of considerations and things often don't go well for them. I remember that there was a not long after we, Mary and I, made the decision to stay here. There was a couple who had been in the church and had moved to North Carolina and had been up there for two or three years and had gone to like 50 churches. And some of you have been here a long time, remember them, and came back, you know, threw up their hands and just said, we can't find a decent church up there, you know, and moved back to Orlando. I'm not sure where they are now, but I was like, hmm, maybe that's another indication from God that it's a good thing I didn't go. So Masters points to two things in this section, a low or high view of the church. The first is 1 Corinthians 12. And so in your handout, it's near the bottom of the first page I'm going to read. He says, the New Testament is clear in its portrayal of the local church as a company of believers very strongly related together in bonds of love and loyalty and service. The local church is much greater than a haphazard collection of believers. It is a spiritually integrated family vested with unique privileges and authority to carry out the commands of its head, the Lord Jesus Christ. A local church is the object of his delight and he is especially protective towards it. The local church is, as Paul says repeatedly in 1 Corinthians 12, one body. In the 18th verse he says, now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased him. In other words, God has designed each congregation. As people have left here, this is a point that we've tried to emphasize to them. There's no accident that you're here. I mean, this is where God brought you. This is where he has put you. And that's something that should weigh heavily in any kind of, you know, decision that you might make about whether to leave. The Masters goes on to say, we therefore conclude that if any are removed, other than by the design and overruling of the Lord, some vital quality will be missing. The members care and feel for one another to the extent that when one suffers, all the others suffer also. The congregation has a special place in the purposes of God. In 1 Corinthians 12, the analogy is of the body and of all of the parts of the body function that each one has. And some have more visible and seemingly more important functions, and others have what seem to be less visible and seem to be less important functions, but they're not. They're not less important. In Masters' book, he talks about the hands versus the feet. The hands are much more useful in many ways than the feet. You can't do everything with your toes that you can with your fingers, but the feet hold everything up. Even though they seem like lowly members, they're equally as important. And so your function here, you may not fully appreciate your own importance to the congregation. But God brought you here for a purpose, and he equipped you with certain gifts that you're to use for the edification of the body. And it's, as he says in this next paragraph, he refers to Ephesians 4-16, which describes the organic unity of the congregation using the most close-knit illustration available, that of the physical body, under the direction of the head, the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplyeth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. The idea of joints and limbs being freely interchangeable between different bodies is unthinkable. Our removal from church should be unthinkable to begin with.  He goes on to this, some really powerful illustrations here, but the notion that a knuckle or elbow could unilaterally migrate to another body is ludicrous. The illustration of the body shows how seriously God takes his sovereign right to place his people in particular churches according to his overall plan. Our God insists that we see our lives and our service in the context of the particular church family to which he appoints us. So he takes in the next part of this chapter and he talks about the body of Christ. How does the idea of the body of Christ relate to the question of whether we should ever move? He makes two points in the section called Encouraging Loyalty. So it's, I don't know, two or three pages in. Two concepts arising out of the expression, the body of Christ should help us to develop the supportive, devoted attitude which we ought to have for our local church. The magnificent term used in 1 Corinthians 1227 may refer in Scripture both to the entire worldwide Church of Christ and to an individual congregation. As we have seen, the term speaks of a harmonious, closely organized unit with interdependent parts and limbs, but it also speaks of a person's presence. So bear with me, I'm going to read this. So he's got two points that he's going to make here. One is just as we are present in a place when our body is there, so Christ is seen in the world by his church. Every local church is his representative body in the world. Surely then, the local church as his representative body must be treated with the utmost respect and consideration. As members, we are the body of Christ. Whatever we do for his representative body, we do for him and to him. Whatever we fail to do for the church, we fail to do for him. If I am lazy or indifferent toward my church, the body of Christ, I am lazy and indifferent to him. If I am disloyal to his body, I am disloyal to him. How can I hurt the body of Christ or abuse it? How can I lightly leave or forsake it? So is that how you think about the body of Christ? Is that how you think about the people you're here with, like you're an integral part of their lives? I think of many people over the years who have left this one in particular on her way out. It was like, well I really love you all, but I'm out of here and I'll never see you again. It can't possibly be that way. You can't really love the people here and simply leave and never look back. Then he goes and talks about the body of Christ in a different way that was stunning, really, the first time I read this. He says, to further stir our loyalty to the local church, there is a second idea suggested by the term body of Christ. It is that of the sanctity of life. The word body reminds us that the local church is a living thing. Supposing we see a person lying in the street injured and bleeding, what do we do? Do we just pass by? If we do, we will afterwards feel sick and desperately ashamed because there is within everyone a powerful respect for life and we cannot betray that instinctual responsibility for the preserving of life without paying a price. As Christians, we should possess a similar instinct for the health and well-being of the body of Christ, the local church, viewed spiritually. It is a precious living body, Christ being alive and its members, having bound them together to represent him in the world. How can we allow it to be hurt? How can we bear to see limbs torn out? The world allows and encourages abortion, which is an outrage against the sanctity of human life, but the indifference shown by some believers to the body of Christ is, to some degree, a similar outrage in the spiritual realm. That's a pretty strong language. I see how he's trying to say that the body of Christ can be used in two ways, as the universal body, all the Christians, and also as the local church. Could you help me to see how it's used as a local church? I guess that's my question. What comes to mind is 1 Corinthians 12. Let's look there. In the first part of 1 Corinthians, he's talking about chapter 12, spiritual gifts, and why we're giving these gifts to edify each other. Then starting in verse 12, for just as the body is one and has many members and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one spirit, we were all baptized into one body. Jews or Greeks, slaves are free, and all were made to drink of one spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again, the head to the feet. I have no need of you. On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. And on those parts of the body that we think less honorable, we bestow greater honor. And our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God is so composed of the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body. But that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. So how is the local church the body? It is because we have this interdependent life. And we need each other to function as Christians. So there is a universal church, a universal body, all Christians, the invisible church everywhere. But in the way that this interdependence is described, it's because we're together. And when you think about those verses that I referred to at the beginning, which talk about this particular number or being inside or outside this particular group, those are all local churches. So I don't know, does that answer your question, Tom? The interdependence described in the body is not, cannot be seen in the universal body, but rather in the local body, in the local congregation. That's where you can see that need for one another. And that the references that he's given here where he says in verse 23, and those members of the body which we think are less honorable, on these we would bestow greater honor. And our un-presentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, and that the members should have the same care for one another. And so that same care for one another would not be seen in the universal body, but rather in the local body. All right, yes, thank you. Immediately, that is. Yeah. So, he goes on to say here at the end of the section, when church members uproot and move as though their place in the body of Christ is of no significance, it is because they have lost their sense of awe and respect for the local church as the body of Christ. What a precious and important thing the congregation is. It is far, far more than a convenient arrangement. It is something to which we owe special love, loyalty, service, so long as it remains a worthy church. So I hope that, you know, at least to think about those things will serve as a counterweight to what could be your inclination.  Don't, I mean, that is the time to pray and trust the Lord. And your natural inclination may not be to do that. So I've outlined, and if you look at the, turn the page, the next, there are one, two, four sections where, you know, the rest of this chapter talks about wrong motives for leaving when loyalty is challenged, when loyalty is wrong. And when loyalty is wrong toward doctrinally sound churches. So wrong motives for leaving. We've got about 10 minutes. I'm going to run through these fairly quickly. A natural desire from our pleasant districts, you know, there's too much congestion in Orlando. The summers are too hot, but else, I don't know. The beach is too far away. I like the mountains better. That is not a biblical motive for leaving. Some be setting weakness that could not be controlled. You know, I just haven't been able to resolve this issue here, so I'm going to go somewhere else and start over, and maybe I can fix it there. That's not the way to deal with it. And third, people thinking more highly of themselves than they ought to think, becoming upset that their perceived talents are sufficiently recognized and that they're not given any early respect or office. But I want to sing solos during the worship service. I've got a great voice. And you're not letting me do that. So I'm going to go somewhere else. Then when loyalty is challenged, the practice of loyalty to a local church has brought many people a series of wonderful provisions and blessings. You know, I'm exhibit A as far as I'm concerned to that. If I had done what I thought I should do, which was stay in the publishing business, boy, what a mess that would have been. The Lord has, it's not going to, it may not be easy. Like, the hardest thing I've ever done in all my life was start a business. Was that an amen? But, you know, the Lord has blessed that.  Masters have encouraged you. Your elders here would encourage you that when there is this kind of a situation, your first thought should be, I'm anxious to see how the Lord is going to work in this circumstance to bless me. Because unless it's abundantly and overwhelmingly clear that you should go somewhere else, like is the case with Pastor Jerome going to Tahabon, that should not be your first thought. The history of the church is full of the loyal sacrifices of the Lord's people. You know, I mean, the other thing is like, suppose you did lose your job and you didn't find one for a year here, do you think that this church would let you starve or be homeless? I mean, that's not going to happen here. You know, you have many brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers and all of that here. So it may be that the purpose in that will be for us to show our own love toward you and your difficulty. And you just departing off someplace and wouldn't allow that to happen. And I mentioned this earlier, but number four here, all believers at some time are likely to be subjected to the devil's attempts to shift them from the church fellowship where God has placed them. Most believers who have been especially used by God for the building up of their fellowship have been at some time subjected to intense pressures to uproot and relocate elsewhere. Satan is constantly trying to spoil churches by taking believers out of the element in which God has placed them. So this should enter your thinking. You should think this way about these kinds of difficulties. Is this a satanic effort to derail your Christian life by pulling you out of a good church and taking you off to someplace where you don't know what you'll find? When the Lord sets us in a sound church, it is a divine appointment. And we must honor and respect that with all our strength. When loyalty is wrong, and the main two things he refers to first time at these six, three to five, if anyone teaches otherwise, sound doctrine and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud knowing nothing but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. You're in a sound church. Like some of you are blessed to have, this is like the first church you were ever part of. And you don't know what a mess there is out there. I've been in some of those messes and by the grace of God, he pulled us out of them. But so if they're teaching error, and so you have to know, like when we talk about leadership in the church, you're the ones who keep the leadership accountable, you must know your Bible in order to do that. You should not just sit there and expect to be spoon fed, you know? You need to be Bereans about this. You need to, we are men who can be wrong. And I mean, we take this very seriously and make every effort not to be, but you have a responsibility. And in 2nd Corinthians 6, 14 to 17, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness. So teaching wrong stuff, unbiblical garbage, and there's a lot of it, beware. Then, you know, when loyalty is wrong toward doctrinally sound churches, I mean, so they can teach all the right things, but not do them. When a church refuses to practice church discipline. Oh, I wonder if anybody's ever actually left, surely they have, but because they didn't practice. I mean, most people leave churches because they do practice church discipline and they're offended by it. If a church shows no inclination to obey the Great Commission. I mean, I left 1st Baptist Orlando because one principle reason was, I didn't even know what reform theology was at the time. So I'm really glad I left and discovered it, but they'd said, in effect, we don't want you going door to door because it's too confrontational. Okay, I gotta get out of here. And if a church ignores the standards of God's word by allowing the use of carnal and worldly styles of worship. So you've heard us talk about the regulative principle and the red circle is flashing. There are other really great treasures in this little book. One of them, the last chapter, the rules of church membership. And it's Principles of Conduct for Church Members compiled in the 1740s by John Fletcher. And I thought about starting with some of these, but I won't, let's pray and we'll move on. Father in heaven, thank you for our time together and thank you for this precious church for how you've worked in our lives and circumstances to bring us here. Help us, Lord, to fully appreciate what an amazing blessing it is to be here. In Jesus' name, amen.


Lithuania is purchasing two Nasem's air defense launcher systems for Ukraine, President Gitanus Nalsedis said on June 27. Lithuania purchased the Nasems for 9.8 million euros and will deliver them within three months, according to a statement from its Defense Ministry on Wednesday. Lithuania was reacting to an urgent Ukrainian request to help strengthen air defenses in the face of Russian attacks against military and civilian targets, the Lithuanian Ministry said. As part of the deal, Norway will supply maintenance equipment for the launchers, Lithuania will handle the delivery of the Nasems to Ukraine and will include a donation of 10M113 armored personnel carriers in the package. The missile of the rail, they are going to do the maintenance of it. I think that it will be one of the most important discussions. In fact, as much as possible, as much as much as possible, the Russian military is still in a difficult situation. Today, it is important to understand, and this is the case with the NATO Secretary General, to understand how difficult it will be to deal with what needs to be done. But one more thing that we need to do is to solve our difficult situation.


What's going on ladies and gents? Max feels their hair from these few labs where I had more Hollywood. I found this nice cute park. Don't underestimate the park. No weights over here. Just body weight, pull up bars, just see a the dips ball right over here. So I'm definitely gonna knock out some dips. I'm gonna show you a few exercises you can do out here at the park.  Just made my intro workout. BCAAs. My favorite flavor is kiwi strawberry. I got some passion fruit here. You know they all taste delicious and nutritious. My BCAA is gonna help me stay hydrated while limiting muscle breakdown. I'm gonna show you how to do a quick workout out here. Circuit training, strength, and a little bit cardio. So it's gonna be like intense circuit. Stay tuned. How many of you guys love burpees?  They challenge you. We're gonna start up with burpees. It's a great upper and lower body exercise and also helps increase your heart rate and get the blood flowing. So incorporate in your outdoor workout routine or indoor. You can do it anywhere. No weights needed. Let's go. I decided to do an outdoor workout. The first thing I look for is the pull-up bar. One muscle up, 20 press at the top.  Why? Let's go. Circuit training. So I'm gonna take no breaks. If you need to, take a short break. Moving under the dips. I'm sure you now got 10 to 20 reps of those. Four sets. No breaks. Moving on. Mountain climbing. Be sure to keep your core tight on those. Moving on to the next exercise. Leg raise hip thrust. Double leg raises once you start to fatigue. Be sure to stay hydrated. You don't have to be thirsty to drink water. I'm having my BCAs. But now I got some sit-ups. Little to no breaks. Remember that. Into close hand. No breaks. Straight to it. Jumping jack squats. Now we're gonna get some lower body in and cardio, claw metrics. Combine it to mix it up. Last but not least, the pull-ups. After the pull-ups, we're gonna finish up with one round around the park. Jogging, running, sprinting all the way up. Finish up with one lap around the park. Jogging, running, sprinting, your pace. Let's go. Too intense with the running.  So customize the cardio to your body type and your goals. Your body doesn't transform here. It transforms after recovery. Rest. One scoop of oxywave before my workouts. One scoop after. By the kick start my recovery process and lead muscle gains. Make sure you're consistent with whatever you're doing. The VEO plan, workout plan, your supplementation plan. None of it's gonna work unless you're being consistent and stick with the best. Thanks for tuning in guys. Short 30 to 60 minutes. No weights. No problem. Till next time.


Hi, I'm Daniel Borza, a chef here at Hackensack Meridian Health. And I'm David Apostle, a registered dietitian at Hackensack Meridian Health. And we're here at the Johnson Diabetes Center because we know that holidays can be tough on your diet. So we're here just to share a couple of healthy recipes. Today we're going to be making a non-alcoholic reduced carb sangria. Mix all ingredients together in a punch bowl or large pitcher. Then serving is only five calories and one gram of sugar, making it a healthy alternative to those juices and colas. Then refrigerate until ready to serve. For a different flavor, substitute the diet lemonade with the diet fruit punch. To serve, pour into glasses over ice and garnish with lemon or lime slices or both. For more healthy holiday recipes, you can check out our playlist on YouTube.


Mate, I'm Troy Mandy and I'm from the Australian Taxation Office.  Just that our records here show that you've been dodging our calls for a couple of months. Okay, I will. Basically, the ATO has done a little bit of an audit of Centrelink and we've seen that you still owe another $6,514. Oh, no way, okay. Yeah, so legally, I have to tell you that if you refuse this, we will sell your debt to a debt collector. There will be some large men that could rock up at your house and start taking your furniture. You are employed now. You are making money. You will repay the amount that was given to you when you didn't have a f***ing job. How far in did you were you suspicious that this might be a prank or for Marty and Michael? Oh, my God.


How's it going everyone? Caleb here with late in sports cards next night. We've got a full case break of 2021 national treasures football This one here is ran out of division style break number 113. Thank you again very much everyone results for you one more time right here Also linked in the chats Good luck. Good luck. All right. All right, everyone. See what we can do. No going back now We do this off here We're good to go. All right, everyone. Good luck here See what we can find for you guys Starting it out with a Devin white there That's number to the jersey number. Actually that is Jersey number 45 or 45. That's pretty sick NFC South And it's gonna be a Justin Jefferson there to 99 NFC North To 99 here on the Vince young Nice from there on the Vince young to 99 Titans We've got a quad material. He's here AFC North Steelers Washington Joe Thysman Saints Archie Manning and then bangles Ken Anderson. That's gonna be to AFC North and then Redskins or Washington excuse me and Archie Manning so that's gonna be NFC South for one AFC North for two And I have C East for one. Okay, hold on. Let me check the results quick See who has a FC North That's David G. Does David G have any others? See South so no and they see your NFC East staff in Yes, this is gonna be random Random gets yeah, Jason T. NFC South. Yep Random at the end there. Good luck David you'll have two chances at it, but it is not majority. You do have to have three of the four Treasures of the hall on the John L. Way there treasures of the hall No Ravens on that card. Yeah, I did notice that You go AFC West Appreciate that AFC North there number to the Jersey number again to 88 Pat Fryer me FC North We've got AFC East here on the Hunter long auto Fc East Slot that there next up here AFC West. How about a Javante Williams field pass Golden Inc. Auto to 25 Nice one there AFC West That's a beauty Very nice sit there. Congrats AFC West It's Javante We have a Teddy Bruce key there to 25 Nice one there is east on the auto Fc East Autograph for 99 NFL gear Mac Jones boom AFC East there you go Congrats on the Mac Very very nice it You go AFC East That's the one will make it Looking for some more of those. Let's see it true now Take a horizontal though very nice Certainly all right here we go Continuing right along for you guys cam chancellor to 49 and Rogers to 99 NFC north to 99 on the DJ shark. There he is AFC south patch Patch you're a Mari Cooper number to 25 NFC East Sure hasn't played from yet, but could be Giants to 99 there on the Cadarius Tony NFC East All right, and next up here it is gonna be NFC north Justin Fields and AFC East Zach Wilson on the dual patch 1099 We ran him at the end Good luck next up here Rookie jumbo prime six 15 of 99 Dwayne S. Gridge How about that one? Oh Nice patch as well Beautiful you go Congrats NFC West That's sick There he is Nice one there for you NFC West like the patch Kirk Cousins on the auto to 35 NFC north Kirk We also have auto here to 49 this time Joe Montana NFC West and closing out this box here horizontal patch autograph to 25 Cadarius Tony there he is NFC East Not too bad. Let's see another big QB like that first box Let's see it. Let's see it. Good luck. Good luck guys The vertical true RPA tonight vertical true RPA to 99 is the best you can do unless you're gonna hit something like one of one Or maybe like to 10. Yeah, but still even sometimes the True does better. Yeah It's crazy To 25 James Robinson And a Justin Fields 99 NFC north NFC north again on the Kirk Cousins patch to 99 you go on the Kirk AFC West here gonna be an Austin Echler patch to 25 You go we've got patch here NFC East to 25 Jalen Hurts Yeah, they're throwing them all in tonight They're throwing them all into the division's case East south and north. I think that's majority of David. He has the AFC south. No, never mind NFC's All right, we've got a triple patch here t-law Matt Jones and Justin Fields That is to 99 You go so that is gonna be once again AFC south AFC east Then NFC north. Let me just double check it as well Yep, that would be random correct random they're very nice patch very nice We have true rookie patch auto Elijah Moore boom True for the AFC east Congrats on the true AFC east on the true congratulations there Horizontal patch autograph rookie patch autograph that is a monra same brown You go nice one NFC north to 99 Sound a monra We've got a at read auto AFC north To 99 nice it and also AFC north rookie jumbo prime signatures to 99 Najee Harris Wow great patch there Congrats AFC north That's sick Ajee stays pulling cards That is a beauty nice patch there congrats on that AFC north Honestly, I physically don't know if I have it in my heart to forgive you for pulling the arsenic That was kind of There was a lot that night. Yeah, that was the crazy night. I think with the shillings. I think it was. Yeah empty Thank you are correct Last box of the night for me guys Let's find something sick. All right NFC north David Montgomery to 25 Ajay Brown and 99 their Titans Ajay Brown AFC south got treasured patches here Kishon Johnson number two 99 on the Kishon NFC east Treasures of the hall is Bob greasy their dolphins to 25 AFC east Nice one For the AFC north triple bangles patch here to 99 Jill Burrow Carson Palmer and Boomerous Isen It's gonna be triple AFC north there. Go nice hit Where we have an excellent majority to Christy has the AFC West and the All right, so we have here Najee Harris Eli Mitchell and Javons a Williams And I believe this one is majority. I'm just gonna double check it as well here quick AFC north Steelers This David G and then it's gonna be like Mitchell Correct AFC West AFC West Christy NFC West Christy Christy wins this card by majority. He does have two of the three T or divisions here Christy, this is your card. No need to random it's two out of the three is majority. You go man We've got a Patrick Jones auto there to 49 You go on the Patrick Jones that is a FC north or excuse me NFC north Patrick Jones Horizontal patch autograph is Simi Fajoco Cool Cowboys patches on there. You go on that one at FC East the simmy It's going out the Boomer hits how about another one for the AFC north another boomer side Isen Good hit there for you a FC north 49 and we do have to close it out once again here in the case Horizontal rookie patch autograph to 99 Micah Parsons There he is NFC There he is That is really random and a bunch of Micah as well. Yeah a lot to Micah's Let's take that Micah. All right guys. I'm gonna get some random set up here and we will get into Those shortly so once again here the cards are gonna be randoming the T law Mack jones and Justin Fields the Fields and Wilson and the Bradshaw Jill Thysman Archie Manning and Ken Anderson that's Steelers Redskins St. Spengels. I'll be typing into the division So just give me a couple seconds here to set it up. Thank you all very much We're gonna once again random those in the order. I just mentioned Just give me a second to set them up like I said 113 QE trio and this one is NFC north Okay, drop that here. I'm sorry That's set up and then it's gonna be East East East and north right Yep, too for the FC north the quad FC South NFC. Sorry guys. Good luck on the randoms here Starting now like I said with the trio Trevor Lawrence Mack Jones and Justin Fields. Good luck Well, the dice the division on top doesn't land the card three times on the random one two three AFC South congratulations Next up here is the Fields and Wilson. Good luck here new random to roll the dice It's gonna be four times Division on top lands it one two three four AFC East and Then we have the quad here guys the quad Terry Bradshaw Joe Thysman Archie Manning and Ken Anderson Divisions are represented there new random new role of the dice Three times they blessed us on their dice rolls one two not gonna lie three NFC South there you go Recap guys and that'll do it for the evening That's for myself the auto. Oh, yeah, that's perfect Sam will be doing the persons for you guys are after that side of the last one as well figure. That's perfect Boomer on the patch auto simi patch auto and Patrick Jones. We had that booklet Najee Harris Rookie Jumbo prime six Autos here every Monro St. Brown horizontal and Canaries Tony horizontal Got the Joe Montana and the Kirk Cousins Yeah, it should be fun Joshua We got 20 nascarage Seahawks Teddy Bruce Ian Hunter long I thought there's nothing stuck there. There's not Chavonte Williams on the field pass gold auto to 25 Elijah Moore your key patch auto true to 99 jets Micah Parsons in 99 on the horizontal RPA and a Mack Jones horizontal RPA to 99 Thank you all so much for joining. Once again, really do appreciate it We'll have those all well protected up and sent right out to you. Thank you again so much