Ministry Update from 12/11/2008

Priorities. That’s what the last two months have been about. What must be done, and what can be left undone, to speed the return of our ministry to West Africa. Despite the hectic schedules and unexpected challenges, our confidence remains that as we plan a way, the Lord directs our steps.

Since mid-September, we’ve followed a plan to minimize while sharing in churches. Verlin travels to a region, and then stays there for three to six weeks. Debbie travels once or twice a month, family and home school schedule permitting. In the last 12 weeks, Verlin has shared in
• 33 church services and 10 SS of 30 different churches,
• 5 Bible studies, 2 Prayer Breakfasts,
• 3 youth meetings, 4 association meetings,
• as well as meeting personally with supporters & possible partners.
Debbie has spoken 6 times, and hosted friends, ministry partners, and potential missionary co-workers at the house. We’ve prayed in both grief and joy with friends and supporters, sensing the delight the Lord gives when you know He’s ordered the way. It encourages us to see the excitement you share about the CHE work advancing in Africa!

While these duties with FWBIM and interaction with LifeWind International happen in the USA, we stay in contact with servants who are the “boots on the ground” to make disciples in West Africa. This week, Verlin forwarded the second half of a 170+ page CHE Operations Guide to be corrected by a retired professional French translator. This guide will help French-speaking African nationals to run Community Health Evangelism (CHE) programs independently. Additionally, we have helped Ivorians prepare to submit budgets for the Bible Institute in Bouna and manage funds to build churches in Abidjan. Every week brings more leadership and financial issues to handle.

Financially, our account is now $12,000.00 in the red, instead of the $25,000.00 from July. Pray with us that 10 to 15 churches will give an additional $1,500.00 or more to erase the deficit and rebuild the balance. One church recently did so, thank the Lord, and we believe there are others that will participate when they know the need. The new monthly commitments of $3,500.00 are slow in coming. Still, we rest in the fact that while we share consistently, it is the Lord who provides for His kingdom work to be done.

Recently, in east TN, Verlin heard the testimony of John ‘the Bull' Bramlett, a former NFL football player who knew no peace despite being raised in church his entire childhood. His conversion testimony touches the heart with pathos and comedy and has developed a fruitful ministry that you can contact through http://www.bramlett.org. Near the end of his presentation, he shares the effect his salvation had on the family, using the words of his then 14 year old son in a paragraph essay assignment for an 8th grade teacher. All I want for Christmas is for my family and me to have a very Merry Christmas like the other two Christmases we’ve had. My dad was out drinking and fighting three years ago and we were all worrying about him and wondering when he would come back. While opening our presents, we were so miserable through those years. Now we have a happy and merry Christmas after my daddy accepted Jesus in his heart and we have a lot to be thankful for. This is all I want for Christmas and I’ve got it.

We pray that this Christmas season and the upcoming year will find your family thankful and rejoicing for the wealth Christ brings to your life, and that He brings to others through your ministry and ours. May He use each of us more than ever in 2009, through praying and giving and going, to reach a world that’s impoverished by the lack of knowing His perfect Presence!

Sharing the Treasure more precious than gold,
Verlin and Debbie Anderson with Corbin, Cason & Cara


Prayer Requests:
• Spirit-directed services for Verlin, Debbie, and our co-worker Alice Smith
• Safe travels and physical stamina
• Wisdom to manage personal, family, ministry, and other organizational concerns
• That God will use FWBs to finance ministry despite challenged economic times
• Ongoing ministries in Cote d’Ivoire: CHE, Bible Institute, Doropo NGO

Verlin’s Schedule:
• Through Dec. 17 – Churches in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina
• Jan. 9 – Southern Quarterly of the Cumberland Association
• Jan. 11 – Feb 6 Florida State Association FWBs
• Feb. 7 – Feb 12 Supporting churches in North Carolina
• Feb. 14 – Feb 25 Florida State Assoc. FWBs
• Mar. 1 – Nashville supporting Churches

Ministry Update from 9/9/2008

Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,

These past few weeks have been all about transition for us: leaving Cote d’Ivoire and settling into a Nashville home; enjoying one last nuclear family vacation; settling two children into college this fall; completing our International Missions reorientation and training; Verlin attending the National Association; services and youth camp in Florida; and hours preparing for services this fall and spring, all while finishing overseas business.

The last week in Cote d’Ivoire was intense. Signed papers released the Doropo clinic property definitively to the complete management of a Free Will Baptist NGO; renters were interviewed and approved to occupy mission property; distribution criteria for funds earmarked to build church buildings in Abidjan were discussed; and an education committee decided to open the Bouna Bible Institute for training in residence rather than modular sessions this fall. After our return to the USA, we facilitated these tasks while helping our brothers over the phone finish others. Do you get the idea? Ivorian brothers are assuming the reins of control and responsibility of numerous ministries, slowly and surely. When our CHE team left for this one-year stateside assignment, we participated in the first planned and complete absence of missionary personnel for Cote d’Ivoire in the past 50 years.

Change is never easy, but it happens as we grow and accomplish what the Lord asks of us. One change in our lives together is the implementation of the newly approved funding missionary structure for International Missions. For details, check out www.fwbgo.com/funding or http://www.onemag.org/. The transition on January 1, 2010 will require patience and hard work together to implement and maintain. Pray with us that this change will speed new missionaries to the field and ease financial concerns for existing missionaries. The harvest is great, and growing, where we serve; the need for workers greater than ever.

In the mean time, there is much to do. God willing, our family returns to Africa the summer of 2009. Our account must erase a $25,000 deficit and develop a $15,000 balance. We also need to add $3500 of monthly support. The problem is the dollar being 45% weaker versus the CFA franc of Cote d’Ivoire (tied to the Euro) than in 2001. Our 2001 and 2009 budgets are nearly the same in CFA, but our responsibilities have greatly increased. There is no more budget trimming to do. Personal funds have floated several expenses for the last two years, as we hoped for a strengthening dollar and tried to keep ministry going. For the first time in eleven years our account has entered into the red and stayed there. As a result, there are days of hard work and travel ahead, but always with an abiding confidence in our God. He provides for what He wants to see done. Trust with us as we watch Him “make a way where there seems to be no way.”

Thank you for all you have done to enable us to share the gospel in Africa all these years. We hope to see many of you in person and report the exciting things happening in CHE and other ministries in Cote d’Ivoire. Our next update will include a service schedule for upcoming months.

Jehovah-Jireh,
Verlin, Debbie, and Corbin Anderson

PS of September 16, 2008 - Rejoice with us, between a $10,000 distribution of TN Walk-a-thon funds and an unusually high month of giving, our account deficit has reduced significantly during the week. Please continue to pray as indicated in either the attached PDF or the text below. We must still erase a deficit, add $15,000 and increase the monthly average of support by $3500 in commitments before returning the summer of '09.

Ministry Update from 5/29/08

What a thrill, what a ride, during the past 10 weeks in Cote d’Ivoire! We have been pushed to our limit physically, and, in turn, been energized by what the Lord has done. Because so much has happened, this is an attempt to summarize the highlights.

• March 22—The 50th Celebration of Free Will Baptists in Cote d’Ivoire at Bondoukou. How blessed to worship the Lord together with over twelve hundred of the Ivorian church and to welcome back former and retired missionaries as well as International Missions personnel. It was a special treat to have Debbie’s mother and sister with us—3 generations of Payne/Anderson/Stafford ladies together.

• April 10-13—CHE (Community Health Evangelism) Vision Seminar in the village of Nassian. God’s Spirit convinced many of the 17 attending that He intends them to use their own resources to meet the spiritual and physical needs of others. After reflection, this church, and a sister church in Talahini, plan to use CHE to reach their communities and those surrounding them for Christ. Should they take this step in faith, it will represent a significant change in the attitude of these churches toward ministry.

• April 15-18—24 completed all 18 hours of the CHE Vision Seminar in Doropo! The church and some partnering Ivorian missionaries now desire to use CHE. The consistent follow-up and discipleship of new believers and church leaders in CHE struck the loudest chord among them. They, and we, attempted to schedule their first Training of Trainers for May through multiple international text messages via Burkina Faso, but neither we nor they could reschedule important regional meetings, or the planting season. Our tickets to the U.S. are purchased for the
time when they will be ready. It’s our experience that God’s call and work will still be active among them on our return. So, we expect to train them next summer, or possibly earlier.

• April 22-25—West African CHE Consultation in Abidjan. After months of preparation, our team helped host CHE leaders from 6 nations to exchange information and receive refreshment from the Lord. 33 of the 36 attending were Africans planting churches with CHE. Most paid from their own pockets to come. There are now 48 CHE projects in 12 West African countries; a great change from the few when we started along this path. The Holy Spirit evidenced Himself
in the coordination of subjects, the application of messages, the ministry reports, and the plans shared. Verlin made local arrangements for the meeting, led opening and closing devotions, and gave a report. Alice Smith, our CHE partner, led a session on translation that she and Debbie
had prepared. The two attending members of our Ivorian CHE team had their vision greatly expanded. They rubbed shoulders with faithful men of God who have been at this for 5, 10, and 15 years, and are now seeing the burgeoning fruit of following the process from beginning to end.
When the FWB eastern region met, it was evident that commitment from our Ivorian Champion has moved up a notch. Both testified and offered to share and teach to enable our churches to use CHE in order to grow, even while the mission was absent for a year. Verlin needed to say nothing.

• All of May, Debbie and Romeo worked feverishly to finish several CHE manuals to leave with our Goumere team: 52 lessons from Acts for new converts, 36 lessons on moral values and the Christian family, 34 lessons on raising animals and their sicknesses, 61 agricultural and appropriate technology lessons, 18 lessons to train the village committee, 20 lessons for training CHE workers, and 70 lessons on physical topics like malaria.

• May 24—Verlin and Debbie met with two members of the Ivorian Education Committee to discuss a possible Sunday School curriculum for our churches. It was excellent to hear their thoughts and they eagerly asked how FWB curriculum was used in the States.

• The Goumere CHE team completed the health screening in Karako, evaluating 100 boys and 100 girls. Seventy-one percent tested positive for malaria; two-thirds were malnourished, or on the verge of malnutrition. The team had their first meeting with the villagers to share these findings last week. Verlin presented the medical findings in the context of God’s desire to change them by obedience to His Word. It’s a great privilege and joy to hear a Muslim chief openly invite the team to share Christ in order to help them overcome their ills.

• June 9th, our departure date, nears. Please pray for strength as we pack and receive many visitors. Verlin has numerous extra issues to deal with as a new Field Chairman. Ask the Lord especially to help Cara, who expects to begin nursing school this fall in Nashville. She is saying good-bye to many dear friends whom she will not see again for a long time, if ever, here on earth.

• The worth of the American dollar has plummeted in Cote d’Ivoire during the past few years, and our account shows it. The same CFA budget we had in 2001 now requires 55,000 additional dollars to maintain. Stateside assignment will include not only thank yous and ministry reports, but also seeking new partners to answer the call to participate with us. In addition, all of us missionaries, as well as you who send us, have much to learn and to embrace as International Missions shifts to the new general support plan in 2010. It is our prayer that this enormous effort will help SPEED new missionaries to the field, and help KEEP us older ones in service there!

We look forward to being face-to-face to share with you what God does through our partnership, as well as to explain our passion, sharing Christ and His abundant life through continuing FWB ministries and CHE.

With thanksgiving and anticipation,
Verlin, Debbie, Cara, and Corbin Anderson

Prayer Points
• Pray for those who served here long before us. On return from the 50th Celebration of the Ivorian FWB church’s beginning, one couple had a home damaged by a storm. Others resumed ministries. Our first retirees from the field, Jerry & Carol Pinkerton (pictured at right), begin new ministry in MO.
• Pray that Nassian and Doropo believers will clearly sense and follow God’s calling in their lives following their active participation in Vision Seminars.
• Pray that the Goumere team will maintain their focus and persevere pursuing the open door before them and not be distracted from the important by the urgent.
• Pray that Romeo demonstrates dependence on God as he leaves our team, having completed his part of the CHE translation. His commitments to Christ have been and will be tested.
• Pray for the transition from translating CHE materials to translating FWB materials. Our churches desperately need simple and direct teaching for discipleship.
• Pray for Mai as she returns to be with her Muslim family this summer.
• Pray for Cara’s goodbyes (pictured at right with Mai).
• Pray that the Lord’s strength will be evident in our lives as we wrap-up here to serve there.
• Trust while in prayer with us to see the Lord’s provision to get His work done.
• Meditate upon or enjoy the below photos of some who will miss us while we’re away.

Ministry Update from 3/9/08

Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,

Kolo sat on our front porch and sighed. "Sorry I'm late bringing in the lessons. My wife got into a fight with our neighbor, and it took all my time this morning. The neighbor is from a tribe that we have an alliance with, and we are not supposed to fight. I need a CHE lesson about how to avoid fights!"

Debbie had no lesson on fighting to give him. Instead, she shared with him several verses from Ephesians 4. After reflecting, he noted how hard it is to apologize and be willing to forgive. Yes, she agreed, but we do it, not because the other person deserves it, or because it is easy, but because Christ has forgiven us our many sins.

There is a story behind this story. Several months ago, Kolo showed up to talk with Verlin, a complete stranger, discouraged, barely speaking to his newlywed, pregnant wife, and not having received a salary from his government job for months. He had no money to buy food, and he and his wife constantly fought. We gave them a meal, but also learning that Kolo spoke English well, we encouraged him to try translating some CHE lessons.

Since that week, he has brought a steady stream of lessons to our door, which helps feed his family. He shares the content of the lessons with his wife, and she sits close by and looks up words for him as he translates, bringing them together in a loving, productive effort. According to his testimony, beginning to apply the lessons has transformed his life and helped renew their relationship.

A second endeavor besides CHE consumes a huge amount of our time these days. On March 22, the day before Easter, our churches and the mission are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the arrival of Free Will Baptist missionaries in Cote d'Ivoire. The morning-long gathering and meal will take place here in Bondoukou, and much work remains. Alice Smith and we are preparing to feed 25 people in our homes for 5 days (in addition to many other responsibilities), as
former missionaries and personnel from International Missions in Nashville will come for the occasion. Please pray for strength to complete all the tasks, and for a memorable day honoring Jesus Christ.

Continue to pray for Mai, the convert from a Muslim family. She was able to sneak by our house on Monday for 15 minutes. We had not seen her since mid-December, because her mother still refuses to let her go to church. Debbie prayed with her and gave her an "Our Daily Bread" devotional that Mai hid in a sack, handling it as if it were gold.

In February, The Hanna Project ministered at the Doropo clinic for the third year. Praise the Lord, there were over 130 decisions for Christ, and many people were blessed by the surgeries, village evangelism, renovated elementary school, and construction of a sports terrain for the whole town. Our Cara served on the team this year. It was a wonderful experience for her, and the CHE team was glad to feed the 50-member convoy again as they passed through Bondoukou, coming and going. Verlin helped in additional, unexpected ways.

At the end of this email is a list of upcoming activities and their dates for the next 2 months. How we need your prayers! We hope this format will make it easy for you to print out and pray for the events as they occur.

Thank you more than we can say for being a part of all this. How could we be here, if we were not sent? And how could we be sent, if we did not have partners who pray and give? As we all work together, God is moving in the lives of people in Cote d'Ivoire.

Gladly serving Him here,
Verlin, Debbie, Cara, and Corbin

Anderson Prayer Points
. March 9: Verlin preaches in Tanda (40 minutes south), and we have the opportunity to visit with Pastor Theophile and his family.
. March 11-12: A CHE school health screening will occur in Karako, with 200 children to evaluate.
. March 13: Debbie's mother, Sandra Payne, and her sister, Laura Stafford, fly into Abidjan. Yippee! Also, Debbie and Alice must "shop until they drop" to prepare for the 50th. Abidjan is a 7-hour trip south.
. March 22: The 50th Celebration takes place in an old, deserted soccer stadium across from the Bondoukou FWB Church.
. March 26: Our beloved senior missionaries Jerry and Carol Pinkerton will leave Cote d'Ivoire, after 37 years of faithful service to the Lord. They will retire from International Missions in 2009 after some months of travel to thank supporters. We will miss them terribly! Pray for special grace as they say good-bye to a country and people who have become dearer than life.
. April 7: Grandma Payne returns to the USA.
. April 11-13: A CHE Vision Seminar is scheduled in Nassian (3 hours northwest).
. April 23-26: A CHE West Africa Regional Meeting will happen in Abidjan. Verlin has spent hours (and will spend many more) helping coordinate this meeting with LifeWind coordinators living in Nigeria and Togo.

May activities
. Possibly teach two more CHE training seminars (dates TBA later)
. Provide our CHE team lessons needed during our one-year absence
. Pack up our belongings in barrels for our stateside assignment
. Help our daughter say goodbye to Africa as she finishes high school
. Begin contacting pastors to schedule services in churches for summer/fall 2008

Ministry Update from 1/31/08

Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,

"Got any rivers you think are uncrossable?
Got any mountains you can't tunnel through?
God specializes in things thought impossible,
And He can do what no other power can do."

The words to that simple, old Christian chorus took on a new meaning to Jerry Pinkerton and Verlin in December! When they splashed through 3 rivers that took water over the hoods and up to the windshields, crossed other spots where 2 narrow beams provided the bridge, and disappeared into holes where it seemed impossible to climb out, they knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the LORD enabled them to deliver the over $20,000.00 gift of medicines and supplies to the Doropo NGO without permanent damage to body, vehicle, or gift. In over 30 years of living in Cote d'Ivoire, Jerry has only seen one other road as bad, years ago, in Ghana. It seems likely that numerous angels worked overtime that day.

Jerry and Verlin traveled to Danané (dah-nah-nay), a town on the western border of Cote d'Ivoire, to pick up the medications at a hospital staffed by Doctors Without Borders. This took them past rebel checkpoints. Although they had paperwork from appropriate authorities in Abidjan, one drugged rebel hinted by word and intimidating tactic that their return trip with the medicines would be a challenge. As a result, Jerry let Verlin lead him to take a dirt road running
roughly parallel to the paved road and bypass the threatening checkpoint. At first, it looked like a good road, recently graded. Then reality hit. It took 6 hours to go 70 kilometers. The whole process (Abidjan, Danané, Doropo) took 5 ½ days. Thank you for praying during those difficult days; thank you, Jerry, for helping Verlin (our transport rather than a truck's saved supporters at least $500, but probably closer to $2000) and thank you, Father, for protecting and preserving as only You can do!

December also found us welcoming Dayo Obaweya, our LifeWind regional coordinator from Nigeria, to Cote d'Ivoire and into our home for the second time. It is always an encouragement to see him and learn from his treasure trove of experience in CHE.

Dayo thanked us (and you vicariously!) for making the translation of Community Health Evangelism (CHE) lessons from English into French a priority. He knows, as do we, that for CHE to explosively grow in French-speaking Africa, as it has in English-speaking parts, teams must have the majority of lessons readily available to them when they need them. The time and resources we have spent in the last 18 months will bless teams in many countries, as well as our own. So many CHE teams and programs are raising up in Africa, that the LifeWind coordinators are overwhelmed with work, and they are beginning to call it a movement, not just a ministry. Dayo asked Alice Smith and us to help host a West African Regional LifeWind meeting in Cote d'Ivoire. The meeting is booked at a center for Christian media training in Abidjan, April 22-25.

Thanks to the supplies from Danané, the Goumeré CHE team is incorporating a check for malaria into their school health screening at Karako. They are coordinating the event with the school teachers now; they'll reset to doctor's objectives in participation next.

January came in with a bang for our family, full of activity. One mundane project that will help the family and our visitors is the construction of a small water tower in our yard. During February, March, and sometimes April we can go for days without city water. This system will help very much (thanks to some wonderful ladies in Florida for helping buy the water tank!).

A highlight of January was ministering to the Bondoukou prisoners on the 29th. We served the 257 inmates, guards, and leadership a meal of fish, rice, and sauce. Seven ladies of the FWB Bondoukou Church cooking and the idea of CHE being used to change prisoner's lives is starting to be fleshed out.

Last year we took up this project because a Christian from our church was in prison, wrongfully accused of stealing a large sum of money. We wanted to encourage him and the small group of believers that he taught each week by giving them a meal. At that time, they were 20 in number. However, the warden said he could not approve a meal for such a small portion of the prison. Through some planning, we fed them all once. This brought several wonderful witnessing opportunities for multiple FWB churches, as well as some hope to the prisoners for many days that some people cared.

This year our Christian brother is released, the believers number around 40, and our churches have a wide open door to minister in numerous ways. Several gospels of John, tracts, and other encouraging material were given Tuesday. It is likely that almost every prisoner (Christian, Muslim, or animist) will read each piece of literature. We took our camera, hoping to send you a picture of Corbin handing out oranges to the prisoners, but the battery died before we got even one picture! The released Christian hopes to establish a self-supporting ministry to transform prisoners' lives throughout the country. He's looking to CHE as a possible means to do it.

These next few months are scary for us. There is so much to do in preparation of the 50th Celebration in March. There will be at least 2, probably 3, new CHE training sessions to complete before we return to the States in June for a one-year stateside assignment, not to mention some review training sessions. The nights get shorter and shorter, and we ask you to pray for special physical stamina and wisdom. As Isaiah put it, we wait on the Lord for those thermal currents to keep us soaring on eagle's wings to accomplish whatever HE has planned for us.

With a new year under way, we want to say how much we love and appreciate you, the most wonderful ministry partners in the world! This fall, we look forward to seeing many of you in person to share what the Lord is doing in Cote d'Ivoire.

Trusting the Lord who makes possible the impossible,
Verlin, Debbie, Cara, and Corbin