Beyond our thoughts and hope . . .

We serve with the Christian Health Service Corps (CHSC).
Open or download CHSC for Andersons for donor directions,
or see http://www.verlindeb.org/Links/links.htm

You can give online here to our CHSC ministry, or provide
Designated Giving via the TDF or The Global Foundation

Download a printable PDF of this blog by clicking 'blog PDF'
Download a letter to the TN Association of FWB 'TN Letter'

The Lord continues to do great and marvelous things.

Besides protecting our comings and goings, providing food and shelter, and leading through new situations as a family of adults, our Savior continues to encourage us. He validates and expands the influence we have. As you read, pray for these blessings to increase.

After the September 16th - 20th University training in Abidjan, at least five separate Community Health Evangelism efforts start. This does not include the impact that encouraging conversations with participating regional directors from Medical Ambassadors International had upon other groups already engaged.  Since the training ended September 20th, two additional training of trainers (TOT) have happened . . . that we know about! Two more are scheduled; others make plans to train.  It's likely other training sessions begin besides these! Eight trainings of 10 to 30 individuals each will have taken place the 10 month period of May 2013 - February 2014. That’s more than the prior two years! Pray each training session will have the impact of those we’ve facilitated since 2008 - where at least one new church plant and several churches strengthened their witness. No transformation for social good endures apart from the facilitating presence of local, Bible believing churches being planted or renewed.

In Abengourou on November 15th, as follow-up to a September 13th meeting, a fellowship of Community Heath Evangelist / Education / Engagement (CHE) trainers was formed. Membership spans four denominations, three medical clinics, and several local churches. They anticipate the facilitation of training throughout the nation with subsequent church plants. All local trainers volunteer sacrificial efforts without pay or salary or the promise of scheduled gifts to participate. Pray that CHE core values, like the integration of physical and spiritual ministry in thought, word, and act, are maintained by each and all. Pray Shalom is demonstrated in our lives and those we influence together.

Our participation in the Global CHE Network meeting in Louisville, November 6-7, allowed us to encourage others and to be encouraged. We found churches called to short-term missions who were addressing dependency problems by helping them do CHE overseas and then offer the returning short-term team participants' ways to minister through local Neighborhood Transformation ministries in the U.S. Also, we've been invited to serve on an advisory council to develop curriculum for use in more than five American universities recognized as both Christian and non-Christian. Pray we can accommodate this invitation, and the preparation required, while changing mission organiwations, organiwing financial resources to permit a quick return, living through this major family transition, finding health insurance, visiting churches to report, etc., yet encourage support for FWBIM as God demonstrates His sufficiency for all things.

Staying in Louisville for the Global Medical Health Conference November 7-9 fortified us. We renewed and developed friendships with others who similarly serve in medical ministries around the world and who collectively influence hundreds of other organizations. While there, we stayed in the home of a fellow church-planting facilitator who his home. All of us were blessed by the wealth of mission instruction and validation provided through the conference hosted at Southest Christian Church. Great messages, lectures with PowerPoints and other resources that communicate modern mission strategies are available online. Take an evening to hear -- or listen during a trip -- to what God is doing via the iTune, iPhone, RSS, or online links; study tracks are also available for missionary training. Some sessions provide continuing education credits for doctors, nurses, and advanced practice professionals. We were struck that Groups of Christian organizations like the Christian Medical and Dental Associations and the Christian Community Health Fellowship now choose to collaborate. The move was influenced by years of Community Health Evangelism activity among their rank and file members. It heartened us. We left invigorated seeing what God was doing. Pray the many medical ministries focused on reaching Muslims continue to reap a harvest of church multiplying souls. 

Deb and I thank the many of you who stand with us in prayer and support as we transition. As recently explained during conversations at the Tennessee State Meeting of Free Will Baptists, we could not walk the path God has opened before us without raising questions of integrity cross-culturally. West African understandings are yet to be fully transformed by the gospel of Jesus-Christ, as are our own North American understandings. Someday we can have the conversation with you in person; you are invited to call via the numbers in the PDF letter. Until then, we work daily to finish our existing obligations and continue developing relationships with two mission agencies that have asked us to consider serving with them. Regardless of the agency with which we affiliate, we expect to work shoulder-to-shoulder with these and other member organizations of the universal church to see both covenant Free Will Baptist and other local bodies of Christ multiplied in fruitful service to the Lord. We praise Jesus for the wondrous things He has done as we keep to the path initiated while we were with FWBIM to spread obedience to the Christ's commands.

More information shared at the Association of Tennessee Free Will Baptists is in the PDF letter at the top of this page; the other is this text in PDF format. You may want to print the letter; it has our current contact information. We have a Skype number now. That's new for us. Enhanced Internet access arrived to Bondoukou in June 2013 -- just as we returned to the U.S. for stateside assignment. God does what He does always on-time; He only does good . . . because GOD IS GOOD!


Rejoice with us! Give thanks for the great and marvelous person God is!

Let Psalm 100 be your song with us this season.

Confidently trusting the faithful One,
Verlin & Debbie

Anderson's Home to Leave Again . . .

Download a PDF of our last iContact e-mail, click 'email PDF'
Download a printable PDF of this blog by clicking 'blog PDF'

Friends and praying partners,

The Lord does the great and marvelous things often during life's most discouraging moments. The life storms of our past four year term were many -- civil war stife, death of beloved family, vehicle problems, changes of family responsibility and placement, computer & hard disk failures -- and sometimes led us to wonder if God was at work through us. Then, like Gehazi of old in 2 Kings 6:17, God let us see what he was providing in protection and in power. We resigned from missionary service with Free Will Baptist International Missions on August 13, 2013, but it's not for lack of God's working (our letter & FWBIM press release). It's to increase the glory due His name. Let us explain.

During the last four years, we carried an heavy administrative load assisting the Ivorian Free Will Baptist church transition from strong missionary leadership to assuming most responsibilities themselves.
Here are some remarkable steps they have taken :

• In 2010 our Ivorian brothers voted to provide for statistical collection and external audits of their accounting. With our help, the Bible Institute shifted from receiving annual gifts from their American brothers through the mission to where they provided this Spring an accounting for several budget years to be reimbursed. While they still have much to do to meet their goal of financial independence for Bible Institute operations, they have developed a road map and are implementing their plan. 
• The Education Committee adopted a strategy to increase Bible literacy. Sunday School training has been facilitated as our provision of an edited 8 year teaching cycle from the Randall House and regional trainers instruct others on leading classes for children and adults 
• The church took charge of rewriting their constitution and by-laws to reflect that they could no longer have American missionaries present on all committees and at all meetings to make decisions. Plans are to put these changes to a vote at their national meeting happening this week (see Kenneth Eagleton's reports). 
• Verlin completed over 40 visits to local churches for revival service type weekends. He so encouraged interaction between churches, strengthened statistical collection and tithing, shared simple ways to overcome malnutrition and malaria, and deepened understandings about Community Health Evangelism (CHE) ministries developing around them. Over 200 regional and local leaders were taught and remain in contact. 

While there was no way that the national church could be ready at this stage to adopt our primary ministry focus of CHE as their own, multiple threads of our ministry have tied together in the last eight months to form a strong cord to assist the entire Ivorian nation. Not all is written here, but what has happened is to the Lord's glory alone.

• The largest church in Western Côte d'Ivoire has organized women's micro-enterprise groups which follow Kingdom Business Bible studies. They have seen souls saved and living standards inproved. As excitement grows, church leaders contemplate using the program to touch the nation. 
• The largest and most influential Protestant church in the nation announced plans to use CHE as their primary means to develop all 170 of their parishes through evangelism, good works, and discipleship practices as provided by CHE. 
• The center-east of the nation has already established programs which have planted churches while at the same time increasing revenues by increasing production of the nation's greatest cash crop, cocoa. Medical and orphan treatment centers throughout the country seek to imitate their CHE program because of its remarkable success. Also, the director of their program is the president of the nation's Bible Hospital Group. In 2014, the triennial African congress of the association meets in Cote d'Ivoire to fortify the CHE teaching already happening. 

Did you know that much of the French materials these groups use came work you have supported through us? That most every soul saved in those women's micro-enterprise, or pre-natal nutrition groups using moringa powder, can be traced to life lessons made available by the resources you confided to us?

REJOICE !

And God who is bountiful in his blessings topped off all this good news of recent months by providing us an opportunity to teach national university department heads and their staffs how to use CHE.  These Christian university leaders want to prevent their government development and social medical interventions from failing as they normally do when money supporting the program stops. September 16 - 20 will most likely find an interdenominational group of Ivorian Christians from several sociological strata teaching leaders in the nation . . . and, except God call otherwise, Verlin will organize the meeting and assist in the teaching.

Given these numerous opportunities, the Ivorian FWB Church's increased maturity, our inability to continue the workload of the last four years, and a few differences in ministry direction and perspective that we have with FWBIM, we resigned this week. This will enable us to focus on the burgeoning CHE movement that you cooperated with the Lord to see come to life.

When we trained to teach CHE in 1997, there were only three known teams working to establish three programs in West Africa. Today there are over 170 groups using the strategy in over 1000 communities in West Africa alone. In the average program, 1 of 3 persons being visited in the home accepts Christ, becomes a disciple, and a church is started where none existed previously. It's great to be a part of it. Praise God with us for the great and marvelous things He is doing.

We'll let you know with whom we'll be serving there in the future over the next few months WHEN WE KNOW. In the meantime, FWBIM continues to provide salary and benefits for three months after our resignation until the end of November. Our denominational agency seriously needs our support for the efforts of all our missionaries around the world, many of whom also have other great stories to tell about the mercies of the Lord.

Let's together ascribe to the Lord His glory (Psalm 29)

The Necessity for Abundant Living

Download this Anderson Update in PDF format to print and post from this link : Anderson Update 13_02_16 - 11pt.pdf

Where there is no vision the people perish . . . (Pr.29 :18)

We’re not talkin’ some dynamic human inspiration (Claude Mariottini), nor some dream by which one man engages others (Tim Challies). The Hebrew proverb shares a well known experience of history. When God’s Word is incorrectly interpreted for a given reality, people die. The inverse is also true. When God’s Word is rightly perceived, the obedient live in abundance (Ps.111.10; Pr.19.23; Pr.22:4; Jn.10:10).

A typical West African calendar change canceled last weekend’s planned church visit and so begin to demonstrate this truth one more time . . . no make that seven more times  . . . and counting!

The cancellation of a weekend preaching trip this month allowed Verlin to follow-up a prior weekend visit of two years ago and participate in a local evangelization campaign. Seven professions of faith were made those first two days while he participated. In this fourth effort to re-launch a work that was most recently slowed by the separation of a pastor and his wife, a youth evangelization team and several pastors coordinated for the effort. One of the converts saved during the visitation of Verlin and a CHE trained pastor was a woman who stated she anticipated our visit by a dream the Lord gave the week prior. She and we now pray for another of whom she has dreamed will be converted. The new Christian sister describes herself as ‘warmly content in her innermost being’ after professing Christ. She was to testify of the Lord to her earthly brother Friday evening. He’s a businessman, a reseller of medications, almost persuaded during a visit as God spoke to him through Verlin’s testimony of Godly love preferring that we choose obedience rather than be forced into it. However, he had yet to hear his sister’s witness of being transformed prior to the Verlin’s return to Bondoukou. The brother and sister have together resisted the call of God’s Spirit for many years.

The missionary presence gave an added focus for the aged adult leader of the church, the team, and the pastor. The review of previously shared CHE principles let adult participants focus on the evangelization of adult businessmen and community leaders who reside long term in the town, rather than the oft’ targeted transient government employees who tend to be already converted. Islamic Mauritanians even accepted a ‘tea time’ together during which we discussed local business and common beliefs compatible with Jesus’ teachings and life in contrast with certain offensive Roman doctrines. The door seems to have opened for future evangelization with them. Other contacts contributed to the cause, funding parts of the evangelization effort; some promised support to show up for the pastor during the evening film service. They choose to bless our church which does not preach “on-demand” miracles from God, but Divinely guided human interventions that bring abundant life. Two adults and several youth made professions of faith during the door-to-door, market day visits; children heard creation stories. Pray for the continuing follow-up. Twelve new persons attended church Sunday. Verlin expects a follow-up visit with the pastor in Bondoukou in late May or early June to examine a way to increase local funding for building on church purchased land.

The linked video is one of several provided by Pastor Yao Kobenan Gboko of the Gouméré Free Will Baptist church using a camera he purchased with increasing income . . . a testimony to God’s Way of developing life here. Sharing neem and papaya leaf tea preparations once again opened ears to hear the gospel of how Immanuel, God’s Word of Salvation, the Christ, saves men who, by believing in his Divine self-sacrifice and resurrection, receive His enabling Holy Spirit teaching men to correctly manage the creation and understand His Bible for living with Him. Kobenan’s church begins a second this year while his household size has doubled.Where God is, life springs eternal; where God’s people get a vision from His WORD, people get saved . . . they live rightly (Ro.8:4) . . . happy is he who keeps the law (Pr.29.18), whose society is transformed (1Kg.2:3).

PRAYER & PRAISE POINTS:

1. Pray for the follow-up of new believers and the increase of attendance to surpass the twelve gained for worship at the conclusion of the evangelistic campaign.
2. Debbie and Corbin started their English class February 13. Pray for relationship evangelism development between the Christians and non-believers studying together.
3. Verlin visits Appimadoum for a 3-day preaching weekend February 22 -24 with one of our elder pastors. Pray the pastor’s efforts are successful to lovingly confront those responsible for a loss of his church donated retirement funds not in bitterness; that no sin dominate during the needed corrections.
4. An Ordination Committee meeting will be held in Bondoukou. Pray for that meeting. Sometimes issues are very sensitive. A candidate for ordination is expected to be examined at this time.
5. The Education Committee meets in Abidjan. These are usually all-day affairs. The committee’s oversight responsibilities are like a combination our denomination’s Randall House and Bible College boards. For the first time, the committee has hired an outside auditor to review the financial books. The FWB National Committee plan also to have their books examined. Praise the Lord for this advance in accountability.
6. Our return home to Bondoukou in January went well. We immediately began receiving Ivorians into our home as guests for 3 weeks, and the Lord gave strength to do it with joy and grace. The family experience in the Pixar movie, The Incredibles, reflects our experience; it will probably be three years before all is unpacked once again.