What's God up to ?

We serve with the Christian Health Service Corps (CHSC).
Open or download CHSC for Andersons for donor directions,

Designated Giving via TDF or The Global Foundation possible

Download a PDF with March financial report, click 'blog PDF'

God is up to something wonderful in the world. The greatest joys in life come from looking for the way He works and joining in! Life is never about the work we plan to do for God; it’s about discovering what He’s already doing, and how He desires to use us in His process. Since we began living and ministering in this way, doors have flung open that we would have never dreamed possible.

Rubbing shoulders with others who walk the same way encourages us as we share successes and failures. Verlin met with likeminded servants of similar experience in Phoenix at the International Wholistic Missions Conference (IWMC) in May. Others were encouraged to hear what the Lord was doing through us in Community Health Evangelism (CHE - pronounced chay) with public health and churches in Cote d’Ivoire. Others’ news encouraged him. Kim Kargbo RN, a homeschool curriculum writer and director of Women of Hope International, shared how the Lord transformed disabled women using CHE in Sierre Leone, Africa.

These, who had learned CHE for those with disabilities, were so transformed that they were healthier, had better provisions, and were more at peace with God and among themselves than the rest of the community. People began coming and asking these formerly rejected ladies to teach them how to live abundantly. What a testimony in a culture that traditionally kills, ignores, shames, or abandons the disabled!An Alabama pastor reported how he was led of the Lord to stop their church’s many short-term missionary teams for one year and retool them to use CHE. He shared how God achieves His goal with them. They now evade continuing human dependency and minister during consecutive short-term trips as Sudanese and Guatemalans now get self-management tools and training to lift themselves from poverty by God’s grace and learn dependence on Christ.Children’s CHE practitioner in Mexico, Dr. Jody Collinge, explained how school children are taught spiritual and physical lessons in school and serve as God’s Secret Agents. Family relations built this way opened doors of ministry in unreached communities. Pray God sends workers to model these same outreaches in Cote d’Ivoire.

During the trip, Verlin connected several individuals—pastors and leaders—who express interest in doing Community Health Evangelism in the U.S. They inform themselves now about the U.S. network called the Collaborative for Neighborhood Transformation. Active groups are budding, or growing, this year in California, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, and Michigan (where an Islamic outreach begins). Training is planned at our mission’s center in Grand Saline, Texas. Contact us using the information above if you are interested in more details.

News of our expected return spreads as Verlin has traveled for church services in North Carolina, Michigan, Tennessee, Idaho, and Florida. After a Sunday morning service in Florida, the pastor let Verlin know that a man for whom the church had been praying over 20 years prayed the sinner’s prayer as the service closed, informing the pastor only that evening in request of being discipled. In coming days, Verlin visits supporters in the Virginias and Michigan.

Although church visits only began in earnest in March, we thankfully report that our April financial report showed over $15,000 of the $25,000 cash needed as our base, and we know of an extra $3,000 coming on the May report beyond the monthly giving. Our committed monthly support is between $1,500 and $3,000 right now. Several new or renewed monthly commitments just haven’t shown yet. Thank you for praying and giving as together we announce and spread what is real, Biblical, and researched Hope for Africa.

Debbie expects to join in travels this fall. Corbin, our youngest, graduated from high school on May 16. For the next two months, she keeps the household focus on our helping him with driving, work opportunities, calculus, and physics. He prepares to study electrical engineering at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. Once he is on campus in mid-August, we intend to be out of our rented apartment in Nashville and become “Voyaging Missionary Vagabonds” (VMV’s) until we return to Cote d’Ivoire.

What would possess an average couple with normal brain power to become VMV’s? It is our firm conviction that God is flicking on beacons of light in Africa, overcoming terrible famine, war, and poverty in many areas. The Lord uses CHE to dispel doubts and fears. He has called us to be daily witnesses there and to train teams who will continue reproducing themselves long after we are gone. Lord, thank you for the over 1,000 communities being transformed by Christ using CHE in West Africa in recent years. May there be tens of thousands more in days to come!

In service to our wonderful Savior,
Verlin and Debbie Anderson

2013 MI Ministry Report: http://1drv.ms/1mThCYg

PRAYER POINTS:

Pray the trainings in Abidjan will boost the national momentum of Community Health Evangelism groups and for the continued protection and Divine oversight for those planning the training. Key points of knowledge for prayer:Pray for continued renewal and addition to our prayer and financial support network. April’s report and a sent envelope bring our account balance to around $18,000. The monthly support average is not as certain, but runs between $1500 and $3000 per month. We need monthly giving to average $8000 while maintaining a cash balance of greater than $25,000. Barring some unforeseen urgency, we'll request reimbursements or salary when income permits the cash balance to stay intact. We estimate that we have about 1/4 to 1/3 of the monthly commitments needed, and prayerfully plan for an EOY 2014 or first quarter 2015 return.
- - level 1 and Level 2 training will happen at the same time, September 15-19;
- - the chancellor, a Muslim, will give the initial greetings - pray for his continued favor, & eventual conversion;
- - 7 to 8 trainers need to be coordinated for arrival and/or daily transportation;

- - lodging needs as the location has changed to an off-campus site of the state dedicated for trainings.
- - Community Health Evangelism trainers who were trained in Bondoukou in May 2012 and May 2013 meet and discuss this May and June how to begin working cooperatively. Each has experienced some false starts, as is typical around the world. It often takes 6-8 years before all the pieces come together for Ivorians. Hopefully this will shorten as they see working examples. Pray for their perseverance in hope.

Ivorian time and travel constraints prevented national CHE groups from meeting in late April to confirm a constitution and by-laws for working together. They remain in regular communication. Pray that the Lord arranges circumstances so that this interdenominational coordinative work is done before Verlin arrives in September. That will be a very strong indicator that they are ready to move forward without our presence being necessary, or the need of a government blessing/carrot pushing them. That's key to overcoming.

We coordinate to develop an initiative so that all pastors participating in a triennial event, in either 2016 or 2019, become familiarized with CHE and notified how they can work similarly together as being done in Rwanda in more than 80 distinct CHE initiatives there. Pray that God allows Verlin quick coordination with additionally needed contacts to see this happen and have the initial planning session in September.

Pray that Corbin, our youngest, will adjust well to college as he begins university

studies this fall for an electrical engineering degree. He finished his first year of classroom studies with many honors.