Space Cadets

PDF Version: AWA_Update_190525.PDF

On Wednesday night, two of our family who lived most of their childhoods in Africa, Corbin and Debbie, watched the International Space Station (ISS) pass over our homestead in Cookeville. It was only visible to the human eye for two minutes, and then passed out of sight. How mind-boggling that the Lord has gifted scientists with knowledge to construct such a space station. How amazing is the know-how to plot an orbit over locations on earth to the specific degree and minute. Humans on earth miss it entirely if they do not look up at the right angle and at the right minute.

This fascinating example reminds us of a much grander, complex, and beautiful design set into motion by The LORD, our God. The ISS is child’s play compared to His master plan for our planet and His desire that each inhabitant know Him intimately. Wonder of wonders—He uses us, His children, to participate in that plan! We have learned that to do so, we must not be so consumed daily with our self, our work or entertainment, that we become oblivious to the intersecting coordinates that Jesus puts in our path. From experience we can say that a simple conversation in a bank line, or hiring a young man to teach a child French, can lead to hundreds of lives being touched by the Gospel. This is the Lord’s way, if we stay focused on looking to Him for direction, hearing from His Word, and watching for opportunities at the right approach and minute to serve, moreso than forcing them.

Despite a third-world-growing-pain water shortage due to a week of intermittent electrical supply, Verlin kept enough clothes clean to spend a day helping a village plan the training of a Community Health Evangelism (CHE) committee. They prayed over setting up a church-based committee or a community committee in order to propagate witness of the Lord shown in roadside clearing, well digging, and facilitating public education. (They provided lodging for a school teacher.) This church has gone from a 30 year average of 15 – 25 in weekly attendance to over 100 meeting, not counting another 200+ meeting weekly in 4 satellite locations now because of the pastor initiating CHE approaches in the area. Verlin also advised them on prepping for the UFHB Scientific Congress (Inscription Link). He got to hear some excited teens sharing of local Disciple Bible Study developments in Bondoukou too.

Prayer and Praise

• Please pray for the village planning a CHE committee training. Ask that they be fully engaged to do the training so that many more come to Christ in this rural setting of about 2000 souls. We’re aiming for 100% community conversion in several locations here. This location is one.
• It has been a difficult 10 days of a water shortage in Bondoukou. Verlin rationed his water and shared rations with neighbors until service resumed in our neighborhood on Thursday. Pray the infrastructure projects developing rural electricity and water delivery are completed rapidly with less corruption. An Ivorian recently shared with Verlin that government employees are selfishly dipping into public funds and accepting bribes beyond salary unlike anything known heretofore.
• Pray for an Ivorian CHE trainer, R., who moves to the east coast of Cote d’Ivoire to be closer to CHE village developments that he supervises. He and a nurse with whom Verlin shared CHE have open doors to begin in two towns as well. Pray that many new people will discover Kingdom shalom in this region, having peace with God, themselves, their neighbors and the Creation.

Your partners in the Gospel,

Verlin and Debbie

Christian Health Service Corps (CHSC) is a mission of dedicated medical professionals who participate in the CHE Global Network. Together, in a loose affiliation of individuals, churches, denominational and nondenominational agencies, we share God's Light and Truth through Community Health Evangelism (CHE). Verlin and Debbie accept donor partners to contribute as led to maintain support as we resume residential ministry to expand CHE ministries in Cote d'Ivoire under the auspices of CHSC & Ivorian partners. Tax deductible contributions by check are to be made payable to the CHSC with Andersons #0118 written on the memo line. Mail to CHSC - PO Box 132 - Fruitvale, TX 75127. Give online via the CHSC @ www.che4a.org (3% fee) or TDF (0% fee).

Prior: Sign Posts 190518.PDF

Last Video:Wrong or Strong?
                         - 190223 PDF
2018 Q4 Report: Gifts of Peoples
          -  Anderson Report 190302 PDF

2018 Budget Info:
CHSC-0118_ANDERSON-2018-Budget.pdf

Something to ask? Write updates@verlindeb.org

GIVE ONLINE to support these ministries
                                   www.che4a.org

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Sign Posts

PDF Version: AWA_Update_190518.PDF

It is quite common to become so absorbed in the details of daily work that we can miss sign posts that indicate how far we have traveled down the road of ministry. True for all of us with any work, right? Recently, we had an epiphany when thinking about taking a few days to “get away” together. As we discussed various possibilities, the realization deepened that there was really no region left in Cote d’Ivoire where we can retreat to renew. Why? Every region we have used in the past now has multiple people nearby who desire some training, mentoring, or follow-up in some form of Community Health Evangelism (CHE) or Discovery Bible Study! After a day or two of rest, we would desire to contact these to check-in or to encourage them! The realization did not resolve our regular need to plan a break, but it did underscore the wonderful problem that has grown up in recent years.

As he left Joel in Ghana to develop ministry with other Christian Health Service Corps (CHSC) missionaries, Verlin met with a Ghanaian CHE leader and then a Mennonite couple about expanding the use of the CHE strategies in northern Ghana. He barely had time to wash clothes and turn in a financial report from Bondoukou before traveling late Thursday to Abidjan for follow-ups and a car alarm issue. Friday he met with university team members about the fall CHE training exposition and enlisted some help to combine multiple English and French lessons into a single one-hour format lesson. Ongoing progress toward introduction of a master’s degree specialty that focuses on CHE approaches and Verlin’s current role in assisting that were also evaluated. Two hours were then invested in casting a vision with an Ivorian missionary and anthropologist who lives and works in another nation. The couple expressed their conviction that the CHE strategy’s wholistic approach is an exact fit for their work in villages. It may even help them start in schools using the Health Education Program for Developing Countries (HEPFDC). Verlin also met with Arnold, a physician trained in CHE at the university, who has seen excellent results in combatting tuberculosis. Arnold wants to further the interest of youth and tribal leaders in Abengourou for sanitation and micro-enterprise using CHE.

Debbie finishes physical therapy this upcoming week. This will be just in time to help Corbin, our youngest child, with his move to begin an electrical engineering job in St. Charles, Missouri. She will stay with him a while, helping him find an apartment to lease while he works during the day. It will be his first time to be a sign alone on a rental agreement after sharing apartments with friends in college. Any advice from Missourians about living in St. Charles is very welcomed.

Prayer and Praise

• Please pray for Corbin as he moves and settles into a new job in a new state. Ask the Lord to direct him to godly friends and a good church home since he knows no one in St. Charles.
• Pray that the Ivorian government will advance and rid the country of road bandits (coupeurs de route) whose crimes have escalated in the past year. Even this week, Verlin spent an extra night in a hotel during travels to avoid a situation as gendarmes hunted one particular gang.
• Pray for all your missionaries to find effective ways to prioritize rest and renewal away from their ministry posts, including us. We all know this is an important part of balancing life, but planning or finding the financial means, the times and places when in another country is itself challenging.

Your partners in the Gospel,

Verlin and Debbie

Christian Health Service Corps (CHSC) is a mission of dedicated medical professionals who participate in the CHE Global Network. Together, in a loose affiliation of individuals, churches, denominational and nondenominational agencies, we share God's Light and Truth through Community Health Evangelism (CHE). Verlin and Debbie accept donor partners to contribute as led to maintain support as we resume residential ministry to expand CHE ministries in Cote d'Ivoire under the auspices of CHSC & Ivorian partners. Tax deductible contributions by check are to be made payable to the CHSC with Andersons #0118 written on the memo line. Mail to CHSC - PO Box 132 - Fruitvale, TX 75127. Give online via the CHSC @ www.che4a.org (3% fee) or TDF (0% fee).

Prior: Nesting Faith 190511.PDF

Last Video:Wrong or Strong?
                         - 190223 PDF
2018 Q4 Report: Gifts of Peoples
          -  Anderson Report 190302 PDF

2018 Budget Info:
CHSC-0118_ANDERSON-2018-Budget.pdf

Something to ask? Write updates@verlindeb.org

GIVE ONLINE to support these ministries
                                   www.che4a.org

Debbie's Facebook Page

Verlin's Facebook Page

Nesting Faith

PDF Version: AWA_Update_190511.PDF

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” Matthew 13: 31-32 NASV

Debbie and I have come to understand that our actual spiritual impact upon others is not measured by the number who hear our voices, or who we touch with our hands, but by those who live (i.e. nest) with us in the shelter that develops as disciples separately act on God’s commands together. While taking measures like counting professions and baptisms may help, some, specifying within Discovery Groups the acts of obedience that each believer feels initiated of the Lord to do in response to His Word, then following up on the resulting good works they plan, yields much more. This is the kind of sharing that better tracks, for all who are involved, the Holy Spirit power that influences people who use Community Health Evangelism (CHE) and/or Disciple Making Movement (DMM) strategies. Believers become disciples who live to walk in Jesus’ steps (1 Peter 2:21; Charles Sheldon book) and begin to see mustard seed-like results.

This week Deb traveled a different 500 miles with Corbin and my mom in the U.S. than the greater than 1000 that I traveled with Joel White in W. Africa. However, each of us was helping others learn to walk obediently with God. In Cote d’Ivoire, I took three disciples to make connections so they can begin formal training to use and teach Farming God’s Way. This, along with other technologically appropriate farming methods taught in CHE, allows them yet other tools to sow “mustard seeds”, use Discovery Studies, and make more disciples. Joel heard more results to potentiate during three more visits, phone calls, and during travels we had with ministry partners. Deb invested time to help Corbin find a place to make a home in Missouri. It appears he will soon have an engineering job that will make use of his studies! We praise the Lord for answered prayers and keep on keepin’ on while thanking you for walking along with us.

Prayer and Praise

• A University village CHE effort where Romeo provides on-the-ground demonstration of CHE processes was to select those who visit homes or courtyards (i.e. CHEs) today. Pray for his wisdom as training begins in what is needed to integrate spiritual and physical health there.
• Three pastors using different CHE approaches have accepted to prepare abstracts of what they could share at a Community Health Scientific Congress. Pray for wisdom to abound and be evident to others as Verlin assists them to prepare 500-word summaries for consideration.
• Praise the Lord that three adult Discovery Bible Studies (DBS) which either Verlin or Debbie began among FWB in Bondoukou have become six in the last month. (This number does not include the six of another church mentioned in She’s Alive or those I’ve STILL not visited to count with!)

Your partners in the Gospel – and wishing all ‘moms’ a Happy Mother’s Day,

Verlin and Debbie

Christian Health Service Corps (CHSC) is a mission of dedicated medical professionals who participate in the CHE Global Network. Together, in a loose affiliation of individuals, churches, denominational and nondenominational agencies, we share God's Light and Truth through Community Health Evangelism (CHE). Verlin and Debbie accept donor partners to contribute as led to maintain support as we resume residential ministry to expand CHE ministries in Cote d'Ivoire under the auspices of CHSC & Ivorian partners. Tax deductible contributions by check are to be made payable to the CHSC with Andersons #0118 written on the memo line. Mail to CHSC - PO Box 132 - Fruitvale, TX 75127. Give online via the CHSC @ www.che4a.org (3% fee) or TDF (0% fee).

Prior: Grant Grace 190504.PDF

Last Video:Wrong or Strong?
                         - 190223 PDF
2018 Q4 Report: Gifts of Peoples
          -  Anderson Report 190302 PDF

2018 Budget Info:
CHSC-0118_ANDERSON-2018-Budget.pdf

Something to ask? Write updates@verlindeb.org

GIVE ONLINE to support these ministries
                                   www.che4a.org

Debbie's Facebook Page

Verlin's Facebook Page

Grant Grace

PDF Version: AWA_Update_190504.PDF

It has been a privilege and joy for Verlin to receive Joel White, a new member of the Christian Health Service Corps (CHSC), in Cote d’Ivoire. Joel currently develops the role of Program Coordinator with our mission. For the moment, he focuses on producing a portfolio of projects for writing grant proposals that the now more than 35 CHSC medical missionary families scattered around the globe may find helpful. (There were 12 when we joined). He completed the Community Health Evangelism (CHE) internship training in Ghana during March, then spent April with Samaritan’s Purse in Mozambique where he assisted this linked disaster relief effort. On returning here, he continues visiting missionaries who live and work in West Africa. He and Verlin have been traveling so he can meet Ivorians who are involved in CHE and expand his understanding of how this ministry produces enduring and repeatable results (link to his blog). We, in turn, look forward to discovering with him in partnership how projects of regional or national scope could use grant processes to leverage the use of CHE strategies and effect additional lasting changes in ministries throughout Cote d’Ivoire.

On Friday’s 9th site visit, they participated in the weekly meeting of the university CHE team. Joel was interested in the answers that these varied medical, public health and dental professionals would give to the question of how CHE had affected them each professionally and personally.

• One managing a national department’s effort to fight malaria mentioned that a foundational concept of CHE has been of great help in her professional life. In the past, the government has seen little success in coming to communities with their “program” and insisting that villagers follow their directives to beat back malaria. Instead, involving the communities in the process is already giving better and measurable results.
• Several affirmed that LePSAS teaching approaches (i.e. Learner-Centered, Problem-Posing, Self-Discovery, Action-Oriented, and Spirit-Guided) have changed the way they interact with learners on a daily basis. One emphasized that a “Starter” (see handout) is used in every class now.
• Another mentioned that CHE has helped identify a great problem of her family and the culture here: they wait upon others to change life. She now knows that does not have to be the case.
• Yet another said that implementing CHE processes have taught her the importance of patience. We cannot expect people to adopt whole new ways of living overnight but must train, and then wait, and persevere for communities to own and engage in the process of transformation.

Prayer and Praise

• Pray for Joel’s last weeks in Africa. Ask for good health and safe travels as he finishes his visits in Cote d’Ivoire. He returns to Ghana to see two more couples. God willing, he returns home June 1.
• Pray for the CHE university team as they prepare for the CHE training series offered by the Public Health, Hygiene, and Development department of the university every September. This week, many of the team will travel two hours, one-way, to a village using CHE for follow-up with Romeo.
• Debbie only has a few more sessions of physical therapy. When they are completed, she plans to travel to Michigan to be with family and share with some of our ministry partners there. Pray for uncomplicated travels and that she can connect with people easily.

Your partners in the Gospel,

Verlin and Debbie

Christian Health Service Corps (CHSC) is a mission of dedicated medical professionals who participate in the CHE Global Network. Together, in a loose affiliation of individuals, churches, denominational and nondenominational agencies, we share God's Light and Truth through Community Health Evangelism (CHE). Verlin and Debbie accept donor partners to contribute as led to maintain support as we resume residential ministry to expand CHE ministries in Cote d'Ivoire under the auspices of CHSC & Ivorian partners. Tax deductible contributions by check are to be made payable to the CHSC with Andersons #0118 written on the memo line. Mail to CHSC - PO Box 132 - Fruitvale, TX 75127. Give online via the CHSC @ www.che4a.org (3% fee) or TDF (0% fee).

Prior: The Matrices 190427.PDF

Last Video:Wrong or Strong?
                         - 190223 PDF
2018 Q4 Report: Gifts of Peoples
          -  Anderson Report 190302 PDF

2018 Budget Info:
CHSC-0118_ANDERSON-2018-Budget.pdf

Something to ask? Write updates@verlindeb.org

GIVE ONLINE to support these ministries
                                   www.che4a.org

Debbie's Facebook Page

Verlin's Facebook Page