Carpe diem

CHSC LINK: Seize the Day

PDF Version: AWA Weekly 200425.PDF

A Voice from the Past

Although we do not usually quote pagan poets, Horace’s frequently coined phrase “carpe diem” (seize the day) seems relevant for redemption in our day. Social media venues are replete with people stressed by the quarantine. While schedules and plans may be in shambles, are we the only ones who had 1,001+ commitments or projects to undertake from home while cutting expenses? For us, fewer public visits yield unexpected times with family, less hurried communion with the Lord, new computer skills, and repaired goods.

Seize the days of novel coronavirus quarantines

Making the pro-verbial ‘lem-on-ade from lemons’ lets us check up on neighbors, correspond or speak with friends in crisis, evaluate personal habits, share valuable resources, and even handle the often-ignored home or vehicle upkeep! These possibilities, of course, are not for any overrun with extra work responsibilities. We pray those heroes will receive additional grace and stamina. We thank the Lord for being among visionary Americans. Many transform factories and create ingenious ways to meet the needs of our country and the world!

A View for the Future

If quarantined, perhaps this pandemic reminds you, as it does us, of Biblical ways to “seize the day.” We evaluate to be sure a ‘hamster wheel of activity’ has not become the rule of our lives. According to studies, countless hours of binge TV watching or gaming prove more often stressful or destructive than restful. Reflection after accomplishing worthwhile activity has no parallel in bringing healing. We relearn the daily choice taught by Moses’ prayer in Psalm 90:12: “number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” We re-order “to-do” priorities yet again for the sake of the Kingdom of God. We have even considered a “do-over” of some routines as Tim Challies urges in this thought-provoking article. Let us not waste the opportunity our Father offers His children to “seize the day” for His glory and our good!

Prayer and Praise

• 30 days of Ramadan began at sundown on April 23 for Muslims all over the world. Pray that Jesus will increasingly reveal Himself as Savior to many of them.
• A crown in Verlin’s mouth broke on April 10. We rejoice that a dentist in Cookeville began the several-month process to place an implant. Verlin spent a week applying tropical care solutions like oil pulling with ground cloves, turmeric, and moringa leaf powder in seed oil.
• Let us pray for each other to see how to Biblically “seize the day” in our circumstances.

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 provide support as we maintain 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: Phone a Friend - 200418.PDF

Last Video: Leadership LEAP - 200404 PDF
2019 Q4 Report: Kingdom Come
          -  AWA Report 20_02_15 PDF

2020 Budget Info:
CHSC-0118_ANDERSON-2020- Budget.pdf

Something to ask? Write updates@verlindeb.org

AWA represents
Andersons Witness in Africa.
It is also a brand of bottled water in Cote d'Ivoire where we serve.

GIVE ONLINE to support these ministries
                                   www.che4a.org

Debbie's Facebook Page

Verlin's Facebook Page

Phone a Friend

CHSC LINK: Phone a Friend

PDF Version: AWA Weekly 200418.PDF

Phone a Friend

We rejoiced to speak with six ministry partners and friends in Cote d’Ivoire this week. Skype calls, at four cents a minute, let us hear news snippets from all around the country. We share our joy with you below in the following highlights of the conversations:

• Several Discovery Bible Study (3 min. video facilitating DBS) trainers in our home town continue meeting in small groups. They follow government guidelines for social distancing, wearing masks, and cancel or divide gatherings of more than ten people. K., the trainer who shared with us, is excited. He feels he better understands how the early church multiplied rapidly despite persecution and opposition because of DBS. Although his weekly DBS with children is disbanded for a time, he assured parents that he will re-start as soon as possible. Numerous parents have thanked him recently for the pertinent lessons he taught their children on health and hygiene, as well as Bible stories.

  

  DBS Resource Site Video

• A regional FWB pastor informed us that his whole church has begun using DBS all over their village. It is their means to continue meeting for prayer and study these days. It is working beautifully. The pastor noted that giving to the church has remained stable, and maybe even grown a little! (This effort stems from the early December 2018 training that readers enabled us to host.)
• A CHE trainer working in southeast Cote d’Ivoire visits house-to-house in his village to explain COVID-19 prevention. We are thankful that members of the Global CHE Network worked quickly to provide specific lessons for workers worldwide.
• A nurse in Abidjan stated that the COVID-19 statistics curve may flatten this week. The next few days will confirm that hope. He let us know that there is plenty of food available for everyone.

Focused Outreach

These brief conversations demonstrate how CHE and DBS touch healthcare, education, church life, village life, and the unreached. We marvel at the combination’s efficacy to impact every aspect of culture. Praise God that our Savior’s abundant life can be shown and shared even during a pandemic!

Prayer and Praise

• Rejoice with us that believers in Cote d’Ivoire continue to share the wholeness and the hope of the Gospel powerfully, punctually, and proficiently.
• Pray with us that the virus does not spread throughout the country. For now, the only COVID-19 patients have been in Abidjan, on the coast. Travel is still not permitted in the interior of the country.
• Pray about sharing the DBS structure with family, friends, or co-workers as the isolation of our COVID-19 diminishes. We remain committed to extending the use of CHE with and without DBS in new places. This update follows-up on DBS ministry that stems from what we passed on in Learn, Grow & Go.

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 provide support as we maintain 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: Leadership LEAP - 200404.PDF

Prior ministry Video: Pumping Grace - 200118 PDF
2019 Q4 Report: Kingdom Come
          -  AWA Report 20_02_15 PDF

2020 Budget Info:
CHSC-0118_ANDERSON-2020- Budget.pdf

Something to ask? Write updates@verlindeb.org

AWA represents
Andersons Witness in Africa.
It is also a brand of bottled water in Cote d'Ivoire where we serve.

GIVE ONLINE to support these ministries
                                   www.che4a.org

Debbie's Facebook Page

Verlin's Facebook Page

Easter Communion

CHSC LINK: Easter Communion

PDF Version: AWA Weekly 200411.PDF

All Alone

The Lord created us for community, not isolation. When the social restraints of this pandemic end, some may determine to be “never alone” again! Our hearts resound in prayer for people infected with coronavirus whose families cannot stay by their side at home or in the hospital. Our Creator stated in Genesis that it is not good for us to be alone, and many souls experience that reality keenly today. Other passages in Scripture consider feelings of abandonment and isolation, too. Remember David in the cave in Psalm 142? He mourned, “No man cared for my soul.” Centuries later, we glimpse the solitary life of the apostle Paul imprisoned in Rome and about to face his death in 2 Timothy 4:16. “At my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me…” To us, these word pictures resonate with the pathos of isolation.

Nothing that any prior hero of the faith or we endure, though, compares to Jesus’ experience on the cross. Our minds cannot conceive of His agony when the Father turned His back to His beloved Son. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46) The communal bond of the Trinity was broken for the first time, all to purchase our salvation. His temporary separation from the Father made it possible for us to be in His presence forever. How could we not sing (lyrics), “What wondrous love is this, o my soul, o my soul?" (listen)

Alone Nevermore

Jesus leaving tomb (Dreamstime image)

Easter means that we never have to be alone again. We may be solitary or isolated at times, even if watched by cameras, but we are never alone! As we celebrate the death, burial, trip to Sheol, and resurrection of Jesus differently this year, we rejoice in the constant treasure (poem) of our Savior’s presence (song). How fitting that Jesus reassured His disciples the night before His crucifixion: “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you forever.” (John 14:16) He knew that his followers would feel abandoned like orphans when He left. He also knew that the permanent gift of His indwelling Spirit to believers would satisfy our human longing(s) to be in God’s presence. Hallelujah, what a Savior! He is risen indeed!

Prayer & Praise

• Jesus, we praise You! Your life, death, and resurrection mean that we are never alone!
• As many people experience painful periods of isolation, pray that we all find ways to encourage the solitary, whether by phone call, text, face time, or written word. Let us grab every opportunity to invite people to a saving knowledge of Jesus.

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 provide support as we maintain 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: Leadership LEAP - 200404.PDF

Prior ministry Video: Pumping Grace - 200118 PDF
2019 Q4 Report: Kingdom Come
          -  AWA Report 20_02_15 PDF

2020 Budget Info:
CHSC-0118_ANDERSON-2020- Budget.pdf

Something to ask? Write updates@verlindeb.org

AWA represents
Andersons Witness in Africa.
It is also a brand of bottled water in Cote d'Ivoire where we serve.

GIVE ONLINE to support these ministries
                                   www.che4a.org

Debbie's Facebook Page

Verlin's Facebook Page

Leadership LEAP

CHSC LINK: Leadership LEAP

PDF Version: AWA Weekly 200404.PDF

LEAP for Change

Recent lifestyle adjustments due to COVID-19 remind us of two things: change is a constant, and, never let a crisis go to waste without thinking of how to improve the future. Such thinking may seem audacious to some, but it merely reflects the love-inspired audacity of our Lord who rules over all. When circumstances force us to rethink long-engrained habits, it is time to LEAP.

Audacity is a leadership quality summarized in the LEAP acronym (i.e. love, edge, audacity, and proofs). In this context, it is ‘a bold and blatant disregard for normal constraints.’ A check for synonyms reveals that the word can have a good connotation like ‘courage,’ or worse, as in temerity. Love or ego make the difference. Love-inspired audacity changes the world for the better. Ego-inspired audacity is a pain. Some people act audaciously just to draw attention to themselves. Jesus practiced LEAP in His time of earthly ministry to show how one lovingly preaches and heals sacrificially.

LEAP in SERVING

Jesus died, from an earthly perspective, because his audacious acts and words disrupted social and religious norms. From God’s perspective, He preached and healed while walking with the disciples to clarify or set the norms for obedience to the Creator. His self-sacrificial leadership occurred at THE watershed moment when the Church assumed from Israel the mission to share God’s salvation. While leaders may study to learn management skills, extreme leaders emerge forged from families, communities, mentors, experiences, and spiritual journeys. They adapt. Heart defines the extreme leader, not training. Their words bring good acts of the heart to reality, copying Jesus’ model.

LEAP in Healthcare

Jesus sets the standard for primary care

As shared in a recent medical lecture given by Dr. Arnold Gorske, MD, FAAP, the standard Jesus set for the healing of others models best practice guidelines in healthcare today (PPT, Video). We have shared previously how God audaciously testifies Himself, today, to change healthcare (see Key-Cutters video). COVID-19 typifies the door now open again to churches for ministry in our society. The two critical problems in the delivery of healthcare today are (1) the failure of the church to reassume responsibility for health promotion and health prevention of its community; (2) pharmaco-vigilance in light of proven best practices. Most effective medical care begins with prayer, touch, and nutrition. This is true per the Holy Scriptures AND modern, evidence-based health promotion and prevention. These best practices replace drug-therapy (pill distribution) as the first-line intervention for most primary conditions in healthcare. Community Health Evangelism (CHE) demonstrates these solutions. Thank you for sending us to model CHE and practice leadership LEAP.

Prayer & Praise

• Contact from Cote d’Ivoire ministry partners, along with media reports, lets us follow some of the changes happening there. With over 100 CO-VID cases reported, borders are closed, non-essential inter-city travel has ceased, and social distancing enforced. Many friends repurpose their washable masks worn to limit Harmattan infections. Pray with us for CI and so many other nations which do not have equipment nor supplies to care for pandemic patients.
• We returned to our homestead in Cookeville, Tennessee, on Thursday. Now we are working on creative ways to interact with ministry partners while not being able to meet face-to-face.

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: Flex and Bend 200404.PDF

Last ministry Video: Pumping Grace
                         - 200118 PDF
2019 Q4 Report: Kingdom Come
          -  AWA Report 20_02_15 PDF

2020 Budget Info:
CHSC-0118_ANDERSON-2020- Budget.pdf

Something to ask? Write updates@verlindeb.org

AWA represents
Andersons Witness in Africa.
It is also a brand of bottled water in Cote d'Ivoire where we serve.

GIVE ONLINE to support these ministries
                                   www.che4a.org

Debbie's Facebook Page

Verlin's Facebook Page