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Gresham Office:

Metro Church of Christ, 1525 NW Division Street, Gresham, OR 97030
Tel: (503) 621-2334

Dick Ady, Founder of WEI and Editor of WEI Update

Maryville Office:

Maryville Church of Christ, PO Box 5293, Maryville, TN 37802
Tel: (865) 803-2909
Fax: (865) 983-0397
Tom Langley, President of WEI

New Christians in Tanzania

Willy Yuda, the WEI teacher in Mbeya, Tanzania, writes, “We conducted two seminars this month and had seven restorations and two baptisms.”

Willy and his co-workers, Justin and Absalom, are teaching about a dozen students in their Tanzania World English Institute school, and God is giving the increase. Willy writes, “WEI has been making a great difference in Tanzania.”

Exciting Reports from Haiti

Jean Robert St-Hilaire, the Director of WEI in Haiti and Minister of the thriving Delmas 43 Church of Christ in Port-au-Prince, sends this amazing report on their 2014 retreat for preachers.

Rod Myers, Elder of the Central Church of Christ in Sarasota, Florida, was the main speaker. During the retreat, eight preachers and two female Bible Class teachers were baptized into Christ.

Brother Jean Robert writes that among the preachers who were baptized, “two are from the Conservative Baptist Church, two are from the Community Baptist Church, one is from the Seventh Day Adventist Church, one from the Mormon Church, one from the Assembly of God, and one from the Free Nazarene Church. Of the two women, one of them was the spouse of one of the preachers, and the other is a Sunday class teacher from the Holiness Church of God.”
Brother Jean Robert virtually shouts,“We thank God for his blessing. . . . May God bless you all, and stay mission-minded.”

A policeman in Haiti named Emmanuel has been studying with Deannie Smith of the Southwest Church of Christ in Tigard, Oregon. Recently, he wrote these inspiring words:

“Dear teacher, Thank you very much for your study. May God, in His love, reward you back. “I feel ready now for the kingdom of God. Every day, I preach the Good News of Jesus Christ to someone like an evangelist. I didn’t do it before because my faith was weak.

“And I was really shy. Now, I am even ready to die in preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ like Stephen, the apostles, and other Christians. I am ready to give up the Police in order to devote myself to benefit the word of God. What a favor to die for Jesus! I feel it inside of me!”

Here is a policeman whose mission has been to protect the innocent and to restrain the lawless. Now, his mission is to share his faith with others even if it costs him his life.
Let us praise God. A shy policeman has been transformed into a bold advocate of the Crucified One.

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED

including WEI in your will? By naming WEI in your estate,
you will accomplish two important things:

1. You will lay up treasures in heaven.
2. You will help others get to heaven, too.

A Voice from the Grave

Prior to his untimely death, Brother Clifford Yeldell had been teaching a number of Haitian students. He had been to Haiti on at least one mission trip, and he was planning another trip when God promoted him into glory. One of his Haitian students was especially near and dear to his heart.

Before he died, Clifford wrote, “This 30 yr. old man began WEI lessons in Oct. 2011. In just six months, he did all the lessons through the Advanced Level, plus 7 in the Supplementary.

“He went to Green Bay, WI for three months’ studies in horticulture. I got him in touch with a congregation there. He has just been baptized.”

While Clifford’s student was in Wisconsin, he wrote the following e-mail: “Hello, Teacher Clifford Yeldell. I write you to let you know that the people in the church where you’ve referred me are very friendly and hospitable. And I have to let you know that I was baptized in this church. Thank you.”

Moses Born Again in Malawi

While Brandon Leavitt was deployed in the Middle East last year, he used WEI Bible courses to teach the scriptures to a number of interested military personnel. Brandon said, “Many of them had Bibles but never read them. Others didn’t have Bibles at all and didn’t know anything about God, but wanted to learn.”

Brandon’s parents, Brian and Chris Leavitt, and his older sister, Kaisha, have all used WEI materials in short-term mission campaigns in Albania. Now, Brandon has joined their ranks.

Eighty-three Baptisms in India

It is absolutely thrilling to watch God work in India. Almost every week, we receive reports that more WEI students have been baptized into Christ. Most of them have come from Hinduism.

For example, on October 30, we received an e-mail from Prabhu Kumar saying, “Today, Bro. Babu Rao, the preacher who is working with us as a WEI teacher at Thirumalagiri, has sent me a report of 3 people baptized a few days back. Among them, two are from WEI, and one is an old man from the local community.”

One of the converts, (B. Renuka) is a nurse who came to study the English course but finally decided to be baptized. Prabhu says, “This happened because of our English course. If our preacher will request her to listen to the Bible scriptures, certainly, she would not care for his words.”

The other girl, also, was “attracted to the English language. Our English language course pulled her to learn the Bible scriptures which led her to finally enter into the Body of Christ. “Thank God for giving an idea to our Hon. Founder to create such a wonderful course which is capable of changing their entire lifestyle as pure Christians along with sound doctrine.”

All three of these new Christians come from Hindu backgrounds. In November, Prabhu wrote, “By the grace of God, today our WEI teacher, Bro. Abraham baptized three of the local women into Christ. Among them, one is our WEI student. I attended this program at 5:00 p.m. He brought all of them to the local canal and baptized them into Christ.”

In the picture below, the young girl dressed in orange and yellow is the WEI student.

In December, Prabhu wrote, “A few days back, Bro. Chakravarthy, the man who is working with us at Tiruttani, Tamilnadu, sent three pictures of baptisms. He has converted three of his present batch of students. He is living among the ‘gentiles’ and trying day and night to teach and convert young souls from the local community.”

All three of the men that he baptized come from Hindu backgrounds. God is using WEI to lead Hindus to Jesus.

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” – Romans 10:14

WEI Student Baptized in Nigeria

On Sunday, January 4, the Uruk Otong Church of Christ commemorated the seventh anniversary of the birth of the congregation. Aniefiok preached a sermon on thanksgiving.

Aniefiok writes, “A young girl named Glory Jackson Ekpo, one of our WEI students from the neighboring village, accepted Christ and was baptized in response to that sermon. I baptized her at Uruk Otong village stream.”

Albania Bible School

During the past twenty-two years, thirteen churches of Christ have been planted in Albania, and several good Albanian preachers have been trained.

This past September, Bill Morgan spent a week teaching at Albania Bible School in Kuçova. This two-year school is focused on training four preachers in the Berat area:
(1) Harilla Mandro of Kuçova and Magjat,
(2) Islam Koka of Berat,
(3) Xhafer Hoxha of Poliçan,
(4) Lili Gorica of Ura Vajgurore.

These men spend two full days each week studying with four trained Albanian preachers: Bledi Valca of Tirana, Çimi Kafexhiu and Alfred Zike of Durrës, and Eduart Hoxha of Vlore. The school also has two week-long seminars each year.

In the September seminar, Bill’s lessons centered on Principles of Righteous Living based on the Sermon on the Mount. The purpose of the lessons was to help the students understand that even though time and culture may change, the principles for how to live righteously are always present. Twenty-three people attended the seminar. In addition to the preachers’ wives who attend the school with their husbands, several people who are involved in church work as teachers and youth ministers also attended.

On Saturday following the seminar, the Tirana congregation hosted a National Men’s Day in Kuçova. This Men’s Day set a new attendance record with more than eighty men present and all thirteen congregations represented. Bill’s subject was Leaders Are Stewards. The Men’s Day closed with a period of prayer.

INVITATION:

We invite you to include WEI in your 2015 church budget. Please join us in a concerted effort to lead the whole world to Christ.

WEI Internet Teaching

We live in amazing times! Who would have thought that the good news could be taught all over the world in real-time without leaving our homes?

With WEI’s Internet Program, even those who cannot travel can teach God’s good news to people on the other side of the earth and get responses from them before the day is over.
Perhaps this is the time that was shown to Daniel by the “son of man” on the bank of the Tigris River: Dan 12:3, 4, 10 – “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge . . . . Many will be purified, made spotless and refined.”

Whether our time is what was shown to Daniel 2500 years ago is not important. What is important is that God sees those who lead others to righteousness as shining brightly in the midst of the darkness of sin, just as stars shine in the darkness of the empty spaces of the universe.

One WEI teacher wrote, “Teaching has shown me Jesus’ love through the eyes of one who had never heard, to read that she cried when she read he had died, that she felt better knowing he was raised from death. Teaching others about him has renewed my own love for him. It has helped me plant the seed that may take root and grow in the future if not now – a practical way to do mission work without leaving home, something I have wanted to do.
“I have joined Christians with the same goals, heard their stories, and prayed for them. I have heard about people ‘in the field’ and prayed more specific prayers for them as well.”

So get on the website and teach with those who are willing to teach the way to righteousness through Jesus. Encourage others to join in using WEI’s website to teach people—people who have shown they are ready to learn.

Bob and Jan Towell

W.E.I. NEEDS YOUR HELP!

Your contributions and donations allow WEI to continue to reach people in all nations with the word of God.

Looking Forward into 2015

As we reflect on 2014 and look forward to 2015, I would like to share a few noteworthy items. Bob and Jan Towell rightly encouraged us for many years to hire a full-time Internet director. With the Laurel Church of Christ in Knoxville, TN coming on board to partner with us, we were able to hire Justin Acuff to fill this much-needed role. 2014 was Justin’s first full year with WEI. We are grateful to Laurel and to have Justin’s an engineering and programming skills managing our website.

Our primary and most critical growth path forward remains the need to recruit more teachers. While at the Harding lectureship this fall I enjoyed a lengthy conversation with David Crouch, Harding’s director of public relations. He inspired me to consider changing our logo after 25 years just to freshen up the WEI image. He also gave me some good advice and ideas on effective advertising for Internet teachers through brotherhood publications. We’re anxious to explore both of these ideas, so be on the lookout for a new logo and a new approach to recruiting teachers.

David’s wife Lola wondered why we couldn’t just encourage all our active teachers to simply recruit 1 additional teacher in 2015. That simple method would double our teacher base by the end of the year. I thought it was a great idea! Be prepared to hear more this year about a teacher recruiting campaign called, “The Power of One.” Thank you, David and Lola, for being wonderful friends and champions of WEI, but mostly we thank you for your Great Commission zeal.

Angie and I are so grateful to be a part of this WEI worldwide mission ministry. It’s beyond thrilling to witness the effectiveness of reaching lost souls with the truth through a simple desire of millions to better learn the English language. I don’t feel like I’ve worked a day in my life since we began with WEI full-time in 2004. We’re elated to report that we’ve received some nice additional contributions from teachers and supporters this past fall. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Financial challenges remain, but it’s always good to start the New Year in the black. May God bless you all.

Love, Tom and Angie

Editorial

Our world is in terrible turmoil. At this writing, newspaper headlines are focused on the killing of twelve people, including two policemen, by radical Isla- mists in France. At noon, January 7, 2015, three men armed with automatic weapons stormed the office of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in retaliation for the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

Today’s newspapers also say that jurors are being selected for the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the radical Islamist accused of killing three people and injuring more than 260 others by exploding a bomb near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Never before in human history has the Prince of Peace been more desperately needed. Yet, never before have so many Christians been able to impact so many lives in so many places at the same time. The earth is covered by spiritual darkness, and Christ alone can lead the world out of the night of evil into his marvelous light.

God is using WEI to penetrate the darkness in every nation. In a single day, one WEI Internet teacher can introduce Christ to an atheist in Russia, a Communist in China, a Hindu in India, a Buddhist in Cambodia, a Muslim in Iraq, a spiritist in Haiti, and a Satanist in Cameroon. We must not ignore the door that God has opened before us. He has ordered us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. Let us march to the drumbeat of the Master.

God loves everyone. He is not willing that ANY should perish. He wants everyone to come to repentance. And he is depending on you and me to spread the good news about Jesus to every human being on earth. He has made no other provision. If you would like to share your faith with people who don’t know Christ, please fill out the coupon on page 7 and check one or more of the teaching slots. We will help you get started.

To those who are already teaching, and to those who are helping to support this worldwide ministry with your prayers and financial resources, we say, “Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. God bless you. We love you.”

Dick and Maudine

God Uses WEI in Indonesia

Steve Cate, a longtime missionary in Indonesia, tells how he and Christians in Indonesia are using WEI in their outreach ministry.
Steve writes, “Open proselytizing in Indonesia is illegal; but preaching the uncompromised Gospel from a “Christian” radio station is not. So using this medium allows us to make the Gospel available to 28 million souls in the greater metropolitan area for an hour each Sunday, and Daniel Setiabudi has a very good radio persona. We can freely teach anyone as long as they ask us to teach them, and almost all of our members have come to us through the radio program.”

Daniel, the Indonesian radio speaker writes, “Thank God that in 2002, I was invited to be the speaker on a radio program called ‘Suara Kasih’ aired over radio station Pelita Kasih and sponsored by World Radio. I continue to be filled with gratitude and joy because it gives me the opportunity to preach the Gospel everywhere without posing legal problems with the government or causing unrest in society.

“Because of the radio program, 2,243 people have asked for a correspondence course (World Bible School), while others call to ask for prayer, or advice in solving life’s problems.
“Later, we began using the Bible to teach English as a second language using material from World English Institute. Two hundred eighty-two radio listeners passed the course, and several have asked to be baptized. Our students came from several different religious groups. A new congregation was started from this effort and now numbers around 45 active members.”

Ex-Muslim Debates Muslims

Mark Thiesen, Minister of the Hazel Dell Church of Christ in Vancouver, Washington, tells an amazing story about a gifted young Muslim in Malawi who converted to Christianity.

His father was a Muslim sheik, and he was preparing to become a sheik himself. After studying the Koran in-depth, he was introduced to another holy book, the Bible, and the story of Jesus touched his heart.

After his baptism, he studied in a Bible school and became a powerful preacher. Now, he uses the Koran to lead Muslims to Christ and the Bible. He does this with a smile and a humble spirit. Even after public debates with Muslim opponents, he maintains friendly relations with all.

Gresham Office:

Metro Church of Christ, 1525 NW Division Street, Gresham, OR 97030
Tel: (503) 621-2334
Dick Ady, Founder of WEI and Editor of WEI Update

Maryville Office:

Maryville Church of Christ, PO Box 5293, Maryville, TN 37802
Tel: (865) 803-2909
Fax: (865) 983-0397
Tom Langley, President of WEI