Charles Mungu suffers from heart disease and other health problems, but he is a ball of fire. About a year ago, he asked if he could use WEI materials in his out- reach ministry in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Since then, he has graduated two classes of WEI students. By the time you read this article, he will have given 152 more diplomas to WEI graduates in three differ- ent cities: Freetown, Bo, and Makeni.
In April, Charles wrote, “As the Lord is adding more souls to his kingdom through the WEI ministry here in Sierra Leone, and these souls need to be actively involved in the Lord’s work, I have a lot of students who have asked me for Bibles. Some have been baptized into Christ, and some will be baptized by the end of their Please take our request to your congregations so that they may help us with Bibles.”
Charles explained that he needed fifty Bibles and that he could purchase them locally for $8.00 each.
I shared Charles’ request with the Metro congregation in Gresham, Oregon where I served as an elder for twenty-six years. The church responded by contributing more than enough money to supply the fifty Bibles. With these funds, Charles purchased the Bibles and gave them to his students—twenty in Freetown, fifteen in Bo, and fifteen in Makeni.
In the following picture, Charles has given Bibles to several of his grateful stu- dents.
In May, Charles wrote, “This time around, we are going to have about 11 new Christians to add to the Lord’s kingdom, and I will send you all the photos.”
Soon thereafter, Charles sent the pictures he promised. The following picture shows a WEI student being baptized in a river near Makeni.
Charles writes, “I have been a teacher before coming to WEI. I was a volunteer teacher at Christ the King secondary school here in Freetown, teaching Religious Moral Education……. I was born by a missionary father, and when I grew up, all my focus also was in church work. And now, I have given all my attention to the Lord’s work.”
Charles has recruited and trained two more WEI teachers, one to teach students in Bo, and the other in Makeni. Periodically, he leaves Freetown, the capital city, and spends time working with the other two teachers and their students.
Not one of these three teachers receives any financial support from WEI other than free teaching materials and diplomas.
Praise God for teachers who are motivated, not by money, but by love for Jesus Christ and a genuine desire to serve him. To God be the glory.
Prabhu Kumar, the director of WEI-India, sent the following e-mail: “We had three older students who showed high interest to know the truth from the scriptures. They were educated and showed interest in learning God’s word through this English language program. Their classes were completed in December last year, but still they were in a dilemma about taking baptism. Now, our public meetings strengthened them very well and helped them make a strong and final decision to take baptism.”
Following the morning worship service at the Pundipadu church on June 12, Prabhu baptized all three of these WEI students in the baptistery located on the roof of the church building.
One of the three people baptized was 65-year-old Vijaya Rao, a retired employee of the Road Transport Corporation. Formerly an atheist and a member of the Communist Party, Vijaya Rao is now our brother in Christ. Hallelujah!
Prabhu concludes: “So like this, our WEI is not only helpful to the younger students, but also older students to lead them into Christ.”
Moses Born Again in Malawi
There was a time when we sang “Rescue the Perishing” regularly in our worship services. This song inspired young people to become missionaries, and it motivated adults to support missions with their prayers and offerings.
We need to rescue this song from the trash heap.
In the current issue of Christian Chronicle, some women were asked, “What would you tell your daughter about the woman’s role in the church?” Claire Davidson Frederick of Nashville, Tennessee replied, “I would tell her that the proper role for all people in the church is to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20) and teach the Good News of how God is making all things new through Jesus Christ (Revelation 21:5).” Well sa
Many of us feel unworthy to teach others. In view of my own weaknesses, I may feel like a “nobody.” But as one preacher put it, “I’m just a NOBODY telling EVERYBODY about SOMEBODY who can save ANYBODY.”
The famous missionary, Hudson Taylor, was traveling from Shanghai to Ningpo on a Chinese junk when the man he had been teaching fell overboard. Taylor ran to the mast, let down the sail, and jumped overboard hoping to save his new friend. No one on the boat joined him in the search. Taylor yelled to some fishermen nearby, but they refused to help unless he paid them money. After bartering for his money, they stopped fishing and began their search. Within a minute, they found the missing man, but it was too late. His lifeless body was caught in their fishing net. Our first impulse is to condemn the fishermen for their selfish indifference. Yet, in doing so, we could be condemning ourselves. Are we too busy with our jobs and recreational activities to rescue the perishing?
Thankfully, God has gathered a spiritual army of WEI teachers who are rescuing the perishing while there is still time.
We are honored to have fellowship with you. Thank you for your support and ongoing encouragement. We love and appreciate you.
Dick and Maudine
WEI Postal Teachers Needed: The Gresham of- fice has more than 100 postal students waiting for teachers. It takes more time and money to teach them, but they need the gospel too. Please contact us at the Gresham office, if you are willing and able to teach some of these students.
Summers are always an exciting time for WEI as we send teams of WEI teachers into mission fields for short-term mission schools. This is the culmination of many months of recruiting teachers, advertising for students, and organizing both here in the States and in the mission field.
This summer we are sending teams to 4 cities in Ro- mania, 3 cities in Albania, to Yangon, Myanmar, and to Guatemala City. There are also national Bible teachers using our WEI materials this summer in Africa, India, and Asia. Some of these locations conduct year round schools.
In Romania, Albania, Guatemala, and Myanmar, more than 50 teachers will be studying the Bible using WEI one-to-one with more than 260 students. There are not many things more thrilling and rewarding than studying one-to-one with precious thirsty souls in a foreign field. Please consider teaching on one of these short-term trips in the future. It’s becoming more and more difficult to recruit teachers willing to travel to foreign lands due to the evil nature of terrorism in the world today.
Let’s not allow Satan any victories. Remember, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12, NASV)
Thank you all for your continued love and support. Please consider our appeal by Lee Allen in this newsletter to pay for one day of Internet advertising in the form of a donation. We love you all.
Tom and Angie
Moses Born Again in Malawi
Louis Camacho, one of the teachers on the Mongolia team, sent us 126 photos that were taken during the two weeks the team was there. We have included only two of them due to space limitations. In the picture below, Louis introduces his student, Sunshine, as a new sister- in-Christ.
Bill Stewart writes, “Here is a picture of the lady I taught and baptized on Friday before we left, and her two little girls. Her name is Uyanga. She is a divorced mother of two and cleans homes for income to care for her girls.”
All five WEI students were baptized in a hotel bathtub in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia this spring. We praise God that there is now a congregation of New Testament Christians in the homeland of Ghingis Khan.
INVITATION
We invite you to include WEI in your 2016 church budget. Please join us in a concerted effort to lead the whole world to Christ
Moses Born Again in Malawi
On May 25, Tom Langley wrote from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: “It’s 11:30 pm, and I just returned to my apt from the WEI reception. They threw us out of the conference room at 9 pm because we only paid for two hours, but the students didn’t want to leave. So we had to move to the lobby to continue visiting with them. One of the teachers even took a group of 4 or 5 and moved to the corner of the lobby and began a Bible study right there because they had so many questions.”
One lady drove four hours to attend the reception. She teaches English in a High School outside of Ulaanbaatar, and she took a stack of student advertising postcards. Tom says she “is going to give them to all of her students and insist that they take the WEI course online this summer.”
All five American teachers filled their daily Bible study schedules that night.
Tom says, “It seemed that every student who attended came up and thanked me for WEI. They told stories of how WEI and their WEI teachers were helpful in so many ways. They loved the Bible stories, and they loved the English lessons. It was such a thrill! We must let our teachers know that they are making a huge difference in the lives of real and precious people. Sometimes the computer seems so impersonal and detached, but it’s NOT impersonal for someone who is honestly seeking answers to the big, important questions about life and the human condition.
“Bill Stewart, the team leader from Bear Valley, informed me that an impressive couple has committed to move here next year and minister to this small group of Christians.”
During the two weeks following the reception, five more students were baptized into Christ. This brings the total number of New Testament Christians in Mongolia to twenty-two. The Lord has established a beachhead.
It is always a thrill to read blogs posted by Julie Broyles, Director of the BEST Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Her May 16 blog was especially exciting.
First, she reported that she had received a telephone call from a fellow-missionary in Phnom Penh saying that one of her deaf students wanted to be baptized at BEST Center that evening.
Julie says, “As I was hanging up the phone, one of our WEI students who had stopped studying due to a job came in and said he wanted to be baptized. Wow! He came back at 1:30 and had a study in Khmer with Piseth for an hour or more. So at 5:30, he was bap- tized, and we ate at 6:00
The next day was a holiday, so Julie took a group of Khmer students to Rabbit Island for an outing. Julie says, “It was a great day of fun ending with a bright sky full of stars, small waves splashing, and reading about God’s creation. Afterwards, Sunghy asked to be baptized. Then, Samrith asked too. They spoke about their beliefs. After those two were baptized, Bundara also said he wanted to be baptized.”
Later, at BEST Center, some of the young men encouraged their new brothers to be steadfast in their faith and warned them that they would be rejected by family and friends and persecuted for becoming Christians.
Julie says, “It was an incredible blessing to wit- ness these young Christians speaking of their faith until 11:00 p.m. I think this is what God meant for the church to be. It was awesome.”
Moses Born Again in Malawi
Those who have been reading our reports about Aniefiok Akpan and Rhema Christian Academy are aware that RCA’s new multipurpose building is nearing completion. In order to pass inspection and renew its accreditation, however, they must install security bars over all the windows and doors at a cost of $5,000. They are so close, yet so far. If they can install the safety bars prior to the inspection next month, they prob- ably will be able to start teaching the WEI Bible and English courses to their students again—and baptizing young people week after week again.
Rhema Christian Academy and the Campus Church of Christ are crucial to the growth and strength of the church in southeastern Nigeria. Yet, Aniefiok has developed plans for WEI that could eclipse Rhema Christian Academy in significance. He has recruited a team of twenty Nigerian preachers and their wives to help spearhead a nationwide ministry that could result in the salvation of thousands of souls. These preachers will teach people how to use WEI as an evangelistic tool at their local congregations.
In an effort to make this WEI ministry self-supporting, a visionary couple in California has provided a RICO printing machine so that WEI materials can be printed on site.
The mission committee in another California church has provided a computer, an inkjet printer, and a surge-protector. That means we can send WEI books to Aniefiok electronically, and he can print them and make them available at cost. Local congregations will be asked to cover the cost of printing the materials used in their outreach ministries.
This new outreach ministry is being called “World English Institute and School of Preaching.” Their objective is to mobilize dedicated, well-educated, self-supporting Nigerian Christians for evangelism.
Aniefiok says, “We will run this program as a correspondence school with regular regional seminars, workshops, and fieldwork. This program will be self- supporting since the students will be Christians who can sponsor their own training. Our intention is to produce self-supporting gospel preachers, Bible teachers, song leaders, and other Christian workers. Our graduates will be incorporated into a team of voluntary, self-supporting missionaries.
“We have gospel preachers and Bible teachers who have agreed to serve as voluntary teachers. They will grade examinations and help us plan, organize, and conduct seminars and workshops in different areas where we have students.
“The graduates of our school of preaching will serve as WEI teachers within and outside Nigeria.”
We may think that Aniefiok is a young visionary who dreams impossible dreams. Then again, all things are possible with God. Without a dream, nothing stirs our blood and opens our minds to new possibilities
Thanks to a $300 contribution from an anonymous donor, the WEI School started by Willy Yudah in Mbeya, Tanzania two years ago will continue to teach, inspire, and baptize WEI students for the rest of this year. Praise God.
“It’s a very exciting time for WEI! Recently, we were discussing the results of our increased Google advertising. It was our aim and prayer that the increase in advertising would reach more and more students all over the world. God has answered our prayers with incredible results. He has opened the floodgates of heaven and poured out many blessings upon us. Here are some comparisons between June 2015 and June 2016:
New Student Registrations:
June 2015 – 1,159
June 2016 – 5,173
New Bible Studies:
June 2015 – 443
June 2016 – 1,665
Nations:
June 2015 – 99
June 2016 – 132
# of Teachers Teaching New Bible Studies:
June 2015 – 89
June 2016 – 255
With this dramatic increase of students, we need more Internet Bible teachers. Choose today to share your faith and introduce people to God’s word. To register as an Internet teacher, go to: www.worldenglishinstitute.org/register/teacher.
Our desire is to continue our Google advertising for the next 365 days. Our goal is to raise $36,500. In order to do that, we need your help. Will you consider sponsoring one day of advertising with a gift of $100? Your $100 gift will make it possible for 50 new students or more to study the Word of God daily with our beloved teachers. Please help us share God’s love and message of salvation with more people than ever.
Please make your check payable to WEI and send it to: WEI – Maryville Office, P.O. Box 5293, Maryville, TN 37802.
Thank you in advance for helping us reach this ex- citing goal! God bless you for your kindness and your caring generosity. God loves a cheerful giver.
Lee Allen
WEI is in the fore- front of the battle with evil! Behind black-hooded terrorists is a spiritual conflict between Satan and Christ. This conflict is forcefully presented by Arabic inscriptions on the Dome of the Rock, erected in AD 685 on the temple mount where the Temple of Jehovah stood until every stone was thrown into nearby ravines by the Romans in AD 70. Notice the following: Surah 2:116:
“They say: ‘Allah hath begotten a son’: Glory be to Him. Nay, to Him (Allah) belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth: everything renders worship to Him.”
Surah 19:88, 89: “They say: ‘(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten a son!’ Indeed ye have put forth a thing most monstrous!”
These blasphemies show the battle is not just physical but spiritual. Although missiles make a spectacular end to terrorists, the weapons Christians use are what will truly win!
2 Cor. 10:3-5:
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we use are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
We are on the front-lines of a raging battle, and we have the weapons that will defeat evil-doers by turning them from Satan’s false prophets to God and his Son who offers eternal salvation to all who believe and obey him.
Eph. 6:10-13:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”
