William L. Morgan, “Mr. WEI”
Back in 1989, when WEI was just a dream, I shared my vision with the church in Pleasanton, California. Bill and Mozelle Morgan were there, and they immediately caught the vision.
Bill was not only an elder in the church; he also taught evening classes at the Bay Area School of Preaching/Teaching for thirteen years.
Professionally, Bill was the Vice President of Retail Accounting at Safeway’s Corporate Headquarters in Oakland and was responsible for, and had direct oversight of, fifteen accounting offices across the United States.
Bill says, “When Dick first described his concept for WEI to me, I saw a potential I had never before seen for effective world-wide outreach. The attraction of learning English was without question and using Bible stories as reading assignments not only met the desire of the students to perfect their English but also gave God an opportunity to knock on the door of their hearts.
“With years in the grocery industry, I understood the concept of displaying merchandise in such a way as to attract the customer to buy it. WEI is applying that very principle to its mission to teach the good news about Jesus worldwide.”
Mozelle started teaching Albanian postal students shortly after the fall of communism when 4,500 Albanians responded to a newspaper ad and enrolled as WEI students.
After Bill retired from Safeway on June 30, 1994, he spent six weeks with me in Albania, and the mission bug bit him. Since then, he has been back to Albania fifty times and has been a prime mover in advancing the kingdom there.
In addition to teaching WEI students in short-term mission campaigns, Bill has provided leadership training for thirteen congregations in Albania, most of which were established by following up on WEI students. I credit Bill and the churches he recruited in Bartlesville OK and Kennett, MO, and several Albanian preachers, with saving five of the churches in southern Albania from extinction.
In 1998, the elders of the Metro congregation in Gresham, OR, who had sponsored WEI from its inception, saw a need (1) to develop a succession plan, and (2) to restructure WEI under a board of directors in order to give WEI a stronger position for worldwide promotion and effectiveness. Bill and I were put in charge of those two tasks. The first WEI board consisted of five elders: Dick Ady and Doug Davis from the Metro church in Gresham, Randy Harris and Bill Morgan from the church in Maryville, TN, and Jim Fox from Knoxville. Since then, board members have come and gone, but Bill Morgan has steadfastly served with distinction.
In 2004, Tom Langley and his family returned from Romania after serving as missionaries there for ten years. Tom immediately came aboard as Executive Vice President with a view to assuming the presidency at the right time—a position he now holds.
More recently, Lee Allen was added to the board and serves as WEI Director of Development and Teacher Encouragement.
Bill Morgan is a man of uncommon wisdom and organizational skills. He has blessed the WEI board by serving as Chief Financial Officer and as a member of the Administrative Committee. Yet Bill says, “I feel spiritually blessed to be a part of this work. The WEI method meets the needs of our changing times.’. . . It became natural for WEI to start using the Internet for teaching. Our thanks to Bob, Jan, and Jonathan Towell for helping us get this area developed.”
Justin Acuff served as Technical Director of the WEI Internet Ministry for several years and did a masterful job of expanding and improving the WEI teaching website.
Bill comments, “Worldwide, we are seeing people become New Testament Christians, and congregations are being formed in many countries. WEI is taking the Gospel into places where the Gospel could not go otherwise. The materials attract, teach, and bring many people into a relationship with the Lord in a way we could not do as effectively in other ways. The Internet gets us across borders and into hearts we could not otherwise reach.
‘While the Internet seems an impersonal way to teach, believe me, your teaching by the Internet can be just as personal as you and your student want it to be. The real relationship comes when you and your student come to share a relationship with the Lord.”
Bill, we are grateful that God brought you and WEI together. We thank God for you and Mozelle. We love you.
Dick Ady
WEI-India Needs Your Help
Tom Langley writes: For many years now, WEI has had a unique and special relationship with Brother Prabhu Kumar in Southeast India. For eleven years, he has been involved in a thriving, fruitful ministry that is now known as WEI-India. If you are a regular reader of this newsletter, you have witnessed the many baptism photos and conversion stories about WEI students who became members of God’s kingdom as a result of this ministry.
WEI-India is a ministry in which the WEI curriculum is taught year-round by more than 50 preachers and teachers of churches of Christ in their respective villages, towns, and cities. Brother Prabhu recruited all of these teachers and provides their students with study materials and Bibles. He meets with many of them once a month for Bible study, encouragement, and instruction. He also conducts a teacher’s planning meeting each January to set goals, hear reports, and provide inspiration for the coming year. He visits many of these WEI schools each year to preach gospel meetings, conducts special classes, and speak at graduation ceremonies. In addition to his WEI duties, Brother Prabhu is the pulpit minister at two churches of Christ in metropolitan Vijayawada. He also directs other ministry projects such as the Dorcas Foundation and the Mike Hale School of Theology.
WEI-India and its vast network of year-round schools and ministry projects would not be possible without the support of Christians here in the States. The total monthly operational expense of these 50+ year-round schools is $2,200. As of today, we are well short of that figure for 2019.
Our appeal is to find several individuals or churches who can commit and invest $25, $50,$100, or $200 a month to help fund this ministry at current levels.
WEI-India is under the interim oversight of the Maryville elders and mission committee. If you can help with a financial contribution to this work for the year 2019, please send your check to the Maryville Church of Christ, P.O. Box 5293, Maryville, TN 37802. Be sure to write “WEI-India” in the memo line so that it will be deposited to the right account and be distributed accordingly.
Heart-warming Baptisms in Lushnja
Olti and Sojana Mezini both grew up in Lushnja, Albania. Both were baptized into Christ as teenagers after studying the WEI lessons with Tom Bonner. Both earned university degrees in nearby Vlora, fell in love, got married, and gave up lucrative careers to serve the Lord in Lushnja. There, they are doing a tremendous job of teaching children, young people, and adults about Christ.
Olti and Sojana publish an exciting pictorial newsletter every month in which they portray the wonderful things God is doing through the church in Lushnja. Some time ago, Olti baptized his mother into Christ. Now she is teaching others.
In a recent newsletter, Olti wrote, “My mother has done a good job with my father and brother. Every morning they usually wake up around 5:30 to drink coffee, and she would start speaking about Christ and about what she had learned when studying the Bible and hearing the Sunday service in the church.”
One of the most exciting things to happen in Lushnja recently is the baptism of Olti’s father and brother. Olti says there is no greater joy than to baptize your father and brother into Christ after they have accepted the Lord with all their hearts.
Short-term Missions in Tirana
For twenty-six successive years, the church in Tirana, Albania has sponsored a WEI short-term mission campaign every summer. Many of the teachers return again and again. In the picture below, one of those regular teachers, Debbie Martin, is teaching her WEI student in the basement of the Tirana church building.
WEI Student Baptized in Haiti
Bob Patterson reports that David Gustave Riviere Cilus, one of his WEI students, has been baptized in Cap-Haitian, Haiti.
Bob writes, “He has called me several times even when his phone was dead. He uses his sister’s, his brother’s, and his friend’s phones. He is now a member of the Cap-Haitian Church of Christ and is thrilled with his baptism.
The preacher [in Cap-Haitian] asked David essential questions, and David had good answers. He was baptized November 12, 2018, and is now attending worship at the church that is a 30-minute walk from his home. His Mom is asking questions. David has several sisters and brothers. One of his sisters witnessed his new birth.
David has studied with me since January 2018 and has completed the Advanced English and Bible courses. He is prepared to share the truth with his family and friends. He is asking for a Bible.”
A Terrific Opportunity to Serve
Bill McDonough, of Partners in Progress, and his co-workers, have initiated a church plant in Battambang, Cambodia, the second-largest city in the nation with a population of 400,000.
Bill says, “We are working with our co-worker, Phanat, to start the first congregation in this city. The training center will have a Bible school, an air conditioning maintenance school, and a pastry chef’s school, along with a WEI school.
“The WEI school began in November with a team of five teachers, teaching about 100 students from a nearby university, teachers college, and nursing school. A second team is coming in February, and we are working on a team for March, and others on a regular basis.”
Bill writes, “Marie-Claire and I had planned to teach and manage the WEI program, but my health is requiring me to be away a lot, seeing doctors, so that’s not going to work. We still plan to teach when we are in the country, but the program needs more hands-on management.
“If a couple could be found to come and stay a minimum of three to six months, and preferably a year, it would make the program much more productive. They would be asked to teach and manage the program, keeping up with students, teachers, etc.
“We can provide a good apartment with a swimming pool, a supermarket next door, and many restaurants, plus food allowance and transportation.
Phanat is easy to work with and is very cooperative and encouraging. He will be running the Bible school and airconditioner school, and his wife will be managing the student dorm and pastry school. She’s a certified pastry chef.
“It would be hard to find a better situation.”
If you and your mate have always wanted to get involved in foreign missions but have not been able to do so for financial reasons, here is your chance of a lifetime to teach and work with some of the sweetest people on earth—expenses paid. You will fall in love with your students.
If you or someone you know is interested in this tremendous opportunity, please contact Bill McDonough by email at pipwem@aol.com.
God’s Work Flourishes in Nigeria
Aniefiok Akpan, minister of the campus church in Uruk Otong, Nigeria, and the founding Principal of Rhema Christian Academy describes how God is working in that multi-faceted ministry.
Aniefiok says, “Our campus church and preaching ministry witnessed tremendous growth in 2018. More souls have been won for Christ. Brothers and sisters who were weak in faith have been strengthened. With your support, the hungry have been fed, the naked have been clothed, the blind have received their sight through the gift of eyeglasses, the sick have been attended to, and the gospel has been preached to the poor.
“The Education Office has rated Rhema Christian Academy the best school in our area in terms of classroom and office facilities, quality of staff, the serenity of environment, electricity and water supply, punctuality, and community service.”
In December, Aniefiok reported that a young man named Sunday Archibong Udoh had attended a Bring-a-Friend-Day Dinner at the campus church and had heard the gospel preached for the first time. Aniefiok says, “Since then, he has been studying and worshiping with us at the campus church. Today, he accepted Christ after listening to the sermon. Then he was taken to the stream and baptized in the presence of many members of the church.”
On January 6, Aniefiok reported that the World English Institute School of Ministry had initiated a Bible Reading Club in the community, and one of the young Bible readers, Edidiong Effiong, has already been baptized. Praise God.
Burmese Translations of WEI
On Christmas Eve, Bill McDonough wrote the following: “Pictured, I am with Brother Kie Bu in Yangon, Myanmar looking at WEI materials. He would like to translate some of the lessons into Burmese to use in a Bible training program he is doing with Christians and non-Christians throughout the country.”
Praise God for using WEI to teach His Word in unexpected ways in unexpected places.
Good News from Western Kenya
On Christmas Day, we received a note from Geoffrey Naboga in western Kenya saying, “Receive our warmest greetings. We have been studying the Bible with a denominational pastor and his fellow-believers, and the good news is that yesterday, we had ten souls added to the Lord’s church. Praise Him, and keep praying for us and the Lord’s work here. Serving Christ with you, Brotherly, Geoffrey.
Skyping With Cherry in China
Paul Harp tells an amazing story. Listen to his words: “Cherry and I don’t live in the same country or on the same continent. She’s in China, and I live in Arkansas.
“She was on the Internet looking for help to improve her English when I was introduced to her. We started meeting weekly, using Skype, and began our face-to-face encounter. The Bible was used as our study text. As we studied together, her English skills improved greatly, and her faith blossomed. In time she asked to be baptized, but we had a problem—who would do the baptism?
“Finally, she told me about a large water tank on the roof of her house, and she asked if her husband could do the baptism. I agreed. I sent an email carefully laying out the procedure to be followed. She was to place her laptop on a shelf overlooking the water tank so that I could observe and ask the appropriate question.
“As she stood in the tank, I asked, ‘Cherry, do you believe with all your heart that Jesus is the Son of God?’ She replied, ‘Yes, I do.’ I then said, ‘Cherry, you are now being immersed in the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of your sins and that you may receive the gift of God’s Holy Spirit.’ ‘Sam put her under the water.’ When she arose from the water, I said, ‘Congratulations, Cherry! You are now a child of God, a Christian, a member of Christ’s church!’”
Cherry and Sam have visited the Harps in Searcy several times, and Paul has baptized Sam into Christ. Cherry and Sam continue to study with Paul via Skype every week.
Teaching Students in Sierra Leone
Brother Johnny Kamara, a geology professor at Fourth Bay College in Freetown, Sierra Leone, is also a WEI teacher on the side.
Johnny writes, “The teaching is significant here. The students are commenting that they are happy in the study of the WEI course and are now beginning to understand both the Bible and the English language. Some of the university students say it has helped them in their studies. I hold the classes in a Baptist edifice close to my house.”
Ann Argo Inspires Ladies Class
On December 28th, Vicki Murphy, an active WEI Internet teacher wrote, “My sister, Ann Argo, a retired school principal, WEI teacher, and church secretary is teaching a ladies class January 2nd. She decided at the last minute to change her topic and tell them about WEI.”
At Vicki’s request, I sent her some articles explaining the history of WEI and how God has used this ministry to spread the gospel worldwide.
On January 3rd, Vicki wrote back and said, “Ann Argo had her ladies class last night. When I talked to her, she was flying high.’ She probably didn’t sleep a wink last night. She talked about the history of WEI, the process of doing WEI, the content of WEI, the rationale for the order of the lessons, and then told them about two students, one of hers and one of mine. She said that by the time she finished, half the women were in tears, and five of them wanted to know about teaching. I think she will get more than five. God is good.”
Thank you, Vicki and Ann, for serving as WEI champions in your local congregations. God is using you to recruit more teachers to help fulfill the Great Commission without leaving home.
