Maudine F. Ady, co-founder of World English Institute, and my wife for sixty-nine and a half years, went home to be with the Lord on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2025. She played a vital role in WEI from the beginning.
While I was in the Philippines in June and July of 1989 helping conduct seven WBS seminars, Maudine registered WEI in the State of Oregon as a nonprofit, church-related educational institution.
While in the Philippines, I wrote and field-tested the first five lessons of what is now Intermediate Bible Book One in the WEI curriculum. That was the beginning of the evangelistic tool that God is now using to draw people to Christ in every nation. To God be the glory.
My family and I, and a host of Maudine’s special friends, honored her in a memorial service at the Eastside Church of Christ in Portland, Oregon on March 15, 2025. This service was permanently recorded on YouTube. It can still be viewed by logging on to YouTube, Eastside Church of Christ, Portland, Life and Legacy of Maudine Ady.
I would like to thank the hundreds of people from all over the world who have expressed their love and sympathy in cards, emails, and telephone calls. I praise God for the warm fellowship that we enjoy in the WEI family as we work together to spread the good news about Christ to every man, woman, young person, and child on the planet Earth.
“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift [Jesus Christ]” (2 Corinthians 9:15).
–Richard (Dick) Ady
God is full of surprises. When Dennis Cady and Chuck Dennis of Wichita Falls, Texas, first got involved in spreading the good news about Christ in South Sudan in 2012, they focused their attention on the city of Bor, the capital of Junglei State in central South Sudan. In a recent report, they said, “We never intended to get involved beyond Junglei, but God knew things we didn’t.
“In 2020, we learned of some World English Institute students requesting baptism in Aweil, the province bordering Sudan about 600 miles to the north.”
Four Sudanese evangelists in Bor were dispatched to Aweil. During their eight-day visit in Aweil, they baptized thirteen WEI and WBS students. some of whom were “ten talent” leaders who dedicated themselves to “kingdom business.” Thus, the church was planted in Aweil.
One of the “ten talented” WEI students they baptized was Lang Bartholomayo, a tall, dynamic young man whose preaching attracted large crowds. and resulted in numerous baptisms.
When Dennis and Chuck visited Aweil in December of 2023, they found eight congregations, seven of which had been established by the thirteen new converts. Chuck and Dennis called twenty-nine men from the eight congregations together and conducted an eight-day seminar. The group set a goal of establishing seven (7) new congregations in 2024.
At the end of 2024, they had established, not 7, but 60 congregations, and they had baptized 1,871 people into Christ. One man had started twelve congregations. Thirty-two villages had asked him to come to their village and start a Church of Christ.
Dennis says, “In Aweil, where Lang Bartholomayo is, the church is growing so rapidly that numbers are constantly out of date. In the first three months of 2025, 1,131 were baptized, and 24 new congregations were established. Evangelists there say that there will be between 4,000 and 5,000 baptisms this year. God is blessing the work, and I am not slow to add, ‘The beginning in 2022 was a result of WEI.’” Praise God!!!!
YOUR ASSISTANCE AND SUPPORT MAKES A DIFFERENCE!
More and more national preachers around the world are using WEI courses in their local outreach ministries. National preachers are our most efficient and productive partners in world evangelism. Your donations for printing and mailing these materials are appreciated. “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
Edwin E. Vicente, Director of the WEI Learning Center in Tuguegarao City, Philippines was walking from his apartment to the Learning Center one day when he went into a store to buy a bottle of water.
The owner of the store, a 65-year-old woman, Mrs. Luisa A. Cabael, noticed that Edwin was carrying a Bible and a WEI book.
Edwin writes, “She asked what I was teaching. I told her about WEI, and she was so curious, so I set a day to answer all her questions. She was Pentecostal by birth but regularly attended Sunday mass in Roman Catholicism.”
Edwin studied with her, and she found the WEI lessons so interesting that she committed to studying the lessons until she fully understood the Bible. Edwin said, “I invited her to attend the Sunday service of the Church of Christ here in Pataui, Tugurgarao.” There. she decided to be baptized into Christ.
On April 4, Tom Langley, Murry Steward and six teachers of his Church of Christ Plants team flew to Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire on a ten-day short-term mission.
On Saturday, April 5, Tom hosted a reception for WEI Internet students in the area.
Tom wrote, “The WEI Student Reception in Abidjan, Ivory Coast has just concluded, and God provided 51 very good online students to study the Bible with us one on one next week. Most if these students were so thankful for WEI and conveyed their gratitude in some of the most beautiful English expressions I’ve ever heard. Phrases like: ‘My life has been changed forever,’ or ‘The English instruction is helpful, but the Word of God has penetrated my soul,’ or ‘Can you help me become a Christian?’ Other phrases like this are still ringing in my ears.”
On Sunday morning, Tom and Murray and the other six teachers worshiped with the Abidjan church.
Tom continues: “All of us teachers will remain here for the next 8 days and study with these precious beautiful souls. God will give the increase in His perfect timing. We will simply be sowing the seed and watering the soil with our amazing WEI online teachers. Several came up to me and said they began their studies in 2020. They all know their teachers by name. It was so impressive.
“WEI online teachers, I don’t think you have any idea what a difference you are making for the kingdom. God is using you in amazing ways. Keep grading those lessons and sending new ones.”
“So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish what I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).
Mike Thomas, a longtime WEI Internet teacher, is legally blind and uses a white cane and seeing-eye dog when walking outside. Mike says, “I maintain about 40 active students. I could probably do more than that, but instead, I try to recruit new teachers.”
Mike writes, “During my retirement years, I have found a sense of peace and belonging in working with WEI as an Internet missionary.
“From the comforts of my home, I travel every day to such far away places as Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Philippines, Albania, Egypt, Africa, Pakistan, India, and many other places in the world to plant the seeds of salvation in the hearts of our foreign students. To me, it is a fulfilling experience, something I could never do in real life.
“When Jesus said, ‘Go into all the world and teach,’ I never realized that the Internet would be my mode of transportation. WEI has changed my life and given me something worthwhile to do.
“I am classified as ‘legally blind.’ The onset of Macular Degeneration has taken away my central vision and made it nearly impossible to read anything. When I first began losing my central vision in 2011, I was still working and driving. By 2015 I had to stop driving. I also cut back on many things, including my work with WEI.
“One day, I realized that my problem was not my level of blindness. My problem was not realizing the potential for better using what I had left. Technology became my best friend. I was introduced to enhanced magnification tools and computer software that could magnify everything on the computer screen and have it read to me. It opened a whole new world to me—a new world of WEI possibilities.
“For those of you living with blindness or low vision and would like help with using technology to help you with WEI, I would be happy to share what I know. Blindness does not define us. It is merely an inconvenience that requires a change of direction.”
Contact Mike at mikethomas46@gmail.com.
If you are interested in a short-term mission experience, contact Tom Langley at tom@worldenglishinstitute.org for more information.
Kay Banta, longtime WEI teacher in Arkansas, is currently teaching a student in Kenya named Peter.
Kay writes, “Peter Otieno was an apostolic preacher in Kenya until he began studying WEI and talking to Paul Ochieng and me. When he began to say he wanted to change, I asked questions and sent extra scriptures because he had not reached the advanced level. He admitted he was not saved in a Facebook phone call to me in late March. Paul baptized Peter on March 30.”
Kim Brice has been teaching WEI students since 2017. She says, “I love being a WEI teacher. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have crossed paths with WEI and to have the rewarding chance to reach lost souls from my recliner.
Today, Kim introduces us to Shqiponja, one of her students in Albania. Shqiponja says to us, “I can’t express my gratitude for World English Institute. It has, for years, been such a blessing to me. We all experience pain and disappointment in this fallen world. Your lessons have been a joy for me when I walked through the valley of the shadow of death! They put my focus on God and drew me near to him. When bitterness filled my soul, I found the wisdom of God through the WEI lessons.”
Notice the message on Shqiponja’s T-shirt
Finally, Shqiponja says, “I am so thankful for my teachers. They have been so patient with me. May God bless you and all the [WEI] students and teachers around the world. May His name be glorified through all of us! May God use these lessons for the salvation of many students!”
Jan Towell took this picture on 2/21/20, two days after Bob celebrated his 89th birthday. Notice that Dick is reading Blessed Assurance, the WEI book that Jan had given to him. This marked a turning point in Dick’s life. Since then, Dick has taught hundreds of WEI students from all parts of the world, some of whom are now his brothers and sisters in Christ.
Today, Dick introduces us to his student, Mark Kuhnie who says, “This whole journey with WEI started off as being skeptical. What are they doing with my information? Then, it felt like a chore. ‘Oh, not this again. It feels like work. I’m tired. I want to go to bed. I would rather be doing something else that is more fun.’
“Then, I started to realize that I enjoyed the lessons, and I looked forward to them. I realized that it was not the same thing over and over. I didn’t know as much as I thought. The lessons helped me go deeper and deeper. The lessons triggered thoughts throughout the day. It became God loving me, not me taking a course.
“I sat back, listened, and allowed the Lord to pour out his love on me. I didn’t have to do anything but enjoy the lesson. The interaction with the instructor pointed me in the right direction with no judgment. I got encouragement. If I got frustrated with the lesson, the instructor gently pushed me back to the truth. It allowed me to appreciate the lessons as a way to learn more about God, not as some college course. God in Christ is the object of the study. It is precious that there are others on the same path.
“I don’t have to worry about what they [at WEI] are doing with the information that I type in this box. I don’t have to fear that this is some kind of cult that is going to lead me astray. It’s all God.”
Comment: This is the kind of student that keeps Dick Towell going–with a sense of purpose in life. Dick says, “Yes, Jan, Bob, and you have influenced for good the course of my life since my wife’s death in 2018. I just wanted you to know that the Spirit is at work. We may not know that until years later, looking back at the turning point in our lives.”
Editor’s note: These words bring tears to our eyes as we witness profound evidence that God is working through us to lead lost people to Christ, and ultimately to eternal salvation in heaven.
An Invitation:
We invite you to, please, consider including WEI in your 2025 church budget and join us in a concerted effort to lead the whole world to Christ. Click here to donate!
Aniefiok Akpan, Minister of the Campus Church of Christ and founder of Rhema Christian Academy in Ubon, Nigeria, celebrated his 51st birthday on March 25.
On his birthday, Aniefiok also celebrated the graduation of eight high school seniors who came to Rhema Christian Academy as unbelievers and graduated as faithful baptized believers who are actively involved in the Campus congregation. Congratulations, Aniefiok.
What do we do when a student asks for help to enter higher institutes of learning?
Occasionally, a student asks me for help entering a university or school of higher learning. I have been asked to write letters of recommendation, provide transcripts, or review papers. While I admire their pursuit of excellence, I must remember why I am a World English Institute (WEI) teacher. My role, like Andrew and Philip’s, is to bring students to Christ so they may be taught by Him. This is my highest goal, not ensuring their academic success.
So, how should we handle these requests? How do we decline constructively? Here is how I respond. WEI is not accredited and cannot issue certified degrees. However, its grammar courses help with the TOEFL exam (English as a Foreign Language), which may improve your chances of enrolling in a college or university. WEI does not provide scholarships or assist with applications to higher education institutions, as that is not its purpose.
WEI is a Chistian faith-based nonprofit, and its teachers are volunteers. The program teaches English grammar using the Easy-to-Read English Version of the Bible helping students develop language skills while learning about God’s eternal plan to rescue us from sin through Christ Jesus.
As your WEI teacher, I encourage you to take full advantage of this free program. It may be the academic gift from God, blessing you beyond anything this life offers. While I am honored by your request, my assistance must be limited to this program.
I have found that this response helps in two ways: (1) It responds positively and constructively to their request. (2) It helps my conscience, which struggles with their request because of my limitations. I hope this helps you as well.
Arthur Tatara has been teaching WEI courses in a Lei, Papua New Guinea public high school for nine years–since graduating from the Singapore branch of SIBI (Sunset International Bible Institute).
Arthur writes, “Greetings from Lae, Papua New Guinea. God is awesome, as he has given me an opportunity to share the gospel in a public high school using WEI materials
Arthur is also teaching WEI Bible courses at Melanesian Bible College and preaching to the students on Sunday.
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Honorariums and Memorials
In Honor of Margaret Googe
Gough, Sean & April
In Honor of Bert Paddock & family
Blanks, Judy
In Honor of Bill Walt
Wagner, James & Wanda
In Memory of Maudine Ady
Ady, Dick
Bellem-Kraus, Linda
Foster, Elisabeth
Henry, Dan & Debbie
Huff, David & Laura
Jones, Shawn & Nancy
Lee, Jerry & Sherry
Rascoe, Krista & Ashley
Summers, Steve & Nancy
Taylor, Perry & Karen
Towell, Jan
Towell, Jo
Williams, Dolores
Winham, Suzie
York, Carolyn
In Memory of Glen Beddingfield
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Edwards, Bonnie
Langley, Tom & Angie
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
Spencer, Dan
White, Diane
In Memory of Rex Blankenship
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Edwards, Bonnie
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
In Memory of Homer Benson
Benson, Norma
In Memory of David Bentley
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Langley, Tom & Angie
In Memory of William (Bill) Biszmaier
Biszmaier, Mary
Henry, Dan & Debbie
Outlaw, Judy
In Memory of Bill Blanks
Blanks, Judy
In Memory of George Burbage
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Edwards, Bonnie
Langley, Tom & Angie
In Memory of Ethel Burleigh
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Edwards, Bonnie
Langley, Tom & Angie
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
In Memory of Linda Cruz
Huff, David & Laura
In Memory of Bill Eckelberry
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Gallaher, Roy & Carolyn
Langley, Tom & Angie
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
In Memory of Art Edwards
Blanks, Judy
In Memory of Chuck Ford
Huff, David & Laura
Spencer, Dan
In Memory of Larry Hall
Huff, David & Laura
In Memory of Laury Hamilton
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Langley, Tom & Angie
In Memory of Mickie Heaton
Spencer, Dan
In Memory of Joan Horning
Edwards, Bonnie
In Memory of Fred Jewell
Hesselrode, Robert & Billie Sue
In Memory of Keith Loeffler
Loeffler, Marty
In Memory of Kenneth Oldham
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
In Memory of Joyce McElroy
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
In Memory of Priscilla Millard
Blanks, Judy
In Memory of Marvin Peterson
Blanks, Judy
In Memory of Mary Puryear
Langley, Tom & Angie
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
In Memory of Larry Raburn
Raburn, Shirley
In Memory of Jackie Dean Robinson
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
In Memory of Arthur Shearin
Conley, William & Ava
In Memory of Suzanne Snow
Blanks, Judy
In Memory of Ross Spencer
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Langley, Tom & Angie
In Memory of Sherri Spencer
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Edwards, Bonnie
Gallaher, Roy & Carolyn
Langley, Tom & Angie
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
White, Diane
In Memory of Sheila Swain
Baxley, Bud & Gwen
In Memory of Kim Wallis
Wallis, Evelyn
In Memory of Leona Weime
Edwards, Bonnie
Langley, Tom & Angie
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
In Memory of Bill & Mary Wilson
Burrow, Gerald & Linda
In Memory of Mildred Winstead
Blanks, Judy
In Memory of Wesley Yeager
Yeager, Sheila
