Moses Born Again in Malawi
Editorial – News and Notes Tom Langley
After not traveling at all to teach or host WEI efforts in 2020, this summer has been especially meaningful. I can’t think of anything more rewarding than serving full time in this WEI Great Commission ministry. All the many different components of WEI have their own unique set of challenges and blessings. However, I must confess that visiting, teaching, encouraging, and working in the foreign field has a special appeal to me and my wife, Angela. We were so blessed to recently teach WEI to students in Albania, visit and encourage our WEI partners in Romania, and host a WEI reception in Yerevan, Armenia this past June and July. What a thrill!
WEI is now registering over 10,000 students and starting over 3000 new Bible studies each month from every country in the world. Our Internet correspondence ministry continues to grow substantially year after year largely due to the tireless work of Lee Allen. Our Short-term mission teaching resumed this summer in Albania. We hope and pray that by 2022 the world will have successfully managed through the pandemic, and the dozen or so cities and churches that have hosted WEI teachers in the past will fully resume with those efforts next summer.
One of the most exciting and relatively new components of WEI is our WEI Reception Model. Through our Internet data base, we locate cities or regions of the world where we have a large concentration of students. We host a student reception in that city and invite hundreds of our best WEI students. Several WEI teachers travel with us to that city and commit to stay several weeks after the reception to study the Bible daily with interested students who attend the reception. This is one of the most exciting and encouraging events and efforts we host.
The students who attend the reception come expressing gratitude for WEI and fondness for their teachers. Many students bring small gifts for me to carry back for their WEI teachers. It’s such a thrill to meet these precious souls and hear their testimonies about learning God’s word and improving their English through our free Internet correspondence courses. In this edition, I’ve included an article about our recent reception in Yerevan, Armenia. Please let us know if you might be interested in participating as a teacher in: our Internet teaching ministry, short-term mission ministry, or in our reception model ministry.
Thank you, teachers, and thank you supporters both prayerful and financial. Without you none of this would be possible. To God be the glory!
May the Lord bless you
and keep you;
May the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
May the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace. Numbers 6
Tom Langley (WEI president)
Yerevan, Armenia is a city of over 1 million residents. WEI has over 1000 Internet students in that city. It was decided in early 2020 that we would host a reception for some of our serious Bible students in Yerevan. We call this the “WEI Reception Model.”
Four teachers traveled with me to Yerevan to meet the students at the reception and offer free one to one private Bible studies everyday for two weeks. Adam Dollen, Gary Aragon, Ryan Campbell and Paulo Ros remained in Yerevan after the reception to study with the interested students. An Armenian preacher serving in Ukraine and his brother also expressed an interest to follow up on our teaching in the hopes of one day establishing an active bride of Christ in the city.
The reception was well attended by a room full of smiling and grateful students. They all expressed their gratitude and love for their WEI Internet teachers. Many times, they told me how their Internet teachers were so patient and kind in helping them with their English skills, and how interesting the WEI reading assignment Bible lessons are. Almost all of them signed up for subsequent one to one private Bible classes. The teachers were busy every day sowing the seed of God’s word and the kingdom message. They reported great success in this initial endeavor.
One sweet lady did not want to delay becoming a member of God’s kingdom even though she would be alone, hopefully only for a short time. She was immersed in the waters of baptism by her teacher, Brother Gary Aragon. Other WEI students were very interested in becoming Christians as well.
The decision was made to return in November 2021 and host another WEI Reception in Yerevan followed by more one to one studies. In the meantime, a missionary family contacted me, and they are considering locating there long term. We hope and pray and know that God will give the increase if we simply keep sowing. We will be targeting Yerevan with WEI student advertising in the coming months in preparation for our return in November.
Ryan Campbell wrote:
Our time in Yerevan was sweet indeed. Seeing Gohaz being immersed, washed in the blood, was wonderful. In fact, I was studying with a young college student also named Gohaz and she said she was close to being buried in the waters of baptism as well, but she needed more time to think it over. Also, she wants her dad to be present at her baptism, but he was out of the country during our time serving in Armenia. She gave me lots of hope that she would be ready to obey the gospel when we come back in November.
I also studied with another young college student named Alva. Alva also believed, but hadn’t been baptized, yet. She claimed she needed more time to think over counting the cost. I sincerely believe that young Gohaz and her friend, Alva, are very close to the kingdom. Our trip back to Yerevan in November could very well see them both baptized.
Please keep the people of Armenia and this effort in Yerevan in your prayers. The Armenians are beautiful, kind, and humble children of God. The greatest of all kingdoms needs a strong presence there. If we faithfully sow the seed, somehow God will give the increase. We believe that.
Valentin Rusescu WEI- Romania
I recently met one of the very first students to begin and complete the WEI course, and as a result become a Christian. His name is Valentin Rusescu [Roo-shay-scoo] and he has an interesting WEI story. As a young man, Valentin was an engineer with the military in the mini-helicopter division when he enrolled in a Bible and English instruction postal correspondence course. He began the slow process of postal correspondence in early 1990, named at that time World English School, and he finished the course and received his certificate on February 26th, 1993, under the current banner of World English Institute. His postal teacher was Brother Ron Chitwood.
In December 1989, the mighty hand of God tore down the Communist Iron Curtain, and Romania opened up. In early 1990, Brother Bill McDonough entered Romania as part of a humanitarian effort and ran a series of ads in a popular magazine, offering a free English grammar and Bible course taught by Americans. More than 35,000 people responded to the ads. The first batch of a limited number of postal correspondence courses sent to students was called World English School. Valentin received the first set of books from this course. Because he began with the WES course, we know he had to be one of the first WEI students in Romania.
After completing the course, Valentin knew he needed to be baptized. He traveled to Bucharest in 1993 and missionary Dale McAnulty gave him a Holy Bible and put him in touch with missionary Hilton Terry. Brother Terry was serving in the same city of Valentin’s residence at that time. Valentin met with Hilton in Brasov, Romania and was baptized. The church in Brasov eventually dissolved and Valentin wandered without a church home for many years. He moved to Bucharest and could not locate the church he remembered from 1993. He made contact with the Prestoncrest Church of Christ in Dallas, and they gave Valentin current Romania evangelist Albert Cook’s contact information in Bucharest. Valentin was finally reunited with Christians in Bucharest where he worships and is happy to serve with the Church of Christ at Mihai Bravu.
When I met him this summer and mentioned that I was president of WEI, his eyes lit up and he was thrilled to tell me his WEI story. It was such a pleasure to meet and speak with Valentin and hear about all the people involved in his conversion, which began with a WES/WEI correspondence course 31 years ago.
I Corinthians 3:7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
One of our outstanding WEI teachers has recently become very involved in the mission work directed by Brother Aniefiok Akpan in Nigeria. He even delivered the main lesson for the most recent World English Institute – Internet Digital Evangelism Africa, monthly Zoom Lectureship. We refer to this ministry as WEI-IDEA.
Russ Mitchell is an engineer by education and vocation and served as an officer in the United States Air Force for 9 years. Russ and his beautiful family live in Morristown, TN and worship with the Morristown Church of Christ. I asked Russ to share with us his involvement with WEI and his passion for The Great Commission.
I started teaching English and Bible with WEI about three years ago. I liked the idea of evangelizing using English. I had really good English teachers in high school. We had to diagram hundreds of sentences, so I learned a lot of grammar. In 10th grade I had a fun English Composition class. I also like to read and write, so WEI is a really good fit for me. I can teach English because I know more than the people I’m teaching. I also enjoy apologetics and enjoy answering students’ Bible questions.
I really like connecting with my students. I have been able to have serious conversations with Muslims in Iran, encourage young people in Haiti, and share experiences with people in Africa. The people I encounter have many interesting stories to tell. I have found that people are the same everywhere. We are all made in the image of God and Jesus died for all people. Our differences are what makes humanity beautiful and interesting.
I may never know what impact I have on people, but it is motivating to see God work through me when I can see the results. Many people drop out. Some people show back up months later. Some finish all the lessons and want more. A few are baptized.
I have recently enjoyed getting to know other WEI teachers and getting more deeply involved in Africa and the Middle East. This is even more exciting. I have a passion for serious evangelism. I’m looking for like-minded people, and I have found them in WEI.
Russ is successful using the WEI tool because he loves people and has a strong desire to share God’s word and his faith with them. Russ loves English, but you don’t have to be an English expert to teach WEI. The computer grades all the grammar questions and provides an explanation for each answer. The Bible reading assignments are where relationships are formed and strengthened with our students. The seed is planted deep in their hearts. God will give the increase.
