Twenty-three years ago, by the grace of God, Maudine and I founded World English Institute as a church-related non-profit educational institution based in Oregon and sponsored by the Metro Church of Christ in Gresham. Our aim was to attract correspondence students by teaching English and to lead them to Christ by teaching the Bible. Since that auspicious day in1989, God has blessed WEI with students from every nation on earth except the Vatican. To Him be the glory.

On June 30, eight days after I celebrated my 81st birthday, I stepped down as President of WEI and gave the reins to Tom Langley, a well-qualified younger man. Tom and I will continue doing what we have been doing, except Tom will be the front man from now on.

Tom Langley in Maryville, Tennessee

Tom has been preparing for this transition for eight and a half years, and he is ready for the challenge. Tom and his wife, Angela, served as missionaries in Romania for ten years after the fall of the Iron Curtain. They have two daughters, Brianna (18), and Bianca (15). Both daughters have been home-schooled throughout their school years. Brianna is scheduled to enroll in David Lipscomb University this fall. The Langleys are sponsored and supported by the Church of Christ in Maryville, Tennessee, and they reside in Louisville, TN in the foothills of the Great Smokey Mountains.

Tom writes, “Angela and I first started using the WEI materials twenty years ago in 1992 while serving as missionaries in Bucharest, Romania. We were so impressed with the curriculum that WEI became our primary tool for contacting and studying the Bible with Romanian students. We’ve personally studied with hundreds of WEI students through the years. Scores have put Christ on in baptism. We have a burning passion for this ministry and for the powerful influence it has in the lives of students all over the world.

It’s an honor and privilege to assume a leadership position in the WEI international mission ministry. In the past ten years, WEI has grown exponentially. We are now starting over 1,000 new correspondence Bible studies per month, with students in every nation of the world. The present is beyond exciting, and the future holds many challenges. The potential for WEI to reach the lost of the world is unlimited. It is our fervent prayer and desire within a few years to begin 10,000 new Bible studies per month. There is much to do in order to realize this goal, but it is a challenge, opportunity, and responsibility that we simply cannot turn away from. We have the greatest of all commissions to motivate and inspire us as we move forward. To God be the glory!”

I thank God for Tom Langley, and we welcome him to his new role as President. At the same time, I want to assure you that I am NOT retiring. The Gresham office will still be the corporate headquarters. We will still be responsible for recruiting postal teachers and assigning students to them. I will continue to write books and send them to Bob and Jonathan Towell for installation on the WEI teaching web site. These books will be printed and warehoused in Oregon, and the Gresham secretaries will mail them to teachers, missionaries, and national preachers who are using them in their outreach ministries. I will also continue to participate in short-term mission campaigns. I will also continue to write and edit this quarterly newsletter, and the Gresham team will mail each issue to nearly 8,000 churches and individuals.

The financial needs in the Gresham and Maryville offices will continue to grow as God gives us greater opportunities to share the good news about Jesus with people throughout the world. Please join us in responding to the Great Commission. ---Dick Ady

Former WEI Student Murdered

A story that began with great promise came to a tragic end May 1 when Adebowale Ajagunna, better known as “Debo,” was shot and killed by gunmen during a prayer meeting in the city of Ikare-Akoko in southwestern Nigeria.

In 2006, Debo was awarded a scholarship by the Nigerian government to study in a PhD program at the University of Crete. While in Crete, Debo worshiped with John Adesoye and became a WEI student. After he was baptized, he became actively involved in the church. He was known as “a faithful and joyful Christian man” and “a vibrant worship leader.”
After receiving his PhD, Debo returned to Nigeria to be with his family. On April 30, he and other members of the church in Ikare-Akoko were praying for an upcoming evangelistic campaign when armed gunmen burst into the room. While trying to protect a pregnant woman from gunfire, Debo was shot in the head. The mother and unborn baby escaped injury, but Debo lay in a pool of his own blood for more than an hour. He finally died at 2:00 a.m. in a local hospital.

Adebowale (Debo) Ajagunna

According to an article in The Christian Chronicle, Debo is being praised by local Christians as “a good shepherd who died at his duty post guarding his sheep.”
Debo has gone to be with his Lord. May God bless his memory.
 

WBS and WEI to Join Hands

During the past eighteen months, John Reese, Ron Pottburg, Tom Langley and I and our boards have been discussing the possibility of a WBS/WEI joint-effort to share the good news with people all over the world. After much thought and prayer, we are happy to announce that a plan has been finalized and approved. We are scheduled to launch this joint-effort on January 1, 2013. Notice that it is “a joint-effort,” not a merger. WBS and WEI will continue to be separate entities as we work together for the Lord.

Jonathan Towell, grandson of Bob and Jan, has developed an excellent WEI teaching web site during the past six years. He has done such an outstanding job that WBS has now hired him full-time to develop a similar web site for them. WBS will allow Jonathan to give 10% of his time to WEI. Our goal is to develop and maintain identical web sites.

All WEI English and Bible courses will be downloaded on the WBS web site, and WBS’s 1,000 Internet teachers will be trained to teach the WEI lessons to students who want to include English in their studies. At the same time, our 200 WEI Internet teachers will continue teaching their students as usual.

We are expecting hundreds of thousands of Chinese students to enroll during the coming year. Our ability to seize this tremendous opportunity depends on two things.
(1) We need 800 more WEI Internet teachers. If you have a computer with access to the Internet, you can be a WEI Internet teacher. The true-false and multiple choice questions are graded automatically by the web site. Internet teaching is easy. “Try it. You’ll like it.” God needs you!!!!

(2) We must also raise at least $100,000 by the end of this year in order to expand and maintain our teaching web site. To grasp this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, we must hire a computer specialist to work closely with Jonathan Towell on the WEI web site. We must also pay other expenses associated with the Internet teaching ministry as it expands and as we enroll more teachers and students.

Tom Langley has developed a fund-raising plan called I-40-$300 (Internet, 40 churches or individuals, who give $300 a month). We hope you or your congregation will be one of the “40.”

Please pray that this historic joint-effort between WBS and WEI will bear much fruit in 2013 and will bring glory to God.

Another Baptism in Tanzania

Willy Emmanuel Yudah, is a hard-working gospel preacher and WBS/WEI teacher in Mbeya, Tanzania.

Bro. Yudah writes, “Attached is the baptismal picture of Sarah Greyson. She was baptized today. There are two who said they will be baptized this coming Wednesday.
“Sarah is a WEI student. She has finished the WBS course. Let us rejoice while praying for her growth.”

Julie Broyles always writes heart-warming blogs. In her May 18 blog, she reported that Kouy Pov, a WEI student at the BEST Center in Phnom Penh, had been baptized into Christ. (As regular readers of this newsletter know, “BEST” Center means “Bible English Study and Training Center.” Julie Broyles is the director.)

Billy Martin, Kouy Pov’s latest teacher, writes, “On Wednesday, May 16th, 2012, at 5:15 PM, Kouy Pov, a student at the BEST Center, was born again! The teachers, staff, and students witnessed his new spiritual birth.

“When Pov came up out of the water, he told everyone that he had decided to change the direction of his life. Before the baptism, it had been raining all day, and suddenly the skies began to clear up, and the sun broke through the clouds. Pov said, ‘Maybe God made the sun shine because he was pleased with Pov’s decision to follow God’s Son.’”

Kouy Pov Is Baptized into Christ

Julie writes, “Pov told his teacher that when he first came to the BEST Center, he did not believe in God. After he began to study, he was impressed by ‘the God that was always doing something for others.’

“What a delight to see the fruit of my brothers’ and sisters’ service for the Lord. Many teachers come and lay the foundation which others come later and build on. For Pov, Billy Campbell began breaking the ground. Nita Mansholt planted and cultivated for two months, Billy Martin got to water. And when Pov said he wanted to be baptized, Try added some more water in Khmer. Thanks be to God for the increase. To him be all the glory!! I wish I could have seen and heard the angels singing.”

Tom & Angie, Bianca, Brianna

Two of our WEI short-term mission schools have begun at the writing of this column. I am blessed to have three generations of my family teaching together this year in Oradea. My daughter Brianna is teaching in her first WEI short-term mission, and my mother is on her 13th trip to teach WEI in Romania.

In addition to our adult teachers, we have three young, but mature, 18 year old teachers this summer. We make sure their students are age appropriate, and all three are doing an outstanding job.

Brianna Langley Studies with Quintus Capus

We have several students this summer who returned to take the advanced course. I asked one of them to write down a few words about his experience studying WEI. Quintus Capus wrote: “Well, what could I say? WEI is simply GREAT. Not only that the course is structured in such a manner that in a short period of time our English speech is significantly improved, but we also get to know the teachings of God and what we should obey in order to achieve inner peace. The Bible course is very helpful to learn more about God, Jesus Christ, early Christians, and the teachings which pave the road to eternal life.”

Dorothy Langley (Tom's Mother) with Two Students

An impressive University student named Narcis Garva is helping us in the office this summer. He writes: “I took ALL the WEI courses. The WEI helped me to understand better about God, and the work we need to do here on earth. Now, I never miss the worship services of the church, and I help the church of Christ in any way I can. I am thinking about being baptized, and I hope I will make that decision soon.”

We are so grateful for the many of you who contribute financially to this teaching ministry. We would not exist without your support. We cherish the partnership we share in the Great Commission with you. Thank you!
---Tom & Angie Langley

Even after adding several teachers recently, we still need more. 815 new Bible studies started in the second quarter. Think what that number represents: 815 people from every nation in the world studying God’s word, many for the first time!

Think of the potential of WEI’s Internet program! Many want English lessons, and most don’t object to the Bible being used to illustrate them. Advertising buys high placement on Google’s search engine. Response is so great that advertising was turned off 60% of the days in the 2nd quarter. If we had bought more advertising, current teachers could not have serviced the number who responded.

See Matthew 9:37, 38 and sound the trumpet in your congregations! When Jimmy Lovell started World Bible School, he said the church needed to get “ordinary members” teaching. This has accounted for the great success of WBS because it follows the model in Acts when the disciples who left Jerusalem because of persecution “proclaimed the good news of Jesus everywhere they went.”

One of our dreams has been for churches to see the potential of offering a facility where more students could access the Internet. The church on St. Thomas has now opened the first free Internet café, called “Caribbean WEI.” Internet teacher, Sam Matthews, their evangelist, caught the vision! As part of their outreach to Haitian immigrants who otherwise could not afford Internet study, they have made computers available in the church’s Family Center. Sam is there from 10 till 4, Monday thru Friday. Local volunteers study on the Internet with those who register. Ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they allow themselves to be used by God. ---Bob & Jan Towell

When Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer in battle, having rescued Lot and the people of Sodom, Melchizedek went out to meet him. Melchizedek, the King of Salem and priest of the Most High, brought bread and wine to Abram. Then, he blessed him saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High who delivered your enemies into your hand” (Genesis 14:19-20).

Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the spoil he had taken in battle. This was an expression of Abram’s gratitude to God. Melchizedek had reminded him that God deserved the credit for the victory. Abram knew that everything belonged to the Creator.

Today, we see the hand of God at work in WEI. The Lord has given us a series of victories over the enemy—an enemy stronger and more dangerous than Chedorlaomer. As we engage Satan and his evil forces in mortal combat, we depend on the Lord for victory. Blessed be God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.

We can learn much from Abram. When Abram heard that his nephew, Lot, had been captured by Chedorlaomer, he didn’t sit and wring his hands. He took action. Today, Satan has captured the lives of countless people, and God is stirring us to action. We must rescue them.

Please remember that the WEI office in Gresham needs your ongoing financial support.
We must maintain an office staff as we write materials, publish them, and mail them to teachers, missionaries, and national preachers. These materials are downloaded onto the WEI teaching web site and are studied by Internet students in every nation. We wear out computers, printers, folding machines, paper cutters, CD duplicators, etc., in the service of God, and our worn-out equipment must be replaced from time to time. Moreover, we must cover airline tickets and other expenses associated with short-term mission efforts.
Many of you have been generous in your support, and we are grateful. God bless you for your generosity. Thank you for your fellowship and for your constant encouragement. We love you.

---Dick & Maudine Ady.

Brother Prabhu Kumar, the Director of WEI in India, shared some exciting news in a recent e-mail. He wrote, “Thank God for helping our WEI teachers to convert young people to Christ. Please see the pictures of the baptized people.

Areena Rizal Rejoices After Baptism

“Yesterday, Bro. Kiresh Maharjan sent this e-mail from Khathmandu, Nepal: ‘I would like to give thanks to God for love and grace. It is a great pleasure that on 4th April we have 3 souls converted to Christ. Now, I have come to know that our WEI course is doing good in spreading the gospel of Christ. I have completed our 1st basic course, and I am ready to go forward with our advanced course. I have attached the photos of baptism of these three souls. Their names are Areena Rizal, Narayan Rizal, and Rupa Gajmeer.’”

Rupa Gajmeer Smiles Following His Baptism

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