Our April Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

Much has happened in our journey with the Lord since our last update! We continue the process of following God’s call overseas and we’re learning, as a family, more about how to trust Him to provide for our needs. We celebrated Christie’s first birthday in March. It was a fun time with family, friends, and of course, cake! She continues to grow strong and healthy. Praise the Lord!

An Organizational ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’
We are now members of several mission organizations. I know that may sound confusing, but I’ll explain. We’ve joined a small group called Interlink Ministries, formerly Friend of Missions, which will handle our finances. As members of Interlink, we can serve any missions organization to which we are called. To that end, we have joined another mission organization dedicated to Bible translation, through which we have received an invitation to support Bible translation in south-east Asia while living in Davao, Philippines. I will serve as a Software Developer and will also teach business and computer classes at Mindanao International Christian Academy (MICA), while Leah will teach voice and piano lessons part-time at Faith Academy - Davao and MICA. We’re extremely excited that the Lord has brought together this mix of organizations and assignments that will allow us to serve Him wherever He calls us.

More about Our Adventure Plans
Now that we have our organizations lined up and our assignment defined, our next steps are:

1. Raise support! We can’t go onto the field without adequate prayer and financial support.
2. Plan our move to the Philippines. This will involve packing up our lives here in Waxhaw and preparing to live in Davao. We’ll also have to update our passports and obtain visas in preparation to travel internationally.
3. Prepare for our assignments. I will need to spend some time preparing to work with the technologies used in software development in Davao, including a new programming language. Leah will continue to teach voice and piano in Waxhaw while we’re here.

We don’t know what God’s timeframe will be for raising our support, but we’re prepared to respond to His provision, whenever it arrives. That could mean going to the Philippines as soon as early next year!

The End of a Chapter
It was with mixed emotions that I finished my ministry at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in the end of March. I feel that the Lord used me to be a part of great things that advanced the Gospel and His Kingdom, but my time at BGEA had come to a close. I will surely miss seeing the many long-time friends I have gained there! He is now preparing our family to serve Him overseas by teaching us to trust Him and to work more closely together as a team. God has been faithful and good to us in the weeks since my departure and has blessed us with additional family time together as I have spent my days developing our organizational connections and doing some freelance computer work. As we begin our period of full-time support raising, please pray that God will give me courage to trust Him to continue to provide for our needs.

Summer Missions Opportunities
Both Leah and I have opportunities to participate in summer mission trips with our local church: one to New York City to be trained in and perform urban street evangelism and another to Norfolk, VA to do construction work. The NYC trip dates are June 30 to July 8 and the Norfolk trip dates are July 21-28. Please pray for us during those times, as we’ll be traveling with large groups of adults and students and helping to oversee the ministry during these weeks.

We’ll need Your Help!
As we begin the phase of our ministry that many refer to as “Partnership Development”, we need your help to build a support base for our family.

1. We need you to commit to partner with us in prayer, that the Lord would continue to bless our work with students here in Waxhaw, our preparations for service in the Philippines, and our growing together as a family as we trust Him to meet our needs.
2. We also need you to commit to partner with us financially. Please prayerfully consider how the Lord would have you give to support our ministry. We need individuals, families, and churches to join us in serving God through technology and education.
3. A third way you can become involved in our ministry is through a one-time gift to help send us on our summer mission trips! We need to pay our own way on these trips so that any scholarship money the church is able to raise can be used to sponsor students. If you’re interested, please call or e-mail us.

Please seek the Lord’s guidance with us as to how you can be a part of our support team. If you’re ready to get involved, that’s great! Thank you so much for your faithful participation in God’s redemptive work! Please send personal correspondence and financial support to the addresses indicated below.

With love from the Andersons!

John, Leah, and Christie

Personal Correspondence:
John and Leah Anderson
7015 Davis Road
Waxhaw, NC 28173

Financial Support:
Interlink Ministries
P.O. Box 460
Apple Creek , Ohio 44606
Include a separate note stating: “For John and Leah Anderson”