By Faith …October 2014

Ben & JoyceAnderson Dear Friends,

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must be-lieve that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Heb. 11:6)

By faith we can please God! And what pleases God? That his grace will reach more and more people. Hebrews 11:6 points out two essentials for us to have faith. First we believe that God exists. Second we believe that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Serving faithfully requires our belief that God has entrusted to us a great responsibility and that one day he will reward us for our earnest service. Moses “persevered because he saw him who is invisible.” How is our spiritual eyesight?

October 4, 2014 marked 30 years of missionary service with TCM. Guiding principles of the past 30 years are that 1) God is faithful, 2) God loves every person and 3) we are ambassadors of Christ. We are truly privileged that God has called us to serve this long. Here are some key activities since April this year, as well as our upcoming trip to Brazil.

Philippines (April 11–27)Because Joyce had responsibilities with the family in Indianapolis, I traveled

alone to Southeast Asia from April 10 to May 27—my longest journey as direc-tor. In Manila I spent an afternoon with faithful church planter Norsie Lan-zaderas and then Sunday with Pastor James & Agape Bermejo at the Valenzuela Grace Gospel Church. What an encouragement to see the members lead 13 people to Christ during afternoon evangelism. Then I flew to Tagbilaran, Bohol for the Annual Workers Conference where I lived in Tagbilaran as a child. I spoke at the opening and closing sessions on “Sustaining God’s Work” from 2 Timothy. The highlight was the commissioning of 49 new workers from the Bible schools and the ordination of four pastors. TCM-Philippines has planted 23 new churches in the past year as they move toward their goal: TCM IM-PACT: 115 by 2017. That is 115 new churches in five years—one church per year in each of the 23 ministry districts. IMPACT stands for “I Must Plant A Church Today.”

Sunday after the conference Tim Heath and I traveled to Overland, Bohol with Director Gerson Bermejo for the 50th anniversary of the Overland Church. Over 500 attended the Sunday celebration and fourteen pigs were slaughtered to feed everyone. In the early years my father had preached under a mango tree after a three-hour hike up the mountain.

I flew south to Davao for the national youth conference attended by over 300 young people from around the Philippines. My messages were on “Knowing God’s Heart” and “Accepting God’s Heart.” This was a highly motivated group of Grace youth who are giving their talents for the Lord. From Davao I traveled to Cebu—my birthplace—for Sunday services and a missionary training discussion with Pas-tors Pielago and Crescencio.

Indonesia (April 28–May 7; May 11–13)My plane landed in Jakarta at noon on April 28. Three board members met me for a three-hour discussion over lunch. From Jakarta I

flew with Director Harold Sigar and Johan Pandelaki to southeast Borneo for 36 hours of ministry and then north to Manado to visit the STTAM Bible school. I challenged 30 students for the ministry, several of whom have since graduated and are serving around Indonesia. Then to Bitung for a joint service in a new church building and on to Luwuk, Palu, Dongidongi and Makassar for services, seminars and special events. Future TCM missionary Maruli Marpaung joined us as my translator. I was encouraged by a church full of young people in Luwuk who attended my evangelism seminar and asked questions for an hour.

United Arab Emirates (May 8–10)My first visit to this amazing city in the desert. Ministries included a church planting semi-

nar on Thursday evening and speaking at the Second Anniversary of the Grace Fellowship on Friday—which is the worship day in the Emirates. Besides this I spoke with Pastor Robert Man-din who is a bi-vocational pastor from TCM-Philippines. I had many opportunities to challenge individuals for the ministry and give them possibilities of goals for growth. The people of the church were most kind, paying for my tickets, hotel, tourism, honorarium and even fees when I missed my plane back to Jakarta.

Malaysia (May 16–26) After a couple of days in Singapore staying with friends and teaching a Bible class, I flew to

Kuala Lumpur (KL) where I was met by the Heaths and Killions. I helped with conference plan-ning on Saturday and then preached and taught a seminar at the Grace Restoration Centre on Sunday. It was great to reconnect with Teddy Pecaldo, Pastor Heng and the other members.. We had lunch together and I taught a short seminar on the Pauline method of church planting. Late afternoon I rode the bus five hours to where Pat and Robert Kilgo met me with a taxi. What a joy to reunite with TCM’s newest missionaries, Pat & Michelle Kilgo. They were busy getting their house organized as well as visas and schooling. Pray for them in this new TCM ministry.

2nd Southeast Asia Grace Conference, Kuala Lumpur (May 22–26)Words cannot express how wonderful this conference was. The theme was United in Courageous Mission and the messages all

came from 1 Cor. 16:13: “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.” The attendance increased every day throughout the conference. In the end we registered 168 delegates from 10 countries. Mornings were spent in country reports, lectures and discussions about how to implement the Troas Strategy in Southeast Asia. Afternoons saw small groups breaking off for lunch, fel-lowship, sightseeing and shopping. Two missionary families were commissioned and one new field opened.

Tim & Judy Heath worked around the clock to make the conference a success—and many volunteers stepped up to help them. Don Sommer represented the US Grace churches and the TCM board. The attendees were challenged to reach the remaining 4 countries in Southeast Asia: Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei and East Timor—a project called SEA: 4X4.

The icing on the cake? At breakfast on Monday after the conference Pastor James & Agape Bermejo announced their decision to be missionaries. The next conference will be May 26-30, 2016 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Welcome!

Grace Fellowship DubaiSecond Anniversary

49 Bible School Graduates CommissionedTCM-Philippines Annual Conference

THINGSTO COMEMISSION

PO Box 127Beech Grove, IN 46107

(317) 783-0300www.tcmusa.orgben@tcmusa.org

Address Service Requested

Ben & JoyceAnderson

US ConferencesConferences are a great way to meet personal and TCM friends. In June we presented TCM at the missionary hour of the Berean

Bible Fellowship conference in Cedar Lake, IN. July saw us in Minneapolis where TCM hosted a lunch at the Grace Gospel Fellowship conference. Joyce’s mom and sister, my mom and sister and Tegwen and Vernon joined us, making it a special family occasion. Then in September we presented TCM at Pastor Joel Finck’s annual Grace Family Conference in South Dakota where I preached on our identity and purpose in Christ. Franci and Ezra entertained us for the long drive. Pray with us that people will hear the call of mission, whether to go as missionaries or to send others to the mission field.

Africa Safari 2014Joyce and I together with five brave Safari-ers traveled to Kenya on July 24. We were hosted by mis-

sionaries Gardner & Ledith Improso and Kenya Director Titus Kivilu. Barry Pumphrey joined us from England, his first trip to Africa. Our ministries included seminars, classes, church services, evangelism and construction in Kisumu on the tropical shores of Lake Victoria and in the highlands of Embu, finishing

up in Thika at the headquarters of TCM in Kenya. Joyce shared Christ with our van driver Henry and on the last day he knelt on the road to receive Christ as his Savior. After Barry and Kevin taught in the Bible school for two days, Kevin and Ann flew to Mombasa to work with Peter Kagwi while Joyce, Barry, Gardner and I flew to Kampala, Uganda. What a blessing to see the Grace Gospel Church of Uganda alive and healthy with the leaders excited about the future. We taught, preached, prayed, discussed and toured for five days. Back in Kenya, everyone flew home except for Joyce and me. We participated in a regional conference near Embu where we lived for 13 years as missionaries. There were just four churches in those early days. Now there are 63 and counting!

Next Stop: BrazilOn Oct. 15 – Nov. 3 we will travel in Brazil—a first for Joyce. We begin at the annual conference of the southern Grace churches. Im-

mediately afterward we have organized a Grace Summit where leaders of four different organizations will meet to plan how the grace mes-sage can reach Brazil. After meetings with Gomer & Nene Indino, Carlos & Carmen Schmidt and other leaders, we will travel to Aracaju in the northeast. Then to Recife for meetings with Doug & Vicki LeFeber and several pastors and church leaders.

FamilyIn August we sadly said goodbye to Robby, Tegwen and Vernon who have moved to Grants Pass, Oregon for a better job and more

ministry opportunities. They lived with us for two years and we got quite attached to our oldest grandson. The house is still a busy place, with Franci and her young Ezra now living with us. Vince & Jaclyn live two minutes from us and are over with Noelle, Mali and Elijah nearly every Sunday. Vince just graduated from college and took a job on the north side of Indianapolis.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! None of the past 30 years would have been possible without your prayers and support. You are our beloved partners who share the rewards for any part of our ministry that brings glory to God.

In Christ,

Ben & Joyce

30 Years of Mission

Africa Safari 2014Church Construction, Kisumu

With Peter KagwiEmbu, Kenya