Legacy Institute

Legacy Institute is a private, non-profit, charitable foundation, founded in 1999, that seeks to improve the quality of life of people everywhere, both spiritually and physically.

Legacy Institute seeks to serve and help mankind in the spirit and example of Lord Jesus the Messiah. His instructions were to freely give. This means without discrimination and without prejudice. Legacy supports existing educational, cultural, and humanitarian programs, mainly in developing countries, that exemplify this "give principle of life". Legacy also seeks to initiate new projects that reflect this fundamental, universal principle.

Legacy Institute is organized as a charitable foundation and is chartered by the State of Texas. All board members of Legacy Institute are Sabbath observing Christians.

The vast majority of funding for Legacy Institute comes from individuals who believe in giving to others as a way of life. Support also comes from foundations, corporations, and individual church congregations that want to make a difference in the lives of others.

Donations are tax deductible in the USA. Online Donations may be made by credit card or Paypal (preferable) by clicking on "Donate" (link at bottom or top of page). Checks or money orders can be made out to Legacy Institute and sent to the U.S. mailing address: P.O. Box 7, Dundee, Ohio 44624, USA.

Non-US donations can be posted directly to a Legacy Institute bank account in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Please contact Anita Showers at mshowers@wilkshire.net for instructions.

If a supporter wishes to donate to a specific project or cause, please indicate this by notation.

Check out site for more information at:

http://www.legacyinstitute.org/mainoutreachprojects.htm

(here is a copy of the lastest newsletter)

P.O. Box 7, Dundee, Ohio 44624 www.legacyinstitute.org anita_showers@legacyinstitute.org 6 November 2008

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Greetings to my fellow-laborers,

First I want to bring you up-to-date on my physical condition. I am back in Chiang Mai after having spent over 2 months in the Bangkok Heart Hospital. God has been very merciful to me and I am able to walk with the help of a cane and am back to work at Legacy’s office. I know that you have been praying for me because I have felt the power of God’s presence all the time I was in the hospital – and even now. The doctors told me that I almost died twice. During my darkest times, I felt Jesus’ presence right there with me. I now feel God still has much more work for me to do.

It is not difficult to see that there is plenty of work yet to be done in this part of the world – so much so that it is overwhelming to contemplate. One time King Bhumibol told me: "The mountain will always be there." What he meant was that there is always more work than we have time. The king is right that the mountain will always be there waiting. And it seems that the mountain keeps growing higher and higher!

My eyesight is still not clear and my right arm has nerve problems, so I cannot type well at the computer. But I am typing this letter to you by myself and the doctors tell me that the neurotransmitters in my brain have to develop new pathways around the area that was damaged by the 3 strokes that I had. I also get easily fatigued. Please continue to pray that God heals my eyes and my arm so that I can have these physical tools of my body to continue in an effective way in His service.

There are some new and exciting developments occurring at Legacy school that need my full attention. Right now my wife Gloria has stepped in and picked up the slack wherever she can, especially dealing with the day to day administration of Legacy School. It has become a heavy load for both of us.

Preaching the Gospel in S. E. Asia
"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Acts 1:8 NKJV

Jesus was sent by God to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom. He was crucified after 3 ½ years of preaching in Galilee and Judea. But His ministry didn’t end with His death. His disciples were ordained and empowered to take Jesus’ Gospel message to the four corners of the known world. There is clear evidence that the disciples (later ordained as Jesus’ apostles) traveled as far afield as 2

Britain, Spain and India! I have personally visited the place near Chennai, India where Thomas was martyred. It was particularly interesting for me to learn that Thomas was killed by spears! It is ironic that he was the only Apostle killed in this manner.1

One by one the Apostles died, and the job of preaching the Gospel was passed on to their disciples.2 They in turn passed this divine commission on to their own disciples. Meanwhile, Jesus has been overseeing the continuation of the preaching of the Gospel from His vantage point at the throne of God. Jesus said that the Gospel would be preached as a witness to ALL THE WORLD before the End of the Age.

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." Matthew 24:14 NKJV
The closer we get to the End, the more vital it becomes for the Churches of God to be carrying Jesus’ True Gospel message to the un-reached corners of the world. We are in fact, continuing the work of Jesus’ 1st century apostles.

Legacy Institute has been given the job of taking the True Gospel to the remote areas of Southeast Asia. We don’t at this time know whether or not Our Lord wants us to go further into other un-reached parts of Asia and other areas of the world, but we will follow the lead of the Holy Spirit. At this time we are concentrating our efforts in Myanmar (Burma) and the border tribal regions of northern Thailand. God is calling people in this area of the world and it is our job to provide a message – in their own languages – that they can respond to.

"For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
"For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’
"How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
"And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!’" Romans 10:12-15 NKJV

Legacy Institute is training young men and women to take Jesus’ Gospel message to their own people who live in this mountainous and remote region of the world. We also hope to train others to become leaders who can organize new congregations and help pastor those God is now calling.

1 See Jn 19:34, Jn 20:27

2 Disciple means "student". 3

This December we will be adding three special training seminar programs to our regular curriculum. These programs will be specifically for training those we think might be chosen to carry the Gospel to their people and help raise up new congregations. This series of seminars will address three important areas:

A. Homiletics

B. Fundamental doctrines of the Church of God, and

C. Principles of Pastoral Care

Brian Drawbaugh, an elder with lots of field experience will be arriving soon to help Nathan Kimmons and me teach these seminars. Several young graduates have returned from Myanmar to take part in this program. Myo Zaw, the deacon from Yangon (Rangoon) and his wife Tumar will also be coming to Thailand for training.

This is a wonderful and important new development at Legacy. There are small congregations springing up in Myanmar – but they have no trained leadership to feed them God’s Word and organize Sabbath services and other activities.

There is also the problem of wolves in sheep’s clothing who visit these small congregations bringing false doctrinal teachings. Unless these new brethren have someone who will strengthen them in the true doctrines of the Bible and counter the false – the sheep will be scattered and devoured. One young man returning from Myanmar for the training sessions said to me: "We have a ‘virus’ in the Church in Myanmar." He was talking about false doctrines coming into the Church in Burma - like computer viruses. If not eradicated, such viruses will destroy the Church.

Deacon Myo Zaw, leader of the Yangon congregation keeps this in check by not allowing just any visiting pastor to address the congregation, except to read scriptures directly from the Bible. This way he protects his congregation from human wolves who seek to pull away a following after themselves.

The Church of God congregations in Burma have not all formed from a single homogenous parent church organization like most of the present-day COGs in America. As a result, there are doctrinal ideas introduced by Bible "teachers" and "pastors" that may not be Biblically sound. Trained Church leaders who know their Bibles and can defend the Truth are vital to the survival of the fledgling COG congregations in Burma and Thailand. Such leaders must be local men and women who speak the native language and understand the local customs and cultural norms. Western "pastors" who do not speak the language and do not understand how things work in Asia cannot do much to keep the wolves at bay. And God’s people certainly cannot be pastured by Westerners who may live on the other side of the world. Neither can they receive spiritual food by getting only audio and video tapes or CDs in a language they may not understand! They need local hands-on leaders who can live among them and effectively pasture them "on-site".

Legacy Institute seeks to bridge this gap by bringing local young people to Chiang Mai and training them in God’s Word and the Biblical principles of righteous leadership and effective pastoral care.

It has taken time to build a foundation at Legacy in Chiang Mai that is strong enough to consider taking this next important step. We can clearly see the Parable of the Mustard Seed in action.

Please pray that God will bless this new program and choose those He wishes to use as servants of the Gospel and leaders in their congregations.

I am fully aware that only God can do the choosing. We can train and then hope and pray. God must do the rest.

Another exciting development is that three of our volunteer teachers plan to remain for another year. This is of inestimable benefit to Legacy because these young teachers are already experienced; have already adjusted to living in Thailand; and have learned the ropes at Legacy School. These three are Erica Pedersen, Elaina Spivey, and Nathan Kimmons. Each has already sacrificed at least a year of their lives to serve at Legacy. This means they have not been earning any money; have put their education on hold, or sacrificed in some other way.

Erika Pedersen is blessed to be able to continue her education by being accepted into an international Masters program at a local university.

I am in the process of contacting congregational sponsors for all three because they all have school loans and other debts to pay and can’t afford to take another whole year off without earning any money. Legacy will have to provide them with a monthly stipend. Please remember each of these young people in your prayers and ask God to supply sponsors for them.

Please continue to remember Gloria and me in your prayers. This letter is a short one, but I wanted to bring the news of these exciting new developments to your attention.

May God look after all of you and be with all of us as we continue to do the Work of God in these trying financial times.

Your fellow-worker in God’s fields,