History

LIAI had its beginnings in 1990 with a small group of people in Claridon, Ohio. Lead by a visionary, Mike Retterer, they were looking for a way to spread the Gospel overseas. They contacted mission field representatives in the Central African Republic to find out what the needs might be. Grace Brethren missionaries said they needed the Jesus Film and equipment to show it. This started a ten-country, sixteen language Jesus Film ministry. The tenth country was the country of Chad in Central Africa. After furnishing the Jesus film and equipment there, they continued to be involved in assisting the missionary there, Tom Stallter, in micro economic development and vocational training for Chadians. The goal was to help Africans help themselves in the poverty-laden urban center of Moundou.

Catching the Vision

Soon others from other churches who had been involved in or supported the ministry in Chad joined us in this effort: Roy Glass, Chuck Lawson, Greg Weimer. We functioned under the not-for-profit status of the Grace Brethren Community Church in Claridon, Ohio and in 1996 chose the name of Love in Action International inspired by 1 John 3:18. Our mission statement became, “A Christian organization working to fulfill the Great Commission and meet the vocational training needs of our brothers and sisters in Africa.” Today there are four officers, two on-site managers, and an advisory committee of nine members that work to encourage the ministries of Love in Action International, Inc.

LIAI Today

Presently we create businesses that can function in the African environment and train African apprentices in vocations for employment as well as for evangelistic ministry. We have helped train a Christian construction team, a business owned and led by Dadje Samuel. We set up a sewing center that is now owned and led by Laoukoura Elie. A metal fabrication shop has been established with the capable work of Matthias Ezel. We used the construction team to build a training center for both vocational and ministry training, and are in the process of setting up computer training, a woodworking shop and an auto mechanics shop for further vocational training for Chadians. We have partnered with Grace Brethren International Missions in the building of a guest house for outsiders to come in and help train Africans. To date LIAI ministries have trained 24 people in tailoring and have five graduates from the metal fabrication shop. Fourteen apprentices are in training at this time. Computer training, woodworking, and auto mechanic apprenticeships will soon add to these numbers.