Verlin has worn many hats in his life. He's been an honored student and musician, a worker and manager in retail, sales, hotel, and hospital environments, community leader, board member, teacher, friend, husband, and father before answering the call to preach and share the Good News in West Africa. The theme unifying all of these roles is an abiding desire to know God and see Him known. To date, his personal journey follows the belief that knowing God through faith clears life's obscuring brume, ties together all knowledge, and guides all activity into a sustaining whole. We learn Wisdom through both revelation and experience. He now lives with the ardent God-given desire to see a vibrant, God-instigated and sustained church-planting movement in West Africa , anticipating the day that the Father's will is accomplished here on earth as it is in heaven.

Verlin is pragmatically idealistic: he tends to seek perfection in all he does. However, perfection is not some esoteric ideal to him. Perfection is completing what can be done in the provided circumstance and time. Some decisions are made quickly, if they need to be, but, if there's time for reflection and meditation, the decision is best made over time. Once a course is determined within God's spoken and understood limitations, he does not deviate much except when confronting incontrovertible evidence that he needs to change in order to finish. While holding to this liberty himself, he also desires that those living and working around him experience this freedom. God seeks glory in diversity becoming one; not in one dominating diversity. The nursing science is a great fit for him as a pragmatically idealistic cross-cultural missionary.

In times set aside from work, Verlin enjoys reading, singing, talking, gardening, personal fitness, tinkering, photography, playing sports, and exploring nature. Most acquaintances, though, would hardly know this diversity. He mostly follows George Washington's advice on friendship while working to be transparent: "Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation." Verlin focuses his interests and acquaintances around activities that relate directly to his current calling and service.

To view the tribute given his now deceased father, take a look at the following power point : Earl Dyer Anderson. The realization that God's offer of salvation was made available for his acceptance led Verlin's dad to support missions and missionaries throughout his adult life.

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