History

International Cooperating Ministries (ICM) began in 1988 with two men—Dois Rosser, a Virginia businessman past the age of retirement, and Pastor Dick Woodward, a teacher of the Word, who was suffering from a rare degenerative spinal cord disease that eventually left him a bedfast quadriplegic.

Prior to ICM, Dois had been blessed with great business success through ownership in an auto dealership followed by lucrative investments.  This accumulated wealth would later be used to support administrative expense for the ministry.

In the late 1970’s, Dois began attending Thursday morning prayer meetings led by Dick.  Although Dois had been a Christian since 1933, he was impressed with Dick’s ability to explain scripture in an effective and practical way. Soon after, Dois began evaluating how he was using his time, money, and resources on “Kingdom business” versus secular ventures.  In a watershed moment, he came to realize they were one and the same.  Dois decided to link his business principles and assets with his desire for serving God’s Kingdom—and recruited Dick to help.

Over two and a half years and $100,000 later, Dois and Dick created the Mini Bible College (MBC), a tool for discipling people in the Word. MBC was broadcast on local television for two years, then moved to radio. Partnering with Christian network, Trans World Radio (TWR), they began broadcasting from Bonaire, a small Caribbean island that reached millions in Latin America.

During this time, Dois also visited India.  While there, he uncovered a unique opportunity—church building in rural villages! He soon funded the Rosser Memorial Baptist Church in India, honoring his father, followed by ten more church sponsorships.  Dois’ growing interest in church building led to several more visits to India, and finally a meeting with five India Christian leaders who, as advisors, helped Dois develop the final ICM concept.

Over the years, ICM has developed a sound strategy of leveraging assets to maximize efficiency, maintaining a compact staff of twenty plus for a ministry that now provides discipling opportunities in 50 countries to over 70 indigenous partners.  With more than 3,000 ICM-partnered churches built to-date, the Lord has truly blessed ICM with abundant opportunity and fruit.

Dois continues to visit the ICM office daily though he has smoothly transitioned the leadership baton to his daughter, Janice Rosser Allen.  Dick continues to contribute to MBC and blesses many with his wisdom and understanding of the Word.