We need your help and prayers.  We’re stepping out to start the Africa Youth Home.

This past week I went to look at a property that is for sale right beside Camp Rhino for the start of this ministry.  It has a 4 bedroom house and 20 acres of land.  By faith, I went ahead and made an offer for the property for $100,000.  The asking price is $145,000 so we’re waiting for their answer.  Needless to say, we don’t have $145,000 or $100,000:). 

We have four 16-year-olds living with us now at Camp Rhino.  These teenagers have faced much hardship and loss.  We want to help more young people like them, but we need your help.  

We need at least $100,000 to start if not $145,000.  All the teens we have up to this point have been a part of our church’s ministries for years now.  We have 2 more teens that need to be here now, but we just don’t have the room or the staff.  Would you consider playing a part?

Pray Requests and Praise

• Our Bible College starts back this month.  Please pray for the 9 full time students who are studying for the ministry.  There are another 15 students who are taking part-time classes in our Bible Institute.  Please pray especially for this aspect of our ministry.  All of our ministries are pointed toward training young people for church planting.  We can’t produce lasting change here in South Africa without more churches.  
• Please continue to pray for my wife’s ear surgery.  She has a hearing test this week and an appointment with the ear surgeon on February 22nd.  
• Pray for Lynette Osborn who is coming to work with us in the ministry, specifically in the Youth Home.  She has 40% of her support and is hoping to be here in January 2023.

Quick Updates

• This past week our house was broken into while we were sleeping.  About $5000 worth of equipment was taken.  We are so grateful that $4000 has been committed toward replacing that equipment so far.  We are also installing a new alarm system that will hopefully deter that from happening again.  
• We are also thankful that $2200 has been committed toward the $3000 shortfall we had for our camps this year.    
• Currently, we have 4 teenagers who are living at Camp Rhino.  They are the start of our Youth Home Ministry.  If you would be interested in sponsoring one of these teens please let me know.  A full sponsorship is $100 per child per month.  This provides basic essential needs along with covering food and housing cost. 

Happy New Year everyone. What a great start to 2022 here in South Africa at Camp Rhino.   We had 12 teenage boys trust Christ as their Savior during the first-ever boy’s only teen camp week.  We also just finished the girl’s camp week and had 7 girls trust Christ.  In total between the two groups, we had 142 campers.  

We had to split the teen camp up this year and have separate camps because of space.  We just don’t have enough dorms to house more than 120 at a time, and we are also short about 30 beds to max out the space we do have. With all the churches growing, this is a great problem to have. 

Please pray with us concerning expenses for the camp. We currently need around $3000 to cover this year’s summer camps.  This shortfall is a reflection of some good things that are happening. We have more camp staff than we’ve ever had before.  Our counselor-to-camper ratio is much better this year.  We also have a much better kitchen staff along with our working crews.

Prayer Request

Right now we have 4 teenagers from our churches that are living full-time on the campus of Camp Rhino.   These young people have experienced some pretty horrific things in their short lives. We believe the Lord is leading us in the direction to start a separate youth home for these kids and for more just like them.  Every teen we have now has made a profession of faith and expressed a desire to live for the Lord. Pray as we move forward.

Please continue to pray for my wife’s ear surgery.  She’s lost most hearing in her left ear.  It’s a serious surgery that could improve her hearing or cause her to go completely deaf in that ear.  We are hoping to have this surgery in the next month or so.  

Quick Updates

Camp has been great, and there are many opportunities for you to still be involved.  We still need sponsors for many of the teen campers that have already enjoyed camp and also the junior campers who will be here next week.  Every sponsorship given helps us pay the salaries of all our counselors and the extra kitchen staff we need for all our camps.  It also aids in improving our camp facilities.  You can sponsor a child for camp at $50 a person or give any offering to help towards our expenses. 

I’m excited to announce that Jacob and Christen Clower have been accepted with VBM as missionaries to the country of Mozambique.  During our survey trip with them, they believe God confirmed that was the place He wants them to minister.  Please pray for them as they begin raising financial support.