August 2016 Prayer Letter

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Dear Pastor and Friends, August 2016

Satan does not like what we are doing here. More and more I realize we are in a spiritual battle. Souls are being saved and lives are being changed and the more that happens, the more the leader of darkness is going to get upset. I want to ask that you pray for wisdom and protection for our church family, for my wife and children, and for myself. Our enemy has shown his teeth a couple of times lately, but we serve a good God who is able to keep us in perfect peace.

Bath Baptist Church, from Michigan, is currently here with us. Pastor Nathan Gregory and his group of 14 have been an incredible blessing. They have jumped right in at our churches and worked like they were their own. They did a great job in Soweto, painting murals on the walls of our children’s church, putting a new roof on the apartment, and helping decorate our new missions wall. Please pray for safety for them as they continue to work for the next week, and then travel back home.

New Church Plant: I have found the location for our next church plant. It is in an area called Zwide. It is just a few miles from our current work in Soweto, but since transportation is so expensive, there is no way people will travel that far by foot to attend our church. The area has tens of thousands of people, and that we know of, no Baptist church. The thing I would like for you to pray with me about, is a piece of property and a building. I have found a nice, large lot with a small dwelling on it. The asking price is R279,000 ($21,461.00). If the Lord wills, we would like to purchase this property and start a church there.

The young men and women at Soweto continue to grow and advance. We have one small, but specific answer to prayer from our last update. A young man named Aphiwe has stepped up and taken the reigns of our music. It has been awesome to see him come out of his shell so quickly. The first couple of times he led, he was very reserved, but now you would never know it. Please continue to pray for our guys, that their love for our Lord would increase more and more.

Next week, August 16th, begins our Bible Institute. There are 16 people currently enrolled from the churches here in P.E. There are several others who are interested in auditing these classes. Pray God would use these classes to equip his men and women for the work of the ministry.

Other prayer requests:

  • We had a new missionary family arrive, the Stephen Underwood family, last week. They are busy setting up their new home and soon will begin the process of learning Xhosa.
  • Remember my wife as she continues to train the ladies of Soweto. There are several that she meets with weekly for Bible study. Pray that those who attend will mature, and more would join.
  • This Friday, Aug 12th we will have a combined youth conference with all of our churches
  • Saturday, Aug 13th we will have a special family day at Soweto. We will have food, games and most importantly be preaching the Gospel to all who come.

Thanks again for your participation in our ministry through prayer and support.

God Bless,

Jeremy and Rebekah Hall

The Coffey Family August 2016 Prayer Letter

Prayer Request

  • For more souls to be saved
  • Visa Renewals for my Children- All visas have been resubmitted and we’re hoping they will be granted without a problem.
  • Pray especially for my daughter Addi’s visa.  We were told by her primary school that if it’s not received, she will be dismissed from the school. 
  • Wisdom in going forward with our idea to start a Camp & Retreat Center
  • My son Chase is having problems with his knee that may require surgery.

This week started out great when I had an opportunity to lead a 57 year old man to the Lord after Pastor Sipho preached on Sunday morning.  It got even better when, I was able to lead a 23 year old man to Lord during Thursday evening Discipleship.  Please pray that we can see many more saved in the next few months before our return to the states.   

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August has been a very busy month.  We hosted a group of 14 from Bath Baptist Church in Bath, Michigan for 12 days which we had a great time with, and also started up the Bible Institute again. 

In the Bible Institute there were 16 in class last week from all the churches.  In January, our plan is to start classes in each church. We wanted all the pastors to meet at one church this semester to learn the layout and scheduling so they could help guide it properly in their own church next semester.  I really believe we will see great growth in the coming years through this ministry. 

Please be in prayer for our plans to start a youth camp and retreat center when we return from furlough.  We believe this would be a great help in seeing more young people trained and more churches started in all of South Africa.  This will be a ministry that will run year round, and give us the ability to impact South Africans as well as recruit students from the US to get more involved in missions.

More Highlights

  • Our plan is to start furlough in December.  If you’re interested in having us report back or present our ministry, please let me know. 
  • More than 10 trusted Christ while the group from Bath Baptist Church ministered during their 12 day trip.
  • Amy and I received our new visas this past month, but we’re still waiting on our children’s.      

Needs 

  • Meetings in New Churches during our furlough in 2017

Coffey Family June 2016 Prayer Letter

We want to thank all of you who have played a part in our ministry here in South Africa.  Because of your prayers and financial support, we have been able to learn and minister in this great country for over 3 years now.  Time has passed so quickly.  So much more needs to be done, and we are excited about our future here in South Africa.  This December, we will be taking our first furlough and look forward to reporting back to all of you of what has happened and what is to come. 

I am booking for December 2016 and all of 2017 now and hope to have my schedule fully booked before we return to the states.  If you would like to have us in please let me know.  I plan on calling and emailing all of my supporting pastors, but if you want to go ahead and contact me that would be great.

We are also hoping to get contacts of other pastors in your area that may be interested in having us present our ministry in their church so we can raise extra support for ministry.

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Prayer Request

  • Visa Renewals for my family- All visas have been resubmitted and we’re hoping they will be granted without a problem.
  • For more souls to be saved
  • Visiting group from Michigan will be here in August.  Pray this trip will impact their lives greatly.
  • Wisdom in going forward with our idea to start a Camp & Retreat Center

More Highlights

  • We had around 100 young people attend our Youth Day Conference this month 
  • My Brother-in-law Trent Cornwell and his wife Stephanie visited for two weeks.  Trent is also the Asst. Pastor of our home church.  He did a great job preaching and challenging us and our people. 
  • We had several new teens come to our soccer tournament and all of them came back for at least one church service.  We are praying for their salvation.

Needs 

  • Meetings in New Churches during our furlough 2017
  • Funds to finish Wells Estate Baptist Church building

May 2016 Coffey Family Prayer Letter

Prayer Request

  • Visa Renewals for my family-  Our daughter Addison’s visa was denied this month and our other children’s visas were only extended to July.  We don’t see it being a major problem, but it will take a bit more time and money.
  • Upcoming Soccer tournament May 28th- The outreach is geared at sharing the Gospel with new teens. 
  • Tract Distribution- We’re praying to see more come to church & Christ through these efforts. 

Things at New Life are going well.  We haven’t seen many saved this month, but we’ve been having good services and training sessions.  We are working at building a stronger core at the church that will be able to help when we leave for our furlough in December, which is only 6 months away.  Please pray our evangelistic efforts will be more fruitful this coming month.

We are thankful for those that have helped finish the basement project.  We now have two larger rooms that will be used for teens and children ministries.  The young people have really enjoyed the new space. 

The building at Wells Estate Baptist has temporarily stopped.  We had enough funds to finish the outside but were unable to continue with the electrical and plumbing.  We’re hoping to be able to finish in June so the church can move into their new facility.

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We have stopped our Saturday meeting in Jeffery’s Bay at the moment.  The family we were working with has been able to get transportation to attend all the services in PE now, so the push to start something new in that area isn’t as pressing.  With only six months left, we decided starting a new ministry in that area may be best when we return from furlough.

More Highlights

  • Kevin and Corli Hall are back in SA now and have taken over at Grace Baptist Church.  Our family will be helping at this church as well on Sunday evenings and with the Bible Institute. 
  • Missionaries Stephen and Ashely Underwood are coming to the end of their deputation.  Pray the rest of their support comes in.

Needs 

  • Approx. $1500 to finish the electrical and plumbing of Wells Estate’s new auditorium.
  • Electric Piano- $400

The Coffey Family April 2016 Prayer Letter

Prayer Request

  • New Saturday service started in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa- Saturday Bible Club
  • The Kevin and Corli Hall family-  They return from furlough at the end of this month.

Needs 

  • $1000 to complete the basement area for New Life Baptist Church.  The only thing that lacks is the electrical work. 
  • Approx. $1500 for the inside of Wells Estate’s new auditorium.
  • $500 for printing tracks and booklets

The Friday before Easter, aka “Good Friday”, was a big day at New Life.  We had a special 10:00 am combined service with Soweto Baptist Church.  It was the largest attended service in the one-year history of our church.  Around 50 people came from Soweto and about 100 people came from our community.  We praise the Lord  for the two people who trusted Christ, and for the three new adults who have been coming to all the services since.    

The basement project for New Life Baptist is almost complete.  The only thing we lack is the electrical work and decorating.  Even without lights, the children were thrilled to start using the room, and the adults were  also pretty grateful not having the kids in the next room:)            

Our new building for Wells Estate Baptist Church is finished on the outside, but quite a bit of work needs to be done on the inside.  We are hoping the funds come in this next month so we can completely finish this project.  The church is growing and we’re happy about the new location that comes with a lot of growing room.

Wells Estate Baptist Church’s New Location

The building for Wells Estates is coming along nicely.  The slab and post for the main structure are up, and I heard a lot of the main structure was put up yesterday, but unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of that yet.  We are still short on being able to purchase all the metal sheeting for the outer walls and roof and the 6 windows that are needed.  We are praying that comes in this week so we will be able to finish the building before the end of March.  Thank you very much for all the prayers and finances given.