Category Archives: Kids in Missions

Mission Teams and South Africa Youth Home

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We have had a great and full month here in South Africa.

Mission Teams have visited from Ohio, Michigan, South Caroline, and now Georgie. A group from Tennessee will be here at the end of this week. “Group Season” is one of my favorite times of the year. God changed my life on a mission trip when I was 19 years old and I’m excited about people being able to visit the mission field and have the same type of opportunity. Please pray for these groups and for the Lord to call more to the foreign field.

We are getting the new house ready for the South Africa Youth Home. We had the floors tiled and with the help of one of our groups, the landscape looks much better. We still have a way to go, but the young people should be able to move into the house this week.

Hope Baptist Church in Fairfield, OH and Immanuel Baptist Church in Corruna, MI

The groups have done a terrific job ministering in all the churches here in Port Elizabeth. The preaching, singing, and testimonies have been encouraging and I believe they have really helped the people.

Oakwood Baptist Church in Anderson, SC

The groups have been an extra blessing to Camp Rhino with the safari hunts and fishing trips. Needless to say, our freezers are full, and they’ve supplied enough meat to stock our freezers for at least the next 6-8 months. A lot of kids will enjoy great meals from their gifts to the Camp.

Eland
Blesbok
Nyala
Blesbok

If you would ever be interested in being a part of one of these trips, please let me know. We would love to have you.

Coffey Family May 2022 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Requests  Praise        

  • My wife’s ear surgery was today.  Pray she will recover hearing in her left ear.  She had 20% hearing in that ear, but after surgery, the doctor hopes she will regain anywhere from 80-90% of hearing.  We won’t know for a week or so after the surgery how effective it was. 
  • Please continue to pray for Missionary Katie Dilfer’s South African Visa.  It still hasn’t arrived, but thankfully she was able to travel to Puerto Rico where she’s been ministering while she waits.  We’re happy she’s able to be a great help there, but we are looking very forward to getting her to South Africa.  
  • Pray for our South African Visa renewals.  Our current visas expire in July so we need to renew for new visas this month.  Because of covid, this has been a long process, but we’re hoping we can get things worked out soon. 
  • Please pray for the mission teams coming in June and July from four different churches.  We hope to be a blessing to them as they sacrifice to be here.

Quick Updates  

  • We had a fantastic time during the last two weeks with a mission team my son and daughter-in-law, Chase & Ashley, led to South Africa. Part of the team was from Hope Baptist Church in Fairfield, OH and the other part was from Immanuel Baptist in Corruna, MI.  This was such a great group of people.
  • There were several young people and a couple of older folks out of this group who expressed a desire to commit their lives to be missionaries.  Pray we see many follow through and give their lives to share Jesus on the foreign field.  Our prayer is for more laborers. 

What an amazing month!  Seven days before we needed the full $113,000 to purchase property for the South Africa Youth Home, we only had $23,000.  Within a few hours, that number jumped to $68,000. By the next Sunday, the Lord provided and we had the full $113,000. Praise the Lord!

Thank you all for praying and thank you all who helped us reach our goal by giving financially.  We anticipate seeing what the Lord will do in this new ministry.   

I will be emailing updates out on a more regular basis to keep you informed on the remodeling progression to get the new house ready for our teenagers.  If you are not on our email list and would like to be, please send me a note to add you.

I’m still in a little shock seeing how the Lord provided.  There were times of doubt that we would really be able to do this, but little by little the Lord kept confirming to us that this was His will. Please pray for wisdom as we go forward for Him. 

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$14,500 Needed Toward our $45,000 Matching Donation for the Africa Youth Home

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One of our ministry partners has committed to match up to $45,000 toward the purchase of the property and first house for the South Africa Youth Home. We praise the Lord that over $30,000 has been matched so far. God truly did some big things this week to make this a reality.

I need to make the wire transfer on Tuesday to get the money to South Africa on time. The cut-off date is May 7th. We are only short $14,500 of the $113,000 we need. Go here https://visionmissions.org/give and select Africa Youth Home- Mark Coffey.

Please let me know if you are able to be a part of this need as soon as possible so we will know how to proceed.

These are exciting days. Thank you for praying. Thank you for giving.

Coffey Family March 2022 Prayer Letter

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Would you consider committing $1000 to be one of the 100 churches to give towards the Africa Youth Home?  We are needing $100,00 by the end of April for this purchase.  It is the property right next to Camp Rhino, which makes it a very strategic location.  

The asking price is around $113,000, and we’ve already raised about $13,000.  I know with prices going crazy in the States and really around the world with fuel and inflation, this is a tough time, but we know this youth home is going to help a lot of young people who don’t have anything.   

Prayer Requests  Praise        

  • We will be back to the States for our Annual Missions Orientation in April.  Pray this is a productive time with our new missionaries.  We’re also planning to raise funds for the Africa Youth Home. Pray we can raise $100,000 in a month:)
  • Please continue to pray for my wife’s ear surgery.  The date has been set for her to have surgery on May 16th.   
  • Pray for Missionary Katie Dilfer’s visa to arrive.  Unfortunately, it didn’t arrive in time and she had to cancel her tickets to South Africa for the end of February. She is hoping she will be here no later than the end of April.   
  • As soon as we get back in April, we also need to apply for new visas.  Pray we can get those worked out as soon as possible. There’s been a back log and some have waited over a year for their visas. 
  • We are thankful for those who gave to replace the things that were stolen in January.  We have bought almost everything back now. 

Quick Updates  

  • We’ve started construction on a new building for Nkandla Baptist Church.  Pastor Khona & his wife Iminathi are excited about having a larger more permanent building.   
  • This last week I was in Nigeria with Graham and Olivia Young during their survey trip.  They will return in July to work full-time under Missionary Mark Holmes for their first two years.  Please be praying for them and Nigeria.  There are very few missionaries to Nigeria for over 220 million people.  We badly need more missionaries in this country. 
  • This past month, we’ve seen two guys that I’ve worked with for years walked away from the Lord come back to church.  We praise the Lord and pray the Lord continues working in their lives to make them more like Him.
Nigerian Style with Graham and Olivia Young

In church news, the main church we are working in now, Lighthouse Baptist Church, has been having more visitors.  Pray, we see more saved.  There are so many without Christ.  New Life Baptist Church is still struggling unfortunately in the more affluent part of the township, but Vision Baptist is doing well.

New building for Nkandla Baptist Church

Africa Youth Home & Short Trip back to the States

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For the month of April, I will be back in the States for our mission board’s annual orientation. I’m looking forward to being with all our Vision Baptist Mission’s missionaries on deputation and on furlough. Pray the Lord blesses this time.

I’m also using this time to present the ministry of the new Africa Youth Home in churches. If you would like to have me back in to report and update your church on the Youth Home, please just let me know. I still have a few dates available, but we will head back to South Africa on April 26th, Lord willing.

Several have reached out to me concerning gifts their church has already given or committed to give for the Africa Youth Home. As soon as I have a total, I’ll let you know. I am praying for 100 churches to commit $1000 by the end of April to make this Home a reality. We are trying to raise $113,000 in total with over $10,000 already being promised.

Would you consider being a part of helping us impact these young people?

Thank you for your prayers and thank you for partnering with us to impact South Africa with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Coffey Family February 2022 Prayer Letter

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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:). 

20 Acre property with a 4 bedroom house beside Camp Rhino

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?

1st Day of School – My daughter Addison is with Ano, a pastor’s kids with the Micky shirt on, and our 4 new teenagers, Sisipho, Dumisani, Liso, & Elethu.

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. 
Sisipho
Dumisani
Liso
Elethu
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Update from Camps

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Wednesday was the end of our last camp for the summer, our 2022 Junior Camp. With school schedules starting sooner due to so many missed days last year because of you know what, we packed our camps a little closer together this year.

In total for the past 3 camps, we had 81 boys and 61 girls attending those two teen camps with 19 making professions of faith in Christ. We also had 107 children attending Juniors Camp with 54 professions of faith.

Junior Camp 2022

We really appreciate all the prayers and support so many of you give.

We are still needing sponsors for the camps that have already taken place. We are about $3000 short of covering expenses for these last three camps.

Girls Teen Camp

We are also badly needing more beds. We need at least 3 sets of triple bunk beds for our campers and 10 sets of normal twin-size bunk beds for our counselors, which we will also use for our Bible college students. I hope to get the exact prices out for those this next week. We are planning on building our own bed frames to save on cost and for better quality.

Coffey January 2022 Prayer Letter

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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.  

Girls’ Teen Camp 2022

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. 

Boys’ Teen Camp 2022

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.  

Jacob & Christen Clower – Our New Missionaries to Mozambique
January 2022 Prayer Letter in PDF Download

Coffey Family December 2021 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Requests and Praise

  • It’s great to be home.  We arrived back in South Africa on December 2nd.  It was great being back for my son’s wedding, but not so great leaving my daughter Emilee there for Bible College.  We can already tell how difficult it will be not having her around.  Please pray for her as she attends the Our Generation Training Center in Alpharetta, GA.  This is a missionary training school started out of my home church, Vision Baptist Church.   
  • 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.  

Quick Updates

  • We want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.  2021 passed very quickly, but I’m definitely looking forward to what the Lord has in store for 2022. 
  • We were able to buy a lawn tractor for Camp Rhino because of a generous donation.  This equipment is going to be a tremendous help to our Camp.  Our guys have been cutting about 6 acres of grass for almost three years now with just weed eaters. 
  • With being the Africa Director of our mission board, I’m privileged to represent a lot of great guys.  One of those missionaries is Jason Rishel.  Pray for him as he is raising funds to purchase motorcycles for his young men who are starting a circuit-riding ministry to reach into the surrounding villages of his city in Burkina Faso.  Each motorcycle cost about $900.  Please let me know if you would like to be a part of this ministry.  
Missionary Jason Rishel’s team in Burkina Faso

December is the start of our summertime here in South Africa.  Unfortunately, it is during this time that many teenagers start getting into drugs and alcohol.   Pray that we can see many of these young people rescued through our church and camp efforts.   Also, pray for our teens to stand for God and not go after the things of the world. 

A week after we left for the States in October, the grandmother of one of our teen boys was shot and killed with him in the next room.  He has been staying at Camp Rhino during most of the week since that happened.  We also have another teen girl staying at the Camp full time because of problems she was facing in her home.  These stories only scratch the surface of what a lot of young people face every day in the townships of South Africa.  

We are really praying about starting a teen home, separate from our camp ministry, to better minister to these young people in need.  We really need wisdom going forward.  Would you help us pray as we consider starting this ministry in the next year? 

Coffey Family July 2021 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Requests & Praise

  • Please pray for all of our churches.  South Africa went back in another lock down where no public gatherings of any kind were allowed for the past month or so.  Instead of canceling all our services, our churches met “underground” at least once a week, but thankfully we are able to start back with our normal services this coming week.
  • Because of the lockdown we canceled our winter teen and junior camps, but still plan to proceed with our Young Single’s Retreat.  We are expecting a good bit more young people than we had for our last singles retreat.  Please pray for hearts to be changed.  We have young guys who are still faithful to church from our last singles event at Camp Rhino.  We are really praying some of these young guys will commit to preach.    

Quick Updates

  • Construction is progressing rapidly on the building for Bay Baptist Bible College.  $25,000 was given for the first building, and we will need about that same amount for each of the following 5 buildings.   
  • Money has been given to cover the cost of 20 of the 40 beds and mattresses we need for Camp Rhino.  Each set of bunk beds is close to $300, which leaves us in need of about $2000 for the remaining beds.        
  • My son Chase and his fiancée Ashley, who marry on October 11th, announced their call as missionaries to South Africa.  We look very forward to having them here in South Africa.  Please pray they can get their support as quickly as possible.   Also please have them in your church to present their ministry if possible.  You can email him at: Chasesouthard7@gmail.com.

I shamelessly work at getting people to visit the mission field.  God used my first mission trip to change my life forever.  I want people to be able to experience the same kinds of things I faced that challenged my way of thinking and living.

This past month we had a group that was here for two weeks.  After a day packed with 4 services on Sunday, we took 3 of the guys out for a full-fledged African Safari Hunt where they were able to kill an impala and 2 kudu deer.  The meat from this hunt was donated to Camp Rhino.  Not only were they able to have one of the best hunting experiences of their lives, but they were also able to help feed the kids at our camp for at least the next 3 months. 

Meat from the Kudus that were hunted

If you’re interested in missions and interested in going on a Safari hunt to help Camp Rhino, please let me know.  We would love to have you. I can promise you it will be a trip you will never forget filled with lots of ministries and a little bit of Safari adventure.